The Tycoon's Proposal(9)

 

 

When her father lost his job, the abuse had gone to a whole new level and she realized she couldn't possibly keep a boyfriend without him realizing what was going on. Her father was taking out his aggravation on her daily and her body showed obvious signs. Her mother had decided to step out of reality by drowning herself in alcohol from morning to night. Nicole was miserable and in no way wanted the boy she was in love with to realize what a pathetic person she'd become.

She'd planned on running away with Ryan when he headed to the city. She would work while he went to college and they could marry and have a nice little house with a white picket fence. Those dreams were lost because she couldn't leave her baby sister behind. If she wasn't there to protect Patsy, her sister would be the one taking the beatings instead of her and that wasn't acceptable. Patsy was only four at the time.

When she'd realized she would have to break up with him she wanted him to think she was a selfish teenager instead of a pathetic one. She led him to believe she didn't think he was good enough for her. She played her role well and he walked away without once looking back. He'd always been self-conscious of his poor roots and to the outside world her family seemed well off.

By the time Ryan left, things had gotten really bad at home. He was out of school and though she'd seen him a few times in town, he acted like she didn't even exist. It nearly destroyed her when she ran into him, with another girl hanging on his arm. He'd spotted her and sent her a wink and she walked away, trying to seem casual, then threw up once she was out of sight of him.

He left two years after they broke up, hating her just as much as the day she'd broken up with him and she endured the abuse for another two years after that. Once she turned eighteen, she got a decent job, took her sister and moved out. Her father didn't try to stop her because he was afraid of going to jail and her mother was too gone to even notice her daughters left.

Her parents died in an automobile crash two years later and it had only been her and Patsy from that point on. They'd been scraping by, doing fine until Patsy got heart disease, which threatened to take her life. The hospital staff said the surgery was an elective one and now she was sitting in Ryan's house begging for a hand-out.

Nicole fell asleep with her old memories fresh in her mind, exhaustion finally taking her away. She didn't want to think about the hurtful past or about her present condition.

Ryan walked into the den and found Nicole asleep on the couch. She looked so exhausted, with the dark circles under her eyes and her body limp, against the back of the couch. She looked so worn out, his anger was deflated.

He scooped her into his arms and in her sleep she turned towards him, seeking his protection. She wrapped herself around him, causing his body to stir with desire. He was disgusted with himself for being so affected, with little more than a simple movement in her sleep. 

He placed her on his huge bed and she began to shiver. He quickly pulled off her shoes and pants, groaning at the small scrap of her panties visible to him. He quickly covered her up and decided there was no way he could walk away.

He took a very cold shower and still not trusting himself, put on a pair of sweats and climbed in next to her. She immediately curled into him and he laid there for hours with his body aching but his mind content. It was nice to simply lay there and hold her close and eventually his body relaxed and he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Nicole woke up and stretched her arms. She felt more rested, which was a wonderful feeling. She slowly opened her eyes and realized she was in a very comfortable and yet unfamiliar bed. She looked around in a bit of a panic, not knowing where she was. She was used to waking up in unfamiliar places, since she'd been a nomad for months but she'd never awakened somewhere so luxurious.

"I didn't think you would ever wake up," Ryan's voice said. She jerked up in bed and suddenly remembered her strange night with him. She didn't have a clue how she'd ended up in one of his bed's but was eternally grateful to discover she wasn't naked. She then noticed her missing pants and felt the blush rush over her cheeks. Had he been the one to take her pants off? She was wearing perfectly fine panties that wouldn't have shown him much but she was still a bit mortified.

"How did I get here?" she managed to choke out.

"I carried you," he answered and had the gall to wink at her. She couldn't stop her face from flaming even more red. "I'll give you some privacy to shower and get dressed. Meet me downstairs in the den," he told her and disappeared out the door. She'd never been so grateful for someone to leave.

She slowly climbed from the bed and took her time in his shower. If he insisted on her being in his place and treating her like a child then he could wait on her, she thought a bit too smugly. With no other reason to delay, she slowly made her way down the huge staircase in search of the den. She didn't have to look too long because her nose led the way. She smelled something that made her stomach growl and reminded her she hadn't eaten since breakfast twenty-four hours earlier.