Page 34 of Unspoken Promises

She glances over at a painting on the wall, pretending to examine it to avoid eye contact. “I guess my uncle just didn’t have nuts around. It never came up.”

“You weren’t around nuts in twenty-five years?” I’m skeptical and I let her know that. Maybe it’s time she starts telling me more.

She shrugs. “I didn’t get out much as a kid. Or an adult. My uncle was really protective.”

“Was?”

“Is.”

My senses are going off. What kind of man protects his child to that degree? And she’s a woman now anyway. “Heshould have told you before you left home. I’m shocked you never had any problems before now. You’re lucky.”

She gives me a shy smile. “Lucky I had you.”

My stomach falls into my feet.

The corner of her mouth quirks. “Thank you. You’re a good guy under that tough act of yours.”

“I’m not acting.”

She teases. “Oh, you’re just tough, are you?”

“That’s not what I meant.” I just about catch a smile escaping from my lips.

This is getting too cozy. We need to focus on work. I decided to let Ava into more restricted areas. See what she can do. Learn more about her capabilities and build some professional trust if that’s what she wants. At the end of the day, that’s what I technically wanted the contest to bring me.

But we can’t build a professional partnership when I’m thinking about crashing my mouth against hers and sliding my hand up her bare thigh. If she knew what I wanted to do to her, she probably wouldn’t want to tell me why there’s no birth certificate with her name on it either.

I lay awake for a long time last night thinking about how to handle this woman. I know she’s hiding something. She knows I know that. Simple words and me pummeling her with questions won’t get us anywhere, though I intend to try again. I can’t expect her to lay out her life story just as I haven’t mine.

And so, we’ll build on that honesty through work. By me offering her a taste of the problem we have here and see how she handles it.

“About last night. I want to offer you more responsibility, but it’s going to have to be little by little. Neither of us can sit here and pretend anything about this situation is normal,but if I give you a project and you complete it, we can start to build a bridge.”

“Enzo, I’m a good girl, you know.”

Shiiit.I know she didn’t mean it that way, but it doesn’t escape me what a good girl I’m sure she’d be.

This woman just has an attractive way about her. She’s a mixture of accidental flirtation, charm, and genuine enthusiasm. The gaze from under her wispy eyelashes swirling warmly around my body has me feeling unusual. Normally, I’d stop talking here. Normally, I’d take the opportunity for silence, with nothing but work to pass between us. But there’s nothing about Ava that’snormally.

I need to know more about her because I’ve started to hope what I find is above board. I’d be disappointed now if she ended up otherwise. She comes across very sincere. And my dad could use a friend around here.

But it’s time to stop the games and be direct.

“You haven’t been able to get a state-issued ID yet. I’m happy to help with that.” I take my glasses off and set them on the table next to me, staring at her earnestly, trying to make my words sound like an invitation rather than a threat. “Or, you can tell me why you can’t get one and maybe I can help with that, too. Do you have a criminal record? I couldn’t find one but…” Shit. I’m going for the jugular again. But I can’t help it.

“No,” she blurts, almost disgusted I’d suggest it. She chews her lip. Her eyebrows furrow, and she stares at the floor for an answer. “I just don’t have an online presence.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” I’m not as good at sounding warm as Santi or my dad but I try. I don’t want to scare her off. My intuition keeps telling me she’s a good person.

Maybe she’s hiding who she is not from me, but fromsomeone else. And that makes my blood boil. If someone is after her, they sure as hell won’t get to her under my watch.

I won’t give up. This would be so much easier if she’d just tell me what’s going on. “Why can’t I find a thing about you?”

“I’m very private.”

I come out and say it. “I know you want to work at GhostEye and stay in Echo Valley… unless that was just the late night talking.”

“No. It was a thousand percent true.”

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