Falling silent, she scowled. Finally, after another minute, she flicked her gaze down at her dress and then back up at me.
“Well?” she said.
“Finish the grilled cheese. Then we’ll see.”
In two swift bites, the sandwich was gone and her expectant look was back.
“Well?”
I rose.
“Damn. You really want out of that thing, huh?”
Such a desolate look passed over her face that I almost regretted saying it.
“Isn’t it enough that my wedding was ruined without me having to wear a reminder of it?”
Flopped there in her glistening ivory and gold dress, her lashes lowered, her lips drawn together, she looked so sad I almost wanted to sit down there beside her, take her in my arms, and comfort her. But instead I headed for the stairs.
“Fine. I’ll see what I can find.”
Lucky for her, in the bottom of my closet there were some forgotten sweats that had shrunk in the wash.
Tossing them over the railing down to the first floor, I called, “You can wear these.”
Silence. When I got down there, Alice was glaring at me.
“What?” I asked.
“How am I supposed to get into them?”
“I’ll help you,” I answered, patting her rosy cheek as she scrambled back.
“I don’t want your help,” she said.
“Fine. Have it your way.”
I turned on my heel and walked to the stairs. Once I was on the top stair, however, she whispered my name.
“Jake?”
She was standing now, looking straight at me.
“Okay,” she said.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yes. Please help me.”
I intended to wait there on the top step for a bit, maybe see if I could get her to grovel. But she looked so helpless all tied up that I ended up going back down the stairs right away.
“First we’ll get you out of the dress,” I said, walking around her as I looked at the insanely intricate thing.
“What?” Alice asked after another minute of my motionless silence.
“How do you get out of this thing?”
She laughed and jerked her head toward the back.
“It’s got a zipper.”
I gripped the zipper and pulled down. I meant to go fast, but the zipper didn’t want to budge. It would only consent to be slowly, painstakingly lowered down. So down the little white metal the thing swooped, revealing a sequined bra strap and then, farther down, an ivory white back with the odd freckle here and there. Then, once it got to her lower back, it stopped. I pulled and I pulled, but it wouldn’t move.
Alice groaned.
“It’s stuck, isn’t it?”
“Yeah…” I tugged on it again. “What do you want me to do?”
“Just keep pulling. You have to. I’ve tried getting out of this thing with the zipper partly undone, and it doesn’t work.”
So I did. I tried everything. I pulled the zipper back up and then down. I tried reaching in and feeling around for the cause of the jam. Nothing worked. Finally, in exasperation, I yanked the zipper as hard as I could, pulling it through the jammed-up part and down so hard that I took her whole dress and her sequined white underwear with it.
For a second, I was frozen in shock, transfixed by the sight of the most beautiful ivory ass I had ever seen.
Next thing I knew, Alice was scrambling away, trying in vain to grab at the fallen panties and dress.
“What the hell!”
At the front door, she turned around and glared at me. The front view of her sequined white bra was just as hot as the back had suggested. Dipping in the front, the two cups were joined with a gem in the center, supporting two small but milky white, beautifully shaped breasts.
“Asshole.”
“Sorry,” I said with a not-very-sorry smirk.
As I advanced, she shrank into the corner.
“Chill,” I said. “I’ll pull them back on and get you into the sweats.”
Still, however, she wouldn’t turn around.
“Promise?” she asked quietly, looking at me over her shoulder, her eyes pleading.
I nodded, shifting my gaze to the stove in the other corner.
“I promise.”
So I took one last look at that beautiful butt and then pulled up her underwear. Helping her out of the giant poof of a dress required that she get on the ground and I practically yank her out, but we pulled it off.
Afterward, lying on her back on the floor, she grinned at me.
“Thanks.”
I nodded, my eyes running over her body. God, I could just lean over, put my knees beside that heaving chest, my mouth to those parted lips. I could just take her, right here, right now.
“You gonna get the sweats?”
I looked down to see her glaring at me, evidently having read my thoughts.
“Yeah,” I said. “Just enjoying the view.”
When I returned with the pants, she had wriggled herself upright.
“Enjoy less and help more,” she said.
“Yes, princess.”
I patted her cheek and she turned away.
“Hold out your legs,” I said.
As she did so, I slid one leg through one leg hole and then the other through the other leg hole.
She sat up and, looking down, paused. Taking in the insanely too-big sweats, she burst out laughing.
“Perfect fit,” I said, not able to resist cracking up myself.
I tightened the drawstring and then tied it in a bow.
“Thanks,” she said.
“We’re not done yet,” I said.
When I came back with a sweatshirt, Alice was looking at me oddly.
“What?” I asked.
But when my eyes met hers, she looked away.
“Nothing.”
“Okay ‘nothing,’ can you lift your arms so I can get this sweatshirt on?”
She did as instructed, and I slid her arms through one armhole. Then, zipping up the hoodie, I took one look at her half-filled sweatshirt ridiculousness and cracked up again.
Glancing down, Alice soon joined me, both of us on our backs, laughing our heads off.
At one point, Alice rolled against my chest. We both fell silent.
