Holy shit! It moved.
Only a little, but there was a definite give to the left.
My heart rate sets off like a racehorse, and my pulse starts to thrum in my ears.
I swallow nervously as I press my hands to the left side of the stack.
Okay, here goes nothing.
I give it a strong push.
And it clicks. Then, it opens.
Holy fucking fuck a duck! I was right!
I quickly glance over my shoulder, checking if I’m still alone.
Then, hands trembling, I curl my fingers around the edge of the now unlocked bookcase, and I ease it open.
And there it is.
The door.
The mothereffing door.
I fricking knew it!
Lying bastard Kas-hole.
I grind my teeth together in anger and contemplation.
My fingers are itching as I stare at the door.
Should I open it?
Yes.
No.
Yes.
I’ve come this far. Might as well go the whole way.
Flexing my fingers, my breathing hitched, I reach out and curl my hand around the doorknob.
I turn it, and…it’s locked.
Bugger
.
I give it another turn, as though that will magically open the door, but it doesn’t open because it’s clearly locked.
I’m such a knobhead
.
Bending at the waist, I stare at the doorknob. It needs a key to unlock it. One of those Yale keys that fits in the middle of the handle.
Closing my eyes in thought, I try to think if I’ve seen a Yale key anywhere, but I don’t recall anything.
Sighing, I open my eyes. All I remember is Kas locking this door with a key and putting it in his pocket.
He must keep it somewhere.
But where?
My eyes drift over to his desk.
I wonder if…
The back door opens and quickly slams shut, and my heart nearly leaps out of my chest.
Shit!
I quickly push the bookcase back in place, hearing the click, knowing I’ve locked it. Then, I dash over to Kas’s desk and pick up the duster. I start running over his desk and computer, like I’ve been cleaning it all along.
This is so obvious. I’m so obvious. I might as well have a sign on my forehead saying,
Snoop
.
I’m only dusting his computer, but I’ve broken out in a sweat, and I’m breathing like I’ve just run a marathon.
I need to calm down.
Ditching the duster, I grab the furniture polish and cloth. I spray some polish onto his desk and start rubbing at it as I force myself to calm down, taking slow deep breaths.
“Hey.”
I look up to see Kas standing in the doorway.
Liar.
“Hi.” I give him a bright smile, stopping what I’m doing.
His eyes drift over the room, like he’s checking it.
Looking for something, Kas-hole? Or worried I was?
Bastard.
“Is this okay?” I gesture to the cloth in my hand. “I thought I’d give your office a clean while you were out. I didn’t think it was still off-limits, but if—”
“Of course it’s fine.” His eyes smile warmly at me.
I stare back at him, and I can’t see anything off in his expression—not that I can usually tell what he’s thinking. He’s so closed off.
But his warm demeanor is telling me that he doesn’t suspect anything.
Maybe he just thinks I’m not smart enough to have seen through his lies.
Fucker.
Knowing that he underestimates how smart I am actually stings. And it pisses me off even more.
“I can’t believe I told you not to come in here. I was such a dick.” He walks over to me.
I put the cloth down and turn to meet him. He wraps his arms around my waist.
I hide my anger and try to act natural.
I’m not taking him to court over this until I know what’s behind that door.
Once I know, I’m going to kick his arse over lying to me. Depending on what I find, of course.
“Well, I’m not disagreeing with you. You were a dick.”
He grins down at me, and it leaves a warm feeling in my chest.
He’s a liar, Daisy. A big, fat liar. There’s a door behind that bookcase to prove it.
“I promise never to be a dick to you again.” He leans down and brushes his lips over mine. “Only to use my dick for pleasurable purposes when it comes to you.”
My vagina stands to attention.
Down, girl. We have a trickster in our midst.
“How’s the horse?” I ask. My words come out hoarse and husky. I might be pissed off at Kas, but my body likes him a lot, and apparently, all it takes is the mention of his cock to send me off to Sexville.
