Obsession: The Hollow Universe Read online

  Inhaling carefully, I nodded. “I’d really like all of you with me for Christmas. You’re going to love breakfast.”

  Each of the team hugged me. It was the most physical contact I’d had from other people at one time ever and I soaked it up. I blushed all the way to the house.

  Mom greeted me at the door with kisses all over my face.

  Dad walked swiftly from his office to grab me up like a sack of potatoes and spun me around, shouting, “Merry Christmas, my little Ellie elf.”

  He didn’t put me down but carried me through the house to the dining room, bouncing me like he had when I was a kid.

  “You gotta stop doing this, Dad. I’m way too big.”

  “Nonsense. I’ll stop when I break a hip.”

  “That’s comforting. Thanks for that.” He shook me one more time and put me on my feet with a smacking kiss to my cheek. “I think I’m dizzy.”

  “Mimosas help with that!” Mom shouted with glee and I realized she’d already had a couple. “You can all crash here tonight if you want to drink.” To my team, she added, “You’re the closest people to our Ellie and don’t think I’m not grateful. I sleep so much better knowing all of you are on the case.”

  Dad added, “We got you a little something that’s small now but growing fast.” He took envelopes from his back pocket and handed them to my team, squinting at the names he’d written on the front. “Forgot my glasses.”

  I should have known my parents wouldn’t forget gifts for the people who protected me. They were wonderful about rewarding staff throughout the organization and on the estate.

  The envelopes held options in a technology company they purchased the year before that was developing several new devices for the deaf and blind.

  Products that would change the world.

  Hyde’s eyes widened and he looked at my father. “You pay us well for the privilege of guarding your daughter. This isn’t necessary, Mr. Fields.”

  Mom lifted her mimosa. “I disagree!” Realizing how loud she was, she gave a giggle and started again in a whisper. “Our Ellie has never looked so relaxed. That’s worth more than you realize. Merry Christmas to each of you and thanks.”

  I hugged my parents tightly. “I love you guys.”

  “We love you, sweetheart. We’re going to make you eat until we have to roll you upstairs to get ready for the party tonight.”

  By the time we were done with the annual breakfast feast, I truly worried I wouldn’t fit in my gown.

  Si disappeared into the kitchen to talk with Cook. For years, I’d been asking the woman who ruled over that domain her name.

  In a crisp British accent, she always responded, “It is tradition not to use a given name. You will call me Cook.”

  I always had.

  Until Si charmed the woman’s name from her and whispered to me later, “Her name is Gladys. Her secret ingredient in your favorite cake is a small spoonful of homemade mayonnaise. I’ll continue recon and report.”

  I laughed for ten minutes.

  “Food coma. Oh my god, I can barely keep my eyes open. I’m going to take a disgusting nap like a little kid.”

  “Do it, Ellie. I bet you still don’t sleep enough and we’re keeping you up to all hours tonight. Party starts at seven but come down whenever you feel like facing the masses.”

  I hugged them both and made my way to the suite I’d lived in most of my life. Hyde and Padme saw me to the door.

  “I’ll wake you in time to get ready, Ellie.”

  “Thanks. I can’t believe how exhausted I am. Way too many carbs.” I grinned. “Nap time. Crash for a few hours in the other rooms.” I gestured tiredly. “There are…plenty.”

  * * *

  Dropping to sleep the moment I laid my head on the pillow, I startled awake in the late afternoon and raced to my door, throwing it open.

  Hyde looked at me. “Are you alright, Ellie?”

  “You stood here the whole time?”

  “Of course. Are you rested? Padme was going to give you another hour. You have plenty of time.”

  I blinked up at him. “Hyde. We’re in the main house. You don’t have to do that. I’ve always been safe here.”

  “Yes.” He didn’t say anything else.

  Leaning against the door jamb, I crossed my arms. “I have to think you had the shittiest assignments on the planet. They must have been horribly dangerous, dirty, and awful.”

