PROLOGUE
MIA
Everything feels so much quieter now that the party is over.
I don’t know how many times I’ve walked around the grounds of my father’s house in the year since I came to live here with him, but it’s been enough times that I should be used to how silent it gets around here at night. That will happen when you live on a huge stretch of land with nobody around for what feels like miles. If I want to go visit neighbors, I have to get a ride—not that I go call on neighbors. And if I did, I wouldn’t go alone. The only time I’m allowed to be alone is in the bathroom and my bedroom. That’s it.
Tonight, it doesn’t matter. I’m sure sneaking a few drinks during the party didn’t hurt anything. I feel warm, free, happy. High school is over. It’s time for my life to begin. Finally.
I know I shouldn’t feel that way. Millions of girls would probably love to be in my shoes. I mean, how often does something like this happen? Growing up like a regular person with a single mom who went through men like they were tissue—rather, they went through her, unfortunately. And they would throw her away once they were finished.
But she never learned. Never figured out they were bad news. I grew up living in a home with a revolving door; at least, that was how it felt. I went to school and had a few friends, but my big dream was to get away and make a life for myself. A life where I would never have to rely on a man the way Mom always figured she had to.
Then all of a sudden, everything changed. I lost her, but I gained all of this. My mystery of a father swept in and rescued me. At least, it’s obvious that’s what he felt he was doing. And I guess, in a way, he did. Otherwise, how would I have survived?
I couldn’t have imagined all of this, though. A kid who never met their father will always wonder about them. Where they are, who they are, what they do for a living. And of course, when I was little, I used to dream that my daddy was a big, important man. That he couldn’t be with us because of his work taking him all over the world, and one day he would show up at the front door and tell me all my problems were over. That I could live like a princess.
Wouldn’t you know it? That’s precisely what happened. And since then, I have lived exactly like that.
Nobody tells you that living like a princess can be a real pain in the ass. That princesses need to be watched. Guarded. Princesses aren’t allowed to go anywhere by themselves for fear of what might happen to them.
Which is why I’m not even sitting alone by the pool after my graduation party has wound down and everybody has gone home. I can’t even be alone now, staring at the water, noticing the way it moves gently with each gust of air that floats over it. I can’t admire the strings of lights or the lanterns that sway back and forth in the evening breeze without feeling the penetrating stare of my bodyguard.
I don’t know what Zeke’s problem is. Most of the time, I’m pretty sure it’s me; that he resents having to tag along everywhere I go. I can’t even sit in my own backyard without him nearby. As much as it sucks for me, it must be ten times worse for him.
That’s not what’s on my mind right now, though. It’s the fact that we’re alone by the pool. Zeke’s dressed in his usual black outfit: jeans and a T-shirt. A T-shirt tight enough to highlight every single one of his rippling muscles. My mouth waters at the sight of him. What would he think if he knew about the many nights I’d spent fantasizing about what he’d look like if I pulled that shirt off?
“You never did go for a swim,” I remind him, teasing a little now that I’m buzzed, and it doesn’t feel so scary and awkward.
He jumps a little, like the sound of my voice startled him after so much silence. “I’m not in the mood for a swim.” Coming from him, that’s practically an entire novel’s worth of words. For a while, I actually thought he was mute, that he didn’t have the ability to speak at all.
“The party is over. There’s nobody here to guard me from.” I take a look around, grinning. “Go ahead. I won’t tell on you.”
His gray eyes meet mine from the other side of the patio. “Why does it matter? What do you care?”
I wish my body wouldn’t get so hot and prickly all over when he looks me in the eye. How can he not see what he does to me? That I went from resenting him to craving his presence? And now, it’s not his presence I want more than anything. It’s his nearness. He might as well be a million miles away instead of sitting in a deck chair, not thirty feet from where I am.
“I just figured maybe you should have a little fun for once. I mean, it can’t be fun for you, always having to follow me around. Right?” I get up, a little unsteady in my platforms. It’s easy enough to slip out of them, and now I’m on level ground, I’m a little more sure of myself and make the barefoot walk around the Olympic-sized pool to where he is.
“It’s my job. It’s not supposed to be fun.” His gaze darts away in the direction of rustling in the trees surrounding the property. It’s just the warm night breeze, but he’s always on guard.
“Don’t you ever get time off?”
“You should know better than to ask a question like that.” There’s something close to humor in his deep voice. A hint at a personality under that stony exterior.
“So come on. Let’s go for a swim. I won’t tell.” I even give him a coy little smile, biting my lip at the end. He’s a man, like any other man. And I’m not blind. I’ve seen him looking at me, glancing my way when he thinks I’m not paying attention. I know what it means when a man looks at me that way. I’m not a child.
“I’ll go first, if you’re too chicken.” I reach behind my neck, my fingers finding the ties from my cover-up. I tug the ends and let the fabric fall from my body, revealing the skimpy two-piece my father would absolutely die if he knew I was wearing.
And Zeke knows that, too. His head snaps around in the direction of the house before his eyes find me again. “Are you out of your mind? He’d kill you if he saw you in that.”
“Yeah?” It must be the vodka cranberry giving me courage, driving me closer to Zeke one step at a time. Of course, he’d kill me, which is why I changed my suit during the party and kept the cover-up on over it. “Then I guess he shouldn’t see me in it, should he? What do you think I should do?”
“Mia…” He groans, stretching out his long legs and laughing in a regretful sort of way.
“I mean, I could always get rid of it. Would that do the trick?”
Zeke’s tongue darts over his lips like they’ve suddenly gone dry, and it makes me bolder than ever. It gives me the courage to reach behind me again, this time tugging at the strings holding my top on.