Noah: Have you been keeping safe?
It had been a week since her run. And he hadn’t seen her nearly enough in that time.
Addie: No creepy shadows or noises or texts. I’m starting to feel optimistic that whoever the text was from was just messing around.
Noah wouldn’t get too excited.
Addie: I’m going to take a shower and get ready for bed. Just needed you to know I’m disappointed in you.
Noah: I told you I’d replace them.
Addie: That didn’t help me today when I was in the throes of my Peanut Butter Cup Withdrawal.
His lips twitched as an idea hit him. It was a terrible idea for a multitude of reasons. And his head told him not to do it. But for the first time in his life, he didn’t listen.
Addie was still smilingas she stepped into the shower. A huge just-texting-Noah-makes-me-grin-uncontrollably smile.
Hot water beat down on her shoulders, warming her cool skin. Yes, she reallyhadwanted a peanut butter cup today. But honestly, the discovery that it was Noah who’d taken them had made her almost excited, because it had given her an excuse to text him.
That sounded pathetic, right? To need an excuse to text your crush? Argh, and she was referring to him as her crush. She was twenty-two years old, for Christ’s sake.
Sheshouldn’tbe texting him. It was not smart to fall for Noah Hayes. In fact, it was probably as far from smart as she could get.
Yes, they’d kissed, andyes, that kiss had been the best freaking thing she’d ever experienced…but nothing had changed. He was still her boss, he was still thirteen years older than she was, and he was still working through his trauma from the military.
But there was no harm in texting, right? Or staring at him while he got onto the climbing wall, or remembering their kiss while letting her pulse take off at a million miles an hour?
Gah. She was screwed. And not in the literal way.
Fifteen minutes later, and after side-stepping way too many invasive thoughts of Noah, she got out of the shower and pulled on panties and an oversized shirt her parents had given her forChristmas. It said, “Powered by Chocolate,” and it was the most honest piece of clothing she’d ever worn. They’d also given her one that read: “A day without chocolate is a day wasted,” and she absolutely agreed with that one too.
Now she had a night of chocolate pudding andHouse of Waxto look forward to, because was there a better combination than chocolate and a horror movie? No. No, there wasn’t. And Chad Michael Murray and Jared Padalecki just sweetened the deal.
She was just stepping into her living room when the creak of an old floorboard near the kitchen made her stop.
What was that? It sounded like it came from the laundry off the kitchen.
But then, this was an old house. It made noises all the time, so it could have been nothing. Itwasnothing. Of course it was.
She continued to the kitchen and grabbed the pudding from the fridge. She’d just set it on the counter when another creak sounded, this one louder.
She spun, heart thrashing against her ribs. That definitely came from behind the closed laundry door. Was someone in there?
Her gaze shot to the front door. Should she run outside? Drive to the sheriff’s station? Or lock herself in the bathroom and call for help?
No. That was dumb. Why would she lock herself in a house with an intruder?
A sudden knock on the front door made her jump. Fear made a small tremble move through her fingers. They could be connected—the person in her laundry and the person at the door.
Quickly, she pulled a knife from the block and held it up as she crossed the living room, constantly checking behind her like she was waiting for whoever was in her house to jump out. Thiscould be their plan, distract her with the front door so she turned her back on the person in the laundry room.
She looked through the peephole—and air immediately whooshed from her chest.
As quick as her trembling fingers allowed, she tugged open the door, not even caring that she only wore panties and a T-shirt.
Noah stood on the other side, a bag of Reese’s Mini Peanut Butter Cups in one hand and a jar of peanut butter in the other.
His eyes flared at the sight of her. Then his gaze narrowed at the knife in her hand. He stepped forward. “What’s wrong?”
