“Papa! I do not need protecting.” I narrow my eyes at Maxim, willing him to turn my father down. “He’s overreacting. I’m sure it was an accident. The estate is aging, things break.”
My father turns to me, shaking his head, then back to Maxim. “My daughter can be stubborn. I can protect her inside our own house, but clearly I need help when she’s out. Whenever she goes anywhere outside, I want you with her. I will be more than generous.” He shakes his head. “If you hadn’t been here…”
“I’ll do it.” Maxim’s voice is grave, and I roll my eyes.
“This is ridiculous.” I cross my arms. “Apparently I have no say. I’m just a helpless waif who cannot possibly make important decisions for herself.”
I know I’m being snotty, but the last thing I need right now is more time with this man. My life is complicated enough without his scent and presence sending my half-human hormones into overdrive.
“Your alternative is to have me with you inside the house and outside. Is that what you want?” My father challenges.
“No.” With a huff, I run my hand down my shoulders, brushing away the last remnants of glass and pumpkin.
“Good. We are all set then. My wife and I will stay here. I need to be sure no one was hurt, especially any children. People need to know we haven’t abandoned them. Take my car and accompany Seleme back to the house, please, and stay with her until we get home.” He reaches into his inside tuxedo pocket and hands Maxim the valet ticket. “Seleme knows the code for the gate.”
I sigh as Maxim looks my way, then turn to follow him, but as we pass my mother, I lean in and whisper in her ear: “Make sure Papa checks for running water. I don’t know how, but I’m sure water was running somewhere. And if that’s the case, it was deliberate.”
Four
Maxim
“YOU DO REALIZE I AM acquiescing under duress.” Seleme eyes me with contempt from the passenger seat of the Bentley. What she doesn’t know is, showing me her defiant, bratty side only makes her sexier to me.
“And you realize, although I care and would hope you would feel otherwise, it is not going to stop me from protecting you. In any and every way possible.” My voice is harder than I’d like, but my instinct tells me it’s what she needs right now. There’s no wiggle room allowed at the moment because I firmly believe if I give her an inch, she will take a hundred miles. “I would be protecting you right now even if your father hadn’t said anything.”
“Sure, you would,” she huffs, and I glance to see the rise and fall of her chest. Her tits rise with each breath, bulging from the corset of her dress as her blonde hair hangs over one shoulder.
This close, I can indulge in her scent. It’s unlike anything I’ve experienced before. I can’t identify the sweet flower, maybe something like oleander, but there’s this exotic twist underlying it, and I’d swear it’s dark chocolate and cherries.
Whatever it is, it’s driving me crazy along with the rush of adrenaline still pumping through my veins. The thought that I could have lost her weighs heavy on my shoulders, and if I ever find out for sure that what happened was intentional, I will use my last breath to find who put her in danger and show them a taste of what hell has in store for them.
Seleme clears her throat as her hands run down the billowy red satin skirt of her dress, and my cock is thick and full imagining the treasure that lies beneath. As if she senses my lust, she flips her head and glares at me, and I do my best to keep my attention on the dark road that leads down our street.
“You’re not my kind,” she blurts out, and I frown and cock my eyebrows at her. “Type. Not my type. Just for the record if you have some idea otherwise.”
I shrug. “Good to know.” It doesn’t matter. She could be telling the truth or lying through her perfect white teeth, but in time she will realize I am her type, and she will be mine, one way or the other. I stop the car at the end of her driveway. “What’s the security code?”
Seleme shakes her head. “I’ll enter it. My father might trust you with my life, but I’m not sure I do.” She pulls the handle on her door, but I grab her arm.
“I’ll come around and open it for you. You’re not leaving my sight.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’ll be right there outside the car. What could possibly happen to me?”
“Not going to happen.”
“Fine. Just be quick, I want to get inside.”
I put the car in park, come to her side, and let her out. She whisks past me on a huff, punches some numbers into the keypad, then takes her seat back in the car with forced indifference as I close the door again and get behind the wheel.