by M. J. Perry
I looked into his beautiful eyes aware mine were pleading with him to stop because his words were making me believe him. “I can’t be yours; we don’t even know each other.”
“You became mine when you walked into my bar.” James declared and I’m stumped. How could he be so sure and so arrogant when he’s known me all of a few hours? And why was his attitude making me want to kiss him? I didn’t like bossy men, did I? It must be all the stress of today. Tomorrow I’ll wake up and these feelings will be gone. Yeah, I know I was lying to myself.
“Scarlett, do you even want to leave?” he asked in exasperation.
“Well I didn’t but now with you talking crazy I do.”
“Why is it crazy? Ever since I first saw you I wanted you, I told you why a man wants a woman like you and I’ll add to what I said earlier by telling you that when that man gets the woman he wants in his house he keeps her here, preferably in his bed because he’d be fucking stupid if he didn’t get to taste the sweet before she realised what a mistake it is to get involved with someone who isn’t good enough for her.”
“Oh god you’re going to make me cry again. How can you be so sweet one minute and then such a jerk the next?” I sniffed. And how can I want everything he just said?
He ignored my question. I bit my lip to stop the tears, and he used his thumb to push my teeth away rubbing softly over the teeth marks I’d left there.
“Are you staying?” He asked quietly.
Was I? “Yes,” I answered just as quietly and closed my eyes against his stare. I couldn’t believe I was letting a guy I didn’t know dictate what I was doing, letting him tell me that I would be staying with him. Maybe I was more freaked out than I thought because I wasn’t fighting him or my feelings very hard. The detective might have been the better choice but with all the sweet words James keeps throwing at me I couldn’t deny that I was feeling pretty happy right now even though the situation was a mess.
“Baby,” His hand gripped my chin. He waited until my eyes opened to speak again. “Ruby got herself into a stupid and dangerous situation. Instead of asking for help she dug herself deeper and deeper and I don’t think there’s a shovel big enough to dig her out of the shit storm she’s created.”
I trembled, and his voice softened.
“I’m trying to make you see it isn’t your fault, she did this to herself, she didn’t think about the consequences for her or for you.”
It surprised me how well he could read me. All I could think about was how I’d let her down by not being there and not making her feel she could come to me for help.
“Do you think she’s ok?”
“I agree with Matt, she’s probably somewhere having a great old time. High on drugs or just drunk and I don’t think she’s even had one thought about what she’s done and the fact she’s dragged you into her shit.”
“I hope she’s ok. Whatever she’s done whatever happens I still love her.”
“Yeah baby I know, now finish your hot chocolate and I’ll show you to the guest room. We can finish this discussion tomorrow once you’ve slept.”
I downed the dregs of my chocolate before standing. James took my hand and pulled me into a gentle hug. “It will be all right Scarlett, tomorrow is a different day.”
I nodded into his chest and he let me go, he kissed my head before taking my hand again and he led me to a room down the hall.
When we got to the open door, he let go of my hand. “Goodnight Scarlett.”
“Goodnight James, thank you for saving me from the crazy creepy guy.”
James chuckled. “Anytime baby.” He answered softly, and I smiled.
He meant all of what he’d said tonight and he made me feel so safe I didn’t want to be away from him. That was what freaked me out; I was already feeling something for him after he saved me and now I felt confused and overwhelmed. Oh dear.
Stepping into the room I closed the door behind me taking a minute to check it out. I liked what I saw. The furniture was dark pine and beautiful, there were two bedside tables sitting on each side of the brown leather bed, a dresser with a mirror and a huge wardrobe. Not as manly as the rest of his bachelor pad but still masculine.
It even had an en-suite, and I used the facilities, brushed my teeth with a new toothbrush I found in the cupboard. I stripped out of my clothes on the way to the bed. A shower would have been nice, but I was way too tired to do that. I crawled into bed in just my knickers and passed out.
