by Allysa Hart
I shook my head in disagreement as my body did its best to expel the remnants of yesterday’s soup. The attack continued until I collapsed on the floor, physically drained and too exhausted to move.
“Oh, little princess.” Grayson sighed as he bent down and scooped me off the floor and into his arms, stalking away from the bathroom with purpose.
I leaned my head against his muscled chest and closed my eyes, not opening them again until he laid me on a soft fluffy blanket, settling my head atop a pile of pillows that felt like clouds. His bed.
“Wait here.”
I couldn’t have moved if I wanted to. Between the panic attack and the sheer comfort of his bed, there was no way I was going anywhere.
Grayson returned quickly with a glass of water and a small plate of something that smelled like ripe bananas with a hint of chocolate.
“Here, sweetheart. Put a little something in your stomach. The banana bread is fresh, I baked it just yesterday. My mother’s recipe.”
Sitting up, I accepted the cup and plate. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Drink slowly, we don’t want your stomach to revolt again.”
I felt my cheeks heat with embarrassment. “I’m sorry if I made a mess of the bathroom. I can clean it up.”
“You will do no such thing. I want you to eat and relax. I will take care of everything else.”
“But—”
His growl of disapproval stopped me in my tracks and I picked up the bread to take a bite. The bread was soft and warm. The scent of bananas tickled my nose, and warm gooey chocolate stuck to my lips. It was delicious, and I had to force myself to take little bites. The precarious nature of my stomach worried me. I really did not want to be sick again.
Eating seemed to satisfy the grumpy ogre, but he did not leave. Instead he crossed the room, and began to search through a bookshelf near the window. I watched as his thick green finger slid across the spine of each book.
“What are you looking for?”
“A book.”
I rolled my eyes at his vague answer and took another bite of bread.
“Here it is,” he announced, pulling a small paperback from the shelf. I recognized it right away.
“Is that…”
He turned around with a proud smile on his face, holding the book so that I could see the cover. It was the book I had been reading the day the boat crashed. With all that happened I hadn’t even thought about it.
“Why?” My throat constricted, cracking on the one word, and I said nothing else as I waited for his answer.
“Why do I have it? Or why did I bring it out?”
I nodded wanting the answer to both questions, but not trusting myself to speak.
“Well,” he started as he went to the other side of the bed and climbed in next to me, “I have it because I love to read. I don’t typically get rid of books after I finish them. This particular one I have read many times.” He lovingly caressed the cover, a nostalgic smile on his face. “It helped me feel close to you after everything that happened. I know that sounds ridiculous, but when you are a mute ogre, you have a lot of time alone to think.”
“Why did you bring it out?” Tears pricked the backs of my eyes. I could see the pain on his face. While I suffered at the hands of the sea witch, Grayson was battling his own demons, alone. We were quite the pair.
I scooted closer to him in the bed wanting to be near him, to feel him. He wrapped his massive arm around me and pulled me to his side.
“I brought it out because I am going to read it to you.”
“Read to me? Like a bedtime story?” The thought of listening to a story in his gravelly voice while being held in his arms warmed me from head to toe. “I could read it myself.” I offered him an out, hoping beyond hope he didn’t take me up on it.
“I know you could, but I want you to relax and I think this will help. It will give us something to do and give you something to focus on.”
“But it’s a love story.” I giggled.
“It is, and it’s one of my personal favorites.”
“Favorites? Like you read them regularly?” My giggles transformed into full on laughter. The idea of this big strong ogre enjoying a romance book was hilarious.
“Laugh it up, little girl.” He hugged me hard against him. “I think it just became my favorite sound.”
I turned my face into his chest to hide my blush. “Sorry, I don’t mean to laugh at you.”
“It’s nothing to apologize for. Now lie back and relax; I’m going to read a couple chapters and then fix us a decent meal.”
“Yes, Ogre Daddy.”
