The coming days are going to be a lot for her, but once we’re out the other side, she’ll be safe, and she’ll finally be mine.
Lexi meets me at the back of the car, her arms wrapped around herself as her eyes move over the empty parking lot. It’s only four thirty in the morning, so most people are still in bed, but it’s going to be a while before my girl feels safe out in the world.
Soon she’ll realize that I’ll make sure nothing, and no one, ever has the chance to hurt her again.
Without missing a beat, I wrap my arm around her shoulders and guide her toward the private elevator that opens into my apartment.
It took me years to get over my aversion to having money,things.
The way I grew up was…lonely.
Being the bastard child my father never wanted meant hand-me-downs from Cruz, sparse meals, and a bedroom that was far more akin to a closet than somewhere a child should be sleeping.
Moving into this place was an adjustment, and it’s probably the most modest penthouse a city like Seattle has to offer.
If it weren’t for my need for such a high level of security, I would have chosen a small studio, regardless of how much money sits in my bank account.
Maybe with Lexi living with me it will feel more like a home, a concept that has often felt foreign to me.
The elevator doors close behind us, locking us in the enclosed space and closing out the rest of the world.
I should move away, give her some space, but I don’t.
I can’t.
It’s always like this after I allow myself to touch her. The strength it takes to hold myself back from my obsession takes a while to rebuild.
But that won’t be a problem this time around.
Lexi lets out a soft sigh, her hands wrapped tightly around each other. “I’m sorry for being an imposition.”
Placing her suitcase down, I turn to her and crowd her against the mirrored wall.
A soft gasp slips from her pouty lips, but she doesn’t flinch as I raise my hand to cup her cheek. She’s so soft, so perfect, and it feels wrong to put my hands on her like this, but I can’t help myself.
It was only a matter of time before my restraint with my wildcat snapped.
She blinks up at me through thick lashes, her lips parted slightly as she waits for whatever I’m going to do next.
“You areneveran imposition to me, Lexi.” The words are full of the emotions I’ve always buried, the ones I was punished for having as a child, but I need her to hear them. I need her to understand that she’s wanted. She’s needed. She’s the beginning and the end. The sun and the moon. My very reason for existing.
I can’t voice those thoughts, because she’d probably run away screaming, but one day she’ll realize just how much she means to me.
I flick my eyes down to her lips, the temptation to taste her is almost more than I can resist. I’ve imagined kissing her more times than I can ever admit to, but I have a feeling the act itself will be far superior to anything my own mind can conjure.
The elevator dings, breaking the moment we were sharing, and I force myself to take a step back from her. I may have been all in on the idea of us for years, but I need to allow Lexi to warm up to it.
I retrieve the suitcase and take a step forward into my apartment.
The first thing I see as I place the bag by the bedroom door is the array of cushions on the couch, identical to the ones in her bedroom at the estate, and the piece of art I had commissioned from her favorite artist hanging across from the huge windows looking out at the ocean.
She steps toward the window, her eyes wide as she takes in the gloomy sky just beginning to show the signs of a new day.
“This is incredible,” she says softly.
“It is.” But I’m not talking about the view. No, it’s the fact that after all these years, Lexi is finally in my space, where she belongs.
Thankfully I never got to the point of obsession where I started stealing her underwear, so at the very least there’s nothing like that lying around for her to find, but the rest of the apartment may as well be a shrine to her.
