“Work,” I said shortly. I didn’t need to go down this path with them. If they knew what we were researching together, my mother would have a fit, and my father would take her side. It was the same as every argument I’d ever had with them.

“You work at the museum?” my mother pushed.

“No,” I answered before Stone could. I cast him a quick glare to let him know I had this handled. His eyes looked pleading back, like he couldn’t help himself from wanting to jump in, to protect me.

Seriously, Len, you’re imagining it. 

The longer I stayed with him, the more I thought the little touches and comments were becoming personal. I kept telling myself it was in my head. I was there for my safety, that was it. I’d help him solve the cold case and move on. He had to return to Virginia when the case was finished. There was no chance he thought of me beyond just another resource.

“Stone is here for research,” I started. “I’m helping him.”

His head turned back to me at the sound of his name. He tilted it, and I could feel his gaze pouring into me.

Shit, I needed dinner to be right now. 

The way his eyes pushed through every wall I put up, I couldn’t stand it much longer before I-

“Dinner!” Eloise called out, saving me.

I stood fast and hurried to the dining room. The others trailed behind me, and we all found seats around the table, Stone sitting beside me.

Dinner wasn’t as painful as I expected. My father had both Stone and my brother chuckling through most of it, my mother keeping any comments to herself. I even made an effort to catch up with her, asking about work and her recent trips. It’d been awhile since I’d visited home.

I felt Stone glancing in my direction a few times, but I tried hard not to glance up. Instead, I focused on eating the delicious pasta Eloise had worked so hard on.

“Dinner is fantastic, Eloise,” Stone said.

I watched a smile grow, pride beaming from her, my brother’s eyes falling on his wife with adoration. In the entire time they’d been together, there was never a second I doubted they were meant to be. They were one of those couples you just knew would get married.

Something I would never have. 

I strived to find what they had. I thought I found it with Jake, but the more controlling he became, the faster I realized it was far different. Manipulation wasn’t love.

“You alright?” Stone breathed the question so quiet, I barely caught it.

I nodded.

“Where’d you go?” he asked.

“Somewhere I never want to be again,” I whispered back.