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"What do you mean?" There’s a thread of curiosity in her voice. But her muscles are still relaxed. I draw circles over her hip, and she shivers. And when I lean in and kiss her lips, she melts into me further. "I had an investigator break into your room and put hidden cameras and listening devices there.”
“You put hidden cameras and listening devices in my room?” She asks slowly.
“Also, in your phone and on your Kindle."
"Why my Kindle?" She frowns.
"It’s the device you spend most of your time on; more than your phone."
"And how did you find that out?"
"I saw you reading on your Kindle in the coffee shop, and on the subway, and even while walking to and from the subway, something which was so dangerous, I ended up following you to make sure you reached home safely."
"You followed me home from the subway to make sure I reached home safely?" Her brow furrows.
"It was either that or reveal myself to you, and I wasn’t ready for that."
Something of what I’m saying seems to infiltrate through her subconscious, for her gaze widens. "You’re saying you saw me before we met at Gio’s wedding?"
I nod slowly.
"And you first saw me in Brooklyn?"
I stay quiet, letting her read the assent in my gaze.
She rubs at her temple. "And you bugged my room in my father’s home?"
I nod.
“How did you do that?” The wrinkle between her eyebrows deepens. “My father’s home has security.”
“Nothing my team couldn’t bypass. I also had eyes and ears on your apartment in London."
This time, she pushes away from me, and I don’t want to let her go. I don’t want there to be any distance between us, but I release her… For now.
"In my a-a-apartment?" she stutters.
I reach for her, but she pulls away. A hot stab of pain squeezes my chest; I rub at it. I knew it was going to hurt when I finally told her. But I had to tell her. Even though everything in me warned me if I did, I could lose her.
And what if I didn’t tell her? I’ve managed not to, so far. But now, when I’m so close to her, when it feels like so many walls have come down between us, when I’m beginning to show her who I am, when she knows my darkest desires and hasn’t run yet, I know it’s now or never. And it has to be while we're here, when she can’t run and leave me. While we’re still snowbound. But it won’t last forever. It’s stopped snowing, and the sun has started to shine, and once it thaws, we’ll have to return. And then… I won’t be able to stop her from leaving. But for now, I can keep her here, even if she hates me.
"I had to make sure I knew where you were at all times."
"I don’t understand. You had cameras on me and listening devices. You were tracking me; you knew where I always was?" Color fades from her cheeks.
"I had to make sure you were safe at all times."
"There was no threat to me," she protests.
"And this was the only way to be sure." I rub the back of my neck. "I know this is a lot for you to take in but—"
"So when you offered me a job—"
"I knew you needed it. I knew your preschool had gone out of business, and you were running out of options."
She pales further. "You used that to your advantage."
"I saw the opportunity and took it."
