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“How come?”
A bit of that enthusiasm melted away as she shook her head. “The Fellowship wasn’t exactly big on fiction.”
Was she kidding? “Wait, so you mean to tell me you’ve never read fiction before?”
“No, I have. Myra used to sneak books to me at the farmers market. I’d take them home and hide them, reading at night after everyone else had gone to sleep.” Her face drooped as she finished. “But that stopped a while ago.”
My stomach bottomed out at the way she said that. “Why did it stop?” I pressed even though I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like the answer.
Something shifted in her features. I could practically see the shutters slamming shut. She turned her back to me, moving to the sink to put the spray bottle of cleaner back underneath with all the other cleaning supplies.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said quietly.
She was wrong, it absolutely did matter. A switch had flipped inside me when it came to this woman, and every protective instinct came roaring to the surface.
“Deva.” She refused to look at me even though I craved those golden eyes on me. Instead, she pulled out another spray bottle from beneath the sink and started spraying and wiping down the counters.
I snapped, stomping over to her and snatching the bottle out of her hand. “Damn it, woman. Will you just stop cleaning for a second?”
“No.” She finally whipped around to face me, her eyes full of that same fire they’d held when she went toe-to-toe with me over driving. Just that one look was enough to make my cock start to swell behind my fly. “I won’t stop, becausethisis what you pay me to do, not stand around and spill about my past.” She slammed her hands down on her hips and glared fiercely. “Besides, it’s not like you’ve been an open book. You haven’t once brought up Cash’s mother.”
My mouth opened and the words started to spill out before I could stop them. “Fine. Fair is fair. You’ll get a question for a question.”
“A—wait, what?”
It definitely wasn’t an offer I’d planned on making, but there was no point in backing down now. I wanted to know more about this woman, and if that meant I had to return the favor, so be it.
“For every question I ask, you get to ask one in return. I think that’s a good deal.”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down, curiosity shining in her honey eyes. I could practically see the wheels spinning in her head, and I knew I had her.
Finally, she relented, pulling in a deep, fortifying inhale before saying, “All right, you have a deal.”
I didn’t hesitate. “Why did you stop reading if you enjoy it so much?”
Her eyes cast downward, staring at the countertop as she traced the grain in the stone with her long, delicate finger. “Let’s just say it wasn’t worth the repercussions of being caught.”
My skin began to tingle, growing too tight over my bones. “And I’m guessing they caught you?”
Her eyes came up, a single brow lifting. “They did. And that was two questions. I believe it’s my turn.”
I waved her on. “Fine, ask your question.”
She didn’t speak right away, giving serious thought to her question before finally asking, “Where is Cash’s mother?”
It was a question I’d seen coming, one I’d been expecting for more than a week now, and I still cringed at the answer, because there was no way to make it sound good. “I don’t know,” I admitted on a grunt. “She was a drunken hookup from a few years back. I didn’t know anything about Cash until she showed up with him a little over a month ago. She said she was over nothaving a life and that it was my turn to be the parent. After that, she just left. I have no clue where she is or if she ever plans on coming back.”
Deva’s nostrils flared, something unpleasant darkened her eyes. “And if she were to come back?”
I suddenly understood her expression and didn’t even have to think before answering. “She’s never getting him back. I already have a lawyer on retainer, prepared to fight if or when that day arrives.” My chest felt like it was clamped in a vise as I thought about that bitch showing up and trying to take my son from me. “Far as I’m concerned, you dump your kid off on a stranger, you have no business being a parent. She ever darkens my doorstep again, I’ll make sure she’s stripped of every one of her legal rights to that boy.”
Just like that, Deva’s shoulders sank on a huge sigh, my answer giving her a sense of relief. She was worried about my son’s wellbeing. I wasn’t blind. As much as I had been trying to avoid her, I couldn’t miss how much she cared for Cash. She wanted what was best for him, that was obvious.
“Good,” she said on a sigh. “I agree.”
It was my turn to ask a question, and out of the millions I had floating around in my head, I decided to stick with the current theme, my curiosity getting the best of me. “What happened when you were caught with a book?”
The sad smile she gave me was so small it didn’t even engage those adorable dimples. “Agnes, that was the wife, she searched my room while I was out tending to the vegetable garden. She told her husband and her son, and they were all waiting for me when I came inside.”