Chapter Five
Scarlett
The next morning I woke up not feeling as refreshed as I should have, I might have fallen straight to sleep, but the bed looked like I’d tossed and turned all night. The sheet was wrapped around my legs and confusion pounded through me until I remembered where I was and why I was here.
Even thinking of James had me sighing. I was definitely in trouble. How have I gone from vowing to never go near a man again to feeling so much for one I know nothing about?
Mike my ex really hurt me. He’d been my first love, my first kiss and eventually my first everything. I’d thought he was the love of my life but in fact he was just a dog. One morning I’d forgotten my phone and with meetings planned all day I couldn’t be without it so I’d turned around and headed home to get it and found Mike in bed with our neighbour Teri. This woman had a different man in her bed nearly every night. I hated her. She always looked at Mike like he was her next meal, but I’d never worried he’d go there so I wasn’t threatened by her. What did I know? I was heartbroken. I didn’t give him a chance to talk before I ran out of there. It wasn’t like he could explain away what I’d seen, anyway. What was worse was he’d had sex with her in our bed. It made me sick. I’d texted him telling him to get out before I got home that night because I just couldn’t bear to be around him or speak to him. How I’d made it through my meeting I had no idea, but I did then I’d gone straight to Sarah and cried. Mike tried to explain his behaviour, but nothing he could say would have changed what he’d done. After two years of what I’d thought had been happiness, which obviously he’d had different ideas about, we were over. His excuse was that I’d been working too much and hadn’t given him the attention he deserved, that when I wasn’t working I was sorting Ruby’s messes and I didn’t have time for him. This might have been true, but he should have spoken to me about how he felt and not gone elsewhere for sex. I told him to go to hell every time he rang me or texted me asking me to forgive him and as far as I’m concerned that was it. I never let him back into my home and the first thing I did once I’d calmed down was have my locks changed; the second was buy a new bed.
What I didn’t understand were the feelings I have for James. They were so much stronger and intense than I’d ever had for Mike even when we’d first got together I hadn’t felt like this about him. I hadn’t felt like I would expire if I never got to kiss him. I never had these urges to jump him every time I looked at him either.
A loud knock at the door made me jump, and I looked down to make sure the sheet covered my body remembering I wasn’t wearing a top. With the sheet pulled up over my breasts and tucked under my armpits I called out for James to enter. When the opened door I lost my breath, his hair was messy like he’d just got out of bed and he was only wearing a pair of light blue pyjama trousers, leaving his chest bare. He had a slight scattering of dark hair on his chest and further down he had more in a line that went from his belly button into his pyjama bottoms.
He was so sexy I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him. It wasn’t until he cleared his throat that I realised I’ve been staring at him for a while, and I blushed. Why do I keep embarrassing myself?
He grinned. “Good morning. I wasn’t sure how you took your coffee?”
“Black no sugar,” I told him and he came closer to give me the cup he held. I reached my hands out focused on getting my caffeine fix and avoiding his eyes that I was slow to realise the sheet had fallen to give him a view of my bare breasts.
His eyes dropped to m
y chest and stayed there. I grabbed the sheet quickly and pulled it up. I would have covered my face with the sheet and hidden if I didn’t think it would make it worse. My blush probably covered my entire body I was so mortified. I couldn’t look at him. What if he thought I’d done it on purpose? I heard the cup go down on the bedside table and then James cupped my warm cheek, his hand gentle.
“Scarlett. Look at me.” I shook my head.
“Look at me,” he repeated. I looked up even though I didn’t want to. His eyes were gentle on mine.
“You shouldn’t feel embarrassed, you have beautiful breasts.”
I groaned.
“You’ve seen mine now I’ve seen yours.” He told me with a grin and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I guess you’re right, but you chose to show me, I did it by accident,” I told him still smiling.
“That may be so but ever since I first saw you I’ve imagined what they’d look like. They’re prettier than I thought and I’ll tell you, I already thought they’d be fucking perfect.”
