Her Secret Betrayal (12 page)

“There are things I have to tell you Maris.
I don’t know if you’ll be able to look at me the same afterwards.”
I didn’t look at her, couldn’t, but she stalked right into my face
and took my hands in hers.

“Not normal is normal, sweetheart. I
wouldn’t judge you for anything.”

I nodded. I told her everything.

###

The bathwater trailed along my bent knee to
make ripples in the still water. I rested my cheek against the
porcelain side and tried to make myself as small as possible. I’d
never felt so disconnected in my life, but Maris hadn’t left my
side and that was more than I could say about the men in my
life.

If I had to do this alone, I didn’t think
I’d make it.

Maris slipped into the bathroom and lowered
herself to sit on the toilet with the seat down. She clicked off
the portable phone and cradled it between her knees.

“The shop owner said the ticket is for a
dress. A ball gown, actually. And a masquerade mask. It’s your
size.”

“The opening is a masquerade party,” I
murmured.

“The invitation is for a plus one. I want
you to take me.” She turned the purple card over to show me. I
lifted my head to look, my brow furrowing.

“Maris. I’m not going.”

“I hate myself for even saying this,” she
shook her head. “But I think you need to go. Whoever this is has
been pretty tame until now, but has shown the can get to you when
they want to. If you don’t go, who knows what they’ll do?”

“He doesn’t want to see me. If I show up…he
could make a scene…I don’t want to do that to him. Not at his
opening.”

Maris tapped the card with her nail and
considered this for a moment. “Maybe that’s what they want, for
Sean to make a scene. To humiliate him in front of all the most
important people in the city.”

“It would ruin the restaurant.” I sat up,
waves crashing along the chipped porcelain. “It would sink it
before it even got off the ground.”

“We’ll figure it out, Kara. You and me. If
you can’t count on your best friend for support against criminal
saboteurs, who can you count on?”

Foreboding creeped in where my broken heart
lay in tatters. I stared at the purple invitation, the swirls of
tree limbs circling the words, the shadows of monsters hiding
between the trees.

Like my mural. Stray from the path. Get
eaten by wolves.

Continued in the finale, Part 3,
Her Secret Power

***

Thank you for reading part two of my erotic
romance series
SECRETS
. Look for the dramatic finale
Her Secret Power
in late December, 2012. The
people stalking Kara and threatening Sean and Zach Castle’s
restaurant are finally revealed at the opening masquerade ball
where no one is who they seem. Sean will have to make a choice
between Kara and his dreams. There’s a kidnapping, a murder,
another trip to the private club Abrasion, and an ending you’ll
never see coming.

***

My name is Jordan Bell and I am an author of
erotic short stories and novellas. And
oh
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chance to turn you on! I love writing stories about strong women
exploring their sexual fantasies, shy girls discovering their inner
sex kitten, and absolutely everything in between.
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***

Loved
Her Secret
Betrayal
?

Then don’t miss my two part erotic romance
The Submissive Behind the Mask #1: Bondage &
Curiosity
. Kat Koile has known Josh her whole life. He’s her
older brother’s best friend. When Kat attends a private adult
Halloween party, she discovers Josh, a dominant, is giving a
demonstration on rope bondage play. Josh can’t take his eyes off
her, but she’s been like a kid sister to him all his life. And yet,
he can’t bear to let another man dominate her instead…

One party will change everything.

What I knew was that I felt deeply,
inconsolably vulnerable in this position and the only solace I
found came from the heat of Josh's body standing protectively
behind mine. At least, that's what I imagined he was doing,
protecting me as it bound me to him literally as well as
emotionally.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on my
heartbeats. At first, and especially when he touched my body with
his full, strong hands, my heart had raced out of control until I
thought I might pass out. Twice I considered safe wording when I
thought I was going to pass out from panic, but both times he'd
sensed my unraveling control and reassured me. I could still feel
his mouth against my skin and the husky, growly voice that had
praised me for my submission. The panic eased both times until I
could breathe and now that I knelt at his side, his rope holding me
still, the sense of adrenaline soaked excitement and terror eased
away and left behind a strange sense of comfort.

The ropes did not hurt and, in fact, weren't
uncomfortable in the slightest. I felt a deep stretch between my
shoulder blades through my biceps down to my tail bone. I let out a
breath and sank forward into the stretch, allowing my body to relax
against the binds. They constricted, tight enough to hold me
together even when I felt at my wildest.

"I'm..." The words fled from me. I couldn't
articulate what I was feeling if I tried and to my relief Josh
seemed to understand. His hands, long familiar to me, stroked the
length of my arms over the bumps of rope pressing and stretching my
skin, down to my elbows and back up. He captured my hair in his
hands, wound it around his fingers and pulled until my head tilted
back at his control, the pressure very lightly painful.

"Shhh, it's alright Kitty Kat, take your
time. You're doing so well, sweetheart." I recognized Josh's deep
timbre, but it wasn't the voice I heard him use day in and day out
at the bar. This one vibrated along my spine, deepened to the core
of me. His praise warmed the blossom of pleasure I'd felt earlier
between my legs when he told me he liked to dominate young women
and I understood. I understood the vibration in his voice was
desire, barely restrained, extremely private, and wholly my
doing.