by Rose Francis
She couldn’t imagine having to leave the estate someday, and she kept that thought locked away—no need to depress herself prematurely; she just needed to live in the moment and savor all her time with him. He didn’t need to hear anything silly from her, like how she had fallen in love with him, and how much she wanted to remain with him.
Still, she had to let something out somehow before she actually exploded.
Even though her sister had asked her to stay quiet about it, she couldn’t help wanting to share.
She waited for a natural break in their conversation.
When they had walked in comfortable silence for a few moments, she gushed, “I got in contact with my sister!”
Kevin turned to her and smiled a genuine, wide smile.
“That’s great, Naomi—I’m so happy for you! Are you guys going to reunite in person soon?”
“Well, she said her schedule’s pretty busy, but maybe in a month or two. In the meantime, we’re getting to know each other.”
“What have you been learning? Is she anything like you?”
She gave him an admonishing look.
“I hope you’re not thinking of threesomes, mister.”
He held his hand up defensively, chuckling as he did so.
“Wouldn’t dream of it. So is she anything like how you remember her as a kid?”
“It’s hard to tell over the net, but when we were little, I was the shy, quiet one, and she seemed to have all the energy; she was the extrovert. That’s probably why she got picked, actually. Anyway, apparently, she works as a makeup artist now—like on film and T.V. sets. Isn’t that cool?”
“Yeah!” Kevin said, looking like he was desperately suppressing laughter at something, but she felt so joyous, she didn’t really care if he was silently making fun of her in some way.
“She said that sometimes it’s beauty makeup, or like covering flaws and tattoos, but she also gets to do really cool stuff like make those same flaws or body art, and age people. She even makes them into aliens and monsters.”
“Wow. Pretty impressive. How old is she?”
“Same as me—we’re fraternal twins.”
“What’s her name?”
“Tyra. Well, Alyssa now.”
Kevin stopped walking, making her stop too.
“Wait, what did you say?”
“Her original name was Tyra, but her adoptive parents got her name changed, so she’s Alyssa now. Still kind of hard to get used to,” she admitted.
“So let me get this straight—your mom named you guys Naomi and Tyra?”
Naomi giggled. “Guess she had high hopes for us. Too bad neither of us grew that tall.”
At five feet seven, she was a fairly good height, but weren’t top models five nine and up? Either way, Naomi didn’t exactly end up on the skinny side, and from what she’d seen of her sister, they were about the same size; in fact, she was delighted to see they still looked so much alike.
They started walking again.
“Anyway, we’re still learning about each other. I’m sure you’ll get to meet her at some point, but she said she’s pretty tied up for the next few weeks or so.”
Suddenly her phone buzzed.
Naomi wasn’t expecting a text or call, so she was worried when she felt it.
Normally, she didn’t take her phone with her, but after she and Kevin returned from the movies, they had hopped out of the car and immediately went for a walk on the grounds, so she still had her purse on her.
She had a hard time ignoring the vibrations, so she looked at him apologetically and said, “Excuse me,” pausing her steps, then pulled her phone out.
She was relieved to see Jenna’s name, but her relief was short-lived.
He’s clear and free. Just figured you should know, Jenna had texted.
Who? she typed back.
My one-night-stand, Jenna sent back, and she needed to say no more.
Feeling like it was ruder to stand there typing, Naomi apologized to Kevin again and called, hoping Jenna would be able to answer.
“Just like that? How come?”
“You knew this would happen—his word against ours. Apparently, he said the three of us had agreed on a threesome. And he said something about you liking it rough, hence the mark on your face. Without a rape kit since he didn’t get anywhere, and with him being invited into the home and all that, charges got dropped. I think the prosecutor said something about not even close to enough evidence to pursue. I’m sorry, Naomi. Anyway, you were so dazed, I just gave them my number that night, so I just pretended to be you when she called—that’s how I got the info.”
“Thanks for telling me,” Naomi replied, not recognizing the low, dead voice leaving her.
She tucked her phone away, her energy taking a swift dive.
“What is it?” Kevin asked, his eyes seeming to penetrate her.
She let out a breath, considering whether or not to bother sharing.
Did it matter?
“Trust me, Naomi,” Kevin’s firm voice said, and she looked up at him.
“I just got word that a guy who attacked me is back on the streets,” she said.
“What do you mean attacked you? When did this happen?”
Naomi spilled out the story to him.
“I know I’m just being paranoid, but I’m glad I’m here where he can’t possibly reach me. But I’m definitely worried about Jenna.”
In fact, she hadn’t stopped worrying about Jenna; she had only succeeded in pushing her concerns about her ex-roommate and best friend to the back of her mind.
Now, Jenna was alone.
She was a tough girl, but she was still so vulnerable to so much.
When Naomi brought her eyes up to Kevin again, he looked like he would blow his top at second.
