“Jet Ski fan too, huh?” Darren said, walking over to me.“Shocker.”
“Oh, yes,” I confirmed. “My cousin has one, and we tear theshit out of it every time.”
Darren chuckled atme and crossed his arms across his chest. “Somehow, I don’t doubtthat.”
“Is there a chance in hell I could ever ride one of these?” Iasked hopeful.
“We’ll see. I wouldn’t want you falling off and cracking yourhead open again.”
My heart skipped abeat for a second. How did he know about that? That was five yearsago when my cousin was driving. She hit a heavy wave and knocked meoff the back where I cracked my skull on the side of the Jet Skiand blacked out.
“How the …?” I raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a hardlook.
“What? You don’t think I’m capable of doing a full backgroundcheck on you?”
“Why would you do that?” I knew the answer, but I wanted tohear it from him.
“Because … I intend to know everything about you, Jaden. And Ifigured I would start with everything that’s on paper,” he saidleaning into me.
My brows furrowedin anger at the thought of him digging into my private informationand putting his nose in my business. I took a deep breath and triedto keep myself calm.
Don’tget mad. Don’t get mad. Don’t get mad.
“Well, I hope you were satisfied.”
“Oh, I was but only temporarily. You have a very interestingmedical history.”
“Thanks,” I said bitterly.
“I may have to keep you on a short leash until I feelconfident of your ability to keep yourself out of harm’s way. Youwere a bit of a klutz when you were a teenager aswell.”
“Those accidents were nearly ten years ago. I’m a lot moreexperienced now.”
“Not with my toys,” he dejected. “There’s a lot of powerbehind them. Power you’re not used to handling.”
“I can handle you, can’t I?” I smirked. That was a bitballsy.
“Can you?” he asked me darkly.
“Isn’t that why you chose me?”
“It is, but you still need a lot moretraining.”
“Yeah, I’ll work on that,” I said, turning back to admire theJet Ski.
***
Darren showed meto rest of the garage, and I was in awe at the cars he possessed.He had a dark chrome Ferrari 458, a black Lamborghini Aventador, asilver McLaren F1, and a big ol’ pretty black Ford F-150. I was instantly jealous. He evenhad a classic 1967 Chevy Impala on a car lift overthe top of the Ferrari.How much money did this guy seriously have?
Once we were doneogling the contents of the garage, I found myself yawning fromexhaustion, and it was now completely darkoutside.
“Come on,” Darren said, wrapping his arm around me. “I thinkit’s time for bed.” I nodded in agreement. When we got tothe top of thestairs, I headed for my room, but Darren kept me at his side andpulled me away. “Nope, you’re sleeping in my bedtonight.”
My stomachshattered into a million tiny pieces, and my heart started beatingfrantically. I knew right away that I would not be getting a goodnight’s sleep.
As we entered hisroom, he pulled the covers down on his bed and gestured for me toget in. I looked up at him nervously. “Do you mind if I use thebathroom first?” I asked.
“Make it quick,” he said, and I hurriedly sauntered around himand headed straight for his bathroom, locking myself in. I tried toget my anxiety under wraps as I used the bathroom and washed myface with cool water.
Calmdown. Calm down. Calm down.
Once I finally gota grip on myself, I opened the door and walked out to find Darrenalready lying in bed, his one hand resting behind his head, whilehe read something on his phone. Of course, he was laying on theside closest to the door. Damn him.
I walked to theopposite side of the bed and slowly crawled under the sheets,trying to maintain as much distance from him as possible. I laid myhead on the pillow andturned my back to him completely. Closing my eyes, I hoped I wouldfall asleep quickly, but it didn’t happen. My anxiety was toohigh.
“Jaden, what are you doing?” Hechuckled.
“Sleeping?” I mumbled, keeping my eyes closed and hoping thatwould be the end of it.
“Come here, sleepyhead. You don’t get to wear clothes in mybed,” he said, reaching across the king-size bed and pulling me tohis side.
He then got on topof me, straddling my hips as he began to pull the buttons of myshirt apart. I let him, not wanting to deal with a fight. Hisfingers were quick, his movements sure and precise as he made quickwork of the buttons, and I couldn’t help but suck in a breath. Oncehe pulled the shirt off me and tossed it to the floor, he rolledback over and pulled my back against his chest before grabbing hisphone.
“Just one little thing,” he said and instantly the cuffsaround my wrists clasped together. “Don’t want you getting any badideas that might get you in trouble,” he said, returning the phoneto his nightstand and shutting off thelight.
Ha, he did stillsee me as a threat. Why the fuck would he restrain me while weslept otherwise? He was afraid I’d get him in his sleep, and he wasso fucking right. When he rolled back over his voice became low anddangerous as he breathed into my ear.
“Your perimeter has been reduced to this room, so if you thinkabout sneaking out later, it would not be in your best interests.My phone is password andthumbprint activated,and I’m a very light sleeper. Do not test metonight.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, Darren. I’m too hungover to fight youright now. I just want to go to sleep.”
“Smart girl,” he said kissing my hair and relaxing againstme.
I really wasn’tinterested in creating any difficulties tonight. I was on highalert as it was, and
