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“Which part didn’t you understand?”
“All of it,” she admitted. “Where are we going?”
I sighed and stopped to stare at her. “Food and shopping. You can pick what you like, and I won’t have to hear you complain about the clothes not fitting while you’re here.”
Briar blinked. “I never complained!” she protested, appearing hurt. “I was only telling you the truth.”
Bemused, I opened the door to leave my house, with her following, and I continued through the courtyard.
“You’re taking me to a mall?”
I started to laugh in spite of myself.
“A mall?” I echoed, casting her a sidelong look. “No.”
“Then where?”
I threw open the doors of one of the dozen buildings in the courtyard, leading us into the office space. My staff had already started for the day, the tap of fingers on keyboards and chattering voices reaching our ears.
“Everything is done online, Little Bunny,” I informed her. “We don’t need to leave the estate. What do you want for breakfast? I’ll have it sent for.”
Disappointment overtook her awe, and I grew annoyed again. Leading her toward my offices at the back of the top floor, I pointed for her to sit on the plush sofa and handed her a computer.
“Go nuts,” I told her. “Buy whatever you want. It will all be here tomorrow.”
Briar grimaced lightly. “Online shopping is kind of hit or miss. I mean, the models look great, but they don’t look like me.”
I disagreed. Briar put all the women in the pictures I’d seen to shame, but I didn’t say that aloud.
“It’s the best you’re getting right now,” I barked, not liking her unappreciative tone. “Or you can get nothing.”
She offered me a weak smile. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly, setting the laptop aside and rising, ambling toward me. “I’m not acting very grateful, am I?”
Taken aback by her about-face, I studied her warily.
“You have to understand my point of view here, Ash,” she added softly, her body directly in front of mine now, that honey and lavender concoction still lingering in her pores.
“That’s why I’m trying to make your stay more pleasant,” I replied gruffly. “But if you’re going to complain the whole time—”
“I’m not!”
She backed away, and I wanted to slap myself for not seizing the moment and kissing her while she was in front of me.
“I… I don’t know what to order. Actually, I don’t knowhowto order clothes online.” She reclaimed her spot on the sofa and stared blankly at the screen. “I’ve never had the chance to do this for myself.”
I took my time crossing the floor and perched on the cushion beside her, dumbfounded by her confession. I believed it, but it still boggled my mind.
“Your father buys you everything?”
Briar nodded. “He doesn’t see the point in wasting money on clothes that he doesn’t think are acceptable.”
I choked back more comments about Barney, even though I wanted to make a snide remark about daddy dearest. Still, I couldn’t forget how Briar had reacted when I’d tried before.
I was still the one who took her, though. She’d been brainwashed by that asshole for years, and I couldn’t undo what he’d done to her in a few minutes.
And it wasn’t my job to undo it, anyway.
I straightened my back. “What do you like?” I asked, nodding toward the computer screen as she ran a finger over the stationary mouse, pausing every so often to look at a shirt or sweater.