Alice was on her back, looking at me.
“Here,” I said, crawling onto her, my knees around her torso, my hand on her sweatshirt zipper. “I’ll zip this up for you.”
And so, ever so slowly, I did. As our breaths flowed together and our lips neared, I pulled the zipper up and up and up. When it was at the top and I was at her lips, right before they touched, I looked into her eyes.
I froze. There was want there; it was unmistakable. And yet, there was something else too, something that wouldn’t let me continue. There was fear.
“Sorry, sorry,” I said, backing away.
She closed her eyes, and when they opened, there was only accusation in them.
“I expected as much,” she said.
I stood up and leaned down, addressing her defiant face.
“Yeah well, you know your whole ‘you don’t know me’ thing? Guess what, princess—it goes both ways. You have no fucking clue who I am.”
I strode to the door and left.
Chapter Five
Alice
The quiet was great for reflection. Not so great if the last thing you wanted to do was think about how you may have just made the second biggest mistake of your life. Jake was my enemy, and my rashness may have just alienated him completely. Why did I keep forgetting my composure with him, forgetting that he was a dangerous, evil man—my kidnapper?
I glanced down at the zipper and then away. To think that I had been ready to…
I stood up and walked to the door. It didn’t matter now. There was no point in beating myself up about it, though there was definitely something to be said for trying to get out of there.
I put my bound hands o
n the doorknob and pulled. Gazing out into the endless forest before me, I started walking.
Even if Jake was right and there was no getting out of there, I could at least enjoy a nice walk. Anything was better than that cabin, stifled with the day’s events and my own strange reactions.
I had only been walking for a few minutes, and already my head was quieter, calmer. The air was liquid clarity, while the trees provided shade from everything I didn’t want to think about. The birds celebrated my arrival with sweet songs, and a toad started accompanying me after a few minutes.
It was fat, forest green, and determined, hopping at a constant pace until it reached me, stopping whenever I did, and ribbiting every so often as if to remind me he was there.
I dubbed him Gerald and enjoyed his loyal presence. It was a good thing Randolph wasn’t here. I could see it now, his eyes bulged out of his head, his floppy ears standing straight up, his buck teeth bared even more. He’d gallop after poor little Gerald, all barks and scampering and no actual catching. I didn’t think Randolph had caught any creature—cat, mouse, squirrel—in his entire life. And yet that had never stopped him from trying.
I stopped and sat down on a big log, the moss on which provided a nice cushion for my butt.
What was Randolph doing now? How was he? Was he curled into that sad little ball of fluff he assumed whenever I hadn’t paid attention to him for over an hour? Were he and Papa curled together into one sad ring of sorrow? What was Paul doing? Was Cynthia horrified or pissed off? Lux was probably canvasing the streets at this very moment, as she’d always been an activist.
How would it be to go back? Would I ever go back?
I stared into the trees, and Gerald hopped up beside me.
My present circumstances were so unbelievable that I couldn’t picture my homecoming at all. I didn’t know if Papa would cry tears of joy or curse and swear that he would find the man who had done this and punish him. And would Paul demand we be married within the week or agree that maybe some more time would be a good idea?
I stared into the pine trees, watched the wind wiggle every little pine needle, and thought that maybe this, all of this, wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
Even being here, now, I felt different. Good. Good like I hadn’t felt in ages. Maybe it had just been too long since I’d been in nature. Or maybe this kidnapping, as terrifying and dangerous as it was, had provided just the break I needed to think about things, to think about everything.
Gerald let out a hearty ribbit, and I glanced down at him. For some reason, I was reminded of Paul. Of how, as he had proposed to me on Mizuna’s lit-up patio, as I’d looked down on the man asking to be my husband, instead of feeling joy, excitement, or bliss, I’d only thought of how it all seemed like a movie scene. Paul had gotten the proposing thing down to a science: the beautiful, big shining ring, the speech about my great qualities (which I hadn’t even been sure I’d had), and the sparkle of tears in his eyes.
Donna, my therapist, always hinted that my lack of belief in Paul, in anyone, stemmed from a lack of belief in myself. That I was “emotionally unavailable” and that any suspicion about this faultless specimen of a man should be questioned.
The little woman with the big moon spectacles had never said anything of the sort outright, of course. But it was always the impression I was left with as I shuffled out of there, tired and no closer to solving anything than I had been before. But solving things had never really been the point.
No, after Mama’s death, Papa’s orders had been to “go to a therapist.” And, after a swath of nothing-faced bobble heads who fired off statements disguised as questions and let my problems run over them as smooth as milk, by the time I got to statements-as-questions, uncaring-about-problems Donna, I had just been tired of the whole merry-go-round of it all. I had just wanted Papa to be happy, whether Donna was actually helping me or not.
I grinned at Gerald.
“Wonder what Donna would think of all this?”
He gave another enthusiastic ribbit, and I laughed.
Yes, “Stockholm syndrome,” Donna would say as the reason for me being attracted to the dangerous, cruel man who’d kidnapped me. Or the fact that I hadn’t had sex in weeks. Paul had been sick, busy, distant. For my part, I hadn’t pushed him; I had been so nervous about the wedding, I wasn’t sure I could have done much more than give him some lukewarm kisses.
