playmate.”
Helena always acted this way, like he was something bad for her but that she couldn’t help herself. That worked. He gave her a brief smile and said, “You forgot to say Master, my lovely.”
She grabbed Josh’s shirt, pulling him through the doorway, then closed it behind him. Her perfume made Josh’s eyelids flutter. His nose twitched, but he inhaled her intoxicating scent and let it wash over him, stirring his groin, sending the hairs at the back of his neck into prickly attention. It was good to feel the sensual again. He felt welcomed into her lusty world.
She wore a light pink peignoir, see-through, of course. Her tiny feet were encapsulated in golden tasseled red slippers that matched the color of her full red lips. Helena’s body was perfect, Josh thought. That was one of the reasons he’d chosen to turn her. Her knotted, light pink nipples touched his white silk shirt as she stepped into him. He drew her body deeply to him with an arm around her waist. She looked at him under half-lidded eyes just before their lips touched, and her soft moan as their tongues connected sent him on the sensual journey he was seeking. The universe was suddenly contained in the warm mounds of flesh his hands explored. He felt the welcome he had needed.
She took his hand and they stepped quietly up the grand spiral staircase under an antique stained glass skylight. Candlelight lit the house, and the flickering gave a golden glow to the rooms and hallway, almost bringing life to several marble statues of naked women. The red carpeting in the hallway was thick and plush under his tired feet.
They moved silently to large wooden double doors that she pulled open, revealing an inner chamber of peaches and blush pinks like the folds of her body. Her large four-poster bed was covered in silvery satin pillows. The room warmed by the blaze from the large heavily veined marble fireplace. He intended to spend at least twenty-four hours in her company. He needed the loving only she was capable of providing him. He needed her skin to polish his, to take out the stiffness, to ease all the rough parts. To warm him to the depths of his soul. Make him liquid again. Make him forget his future. Make him forget the charms of the little human woman.
Melanie.
Chapter 8
Melanie accepted her parents’ invitation for dinner because Felix’s father and stepmother were going to join them. She hadn’t seen the couple since Felix’s funeral. Her mother also let slip they had a friend they wanted her to meet, a single and brilliant young attorney who was her father’s law firm. She knew the evening was a setup. Melanie considered the chances her mother would ever find anyone remotely of interest to her near impossible. Chances he would get into her pants: zero.
Cold day in Hell.
Melanie knew her parents had bought and paid for her by getting her the little shop. She could see how her mother would think of this little dinner tonight as payback.
Why? What are you looking to get, mother?
She wore black velvet pants and a white cotton top with ruffled lace up to her collar. The old mansion was chilly, so she welcomed the long-sleeved shirt, one of her favorites, but she also added a silk vest in stripes of green and turquoise from material a friend had brought from Bali. She’d decided to wear her hair down but had curled it, something she rarely did these days. She wore the little silver heart earrings Felix had given her on the day they decided where and when the suicide was to take place. She wondered if his parents would recognize the heart-shaped earrings Felix had bought her.
The cab dropped her off at the front gate and she walked the crushed granite driveway in the sparkling night, needing a little time to herself. A red Maserati was parked behind a large black Mercedes near the entrance. She guessed the “guest” was the Maserati type, and Felix’s parents the Mercedes owners. Chattering voices came through the
William W. Johnstone
Suzanne Brockmann
Kizzie Waller
Kate Hardy
Sophie Wintner
Celia Kyle, Lauren Creed
Renee Field
Chris Philbrook
Josi S. Kilpack
Alex Wheatle