She's Too Young(7)
All right, maybe ‘apartment’ isn’t the correct word for my four-story living quarters in Tribeca, located at the top of a fifty-story luxury building. From here, I can see the Hudson and New Jersey on the other side. From my bedroom upstairs, the Statue of Liberty seems close enough to touch and yet I’m not confident about any of the amenities now. I can’t very well see the place through the eyes of a seventeen-year-old girl, can I? So I’ve hired the correct people to make sure Veda’s wishes are met at all times, since I can’t be home often enough. A fact that never bothered me before, but I have a distinct feeling will be abhorrent to me going forward.
My cell phone buzzes in my pocket signaling an incoming text. The bellman downstairs is letting me know Veda is on her way up in the elevator and God almighty, my cock starts to get hard. I know what you must think of me by now, but understand that the moment those elevator doors roll open and I witness Veda’s trepidation, I stop thinking with the heavy tool in my briefs, because my chest wants to cave in. She looks so small inside the polished chrome mouth of the elevator, suitcases being held by a bellman to her right. So fragile.
Fragile and…a touch suspicious.
If I hadn’t made it the final condition that Veda know nothing about the contract—merely that I’ve offered her a place to stay while Jack is overseas—I would think she knew what I’d done. But I don’t think her father is that reckless.
I’ve closed half of the distance between us before I realize I’ve even moved, issuing a brief directive to the bellman regarding where to leave Veda’s luggage. I consider asking if she’s going to remain in the elevator forever, but she finally steps out, head tilting back so she can meet my eyes. Hers are still filled with unease as she says, “You’re even more handsome in the light.” Her chin is stubborn. “I wish you were ugly.”
“Why?”
She lifts one shoulder gracefully and lets it fall, beginning to play with the edge of her skirt. Her short, blue and white plaid, private school skirt. Fuck. Me. “I can’t think straight around you,” she whispers, as if sharing a secret. “I think you’re up to no good, Ramsey Beckett, but I think the more time I spend around you, the less I’m going to care. And that’s bad.”
If she thinks I look better in the light, someone should get her a mirror, because I’m completely fucking mesmerized. There are little green pinpricks in her giant, blue eyes. Her mouth is straight off a cherub, right along with her smooth, lightly flushed complexion. Don’t get me started on the taut, inviting lines of her body, because there’s not enough time in the world to list their perfections.
However, it’s in that moment I decide to take things somewhat slowly. She’s already got suspicions—and they’re correct. I’m a man who became consumed by her on sight. I’ve bought her, moved her into my house. There’s no way around that fact. But I can make sure she doesn’t feel pressure to give me any part of herself. I can give her time to trust me, even though I’ll probably die several small deaths in the process.
“I’m up to no good, am I?” I step back and gesture toward the staircase, which sweeps upward from the living room. “What makes you think so?”
When Veda precedes me up the stairs with an eye roll, I don’t even make an attempt to look away from the side-to-side snap of her hips, the lily-white panties that peek out when her skirt flaps back with each step. “You sent my father to the Netherlands and now I’m here.” She pauses mid-step and turns, one foot on a higher step than the other, giving me a decadent view of her cotton-covered pussy. “Would you have done that if we hadn’t met on the roof and…kissed?”
Watching the flush creep up her neck, I run my tongue along the inside of my lower lip. “You’re letting me look up your skirt right now and you have the nerve to turn pink?”
Her hips sway a little, a smirk plumping her lips, but I can see the gravity in her eyes. She might be playing the flirt, but she’s only doing it to distract me. “You didn’t answer my question,” she says.
I can’t be honest with her. Not completely. Not until she has a chance to know me. Yes, I’ve gone to extremes to get her here. Yes, I’m a bad man. But I’m determined to be a good one for Veda.
“Your father was due a promotion and he was in debt. Did meeting you on the roof cause me to look into the situation?” I take her knee and ease her thighs closed, because one more second of looking at heaven and I will attempt to fuck her into a screaming fit on the stairs. “Yes. I wanted to know more about you, and in turn, your father. When I saw the dire straits he was in, I had to move quickly.”