Page 59 of Lust & Lies
I felt loved in his presence, loved because of his presence. And I’d gotten all of that from a dream. Reality wasn’t any different. This man had loved me for a long time. Had always wanted what was best for me.
Even now, with my memory gone, he was still loving me sweetly, cherishing me wholeheartedly, being patient with me. He was my dream guy, literally. I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his forehead as he slept.
My stomach chose that moment to growl. Since he’d cooked dinner for us yesterday, I would make breakfast for him. Breakfast in bed sounded nice, and it would give me a chance to show this sweet man that I appreciated him.
I mean, sure, he’d told me he did most of the cooking and hinted that I might be a kitchen disaster, but breakfast couldn’t be that hard. Right? I could handle toast, scrambled eggs, and grits. Maybe oatmeal.
Something in me felt certain I could at least pull that off. I eased out of the bed, my body growing cold the instant I was away from his warmth. It didn’t help that I was as naked as the day I was born.
Crossing the room, I moved to my dresser and grabbed a pair of pajamas from the drawer. Panties too. I glanced back to make sure Aiden was still sleeping. He was, his chest rising and falling with each breath, hair mussed from the pillow.
God, he was gorgeous. I stood there for a second, just staring at him, admiring my husband. This feeling, this calmness, this quiet joy, I hoped it never went away. I smiled to myself before tiptoeing out, easing the door shut so I wouldn’t disturb him.
I padded down the hall to the guest room and headed straight for the bathroom. After washing up and brushing my teeth, I slipped into my pajamas. There was no need to get dressed up. It wasn’t like I was leaving the house for anything.
I combed my hair, then styled it into a low ponytail that I braided and then wrapped around itself. After washing my hands, I applied light lip gloss, just to feel a little extra cute as I cooked. I stared at myself in the mirror.
Yup, I looked like a woman who was ready to prepare breakfast for her man, and then wash that breakfast down with her man’s cum. I winked at myself before leaving the bathroom.
The floor was cool under my soles as I headed downstairs, unable to believe that I was really up, getting ready to prepare breakfast for my husband. I couldn’t mess this up. This was my chance to shed the title of Kitchen Disaster.
Or at least downgrade to Little Ms. Kitchen Chaos. That had a better ring to it. The moment I stepped into the kitchen, I froze, a sense of dread creeping over me. The refrigerator door stood wide open.
I hadn’t left it like that. Even if Aiden had come down in the middle of the night for something to drink, I knew he wouldn’t have left it open either. Was there someone in the house? A slow ripple of unease worked through me.
Then came a sound from the refrigerator that was definitely not the hum of the motor. Yeah... Someone was in here. My gaze searched the room, looking for something to defend myself with.Found it.
I eased toward the knife block on the counter, keeping my eyes on the fridge door. I stretched my arm out, reaching formy weapon of choice. My fingers wrapped around a handle. Exhaling slowly, I slid the knife free, the quiet scrape of metal against wood unheard by the intruder.
Gripping the handle tightly, I started forward just as the fridge door began to close. I had to act now! Racing forward, I slammed the intruder against the wall, pressing the knife under their jawline, my forearm against their chest to hold them in place.
I stared into the wide, dark eyes of our burglar. If I wanted, I could end them right here, right now. And I could do so without bathing the kitchen in blood. Aiden would never know it had happened.
All it would take was an upward thrust, just beneath the jaw, angled toward the frontal lobe. They’d die in seconds.No blood splatter, no mess to clean up.As for the body, all I’d need was some plastic wrap and a shovel.
It would be a clean, controlled kill. And I’d still have time to make breakfast before Aiden came downstairs. The sound of items hitting the floor pulled me away from my thoughts of blood and death just as a scream rent the air.
Blinking rapidly, I emerged from whatever trance I’d slipped into and stared into the face of a middle-aged Hispanic woman.Wait. Why was our burglar a middle-aged Hispanic woman who looked terrified at the moment?
“Mrs. Park, w-what are you doing?” the woman stuttered.
Mrs. Park? I cocked my head to the side.Oh, me. Right.I was Mrs. Park. Noelle Park. Aiden’s wife. And this woman knew me. But I’d never seen her before. Well, I didn’t remember meeting her.
The sound of footsteps rushing in our direction made me step back from the woman, lowering the knife to my side. What the hell was I doing? The fear and confusion in the woman’s eyessent guilt pulsing through my veins. Seriously, what the hell was I doing?
“Noe!” Aiden called from behind me.
Before I could turn around, he was at my side, turning me toward him. Dazed and confused, I released the knife, letting it clink to the kitchen floor.
“What happened?” he yelled, gaze moving to the other woman briefly before settling on me again. “Are you okay?”
I wanted to answer, to let him know I was fine. But I kept thinking about what I’d just done and the thoughts that had run through my head along with the plan I’d come up with without a moment of hesitation.
If he’d come a second later, would I have killed her? Of course, not. Right? I mean, I wasn’t a killer. I wasn’t even a violent person. Was I? The question lodged itself in my chest like a splinter, painful and impossible to ignore.
I’d gone from thinking about breakfast to thinking about ending someone’s life in a single heartbeat. No hesitation, no fear, no thought to run to Aiden for help or to call the police. Only cold calculation and thorough plotting.
That wasn’t me. That couldn’t be me.The movie!It had to have been the movie from yesterday. I’d watched people kill with no remorse, kill to survive, kill because if they didn’t, they’d be the one who died.
