I’d thought it was perfect.
But he’d made love to me covered in someone else’s blood.
And that, I recognized, was my hard limit.
FORTY-SIX
STAN
While I needed this day to be over, light gleamed at the end of the tunnel.
Kitty lounged in my bedroom, wearing a peasant dress that made ravishing a prerequisite, and I’d already had a taste that proved she was sweeter than ever.
We were about to eat, then nap, and once my meeting with Luc was over, I’d return home to her.
In my bed.
Under my roof.
I heard talking outside in my suite and was relieved that food had shown up. Try as I might, I knew our last conversation had overwhelmed her, so eating would be a great icebreaker.
Once I’d finished in the shower, I called out, “Kitty? That our food?”
Not receiving an answer, I tucked a towel around my hips after I swiped water off my face with it then strolled out of the bedroom.
Only, said bedroom was empty.
Frowning, I peered around my suite, calling out, “You playing hide and seek,duci?”
A concerned laugh drifted from my lips when more silence was my answer.
Another glance around the room revealed that foodhadarrived and she hadn’t touched it.
A third, more in-depth study had me finding the jacket I’d tossed on the stool where I dumped my clothes. It had slipped off the seat, half-pooling on the floor where, beneath it, my knife had clearly tumbled free.
“Shit,” I hissed under my breath, rushing out of my bedroom to lean over the mezzanine landing where I had a better view of the staircase and the front door. “Kitty?” I yelled, but again, no answer.
Ducking into my bedroom, I snagged my cell phone and hit the last number—hers.
When it went to voicemail, I hissed again then ran down the stairs and out onto the front steps, where I could see the open gates but no Kitty in the driveway.
She wouldn’t have gone long-distance running in those heeled espadrilles—they looked like a wing and a prayer kept them glued together.
Swiping through my apps, I found the one that secured the house and tracked the cameras along the driveway.
She wasn’t fucking there. Nor had she been in the last fifteen minutes. A couple cars had—Chad’s, Dante’s, one of the maid’s and a lab assistant.
No Kitty.
What in the hell?
Uneasily, I turned back to the house and stared at the massive property, wondering if shewashiding from me.
There hadn’t beenthatmuch blood on the blade. Okay, enough to know how I’d last used it… but I’d swiped it clean while I’d watched Diana become the entrée at our pig farm.
Mostly.
I thought I’d swiped it clean, anyway.
