Page 28 of Silver Fox's Secret Baby

The sound of my door unlatching had me looking over toward it. I watched as it opened a crack but didn't see anybody. My gaze drifted down toward the doorknob where I saw a young boy's head peeking in.

His eyes and mouth rounded in an O and he took a quick intake of breath. "Sorry."

“Pax. Come in."

He stepped in, his expression full of apprehension, his fingers fidgeting as if he expected to be in trouble.

"How are you settling in?"

"Okay."

I wondered where Samantha was. "What are you doing?"

"I was exploring."

I picked up my drink and walked to the center of the room. He peered up at me, still looking uncertain.

"And what have you found on your explorations?"

He shrugged.

I wondered how I could put him at ease. "How would you like to see a secret room?"

His mouth and eyes rounded again, but this time it appeared to be in excitement. "You have a secret room?"

"I do." I led him to the area behind my bar where floor to ceiling bookcases stood. "You can't tell anybody about this. And you can't ever come in here without me knowing about it, do you understand?"

His head bobbed up and down. I reached up to a shelf, pulling out a couple of books and then pressing the button. Part of the bookcase popped open.

“Whoa.” Pax stared wide-eyed.

I pulled the bookcase door open and let him into the large room. Today it was empty, but a hundred years ago, it stored a fortune in bootleg liquor.

Pax wandered around the empty room. "Is this a dungeon?"

"No. It's just a hidden room."

He looked up at me, his expression quizzical. "What do you use it for?"

"I don't use it at all. To be honest, I'm not sure what to do with it."

Pax brought his hand to his face, tapping his cheek with his forefinger as his eyes narrowed in concentration.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. "What do you think? What should I use it for?"

Finally, he shrugged. "You can hide in here."

This time, I did laugh. "Good point." Six months ago, I could've turned it into a panic room when I was being terrorized by George Pitney.

I let Pax roam around the room and then we exited.

"Do you like adventures?" I asked as I made sure the bookcase was shut. The last thing I needed was for Pax to get himself locked in there.

"Yeah."

"Do you like them in books?" I headed over to another area of the bookshelf where I had kept the books I had read to Victoria when she was growing up. Scanning them, I pulled out an old copy ofPeter Pan, the original version, not Disney.

"My mommy reads to me."

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