He inched down her body, and his expert tongue brought her to a second orgasm in only a few minutes more. Everything pleasurable and gentle he did was tinged with the memory of the savage way he’d taken her. If he thought he could erase that with orgasms, he was wrong.

Without a word, he untied her wrists and removed the blindfold. She kept her eyes shut, unable to look at him. If this was day one, what would the rest of her life be like? How could she walk down an aisle and marry such a man? How could she fake happiness on that day? And how badly would he punish her for failing?

She thought about Christmas morning when Angelo had almost shot her. She wasn’t sure she’d have the heart to beg for her life again.

Leo was not her Prince Charming riding in on a horse. He’d killed her more expertly than Angelo ever could have. And what’s more, he’d done it without leaving a speck of evidence that she was dead. A living, breathing, corpse no one suspected was long gone.

The light clicked off, pitching her into blackness. The music played. Faith felt the weight of him again as he wrapped her in his arms and his breathing smoothed out into the peaceful rhythm of dreams

The record reached its end, and the needle scratched against the empty space, creating a white noise that lulled her finally to sleep.

16

Faith woke to an empty bed in the dungeon. With only a small lamp that had been turned on and no sunlight, the place was creepier than usual. She started up the stairs, but stopped herself. Was she allowed to leave? She wasn’t sure. And if she was, did she want to see Leo right now? Or ever again?

She showered for half an hour, scrubbing until she was raw. She wasn’t sure if she was scrubbing off what had happened in front of the mirror or the later orgasms. Both were equally horrible.

When the water ran cold, she got out and dressed, then checked the cabinets and fridge. But there was no food. Just the wine. Getting drunk might help to erase the memories, but it wasn’t worth the sickness that would follow.

Faith took a glass from the cabinet and poured water from the tap. She huddled back in bed, propping the pillows against the headboard and wrapping the blankets around her. She waited to be hurt again.

Around noon, Leo came down. “Aren’t you hungry?”

“Yes, Master.” As soon as his feet touched the bottom step, she looked away.

Max came down with him, the golden retriever hopping on the bed to comfort her, which reminded her she needed to clean the litter box and feed the cats. Snowball had been litter trained for two weeks now, which was a blessing because the box she’d arrived in was becoming too small for both of the cats to cuddle up together. Snowball and Squish were no doubt in the bright, window-filled room, lying in patches of sunlight like they’d gone to cat heaven.