Page 45 of Sins and Secrets

“Oh,” she whispers. Then she lifts her head off my chest and her sweet and not at all innocent smile spreads across her lips. “But this is better, right?”

“Absolutely, love.”

Better than I could’ve ever hoped.

ChapterTwenty

Lukas

I’ma little worried about letting her leave in the morning. I don’t know where Adam is, or if he’s waiting for her at the apartment. I know she’s a freelance researcher, she can go wherever she wants. In theory she could come to the studio, but we’ll both be too distracted to get work done. “Where do you work?”

She stands in my kitchen, drinking tea and squishing her nose with every sip. Not a tea drinker. “Normally I hang out at cafés or libraries, but Alana wants me to stay at her place today.”

“How did you meet Alana?”

Waverly stiffens a little. “She’s a family friend.”

Ohhhh. I’d heard rumors and whispers of her father and his chosen profession. As far as I could tell she wasn’t a part of that world. Maybe her freelance work is for her family. Could it be that she's not as sweet as I thought?

“I see.”

Waverly takes another sip of her tea and frowns as she puts it down. “So honesty is our thing, right? And cookies.” She grins a little and sighs. “Go on, you can ask what you want.”

“Are you sure?”

“It seems only fair.” She walks to the couch, patting the cushion. “It’s really not as interesting or scandalous as you might think.”

I ask the most important question. “Are you in danger?”

She shrugs. “No more than any other woman surrounded by men.”

Fuck. Ouch. The reality of the statement guts me.

“But my dad hired Alana to keep outside factors away. She runs a security company, and Izzy works for her. It’s called Mastodon.”

Ok, that tracks. And I do feel a little better knowing she has professional protection. Wait. “Darren works at Mastodon, doesn’t he?”

“I’m not sure about all the ins and outs of the company. He might work for them, but he’s not assigned to my case. Anything else?”

“Izzy’s the one who got pregnant when she was a teenager, right?” Waverly was so freaked out that summer. I remember her sobbing in the car when we went on an ice cream run. She was terrified I wouldn’t want to spend any time with her because she was scared to have sex. Worst of all, she thought she owed me sex because I flew all the way to the East Coast. I never got mad at Waverly, but the fact she assumed I was entitled to any part of her was insulting. I assured her I would never force her to do anything she wasn’t ready to do. We spent the summer talking, laughing, watching movies, a few hook ups here and there mostly without sex. It was my favorite summer.

“Yeah, Drew’s in school with my sister, Shae.”

I nod. There’s a thousand things I long to know, but her safety is the most important.

As if she can sense my hesitation, she says, “I’m not involved in any of the family business. They actually do their best to keep it all far away from me”

I’m glad she isn’t entangled in the dangerous criminal life, but frustrated that it puts her in a position to be lonely without her family. Although, I can’t be too angry, because it was why she hung out with Angie every weekend.

“Don’t you need to leave for the studio.” She checks her phone.

“Yeah.” I rub the back of my neck and bend to kiss her. “Text me when you get to work.” Standing to grab my keys, I look around the apartment then focus back on her. “Lock up whenever you’re done, and I’ll see you this weekend.”

“Already making plans for a second date… pushy.” She giggles and pulls me back for another kiss.

I hate leaving her, but Boss Guilt is taking over. I’ve got an ink shipment coming in and sketches I need to get done before my meeting to finalize all the details with my trip to LA. Still, with every task, Waverly infiltrates my brain and I can’t wait to see her again.

It’s 10:45 and I’ve been at work for an hour. She reposted a video of a cow living inside a house on Instagram. House Cows. Seriously? But she still hasn’t sent me an, “I’m at work” text.

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