Page 44 of Finders Keep Her
“The next one is all yours.” I tell her this before I step out of my truck, hitting the power for the whole warehouse before opening her door. “Good girl,” I tell her.
“I know. I’m not allowed to open doors anymore. Can I even unclip this thing, or is that a no-go?” She runs one of her delicate, unassuming fingers across the release.
Does she really not know how dangerous those fingers are? She has the entire world at her fingertips, and if she truly desired, their mercy.
"I love taking care of you." I drop the L word like a bastard, but I use what I've got. Plus, she loves that I do these things, and I get off on doing them. It works all around.
Ellie takes my hand, hopping down from the truck to glance around.
"No cameras on this level."
"There are, but you can only access them here, and it's on a whole other system with no internet connection."
"What?" Ellie is now glaring around the warehouse trying to spot them. She won't.
"I'll show you them." I give her ass a small tap. I love how excited she gets about stuff like this. How it piques her curiosity.
I take her hand, leading her across the warehouse to the other side and through a door. I point out two other exits as we go, wanting her to know where all the exits are. It's a thing everyone should clock when they enter a space. You take it all in because you never know when the lights could go out, figuratively and literally.
"If I were to have guessed, I'd have thought you were in the military with your demeanor and cleanliness."
"Not sure I'd call it clean." It's easy to keep shit in its place when you don't have a lot of things. I'm simple. I like to keep things uncomplicated.
"That's okay. I'll give it some character." Ellie is teasing, but she can do what she wants with the space. I want her to make every part of my life her own. To leave her mark all over the damn place.
"We'll set you up a spot and do whatever with the place. If we stay here." I shrug. Ellie might hate the place. I'm not attached to it, but I find its location ideal for the life I lead.
“If we stay?” Ellie starts moving about the open space. There really isn’t a ton to it. I picked the warehouse because of its location. I didn’t want people knowing the ins and outs of it. I did a lot of the work myself to keep the details of the layout private.
Everything is still fairly new, but it has a rustic feel to it. The kitchen and the bathroom were where I did most of the work. Since it is a warehouse, I kept with that style. If you can call it that. Fuck if I know. I just tried to make shit match. When I was building it, I figured no one was ever going to see it. But things change, and they can change on a dime.
“You might not want to live here.” Ellie runs her hand across the stainless steel kitchen counter island. The more I stare at thekitchen, the more I’m seeing how military-style it is. Very cold and simple. There is nothing warm about this place. My little fox’s red hair and bright eyes are the only warmth here.
“You think we’re moving in together.”
“Watch it.”
“I will—” Her words cut off with a small squeal when I pounce, grabbing her by her hips as I sit her down on the island. “You’re too fast.”
“And we’re living together.” Where did she get the idea we weren't?
“Well, there is no ring on this finger.” She lifts her hand, wiggling the ring finger. “And I don’t recall you asking.”
“You and I aren’t really good with asking and personal boundaries when it comes to each other.”
“I know.” She lets out an adorable happy sigh. “We’re romantic like that.” I grip her chin in my hand, making her eyes lock with mine.
“But you know all that is a foregone conclusion. That you’re my woman.”
“Your little fox,” she corrects with a soft smile.
“You’re all of it.”
“Because you’re obsessed with me and have been stalking me.”
“Exactly,” I agree. “Because I love you.”
“I knew it!” Of course she did. My girl has a brilliant mind.
