Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 41073 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41073 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Chapter Nine
Grace smiled as Caleb instructed his men putting up the decorations. It had only taken her two days of nagging for him to finally relent with Christmas. She refused to believe he hated this day out of the whole year.
“It looks so good,” James said.
She pulled him close to her side.
Caleb had warned her that he had an enemy who was intent on hurting people close to him. It was the same person who had attacked the house, and they would likely do it again. The fact he was even putting up decorations was a shock.
She didn’t completely understand the world Caleb was involved in. He disappeared for hours at a time, and when he came home, he sometimes looked so angry he scared her. He’d never hurt her, and she understood that, but someone had angered him to the point that he looked ready to commit harm. She didn’t understand that.
“Are you ready?” Caleb asked.
His men climbed down and he came to stand with them. He put an arm around her shoulder and they looked up at the house.
Within a matter of seconds, the lights were aglow, and she smiled. “They’re so beautiful,” she said.
Tears filled her eyes as she recalled all the memories with her parents. How the ground would be covered in snow but her dad would demand them all be out for his display. He always had something fun in mind. Her mom would bake cookies and mince pies. It was always such a wonderful day, and looking at it now, her heart filled with love and warmth.
“Why are you crying?” Caleb asked. “I can get them to change it.”
She reached out, putting a hand on his chest. “No, there is no reason to change a thing. It looks so beautiful. Even more so than I thought possible.” She rested her head against his chest.
“Swimming,” James said.
Caleb chuckled. “Go on then, go and get ready. Wait for us. Do not go to the pool.”
One of the men was already following James into the house.
“I better go and follow him.”
James had been asking Caleb to take him swimming for a couple of days now.
“Go and get changed into your bikini. We can have a lesson.”
“But James?”
“Is a competent swimmer. You’re not.”
She frowned. “How is he a competent swimmer?”
“I’m going to be there, and I know my sister had already started to teach him at my pool. Go and get changed.” Before she got a chance to ask him some more, his cell phone went off and he swatted her ass.
Moving forward, she decided to keep her questions to herself. She went to her bedroom and to the drawers to find them completely empty. Her closet was also bare.
Stepping out of her room, she went to the nearest guard. “Where are my clothes?”
“All of your stuff has been sent to the master’s bedroom.”
“Oh,” she said. “Thank you.”
She walked around the guard, went to Caleb’s bedroom, and sure enough, her clothes were in separate drawers. Why did he move her into his bedroom? Something on the bed caught her attention and as she got closer, she gasped.
The photograph albums that she thought were lost since the kidnapping. Caleb must have gone to her apartment and got them. When she flicked them open, tears filled her eyes as she saw her parents. There were so many of them, and of her.
“Your parents look like good people,” Caleb said.
“Yeah. They were. You’d have hated them. They were always cheery.”
He chuckled, coming to sit on the bed beside her. She turned toward him, cupping his cheek. “Thank you for getting them for me. I thought I lost them.”
“They were never lost. Everything you own is put in storage. When the time is right and you move on, you can take it anytime.”
She rubbed her thumb back and forth, staring into his eyes. The way he looked at her, her body heated up. Ever since he’d taken her virginity, he hadn’t come back for seconds. She’d been worried he didn’t want her. If he no longer wanted her, he wouldn’t be moving her into his room, would he?
“I better go and check on James.”
She went to move, but Caleb caught her wrist. “No. James has a babysitter right now. Drop your trousers, and get on your knees on the edge of the bed.” He stood up and went to the belt off his pants.
Grace put the albums onto the floor and pushed them beneath the bed for good measure. After kicking off her trousers, she went to her knees. Caleb didn’t waste any time. He stood behind her and he took hold of her panties, tightly gripping them within his fist. He tore them from her body and she let out a gasp at the sheer force of his touch. The panties shredded easily.