Page 98 of Lust & Lies

AIDEN CONTINUED TELLINGsilly jokes as we worked, the sun beaming down on us. He had me laughing until my stomach hurt. But eventually, we got the seeds in the ground, the dirt patted down.

When I leaned back on my heels to admire our work, Aiden slid behind me, his chest pressing onto my back, his arms circling my waist.

His chin rested on my shoulder as he whispered, “Not bad, gardener lady. But I think I enjoyed watching you bend over more than the planting itself.”

I smacked his arm. “You’re a mess.”

“I’myourmess,” he murmured, kissing my cheek.

“Yes, you are.”

I stared around at the dirt. Soon, the things we’d planted would grow and thrive, just like our relationship. It felt good to plant something together. I couldn’t wait to watch it grow. That would be the most exciting part of the process.

I gazed around us, taking in the backyard. It was beautiful. I could see why Aiden and I fell in love with this place and chose it to be our little escape from reality. My eyes landed on something I hadn’t noticed before, a shed tucked off to the side of the yard.

I could only see part of it from my vantage point. It was a nice-sized shed. It looked like a mini version of the countryhouse. I found myself staring at it, my curiosity piqued. What did we keep in there?

“What’s in the shed?” I asked, turning to stare over my shoulder at Aiden.

My question seemed to catch him off guard. His gaze drifted toward it, and for the briefest moment, something flickered in his eyes before he masked it.Panic? Fear?No, it couldn’t be.

Surely, I was imagining it. He hesitated, not answering my question right away. My brows pulled together as I watched him and waited. It didn’t take this damn long to answer the question.

“Well?” I pressed.

“The shed?” he asked.

“Yeah, that big shed over there,” I said, pointing in the shed’s direction.

“Oh,thatshed,” he said finally, voice a touch strained. “We don’t call it a shed. That’s the groundskeeper’s storage house. Tomas and Samuel use it.”

Storage house? Yeah, right.

I kept my gaze on him as he spoke. Something in me wasn’t satisfied with that simple answer. I mean, there was nothing off about it. It made sense. But his hesitation and the way he looked when I mentioned it made me wonder if something was wrong. I looked back at the shed. I mean...storage house.

“Let’s go look in it,” I suggested.

“No,” he said quickly and a little louder than necessary.

I jerked my head toward him, startled by the edge in his tone. His expression softened almost immediately, and when he spoke again, his voice was back to normal.

“There’s nothing in it that we need. Plus, it’s not safe. It’s full of stuff,” he told me. “Cluttered with it. I don’t want anything to fall once we go in.”

“Ohhh,” I drawled, my attention flicking back to the shed.

He was adamant about avoiding the shed. That only made me more eager to get a look inside. Could there be something in there he didn’t want me to see? But what could it be? Damn, was I overthinking things again?

“Baby,” Aiden said gently, pulling my focus back to him. “If you want to go in the shed, I’ll have Tomas come over tomorrow. He can straighten it up so it’s not a danger to enter. Then I’ll take you in myself. How about that?”

Could clutter truly be the reason he didn’t want me to go in right now? Aiden was overprotective of me, after all. So, that made sense.Damn. I was doing it again. Finding issues where there were none.

Before Dolores left, she mentioned four-wheelers. Perhaps they were in there. And if Tomas used it to store yard stuff, there could be equipment in there for the yard, some that could be dangerous. Yeah, I was overreacting again. I shook my head quickly.

“No, no. I don’t want you to bother Tomas while he’s on vacation. I can wait and see the shed some other day.”

“You sure? I don’t mind paying him extra to come in while on vacation. And I’m sure he wouldn’t mind doing it for us.”

“I’m sure,” I told him, trying to ignore the uncertainty I was feeling.