22
Reid
I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
I forced myself to, though. Staring would make Zee uncomfortable, and I didn’t want that.
Her blond hair cascaded over her shoulders. It was a few inches shorter, but still long and lush. Her cheeks glowed a natural pink, and her lips… God, her lips. Normally she painted them bright red, but now they were a soft pink, full and plump.
This was what she’d looked like when…
Hard as it was for me to go there in my mind, I had to. I had to remember what she’d been through at my father’s hands. If I forgot, even for an instant, I might do something she wasn’t ready for.
She’d freaked a little at my mention of the bedroom.
That bedroom had seen a lot of action. The norm for me was to bring a companion along on my business trips.
And we always joined the mile high club.
I was a lifetime member at this point.
I squirmed slightly, adjusting my boner without Zee knowing. At least I hoped she didn’t know. That would freak her out even more.
As hard as I’d been for her before, I was even harder now. Seeing her the way she was meant to look…
This was the real Zee.
Not Zara Jones, but Zinnia Rehnquist.
Fuck.
I had to have her.
I would have her, one way or the other.
The plane taxied to the runway, and when it increased speed for takeoff, Zee grabbed her armrests.
A white-knuckled flier.
I covered her hand with mine. “Don’t be nervous.”
“I’m not.”
“Your body language says otherwise.”
“Oh, I’m not nervous about the flight.”
“What, then?”
“It’s not nervous so much as… Well, maybe it is nerves. I’ve made a decision that is going to change my life.”
“The decision to go to New York?”
“Yeah. And to talk about…you know.”
“You still don’t have to.”
“But…isn’t that why you wanted me to come with you?”
Was it? Yeah, on one level.
On another level, I hadn’t been ready to say goodbye to Zee.
I wanted to spend more time with her.
Funny, just a few days ago, I was ready to seduce her and use my womanizing charms—which were well tested—to get what I needed out of her.
Those aspirations were gone now.
I cared about this woman, and I wouldn’t use her.
No matter how much my body wanted it.
We arrived at LaGuardia a little before eleven p.m. After we deplaned, my driver met us at the terminal.
“Home, James,” I said to him.
His name wasn’t actually James. It was Wayne. Now that I knew the truth about Father Jim, I vowed to stop the whole “James” thing.
Zee turned to me. “I need to book a room somewhere.”
“That’s not necessary. You can stay with me.”
Her eyes widened.
“My place has three bedrooms,” I told her. “I didn’t mean…”
“I know,” she said softly, though her demeanor negated her statement.
We arrived at the Wolfe building and I helped Zee out of the limo. “Thanks, Wayne,” I said.
“Good night, sir.” Wayne waved as he drove off.
Zee looked up and then stumbled into my arms.
I steadied her. “You okay?”
“This… This place…”
“Oh, shit,” I said.
“I can’t… I can’t go in there.”
“You remember.”
“I ran out. Naked. A nice person helped me. And then…”
So much more to Zee’s story than I knew. What had happened to her after she got away? I knew only that she’d gotten hooked on drugs and had eventually gotten through rehab.
That was something to be proud of.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“I suppose I have to. I mean, that’s why I came here, right?”
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. If you’ve changed your mind, no one, especially not me, is going to force you to tell us anything. I need you to believe that, Zee. I need you to trust that.”
She nodded, still clearly nervous, her lips trembling.
“I also need you to trust that you are safe here. This is my building now, and I swear to God, I will never let anything happen to you.”
My words surprised even me, and I meant them. I meant them with all my heart.
She nodded again. “Okay. Thank you.”
“You have my word. Nothing will happen to you on my watch.”
23
Zee
My flesh was ice cold as Reid led me, his hand enclosed around mine, into the building, through the lobby, and toward a lone elevator that was in an alcove away from the other elevators.
He slid a key card through a slot, and the elevator arrived shortly. Then he slid the card into another slot once we were inside. “This goes straight to my place,” he said.
“Do you all live here?” I asked.
“No. Just me. Rock will, eventually, but the penthouse where my father lived is still a crime scene.”
“Where do Roy and Riley live?”
“They both live in other buildings, not too far from here.”
“Why don’t they live here?”
“Roy didn’t want to, and Riley… Honestly, I don’t know. I’m surprised my father didn’t want her here, close to him.”
“Why would he?”
“How much has she told you?” he asked.
“Not much. Just that you were all abused by him. Your father.”
“I can’t tell you her story,” Reid said. “But if you ask her, I think she’ll level with you.”
I could already imagine what Riley had suffered, and I didn’t like where my mind was going.
When the elevator door opened right into a living area, Reid said, “This is the second to top floor. The penthouse is at the top.”
My stomach was jarred from how quickly the elevator had ascended. I felt a little queasy from the ride…and also from being here with Reid.
His place was huge and spacious, decorated in masculine black and green. I wanted to look, to take it all in, but I followed Reid.
He carried my small bag—I hadn’t brought much—to a door and opened it.
I gasped. “Is this where you want me to stay?”
The room was huge and decorated in soft pastels. So unlike Reid Wolfe. A king-sized bed was covered in what appeared to be pink satin. Fluffy pink and white pillows lounged over
