Acquisition, page 13
"Well, because he clearly doesn't want to," I said. “He’s trying to save your soul or something.”
Quietly, he added. "Don't get it wrong. I didn’t want to bring you here either."
"Yeah, your vibe is more of a you'll do whatever it takes thing, and that's not him. He's got markers. Lines he won't cross."
"I see you've already got a good read on him."
"Well, yeah. He's easy to read. Unlike you."
He chuffed softly behind me. “I’m easier to read than you think.”
He finally finished detangling a section and tried to move on to the next, but I stopped him.
“Oh wait. You’ll need to twist it first.”
He hesitated. “Like a twist tie?”
I giggled. “Sort of. Take the section, split it in two. Then you have to hold it taut and twine the pieces together like a rope.”
His level of concentration was so endearing I had to smile as he twisted. When he got to the end, he paused. “How do I keep it from unwinding?”
“Oh, you coil the ends around you index finger, the curls will clump together.”
When the twist was done a thick twist hung down my back. “Well, that is handy.”
His self-satisfaction made me smile. “If I’m trying to use twists for a style I make them smaller, but for now that’s great. Good job.”
As he worked, he continued our conversation. "I'm not hard to read. Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to do things right. You know, make my dad and mum proud. Make Uncle Charlie proud, and Reginald, too. There was black and white when it came to doing the right thing. But somewhere along the line, things got murky."
"Isn't that what being a spy is all about? Working for the greater good and all that?"
He chuckled low. "You'd be surprised. There are a lot of wankers who are in it for the glory."
"Is there glory?"
"For those in the know, yeah. While you are alive, the glory is the sweetest nectar."
Thirty minutes later, I had been conditioned, detangled, rinsed, and my head was in a towel. Drake held up a towel for me to climb out of the tub and resolutely turned his gaze away from me. When I was all wrapped up, he nodded. "When you're finished, there's a blow dryer in the bottom there. And it's got one of those… I don't know what they're called. You know, they look like a little octopus with hands, with tentacles, spikes or whatever sticking out."
I laughed. "A diffuser."
"Yeah, one of those. I’ll dry your hair.”
I bit my lip. He’d just taken better care of me than my own mother. And the realization was making me emotional. He’d laid a lot on me and I needed a moment to process. “Actually, can you let me do it? I think I need a little time on my own if that’s okay.”
His brow creased. He looked like he wanted to finish, but he let me have this one. “Sure. Head on downstairs when you’re done. Or call if you need more help.”
“Thank you.”
He walked out and quietly left me behind after he picked up all the bits and bobs from our hair session, and I wasn't even thinking about an escape right then. All I could think was that the man who just spent the last hour and a half or so washing and detangling my hair and cleaning me up was not the same man who kidnapped me. There were two sides to him. So which part of him was real?
26
Drake
I didn’t lock the bedroom door. Matter of fact, I left it wide open. And Daphne, walked right through it.
I expected nothing less. After all, she was back to herself, not that scary shell of a woman who couldn't move when I took her out of the boot. My relief that she seemed to have recovered from our misadventure last night, was palpable.
She looked more like herself now. Freshly showered, curls dried, face devoid of makeup. She was stunning though. She didn't need it.
"I'm shocked you didn't try the front door."
She grinned at me and then at Reginald. "Who's to say I didn't?"
Reginald clapped and hooted. “Ah, I’ve gotta tell you, boy, I like this one. She gives you a run for your money.”
I frowned at him. "Whose side are you on?"
"Hers."
"Thank you for letting me eat down here." She cleared her throat. “And for what it’s worth, I didn’t try the door. I’m not running anymore. I know I need to be here.”
The way she said it let me know she was honest about her thank you.
"You're going to eat down here from now on."
Daphne
My skin flushed under the intensity of Drake’s gaze. My brain oh so helpfully offered up the image of him in the tub behind me.
I lifted my brows. "So, what's for dinner tonight?"
"Well, shockingly,” Reginald said, “We have some cornbread.”
Drake wrinkled his nose. “What is your obsession with cornbread?”
"What? You don't like it?" I gasped. "It's delicious."
Drake shook his head. "It's sweet bread. Who wants sweet bread?"
Reginald just rolled his eyes. "This boy can eat field rations every day for months on end. But should I try and feed him anything from America, and the way he'll squinch his face is so funny. Look at him."
"That's not true,” Drake said. “I like chili."
I had to laugh at that. "It smells amazing. Can I help with anything?"
Reginald shook his head. "Nah, lass. You're a guest."
"I should do something, shouldn't I?"
Reginald scoffed. "I like having someone to wait on. And it will be nice if you eat downstairs with me."
"Just you?"
Drake frowned. "I need to go to the city and keep an eye on Massimo."
I scowled thinking about him. "Can I help in any way? Because the more I think about what he was trying to do to me, the more I want to poke him in the eyeball with something sharp."
Drake laughed. "Same sentiment."
"You're not going to tell me what you're planning at all? Maybe I can be helpful. The sooner I help you, the sooner I get to go home. Poor Willow, she's probably worried sick. She doesn't know what happened."
"I left a message with the front desk that you'd been called back to work for an integration emergency, and that you would call her this week."