  Smiling, he asked, “Why would you think that?”

  “You’re standing here. Even my parents’ personal security doesn’t stand outside the door when they’re asleep. They have a wonderful seating area down the hall where they can crash and eat, play video games.”

  Matching my posture on the opposite side of the door, he stared at me for a long time in silence.

  “You don’t have to work so much, Hyde. I’m okay. I doubt I’ve ever been safer actually.”

  “Sleep is when you’re most vulnerable. I stand here as much for myself as for you. Your last name, your resources are not what make me glad to do it. It’s your actions as a human being. You want to change the world and I believe you’re capable of it so I’ll stand here, guarding you while your guard is down.”

  Softly, I said, “Thank you, Hyde.”

  “You’re welcome, Ellie.” He straightened. “Padme will be here to help in a while. Do you need anything?”

  “I think I’ll take a soak. She can come in when she gets here. No rush.”

  “I’ll tell her.”

  I turned to go back inside and paused to look at him over my shoulder. “I think you’re the first person to ever consistently speak to me like an adult. It means a lot to me.”

  “A woman who puts abused children and displaced families ahead of trips to Vegas to party with friends earns my respect, Ellie. I know your life suffocates you sometimes. Let me know what you need to help with that.”

  Nodding, I watched him pull my door closed.

  I ran a tub and sank into the hot water with a sigh. My thoughts turned to my bodyguard.

  It wasn’t a new development.

  I touched myself with his face in my mind as I so often did in the dark of the night. I sighed his name to the steamy bathroom and imagined his hands touching me.

  Until Hyde entered my life, I never wanted a man to touch me.

  A quiet, almost desperate, orgasm crashed over my body and I stayed in the water, thinking about the man who inspired it.

  It was hard to stand up and walk to my shower, harder still to face my assistant and the object of my quiet obsession without blushing.

  Padme kept up a light conversation as she styled my hair and applied makeup. My responses were minimal.

  Hyde stood outside my open door and I found myself staring at the part of him I could see in the mirror.

  “Ellie?” Padme said gently.

  “Yes?” I blushed again, worried she might have figured out what stole my attention.

  “Let’s get you in your gown.”

  Dressed in finery for the annual holiday party, I descended the stairs of my childhood home with my team.

  For hours, I danced and laughed and talked with the guests invited by my parents to celebrate. Their old friends and colleagues, who’d been a constant fixture in my life.

  I kept Hyde in my peripheral vision.

  When our eyes met, he smiled and I couldn’t help but return it. By the end of the night, my cheeks hurt from smiling.

  It was the best Christmas in my memory.

  Having so many people I cared about together was better than any physical gift could be. It was the first time I felt as though I was truly healing from Preston’s loss.

  It was also the night I admitted to myself that I’d fallen deeply in love with Hyde.

  No matter how inappropriate, no matter how misplaced…

  I loved him.

  Chapter Seven

  June 2011

  During a small break from school, my parents insisted on a family vacat
ion to the Maldives.

  I dreaded the idea.

  Setting down my fork as I looked at my parents over the smaller and far more comfortable breakfast table, I said quietly, “I’m terrible on vacation. You know that.”

  “That’s because you read the entire time and are nervous to explore.” Mom gestured to my team. “Now you have your own posse to explore unfamiliar places.”

  “Never say posse again, Mom. I’m serious. Don’t.” She laughed. I looked at Hyde and Padme and realized they were looking at me. “It’s not a vacation if you’re still working.”

  Directly across from me, Hyde leaned forward and crossed his arms on the table. For a long minute, he didn’t speak.

  Then he said quietly, “You take no time off. You don’t go anywhere that isn’t for the charitable organization. The workload you manage for school is outrageous. You need a vacation, Ellie. Don’t worry about anyone but you. We’ve traveled. The Maldives are beautiful.”

  I was unable to look away from his intense gaze until…

  “I have just the bathing suit for you, Ellie!” The words from my mother terrified me instantly. “I’ll order it for you.”