“Good girl.” He leaned over and kissed the crown of my head and I melted. Right there, held close to him, feeling more taken care of than I had in years, I melted. Tingles shot through my body from head to toe and I tipped my head back to look up at my ogre. Our gazes locked on one another for a moment before he leaned down and kissed the tip of my nose before clearing his throat and turning his attention to the book.
“Once upon a time…”
“I’ve read every single book on this shelf! More than once!” Ariana whined from her chair in the living room.
I shrugged. She was in a mood today. Her back had healed, her panic attacks were lessening in severity and growing more and more infrequent, and she was starting to go a little stir crazy. I remembered what that was like, of course. I knew it all too well, but that was why I baked. Ariana needed a hobby.
“Grayson!” she whined again, growing impatient when I didn’t respond quickly enough for her liking.
“So have I,” I answered. “Many of them with you.” We had taken up reading together in the evenings. It gave us something to do, and seemed to lessen her anxiety.
“That’s what I’m saying! What are we supposed to read tonight?” We need new books.” She said this like it was of utmost urgency.
I laughed. “Pull out the computer, and order some. Order me some sugar too, while you’re at it. I’m getting low,” I said, stirring the batter for a triple chocolate cake. With Ari here, I was baking more than ever. Her sweet tooth was bigger than mine, and baking distracted me from the fact that every time she opened her sassy little mouth, I imagined my dick in it.
“I don’t want to order books! That takes forever!”
“Two to three days tops.”
“That’s two to three days with nothing to do! Besides, it’s been more than two to three days since you ordered stuff for me, and I still don’t have it, now do I?”
I couldn’t stop myself from rolling my eyes. “It’s been four days, Princess.”
“See? It takes forever.” She rose from the sofa and came to stand near me in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with her arms crossed over her chest. “I’ve been thinking,” she began.
“Oh?” I could already tell that this was going nowhere good.
“I can totally understand why you don’t want to go into town, but why can’t I?”
“No.”
“But, it’s something I could do to help you! I mean, I wouldn’t want you to run out of sugar. What would you do all day? What would we eat?” Her eyes grew to the size of saucers in her head, and she stuck her bottom lip into a practiced pout.
I bit back a smirk. While annoying at times, I loved to see this side of her. It meant she felt safe.
While I loved that she felt secure here, she wouldn’t be protected out there. Not while the sea witch was in power.
“Drop it, Ariana,” I growled going into full ogre mode. Thankfully I could do this from time to time, and it didn’t seem to frighten her. It did, however, let her know that I meant business, and usually stopped her in her tracks. This time, she would not be dissuaded.
“Please, Grayson, just for an hour.”
Fuming, I worked my jaw, choosing my words carefully. Talking about Lamia was always risky and sometimes sent the princess into a spiral of anxiety and self-loathing.
Thankfully, I was interrupte
d by the unmistakable sound of tires on my gravel driveway. It could only mean one thing. My packages were here.
“Ariana, get the door.”
If I had to watch Grayson cook one more damn cake, I was going to rip my hair out. Not that I didn’t enjoy eating them, but dammit, I was bored. I stomped to the door and threw it open, not thinking about the fact that no one ever came to visit.
Sitting on the porch were four huge boxes. “Umm, Grayson, I think we got the wrong order, or I messed up when I was picking out what I needed.”
“It’s correct.” He spoke from right behind me and I jumped. “I told you I wanted you to get yourself some stuff. You didn’t have enough in the cart, so I took the liberty of picking out some surprises.”
“Surprises?” I couldn’t help my dance of excitement. “What kind of surprises?”
Grayson smiled. “Let me get these inside, and you can open all of it and find out.”
“I get to open all of it?” I bounced on my heels as he scooped all four boxes into his arms like they weighed nothing.
“Well, it only makes sense since nothing in there is for me.” He winked.
