Descended the red blindf.., p.1
Descended (The Red Blindfold Book 4), page 1
DESCENDED
BOOK FOUR
ROSE DEVEREUX
Copyright © 2016 by Rose Devereux
Cover design by Sarah Hansen at Okay Creations
Ebook formatting by Jesse Gordon
All rights reserved. No part of this e-book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
EPILOGUE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PROLOGUE
After three weeks of silence, a husband appeals for help.
His wife disappeared while they were on vacation with another couple in the idyllic Mexican retreat of Los Bonitos. Her cell phone and credit cards have not been used, and she hasn’t been in contact with family or friends.
But her husband of didn’t alert police for eighteen days after his wife vanished. Why? They’d had an argument, and he thought she might have left him for another man after six years of marriage.
Now he says it was all a misunderstanding, and he’s asking for the public’s assistance in locating her.
Her name is Karina Blair. She’s a twenty-seven year-old lawyer from Boston, with friends and family who miss her very much.
If anyone has seen her or has information about her whereabouts, please call your local police station or the toll-free number on your screen.
CHAPTER ONE
When I could think again, I looked at Jane.
No, not Jane. Not anymore.
She was frozen beside me, her face etched with disbelief. She didn’t breathe or blink. I’d never seen a person stand so still. Then her mouth trembled, and the spell was broken.
I could see the news broadcast reflected in her eyes. It was as if her entire life were flashing before her. And it was.
Flickering across her vision was the face of the anchorman, an 800 number, and her own picture. In the photograph, she was standing in front of a Christmas tree, smiling. She was just as beautiful but she was a different person, in a different life.
Karina Blair. Lawyer. Wife. An accomplished woman who lived in another state, and belonged to another man.
He was on television now, speaking into a reporter’s microphone with all the urgency of an idiot on anesthesia. What the fuck. His incredible, gorgeous wife had been missing going on a month. He had no right to be calm.
But calm or not, he was still her husband. I was just the guy who’d saved her life and fallen in love with her.
Not that it mattered anymore. Every day we’d spent together had been a lie. Our future was an empty space that just sixty seconds ago had been filled with hope.
It was over.
She was still standing next to me, but she was already gone.
All the desire and connection in the world couldn’t change it. Deep down I’d always known this would happen, but I hadn’t wanted to admit it. It was the same thing I’d always done, only this time it was worse by a factor of – one fuck of a lot.
And soon, all of Texas would find out.
My friends, my employees, my investors. Not that I gave a shit. All I cared about was losing the woman I loved.
And lose her I would, way too soon.
“Oh, my God,” she said, sagging against me.
I put a steadying arm around her and held her tightly. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”
It was a platitude and we both knew it. Jane, Karina, what the hell would I call her now? Why did a name matter so much?
Because I’d named her Jane. And a man who named a woman possessed her. He had a part of her no one else ever would.
Or so I’d believed, until reality shot me down in the form of a ninety-second news segment.
Jane wasn’t her name. All it had been was a placeholder while her asshole of a husband came to his senses.
I despised him, hated his perfectly trimmed beard and small, vacant eyes. He was too old for her, too passive, too aloof. Jane – Karina, goddamnit – ran way too hot for a guy so cold and heartless.
She wasn’t attracted to him. I could see it in her eyes when she watched him on television. He didn’t stir her heart, her soul, or her pussy. All he inspired was confusion and fear. And for me, total contempt.
Of course Jane hadn’t run off with somebody else. Or had she, and it all went wrong? Would I ever find out the truth? Did the truth even matter anymore?
I knew all I needed to know. This was the beginning of the end.
The receptionist looked from the television to Jane and back again. “Wait a minute – is that you?”
“Nope, it just looks like her,” I said. “Thanks again.”
I took Jane by the elbow and hustled her outside. The sun hit my face like a furnace blast, not because it was hot but because it was real. Way too goddamn real.
This was actually happening. It was Monday morning, the sky was brilliant blue, and Jane wasn’t Jane anymore. There was nothing I could do to change it.
I guided her to the truck and helped her in. She gripped my hand as if the whole world depended on me. It was just like the first day, the way she leaned on me, needing me to take care of her and make decisions.
I gave her a reassuring smile and squeezed her shoulder, but inside, fury was tearing me down to the studs. I’d never been so out of control, such a fucking victim of circumstance.
I shut her door and got in the driver’s side. Hands balled in her lap, she looked straight ahead with a blank, wide-eyed expression that appeared almost serene. But it was shock. Shock, and a realization neither of us could escape.
Every minute she’d spent with me, she’d been unfaithful to her husband.
I’d fucked her, owned her, commanded her orgasms. My seed lived inside her. And all the while her husband had sat clueless half a country away, too weak and worthless to do shit about it.
