Page 50 of Targeted By Desire

Shaking my head, I pushed the questions away. None of those answers concerned me.

I put the notebook back in the state I found it and set it down on the nearby coffee table. Staring down at Simone again, I contemplated what my next move should be. The smartest would be to place the notebook back in her arms and leave her as she lay. My presence tonight would go unnoticed.

But, I didn’t want to leave her like this. The position, comfortable for the moment, was going to make her body cramp later. And she didn’t have a blanket to shield her from the cool air of the night passing through the windows. She was going to wake up uncomfortable one way or another. Knowing her, a slumber this peaceful wasn’t going to find her again.

The fact bothered me more than it should.

Sighing, I cursed her for opening this door of empathy I didn’t think existed anymore.

I bent down and carefully shoved my arms underneath her head and legs. I cradled her close to my chest before lifting her off the couch.

She stirred again, this time her brows pinching as she groaned in disapproval.

“Shhh,” I murmured. “I’ve got you.”

I expected my voice to set off the alarms in her head and make her eyes pop open in panic. Instead, the sound eased the tension in her body, and her head fell against chest. The lingering smell of cocoa butter on her skin wafted through my nose, igniting a small fire in my stomach.

This was a stupid ass idea, I swore to myself, trying to ignore it’s warmth as I carried her upstairs into her room.

With her still in my arms, I pulled the comforter down and laid her down. Her body sank into the mattress and pillows.

I tugged the comforter over her, giving her the shelter she’d forgotten to give herself.

A soft, content sound blew through her lips as she rolled onto her side and snuggled her head against her pillow.

Moonlight spilled through the windows, brushing over her cheekbones. An itch sparked in my fingertips, and suddenly I envied the light for touching her where I couldn’t.

Turning away, I scrubbed the thought of caressing her out of my mind. This was not the way this game was supposed to go.

I was supposed to be in her head. Yet, somehow, she’s taken up residence in mine.

THE AGENT

Beep! Beep! Beep!

My alarm blared through my ears, jolting me out of the deep sleep I was floating in. For once, I was having peaceful dreams. Ones about my father solving crimes and arresting criminals like he was in a television show. Probably an after effect of falling asleep to his case files.

I rolled over in my bed and pressed the stop button on my phone. I raised my arms over my head and stretched my limbs out.

Wait - how did I get in my bed?

I never came upstairs. I fell asleep on my reading chair. How the hell did I end up here?

I shot up in bed, glancing around for any hints that might jog my memory. Did I wake up in the middle of the night? Sleepwalk myself up here? What did I do with Dad’s files?

My heart almost stopped at the thought of something happening to them. I hopped out of bed and jogged downstairs to the living room. Frantically, I looked around the room, searching for his notebook.

A flash of blue caught my eye, and I saw it sitting nicely on the coffee table, closed and safe.

But I didn’t do that.

Someone had been in my house. Touched my belongings. Touched me.

My stomach rolled as I headed back upstairs to check the activity on my security system from my phone. The notifications bar was empty. No entry alerts. No motion triggers. Not even an open window.

Sighing, I clicked out of the security system and went into my surveillance camera footage. I watched the overnight hours on the fastest setting, waiting for the moment I transitioned from the living room to the bedroom. The scene never came.

In one frame, I was still fast asleep on my chair. In the next one, I was lying in my bed. At least ten minutes of footage was missing. Where the fuck did it go?