Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 141255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 706(@200wpm)___ 565(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 706(@200wpm)___ 565(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
I was freaked out.
“It’s okay,” he reassured. “I told you I’ve got you.”
I held tighter and then wrapped my legs around his waist and his words vibrated in every cell. He was holding me up, my only safety from drowning. He was my Master, my savior. I wanted to faint. He became erect against me and suddenly I wanted him inside me with a fervor I hadn’t felt about a man, ever.
I tightened my legs around him, leaned in, closed my eyes, and parted my lips, wanting him to kiss me. Nothing happened.
I opened my eyes. He was staring with an angry look on his face. I pulled in a breath and held it.
“We should head back,” he said and I saw muscles flexing in his jaw.
“Do we have to?” I breathed before thinking. This wasn’t like me. Wasn’t like me to ask and wasn’t at all like me to want to be in the water. But in the water, he was close to me, I was touching him. He had me.
His expression softened. He kept treading and I just held on. “Spin around,” he said and shifted me so I was on his back now. “Hold your breath.”
He swam underwater for a little while with me on his back. I opened my eyes and it was breathtakingly beautiful, so beautiful that I forgot to keep holding my breath and then took in a mouthful of water. I gripped him tighter and started to struggle so he swam upwards until we broke. I was gasping and sputtering. He moved us back to where we could stand and put me on my feet.
“You okay?” His eyes had so much depth, so much concern. Water dripped from his hair, his face, and it struck hard that he was the most attractive man I’d ever seen. And had been kinder to me than anyone since I’d been in Thailand. And I was his. I said a silent prayer that he wouldn’t change his mind and leave without me.
I recovered, pushing away the memories of the last time seawater was forced down my throat and nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay.” And strangely, I wasn’t lying.
We hung out in the water for a bit, me swimming and her sitting down in the shallow water just watching me. Then back in the room I got a shower. Then she took one. We had to get ready for the dinner I’d been asked to attend.
I just had to get through tonight and then tomorrow morning we’d be outta here. They’d have her passport ready and then after the eighteen hour flight we’d be back on home soil. I’d get her to my place and then I’d tell her that it’d all been a ruse. And then I’d figure out how to keep her safe, keep us all safe, while giving her back her freedom.
Somehow Tommy and I would work to figure out how to gracefully exit this business. At first, I’d thought maybe we could buy everyone out to eliminate the threat and then shut it down so we could deal that way and put all Pop’s ill-gotten money to good use.
When Stan had revealed that there was more off-shore money aside for us, it meant that me and all my siblings were extremely wealthy, filthy rich. We were already quite wealthy with Pop’s estate back home but the off-shore money? There was a lot of it.
But, when I found out today what the revenue levels for this place were, and when I found out some of the names involved, I knew that was not an option for us. Not even close. No one would sell this cash cow for any price and even if we’d miraculously been able to pull enough cash together the members would certainly balk at it being dismantled.
But I’d have to find some way to deal, do all this while also finishing the clean-up of the rest of the business so I could sell it all off and move the fuck on with my life. An ugly mess.
When she came out of the bathroom in a short yellow silk robe, she asked me if she could speak and then asked what she should wear for the dinner. I hesitantly reached into the box that Gan Chen had given me that morning when he talked about the dinner.
“Did you bring a collar for your Felicia or should I have one provided?” he had asked.
“I’ll need to borrow one for while we’re here,” I’d told him. Every slave I’d seen so far at the resort wore one.
The royal blue velvet box contained a choker necklace that was bejeweled with three strings of square-cut blue sapphires. It was dainty rather than ostentatious and it looked more like a choker necklace than a dog collar but the intention was obviously still there. The three strands of jewels came to a rectangular platinum clasp at the back and at the front they came to a circle. Dangling from the platinum circle was a heart shaped platinum dangling cutout pendant. Beside it was a matching lapel pin and cufflinks for me in blue sapphires.