Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 178(@200wpm)___ 143(@250wpm)___ 119(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 178(@200wpm)___ 143(@250wpm)___ 119(@300wpm)
“It’s no trouble.”
“I think Caleb is staying for dinner.”
“Right, okay.” Anne handed her a dress. “Will you be downstairs to join him?”
“Yes.” Other than the few sandwiches they’d shared, this would be the first time that she had dinner with him.
She watched Anne go, and finished putting her clothes away. They were all so beautiful. She’d never had any fine things before.
Once everything was done, she sat down on the edge of her bed and simply stared into space. There was nothing else she could do.
Could she sit across from Caleb or by his side, and have dinner? It seemed almost too much for her to even consider. She didn’t know why she was worried.
Pressing her thighs together, she knew why she was worried.
No one had ever gotten such a response from her. She wanted him, there was no denying that.
At eighteen years old she wasn’t a fool about her needs.
Other than that one guy, she’d never had sex with anyone else, and even that one time, it had been awful. It had hurt, and it had been over within a matter of seconds.
She really didn’t see the appeal with younger guys.
“You’re not going to sit here thinking about Caleb, or what it means to be with him, or anything else.”
Shaking her head, she finally stood up and left her bedroom. She didn’t want to chicken out. The thought of having another meal by herself filled her with a loneliness she didn’t want to feel.
Caleb had never hurt her, and even though he owned her, she felt safer with him than she ever had with her own father.
Making her way into the kitchen, she asked Anne how she could help. She didn’t like to be useless, and sitting around waiting for something to happen was driving her insane.
She hated it.
She wasn’t leaving this house alive.
Nor was she going back to her father, so she really needed to make this work, or she would end up dead.
Chapter Three
Caleb sat in the dining room, waiting for Faith to arrive. He couldn’t look away from the door, and he was curious as to what she would wear. Not for the first time in the past few weeks did he wonder about her.
His thoughts when it came to this girl were starting to drive him crazy. Not only that, he’d seen Beast and Hope’s relationship flourish. Faith wasn’t like other women he’d met. She didn’t throw herself at him, even though he’d seen the interest in her eyes.
She wasn’t a virgin, but from what he’d learned from her own lips, she may as well have been. The guy didn’t know what he was doing, and she’d only done it out of fear her father would make her do something later on.
Rubbing at his temple, he sat back in his chair and wondered what the fuck he was doing. He was a grown-ass man, and shouldn’t be sitting with an eighteen-year-old girl at dinner. There were plenty of women out there. Women who would suck him off and not blink if he walked away without touching them.
There were women whose fathers were still alive, and hadn’t been killed by his own hands.
Even as he thought all of this, there wasn’t any place he’d rather be than at home with her. Then of course, Faith rounded the corner and stood in the doorway of the dining room, and there was no chance he was leaving.
The clothes Anne had bought for her fit perfectly, and now he was able to look at her without thinking of a sack of potatoes.
“Anne said you hated shopping.”
“It’s really not my thing.” She stepped into the room, hesitant at first. He expected her to sit far away from him, but she didn’t. She took the seat right next to him. “Did you have a good day?”
“Yes.”
He expected more of an interrogation, but in fact, he got nothing. Anne brought their food out, and he didn’t understand the smile on her lips. It was just food, and yet she looked mightily smug about something. “Enjoy your meal.”
“You’re not going to join us?” Faith asked.
“No. I already ate. But you two enjoy.”
Caleb didn’t like the look on his cook’s face. Anne was up to something, and he didn’t get it.
Picking up his knife and fork, he glanced over at Faith to see her doing the same. Together, they began to eat, and he didn’t like the awkward silence.
“Can I ask you a question?” Faith said, speaking up first.
“Sure.”
“I was wondering … if I might be able to buy some books? There are a lot of e-books out there that I’d really like to read, and well, I don’t have an account or anything.”
“I will get you an e-reader, and we can set you up an account then.”
“Thank you.”
They ate once again in silence. He couldn’t take it anymore.