"There's no way Willow would believe that."
Drake narrowed his gaze at me. "She believes it enough. She hasn't been calling. As long as you check in this week, she'll continue thinking everything is okay."
This was real? He’d let me talk to my sister? The surge of emotion, had me blinking away tears. “You don’t know what this means to me.”
He watched me carefully before standing up and going to the cabinet.
I could hardly be blamed if I was picturing him in just his boxer briefs as they molded to him. I was human after all. I had eyeballs.
In the cupboard was a small safe. His body was covering the code, so I couldn't see it. But soon it chirped and opened, and then Drake turned around and handed me something I hadn't seen in days.
My phone.
Hope. Having my phone back felt like hope. I wouldn’t be so cut off and isolated. This was my connection to home.
"Obviously, you don't know where you are, so you can't tell her anything specific. Keep it brief. Let her know that you're fine. Ask her about the wedding, what she decided about the venue, those kind of details. Let her believe you’re in Barcelona on a job like she expects you to be."
My hands shook as I took the phone. "You’ll let me talk to my sister?"
He nodded. "Yes.”
“You’re not worried that I’ll say something about you, Reginald, the house, or anything like that?”
He cocked his head and studied me. “No, I’m not. Not anymore."
My brow furrowed. "Why not?"
“I want you to trust me. So I’m going to trust you.”
My gaze flickered from him to Reginald. Reginald was watching Drake. I couldn't read his expression, but when his gaze met mine, he smiled at me kindly. "Go on, call your sister. The cornbread is just about to be out of the oven."
My heart pounded as I turned my phone on. Shockingly, I didn't have any phone calls. Not even the office had called to check on me. Fuck. My stomach fell. Nothing like realizing that you were irrelevant to everyone in your life.
There were, however, dozens of texts from Talia. Some were about funny work things. Some were about the new bloke she was chatting to. Some asking me if I had shagged Drake yet.
"Can I text Talia? She has left twenty-six messages. Oops, no, twenty-seven."
"Yeah. There's nothing you can tell her anyway."
"Besides. If I told her you kidnapped me, she would think that I was the luckiest girl in the world."
Drake, cocky arsehole that he was, leaned back in his chair and grinned at me, lifting his chin in my direction. "Oh, yeah?"
"You're disgusting."
The cocky grin turned into a bright wide one, and I was momentarily stunned. I didn't think I'd ever seen him smile like that before. Not a proper full-on grin. One that said he was having fun. Playful Drake was even more dangerous than Dangerous Drake because the danger was still there underneath the surface, but on the outside, he looked open and welcoming, friendly. Like someone you could care about. Also, while he was dangerously sexy when he was brooding. That smile was genetically bred for one purpose and one purpose only…dropping knickers.
I dialed my sister's number and waited for her to pick up. "Does it have to be on speaker?"
Reginald said, "No, love, you just talk to her. Go on. You can walk about the house. I'm confident you will not try and kill me in my sleep."
My shoulders sagged, because the first night I was brought here I’d wondered if I was going to have to. When Willow answered, her voice was somber. "Daph?"
"Yeah, kiddo, how is it going?"
"Ugh. God, I just got in a row with Travis."
In so many ways, hearing her be normal was such a relief. "Oh, hon, I'm sure whatever it is you guys will figure it out. You're getting married soon."
"Yeah, but he's left me to make all the final decisions. And God, he's just so frustrating—" She stopped midsentence. "Wait, where are you?"
Oh, the question I couldn't actually answer. "Remember, I'm on the work trip with Drake Foster?"
"Oh yeah, the hottie from the office."
I glanced down at my wrists and hands where my thumb knuckles had been scraped up. If only she knew I’d been trying to escape “the hottie from the office” for days.
Drake’s words floated through my head.
"You're okay though, yeah?" I asked Willow.
"Yeah. Honestly, I thought maybe you hadn't called because you were mad about Travis and Massimo.”
My stomach twisted. “I wasn’t happy, obviously.”
“I know. And then the front desk said you'd had to check out for a work emergency and I got the message you'd left for me which said, 'I love you. I'll call you. I have to get back to this work trip.' But Massimo was convinced that someone had taken you. He is a looney tune. I see what you mean now. I don't like him at all."
"You need to stay away from him, Will. He can’t come—"
“Oh my God,” she exclaimed, interrupting me. “I've been dying to talk to you because Caroline wanted to change her bridesmaids dress design to look more like my wedding dress. Can you believe that?”
I bit my tongue, before I let the frustration mount. I was Willow’s sounding board. Always had been. The one she talked to about everything. I needed to try and at least be understanding. But this was important. “Honey, Caroline is annoying. Cut her from the bridesmaids line. But I need you to listen about—”
“What are you talking about? I can't cut her. We're too close to the wedding date.”
“OK fine. Don't cut her but I need you to —”
“Oh, and do you know what? Gran had a conniption when I went to visit her at Shady Oaks and told her Mum was coming to the wedding. She was unhappy. She said that Mum had been really awful to you."
My stomach dropped. Shit. "Gran said that?"
