Page 27 of The Forbidden Secret

Did he know what I had found? I knew I had cleared the screen before he had a chance to see. I expected he would reactentirely differently if he learned what I had truly been doing with his generous gesture of getting me out of the house. He did not want me to know about his father or family, and though I wanted to ask him all the questions, I refrained.

So why was he acting so… unusual?

He reached a hand between us and ran a finger along my knee, then up my thigh slowly.

My breath caught.

“I’ve found from my history that women who read books like that are interested in experimenting in the bedroom.”

I peered down at the book I held and immediately dropped it on the desk as my cheeks heated. On the cover of the paperback, a shirtless man covered in tattoos reclined in a chair, his hips propped up just enough to show his clear sexual intentions. He stared into the camera as if eye-fucking the reader.

Oh no.

I had two options. Admit I wasn’t reading it, or go with it. If I admitted the truth, he would ask what I was doing on the computer, and I would have to lie to himagain.

“I thought something different would take my mind off of everything that’s happening.”

The lie felt sour, but his smirk deepened as he dropped his feet from the desk and scooted impossibly close to me, his finger still stroking up my thigh. “A distraction?” he clarified.

“Something like that.”

“Princess, if a distraction is what you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place.”

He wrapped his hand around both of my legs and pulled me to the edge of my chair. My legs spread around his as I forced myself to sit straight and hold on to the armrests. I met his eyes and found the mischief in them that had first drawn me to him.

“What are you—”

“What kind of ideas did that book put in your head, Evelina?”

I glanced down at the raunchy romance book I had dropped and bit my lip. “I haven’t read enough yet.”

His deep chuckle rumbled down my body and through my core. “How about we check out this little romance novel, and when you get to one of those parts, you come and find me.”

The idea sent exhilaration through me that I didn’t want to admit. Now that I understood why he didn’t want commitment or anything more, I didn’t want to push. He didn’t need to know what had come of our physical relationship.

“That sounds interesting,” I admitted as his finger slid just a little higher…

I gasped as the tip of his knuckle brushed against the place between my legs that most craved his touch.

He stood from his chair, and the lack of his presence was like a bucket of ice water over my senses. Everything that I had learned weighed down on me, and it took a great effort to force a careless smile.

Today seemed like it changed everything, but… did it really change anything at all?

Chapter Ten

Zeke Coleman

Something was happening with Evelina.

Something was different. After the library, she had given me sidelong glances every time she thought I wasn’t paying attention. She held the romance book to her chest the entire drive as if using it as a shield between us.

But she said nothing.

I walked around the exterior of the apartment, considering where we would go if this situation continued. I had a handful of safehouses, but when we moved every five days, they were running out quickly.

It would be something to consider later—something that would only become important if Jaimie didn’t find a way to resolve the tension between Clide and Alonzo. If we couldn’t come up with a solution soon, I didn’t know what we would do. I didn’t know how we would keep Evelinasafe.

I ran my hand through my hair and shook off the thoughts as I focused on my surroundings. I couldn’t afford to be distracted right now. Not when Evelina’s safety was contingent exclusively on me.

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