The Devil's Salvation: Final Epilogue (The Devil's Kiss #4)
Page 1
Contents
Copyright
Summary
Titles by Gemma James
Acknowledgments
1. Inferno
2. Mine
3. Last Chance
4. Girl Talk
5. Fairytale
6. Taken
7. Return of the Master
8. Yes
9. Love Me
10. Afterglow
11. Hesitant
12. Denied
13. Crazy Normal
14. Doubt
15. O.M.G.
16. Destroyed
17. Banished
18. Purgatory
19. Gone
20. Finding Home
21. Mistress
22. Infinity
23. Over the Rose Petals
Note From the Author
About the Author
THE DEVIL’S SALVATION: FINAL EPILOGUE
Copyright © 2013 Gemma James
Edited by Janet Taylor-Perry
Cover design by Gemma James
Cover images used under license from www.bigstockphoto.com
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
NOTE TO READERS: THE DEVIL'S SALVATION: FINAL EPILOGUE is a novella/short novel with a BDSM edge and contains material that is only suitable for adult readers. Intended for those who enjoy a dark and gritty read. For a better reading experience, I recommend reading THE DEVIL’S KISS TRILOGY first. Approximately 42,000 words.
SUMMARY:
It's been a year since Kayla Sutton walked away from Gage Channing, the man who blackmailed her into sexual slavery. Now he's back, and so is Ian Kaplan, Kayla's one-time lover from her college days. Both men want her, but only one holds the power to make her submit—to her own dark desires and to the truth she still denies, even to herself.
But Gage's jealousy is his worst enemy, and when he thinks Kayla has chosen Ian, he sets in motion a drastic plan to claim what's his. Only Kayla never expects him to infiltrate her heart so effortlessly; and she never dreamed there would come a day when he wouldn't want her—when the mere sight of her turns him away in disgust.
He believes she’s committed the ultimate sin, but will she use his mistake to finally escape the cage of his obsession? Or will she do whatever it takes to make him see he can entrust his heart to her…just as she's already lost the core of her being to him?
TITLES BY GEMMA JAMES
(a pseudonym for Christina Jean Michaels)
Titles written as Gemma James:
ULTIMATUM (The Devil's Kiss #1)
ENSLAVED (The Devil's Kiss #2)
RETRIBUTION (The Devil's Kiss #3)
THE DEVIL'S KISS TRILOGY (The Devil's Kiss #1-3)
THE DEVIL'S SALVATION: FINAL EPILOGUE (The Devil's Kiss #4)
Titles written as Christina Jean Michaels:
EPIPHANY (Legacy of Payne #1)
UNHINGED (Legacy of Payne #1.5 – coming early 2014)
AWAKENING (Legacy of Payne #2 – coming late 2014)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A special thanks to the readers and bloggers who emailed me, stalked me on Facebook, and let me know they wanted more of Kayla’s story. This one is for you guys! I owe a lot of gratitude to the following people: Janet Taylor-Perry, who edited the Devil’s Salvation: Final Epilogue and caught the errors I was blind to; Franny and Silvia at Dark World Books for their unwavering support and encouragement; Debra at Book Enthusiast Promotions for organizing the release day event; Laurynne and Tammy at CBL Book Tours for organizing the blog tour for TDS; Amber at Amber’s Reading Room for her enthusiasm and offering to pimp out my books; and Rebecca Berto for reading the beginning chapters in early draft form and offering her comments and advice. You guys rock!
1. Inferno
He’s waiting.
Waiting for me.
I could barely breathe in the small space of my bathroom. I gripped the sink, fingers curling around cold porcelain, and willed my galloping heartbeat to slow. He was going to hurt me. Physically, emotionally, psychologically. I knew this, yet it wouldn’t change a thing. I would still unlock the door. Still pull it open and go to him…still give him my body.
“What the hell are you doing?” I asked my reflection. “Why are you letting him back into your life?”
