Filthy Dirty Secrets: Filthy Dirty Alpha Book 2 Read Online Free

case go by now, but I can’t. Hope could still be out there somewhere, desperately hoping someone is searching for her.
    My enthusiasm for the rest of the shopping trip is dampened, and I trudge back to Second Circle with my arms full of grocery bags. I used to think that giving up on my childhood friend Claire was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made, but part of me is beginning to wonder if this is. Letting the searching drive me crazy. Not knowing when to surrender.
    I get back to Burke’s apartment and set the table up before I start cooking. Setting out a tablecloth is much easier than cooking and crumbling sausage. I keep washing my hands and wrinkling my nose at the uncooked meat. This is why I’m a vegetarian. Well, that, and I don’t like eating anything with a face.
    “He’ll like it,” I tell myself. “It’ll be yummy, I’m sure.” I’ve managed to get the paella simmering in a big pot, and the sausage cooked in a skillet by the time Burke walks through the door.
    “Lola?” He calls from the entryway, as he sees what I’m doing. “Do you have a vendetta against my kitchen, or…”
    “I’m cooking dinner.” Removing the lid from the rice, I peek beneath it. It’s starting to resemble paella, and smells incredible. I feel proud, and thankful for Lainey’s advice.
    Burke comes closer to inspect my work. “Damn, it smells great in here. What did you make?” His greedy eyes are looking at the bubbling pot on the stovetop.
    “Paella. I hope that’s okay.”
    “You made me meat?” he asks in disbelief, seeing the chorizo.
    “Yes.”
    Pulling me into his arms, Burke presses a kiss to my temple. “I’ll open some wine.”
    I want to cry with relief. I don’t cook. Ever. But his reaction makes me feel incredible.
    He flashes me a smile. “A goddess in the bedroom, and she knows how to cook too. You’re going to spoil me, princess.”
    Soon we’re seated at the table I set. Two candles flicker in the dimmed room, and soft jazz music that Burke put on flows easily in the background.
    I smile at him over each bite of paella, and it feels so normal . Like we could be any couple enjoying a meal together after a tiring week of work.
    “How was your day?” I ask. My stomach does a backflip at how ordinary the question sounds.
    “Good.” Burke gives me a slow smile that lights a fire inside of me. “Better now that I’m with you. How was yours?”
    “Fine,” I say too quickly. I’m acting like such a scatterbrain. I look down at my dinner. The rice has spilled over the side of my bowl and onto the tablecloth. I thought I saw Hope today . I can’t tell him that. He’ll think I’m crazy. Or maybe he’ll understand. I look up at him slowly and he’s studying me with an intensity only Burke can manage.
    The words tumble out before I can stop them. “Where is this going?”
    “The food? Into my stomach.” He takes a big bite.
    I barely smile. “No, us . Where are we going? Thirty days is going by so fast, and I need to know where we’re going to stand at the end of that.”
    Burke swallows and lays his silverware down on his plate before meeting my eyes. “There is no us , Lola,” he says quietly. “We made a deal: you live with me and give me what I want, and I let you investigate Hope. That’s all there is.”
    His words—spoken with such quiet finality—hit me with the force of a punch. The paella I’ve eaten sits like lead in my stomach.
    “You can’t tell me you don’t feel like there’s something more between us.” I can feel it even as we’re sitting here, a mere table length apart. It’s like there’s an invisible cord attaching us to each other. Burke occupies my every waking thought, and it’s not just that I want to tear his clothes off—which I do. It’s the man underneath all of that. The man who pretends to be untouchable but is really concealing an incredible streak of kindness and patience.
    Burke pushes his chair back from the table and rises to his