Pure Hell (Seventh Level Book 1) Read Free Page B

though Liam couldn’t see the motion. “I was frozen with fear and shaking so hard I thought my teeth would shatter.”
    She paused as the memory of that night caused her stomach to clench. He’d cut into the wall slowly, taunting her in a sing-song voice.
    “I’m not sure why he didn’t kill me right then. Not that it matters now,” she added absently as Liam straightened away from his inspection before trailing through the other rooms. To her mind, there wasn’t much to see. Her coffee mug sat half-empty by the sink. In the laundry room, a basket full of freshly folded clothes waited to be put away. The bright yellow paint and book-lined shelves showed hints of a once peaceful home, but those things were marred by his arrival into her life.
    Liam opened her cabinets and sifted through her mail. In truth, Kylie was getting bored with the whole thing until he headed for the bedroom. She trailed along in his wake as he crossed into her private territory. She tried seeing things through his eyes. Her full-size bed was unmade. Kylie wondered if he could tell she didn’t sleep by the way her covers balled up at the foot of the bed and her pillow sat on the floor. Liam went straight to the picture sitting on her dresser and lifted the frame. Holding the eight-by-ten photo between his hands, he inspected it thoroughly. Kylie felt a pang of regret as she stared at the picture of a much younger version of her smiling face frozen forever in time. It had been sunny the day the picture was taken. She stood arm in arm with the sister who no longer acknowledged her. Why hadn’t she tried harder to reconnect with her before it was too late?
    “That’s my sister, Anne,” she said over Liam’s shoulder. “Of course, if you ask her, she’ll swear she’s never heard of me because she thinks I’m crazy. I haven’t spoken to her since a year before I moved from Nashville to New Orleans. At least here, I’m not considered an oddity.” Kylie swallowed hard. “For all I know, I have nieces and nephews. Not that she’d let me near them.”
    He set the frame down and moved to her closet. She hovered outside the door as he rifled through it.
    “Lord, this place is a mess,” she muttered under her breath.
    She hadn’t realized how bad it looked until someone else was staring at it. Piles of shoes were stacked haphazardly in the corner. More than half the clothes were off their hangers from where she changed her mind several times while trying on different outfits. Liam bent and picked up her favorite orange top. She shamelessly ogled his ass as he did so. She tried desperately not to picture the way it had clenched as he’d dried off with a towel after his shower but it was hard. Now it was encased in dark blue jeans hugging its perfect shape. When had it gotten so hot in her apartment she wondered as she fanned her face. Liam lifted the shirt to his face and inhaled deeply as if memorizing her scent.
    “Um, did you just sniff my shirt?”
    Liam’s mouth lifted in one corner and his eyes locked on the oak nightstand next to her bed.
    “Oh my God,” she said, sounding horrified to her own ears.
    He made a beeline for the table. On a burst of mortified speed, she reached it a half second after him. He tugged at the handle, opening the drawer an inch before she slammed it closed.
    “Don’t open that!” she cried.
    Liam froze with his fingers still wrapped around the knob. With a shrug, he jerked open the drawer exposing the inside. Dropping his chin to his chest, he stared down at the contents. Kylie threw herself down across the bed covering her face with her hands.
    She could feel the flush of embarrassment crawling over her skin. She didn’t doubt for a minute she was beet red.
    “Kill me now.”
    The bed dipped next to Kylie as Liam sat down barely missing her legs. The warmth of his hip pressing against her thigh felt solid.
    He chuckled as he began shuffling through the drawer. “Not such an innocent after