Page 3 of Resurrecting His Soul
“I’ll go with you,” she said, “but I need to at least text Allison and let her know I’m okay, or it will be her you have to worry about, and not this Melina chick you seem so concerned about.”
He nodded, and she sent a quick text to Allison telling her she was safe but was going to rest and that she’d call her the next day. It was a lame excuse, and she doubted it would keep Allison at bay, but she didn’t know what else to say. It wasn’t like she could tell her the truth.Hey, I’m going to run off with some hot stranger because he has promised to keep me safe.Yeah, that would have Allison hot on her tail in a heartbeat. As lame as it was, it was better to keep the text short and detail free if there was any hope of Allison listening and waiting for her to reach back out to find her.
Ricardo motioned for her to walk with him, but he had to catch her when she nearly fell, dizziness suddenly overwhelming her.
“Come,” he said. “Once I get you somewhere safer, I will explain everything. We will get you fed, and you’ll feel much better. Then, if you want me to go and leave you alone forever, I promise I will do whatever you want.”
****
Lisandrabarely made it to the car with Ricardo carrying her before she passed out. After all the blood loss and whatever had been done to save her, she had been wiped. Ricardo said he was taking her somewhere safe, and what she’d expected was a hotel room, or somewhere in the middle of nowhere so they’d be hard to find. When he woke her up and they were parked in front of what could only be classified as a mansion, she was surprised, but she assumed it was one of those B&B places she had heard were popular in some towns. A black town car with tinted windows and chrome accents pulled up behind them, and a woman in a pencil skirt and matching blazer stepped out with a smile. Ricardo got out, but he walked around and opened the door for Lisandra before giving the stranger his attention. He surprised her when he laced their fingers together and she had to take a deep breath to steady herself because her blood began to tingle the moment his skin met her own. She should have pulled her hand away, but she didn’t want to, and when she saw the way the woman from the black sedan was ogling Ricardo, she wanted to hold on to him even tighter.
The woman’s smile widened when she got a good look at Ricardo, but it faltered slightly when she noticed him holding Lisandra’s hand in his own. Still, Lisandra did not miss the way the woman flipped her golden blonde locks over her shoulder and straightened her posture to make sure her cleavage was front and center. An anger boiled deep inside Lisandra’s gut, something she didn’t recognize but was unable to ignore. She wanted to slap the stupid, pouty smile right off the woman’s face. Wow! That was a new feeling for her. She was not a fighter, and even if she was, there was no reason for her to want to fight this woman. Yes, the woman was clearly trying to get Ricardo’s attention, but that was none of her business. It wasn’t like Ricardo was hers… yet. As soon as that thought crossed her mind it was overpowered by one that was stronger… Mine!
“Do you have the key?” Ricardo addressed the woman stiffly.
“Why, of course, Hun. It’s right here,” the woman said. Her southern accent was so thick it felt like she was intentionally exaggerating it when she spoke. She probably thought that it was sexy. Lisandra had to bite her tongue to keep from telling her that it was not.
The keys she held up for Ricardo were practically tucked into her bra, she held them so close to her cleavage. When Ricardo snatched them from her hand without so much as a glance at her chest, she looked like she wanted to spit fire. She glared at Lisandra ever so briefly, but Lisandra did not miss the icy look in her eyes, just like she was sure the woman didn’t miss the hint of humor in hers. Lisandra had no claim on Ricardo. Hell, he was just some guy who saved her life, but she still took pleasure in seeing him dismiss this woman’s attempts at flirting.
The woman quickly fixed her smile and reached over, lightly placing her hand on Ricardo’s arm. “I could give you the tour,” she said in what I assumed was her most sensual voice.
Ricardo practically snatched his arm away. “It’s my house. I can find my own way around. The renovation did not change the floor plan.”
Lisandra laughed. She couldn’t help it. The way the woman’s jaw dropped open, her chin nearly hitting those boobs she’d tried to shove into Ricardo’s face. It was just… hilarious.