He was breathing hard, his face flushed redder than she’d ever seen it, his gray eyes flashing with rage.
He suddenly looked like a barely-contained monster.
Then, quick as a flash, with a few deep breaths, he seemed to calm himself down a bit.
“You won’t have to worry about anything, Naomi—that guy won’t hurt you or any woman again.”
“What do you mean? What are you going to do?”
“Make sure justice is served.”
Watching his outrage, his fury take over him, and then the calm way he let her know he would do everything he could to protect her and her friend had an immediate, overwhelming effect on her.
This man was assuring her that she had backup now.
All her life, she’s had no protector, no way of feeling safe, and suddenly, she felt a security she never had the privilege of experiencing.
Kevin made her feel so many things at once: cared for, desired, protected. Important.
Her emotions spilled over, and she felt driven to quench the sudden fire raging in her, to express her appreciation with her body.
“Let’s go inside,” she said, her voice deepened by desire.
CHAPTER 16
KEVIN
K evin wanted to immediately get to work on dealing with the guy who’d attacked Naomi, but he couldn’t resist the hungry look in her dark brown eyes.
They made their way to her room, and he knew it was probably a good thing he was taking this delightful detour—making love to the woman he adored would calm him down and keep him thinking rationally so he could methodically take down her attacker.
Once he managed to disentangle himself from Naomi’s beautiful, soft body, he got to work putting things in place.
It was easy to find out who the guy was, and from there, what his life had been like and the things he’d done.
He set his private investigator on him, and by the time his P.I. was done with him, Kevin had found out enough about him to ensure he got jail time—at least ten years.
The guy wouldn’t know what hit him, and certainly had no way of finding out who was behind the anonymous tips leading to his next arrest.
But before he
got locked away, Kevin arranged to have someone pay him a little visit.
* * *
“IT’S DONE, love—you won’t have to worry about that guy anymore. Don’t ask me for details.”
“Love?” Naomi said, raising an eyebrow at him while she smiled her heart-melting smile, her eyes softening in a way that reduced his insides to a deliciously familiar goo.
Christ, the woman could get him to do anything.
“Yes, my love,” he wanted to say. I love you, Naomi.
But before he could say anything, she was pressing her fabulously curvy body against him, and his dick took over the thought processes from there.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she said in the seductively needy voice he couldn’t resist as she squeezed their bodies closer, “but it’s like I can’t get enough of you.”
They hurried to her room, and he’d barely closed the door before she’d pulled her clothes off.
He quickly joined her on the bed, then joined his body with hers, his heart bursting with love and need while he sank himself into her soft, warm, wet cavern with hard, deep thrusts again and again.
As he came inside her once more, he finally remembered one very important thing that seemed to keep slipping his mind once his body got entangled with hers—as much as he loved this woman, as much as he wanted any reason to tie to her him, to make her stay in his life somehow, he knew he had to be responsible; he had to put her needs before his.
He was guessing she wasn’t on the pill, being a virgin and all, and instead of being the responsible one, he had lost his complete mind and filled her with his seed over and over.
She hadn’t said anything, and maybe she assumed he was shooting blanks or something, considering how careless he’d been, but he sure as hell hadn’t had a vasectomy, and he was a healthy, virile man as far as he knew, so there was a good chance she was already pregnant, but he had to at least make the gesture.
As soon as he could, he made arrangements for emergency contraception to be delivered.
* * *
THE HOUSEHOLD HAD EASILY ADJUSTED to Naomi’s reduced assistance, but since he had to spend most of his time in his office today, she insisted on carrying out some of her old duties.
Now that she was currently on a run, Kevin decided he would discreetly drop off the box of contraception in her room—lay it on her pillow or something, and she would know he was looking out for her; she had a choice.
He didn’t want to do it, but he knew it was the right thing to do—he was not a man who believed in taking away a woman’s choice.
But as he stood by her bed, the lingering scent of her playing with his head, he reconsidered.
Why was he doing this again?
Why did he have this need to do right by her in every possible way?
If she got pregnant, he wanted that baby—almost as much as he wanted her.
He was Kevin Davenport, for Christ’s sake—all he had to do was order her to do whatever he wanted, sweeten the deal with money.
Countless women would be more than happy to have his baby—without even being paid directly for it.
All he had to do was say, “Naomi, you could be pregnant, and I want that baby. Upon the birth of my child, you will receive one million dollars a year for the rest of your life.” Or something like that.
Easy, right?
Except he knew Naomi wasn’t that girl.
He didn’t want to order her around and treat her like chattel, like some kind of mindless thing.
He wanted her to give herself to him in every way, willingly and completely.
If Naomi was to stay with him, she had to decide that’s what she wanted to do without the influence of other factors.
