Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 34532 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 173(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34532 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 173(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
“Why?” I gasp. “Why me?”
All my doubts surface. Why is he doing this? Is this some joke?
A man like Ash Thompson, doing all this for me? I know this is petty change for him, so am I just some game? A conquest he searched out on the internet? I’m so confused, but a part of me wants so badly to believe he could be feeling even an ounce of what I am right now.
“I know this is strange, but when I first saw your videos, something inside me came to life.” His lips glance over my flesh, then he comes around to walk in front of me. Reaching into a bag, he pulls out a red silk dress fit for a gala to which I will never be invited. Or I never thought I would be invited... “Then, when I saw you yesterday, when I touched your hand, I changed. If there is a heaven, that’s where you came from. It’s like you were dropped into my world to set me straight. To give me the one thing money can’t buy.”
“Then what is all this? Why have you spent so much money on someone you barely even know?” I blurt out, waving my hands around the room as he pulls out a box from the blue Tiffany bag, slips open the ribbon and lifts the lid on the hinged robin’s-egg blue box, showing me what looks like a platinum and diamond heart pendant on a delicate chain.
“As I said already, I’m not trying to buy you, Selma. I wanted to make a gesture, to show you a different side of life. One that could be yours. Do you not like it?”
He comes over to me and drapes the necklace around my neck. The cool metal almost feels painful against my hot skin.
“I do. But that’s the trouble. I shouldn’t. It’s prideful. Greedy.” Selma and Anastasia battle out the good and evil on each of my shoulders as I ignore them both, wickedly enjoying the decadence of the moment.
“Things are not bad. It’s what’s in here that determines who we are.” Ash places his index finger on my chest, just below where the weight of the pendant lays, and I’m sure he can feel the drumming of my heart under his touch.
“I’m stuck. My life...I’m stuck in my life.” I gasp out, unsure why or what I expect to happen here. But I know I’m feeling things for this man, the ultimate personification of so many things the Dresden Community thinks are evil.
I reach around with both hands to the clasp of the necklace and think of unhooking it and handing it back.
“Let me help you get unstuck, Selma. I want to help you.”
N I N E
Ash
I PULL HER HANDS FROM the back of her neck into my own, twining her fingers into mine, and my already hard cock aches for her. Blood rushes to my erection, making it more painful as she drops my hands and walks over to the dining table.
I watch as she raises her glass to her pink lips, and I want to be the glass.
Then she takes a sip of the wine, and I want to be the wine.
I hear the thud of my heart in my ears and my mouth waters thinking about how she will taste. I know she’s innocent. I know she’s naïve. But I also know nothing will stop me from making her mine.
A deep breath fills my lungs as I step beside her, I let the scent of fresh spring air and purity drift through me. I’ve canceled all my meetings for the next two days because she’s all I think about. She occupies my mind every waking moment, and when I sleep my dreams are filled with her beautiful face.
I take her hand and turn her to face me, bringing it up and laying it on my chest. “Have you ever kissed a man?”
I clear my throat, trying to prepare for her answer.
She shakes her head. “No. I’ve never been on a date, never done anything. I’m supposed to save everything for my husband.”
Husband.
The word throttles me.
I hear the defeat in her voice.
Hearing her say the word ‘husband,’ hits me in places I didn’t know existed before now. I’ve never wanted a wife. Never imagined a life as a husband...or as a father.
But right now, looking down at her, it’s all I see. I will be her husband. I will take care of her from now until the end.
As I breathe deep, I swear I catch a hint of arousal on the air, and it only makes my erection more painful. I feel like I’m high, intoxicated, and I never want to sober up.
“Let me help you, Selma.” I breathe as I lower my face to hers and feel her warm breath on my lips. “But I have to warn you about something.”