We’d known it was a possibility she was married, but a possibility was one thing. Certainty was hellfire and torment. It was what every preacher talked about on Sunday and every good wife swore she’d never do.
But Jane was no good wife. Nor should she be.
Rings and vows didn’t matter much when your husband took three weeks to look for you. When he flew home on an air-conditioned jet, leaving you to wander through God-forsaken deserts and shitty border towns by yourself.
Jane’s eyes were like shattered glass. I wanted to say something that would take the last five minutes away, but all I could do was stare at her beautiful face.
She was gone. It was only a matter of time. Hours, if I was lucky.
“I’m okay,” she said in a thin voice. “We’ll get through it.”
“How?” I should have been consoling her, but I had nothing left.
“I don’t know.”
“You can’t just walk out of my life,” I said, my tone too loud and sharp. “I won’t let you.”
She turned to face me, her mouth set in a firm line. “You have to. You don’t have a choice.”
I clenched my fists. “Bullshit. I always have a choice.”
If I worked hard enough and relied on my wits, I could always make things go my way. It had been that way my entire life.
“You don’t love him,” I said. “You can’t.”
Her eyes were pleading “How do you know?”
“Because you love me.”
“Drex…”
“Don’t,” I snapped. “Don’t dare say it isn’t true.”
We stared at each other. Every emotion crossed her face and vanished, until only defeat was left.
“It doesn’t change anything,” she said in a harsh whisper.
“It changes everything. Your life will never be the same. Neither will mine.”
Her frown was full of pain. “Yeah. Everyone you know is going to find out.”
I shrugged.
“You don’t care?”
“I don’t run from what’s hard,” I said. “I never have.”
“I was afraid I’d affect your business and that’s about to happen,” she said, a desperate edge in her voice.
“We don’t know that yet.”
Her eyes were piercing. “We will. Just wait.”
I started driving. A hundred miles went by and I barely registered one. I was in panic mode, trying to blast my way out of a trap.
I turned on the radio, filling the silence with the twang of old country songs while thoughts rampaged through my brain. Okay, so she had a husband. A husband was just another man, and a man I could deal with. I would fight him for her, no matter who he was, whether he loved her or not.
And I didn’t believe for a second that he loved her.
If he did, he wouldn’t have waited to look for her. No man with a shred of character would do something so abominable, no matter what the pathetic excuse.
“I’m a lawyer,” Jane said in a barely audible voice. “A lawyer.”
I grabbed her hand. “Now I understand why you’re so persuasive,” I said, forcing humor into my voice. “You’ve got a lot of experience making people see things your way.”
I felt her gaze searing the side of my face. “Is that what I’ve done?” she asked. “Persuaded you? Made you do things you shouldn’t have?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“But it’s what happened, isn’t it?”
“Not even close.”
Or was it?
I’d broken a hundred promises to myself since I’d met her. I’d ignored every instinct, and been a sucker for all my own lies. When it came to business, there was nobody more clear-headed than I was. And for a while, I’d been approaching relationships the same way: no illusions, no commitment, no hopes for the future.
But with Jane, I couldn’t see past our chemistry, her pretty face, and my rabid need to possess her. Now I was paying the price in one hell of a lot of misery.
But would I go back and undo it? See her on the street in Chimayo and keep driving?
Not in a million years. She was worth all the pain in this world and a hundred more. No woman, no amount of money, no professional success would ever equal my time with her.
“We got into this together,” I said, glancing over at her. “I’m glad we did.”
Her hand felt small and fragile in mine. “Even with the way things have turned out?” she asked.
“I wouldn’t change a fucking second.” Squinting at the road, I shook my head. “Except for one thing.”
“What?”
I clenched the wheel so hard my knuckles burned. “I’d take you into the wilderness again and we’d never come back.”
It was the truest thing I’d ever said.
CHAPTER TWO
I hadn’t looked at a television in hours, but I could still see him in my mind.
David Blair. My husband. The man who’d put the ring on my finger.
He was tall, slim, bearded, and probably ten years older than I was. According to the news report, he was a law school professor. A professor, and a complete stranger.
I felt nothing for him. Not a single emotion, good or bad.
I couldn’t imagine lying in his arms, or kissing him, or taking his last name. I couldn’t even imagine having a cup of coffee with him. But we shared a life, a life I had to return to.
And when I returned to it, I’d be living with him. A man I didn’t know or recognize.
Picturing his face, a shiver trailed down my arms.
Maybe I did feel an emotion for him, after all. I couldn’t name it, but there was something in his eyes I didn’t trust.
Maybe it was just the fact that he wasn’t Drex. I must have loved my husband once, or I wouldn’t have married him. If we’d been on vacation together, that love still existed somewhere. Buried under all of my feelings for the man who’d rescued me and given me a new life.
