Taking Tessa Read Online Free

take care of me."
    Cage turned and set two white plates stacked high with pancakes at the breakfast bar in the kitchen. He poured glasses of water and orange juice to accompany them before gesturing me over. I sat, stabbed at a corner of a pancake, but my stomach was churning too much to digest anything, so instead I blurted, "Are you going to take me to the hospital?"
    "Nope." He shoved a bite into his mouth and chewed. "You said you weren't hurt."
    "I wasn't." The butterflies in my stomach calmed enough for a tiny bite. I chewed and relished the perfectly golden buttery cakes. "Are you going to take me to the police department?"
    "I should. You were kept against your will for years. You were a child, and he had you locked away for years. God, who knows what that piece of trash could have done to you. You need to report the situation, and I need to make sure you are okay and that he didn't hurt you." His eyes cut to mine, then back to his plate.
    "I don't think you need to."
    "And why's that?" He paused, one dark eyebrow arching in question.
    "There was no crime committed. It's just a waste of time and resources."
    Cage took another bite while working my words over in his head. I got the sense he was a man of very few words, but when he spoke, people listened. "There was a crime committed. If nothing else, the neglect of a child, and that is at minimum. But I will hear you out. I promise not to do anything until I get the whole story. I need to know a few more things before I make that decision."
    I paused, suddenly feeling like we were in some sort of tête-à-tête that was only twisting my tummy. "You know, I'm nineteen, I could just walk out of here and never turn back."
    "But you won't." Cage stood, his massive body now looming over the small space. It hadn't registered before how big he actually was, his biceps straining at the cotton fabric of his shirt, jeans hugging his waist perfectly. I wondered what my hands on his body would feel like. I'd never touched a man, was never even attracted to TV personalities, but this man made feelings churn deep inside me that had never churned before.
    "How do you know what I will and won't do?"
    "'Cause you're safe here." He tipped my chin up to meet his eyes, and suddenly his touch was charged with something else entirely. "And we both know that means everything." He was right, I did feel safe with him around, and like a woman for the first time ever. "Washed up your dress last night. When you're done eating, go get ready and I'll take you shopping, get you some things that actually fit."
    He thumbed the cotton at my neckline and sent shivers cascading through my bloodstream.
    "You washed my dress?"
    Cage only nodded before turning away and cleaning up the small mess he'd made in the kitchen. "We'll talk more later, but I can't stand to see you in rags anymore. You look sweet in my shirt, but I have a feeling you don't want to smell like me all the time."
    He was wrong. A very big, very shocked part of me did want that. He'd saved me from a life of horrors in that house, and now he was here taking care of me. How could I not be utterly taken with him? I remember my mother reading me stories as a little girl about these princesses locked up in a tower and princes coming to rescue them. I never thought anyone would come for me, but here was this man, this handsome, kind man, and he was my knight. He was what I was dreaming about all those nights when I was scared and alone. I was instantly terrified that all that would be taken away, if my step-father came to find me, if Cage decided he didn’t have time and asked me to leave, then where would I be?

    C age hauled me through every women's shop in the mall, from the trendy and cheap to the high end and glamourous. I'd never been doted on so sweetly before, and when his palm nestled at the small of my back as he led me through a crowd, my heart had done flip flops in my chest. Cage made me feel things I never knew a girl could feel.