The panicked woman in the mirror didn’t have an answer.
I turned on the faucet in the tub and then removed my clothes, and for a few moments I concentrated on the roar of the water even though it did nothing to silence the alarm going off in my head. I hadn’t been with a man in a year; a very long and lonely year, especially after experiencing how earth-shattering sex with him was. He’d given me a taste of something I hadn’t realized I needed.
Like a dope dealer dangling a sample enough times until he had me coming back for more, begging on my hands and knees and selling my self-worth and my soul.
A soft knock startled me. “Kayla? Is everything okay?”
I warily glanced at the door, as if he could bypass the lock and come inside. He was good at bypassing things—my protests, my will, even the damn law.
“I’m fine.” My voice broke, giving away my shattered state of mind. “I’ll be out in a few.”
“I’ll be in the bedroom. Don’t make me wait long.”
My body broke out in goose bumps, and I couldn’t decide if they were the good or bad kind. I sank into the hot water, closed my eyes, and let myself remember. The first time he’d slid his fingers inside me, he’d had me strung up on my toes, gagged and thighs spread wide. I’d been helpless and terrified. That fear still lived in me, but so did the undeniable longing to be taken by him again. I throbbed all over just thinking about his hands on me.
Fear and arousal—why those two visceral reactions went hand in hand for me, I didn’t know. I might never know.
I finished bathing, and twenty minutes later, I stood in front of the door, my hand trembling on the knob. The comforting scent of coconut wafted from my warm, naked skin. Skin he’d left bruises and welts on a year ago.
This was a bad idea. Seriously, in the history of bad ideas, I’d win the award.
Here goes nothing.
The darkness of the hallway swallowed me, and I blinked my vision into focus as I padded to the bedroom. He’d turned off all the lights; now only the soft glow of the nightlight I left on for Eve illuminated the way. Thinking about her twisted my insides. My daughter’s presence was the only thing that would stop me now, but I’d sent her away with Stacey for the night.
I’d left myself with no way out.
The door to my bedroom stood wide open, like a gaping hole waiting to suck me inside. Or maybe it was the man waiting in there, reeling me in with his gravitational pull. My heart thudded with each step, and I couldn’t deny the dampness collecting at the juncture of my sex. He hadn’t even touched me yet, but just the knowledge of him waiting, of what he could do to me—what he would do to me—made me tense with equal amounts of dread and anticipation.
I stepped into the bedroom, and his body brushed mine. He stood behind me, radiating heat and arousal; the air was so thick with it, I smelled it, tasted it. His hands drifted down my arms, his fingers curling around my wrists like shackles. He pulled them behind my back and secured them with something soft and silky.
“Gage?” His name came out a shaky sigh, escaping my trembling lips and no doubt making him
rock hard. I was scared. I couldn’t help it, couldn’t hide it, despite knowing how he thrived on my fear—how he’d always thrived on my fear. The pain he’d inflicted a year ago came rushing back, and I couldn’t catch my breath. A year was a long time, but not long enough to make me forget. “I can’t do this,” I whispered, struggling to speak each word.
“Quiet.” He spoke the command in a soft and gentle tone, yet the steel behind that single word ensured I pressed my lips together. “I’m going to make you come long and hard tonight, so long as you don’t fight me.”
“You know I can’t,” I choked, blinking back tears. “But I’m scared.”
He fisted my hair, pulling until my neck became vulnerable to his mouth. His lips parted against my skin, and his tongue left a hot, wet trail down to my shoulder. The sensation was so arousing that my insides clenched from that single erotic kiss. I swayed into his body, feeling every hard plane of his nakedness, and shivered.
“I love your fear,” he said, his confession rumbling along my shoulder. “But you don’t have to be scared. Have you fucked anyone else?”
“No.”
“Good.”
