Page 10

Palm pressed flat against my forehead, another tortured groan greeted the air.

The last thing I wanted to do was confront any of the three men I met briefly last night.

Especially Romeo. He looked pissed, for good reason, when his housemates were helping me.

I knew I didn’t deserve to be taken care of after what I’d done, and now I needed to find a way to sneak out before anyone noticed.

On a mission, I tossed the covers off me and walked to the bathroom in the far-right corner of the suite.

This time I was greeted with a lake view that took my breath away and I realized the guest suite faced a different direction than the bathroom I’d used in haste when I first broke in.

I winced at my own word choice, but shook my head as I emptied my bladder, washed my hands and face and tiptoed back in the room, trying to make as little noise as possible.

The clothes I found folded on the bench at the foot of the bed made me want to jump for joy. They weremyclothes and they’d obviously been washed and dried while I was knocked out.

Pulling the soft gray t-shirt up over my head, I pulled on my t-shirt bra, cropped top, and leggings.

Everything still felt warm and fresh from the dryer, and that made me wonder how long ago someone had come in my room to leave them for me.

Tossing that thought aside, I neatly folded the t-shirt and boxers I’d worn last night and set them on the bench in place of the clothes I’d just put on.

Then I grabbed my bag from the chair by the bed and walked into the hall.

Relief washed over me when I found the place mostly silent. The only noise came from a gym I was assuming was on this side of the house. It took a few tries, but I made it to the main hall leading back to the kitchen, made a turn and speed-walked through the empty kitchen and living room.

My sandals were neatly lined up by a rack full of expensive men’s shoes. The worn Teva's looked sorely out of place, and it was just as well, because I was leaving and never interrupting their world again.

I pushed my feet into my hiking sandals, leaned down to adjust the straps, and turned for the door.

My fingers made it as far as the handle when a deep voice boomed behind me, freezing all the blood in my veins.

“Going somewhere?”

The peoplein my life were too trusting. There was no other way to justify what happened last night. And no other explanation for my uncharacteristically early workout, either. I usually worked out in the dead of night. But after the events of the last ten hours, my schedule was thrown off and I woke up in need of the satisfying burn my muscles were currently enduring.

I knew I was being loud enough to potentially wake Goldyn up, but that didn’t stop me from letting the fifty-pound dumbbell in my grip fall against the floor with a loudbang, either.

She was a guest in my house, not the other way around.

And really,guestwas a stretch. She broke in to our house and Sincere and Lorenzo were too soft to turn her away.

And I saw that look in Sin’s eyes when he first picked her up. He was already halfway in love with the woman and she’d barely said two words to us.

Pacing in a tight circle with my hands at my waist, I calmed down from my last set and was about to grab the weight for my next one, when I heard a soft, barely audibleclick, a few doors down.

It was only because I forgot my headphones upstairs that I was able to hear it.

Workout forgotten, I walked to the slightly ajar door and pulled it open to look into the hall.

On tiptoe, our houseguest made her way down the long hall and turned toward the kitchen.

An involuntary smile touched my lips before I knew what was happening. I reached up and physicallywipedit away before I followed in her wake, purposely hanging back to give her a perceived advantage.

A head full of loose golden-blonde ringlets brushed her nape as she walked, moving in a mesmerizing sway as she tried to make her escape. I stood by the stairwell and studied her unsuspecting form while she went through the motions of putting her sandals on.

I’d been the one to put them near the shoe rack last night.

According to the ID we’d found in her bag, Goldyn was five-foot-four. She was slim and toned, if the glimpse of her abs in that shirt was any indication.