She gripped the edge of the bookcase and started pulling. “There’s a secret room.”
My heart tripped. “No, there is not.”
She waved me up the stairs. “There is.”
I took the stairs two at a time. “I’ve always dreamed of a secret room. Is it Narnia?”
TJ laughed. “All I can see are cobwebs right now, but it’s impressive.” The bookcase scraped the rug as if it hadn’t been opened for some time, but with effort, we managed to get it open enough for both of us to slip through. TJ clicked her flashlight. “Damn, it might just be a tunnel.”
Gutted, I huffed out a whine. “Really?”
“It looks like the tunnel splits off though. Maybe we’ll get lucky. You go down that way.”
I peered around her down the not-so-clean hallway. “By myself?”
“Yes, you, baby.”
“Fine.” I rubbed my palms on my thighs then turned on the torch on my phone. I tried not to think about what could be crawling around my feet or hanging down from the low ceilings. Instead, I walked super fast until I came to a slim rectangle with sunlight coming through the cracks. Another door, maybe? I shoved my phone back in my pocket then felt around and shivered at the dust and cobwebs that settled around me.
Finally, I found a lever and the hinge swung the door forward.
I stumbled into the tower room, and I swallowed my tongue as Nolan twisted halfway at my entrance. It was similar to the day I’d seen him in the Airstream. Only this time, the sun was outlining every glorious inch of him. He was only wearing a pair of jeans and his boots. His legs were braced apart for balance and his shirt was tucked into his back pocket.
My gaze drifted down the tapered expanse of skin to the gap in his jeans. His scar traveled down his chest, but what was more startling was the swath of grafted skin that made a macabre web of scars that dipped into the waistband of his jeans.
He frowned down at me. “Where the hell did you come from?”
“Surprise.” I didn’t realize how tight my grip was on the frame of the bookcase until I let go and the blood flooded my fingers. “You have a hidden tunnel that starts on the second landing of the stairs.”
It was hot as hell up here without central air or the ability to open the windows and sweat gleamed on every inch of him.
He grabbed his shirt from his back pocket and pulled it on then slid under the bar of the scaffolding he’d set up around the window for the inspection.
Scaffolding I’d never climb on in a million years.
“What were you doing up there?”
He hopped down and the floor thundered under the solid weight of him.
“Okay, can we not do that before we’re sure the floor can handle it?”
He ignored me. “Show me.”
“Show you what?”
“The secret tunnel.”
“Right.” Good grief, he probably thought I was soft in the head. I tried to calm my heart rate as I slipped back through the secret doorway. I couldn’t help but remember the last time he’d been this close to me. And the heat of him made my skin feel too tight. “Might be a tight fit.”
He grunted behind me. “Made for some Victorian dude with a wasting disease.”
I snorted and snaked my way around the bend and paused at the crack of sunlight showing. “TJ?”
“Through here,” she called out.
“Where did you end up?” I asked.
“Wait until you see this.” TJ’s voice was excited.
Nolan gripped my hip, his thumb trailing over the bit of skin showing between my shirt and jeans. “Easy. There’s a nail.”
“Thanks.” I tamped down the shiver and scooted forward to where the light poured into the tunnel. I gasped at the threshold.
I’d never seen this room. I wasn’t sure it was even on the blueprints. Plenty of houses had done renovations without a permit, especially in the 1800s. The space was all bookshelves from floor to ceiling, and included books. Dust and spiderwebs hugged the corners, but the leather reading chair looked as if it had been stuck in time.
Suddenly, a dozen books fell forward and thudded to the floor.
“Oh, shit.” TJ jumped, stumbling back toward the staircase.
More books slid off the shelves to clatter to the floor.
Nolan curled his arm around me and stuffed me behind him. He peered up at the bookcases. “Do you think they aren’t level?” he asked TJ.
“Maybe. It was fine when I got in here, but could be. Pretty sure no one’s been in this room in decades.”
Without warning, a book flew towards us. That definitely wasn’t from a crooked floor.
Nolan shoved me through the doorway into the hallway. Another thudded against the bookcase beside the doorway. “All right. Everyone out.”
