Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51889 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 208(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51889 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 208(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
I had a per diem from the client, but I refused to touch it. I wanted clothes I had bought her touching her skin. I wanted a roof I had paid for keeping her warm and dry. And I sure as shit wasn’t buying lunch on the Aslanov syndicate’s dime.
She was mine, damnit. Now I just had to convince her of it. Step one was for her to believe I wasn’t some creep or mafia flunky trying to kidnap her.
The door opened slightly and there she was. Those huge eyes stared out at me. She looked nervous but not afraid. That was good.
After what she had been through, and the hot soup she was currently in, she had a right to be nervous.
“Who do you work for?”
“Your father hired me. But I don’t work for him.”
“You are not… taking me back?”
“Not unless you want me to.”
“He will be furious,” she said, giving me an uneasy look. “He is not a… kind man.”
“I know who he is and what he is capable of.”
She chewed her fat bottom lip and I felt my shaft rise in my jeans. I nearly growled in frustration. I wanted to bite that pouty lip. And then lick it.
“You would risk his displeasure to help me?”
“Yes.”
She stared at me, looking utterly beautiful and confused.
“Why?”
“I want to protect you.”
“Again, why?” She asked, that gorgeous head of hers tilting to the side.
I just looked at her, saying nothing. She sighed in exasperation but I could tell she believed me. She looked more relaxed then she had in days, at least from the security pictures. Still afraid, but not of me, as far as I could tell. Her long damp hair was slowly drying into soft waves that framed her stunningly beautiful face.
“What are you looking for?”
“My cap.”
“You don’t need it.”
“I’m being followed.”
“I know. That’s why we are switching rental cars before I take you to a safe place. Twice.”
She chewed her lip for a second, pondering. If she kept doing that, I wasn’t sure I would be able to control myself.
“If I run, you will hunt me down, won’t you?”
Again, I said nothing, letting my silence speak for itself.
“Who are you, really?”
“I’ll never hurt you or allow you to be hurt. That is all you need to know.”
She stared at me for a second longer. She seemed to come to some sort of decision. I heaved a sigh of relief when she nodded.
“I don’t know why, but I believe you.”
“Trust those instincts, Princess. They won’t disappoint you.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Anastasia
Rain was beating against the windshield as we pulled into yet another shopping mall parking lot. This one was fancier than the last one. We had already changed cars once.
Vice slipped the keys into the center console, grabbed an umbrella and ran around to the passenger side. He did not allow me to get wet. He had said nothing other than giving soft instructions a couple of times, like telling me to fasten my seatbelt before he even started the car.
This time he said something different. He stopped me between two random vehicles, in a shadowed area of the parking lot where the lights did not quite reach us.
“You’re not going to run, are you?”
I stared at him, wondering if I should run. Or if I should lie about not being sure. I really was not sure what I was doing in his presence, why I was so docile and submissive, and what his intentions to me were.
All I knew was that everything inside me wanted to trust him. To relax. To stop being the one trying to figure everything out on my own.
Instead I said nothing, quickly shaking my head. I was shocked when he took hold of my face. His gentle but firm touch sent shivers through my entire body, centering on my suddenly hard nipples and between my legs.
I’d never felt anything like it. His touch was literally like an electric shock. I’d felt a hint of it when he took the scissors away, I realized in retrospect. But other than that, not once before. Not in my entire life.
“Because if you do run, I will find you,” he promised, his eyes darkening. It was menacing, the absolute conviction in his eyes. He was far too pretty to be truly scary, I thought mindlessly. What did I care what he looked like, my mind argued back. He said he was here to help me. He either was telling the truth or he wasn’t. That was all that mattered.
As of right now, I believed him when he said he meant me no harm. Quite the opposite in fact. He had stated multiple times that he would do anything to protect me.
Although wouldn’t someone with bad intentions say that too? He could be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, I thought as we hustled out of the car and into the stairwell, climbing briskly to a different floor.