“I won’t cause any trouble,” she promised.
My gaze immediately went back to her. I’d been trying not to look directly at her in the hopes my dick would let out a little of the goddamn concrete it seemed to be full of. No such luck.
The way she looked at me told a story. Her eyes were dilated, her cheeks flushed. She was ripe for the picking and knowing that didn’t soften my dick one little bit. In fact, my looking down at her and seeing evidence of her attraction to me made the fucker drool. If I hadn’t been wearing skin tight boxer briefs and black pants, I’d have been on the verge of humiliating myself with a stain. I gritted my teeth and steeled myself from imagining cumming on her, in her, or down her throat. My need for her was ferocious and it grew bigger by the minute.
She could promise until the cows came home, and it wouldn’t change a damn thing. The girl was trouble whether she intended to be or not.
“You can’t help it,” I murmured.
I didn’t want her there, in the store, but I also knew I couldn’t send her away never to be seen again. There was no fucking way I was letting that happen. Not when I’d just found her.
“I won’t be able to graduate if I don’t do this,” she said pleadingly.
I was barely holding onto my shit knowing she’d been out on the floor and she’d only been there for a few minutes. I knew if I backed down and tried to roll with it for six weeks, I’d go insane. She couldn’t be in the goddamn store, and that was that.
My mind scrambled as I tried to figure out a solution. Everything I thought of involved keeping her with me, permanently.
Right where she belonged.
The way I was feeling toward her was pure caveman. I tried to think business and solutions but kept getting distracted by thoughts of holding her against my chest while she slept.
Bottom line, I was not letting her go. She stayed with me, no matter what. The only reason Robert was still standing right then was that he was gay. If I thought for a second he’d had lustful feelings about her; I’d have fired him on the spot.
From the very first instant, Natalie reshaped my world. I’d never felt so territorial about anyone or anything before.
I let out a sigh of relief when a solution finally occurred to me.
“She’ll come work with me,” I announced.
A breathy little gasp escaped her.
“I will?” she questioned.
I looked her over, checking to see if she was against the idea. As much as I wanted her, if she didn’t feel safe with me or had indicated in any way that she didn’t want to go, I’d have figured out another way. From the very first moment, she came first, no matter what.
“Yes,” I confirmed. “You’ll love being with me.”
“My project has to relate in some way to business math,” she said anxiously. “If you won’t let me into the store…”
“I own more than just sex stores,” I explained. “We’ll be working at my record store. I sell vinyl to collectors.”
“Jesus, Jordan. You live damn near two hours away,” Robert interjected. “Do you know how fucked it is to ask her to drive back and forth from Riverside to Malibu for six weeks? That’s at least four hours in the car every day! The junker she drives would probably explode on day one. That’s not cool, man.”
I gave him a withering look. My first reaction was anger that he in any way questioned how far I’d go to keep her safe. I calmed down by reminding myself of what I knew for a fact. Mainly, that I was his biggest account, which meant he didn’t want to fuck with me. He’d only been my accountant for sixteen months, but I paid a fuckload for him to be at my beck and call. He was making more than he’d ever earned before and I knew he loved the job. Without me, he’d make sixty percent less a year, which I knew gave me leverage. The only thing that kept me from snapping at him was the certainty he was questioning me purely because he cared for Natalie.
“That won’t be a problem since she’ll be staying with me. This way, she won’t need to go back and forth at all. She doesn’t even need to bring the junker with her. I’ll take care of her,” I stated calmly.
I planned to make it permanent, fast. In addition to coming with me (and never stepping foot into one of my sex stores again), she would not be driving a car referred to as a junker. I would do whatever it took to make damn sure my girl only ever had the best from there on out.