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“I didn't hear anything,” I said despite telling myself I was safe.
“Serenity,” Gareth said my name gently. “Nothing I work on is illegal, and even if it was, you'd never have to be afraid of what you hear from me. I told you, you’re safe here.”
I could only nod, having lost my voice somewhere in the sincerity in his pale green eyes.
“What do you need?” he asked.
I looked down at myself, then back up to him. This was the moment of truth. I swallowed the lump in my throat.
“Clothes.” It was the only word I could say. That old habitual guilt and fear ate away at my insides. My muscles clenched, bracing for impact even though Gareth hadn't moved an inch.
“I'll take you,” he said, and I released the slightest of breaths. “I need an hour to finish up here,” he said, tilting his head. “Is that all right?”
His question almost brought tears to my eyes, and then I internally chided myself for the ridiculousness of that notion. He was simply asking if that time frame worked. No need to get weepy about it. Though, to my credit, nobody had ever cared to ask me anything like that before.
I nodded. “Thank you,” I said, flashing a practiced smile at Brooks, then Gareth before spinning around and hurrying down the hallway and back to the safety of my guest room in order to quell the emotions storming inside of me.
Excitement overtook almost every other emotion, challenged only by the blossom of hope doing its best to bloom in my chest. Gareth hadn't reprimanded me, not for walking in on him unannounced while he was doing business and not for asking for something for myself. He hadn't even hesitated at my request.
He wasn't like the other men I'd dealt with in the past, and if that was the case, maybe I really would be safe here.
At the very least, I was going shopping.
Gareth was going to take me shopping.
I was going to pick out my own clothes. Something as simple as that shouldn't feel like a thrill, but I couldn't deny it, so I embraced it.
An hour later, almost to the second, Gareth knocked on my bedroom door. My heart was in my throat as I hurried to open it.
“These are the only shorts I have with a drawstring,” he said, holding out a pair of black swim trunks toward me. “Hopefully, they'll do until we can get you to the store. I’m sorry that I didn't think of this before. I assumed you’d ask Hans to order some things for you to tide you over.”
“It's okay,” I said, taking the shorts from him. “I know you've had a lot on your plate, thanks to me. And…” I breathed deeply. I wanted him to know me. That should start with honesty.
“And what?” he asked gently.
“I have a hard time asking for things,” I admitted. “I’ve…my history has proven it’s not a smart action. I know that must sound ridiculous?—”
“It’s not ridiculous,” he cut me off. “I can’t pretend to understand everything you’ve been through, but I want you to know…I’m not them. You don’t have to be afraid of asking me for what you need.”
I swallowed the emotion clogging my throat and turned around, heading into the en suite bathroom before I started blubbering about how grateful I was for him.
After struggling with the board shorts for a couple minutes, I finally just rolled them up, and hoped they'd stay on as I came out of the bathroom. I slipped my bare feet into the flats that I had walked to Gareth’s hotel room in and faced him.
His brow was furrowed as he looked at the shorts barely clinging to my hips, me having to hold them in place with one hand.
“There's a knot in the string,” I said. “I can't get it undone, but it's fine. I can hold them up.”
Gareth breached the space between us, kneeling down as he reached for the string, but hesitated an inch from touching me. He glanced up at me. “Is it okay if I help? I’ll have to touch you.”
I looked down at him, nodding a little too quickly because I couldn't voice an answer. How could I, when he looked as good as he did like that? He was massive, even on his knees, and his hands were large and yet so damn gentle as he took the drawstring and quickly got to work on the knot.
A flush raked over my body with his hands so close to my hips, with his face so near that untouched part of me despite this not being anywhere close to an intimate moment.
It felt like one, if the fire in my blood was any indication.
Slowly, he loosened the knot, and then tugged gently on the strings until the fabric cinched firmly around my waist before securing the string. His hands went to my hips, and my heart fluttered at the contact.
He tugged lightly on the shorts, testing his work, and nodded to himself when he saw they weren't going to fall off.
