Dark Secrets Unveiled (The Children of the Gods #45) - I.T. Lucas Page 0,20

was built, we had the keep, but at first only Kian, the council members, and the Guardians lived there. The rest of us were scattered throughout the city, and some even lived in the Bay Area. I had a small house, and I dedicated my time to raising my son. I was friends with two other clan females who had boys Vlad’s age, and we helped each other out. We were fortunate to have conceived at around the same time. It’s rare for us. There was even a fourth boy, but I wasn’t friends with his mother, and later, they moved back to Scotland.”

That was more than Stella had ever told him about herself.

Perhaps the sound of him chopping vegetables was having a hypnotic effect on her?

He pulled two tomatoes out of the bag and put them on the chopping board. “Are Vlad and the other boys good friends?”

“The best. You’ve met Jackson, right?”

Richard nodded. “He and Tessa came over to the cabin when we were staying there. His mother is the clan’s therapist.”

Stella grimaced. “I hope she wasn’t one of the auction winners.”

“No, she wasn’t.”

“That’s a relief.” Stella let out a breath.

She’d never asked him about the clan females he’d had sex with, and naturally, he hadn’t volunteered the information. In fact, Stella hadn’t asked him much about his life in the human world either.

They’d talked about his time in the government paranormal program, and he’d told her about his relationship with Jin, so she wouldn’t worry about him having any lingering feelings for his ex-girlfriend. He and Jin had dated only because they’d been compelled by Eleanor to do so, and not because they’d been in love. He liked Jin, and hopefully she felt the same about him, but once the compulsion had been removed, they remained just friends.

He’d also told Stella about the kinds of jobs he’d had before the program so she wouldn’t think that he was a slacker, but she hadn’t asked about his family or his childhood.

It hadn’t been the best time of his life, and he didn’t like to talk about it, but maybe if he did, she would open up to him and share some of her life experiences, even those that she wasn’t proud of.

14

Stella

When Richard had asked Stella about her travels, she had gotten carried away and dangerously close to telling him too much about herself. Fortunately, he hadn’t continued that line of questioning and had chosen to ask about Vlad and his friends instead.

If he went back to that, she would just switch things around and ask him to tell her more about himself. Most men were usually more than happy to do that. If they asked a woman to tell them about herself, it wasn’t because they were really interested in getting to know her better but because they wanted to seduce her.

Except, that wasn’t the case with Richard. He wanted much more than that from her.

Heck, she wanted more from him too, and she was curious about his past. But if he shared his life experiences with her, he would expect her to do the same, and that was dangerous.

But how long could she keep everything about herself from him? What kind of a life would they have together if she did that?

Her secret was hugely important, but it didn’t encompass her entire life. If she was careful, she could tell him about herself and just skip over the part she had sworn not to reveal.

Pushing off the stool, Stella rounded the counter. “Would you like something to drink?”

“What do you have?”

She opened the fridge. “I have spring water, beer, and orange soda.”

“What kind of beer?”

“Blue Moon. It’s a very nice beer. I like that it’s not bitter.”

“I’ll have some of that.”

“Regular or mango flavored?”

“Regular.”

Naturally, manly men didn’t drink flavored beers, and Richard was definitely a manly man.

Even his vegetable chopping technique was manly.

She enjoyed seeing his large hand gripping the knife and his biceps flexing as he chopped things into tiny pieces.

Frankly, it felt good to have Richard in her kitchen, acting all domestic as if he belonged there.

She could get used to that.

He was easygoing, easy to talk to, and he never pushed for more than she was willing to give. She’d worried that it would feel awkward to be alone with him in the house, but other than her fear of letting things slip, it wasn’t. As long as she was careful and stopped thinking about the damn secret, she could relax and enjoy