Here's a sneak peek of an excerpt:
Mia felt like she was in a fairytale as she was ushered up
the wide, curving staircase by Prince Charming himself. It crossed her mind to
wonder if the guy was hitting on her—using the excuse that the carriage house
wasn’t ready so he could get her into his bed. She dismissed the idea before it
even had time to fully form. No way would a guy like Ellis Hughes ever be
interested in a girl like her. He probably had dozens of model and movie star
girl friends with perfect bodies draped in designer clothes all lined up and
desperate to be with him. He would never notice a girl like Mia outside of an
office setting.
Which is fine, she
told herself firmly. Never mix business
with pleasure.
At the top of the stairs was a wide expanse of gleaming
hardwood beneath a shimmering crystal chandelier. There were four closed doors
set in a semicircle around the landing. Stepping in front of her, Ellis led Mia
to one of them and pushed the door open. Turning, he gestured for her to enter.
“Oh,” Mia murmured in awe as she took in the room, really
more of a suite. In an L-shape, it contained a large four-poster bed and an
armoire on one side across from a huge walk-in closet, and a set of chairs and
a sofa grouped around a stone fireplace with a marble mantle on the other.
There were thick, brightly colored rugs scattered over the floor and tasteful
abstract paintings hung on the walls between the floor-to-ceiling windows.
“Does it suit you?” Ellis had moved behind her, so close she
could feel the warmth of his body against her back. Startled by his closeness,
she stepped away involuntarily but was stopped by his hands suddenly closing
over her upper arms.
“Excuse me,” she said reflexively, trying to pull away. She
was confused. Had her earlier fleeting assessment been correct? Was he trying to hit on her? Did she
tell him to cut it out, or just go with the flow? She needed this job, damn it.
She’d staked everything on it. She didn’t want to alienate the guy, but what
the hell did he think he was doing?
His grip tightened and Mia felt the first spurt of real fear
rush through her bloodstream. Her heart began to pound. “Ellis. You’re hurting
me.”
“Am I? Do forgive me.”
He let her go with one hand, but kept a tight hold on her
with the other. She tried to twist back to see what he was doing. He was
reaching for something in his pocket. She saw the glint of metal but before she
could react, he grabbed both her wrists, jerking them roughly behind her back.
“Hey! Stop it! Let go! You’re hurting me!” A wave of panic
crashed over Mia, leaving her gasping and breathless. She felt cold metal
closing over her wrists with a click. She jerked hard against the cuffs, but
this only resulted in them tightening painfully and cutting into her skin.
Her hands cuffed behind her, Ellis propelled Mia toward the
bed and threw her roughly down. “What’re you doing! Let me up! Let me go!” she
cried as she struggled to right herself. Ellis sat on the bed beside her and
pulled her roughly so her head was resting on his muscular thighs, her arms
caught painfully behind her. He clamped a heavy hand over her mouth and nose.
This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be happening.
Mia struggled in the man’s grip, panic and terror giving her
strength, but Ellis was stronger, much stronger. He held her down with apparent
ease, his hand still covering her face. She couldn’t breathe. She was going to
die. How had this happened? After years of loss, loneliness and dead ends,
she’d thought her life had finally taken a good turn. It had seemed too good to
be true—and now she realized as her head began to swim from lack of air—it had
been.
Through the roaring in her ears, Mia realized Ellis was
speaking. She strained to make out the words, desperate for the chance to
breathe. “I’m going to let go of your mouth, Mia, but when I do, you need to
stay quiet. If you start to scream again, it won’t go well for you.
Understand?”
She tried to nod and apparently succeeded because suddenly
the hard, heavy hand was gone. Mia gasped like a fish out of water as she
sucked in the life-giving oxygen. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and her
heart was smacking like a hammer against her ribcage.
“Please,” she begged, still gasping. “What are you doing?
Why are you doing this? I don’t understand what’s happening.”
“Shh. I didn’t give you permission to speak, Mia. From now
on you will only speak when given express permission to do so.”
What the hell?
Ellis was leaning over her, his gaze intent. He was smiling,
but there was a cruel curve to his lips she hadn’t noticed before, and his eyes
were glinting like polished stone. Keeping one hand firmly on her arm, he
reached into the neck of his shirt and pulled out a long, thin gold chain with
a small metal key dangling from it. He leaned over her, tugging at the cuffs as
he inserted the key. It was a relief when the tightly ratcheted cuffs were
released, but the relief was short lived as Ellis pushed her onto her back. He
grabbed her left arm, pulling it toward one of the bedposts at the head of the
bed.
