The Private Serials Box Set(20)

My heart thundered so fiercely in my body, I wasn’t sure I was going to survive. Never in my life had I done anything illegal, so breaking into someone’s house was not something I was used to. When I stalled on the front porch, Preston came back for me, wrapping his hand around mine once again, and tugging me into the house, shutting the door behind me.

“Lena, breathe. Everything is going to be fine. No one is here.”

I took his advice and dragged in a breath, doing my best not to pass out in the entryway. I nodded at him, but couldn’t see his expression in the darkened house. He gave my hand a squeeze, but then let it go and moved away from me.

“Where are you going?” I whispered, this time the whisper totally justified.

“I’m going to investigate.” I didn’t have to see his face to know he was smiling. “You stay here and keep watch. If you see or hear anything suspicious, let me know.”

“Okay.”

He disappeared, the darkness swallowing him, but I could still hear him throughout the house. I stood at the door, peering out the windows next to it, watching for anything that might cause alarm. Minutes passed and my heart slowed and my body started to relax. A car came down the road and my breath caught, but when it slowly drove past, I relaxed again.

After a while of nothing exciting, I saw a person walking on the sidewalk across the street. They came from the right and when they were directly across from the house, they stopped and turned toward it and seemed to just stare. They were too far away for me to see clearly, but I knew the person was facing the house and not moving. When they didn’t continue on their way, I panicked and went to find Preston.

“Preston,” I whisper-shouted into the blackness. Not being familiar with my husband’s other home, I was fumbling in the darkness, trying not to run into furniture or walls. “Preston!” I whisper-shouted again. I was walking down a hallway, peering into dim doorways, trying quietly to whisper his name.

I came to another door and noticed a figure moving inside the room.

“Preston?” I whispered.

“Yeah?” he said. I turned into the room and saw a beautiful four-poster king-sized bed. I halted just a few steps in, realizing I was in a bedroom. Most likely, their bedroom. A wave of nausea came over me, but was pulled away from it when a warm hand wrapped around my upper arm. “What is it?”

I blinked, trying to acclimate, trying to see him. “There’s a person across the street watching the house.”

He didn’t respond right away, but his hand never left my arm.

“What did they look like?”

“I couldn’t see them very well, what with the darkness and all,” I said, with more snark than I probably needed. His hand ran down my arm to grasp mine and he led me to the side of the window. He pulled me next to him so our backs were both pressed against the wall and then he leaned over and peeked through the edge of the curtains. After a few seconds, he moved back next to me.

“There’s no one out there now.”

“Okay,” I said, whispering still, suddenly very aware I was in a dark bedroom with Preston Reid. My pulse fluttered and I tried to remind myself I was in the bedroom my husband shared with his mistress. I tugged my hand from his grasp and started walking toward the hallway to resume my post at the front door.

Two things happened in the next few seconds. The first thing was I heard the front door opening down the hall. The unmistakable sound of the key in the deadbolt caused all my blood to freeze in my veins, along with the air in my lungs. The second thing that happened was me being swiftly lifted fully off my feet, with a strong arm wrapped around my waist, and hauled into a walk-in closet. My mouth opened, ready to scream, but then I remembered we were on a stealthy B&E, and clamped my mouth closed before any sound came out.

I was whisked into the closet and taken all the way to the back. Preston pushed aside shirts and sweaters, bringing us both behind the clothes, then fixed the hangers, trying to hide us. I found myself in the corner, my back pressed up against a wall, and Preston pressed up against my front. He was warm and tall, and magnificently hard. I felt all his muscles pressing against every single inch of my body, and my hands came to rest naturally on his chest, my eyes searching for his in the dark.

“Preston—” I started to object to his body pressing so deliciously into mine, but I felt his finger press into my lips, effectively shushing me. Something about his finger on my mouth sent my body into overdrive, and I squirmed against him, my traitorous body searching for more contact.

“No talking, sweetheart,” he said, so quietly I wasn’t even sure I’d heard it. But I felt his breath and the way his chest moved when he said ‘sweetheart.’ If I wasn’t completely paralyzed already, I then heard Derrek’s voice ringing through the house.

“Jessica, it’s not a big deal. Just grab your purse and let’s go.”

Then I heard her voice.

“I’m sorry. I thought I had everything, but Elise threw the biggest fit when I was trying to leave the house and I must have just forgotten.”

“It’s really fine. I’m not mad. But if we don’t leave soon, we’ll actually be late instead of fashionably late.”

Their voices were getting closer and closer until I realized they were in the bedroom and the only thing separating us was a row of neatly hung blouses and a closet door. At the realization of their nearness, Preston pressed into me further and my eyes fluttered closed when I felt his lips just barely touch mine. He didn’t kiss me. He wasn’t kissing me. Our lips only just barely grazed against one another, allowing our breaths to intermingle. When I realized he wasn’t going to kiss me, I opened my eyes. His hands were over my head, pressed up against the wall I was leaning into. My hands were still on his chest, and one of his thighs had parted my knees and was pressed against me.