Chapter 21 – Kidnapped by My Mate Novel (Belle & Grayson) Online Free by Annie Whipple

Filed To Story: Kidnapped by My Mate Novel (Belle & Grayson) Online Free by Annie Whipple

Once Grayson had officially paid, we stood and left, continuing our exploration of Paris.

I had never walked so much in my life; my feet were beginning to hurt, but I didn’t want my time with Grayson to end. It all felt so magical.

“This day hasn’t even felt real. It’s probably been the best day of my life,” I told Grayson, complete sincerity in my voice.

Grayson nodded his head in agreement, smiling. “Just you wait. Tomorrow, I’m taking you to the Louvre. You’ll be amazed.”

I stopped walking. “Tomorrow?” I asked. “I thought we were going home tomorrow.”

Grayson faced me. “Yes, but I thought one more day wouldn’t hurt. I must get back to my pack then, anyway. And my private jet won’t be ready until tomorrow night.”

“You have a private jet?” I asked in complete shock.

“Why didn’t you just fly that to Paris?”

He shrugged. “I only just bought it yesterday. I always had a strange stubbornness when it came to buying my own jet, always preferring to fly commercial. I didn’t understand it until I met you on that plane. It was because fate was setting me up to meet you.”

He came forward and pulled me into his chest, leaving a kiss on my forehead.

“Now, there’s no reason for me not to have my own jet. It’ll be much more convenient.” His body shook with laughter. “Also…I’m sort of never allowed to set foot in the MSP or Paris airport again after what happened on the last flight.”

I gawked at him. “Serves you right! You almost killed a man!”

Grayson laughed again. “I’ll say this one more time. He deserved it. No one looks at what is mine.”

I scoffed and shoved him away from me. “You’re a Neanderthal.”

I continued to walk, and he quickly caught up to me, taking my hand in his. He kissed the back of it.

“I’ll be a Neanderthal, as long as I get to keep you by my side.”

I blushed a deep red.

I thought about what he’d said. I couldn’t stay another day in Paris. I had to go home… I was already risking being kicked out of my apartment for not paying rent.

Actually, I probably would get kicked out.

I hadn’t worked in so long that I probably wouldn’t make my rent. Which meant I had to find a way to escape Grayson and get back to Minnesota.

Maybe I could convince the airline to reschedule my return flight on the cheap? I didn’t bother saying anything to Grayson. I knew that he would just try and convince me not to go.

It made me sad to think I’d have to go home tomorrow and continue working in my lame job at the diner, with my lame boss.

But I knew that this bizarre and beautiful dream couldn’t last forever, as much as part of me wished it could. As we continued to walk, Grayson wrapped his arm around my waist, tugging me close to him and looking down at me with a contented smile.

It made my chest feel warm.

He’s getting too attached to me.  At that realization, the warm feeling left my chest.

There was no way that this relationship could continue when we got back to Minnesota.

Sure, we only lived a couple of hours away from each other, but I had no car, no way of getting to him. And I wasn’t going to force him to drive to me every time I wanted to see him. I would feel too guilty.

I knew that the way he was making me feel would only make it harder for me to leave him and return to real life. The thought made me stop in my tracks.

Grayson stopped too and looked at me. “What?”

I breathed in deeply and wrapped my arms around myself.

“This isn’t a date,” I said firmly. The words hurt to say, but I kept my stance.

Grayson raised his eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

“In the restaurant, you called me your date. I just wanted to let you know that I don’t see this as a date.”

He licked his lips and approached me slowly. “Is that so?”

“Mmm,” I said, feeling more awkward and nervous now that he was standing right in front of me, looking down at me. Why does he have to be so tall?

“Do you want to know what I think?” He placed his thumb on my lips, tracing them.

I didn’t answer, too transfixed by the sparks in my mouth.

He leaned down so that his lips were touching my ear. “I think you desperately want this to be a date.” He took my ear into his mouth and bit down lightly. “And you know what? This is  a date, whether you want to admit it or not. You have no say in the matter.”

That made me fume. Why did he think he could control me? “I—”

“Shh…” He interrupted me. His voice became deeper. “Do you want to know what else I think?”

“No, I really—” I started.

“I think…,” Grayson interrupted yet again as I huffed, “that you haven’t been able to stop thinking about kissing me since the last time in our bedroom.” He wrapped an arm around me and brought me into his chest. Shivers ran up and down my spine.

“Because I know that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about your sweet lips on mine, and it’s been driving me mad.”

I tried to pull away from him, knowing where this was heading and that kissing him would definitely give him the wrong idea, but I couldn’t escape his firm grip.

