Chapter 41
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
dani
I didn’t move a muscle, listening to the slow footsteps.
When Kole’s voice rang out, I cursed under my breath.
I would rather have the killer breaking in.
I was pretty much healed from the night on the bridge, and I’d been waiting for another chance to see the masked murderer again.
Because I promised myself that next time, he wouldn’t walk away.
“Dani?” Kole called out again. “Are you upstairs?”
When I heard him moving up the steps, I quickly peeked behind the wall that had moved. A regular looking door with a keyhole in the knob stood in front of me. I reached forward, twisting the knob, not at all surprised when it didn’t move. The locked door would have to wait.
I pushed the wall back into place and stepped back, controlling my breathing to stay calm. There was no reason to be nervous. I’d put Kole’s room back exactly how I’d found it; he’d never know I was in there.
I halted when the wall swung out again about an inch or two.
“No, no,” I hissed, pushing it back into place again, waiting to hear a click or something. The second I let it go, it moved out a couple of inches again.
My heart dropped into my stomach. I slammed it shut again, leaning against it while messing with the shelf that had opened it in the first place.
But now it was locked in place. I jiggled it, pushing and pulling.
It wouldn’t budge. Putting both palms on the wall, I pushed as hard as I could, only for it to move back the couple inches when I let it go again.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath. It wasn’t super noticeable as I stared at it. But Kole would spot it the moment he came in here.
“Dani? Where are you?”
I whipped around, nerves skittering through me when I realized Kole was already back downstairs.
Should I confront him about this? No, not yet.
I wanted to see what was behind the door first. I shook my head, knowing I was going against everything I taught myself over the years.
If this was anyone else, I would have confronted him days ago.
But this was Kole. The man who’d gotten under my skin and refused to let go. The person who protected his little sister while sacrificing his childhood. Finding those photos proved he’d told me the truth about his past.
A tiny piece of me knew the other reason I was waiting. I didn’t want Kole to be a monster. I was hiding from a possible truth I didn’t want to confront.
Kole’s footsteps reached the tiled kitchen floor. I glanced back at the wall, knowing he would notice it being out of place immediately. If I rushed out of the laundry room, his suspicion would soar.
So I did the only thing I could think of.
I opened the lid of the washing machine and pressed the start button.
Water began to fill it as I stripped out of my shirt, tossing it inside.
My sports bra came off next. I wiggled out of my sweatpants, nearly tripping over myself as I yanked them off.
I threw them into the machine, hearing a sharp inhale of breath behind me.
I spun around, seeing Kole standing frozen in the doorway. Just like I expected, his full attention was on my nearly naked body instead of the wall behind me. His eyes raked down me for a split second before his shocked gaze met mine.
“Care to explain why you’re practically naked?” he asked gruffly, his eyes never leaving my face.
I shrugged, my heart beating painfully fast. “I spilled juice down my clothes. I figured this was easier. What are you doing home?”
He cleared his throat. “I wanted to check on you. I don’t like leaving you alone.”
“You could have just called. That home phone is loud. I would have heard it.”
“Yet you didn’t hear me calling your name.”
He tilted his head, curiosity in his gaze.
Heat prickled the back of my neck as if he could tell I was lying.
His eyes were still glued to me, and I had a feeling I could hold his attention for as long as I wanted.
My heart clenched, the unknown tearing me apart.
His past was the truth. The way he treated me made me believe he cared.
It didn’t match his criminal record. Or the cruel stare in his mug shot. It didn’t make sense.
Or it did, and I was fighting so hard because I didn’t want it to be true. My mind was a fucking mess. Everything I’d learned about reading people had been turned upside down once I found out the truth about this town. I couldn’t rely on my instincts anymore.
“I was in the bathroom,” I finally said, my gaze cutting to the narrow door across from me. “I had juice all over my hands.”
“The kitchen is spotless.”
I laughed lightly. “I cleaned that up first. I didn’t want you to worry about it.” His eyes cut to my chest when I crossed my arms. “I’m fine, Kole. You can go back to work.”
“Are you trying to test my self-control again?” he gritted out, the lust in his voice impossible to miss.
Even with all the tangled secrets, I couldn’t stop the grin tugging at my lips. “You’ve seen me naked before.”
