“Are you ditching school to buy sex toys?”
Her cheeks flushed as she giggled nervously, a sweet sound with a little bit of husky thrown in.
“No, I’m not ditching school,” she assured me.
“You’re wearing a uniform and it’s way too early for school to be out for the day,” I said skeptically.
She shook her head. “I promise, I’m not ditching. I only had to go in this morning to empty my locker and turn in my textbooks.”
I assumed she meant she was moving, which made me frown. I panicked, wondering if she was leaving the state. I didn’t want that to happen. Forcing myself to calm way the fuck down, I inhaled and exhaled a deep breath.
Slightly calmer, I’d focused on getting some answers. I’d needed to know more while also getting across to her that she had no place in a sex shop.
“If you were just looking for a way to pass the time, you should’ve gone to the mall or something. You’re too young to be in this store,” I pointed out. “What were you thinking? You could have been—”
My sentence trailed off when the door to the meeting room opened. Turning my head, I grimaced as my accountant, Robert, stepped into the hall. Before I could tell him to fuck off so I could finish talking to Natalie (who was way too fucking young, I kept reminding my dick) he grinned and walked our way.
“Hey, Jordan! I see you’ve met my neighbor, Natalie. She’ll be shadowing me for the next six weeks for her Senior Project.”
I blank stared him as I processed his words. My first reaction was relief that she was a senior. Granted, she was still much younger than I, but at least in a few weeks, she’d be out of high school and on her way to college. Since I’d been worried I was lusting after a tenth grader. Knowing that wasn’t the case was a weight off of my shoulders.
Still, her being a senior didn’t excuse Robert bringing her to the store.
“Do you realize how reprehensible it is for you to have brought a minor to a fucking sex store?” I hissed.
Robert’s hands flailed frantically as he shook his head. “No! God no! She’s eighteen, almost nineteen. I would never.”
As good as that news was I still wanted to throttle him. She shouldn’t have been exposed to men leering at her while they were in the middle of doing a porn and lube run. I was not okay with the way they’d been looking at her— so clearly imagining her naked. Wanting to touch and defile her. The thought made me sick.
“Do you fucking realize she was out there on the floor, and perverts were looking at her?” I seethed. “You put her in danger!”
Robert had a very deer caught in the headlights look about him.
“Natalie! I told you not to go out there,” he said in a voice full of exasperation. “She shouldn’t have done that. I didn’t—”
Unfortunately for Robert, I’d been getting more and more agitated thinking about what could’ve happened to her.
“Where are her parents and why are they allowing her to come to a goddamn sex store for school? What the actual fuck?”
At that moment I was so pissed I could’ve spit nails. Natalie needed protecting. I was feeling territorial and fucking angry that no one was caring for my girl the way she deserved.
My eyes widened as I realized what I’d just thought.
My girl?
Holy shit.
Mine.
Mine.
That was insane, but what was crazier was my dick sending out a claimed vibe. I could almost hear the fucker yelling that he was hers and only hers. Forever.
What the hell?
“It’s just her mom, and she’s away on business until after Natalie’s graduation,” Robert explained. “Nat lives right above me and even though she’s old enough to live alone, we’re keeping an eye on her while Jane is gone. This worked out perfectly because I can be involved. Don’t worry, she isn’t going to disclose anything about the store, man. The high school won't know which store she shadowed me in. I work for a variety of retail stores, and they already know that for confidentiality reasons specific brands and locations can't be divulged. No one will ever realize she was here.”
Her mother being away on business was bullshit. What kind of parent leaves her kid before graduation? Maybe if it were anyone else, I’d have been okay with the whole thing. I’m not sure. The only thing I knew with absolute certainty right then was I was not about with Natalie being there.
“I give zero fucks about what the school knows or what they approved. I only care about her safety and I’m not cool with this. Natalie can’t be here or any of the other stores,” I bit out tersely.
Robert’s face went a shade of green as he gaped at me, flabbergasted. “This is a graduation requirement for her,” he exclaimed. “After today she doesn’t even go back to class anymore. I need to sign off and verify that she was observing and learning about business math and retail pricing structures.”