Page 25 of Secret Seduction

Since Lorenzo gave me the five-cent tour of his place—making it clear that I’m not to go anywhere I don’t belong—I’ve been sitting in the bedroom he said I could stay in, staring at the wall and wondering what I’m going to do. The bedroom is nice—albeit clearly lacking a woman’s touch. There’s a queen-size bed in the middle of the room with simple yet super soft and fluffy white bedding and white and gray furniture that matches the gray walls.

There’s a set of French doors that lead out to a terrace that overlooks downtown North Harbor Point. There’s a table with a couple of chairs, and I sat out there for a good hour earlier, just enjoying the fresh air and people-watching.

The en suite bathroom is bigger than my entire bedroom and bathroom back at college and has a huge tub that I’m planning to soak in tonight.

It’s not like I have anything better to do.

Classes start soon, and I’m supposed to be going back to work next week. Thankfully, I have enough money in my account to pay for my dorm and books for the semester. But if I don’t go to class, I’m going to lose it all.

And until I get my luggage, I can’t do anything. My phone died since it hadn’t been charged, and my charger is in my luggage with the rest of my stuff, and there’s no way I’m going out to ask Lorenzo to borrow one. I’ve taken enough from that man. So, until my stuff arrives—if it wasn’t stolen—I’m just sitting here, staring at the wall, mentally trying to figure out my next move.

“Vanessa,” Lorenzo calls out, following it up with a knock on the door.

“Yeah.” I sit up. “Come in.”

“Your stuff is here,” he says, rolling the luggage in with one hand while balancing the cutest little boy on his hip.

I sigh in relief when I see my carry-on since it contains everything I need.

“The stuff from the mayor’s house has arrived, and I’ll have the guys bring it in here.”

“That was fast.” I slide off the bed and head straight for my luggage. “Thank you.”

I’m about to grab the handle when the little boy, who’s hanging on Lorenzo’s hip like a monkey, leans over and reaches his arms out for me. His eyes—the same bright blue as Lorenzo’s—meet mine, and his gummy smile warms my chest. He has the same shade of brown hair as Lorenzo and an adorably chubby face. I don’t know what his mom looks like, but he’s the spitting image of his father.

He babbles something incoherently, but the way he’s reaching out and grinning tells me he wants me to hold him.

“Hey, Monkey.”

Instinctually, I reach for him, but before I can take him, Lorenzo pulls him back, glaring at me.

“Leo is off-limits,” he reminds me.

“Sorry.” I flinch. “He was reaching for me and⁠—”

“Off-limits,” he growls before he turns on his heel and stalks out of my room.

The cute little boy glances back at me, grinning and waving happily, unlike his grumpy-ass dad, and I can’t help but smile and wave back.

I’m far too young to think about having children anytime soon, but I would be lying if I said that a small part of me hasn’t thought about what it would be like to be a mom. Unlike my selfish mom, I would be the best, hands-on, loving mom.

Which makes me wonder what happened with Lorenzo’s ex. He said he made her disappear … but there must be a reason why. Sure, he’s grumpy, but at the same time, he seems like a good guy. I mean, he could’ve thrown me out on my ass after what I did to him, yet he’s letting me stay here. He must’ve had a good reason to keep her away from their son, right?

I get to work on unpacking my luggage and plug my phone and laptop in so they can both charge. And while I wait, I unpack my antianxiety meds, organizing them on the bathroom counter. When I step out, a few men are setting boxes down in the center of my room.

“Ma’am,” one of the guys says with a nod. “This is it.”

“Thank you,” I say, glancing at the two boxes.

Since I try to avoid going to Eric’s house as much as possible, I didn’t have much there.

“Lorenzo said to tell you that they’ll be going to your apartment tomorrow to pack up what you need,” the guy says. “If you can make a list of what you want to be brought here, we can make sure to have it all packed and delivered.”

“Thank you,” I say, forcing a smile while thinking about how immature Lorenzo is being by playing telephone instead of telling me himself.

He acts like I want to be married to him. I obviously did all this to save my life. He could be a bit more understanding.

He does think you drugged and raped him, I remind myself.