Sweet Possession (Carson-Fox Resorts #2)

Chapter 5

Fox

“ F uck,”I grumbled as the pancake I was attempting to cook burned.This was the third batch, and so far, every one had gone wrong.

Why the fuck had I told Sav and Nash that I’d be able to cope on myown and they didn’t need to come over? It hadn’t occurred to me that Cora would need breakfast.

I didn’t know if she’d eaten the dinner Sav took up to her last night,and it was taking everything in me to not barge into her room to check her tray was empty. But I promised her I’d give her time, and damn it, I was going to stick to my word.

“What the hell am I doing wrong?”I said, flicking over the page of therecipe book, hoping there was an answer to all my problems somewhere, only to find the start of a different recipe.

I slammed it closed, more than happy to shove the book back in thecupboard where it’d lived since I first moved in, and let it collect more dust. I didn’t even know why I had it; I wasn’t a fucking cook.

“I think you have the heat too high,”a timid voice said, shocking theabsolute shit out of me.

My head whipped up to find Cora standing awkwardly in the doorwaywearing my t-shirt and joggers,her hands fidgeting nervously. She’d tied a knot in the side of the shirt and rolled the waistband of the joggers over several times revealing a flash of olive skin at her waist, but the clothes still drowned her petite frame.

Christ, she looked good in my clothes.

Really fucking good.

But why was she wearing them? Did she not like the clothes Savbrought her?

“I’m too impatient to cook on a low heat,”I said, trying my hardest toact casual, and not make a big deal out of the fact that not only had she willingly emerged from her room, but she’d also spoken to me for the first time.

And fuck, was I instantly addicted to her sweet voice. I wanted to hearit again.

I wanted to hear it until the day I died.

“You must eat a lot of burned food then,”she replied, giving me a coysmile and making my heart start galloping like a damn racehorse.

“You can probably tell I don’t do a whole heap of cooking, I tend tolive on takeaways,”I said, throwing the remnants of the burned pancake into the trash.

“I can do it,”she said meekly, taking a tentative step into the kitchen.“If you want, that is,”she added, unsure of herself .

“You don’t have to do that,”I replied quickly, wanting her to knowshe wasn’t here to be my servant in any way.

“I don’t mind. I actually enjoy cooking.”

She enjoyed cooking. I stored that little nugget of information away,grateful she’d offered something about herself.

“Be my guest then,”I said as I rinsed the pan and put it back on thestove before stepping to the other side of the island to give her space. But I couldn’t take my eyes from her as she crossed the room, needing to be sure she wasn’t a figment of my imagination.

Reaching the island where the bowl of batter sat, she picked thespoon up and let out a little giggle.

“Erm, this is way too runny,”Cora said, trying to keep the amusementoff her face.

“Been here less than two days, and you’re already busting my balls.”Igrinned at her to let her know I was messing, and to my relief, she giggled again.

Fuck knows what Sav said to her when she went to Cora’s roomyesterday, but it seemed to have worked wonders.

“I can’t use this.”She wrinkled her button nose in disgust asthe batter dripped from the spoon back into the bowl.“Have you got some more ingredients?”

“Sure.”

As I gathered all the ingredients for the fourth time, Cora washed outthe bowl, and the two of us fell into a comfortable silence. I peeked at her from the corner of my eye as she dried the bowl, noticing how her body wasn’t as tense.

For the first time since I first brought Cora home, hope bloomed in mychest. Now, I just had to prove to her that she could trust me .

Quietly, Cora began to pour flour and eggs into the bowl as I took myseat again at the island. Her brows furrowed in concentration as she added ingredients without the need for the cookbook telling her what to do. I watched her work, doing my damned hardest to ignore my cocktwitching every time the hint of her olive skin peeked out from where the t-shirt was tied at her waist.

Fuck sake, I was a thirty-two-year-old man who’d fucked a lot ofwomen, not a fifteen-year-old about to lose his virginity for the first time. The hint of her skin should not have been making my cock want to turn to steel.

Surely, I had more control than that?

Apparently not.

“I can get you some new clothes if you don’t like the ones Savbrought you yesterday?”

