“So, I’ve been thinking about the future,” Jane said after the waiter brought our drinks. The only light came from a votive candle and the moon. Both illuminated her silky hair and the soft, feminine planes of her face.
“The future?” I said. “Deep.”
“Not really. But I think I’m going to need something more to do than just go on camping trips and have hot sex with this guy I met on the street.”
I smiled at her. “Whoever he is, I hate him.”
“You should.” Smiling, she took a sip of her drink and set the tall, stemmed glass on the table. “As much as I love camping and sex and dinners out, this girl needs a life of her own.”
“And what does that life look like?”
She caught her lower lip between her teeth. “Well, that’s what I’m trying to figure out. I think Ruby might be part of the equation.”
“You are not going to steal the world’s best personal assistant,” I said in the sternest voice I could manage.
“Maybe she wants to be stolen. Did you know she’s always wanted to be an image consultant?”
“I’ve heard a few rumblings about that, yes.”
“Well, I think she’d be really successful. She’s already doing it on the side in her spare time, and she told me she could use some help.”
“And you’re thinking about it?”
Jane’s eyes were radiant and excited. “You said yourself that I’m organized, and I know how to work a room, especially if I’m not avoiding questions about who I am.”
“That would definitely make things easier.” I took her hand across the table. Truth be told, I loved having her to myself with nothing competing for her attention. But I’d never keep her from doing what made her happy, even if she spent time away from me. “It could be a pretty high-profile job,” I said. “Are you ready for that?”
“I can’t hide forever, Drex. If I want a life, I have to live it.”
Her strength and determination made her even sexier to me. “I’m proud of you,” I said. “I don’t think many people would come through this like you have.”
She lifted her shoulders. “Maybe I’m burying my head in the sand. I like my new life so much I don’t want to face the old one.”
“Or maybe the old one is finished, and the new one is here to stay.”
It was too easy to convince myself that her old life wasn’t as good as the one I’d given her. Maybe she was an orphan, without a husband or people who missed her. I couldn’t imagine how such a gorgeous and engaging woman wouldn’t be missed, but anything was possible. As long as that possibility kept her with me.
Call me selfish and irresponsible, but when I wanted something, I claimed it. I wanted Jane more than I’d wanted anything in my life, success, fame, and money included.
“I’ll need a name and a social security number and all that,” she said.
“I know. We’ll figure it out.”
She clenched my hand in her slender fingers. “Will we?” she asked, fixing me with an intense stare. “Will we really?”
“Of course, Jane. Together, we can do anything.”
And at that moment, I honestly believed that what I said was true.
The next morning, we woke up an hour before check-out and packed to leave.
I paused on my way out the door and looked over our room, number 17. After only one night, I already knew the way the bed squeaked, how the table felt under my naked back, and the way Drex’s deep voice echoed seductively against the bathroom tile. What a good time we’d had. We hadn’t slept much, but we’d made a lot of steamy memories.
Leaving the truck parked outside the room, we walked hand-in-hand along the cracked sidewalk to the motel office. It was a beautiful morning – sunny, with a dry breeze that lifted my hair and cooled my skin. A perfect day. A perfect weekend. A happiness so complete, I could almost believe I was untouchable.
I didn’t know if I’d ever experienced it before, but I was absolutely sure it was love.
Could I love a man after just three weeks? Could I be this certain? Time would tell. And hopefully, we had a lot more time ahead of us.
I looked up at Drex as he stood in the motel office. He made small talk with the white-haired woman behind the counter, but I hardly heard him. I was captivated by the movement of his perfect lips and the faint crinkles at the corners of his eyes. It wasn’t just how he looked, it was who he was. He radiated strength and character. And under that, something dark and sexy that drew me like an addiction.
I’d never find another man like him. I hoped I never had to try.
Behind the counter, an old television was broadcasting a soap opera. I glanced at the screen just as a camera zoomed in on a young actress’s tear-filled eyes.
“You two on your honeymoon?” asked the receptionist as she swiped Drex’s credit card.
“Um…” I said.
“We’re not, but we feel like we are,” Drex said. He smiled at me and I felt a flutter of pleasure to my toes. “Don’t we, Jane?”
All I could do was nod. Why did we have to be checking out instead of checking in? I’d give anything to go back and defile that squeaky bed all over again.
“She’s not usually this speechless,” Drex told the woman. “In fact, she has no trouble speaking her mind.”
“I bet you make women speechless all the time,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said with a bad-boy smile. “Or they have a lot of choice words for me.”
“That part is true,” I said. “I mean, from what I’ve heard.” The receptionist and I shared a smile.
As the credits rolled on the soap opera, dramatic piano music played. Had I ever liked soap operas? I’d have to watch a few back in Houston and see if I got hooked.
Drex was signing a copy of his receipt when a local news broadcast began blaring from the television.
“Thanks very much,” he said. “We had a great time.”
“Come stay with us again,” the receptionist said. “We’d love to have you.”
“We’ll definitely be back.”
He grabbed my hand and took a step toward the door. Then he stopped dead, pulling me with him.
“My God,” he said.
I turned with a frown. “What’s the matter?”
He said nothing. Skin prickling, I followed his gaze to the television screen.
And saw myself.
Join me for the finale of Drex and
Jane’s story, in Descended: Book Four.
“Jane was gone, vanished, ripped out of my life. But she was still mine. And I’d fight to the death for what was mine.”
The past has finally caught up with Jane. She can’t escape it, even if Drex owns her body, heart, and soul. No one will explain what happened to her, or why. Thrown into an unfamiliar world of people she doesn’t recognize, she struggles to move on and forget the man who saved and possessed her.
But the rules have never applied to Drex Cougan. And even if Jane belongs to someone else, nothing is off-limits, and defeat isn’t an option.
Purchase Descended: Book Four now
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Descended (The Red Blindfold Book 3) Page 20
