Page 52 of In Her Shadow

“And up till then?” He frowns.

“Up till then, I keep enjoying the job I do.” I smile brightly, hoping that he’s going to respect my wishes.

“You know, working causes a lot of stress.”

“When the appropriate time comes, I’ll let HR know, and I’m sure they’ll lessen my workload. I just want these next six months to be as normal for us as possible.”

I can see Ren’s brain ticking as he stares back at me.

“Come here, Kitten.” He slides back his chair and pats his lap for me to go to him. Wiping the corners of my mouth with my napkin, I get up and take a seat on his knee.

“I just wanna take care of you. I want this time to be as easy and enjoyable for you as possible.”

“Sooo?” I narrow my eyes and wait for his conclusion.

“So, if working is what you want to do, then that's what you’ll do, but the second I see that it’s getting too much, you're leaving.”

“Okay,” I agree, pleased that this conversation went so much better than I thought it would.

“Now that we’ve got that out the way.” His hand curls around my thigh, squeezing it tightly.

“Why don’t you tell me what you and Katelyn got up to while I was gone?”

“Nothing much, just chatting.” I decide not to tell him about her suspicions, or that I’ve let those suspicions get inside my head. Fucked up as it might be that he’d lie to me about it, it wouldn’t change anything.

“Did you decide which show you wanna go to?” he asks, as his hand disappears up my skirt.

“We didn’t actually talk about that.” I feel my core start to throb with need as his fingers get closer to where I need them.

“Well, you must have talked about something when I was gone.” I inhale sharply when his fingers skim my pussy lips through my panties.

“She asked if we had any more ideas on who broke into my apartment,” I test him and notice how his jaw tenses.

“I hate that we don’t,” he whispers, looking frustrated with himself.

“It doesn’t matter, we’re here now. I don’t want to worry or think about who it might have been.” I kiss him, stroking myfingers against his jaw line, and just as his hand sneaks into my panties, the door opens and his uncle steps inside.

“Mr. Ashcroft.” I quickly stand up, feeling my cheeks burn red with shame. Ren’s uncle looks me up and down before he turns all his attention to Ren.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I need a private word.” He looks tense, and Ren must sense it too because he immediately stands up, kisses my cheek, and heads out the door with him.

Despite living in this house for over a month, I still know the man no better. Stefan has his own quarters; he eats his meals alone in them, and the only time I ever see him is if he’s passing through the house to get to the office. He’s far from friendly, and I get a very instinctive impression that he dislikes me, which is odd considering he’s made no attempt to get to know me. Ren tells me not to take it personally, apparently his uncle is hostile with everyone, but it doesn’t stop me from being paranoid. I know whatever business Ren had to take care of earlier wouldn’t have been legal. I could tell from the way he looked at me when I got in the car, and the fact that he’d changed out of his smart clothes and looked much more like the Ren who lived in the warehouse, gave him away.

I give up trying to figure it out. Instead, I focus on the little person I’m responsible for and sit back in my chair to try and finish off my salmon.

REN

SIX WEEKS LATER

Idrive Eloise to work with my hand resting on the cute little baby bump she’s grown. She, of course, feels like it’s huge, but in reality it’s only noticeable if you're looking for it. I’ve been waiting for it to pop out for weeks, and seeing her with it just makes all this seem even more real. Balancing life between her and everything that needs cleaning up hasn’t been easy. My uncle was right when he said stepping away from all our illegitimate business wouldn’t be easy, and although I’m proving that it's possible, I know he still isn’t sold on the idea. What I do know is that an illegitimate business is what got my parents killed.

I will not allow my family to be in that kind of danger.

“Remember to leave it a good ten minutes before you come up. Yesterday, Mary-Ann looked suspicious,” Eloise reminds me, leaning over to kiss me once I’m parked.

“Ten minutes would make me late,” I tell her, locking my hand around her neck because I’m not ready to let go of her yet. It’s getting harder and harder to spend the day pretending thatshe’s not mine, and now that sexy little tummy is starting to stick out, I want everyone to know I’m responsible for it.

“You're the boss, you don’t have a time schedule. You don’t even have to be here.” She raises her eyebrows, reminding me that she’d much prefer it that way.

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