Shadows

Copyright Amber Lacie
©2015

eBooks are not transferrable. No part of this
book may be used or reproduced without written permission, except
in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews.

This book is a work of fiction and any
resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or
locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of
the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

Formatted by @Sassie Lewis

Content Warning:

This books contains scenes of adult sexual
nature and may contain graphic violence. This is for mature
audiences only, especially those wanting a roller coaster ride and
wet panties

Acknowledgements

For my husband and children, who have supported
me since the very beginning, and have watched me unravel, put
myself back together, and become an emotional train wreck while
taking on this adventure. I love you all, so very much. Thank you,
for everything.

For Jaci, my rock, my best of friends who
tolerates my rants and outbursts as the story took over my life, my
first beta, my thought picker, my sounding board. I love
you.

For Sarah, my friend, my beta. Thank
you.

Shadows

Eve was content getting lost in her books,
while living with her best friends. She’s a beautiful girl
surrounded by her friends and family. In her twenty six years of
life, nothing exciting has ever happened to her. Everything is
going perfectly for her. Little does she know, one summer at the
beach could change her life forever. . .

Theron is the son of a cutthroat
multi-billionaire business tycoon. He thought he left behind the
world his father created, but things change. Now, he’s devoted
himself to his eccentric grandma. His only hope at overcoming his
past, is finding the one person he lost so very long ago. .
.

When Eve bumps into Theron, their worlds
collide. Nothing can prepare them for the instant fireworks and
roller coaster ride waiting for them.

But…one has a secret. Can their love overcome
tragedy, lies, and secrets?

Chapter 1

A
fter scrolling
through my Facebook account for the third time today, I check the
time. I'm completely bored. By noon I had finished logging all of
my accounts. I should have taken a lunch break with Kayla, but I
was on a roll and decided to skip lunch. A lot of good that did, my
boss isn't even here to notice. She left for a business meeting at
ten and hasn't been back since. Crumpling up a piece of paper, I
throw it at Kayla. Of course, I miss and it hits Ben's cubicle
instead. Crap. I slink down in my chair, hoping he doesn’t realize
it came from me. It's sure to have pissed him off, and I don't want
to deal with angry Ben. Kayla coughs and I peek out from my
cubicle. Ben is standing there with his hands on his hips straining
the buttons on his shirt. I wonder who shops for him. Does he know
that his clothes are this tight? They look so
uncomfortable.

"This is not a playground, Eve. Some people
are here to actually work. We like our jobs and want to keep them.
Keep your garbage to yourself."

His fake Armani pants are literally up his ass
as he walks away. I let out a giggle, which causes Kayla to start
laughing hysterically. We can barely contain ourselves. Anne walks
out from her office and heads straight towards us. I give Kayla a
look and we both immediately get back to work, or at least pretend
to.

Anne's sitting on the edge of my desk,
completely making herself at home. She starts rearranging my sticky
notepads by colors. "You two need to stop. You know he's going to
call his aunt about this."

"Oh come on, Anne. It was funny. Did you see
him? He was huffing and puffing. I totally thought today was the
day he was going to blow a button." Kayla starts laughing
again.

"Kayla! He is going to hear you. Don't you
want to keep your job? You are making it hard on everyone here in
the office, you know." Anne is trying her best to play her manager
role, but we both know better. She's only keeping up appearances.
As soon as we get to the bar tonight, she will change her
tune.

"Okay. We're sorry, Anne. I promise next time
I won't hit Ben with the paper. I'll make sure to hit Kayla
directly in the back of her head. "

"You do that, and I'll hit you back with some
paper clip rockets." Kayla looks around innocently twirling her
blond curls between her fingers.

I give Anne my biggest smile. Mumbling
something about immature brats, Anne walks back to her
office.

"Eve, you know that was funny
right?"

"I don’t think Anne or Ben thought so. Do you
really think he's going to go crying to Sharon again? I hate that
he's her nephew. He does absolutely nothing, but play games on his
computer all day. Not to mention what a pain in the ass he is.
"

"The creep hit on me again this morning. He
makes my skin crawl."

I have been subjected to his pickup lines
before. They are completely inappropriate and I've told him off
more than once. He's never complained to his aunt about it before,
but I wouldn't push it past him. I warned him if he did it again, I
was going to report him. He hasn't bothered me since. I guess Kayla
must be his new target.

It is one minute to five. Kayla and I are
standing next to the time clock watching, for what feels like
forever, for the clock to change. Finally! We punch out and head
out for the day. We drove separately today, which normally doesn't
happen since we're roommates. She wanted to hit the gym after work
and I wanted to browse the bookstore to see if they got anything
new in.

"Eve, are you cooking tonight?"

"Of course, Matt said he's got tomorrow
night."

