ELEVEN
The Lord has promised good to me.
Ispent the entire day in Chad’s library, alternating between napping and reading.
Anyone else would’ve been snooping around this place from top to bottom, but I never could get it done. Not unless I had the permission. See, a dozen years ago I’d been kidnapped, and then I was given a long list of rules to follow. Having respect for all those who had authority and command over you was one of the tallest rules that, if broken, had the nastiest of consequences.
Even though circumstances were different with Chad, I guess it was still ingrained in me somehow, because each time I went to his bedroom door, my heartbeat would take off with wild, frantic beats, my palms would get sweaty, and I couldn’t make myself reach out and turn the doorknob.
In my mind, Chadwasmy captor, hehadcommand over me, and there was this red warning sign flashing in my head telling me I would suffer terrible consequences if I went inside his room.
So I’d given up, asked Vivian to show me the gym, spent an hour running the treadmill, and another hour kicking the shit out of a punching bag.
Showered after that, then retreated to the library, deciding to remain there until Chad returned. Mainly because it was one of the few rooms that didn’t have floor-to-ceiling windows. Given all that was going on right now, I was paranoid as hell, so I deemed staying away from open windows the smart thing to do.
I was lying supine in a burgundy chaise with a book resting open on my stomach, succumbing to yet another nap, when I thought I heard Chad’s voice. I jerked upright, the book flying to the ground. But Chad wasn’t in the library.
Rubbing my eyes with the heels of my palms, I got up, picked up the book and set it aside, then navigated out to the main area.
Night had fallen.
Following his deep, easy, flowing voice, I found Chad sitting at the dinner table, bare-chested and fresh from a shower. In front of him on the table was a half-empty china plate, with only chicken bones and asparagus left behind, a cold bottle of Corona in his hand as he discussed whatever with his main bodyguard sitting down at the other end of the table.
So…he’d been back for a while and ate without me. Okay. No hard feelings.
What stopped me, though, was his hair. He’d had it cut. The back low and completely off his neck, the top longer. The longer hair had made him look like a sexy, sunburned surfer, but this new haircut made him more urbane, regally handsome, his facial features sharpened. He was devastating.
Devastatingly beautiful.
Never had I thought a day would come when I’d be drooling over a man instead of tits and lipstick lips. But Chad…Chad made me want things I never knew I needed.
Manners be damned, I strolled up to the table and interrupted their conversation. “How long have you been back?”
As if he hadn’t seen or heard my approach, Chad’s head swiveled to the side, eyes raising to mine. And I bit my tongue to control my anger when I noticed a shiner on his cheekbone.
He opened his mouth as though to respond with something very Chad-like, but then he ditched the idea and took a swig of his beer instead, studying my face, my neck, gaze lingering on my breasts, then back up to my face. “Long enough.”
“Who the hell did that to you?” I demanded to know. “And why?”
No answer. Just a fixed stare, with a hint of something akin to appreciation in his depths.
A grunt came from Ronnie as he pushed back his chair with an unnecessary screech. When I looked at him, his face was nothing but an ugly picture of pure, undiluted hatred for me, his icy blue eyes firing daggers as he stalked past me, making sure his big, beefy shoulder slammed into mine as he did.
Pissed right the hell off that he had Chad sporting a shiner, I didn’t let him get far as I turned and forcefully planted the sole of my foot in the back of his right knee, hitting his weak spot and knocking him off-balance. His big body wobbled before he dropped soundly on his left knee with a leonine growl.
In slow motion, he turned his head to glare at me over his shoulder. “Next time you think to try this shit with me, just remember,hewants to keep you alive, Idon’t. I don’t like you. And I don’t trust you.”
Okay, so I tried to kill his boss; he didn’t like me. Whatever. I couldn’t give a shit. Get over it.
“AndIdon’t give a shit,” I said, advancing on him. “You’re picking fights with me, agirl, when your boss is sporting a shiner? You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Ronnie made an angry sound in his throat. “You don’t know jackshit ‘bout what happened.”
“I don’t. But what I do know is that he pays you to protect him, and that’s exactly what you should be doing and stop pouting and throwing shit in my sandbox because you’ve got no one to play with in yours!”
Ronnie jumped to his feet, tall and towering, but I wasn’t intimidated, I didn’t back down, and I didn’t give him a chance to speak as I jabbed a finger at his impenetrable chest. “If you don’t wanna get kicked out of the fucking playground, you need to start playing nice, BTW.”
“BTW?”