While she thrashed helplessly against him, he held her arm
and wrapped something tight around her wrist. Straining to see what he was
doing, she realized he’d bound her into a Velcro cuff that was attached to the
post. He grabbed her other wrist, pulling it toward the other post and
attaching it to a cuff that was secured there.
Mia began to scream again as she jerked ineffectually
against the restraints, a rising wail of panic that she couldn’t have quelled
even if she’d wanted to. Ellis raised his hand as if to strike her.
Instinctively Mia turned her head, squeezing her eyes shut as she waited for
the blow. “Don’t hit me, don’t hit me,” she whimpered.
“Don’t give me cause,” he rejoined, his tone hard, but
mercifully he didn’t strike her.
Mia felt the lift in the mattress as Ellis stood. She opened
her eyes in time to see him pull something from beneath the bed. She saw he was
holding rope, which he uncoiled and wound around her ankles one at a time as
she watched in helpless terror. He forced her legs wide apart and secured them
to the posts at the end of the bed.
“Please, Ellis. Please,” she tried again. “I don’t
understand what’s happening. You’re really scaring me. Please, please, please—”
Her words were cut off by the sudden, stinging blow of the back of his hand
against her mouth. Stunned by the shock and the pain, Mia hiccupped into
silence.
“That’s better.” Ellis sat again, his eyes boring into
Mia’s. “You really need to calm down, Mia. I’m not going to kill you. Have a
little patience, and all will be revealed. All you need to do right now is lie
quiet and still while I inspect my new property.”
Property? What was
he talking about? Did he mean her?
Help me, help me, help
me, help me.
Mia didn’t know who she was asking, or if there was anyone
to hear her silent prayer, but the words continued to play in her head in a
desperate, pleading loop. She watched in horror as Ellis reached into his pants
pocket and withdrew a pocket knife.
Oh god, help me, help
me, help me, help me…
He flicked the knife open and gripped the neck of her new
dress with his other hand. Mia felt as if someone had removed the blood from
her veins and replaced it with ice water. She watched in silent terror as he
pressed the point of the knife into the fabric and drew it down, easily cutting
the flimsy fabric until the dress fell away from her body.
She began to tremble violently as Ellis slid the edge of the
knife between her breasts. She was, she knew, going to die. But instead of
plunging the sharp blade into her pounding heart, Ellis pulled it upward,
neatly cutting her bra in two. Before she could process the fact she was still
alive, he slipped the blade beneath the elastic waist of her panties and ripped
them from her body.
Ellis eyes were moving in a slow, appraising sweep over her
body, adding a hot layer of shame over Mia’s terror. Though a part of her knew
this was crazy thinking given the fact she probably had only seconds to live,
she hated for anyone to see her naked, even her prospective killer.
But instead of ending it all, Ellis sat down beside her and
reached for her face. Mia flinched and cried out in anticipation of another
blow, but he only drew his thumb along her cheek and said softly, “Hey, stop
crying. It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you, Mia. Not like this. As long as
you obey and do as you’re told, you’ll be okay, I promise.”
He spoke so kindly, as if comforting a child, but Mia just
cried harder. Ellis continued to stroke her cheek, his touch light, almost
soothing. “Shh,” he urged again, placing his other hand on her chest. “You need
to stop crying now. Your heart is beating way too fast. Slow your breathing.
Calm down, Mia. You’re okay.”
When Mia could finally catch her breath she begged, “Please.
I don’t know what’s happening. What are you doing? Why are you doing this?”
Ellis gazed at her without answering. His hand moved from
her face, along her throat and then closed over one breast. His touch was
light, even sensual, if such a thing was possible in the circumstance. “You
have a beautiful body, Mia. It’s a shame you carry this extra weight. It
indicates a lack of self-worth. We’ll need to work on that.”
Mia felt her face heat with humiliation and she tried to
turn her head, but Ellis stopped her, catching her chin between his forefinger
and thumb. “Hey,” he said, his voice still gentle. “You don’t need to blush.
You belong to me now. I’m going to fix all your imperfections. I’m going to
mold you into the perfect woman.”
No comments:
Post a Comment