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I put the safes back the way I’d found them and did a quick spray of nettle tincture over everything I’d touched. Then I sprayed myself once more for good measure. I tucked everything back in my bag, except for the velvet pouch. That, I tucked in the garter riding so high on my thigh, it was nearly in my cooch. But it couldn’t be seen through the dress’s slits, so I dealt with it.
All I had to do now was sneak back downstairs, re-hide my goodie bag, retrieve my shoes from behind the toilet, and make my way back to the courtyard.
Easy.
Five
Hand poised over the knob,I kept my ears focused on the hall for a good thirty seconds before opening the door. Convinced all was clear, I turned the knob and eased the door open.
Only to run squarely into the wide, burly chest of Big Dumb Dick.
How had that big, dumb fucker snuck up on me like that?
My pulse jumped. But as soon as the vamp freeze let me go, I tucked my pack behind me, hoping he hadn’t noticed it.
I was also really hoping he wouldn’t notice I wasn’t wearing shoes, as I gave him my sweetest smile and ran a hand up his arm.
I let my cheeks flush and batted my lashes at him. “Oh, hey you,” I purred. “I guess I got turned around. I’m feeling much better, though. Can you show me how to get back to the courtyard?”
BDD rolled his eyes and grabbed me by the back of the neck, scruffing me like a naughty puppy.
“Hey! Get your big meat mitts off of me!”
He pushed me down the hall, grip unrelenting. “The young ones are always the most confident.”
Big Dumb Dick hauled me down the stairs, through the halls, and past all the stupid rooms I’d committed to memory for this job.
Not that it had done me any good. I might as well have handed the king my head on a silver fucking platter for as much as my planning accomplished.
“In here,” he grunted, shoving me into the spacious, inviting study I’d pictured myself in before.
I stumbled to the center of the room, goodie bag falling to the ground.
Standing between two dark bookcases and silhouetted by the rising sun, the king of Laurel Cove faced the window, his back to me. He might have been surveying the midtown street or watching the attendees of his gala leaving. He might have been doing anything for all outward appearances.
Except I knew he was planning my death.
Beheading would be the quickest. Though a stake to the heart had a decidedly poetic slant. Something about going out because a beautiful, powerful king stabbed me in the heart called to me.
I would have been a really great emo kid.
I stood statue still, pulse pounding in my neck as I waited for the king to tell me how he planned to end my life. Fortunately, my brain decided it couldn’t be bothered to deal with the stress of impending death via hot king, and decided instead to commit to memory every detail of said hot king’s delicious physical form.
Like the way he stood relaxed with his back to the room, as if he knew that he could handle anything that came into his space. And how he allowed his frame to take up as much space as needed, something many tall and broad men didn’t do.
Even the way the seams of his dark gray suit pulled taut across the wide expanse of his shoulders drew attention to how powerful this vampire was.
“Hubris is a folly of youth.” His back was still to me and I thanked every god ever known to man for that small mercy because the man’s voice shot through me like electrified sex magic.
Was that a thing?
I drew in a breath and squeezed my thighs together, hoping to quell the throbbing ache there.
“Wouldn’t you agree?” He turned slowly, and I had just enough time to pull myself together.
His warm hazel eyes went wide for just a moment, probably because I was standing there, body humming like it was about to come. He cleared his throat, and I suppressed a moan as that rich, smoky rasp threaded through me.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
