Came Back Haunted (Experiment in Terror #10) - Karina Halle Page 0,29
say, and then I’m opening my eyes again, my nose assaulted by the small of bacon and eggs. I have no idea how long I’ve been asleep, but obviously that orgasm really took it out of me.
He’s placing the tray of food down beside me. “You can keep sleeping if you want to. We had quite the night last night.”
Memories come flooding back, what we did in the house.
What happened.
What I saw.
For a moment I thought it had all been a dream but…
Maximus.
“I’ll get you coffee,” Dex says, leaving the room, and I try to sit up to make sense of everything. My brain feels so sluggish and rattled at the same time.
On one hand, Dex just made me fucking breakfast in bed and it looks and smells so good, my stomach is grumbling, not to mention he just made me come so hard I passed out.
On the other hand, I’m trying to come to grips with what happened last night.
We went to the house, Dex got locked in that room, and I saw Maximus.
The fucking ginger bastard kissed me.
How could that have even been real?
Maybe it wasn’t. The more I try and think about it, the more it slips away from me. I know I felt him, I saw him, I heard him. But Dex didn’t. He’d warned me that Dex wouldn’t, but isn’t that convenient?
Dex comes back in the room, holding a mug of coffee while Fat Rabbit follows hot on his trail, little legs moving fast.
He hands the coffee to me, leaning in to kiss me on the cheek before sitting beside me on the edge of the bed. I take a moment to look him over. He looks exceptionally bright this morning. Though his hair is messy, his dark eyes are clear, watching me curiously. He seems happy, energetic, a smile dancing on his lips.
“There you are,” he says softly, peering at me.
I know I must seem so out of it. I give him a quick smile. “Morning.” I take a sip of my coffee and the flavor stings my tongue. My eyes go wide. “What did you put in here?”
He grins. “Just a little brandy. You only turn twenty-seven once.”
“Ugh, I feel so old,” I tell him, taking another sip, the brandy sinking into me.
“You watch your mouth or you’re going to get a spanking,” he says.
“Always with the threats.”
“I have nine years on you, kiddo. If you’re old, what does that make me?”
“Also old.” I grin.
He raises his chin. “You’re lucky I spent a lot of time on this breakfast, otherwise I’d be flipping it over, and this palm” —he raises his hand— “would be making very hard, loud contact with your ass.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
He lets out a growl. “You’re impossible to threaten, you know that?”
He starts to get up but I reach out and grab his arm. “Where’s your food?”
“Already feasted on you, baby,” he says, pulling out of my grasp and getting to his feet. “I need more coffee, minus the brandy.” He points dramatically at the tray. “Now eat.”
I do as he says, taking advantage of the breakfast. Dex usually takes care of the dinners around here, but I often get up earlier than he does, so breakfast falls on me. And as much as I love bacon and eggs, I usually go the quick, healthy, and boring route with oatmeal, which he loves to complain about, even though he secretly enjoys it.
While munching on a piece of bacon, my mind trips back to last night again. I’m tempted to tell Dex what I thought I saw, but something stops me. What if it was real? What if it did happen, and it really was Max? I know part of me thinks that maybe the house was just playing elaborate tricks on me for reasons I don’t understand yet. But the other part of me thinks that it was as real as it felt.
The weird part is that I don’t really remember the rest of the night. It’s just a vague blur of us getting in the car, coming back to the apartment, Dex taking the dog out for a walk, and me falling asleep right away. It felt like a dream.
“Are you done with your food yet?” Dex yells from the kitchen.
“Almost,” I tell him, wondering why he’s being so insistent. I glance down at Fat Rabbit who is staring up at me with big eyes, his tall white ears twitching, and give him the last piece of bacon.