Chapter 3: GIDEON

There was a lot of planning to be done; according to what I find out today, my life is about to change drastically. Like I said, I'm not accustomed to being the hunter; I never needed to be.

And the fact that she was so young, well that changed things; there will have to be provisions made. I didn't want to cast her as just another one of my acquisitions. Somehow I knew she would be more than that, how much more is left to be seen.

Gage has finally arrived with his news. I had him leave me the packet with everything he found on my desk. I wanted to peruse alone at my own leisure. My heart raced with excitement at what I would find there. It really didn't matter, though. I'd already made up my mind; even if I had to wait to have her under me, I will take ownership very soon. There’s no way I could wait another year or two to approach her.

I have no idea what my head of security thinks is the reason for my sudden interest in the life of a teenage girl. I'm not in the habit of explaining myself.

Why would I? It's nobody's business; if he found my request strange, he never let on, though, which is why he's in my employ. He just does his job without question, which for a man in my position is a great asset.

Alone in my office with my feet up, I started to get to know my little Blossom: shit, three months before she turns eighteen. Oh well, three months isn't that long, and it's only my moral compass that stops me from going full tilt ahead. I wonder, though, how mature she could be at her age?

If all I'd wanted were a quick fuck it wouldn't matter that she was three months short of eighteen. I would just go for it, slake my lust, and be done, but I felt the need for something more.

My every instinct screamed at me to tread carefully. I always follow my instincts, and that's why I am where I am at such a young age. Old money might have been my foundation, but what I did with what I had is what makes me a force to be reckoned with. Her father is a high-ranking cop in their small town on the outskirts of the city. I wonder why she was coming here for school then? They had to have a school where she lived.

I looked up the place on the web since I’d never had cause to go there before.

Damn, one thousand people talk about small I employed ten times that many people all around the globe, maybe more.

"Ashley," I said it out loud for the first time and felt it burn my tongue as it went through me.

Even her name made me hard. I had to get myself together. There were things I needed to do, things I needed to set in motion, like our first meeting. Though I might consider holding off on anything too physical for the next little while, there is no fucking way I'm waiting to meet her.

Tomorrow then, tomorrow I will approach her, set the groundwork. I studied the picture Gage had included. Damn, she's beautiful. Something about her pulled at my protective instinct. Like I needed to grab her up and shield her from the rest of the big bad world. "Soon, my little Blossom." I rubbed my finger over her face as her eyes stared back at me. I put her picture in my inside pocket as I set to work on my strategy.