The Fairy Tales Collection (5 page)

“Where are you working?”

“Ella’s stepmother owns a cleaning
business.  I’m meeting her this afternoon about a job but I’m pretty confident
she’ll hire me, and I’ll probably see if I can get some work at the Food
Market.  I worked there as a cashier when I was a teenager and I’m still pretty
friendly with Victor, the owner.”

He whirled around and glared at her.  “How
friendly?”

She blinked at him in surprise.  “What?”

He clenched his hands into fists and swore
inwardly at his bear.  The damn thing had come roaring forward the moment she
mentioned another man’s name and he hadn’t been able to stop his outburst. 

“Nothing.  Never mind,” he said.  “I don’t
need a housekeeper.”

Her face fell.  “Right.  Okay, well maybe
we could work out a payment plan then?  I could give you fifty dollars a week,”
she bit at that deliciously full bottom lip before finishing hurriedly, “with
interest of course.”

He shook his head again and she gave him a
look of frustration.  “Bennett, I can’t afford to pay you back the money in
full right now.  Please, can’t we just – “

“Come with me,” he interrupted.

“Where are we going?”

“I have something to show you.”

Belle followed Bennett out of the kitchen
and down the long hallway.  He turned left down another hallway and then
right. 

“Gosh, this place really is a mansion,” she
said.

He shrugged but didn’t say anything.  She
stared at his broad back.  His t-shirt was sticking to him with sweat and she
wondered what he would say if she lifted his shirt and licked his back.

Belle!  Knock it off!

Right, focus.  She needed to focus.  Still,
that look he had given her in the kitchen and the way he had asked what she had
in mind… good Lord, if it hadn’t made her panties soaking wet.  What was it
about him that made her act like a sex fiend?

Oh, I don’t know.  Maybe it’s the fact
that he’s like eight feet tall with more muscles than Thor?  Maybe it’s the
deep voice or those dark eyes, or the way he looks at you like he wants to
throw you over his shoulder and carry you to his bed?

She should be so lucky.  She had never once
had a man lift her off her feet – they’d probably put their back out if they
tried.

Bennett wouldn’t.  He’s strong,
remember?

She remembered.  She could still feel the
imprint of his arm around her waist, the touch of his hand when he cupped her
face.  A shiver went down her back and fresh moisture dampened her pussy.  What
the hell was happening to her?

They were still walking and she realized
she was already hopelessly lost.  Ridiculous that someone could get lost in a
house but she’d always had a bad sense of direction.  She wondered where
exactly he was leading her.  Any deeper into the house and no one would ever
find her again.  No one would hear her screams of pleasure as Bennett pushed
that large body between her thighs and finally took what was his.  She’d be at
his mercy, her body his to do whatever he wanted with and –

Belle!

Sweet mother of Mary, she was frackin’
losing it.  Bennett wasn’t leading her to his bedroom.  He wasn’t going to
demand sex in exchange for her father’s debt.  Technically she’d known him less
than twenty-four hours but she knew instinctively he wasn’t dangerous nor would
he ever make her do something she didn’t want to do.

What about something you want to do?

Shut up!

Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t realize Bennett
had stopped until she ran into his broad back.  She squeaked in surprise, her
hands gripping his narrow waist as she took a deep breath.  He smelled good,
like a wood fire and crisp autumn days and she was helpless to stop from burying
her face into his damp t-shirt and inhaling again.

“Mirabelle?”  His voice was hoarse and his
entire body had stiffened against her.

Her face flaming, she stumbled back.  “I’m
so sorry.”

“That’s okay,” he muttered before opening
the door.  “Hang on a minute.”

He walked into the room and she blinked
when he drew back the heavy curtains and the sunshine came flooding into the
room.

“Oh – oh my God,” she whispered. 

The room was a library – the most
magnificent one she’d ever seen.  Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves covered every
wall and they were crammed full of books.  There was a mezzanine, accessible by
a narrow, spiral staircase, and more shelves of books lined the second level. 
The forest green walls and the dark wooden floor gave the room a cozy and
secretive feel.  A gas fireplace was at one end with a few pieces of furniture,
hidden by dusty sheets, in front of it.

“Bennett, this is – this is amazing,” she
whispered.

He smiled.  “My mom collected books.  She
loved to read – like you.”

“How many books are in here?”  She traced
her fingers across the spines of the books closest to her as he shrugged.

“I don’t know.  That’s where you come in.”

