Page 18 of A Convenient Secret

It breaks my heart and mends it without failing.

On the periphery, I more sense than see Lily standing up. When I straighten, she is beside Zach, her arm protectively around his shoulders.

“Are we in trouble?” Zach asks, leaning toward Lily. She makes him feel safe. She’s been with them for a few hours, and they’ve bonded already.

It hits me with a potent cocktail of emotions I don’t want to dissect. All of them are overwhelmingly touching. I don’t have time for touching.

“Why don’t you both go get changed so we can have dinner?” I kiss Zoya’s crown, and both kids shuffle toward the staircase while I avoid the nanny at all costs.

“I’ll go help them,” Lily says.

“We need to talk.” I glance at her, and it’s like being bathed by the first rays of sunshine after the darkest and gloomiest storm.

She looks so young and innocent in the middle of my party-littered home, I avert my eyes immediately.

I walk toward the windows. That way I can ensure my back is to her.

“What are you doing here, Lily?”

Chapter 4

Lily

He knows my name? He knows it’s me.

“I mean, besides destroying my house and riling up my kids when they should be winding down,” Declan continues.

His hands are in his pockets as he stands by the glass wall and stares outside while having a conversation with me. Fuck his voice. He really is a dick.

I look around at the mess, and I can see some of his annoyance may be justified.

“I didn’t destroy your house. The kids had a bad day. They didn’t know that in September, Ms. Corrine won’t be their teacher anymore.” It’s like talking to a wall. His broad back visibly tenses. “So I wanted to cheer them up.”

Okay, maybe I didn’t think it through. When we entered the party store, I was planning to get balloons,but when Zoya suggested a confetti fight, I couldn’t resist her pleading eyes. That girl is a serious charmer.

“I’m sure my housekeeper will appreciate your efforts.”

“I’ll clean it up.” I pull at the sleeves of my T-shirt, shifting from one foot to the other, feeling like I’m being judged and scolded by my father. Only my father would never scold me, or talk to me with his back to me.

“Before you do that…” He turns around. “Answer my question.”

Our eyes collide. His are so dark, they seem black. His gaze is so intense, I can practically feel myself shrinking under its ferocity. I regret all the times I wished he’d notice me.

My fingers drum on my thighs of their own accord. It’s an alarm drumming. A call for capitulation.

But I’ll be damned if this man makes me cower. I might have a crush on him—his voice—but I won’t allow him to intimidate me.

I didn’t escape my old life only to end up as someone’s doormat.

And yet my pulse quickens, my breath comes out fast and shallow. And if I allowed myself to think about it, my pussy is clenching. My nervousness is laced with yearning.

There is something wrong with me.

The air between us is charged with so many weird, unresolved feelings. Well, my conflicting feelings. Declan is just Declan—grumpy.

He takes a few steps, and now I can smell his intoxicating musk—sandalwood, and him. I almost step backward, but I stop myself. I’m not giving him the satisfaction.

“Answer the question.” His voice is chocolate—decadently washing over me despite his tone.