by Brynn Paulin
I couldn’t imagine how he’d react when he learned Rod had tried to grab me. And I just knew Adler would tell him. Maybe it would be better from me than from the bodyguard.
“You were both right to be worried,” I confessed. My forehead pressed into Booker’s chest, the steady thump of his heartbeat pulsing against it.
His large hand rubbed my back, the tenderness bringing tears to my eyes. “Tell me.”
I was so angry with myself, and now my cheeks were wet from my salty regret. “He told me he had information on Linzey. He didn’t. Then he tried to grab me. If Adler hadn’t been there…I don’t know what might have happened.”
My man went rock-solid, and I was afraid he’d Hulk-out over this news. He didn’t say anything for a long moment, obviously trying to control himself, while his back rubbing sped up with his agitation.
“Adler followed you onto the subway. He was nearby the whole time,” he finally said.
“Oh.”
“Don’t ever do that again. We will find your sister. I have a team on it. Your stepmother doesn’t strike me as someone who knows how to stay under the radar, or even would.”
“You’re right. She wouldn’t.”
He kissed my temple. “We’ll find them. Now, precious, let’s talk about us. You’re mine. I will see to everything you need—including doing whatever is necessary to find your sister. I will support and take care of you always, in all things. You want to work at the daycare we’re building? Fine. You can work. You don’t have to, though. You want to see how much you can charge to my Black Card? Fine. You want to spend all your time volunteering at the zoo? Fine.” He grinned. “I’m sure Adler would just love that. My point is, I love you. My heart’s desire is to give you your heart’s desire.”
“You love me?” I echoed in shock, a reciprocal emotion rising up in me.
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry, Booker,” I burst out. I hated that I’d hurt him, that I’d worried him, and he was being so…kind. “I’m sorry I worried you. I’m so sorry. I love you, too!”
“Shh, precious. Shh. It’s okay.” He leaned his forehead to mine and closed his eyes, the two of us breathing together. The silence of the office cocooned us.
“Do you need anything from the office?” he finally asked.
“No. Where is everyone?”
“When you ran out, I canceled everything scheduled for the afternoon. My mind wasn’t anywhere but on you. I was ready to track you down myself.”
“Booker, I’m—”
He pressed his fingers over my lips. “Don’t. We’re all good. Let’s just go home.”
Chapter Nine
~ Marigold ~
Wearing yoga pants and a loose T-shirt, I sat on a bench in the future daycare’s atrium and watched the park outside. Behind me, the floor was strewn with mats.
At both Adler and Booker’s insistence, I was getting self-defense lessons today. Yippee. Right now, he was over talking to Booker. It was a good thing my prince trusted the protection officer with me, because I was fairly sure things would get physical today. Not that the good doctor had reason to worry. Adler was a nice looking guy, but I had zero interest in him. Zero.
I saw him before I heard him. His reflection shone in the window, letting me know he was attempting to sneak up on me. I shot to my feet and faced him.
He nodded. “Good job. Always be aware of your surroundings.”
I gave him a half smile. Five minutes earlier and he would have caught me daydreaming about Booker and how he’d shown me I was his, over and over last night. Who needed sleep anyway? When it came to my man, not me. I’d rather be making love to Booker all day long.
“We’re going to go over defense stances today and some basic moves and blocking. Boss wants you to practice with me a couple times a week until we’re both confident you can hold your own against an attacker.”
I made a face. I wasn’t much for working out. I mean, everyone needed to know self-defense, in theory, but I had Adler and sometimes Carson. Why would I need to know how to take out a bad guy? I wasn’t a Charlie’s Angel.
“Okay,” I replied, trying to keep the sullenness from my tone and failing.
“No matter what you think, there could be times when you won’t have a protection officer close enough to come to your aid—and hopefully, you’ll never be in one of those situations, but you need to be prepared. Especially, since we now know there’s someone who’d like to get his hands on you. We just don’t know why.”
“Besides that he’s a skeevy perv?”
Adler cracked a smile, huffing a surprised laugh. “He is that. We’re looking into his background, and there’s nothing good. I highly doubt the man has ever held the door open for someone, let alone anything else decent. Everywhere we turn, there’s something shady or downright dark.”
Great. My sister was missing and I had an almost-psycho after me.
“I guess you better show me how to best kick him in the balls then, huh?”
“He’ll be expecting that. I’m going to show you how to lay him flat.” He shrugged. “Then kick him where it hurts. Okay, shoes off. Let’s get started.”
For the next hour, he showed me basic stances and defense. Particularly empowering was when he showed me how to escape if someone grabbed your arms or tried to pin you.
I was practicing an escape move when I heard a throat clear. “Should I be worried?” Booker asked. But he sounded amused. Well, amused with a slight edge to his tone.
Shoving Adler away, just as he’d taught me, I ran over to Booker and jumped into his arms. “Don’t hassle with me. Adler showed me how to mess you up.”
“Oh, he did, did he?”
I grinned. “Well, not you. But you’ve been warned,” I said in my most dire tone—a complete fail since I was laughing.
