Page 62 of Fate's Unseen Shadow

Was she being too pushy?

No. She wanted to be here with him. Telling him that didn’t make her pushy. It was how grown adults should communicate.

“Please, let me stay here. I want to be with you.”

“So you don’t have to be alone?”

Ella laid her arms over his shoulders. “No. So you don’t have to be alone.”

He closed his eyes, resting his forehead against hers.

He didn’t speak for a long moment. Finally, he wrapped his hands around her waist, lifting her easily from the steps to set her down beside him. “Is your door locked?”

“No.”

Damon moved past her and locked the door with his key. When he returned, he snagged her hand, pulling her along. “C’mon.”

Relief swept over Ella. “I figured Ryker would beat you three home on his bike, so I asked him to text me when he returned. I haven’t been waiting outside for long. Promise. But I understand that wasn’t the safest choice,” she quickly added to move past the inevitable outburst.

“It was not. Come inside.” He opened the door, then performed his nightly walk-through before meeting her at the entrance where she’d locked the deadbolts. “You can go to bed. I need to take a shower. I’ll be there soon.”

“I told Slater to leave because I’d take care of you instead of him. That means in the shower, too.”

His small smile was a victory in her book. “Slater would not climb into the shower with me.”

“Then I guess I’m a better companion than he is.”

He cupped her cheek and kissed her until she thought he’d take her up on the offer. “Go lie down. You said you didn’t know how I process things. Well, this is part of it. I have to be alone for a little bit.”

“Alright.” She waited as he left her standing in his living room and went to the bathroom. When the door closed, she climbed into his bed to wait. But the steady hum of the running water lulled her to sleep. When he sat down, the bed shifted, and she jerked awake with a gasp.

“It’s me.” He reached over for her. “And you are way too far away.”

“I didn’t want to crowd you after weaseling my way into your bed.”

“Weaseling?” he asked, a smile in his voice. “I’ve never had a woman admit to weaseling their way into my bed.”

“So, I’m just one of many?” She pushed up a little so she could see some of his face.

“You’re one out of very few.” He tugged her back to him, kissing her before tucking her against his side. “Go to sleep and prepare to sit in your apartment all day.”

“While you and the others talk to my stepmother?”

“Yes.”

With sleep harder to find this time, Ella asked, “Why do you think Julia called you? Ryker said she told the police she thought I killed Teddy. There’s no way she believes I killed Teddy. You’ve met me. I have zero killer instincts.” She chewed on her lip. “I feel like she’s beating me at a game I don’t realize I’m playing. She doesn’t have access to my money if I die. The only way she’dhave access to money is through Cassin Systems. She doesn’t have a login for the system, though. That’s made me less worried about her taking over my company.”

“Could she use Teddy’s log in?”

She kissed his shoulder. “Maybe,” she mumbled against his warm skin, her mind searching for a reason behind the meeting.

“Julia sounded very upset on the phone with Xavier and desperate to find you. If there’s no way she can get to your money, maybe that’s her angle. Find you because she needs you for your money.”

“There’s no way she can get tomymoney. But if she did have Teddy’s login information, I’m not so sure she can’t get to Cassin Systems.” Dread filled her stomach as the thought took hold.

“We’ll stay alert with her and see if we can figure it out.” He reached for her thigh, dragging it across his lap and holding on to it. “Ella, what happened to your mother?”

“She and my father divorced when I was six. I stayed with him.” She snuggled closer. “She and her new husband and my half brothers were killed in a helicopter crash when I was thirteen.”

---