“You want me to count the books?”

“Sort of.  What I’m looking for is someone
to catalogue the books in a spreadsheet, as well as assess and research the
value of them.  Some of these books are old and worth a lot of money and I need
an accurate monetary value of the library for insurance purposes.”

“You’re asking me to go through every one
of these books and find out what they’re worth?”  She said.

“Yes, although I imagine there will be some
that you’ll know right away aren’t worth anything.”

“Bennett, this – this will probably take at
least a year,” she said.

“That’s fine.”

She stared thoughtfully at him.  “So, if I
do this then we’re even-Steven for the money my dad owes you?”

“No.  There’s more work here than the two
grand your father owes me.  I’ll pay you an hourly wage.  What did you make as
a librarian?”

“I was actually a library assistant and I
made fourteen bucks an hour.”

“What would you make working for the
cleaning company?”

“Uh, I’m not sure.  Probably about eleven
dollars an hour.”

“I’ll pay you twenty-five an hour,” he
said.

Her mouth dropped open and she blinked at
him.  “To catalogue books?”

He nodded.  “Yes.  I’d like it if you
worked eight hours a day, five days a week, but you can decide when you want to
work those eight hours.  I sleep pretty soundly so if you’re a night owl and
want to work at night, I’m fine with that.”

“What about the money my dad owes you?” 
She asked.  “Maybe I could work for the cleaning company the first couple of
months until I can pay you back and then work here full time.”

He waved his hand impatiently.  “I’ll take
a hundred bucks off of each paycheque until it’s repaid.  What do you say? 
Will you help me?”

She took a deep breath, inhaling the much-loved
scent of old books, before holding out her hand and grinning happily at him. 
“When do you want me to start?”

“So are you and Bennett knockin’ boots yet
or what?”

“Rowan!”  Belle, blushing furiously,
glanced around the diner.  “Keep your voice down!”

Rowan grinned and stuck another forkful of eggs
into her mouth.  “Answer the question, my sweet Belle.”

“No, we are not knocking boots,” Belle said
in a low voice.

“Why not?  You’ve been at his place every
day for the last three days,” Rowan replied.

“Because I’m working for him.  You know
that, Ro,” Belle said.

“Working at getting into his pants.  Am I
right or am I right, Ella?”  She elbowed the chubby blonde in the side and
wiggled her eyebrows at her.

Ella looked up from her coffee mug. 
“Sorry, what?”

Belle frowned.  Ella was pale and there
were dark circles under her eyes.  “Ella, what’s wrong, honey?”

“Nothing, I’m fine.  I just haven’t been
sleeping well lately.  What were we talking about?”

“Belle and Bennett having sex,” Rowan said
cheerfully.

Ella’s eyes widened.  “You had sex with Bennett?”

“No!”  Belle said.  “I’m cataloguing the
books in his library, that’s it.  I haven’t even really seen him the last three
days.”

That, much to her dismay, was completely
true.  He had greeted her Monday morning, made some polite small talk and given
her a key to the house.  Since then, she’d only seen him when she’d peeked out
the library windows to watch him working in the backyard.  She decided she
wouldn’t admit to her best friends that she kept peeking throughout the day in
the hopes that he would take off his shirt.  Sadly, he had kept on all of his
clothes.

“You haven’t seen him at all?”  Rowan
asked.

“Not really.  He’s been letting me do my
own thing.  I asked him if he wanted to approve the spreadsheet I was setting
up to catalogue the books but he just said that he trusted me.”

She glanced at her cell phone.  “Crap!  I
need to go.  I wanted to be at Bennett’s by nine this morning.”

“So do I,” Ella replied.  “My stepmother
added two more houses to my schedule today and I have no idea how I’m going to
get everything done.” 

She slid out of the booth and smoothed down
her shirt.  “I’m fairly certain she’s trying to kill me.”

Rowan gave her a sympathetic look.  “Did
you hear back from the bank yet about the business loan?”

Ella smiled ruefully.  “I forgot to tell
you – I was turned down.”

“What?  Why?”  Belle asked.

“Because they don’t think I have enough
experience as a massage therapist to run a successful business.  They have a
point – working for three months at the Magic Spa Retreat doesn’t exactly give
me strong work experience.”

“It’s not your fault the spa closed down,”
Rowan said.

“No, but it was the only place in town that
offered massage therapy.  Unless I start my own business, the money I spent
earning my massage therapy certificate will be completely wasted.”

