Barefoot and in my pajamas, I pad out of my room and head toward the kitchen. Everybody is asleep and the house is still and quiet. I switch on the light, get ice cream from the freezer, sit down, and slip a spoonful into my mouth.

Chunky Monkey ice cream.

Yes.

A big middle finger to Tamara and her lawyers and Lars and the whole world. Except of course for Jesse, Dad, Thunder, my mom, wherever she is. And Emma Jean too. And Butch. He’s a sweet guy. Well, maybe Chance as well. Okay, make it all the animals in the barn. Might as well include all the animals in the world. They’re innocent too.

I take another spoonful and hear a noise.

I turn my head toward the door, and sweet Jesus! Lars is standing there in a pair of old jeans and a white T-shirt; exactly the way he was dressed in my dream.

“Couldn’t sleep, huh?” he says.

I shake my head.

He nods and, coming into the room, takes a spoon from a drawer and then sits opposite me. I give the ice cream tub a push and he catches it as it slides toward him.

“What’s bugging you?” he asks, digging into the ice cream.

“Nothing.”

“Don’t ever play poker. You’ll lose your shirt.” He looks up at me. “Although, that would be a sight.”

My eyebrows rise. “Are you flirting with me?”

He slides the ice cream back toward me. “Isn’t that obvious?”

I catch the carton and frown. “What’s bugging you?”

He pulls a clean spoon out of his mouth. “Nothing,”

I fill my spoon with ice cream, push the carton toward him, and say, “You should stay away from the poker tables too.”

“I’m actually a very good poker player.”

I catch the tub that he passes back to me. “Are you saying I shouldn’t trust you?”

He grins, a wolfish, totally feral grin. “I wouldn’t trust any man with you, let alone me.”

Suddenly, the air in the room becomes thick. Confused and certain that we are talking about two totally different subjects, I gulp the ice cream in my mouth and blurt out, “I rode Thunder today.”

“I know. I saw you.”

I’m so shocked, I almost don’t catch the tub barreling toward me. “You did?’

He looks at me strangely and nods.

“Where were you?”

“In the study. I was wrong. You did very well.”

My cheeks heat up with pleasure.” I did do well, didn’t I?”

“Yup, you’re good with him. He’ll miss you when you’re gone.”

The atmosphere in the room changes again; fills with tension. He stares at me, his eyes like molten silver, his body rigid. I want to smile or say something, but I can’t move a muscle. He is like a magnet...or Dracula. Then he blinks and I look down into the ice cream tub. What the hell is going on here?

“You’ve set a record,” he says softly.

I dig into the ice cream. “For what?”

“You’ve gone nearly ten minutes without insulting me.”

I look at his smug expression and act instinctively. I flick the ice cream on my spoon in his direction. Bingo. It smacks him on the nose.

I can’t believe my aim is so accurate. He looks so shocked I start laughing and can’t stop. I clutch my belly and bend with laughter. He gets up and starts to come around to my side, but I am up on my feet and running. I run to the other side of the table and face him, still laughing but wary. He tries to chase me, but I am super-fast. We do two circles around the table. Once he changes direction, but I was prepared for it, and he gained not one inch on me.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

“I might believe it if you said it without cackling like a witch.”

That makes me laugh even harder.

He rips a couple of pieces of paper towel and holds them out to me. “Show me you’re sorry by cleaning up your mess.”

I lick my lips. All my laughter is gone. Like a robot, I walk toward him. A foot away from him, I take the bunched-up wad in his hand and lift it toward his face. He catches my wrist halfway and pulls me toward him. I look into his eyes. Oh, my God, he’s going to kiss me. Just like in my dream.

Suddenly, his eyes narrow.

“What?’ I whisper.

“Your eyes are green.”

It’s like a slap in my face. I feel my blood draining down to my toes. Oh, crap. What the hell am I up to? It’s that time of the night when men want some easy sex, and I’ve fallen right into it like a complete fool? I can’t believe I’m that stupid. Not after I just witnessed how batshit crazy Tamara really is.

I could have ruined everything just because Lars woke up wanting to get his dick wet. I blink as the horror of what would happen if I am unmasked hits my lust induced brain. Mrs. Carter has paid my dad’s hospital bills on good faith that I will complete this job successfully. Dangerous loan sharks are circling and I’m thinking about sex.

“Yeah,” I say as casually as I can. “My eyes turn color when I’m tired, or I don’t get enough sleep.” I force a smile onto my lips. “And that must be my cue to go back to bed.” I tug my arm out of his grip. “Goodnight, Lars.”

He doesn’t say anything, just watches me with a strange expression on his face. My body feels stiff and I know my movements are robotic, but I make myself walk away without turning back. When I get to my room, I close the door and lean against it.

That was a lucky escape, Cass. Don’t ever put yourself in that kind of situation again.