I wasn’t in any rush for her to change out of my clothes. In fact, I wastempted to throw away everything Sav had given her, and insist she wore only my clothes, but I knew she couldn’t spend the rest of her days swamped in t-shirts and joggers.

“Oh, it’s not that I didn’t like them,”she said, a hint of red blooming onher cheeks as she furiously mixed the batter.“They were really nice. It’s just…your clothes are comfy.”The blush grew deeper and she refused to meet my eye until she suddenly stopped stirring. Her head whipped up, panic written on her face.“I can change out of them though if you want them back.”

I gave her a reassuring smile.“It’s fine, Cora. If you’re comfortable inthem, then it’s no problem. Keep them.”

She stared at me for a few seconds, indecision marred on her face. Itwas the same look she’d given me when I’d offered her my jacket as if she couldn’t believe someone was offering her any form of kindness.

Freddy really was a fucking piece of shit .

Cora finally nodded her head once before turning her attention backto the batter. She continued to stir it, but as she did, the tension began to creep back into her body, and it wasn’t long until her shoulders were hunched.

“Do you need anything for your room?”I asked, wanting to calm heragain, but at the same time I spoke, she asked a question of her own.

“Why did you buy me?”

I’d been expecting the question. Sav warned me that Cora had beencurious about why I’d bought her. I’d spent all night thinking over what my answer should be, eventually settling for the truth.

I had no intention of lying to Cora. If I was going to earn her trust,then I was going to be nothing but honest, and that included how I felt about her. Getting to my feet, I slowly rounded the island to be nearer to her.

“Before I answer that, Cora, you need to know I’ll never lie toyou. I’ll never be anything but honest with you. So if there is something you might not want to know the answer to, then don’t ask me.”

Her eyes widened at my candor before she dropped the spoon in thebowl, stepping away from her task to stand only a foot away from me.“I want to know,”she said, her voice wavering with a hint of uncertainty.

“I was with an acquaintance when your dad was dragged in.Apparently, he owed a lot of money,”I started, but she interrupted.

“Was it Arnold Diaz, by any chance?”She took another step, closingthe distance between us, her eyes shining with determination.

My brows rose in surprise.“Yeah. How did you know that?”

“A few weeks ago, a man came to the house and threatened to breakmy dad’s legs if he didn’t pay Arnold Diaz his money back. My dad was unbearable after that, really short-tempered, and saying he was going to have to resort to drastic measures. I guess we know what those measures were.”

Her shoulders slumped, and her eyes dropped to her feet. I wanted topull her into my arms to let her know that she never needed to worry about her dad doing anything to hurt her again, but I resisted. We were making progress, and I didn’t want to undo it all.

“It didn’t stop him from hitting the casinos every night though. Ishould have known my dad would never have prioritized me over his gambling habits.”

The anguish in her voice was evident. When my need to console herbecame too much to bear, I reached out, placing the tip of my finger under her chin. Gently, I lifted her head, thanking my fucking lucky stars she didn’t flinch at my touch like she had when I undid the buckle of her shoe.

That seed of hope rooted deeper into my chest.

“I’m sorry your dad did that to you, baby girl,”I said softly. Her eyeswere filled with unshed tears, and never in my life had I wanted to wipe a person’s existence off the map than what I did then. Freddy didn’t deserve to live another day, and he certainly didn’t deserve to hold the title of Cora’s father.“I can’t change the past, and I can’t undo the pain he has caused you, but I promise you, Cora, I will do everything in my power to make sure you never have to see that man again, if that’s what you want.”

The first tear slid down her cheek, her beautiful brown eyes filled withsorrow.“I don’t understand why though, Mr. Fox. Why did you pick me?”

I smiled, finding it cute that she’d addressed me as Mr. Fox.“First ofall, it’s just Fox.” But one day, I want you to call me Daddy. Of course, I didn’t say that part out loud, I didn’t want to scare her.“Secondly, I didn’t pick you. When I woke up that morning, I never would have believed that my day was going to end with me doing everything in my power to stop that damn auction. ”

I moved my hand from her chin to her cheek where I brushed the tearaway with my thumb.

She still didn’t flinch.

“But when your father showed a picture of you, it was like I was hitby a bolt of lightning, and I just…”I trailed off as I tried to explain feelings even I didn’t understand. But with Cora staring at me like she was hanging on to my every word, I carried on.“Christ, I didn’t even know you, but I felt something for you. I wanted to protect you, needed to get you out of there, and keep you safe.”