“You could always find a position in a
city,” Rowan said gently.

“I love it here, you know I don’t want to
leave,” Ella replied.

“I know.  But you don’t have to leave
forever.  Gain some experience, save up some cash and then move back and start
your own business.”

“I keep telling you,” Belle said, “you’ve
got a massage table and the other supplies, just start your business with
that.  You can have people come to your apartment or you could go to them.  You
could be the travelling massage therapist!  Just make sure people know it’s
therapeutic massage.  Most of the guys in this town would kill to have your
hands on them in a decidedly non-therapeutic sense.”

Ella rolled her eyes.  “That’s an
exaggeration.”

“Like hell it is,” Belle replied.

“It doesn’t matter,” Rowan said with a
grin.  “You’re both forgetting that Duncan Gillis has vowed to murder anyone
who touches our sweet Ella.”

Ella flushed to the roots of her blonde
hair before slinging her purse over her shoulder.  “I have to go.”

She scurried out of the diner as Rowan gave
Belle an odd look.  “What was that about?”

Belle shook her head worriedly.  “I’m not
sure.  She’s been acting weird ever since that night at the bar.  We shouldn’t
tease her about what Duncan said.  I know she says she hates him but I’m not so
sure she’s telling the truth.  She always gets awkward and nervous when she
sees him, you know?  Besides, Duncan told me he was really drunk that night so
he – “

“Like hell he was,” Rowan interrupted. 
“He’d only been there maybe fifteen minutes and I’d served him one beer. 
Anyway, you have to go and I’m headed to Nana’s place.  It’s been a couple of
weeks since I visited her.  I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Okay,” Belle replied.  She added her share
of money to the bill and followed Rowan out the door.

* * *

Belle stretched and gently moved her head
from side to side.  She had been hunched over for most of the day, inputting
books into the spreadsheet on the laptop Bennett had provided and she was
feeling stiff and sore.  She stood and walked across the library to look out
the window.  The backyard remained empty and she sighed loudly.  Bennett had
been gone when she arrived this morning and hadn’t returned.  She hadn’t taken
the job specifically so that she would get to spend time with Bennett but she
had been thinking of it as a job perk.  Last week she had been positive that he
was attracted to her but now doubt was creeping in.  Would he be so obviously
avoiding her if he was?

No, she decided, he wouldn’t.  She sighed
again before unzipping her hoodie and tugging it off.  It left her in just a
thin tank top which wasn’t exactly work appropriate but it was hot in the
library and besides, Bennett wasn’t around.

Your nearly twenty-year crush on a guy
you met once is kind of ridiculous.  You know that, right?

Yeah, she did.  But dammit, did he have to
grow up to be so damn big and handsome?  She was itching to touch him and to
taste him.  The idea that he would feel the same way about her just because he
had looked at her once in a way that suggested he might want to lick her all
over was ridiculous.

She stretched again and then froze when there
was a sharp inhale behind her.  She turned around and butterflies flickered to
life in her stomach when she saw Bennett standing in the library.

“Hi,” she said as his gaze drifted down her
body.  She crossed her arms nervously over her torso and glanced at the hoodie
she had draped across the table.  “I didn’t hear you come in.”

He strode forward, the floor shook lightly
beneath his feet, and she twitched in surprise when he grasped her upper arms
and gently turned her around.

“Bennett, what – “

Her voice died out when he traced the top
of the four ragged scars on her upper back.

“Mirabelle, I’m so sorry,” he whispered. 
His deep voice scraped along her nerve endings, making them sing with
anticipation.

“It’s not your fault,” she said.

“Are they painful?”  He asked as she
shivered delicately.

“N-no,” she stuttered.  “They’re just kind
of ugly.”

“Nothing about you is ugly,” he murmured.

She couldn’t stop the soft moan when she
felt his lips brush against the scarring on her back.  His hands grasped the edge
of her tank top and she cleared her throat nervously.

“Bennett, what are you doing?”

“Lift your arms.  I want to see all of it,”
he said in a softly-demanding voice.

Like a woman in a dream, she raised her
arms and allowed him to pull the tank top over her head.  He dropped it to the
floor and she dug her fingers into the window sill in front of her.  She could
see his reflection in the window and she watched as a look of sorrow crossed
his face.

“Bennett, it’s fine,” she whispered. 
“Really.”

“This is my fault.”