Booker pressed his lips to my ear. “You were so fucking hot working with him, but I hated him touching you. I need you so damn much right now.”
I swallowed hard, tingles zinging through me. “Working with him didn’t get me hot, but I sure am now.”
“Come back to my office with me?”
“What do you have in mind, Dr. Grammer?”
“Many, many terrible things.”
“Let me get my shoes then.” After a quick peck on his lips, I swung away. Adler stood on the other side of the mats with my runners. He turned one, looking at the sole.
“Don’t judge my favorite shoes,” I told him.
“Never would.” He held them out. “Here you go.”
Booker scooped me up then, carrying me through the empty space.
“I can walk,” I protested.
“I think I’m going to have an adjoining door put in between here and my offices. Card access of course so no one accidentally wanders through.”
“Or…we can just walk through the corridor between…”
“Too many people.”
“Um, newsflash. There will likely be a ton of little people here. Hopefully.”
“True. All right. No door.” He carried me into his space, and into the hallway leading to his private office. I waved to Emma on the way. We’d come to a truce. She was happily engaged and not after my man at all. Now that she knew I wasn’t a weird stalker, she was perfectly okay with me. I’d forgiven her for being a bitch that first day.
“I’m off to lunch,” she called.
I waved again, this time in goodbye. Since it was lunchtime, Booker didn’t need to worry about any patients for the next hour or so. I knew he needed to do paperwork, but apparently, that wasn’t happening.
I was flattened against the inside of his door, my legs around him, practically before it shut. My shoes tumbled to the carpet with dull thuds.
“You’re mine,” he growled.
“One-hundred percent,” I agreed, running my fingers into his hair and messing up the dark locks.
“I don’t like anyone touching you.”
“It was your idea.”
“Stil
“Booker,” I cried. He thrust into me in hard, air-stealing drives.
I practically heard him chanting Mine. He probably was saying it in his head. I clung to him, riding out the storm while another built inside me. I felt it twisting and expanding, getting ready to explode. My walls squeezed around his thick cock, milking his shaft as my pleasure built.
“Fuck, you’re so damn tight. You like driving me crazy, don’t you? You like getting me worked up.”
“It wasn’t on purpose. I promise, Your Highness,” I gasped.
That always turned him on, notching up the frenzy several degrees more. He thrust even harder, the thumps of our bodies hitting the door, echoing around us. If anyone was outside, there would be no question as to what we were doing. The idea of someone hearing Booker claiming me shoved me over the edge into bliss.
I cried out his name, clenching around him. Booker growled as he joined me, emptying inside me.
“You’re such a bad girl,” he teased when we parted and he let me stand.
My eyes drifted to his still hard cock. I licked my lips. “Um-hmm.”
Before he could stop me, I was on my knees and drawing his length into my mouth.
“Precious…” he breathed.
I hummed, enjoying our combined flavors as I cleaned them away, sucking and tormenting him at the same time. Booker’s fingers grabbed onto my hair, and I moaned at the pull as he started fucking my mouth and using it, showing me what a bad girl I could be for him.
I was getting worked up again as I knelt there. Taking him this way, got me off. Apparently, I had a naughty, little submissive inside me who liked to play sometimes.
“You’re so fucking pretty with my dick in your mouth,” he growled. I rolled my eyes up to meet his dark, possessive stare. Right that moment, he was the master and I was his slave. He was the king and I was his concubine. I gave myself over to him in that gaze. I was his.
Tilting my head slightly, I took him deeper letting him into my throat. I gagged a little, but it just seemed to turn him on. One of his hands came down to rub the column of my neck, pressing slightly as he fucked in. My eyes watered. I couldn’t breathe, but it didn’t scare me. Instead, my whole body seemed to implode, colors shooting before my eyes as lightning seared through my veins. I heard Booker groan and felt his warmth, just before I blacked out.
* * * *
My lids fluttered open, and I stared into Booker’s concerned gaze as I opened my eyes. I was lying on his leather couch. My head rested on his lap.
“Fuck, you scared me.”
“That was…amazing.”
“You passed out. I thought I hurt you.”
“You didn’t. It was the most mind-exploding orgasm. I want to do it again.”
He huffed a laugh. “I’m not sure my heart could take it.”
I patted his cheek. “Old man.”
He growled and lifted me up for a kiss, one arm supporting my back and the other hand cradling the back of my head. “I’ll give you old…”
I giggled and nipped at his lip. “We don’t have time. Don’t want to traumatize the soccer moms. So… Are you going to get this worked up whenever I have training with Adler?”
His lips compressed, and he swallowed. “Probably.”
“Hmm. Good. Maybe, I should schedule practices more often.”
“Brat.”
“Only for you, Your Highness.”
Chapter Ten
~ Booker ~
Fuck. It was the only word that came to mind. I stared at the information I’d just received. My people had tracked down Gloria Grey. Marigold’s stepmother was dead. Her death was suspicious and being investigated as murder. Linzey was missing.