"Cool. I'll be home a little late. Paul is
meeting me at the gym. He has some more techniques I want to try
out." I raise my eyebrows at her and she blushes. "Not those kind
of moves, he'll show me those later." She laughs sliding in to her
car. I'm shaking my head at her as she pulls away.

The bookstore is only a few blocks away so I
decide to walk. One nice thing about walking around our town is no
one notices you. I'm alone with my thoughts when I notice the snow
is starting to melt. Mother Nature needs to make up her mind. It's
the end of March, but she hasn't decided if it's spring or
winter.

Getting a rush of warm air, I stomp the snow
and slush off my boots. I walk into the quaint little bookstore. I
love this place. The owners are older and this store has been in
their family for generations. Harold is rebinding books behind the
counter. Olivia, his wife, is probably shelving books somewhere.
Harold gives me a sweet smile as I set my purse down on the
counter.

"My dear, Evelyn, how are we this
evening?"

"It's Eve, Harold, and I'm fine. Did you get
anything new in?"

"I think Olivia spotted a few you might like.
She was making a pile for you earlier. Let me see where she's at."
He walks out from behind the counter to find her. Taking a deep
breath, I relax against the counter. I love the way this store
smells. I'm pretty sure it's what heaven smells like. Hearing
Olivia's shoes clicking on the hardwood floor, I look up as she
walks to the counter.

"I only found four this time. It's getting
harder to find some you haven't read before. We might actually have
to order new ones for just for you."

"No, don't do that. I like buying them second
hand. There's no sense in buying a brand new book, when there are
so many used ones waiting to be read." Olivia pats my hand. She
probably thinks I'm just saying that to appease her, but I'm not. I
won't shop at another book store. I have ordered some online, but
only books they wouldn't carry. There's not much they won't sell. I
even bought my copy of Fifty Shades of Grey here. I hand Olivia my
card. She hands me my receipt as I put my books in my
purse.

"I've never understood why someone would need
such a big purse."

"How else do you expect to carry all of these?
Thanks for the books." I give her a wink and head back into the
cold. The wind has picked up. It's starting to nip at my face.
Clutching my purse to my body, I walk back to my car and I notice a
note tucked under my wiper blade.

This is not a parking
garage!

There's no signature, but I know it's from
Ben. Crumpling it up, I toss it into my car. I crank up the heat as
I head to the grocery store. I stop and get what I need for dinner.
As I'm walking back to my car, I see a couple of teenagers pushing
each other on the carts in the parking lot. The girl is hanging on
to the end of the cart for dear life, and the boy is running as
fast as he can. He jumps up and stands on the front of the cart as
it races across the parking lot. Screaming with laughter, he puts
his foot down slowing the cart. She lifts her head, smiling up at
him. They look so incredibly happy. I watch them for a couple of
seconds. When he turns, I notice his sunglasses. Getting an odd
déjà vu feeling, I decide to shake it off and head home.

Not noticing the cold, Matt walks over to my
car to help me with the bags. He's in a white t-shirt and grey
flannel pajama pants. He must have seen me pull up.

"Hey, I got those."

"It's only a few bags. Shouldn't you be
wearing a coat?"

"Coats are for wimps, besides I'm trying to be
a gentleman."

I raise my eyebrows at him in complete
disbelief. He's never been a gentleman before. We are on the second
floor, so thankfully it's not a long climb up the stairs. The
number six has spun again and now resembles a number nine. I make a
mental note to fix it later. Matt starts putting the groceries away
and pushes me towards the hall. He knows I'm going to want to
change out of my clothes right away. It takes everything in me not
to shed my shirt and pencil skirt as I walk to my
bedroom.

Our apartment isn't huge by any means. The
kitchen is small and opens into a living room. We each have our own
bedroom, mine being the smallest. There's a twin size bed tucked
into one corner and a dresser in the opposite corner. I feel better
after changing into black yoga pants and a tank top. If Matt wasn't
home, the bra would be gone as well.

I find Matt standing by our kitchen counter
holding the bottle of wine and two glasses. Nodding to him, I start
working on dinner. Matt pours us each a glass of wine and I can
tell there is something bothering him.

"Hey, you okay?"

"I had a shitty day, just leave
it."

"Um, okay." I stir the food some more
wondering what's eating him. It's not like him to snap at
me.

"What's for dinner?"

"Chicken stir fry. It says I only have to add
water." I shoot Matt a huge grin and he walks away shaking his
head. I'm not the world greatest cook. If it comes out of a box or
a bag, I can probably handle it. I should never bake under any
circumstances. Kayla has had to help me fan our fire alarms more
than once, when I've tried to bake cookies. Making us each a plate,
I plop down next to Matt on the couch as I hand him his.

"Sorry I snapped at you. I had a long day at
work. Some jackass intern in the accounting department entered a
bunch of inventory accounts wrong. He realized his mistake, but it
took him three months to notice it. So, now I have to go back and
redo all of his accounts and logs. It's a pain in my ass. I don't
have time to do his work and mine."