"Yeah, she was actually having a lucid day yesterday. She knew who I was, who Travis was, asked about you and everything."
I smiled at that. "Oh, good. I'm glad she was having a good day."
“I'm just hoping, that she doesn't do anything wild at the wedding. The last thing I want is for her to have an episode. I mean I'm already going to be so stressed out. The last thing I need is for her to take off, or worse, say something really inappropriate.
The truth was unavoidable in that moment.
My sister was selfish.
There were times, where I wondered if I could have done something about this part of Willow. The part that couldn't see beyond her own needs. I wondered how much of it was for me to fix. But my sister was my sister. There were some things she wasn't willing to hear yet.
"It'll all work out. I love you. We'll talk when I get home, yeah?"
"Yeah."
I hung up with her, my heart squeezing. I had to blink rapidly to keep the tears at bay.
"Sweetheart, are you all right?"
Reginald's firm hand on my shoulder had me nodding. "Yeah, just let me send a quick text to Talia." I pulled a face, stuck my tongue out, took a photo, and sent it to Talia with the message, Love you.
When I was done, I went back to the kitchen and found both men had started eating. I handed the phone back to Drake, a part of me hoping that he would let me keep it, but he didn't. Instead, he got up and put it back in the safe as he said, "If you want to talk to your sister again, let me know."
I was conflicted about that. I loved her more than anything. But things were different now. This week had changed me. I could see our relationship more clearly. Had it always been this one-sided? Had she ever really listened to me? Or had listening always been my job? "Thank you,” I murmured. “I thought you had to head back to the city tonight?”
“My plans changed.”
I forced a smile as I sat down to dinner. Reginald regaled me with stories of the type of child Drake had been. Too inquisitive for his own good, as he’d almost gotten bitten by a badger when he was eleven. And he once poked a wasp's nest, and they were trapped in the house for over two days as they had to call a specialist to come and gather them all before they could go outside.
All the while, Drake just shrugged. "I was curious.”
Reginald just shook his head. "My poor wife. She was constantly patching him up for something."
Drake laughed. "Yeah, I was a bit of a handful."
I stared at him. His smile was something to behold. The sheepish son part of him was even more fascinating than the charming playboy in the bar. There was almost a sweetness and vulnerability to him as a dimple peaked out. The man had dimples? Where the hell had they been hiding? It was probably for the best that he didn't flash that smile around everywhere.
"Oh, good to see some things don't change."
He grinned. "No, not very much."
And as we ate and Reginald went on with more stories about teenage Drake, I realized that for the first time in years, it almost felt like I had family. Real family.
27
Daphne
At my bedroom door that night, we stopped in the hall. I opened the door and turned to Drake unsure of how to thank him. "Thank you for tonight. I feel so much better after talking to Willow."
"Of course. If it makes you happier, it was a small concession to make."
I nodded and then turned to walk into the bedroom, closing the door behind me, as I went. But the door met resistance, making me turn back with a frown. "What's wrong?"
Drake lifted a brow. "Just because I let you make a phone call, do you think I'm going to let you sleep by yourself after the stunt you pulled yesterday? Last night I slept outside your door. Tonight, I’m going to be more comfortable. While I'm not going to chain you to the bed, you're definitely not sleeping in here by yourself."
I widened my eyes. "The hell I’m not." He was mad. I certainly wasn’t sleeping with him…in here…after what had happened the other day.
"Sorry, princess, we might have a bit of a truce, but this is also for your safety. I need a bed. I slept like dirt last night. And I’d have to be mad to leave you to your own devices. Especially when I’m asleep. So why don't you go ahead and get ready for bed. You will be sleeping with me."
I widened my eyes. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Well, it's that, or I can zip-tie you to the bed. You can sleep with your arms unencumbered, or you can sleep zip-tied. It's really up to you. But I’m sleeping in this bed either way. Now go ahead and get ready. I'll take my turn after you."
"You can't just sleep next to me," I sputtered.
"I'm not sure what part of that you missed, kitten. You. Are. Not. Sleeping. Alone." He enunciated.
"That makes me very uncomfortable."
"I guess we'll both be uncomfortable then, won't we?" he smirked.
"I’m not going to shag you," I squeaked.
He lifted his brow, watching me intently. "Kitten, you’ve already begged me for it. Or don’t you remember?"
My pussy throbbed like the traitorous bitch she was. "I was in a heightened emotional state!”
He had the nerve to smirk at me. "If you say so. But I do recall you soaking my hand and sheets you came so hard."
"Drake!” I admonished.
But he kept going like he didn’t hear me. "I remember you panting, begging, calling my name. I remember you saying yes."
Heat suffused my face, though I wasn’t sure if it was from fury or humiliation. "Reginald is right down the hall. If I scream, he'll come and get me."
"He would if you were screaming because I was hurting you. He already knows I'm not going to hurt you, so he's not coming. He might think you’re a screamer though. Tell me Daphne, are you a screamer?"
My gaze darted to the door and then back to him.
"I see what you're thinking,” he said. “You're not going to make it this time. And let’s not forget how that ended." I shifted my weight to my other foot, and he grinned. "I do like a fighter, but you're still not making it past me. Get ready for bed. Now."
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