Before I could protest, his lips were on mine. And I melted. I melted into a slimy puddle of goo in his arms.

Oh God, how am I ever going to leave him?

Once I had finally pushed Grayson away from me, feeling embarrassed to be having a hot make-out session in public, we caught a cab to a place where Grayson said there were a lot of cute shops that we could walk through.

The architecture of Paris amazed me. All the buildings were so beautiful and cohesive. The shops were all cool too. It was too bad that they were all way out of my price range.

As we continued to walk, I couldn’t help but wonder if we were anywhere near my mother.

This area kind of looked like where my mother lived based on my memory of the last time I’d gone to visit her. It was so long ago, but I remembered the trip so vividly.

She lived in an apartment above a shop called E.Dehillerin, a cute little cooking shop.

I’d loved walking around it, browsing when I’d come to visit with my dad years ago, especially because it had gotten me away from my mother.

“Grayson?”

He looked at me.

“Do you know if we’re anywhere near a shop called E.Dehillerin? A friend told me about it before I came, and I was just wondering if we’re close to it.”

“Let me check,” he said and took out his phone. I watched him type in his password, and I quickly put it to memory as it would be helpful to know for later.

“It’s actually only a few blocks from here—about a five-minute walk.”

My eyes widened. I was much closer to my mother than I’d thought.

“Did you want to go there?” Grayson asked.

“Hmm…” I thought about it. Did I want to go see my mother? This trip was supposed to be a visit to her, and she hadn’t heard from me since I’d gotten on the plane back in Minnesota.

I did sort of owe her an explanation as to why I hadn’t shown up to her house a couple of weeks ago. Plus, who knew when the next time I’d be able to contact her would be?

Grayson had taken my phone, and I had no money to buy another one. Now would be my only chance to talk to her. I was about to tell Grayson that I wanted to go there when I thought of something: I already had a plan to get back to Minnesota without him knowing.

If everything went smoothly, I would be on a plane tonight and back in the normal world by tomorrow.

I knew that Grayson would freak out. The last thing I needed was for him to go to my mother and demand information from her about how to find me.

What if he hurt her? I knew he was capable of violence, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if my mother got hurt because of me. Grayson couldn’t come with me.

But I had to go see her.

I shook my head quickly.

“No, I actually like the shops around here. But maybe later?” I asked.

Grayson smiled. “Of course.”

We continued walking, and Grayson kept one arm tightly around me. I couldn’t help but notice that no one was looking at us.

They all bowed their heads as we passed, keeping their eyes low to the ground.

It only happened once or twice that someone would accidentally look at us, and Grayson would let out a low growl under his breath and tug me closer to him.

The person would immediately look away and bare their neck to him. It shocked me how much power Grayson seemed to have over these people. Is everyone in Paris a werewolf?

We came across a small bookstore and I quickly pulled Grayson inside.

“C’mon,” I said. “I want to find a book.”

My anxiety was skyrocketing. Now was the time.

We looked around for a while as I came up with my plan. This store was actually cute. It was two stories and full of all sorts of books in both French and English.

There was an adorable old lady behind the front counter, helping people with a kind smile.

I turned to Grayson. “Will you help me find a book?”

Grayson looked at me. “Sure.”

I swallowed hard. I really hope this works.

“Okay, it’s called Hands of Gold and it’s by Michael Johnson. It was my dad’s favorite book, and I can’t think of a better place to buy it than in Paris.”

I felt guilty lying to him, but I didn’t have a choice. There wasn’t actually a book called Hands of Gold that I knew of, but I needed to get Grayson away from me for enough time to get to my mother.

“Absolutely. Let’s go find it,” Grayson said as he walked away.

“Wait,” I said, grabbing onto his hand. He stopped and turned to look at me.

“I don’t know what genre it is, so I thought that I would look down here and you could go upstairs and look for it. It could be science fiction, or fantasy, or horror, or mystery. I don’t know what the book is about, only that it was his favorite.”

“Okay…,” Grayson said slowly. “Are you sure you’re okay being away from me for a bit? I saw how freaked out you were at the coffee shop.”

I smiled, trying to calm my nerves. I actually was a bit worried about that.

“Well, we have to try it out sooner or later. You won’t be that far from me. And I really want to find this book.” I touched Grayson’s arm. “It would mean a lot to me.”

Grayson nodded, looking a bit hesitant as he took a step back.

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll be right back. Just shout if you need me, and I’ll be at your side within seconds.” He leaned down and gave me a kiss.

My body warmed up as his lips moved softly against mine.

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