Arranged love

MIA

I WAKE IN a dark room. I sit up and run my hands down my T-shirt. I’m still dressed, but my shoes and socks are gone. My hands roam along the bed next to me for my phone but don’t find it. Leaning to the other side, I find a nightstand and touch something that feels like a lamp. I twist the knob at the top, and it lights up the room.

Walls the color of a thunderstorm rolling in. Black hardwood floors with a dark gray area rug. A black four-post bed sits in the center. I lie on top of black silk sheets and matching pillowcases.

I get out of the bed and sway on my feet. Thick black curtains run along the far wall. I walk over, shoving them open to reveal an Olympic-size swimming pool and hot tub attached, but I can’t see much else. It’s too dark.Content © copyrighted by NôvelDrama.Org.

“How long was I asleep?” I ask myself through a yawn.

“Almost twelve hours.”

I spin around at the sound of his voice and place my hand on my chest as he enters a set of open double doors. “Dillan,” I breathe. “What are you doing here?”

“I live here,” he states, bringing a tray over to the side of the bed. He sets it down and then starts to walk over to me.

I stand like a statue, trying to remember what happened last. I was at the hospital. They discharged me … car ride … I closed my eyes just for a second-that’s the last thing I remember. “How did I …?” I stop that stupid question. There’s only one way I got into this house-he carried me and removed my socks and shoes. The thought makes my cheeks redden. I keep finding myself in vulnerable positions with him.

He stops before me and reaches out, running his hands down my side, and I hold my breath, hating that I like the way he’s always touching me. “How do your ribs feel?”

My eyes lift to his when his hands pause, but he doesn’t pull them away. He’s the first man to ever touch me at all, in the limo, California, here in his room. My heart races, and the blood rushes in my ears. I hope he doesn’t notice how my breath hitches at the contact. “Fine,” I lie. My side still hurts. “Why did you let me sleep for so long?”

“You needed it.” He steps back, his hands falling from my body.

The fact that he no longer touches me allows me to think clearly and helps me remember why I’m here, making my eyes narrow on him. “I need to be with my brother.”

“I just hung up with Haven. He’s not any worse, not any better. And you can’t go see him.”

I let out a long breath. “I don’t need your permission to do something.”

“Technically, I own you,” he says as if he’s talking about buying a car. Like I’m something so insignificant that can be bought and sold like an object.

My blood instantly boils at those words. “Don’t say that.” I manage to get out through gritted teeth.

“Or what?” He tilts his head.

This has been my life for twenty years. Men owning me. First my father, but then he sold me, hoping that some bastard would buy me and he could take over their fortune. I’m a card to be played. A toy to be used. Just because Dillan doesn’t share my blood doesn’t mean he has any less power over what I do, who I see, and where I go. I’m just as powerless with him as I have been all my life.

“That’s what I thought,” he says before turning his back to me and exiting the room.

I bite my lip and turn to face out the window again. I miss Italy. I didn’t realize how much I loved that prison. I spent most of my days in the pool. Maybe that’s what I need. Silence.

I unlock the sliding glass door, walk outside and begin to remove my clothes. I need to feel free. I need to clear my head. This is the only place I have to do it.

BONES

I WALK BACK into my master suite to go take a shower. I’ve been in my study here at the house for the last twelve hours while she slept. I need to go to Kingdom, but my ass could use a shower first. I go to enter the bathroom but stop when I look through the sliding glass door to see she is by the pool.

She has her back to me while she stands at the edge of the shallow end. She reaches down and removes her shirt up and over her head. Her hair falls down, covering her bruised back. Then she pushes her shorts down her thin legs and kicks them to the side, exposing a black cotton thong.

I walk over to the sliding glass door and watch as she slowly walks down the steps, sinking her injured body into the water. It’s dark out, but the pool lights illuminate the water. She slowly sinks into it, holding her breath. Pushing off the wall, not swimming very far and pops her head up, taking in a breath before turning around and coming back, knowing her body is in no condition to go all the way to the deep end.

She pops out again, her head back, and she pushes her dark hair from her face. I see her flinch at how sore her body must be while trying to take it easy. I should go out there and pull her out of it. Tell her that she’s not allowed to swim yet. Her body needs time to heal. But I don’t. Instead, I stand here watching her like a weirdo.

Her eyes open and lock on mine. She ducks into the water, covering her chest. I hate to tell her I’ve already seen her practically naked in that video her brother showed me.

I shove open the glass door and step outside into the hot night. “I’m going to go into Kingdom for a few hours. We’ll go up to the hospital to grab the car when I get back.”

She frowns. “What car?”

“I assume you drove my car.” She tilts her head to the side. “The one I had parked at the beach house.” I have a Bentley Continental GT that I leave there. I’m quite glad that she drove it back. It just sits there and never sees daylight. It needs to be driven. She can drive here while she stays with me.

“Oh.” Her eyes lower, and drops of water run off her long lashes. “It’s still there.”

“At the hospital, yes, I know.”

“No, it’s still in Malibu.”

I frown. “Then how did you get here?”

“Haven sent me their private jet. That’s why it took me so long to arrive. I had to wait for it to pick me up in California.”

It’s only a little over an hour flight, and the drive time is about five hours. But it would have been easier to drive than wait for the jet to arrive. “Why didn’t you just drive?” The keys were there hanging in the garage. I didn’t want her to be stranded.

“I don’t know how,” she whispers.

“How do you not know how to drive?” I snort.

She still hovers under the water, right up against the side, shielding her body from me. Her arms still cover her breasts, and her hair floats around her like a black cloud. Her silvery-blue eyes meet mine. “I was never offered that opportunity of freedom.”

I run a hand through my hair. Jesus! Why didn’t Luca at least teach her these things? Everyday options that we take for granted. “I’ll teach you.” I decide. The woman needs to know how to drive a damn car.

Her eyes light up, and she stands to her full height, so the water comes to her chest instead of her neck. A smile so wide that it lights up her gorgeous face. Fuck, my dick twitches in my jeans. “You will?”

I clear my throat. “Of course. Everyone should know how to drive a car.”

She bites her bottom lip, and her eyes look up at me with a softness that makes my chest tighten. “Thank you, Dillan,” she whispers, and my breath catches at the way she says my name. It’s the first time without a bite. Plus, no one ever calls me by my name. It’s always Bones.

I wave her off. “I’ll be back in a few hours.” Then I turn and walk out of the bedroom, not even bothering with that shower. Because if I do, I’ll be jacking off in there imagining her topless in my pool.