I bite the inside of my cheek. “Does anybody else live here?”
He shakes his head. “My mom lives in Boston and my dad’s in jail, so now it’s just me.”
“You have this huge house all to yourself?”
“Something like that.” He points to a nearly hidden area beside the pool house. “Just pull under that tree and park.”
It seems weird to park in the most isolated area of the yard, but I don’t question his logic as I pull forward and turn off the car. Once the headlights go out, the only light in the car is from the dim moon filtering through the clouds.
With dried mud still caked to my skin and clothes, I grab the bag of goodies and open the car door, scooting over as Daren and I repeat our getting-out-of-the-car-while-handcuffed routine. He’s seems to have more difficulty in the dark, grunting and cursing as he bangs his knees on the dashboard and knocks his head against the roof. I almost pity him.
I glance at his dark mansion.
Almost.
When we’re both out of the car, I grab my suitcase from the trunk before following him to the back of the house. Instead of heading to the back door, however, Daren moves to a window beside the door. Jiggling the frame, he pops the window out of place and slides it to the side. My wrist flops around next to his. Then he starts climbing in.
“What in the—what are you doing?” I say, completely confused.
He picks up my suitcase and tosses it inside along with the bag from the bakery. “I don’t have a key.”
“How do you not have a key to your own house?”
“It’s a long story,” he says half in and half out of the window.
“This is your house, right?” He doesn’t answer and I gasp. “Are we breaking into some rich guy’s place?” My voice grows louder. “Because I am NOT going to be an accomplice in your shady criminal behavior. We already have handcuffs on! If you think—”
He yanks me up against his body and closes his hand over my mouth as I warm against the hard muscles of his chest. “Would you keep it down?”
Teetering, I have to lean against his leg so I don’t fall over, which forces me to press even more of myself up against his broad frame. All I can think about as he stares at me in the moonlight is how pretty his long eyelashes are and how I’m really starting to like the smell of oranges—even though he’s breaking us into some rich guy’s house.
“I’m trying not to draw attention to us,” he says. “And you yelling isn’t helping.” He swallows and looks away. “And this is my home. Kinda. So you can calm down.” His fingers lightly brush against my throat as he lowers his hand from my mouth.
I can’t tell if the gentle touch was an accident or not, but my hungry body doesn’t care. It just wants him to do it again.
“This is ‘kinda’ your house?” I say, frustrated and turned on. “What the hell does that mean—oompf!”
He pulls me inside and I topple over the windowsill and into the house. He catches me before I fall to the floor but I’m already in a rage as I straighten in his arms.
“Are you crazy?” I glare at him, the tips of my breasts brushing against his chest as we stand face-to-face.
“No. I’m just in a hurry to get your loud mouth out of earshot from the neighbors.” He shuts the window behind us.
Looking around, I take in the inside of the mansion. It’s large and dark and…
Completely abandoned.
I turn and stare at him. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”