Wyatt (Lane Brothers #1) (2 page)

He stalks out before I can say a word and closes the door softly. The lock snaps shut, and I finally breathe past the lump in my throat.

Well…

I shower and dress in the jeans, T-shirt, and Converse shoes sitting on the toilet seat in record time. Not because I want to obey or avoid his anger, but because I feel grungy and the clothes make me feel safer.

Plus, well, I can’t escape naked and shoeless.

Wyatt

She’s so much more beautiful than I thought before and believe me, that shouldn’t be possible when I already believed she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on.

Ellie…God, to finally have her in my home and under my protection after months of watching her makes me feel so full of peace and joy that it had been all I could do not to grab her into my arms and just hold her close.

But she’s here now and I should just be grateful for that much and calm my ass down before I scare the poor woman more than she already is.

Though if my dick had a say…I’d probably already be buried deep in that pink gash between her legs, planting my seed where I want it.

Slow down, Wyatt, no sense teasing yourself when you just saw what that animal did to our girl. She needs slow, easy loving, and above all, you have to prove to her that she’s safe here with you before you make any move to get in that sweet piece.

It’s hard because while I am a stranger to my sweet Ellie, she is no stranger to me, not after that first time I saw her and got hooked.

For months now I’ve watched over her and witnessed her isolation. I saw her repeating her days, doing everything in such an orderly fashion, never veering from the familiar, and it breaks my heart because I know exactly what she’s been doing and it kills me.

My sweet Ellie is turning into a ghost, someone so invisible that before long, even she won’t see herself anymore. I understand it. God help me, I do.

Like I said, I know everything about her, including the fact that four years ago she was stalked, kidnapped, and held captive for three weeks while that sick fuck, Bolton Conrad, tortured her physically and mentally.

And now that I’ve seen the scars, all I want is to kill the fuck again before wrapping my girl up in my arms and keeping her safe and sheltered from every harm and hardship life tries to throw at her.

She didn’t deserve what happened to her, and she doesn’t deserve what she’s doing to herself now.

That’s why I decided to make my move so soon, despite the risk of being caught. I couldn’t stand to see her fading away so fast. I won’t let her disappear into that murky place inside herself when she deserves light, love, and happiness.

She’s a good person. Before any of this shit occurred, she was a straight-A student who studied accounting and lived at home because she adored her four-year-old brother and the mother and father who’d once jokingly told their friends that Ellie was a gift and the best big sister any boy could ask for.

My poor girl was so sweet and kind and carefree in those days, always letting her little bro tag along, and volunteering at a soup kitchen in her neighborhood in suburban Philly.

She had friends, too, which doesn’t surprise me because the girl is like a magnet. Once you get hooked, her sweetness just reels your ass in. I like that her life was so happy and that she knew absolute love before a car accident claimed her parents and her beloved Alan.

She’d almost died, herself, from a head injury, but my girl is a fighter and pulled through.

I can’t imagine what that must have been like for her and wish like hell I’d known her so I could have been there for her.

I think of my own ma and pop waiting on me to do what I have to and get my girl home where she belongs and I smile. They know what I’m doing, and after months of discussing it, even Ma said I can’t leave Ellie to her own devices for much longer. So here I am, trying to keep my lust and love contained and ease her into things when all I want really is to claim her and shove her kicking and screaming back into life.

Too fragile, Wyatt, she’s too fragile.

I can’t forget that she lost her family, spent months grieving, and then had to deal with the terror and pain that that piece of shit Bolton put her through.

I have to remember that she needs time.

Thinking of time, I realize that enough has passed that she is probably pacing, or worse—searching for a way out of the fortress that my uncle Garner is letting me use for this mission. I go back up and unlock the door.

The roundhouse she throws at me the minute I walk in is easily deflected, as is the kick to my nads and the teeth she tries to sink into my neck after her agile ass all but scales my six-five frame.

Goddamn, I knew she would be perfect.

After deflecting every well-placed hit and wrapping my arms around my five-three, blonde beauty, I calmly throw her ass over my shoulder in a fireman carry and quickly make my way downstairs as she hits, bites, and scratches at my back and ass with her claws.

“Put me down, you idiot!”

A hard smack to her plump ass settles her down nice and quick, and I feel my dick perk up at the way she immediately stills and goes lax in my arms.

I like my sex dirty, enjoy a sensual spanking every now and then, and envision many enjoyable evenings showing my baby what her body is capable of.

“You settle down and stop fighting and I’ll put you down. Try anything else and I’ll tie you to the chair and force-feed your ass. I told you, I don’t want you hurting yourself, and you will if you come at me again. I’m army trained, little girl. Nothing you throw at me is getting through.”

That shut her the hell up real quick, and I feel her tense as I let her down, regretting my words when stark fear shines back at me from those brown eyes.

I hate scaring her, but my baby needs to know me and understand what I’m capable of, so that she will eventually realize I am able to stand between her and any asshole who thinks to get at her ever again.

Although I don’t expect this will be a problem once I get her to fall for me and I take her home to the family. Once she’s under my roof, she won’t ever need to be alone or unprotected, not with me, Dad, Ma and my two ex-marine brothers having her back.

Which reminds me…I need to call those two fools and get an update on the little job I have them working. But not yet. My girl’s been passed out for almost twelve hours on that shit I gave her and she must be hungry. Food first.

“Come on, baby, come sit while I throw together some lunch.”

Her eyes are shooting sparks at me through the fear, but after a slight hesitation, she follows me to the counter, takes the barstool I’m holding out, and watches me like a hawk while I throw together a meal of steak, potatoes that I put in the oven earlier, and a protein shake that I’ll shove down her throat if she tries to ignore it.