I ran to the kitchen and grabbed the scissors to cut open the boxes. Grayson took a step back and watched as I cut into them and began pulling out items one by one. Along with the bare essentials I had ordered was bubble bath, a set of nail polish with manicure tools, a tablet, an art set, a journal, and more dresses than I had owned in years, some comfy jammies, and a few cute panty and bra sets. I held up one that was way sexier than anything I had ever owned, much less worn.
Grayson blushed and shrugged sheepishly. “Okay, maybe I ordered one or two things for myself. Are you happy, Princess?”
“Yes, but it's so much! I will never be able to pay you back.” I surveyed the piles of goodies in front of me, trying to mentally add up the cost. Grayson snuck up behind me and laid a heavy swat to my ass. My eyes widened and I jumped. My hands flew to cover my backside, and a flush spread through my body. He had made several vague threats, but this was as close as he had ever come to making good on them.
“No one said anything about paying. My princess deserves nice things, so I bought her nice things. Now say thank you, Daddy, and go put the clothes away. We are having a spa day.”
“A what day?”
“Spa day. I’m going to thoroughly pamper you today, little princess.”
I couldn’t help but giggle as I took the stack of clothes into my room. I couldn’t imagine what he meant by a spa day. I mean he was a giant green ogre, and he was all man; he probably didn’t even know what a spa day actually entailed. My mother and I used to have them all the time. I smiled at the memories as I made my way back into the front room.
Grayson had an array of supplies laid out on the coffee table and he was kneeling on the floor in front of the sofa.
“Come on, little princess, time for some spoiling.”
I shook my head in awe of the picture he made. A huge green ogre holding a tiny bottle of nail polish in his hand.
I sat down and he slipped off my shoes. “Let’s start here and work our way up shall we? While the polish is drying I will whip up a homemade face mask my mother used to make. She swore it made her skin glow.”
“You are full of surprises, Ogre Daddy.”
“Anything for my little girl.” He lifted my foot to his lips and laid a tender kiss on the inside of my ankle.
Grayson’s impromptu homemade spa beat any treatment I had ever received at any five-star spa around the world. He had put a lot of thought into this, giving me a full manicure and pedicure complete with foot massage and pretty pink polish. And his mother’s homemade face mask? That shit should be bottled up and sitting on the shelves of the finest boutiques in the country. It smelled divine, and I could literally feel my skin tighten and my stress fade away as I sat there with it applied in a thick layer over my entire face. He even covered my eyes with slices of cucumber fresh from the garden.
“How’s that feel?”
“Amazing,” I answered, sighing happily.
“Well, it’s been about ten minutes, so it’s time to take it off.” He began to wipe my face with a warm washcloth.
“Fine, but I’m going to need this recipe.”
You like that, huh? I’m so glad. Mama would have been glad too.” He finished washing my face, and pulled the cucumber slices off of my eyes.
I grinned up at him as my eyes filled with grateful tears. He really did take good care of me, and I couldn’t help but feel guilty over my earlier brattiness. “Thank you, Grayson.”
“Don’t thank me yet, little princess,” he said, scooping me into his arms like a baby, and beginning to carry me through the house and toward the door. “There’s still one more stop on the agenda.”
A stop? Agenda? What was he talking about? Why were we walking toward the front door?
“Grayson! What? Where are we going?”
“To the garden. It’s time for your bubble bath.”
“A bath? In the garden?” I stiffened and shoved at his chest, weakly attempting to get away. I loved the garden, but not enough that I wanted to bathe there. And what did he mean he was giving me a bath? They never did that at the spa.
“Relax, Princess.”
Unaffected by my protests, he took me outside, walking past the vegetable garden and following a curved path that went behind the small cabin, overlooking the ocean. There was enough privacy to protect me from onlookers, but there was still a giant green ogre to contend with. The bright sun burned my tired eyes, and I ceased my struggle in favor of hiding my face in his shirt.
“Grayson! This isn’t part of spa day!”
