Bryce moved silently down the hallway, stepping carefully over the sixth step as he went down the stairs, having earlier made a note of the fact that step had creaked when he carried Bella up here.
His eyesight had become fully adjusted to the darkness by the time he reached the ground floor. Which was just as well because the only light still on downstairs was the one in the kitchen over the cooker.
The kitchen itself was empty.
As was the formal dining room.
Also the downstairs bathroom.
Which only left the main lounge.
And the sound of Bella moving about upstairs in what she no doubt believed was stealth but wasn’t.
Completely ignoring Bryce’s instruction by doing so.
Admittedly, she could just be pulling on some clothes before waiting for him to return to the bedroom, but Bryce somehow doubted that. Bella was one willful handful, and Bryce couldn’t wait to get his hands back on her delectable bottom when he reprimanded her for disobeying him.
Maybe he was a bit of a Dom after all?
If that was the case, then he was a frustrated one at the moment, his cock hard and throbbing uncomfortably behind the zip of his jeans while the woman he wanted was upstairs dressing rather than waited naked for his return.
The sitting room was in complete darkness apart from a pale golden glow coming from the streetlight on the pavement outside. It was enough for Bryce to see a man dressed in dark clothing moving stealthily about the room, although he obviously had no idea what the other man’s reason was for doing so—
The overhead light was switched on so suddenly, it should have blinded them, but Bryce’s years of training meant he was far more prepared for it than the other man. A blond-haired man who had stilled like a deer caught in the headlights of a car as he stared at Bryce, before his gaze moved to a fully dressed Bella as she stepped into the room to stand beside Bryce.
Her expression was one of furious accusation as she glared at the stranger. She wore a light blue sweater and faded denims, her hair pulled up in an untidy ponytail. “What the hell are you doing in my house, Sean?”
Bryce’s brows rose. This was Sean Wilton? Detective Inspector Sean Wilton?
The other man was as tall and possibly the same age as Bryce, with short, perfectly styled fair hair and dark brown eyes. He wore a black polo shirt over a wide and muscular chest, shoulders, and tapered waist, along with fitted black jeans.
No doubt most women would consider him to be a handsome man.
Including Bella at one time, Bryce reminded himself irritably.
That might be so, but it wasn’t true anymore, so what the hell was the other man doing inside, creeping about Bella’s house in the darkness?
Several answers to that question occurred to Bryce, none of them good. The primary one being that this was Bella’s stalker. Bryce needed to know if the incidents to frighten Bella had started happening before or after she stopped going out with the other man.
Bella couldn’t believe Sean had broken into her house. Or help but wonder if it was the first time he had done so. Or if he was the one responsible, after all, for the panties and dead rat being put through her letter box, as well as the spray paint on her car.
Bryce had warned her that the incidents could escalate rather than go away, as she had been hoping. Breaking into her house was certainly an escalation.
But could Sean really be the one responsible for dong those other disturbing things?
The only thing Bella knew for sure right now was that Sean was in her house, standing in her sitting room, and not by her invitation.
She frowned. “How did you get in here?”
Sean appeared to have recovered from whatever initial advantage Bella had taken by switching on the overhead light so suddenly. The tension had left his shoulders, and his lips now curved into a sensual smile. “I let myself in with the key you gave me.” He straightened to put his hand into his jeans pocket before showing her that key in the palm of his hand. “I got off work early and came over to surprise you.” His dark gaze flickered over the bare-chested man standing beside her. “I didn’t expect to find you with another man.”
Bella shook her head. “I didn’t give you a key to my house.”
“Of course you did,” Sean chided.
“No, I didn’t,” she bit out through clenched teeth, very aware that Bryce hadn’t spoken a word since she’d entered the room and was now watching the two of them through narrowed lids.
Did Bryce believe her when she said she hadn’t given Sean a key? Or did he believe Sean was the one telling the truth and she was still involved with the other man, when just minutes ago, she and Bryce had been upstairs making love with each other?
Sean turned to pick something up from the coffee table. “I bought you some red roses to mark our three-month anniversary.”
Bella stared blankly at the bouquet of flowers, feeling as if she had gone to sleep and woken up in a parallel universe. One where she had forgotten she and Sean were dating and instead almost gone to bed with Bryce. Almost? They might not have actually been in the bed, but Bella had definitely shared a closer intimacy with Bryce than she ever had with any other man.
Including Sean!
It had been a traumatic day, not least because she had met up with her brother, Matteo, again after so many years of estrangement, but Bella was pretty sure she and Sean had stopped dating two months ago, nor had they ever been intimate together. Whereas her body still ached with arousal and she had only to look at Bryce to remember the intimacy of having his mouth and hands on her.
She gave a firm shake of her head. “I think you’re delusional or must have hit your head on something, because I certainly never gave you a key to my house.” Which begged the question, how had Sean acquired one? “Nor is it our three-month anniversary, because we only went out to dinner three times and stopped going out at all two months ago.”
Sean gave Bryce another frowning glance before his attention returned to Bella. “You’re only saying that because you’re embarrassed I walked in on you with another man. Especially when the two of you both smell strongly of sex.” His nostrils flared with distaste.
Bella felt her cheeks blaze with color. Not because of Sean’s accusation, but because of the possessiveness he was displaying in front of Bryce after she had assured him she was no longer seeing the detective.
The situation wasn’t helped by the fact Bryce looked totally debauched dressed only in those faded jeans, the top button left unfastened and revealing the silky dark hair leading down to the bulge that was his cock behind the denim.
Bella dragged her gaze away. “Sean, we aren’t still going out, and I did not give you a key to my house,” she insisted firmly.
