Page 22 of Secret Bump

“Of course.” She gestures for the clerk, and they head up the stairs to another floor.

He approaches me warily. “Isabelle?—”

“You bought me a bookstore?”

“You said it was your?—”

“You want to buy me off with abookstore?”

“I gave you space. And then I came back.”

“You came back because you’re tired,” I snap.

“But why am I tired, little one? I can’t sleep when I’m away from you. I spent every minute of every day watching you, worrying about you, making sure that you’re safe and taken care of.”

“Watching…watching me?” Outrage heats my cheeks. “How dare you?”

He has the audacity to shrug. “Easily, it turns out.”

“Oh my God.”

“Not watching you wasn’t an option. I needed to know you were okay.”

“And was I?” My voice cracks, remembering how hard it was, how much I missed him.

“You were better off than you would have been with me here, pawing at you.”

“I liked the pawing.” I pause a beat. “Liked. I wouldn’t like it now.”

We both ignore that I let him manhandle me in the limo. I wouldn’t let him do it again. Not now that I know he’s been surveilling me from afar. “Are there cameras in my apartment?”

“Not inside your apartment.”

I gasp. “Outside?”

“I own that building, Isabelle. Of course there are security cameras on it, and as the owner?—”

“How long have you known?” I can’t believe I was so focused on hiding my pregnancy from him and this whole time he’s been watching me. “It’s too late to stop me.”

He frowns. “I don’t want to stop you from doing anything.”

I gesture madly at the ladders. “Then what is this?”

“Security.”

My hand drops to my side and I look at him in disbelief. “How is this security?”

“Because you own this building. You own this company. There is a substantial endowment set up to fund the start-up phase of the business, and there are contingencies in place should the business model need to pivot. Isabelle, I don’t know how to show someone that I love them. I’ve never fallen in love before. But I do know how to build a burn-proof business, and when I made the terrible mistake of letting my feelings get the better of my judgement, that was…this was…the only way I knew how to make it right.”

“Hiding me away from the office? On the other side of the city? Is there an owner’s suite somewhere on the top floorwith a king sized bed so you can finally take my virginity,Mr. Emerson?”

Chapter 14

Mack

She doesn’t likethe bookstore.

Fuck.

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