“I don’t eat this.”

So defiant. I’m going to enjoy bringing her to heel.

I know she doesn’t eat this kind of food. I’ve seen the discount shit she eats and I won’t have it. Chicken is fine, but the woman eats it boiled, no seasoning, and way too often for my liking.

              “You eat what I give you. And drink your shake.”

You would swear she wasn’t in a hostage situation, or that the fear she’s still carrying around like a shroud isn’t there, because my barked order had the opposite effect of what I expected.

“It’s all fried and has enough butter and salt on it to kill a full-grown man. As for that slop you poured in the glass…hell no. I don’t like spinach. Or raw eggs.”

“Too bad. Eat your food so your ass can stop shrinking. Please.”

I get a huff and another killing glare before she cuts into the steak delicately and takes her first bite. She likes it if that moan she couldn’t curb is true, and Goddamn if her eyes didn’t just roll back in her head when she took a bite of the baked potato.

Good, she likes it. Since I know how to cook, thanks to my tyrannical mother, I won’t have a problem getting my baby back to her normal size ten.

I like my girls curvy and padded enough to take all I have to give. Being a big guy in every department I can’t go around screwing women who look like twigs and will likely break apart under me after one hard thrust.

She eats everything on her plate and even manages to get the shake down with only one or two gags before sitting back and studying me beneath her lashes. The food and quietness have mellowed her enough that she’s not a stiff board anymore and is obviously ready to talk.

I’m not telling her everything, not till she’s fully mine and incapable of leaving me, but I will give her enough to at least relax enough to give us a try.

“Why?”

That’s all she says after minutes of staring at me with dead eyes. I hate that look she gets, as if she’s closed off a big part of herself to survive.

“I’ll answer that question when you tell me what is wrong with you, baby.”

Eyes narrowed, she grinds her teeth and sucks at them in loathing.

“I am not your baby and there is nothing wrong with me. Now answer the question.”

“You are, and there is since I’ve seen you make yourself almost invisible for months now. Tell me, do you pee on a time schedule, too, or do you let your body tell you when to go?”

I’m being cruel, but at this point, I’ll take anger over that dullness she’s trying so valiantly to recapture. Ellie is good at that, and while I understand her need to protect herself, I won’t let her do it with me.

“No answer? Well, then, let me tell you, I’m sick of watching you all but kill yourself with these bullshit defence mechanisms you’ve put in place. You do everything at the right time, in the right way, and never veer off schedule. I know why, baby. It’s easier to barely exist when you never change and your routine gives you a sense of false security, but that shit ends now.”

It will because from now on, not one single day in her life will be the same. I plan to spoil her and surprise her every day, whether it’s something big or small, I don’t care.

I already bought her two cars and one of those expensive laptops every woman needs, along with a new phone, tablet, and one of those reader things that chicks dig so much.

And Ma, after I gave her measurements, has got my girl’s closet stocked to the gills.

I can afford it all since I own two of the world’s leading investment firms and still have my fingers in the family business, though Pop runs that shit, mostly from the safety of his home office so he can keep close to his woman.

“You know nothing about me.”

But I do. Not nearly all I want to know, but everything that I need to for the moment.

“No? That’s where you’re wrong, baby. For instance, I know that you broke your arm, ankle, and almost died from a brain injury in the accident that took your family. I know that you cried but also put together a party to honor them and spent half that day drunk off your ass. And then there’s you going back to school and getting straight A’s even when you didn’t want to get out of bed.

“I know all that, and that three months after
that
, you were stalked by a sick maniac who eventually nabbed you and kept you for a plaything for three weeks. I know it all from police reports and anything else I could find. And now, after months of watching you, I know that you’re trying to disappear, even from yourself. So tell me what else I don’t know and then maybe I’ll let you have a chance to bargain with me.”

That’s a lie and I feel like an ass just saying it, because I will never let her get away from me. But it has the desired effect and she smirks, letting her eyes take on a light that I haven’t seen in them except for when she’s angry.

“I don’t have to bargain for squat, mister. You’re committing a crime by keeping me here against my will, and make no mistake, this
is
against my will. You don’t want any trouble from me. You let me go and we’ll all stay alive. You so much as try anything with me and I will fight you to the death.”

Damn, looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you, Wyatt.
But what else could I possibly expect? If anything, I’m proud of my baby for being so strong and not folding even though this may be just as scary as the last situation she was in.

It means she’s smart enough not to just eat one good meal and be reassured and at ease. And that if any other swinging dick comes near her for any reason, she’ll put him down if I’m not close enough to do it.

Damn, I find her sexy as hell right now, knowing she’s terrified but still gutsy enough to put me in my place.

Unfortunately for her, I know my place already—in her heart and between her thighs. She’ll learn.

I know I am a total bastard for this approach, but it’s not like I hadn’t tried the easy approach first. Hell no, I’d been a gentleman about things and tried to ask her out like a normal human being that one morning I’d walked into Susie’s, but she’d totally ignored me, kept her head down, and then eventually told me to screw off.

After that one failed attempt, I wasn’t about to try coming at her from the front again. This was my only choice and one that has worked out a hell of a lot better than spending months trying to get close to her.

“Look I know you’re within your rights to be afraid and more than a little pissed right now, and I can’t blame you one bit, but I am not the bad guy. As for not bargaining...” I shrug and take note of her nostrils flaring and the slight tremble running through her. “You had your chance and you just threw it away. So listen up. You’re here. You’re mine. You are not leaving me,
ever
, and if you harm yourself trying to, it won’t make me very happy. You’re safety is my job and I take it seriously.”