Page 17 of Autumn Ritual

“Sleep well, angel,” I murmured.

“What?” she croaked, jerking her hands. “You’re just going to leave me here!”

Smiling, without an answer, I turned and walked away. This was how the scene finished. She would have to free herself from the shadowy bonds.

Chapter 8 – Sara

The leather slipped from the banister with a vicious hiss, and I bolted.

I shouldn’t be doing this. I really shouldn’t be chasing him through the house. But…I knew him. This was my date from the ball. The one with the freckle mole on the shell of his left ear. I’d recognized that mark before I kissed the devil. He wasn’t a stranger.

He was a ghost from the past.

And my body was alive with the possibilities.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” I demanded.

The leather belt snapped through the air. The metal tip clipped his backside with a delicious crack.

The specter turned. Slowly. His fingers tightened around the baseball cap, squishing it in his fist. There was enough light from the window that I could have made out his face, but he didn’t cant his head into the glow.

Heat shivered through me. Cavolo, he was magnificent. An Adonis in the flesh. I wet my lips and took a steadying breath.

I cleared my throat. “You followed me here. Broke into my cabin— How did you get past the chain? Wait. Not important! Where was I?”

Damn my squirrel brain! It was my secret weapon for writing, but it was really a mood killer and moment breaker.

I planted my hands on my hips. “You followed me here, got into the cabin, and read my rough draft.” Shit? Where was I going with that? Oh, who cared! “I don’t do this. Sleep around, I mean. Sex is for a serious relationship.”

And yet this enigma had given me the best orgasm of my life.

“But now you’ve started something.” I took a step forward. “And you’re just…leaving?”

This wasn’t fiction. We didn’t need pages and pages of tension coupled with subplots before our next encounter. He was right here. Right now! Standing in front of me as I closed the distance. I knew this man. He’d grown up next door, haunting every chapter of my childhood. I’d recognized him at the ball and let him kiss me, so freaking excited that he actually wanted me after all this time.

And now he was here.

I wasn’t letting him go.

I reached out and spread my palms over his chest. Earlier, if I’d asked him to leave, he would have.

I wasn’t asking.

“Finish this,” I breathed. His breath stilted under my touch.

He shook his head as he crouched to pick up the belt. When he rose, he made to step back, but I fisted his shirt.

Damn him, he was back to not talking. I almost used his name. I wanted to call him out, tell him that this was my personal fantasy come to life. Not only had he tracked me down, but he’d been here these past few days. The extra glasses of water I didn’t remember filling. The sandwiches, waiting for me in the fridge. It was him.

Cam…. Heat pulsed between my legs.

“You’re just going to sit outside?” I dared him. “Watching over me until morning?”

He nodded once. Lifting his knuckle, his touch brushed down my cheek again.

“I know you’ve been looking out for me,” I whispered.

A short laugh huffed from his nostrils.