The Billionaire(12)

"Do you like fish, it's good for you."

"I think so I mean I've fried lots of it when dad would go fishing with  Mr. Stark..." Her voice tapered off at the mention of her father.

Taking her hand I gave it a squeeze, rubbing my thumb back and forth  across her palm. I pulled her to me for a kiss. If it's the last thing I  do I'm going to wipe that desolate look from her face for good. I'll be  damned if he'll cause her any more sorrow or heartache.                       
       
           



       

"You hanging in there baby?" She nodded her head before taking a bite of her fish.

"This is good Gideon, I like it."

"Good I'm glad."

We enjoyed the rest of our meal over much lighter conversation. I asked  about school and what these tests she was taking this week were all  about.

I wasn't surprised to learn that she was in the top one percentile of her class, which she told me was unknown to her father.

She'd taken her SATs and passed with flying colors and some other  aptitude tests they were giving kids these days that they didn't have  when I was in school.

Apparently she'd done well enough to be accepted to an Ivy League  school, but daddy dearest had nixed that. Well I'll get all her affairs  with the school straightened out. I had the necessary papers now, she  was old enough to speak for herself, and we didn't need his signature  for anything. Asshole.

I still didn't like the idea of him being her guardian of note so I'm gonna have to deal with that first.

"Would you like to get married?" She dropped the fork and looked at me with wide-open eyes.

What the fuck? I hadn't meant to say that, what the hell had just  happened? We barely knew each other, she hadn't even met my parents, and  she was so fucking young. I was going to wait, what the hell happened  to waiting until she got settled in?

Yeah, all those things were true but when she jumped from her seat into  my lap, her arms going around my neck to hold me in a chokehold, I knew  it was the right move.

If I could just get my heart to calm down we'd be good to go.

Fuck Thorpe, you really are nuts, you've lost your fucking mind over  this girl. How do you go from being totally against giving up your  freedom to getting married to a girl whom you'd only just met?

I haven't even really kissed her yet, not the way I wanted to anyway. I  had no idea what her likes and dislikes were. What were her favorite  things to do? In fact I knew nothing about her except that the way she  made me feel, I'm sure I'd never feel that good again with anyone else.  Never!

There was a lot to be done I had three months before her eighteenth  birthday. I'd already committed myself to waiting until then before  taking her to my bed...well, before making love to her there since she  was already sleeping in my bed.

"You won't change your mind will you?"

"Well you haven't answered the question yet so..."

"Yes, yes, yes, yes." She squealed, peppering my face with kisses after each enthusiastic yes and I was grinning like an ass.

"So when... How? Tomorrow?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, not so fast little one, we have to plan it, sometime after your birthday."

"Why do we have to wait?" I hated to see her lose that exuberance but I had to do this right for her sake.

I kissed her nose before looking into her magnificent eyes.

"Because I have a mother who would skin me alive if I ran off and got  married without telling her. She's going to want to plan an extravagant  event whether or not it's just us, or she invites half the state."

She grew rather quiet and sullen and I was beginning to realize that I  hated to see her look anything but happy. Lifting her head up, I  caressed her cheek lovingly.

"What is it, what's wrong?"

"What if she doesn't like me?" She looked close to tears, I guess it's  only natural for every new daughter in law to worry about whether or not  her new mother in law would approve, but somehow I think there was more  going on here than that.

She looked fucking petrified, just as she had that morning when she asked me if this was home.

I pulled her closer to me, hugging her with all the love I had in me for her.

"She'll love you baby, I promise. There's nothing for you to worry about  okay, I'll introduce you to them soon and you'll see. I have a sister  your age, her name's Tula and she loves to shop. I can see you two  hitting the shops together, not to mention her obsession with on line  shopping. I'm sure my credit cards are gonna get a work out." I tried to  tease her out of her sulk.

She blushed at that and hid her face in my chest.

"Oh no I spend too much."

"Ashley cut it out, we've already had this conversation, what's mine is  yours, you can never spend too much okay? Look at it this way, what if I  wanted to spend time with you and you had lots of free time? Would you  spend your free time with me, or would you be mad that you had to?"

"I could never be mad at spending time with you."

"Well see, that's exactly how I feel about the money, time is more  precious than money and I have tons of it. I want to spend it on you. In  fact, I'm getting you your own cards and your own account, that way you  don't have to wait for me to do anything if you see something you want  you can just buy it." And I can erase the picture of you in want and  going without from my mind.                       
       
           



       

"I don't know what to say, this is all so...so, I don't know, is this a dream?"

"No dream baby, we're both just very lucky to have found each other."  She makes it so easy, I just want to love this girl with everything I've  got. I hope I don't fuck this up I'm not sure if I should get her a  therapist. How much damage had been done to her psyche? She seems so  well rounded and even keeled for someone who's lived with a virtual  sociopath her entire life.

I'll keep an eye out for the next couple of weeks at least and if I  notice anything off I'll handle it. Her life had been drastically  changed overnight I'd literally swooped in and taken her over. I have to  be sure not to overcrowd her, she already had one overbearing male  figure in her life she didn't need another. But the way I felt about  her, I know it's going to be tough keeping myself in check.

I do want to take her over, dominate. I have this uncontrollable need to  be a part of every aspect of her life. Maybe because I know she'd been  hurt by her father for so long, I don't know. What I do know is that no  one else has ever made me feel this possessive. Like I needed to own her  and that just sounds so sick. But it's the truth, whether it's her  upbringing, her youth, or that innocent air about her I just know she  makes me want to take over every aspect of her existence; like I have to  stand between her and the rest of the world.

With Lynn and anyone else that came before her we spent as much time  apart as we did together. In fact maybe more, but the thought of letting  her out of my sight fills me with distaste. If I had my way she would  never spend another night out of my arms. Which might be difficult since  she had school and I sometimes travelled for business, sometimes out of  the country, I'm going to have to figure something out because I'm  pretty sure that was out.

Fuck, I can't think about that right now, I'm just making myself crazy.

"Hey, isn't school almost out for the summer?"

"Yep, just a few more weeks and it's summer vacation."

"What do you usually do on breaks?"

"Umm nothing?"

"You never went anywhere, did anything with friends, go to the beach, stuff like that?"

"I don't really have any friends Gideon." She hung her head as if in shame, I felt my ire rise once again.

"Well you do now Blossom, you have me." I teased her out of the funk I  sensed was coming on again. Fucking Cliff Sanders; what an utter and  complete asshole, if I hadn't hated him before I would now.

What seventeen, almost eighteen-year old girl didn't need friends? The  more I learned about her life with him, the more convinced I became that  I'd done the right thing by taking her out of there.

"Let me know when your classes end. We need to make plans, can't have you sitting around here all summer now can we?"

"Really, where would we go?" Her eyes lit up and she bounced in my lap making me laugh and groan at the same time.

I've been fighting a hard on ever since she climbed into my lap. I don't  want to scare her half to death but neither did I want there to be any  uneasiness between us. She's going to learn about my body's reaction to  hers sooner or later. There's no way to keep it hidden for the next  three months.

I stole a kiss to distract her from my rod poking into her thigh, soft  gentle kisses no tongue as yet, I didn't want to push my luck.