by Goode, Ella
Blurb
Delilah Howell grew up in a small country town but she’d always dreamed of going to the city that never sleeps. Even though she knew her parents wouldn’t approve of it, she’d made herself a promise that one day she’d go. There was something she had to find.
Drake Weston is used to getting what he wants. The problem is he hasn’t wanted for anything in a long time until a sweet country girl comes falling right into his lap. Except, she’s the daughter of the man he holds in the highest regard. Drake promised to keep her safe.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Epilogue
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1
Delilah
“Wow.” I turn in circles, my head tilted all the way back as my eyes try to take in everything around me. I’ve never seen anything like this beyond my computer screen. It is overwhelming with a mix of excitement. People buzz all around me, clearly not seeing what I am. How can they rush around so easily and not stop to look at all of the lights and towering buildings? I stand and turn my camera lens around to take a selfie in Times Square. As I’m taking my picture someone bumps into me, almost knocking me over. I turn around, annoyed, but remind myself that I’m in a foreign place. I need to be courteous.
“Sorry,” I say, my eyes flying to the man in the suit who knocked into me. He looks back at me like I have two heads, not returning an apology of his own as he keeps on moving, shaking his head. He bumped into me. This is probably the ninth time that has happened since I stepped into Times Square.
I’m not sure where everyone’s manners have gone today. Still, I can’t help myself from saying sorry even if I wasn’t the one who bumped into them. The apology pops out of my mouth as easy as breathing. It’s the polite thing to do. I pull my eyes from the man as he disappears into the sea of people.
I’ve always wondered what it would be like to see New York for the first time. Growing up in a small town, the lure of something different has pulled at me. Now that I’m here anxiety starts to trickle up my spine, but my mind is too flooded with everything happening around me to pay attention to it. I won’t be like my Ma, who would never go far from home. Heck, she didn’t even want me going far from her. My ear still hurts from when I called home this afternoon to tell them where I was. The scream Ma let out was louder than the roar of a rodeo when a bull sends a man flying.
I close my eyes for a moment, trying not to let the things she and Dad always said about the city being scary affect me. I try to forget their words about me not being equipped for big city life. My Ma always said I was too naïve and too sweet. She truly believes my blood runs sweeter than others’ and it’s her job to protect me. I was born with my heart on the outside of my chest, which led my Ma to believe I was special.
They knew about my heart condition before I was born. I came out of Ma and went right into surgery. They said it took three surgeons and a team of highly skilled nurses to get it back where it belonged. My mom said the condition was as rare as I was. She never let me go far from her growing up and to this day she acts like my heart still rests on the outside of me. I always joke with Ma and tell her that I now wear my heart on my sleeve but she doesn’t think it’s funny. I laugh to myself, thinking about how mad she gets at that joke. I don’t need her to remind me about how delicate I am. Each time I get undressed I see the scar and I’m reminded of how I entered this world.
I suck in a deep breath, scrunching up my nose as I do. I get a whiff of something worse than cow manure. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to some of the smells here. I’ve never thought about what the city might smell like. All I knew was I wanted to come here since the first time my dad told me he was going on a business trip. I looked it up and became fascinated with it.
I knew where New York was. I learned about it in school and watched it on TV. Five years ago I really started researching what the big city was all about. I became obsessed with finding out everything that I possibly could. Through my online research my eyes were opened to a whole new world.
My dad goes to New York City every year. I beg him every single time to take me but he always says he is going for business and I can’t go along with him. I know that he’s telling me the truth, but that doesn’t curb my disappointment. He always meets with a silent investor. One that had helped him fund a new product he and Colton developed. They needed the funds to increase the production in order to get it to other farmers. Thinking back on it, I was almost positive that my Dad said no to me going with him because Ma didn’t want me to. Dad always gives Ma what she wants so that meant that I stayed home.
My dad is always doing things to please my ma because he loves her so much. I knew one day I’d want a man who loved me like Dad loves Ma but it still chaps my ass that Dad sometimes limits me because she is overcautious and he has a hard time telling her no. Her and I have gotten into several spats in the past few years about her obsessing over my safety. I know she worries and it’s out of love, but I have to see and learn for myself.
I knew she’d never give me her blessing to leave our little town so today I just picked up and left. I am still sort of shocked myself that I did it. I asked Cindy to take me to the airport early this morning. I knew she would take me and not say a word to anyone about it.
She has the biggest crush on Colton Blackwood. His family owns the farm directly across from ours. Cindy used to always tease me that Colton was sweet on me but we are just friends. We have been friends since we were little. If it was up to Ma and Dad, they would have us married off together. I’m guessing Cindy thinks with me gone she’ll have Colton all to herself. I don’t have the heart to tell her that it will never happen.
