Page 65 of Never Sleep with the Enemy

She says nothing, merely giving a hum of acknowledgment, her stance firmly in place.

I gather a belt from my bag and slip it on, quickly fastening it before grabbing a bomber jacket from the closet. When she still hasn’t turned back around, I step over to her silently. I stop behind her, wondering if she can feel me. Wondering how long it’ll be before her curiosity gets the best of her and she peeks over her shoulder.

A long time, apparently.

When my smile couldn’t possibly stretch further, I say an inch behind her ear, “You ready to go?”

Katrina startles, gasping loudly as she spins around. Her hand moves instinctively, defensively, and I snatch her wrist in the air before she can strike me.

“Logan—!”A relieved smile hops to her lips. “God, you scared me.”

“Jumpy, are we?”

“No, I just, uh...” She swallows to catch her breath. “I get real deep in my thoughts sometimes and any sudden...” Her eyes drift to her hand, my fingers still lightly curled around it. “Any sudden movements or sounds or... I get spooked.”

“Won’t be seeing you at any Halloween carnivals this week?”

“A world of no,” she says, laughing it off.

I smile, gently rotating our hands so her palm points up. I run a finger along her wrist, traveling along the blue veins into her palm. “Hmm, yes. I can see that.”

“What?” she asks, her posture stiff while her fingers remain pliable.

“Well, you see this line here?” I say, gliding my fingertip down one line etched into her palm. “That’s the Scaredy Cat line.”

Katrina snorts. “Is it?”

“Yes, it’s all right here. Cursed to live a life of flinches, screams?—”

“Stop.”

“And bed wetting.”

Katrina pulls her hand from my grasp. “I amnota bed wetter,” she says, trying not to laugh.

“Must be wrong, then,” I say, glancing at the copious shopping bags still stacked on my floor. “You don’t have to join us for dinner if you don’t want to. The girls can be awfully insistent, but I can provide an escape route if you’d rather go home.”

“No,” Katrina says, flashing a smile. “I don’t need to escape.”

“You sure?”

She nods. “Got no one waiting up for me.”

Damn.

A part of me wishes she’d say no.

That she’d run as far away from me as possible. I could tell Monroe that she would have none of me, and then find some way to beg him to leave Tesla alone.

But then she smiles.

And I’m all hers.

“Let’s go,” I say, gesturing toward the door.

18

KATRINA

---