Page 45 of Bought

Cautiously, I moved down the hallway. There were several doorways, a couple with the doors standing open. They were rooms like the one I’d woken up in, so I was thinking they were guest rooms. One had a door closed and when I tentatively opened it, I found a bathroom behind it.

There was one last door at the end of the hallway, also closed. I gave that a try too, figuring that if Fox caught me, I could just tell him I was trying to find my way to the kitchen or something. It opened into another bedroom, this one obviously the master bedroom since it was huge. Large, floor to ceiling windows opened onto a rooftop terrace and the sun was pouring through them onto the dark carpet.

A huge bed stood against the wall opposite the windows. It was covered in a thick white comforter and there were piles of soft-looking pillows. It didn’t look as if it had been slept in, so if this was Fox’s room then he’d made the bed the moment he’d gotten up.

I took a couple of steps inside, looking around, scanning for anything personal that would give any hint that this was his room, but there was nothing. No photos, nothing on the chest of drawers near the windows, nothing on the nightstand except a glass of water. It was as hotel pristine as the room I’d woken up in.

I took a breath and glanced behind me through the doorway, my heart beating faster. It was empty and so was the hallway behind it, and I still couldn’t hear a thing.

Perfect. If this was his actual bedroom then I needed to look around and see what I could find now, because I didn’t know when I’d get another chance.

I took a step toward the chest of drawers.

“What are you doing in here?” a deep, cold male voice said from behind me.

I froze, my heart almost coming to a complete stop in my chest.

What the hell? I’d checked the hallway just a second ago and there had been no sign of him. Either he’d moved so quietly and stealthily I hadn’t seen him, or he’d damn well teleported here like a fucking vampire.

“Oh.” I tried to sound nonchalant and casual, like I wasn’t doing anything at all suspicious, all while my heart had started up again, rabbiting around in my chest. “I was just trying to find the kitchen.” Forcing myself to calm down, I turned around and a wave of heat prickled over me, any remaining breath I had escaping from my lungs.

He was standing in the doorway, not in a suit now, but a pair of worn jeans that sat low on his lean hips and a plain black T-shirt. Simple, casual clothes and yet the effect was devastating, the jeans emphasizing his narrow waist and powerful thighs, the T-shirt showing off broad shoulders, muscled arms, and wide chest. His gaze was electric, pinning me as surely as a deer in the headlights of a car.

Oh my God. He was gorgeous.

“This is not the kitchen,” he said.

“I know, I only just realized that,” I babbled like an idiot. “Sorry, I was also looking around trying to find the stairs—”

“The stairs right outside your room?”

Oh. Shit.

I swallowed, trying to think of a reasonable excuse for me to be in his bedroom — because this had to be his bedroom, right? — and only being able to think of one. “Actually,” I said, not having to pretend that my voice wasn’t exactly as husky as it sounded. “I was trying to find you.”

His beautiful face remained impassive. “Well,” he murmured. “Now you’ve found me.”

My heart continued to race. Did he believe me? His expression told me nothing. Even worse, I could feel desire gathering inside me, a desire braided through with a thread of delicious fear, and I couldn’t look away from him. As if his presence had a gravitational force and I couldn’t break free of his orbit.

You’re going to have to distract him if you don’t want him asking more questions about what you’re doing in here.

Shit, no, I definitely didn’t want him asking more questions.

“S-Sir,” I began.

“This is not a scene. The rules don’t apply now.”

Oh, right. Well, that was something at least.

I pulled the sheet tighter around me, feeling off-balance, as if he was somehow shaking the ground without even moving and I couldn’t find my feet.

Get it together.

I tried to think. Distraction, that’s what I’d decided and well, there was only one way to distract this man.

“If the rules don’t apply, then I guess I don’t need to bother being naked then.” I let the sheet to drop enough so that it covered my front, but nothing else.

Except his too-sharp stare didn’t move from my face. “You’re afraid. Is it because I found you where you shouldn’t have been?”