He chuckles, taking the dogs from me and setting them at my feet. “I love you too, little psycho. Now come on, let’s go before we’re caught, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Chapter Fifteen
Menace
“Tellme about your time in foster care,” I say to Hill as we lie in the bed on the private jet. After two more photoshoots and ten days in Australia, we’re finally headed back to New York. I’d rather we’d stayed for another ten days, but Hill has to work and Sya has set up tons of meetings.
He showed me what he has so far with his article and it’s pretty good. It paints me in some kind of savior spotlight without it coming off as being too virtuous. There’s enough about my life outside of the charity to keep a reader’s attention, but it doesn’t only focus on me. He mentioned all the locations I have for shelters, and which are hiring, as well as how to donate. It’s a great article, and I’m impressed with his skills.
But he has to get back to his editor so they can work on how to frame the article and what section to add it to their paper for maximum exposure. While we’ve been gone, his editor has been building up the buzz of a feature on me, one I haven’t granted anyone in over ten years. People have been clamoring to know more about me, but I’ve denied them.
Not my little psycho though.
Not the love of my life.
I thought I’d loved the man I was with before him, but that was obsession, the need to own and possess. With Hill, I know I own and possess him and he loves it. He doesn’t fight against it, he leans into it, letting me have him any way I’d wish.
Sighing, he asks, “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
He runs his fingers up and down my chest, the digits grazing my nipple. “I was given up when I was three. My parents were meth addicts as well as dealers. I overdosed from all the shit they had cooking and was taken away from there. I wasn’t expected to make it, honestly. From what I know, doctors thought I’d either die or have extensive brain damage.”
“But you didn’t,” I whisper, threading my legs through his.
“But I didn’t,” he agrees. “I made a full recovery and was placed in our state facility. I went to a few homes in the beginning, but I was unruly, didn’t listen, didn’t want to be around people. The group home therapist says it could have something to do with my ordeal, but who knows? Maybe I always hated people.” He looks up at me with a grin.
“Maybe. When did you meet Lucian?”
“When we were six. His parents were killed in a robbery and the family he had wanted nothing to do with him. So, he came to the facility. From the outset, he clung to me. I tried to shake him, but for some reason, he stuck to me like glue. And every time he came back from being placed with some dickheads that just wanted him for a check, we got closer and closer as he got more and more detached.”
“You needed each other.”
Hill raises and lowers one shoulder. “I think it was more I needed him and didn’t know it. He was always more put together than I was, knew what he wanted from an early age. I was always trying to be like him.”
“Did you get mistreated at the state facility?”
Hill is quiet for a few beats, then says, “Define mistreated. Anyone that hurt me or Lucian either got killed or seriously injured. So, if I was hurt, I got my payback.” He looks up at me with hard eyes, and I swear I fall for him more. “There are too many people okay with hurting little kids. I made sure I was the last kid they hurt.”
“You’re amazing,” I whisper, taking his lips in a greedy kiss.
Hill gives me a dreamy look before he lies back down, his fingers tracing faint circles on my chest. “What’s your favorite location you’ve had a photo shoot?”
“I did an ad for an underwear brand about eight years ago. It was in?—”
“Thailand!” Hill says animatedly, sitting up so he can look at me. “Oh my god, that was my favorite ad of yours. I always wondered…” he stops talking, his cheeks flushed a glorious red.
“Wondered what, little psycho?”
With down turned eyes, he says, “I always wondered if they stuffed a tube sock down there to emphasize your print.”
A wicked grin on my face, I ask, “Do you think a tube sock was necessary?”
“Nope,” he says, cheeks still pink. “All you, Mr.Grant.”
I chuckle and sit up, pulling Hill onto my lap so he can straddle me. “When I was there, I didn’t do the touristy shit. I explored the countryside and talked to the locals. They live a simple, but extremely vibrant life. Everything built on family and culture. I loved it. I vacation there any chance I get.”
