Chapter 103
Charles stared directly at me, pretty much ignoring the bodyguards. “You were one of the few girls at school that I wasn’t positive about. It’s one thing when you’re popular and in the middle of everybody’s attention to ask a girl out and know for sure that she’s going to say yes. But I didn’t think I could swallow the teasing that my friends would have given me if I asked someone…”
“Someone scentless and without a family like me,” I supplied.
Charles nodded sheepishly. “Yes. If I asked someone like you out and you’d said no, my friends would never have let me live it down. The teasing would have been merciless, seeing as how I’m an alpha and everything. There were only a couple of girls at school who were so popular that I might not have had a chance with them. But you…”
He shrugged and said, “I couldn’t have been sure that you would have said yes, and so I couldn’t take the risk. Even back then, you never caved into peer pressure.”
Shot me an apologetic gaze. “I’m sorry for that now. What can I say? Teenagers are stupid. We grow up, and we learn that the opinion of our friends isn’t the most important thing in life.”
He reached over and squeezed my hand. “Thank goodness I got a second chance.”
I nodded and squeezed his hand back. “I think I can understand. I’ve done a lot of growing up myself, and somewhere in there, I found my voice.”
Charles laughed again. “That you did. And you’re not afraid to use it on anyone who gets in your way.”
David stood and took all of the empty dishes back to the kitchen and started washing them. Theo grabbed the containers that still had food in them, sealing them up to put in the refrigerator.
“Do you guys do leftovers?” he asked. “Because if you’re not gonna eat it, David and I will.”
“It’s yours,” Charles said. “But in return, you have to make sure that there’s something edible here for breakfast for us.”
Theo grinned at him. “Then, I think I have just the thing. We may not have stocked the kitchen with everything you usually eat. But I did make sure that there was enough in there for me to make my famous Mediterranean omelets for breakfast.”
“What’s in a Mediterranean omelet?” I asked.
Theo licked his lips. “Olives, onions, feta, herbs.”
“Sounds delicious,” I agreed.
“Do you cook?” he asked.
“Passably,” I replied. “I’m not the world’s best chef, but I can hold my own in the kitchen.”
“Well. I don’t cook,” Charles said. “At least not without my mother’s instructions. She was always a tyrant in the kitchen. We only did as she asked and never altered from it, but I was never left alone in the kitchen. So, the entire process is never stuck. Maybe because she never had my sister and I do an entire dish from start to finish.”
He gleamed a grin. “It’s one of the luxuries of being the head of a media corporation. I get to order all my meals in. Or have somebody else come and make them for me.”
“Must be nice,” David said from the kitchen in a voice without malice.
“Well,” Theo started in again, “tomorrow morning, I’ll cook for you. I’ll make the omelets but don’t get used to it. I am supposed to guard you, not feed you. I mean, keeping you alive is my job. But that doesn’t include feeding you. I think you’re capable of handling that on your own.”
Charles patted his tummy. “I seem to have done all right with that for the last… Well, I’m not saying how many years. You two make me feel old. But I’ve done fine up to this point.”
David shut the refrigerator door and joined us back in the dining room section of the main living area. He pointed to a door just behind the table. “If it doesn’t bother you, I’m headed to bed. I’m just right through there if you need anything.”
When Charles nodded, he retreated. And a few minutes later, Theo joined him.
Suddenly, we were all alone in our apartment. There was nobody standing in the kitchen glaring at us. Nobody was waiting right outside our door.
Charles looked at me, and I looked at him. “What do you suppose we do with all this freedom?” he asked.
“This feels odd,” I agreed.
Charles scanned the walls and then the ceiling and then, in a low voice said, “Should we should we try leaving?”
“Do you really want to do that to them? Where would we go anyway?”
He shrugged. “I wonder if there are any nightclubs that play live music. I haven’t been to a concert in forever.” He stared directly at the door, waiting.
“What are you waiting for?” I asked.
“To see if they come try and stop us,” he whispered. “I just want to know if they’re listening.”
He got up, found his jacket, and put it on, then walked to the front door. Charles paused, waving for me to do the same. I did and joined him at the entry. Yet the door to the bodyguard’s rooms still didn’t open.
“Interesting,” Charles said, scratching his head.
He put his jacket on and opened the door, stepping into the hallway but not walking away. A moment later, David’s head poked through the door between their small apartment and ours.
“Did one of you need to go somewhere?” he asked.
Charles stepped back into the apartment, shaking his head. “I thought I heard something in the hall,” he lied. “I was just curious. There’s nothing. The noise must have been a delivery to one of the other apartments.”
Charles made a show of locking the door, and David disappeared behind the door to their apartment.
In three swift strides, Charles crossed the room and caught me up in his arms, dipping me backward and kissing my neck while I laughed.
He took the opportunity to whisper in my ear. “I want to do one other test to see how free we are inside our own apartment.” With a swirl, he stood me back up, and then, with skills I didn’t know he possessed, he undid the buttons and zippers on my outfit, dropping my clothing to the floor.
I gasped and tried to squirm away half-heartedly. “What are you doing? Aren’t you tired?” I asked. “It’s been a really long day, and we had sex this morning and on the plane.”
“As if I could ever get enough of you,” Charles said, kissing my neck.
He pulled me across the room and bent me over the dining table where we’d just been eating. The polished wood was cold against my bare stomach. And even my bra offered little protection to my breasts. In response to the cold, my nipples hardened.
Charles stood behind me, rubbing my backside. If we were going to use the furniture for this, how would I look Theo or David in the eye while eating breakfast here in the morning?
Charles moved from behind me, working his way around the table. “Stay there,” he ordered softly. “No matter what, don’t move.”
I was completely confused and then extremely embarrassed when he pounded on the door between our apartment and our guards’ space.
Theo opened the door wide and said, “What—”
His words cut off mid-sentence, and he turned so red he was almost purple. Theo quickly ducked back behind the door.
“Oh my gosh! I am so sorry. I thought you were knocking, not, um…doing other things. I didn’t mean to interrupt. You have my apologies.”
The door snapped shut, and Charles laughed, coming back to me.
I stood with my hands on my hips. “You let him see me in my bra and panties,” I complained.
He shook his head, laughter still raising his lips. “Theo couldn’t see anything too embarrassing since you were bent over the table. Your breasts were pressed to the wood, so he couldn’t see them. Which means the only thing he could see was your backside covered in your panties.”
I scowled deeper.
“But you were facing away from him,” Charles continued. “So he couldn’t see between your legs either. It wasn’t the best position for you to be in. But it also wasn’t completely compromising.”
Charles crossed his arms, a serious look on his face. “I’m sorry it wasn’t comfortable for you, but at least I got my answer.”
“What answer did you get?” I protested, leaving the table behind and throwing my shirt back on so that at least I was covered by something.
Charles glanced at the still-closed door. “That was not the reaction of a guard who was watching what was going on inside our apartment. If he’d been listening in or spying on us via cameras, he wouldn’t have opened the door all the way. And even if he had, he wouldn’t have been so embarrassed by what he saw.” Charles’ grin grew wicked. “You can’t fake that kid’s blush.”
“Humph,” I grumped. “Well, thanks for warning me ahead of time.”
