Page 21 of Ember (Royal Harlots: Yonkers, NY Chapter #1)

Now it was Shep’s turn to shrug. He found it interesting that she thought of him as a policeman.

It was almost like she knew him, and that made him a little uncomfortable.

Could she see through him, or did she just have good instincts?

He wanted to be done talking about himself.

Telling one lie was easy, but after a while, they just seemed to spiral out of control.

The last thing he needed was to get caught up in one.

The two-hour ride was starting to feel more like two days.

He just needed to keep his shit together for another hour or so, drop April off at her house, and be on his way.

“Yeah, construction is great. Owning the company is a perk since I don’t like working for others.

” He spied their tail out his rearview and cringed inwardly at how true that statement was.

Sarge was going to hand him his ass tonight after he dropped off April.

Working for others and taking orders sometimes sucked—hell, it sucked all the time.

“To be truthful, I’d love to get out of construction and start my own security business.

” Shep knew that he was letting her into his life with this admission, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself.

He wanted to share his dream with her, and well, she was the first woman to ask him about his work in a very long time.

April rubbed her thumb over his knuckles, reminding him that their hands were still joined. He’d almost forgotten their connection.

“See,” she beamed, “I knew you were a hero. I think you would fit as someone who protects others.” Yeah, time to change the topic.

“So, I’m getting kind of hungry—you wanna grab a bite?

” Shep regretted his question before it was even completely out of his mouth.

What the fuck was wrong with him? He knew that his sergeant would have a fit, but he didn’t want his time with April to end.

Yeah, he’d have to be careful with how much he divulged to her, but she was surprisingly easy to talk to, and if he could get any information to help his case, a little dinner out with a gorgeous woman wasn’t too much of a hardship.

She seemed nervous and a little fidgety again, pulling her hand from his, and he immediately felt the loss of contact.

“April,” he ran his newly free hand through his hair and swore.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so forward.

If you’re not comfortable with going to dinner with me, well—just forget that I even asked.

” Shep regretted playing his hand too soon.

The last thing he meant to do was scare April off or worse, spook her.

His sergeant would have a complete meltdown if he blew his cover and scared her into running.

That would mean five months of hard work down the toilet and one pissed-off boss.

To top it all off, if April ran, she could be running right into danger.

The guy that she was supposedly hiding from was no joke.

He’d kill her as soon as he got his hands on her.

Well, unless Sarge was correct and she was in on the whole thing.

Shep just couldn’t see that being the case.

Since he started watching her, he got the feeling that she was in danger.

She was constantly looking over her shoulder whenever she was out in public.

She seemed genially scared, and he couldn’t stand to see the fear in her eyes.

He wanted to bet on her; he wanted to believe that April was innocent in the whole mess, but he just wasn’t sure.

“Shephard, I just—I’m not sure that you should take me out. I don’t want you to get hurt, and I’m afraid that is all I will do to you, hurt you. If things were different, I would love to have dinner with you.” Her smile didn’t touch her eyes, and Shep couldn’t help but take her hand back into his.

“Honey, I’m not sure what you are thinking, but I’m just looking to have dinner. I don’t think that either of us could be hurt over dinner,” he teased.

“I was involved with a dangerous man, and he’s not the type to just let something or someone go. I just don’t want to get you involved in my crazy life, Shep,” she said.

Now he was getting somewhere. He didn’t want to seem too pushy, but he needed to take a chance while he still had one.

“I know of a little pizza place about thirty minutes from home. Why don’t we grab a pie and take it back to my place?

I have a new puppy and I’m pretty sure she’s probably torn through my sofa by now.

” He tried flashing her his smile, but all that did was seem to make her even more nervous.

“Well, I think that will be okay. I do love puppies; well, I should say that I love all animals. I’ve never really had a pet,” April admitted.

“Not even as a kid? We always had dogs when I was a boy.”

“No, they don’t let you have pets in foster care.” April barked out a laugh. “Don’t get me wrong, I stayed with one nice family at the end of my time in the system, but they didn’t allow pets.”

“I’m sorry,” Shep ran his thumb over her knuckles, hoping to soothe her. “How long were you in foster care?” he asked.

“My parents both died when I was eleven, in a car crash.” She almost whispered the last part. “I didn’t have any other family, so I went into the system,” April said.

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” Shep wanted to pull her into his lap and hold her. Thank God he was driving and couldn’t act on his stupid instincts.

“Nope, just me.” She was watching the landscape again, and Shep could feel her sadness.

He hurt for her. “You’d think after all this time that I’d have it more together and maybe at least be adult enough to own a goldfish.

Honestly, I didn’t see my life turning out this way, but I’m making a few changes, and who knows—maybe next year will be my year. ”

Shep pulled her hand to his lips and gently brushed her knuckles with a kiss. April gasped and tried to pull her hand away, but he only tightened his hold. “I’m sorry that you had to go through that, April.”

The rest of the ride to the pizza shop was quiet.

Shep couldn’t figure out how her past stay in the foster care system never showed up in his paperwork about April, when he got the case.

Someone somewhere fucked up, and he needed to find out why that little piece of information wasn’t in her file.

A part of him felt like a complete dick for wondering if her story was real.

He lied to her about what he did for a living.

Hell, he pretended not to know her before meeting her at his brother’s party.

As if he never watched her undress and then fantasized about her in the shower, after his shift finally ended.

So yeah, it was possible that she just lied to him, but the tear that ran down her cheek told him otherwise.

If April was lying, then she was a damn good actress, to boot.

He thought he knew just about all he needed to know about April Magness, but here she was surprising the shit out of him.