Artful Lies (Hunt Legacy Duology 1)

Becker sighs, closing his eyes briefly. ‘I took you to Countryscape because I want you to see what no one else sees.’

‘Why?’ I murmur mindlessly, and he smiles mildly.

‘Because you like me in a way no one has liked me before.’

Oh God. There he is. The young man who is craving acceptance. The man who doesn’t want to end up alone. But . . . ‘I don’t like you.’ Lies.

‘You really do need to work on that poker face, princess,’ he says on an ironic laugh, glancing away as he pinches the bridge of his nose. He sighs. ‘You love my passion, and I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love yours.’

I also need to work on my willpower, because I can feel my walls beginning to crumble. I can feel my heart shouting louder than my head. I need to get out of here. ‘I’ll see you at work tomorrow,’ I say, skirting past him quickly.

‘That’s it?’ he asks, bewildered.

‘That’s it,’ I say. ‘You said yourself it should never have happened. You need to remember why.’

‘I can’t remember a damn thing when you’re around, Eleanor.’

‘Then try,’ I shout, glancing up to my apartment window, thinking about the quiet, lonely space beyond it. Quiet is good. Lonely is good. I need some space to kick my mind back into line before Becker captures my foolish side again. But my thoughts are cut short, as well as my steps, as I wonder if I’m seeing right.

‘What is it?’ Becker says, picking up on my unease. I look back blankly at him, seeing a face awash with concern. ‘Eleanor, what?’

He joins me, and I look up again. ‘My window,’ I go to point, but my arm refuses to unwrap from around my midriff. ‘It’s . . .’ I trail off when I register my window is closed. ‘Oh.’ Now I’m frowning. It was open.

‘What about your window?’ Becker prompts, pulling my puzzled face away from the building. He’s frowning too.

I shake my head, dismissing my mistake. ‘It looked open. I must have been seeing things.’

‘You don’t sound sure.’ He glances up to the building and runs his eyes from left to right a few times, checking for himself.

‘It’s dark. I wouldn’t see my hand if I held it up in front of me.’ And I’m certainly not thinking straight right now. I turn and make my way up the path, keen to escape the cold. As well as Becker and his revelations.

My freezing hands take for ever to locate my door keys, and once I’ve finally picked out the right key, I spend precious seconds in the cold trying to insert it into the lock. ‘Damn,’ I curse as I drop the bunch to the floor.

I kneel to retrieve them, but Becker beats me to it, swiping them up. ‘I’ll see you up,’ he declares, opening my door and stepping in first.

‘There’s no need.’ I want him to go now so I can fall into my bed and ponder every thought currently tangling my mind.

‘That wasn’t a question.’ He looks at me expectantly, showing me an expression that definitely isn’t going to relent. ‘Are you going to stand in the cold all night?’

I sigh a long, tired, exasperated sigh, then I do as I’m told. Becker shuts the cold out and stops me from proceeding any further, moving in front of me and taking the stairs. ‘I was mistaken,’ I say to his back, following him up. ‘You really don’t need to do this.’

I’m flat-out ignored, so I save myself the effort and shut the hell up. Let him see me in. Let him leave. Simple.

He strides towards my apartment, his shoulders tense, and makes fast work of opening my door, pushing it wide open and scanning the space.

Waiting patiently behind him, I look over his shoulder and see nothing out of the ordinary. He’s being overly suspicious.

‘There you are!’ I swing around to find Lucy breaching the top of the stairs, dragging a laptop case behind her. It’s not the only thing trailing her. Mark appears, suited and booted, looking a lot fresher than he did the last time I saw him. I backtrack through the week in my head. The last time I saw him was last night. Shit, has it really only been a day?

‘Hey.’ I smile my hello to Mark, who nods, choosing to remain quiet, before I return my attention to Lucy. ‘Sorry about earlier.’

Lucy’s grin gives me the reassurance I need. ‘It’s fine. Mark and I had lunch.’ Her eyes widen, telling me everything I need to know. Last night might have been a washout for Lucy, thanks to me, but tonight looks set to get her right back where she wants to be. I give Mark a wicked grin and get a smack on my arm from Lucy for my trouble.