Brutally Beautiful(88)

Nothing had changed since I was that young boy. Now I was this award-winning novelist, with nothing…nothing but scary stories on paper. What was I truly doing, but glorifying murder and horror? Yet, how many fans did I have? Millions. So few of them have actually had their life in jeopardy, faced a near-death experience or been introduced to the real terror of violence. Their way of experiencing it is by being perpetually entertained by books and movies that safely portray it. If they only knew how it seeped into your cells and overwhelmed your psyche, I wonder if they would cease to partake. The truth is easy. Once you felt violence, most people couldn’t cope with it, they couldn’t even push the words through their lips. It instantly freezes the images in your mind, and those images are indestructible. Then there are people like me, who have been touched by violence so deeply that they completely lose their soul to it.

“Are you okay, Kade?” Samantha’s voice, as soft as a symphony, floated through my muddled mind.

I lowered the two glasses of brandy to the table, and sat down on the couch, eyes fixed on hers. I’d been hovering on the edge of humanity for far too long. I wanted to step away from that ledge and I wanted to love her. “Everything that happened…to me…is stained here,” I whispered, touching my hand to my heart. “It will forever be in my heart, but what I want, Sam, is to move it over a little so I can fit you in there too.”

Her cheeks bruised crimson and I felt a surge of power knowing I could make a grown woman blush so deeply. She was taking all the chaos that constantly swarmed by mind and calmed it, without ever trying to.

I needed her. Right then. Right there.

She was going to be mine.

I didn’t want to let her go.





Chapter 13





“Undress for me,” he whispered, raking his teeth over his bottom lip. “Slowly.”

He leaned back into the cushions of the couch, sliding his splayed fingers across the leather. “I want to know who Samantha Matthews is…unwrap every part of her for me.”

The words blanketed me, wrapped me in warmth, tucking me in tight.

“I want to see all of you, Sam. Every scar.” Leaning forward, his elbows pressed into his knees, his whispers tickled my ears, “Then I’m going to make you forget how you got each f*cking one.”

I was breathless as I looked at him, trembling, throbbing…he’d changed into a pair of black boxers and nothing more. My muscles ached to slide over him, and sheathed him in my warmth. I wanted to tell him everything, have him make me forget with his kisses and his words. And I could. I could forget everything in someone like Kade Grayson for just a little while.

But I’m terrified.

Shaking fingers grabbed the hem of my shirt, heat surged to my cheeks, and I paused.

“Who made you frightened to stand in front of a man naked, Sam? Who broke you?” He asked in whispers.

The questions made my cheeks burn hotter, and for a moment, I feared they would blister and peel; falling like broken feathers to the floor. Squeezing my eyes tightly, I slowly raised the soft fabric of the shirt up over my stomach and my breasts. A cool breeze lapped across my bare skin causing it to prickle and tighten. I lifted the shirt over my head and let it fall quickly to the floor.

“Open your eyes,” his voice demanded.

His stormy grey eyes glistened with appreciation as he slid his hand under the waistband of his shorts and placed his fist around his cock, “Samantha, you’re f*cking stunning.” Below the silky material he wore, his fist started gently moving. “Now, give me a piece of your heart, Samantha. Tell me something.”