Page 3 of Slumming It

I gave a silent plea.Just get up and go already.

But did he?Nope. Instead, Mister Billionaire Bigshot reached down with one hand and untied both shoelaces one byone before removing one shoe and then the other. His feet disappeared upward as he settled himself onto the bed.

My heart hammered, and I sucked in a breath.Oh, no.Was he about to go to sleep?

No way.

He couldn’t.

After all, this was the middle of the day. Didn't he have nefarious business to conduct?

I'd heard rumors – disturbing rumors – along with a whole bunch of speculation. The way everyone talked, Reese Murdock was about to buy up the whole town, this place included.The bastard.To think, I was only down here because I was trying to do him a favor – not that he realized it.

If I was lucky, he never would.

On the phone, Vivian's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Emily? You still there?"

I forced a whisper. "Uh, yeah."

"Whereareyou, anyway?"Funny, she didn't sound distracted anymore.

"Um…"How to put this?

She gave a little gasp. "Oh, my God. You're not inhisroom, are you?"

"Um…"

Her voice sharpened. "You already said that."

Vivian was two years my senior. Growing up, she'd been my favorite nemesis in hide-and-seek, which went a long way in explaining her very next words. "Just tell me. Are you in the closet or under the bed?" She gave another gasp. "Oh, crap. Don’t tell me you're in his shower."

Oh, please.I wasn't a pervert. Unlikesomepeople, I wasn't even a spy. I was just…well…unlucky, that's all.

Just then, the hum of the lawn-mower abruptly stopped, leaving the room deadly silent except for the thudding of myheart. Again, my gaze drifted upward.My heartbeat – he couldn’t hear it, could he?

On the phone, Vivian muttered, "You aresogonna owe me for this."

Well, she was right about that.But I didn't say so, not now when the guy above me would surely hear. So instead, I ended the call and said a silent prayer that Vivian would save my bacon – much like I'd savedhersthis past Fourth of July.

Long story there.But let's just say her oh-so-nice boyfriend had earned a permanent place on my shit-list – even if they had made up afterwards – a mistake that Vivan would surely regret.

I was still mulling that little incident when the bedside telephone began to ring – nice and loud, too.

I let out a long, unsteady breath.

Vivian. Ithadto be.

Chapter 2

Reese

What the fuck?I looked toward the nightstand, where the beige monstrosity was ringing loud enough to wake the dead. I studied the phone with a critical eye. The thing was long past its prime, just like the rest of this place.

The sound matched the look – big and ugly. Hell, the noise wouldn't only wake the dead inthisroom. It would wake whatever corpses were on the other side of the wall.

I gave the wall in question a perfunctory glance.Forget corpses. The room beyond the wall was currently vacant, because I'd taken the added precaution of reserving both rooms on either side of my own.

The cost was nothing, and my privacy was something I didn't take lightly.