  Turning my head sharply, I hissed, “Absolutely not.”

  She hmphed. “You’re from Texas. Home of the debutantes. You gotta shake what your mama gave ya.”

  I closed my eyes and said quietly, “Dad. Make it stop. I’m begging you. Make. It. Stop.” He laughed and I heard barely concealed laughter from Padme at my side. “Mom, listen, I’m not sure what pop culture paraphernalia you’ve been exposed to recently but you’re cut off.”

  Mom winked. “Pimp my something or club my house or I don’t know. When your father was away, I was flipping channels. Some of those shows are train wrecks and I can’t look away, Ellie!”

  “Take the cable out of your room and don’t order me a bathing suit. I’m serious. Your judgment is seriously messed up in that regard.” I finished my breakfast and gathered my plate a little while later. I asked with a sigh, “When do we leave?”

  Clapping her hands, my mom jumped up and ran around to kiss me. “Tomorrow! Let’s just go!”

  Frowning, I glanced at my dad. “Is Mom drunk?”

  He shrugged. “She’s been on a female empowerment thing the last few weeks. Forty years and the woman still takes me by surprise. Let’s go with it, Ellie.”

  I grinned and kissed my mom. “Female empowerment, huh?”

  She nodded happily. “You should have seen your father’s face when I did this little…”

  Screamed. I literally screamed. “I don’t know where that sentence is going. I don’t want to know. We don’t have to be one of those edgy modern families. I like the not knowing, Mom. I’m absolutely awesome with not knowing.”

  Hands on her hips, she said, “I was going to say strip…”

  I slammed down my plates and took off running. Hyde and my assistant raced behind me.

  We piled into the SUV for the drive to our house. As Padme started the car, she started to laugh.

  It was painfully contagious.

  * * *

  The next morning, we left for the Maldives. My parents found the most incredible resort with homes positioned out in the water. Wooden docks connected them.

  I loved it but questioned the security.

  Dad pointed below us and I could see divers moving through the crystal-clear water beneath the glass floor.

  “What…?” I managed.

  “Navy SEALs. The military loaned us a few. Wonderful of them.”

  I didn’t understand my dad’s excitement. I backed abruptly from the opening in the floor and bumped into Hyde behind me. He settled his hand on my shoulder.

  “These guys will be swimming under the house?”

  “Yes. Cool, right?”

  “What planet do you hail from and what have you done with my father? No, Dad. That’s not cool. The whole floor is open. How do I change and everything?”

  “Honey,” Mom popped in, “it’s just a body, you know. Our security team walks in on the craziest stuff. Last week…”

  “No, I don’t know, as you should realize about me by now.” Taking down my ponytail, I put it back up. “The closest I get to naked around other people is running clothes so I won’t be changing in front of Navy fucking SEALs!”

  The whispered hysteria that entered my voice was uncommon and clearly stunned everyone.

  My mom walked across the room and hugged me. “I’m teasing. The floors close. You’ll have privacy.” Leaning back, she held my face. “I blame your aunt Vera for my level of ridiculousness.”

  Inhaling carefully, I murmured, “Yeah, right.”

  “I’m sorry, darling.” She pulled me down to kiss my forehead. “What a demure young lady you are.”

  “I think the word you’re looking for is repressed.” I shrugged a shoulder, embarrassed. “What are the plans for today?”

  “Swimming. Drinking. A show later. I left a bathing suit in the bathroom for you.”

  “Still no.”

  “Break out of your shell. Try it on. You might like it.”

  I walked into the bathroom, took down the scraps of material, and laughed as I returned to the open main room.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. There’s like three inches of fabric on this thing. This isn’t breaking out of my shell, Mom. This is falling out of it.”

  “You never let me dress you anymore, Ellie.”

  “No, I don’t. I love you. Call me when you’re ready to do vacation stuff.”