“Of course we are and you did. I let myself in and out all the time,” he dismissed.
The possibility that might be true made Bella feel sick “No—”
“Then how did I get the key, and why would I bring red roses to surprise you on our anniversary?” he reasoned.
Yep, definitely in a parallel universe.
“I have no idea,” she snapped, her patience wearing extremely thin, and not least because Sean’s comments made it sound like she had lied to Bryce. “But I would appreciate it if you would leave now—minus the key to my house, of course—and take your roses with you.”
Sean gave her a chiding smile. “Look, I can’t say I’m happy at coming here and finding you with another man but that’s for the two of us to sort out. After your guest has left,” he added in a hard voice.
Bella gave Bryce a beseeching glance, silently begging him not to leave her alone with this madman. Because there was something seriously wrong with this scenario, and despite her earlier thoughts, she was pretty sure it wasn’t her.
She only hoped Bryce saw her expression for exactly what it was: a plea for help.
Bryce had watched and listened to Sean Wilton’s claims that Bella had given the other man a key to her house and he was in the habit of letting himself in whenever he chose.
The bouquet of roses the other man held was supposedly to mark their anniversary.
Bryce didn’t believe a word the other man had to say!
He didn’t need the pallor of Bella’s cheeks or the beseeching look in her eyes to know she had been completely truthful with him today. In the case of her brother, it had been a painful truth. But still, Bella hadn’t shied away from revealing it. Bryce didn’t believe she had told him lies about Wilton either.
So what was the other man doing here?
And even if Wilton did have a key to the house Bella had given to him in the past and which he hadn’t yet returned to her, as the two of them were no longer dating, the other man should have at least tried ringing the doorbell or knocking on the door first before letting himself in.
But at the base of all that was Bella’s vehement denial of ever having given the other man a key.
Of the two, Bryce was definitely inclined to believe Bella’s version of events.
His expression was one of challenge as he looked at the other man. “I believe Bella said she would like you to give her back her door key, pick up your roses, and take them with you when you leave.”
Wilton’s eyes darkened. “You obviously aren’t aware of who I am—”
“I know exactly who and what you are,” Bryce assured him dryly. “Being a policeman, a detective inspector, makes your having entered Bella’s home without her permission even more unacceptable.”
An angry flush darkened Wilton’s cheeks. “I have a key—”
“Which you acquired without Bella’s permission and which you are about to hand over to me.” Bryce held his hand out, palm up.
The anger turned to a dark scowl as the other man’s fingers tightened about the piece of metal rather than relinquished it. “Who the hell are you, and what makes you think you can order me around?”
Bryce could hear the edge of arrogance and deep irritation in the other man’s tone as Wilton’s smooth self-confidence and charm began to slip. “My brothers and I own Steele Protectors, a private security company. But more importantly, I’m Bella’s friend,” he bit out hardly. “Are you the person who has been putting things through her letter box followed by spray-painting her car? Because if so, I think you should be aware I don’t take kindly to your having terrorized her in this way.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Did it sound as if I was?”
“Yes.”
“Then I guess that’s what I was doing, yes,” Bryce confirmed mildly.
Wilton gave a snort before turning to Bella. “What things were put through your letter box? And why didn’t you call me? I would have come straight over.” He placed the roses on the coffee table before taking a step toward Bella, only to come to an abrupt halt when Bryce moved to stand protectively in front of her. Wilton’s jaw tightened, hands clenching into fists at her sides. “Get the fuck out of my way.”
Bryce could visibly see the crack widening in the other man’s pleasant façade. “Give me the key, pick up your roses, and leave.”
“And if I don’t?” Wilton sneered.
A nerve pulsed in Bryce’s clenched jaw. “Then I’ll take out the trash—namely you—myself. I don’t think so.” He calmly caught the fist Wilton swung at him before twisting the other man’s arm behind his back, exerting pressure on the back of the other man’s hand where he knew it would hurt the most. He removed the key from between Wilton’s fingers before pushing it into the pocket of his jeans. “Say goodbye to Bella,” he advised as he frog-marched the still struggling man across the room toward the open doorway.
“Bella is mine!” Wilton protested.
“I think you’ll find Bella belongs to herself,” Bryce assured him lightly. “Stay here,” he advised her softly.
The other man reached out to grasp hold of the doorframe with his free hand. “Bella, tell him—”
“Goodbye, Sean.” Bella spoke calmly, but inwardly, she felt sick and slightly shaky from all the unpleasantness and Sean’s strange behavior.
She had never seen any sign of imbalance in Sean before tonight, either personal or professional. But his coming here now, letting himself in with a key, and bringing roses with him—supposedly to mark the anniversary of them having been together for three months—was definitely not normal behavior.
How the hell did Sean have possession of a key to her house in the first place?
The only time he had been here before tonight—that she knew of—was when Bella had invited him back for coffee the second evening they had been out for dinner together. Considering he had only stayed long enough to drink that coffee and her door key had been safely stowed away in her handbag the whole time after letting them in, she found it difficult to believe he had acquired a copy of her front door key then.
Except…
She had left Sean alone in the sitting room for a few minutes while she went to the kitchen to make the coffee, and there was the possibility she might have left her handbag on a chair in there while she was gone. Could Sean have somehow made a copy of her house key then?
However Sean had got the key didn’t explain why he was bringing her red roses to mark a three-month anniversary of them being together when that anniversary didn’t exist and she hadn’t given him a key to her house.
Bella straightened when she heard the front door slam closed, hopefully behind Sean as he left.
Which now only left facing Bryce.
Only?
Hah!
But as the seconds and then minutes ticked by with no sign of Bryce returning, Bella began to wonder if he had decided to leave too.