His arms enfolded me and his palms shelved my breasts, thumbs and forefingers squeezing and twisting my nipples as he walked me further into the room. As soon as my thighs hit the mattress, he stepped away. I followed his progress around the bed, unashamed of blatantly ogling him. The soft light from the hall cast a glow on his skin, and I realized his body was just as firm as I remembered. If he hadn’t tied my hands, I’d smooth them over his pecs, drifting lower until the muscles of his stomach quivered under my touch. Was he even capable of reacting like that? I couldn’t recall; the past was a foggy recollection of pain intermingled with pleasure so hot it had branded me all those months ago.
He climbed onto the bed and stretched on his back. “Come straddle me.”
Joining him became a challenge, considering he’d restrained my hands behind my back, but I managed to press one knee onto the mattress and hop up. His large hands reached for my hips, and my head spun as he settled me against the hard length of his cock. A simple adjustment, and he’d be inside me. A delicious shudder seized my body.
“Have you thought about me, Kayla? About this?”
Only every night. I blinked, refusing to give voice to the truth.
He dug his fingers into my hipbones. “Answer me.”
My eyes drifted shut, and a small moan formed in my throat then broke free when he arched into me, just enough to tease. “Yes,” I said with a groan. “I thought about you.”
His hands glided up my sides and cupped my breasts. With a whimper, I leaned into his touch. “I thought of nothing else,” he said. “A whole year thinking about you, of the way you smell…” He pulled my head down to his. “The way you taste.” His mouth urged mine open, and his tongue swept inside for a mere second before he pushed me into a sitting position again. “It’s not enough. I want to taste you all over.”
I gasped when he hauled me up his body.
Oh God.
I lost my balance and almost hit the headboard, but his hands braced me as he settled me over his face. I remembered the measure of his strength when he’d whipped me a year ago, and now he held me upright with that strength. My thighs shook as he licked between my folds. He found my nub and added enough pressure until I was bucking my hips and moaning his name, but each time release threatened to take me, he went back to teasing with the tip of his tongue.
“Please,” I begged, panting, “let me come. It’s been so long.”
He groaned. “You’re so fucking perfect. So wet.” In one swift motion, he moved me down his body and entered me.
“Oh!” This was what I’d been missing—feeling him pulsing and alive inside me.
“Ride me until you come.”
My hair curtained my cheeks in red waves, falling into my eyes as I rocked my hips, and I moaned with every slow slide. The sensation was both ecstasy and excruciating. He held onto my hips, never allowing me to fully sheath him, but I needed him deep.
“Please…”
“Who am I, Kayla?”
I groaned. “My Master.” A loud cry poured from me. “Gage…deeper…”
He pushed higher. So incredibly deep. Oh God, he felt amazing—one hundred percent man, hard and slick and rubbing all the right places. Our bodies slapped together, damp with sweat and pure madness, and my name rumbled from his lips as he thrust to the hilt.
But it still wasn’t enough, and he must have realized it too. The room spun, and I was on my back with him hovering over me. His breaths came hard and fast as he pressed me into the mattress, settled my ankles high onto his shoulders, and made our bodies one with abandon.
“So fucking good,” he growled, burying his cock so deep a pang resonated in my heart. “You’re mine. I’m never letting you go.” He expelled a long sigh, and I drank him in, growing dizzy from the poison that was Gage. His mouth crushed mine, opening and plundering, tongue thrusting in time with our bodies.
My hands bit into my lower back, and my shoulders burned from being restrained, but the pain didn’t register. Exquisite tension started in the arch of my feet, in the muscles of my legs, and crawled up my thighs until it pulled so tight at my core I was about to burst at the seams.
His mouth ate up my cries as the intensity pulled me under before launching me free. I came and came and came in a shuddering ball of surrender, soaring to a realm so high I was sure the crash would kill me, but damn if it wasn’t a place I wanted to visit every night of my life.
Nothing had ever felt so wrong but so right, so painful yet unbelievably good, and nothing and no one existed in that moment except Gage Channing.
