He caught soft flickers of orange reflecting through the cracked front windows, and anticipation surged. Because those flickers were flames. From a fireplace.
She was here.
He strode toward the main door, avoiding the steps and leaping directly onto the covered patio. His footsteps echoed across the stillness, and as he opened the door, a bell chimed softly.
The front room was small, holding a reception desk on the right side and a curved staircase that led up to the first floor landing on the other. Straight ahead, through an open set of doors, was a huge communal room filled with sheet-covered sofas and chairs. At the end of the room was the fire he'd seen. The fireplace was huge, dominating half the back wall.
The scent of dust and age teased his nostrils, but underneath it was the erotic aroma of woman. His woman.
She wasn't in the immediate area, though. Her scent would have been far stronger if she were.
"Vannah?" His voice seemed to hang in the quiet, a note of fierce longing and desire.
"If you want me, wolf, you have to find me." Her voice had a tinny quality, yet it still contained a low note that sent his pulse racing. He looked over his shoulder and saw the small two-way radio sitting on the window frame.
He picked the unit up and pressed the button. "And what do I get when I do?"
"As long as you're naked, whatever you want."
The heat in his body just about exploded. He wanted her now, not in ten minutes. Not in two minutes. Now.
"Why the games, Vannah?"
"Why not? Don't expect it easy, Cade, just because I once was."
)
