Texas Showdown. Barb Han

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СКАЧАТЬ tore from Maria’s throat. There was no way he was going to chance this thing slipping out of its trap.

      Maria was next to him in a heartbeat, handing him full bottles of shampoo and conditioner. He piled them on top of the basket, along with a soap dispenser and lotion bottle.

      “That should do the trick while I get ahold of animal control.” He turned around and his pulse pounded for a different reason. She was standing there, essentially naked, her delicately bronzed skin slick with water from the tub. The fingers on her right hand were white, clutching a towel against her chest, but the thin material fell in a straight line and water dripped from her soft curves.

      Austin did his level best to force his gaze away and refocus on the basket, and failed.

      She picked up on his actions. Stepping back and wrapping the towel around her, she secured the top edge. He didn’t want to notice that her pulse pounded at her throat. Or see the exposed parts that had given them both so much pleasure.

      He fished his smartphone out of his front pocket and looked up animal control in Austin. He couldn’t help it that his back teeth were clenched so tight he almost couldn’t open his mouth to speak. Pretty much all of his muscles corded and his shoulders were so tense he thought his muscles might snap. A large part of that had to do with the snake. And then there was Maria. He missed her from a place he’d shut down when she walked out and for reasons so much more than just her body. Although, having her standing there naked was a sore reminder of...

      Austin planted his free hand against the wall.

      “I’ll just get dressed,” Maria said.

      “Fine,” he bit out a little harsher than he’d expected. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

      Maria returned a few minutes later with her hair pulled up in a ponytail, standing on the other side of the door. She wore pale pink jogging shorts and a similar-colored tank top. He tried not to notice how much the light colors contrasted against her bronzed skin. The necklace he’d given her for their first anniversary was clasped around her neck. She must’ve forgotten that she’d stopped wearing it last year.

      “Someone’s on the way from animal control,” he said, his voice a little huskier than he’d intended.

      “Good.” She ran her hands on the outside of her arms with a shiver, keeping her gaze on the basket. “I can’t wait for that thing to get out of here.”

      “We need to call building maintenance and let them know what’s going on,” he said, forcing his eyes away from her heart-shaped rosy lips. Sexual thoughts were out of line under the circumstances.

      “Right,” she said, looking like she was trying to mentally shake off the experience. A full-body shiver rocked her as she stood in the doorjamb. “Dave will want to be informed about this, but I’m not leaving until I know that thing is gone.”

      Austin knew that she wouldn’t sleep again until she had searched every inch of the place to make sure there were no others.

      “How’d that thing get in here?” Maria was still shaking but tried to cover by rubbing her arms, her nervous tell.

      “That’s a good question because they aren’t from anywhere around here,” he stated. Austin knew a lot about snakes thanks to his upbringing on the ranch.

      “As in out of Texas or the Southwest?” Maria’s voice hitched.

      “More like out of this country. I’ve never seen anything like it in Texas,” he said flatly. He pulled up the internet on his phone and input a description. “This one’s found in parts of Africa, places in the Middle East, and India.”

      “Oh.” Her mind seemed to be racing, clicking through possibilities. She latched on to the question he’d been asking himself for the past ten minutes. “Why would an exotic snake be in my apartment?”

      His first thought was most likely the same as hers based on her knowing expression. He rubbed the scruff on his chin. “I locked the door when I left and opened it with the key when I returned.”

      “Were there any signs that it had been tampered with?” she asked.

      “Nothing that was obvious to me. At least, I thought it was locked. I’m not certain.”

      Her brow shot up.

      Yeah. I know. He was giving away the fact that he wasn’t familiar with the loft. All this pretending was for the birds. The only thing he didn’t have to fake was his very real attraction and need to protect her. Even after all this time and heartache, that magnetic force still made the earth shift under his boots when she was close.

      “There’s a chance the door could’ve already been unlocked and I didn’t catch it,” he admitted. Austin held his hand up in defense of her reaction. The place was new to him and he’d been carrying a bag of takeout, so he hadn’t listened for a click. He’d stuck the key in the lock, turned it a couple of times and walked inside. He hadn’t been sure of the direction he needed to twist in order to unlock the door and now he was cursing himself for his carelessness.

      “Let’s assume it was locked for a minute,” she said. “Who else would have a key?”

      “Building maintenance, for one, which is obvious.” Austin sidestepped the other apparent answer...her fiancé. Surely, the guy wouldn’t want to hurt the woman he planned to marry.

      He started to make a move for the long table near the door to see if there was a list of neighbors or friends inside a drawer but Maria’s reaction stopped him from leaving the bathroom.

      “Please stay right there until someone comes to pick that thing up.” She motioned toward the basket with a shiver.

      He nodded.

      “I find it hard to believe that Dave would sneak inside our house and slip a snake inside the bathroom while I was taking a bath.”

      Austin tensed at the reminder of her being in this room a few minutes ago naked and in the bath.

      “What’s wrong?” Maria’s forehead crinkled in the cutest way when she was concerned.

      “It’s nothing worth saying out loud.” His focus needed to stay on the deadly snake and not drift where it didn’t belong, like thoughts of Maria with nothing on.

      She shot him a look but he had no intention of explaining.

      “We’ll canvass the neighbors. See if anyone saw anything,” she said.

      “What about security cameras? Are there any in the building?” He hadn’t thought to check earlier, but then he hadn’t needed to know before now.

      “Yeah, but I’ve never had luck with the images from security footage, so I wouldn’t be too hopeful. Based on the age of the cameras in the hallway I can already tell it’ll be too grainy.” Maria had regained her composure as she seemed to switch gears into investigative mode. Her ability to close off her emotions had made her great at doing her job. And now he could see that it had contributed to the undoing of their relationship, too.

      Austin was beginning to have doubts that any event in the past week had been random. And that meant talking to her fiancé given that a woman’s biggest threat was the people СКАЧАТЬ