Page 125 of Trust Me

A few beats later, Aaron Townsend enters the room. The scowl on his face would put me off if it wasn’t a well-known fact that this is his regular expression. His eyes, the same color as his son’s, move around the room and soften when they land on his wife, who stands in front of Kyle and me.

Then they light up even more at the sight of his son. Finally, his gaze lands on me and his scowl returns.

“Who is this?”

I part my lips to reply, but Kyle beats me to it.

“This is Riley.”

“Our new daughter-in-law,” Kyle’s mother finishes for him.

His father’s gaze never wavers from me. It’s not difficult to see at all where Kyle gets his imposing nature from.

Mr. Townsend raises an eyebrow at Kyle. That’s when I think he’s going to drop his hand from my waist and drop his head in shame or wither underneath his father’s stare. Hell, I feel my insides start to cave in beneath the weight of his attention myself. My heart races, and I wouldn’t blame Kyle if he told his father right this minute what I’d done.

“Mr. Townsend—” I open my mouth to confess myself, but Kyle’s voice interrupts me.

“She’s my wife,” Kyle says, looking his father directly in the eye.

His father looks me over, scowl in place, but doesn’t say anything.

“My office,” is all he says before he pivots and exits the room.

I start to follow, but Kyle’s hand stops me. “Just me.”

I watch as he heads in the direction his father left, wanting to follow but stilling myself against doing so. Silence surrounds me for a brief moment before Patience Townsend moves into my line of sight.

The expression on her face isn’t as friendly as it was when we were first introduced. While it isn’t friendly, she isn’t scowling either. There’s a pinch between her eyebrows as if she’s trying to figure me out.

“You think my son doesn’t love you?” she asks with folded arms.

I snort again at the thought. “All due respect, Mrs. Townsend, I’m pretty certain your son hates me.”

Her eyebrows lift. “You believe so?”

I nod but can’t bring myself to tell her exactly why I know how Kyle feels about me. Sure, he feels some affection toward Eve. She’s a child and who wouldn’t love her? And yes, there might have been a time where Kyle felt something other than annoyance or even just physical attraction for me, but the truth of why I entered his life destroyed all of that.

Now, I’m just a tool for him to use as payback.

“Yes, ma’am. I do.”

It’s Mrs. Townsend’s turn to snort. “Riley, if my son hated you, there’s no way you would’ve made it within fifty yards of this house.” Her eyes meet mine again. “Con artist or not.”

I suck in a breath because …

What the hell did she just say?

* * *

Kyle

“Is this necessary?” I ask my father as he perches his body on the corner of his desk in his home office in the basement.

He doesn’t say anything as he folds his arms across his chest and lifts an eyebrow.

“My wife’s waiting for me upstairs. And Stasi’s probably talking Eve into shaving the side of her head by now, too. Why would you let her cut her hair like that?” I admonish.

“Are you telling me how to raise my daughter now?”