Page 4 of His Dark Hunger

He’s too good to be true.

“How are you, Mum?” Jonah glanced down at her when he finally drew away. “You look… different.”

“Do I?” She flushed at the idea her son might be able to discern a difference in her. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know…” His brow furrowed. “You seem to beglowing, somehow.”

“Glowing?” She forced out laughter, hoping he wouldn’t notice her rising guilty blush. She hadn’t realized how perceptive Jonah could be.

“Yes.” He sounded suspicious as he looked her up and down. “Have you started wearing makeup or something?”

“No makeup.” She smiled at his obvious puzzlement. “But there is something I need to tell you.”

SomeoneI need to tell you about.

The final line danced in her head, but she held it back.

“Okay.” Jonah’s brow creased. “Go on.”

She glanced around, considering taking him back to the uncomfortable plastic chairs, but hesitated.

“I have a new job.”

“You ditched the legal firm?” His brow rose. “But you’ve worked there for years, Mum.”

“Not ditched.” This was even harder to explain than she’d imagined. “I’ve taken holiday from my other jobs to trial the new one.”

“What’s the new job?” Standing before her, his stance and skeptical tone reminded her so much of his dad.

“I’m running a house and estate for someone.” She dressed up the position as best she could. There was nothing untrue about her response, but it conveniently glossed over the semi-naked dusting.

“Wow.” His soulful eyes widened. “I didn’t see that coming.”

“Same.” She laughed, then flinched at how nervous she sounded. “I got an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

That was one way of putting it.

“Intriguing.” Jonah grinned. “Let me guess… more money?”

“Considerably. Enough to pay off some of those nagging debts and help us move forward.”

“For estate management?” His version of her role sounded even fancier than hers had been.

“Yeah.” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “It was a ‘right time, right place’ kind of thing. I got the offer, and I took it. We need the money, Jo-Jo.”

He nodded. “Don’t I know it? I’ve just been piling on the financial pressure, haven’t I?”

“It’s not on you.” She sighed. “I don’t endorse taking drugs, but I get it.” God knows she’d have sunk a bottle of whiskey a night if she could have afforded it. “Things have been tough since Dad, and… we needed this.”

“And you like the job?”

“I like it fine.” She hoped he didn’t notice the guilty blush growing on her face. “It includes somewhere to live, too.”

“Somewhere to live?” he parroted. “But you have somewhere?”

“I lost the studio, Jo-Jo.” She’d been hoping to avoid that part of the conversation. He had enough to feel bad about without getting into why she’d needed to default on the rent.

He paused and she could sense the cogs in his head were turning.

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