I took my hand away from her cheek, and for a few seconds, neitherof us moved. We barely breathed as we stared at each other, the air around us charged with unspent electricity.

“How much did you pay for me?”Cora whispered.

Sighing, I scrubbed a hand down my face.“I don’t want you to look atit that I bought you, Cora. You’re a person. You can’t be owned.”

Well, she could. She would be mine, but she’d have her freedom. Herhappiness. She would be mine, but I’d be hers.

She sank her teeth into her bottom lip before swallowing.“Please, Fox. I want to know.”

“A million,”I replied, refusing to go back on my vow of being nothingbut honest.

Her jaw dropped open as a gasp left her, and her knees began tobuckle. I grabbed her before she could crumble to the floor, lifting her off the ground and carrying her to the stools on the other side of the island. She was practically weightless in my arms, but she didn’t resist, shock taking hold of her.

Her reaction was understandable. It was a lot of money, more thanwhat Freddy owed, and I had a feeling deep in my gut that Cora’s low self-esteem was telling her that no one in their right mind would pay that sum for her. That she wasn’t worth it.

Her self-esteem could fuck right off.

She was worth every cent.

And more.

“I can’t repay you that kind of money,”Cora said, her featurestwisting in despair.

“Baby girl, listen to me,”I replied, settling her onto a stool and takingthe one next to her.“I don’t want you to pay me back, that was never my intention. It’s not about the money anyway. Hell, I would have paid double if it meant getting you out of there, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat if it meant keeping you safe from the evils of this world.”

Her eyes flashed to mine, widening in horror as panic began to clutchher in its vices.“My dad…what if finds me? He’ll get into more debt and try to sell me again. I have to get out of Vegas. Or what if those men want me back? I can’t go back there, Fox, I don’t think I can survive a second time,”she said, her voice breaking as her breath came in short gasps.

I took her hands in mine, hoping I wasn’t pushing her boundaries withhow much I was touching her, but I couldn’t seem to keep my hands to myself.“Take a deep breath for me, Cora,”I said, doing my best to calm her.“Those men will never come near you. I promise you, Cora, no one will ever hurt you again. I won’t let them.”

I didn’t tell her that Nash and I had plans to deal with the Dukes latertonight. Yes, I promised to always be honest with her, but technically she hadn’t asked what was going to happen to them, so I wasn’t lying to her.

She held my gaze as she sucked in deep breaths, her small handstrembling in mine. Helplessness seeped into my bones. If there was a way I could’ve waved a magic wand to take away all her fears, I would have done it in a heartbeat.

“What about my dad? What if he finds me?”she said whenshe’d calmed herself.

“That depends on what you want to do about him. Tell me you wanthim out of the city, I’ll make sure he never sets foot in Vegas again. Tell me you want him removed from the face of this planet, and it’ll happen. Whatever you want, Cora.”

Her eyes widened, but not in fear.“You…you would do that?”

“I know it’ll take time for you to trust me, Cora, but I hope oneday, you’ll believe me when I tell you that I will do anything to keep you safe.”

To my surprise, her whole body relaxed as she slumped in her stool.“Thank you,”she whispered, relief and gratitude shining in her eyes.

Silence descended between us. I made no effort to move my handsfrom hers, but she made no effort either.

“What happens now?”Cora asked tentatively.

“That’s up to you. You’re not my prisoner. I’d love for you to stay herewith me-”

“I…I can’t stay here,”she interrupted, making my heart plummet.“I’mnot your responsibility, and I have no money to give you for rent.”

I gave her a small smile and a gentle squeeze of her hand.“Cora, the minute you got into my car, you became my responsibility, and I know it may be an alien concept to you, but I want you to be my responsibility. I want you to stay here. But I also understand if you want to get as far from Vegas as possible, and if that’s what you choose, I’ll help you start a new life somewhere else. It’s your choice.”

She was thoughtful for a minute, the cogs whirling in her head beforeshe returned my smile.“I don’t think I’ve ever had a choice before.”

