Page 63 of The Secret

Sometimes I had no idea how her brain worked. “What?”

“You know, they’ve conned their way in.”

Then I remembered her current fixation was mafia romance.

“Pay, Professor Grady would turn in her grave if she knew about your mafia obsession.”

“She isn’t dead.”

“She would be if she knew you had a mafia romance fetish!” I called behind me on my way to the door as the bell rang, leaving Payton to hypothesize over who was there.

It wasn’t a courier. What it was however, was a strikingly beautiful, slightly familiar, very tall woman, dressed head to toe in black, with hair so dark and shiny I wanted to ask what her hair care regimen was. Instead, I waited as she gave me a very slow and thorough once over that immediately made me feel like my spine had just infused itself with a titanium rod, pulling my shoulders back hard in defense.

The temperature of the air around us dropped significantly.

“Can I help you?”

She peered down at me then plastered on a not-very-well-practiced fake smile that didn’t reach her eyes. At least I didn’t think it did, but I couldn’t be sure because I also detected a subtle amount of Botox. No one’s skin was that smooth.

“You must be the housekeeper.”

I was about to respond that no, I wasn’t the housekeeper, when Barclay barged in next to me with his hackles raised and began growling.

Huh.

Maybe he wasn’t a terrible guard dog, because this woman was anything but friendly, the attempted fake smile only making things worse. She glared down at him, and I swear I caught her snarling back.

Who the fuck was this woman?

I was tempted to look around for a broomstick, because those were definitely the vibes she was giving off. Payton then added to the mix, pulling the door open wider, assessing the scene, which to the average onlooker must have appeared like some kind of Mexican standoff.

“Who are you?” asked Payton.

She gave Payton as much of a once over as she had me, before her overly shaped eyebrow arched unnecessarily. “I’m Murray’s girlfriend.”

“What?!” Payton scoffed, while I tried to remember how to breathe from the sucker-punch I’d just taken in the gut. “I don’t think so.”

No. This can’t be right. He can’t have a girlfriend. Someone would have mentioned it.Hewould have mentioned it.

Wouldn’t he?

He’d had plenty of time to mention it in the six weeks we’d been living together, during our conversations on all the walks we’d been on, or conversations period, not including the evening of the almost kiss; the night he brought home dinner, or at any point during all the time we’d spent together recently.

“Murray’s not here, but I’ll let him know you stopped by.” I held onto Barclay who was now openly snarling at her, giving me a legitimate concern he might eat her. The only objection I had to that was the fact I’d have to clean up the mess afterward.

For the second time her smile failed to reach her eyes. “No, don’t worry. I said I’d meet him here, but maybe he’s at the office. Silly boy must have got it mixed up. I’ll go there.”

Wasshethe meetings he’d been having? Bile started swirling around my stomach and jealousy leached through my veins.

“Cool, bye.” Payton slammed the door in her face, heading back toward the kitchen like the Daughter of Evil had just knocked on the door, only to turn around when she realized I wasn’t following, because I was glued to the spot. “Kit, what are you doing?”

What was I doing? For the first time, I had no clue.

“She said she was his girlfriend.”

Payton’s head tilted as she studied me with a frown. “Don’t tell me you believed her.”

“Why would someone say that if they weren’t?”

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