Chapter Nine
Jacob
Vanessa had officially been living with me for a week now, and overall, things were working out well.
We still hadn’t had a chance to pack up all her old things from her apartment—she’d just brought a bag of clothes and toiletries for now, seeing as her lease hadn’t quite expired yet and there was still time to get the rest later—but we’d get around to it eventually. To be honest, I would’ve rather just taken her shopping to get her all new stuff, but that would have to wait. I had to take baby steps, because if I laid it on too thick right at the start and bought her everything, she might get freaked out and think I was an old creep trying to buy her affections.
Tommy was thrilled to have his nanny around all the time, and Vanessa seemed equally happy to be spending so much time with him. Of course, I made sure she put aside enough time to work on her college assignments and extracurricular activities and also take breaks—I didn’t want her to feel like I was taking advantage of her living here by letting her spend all her time with my nephew.
I still hadn’t brought up everything that happened the other night yet. When I went to take her breakfast that morning, she’d seemed so ashamed of herself. I couldn’t say it without humiliating her, and so I’d merely skirted the subject.
Okay, so that wasn’t entirely true. The real reason I hadn’t brought it up was because I knew if I did, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from admitting just how fucking much I wanted her. How badly I’d wanted to take her that night, show her what a real man was like. How badly I wanted to take her over my knee for being so naughty. I could easily picture myself showing her who the boss was; bending her over and spanking her ass red raw until she told me she’d never be bad again, even though part of me liked it when she was a brat. A very big part of me.
“Jacob?”
Vanessa’s soft voice broke me out of my reverie at the kitchen counter as I sipped my second morning coffee, and I smiled. “Oh, I thought you’d already headed off to college. Are you still hungry? There’s more bacon.”
She stepped forward. “I’m full, but thank you. Breakfast was great.”
I could tell there was something wrong by the tone of her voice. “Is everything all right?”
She shook her head. “Well, I was going to go to college early today to work on some stuff, and I just went to start my car. It’s broken down. It was working earlier when I took Tommy to school, but now it won’t start at all. And I…I can’t get anywhere without it, unless I take the bus, but if I do that, I won’t get to Tommy’s school in time to pick him up this afternoon.”
I put my hand on her shoulder, and I didn’t miss the spark that crackled between us. “You can borrow one of my cars. You know you’re welcome to do that.”
She bit her lower lip, a move which drove me wild. I managed to keep a straight face.
“That’s so nice of you, but I can’t. Your cars are all manual. I only ever learned automatic,” she said, cheeks coloring.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” I said. “One day, when we have time, I’ll teach you to drive manual. It’s a good life skill to have. For now, I’ll drive you to college.”
“But you have work of your own,” she said. “I can’t expect you to drop everything for me.”
“Things are quiet on the business front at the moment,” I replied. That wasn’t true, but she didn’t need to know that. “I can spare the time.”
Her cheeks turned even pinker. “Thank you. I’m sorry for all the inconvenience.”
“It’s no inconvenience, Vanessa,” I said, grabbing my keys. “Let’s go.”
I followed her outside to the car I usually drove, watching her delicate movements as she walked. She was so demure, so sweet. So unassuming. It was hard to believe this was the same girl who drunkenly propositioned me a week ago.
We took off toward Vanessa’s college, and she smiled at me as I stopped at the first set of lights on our way. Her cheeks were still glowing from her earlier blush. “Thanks again,” she said. “I really appreciate everything you do for me.”
It amazed me how she was so grateful for something as simple as a ride to college; so surprised by people simply offering to do nice things for her. I still didn’t know much about her earlier life (she wasn’t exactly forthcoming about it, and I wasn’t going to pressure her to tell me) but it made me certain that not many people in her life had helped her out with even the smallest of gestures before. She clearly wasn’t used to it.
I loved that about her, how happy she was when I did even the simplest things, such as making her breakfast in the morning, or making sure her bed linen was all clean. To her, these gestures were like incredible gifts, whereas to me, they were just little things I liked to do to take care of her.
However, it also made me sad that she was always so grateful; sad that no one had properly taken care of such an angel before. She deserved to be spoiled.
“You’re welcome,” I replied. “You know that.”
“Yes,” she said softly. “But I’m just so grateful. You’ve been so nice to me.”
Something occurred to me, and I frowned. “What time did you say your lecture starts today?”
“It doesn’t start till eleven, but I was going to spend an hour or so at the campus newspaper helping some of the other girls edit their articles for the gossip column.”
“Can they wait?” I asked.
“Probably. Why?”
I swung the car around as soon as I had the chance, and I grinned over at Vanessa. “You’ll see.”
Ten minutes later, we pulled up outside a luxury car dealership.
“What are we doing here?” Vanessa asked, blue eyes wide as we got out and stood outside the place.
“I’m buying you a new car,” I said. “That old one of yours was going to bite the dust sooner or later anyway. It’ll cost more to fix it than it’s worth.”
Her eyes were like saucers now. “You’re buying me a car?”
I nodded. So much for baby steps.
“I can’t let you do that,” Vanessa said, wildly shaking her head. “It’s too much. Far too much.”
“Nonsense. You need a way to get around the city, for college and your work.”
“I know, but…” Her voice faltered. “I don’t….”
“Vanessa, I told you I’d take care of you, and I told you that I’d solve any problems you have. Your car not working is a problem. Let me solve it.”
Her face was fire engine red, and she cast her eyes to her feet. “I’m so lucky,” she said. “All these things you do…I don’t know what I did to deserve it.”
“You were you, Vanessa,” I said. “And that was enough for me to want to spoil you in every way I can. So let me.”
She looked up at me again, gorgeous eyes shining and her face still glowing. “Okay.”
And that was all I needed to hear.