“It’s got laminitis. Cooper caught it early, which is good. The vet prescribed an anti-inflammatory. That’s why I came back—to grab my wallet. I’m heading to the vet’s office to pick up the prescription. Cooper’s going to stay with the horse. Do you want to come with me?”
“To the vet’s?” My lips purse. “But I’m working.”
“And I’m the boss, and the boss wants his girl to come with him.” He takes ahold of my ponytail and gives it a gentle tug.
His girl.
Crap.
That totally would have melted me faster than ice in hot water if he’d said it to me pre-lie.
Okay, truthfully, I have melted a little. But I’m still mad.
Hopping mad in fact.
It’s just hard not to want him or warm to him, especially when I’m in his arms and he’s being all lovely and sweet.
Then, it suddenly occurs to me.
I could lose him. I might have to walk away from him. Because whatever it is that he’s hiding from me, it might be a game changer.
Do I really want to lose Kas?
No.
But I also don’t want to be a blind fool.
I have to know the truth, and the only way I’ll find out is of my own accord.
I’m doing this to protect myself. And Jesse.
I let him down due to a man once before. It won’t happen again.
“Well then, I guess the boss gets what he wants.”
“Good girl,” he murmurs.
He kisses me again. He starts to suck on my lower lip as his hands find my butt, and my body comes to life. My hands find their way around his neck, and I kiss him back, sucking on his tongue. He groans into my mouth.
I wind my fingers into the hair at the back of his head. He pulls me tighter into his body. And the kiss goes from sweet to molten in seconds.
My brain is sending out rapid bat signals, but my body’s totally ignoring them.
“God, I want you.” He breathes heavily. “Stay with me tonight. I missed you in my bed last night.”
His words make my heart skip a beat.
He missed me.
“But…I’m on my period, remember?” I surprise myself with my quickness to remember to lie. But then it’s not like I could say I had my period for a day, and it was done.
“Babe…I might want to fuck you right now—I always want to fuck you—but that’s not why I want you in my bed.”
Kiss
. “I want to
sleep
with you. Hold you. Wake up with you.”
Oh God.
I’m dying here.
He’s being so goddamn sweet. It’s confusing me. He’s confusing me.
Why did you have to lie to me?
I want to yell at him.
Of course I don’t say that.
He wants me to stay the night, and that means I’ll be here when he’s sleeping.
It was a rare chance that I got to be in Kas’s office without him here today. I don’t know when I’ll get that chance again.
But, if I’m here and he’s fast asleep…that would give a girl plenty of time to look around, for say, maybe a key that’d open a door hidden behind a bookcase.
God, when did I get so devious?
Probably around the time I found myself serving eighteen months for a crime I hadn’t committed.
Smiling up at him, I bite my lip. “Well, when you put it like that, how can a girl refuse?”
He smiles big, and it lights up his eyes. “So, you’ll stay the night?”
He looks so happy and boyish in this moment. I feel a stab of guilt.
Stop.
I have nothing to feel guilty about. He did this. Not me.
If he’d been truthful with me from the start, then we wouldn’t be where we are right now. I wouldn’t be preparing to sneak around my man’s house in the dead of night, looking for a secret key to unlock a secret door.
Reaching up on my tiptoes, I press my lips to his, hiding my own deceit, and I whisper, “Yes.”
Th
irty-Six
I glance at Kas sleeping beside me.
My heart is racing. My mouth is dry. My breaths are quick.
I’m really going to do this. I’m really going to climb out of his bed and sneak downstairs to find out what’s really behind that door.
My palms are sweating.
I press them to the bed, trying to dry them on the bedsheet.
Then, he moves, and I nearly shit my pants.
Turning in his sleep, he turns to his side, facing away from me.
Holy fuck!
Holy fucking fuck.
I press my trembling hand to my chest, applying pressure, trying to ease the race in my heart. It’s beating so hard and loud that I’m afraid it will actually wake him.
I can’t wake him now. Not when I’ve just spent the last few minutes easing myself out of his arms.
