Page 37 of Midnight Secrets

Fuck my life.

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Chapter Fifteen

Lucrezia

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Ash had created me my very own work room in his house, as if I belonged here.

No one had ever given me a gift like this before. My fingers glided along the edge of the counter. The materials and equipment he’d ordered were superb, and the extra lights above the area would allow me to illuminate the tiniest details.

He stood with his hip braced on the doorframe and his hands in his pockets. “I thought you might need somewhere for last minute alterations or repairs.”

“I don’t know what to say,” I finally admitted in a low tone. “No one has ever supported me like this before.”

He’d given me the key to the cage I lived in. Showed me what freedom looked like.

Ash looked away, his jaw tight. It was his default expression for when he was hiding his thoughts. I walked over, wrapped my arms around his waist, and placed my chin on his chest to stare up at him.

“Thank you.”

He didn’t reply because he didn’t need to. I knew those silences in our conversations. I didn’t need to see his guarded expressions because I’d learnt to read his moods through listening to him. He merely stared down at me with those haunted eyes.

“Do you want to go out for dinner or order in?” He diverted our conversation away from him.

“Can we order in?” I bit my bottom lip in excitement. “We never get to order takeaway because Madison cooks, and Papa has a housekeeper over here in the UK that travels between his properties.”

“Anything in particular?”

“Nope. You pick. I just want to be able to tell Sofia I finally ate takeaway.”

After he’d checked the house for security breaches, Francis declared it safe and was going out for a few hours to visit relatives since no one knew I was here and Ash was in the house to protect me.

I set up my stuff in my workroom while Ash ordered dinner. His home was beautiful and decorated with dark colours that gave it a depth of emotion. The ground floor had marble floors with huge oval mats on them with floral patterns. The library had one of those wooden steps that you could move around the shelves on like inBeauty and the Beast. Yes, I was a Disney addict, no I didn’t care. She fell in love with the beast because of that library and I never blamed her for it.

The kitchen was massive with an aga as the main focal point. It would fit a lot of cookies in there. Three undercounter fridges were filled with different food types, and the freezer in the utility area contained more ice cream than was healthy. There was a beer and wine fridge in the utility area as well. It screamed bachelor pad.

“Dinner will be about half an hour,” Ash said from the kitchen door. “How did I know you’d be in here?”

I wrinkled my nose at him. “Because I’m always in a kitchen no matter what house I’m in.”

He moved across to where I was standing trying to see the outline of the garden through the window, even though it was dark. He lifted me by the waist and set me on the counter. “You making cookies while you’re here?”

“What’s your favourite type?”

He pursed his lips together. “You always make brownies for Jordan.”

“You always eat the corners.”

A grin appeared on his lips. “Not much gets past you, does it?”

“I’m a woman,” I pointed out.

His dark-blue gaze swept over me and he leaned back slightly. “I noticed.”

My hands landed on his waist. “What’s happening between us, Ash?”

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