Chapter Fourteen

ADAM

“Are you serious?” she exclaims from the other end of her suite as I step inside. “I have a stripper pole in my closet?”

After we arrived back here yesterday, I hadn’t given her much time to explore her new space. Instead, I took advantage of the moment and led her to her new bed, taking her before making good on my promise of letting her rest.

Once she woke, we had the quiet dinner I promised her before I carried her to my bedroom, getting my fill of her before she drifted off to sleep once more. My regrets that her first official day of training coincided with work is undeniable, but as I take her in, it’s hard for the sting in those regrets to linger.

“Of course,” I smirk, bending to kiss her. “Are you nearly ready?”

“Yes, Sir,” she nods, sticking her tongue out in concentration as she attaches the back of her earring before turning back toward the closet. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful since you just stocked the second wing you’re calling my closet with more clothes than I’ll ever be able to wear in three lifetimes,” she says, peeking her head out. “But I know you’re in a hurry and I don’t know where any black, strappy shoes are.”

“Did you check my closet?”

“I have clothes in there, too?” she asks, her wide eyes making me chuckle.

“Yes, baby,” I nod, taking her hand and leading her across to my bedroom. “We’ll be down in ten minutes,” I say into the phone before ending the call and sliding it back into my pocket. “Here,” I say, leading her inside. We make our way to the back of the room where I gesture toward the bottom row of the wall. “Black strappy shoes.”

“Oh, my God!” she mouths, her shocked expression as she lowers herself to the dressing bench behind her, gazing and the additional section of clothing I’d had put in here for her pulling a belly laugh from me.

“Please decide quickly. We have to go.”

“I will. I’m sorry,” she says, quickly choosing a pair and slipping them on before following me out. “Adam, you do realize I have clothes at my apartment, don’t you?”

“Yes, and now you have them here as well.”

“But I don’t expect you to buy me all this stuff. You know that, right?”

“Of course, I do, darling. Your coffee is on the counter. Don’t forget your bag.”

“Thank you,” she says, turning to reach for both and giving a quick wave to Vera on our way out. By the time we step onto the elevator, she’s out of breath. “Mornings are hard,” she muses dramatically, taking a long sip of her coffee before resting her head against the wall behind her. “How are you so calm right now?”

“I prepare ahead, princess,” I tease her with a wink. “I’ve also been up since a quarter to five.”

“Eww,” she makes a face, making me smirk. “Why in God’s name would you get up that early?”

“I had a meeting with Italy,” I admit, leading her out of the elevator and toward the waiting town car in my garage, nodding toward my driver. “Good morning, John.”

“Sir,” he nods.

“Good morning!” Isabella smiles, slipping inside, facing me when I slide in beside her. “I don’t think your driver likes me very much.”

“Why would you say that, darling?”

“He never says hi to me.”

“That simply means he enjoys working for me and would like to continue to do so.”

“You told John not to talk to me?” she asks, her mouth dropping when I nod. “Why isn’t he allowed to talk to me?”

“Because you’re mine,” I say simply. “And I’d prefer men not speak to you without my consent, Bella.”

“Okay,” she shrugs, pulling a questioning look from me. “I just don’t know how you’re going to manage that. There are millions of men in the world. You can’t control them all.”

“Perhaps,” I admit. “But I can try.”

A small giggle slips through her lips and I glance back down to face her.

“What’s so funny?”

“Honestly?” she asks, pulling a nod from me. “I find it utterly ridiculous that you’d even concern yourself with something like that,” she shakes her head. “Unless Jason Momoa just randomly pops up shirtless at the office, you have nothing to worry about,” she admits with a wink, giggling when she sees my unamused expression. “I’m just teasing, amore,” she promises, leaning her head on my shoulder. “I’d be crazy to want anyone but you.”

Her sweet words do something to me internally, something on a carnal level that I’ve never felt before her.

That seems to be happening more and more with Isabella.

I glance over at her a moment later, smiling to myself when I find her leaning back against the seat, her eyes fluttering shut as she basks in the sunlight. Her lips curl up just slightly on either side, reminding me of the first night I picked her up… the night that changed us both irrevocably. The sigh of content leaving her chest somehow makes its way into mine and I bury it, stealing it for myself without regret.

Who can complain about a sunset? she’d asked.

Surely no one who had ever seen her basking in one.

Unable to keep to myself another second, I reach over, taking her hand and threading my fingers into hers, pulling her gaze from the sun and back to me.

“You okay?” she asks, her eyebrows quirking together just slightly as she rests her head against the seat, her fingers squeezing mine.

“Yes. I’m fine, baby,” I whisper, raising my hand to brush the stray strand away from her face.

“Okay,” she replies, her voice soft as she leans her head back on my shoulder and begins studying our hands. “What are you thinking about?”

“That I think I’d be crazy to want anyone but you, too,” I admit, pressing my lips to her forehead when she raises her eyes to meet mine. “I’m so glad you came back to me, Bella.”

“Hmm…” she smiles, leaning up to kiss my jaw. “Me, too.”

The cab fills with darkness, signaling our descent into the garage at Avery. A moment later, the yellowish glow from the fluorescent lighting begins to seep into the cab, invading our thoughts and pulling a mutual sigh from us both.

“Are you ready?” I ask with a gentle smirk as we come to a stop, my hand clenching hers once more.

“Ready?” she asks, gathering her things and taking my hand, stepping out to join me. “For what?”

“To give me your submission,” I husk, my hand moving from her hand to her neck. I hold her in place as my voice shifts, my lips hovering over hers. “As of this moment, you’re officially in training.”