An Unexpected Love by Amber Riel (dar e dil novel online reading .TXT) 📕

          “Like what?” Cassie knew the answer but had to make sure it was what she was thinking.

          “If we’re dating,” Brandon felt like he needed to explain.  “They think that I have to get set up to go on a date.  They’ve already tried to set me up with Jessica’s friends….”

          Cassie figured Jessica was the name of Brandon’s sister in law so he didn’t have to go into details.

          “And well they’re all nice girls but not one of them are the kind of woman that I want.”

          “What do you mean?”

          “Well, they all want a one night…. Date,” he finished.

          “A one night date?” Cassie asked.  She knew what he was really hinting but didn’t want to say anything.  It bugged her that she was eighteen but there were things that adults didn’t like to say in front of her even if they were close in age.  It was as if she was a little child again.

          “Yea…. But I don’t want a one night date.  I just really want to meet the right woman, settle down, and start a family of my own.”

          Cassie could tell that this guy was actually telling the truth.  She was kind of amazed by what she had learned about Brandon with in the past couple of days.  She didn’t want to admit it but she was beginning to fall for her and in an odd way was glad that he had kidnapped.  He had seemed pretty normal so she couldn’t help herself and wanted to know more about the man.

          Cassie stood up and worked her way over to the only window in the room.  She couldn’t believe that it was already eight o’ clock time had flown by and the second day of being in Brandon’s house was almost over.  She felt something nudging at her hands and she turned her head to see Buck gnawing on the tape until the tape had split open and freed her hands.  “Thanks, boy.”  She turned to pat the over grown puppy on his head.

          His long pick tongue fell out of his mouth which met that he was enjoying the attention.

          Cassie painfully removed the rest of the tape from her arms as if she was removing a band aid and threw the remains into the small pink trash can which sat next to the dresser which was next to the window.  “And that’s why I don’t wax my arms.”  She a thought popped into her head as she looked around.  “Maybe I can try and escape.”  She worked her way over to the door and opened it.  She checked to make sure Brandon was nowhere in sight and quickly made her way out of the room, cautiously.

          Cassie worked her way down stairs and almost made it to the front door when she heard someone walk into the room.

          “How did you get out of the tape?” Brandon’s voice asked.  “And where do you think you’re going?”

          Wow.  Brandon sounded more like a controlling parent rather than a kidnapper.  Cassie turned to face him.  “Well, your very big mean guard dog ripped the tape for me and I….” She knew she couldn’t tell him the truth and knew he’d just threaten her anyway.  “I was going out for fresh air.  Okay.”

          Brandon kind of laughed.  He knew she was lying.  “Yea right.  You’re not going anywhere.”  He walked over to her, grabbed her arm, and dragged her up the stairs.

          “Where are we going?” Cassie asked.

          “To get more tape to keep your hands together.”

          “No…. Look, I don’t want any tape around my hands.”

          Brandon stopped and turned toward the young woman.  He went to speak but she cut him off.

          “I’ll stay here but I want my hands free.”

          Brandon thought about it.  He didn’t know if he should believe her or not.  He didn’t need to worry about her running off.  “You’re not going to try and get away, are you?”  It was a dumb question knowing that she could just be telling him what he wanted to hear.

          “No…. But if you try to tape my hands again then I’ll run down to the police station…. Okay.”

          Brandon looked at Cassie then to her hand.  Her hand was red from where the tape had been.  “Okay but you can’t leave this house.”

          “Okay.”

          He held her hand.  Her hand was so soft compared to his.  His hands were rough and he didn’t want to release her hand because he loved the feeling of her soft tender hands.

          “Hey,” Cassie said as she looked at Brandon and then to their hands.  “Um…. Brandon, you can let go of my hand now.”

          Brandon didn’t want to let go but he knew he had too.  “Oh…. Right.”  He released her hand from his grip.

          Their eyes met and Cassie had to look away quickly.  She knew she would say something stupid if she didn’t look away.  “I think that I’m just going to go to bed.”

          “Okay.  Good night….”

          Cassie turned and headed toward Laura’s room.

          “Sweet dreams.”

          Cassie’s hand sat on the door knob as she turned her head and smiled.  “Good night, Brandon.”

