Romance: My Bear Boss: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (BBW Shifter Romance, Paranormal Shifter Romance) by Ashley Hunter Page B

but she had to at least play the part right enough to at least make them uncertain. She wanted to escape there was no doubt about it.
    The sooner she escaped the better, if that meant playing nice, then fine. It would just take time… and she had all the time in the world.

 
    Chapter 13
     
    Breakfasts lead to conversations that made Ingrid every so wary of Leo. They spoke of small things, like what kinds of flowers he grew in his gardens, or where he liked to travel.
    It didn’t escape her that he never really mentioned what he did or where his family was since Ingrid had managed to become well acquainted with the estate and didn’t see a single soul aside from Nadya, Leo’s Butler (whose name was Gerard), another maid with pale flaxen hair named Lucy (Ingrid had only seen her once), and Leo himself. She had been tempted to ask, feeling more and more curious the longer she stayed, but she steeled herself against it.
    She didn’t want to overdo it and do something stupid, like admit that she enjoyed the gardens outside the dining room more than the library, or how she found herself kind of used to Nadya’s constant watch.
    No. She needed to remain objective. She needed to build enough trust that she would probably be given the opportunity to escape without having to actually search it out herself.
    Ingrid wandered throughout the estate, testing her boundaries until Nadya would place herself in front of her an act as a sort of border, staring the woman down until she got the message to stop following a specific route.
    There was no doubt in her mind that there were secrets in this place, and she didn’t want to stick around to become one of them.
    A week, then two… three weeks, a month…
    Breakfasts had become lunches…
    “You’re quite opinionated.” Leo observed after Ingrid finished a particular tirade.
    She had gotten energetic, passionate, fired up… all because he had asked about that case and she had been unable to keep her mouth shut.
    “People believe what they want,” She had sighed.
    “It doesn’t matter how much evidence you put in front of them. You could tell them the sky is blue and show them all the proof but if they see green that’s all the sky will ever be.”
    “Maybe…” Leo shrugged and when she turned to face him, he was standing a foot away and his proximity made her want to take a step back, until he faced her with a small smile.
    “It doesn’t mean you should give up.”
    “I don’t.” She insisted with a scowl. He chuckled before he turned and walked off without another word.
    Lunches became dinners…
    “I’m not trying to poke my nose in your life!” Ingrid shouted, completed incensed.
    Leo spun a pen through his fingers, watching her as she slid a knife roughly over a piece of roast beef.
    “So sue me if I’m a little curious!”
    “Curiosity killed the cat, Ingrid.”
    “Satisfaction brought it back, Leo.” Ingrid retorted, rolling her eyes even when he blinked at her, surprised.
    “I’m still not telling you anything.”
    She threw her hands up and stood up from the table.
    “Goodnight then, mister mysterious!”
    And the more Ingrid spoke with Leo… the harder it became to keep herself objective.
    Despite their conversations, Leo never revealed anything about his life and she became more and more infuriated with his practiced smile and strategic chuckles. He would casually brush off her questions and return them with different topics that made her head spin.
    Each conversation only made her angrier, made her want to punch him, but at the same time, it made her want to press onwards and get more words out of him. Some nights though, Leo was nowhere to be found.
    He just disappeared, sometimes for days, only to return one following morning acting as if nothing was strange and he would dodge every single question she had about his whereabouts. It was driving Ingrid insane.
    Finally, one night of restless turning on the large bed she refused to call hers,