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Telling herself to be a big girl, she straightened up once out in the hall, walking past scary-looking portraits and closed wooden doors. The castle resonated with a humming silence, which made her shudder, goose bumps spreading across her arms. She stopped in front of Christian’s door. She knocked. Nothing.
“Oh for Christ’s sake!” Bouncing on her feet—partly from her need to use the bathroom and partly from her need to get out of the hallway—she bit her lip, knocked once more, waited, glanced from left to right, then opened his door and walked into his room.
“Emm . . . Christian?” she whispered as she slowly walked over to the bed, a four-poster like hers, from which came his low, steady breathing. She froze.
Christian was splayed on the bed, dressed only in boxers. His right leg was bent with only a fraction of his thigh covered with the blanket. Everything else was exposed to her gaze. Her eyes settled cautiously on his chest, spotting the curls of hairs here and there and the squareness of his muscles. Feeling like a creep, her gaze wandered farther down to the smooth plane of his abs—and then there were his thighs, lined and curved and well-built. She gulped, her heart speeding in her chest the more she stared.
He suddenly gasped and shot up, his eyes wide open as he stared at Olivia.
“I-I am sorry!” She stumbled backwards and quickly jerked around, her cheeks burning a deep red.
“I felt someone looking at me,” he said in a sleepy voice. “I’m just glad it’s wasn’t Mihai.”
She folded her arms. “I-I just came to ask you to come to, well, the—the bathroom with me. Downstairs, I mean.”
She heard the soft thud as his feet touched the ground, and the ruffle of clothing. “Pretty sure I won’t be of much use in there with you.” There was laughter in his voice.
She sighed. “Forget about it.”
He laughed and stepped beside her, straightening his shirt over his torso.
“I’m already up, might as well come with you and save you from the ghosts.”
She hated how childlike she must seem to him, but she nodded anyway. “Thank you.”
She walked back out into the spooky hallway, and he followed her. The castle was quiet except for the howling winds in the distance of the night, which seemed to be getting stronger. Christian whistled and it echoed.
“Why are you whistling?” she whispered.
He shrugged. “Why are you whispering?”
“And since we’re asking questions, I wonder why the bathrooms aren’t, you know, inside the rooms too.”
“It’s an old castle. Believe it or not, they didn’t have running water in those days, or the luxury of having a bathroom so close. Back then they used pots. Were there none next to your bed?”
Olivia tried to remember. “I don’t think so, but maybe on the—” His laughter cut her off. She let out a little growl and gave him a soft smack on his arm.
“Very funny.” She rolled her eyes.
“I know.”
Once safely inside the bathroom, Olivia could hear Christian whistling just outside the door. Her socked feet rested against the cold, white tiles as she relieved herself, her pink undies and pants bunched down around her ankles. Her eyes moved from the square tiles to the stained porcelain sink that was dripping. This bathroom was nothing like the rest of the castle. It was old, sure, but it had no charm. She felt dirty just being in it. Olivia decided she would change into her comfortable pajamas when she got back to the room. Suddenly, something dark flashed in the corner of her eyes. Her gaze followed it.
When she saw the huge rat—its tail pink and long, its coat wet and patchy—she felt like icy fingers were grabbing her spine. In the blink of an eye, it bolted over her foot. Olivia’s eyes tore wide as a high-pitched scream exploded from her lungs.
The bathroom door swung open and Christian stormed in.
“Ra-rat!” Olivia screamed again, pressing her back against the cold porcelain toilet as she pointed frantically at the rat in the corner of the room. In the heat of the moment, she completely ignored the fact that her pants were still around her ankles. Quickly, Christian attempted to use his foot to shove the squeaking rat aside, but it was too fast. It skittered away from him, heading right toward her again.
Standing and screaming again, she threw herself against the other side of the wall, pants still around her ankles. Like something possessed, the rat followed her as Christian scurried after it. With a loud squeak, it jumped between her legs, its bumpy tail touching her skin, and disappeared through a crack in the wall.
With a last scream escaping her lungs, Olivia jumped into Christian’s arms. He stumbled backwards through the open bathroom door, and before they knew it, both of them lay on the red rug in the hallway—Olivia on top of him, still naked from the waist down.
“I felt it on me!” Her pants were hanging down one ankle now and her legs spread around his hips. Her head was turned, eyes fixed through the bathroom doorway, when she slowly pushed into a sitting position. It took a few seconds for her mind to switch from the rat horror to her current situation. She glanced down at Christian, who was silently buried underneath her, face up and staring. His hands were warm against her naked hips. The cold shiver that was running down her spine moments ago was replaced with something hot and tingling—she was on fire!
“What happened?” Mihai’s voice shouted down the hallway. Olivia glanced up to see the keeper thunder toward them. Without a second to waste, she jumped up and fled into her bedroom, her pants dragging behind her, still attached to one ankle.
“Crazy Americans!” was the last thing she heard Mihai growl before she slammed the door behind her. For a moment she listened if Christian was following her, but much to her relief, he didn’t. With burning cheeks, she threw her head back against the wooden door, staring at the dark celling.Oh my God! This must be is the most embarrassing moment of my entire life! I hope he won’t ever talk about this. . .not tomorrow, not in a thousand years! Please God, make him forget, forget, forget!