The media hadn’t mentioned kids, so I could only assume I didn’t have any in spite of the faint stretchmarks I’d seen. I ached at the thought, but intertwined with the pain was relief and gratitude. At least an innocent child wouldn’t be touched by this disaster. I wouldn’t have to look at my own child and be unable to remember her face or name.
And there was one bright side. I wasn’t a criminal, or at least I hadn’t been for long. In fact, I prosecuted them for a living. I was a regular person with a career and a husband. That was something to be happy about. But happiness was the very last emotion I felt.
Though I might be upstanding, I wasn’t free.
I turned my head toward the passenger window so Drex wouldn’t see my tears falling.
Everything that mattered to me was gone. Drex, my future, and the life we’d barely begun to live. In three weeks, I’d become Jane.
Whoever Karina was – that wasn’t me anymore. Even if I recovered my memory and picked up my career and my role as a wife, I was Jane. And Jane belonged to Drex.
She always would.
We got to Houston in the middle of the afternoon.
Leaving the camping supplies in the truck, we went straight up to Drex’s apartment. No one at the security desk appeared to recognize me, or maybe they hadn’t seen the news reports yet. Either way, it was only a matter of time.
Drex had called his house manager and given everyone the afternoon off. I followed him into the cool, silent apartment and let out a long breath. It was beautiful, pristine, and exactly where I wanted to be. Not just today, but always.
“Are you hungry?” Drex asked, setting our bags on the floor.
“Not even close.”
“Me neither.”
I stood with my shoulders slumped. I felt paralyzed, unable to take another step. This way was Jane, that way, Karina.
He slipped his arm around my waist. “Come on,” he said in a low, soothing voice. “I want to hold you for a while.”
The curtains were already drawn in the bedroom. A huge vase of fresh lilacs sat on the coffee table in the sitting area, so bright and cheery I could hardly look at it. I took off my jeans and shirt, leaving them in a pile on the floor.
After stripping to the skin, Drex pulled back the sheets. I climbed into bed beside him in my panties and bra, and tried to empty my mind of everything but us. He’d always told me that we only had now. After the last few hours, I was frantic to believe it.
I shut my eyes and breathed. I wouldn’t ruin the moment by imagining the future. Or thinking. Or feeling anything but Drex’s warm, smooth skin against mine.
“I want you more than ever,” he said, burying his face against my neck.
I willed my body not to respond but it wouldn’t obey. It had only one master now, and that master was Drex. “I feel the same way,” I whispered, “but it doesn’t matter.”
He drew his head back and stared at me with his intense gaze. For as long as I lived, I would never forget the way he looked at me.
“It does matter,” he said. “Someday you’ll know how much.”
He stroked his fingers back and forth just below my navel. I shivered. My back arched and my toes pointed. Tiny tentacles of pleasure spread down between my legs, making me instantly wet for him.
He knew just how to touch me, and where. He had from the start. I couldn’t imagine that anyone – even my husband – knew me so well.
My husband. I tried to force the thought from my mind, but it stuck like a thorn.
“Is this wrong?” I asked, sliding my arms around Drex’s neck and clinging to him.
He breathed warmly against my lips, making them tremble. “Does it feel wrong?” he asked.
I didn’t need to answer. I just opened my mouth to receive his hot, eager tongue. My ring felt cold against my skin, like a tiny chain keeping me prisoner.
Slipping it off, I set it on the nightstand and turned back to Drex.
“Please fuck me,” I whispered, unhooking my bra. “I need you so much.”
“I’m right here.”
He tore my panties off at the hip with one quick jerk. In an instant he was inside me, his cock so huge and hard I could only gasp his name.
Holding my face in his hands, he locked his eyes to mine as if searing my image in his brain. “Don’t look away,” he said. “Stay with me.”
He drove into me, claiming me with every deep, hard stroke. I felt his heart racing against mine as he clutched me tightly. My nipples tightened against his chest, sending heat spiraling across my skin to my clit. The pleasure was instinctual, automatic. All I had to do was surrender to it.
Don’t worry, don’t anticipate. Just feel.
Every time a thought threatened to pull me away, I brought myself back. I was still here. And though I was about to lose Drex, I’d never been more excited.
He pinned my wrists to the mattress as if to keep me captive forever. I imagined staying here, serving him every morning and night, existing to please him. Just the thought sent sharp waves of need pulsing through my belly.
I shouldn’t do this, but I couldn’t help it. I was a slave to Drex and the craving he created in me.
“You’re going to come for me,” he whispered, “and then I’m going to come for you.”
Rolling to the side, he held me against him with his powerfully muscular arms as I wrapped my legs around his waist. I rocked back and forth, rubbing my clit against the base of his cock until I was too far gone to speak. Threading his fingers through my hair, he brought my face so close to his that nothing separated us.
