Page 36 of A Lethal Game of Trust

“What kind of game?” she asked hesitantly, raising her brows at me and picking up her phone again.

“Hide and seek.” Like when we were kids.

She closed her eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. “And I’m what you want to seek? What do you get if you find me?”

“Whatever I want. If that includes the toy or not. Ten seconds head start, little lion.”

“No.”

“No?” I asked with a laugh. “Tell me your heart isn’t racing at the concept. Tell me your pussy isn’t clenching at the thought of me chasing you.” As she swallowed, I grinned. “Tell me you don’t want to be my prey.”

Then there was a split second of her scrambling and the phone went dead, showing Ghost as my background. I’d been right; I knew I would have fun with her.

I leaned forward to open the letterbox as I began to count. “Ten…nine…”

Her footsteps raced along the landing and I unlocked the door as I carried on counting. I mentioned her heart sprinting, but mine — mine was thudding at a steady rhythm, ready tobecome the predator. I’d felt like this many times, back on tour, when torturing the cretin that took Leo, but the reward… the reward was never going to be as sweet as this.

Ghost purred, rubbing against my legs as I continued my countdown. To keep myself calm, I rounded up his food bowl and a couple of his favourite toys in the mess of a living room before I reached the end.

“One. Ready or not, little lion, here I come.”

12

Take It All

Leonie

Dom counted down, slamming the door behind him. It rocked the whole house, including my ribcage and beating heart.

I’d thrown the phone dramatically before hanging up as part of my tactic. Then I ran along the landing before going straight back into his room. Which was immaculate.

Under the bed was not an option. He would look there straight away. So I jumped onto the drawers in his wardrobe and hid behind his hanging clothes, in amongst his shoes. I tried to control my breathing, though I trembled in suspense. Everything he’d said was true. I wanted to be prey, if he was the predator. I wanted him to consume me.

And, if I wasn’t going to fall in love with him, this was exactly what I needed. Not the lovey-dovey slow revealing of our bodies, soft tentative pecks, whispers of adoration.

No, I needed savagery.

“Ready or not, little lion, here I come.”

My stomach spasmed in excitement as I held my breath,holding my knees to my chest. If only I hadn’t been such a polite house guest when Mia let me in and I had kept my shoes on. They might have blended in with the shoes I was in amongst. My white trainer socks could give me away. I slotted my feet into his shiny leather loafers as a disguise and I silently shook with laughter at the space left over. If shoe size was anything to go by, I might be in for a very momentarily-painful, great time.

Damn, I needed him to find me.

He had to be climbing the stairs two at a time with how quickly he made it, loudly jumping as he made it to the top step. “Come on out, little lion, and there won’t be a punishment.”

Ugh, a punishment. It was enough being surrounded by his clothes, the smell of bergamot and pine nearly had me in a chokehold. I was dizzy with anticipation.

The soft sound of the carpet being scraped by the bottom of the door was his greeting as he stepped into his room, as quiet as a mouse. I couldn’t bring myself to peek through his clothes to see him, but I heard him hesitating at certain points in the room, heard the creak of the bed frame as he must have leaned against it to check underneath. The clothes around me shook as he ran his hand across the bottom of the garments, so close to me that if he pushed an inch forward, he could grasp my knee and haul me out of here, throwing me straight on the bed in the same motion.

Just reach out, Dom.

But he didn’t. He sauntered out of the room and when I heard another door open, I flew into action, opening a gap between his clothes like a pair of curtains and throwing off his shoes. They landed quietly on his bed as I lowered myself down to the carpet, listening carefully to his taunts as I mademy way to the open door on tiptoes.

“Leonie, Leonie, where are you?”

If he was so bad at this game, maybe he didn’t deserve to catch me.

At the exit, I looked left and right down the landing, ready to rush to the stairs. No sign of him.