          Brandon smiled as he watched her walk into the room and she kept smiling at him as she closed the door.  He hated to admit it but he like how she said his name.  Some part of him was telling her she was the one.  They seemed to have enjoyed each other’s company even when they were arguing.

          Melinda picked up the phone and quickly dialed Jennie’s number.  She waited as the phone rang.

          “Hello,” Jennie said, kind of bored stiff and ready for bed.  Her voice had cut off the h in hello as she spoke.

          “Did you get any info on Cassie yet?”  Melinda asked, hoping for some good news.

          “Nope…. Not yet…. I really do hope that she’s okay though.”  Jennie let the sadness fill the areas of tiredness and boredom were.

          “I know.  It’s still a shocker to me too.”  Melinda wanted to do something to help the search for her missing friend.

          Cassie woke up to the sweet delightful smell of pancakes.  She stood up and sleepily walked out of the room and made her way down stairs as she followed the smell of breakfast toward the kitchen.

          Brandon stood at the stove, cooking breakfast.  “Good morning, sleepy head.”

          “Oh,” Cassie said.  “Good morning,” she yawned.

          “Remember, yesterday when I said that my niece was coming to stay the night?”

          “Yea…. She’s coming tonight, right?”

          “Yep.”  Brandon glanced at the clock which read 10:03 am.  “She’ll be here in an hour…. That means I’m going to be moving you into another room.”

          “What room?”

          “Oh…. You’ll find out.”

          “Okay.”

          Brandon knew where she had to go whether she agreed with it or not.  “You’ll have to eat kind of fast and I’m going to go fix Laura’s room so she won’t ask any questions.”  He placed a plate on the table as Cassie sat down and began eating as he left the room.

          “Mmm….” The sweet taste of syrup and buttered pancakes filled her mouth as she ate.  She had to admit that Brandon had done a great job.

          Brandon walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.  He noticed the dish which Cassie had used was washed and placed in the strainer to dry.  He turned to face her but she wasn’t there.  He began to freak at the worst possible thought.  He ran into the hallway and opened the front door as panic took control.  “Cassie!” he yelled.  “Cassie!”

          The girl wasn’t anywhere in sight.  He quickly closed the door and went to run up stairs as Cassie made her way down the steps.

          Brandon felt relieved but kind of ticked off.  He ran over to her and grabbed both of her arms.  “Where were you?”

          Cassie tried to pull away from him but his grip was too strong for her to try and fight.  “I was in the restroom…. Okay…. I really had to go.”

          Embarrassment filled Brandon as he released her arms.  “Oh.  Next time let me know.”

          “Okay.”

          Brandon checked his watch to see what time it was.  He only had three minutes to get Cassie into another room as soon as possible before his brother and his niece had arrived.  “You need to come with me.”  He kind of surprised Cassie by grabbing her arm and dragging her upstairs and toward another room.

          They walked into Brandon’s bed room.  It was the only other room in the house and Brandon had no choice but to have Cassie stay there.

“Is this your room?” Cassie asked.  She figured it was but still had to ask.

The dresser was filled with cheap clones which sat next to a small black TV and a DVD/VCR player.

“Yes,” Brandon answered.

“I don’t want to stay in here.”

“Well too bad.  Besides Laura’s room, this is the only other bed room and I don’t want to leave you in the garage.  It’s a disaster down there and I don’t think that a pretty young woman such as yourself should be stuck in a garage.  It’s not proper.  It would be like leaving a beautiful dame or princess in a dungeon.  I would never do that.”

Cassie felt herself blush with shock from Brandon’s words.  “Okay.  Well, I’m going to be staying here for a while and I’m going to need other outfits because I am not going to be stuck in these clothes forever.”

“Okay.  Well, I’ll go clothes shopping for you tomorrow after Laura leaves….”

“Okay but I want a different pair of clothes to change into for today.”

Brandon had no clue how he’d be able to make that happen seeing that he didn’t have clothes for any woman when a thought popped into his head.  He looked at Cassie and walked over to the dresser.  He opened it and pulled out a shirt that would fit Cassie.  It was a black T-shirt with white writing on it