“Thank you for giving me your name.” My voice sounded different, like when I had a cold before.
“You have to give me something in return, though.”
My eyes widened, not believing he’d just asked for payment like Master did. “I don’t want it then.” I shot to my feet, but his movement was quicker. He grasped my wrist, pulling me down. I dropped into his lap, his grasp on my arms keeping me from running. I immediately tensed, aware of every inch of him beneath me.
Unlike when the other men had done this to me, and I wanted to vomit or die, my body reacted to Xavier. I felt a strange stirring between my thighs. Even weirder was how my body grew hot.
Confused, I moved to get up.
“Listen to me, love,” he used that stern voice I instinctively obeyed. I stopped struggling and looked at him. “I’m a man, not a monster. That doesn’t mean I can’t take what I want from you without asking.” My lungs deflated, stealing my air. “However, I have never forced myself on a woman, and I don’t intend to start now.” Then he smiled. “I wasn’t asking for payment in the form you’re used to.” He released his grasp on my arms, allowing me to move.
I didn’t.
“What I want from you is now that you have a name, I want you to give it a personality too.”
Oh.I blushed, feeling my cheeks heat up. I wanted to run, to hide. “You want me to change?” I choked out instead.
Xavier shook his head as if he could see my inner distress for mistaking his intentions. “No, love, I’m not going to change you. I’ll mold everything around you because you don’t need to change. The world needs to get ready for you.”
Once more, I felt funny bubbles in my stomach, and my shoulders lifted happily. I had the stupid urge to kiss his cheek. Blushing, I didn’t. Xavier watched my reactions, and that flush crept through the rest of my body.
He smiled. “Remember what I said earlier about choice?”
“Yes.”
His eyes never leaving mine, he slowly stroked my chin. “You now have a choice whether you want to be shy, quiet, to yourself, not talk to anyone and continue to fear your own shadow, or give Mikaela a chance to find happiness, to smile, to go outside so she can smell the ocean breeze, feel the finesse of rain on her skin whenever she wants,” he repeated my desires I’d mentioned on the mountaintop. “And wear pretty dresses she chooses herself?” His gaze dropped down the length of the shirt I wore.
Although he’d taken me shopping for clothes, and maybe it was the comfort, or the smell, I didn’t know. However, when I got up this morning, I’d chosen to wear one of his shirts that Beth still kept in my dressing room.
I blushed and as usual, he noticed. “Baby steps, love, but that doesn’t mean you must stand without falling. And if you do, I’ll be right here, picking you up, dusting your clothes, and encouraging you to try again. Will you?”
He was nothing but pleasant to me for me. I could try. “Yes.”
“Good girl.” Why did that make me feel nice like I wanted to please him? Then he lifted me off his lap to the side and stood. Unable to hide my disappointment, I dropped my eyes to the floor. Xavier noticed. “I’ll be back. I have a meeting I’m already late for.” He held out a hand. When I accepted, he pulled me to my feet, not letting go of my hand. “Do you like your name?”
I did. “Yes.”
“I’ll see you soon.” He kissed my brow.
“Doyoulike my name?” I asked as he walked away.
With his hands in his trouser pockets, he stopped, slowly turned then returned to my side. For a moment, he just stood there, his eyes so warm, they felt like a comforting blanket on a cold day. Then one hand cupped my jaw. “I do, my pretty little Ella, who makes broken look so beautiful.” He was gone before I had a chance to recover.
Ella? Like Cinderella? He called me beautiful.
Those butterflies I’d felt in the dress store fluttered back into my stomach, and with them, I felt my body lifting, twirling, my arms spread out. Then I was spinning. I could feel the laughter deep inside my belly, rolling around and waiting to come up. I rushed to the window, wanting to go outside and run between the flowers I could see in the garden below.
I only ever had one word to describe the things I liked. Pretty. Now, I finally had something prettier, something I could call beautiful.
Xavier Sinclair.
“I’m Mikaela Cinder Sinclair,” I said aloud to the empty room. “I am also pretty little Ella, but only to Xavier,” I whispered.
I might be beautifully broken, yet in my heart, I knew he’d be the one to heal me.
