Page 29 of Tempting My Billionaire Master

I got up to retrieve my shoes from the pantry but stopped halfway, remembering the mess we’d left behind while cooking. It felt wrong to leave it there, especially when this bunker had begun to feel like a real home. I knew I shouldn’t think of it that way, but I couldn’t help it.

I busied myself cleaning the kitchen, washing the dishes and wiping down the counters. By the time Ethan returned, the room was spotless. He held a toolbox in one hand and a pair of his sneakers in the other.

“Your shoes aren’t quite dry yet,” he told me, handing me his own footwear. “Try these on.”

I slipped my feet into the oversized sneakers, laughing as they flopped around comically. “I feel like a leprechaun wearing these.”

“You look adorable.” Ethan tweaked my nose. “The sexiest leprechaun I’ve ever seen.”

“Ha ha.” I swatted at him as laughter shook my shoulders. Ethan caught my hand and led me across the hall to the hatch.

Ethan climbed out of the hatch first, his toolbox in hand, then reached down to help me up. Sunlight dappled the forest floor, a sea of green as far as the eye could see. The air was fresh and birds chirped merrily in the treetops. As we stepped out of the dilapidated house I could see Ethan was enjoying the fresh air just as much as I was.

I breathed deep, reveling in the simple pleasure of being outside again. “Did you miss this? The sun, the woods…”

“Not at all.” Ethan drew me close, his eyes glowing. “You’re all the sunlight I need.”

Heat rose in my cheeks. I averted my gaze, but not before noticing a footprint in the mud right behind Ethan. My footprint, left last night when I ventured out alone. If Ethan saw it, he’d know I’d been outside while he slept. I had to distract him, fast.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. As our lips met, I maneuvered us around so my back was to the footprint. By the time we parted, I made sure to trample over the footprint with Ethan’s shoes.

“Let’s go on a walk,” I suggested, carefully stepping over the incriminating footprint one more time just in case.

“Sure,” Ethan agreed, squeezing my hand. “But first, let me check the sensors.”

Setting his toolbox down, he pulled out a pair of pliers and began working on a small device hidden in a crack in the wall. I watched, heart pounding, as he connected some electronic device with a small screen to the plug inside the open sensor and checked something on the screen.

“What are you doing?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

“Last night there was movement detected outside,” he explained. “I want to make sure the sensors aren’t malfunctioning.”

My stomach dropped. The sensors must have picked up my movements when I snuck out. Trying to think fast, I offered a possible explanation. “Could it have been an animal?” I asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Most likely,” Ethan replied, sliding the sensor back into the crack in the wall. He walked over to another part of the wall, beginning his inspection on a second sensor. “It’s just strange because there’s a small town not too far from here, and animals usually don’t come this close to human settlements.”

My heart skipped a beat. He was talking about Pinegrove. I almost blurted out a question about it but managed to stop myself just in time. Instead, I changed the subject. “Why don’t you have security cameras monitoring the area? Wouldn’t that be more effective than just motion sensors?”

Ethan paused, looking up from the sensor. “Cameras require too much maintenance when I’m away. But you raise a good point.” His eyes glinted with interest. “Now that I am here, installing a few cameras couldn’t hurt. I have some spare equipment in storage we could set up.”

Panic flooded me. Cameras would make leaving the bunker impossible without getting caught. Why the hell did I have to bring them up?

“I don’t know,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant. “Cameras seem like overkill when it’s probably just some stray fox or raccoon passing through. And if it’s not, the motion sensors should detect anything serious, right?”

Ethan studied me, his gaze piercing. I fought not to squirm under the intensity of it. After a few tense seconds, he shrugged. “Even if it is just a stray animal, I don’t mind meeting the neighbors. Besides, I didn’t have a chance to work with my hands for quite a while, this will be fun. I think I will install a couple of cameras tomorrow.”

Fuck.

“Great,” I said, attempting to hide my anxiety. “Sounds like a solid plan.”

Chapter Eleven

Chloe

The opening image of Hitchcock’s Vertigo flickered across the screen, casting a pale glow over Ethan’s face. His arm was wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me close against his side, but I couldn’t focus on the movie or enjoy the warmth of his embrace.

Like Madeline in the film, I was lying to the man I cared for. But I was no femme fatale, and I planned to help Ethan. He wouldn’t end up like Scottie; he’d forget about me as soon as this was over and if I ever see him again it would be on the cover of some gossip magazine with some starlet on his arm.

“Have you seen this film before?” Ethan asked, his deep voice rumbling against my ear.

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