Still, there was no denying the effect Jake had on me. Even now, just thinking about that ripped and tattooed chest, those forest green eyes, that military-short hair, I was getting excited. Yes, I wanted him; there was no doubt about that.
With one final ribbit, Gerald began hopping back the way I’d come. I followed him. If I wanted to get out of this crazy situation alive, then my desire for Jake would have to stay unfulfilled.
The walk back to the cabin was even nicer. By now, my mind was quiet enough to notice the patterns of sunlight on the dirt and grass I passed over, the reassuring aroma of pine that enveloped everything, and the little chickadees and robins that peered at me from high tree branches.
When the cabin was back in sight, I was almost smiling.
Incredibly enough, Gerald was still hopping along with me, and he continued to do so all the way up the stairs. I smiled at the impertinent little green thing, only at the last second noticing the big black boot coming into view.
“Where were you?” Jake snapped as his boot descended on Gerald.
“Watch out!” I cried.
But it was too late; Gerald hadn’t jumped out of the way in time, and he was now trapped, struggling, under Jake’s huge boot.
“What the hell?” Jake demanded as I shoved him.
“Your boot! You stepped on a toad! Move your boot!”
“Oh.”
Jake paused, peered down, and lifted his boot.
Gerald thrashed in vain, one of his legs pancaked and immobile.
“Shit. I wasn’t looking,” Jake said softly, leaning down as I did.
I reached out, remembering my bound hands at the last minute.
“Here, I’ll get him,” Jake said, scooping up Gerald in his huge hand.
As he was lifted, Gerald let out a reproachful ribbit, and Jake shook his head.
“I know, buddy, but it was an accident. I’m sorry.”
As he walked up the steps, he continued. “Now don’t you worry. I’ve got just the place for you to heal.”
At the door he paused. Turning around, he addressed my open-mouthed face. “You coming?”
I followed him inside without a word and went to sit on the couch. There was no way Jake was serious. This had to be some sort of trick.
But then Jake disappeared upstairs, and a minute or so later he returned with a giant tank, in which, gazing out at me dismally, was Gerald. After setting the huge tank on the counter, Jake was all business.
“We’ll have to find some stones and dirt to put inside. I remember learning something about terrariums in class when I was a kid. Then some water and our little toad friend should be good to go.”
He paused and caught my eye.
“What?”
“Just…why do you care?”
Jake shrugged and, grabbing a plastic bag from a drawer, headed for the door.
“Dunno. I’ve just always liked animals I guess.”
After opening the door, he turned to me. “You coming?”
When I followed him outside, I had to stop only a few feet out the door as Jake paused.
“Pip!” he called. “Pip!”
A few seconds later, a wolf came running up to us.
I made for the door but had trouble opening it with my hands bound.
A hand was patting my shoulder. I turned to see Jake grinning at my fear.
“Don’t you worry, princess. Pip’s a wolfdog. She’s half husky and loves new friends.”
As if eager to prove the truth of her owner’s words, Pip covered my bound hands in exuberant licks.
“So…she�
�s yours?” I asked, casting a curious look over at Jake, who was watching the scene with obvious pleasure.
“Yeah. I found her out in the woods all abandoned, kinda like me. We’ve gotten along ever since. She lives in the forest but comes to visit every day, and sometimes she sleeps in the cabin, too.”
“Huh,” I said, patting her gray head.
“What?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I guess I just expected—”
“That being a kidnapper I’d be a vicious, animal-hating baby killer?”
Even I couldn’t help but laugh at that one.
“No. Well…not exactly.”
Jake’s hand went beside mine, patting the lolling-tongued dog.
“Told you, princess. There’s a whole lot you don’t know about me.”
There was something sad in the way he said it, but a few seconds later he started walking into the forest the way I’d gone, saying, “You ready to start looking?”
I followed a bit slowly.
“And what if I’m not?”
As Pip galloped ahead, Jake paused until I was beside him. Then, patting my cheek again and staring into my eyes, he said, “Now, princess, don’t pretend that you don’t like spending time with me.”
I glared at his taunting smirk, but next thing I knew, he was jogging after Pip.
“Careful not to get lost!” he called.
Still, I didn’t speed up. I was a bit tired from the long walk I’d just taken, and I wasn’t about to wear myself out by getting lost in some strange forest.
A few minutes later, Jake was back, showing me the contents of his plastic bag.
“Got soil, some twigs, and leaves. What about you?”
I lifted my hands to show him what I’d managed to grasp between them.
“A nice big rock.”
Jake chuckled.
“Yeah. I forgot the whole ‘your hands being bound’ thing.”
I didn’t say anything. With his pointer finger, he tapped the end of my nose.
“Oh, come on, princess, lighten up.”
I turned away.
“Well, it hurts.”
Jake’s eyebrows crinkled together.
“Oh shit, really?”
He took my hands in his arms and moved the rope to see the angry red welts underneath.
Royal Baby_His Unplanned Heir Page 13