Guarding His Fake Family by Leslie North & Leslie North

Author:Leslie North & Leslie North
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Relay Publishing

EIGHTEEN

The next time Alisha woke up, the bedside clock read five-thirty. Damn. She’d been napping almost four hours. After yawning and stretching, she got up and used the bathroom, then went downstairs to work on her laptop.

Sleep had refreshed her and now she was ready to dive back into her research. Simon sat across the living room from her, using the dictation software on his phone. He acknowledged her arrival with a grunt but didn’t say anything else. The tension from their argument earlier was still there, but lessened, thank goodness.

She opened up the laptop, losing herself in the joy of the hunt. Alisha pulled up her list of leads and began looking into them, one by one, checking into them all, no matter how small. Time drifted and the next time she looked up, an hour had passed. Simon was returning from upstairs.

“I just gave Amy her bottle and got her diaper changed. She’s down for another nap,” he said, taking his seat across from her again. “What are you working on?”

He looked relaxed now and seemed genuinely interested in her answer, so she went with it. Dropping their discussion from earlier today was probably a good thing anyway, for now. “I’ve been checking on some of the leads I had about properties tied to the Andronettos and I think I’m on to something.”

“Yeah?” He got up and moved to take a seat beside her on the sofa. Simon peered at her screen, then exhaled slowly. “That’s good. We can check on those more tomorrow. You should stop now so we can have some dinner. You barely touched your lunch.”

Her hackles rose again. Maybe their earlier discussion wasn’t over after all if he still thought he had the right to tell her what was best for her, as if she wasn’t an adult who could decide for herself. “I’m fine. And I’m not hungry.”

He raised his eyebrows, staring her down. “But it’s not all about you. Not anymore.”

She slapped her laptop closed and gave him a stern side look. “Yes, I know I’m eating for two, but since I’m the one putting food in my mouth, I can also say whether I’m hungry. Okay?”

He held up his hands in surrender. “I meant no offense. And you’re more than capable of taking care of yourself. I know that. I just didn’t want you to push yourself too hard, that’s all. We had a scare earlier and I, for one, would rather not have another one.”

Alisha took two long breaths, forcing them out before shifting forward to set the laptop on the coffee table. She knew she was being unreasonable, but it was as if a switch had been flipped and she was powerless to stop it. Her hand instinctively went to her abdomen and she rubbed it. “Look. I appreciate you looking out for me, but I’m feeling smothered and that has me wanting to push back. Can you just accept that I know when I’m hungry and will eat then? I really want to get back to work.

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