Page 46 of Sweet Deception

As he backs away, his eyes stay on me, which only adds an irritating layer of self-consciousness to my already stressed-out state. To make matters infinitely worse, my stomach unleashes a growl you could hear on the moon.

He raises a brow as his eyes fall to my belly.

Focusing on the computer screen, I pretend it didn’t happen while I wait for a snarky remark. Instead, he glides to the kitchen counter, where shopping bags sit unopened. “It goes without saying that I’ll be monitoring you very carefully, Veronika.”

Ugh. The way he says my name…

“One wrong move?—”

“And it’s bye-bye, Veronika. I know, I know.” I mutter under my breath the way I used to in fits of petulance as a child, just before my grandmother reprimanded me.

I start working while my thoughts drift elsewhere.So, after Darren locked me upstairs, he went…grocery shopping?

I peer over at him and watch in amazement as he plucks an array of items from the bags. Protein bars, wilting convenience store vegetables, some kind of soup stock? A few things I can’t see, and then, last of all…

Cans of gourmet cat food.

The question slips out before I can stop it. “Did you really buy cat food?”

He clears his throat but neither answers me nor looks my way as he hooks his finger through the metal tab on one of the cans and dumps the contents onto a glass plate. He sets the saucer on the floor nice and easy. His careful movements are at total odds with his normal, barely contained energy.

This is the same guy who threatened to kill us all—including Piro—if I didn’t answer his questions?

Piro immediately abandons my ankles for the food.

This guy’s personality is as stable as a nuclear meltdown.

Can’t pin him down at all.

I sit there staring at him for so long, our eyes meet again.

Darren glimpses away first, jaw tight—and that proves to me that he’s probably the kind of person who’d rather be caught dead than show tenderness toward someone or something…

I bite back a smile and return my gaze to the laptop screen.

“He needs water, too, please,” I say without glancing up.

A moment passes. Another.

Then, the kitchen tap runs.

I keep my eyes firmly on my work, but warmth blooms in my chest at the quiet sound of a ceramic bowl tapping the tile.

But this warmth is dangerous…and this man even more so.

The only way to stay safe is to be alone.

I force myself to pay attention to the task at hand, but I can’t ignore Darren’s sweet little murmurs to Piro as he crouches and strokes his back.

My stomach gurgles again, reminding me of my own horrible reality.

Darren straightens up, like the noise was a wake-up call for him too.

He gets the rest of the groceries splayed out on the counter and busies himself…making soup. And sandwiches. In the middle of the night.

Any anger I have left morphs into focus as I work my magic on the dark web, striving to learn all I can about the summit tied to this modeling agency front. Darren isn’t quite peering over my shoulder, but he’s close enough to see the screen at any given time. And the way the atmosphere in here shifts whenever he passes by me—and our orbits touch—has my neck growing hot.

A well-fed Piro returns to my ankles, purring.