All For You, Daddy

7 - Grace.

I pull the belt tighter around the fluffy, cream-colored robe and creep down the seemingly endless hallway. There really is no reason to creep, but the ceilings are so high, the art on the walls looks so expensive and it's eerily quiet. I feel as though I'm in a library or a museum, so I try not to make a sound, my purpose made easier by the thick rugs arranged on the hallway floor.

Where am I going? I have no idea—and I might even be lost. After William left the pool room, I followed a few moments later and promptly lost my way in the labyrinth William calls home. Who needs this many rooms? Or bathrooms, for that matter? Every one is pristine and decorated expensively, just waiting for someone to arrive and enjoy. No one ever will, however, because the man who owns this house is so damaged on the inside, he can only drive people away.

When William unzipped his pants in front of me, I could see his intentions clear as day. God help me, knowing he was trying to scare me off only made me want him more. What is the matter with me? The man practically forced his hardened s*x in my mouth and I couldn't even be angry with him. Or outraged. All I wanted was to heal his pain. Maybe I'm the damaged one.

I almost scream when a figure appears in front of me at the end of the hallway. For a split second, I think it's William and hope leaps in my chest, but a light comes on and illuminates Pauline instead. Remembering that she witnessed William massaging my breasts from behind, my face burns. Pauline, however, appears just as before. Serene and indifferent.

"Miss Grace, I've been asked to make sure you eat dinner. Is there something specific you would like?" She gestures to the room to my left. "I can have it brought up to the library, if you prefer."

The housekeeper thinks I've intentionally ended up in front of the library, instead of ending up here by mistake in my lost wanderings—and I play along to avoid any more embarrassment. "Sure, that would be so nice. Thank you." I wet my lips, realizing I am, in fact, starving. "Anything you have handy is perfect."

"Oh now, give us a challenge, dear," Pauline says, giving me a warm smile. "The man of the house eats the same seven meals on rotation. The chef is bored to tears. What is the food you'd like most in the world?"

"Brownies," I blurt. "With whipped cream. Strawberries. A big glass of milk. Is that too much—"

Pauline cuts me off with a laugh. "It's perfect. Please make yourself comfortable in the library and I'll be back shortly."

"Thank you."

With no choice but to walk into the dark, scary room off the hallway, I push open the tall, creaking door and search the wall for a light switch. When the frosted globes glow to life on the ceiling, my mouth can only hang open. It's huge. Shelves and shelves of books run the length of the walls. Several are open on a desk in the corner. Others are stacked on tables. Big, fluffy couches are arranged beneath windows and tucked into corners. And all I can think about is how perfect a location this would be to write in my diary.

Night has fallen completely now, so I cast a long shadow on the floor of the library as I tiptoe toward the closest wall of books, hesitating only a moment before climbing the ladder attached to the ceiling. Catching my bottom lip between my teeth, I give in to the mischief and push off, sailing the ladder diagonally from one end of the library to another, my giggle echoing off the walls.

"Having fun?" William's deep velvet voice comes from the doorway and I gasp, almost falling a handful of feet off the ladder. When I turn around, he's halfway across the library floor, his hand extended, the color drained from his face. "Jesus Christ. Get down before you break your pretty neck."

"Yes, sir," I say automatically in response to his authoritarian tone. As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I want to kick myself, though.

I shouldn't be rushing to grant this man's wishes after what happened, right? I grew up with two older brothers and neighborhood bullies. I'm made of sterner stuff than most. Raising my chin, I pause in the act of climbing off the ladder.

"If you didn't creep up on me like a weirdo, I wouldn't have almost fallen," I snap over my shoulder. Then I toss my almost dry hair for good measure.

"I'm the weirdo?" He snorts. "You were the one tiptoeing through my house like Nancy Drew trying to solve a mystery."

Lord, will the humiliations ever end? "You were watching me?" I don't wait for him to answer that obvious question. "Maybe that's how a normal person walks around a big, dark, empty house—"

I break off mid-rant when his hands settle on my waist, plucking me off the ladder. A second later, my feet land softly on the ground, and I'm pulled back against William's chest, his breath ghosting over my hair. "You're right." Slowly, his arms wrap around me, as if testing how it feels. "This house is big, dark and empty. That much was never more obvious than when I heard you...laugh." His swallow is audible. "I didn't come in here to argue with you."