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Quietly, she places my neatly folded jacket over the back of my bike and slides both legs over the seat. Every step makes her too-thin frame wobble, but I know better than to grab her and force her to do things my way.
She wants to do this for herself, taking control of something one step at a time. There isn’t any rush, after all, and in pushing her I’ll simply prove that I’m yet another enemy in a long line of whatever the fuck has happened to her.
Still, I walk alongside her at a few feet’s distance, ready to catch her if she falls.
She makes it to the door leading into the house on pure determination alone before she sinks down on the first step, and looks up at me.
I swear her luminous eyes lance straight through me with that piercing look that cuts through all the bullshit and leaves me bare in front of her. I want to scoop her into my arms, wash her, care for her, take all the pain she’s endured and keep it for myself, but I can’t do any of that. So, I wait.
“I’ve got you, honey.” I extend that hand once more and hold my breath. Deep-brown eyes stare back at me from beneath a tangle of dirty brown, I suspect will look more a beachy ash blonde once she’s cleaned up. “I promised you a bath, didn’t I? What’s your name?”
She nods hesitantly, and I bend at the knees, scooping her up once more. A tendril of filthy hair flutters under her nose. I sweep the tiny curl back behind her ear, letting my fingers linger on her delicate skin, tracing high cheekbones. Said button nose wiggles, and she sneezes.
“You’re cute.”
Hey eyes shift back to me and a shot of fear lances from her to me.
I shake my head slowly. “I’m not gonna hurt you, honey. I promise. Ever. Will you trust me at least long enough to run you a bath?”
Her brow dips, those eyes mistrustful for a moment before fatigue takes her and she slumps, the little energy she displayed snuffed out.
Her strength floors me. The other girls died, and she lived, was ready to claim her freedom the moment that door on the shipping container opened. My heart beats a little faster and my arms tighten around her.
“There’s nice smelly stuff in there, too. Berries. Jasmine soaps and things, I don’t know … orchids.” Her eyes flare a little at that last one. “Okay. Orchids it is.”
The tiniest hint of a smile curves her pale lips.
I was wrong. She isn’t cute. She’s fucking beautiful.
I promise myself I’ll kill every man who’s hurt her, even if I have to travel halfway around the globe to do it. Hopefully, they’re here in Rhode Island, and I’d be able to do the job and be back in time for dinner.
But first, I need a little something else from her.
“Your name, honey. I’ll buy you all the orchids in the world.”
She looks up at me through her lashes. On another woman that look might be coy, but I know it isn’t in her to be that way, especially after whatever she suffered. Lacerations and bruises are evident under her skin in a shifting array of color from how many times she has been beaten, or worse.
“Your name,” I repeat softly.
She studies me for a second more, letting out a breath and a whisper.
“Thalia.”
Chapter Two
Stolen Breath
Thalia
My gaze never leaves the mountain of a man as he carries me through the lavish house. I don’t look around or take in any of the finer details or expensive features. I’ve been in six houses just like this in the past three years and I have learned a valuable lesson. Pretty, shiny things like this building usually hide the most rotten core.
He climbs the stairs with ease, my slight weight nothing to him. That bothers me more than it should. After everything I have lived through, the fact that I lost what little curves I had irritates the shit out of me.
“I’m going to put you down,” he says lowly, his voice soothing something deep inside me.
I don’t react to his words, though. Far too many times I have thought that a man would help me, that this time would be different, but it is always just more of the same.
He lowers me onto a large white marble counter before slipping out of the bathroom. I wait with bated breath until he returns holding several items in his thick muscular arms. He opens the water and soon a sheen of steam is coating every opulent inch of the massive bathroom. I watch him add bubbles and a bath bomb before lighting scented candles and placing them all over the room.