2. Mine
“God, you’re gorgeous.”
His whispered words woke me, though I didn’t let him know I was awake. Early light crept beneath my lashes, and I listened to the morning song of birds, fearing he heard the drumming beat of my heart over the chirping melody.
His arms pulled me closer, flush against his chest, and he spooned me as if he didn’t intend to let go. “I know you’re awake.”
“Pretend I’m not,” I said, voice raspy from sleep. I wanted to pretend last night hadn’t happened. Pretend I still had a modicum of sanity left. I’d built a life here for Eve and me, and I wasn’t foolish enough to think that letting him back in wouldn’t smash it to smithereens.
“I’m not good at pretending.” His breath hitched, and for a few lengthy seconds, his silence pressed on me. “I need you. I need you so damn much it pisses me off. I’m crazy without you.”
“You’re just flat out crazy,” I muttered.
His laughter vibrated against my shoulder. “I won’t deny that statement.”
The warmth and safety of his arms was an illusion, but I sank deeper into it anyway. “Where’ve you been for the past year, Gage?” Somewhere deep inside, I’d always known he’d come back for me…if he were capable.
He didn’t answer right away. “Prison. I figured you knew.”
“I…suspected.” I’d seen the news reports about his arrest, but my own part in what went down haunted me, and I hadn’t wanted to know what happened to him afterward. “What was it like in there?”
“It’s not a place I’d ever send you.” His arms tightened around me. “The worst part was being without you.”
I stiffened. “What do you think is going to happen here?”
“You’re coming home. That’s what’s going to happen.”
“I am home. You can’t just show up and start in on your demands. Things are a lot different from last year.”
“Yes, they are. Fuck…I haven’t felt like this since Liz.”
His confession iced my veins. I untangled from his embrace and shot from bed. “No!” I cried, freaking out because he’d compared me to his dead girlfriend. The woman he’d loved—the woman he’d gone apeshit over. “Last night was—”
“Don’t you dare say it was a mist
ake!”
I whirled at the sound of his rage, but it was too late. He pinned me against the wall, hips smashing mine as his fingers bit into my shoulders. I couldn’t breathe, and I sure as hell couldn’t speak.
“I know what I am.” He swallowed hard as his attention fell to my mouth. “I accept that I’m a twisted bastard, but I don’t think you realize who you are.”
My lungs finally worked, and I sucked in a breath. “Who am I?”
“Mine.”
“You’re delusional. I’m better off without you.”
“No.” He gave a determined shake of his head. “You’re alive when you’re with me. I recognize it in you. You need what I give you. Even the discipline and pain. Deny it all you want, but I know what I’m talking about.” He brought his face closer, almost nose-to-nose. “You crave it. Tell me you haven’t thought of me and gotten yourself off every fucking night for the past year.”
I blinked rapidly, but hot drops of shame still coursed down my cheeks. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?”
A trace smile flitted across his mouth, as if he knew I was incapable of turning him away on my own. I’d only be rid of him if he decided it. “You know why.”
I shook my head, because I really didn’t. I had no clue what he found so appealing about me. Why me? It was a question I’d asked myself constantly since this messed up arrangement with him first began.
His eyes smoldered as he loosened his grip on my shoulders. Two warm palms rose to cradle my cheeks, and I was still incapable of moving. “I’m in love with you.”
“No,” I moaned as more tears spilled over. “You don’t know what love is.”
His fingers slid into my hair, tangling in the strands. He closed his eyes and brought his forehead to mine. “I’m selfish, controlling…cruel. Doesn’t mean I don’t know what love is.” He brushed my lips with his. “I’m not in denial. What I did to you was fucked up. But Kayla?” His gaze found mine again, freezing me with the glint of resolve I saw there. “I’d do it again. I need you too much to let you go. I can be what you need, if you’ll let me. I’ve had a year to find out what being without you is like, and I won’t go another minute without you in my life, in my bed.”