It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep after we finished making out.
Yes, we made out.
He made me dinner. He actually cooked for me. A guy has never done that before. He lit candles and everything. It was really romantic. Then, we curled up on the sofa with our glasses of wine and watched TV together. Well, the TV-watching didn’t last very long before we started making out like teenagers.
Kas suggested we go to bed. I agreed.
And we carried on with our make-out session in here. Obviously, we didn’t have sex because I’m supposed to be on my period. But, God, I wanted to.
I wanted him so badly. I still do.
After we finished making out, he wrapped me up in his arms and held me like he never wanted to let me go.
And I didn’t want him to.
But I have to.
I have to know the truth.
Taking a quiet, shallow breath, I slide out of bed, my bare feet touching the thick carpet.
I cast a nervous glance back at Kas. Holding my breath, I watch the silhouette of his strong back. His breaths are deep and even. He’s fast asleep.
And I’m doing this.
Eyes on the half-open door, I tiptoe out of his bedroom.
I descend the stairs on silent feet. The light on the outside porch is casting a small glow in the large hallway.
Feeling a chill, I shiver, wrapping my arms around myself. I only have on one of Kas’s T-shirts and my undies. I feel like I should be wearing a black cat suit or something equally badass. Not an old band T-shirt of Kas’s that carries his scent. And it’s really distracting because I love the way he smells. It brings warmth and hot memories to mind, and that makes me feel like a total bitch for sneaking around his house like this.
Then, I remind myself that I wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for him and his lying ways. I would have been lying upstairs in his arms, probably having sex right now, if he’d chosen honesty.
But he didn’t, and here we are.
Well, here I am.
I tiptoe across the floor and into his office.
I quietly close the door behind me, and then I make my way across the room and turn on his desk lamp.
I don’t waste any time. I start searching through his desk drawers, looking for a key.
I find one key, but it’s small and looks like it’s for a padlock or something. But, aside from that, there’s no key that would fit that door.
Hands on hips, I survey the room.
If I were Kas, where would I keep a key for a secret door?
I’d keep it with me.
I do a quick mental run-through of what he was wearing when we went upstairs. Jeans and a shirt, and he put those in the laundry basket, so there definitely isn’t a key there.
My eyes snag on his jacket, which is hanging on the back of the door. He wore that earlier when we went to the vet’s to get the medication for the horse.
I walk over to the jacket. I slip my hands in both pockets. My hand curls around a set of keys in the right pocket.
I pull them out. His car keys. I stare down at them in my hand. There’s his car key, a fob—which is for the garage, I think—a Range Rover key ring…and another key.
A Yale key.
Holy shit.
Blood starts to pump through my veins.
Oh my God. This is the key. I bet this is the key!
I rush over to the bookcase, keys in hand.
I open up the stack, revealing the door. I single out the Yale key, and with my hand shaking, I slot the key in the door. I turn and…
Click
.
Shit. I’m in.
I’m actually in.
Leaving the key in the door, I grab the handle and turn it.
But I pause before opening.
Am I sure I want to do this? Am I sure I want to know what’s behind this door?
I’m not sure of anything anymore. But I do know that I need to know what he’s hiding.
On a deep breath, I push open the door.
A light flickers on, making me jump. It must be one of those sensor lights. My eyes adjust to the light, and I see I’m standing in the doorway of a closet-sized room.
And in this closet-sized room are…photographs.
Of me.
“What…the hell?” I whisper.
My heart starts to beat faster as I step further into the room.
There’s a photo of me. From the day I left prison. I’m standing outside the prison, a bag in hand.
Why does Kas have a photograph of me?
My eyes start moving over the other photos pinned to the wall.
Me and Cece hugging from the same day.
Me out running.
Me and Cece out together, the night of the club.
Me at the Matis Estate, talking to Cooper.
Me on the train.
One of me with Jesse when we went to the beach.
And…
Jesus Christ.
My hand reaches up to the photo.