“That’s something I plan on changing, baby girl. With me, you’llalways have a choice. But you don’t need to make a decision right now, take all the time in the world,”I replied, hoping she’d realize it was an easy decision to make.

To stay with me.

“Actually, there is one decision you do need to make now,”I said witha hint of humor in my voice, hoping to lighten the somber mood that had filled the air.“What are you going to have on your pancakes, chocolate or syrup?”

Her face broke into a beautiful and genuine smile, the tensiondisappearing from her body.Christ, she was stunning when she smiled, and I vowed right then to make sure she smiled like that every day she chose to stay with me.

“Chocolate. Always chocolate.”

Cora made the best pancakes I’d ever eaten. While she was makingthem, and as we munched our way through the stack, she told me about her neighbor who had taught her how to cook when she was eleven. When Freddy would let her, Cora spent many days with the little old lady learning how to bake.

She didn’t say as much, but from the way Cora spoke of the old dear,it sounded like she’d been something of a mother figure and helped Cora through some difficult times in her teenage years.

Sadly, the old lady died a year ago, and Cora hadn’t baked since.Freddy constantly promised to buy her ingredients, only to spend the money feeding his gambling habits. She’d kept her knowledge up by watching cooking program after cooking program, memorizing the ingredients and the steps so she could one day make all the things she wanted.

I could have listened to her talk all day. The more relaxed shebecame, the more passionate she was about all the things she liked to bake, and my mind was working overtime, thinking of all the things I could do to help her find her love of cooking again.

When we were full of pancakes, and after I’d tidied up, after all, thechef didn’t cook and do the washing up, I gave Cora a tour of the house. We went from room to room with Cora in stunned silence. Her eyes darted all over the place as if she were walking through the hallways of a palace, her face lighting up in awe.

Aside from my master bedroom and Cora’s room on the first floor,there were four other guest bedrooms, all with ensuites.

Downstairs was my office, where I spent most of my time when I wasn’t in my office at Onyx, along with a huge living area with a black leather sofa, a 98″ television complete with surround sound, and an enormous electric fireplace set in a white and black marble feature wall.

Opposite the fireplace was a wall of glass looking out into the garden. It was easily my favorite room in the house.

In the far corner was a door that opened into a library, with shelvesand shelves of books, ranging from non-fiction to sci-fi books, young-adult to outright smutty books. I wasn’t in the least bit ashamed of what I read, no matter how much Nash teased me over my choice of books.

My way of relaxing was lying on the sofa with the fire burning, a glassof red wine in one hand, and a good book in the other, no matter the genre. Nash was simply an uncultured dickhead.

Aside from the few recipe books I had in the kitchen, I didn’t have anycookbooks in the library, something I intended to correct as soon as possible. Especially after Cora said she wasn’t a big reader of fiction when I told her she could help herself to any book she wanted to read.

I led her out into the garden, explaining that aside from cleanerscoming to the house twice a week, and the gardener coming three times a week, I didn’t have many visitors. Nash and Sav aside of course.

It seemed to appease her that I didn’t have many guests, and withher worry that her dad would find out where she was, I made a mental note to postpone the cleaners and the gardeners coming for the next two weeks to give her time to settle in.

Much like she’d done with the house, Cora took in the garden withawe.

“Wow,”she said, stopping to lean forward to take a deep inhale of therose bush we’d stopped by. She closed her eyes, and a look of peace and contentment washed over her.

For the few seconds she stood with her eyes closed, smelling theblood-red flowers, I was mesmerized by her. If I’d have been quicker, I would have grabbed my phone out of my pocket and taken a picture to capture this moment forever.

Regardless, it would be engraved in my mind for all of eternity.

“They smell beautiful,”she said, giving me a shy smile as shestraightened up.

Reaching out, I plucked a rose from the bush, careful to avoid anythorns before handing it to her.“Here. I’ve got a vase somewhere inside. You can put it in your room.”

The smile she gave me almost made me melt on the spot .

Christ, Cora had me turning into the biggest sap on the planet. Nashwould have had a field day if he’d seen me right then, I couldn’t remember a time when I’d ever given a woman flowers.

“Thank you,”she said, taking the rose from me. Our fingers brushed,the sparks between us almost visible.

“You’re welcome, baby girl.”

