Chapter 35
Thirty-Five
Louise
Iclamp a hand over my mouth, attempting to stifle the panting breaths, praying he can’t somehow hear the way my heart is pounding inside my chest.
I know it’s only a matter of time before he finds me.
And I’m both a little terrified and extremely turned on by what he’s going to do to me when he does.
“Princess,” I hear him snarl from my hiding spot. I’m trembling. His booted footfalls sound down the short hallway, along the hardwood floor. It gets quieter as he passes through the living room and the carpeted flooring, and then the sound of his weight on the steps leading upstairs.
There’s next to nowhere to hide upstairs, which is why I chose behind the shower curtain in the bathroom.
I honestly thought he’d look here, first.
Maybe it was too obvious.
As quietly as I can, I slink out from behind the shower curtain, cringing when the rings scrape loudly along the bar above my head. Traitorous things.
The footsteps above me go silent, and then they’re headed back toward the stairs.
I have seconds before he’s down them.
I sprint down the hallway and around the corner, ducking behind the couch just as I hear the creak of the first step at the top.
“I hope you realize when I catch you, I’m going to fuck you, Louise,” he warns, and the way his voice is all low and gravelly does something to my insides. God, this man. “It’s not an if.”
Swallowing hard, I focus on quieting my breathing as he passes back through the living room, stopping at the entrance to the hallway. He takes another step, passing through the entrance, and I shoot up, skirting around the couch and sprinting for the stairs.
The thunder of footsteps behind me spurs me on, and I half scream, half laugh as I take the first several stairs two at a time. I’m panting, heart pounding. Excitement and desire crash through me as I vault up the stairs.
But Zach has half a foot of height on me and longer legs, not to mention longer arms that make it that much easier for him to gain on me and catch me.
His hand wraps around my ankle, halting my forward momentum and I crash to the landing at the top in front of me, cushioning the fall with my hands, another quiet scream escaping me.
Before I can attempt to crawl away, his arms are wrapped around my waist, hauling my back against his front, his knees bracketing mine on the step below.
His mouth is hot on my neck, hands gripping roughly, and god, I love every second of it. I can feel him, hard and heavy, against my ass where he’s curled around me.
“You naughty fucking thing,” he growls against my neck, then presses his mouth there in a hot, open-mouthed kiss. Moaning, I tilt my head to the side, granting him better access. “Fuck, Louise. You can’t even pretend to fight it, can you? You want it too badly, don’t you?”