Incipient A Dark Paranormal Romance - Bianca Scardoni Page 0,56

that I didn’t have it in me to let anyone hurt him, let alone hurt him myself and he was basking in the knowledge of it. And just like that, the bastard scored another point.

“I’ll be seeing you, angel. Real soon,” he said and then calmly walked down the stairs, whistling an unfamiliar tune as he faded into the thick fog of a cloudy, moonless night.

My shoulders slumped as the adrenaline left my body.

I wasn’t sure how much longer I was going to be able to keep up this charade. To keep looking over my shoulder. To keep hiding in other people’s houses. To keep playing this game with him. It was exhausting and worse, he was winning each round with every encounter we had.

“Hey. He’s gone,” said Trace, his arm slinking around my waist when I didn’t move. “Come on. Let’s go back inside.”

I nodded, my eyes still focused on the empty street before me as the connection slowly dwindled into nothing. When I was sure he was gone, I turned around and followed Trace back inside his house.

Back into my current hiding place.

“Fucking bloodsucker,” mumbled Trace as he locked the door behind me. “You think he got the message this time?”

I puffed out a humorless laugh. “Not a chance.”

If I knew Dominic’s dark side, and I most certainly did, the game had only just gotten interesting for him. Unfortunately, I still had no idea what game we were playing or the slightest idea on how to win it.

“He can’t hurt you here,” he reminded softly, his sweet attempt to lessen my anxiety. “You know that right?”

“Yeah, but I can’t hide here forever,” I pointed out and rubbed my forehead. “He’s not going to stop until he gets what he wants.” And I had no idea what that was.

“You don’t have to solve this tonight. You’re safe for now,” he said as he slid his hands against my upper arms, calming me with his gentle touch. “You should get some rest,” he suggested, his eyebrows pulling together in concern as he looked me over. He was probably noticing that wet roadkill look right about then. “You had a long day.”

I nodded, feeling as though the last couple of days had officially caught up to me. My eyes drifted closed as the warmth and lulling charge from his touch soothed me further. I felt myself swaying toward him, my body aching to be in his arms again, to finish that kiss, and I snapped my eyes open.

Panicked, I took a full step away from him, causing his hands to fall to his side.

He scrutinized me for a moment and then pushed his hands into his pockets as a small frown took shape on his face. “I can sleep in the other room if you want some space tonight,” he offered.

Whatever he’d seen on my face, he’d misread it.

Meeting his gaze, I shook my head because I didn’t want to be away from him. In fact, that was the last thing I wanted at that moment. What I really wanted was to cover myself with Trace’s body—to bury myself in his eyes, to lose myself in his lips and not have to think about anything else ever again. But of course, I wouldn’t do that.

Because I couldn’t do that.

Because I was supposed to stay away from him.

“I don’t want space,” I admitted quietly and then crossed my arms, feeling overly exposed.

“Okay.” He stared at me for a beat then smiled. “How about we finish that movie upstairs?”

“That would be great,” I said, returning his smile. That was exactly the kind of distraction I needed. You know, the kind that did not involve shoving my tongue down Trace’s throat.

“Alright,” he said, his eyes warm and disarming. “I’m just going to take a quick shower first. I really need to get that Rev smell off my body,” he said and then crinkled his nose.

“Great,” I said hoarsely, barely hearing the last part of his sentence as an image of him all wet and lathered up flashed through my mind.

This was undoubtedly going to be a long night.

21. LOST ON YOU

I was already curled up in bed, tucked under the covers when Trace came back into his room ten minutes later, freshly showered and changed. His long dark hair was wet and slicked all the way back and his face was cleanly shaven. It was all very nice to look at, but that wasn’t the part that had me chewing on my bottom lip.