“Well, then. Logan.” Her words were stern. “I told you. Subs go barefoot here.”
Logan felt twin desires pulling inside of him. He wanted to apologize, to earn her favor.
He also wanted to wipe that smug smile off of her face. She’d won this round—and he hadn’t seen it coming, so points for her.
But he wasn’t tamed that easily.
“You going to punish me now, baby?” He ran his tongue over his lips, deliberately provoking her. He knew what would happen now, and he was looking forward to it.
She would take him to a private room, or to one of the many pieces of equipment set up around the massive play area of Veritas. She would try to dig deeper, and he would deflect. She would flog him, and he would be able to lose himself in the pain.
They would fuck, and then they would go their own ways. He’d head back to Montana until his needs could no longer be assuaged with his imagination and his own hand.
The fact that he didn’t care for the idea of leaving her was just a signal that he needed to do exactly that. She looked like she could draw out all of his secrets, and that just wasn’t going to happen.
Still, he thought he just might die if he didn’t get a taste of that creamy flesh spilling out over the top of her corset.
“Yes,” Mistress S replied, her face calm, though those grey eyes of hers reflected more than a hint of the turmoil that he was feeling himself. “I am.”
Then the woman did something Logan never could have seen coming.
She turned on her slender stiletto heel and walked away.
Linger, available now!
Hollow Excerpt
Copyright 2014 by Ava Conway
Girl, Interrupted meet Beautiful Disaster in this thrilling and sexy debut novel, in which a college student learns her perfect life is a lie and finds new love where she least expects it—a mental institution.
Freaks, misfits, and psychopaths. Those are the kinds of people found at Newton Heights Psychiatric Hospital, and high-society girl Lucy White’s new home.
Freaks, misfits, and Jayden McCray. Jayden has his own set of rules for life at Newton Heights, and in this enigma, Lucy finds a way to live with the events that left her cheating boyfriend and best friend dead—and Lucy in the middle of the investigation into their demise.
The problem? Jayden makes her want things she’s not supposed to have, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality and making Lucy feel more at home in Newton Heights than she ever did at home. But this isn’t how her life is supposed to be...
***
"You planned this," I said.
Jayden looked up from his case. "I plan everything."
"You had Flynn create a distraction."
He grinned and looked down at the croquet balls. "What color do you want to be?"
"What did you slip that security guard?"
"Did anyone ever tell you that you worry too much? Yellow would work, I think." He straightened and held the canary-yellow ball out toward me. "It's a bright, cheery color, and I’m in a celebratory mood."
I looked at the ball, then at him, trying to process everything that had happened. "We are going to get in so much trouble."
He twisted his lips into a half-smile. "My little worrier. If you keep dwelling on the future, you'll have no time to enjoy the present.” He inched the croquet ball closer. "Take it."
I hesitated, then grabbed the ball from his hand. "In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that I'm pretty good."
Jayden took the red ball and grinned. "Like I said, you haven't played with me."
It didn't take long for me to realize that Jayden wasn't lying. He was not only good but also a master at distraction. He would jump from topic to topic as I aimed my shot, timing his questions so that I'd hit the ball too hard or soft and miss the target.
"You're cheating," I accused him after he won the first game.
He waved his hands to the sides in mock surrender. "How?"
I opened my mouth and shut it again. The truth was that he wasn't breaking the rules, just bending them. I glanced at the last rays of sun as they settled over the horizon and considered my options. Well, if he could bend the rules, then I guess I could, too.
I was a quick learner. With practice in the timing of my random questions and comments, I was able to rattle Jayden’s confidence. I had to admit that it was fun getting him all riled up. Throughout the second game we were neck and neck. I remembered the Ping-Pong tournament and felt a little sorry that our only audience were the crickets, fireflies and other night life that had come out to play. If the psych ward liked Flynn’s banter with Jayden, then they would have loved the one-liners we hurled at each other.
Finally, it was time for Jayden to take his last turn. If he hit the stake, he'd win. If he missed, then I'd win.
I was determined to win.
I positioned myself next to a large bush behind the final stake and waited until he started to aim.
"Don't think you can distract me with questions this time," he said as he lined up his shot. "I'm totally focused."
"Oh yeah?" My mind raced. This was do or die. I had to do something big or I was going to lose. Suddenly, I felt something land on my neck. "Oh my God, Jayden. Something's on me." It was a bug, a big bug, with legs.
"Not working." Jayden pulled his mallet back for the stroke.
"No, seriously." I began to fidget. The creepy-crawly wiggled under the collar of my shirt and was making some sort of chirping noise. Its prickly legs dug into my skin, making me want to itch. I dropped my mallet and clawed at my clothes, trying to find whatever the hell was crawling over my skin. "Shit, it's in my bra!" I shrieked and tore off my shirt and bra, then slapped at my skin. A cricket jumped off my chest and landed in the grass.
Jayden glanced up and widened his eyes at the spectacle I was making. He straightened, causing his mallet to tap the ball. It rolled forward the length of his foot.
With the cricket gone, my heartbeat quieted, and I turned back to the game. "I won!" I said, pointing at his ball. "That counts as a stroke. I won." I couldn't believe it.
Jayden didn’t bother looking at the game. “Good job.” His gaze became more heated and hungry by the second. It was then, in that moment, that I realized my breasts were completely naked. I had exposed myself to him.
I yelped and grabbed my clothes. I kept my gaze averted from his and started babbling to cover up my embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that. A cricket crawled down my shirt, and those legs were gross, not to mention those wings . . . I probably shouldn't have been standing so close to that bush."
Once I had my bra and shirt in place, I risked a glance at him. Our gazes met, and my entire body heated with awareness. The air around us crackled with energy as I dragged my gaze down his body and saw that he liked the little distraction I had provided. He liked it a lot.
I decided that I liked his reaction to my half-naked body. It had been a long time since I had felt desirable, but here, under the moonlight and Jayden’s hungry gaze, I felt like a goddess.
A slow, seductive grin spread over Jayden's lips. "Now, that was impressive."
"Jayden, I—"
Jayden cleared his throat and picked up his croquet ball, breaking the spell. "I thought I played dirty, but man . . . that was epic." He chuckled and swung his mallet over his shoulder. "You're right. You win. You absolutely deserve the win."
Hollow, available now!
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Kiss Me Twice Part 2 (Three Little Words) Page 8