Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 48412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 242(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 242(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
And shit, I’m nervous.
I’m actually nervous about giving something to a girl. Have I ever been anything but calm and controlled around the opposite sex before? Nope. Can’t remember a single time.
Just with Vida.
God, I’m obsessed with her.
If I don’t taste her mouth in the next hour, I swear my heart is going to stop beating.
I take the elevator down to the gym, praying I’ll run into her there. I should get a copy of her schedule. I could easily do it with one phone call. I could do a lot of shit with one phone call, like get her a promotion to a cushy office position. Transfer a few million into her bank account. Free her from an endless cycle of work in a place where she said she feels powerless. I could hand her the power.
How long will I be able to hold myself back from doing that?
I round the corner into the gym, and I don’t see Vida. Backtracking, I stride into the pool area—
And I see something that turns my blood to ice.
Vida is walking past an older man with a stack of towels in her arms. He’s maybe in his early forties. As she passes, he reaches out and grabs the hem of her uniform skirt, yanking her to a halt. “How about that swimming lesson today, baby? A private one, just for me.”
Anger almost blacks me out.
Invisible hands throttle the breath from my throat.
She attempts to get away, but he hauls her back, causing her to stumble.
“Hey,” I bark, striding forward, my voice echoing in the enclosed pool. “Get your fucking hands off her. Immediately.”
Vida sobs through a breath. Her relief to see me is stark. “Tripp.”
“I’m here.”
I hold out my arms open, and she comes running to me, tucking herself against my side and burying her face in my neck, whispering, “I’m okay. I’m okay.”
“None of this is okay.” I point a finger at the man, wondering how I haven’t burst into flames by now, my ire burns so hot. “You don’t put your hands on her. Or anyone else who works here. What is your name, motherfucker, so I can have you barred from this resort for life?”
He looks nervous to have been caught harassing a girl half his age, but you would never know it from his belligerent snort.
“You think you have the power to do that? Who do you think you are?”
“Tripp Sterling. Who the fuck are you?”
Every ounce of color drains from his face. “Sterling?”
“I didn’t stutter.”
He stumbles to his feet, backing away with his palms up. “I…I thought she was just a maid. I didn’t realize she was yours.”
Vida, appropriately, makes a sound of disgust.
Just a maid? Yours?
Yes, she is explicitly mine.
I don’t make her feel like property, though, do I? Not like this entitled asshole.
In the last twenty-four hours, I realized a lot about my life and how easy money has made things for me. But that truth has never been more obvious than it is right now.
“Go get your shit and check out of the resort now. Don’t ever come back here.”
“Whatever you want. Whatever you say.”
I wrap both my arms around Vida and watch the man scurry out of the pool area, past more than a few men who just sat there and did nothing while Vida was being harassed. I’m going to find out their names, too, and ruin their fucking lives, top to bottom. Swear to God.
In fact, I’m going to do more.
Something impactful.
This can’t happen again. Not to Vida or the other women she works with.
Not on my watch.
“Come with me,” I say, keeping her tucked into my side.
There’s a small alcove in the corner of the pool enclosure, and I guide her in that direction, walking until we’re out of sight from the rest of the guests. I set down the rolled-up illustration on a counter and lift Vida into my arms without delay because I think I need to hold her as badly as she requires holding. Her legs slip around my waist, her face tucking into my neck, as natural as breathing.
My arms cradle her tightly to my chest, and I rock her side to side.
Kiss her hair.
“I’m sorry, angel,” I murmur against her ear, my heart flipping over when she nuzzles closer. Quit this job, I want to say. Quit. I’ll make sure you never have to work again. It’s a struggle not to make these demands out loud, but I bite my tongue. She’d never go for it. “I’m sorry that happened to you. I’m going to make sure nothing like that ever happens again.”
She lifts her head and looks at me, attempting a smile. “How are you going to do that?”
God, she is the most beautiful thing in the universe. A product of heaven, hiding in plain sight right here in Massachusetts. “I have some ideas.”