Chapter 11

**Artemis**


Blue and I are both breathing hard.

I realize too late what I just said and I hate that I lost control like that. Actually, I hadn't been thinking when I said it. My mouth blurted it out before I knew what I was saying. Shit.

Then because I can't seem to control myself around her, my eyes travel down her body taking in every detail that I have yet to see. When I bumped into her she was wearing a baggy sweatshirt and loose jeans. Somehow Abigail had bought her clothes that fit her almost perfectly and is giving me a good idea of the body that hides beneath them.

"Those clothes look wrong on you." I blurt out.

Blue looks down at her outfit and blows out a breath.

"Yeah I thought so too, but I didn't have anything else. Plus Abigail went through the trouble to bring it so I didn't want to waste them. Plus she said it would give me a better image in the press since my last photos were less than appealing."

She said what?

"Why would that matter?" I ask her knowing full well why.

My mother wouldn't be caught dead looking less than her best. She engrained in us that anyone could have a camera trained on us and that we need to always look our best. Although I didn't care, my other siblings did and follow that rule to this day, but Blue isn't like them. I don't want her to be like them that's the whole point.

"She was wrong. We need to get you clothes that are something you would normally wear."

I take Blue's hand and move her away from my office door and throw it open.

"What are you doing?" She hisses at me.

"We're going to buy you clothes."

"Artemis! Wait!" She whisper yells but I ignore her.

"Mr. Rhodes." Abigail stands as soon as she sees me. "Is everything alright?"

"Tell Bryant to bring the car around."

She nods and quickly does as I ask without question. I continue dragging Blue behind me and has to jog to keep up with me.

"Artemis can you just stop for a second?" She says but I don't.

We reach my personal elevator and stand side by side to wait. I haven't let go of her hand yet and now that I realize it I don't want to. I want to see what she will do first. She doesn't pull away or say anything so I don't either.

The door opens and I walk in first and lead her inside. She looks around the smaller elevator with a glint in her eyes.

"Is this a personal elevator?" She asks.

"I have a thing about crowds," I say as an excuse but it's only because my focus is on where our hands are connected.

She laughs softly. "Same."

"Don't you perform in front of crowds?" I ask turning my head to look at her.

She's facing the door and has a small smile on her face. When I follow her eyes I can see a reflection of us. She looks small next to me, but not wrong.

"I do but I have to imagine I'm only performing with one person so I don't have a panic attack." She says.

"Who do you imagine?"

"My brother."

My head snaps to her. "You have a brother?"

She finally looks up at me and I see the pain in her eyes. "Foster brother."

Her eyes drop to the floor and she turns her head to face forward again.

"He died when he was seven. I found a guitar someone left on a curb to be thrown out and brought it home one day. He begged me to play a song for him, but I didn't know how to use it. So I pretended and thought of a song to sing to him. It was terrible but it made him smile."

She has a whistful smile on her face from the memory.

"What happened to him?"

Her smile falls and she swallows hard. "He made the mistake of upsetting our foster dad."

She doesn't elaborate but I can guess.

"Didn't anyone ask questions about what happened?"

She shakes her head. "There are so many kids in the system that some can fall through the cracks. Unless someone reports the foster families it's not often a social worker will bother coming to check on the kids. The foster families will just say they ran away and that will be it."

Shit.

I had no idea things like that happened. It makes me wonder...

"Did you ever get hurt by a foster parent?"

When she looks at me I have my answer, but she gives me a small smile.

"Not as bad as others, but I ran away as soon as I could."

"How old were you?"

"Fourteen."

"Where did you go?"

She sighs. "Everywhere. I took that beat-up guitar and traveled anywhere my money could take me."

Wait..."You were...homeless?"

She laughs and smiles at me. "I was until you decided you wanted to marry me."

I'm hit with a reality I hadn't considered when I went searching for her. I hadn't thought about what her life was like before I saw her. She told me it was peaceful and she was invisible but I didn't understand what that meant.

"Don't go feeling sorry for me. I was happy with my life. Never being tied down to one place. Going wherever my heart took me."

She makes her situation seem almost dream like but how much did she suffer during all that traveling? How much danger was she in? All she asked for was protection and now I wonder if this will be the first time she has ever experienced it.

I might have uprooted her life but now the guilt I felt is slowly melting away. She will have things she's never had before because of me and I'll make sure she gets them.

"I'm glad I found you," I say without thinking.

"Stalked me and hunted me down you mean."

I can't help but smile. "Semantics."

That makes her laugh.

When we reach the lobby I hear the sounds of people yelling and I see the crowd a second later. There are people gathered outside of our building now. First my home and now this? This needs to stop.

I feel Blue's hand tighten in mine and I feel an angry protection instinct kick in.

"What now?" She asks.

"Come with me." I take out my phone and send a text to Bryant to meet us at the service entrance behind the building.

"I have to say, this has been the most exciting day I've ever had."

She has no idea how crazy these people can get.

When we make it to the alley behind the building Bryant and Dane are waiting with the tinted SUV we keep parked in the underground parking garage.

Bryant opens the passenger door and Blue climbs in. She slides over to the other side of the seat to make room for me but I don't follow her.

"Artemis?"

I can't seem to move. My eyes are fixed on her and I feel this urge to be near her again. It's so strong that it feels wrong. I wasn't supposed to feel like this for the woman I would marry. It was supposed to be a contract marriage and nothing more. Then I made the mistake of asking questions about her. I wanted to know more, but that will lead to more and I can't have that.

She was meant to be a placeholder in a role I'm forced to fill and nothing more. Now I'm holding her hand and wanting more.

This is all wrong.

No. I need to put distance between us. I need to clear my head.

Her face falls and it's as if she sees the battle going on in my head. How does she know?

I pull out my wallet and take out one of the credit cards I own.

"Take this. Get whatever you need. I-I have some things I need to take care of."

She gingerly takes the card and holds it like a snake ready to strike. I shut the door so I don't have to see the disappointment on her face.

"Take care of her," I tell Bryant.

"Of course sir." He says with a nod and climbs into the driver's seat.

I watch them drive away until the car disappears.

My heart is beating loudly and harder than it ever has. My head is a twist of panic and something I can't explain. It's something I've never felt before but if I had to label it I would call it longing.

Longing to be near someone I barely know, but already feel a connection to. How is that possible? How can one woman turn me inside out and not do anything more than be near me?

She's going to be more of a problem than I thought.