Page 8 of Purrfectly Adorable

Pulling out my phone, my head shifts furtively right and left. I sneak a toe out and slowly, gently tiptoe out of the room and down the hall. Nobody stops me and there’s no more noise. Not even an indrawn breath stirs the dark, silent air around me. Like the house is holding its breath, waiting to see what’s gonna happen.

That makes two of us.

One stealthy foot forward at a time, I creep out into the hall and down towards the stairs, heading for the upstairs. Which is probably stupid as heck. What am I doing?

Another soft rustle from upstairs makes me freeze, my heart pounding up into my throat, strangling me.

I want to whisper, “Hello?” But I clamp my mouth shut on the stupid impulse, almost biting my tongue off. It’s an impulse you see in every slasher flick out there and it always ends badly.

A shadow passes the window upstairs and I choke on a scream. A body hurtles past me on the stairs, shoving me into the banister and I grab onto it like it’s a dang lifeline, my nails sinking into the wood, scratching at it.

“Stop! Wait!”The front door opens but I can’t see anything but a vague outline in the darkness outside. The door slams and it jerks me out of my frozen state, sending me careening down the stairs and slamming into the door.

“OW!” I rip it open, rubbing at my shoulder and scanning the yard.

“Meh!”I screech and turn to find Annie standing behind me, chewing and staring at me.

“What are you doing out? Come on, let’s go.” I grasp the halter of the stubborn escape artist and yank her along to the barn but my eyes shift, searching blindly in the night.

They’re here. I can feel them.

“Why do you keep coming to my house? I don’t even have a tv,” I huff under my breath. The only thing that they could steal would be one of my animals or my fifteen-year old laptop.

“What are you doing out here so late, Del?”

I screech and whip around, knocking into my shoulder again, hissing under my breath.

Brandon comes at me quickly, his dark eyes concerned, touching my shoulder and making me flinch.

“Are you alright? I thought you were in bed. I never saw your lights come on.”

“I-I…I fell asleep on my laptop working.”

He grins. “Is that where the cute pattern on your face is from?” But the smile fades quickly when my head darts back and forth. “What’s wrong? What are you looking for?”

“Did you see them? They had to go by your house to get off this street. Unless they went the back way into the woods.”

“Who?” His warm hand on my shoulder settles me. I feel…calm. Safe.

And that terrifies me. I shouldn’t feel safe with any man. But Brandon Courtney is getting under my skin and I don’t like it. I mean, I do. But I can’t.

“There was somebody in my house,” I blurt out, panting slightly.

“What! Why the heck didn’t you tell me that first? And what are you doing out here? Are they still in the house?” His keen eyes search the windows and the open front door like he can see in the dark.

“No. They came outside. I followed them.”

His head comes around and his eyes narrow. “Are you telling me that instead of calling for help, you chased an intruder into your yard…alone?”

I gulp. “Yeah.”

“Have you lost your mind, woman?”

6

BRANDON

“You came outside chasing someone who was in your house? Have you lost your mind? You could have been hurt? What would I do if….?”

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