Chapter 99: She Found It

KNOX’S POV

I didn’t even make it three blocks down Oakwood before I slammed my foot on the brake. The truck jerked to a violent halt at the curb.

I rested my forehead against the steering wheel, my chest heaving with ragged breaths. ’What the hell is wrong with you, Sheridan?’

I had literally just left a brand-new, luxury vibrator sitting in a half-open cardboard box right beneath my nightstand.

In a room where Nora Bennett was currently waking up alone.

’What if she accidentally finds it?’ my brain screamed at me. ’What if she sees the box with my name on the courier label, and think I’m some kind of manipulative, depraved pervert?’

"Fuck," I snarled out loud.

I checked my rearview mirror, cranked the steering wheel hard to the left, and whipped the truck around in a screeching U-turn.

I sped back toward the apartment, killing the ignition thirty yards before the driveway so the loud, rumbling exhaust wouldn’t alert her. I coasted quietly into the gravel, hopped out of the cab, and shut the truck door.

My heart was thudding against my ribs like a trapped puck.

The plan was simple: sneak inside, pad up to my room in my socks, grab the box from under the nightstand, shove it into my gym bag, and haul ass to the arena before Coach Brennan noticed I was missing from the nine o’clock film review.

I slid my key into the deadbolt of the front door, turned it slowly until the lock disengaged without a sound, and slipped into the foyer. I kicked off my sneakers at the mat, leaving me in just my socks so my footsteps wouldn’t creak on the hardwood.

The SinBin was completely silent.

I took the stairs two at a time, moving like a ghost up to the second-floor hallway, zeroing in on the door of Room 2B.

I reached out, wrapped my fingers around the brass handle, and turned it but it didn’t budge.

I blinked, my brow furrowing in confusion.

I gave the handle another gentle tug but it was obviously locked from the inside.

Why would she lock the door?

I paused, leaning in slightly, my hand still resting against the cool metal of the knob. And then, through the solid wood, a sound reached my ears.

A faint, steady, whisper-soft hum.

Bzzzz... bzzzz...

My breath caught in my throat; every muscle in my body went rigid.

And then came the voice like a muffled, ragged, breathless whimper, drifting through the keyhole: "Knox... please..."

The universe tilted on its axis.

A shockwave of pure, molten heat slammed straight through my chest, rushing down to my groin with such electrifying force that my vision blurred.

Holy shit.

She found it.

She’s using it right now.

And she is begging for ME.

My knuckles turned white against the wooden doorframe. My heart was pounding so hard against my ribs I thought it would crack bone.

Every single primal, territorial instinct in my body screamed at me to kick that door off its hinges, throw Nora onto that mattress, and finish what she had started with my own hands.

My jaw clenched until my teeth ached, my breath coming in ragged, painful gasps.

’No,’ I forced myself to think, dragging my hands back from the wood. ’Don’t you dare.’

She had locked the door for privacy. She was exploring something she had been denied her entire life, in my bed, in my clothes, calling my name into the dark.

If I barged in now, I’d humiliate her. I’d ruin the one safe space she had.

I swallowed hard, fighting against the wave of desire threatening to consume me. I took a slow, silent step backward on the runner carpet.

’Give her space,’ I told myself, turning around toward the staircase. ’Get in the truck and get to the arena.’

I had just taken two quiet steps down the wooden stairs when...

BANG!

The front door downstairs slammed open against the foyer wall with enough force to rattle the windows. I froze dead on the steps, my heart leaping straight into my throat.

Bear carelessly kicked the door shut with his boot, humming some loud rap song under his breath. He dumped his hockey gear bag onto the foyer bench with a loud thud and headed straight past the staircase into the kitchen to raid the refrigerator.

A spike of pure panic pierced through my chest.

’Bear is in the house.’

If Bear decided to walk up to his room, or if he walked up the stairs to grab something from me, he would hear that buzzing through the wood. He would hear Nora.

I didn’t think; I reacted.

I turned around on the staircase and bolted back up the wooden steps at full speed, my feet pounding against the treads:

THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD.

I cleared the second-floor landing in three massive strides, hit the door of Room 2B, and grabbed the brass handle, rattling it violently against the deadbolt.

I made as much noise as humanly possible, shouting at the top of my lungs to drown out any sound coming from inside:

"Nora?! Nora, are you in there? Why the hell is the door locked?!"

Downstairs in the kitchen, the sound of cupboard doors slamming paused. I gave the handle another aggressive shake, leaning my forehead against the wood.

"Nora, open up!" I yelled, making my voice sound completely panicked and out of breath. "I forgot my team playbook on the nightstand... I just need to grab it before Coach Brennan kills me! Nora, are you okay in there?!"

From inside the room, I heard frantic scuffling.

A muffled thud, the desperate rustle of bedsheets, and a tiny, breathless gasp.

Downstairs, the kitchen sink turned on. Bear was rinsing a protein shaker, completely uninterested in my hallway drama.

I stood outside Room 2B, my hands planted on the doorframe, panting hard. My body was still aching with a brutal, throbbing erection that strained against the front of my sweatpants.

Five agonizing seconds ticked by.

Then, the soft, metallic click of the deadbolt disengaged and the door slowly swung open a few inches.

I pushed it open the rest of the way, stepping quickly across the threshold, and my breath was knocked clean out of my lungs.

Nora was standing in the center of the room.

She had my oversized grey number nineteen hoodie pulled down over her thighs, the collar hanging off one shoulder, exposing the curve of her collarbone. Her chestnut hair was a gorgeous, tousled halo of curls. Her lips were parted, swollen, and shining pink.

And her face was burning in the most magnificent, molten crimson I had ever seen in my life.

She was panting softly, her small chest rising and falling in rapid, uneven hitches as she clutched the hem of my sweater with white-knuckled fingers.

"Here’s your... playbook, Sheridan," Nora breathed in a raspy voice, trembling as she tried desperately to look innocent.

I didn’t say a word.

I reached behind my back, pulled the bedroom door firmly shut until it clicked, and turned the brass deadbolt into place.

Click.

We were completely locked in.

Downstairs, the faint hum of the blender started up in the kitchen.

I turned back to Nora, my eyes slowly trailing down from her flushed cheeks to the floor.

Right beside my mahogany nightstand, sitting out in the open sunlight on the dark wool rug, was the brown cardboard courier carton, its flaps wide open. Beside it sat the blush-pink velvet box.

And from beneath the mountain of pillows on my bed, muffled under dark down feathers... was a faint, persistent hum that was still vibrating softly into the quiet room.

Bzzzz... bzzzz...

The air between us grew impossibly thick.

I took a slow step forward, crowding into her space until she was forced to take a step back, her back pressing flat against the closed bedroom door.

I braced my left hand against the wood right beside her head, towering over her, looking down into her wide, panicked hazel eyes.

A slow, wicked smirk tugged at my lips as my voice dropped into that dark, gravelly tone meant only for her. "I see you found your gift, Bennett."

Nora’s breath hitched in her throat. She looked down at the floorboards, her cheeks flaming bright red as she stammered: "I... I was looking for a wall outlet to charge my phone! I bumped into the box by accident! I wasn’t snooping, Knox, I swear... I barely even touched it..."

I leaned in closer, my mouth hovering inches from her ear, the heat radiating off her skin making my blood roar.

"Is that so?" I rumbled softly, tilting my head toward the buzzing pillow on the bed. "Then why were you moaning my name into my sheets?"