AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We crest the wall, and Daphne sucks in a surprised breath. From this vantage point the house is all light pouring from massive windows. All the curtains have been pushed back. I wanted it to look welcoming and safe. I can tell from the shine in her eyes that it does. I won’t be leading her into a dark, obscured space.
I take her in through a side door leading to an oversized entryway. My wetsuit hangs here, and three surfboards. There’s plenty of room left over for a changing bench. Daphne shivers happily in the heat. “That’s nice.”
“You won’t need this.” I slip her coat off her shoulders and feel her little tenses as my fingers make contact with her sweater. So close to her skin.
Daphne kicks her boots off and takes a tentative step toward the hall. She’ll find my den there, and if she goes further, my office. My dining room. The kitchen.
“Go,” I tell her. “Look around. I’m just going to hang up my coat.”
She pads away, excitement in her eyes. Daphne will be curious, and I want to give her a minute to acclimate herself without being watched. I take off my gloves. My coat. Hang them up.
I want to give myself a moment, too. Having her inside the threshold is a relief. Daphne is the living embodiment of pure emotion, and emotion like that—dark, alive, entrancing—is dangerous. Deadly. It’s better for both of us if she becomes a gallery piece.
Next, I take her phone out of her coat pocket.
My little painter doesn’t have a security code. That makes it significantly easier to wipe the location data from the last two hours. Her iPhone hasn’t uploaded to the cloud yet—she hasn’t been connected to wifi. I disable the location services. That takes a password, which Daphne stores in her Notes app. It takes less than a minute. When I’m finished, I put it back into her coat pocket. It’s unlikely she’ll come looking for it tonight, but if she does, it will be here.
I line up my shoes next to hers. The sight of them side by side.
Daphne is in the den, looking up at the wall.
At her own painting.
I want to touch her so badly. I want to put my hand around her throat and tug her back against me.
I do not.
“How did you get this?”
I hang back a little. It’s getting more difficult to keep my distance. “I bought it.”
“It wasn’t for sale.” The first hint of suspicion crosses her gorgeous dark eyes. “I donated it to the department.”
“They were willing to make a deal.”
She keeps looking.
“Daphne.” Her eyes snap to mine, and not for the first time, I am bowled over by how beautiful she is. How delicate. How innocent. “I didn’t bring you here to visit my den.”
Curiosity burns to life with another heat behind it. “What, then?” Daphne tries to sound casual, but she doesn’t.
I gesture to the door. There’s a tearing sensation in my chest. I need to touch her, and I need to push her away. I need to fuck her but I need to put her in a frame and bolt her to the wall before I lose myself completely.
Not now.
Not yet.
For the moment, I allow myself to feel anticipation.
We reach the landing at the top of the stairs and she hesitates again. Half of the upper floor is the master suite, the layout mirrored on the other side. Between the two suites is the room I need Daphne to see.
“Through here.”
I take her into my bedroom. Daphne’s eyes light up at the windows. I reach behind her for the switch that turns down the lamps. The ocean springs into view under the moon. She can’t decide where to look. My bed? The hallway leading to my closet and bathroom? An enormous shaft of light falls from the open double doors in the left-hand wall.
Daphne’s drawn to it. I knew she would be.
It takes only the gentlest touch to send her into motion toward that light. It falls over her face first, then her body. Her perfect lips part. And then she steps into what I’ve made for her.
