Page 6

6

BELLE

I’m still buzzing when Conrad and I arrive back at the hotel room. I catch one of the two men he’s assigned to watch the door grinning at us as we pass, as if he can see my delight emanating off of me. As soon as the door closes behind us, I’m back in his arms, lathered with kisses as his strong arms lift me like it’s nothing and lay me down on the bed.

My eyes close on their own, as the blissful moment overwhelms me, and I inhale a deep breath that fills my lungs with the euphoria of Conrad’s scent. His presence. His power that I seem to feel all across my body, even the places he’s not touching. The tingling sensation is back between my thighs–or maybe it never left. I can’t be sure. My mind doesn’t seem to be functioning right now.

All I know is that I am now changed.

The girl I was before has become something new. And it’s all because of him.

He taught me how to please him. How to accept him. How to take him.

And I loved every second of it.

I can still hear the growls and groans he let out when he first entered me, when he was pounding me, when he was spraying inside of me, so warm and sticky, holding me in his arms like he’d been wanting me forever.

“It was impressive how you handled that situation back there,” I tell him, thinking back to how he seemed to dominate the entire room with his presence when questioning Barry back at the manor. “I really understand why–” I stop, not wanting to say Fitch’s name out loud. “I understand why you were hired.”

That’s better.

I read something in Conrad’s eyes. Did he just catch what happened? He must have. “I was just doing my best to protect you, Belle.”

“So you can make sure the wedding happens?”

He pauses, then slowly looks away. “That’s what I’ve been hired to do.”

I reach out and take his hand in mine, caressing it gently, tracing the hard lines of his palm with the tip of my pinky. It’s a hand that shows a lifetime of work. Something Fitch would have no idea about.

Holding his hand is like holding on to a moment in time–a moment so brief where everything feels wonderful. A moment I know will be gone in an instant, but if I could only clutch on to it for a little longer, maybe I would finally be happy.

I watch Conrad’s eyes as they sweep the hotel room, noticing every detail. “Checking for stalkers?” I tease, drawing his gaze back to me.

“You mean you already see the stalker?” His response startles me, and I quickly glance around, my heart racing. I see nothing, and when I look back at Conrad, I see him smirking, aiming a finger at himself. I let out a relieved sigh and giggle.

“Oh, of course!” I reply sarcastically. “Seriously, though, you have been following my every move since the bomb threat. And you were assigned to protect me before that. You could be my stalker.”

“I could.”

“Wouldn’t you have to have been parked outside my house and following me off-work to be a true stalker, though?”

Conrad opens his mouth like he’s about to say something but then closes it again.

Maybe he was going to make a joke and just couldn’t think of one.

“You know, I was just thinking of how pompous this room is,” he finally says.

A laugh bursts from my lips. I nod quickly. “Totally! It’s one of the reasons I’ve never been comfortable at the manor. Everything is so stuffy, uptight, over-the-top elegant. I didn’t grow up like that.”

“Me either,” Conrad chuckles. “Lots of bread and pasta when I was a kid. I don’t think I saw real meat until I was seven.”

“Microwaveable frozen fish sticks was a staple at my house,” I say. “Dad would buy them in bulk and freeze them, and Mom would serve them with apple sauce.”

“Talk about gourmet.” Conrad grins.

“Oh, totally!”

It suddenly occurs to me that I can’t remember the last time I had such a great time with anyone. What Conrad and I just did was incredible, but right now, while we’re just talking? This is incredible too. And from the way he’s looking at me right now, I have to believe he’s feeling something similar.

“I don’t know if I should say this,” I whisper timidly. “But I feel safe with you, Conrad. Especially after seeing what you did with Barry, I know that you have my best interests in mind. I know I can trust you.”

“Yes,” he replies, his voice catching in his throat. “I would never let anything bad happen to you, Belle. I swear.”

“I believe you.” I smile as the urge to leap on top of him and strip out of my clothes threatens to take me over. I realize he’s squeezing my hand very tight now. So tight it almost hurts. But I don’t mind. I know he won’t do anything to cause me pain. “But I’m still worried.”

“About what?”

My eyes fall from his as a wet blanket of reality is draped over me. “The wedding, duh.” I press my lips against each other, self-soothing my fear of the future out of me the best I can. “Eventually you’ll catch the person who made the threat, and that means I’ll have to get married to…”

Again, I’m unable to say Fitch’s name out loud.

