The job he was in, it was darkness and death every single day of his life. There was no room for emotions or feelings.
But Lemon’s words struck him deeply and to the core.
She wanted to keep him, just as he did her.
He held on even tighter.
What Lemon didn’t know was that he had no intention of ever letting her go. She was his now.
****
“You got me a present?” Nate asked.
Lemon held the wrapped gift and shook her head. “Technically no, I didn’t buy you a present. I made one for you.”
“You made me something?”
“Yes.”
“Can I open it?”
She rolled her eyes. “On Christmas morning, yes, you can. Until then, it will be beneath this tree.” She put the present under Nate’s tree.
Because Nate had never celebrated a Christmas, they had agreed to spend it in his house. They were going to cook themselves a meal together and share the day.
The last week had been surreal for Lemon. It didn’t matter which house they were in. Hers or Nate’s, she was on cloud nine. She wondered if this was what her mother felt for her father. If so, she kind of understood why her mother stuck around.
It wasn’t lust.
The sex was off the charts, but it was everything else.
Just thinking about Nate made her smile. Being in his company completed her. She wanted to make him happy. Her life was part of his, and it was so hard for her to understand because everything sounded so lame inside her head. She just knew right down to her core that she was in love with Nate Evans.
And that terrified her.
They hadn’t talked about feelings.
Then, of course, there was the whole cursed houses thing. She had brought it up the other day, and Nate said he’d look into it.
“I do have a gift for you,” Nate said.
She turned toward him. “Oh, you do?”
“You were staring at the tree a long time.”
“No, I wasn’t. I was looking at how beautiful it was.” She chuckled, going to him.
Nate wrapped his arms around her, and she pressed her face against his neck, breathing him in. In his arms, she was complete.
“What do you want to do today?” he asked.
“There’s a fair in town,” she said. “It’s a Christmas thing. A bunch of small businesses opening up, offering trinkets and stuff. They do it every year, or so I’ve heard.”
Nate nodded. “That sounds good. I’ll grab a jacket and we can head on out.”
He pulled away from her, and Lemon hummed to herself as she grabbed her jacket. Should she tell Nate how she felt? Was it too soon?
Pulling on the jacket, she tried to run through a few ways of letting Nate know how she felt when there was a knock at the door.
She lifted her hair out of her jacket, walking toward the door. Just as she put her hand on the door handle about to open, Nate came charging down the stairs.
He grabbed her as she heard the first gunshot.
Fear raced down her spine as she was pushed to the floor. Nate’s body covered hers.
Ringing filled her ears, and she was being pulled. Nate pushed her in front of him and during that time, he’d gotten a gun. More bullets came hurtling past, but Nate didn’t slow down, not once.
He charged them both through the house, toward the garden.
“I’m surrounded. Get your ass here now,” Nate said. He shot his gun, and she heard the scream as the man went down. “Lemon, look at me.” He spun her so that she faced him. “I need you to get to your house right now. You go to your room, lock the door. There is a gun under your bed. Grab it. I know you know how to use it.”
“What? How do you know that?” Her mother had forced her to take lessons. She knew some defense moves as well.
Her mother had forced her to take them. She later learned it was her father who asked for her to take the lessons, and it was his men who’d been training her.
All her life, her father had been manipulating her.
Staring at Nate now, she knew. She just knew. “You work for him.”
“Go. Look, I will explain everything, but I have to protect you. Please, I cannot have anything happen to you.”
Her world shattered.
Lies.
This was all lies.
Did her father ask him to make her fall in love? To create this illusion of a life together?
Sickness filled her.
Nate nudged her toward the fence, and with a quick tug, he’d loosened one of the fence posts.
She wanted to run and hide.
“I will come and get you.”
He shoved her through the fence, and Lemon stared at the panel now slid into place, hearing Nate as he moved away.
Lemon stayed perfectly still.
Nate worked for her father.
She was going to die if she didn’t move.