When I arrived at the airport, the first thing I did was walk up to the counter and book the first flight I could to New York. It took a big chunk out of the money I’d saved but I still had some left. The cab took another nice chunk. Everything was costing a lot more here than I realized it was going to. I should have done a touch more planning, but this horse is already out of the barn. I am going to focus on the positive things for now. I am on my own for the first time in my life. I am excited to start this new adventure.
When my phone starts to ring, I reach for my purse to pull it out, guessing it’s Ma again. I freeze when I realize the suitcase that I have been dragging around with me is gone. I frantically turn in circles looking for it. I’m sure it was here moments ago. I know that I didn’t leave it in the cab. I’m slowly beginning to panic and I feel a little weak in my knees.
Suddenly two big arms come down on my shoulders and I try to jerk back. My head flies up, meeting two of the darkest eyes I have ever seen on a man staring down at me. He looks pissed. I can hear his uneven breathing and a chill runs through me.
I open my mouth and scream, my hands fumbling with my purse to find my whistle. My hand locks around it and I bring it to my mouth. No one stops to help me. This man keeps his hold on me and I scream louder. In fact, when I try to look past him, most of the people are too busy to notice what is happening. They continue on their merry way down the sidewalk.
I bring the whistle to my mouth, blowing into it, but nothing comes out.
“What are you doing?” The man’s voice is deep. Almost familiar. I drop the whistle from my mouth, realizing it’s not making any noise. I do the next thing I can
think of. I bring my leg up and try to knee him in the balls but he’s quicker than me. He moves out of the way but he doesn’t release his hold on me. He shifts us so I lose my balance, falling into him.
I scream again, louder this time, thinking someone has to see or hear this. “Fire! Help! Stranger danger!” I shout the words Ma always told me would draw attention. Still no one tries to help. Maybe they are wondering why a girl would be trying to get away from this ridiculously hot man in the suit. That same thought popped into my head for a second but I quickly dismissed it.
“Fucking hell,” the man grits out, pulling me into him more. I should try and knee him again but his mouth comes down onto mine, cutting off the screams. My fingers dig into his suit jacket as I let him kiss me.
When he pulls back from me I realize that he’s lifted me from the ground and my feet are dangling.
“Wow,” I say. The city is way better than I thought it was going to be.
2
Drake
What the fuck is wrong with me is the only thing that I can think as I stand here wondering how I have gotten myself into this predicament. This is all I will allow myself to think so my mind doesn’t drift places it shouldn’t after I kissed her. I’ve just full-on kissed her right here in the center of Times Square. I’ll be lucky if it doesn’t end up on page six. I was drawn to her as soon as she looked up at me with the biggest green eyes I’ve ever seen. One look knocked the air right out of my lungs, startling me more than her scream of surprise did. Those emerald eyes are surrounded with thick, long lashes that make them look as innocent as a fawn. Yeah, something is definitely wrong with me. I am noticing her eyelashes? It isn’t the only thing I am noticing but still, I never notice these things. I don’t have time to dwell on these small details.
One minute she is screaming fire and stranger danger and the next she has her fingers digging into my overpriced custom suit. I hate wearing these suits almost as much as I hate the scream that came from her mouth in fear. You would think I would have grown used to wearing suits, but I never have. I don’t care how expensive or how well tailored they are, I still hate the damn things. They always make me feel confined. A feeling I’ve always disliked because I am a big guy. I take up a lot of space that a city like New York doesn’t really have to offer due to the millions of people that inhabit it. There are always people bustling around and occasionally bumping into you. Times Square is one of the biggest attractions in the city. Thousands of people cram into the square every day, usually causing overcrowding. I hate big crowds of people and the pushing and shoving that comes along with them. Though at this moment I don’t mind having her in my personal space. She is still pressed into me and she feels good there. Her smell is delicate but wild, with a touch of lavender.
Her mouth is swollen from what I did to it, making her already plump lips bigger and pinker. It is all too inviting to lean in and kiss her again to see how pink I can make them. She looks like she wants me to. Those big, innocent green eyes are baiting me to lean in and do it again. I know that she’d let me, too. I can see it in her all too trusting eyes.
“Are you done screaming?” I finally ask her, trying to get my shit together. I’m not sure if I want her to scream again or not. It will give me a reason to kiss her again, but the scared sound in her voice puts me more on edge than the crowd of people around us.
My own voice comes out gruffer than normal. She nods her head, making her dark red hair bounce all around her. She’s gone from screaming to mute. My mouth twitches but it doesn’t take her long to find her own voice.
“Are you going to let me go?” Her voice is as soft as she is, with a small twang to it. She doesn’t have a distinguishing accent but you can tell she isn’t from around here. It isn’t just her accent that gives her away. Her entire appearance doesn’t scream big city. She digs her fingers into my suit more as she’s firing her questions at me. It’s then I realize I’m still holding her to me. I finally let her slide down my body until her feet touch the ground. I have to fight a groan as her small, curvy body moves against mine, praying she doesn’t notice my cock is trying to get at her.