I stared at him. Again I have no idea what to say when he said stuff like that. I didn’t think I’d ever had a compliment given in such a way before and it was nice, more than nice it was amazing. What he said wasn’t all rainbows and roses but it made me feel awesome, like I was beautiful.
“Thanks,” I whispered.
He grinned. “Drink your coffee and get ready babe; I’ll wait in the kitchen so we can talk.” He brushed his lips over my hair. I watched him open the door and only as he shut it behind him did I attempt to pick my coffee up again.
After I did my business in the bathroom, I showered using the soap by the taps. It smelt like James and I wasn’t sure how I felt about wearing his scent as it did funny things to my insides, but I had nothing else to use. I got out and dressed in my clothes from the night before, minus my knickers which I shoved in my pocket. If only I’d brought my handbag in the room with me last night at least I’d have a bit of lip gloss to make me feel better and my hair brush would have been nice too.
I grimaced at my appearance and let out a chuckle. Why I was so bothered about looking good when James has already seen me looking my worst this morning was beyond me. I sighed and took a last look at myself before walking out of the bedroom door. I nearly walked straight into James and his bare chest, his hand came out to steady me.
“Your phone is ringing and has been for the last ten minutes, I didn’t want to barge in on you in the shower and embarrass you again although it was a tempting idea.” He grinned and passed me my bag.
Rolling my eyes, I took my bag and fished for my phone.
“Oh crap” I cursed. Sarah was ringing me and I really didn’t want to tell her what Ruby had done just yet, I needed more coffee for that conversation.
“What’s up?” James asked.
“It’s my best friend Sarah ringing.”
“And that’s an ‘oh crap’ moment because?” he asked raising his eyebrows.
I grimaced. “I don’t want to tell her what’s happened yet, I’m not ready to listen to the 'I told you so' she’s going to give me.”
“I told you so?” he questioned.
“This isn’t the first time Ruby has got me caught up in her trouble; usually I can straighten it out by paying the people she owes but this time I didn’t know what was going on.” James’ expression told me he wasn’t surprised. “Sarah will be pissed when she hears what Ruby has done. She’ll demand I cut her out of my life which is what she’s been demanding me to do for as long as I can remember and then we’ll argue. I feel bad, but I don’t want to talk to her just yet. She’ll want to know everything. God, I sound like such a douchebag, but I’m not ready to explain.”
I’d wanted her with me last but I was glad I hadn’t called her and got her involved in this mess as well.
James frowned at me “You are not a douchebag.” When my phone rang again, he took it before I could stop him and pressed the button to answer. “Hi Sarah, I’m James Harrison.”
He paused and I could hear Sarah’s frantic voice over the line she was so loud.
“She’s fine, she’s safe Sarah calm down and I’ll explain. You can talk to her in a minute she’s had a rough night so once I’ve told you what you need to know I don’t want you asking her anything else right now. She’s had enough stress.” He told her in a stern voice.
My eyes misted over as he spoke, he was protecting me from upset and I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had done that. I knew Sarah would agree with him and she did because he started to tell her what happened last night. I also knew that as soon as she could she’d interrogate me for every little detail including answers about James.
“Ruby has got herself in some bother and because of this Scarlett had a guy approach her wanting to know where Ruby is. He tried to kidnap her, but I stopped the bastard and now he’s been arrested.”
He paused again and whatever Sarah said made James promise her I was safe. See I was a total douchebag, I was letting a stranger tell her all this when I should be the one to do it. It wasn’t as if I wouldn’t get the lecture eventually, but I needed time to process everything before I had to talk about it.
“She stayed at my house last night and today we’ll make a plan to keep her safe until the police find Ruby. Scarlett is fine I promise. I’m going to pass you over now ok?”
She must have agreed because he pushed the phone into my hand but kept his eyes on my face. I smiled slightly to show him I was ok and put it to my ear. “Hi Sarah, I’m sorry.”
