“You weren’t. Your mom was poisoning you.”
Before he could react, she jumped from his lap and raced into the nearest bathroom, where she leaned over the toilet and vomited everything in her stomach. He pulled her hair out of the way. Then he reached for the hand towel, got it wet, and started wiping her face.
He flushed when she finally stepped back, and then he caught her when she started to collapse. “Easy, I’ve got you.” He lifted her, took her into his bathroom, and sat her on the counter. He grabbed his mouthwash and poured a cap of it. “Here, baby, this will take the taste away.”
She did what he asked and then sat in a daze. He could tell she was in shock and was tempted to call the doctor to come to give her a sedative.
He carried her to his bed, laid her down, and pulled off her shoes. Then he took off his before he got in beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her back tightly against his chest. He nuzzled the top of her head. “Everything is going to be okay. I promise.”
She shook her head. “No, it won’t. My own mother doesn’t love me…”
“Baby, I know that’s fucked up, but your mother is a selfish, greedy bitch. It had nothing to do with you, and she probably does love you in her own way.”
“How am I going to do everything by myself?”
“You’re not. You’ve got me.”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t. You’ll have to go back to Arkansas, and I have to stay here.”
“No, little star. You’re coming with me.”
“I have a job here…”
“I talked to Michael. You’re going to live with me, and then we’ll come here for the two months the show tapes if you want to continue to do it.”
She looked over her shoulder at him. “You mean I don’t have to do it?”
“Hell, no. Not if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t like acting. I never have,” she admitted.
He chuckled. “Then you’re not going to do it any longer, except Michael needs us to come back in the fall for a week so you can do the last show before they remove you.”
“I can’t believe it. I really don’t have to do acting again?”
He relaxed when he heard the pleased dismay in her tone. “Believe it. You’re stuck with me, if that’s what you want.”
Bella turned around to face him. “Why?”
“Why what, baby?”
“Why are you taking me with you?”
He smiled at her. “Because you’re my little woman, and I love you.”
Her eyes widened. “You love me?”
“Yes, baby.”
A sob sprang from her mouth. “I love you, too. So much it hurts.”
Caleb couldn’t go another moment without kissing her. He was pleased that when he pressed his lips against hers, she automatically wrapped her arms around his neck to get as close to him as possible.
An ache started to grow as his cock hardened. As much as he wanted to tuck her under him, take her cherry for his own and then fuck her until she had no doubt she was his, he wouldn’t take advantage of her.
She’d just learned a lot of horrific things, and he needed to get her through that before he made love to her and made her his.
“Please, Caleb.”
“Baby. You’ve had several shocks, and I don’t want our first time to be associated with them. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Do you think you could eat?”
She shook her head, and the tears started rolling down her face again. He knew she had a lot of emotional issues to deal with, and the only thing he could do was be there for her.
He held her long into the night as she cried until she gagged.
The pain he felt at watching the person he loved most in his life hurt to this extent made him want to take out her mother once and for all. He could probably get it done but wouldn’t for two reasons. One, Bella might want to see her mother down the road, and two, he’d be taken from her if he was caught and go to prison. The thought of being away from her for any length of time nearly drove him to growl in agony.
Caleb had devoted himself to Bella from that very first day, and he wasn’t going to jeopardize his commitment in any way.