Page 22 of Keeping Katie
Leaning down until his face is only a few inches from mine, he looks me directly in the eye. “Are you? Because you might be of legal age, but when I look at you, I see a sweet innocent girl who needs someone to take care of her.”
I tremble. My nipples ache. My core clenches. His words are intimate. Special. And so damn true, it’s terrifying.
“I’m an adult,” I reply breathily.
He tilts his head to the side, keeping his gaze on me. “Uh-huh. You’re still not driving home.”
With a huff, I cross my arms over my chest. “Fine. I’ll order a car service.”
“Nope. Not happening. If you try to get into a stranger’s car, the consequences will be dire.”
My mouth falls open as I stare up at him. “You can’t threaten to spank me!”
I take a small step back, suddenly nervous. I’ve never been spanked before.
Grady takes a step toward me, clearly enjoying this game of intimidation. “I didn’t threaten to spank you.”
“You implied it, like you did with the other girls.”
He shrugs and then shakes his head. “No, I didn’t. I was referring to the driver of the car service. Inviting a stranger onto mafia property with a bunch of overprotective gangsters? Do you think that’s a wise choice, baby? Do you want their blood on your hands?”
What. The. Fuck? He wouldn’t do that. Right? Shit. I’m so out of my depth here. I need to get Chloe alone and ask her more questions. Like, do they actually torture and kill people? Or is it nothing like it is in the books? Yeah, unlikely. I may not know Grady well, but all it takes is one look to know he’s done some bad stuff. He’s dangerous and deadly, and it would be smart not to push him.
“I didn’t think so. If you want to go home so badly, I’ll drive you, though I’d prefer you to stay here,” he adds.
The look on my face must be enough of an answer because he sighs. “Okay, Little one. Go get your shoes on, and I’ll take you home.”
My shoulders relax, and I shoot him a soft, grateful smile before I head back to the theater room for my stuff. With each step I take, the wetness between my legs grows. I try to ignore it so I don’t have to think about what it means. Like why I love how he just dominated the hell out of me and called me baby. Yep, definitely ignoring that.
7
GRADY
Adisgruntled feeling settles over me as I drive her home. I don’t want to take her there. Why is it so important for her to go to her place anyway? The estate is much more comfortable.
“I’ll come pick up my car in the daylight.”
Slowly, I turn to look at her, my eyebrows raised. “And how do you plan to get up here, Little one? Because I think we already talked about you taking a car service.”
I’ve always been protective of the girls in our family, but with Katie, it’s like it goes into overdrive. I want to wrap her in a bubble.Mybubble. That way, I can keep her safe forever.
“I can have a friend bring me,” she answers cautiously.
The muscles at the back of my neck tense. A friend. Let her show up with a male friend. He’ll disappear so fucking quickly. The only reason her friend Tom isn’t already on my hit list is because I’m assuming he’s much older if her parents were friends with him.
“I’ll bring your car to you. What time do you go to work?”
“I’m working noon to close today.”
The streets are wet, but the temperature has come up, so it’s not frozen. It’s almost as if it never snowed. Typical for Seattle. We rarely get anything that sticks around. Cali is going to be so disappointed when she wakes up.
“I’ll bring your car at eleven.”
That will give me time to get a new set of tires for her and have a mechanic check it out. If I thought she wouldn’t protest, I’d bring her a whole new car, but I don’t think we’re there yet. At least, she’s not.
“Thank you, Grady. Sorry you’re stuck doing all of this.” She motions to me driving.
I reach out, and her eyes trail to my hand as I run the back of my index finger over her cheek. “I’m not stuck doing anything, princess. I do what I want.”