Page 17 of Stryker's Ruin
I hand her the wad of cash Vince gave me and my credit card. His money will barely cover the cost of the evening wear he requires she have. The fucking scrooge is loaded, and he can’t even outfit his granddaughter decently. “The evening gowns and those accessories are out of the cash with a separate receipt. What the cash doesn’t cover on them goes with the rest on my card.”
“Yes, sir.”
A few moments later Ruin walks out and takes my breath away. She is so fucking beautiful. So natural. No airs or theatrics. I take her hand in mine and kiss the back. “You are so beautiful. Did you look in the mirror and see how gorgeous you are? Damn, you’re going to be spinning heads all day.”
Blushing, she looks up at me. “Stryker, what did you do? I heard you tell Charmaine to use your credit card. Did you buy more than what Vince approved? He won’t be happy.”
“I don’t care about Vince. I care that you are happy, and that you got to choose what you like. You deserve beautiful things, to be pampered. Soon you won’t be his responsibility and you can do whatever you want.” The thought of her with Garvey O’Kelley sets off all my possessive feelings. I don’t trust the guy and I don’t want him near my innocent Ruin. I’ve already asked the team to dig deeper into him.
Her gaze dims and she slips her hand from mine. Fuck me, I’ve ruined it for her.
After we’re done with Charmaine I lead Ruin outside.
“Have you met O’Kelley?” She tenses and shakes her head. “Talked to him on the phone? Seen a picture?” Her soulful gaze says it all. She doesn’t even know the asshole she’s being given to.
“What’s next?” she asks, fingering the new purse draped over her shoulder.
“We’re going to grab pizza then go to the Art institute and any stops you want to make on the way.”
After eating and spending a couple hours at the museum, we leisurely stroll along the streets. Watching her take everything in is my entertainment. I love how she finds joy in everything.
“Oh Stryker, is this a library? Can we go in?”
“It’s a bookstore, and yes we can go in.” I point out how she can tell the topics of the different shelves then just follow her around. She goes from rack to rack, aisle to aisle glancing at the titles, touching the spines, occasionally pulling one out to read the first page. When we reach the table where the romance books are laid out, she moves forward. “Ettore had one like this.”
“Did you read it?”
She blushes but nods. “She said these are written by strong women for other women to enjoy.”
“Why don’t you look through them and pick a few out.”
“Vince would never approve.”
“He’s not buying them. I am. Just look. See if any catch your interest.”
She quickly finds three, then two more. I see her debating over a couple more, but she puts them back keeping only three in her hands. Noticing a basket under the counter I snag it and grab the ones she put back. So excited by all the options she doesn’t even notice. The three books change then change back. Only one has remained constant. The basket is up to ten when she looks at me and says she’s done handing me the three she holds.
“We’ve been running around for hours. Let’s go home and you can take a nap or read. I have dinner reservations for us and one more thing to show you later tonight. Tomorrow we can visit another museum in the morning before we have your fam— dinner meeting.”
She nods. At the apartment the first thing she wants to open is the bag of books. “Stryker! You bought all these for me! I thought you were buying for yourself, too. I shouldn’t have looked at so many.”
“Ruin, do they bring you joy? That’s all that’s important to me. How about you take one and lie in bed to read. I have some work to catch up on.”
“Are you going to work beside me, like you did last night?”
“Sure. Let’s get the clothes put away first.”
My phone rings and I look down to see its Brian, the concierge. “Yeah?”
“A special delivery just arrived. I think it’s the one you were looking for and I’ve got the two suitcases you asked me to pick up for you.”
“Great timing. Can you bring them up?”
“Sure.”
“No unusual activity today, right?”
“No and I’ve taken care of all your requests personally.”