I rubbed my hand over my mouth. I didn’t want to break this news to my girl. She’d been continually on edge about her sister, except when I’d distracted her. A few times, she’d woken, panicked from nightmares about something happening to Linzey. I wasn’t sure how she’d take this development.
No, that wasn’t true. The chance of a meltdown was immense. I didn’t want to tell her, but I had to. She’d never forgive me if I didn’t. I’d promised to never lie to her, and I wouldn’t start now.
Thankfully, she was at school at the moment, so I had time to plan my strategy.
Picking up my mobile, I hit Adler’s number.
“She’s in class, Boss. I’m in the hallway. Have eyes on her,” he said when he answered.
“Bring her here as soon as she’s done. I know she has another class, but I need her to come to my office. Tell her it’s important.”
“Okay. Will do. What’s going on?”
“They found her stepmother. It appears to be murder.”
He swore under his breath in German, something he’d learned from his German father. “I’ll bring her,” he said and hung up.
I dropped my elbows to my desk and buried my hands in my hair. I was supposed to be looking at CVs for prospective associates. My practice had grown so much that I needed to add a couple other doctors—especially since I wanted adequate time with my girl. I couldn’t make her hang out here all the time; that wasn’t fair. But I didn’t want her alone constantly either. What was the point of having billions if you still worked yourself to death? So I was bringing on others to share the load. Thankfully, I didn’t have afternoon appointments so I could work on administration.
But right now, I couldn’t focus on it. I had to keep Marigold safe, and that included her mind and spirit too. I was worried how this would affect her.
Twenty minutes later, she called me, laughing. “You missed me that much? What’s your emergency?”
“Marigold.”
“What is it?” she asked, going completely serious at my tone.
“I don’t want to discuss it over the phone, precious. I need you here.”
“What’s going on? Is it Linzey?”
“It’s bad, love. Just get here. As far as I know, your sister’s fine, but… Just let Adler bring you.” I hung up and called my lawyer to meet us at the police station. Once my people started nosing around, the police had decided Marigold was a person of interest. They wanted to speak with her. No way in hell was I letting that happen without me there and the requisite backup. My girl wouldn’t hurt a soul, and it was my job to make sure not a soul hurt her.
She and Adler must have already been on the way when she’d called. She came running in not twenty minutes later, dashing right into my arms.
“Tell me what’s going on.”
Holding her, I revealed that her stepmother had been found and Linzey was missing.
“I didn’t do anything!” she exclaimed when I explained that the police wanted to talk to her as a person of interest. “I didn’t even know where they were! How could I have hurt anyone? I could never…”
“I know. Let’s go and get this over with, then I’ll take you home.”
“What if they don’t let me leave?” she asked, trembling. My arms tightened around her shivering frame.
“There’s no way that will happen. Trust me. My legal team is as invested in protecting you as they are in protecting me.”
“Why?” she asked in disbelief. At least, that shocked away some of her fear.
“Oh, my princess. Why do you think?” I lifted her chin and made her look fully at me. “I love you. You’re my world.”
* * * *
Marigold had a solid alibi for the time of death. Gloria’s body had been found not long after her murder that first day Marigold and I had been together. Marigold had been at school, and Adler had been with her. It was confirmed by her attendance records, as well as her receipts from the cafeteria and the bookstore. I didn’t get the feeling the police were questioning that; they were just following up on all possibilities.
The fact she hadn’t known where the family had gone, she’d been homeless, and my team had been searching for Gloria and Linzey were points in her favor. As was her obvious devastation over her missing sister.
As we left the station, both Adler and Carson shielding Marigold and me, the paparazzi snapped pics of us leaving the station. Marigold barely noticed as we rushed her toward the SUV. Or so I thought.
“There’s going to be another story,” she murmured as I typed out a message to my PR person to try to block the pictures and story.
“Likely.”
“Great,” she said under her breath. A tear rolled down her cheek. “I’m so scared for Linzey. Do you think she ran away? What happened? What if something horrible—something more horrible—is happening to her? What if we can’t find her?”
“I will use every resource at my command to track her down. I promise you.”
“I don’t want to go back to school. People just stopped pointing after the last story. I’m too upset.”
I drew her against me and rubbed circles on her back while her cheek rested on my cheek. “You’re an adult. You don’t have to go tomorrow if you don’t want to.”
“Ever.”
My hand paused. “You want to drop out?”
“Kind of. I know that’s horrible. School was never really my thing, even though I did well. I was just going because I felt like I had to. Like I could never do anything without it. If I’d had wi-fi at my old place, I would have just done online classes. I need a degree, but sitting in a classroom all day…gah. I hate it. I know I have to go back. I need to get through it and graduate.”
“Or you can go online. We’ll get it setup.”
“But—”
“Trust me, my Marigold.”
“Okay.”
“You know if you didn’t want to keep going, you don’t have to.”
She tipped her head to peer up at me. “I do have to, Booker. You know…that’s the problem with you billionaires, you’re immune to the realities of real life.”
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