I indicated for her to carry on walking, wanting to show her the rest ofthe grounds. She twiddled the rose in her fingers but as we turned the corner, she lowered her hand and looked at me, her brows furrowed in caution.

“Why do you call me baby girl?”she asked, her voice quiet, almost as if shewas afraid to ask.

I shrugged, a pang of disappointment cresting through me. Did shenot like me calling her that?“I just thought it suited you, but I can stop if it bothers you?”

She was thoughtful for no more than a few seconds, but it felt like hersilence stretched on for eternity.

“No, I don’t mind,”she finally said, giving me that shy smileagain.

Fuck, those lips.

I wanted to kiss her mouth and see how they felt pressed againstmine. I cleared my throat and gave her a nod in response, not trusting myself to open my mouth in case I begged her to let me taste her.

For a few minutes, we walked in a comfortable silence as Cora’s gazeroamed around the garden. Every so often, she’d take a deep breath and inhale the fresh air, and each time, more tension would leave her body.

I imagined there were times when she was locked up in the Dukescell that she thought she’d never get to experience the smell of freshly cut grass or hear the birds chirping in the trees again. A fear I’d experienced many times in my youth .

“Oh, you have a pool,”she said as we reached the edge of myproperty where the infinity pool was, her tone light.

“Yeah,”I replied, gazing at the enormous pool, and realizing I hadn’tthought about swimming since the minute I saw Cora’s picture a few days ago.

Strange. Swimming wasn’t just a hobby I enjoyed, it was the onlything that gave me a rare moment when my brain wasn’t thinking five steps ahead. But I also swam because there was a time when my inability to swim cost me dearly, and I never wanted to be in that position again.

Until the recent opening of Onyx, I swam daily, becoming agitated if Ididn’t. But with the casino opening, my mind had been elsewhere.

“You can use it whenever you want,”I said, waving to the pool.“Wecan get you a swimsuit if you want to take a dip.”

Bollocks. Don’t think about her in a swimsuit.

“Oh,”Cora said, her eyes dropping.“I can’t swim.”

At her words, the image of her in a bikini evaporated, and my heartplummeted to the soles of my shoes as an icy wave of panic descended through me, wrapping icy tendrils around my chest.

Images flashed to my mind of a young girl floating face down in thepool, her body still as the screams of a little boy echoed into the sky. The haunting image morphed into a vision of the girl being pulled out of the water, her eyes closed, and her lips blue.

Her body still.

Lifeless.

I shook my head, dispelling the memory before it could fully takehold, and taking a few seconds to compose myself.

It had been a long time since those images had haunted me .

“Baby girl, if you can’t swim, then you need to promise me you’ll stayaway from the pool unless I’m with you. Can you do that?”I said, my voice almost choking from the receding memory.

Cora gaped at me, her brows furrowed in worry.“Okay, I promise,”she whispered, before reaching out and taking my hand, giving it a small, comforting squeeze.

The actions of someone who had suffered their own trauma andrecognized the effect it had on a person.

Tension eased from my body in an instant at her promise. Wanting toget her as far away from the pool as possible, I led her back inside, our hands still clasped together.

When the tour came to an end and we were back in the kitchen, Corayawned and confessed that despite having slept soundly the night before, she was still exhausted.

Hardly surprising given what she’d been through in the last week.

Thanking me for showing her around, I watched her as she headedoff to her room. The worry that had plagued me the last few days had begun to ease, although I knew there was still a chance she’d tell me that she didn’t want to stay with me.

Truthfully, if she said she wanted to move to the other side of theworld to get away from Vegas, I’d be going with her, Nash and the business be damned.

Deciding to get some work done while she napped, I headed to myoffice, but of course, I couldn’t concentrate. The morning replayed over in my head, and I couldn’t help but smile at how different she seemed from the day we first met. I hoped that with time, life before her eighteenth birthday would become a distant memory .

At the reminder of her recent birthday, I sat up straight. Themoment Freddy told Diaz that Cora had only turned eighteen the week before he handed her over to the Dukes rang in my ears.

What was the betting Freddy had done the sum of fuck all tocelebrate her birthday?

Determined to give her a birthday she’d never forget, even if it was aweek late, I opened a new window on my laptop, work completely forgotten about, and my credit card at the ready.