Liberty Begins (The Liberty Series) by Leigh James Page A

away from him, and I didn’t know what that meant.
    “That’s what I want, too,” he said, and put his hand on the small of my back, guiding me towards the red house. “We’ll be neighbors. I’ll always be near if you need me.” He reached down and grabbed my hand, lacing his fingers through mine.
    Something happened to me then. Some small spark of hope lit up in my heart. I hoped this was real. I hoped this would last. It was the first time I had let myself hope for something for a long, long time.
    I regretted it as soon as I felt it. Strippers can’t blush, and strippers don’t get happily ever afters. This stripper needed to wise up , I thought to myself. Fast.

    He’d taken me on a brief walk around the grounds, showing me the beautiful gardens, pool, and view of the dock and water; in the interim, someone had prepared my room. It wasn’t saying much, but the barracks were much nicer than my apartment. The floors were concrete and the walls were bare white but everything was immaculate, like it was scrubbed down on a daily basis. Someone had put adorable blue and white striped cotton sheets on my bed with a matching comforter, a bunch of coordinated pillows, and left several books there to read. Pride and Prejudice, The House of Mirth, all four Twilight books. Someone knew what I liked. It was freaky — someone knew exactly what I liked. A shiver went down my spine, and it wasn’t the pleasant kind. There was a dresser that had piles of neatly folded clothes on top; someone had bought more clothes for me as well. I peered into the bathroom and saw an abundant amount of expensive shampoos, soaps and lotion, along with what looked like a new makeup kit on the vanity.
    John had told me to shower, that he had a meeting and would be back to check on me afterwards. Then he had taken me back out into the hall. “The room on the right, past your bathroom, is Matthew’s,” he said. “The room immediately to the left is mine.” He turned to me and clasped my hands. “It’s very important to me that you’re comfortable here, and safe,” he said. “If you need anything, or if you have any concerns, I want you to tell me immediately. If I’m not available, get Matthew.”
    I nodded at him, silently. He leaned down and put his face against mine, and stroked my dirty hair like it was the most precious silk. “I’m so glad that you’re here,” he said, and kissed my cheek once, gently. Then he released me, and I watched his powerful backside as he strode down the hall.
    I was thinking about this as I stood under the steaming hot water of the shower, finally washing my hair. Whatever the shampoo was, its smell was so delicious it was making my mouth water. Or maybe I was salivating because I was thinking about the view of John’s behind ... or maybe I was just starving.
    My stomach rumbled at the thought and I started washing my hair again. Liberty, you need to keep your eye on the ball, the voice in my head said. I sighed. She was right. I was not thinking with my head — and the body part I was thinking with wasn’t asking the right questions, or really, any questions at all. Except for: When?
    As I cleared my head, I began to realize that I did have a lot of questions. To start with : Who had hired John to take me? Who did I know that had any resources at all, any connections? There was no one...but how did John know so much about me? I had checked the sizes on the clothes as I put them away, and all of them would fit me perfectly. How did he know? And who had told him who my favorite books were, and that I never tired of rereading them? What was the “training” we were going to do here? What the hell did that really mean?
    I shivered again.I wondered if he had spied on me…absurdly, the thought sent luscious waves down my spine. If I was thinking straight, I would be afraid. Instead, I felt perfectly safe.
    Enough, commanded the voice in my head. If you can’t be reasonable, think about this,