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“I want to see!” Aileen said excitedly.
“And you will, but not until I get back. I don’t want you down there alone.”
“Well, I could hardly get down there without the codes and these thick steel doors you have in front of the opening.”
“We will explore together when I get home.”
“I’ll look forward to that.”
“Me too,” he replied, surprising her with a kiss on the forehead.
He let her back out and she returned to her room, still marveling at what she had just seen. She got a shower and changed before going back down for breakfast. Yakov had made quick work of his departure and was already gone.
“Yakov said I’m to inform the guards if you try to leave without them,” Hannah blurted out.
“He did, did he?”
“Yes. I’m sorry, Aileen. I’ll have to do what he says. If you leave here without them and something happens, he’ll have me flogged.”
“I don’t think it would be quite that bad.”
“Maybe, but it wouldn’t be good, whatever he does.”
“I’m going to my house to work as soon as I’ve finished breakfast, Hannah. You can tell his goons to follow me when I leave.”
“Thanks for understanding,” Hannah said with a sigh of relief.
Aileen nodded and sat down to eat her meal. Yakov was changing, it seemed, growing more protective. It still didn’t mean he loved her. It just meant that he was making sure the children he was expecting were safe and sound. The most she could say for his feelings in regard to her was that he seemed to like her. He had gotten comfortable around her. That was all there was to this. Nothing more.CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX“There’s my girl!” Yakov said cheerfully as he stepped into the house upon his return from his trip.
Aileen smiled and kissed him, putting on the expected performance for the staff. Though they both felt everyone here was trustworthy, he didn’t want to take any chances. It was sometimes hard to separate real feelings for her from the pretend ones they put on display. She was constantly having to remind herself not to get too caught up in the illusion.
Now, looking at him, she had to wonder if he ever had a hard time remembering that they weren’t really in love. They lived like a married couple. They acted like a married couple. The one thing they didn’t do was fuck like a married couple. It had not become boring or tedious like she’d heard some married couples complain about. Yakov was a powerhouse in bed. His stamina was incredible and his skills were even more impressive. Just thinking about him got her all hot and bothered.
“Aileen?” said, jarring her from her little mini daydream and making her realize that it was most likely not the first time he had called her name.
“I’m sorry. I was somewhere else,” she said. “Welcome home.”
“Thanks. I’m starving. Have you eaten yet?”
“No. I was just about to see what Ruby is whipping up down here.”
“How about we go out for a nice steak?”
“Ooh, date night,” she replied.
“Absolutely. I just made a killing with this deal. We’re celebrating.”
“Great!”
“Alright, get changed and I’ll do the same. Meet me back here in twenty minutes.”
“Done!”
Aileen felt oddly thrilled about the prospect of a date night with him. Perhaps it was because she had been so busy with everything lately that she hadn’t had time to really take any down time. Plus, the honest truth was that she had missed him while he was away. Rushing up to her room, she fussed and fretted like it was her first date and they were going to prom. She laughed at herself as she twirled nervously in front of the full-length mirror. This was so absurd, trying to please a man who was paying her to pretend to be his wife and who had managed to knock her up.
Still, she couldn’t deny how thrilled she was that he was home and they were going out together. She went bouncing back down the stairs, excitedly. He was already waiting for her at the bottom and she beamed down at him and then everything was swirling around her. She was falling.
“Whoa! Are you okay?”
She gathered herself, feeling embarrassed. She had lost her balance and lunged forward down the last few stairs and into Yakov’s arms.
“I’m fine. I don’t know what happened there.”
“Me either, but glad to see you’re falling for me,” he laughed.
She looked up at him, a little bewildered by the comment. Did he mean it? Was it just a slip of the tongue? Perhaps it was just too easy an opportunity to make a joke. She had to stop obsessing about everything he said and did. More importantly, she had to distance herself from him emotionally. The doctor had told her that she might be a bit emotional due to the extra pregnancy hormones, but this was ridiculous.
