Crazy in Love (Blue Lake #3)(2)

“Holy f*ck!” a man screamed from upstairs. “Cold! It’s f*cking ice—cold!”

Out of instinct, she ran to the first landing and yelled, “You have to let it warm up first!”

More cursing blared from the direction of the bathroom.

“Hello?” she called. “Excuse me!”

“Coldcoldcoldcold.” Someone hopped around over the tile. “What the hell kind of place is this? Rita didn’t say shit about cold showers.”

Definitely not a thief.

She trudged up the stairs and stopped when she reached the top.

“I’m going to kill her!” he hollered.

Murderer, then.

“Who’s there?” Her hands slickened with sweat and when she turned the corner into the hallway, the knife slipped from her fingers. She bent to pick it up, and when she stood upright, a man stood in the middle of the hallway…buck freaking naked. She gasped, averting her gaze, but she’d already seen enough. Rock hard body. Golden skin dripping wet. Hung like a horse.

Wouldn’t get that sight out of her head for a while.

“Rachael, I presume?” he said.

She nodded, shielding her eyes from his manhood. “And you are?”

“Not here to hurt you. You can put away the knife.”

Wasn’t that what every killer would say to disarm a woman? She held it up, just in case.

“Listen,” he said, covering his junk with his hands. “I’ve got a lot of flesh showing and you’re wielding a knife around. Those two don’t mesh. Why don’t you put that away so we can introduce ourselves properly? I’m Cole Turner, your guest for the next few days. I believe you were expecting me.”

The worry in her mind eased, but her body remained tight. On high alert. “Rachael McCoy.”

“Nice to meet you.”

He held out his hand, exposing himself.

She yelped, covering her eyes once more. “There’s a robe hanging on the back of the door.”

“Robes are for women.”

She pinched her eyes shut, but images of his soaking wet bod kept flashing through her head. “Okay, then. Nice to meet you, Mr. Turner. I wasn’t expecting you until later, but everything should already be good to go. I’m going to start dinner—it should be sexy in about an hour if you want to meet downstairs in the dining room.”

“Sexy?”

She blocked the lower half of his body with her hand and met his honey-brown eyes. They were narrowed. Hungry. Like a predator eyeing its prey.

“Excuse me?” she said, repressing a shiver.

“You said dinner should be sexy in an hour.”

“No, I said it’d be ready.”

He nodded, smirking. “My mistake.”

“I can show you around the place, if you’d like,” she said, her face flushing hot, “or you can check it out yourself. There are five bedrooms upstairs, and four downstairs, one bathroom on each level.”

“I saw that,” he grumbled. “I also noticed the freezing cold water. Does it ever get warm, or do I have to bathe in a glacier every morning?”

“You have to let it run for a few minutes first.” She started down the stairs, fighting the urge to steal one more glance at his body. “And you probably won’t have much hot water when it warms up, so I suggest you bathe quickly.”

“Thanks for the tip. And, hey, sorry about scaring you. The side door to the den was open and I was filthy. I didn’t think you’d mind if I showered.”