Bound by Lies: Bound #1 (Adult Romantic Suspence) by Hanna Peach Page A

Jeff’s drawing of us. I smile. He really does
have talent. I hope he gets the chance to do something with it.
    I know I should throw it away. I can’t allow myself this
attachment to this picture. Even small things can bind you. But when I put my
hand to the paper to crumple it up, my fingers shake but they don’t close. I
can’t do it.
    I pick up the paper and open the top drawer by my bed.
Inside are all the notes that Caden has ever sent to me as well as unopened
greeting cards that I have collected for the poems written inside. Maybe I can
keep it for a while. Just a while. As I slip the drawing inside, my eye catches
on a note.
     
    Entrance to Cherry Farm Park, Thursday, 3pm.
     
    I remember this note. It was Caden’s second note. It was
also the first note that he had managed to slip into my bag. I don’t know how
it had gotten there. All I know is that the note wasn’t in my bag at the
beginning of the day. But when I got home, it was.
    I had racked my brain over when it could have happened.
Maybe at the coffee shop where I stopped on my way to work. Maybe the grocery
store where I bought my food. Hell, he could have slipped it into my bag while
I was standing at the lights, his hands so close he could have touched me, his
nose so close he could have smelled me.
    I still don’t know how the hell he managed to get it in
there without me seeing him. And he won’t tell me when I ask even now. He just
gets that cheeky shit-eating grin that he gets when I ask him something he
doesn’t want to answer. Then he kisses me and that distracts me enough to
forget what I had just asked. Hell, I forget my own name when Caden kisses me.
    I know I should have been terrified that Caden knew where to
find me that day. That he knew exactly where I was going to be. Instead, like
an idiot, it thrills me. The thought that he had at some time been close enough
to touch me without my knowing makes me dizzy. Even now, I imagine that he is
watching me like an angel protector.
    I fall sleep thinking of Cherry Farm Park, Thursday, 3pm.

Chapter 6
     
    Six months ago
     
    Cherry Farm Park sits in a pocket of this city’s river. It
is mostly green space but dotted here and there with small well-tended patches
of flowers and oak trees. Caden is already standing at the arched entrance when
I arrive five minutes early. He’s dressed in dark distressed denim and a plain
black shirt. Over his arm he carries the same brown leather jacket he wore the
first night we met.
    I see his look of appreciation sweep over my skinny jeans
and black silky top tied at the back of the neck with a bow. I hold my own tan
leather jacket over my arm. When we walk together he takes my hand and I
realize we look like one of those couples that have been together so long they
dress alike. Black and denim and brown leather.
    “I don’t have much time today, but I thought we could get an
ice cream cone each and walk along the river,” he says. “Is that okay?”
    I nod with enthusiasm. “I haven’t had an ice cream cone in
years.”
    He pulls me towards the small ice cream stand by the
entrance. We stand behind a mother with her three kids who take their time
ordering. I stare at the stainless steel tubs filled with all different
flavors.
    “Shall we play a game?” I say with a cheeky grin. For some
reason I feel childish. Giddy like I’ve just gotten off a merry-go-round.
    He raises an eyebrow. “Maybe. What’s the game?”
    “I get to choose your ice cream and you choose mine. Then we
have to explain why.”
    He smiles wide. “This will be interesting.”
    We reach the front of the line and I point to the tub filled
with pale green ice cream, thick with nutty pieces. “Could he have the
pistachio, please?” I glance over at Cade.
    He is looking at me with amused curiosity. He looks only at
me, even as the girl behind the counter scoops up the ice cream and hands it to
him. He glances at the alien-looking scoop then raises an eyebrow at me.
    I smile