Ricardo turned away from the woman and pulled Lisandra along beside him up to the house. Lisandra quickly stopped laughing the moment Ricardo pushed the door open, and they stepped inside. It was like being transported into a different life, a different world. At least it was different compared to anything she’d ever known. The large foyer was greeted by a grand double staircase that led up to an open living space. The railings were wrapped in ornate golden flowers, and something told me the gold was not fake. Ricardo kept her hand in his and walked across the open floor beneath the landing of the staircase, taking them into the chef’s kitchen. The countertops were quartz, with flecks of glitter or something equally luminous. The refrigerator and dishwasher were nearly invisible as they faded into the deep mahogany wood of the cabinets. There was a six-burner gas stove, and the largest kitchen island Lisandra had ever seen. They kept moving past the kitchen to the dining room, fit with a table larger than anything she would have imagined in a king’s dining hall. The living room was next, but it looked more like a super comfortable movie theater. Lisandra tried to stop, to take it all in, but Ricardo was apparently on a mission and kept pulling her along until he was opening a door into the largest bedroom she’d ever seen. She had lived in a two-bedroom apartment back in South Carolina that was smaller than this one room. It must have taken up half of the bottom floor of the house, and considering the massive size of the house, that was saying a lot. It was big enough there was a king-sized bed on one wall and across from it was a large sectional couch including a lounger sitting next to so many bookshelves she imagined the bedroom could also be considered a small library.
Ricardo finally released her hand and walked over to the bed and pulled down the blankets. “Here,” he said, “you should lay down. You are going to need your rest.”
“Lay down?” Lisandra looked from him to the bed and back again, trying to figure out when she had led him to believe she was some child who could be told what to do.Probably when you let him talk you into leaving without hunting down Allison first,she thought. Looking back up at a very expectant Ricardo, she crossed her arms and didn’t make a move. “Right now my head is spinning,” she said. “Laying down is the last thing on my mind. You said once we were somewhere safe we would find Allison. That is what I plan to do.” She looked back down at the bed. “I’m damn sure not taking a nap in some random person’s bed in a house that costs more than I’ll make in my whole life. Hell, I’m honestly afraid to touch anything in here.”
He stepped towards her but seemed to think better of it when she moved back and stopped. “Everything here is mine,” he said. “You may touch whatever you wish, but you really should rest now.”
“This place had to cost a fortune.”
Ricardo shrugged. “I’ve lived a long time. Money is just paper to me at this point. I’ve got more than any person could ever spend. No big deal.”
Lisandra nearly fell over. No big deal. Money is no big deal? How rich did a person have to be to think of money as something as easily disposable as paper?
Ricardo held the blanket up, indicating Lisandra should climb into the bed. She felt her eyes grow wide, taking in her extravagant surroundings once again. Looking down, she was reminded of the reason she’d met Ricardo and how she’d come to be with him in the first place. Blood covered her shirt. There was no way she was going to get in the bed that way.
Picking at her shirt, she met Ricardo’s impatient look. “What I need is a shower and some clean clothes, and then we have to find Allison. I can rest after we find her.”
“You must rest first, Lisandra. Your body went through a lot when I saved you, and you are still changing. Until that change is complete, you will need lots of sleep.”
“You still haven’t told me how you saved me.” She watched as he stiffened, but it was brief and he quickly righted himself. “You only said that you had to change me to do so. What does that mean?”
Looking away from her, he ran his hands through his dark hair, and she tried not to think that the gesture was somehow sexy, but there probably wasn’t much he could do that wouldn’t be considered sexy.
“You can shower after you rest,” he said without turning back to look at her. “I will make sure you have clean clothes ready when you wake up so you can shower if you like. We will discuss everything then, but only after you rest.”
Lisandra stared at him for a few minutes, but he didn’t budge, and something told her he was not going to back down. If she were honest with herself, she was exhausted, and that bed did look enticing. “Fine,” she said. The dizzy feeling that had overcome her before they left the hotel had not fully left her, anyway. “I’ll rest for a while, but I’m not climbing in that bed with these clothes on. How about some privacy so I can remove them, and I promise I will lay down and try to take a nap?”
Ricardo turned back to face her, his lips thinned, a sign he was losing patience, something Lisandra didn’t understand. For whatever reason, he’d decided he had to take care of her. Maybe if she took a nap, or rested like he kept saying, then he would answer some of her questions and help her understand his need to make sure she was taken care of. After a moment of neither of them budging, Ricardo closed his eyes and turned his head towards the wall opposite the bedside.
“Thank you,” she said, then she quickly removed her blood-stained clothes. She used them to wipe the blood from her skin the best she could. When she ran her fingers over her neck, she noticed her wound was completely gone, the pain too. She climbed into the bed and made sure she was completely covered before she called out Ricardo’s name. “Ricardo.”
“Yes.” He turned to face her.
