Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 23747 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 119(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23747 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 119(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
He growls, but I place a hand on his shoulder, lowering my voice. “I’ll go inside,” I murmur.
“Please don’t.”
I reach up on tiptoe, and put my lips against his. The men think I’m his daughter, so that must seem pretty strange, but one thing I’ve come to realize: I don’t care. I’m happier right now than I’ve been in my life before, and nothing can possibly spoil it.
“There are going to be workers around,” Hudson says. “I’ll get them started, then I’ll come find you. You stay on this end of the house, not where there’s construction. Anywhere through that door is okay.” He points to the door to the hallway where he brought me into the kitchen. “There’s construction and demo going on, so I don’t want you near any of that. Or the workers.”
He gives me a hard stare and I swallow, nodding.
“Okay, Daddy.”
“That’s my girl.” He almost cracks a smile. He’s the most handsome man I’ve ever seen. “That pussy is going to learn how to take care of me today. Now, scoot, before I bend you over and take that cherry right here.”
When Hudson finds me again, a couple hours have gone by. I’ve been back to the bedroom, brushed my hair, put on a pair of his boxers and then explored a good portion of this amazing house but mostly, I’ve been day dreaming in an enormous, sprawling ballroom with a polished parquet floor, drooping chandeliers and marble busts that look like they could be genuinely Roman or Greek, but they have to be modern copies, right? As he walks in, I’m just testing the center of the dance floor, because it feels soft.
“It’s sprung,” he says as he stands and watches me. “It was made to the same design as one in the UK.”
“It’s amazing,” I say, stepping back off the dance floor, mesmerized by everything I’ve seen. There was a library with shelves so high there was a ladder to reach them. I glimpsed a swimming pool through a glass-walled corridor, and a games room with a full-size snooker table. The kitchen looks like something out of Downton Abbey. “This whole place is amazing.”
He pulls his lips to one side, considering. “It is, now that you’re in it.”
Hudson steps forward, taking my hands and leading me back onto the dance floor. I shake my head. “I can’t dance, remember?”
“Everyone can dance, babygirl.”
“Not me. I have two left toes, or whatever that saying is.”
“Left feet. And yours are absolutely perfect. Put them on mine.” He pulls me closer, guiding me to put my feet on top of his own, then he turns his face up to the ceiling. “Carlton, play a Slow Waltz.”
“Who’s Carlton?” I ask, just as a disembodied voice comes from all sides, making me jump.
“Certainly, sir. Playing a Slow Waltz.”
“You have a butler?”
Hudson laughs. “Sort of. Carlton is an AI assistant. Kind of a robot butler. Ask him anything, and he’ll do his best to make it happen.”
Music starts playing, and Hudson starts to dance with me stood on his feet. I feel like a little girl playing at grownups with her father. I lean my head on his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart, and I never want this to end.
“Carlton,” I say out loud, “is there somewhere we can get pizza delivered here?”
A moment passes before the disembodied voice is back. “Yes, ma’am. Village Pizzeria delivers to our address. Would you like me to place an order for you?”
Hudson quirks an eyebrow.
“What?” I shrug. “I’m hungry.”
“You know there’s a fully equipped kitchen right here? I could make you something.”
“I want pizza,” I tell him, slightly starting to sulk. “I’ll pay for it.”
His face is suddenly serious. “No, you fucking will not. Carlton?” He raises his voice. “Order one every specialty pizza on their menu.”
“Very good, sir.”
The music ramps back up and Hudson doesn’t break his stride, waltzing us both around the dance floor like he was one of those professionals on Dancing with the Stars.
He’s so calm and natural here. To me, I feel like this is a movie set or a ride at Disney or something.
I never really imagined being rich. It was enough for me to imagine not being poor. And honestly, I’ve never been greedy. But feeling so safe and secure, and like someone sees me as more than just the chubby girl with the brown hair for once is nice. Hudson treats me like I’m something special, like I’m beautiful and one of a kind. It’s a feeling I never want to end but there’s a niggling deep down that tells me this is all too good to be true.
“So, one of everything?” I purse my lips. “But what are you going to eat?”
He grins, and I laugh, then he glances down between us to where our bodies are connected, me still in his oversized t-shirt and nothing else. “I don’t need pizza,” he says. “I’ve got an appetite for something far better than pizza. And, just so you know, I’m ravenous.”