Page 32 of Lethal Threat

Thank god, because I can’t stay in this room with him much longer.

“Maybe in here?’ I open the closet doors and peek inside.

“Got one,” Cole says behind me. He tosses the duffel on the bed. It’s pink with white stripes and it lands with a thud.

The bed.

No. Don’t look at it.

Instead, I focus on all the things that are mine…were mine. I feel like I’ve gotten a grab bag at the thrift shop and I’m looking inside for the first time.

There is a collection of books on the dresser. Paperbacks and hardbacks. Have I read them or is that my to-be-read pile?

In the closet there are two stacks of sweaters, all folded,neatly placed on the shelf. Like something you’d see in a boutique—organized by shade.

Shoes too. Clean. Tidy. Tucked in little cubbies. Dark colors fading to light ones from left to right.

I turn to Cole. “Who organizes like this?”

“You.”

Something about it feels very wrong. Like I can’t relate to this OCD person. Would I hang my clothes by color?

Yet somehow it feels like everything is right. So damned weird.

The closet organizer is even more impressive. Spaces for everything. Little drawers too. I peek inside them, feeling oddly thrilled.

Until I open a little drawer holding two blue sex toys. A penis-like vibrator and a hook-shaped thing. My eyes go extra wide.

“Oh my god!” I slam the drawer closed.

That did not just happen.

Thank god Cole doesn’t ask what I’m oh-my-godding about. But I get a flush of embarrassment that makes me fan my face and lift my hair.

With my other hand, I grab some clothes. Anything to dissipate the sexual burn that’s getting stronger in me by the second.

I try to make small talk. “I not only like turtles, apparently I like blue. Navy. Royal. Light. Periwinkle. Gray-blue. Even turquoise.”

As I rub my hands over the soft knit fabric of the sweaters, I close my eyes.

Come on. Something. I need something.

But being in this room means…nothing. That terrifies me. Shouldn’t I have a recollection of something?

“Are you sure—” I stop myself from finishing the dumb question.

Of course, this is my apartment. But I might as well be standing in an AirBNB.

“What’s that, babe?” Cole turns his head to look over at me. He’s got some books in his hands.

I gape a little. Once again, I’m shocked at how handsome the man is. So tall. Bulky and muscular, but not overbuilt.

But what he said has even more impact.

Babe.Those four little letters roll off his lips so easily.

I tumble the word around in my mind. Did I use it?Babe.