“It isn’t,” she insisted.  “Don’t think
that – oh my God.”

His fingers had flicked open the clasps of
the pale pink bra she was wearing and she automatically clamped her hands over
her breasts as the fabric loosened.  He dipped his head and she arched her back
when he licked the length of one scar.  The scars ran from her upper back to
the waistband of her pants and she didn’t object when he placed one arm around
her waist and drew her back against him before licking a second scar.  His
t-shirt was warm from the sun and he smelled so good, she felt nearly faint
from his closeness.  His hand curled around her hip and held her firmly as he
placed a row of soft kisses across the top of her shoulder.

“Bennett, please,” she whispered before
turning her head to stare at his mouth.  His eyes darkened until they were
almost black and she made a soft pleading noise.  He bent his head and pressed
his mouth against hers.  She was surprised by his gentleness.  She wasn’t
exactly sure what she had expected but it wasn’t this feather-light touch of
his warm lips against hers.  She parted her lips eagerly and he brushed the tip
of his tongue against her upper lip like he was tasting her.  Even that light
touch was enough to set her on fire and she ground her ass shamelessly against
his growing erection.

She licked his lip in return and he growled
softly against her mouth before sliding his tongue between her lips to dart and
flick lightly at hers.  She moaned again and returned his kisses eagerly.  When
his hand slid up her round stomach, she dropped her arms and thrust out her
chest.  He raised his hand without touching her suddenly-aching breasts but her
groan of disappointment ended when he pulled off her bra and dropped it to the
floor as well. 

He studied her breasts over her shoulder –
she could feel his heart pounding against her back – before cupping the right
one in one big hand.  He held it firmly, testing the weight in his hand, as her
nipple pebbled against his palm.  Her back arched again when he used his thumb
and finger to pull lightly on her stiff nipple.

“Oh my God,” she whispered again. 

“I’ve dreamed about seeing you like this,”
he rumbled into her ear as his second hand cupped her left breast.  He kneaded
and rubbed them gently as he pressed his pelvis rhythmically against her ass. 
“Do you have any idea how much I want you, Mirabelle?”

“I want you too, Ben,” she whispered. 

His hands tightened on her breasts and then
he was kissing her again, this time hard and deep, his tongue pushing past the barrier
of her lips to claim her mouth.  She returned his kisses, their tongues
stroking and sliding against each other as he reached down and unbuttoned her
jeans.  He slid his hand into her panties and cupped her aching core.

“You’re so wet, little Mirabelle,” he
whispered against her lips before pushing one finger deep inside of her.  She
rose up on her tiptoes at the unexpected invasion and he stroked and squeezed
one breast soothingly before easing his finger out of her.  He rubbed her clit
lightly as he placed hot, wet kisses against her neck and shoulder.

“I want to fuck you,” he said.  “I want
that so much.  It’s all I can think about.”

“Me too,” she said breathlessly. 

“Good,” he muttered.  “But first I want to
watch you come all over my fingers.”

She inhaled sharply, her hand latching onto
his wrist and squeezing tightly as he rubbed roughly at her clit.  It was
already swollen and throbbing and she bucked her hips against his hand as he
stroked lightly then roughly.  The need was a fevered pitch inside of her now
and she closed her eyes and arched her back, soft cries spilling from her lips
as he brought her closer and closer to her release.

“Ben, oh, Ben, oh God,” she moaned.  “It
feels so good.  It feels so – “

Her body stiffened and she rode the wave of
her orgasm as he growled again in her ear and rubbed his cock against her ass. 
She collapsed against him, he held her weight easily, and he sucked lightly on
her earlobe before turning her around and yanking her jeans and panties down
her legs.  She stepped out of them.  Her legs were still weak from her orgasm
and she gave him a shy look as he studied her body in the sunlight. 

“You’re so beautiful,” he said hoarsely.

“You’re beautiful too,” she whispered.

Belle mourned the loss of his hard body
when he suddenly took a step back and pulled his t-shirt over his head.  She
studied his broad chest and watched as he inhaled sharply when she ran a
trembling hand through the layer of dark hair that covered it.

“Fuck, I’m going to come in my pants if I
don’t take you right now,” he muttered.

He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket
and she watched as he took a condom from the billfold.  He unbuttoned his
jeans, shoving them and his briefs down his legs and her eyes widened at the
size of him.  She pushed down the thin trickle of apprehension as he kicked off
his shoes and finished removing his clothes.