He knew he pretty much had her—that she was happy with her job and her living quarters. He knew everything was far more than a step up from what she’d known before, and that she cared for him.
But since she kept turning him down when he proposed taking her up to his bedroom, he had his doubts about how deeply she felt for him.
“I just feel more comfortable down here,” she’d told him once, and he had wondered at her words, the look in her eyes, the multiple possible meanings.
It seemed to be her way of drawing a line in the sand, and that was how he knew she wasn’t ready for him and all he had to offer.
He rested the box on her pillow.
* * *
NAOMI SAID nothing about the box when she joined him for dinner that night, and he resisted the urge to bring it up. She obviously didn’t want to discuss it in the open with members of the staff so near.
They chatted as they usually did—as if there hadn’t been a small change, as if they weren’t broaching something significant.
“Shall I walk you to your room?” he said in a low voice, his words barely masking his meaning.
Excitement flashed across her eyes, and he looked forward to joining their bodies again, his dick already swelling.
But then she said, “Actually, I’d like to go solo; I have some things I need to catch up on. But tomorrow…” She gave him a meaningful look.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
When she declined his invitation, he immediately thought she’d gotten offended by his gesture and was mad at him, but she clearly just needed a break and a little space to herself.
Not that he blamed her—the two of them had been ravenous over the past few days.
Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.
* * *
IT WAS SUNDAY, and they usually met for breakfast, so when fifteen minutes had passed their usual time, Kevin went to check on her.
The same place he’d left the contraception box the day before, he found a note.
Sorry to let you know like this, but I have something to take care of, and I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can. Shouldn’t be more than a few hours.
Various emotions raged in Kevin at once.
He started calling around and found out from the guard she’d left half an hour ago.
He had given her freedom, but she was tempting him to put tabs on her; he couldn’t have her disappearing on him.
He fought to calm himself down.
She didn’t leave you, buddy. She very clearly said she had something to take care of.
But what was it?
Did she not trust the emergency contraception? Was she on the way to have an abortion? All alone? Was she about to get rid of his baby?
His heart thumped wildly in his chest.
You’re going to give yourself a heart attack. Just trust that she’s fine and she had a good reason. She’ll be back soon enough; you’ll get your answers.
But after not getting to spend time with her after dinner the previous night and hurrying the night along with an early bedtime so he could see her in the morning, it was a terrible blow to have the time before he saw her again put off longer.
Had he screwed up again?
He probably should have just told her he loved her.
If he had, maybe she could have finally given in to him completely, and maybe he could have had her in his bed last night and woke up with her in his room this morning.
Maybe she would have tossed the box of contraception and confessed her love for him too.
What the hell was he waiting for?
But now, because he so stupidly dropped that box off without letting her know how he felt, she was probably filled with regret again, maybe even feeling used.
The thought of her out there suffering emotionally tortured him even more.
Take it easy, he reminded himself again. Just a few hours.
CHAPTER 17
KEVIN
“N aomi! You’re back!”
The relief flooding him as he saw Naomi reminded him once again he was completely done for; he was madly, hopelessly in love with her.
She’d said she might be gone for a few hours, but not even an hour had passed and here she was—just when he thought he’d lose it when
she wouldn’t answer his texts as he tried to get more specific information out of her.
He’d told his guard to alert him immediately when she arrived.
Naomi smiled at him, but something seemed a bit off about her expression.
She didn’t look as warm as she usually did—her smile didn’t radiate from her core like he’d gotten used to, and again he wondered if he’d offended her by dropping off the EC.
“Where did you go? Why didn’t tell me you were heading out earlier? I was getting so worried about you.”
She shrugged her shoulders a little as she looked away, folding her arms.
Her expression was hard to read, but her body language wasn’t.
So she was pissed with him after all.
He stalked over to her, grabbing her hands in his.
“Look, we should talk about the EC. I’m not forcing you to make any decisions here, I just wanted you to know you had options. I know it might be too late for that particular method, but we’ll talk about it; I’ll go with whatever you want, Naomi. I want to make sure you’re happy.”
She looked up at him, her eyes softening a bit, and she was starting to seem more like the Naomi he knew, but something still seemed a bit off.
Suddenly he realized her style of clothing didn’t seem quite right, and there was something about her energy he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
He started developing a theory and wondered how best to test it.
But before he could say anything, Naomi suddenly started opening her khaki coat, and his eyebrows nearly rose off his face once he saw what she had on underneath it.
Her lovely brown skin was complemented by a ridiculously sexy black teddy, and his brain almost shorted at the sight.
“Why don’t you head upstairs?” he said to her. “You know where. I’ll grab some champagne and meet you up there.”
* * *
NAOMI DIDN’T UNDERSTAND.
It was one thing to be a bit late because of unfamiliarity with the area—it was quite another to be over an hour late.