  Grumbling, my mother allowed my father to lead her out.

  Handing the bathing suit – term used loosely – to Bianca, I said, “This will look amazing on you. I’ll stick with what works.”

  “You have a great body, Ellie,” the blonde said with one hand on her hip. “You should try it.”

  Shaking my head, I grabbed my bag and headed for the bathroom. “I’ll change. You guys pick whatever rooms and stuff you want. Put me anywhere. Please figure out how to close the floor.”

  One of the SEALs chose that moment to give me a thumbs-up and I waved stiltedly. “My life is beyond weird.”

  We spent a week in paradise and I celebrated my twenty-first birthday there. A milestone I’d honestly forgotten.

  I ran every day and caught up on my pleasure reading. I swam a lot wearing the boring sport bra and boy short suit I was comfortable in because it covered what needed covering.

  I wore sunglasses constantly so I could stare at a shirtless, barefoot Hyde without him knowing.

  The freedom to do so was the best part of the trip.

  The group photo taken at the outdoor birthday luau my parents threw me with local entertainment was a close second.

  My team huddled close and I felt Padme and Hyde’s arms circle my waist. It was so wonderful, I imagined my bodyguard’s thumb stroked over the exposed skin between my sarong and bathing suit top.

  “Closer!” Mom yelled. I wrapped my arms around my staff, ready to pass out from the warm firmness of Hyde’s skin under my palm and forearm. “That’s perfect!”

  I was grateful for the firelight and darkness that hid my blush.

  * * *

  The trip did me a world of good. It cleared my head. It was the first vacation to accomplish it.

  One afternoon, I stood at my back fence and watched a member of the stable staff pull up to the corrals on a motorcycle.

  I sighed. “That must be nice. Being in the open.”

  Hyde stood on one side of me and Fiaaz appeared on the other. In his voice flavored with the sounds of the Middle East, he told me, “I have a motorcycle.”

  Turning to him, I knew my eyes were wide. “What’s it like? To not be behind bulletproof glass on the road?”

  His expression was thoughtful, then he glanced over my shoulder at Hyde.

  Returning his attention to me, Fiaaz asked, “Would you like to find out?”

  “How?”

  “I’ll teach you to ride. T
here’s a closed track a few miles from here. It wouldn’t be difficult to secure the perimeter.”

  I glanced over my shoulder at Hyde and he smiled at me. “I’d love to do that.”

  “Then we’ll make it happen,” he answered without hesitation.

  They did everything they promised and I was grateful for the chance to learn something I never imagined would be possible for me. They often gave me what I thought was out of reach.

  Chapter Eight

  August 2012

  My primary reason for wanting to attend college in California was the proximity to several of our charities and the advantage of talking to some of our most prolific donors face to face.

  I graduated with my four-year degree in under three years and was in the middle of my graduate studies.

  During a short break, I was booked back to back at charity galas up and down the West Coast. My parents would attend several but in this area of my life, I was both knowledgeable and confident.

  I didn’t need my parents to take millions in donations from men and women I looked directly in the eye and asked for it.

  Preparing me for formal functions was frustrating and time-consuming. The fittings alone were enough to send me into lethargy and irritability for an entire day.

  One gala I was scheduled to attend required the use of a chartered plane since my father had his in Europe.

  At the insistence of our host, we’d be guests on their estate and I was certain my mother had something to do with the arrangement.

  She loved the Delkin siblings as much as she’d loved their mother, Hope. Friends since college, the two moms quietly plotted for me to end up in a romantic love match with one of the brothers. Hope’s death shook her to the core.

  It didn’t stop my mother’s plans. Since I was sixteen, she slyly planted the seeds in my mind which ensured a very specific reaction on my part.

  It absolutely wasn’t going to happen.

  As the limousine came to a stop in front of their grand front entrance, Harper Delkin himself was there to greet me. With stunning silver eyes and black hair swept back from his face, the oldest Delkin sibling assisted me from the interior.