They sure as fuck don’t make women built like she is around here. She’s small but curvy in all the right spots. It makes me think she’d be easy for me to move around but wouldn’t break under my strong hold. I bet those puffy pink lips suck a good cock, too. I fight these thoughts off, knowing I shouldn’t be having them.
“Delilah.” I say her name to remind myself who she is and why I’m here. My jaw tightens, knowing that she is off limits to me. I knew it before I kissed her but I still did it. I tell myself it was the only way I could get her to calm down. It worked, but now I am the one worked up.
“How do you know my name?” She glances around as if there is a sign somewhere that will tell her how I know her.
“Your father called,” I half-growl, being reminded of who she is and why I am here. She is the daughter of a man that I respect, one that has been a father figure to me over the past five years. I met Wyatt Howell sitting in the lobby of a hotel bar. At the time I hadn’t known it was the same man I had a meeting planned with the next morning.
He’d come to pitch me on an investment in a safer, more productive way to treat produce. He already had the land and was doing it himself, but this was to mass produce the chemicals for the plants. I’d been on the fence about the idea when it had first hit my desk but it had sparked my interest. I’d grown bored in investing in the same shit and had started branching out into things that I found interesting or different than what I was used to. It’s how he’d gotten the meeting. It still irritated me that the fate of something a man like Wyatt wanted rested in my hands. A bored investor that only took interest because of that fact.
When I put together who he was, I was sold and he hadn’t even pitched me on his idea. He still didn’t know who I was until the next morning when he walked into my office, surprise clear on his face.
I knew that night as we shared a few whiskeys that he was a hard-working man. I wished that the fate of his business didn’t rest in my hands. I hated that he had to ask me for help. I didn’t really let him, though, already telling him I was in for whatever he needed.
I respected him. More than anything I’d been drawn to his random words of wisdom. He spoke so highly of his home and mostly his family. He wasn’t like any man I’d met before. He was nothing like my own father, who I have no shred of respect for.
Investing with him not only turned a profit, it gave me a bigger reward in his friendship. I don’t touch any of the profits that the company makes. I just set it into an account and let it earn interest. I don’t need the money. I found myself just wanting to help Wyatt. The profits are just an added bonus. What I do value is his advice during those sleepless nights when I can’t work my way through a problem. He always picks up the phone, whether my problem is work related or personal. I have a lot of family bullshit and he always takes the time to give me his unbiased advice.
Today Wyatt called asking me for a favor. The most important favor he could ever ask of me, according to him. He needed me to find his baby girl for him. She had abruptly left home and come to this concrete jungle all alone. I knew I had to look for her and I would make it my mission to find her and keep her safe. I felt a need to make him proud of me. A feeling I am not used to, due to the rocky relationship with my own father. Wyatt gave me her location based on the tracker he has on her phone. I wasn’t the least bit shocked that he was tracking her. He is a smart man that loves his family fiercely.
I was sure I was going to find some spoiled brat, not some little thing with dimples that grow deeper and sexier by the second. I am fucked. I grab her wrist in a firm hold, not wanting her to get away from me. I’m not letting her go, now or maybe ever. Yeah, I am so fucked.
“My dad?” she asks as I start to pull her through the crowd. She doesn’t fight me but she’s walking slowly so I have to pull her a little.
“Of cou
rse your father.” I stop to look down at her. Why isn’t she trying to stop me?
“Is he mad?” she asks. I can tell she already knows the answer to her question. Those dimples drop from her round cheeks. If she knew it would upset him then why’d she do it? I do shit that pisses my own father off all the time but I don’t care. I also don’t have a father like hers. No, she doesn’t have a father; she has a dad. Big fucking difference.
“Don’t make me go home.” She peeks up at me through those thick lashes. “I just wanted to see what was out here.” She licks those plump lips. I am out here. Men like me who have all kinds of ideas about what we could do with a little girl like her.
People are glancing at us as we walk by. We look like total opposites, with her being this tiny country girl and me being a big man in a suit. I’m guessing my idea of branding and hers are two different things, because we come from two different worlds. I understand why her dad doesn’t want her running around New York City all alone. He can rest assured I won’t let anyone touch her but who is going to stop me from touching her again? Even now I should let go of her wrist but I don’t.
“Come on,” I tell her, heading back toward my car, where my driver is waiting. The cops let him park where he shouldn’t just because he is my driver. The officer that is standing with Sam gives me a chin up. I nod in response as I shuffle her into the back of my car. She gets in way too easily. Sam shuts the door behind us and now I’m surrounded by the smell of her. I close my eyes because her scent is intoxicating and I don’t think I can be in these close quarters without mauling this poor girl. I need to get myself under control before I open them again. I suck in a breath, which doesn’t help, only getting more of the smell of her. My eyes fly open, knowing that isn’t helping.
