here,” he rumbled against her mouth. Then he had to kiss her once more. Twice more. Dammit, three times. “Can’t…my control isn’t strong enough. Others will see.” He finally managed to lift his head.
Her lips were plump. Her cheeks flushed. He could read the desire clearly in her eyes. The desire and—
“See,” Lacey repeated. Her eyebrows scrunched. “See,” she said again.
Um, yes. “I want you. But I don’t want anyone else watching us.” Watching you. “The floor looks empty, but with the way things are going, shit, it’s not a chance I can take. My control doesn’t last with you.” A soul-true confession as he backed away. “If I don’t keep my hands off you, there will be no stopping.” Because the adrenaline that fueled him was making him even weaker.
He wanted to claim her. To thrust deep and hard into her as she wrapped her arms and legs around him. Only then, when he had her that close, when they were that close, would the fear he felt ease.
She’s not dead. I didn’t lose her. She’s right here.
“See,” Lacey said yet again.
“Uh, sweetheart? You okay?”
But her hands dropped to her hips. “I was right up here. Moments before Heather fell. I didn’t see her.”
“There was a lot of confusion,” he pointed out. “The alarms were blaring. People were running.”
“I was the only one up here. Well, me and Elizabeth. But she left when she saw Jonathan down below. Then it was just me. I didn’t see anyone else.” She began to slowly walk toward the nearest set of arches. “The first night I was here, I didn’t see Roman, either. I was sure I’d searched the area, but I didn’t know he was close by, not until I heard his whisper.”
“There are lots of nooks and crannies up here. It would be easy enough for someone to hide.”
A nod as she kept poking around. “But I learned my lesson after Roman. I checked. Thoroughly. I didn’t see anyone.”
“Heather probably came up here after you left. That’s why you didn’t notice her—”
“I was near the stairs. You’d seen me on the second floor—I know you did.”
He had seen her. Right before he’d raced down to the basement level to discover Heather was gone.
“So I stayed close by to wait for you. I never saw Heather go up the stairs.”
“She was disguised, remember, wearing your clothes?”
Lacey didn’t answer. She was in the corner, under the thick arch. Her fingers slid over the ornate wood carvings. “Do you know what my favorite show was, back when I was a kid?”
“Scooby Doo,” Dex answered immediately.
Lacey gave a little jerk. “Ohmygosh.” Her head angled toward him. “Antony found out that for you, too?”
Actually, no. “When I was at your place, I saw the Scooby Doo cookie jar you had in your kitchen.”
A fleeting smile came and went on her lips. “Do you know what was often in those cartoons?”
Other than a talking dog and some sleuthing kids?
She went back to pressing on the wood. “Secret passages.”
He’d been approaching her, but at those words, Dex stopped.
She slid her fingers over the carving of an owl. “This building is old. Historic, right? Huge and sprawling. I’m sure it holds lots of secrets, you know, like a secret underground CIA lair.”
He had actually wanted to use the lodge because of the array of rooms but… “I’ve seen the design plans for this place. There isn’t any secret passage on this level.”
Lacey glanced back at him. “Historic building. Maybe you saw some of the plans, but did you see them all? I read the plaque in the lobby. This place has been here since the early 1900s. Perhaps there are a few things about it that even you don’t know.” Her eyes widened. “Our suite.”
“What about it?”
“You said you questioned the agents and they didn’t see anyone get in our room. You probably thought they were lying or that they’d left their post, and you are planning some sort of horrible interrogation or grilling for them—”
Already occurring, actually. He’d given that task to Larry. Larry excelled in those situations.
“But what if another secret passage was up there? Maybe a little corridor that connected one suite to another? Or, hell, it could just be a large air vent running along the suites on that level, and someone flexible enough was able to slip inside. I don’t know, but I think I am on to something.” She turned back to the wood. Kept pressing. “I really do.”
He watched her. Considered