Just picturing my life with him causes me internal pain, like the nerves in my body recoiling from a future I know will be nothing but a gray purgatory, living life in a golden cage. No doubt I’ll have everything provided for me, so I can’t really complain about that, but is it worth giving up true love and any hope of a real relationship?

“You know what I think?” Conrad asks. “I think we should get out of here.”

His suggestion stuns me. “Get out of… here?” I point around the room, and Conrad nods.

“Yeah. Like you said, it’s stuffy in here. You ever been to the pier?”

A hope inside me lights up. “The pier? Like…down by the water with the shops and the rides? That pier?”

Conrad chuckles and stands, lifting me with him. “That’s right. That pier.”

“I used to love going there when I had the money. I’d save up enough to go on Friday night and get cotton candy, Snow cones, fried dough!”

“Well, let’s go then!”

Conrad pulls me toward the door as if we’re just going to leave and everything will be fine. His hand tightens on mine, and it’s like a feeling of being possessed by him suddenly pulses through me, as if I’m growing smaller and he’s growing larger by the moment. It feels incredible, but at the same time, I know it’s not good. I’m supposed to marry another man. What am I doing agreeing to go on a date with Conrad?

“I–I don’t think we should.”

“What?” He whirls to look back at me, his hand hovering around the doorknob, his eyes confused. “What do you mean, Belle?”

“Well…didn’t you say I need to stay here? Until everything is safe?”

I’m sure I see a sense of relief wash over him as he exhales, causing my hair to ruffle and tickle the side of my neck. “Belle, you have nothing to worry about. I will be with you. Don’t you feel safe with me?”

“You know I do,” I reply quickly. He steps closer, moving in like he’s about to kiss me. But he stops short, his lips a hair’s breadth from mine.

“Everything I do, I do for you, Belle.” He traces my hip with his right hand, moving up with a gentle caress over my body until he reaches the tender spot just below my ear. “Ever since I first set eyes on you. It’s been my job to protect you, keep you safe. And now, after what’s happened between us, do you think I would ever falter in my duty to you?”

I realize my heart is racing as I trace the back of my top teeth with my tongue. “No. Of course not.” His smile warms me, and I tremble slightly as he threads his fingers through the hair at the nape of my neck. “Why–why are you so good to me, Conrad?”

He lances me with his eyes, injecting an overwhelming flood of emotion straight into my soul. I’m starting to feel woozy as his fingers caress me. For such a monstrous man, he certainly knows how to be gentle.

“Come on, Belle. You know why.”

“Be-because it’s your job?” I whimper, stumbling over my words.

Conrad shakes his head. “You think I’m this devoted to every female client I’m assigned to protect? You think I would have gone the extra…” His voice trails off. He takes a deep breath and recomposes himself. “I do this for you , Belle. Because I can’t contain myself when I’m around you. Because your sheer existence has bound me to you in a way I can’t explain. A way I’ve never experienced before. Because being with you is like finding a light in the darkness that was my life, and without you, I’d be back in that blank void, unable to touch you. Unable to hear your voice, smell your scent, see the look in your eyes. That’s why I’ve done…everything I’ve done for you, Belle. And so much more.”

I’m such an idiot. All this time, Conrad has been in love with me. And somehow, I never saw it. He managed to hide it from me. But how? I guess that’s his job–his training.

“So much more?” I ask tentatively, like I’m testing the water with my toe. “What do you mean by that?”

Conrad’s eyes drop from mine, but his grip tightens on my hand. On my neck. His chest rises and falls as the pace of his breaths increases. As though he’s trying to control himself from…doing something.

“Never mind,” he says softly.

“No, Conrad. Tell me what you meant by so much more. ”

With a deep breath, he raises his gaze to mine, and I feel my eyes widen with expectation. “Let’s not talk about it. Let’s just go to the pier and have a good time. Sound good?”

“I–” But before I can respond, he’s pulling me out the door and calling back to his men with a lie that he’s taking me back to the manor to meet with Fitch and that we’ll be back later. They don’t even question him. He wields absolute authority over them, as it seems he does in all aspects of his life. And as we step out into the warm night air and he throws me over his back with ease, I feel my head starting to spin, as though I’m somehow being whirled into a new world. A dizzying realm where I may actually have the strength to hope for a better future, instead of the one laid out for me already, which has been bought and paid for.