Page 72 of Shielded Secrets

It distracted me from thinking too much at the same time it pushed me to just get over it with my loving husband at my side.

We avoided talking about it for long, and I tuned out when Rurik got calls from the others. I’d ripped the Band-Aid off, and now, with this promise that a hitman would take care of O’Malley, all I had to do was endure this waiting game until the news came that a professional killer had succeeded in something I’d failed to do as a child.

Days passed by, and I trusted Rurik to be the commander of this situation. I wouldn’t have to remain locked up to the point of being stir crazy forever.

“You’re restless,” Rurik commented one afternoon when I was pacing.

I nodded, not bothering to argue it. I was restless. And excited. It seemed almost like fate that such a huge and good thing could come to my life so soon after the hell of exposing my horrible secret.

But I wanted to make sure I wasn’t just thinking too much and projecting my dreams into what could end up being nothing.

I also might be pregnant.

He deserved to know, but until I had a test, I didn’t want to get his hopes up for them to be dashed or for him to be disappointed if I was wrong.

We had been practicing making a baby. All week, we’d been in bed with each other. While it might not have been the healthiest diversion to rely on, it was how we’d coped.

“Are you too restless to come with me to the campus?” he asked.

I raised my brows. “Seriously?” I almost wanted to jump at the idea. I bet he’d let me grab a test from the drugstore on the way. I was under the assumption that I’d be under house arrest until O’Malley was killed.

“Yeah. You’re clearly getting cabin fever.”

I laughed, amazed that I could be amused after learning I’d still have a target on my back from the man I thought I’d killed but hadn’t. “Trust me, I haven’t been bored.”

He smiled as he stood. “A little fresh air would do us good. Now that it’s actually looking like spring out there.”

“Sure. It would be nice to have a change of scenery.” I tilted my head to the side. “But what do you need to go to the campus for?” I wasn’t taking classes anymore. It sounded like the drug distribution had ticked down.

“One of the soldiers is having issues with a security guard.” He rolled his eyes. “Another power-tripping idiot who needs to be taught a lesson.”

I nodded, unfazed by the fact that this meant my husband had to go beat the shit out of a punk who’d deserve it. The world was too full of idiots who needed to be given what they deserved.

We changed and got dressed, surprised that we were overdressed for the night air. Spring had sprung, or it wanted to with back-and-forth forecasts ahead of us. Tonight was balmyand warm, and it was with a strange sense of humor that I considered the irony.

“It felt like winter would never end,” I told Rurik as we walked through campus from the parking lot. “And I was so sick of walking everywhere in the snow and cold.”

“So now that it’s pleasant weather to walk through, you don’t need to?” he guessed, alert and scanning our surroundings.

I knew he was nervous because I’d been captured just like this before, walking alongside him. But I wasn’t as worried. Jerome was dead. No one else knew me on campus. And Eric Benson seemed too nervous to use me as a mole or spy or whatever he’d wanted to consider. It was clear that he viewed the Baranovs as foes, but he wasn’t acting on that disagreement.

“I’m just so used to walking everywhere,” I said with a shrug.

“We’ll get you that vacation home somewhere,” he promised. “And a honeymoon,” he added with a wink.

Maybe it’ll be more like a babymoon, a real vacation before the baby comes…

I resisted the thought of it, not wanting to get my hopes up high.

We entered the other side of the admin building, where the campus security and operations departments were, but I didn’t see that one student worker who’d thought he had been so helpful in giving me the heads up that Jerome was stalking me.

“You can wait here,” Rurik suggested, pointing at the unoccupied office room with lots of monitors. “I’ll have a guard posted outside the door while I tend to business.” He cracked his knuckles.

“Okay.” I glanced at the guard standing there, and he nodded at us. “Just don’t take too long, okay? I was hoping we could stop at a store on the way home.”

He kissed my cheek before he left. “Yes, dear.”

I laughed at his silly endearment that he only used mockingly. We had a whole inside joke running about that being such a cliché term of domestic life.

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