Incipient A Dark Paranormal Romance - Bianca Scardoni Page 0,11

open invitation sitting heavy over the entire house, that probably wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

“You can wait here. I’ll just be a minute,” I said to Trace as I started up the grand staircase. Being alone in my room with Trace again was hard enough without the added stress of worrying whether it might trigger one of his memories. I needed to minimize the amount of time spent in places where we’d previously spent time together. And my bedroom was certainly one of those places.

“I don’t mind coming,” he answered offhandedly as he followed me up the stairs, his eyes taking in the entrance, the stairs, the paintings on the walls, as if searching his memory bank for any semblance of familiarity.

I stopped short and turned to face him. “You have to stop doing that.”

His head snapped forward and then titled back as his gaze climbed up to meet mine. “Doing what?”

Following me. Protecting me. Trying to remember what we were. Being so sweet and charming. “Acting like I’m some fragile mortal. I’m a Slayer, and I can take care of myself. I don’t need an escort to pack a bag.”

“I know that.” He shrugged his shoulder and then smiled up at me. “But your house is kind of creepy and I didn’t really want to stay down here by myself.”

It took me a good, long moment to process that, and then I was laughing. Hysterically. “You cannot be serious.”

“What?” he asked innocently, which only made me laugh harder. “I’m secure enough in my manhood to admit that.”

Leave it to Trace to completely brighten even the gloomiest of days.

“Wow. Alright then, let’s go,” I said, still laughing as I made my way up the rest of the stairs. “It’s a little dark down this hallway. Should I hold your hand, or do you think you can make it?” I asked teasingly and continued trudging forward.

“I didn’t say I was scared of the dark,” he pointed out and then slipped his hand into mine, interlocking our fingers. “I said I didn’t want to stay by myself. That could be for a number of reasons.”

My body damn near exploded from the electrical current pulsing from our touching skin. I quickly pulled my hand away and scowled at him. “What are you doing?”

“Right now?” He looked around the corridor, all casual and innocent. “Nothing really.”

“You were just holding my hand!” I pointed out indignantly.

“Yeah.”

I glared at him. “Why?”

“You offered.” He laughed and then pressed his back against the wall.

“I was making a joke. Quit playing around,” I scolded and then scrubbed my palm against my legs, as though trying to wipe away the remnants of his electrifying touch.

His eyes dropped to my hand. “That’s not going to make it go away,” he said smugly.

“I know that.” I stopped rubbing and studied him. “You did that on purpose.”

His dimples pressed in as he tried to bury his smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, sure you don’t.” I rolled my eyes at him and then marched forward to my bedroom door, ignoring the humming sensation rioting through my body or how hot and delicious he looked leaning against the wall.

Ugh! I really needed to get my hormones in check.

I couldn’t afford any more distractions, and definitely not from Trace. I had enough on my plate, thank you very much. Flicking on my bedroom light, I barreled across the room and headed straight for my dresser.

I wasn’t sure how long I was packing for, but I wanted to make sure I had enough clothes to last me at least a week to avoid making any unnecessary trips back here. Obviously, I was going to need to come up of an alternative place to stay at some point, or like, buy a new house altogether, but until that happened, I needed to be fully equipped.

“Nice room,” said Trace from somewhere behind me. “Have I ever been here before?”

My back straightened as a bout of panic ripped through my insides. What the hell was I supposed to answer to that? If I lied to him about being here before and then he suddenly remembered it on his own, he’d realize that I had lied to him and would wonder why that was. The last thing I needed was for him to get suspicious of me.

I turned to face him with a pile of clothes cradled between my arms and chest. “Yeah, you’ve been here before,” I admitted, deciding to go with the lesser of