I zipped my coat all the way to my chin and covered my hair with the hood. “I’m hungry and all you have in your house are frozen, nutritious chef meals. Besides, do you really want Knockemout gossiping about us like we’re some kind of grumpy-sunshine love story?”
“I’m the sunshine in that scenario,” he said confidently.
“You’re the delusional grump who never wants to settle down, especially not with the beautiful, charming, book nerd next door. I’m the perky, sunshiny heroine who believes in true love. Just not with you because I’m only using you for orgasms.”
He shook his head. “You’re going to miss those orgasms when you meet Mr. Right. There are some things only Mr. Wrong can deliver.”
“We’ll see about that.”
We headed outside, cutting across his driveway and the strip of snow-covered grass to my place.
The lights were on across the street, but there were no errant dog walkers or couples out for a romantic, arctic stroll.
I blew out a sigh of relief and jogged up the walk to my front porch, pulling Lucian with me.
“I think I have some chocolate chips in the pantry,” I said.
Suddenly, Lucian nabbed me around the waist and pulled me back.
“I take it chocolate chips make you horny?”
But he was positioning his body between me and the front door.
“Go back to my place,” he said, his voice cold.
“What? Why? What’s going on?”
I tried to peer around his broad back, but he spun and gripped me by the shoulders. “Do as I say.”
I saw it then, the morbid, nauseating pile of matted fur and long, fleshy tails. “Oh my God.”
On an oath, Lucian picked me up and marched me off the porch. He set me down on the walkway where I no longer had a clear view of the door.
“I don’t suppose that’s common behavior for rats,” I said, fighting the rising nausea.
“No, it isn’t,” he said sternly.
“Damn it. You better go back. I have to see a man about a pile of frozen rats.”
“No, you’re going back to my place, and I’m calling Nash.”
“If you call Nash, the chief of police will know that we were together tonight. Which means the rest of the town will know by morning. And they’ll be speculating about these threats. And you don’t live here anymore, but I do. I’m the one who’s going to have to deal with the attention.”
“Threats?” Lucian’s voice was deadly calm.
“I still think the first one was a joke. This is clearly an escalation over some vague note.” I was babbling. Apparently that was the effect a pile of dead rats had on me.
He didn’t say another word. No, Lucian Rollins merely tossed me over his shoulder and marched me back to his house while placing a call.
“Why am I just now finding out that she’s being threatened?” he snarled into the phone.
“Put me down, you big, gorgeous asshat!”
He ignored me.
“You’ll want to see what someone left for her on her front porch. Bring the biggest evidence bags you have.”
“Excuse me! This is kidnapping,” I said, pummeling his back with my gloved hands.
“If you don’t stop screeching, the entire neighborhood is going to come outside and witness this,” Lucian said.
I was fairly certain he was talking to me.
“That’s not relevant, and it’s not anyone’s business but my own,” he continued.
That was definitely meant for Nash.
“Meet me at my place. I have to tie her to a chair,” Lucian said.
“Nice going, Lucifer. Now Nash is going to tell Lina, and Lina’s going to tell Naomi, and Waylay is going to eavesdrop and tell Chloe, and my niece can’t keep her mouth shut if she’s underwater trying to swim.”
“Someone left a pile of dead rats on your porch, and your biggest concern is your niece telling everyone we’re seeing each other?”
He unlocked his front door and carried me over the threshold.
“We’re not seeing each other. We’re seeing each other naked.”
“I can explain,” I said to the group before anyone else could begin. “It’s just sex.”
Lucian slapped a gloved hand over my mouth. “Shut up before you piss me off even more.”
“Pay up,” Lina said, holding her hand out to Nash. The chief of police had responded with his fiancée, his brother, and his sister-in-law.
The six of us stood in my driveway while we waited for Sergeant Grave Hopper to show up with an evidence bag big enough for a pile of rodents.