“Are you really ok?” she asked. I wanted to thump myself because she sounded really upset.
“I’m fine honest,” I assured her.
“He made me promise I wouldn’t say anything, but you know what you need to do, don’t you babe.” I closed my eyes and said the same words I always do when she said this. “She’s my sister.” When I opened them James was looking at me and the warmth in his eyes made my legs feel like jelly. “Sarah I have to go. I’ll call you later to let you know where I’m staying and what’s going on.”
“Ok, Scar but please make sure you do else I’ll hunt you down myself.” She warned, and I smiled because she would. “Also I want to know all about James. He sounds hot.”
“He is.” I giggled then sobered. She sounded calm, but I know she’s worried; I would be too if it was the other way around. “I’ll call you, I promise.”
“Love you Scar.”
“Love you too Sarah,” I told her and pressed the button to end the call.
“Thank you,” I told James.
“For what?”
“For protecting me when I deserved to get shouted at, for letting me stay here and for making me feel safe,” I told him honestly. He came closer and pulled me into his arms.
“Everyone deserves to feel safe baby.” He said.
I leaned into his warmth and sighed. We didn’t move for a while and it felt right, like we’d been holding each other like this our entire lives. Maybe love at first sight isn’t a myth although I thought it was more love at second sight for me. Crap. Why was I even thinking of love, it was too soon, it was too much, and I said I would never do it again. I pulled away and put space between us, James gave me a questioning look, but I shrugged because what could I say? I’ve known you for nearly a whole day and I’m falling in love with you? And I accused him of being crazy, what did that make me?
“What do we do now?” I asked.
“We eat breakfast and wait for Matt to get here. We need a plan and to see if he has any leads on where Ruby could be. Until she’s found you aren’t safe alone so you’re staying here with me. That means someone is with you at all times and you only go out if you need to. Where do you work?”
“I work from home, I’m a web designer. I just go to the odd meeting when I have new clients or when my old ones would rather a face-to-face meeting.”
“Great that means you won’t need to leave the house. Don’t arrange any meetings for the
foreseeable future. You can stay indoors until we find your sister. We’ll go and pack your clothes and anything else you might want while you’re here.”
Is he serious? I have a bad feeling he is. There’s no way I’m hiding in his house until Ruby surfaced. That could take weeks. Not happening. I was shaking my head before he’d even finished talking.
“I’m not hiding away like some kind of wimp. And I won’t be a prisoner. If I want to leave to go for a jog or something, then I will and you can’t stop me.”
I don’t know why I said jog because I didn’t do that but he was acting like he could take over my life and I wasn’t happy. Yes ok he made me feel safe, and I was in serious lust for the guy but I wasn’t about to let him start bossing me around. I knew it was for my safety, but it didn’t fill me with happiness at the prospect of being confined to someone else’s house.
“Yes, Scarlett I can stop you. Didn’t we have this conversation before? Do I need to remind you what I said about the handcuffs?”
I huffed at him and put my hands on my hips. I didn’t speak I just glared at him because I’m pissed about the threat of handcuffs and a teensy bit turned on again. Thoughts of being handcuffed to his bed while he pinned me down with his body ran through my mind.
“I want you to trust me, Scarlett. I’m sorry if I sound like I’m trying to control you, but I’m doing what I need to do to keep you safe and out of trouble. You’ve already told me you feel safe around me so please just let me help you.”
I looked to the ceiling and blew out a breath, I knew he meant well and the truth was I really didn’t want to fight him. I did trust him. It unnerved me. How I could be so sure he wouldn’t hurt me I didn’t know, but I felt it in my bones.
“I’m not used to having someone watch out for me. Ever since our parents died, it’s always been Ruby, me and Gran. When Gran died, it became just the two of us and I’m not used to it. I’m sorry if it seems I’m fighting you every step, but the truth is you scare me.”