“You’ve been inside too much. You’re getting stir crazy, and it’s making me crazy. Besides, this is what I got the bubble bath for. Did you see a tub in the bathroom? No, you didn’t, because there isn’t one, only a shower,” he commented, setting me on my feet in the lush grass in front of a giant metal tub that went up to my chest. I followed the hose that laid beside the tub, saw where it snaked through the garden and entered the kitchen window where I could picture it hooked to the sink, providing water that I was sure would be warm. He really had thought of everything.
“You wanted something to do, and I’m giving it to you. You have been wearing my mom’s old dresses all week, washing your hair with bar soap, and not having all the things a proper young lady needs. Now you do, so pipe down and let me spoil you. Please.” His eyes implored me to acquiesce. I could tell that this was really important to him, to spoil me in the way he believed a princess should be spoiled, or to replicate his best version of that anyway. The idea that this was so crucial to him melted my reservations and left me with all kinds of warm, fuzzy feelings inside.
“Okay, Grayson. I appreciate your effort to put this together for me, and I’ll let you give me a bath.”
He smiled widely and leaned over to kiss my nose, keeping one hand on me at all times as he readied the bath, picking up the hose to begin filling the tub. “Thank you, my little princess.”
It was the my that got me. He called me princess or little princess all the time, but every time he added that little word, calling me his, it just melted my heart. I probably would have agreed to anything he said at this point, just to hear him say that again.
He tossed a few capfuls of the richly scented bubble bath into the tub, flipped a valve on the hose and set it into the tub, letting it run on its own.
He turned to me, and his eyes sparkled with mischief. “All right then, time to undress.”
Before I could protest the indecency of being outdoors naked, his mother’s dress was swooped over my head and he was hooking his thumbs into the waistband of my panties and skimming them down my thighs. He didn’t even try to act like he wasn’t looking, letting out a low whistle as he took in the sight of my naked form. Blushing, under his gaze, I did my best to cover myself with my hands.
“In you go,” Grayson said with a wink, picking me
up and plopping me unceremoniously into the warm water. The bubbles were plenty, and I was quickly covered up by the fluffy mounds. I almost had privacy, or I would have if Grayson hadn’t stripped off his shirt, thrown one leg, and then the other over the rim of the tub and climbed in behind me. Shocked by his presence, I sputtered, and jumped up, exposing myself again for a brief minute before he laughed, grabbed my hands and pulled me back down into the soapy water facing him.
“Grayson! What are you doing in here? And why do you get to have shorts on? I had to stand outside naked as a jaybird while you took your sweet time ogling my naked body! How is that even a little bit fair?”
I was getting more and more worked up with every word, and I was fully outraged when instead of apologizing, he threw his head back and laughed. Loudly. “Princess,” he began, choking the words out between deep belly laughs. “Nothing you have is something I haven’t seen before. But let me assure you, everything I have is nothing you have ever seen before or will ever see again.”
I glared at him, sinking into the bubbles up to my shoulders so that nothing but my face was exposed to his scrutiny. “I thought this was my spa day.” I pouted. But, I wasn’t mad at all. Well, okay, I was a little mad. But not that he was in there with me. I was mad because he was wearing his shorts. And now I couldn’t get thoughts of big green ogre dicks out of my mind. It was seriously messing with my ability to relax.
Grayson peered at me, in that way he had, the one where he seemed to look straight into my heart, and chuckled. “I’m sorry, Princess. I didn't mean to startle you. I wanted to really pamper you, and wash your hair, and your body and it’s easier to do that if I’m in here. But I wasn’t thinking about how you might feel. I’ll get out.” He started to stand, and I panicked. I didn’t want him in there, but I didn’t want him to leave. I obviously didn’t know what I wanted. I was a hot mess.
“No!” I shouted, putting a hand against his chest to stop him, as my heart raced. “I’m sorry. Don’t go.”
He frowned, and peered at me again. Finally, he nodded. “Okay, I’ll stay, but if you change your mind, just say the word.”