Sheltered(18)

“This was going to make both of us a fortune. I don’t have time to find someone else to take the fall for this. It was years of grooming and coordination. One slip with a lousy lay and now all of it is on the line.” She turns to look at me, and there is fire in her eyes. “You get her back here and make this right. You do whatever it fucking takes for her to agree to come back to work. And I don’t care if that means you marrying her or never seeing her again. If you cost me all that I’ve built, I’ll make sure this all falls on your shoulders. Get it done, Fritz.”

She spits out my name like it’s dirt in her mouth.

“It’s late. Why don’t we go home and I can run you a nice bath?” I offer, but the set of her jaw leaves no room for debate. “You can count on me,” I finally say, trying to do what I can to smooth things over until I can fix this.

She turns and give me her back as she waves her hand and dismisses me. I leave the gallery and check my phone again, seeing nothing new from Blair. Rage bubbles inside me just below the surface as I think of where the fuck she could have ran off to.

I purposely made it so that she didn’t have any friends, had a shitty roommate, and nowhere else to turn except to me. I never wanted anything to do with that mousy nobody, but Lilith said we needed someone to pin it on. Blair was the perfect candidate and barely took any effort. She was so desperate for attention from anyone that she’s lucky all I wanted from her was this job. A lesser man probably would have fucked that cherry out of her a long time ago, but I was never interested in that. I didn’t want her trailer trash hands on me. I’m a goddamn blue blood. I won’t let some Louisiana redneck destroy my good name, and I’ll make sure she goes along with the plan. Even if I have to spell out for her exactly what I’m capable of.

“Fucking bitch,” I say to myself as I make my way back to her apartment.





Chapter 9





Ryker





“Would you like some tea?” I ask, rubbing her back up and down, breathing in her scent. I still can’t believe she’s here. In my arms. In my shirt.

“I-I don’t know,” she says, looking up at me with confusion in her eyes. “I’ve got a lot of questions.” She bites her lip, drawing my eyes there and making me want to kiss her.

“I know,” I say, brushing a strand of dark hair away from her eyes. “Let’s get you warmed up and then you can ask all the questions you want.”

She nods, letting go of her lip. Her little pink tongue peeks out between her lips, soothing the place she bit and I have to fight back a groan. I take her small hand in mine, and for a second I look down to see the size difference. She’s so small compared to me. I’ll have to be careful with her.

Pushing those thoughts away, I lead her out of the study to the east wing of the house. The walls are lined with wood, and the floors are a mix of wood and stone. I check to make sure she’s still got on the socks I put on her earlier. This house can get cold at night, even in the heat of the summer.

I can practically hear the gears turning in her mind and I know she’s desperate to ask questions.

“Where are we?” she asks, and I smile.

“We’re in Perscia,” I say and look down at her. When her eyebrows pull together in confusion, I squeeze her hand. “It’s a peach grove south of Charleston. I bought it a few years back and now I call it home. It’s about a thousand acres of trees, but mostly I use it to ride horses when I need to get some fresh air.”

“That sounds big.”

“It is.” You couldn't leave this place on foot and make it out before night fall. I keep that thought to myself. We turn a corner and keep walking until we reach the back of the house. “The house here is about as big as I can stand it, and I don’t know if I’ve even been in every room.”

When I push open the door of the kitchen, Lily, my chef, stands up from the table. She’s in her robe, and her long white hair is in a braid over one shoulder. She’s having what looks to be milk and cookies.

“What can I get for you, Mr. Hunt?” she says, smiling sweetly at me and then Blair. “And you, Ms. Rosewood?”

“Me?” Blair says and then looks up to me like I have the answer.

“It’s all right, Lily. I can manage,” I say, and she nods. I watch as she puts her dishes in the sink and then turns on the tea kettle.

“Just leave the dishes there when you’re finished. I’ll take care of them.”

“How does she know my name?” Blair asks when Lily leaves out of the back and towards her room.

“Everyone here does,” I say, because it’s true.

“Okay. I think I need to sit down,” she says and takes a seat at the little kitchen table. My shirt rides up her thighs, showing me more of her silky skin.

“It’s going to be a lot to process, Blair, but just try and breathe.” I go over and kneel down beside her and rub her back, trying to comfort her, wanting to be back closer to her, touching her. It takes her a second, but she nods like she’s okay. “Let’s start with an easy question.”

“Who are you?”

“My name is Ryker Hunt,” I say, and hedge the rest of who I am. I don’t want to beat her down with information right now, so we’ll go slow.