“You can be dressed in that puffy snow jacket, and you’ll still get me hard. Seeing you like this—” He glanced at the overhead light. “—you’re fucking beautiful, Dani. And knowing you trust me to be a part of your life? That means even more.”
Dread knotted my stomach. Over the months, I’d let my guard down around him. My scars didn’t even come to mind when he walked in here.
“But do you trust me?” His whispered question had my eyes meeting his again. His next words were louder. “Because you’ve been avoiding me. For weeks.”
“I’m not avoiding you…” I trailed off when a muscle in his jaw flexed. “Or maybe I am. Ever since that night with Tristin and Leon, I haven’t been myself. It messed me up worse than I was expecting.”
“Expecting?” he echoed. “You have experience in how it feels to kill someone?”
I blew out a humorless laugh, ice racing down my spine at how fast he picked up on everything.
“No. I’m learning how to deal with it.” I paused, almost asking if he knew how it felt to kill someone.
I wanted the details of his charges I saw in his file—but at the same time, I wished I’d never seen it.
I glanced down at my black panties, making a reckless decision. One that could haunt me in the future. But how much worse could my nightmares become?
Kole didn’t say a word when I slid down my panties, kicking them off. I looked back up at him, the heat in his gaze sending a jolt through me.
“What are you doing?” he asked, clearing his throat.
“Help me. Like you did the first night. I don’t want you to have self-control right now.”
He still didn’t move. “You’ve barely talked to me in weeks. And now you want to have sex?”
I jumped on top of the washer, spreading my legs. He held strong for a few seconds before his eyes cut between my thighs. I grinned, ignoring my inner voice screaming at me. Kole might be holding secrets, but right now I didn’t care. It wasn’t just about distracting him from the cracked open wall.
I wanted him one more time. I’d been fighting it ever since I found out what this town was.
What Kole could be. Yet, he was the only soul in this fucking world who made me fight my instincts.
Which I realized was a bad, bad thing. Something that could get me killed.
None of those thoughts were stopping me right now.
“Are you going to deny me?” I purred, leaning back on my hands, spreading my legs wider. A muscle in his jaw flexed, and I could see the exact moment his self-control snapped. He strode toward me, his hands going to my hips a moment before his lips smashed to mine.
I eagerly kissed him back, wrapping my arms around his neck.
He pulled me closer until my ass was nearly hanging off the washing machine.
His tongue clashed with mine, our kiss turning frenzied.
My heart thrashed in my chest. The longer his lips were on mine, the more I forgot about the hidden door.
I was well aware how intoxicating he was to me. I should care, especially right now.
But I didn’t.
His hands drifted from my hips to my thighs, his fingers digging into my skin. He broke the kiss, his lips hovering near mine.
“What changed?” he asked gruffly. “Tell me why you want me after weeks of ignoring me.”
“I missed you,” I choked out, my words steeped in truth for once. “I was trying to push you away, and it didn’t work.”
His eyes darkened, confusion swimming in them. “Why would you push me away?”
My stomach knotted painfully. “I’ve been alone for a long time, Kole. This…it’s all new to me.”
“Do you want to be with me?”
“Yes.”
Even with that door cracked, possibly exposing secrets he didn’t want me to know, my answer was still honest. The file I found on him should be enough to scare me away. With anyone else, it would have. But as much as I tried to deny it, Kole was different.
“What are you waiting for?” I asked when he only continued to stare at me as if trying to figure me out. “Kiss me.”
He chuckled. “You’re the one trying to seduce me. You’re controlling this, Dani.”
His stare was a mixture of desire and a hint of suspicion. I couldn’t blame him since I’d been avoiding him like the plague for the last few weeks. Doing this was out of the ordinary for me. My small moment of hesitation had him shaking his head, lifting his hands from my thighs.
“Maybe we should talk instead of doing this.” He broke our stare, turning his head. My heart lurched when he turned toward the fake wall. “Tell me all about why you’ve been avoid—”
I reached up and grabbed his face, pulling him down to my height before kissing him.
His reaction was instant, tangling one hand in my hair and wrapping his other arm around me as I remained sitting on the washing machine.
He pulled his lips from mine to kiss my jaw as he pulled my hair, exposing my neck to him.
“I want you to fuck me,” I panted as he kissed the side of my throat. “Right now.”