“Shhh!” he whispered, pulling me close tohim. I could feel his heart pound against my chest and his shallowbreath on my neck. Heat permeated through me. Once I gained mysenses, I said, “Sorry, this spot is already taken.” I had to getinto the mansion, alone.
He pulled back and looked at me. “I thoughtyou were vacating it.”
My face reddened. “I had already chosen thisspot, but realized I needed to use the bathroom, so I was going totry to make it inside and back in time for a sneak win. Seriously,the guy is so far from the can, anyone could beat him there.”
“You think you can beat Austin until youfind out how fast he is. He’s the wide receiver for a rec footballteam. They nicknamed him Wind.”
I totally wanted to take him up on theimplied challenge, the competitive part of me burning to win, but Iknew it would make it more difficult for me to complete my missiontonight. I had to stick with the bathroom excuse.
I looked him straight in the eye and said,“Maybe I’ll give him a run for his money when I get back.”
His firm grip on me relaxed. I croucheddown, and he followed suit.
“Cross your fingers for me.”
“Maybe I should go with you,” he said.
“How embarrassing would that be? No, justwait here. When you see me next, I’ll be kicking the can invictory.”
He let go. I turned, and after checking thearea again, I slunk up next to the house, slid along the exteriorstones and through the door. I kept it slightly ajar and movedquickly to the west wing and up the stairs, not running into asoul. I could hear clanging of dishes and muted voices coming fromthe dining hall as I passed, but I thought it interesting that noone stood guard anywhere like earlier. A place like this called forsecurity guards, didn’t it? That’s when I realized I must be oncamera.
I changed my whole demeanor, acting like Ibelonged, relaxed and calm. I looked all around and murmured, “Ishould have asked where the bathroom was. Maybe up here.” I startedup the stairs, running my hand over the intricately carved wood ofthe banister and singing a popular song under my breath, hopingthat helped turn away the attention of the security guy who wassure to be following my progress. Please let me find thebedrooms camera free.
I tried the first door to my right. Locked.Then I tried the next one, and it was locked, too. All the while, Iscanned the area for cameras and found no hint of any, but Iproceeded as if there were some. I crossed the hall to the door Ihoped led to Jericho’s room and turned the knob. Voilà—itopened. I pushed my way in.
The room was like a huge, open apartment.Viktor had been right. I spotted the bathroom right away and usedit, just to keep up pretenses in case there were cameras in theroom. I used the opportunity to get the bugs ready so that I couldeasily place them. I made my way to Jericho’s windows and lookedout over the game. I couldn’t see much because it was so dark, butoccasionally I saw someone move here or there. I was walking a fineline. I didn’t want security to be suspicious about what I wasdoing in his room, but I thought it would be more realistic if Iacted as if I was in awe of everything. I brushed my hand overthings, planting several of the listening bugs that way—on hiscouch, his lampshade, by his door, all in places the staff would beunlikely to accidentally come upon.
Then I went back to the window, took onelast look and headed over to the door. It cracked open. I hurriedunder the bed in a panic. Only then did it occur to me that itwould cast suspicion on me. I felt like a total idiot and was goingto climb out, ready with an explanation that I was looking for anearring, when the bed bounced above me. Whoever it was had justjumped on the bed. It couldn’t be the guards, could it?
Then I heard the giggles and knew it must bea few kids hooking up. I rolled my eyes and shimmied toward the endof the bed to escape. I thought I’d have to crawl along the floorto prevent notice, but I quickly discovered the two people in thebed wouldn’t notice me if I were a train barreling through theroom. I stood up and walked out the door, carefully shutting itbehind me. Maybe there weren’t any cameras anywhere. Or perhapssecurity turned a blind eye during parties. It felt offsomehow.
I turned to walk down the hall and bumpedright into Viktor. “Ugh,” I said as air pushed out of my lungs. Hedidn’t move, just stood there like a solid wall, smiling at me.
“Not that kind of girl, huh?” He raised hiseyebrows and pushed me into the door.
Chapter 14
I made myself be rational. “I had to take mychance and get a look at his room. I decided to use the bathroomwhile here and when I came out, I had company.” It felt good tothink of showing him. At least he couldn’t use the room as he’dintended. I reached behind me and opened the door. When I stumbledin, I was surprised to see the couple look up at us. The two said,“Already taken, Viktor. Find your own room.”
He chuckled behind me and pulled me out ofthe room saying, “Have fun. Sorry to have disturbed you.” Then heturned to me. “No. I think you had your mind on something else.” Hetook me to the next door—one I hadn’t tried to open earlier. Ihoped it was locked. He tugged on the handle, pushing on the latch.The door didn’t budge.
Thank heavens.
He swore. “We’ll find somewhere else.”
I was about ready to yank my arm away fromhis grasp when I heard Carson’s voice.
“There you are. I was starting to wonder ifyou fell in.”
I chuckled quietly as Viktor let go of myarm. Carson deserved a huge kiss.
“Shouldn’t you be worrying about your owndate?” Viktor snarled.
“I couldn’t find her. I’ve been waiting forAmber
