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  The light touch of the rain falling on her skin felt blessedly simple and natural as it washed away all the stress and worry in Rain’s mind. She had always felt an affinity with storms, and not just because of her name. Whereas the rain might have prompted others to return to their haven of four walls and a roof, it invigorated her and inspired her to keep running.

  All was quiet in Louisville tonight; the steady rhythm of her feet against the wet pavement was the only sound. Indeed, the city had become strangely silent, with even her footsteps sounding muffled to her ears. Rain glanced around with a frown, nearly stumbling at the sight of a woman’s silhouette in the shadows. Something about the woman struck Rain as odd. She squinted and slowed her stride, not wanting to be obvious but wanting a closer look. Despite dusk settling along the city streets, the woman looked like the illumination of the mid-day sun was surrounding her in a halo of light.

  Odd. She didn’t even act like the rain was bothering her.

  Rain continued running in the woman’s direction, yet no matter how far she ran, the woman never seemed any closer. White hair flowed down to her waist. She was dressed in a long white cloak that billowed behind her as if she were a model posing with a wind machine strategically placed nearby.

  Rain shook her head and closed her eyes, then opened them. The ghostly figure was gone. Rain pushed on, turning the corner and heading toward a bridge that extended over the Ohio River. She loved running here. The Belle of Louisville docked to the side took her mind back to better times…

  “You can be so romantic when you want to be, Blaze.”

  “How could a man be anything but enthralled by such a beautiful woman?”

  “Oh please, you’re a lost cause.”

  “Only when it comes to you, my love. From the moment I saw you, I was lost. You amaze me. I brought you here for a reason, you know.”

  “And what would that be?” She looked at the man seated across from her. He looked more like he should be on the cover of GQ magazine than seated on a boat with her. He was perfect. From his perfectly styled black hair to his black bespoke suit, complete with a Rolex watch and gold, custom cufflinks. He was the poster boy for millionaire-most-eligible-bachelor.

  She watched as he unbuttoned his suit coat and reached in the pocket. He pulled out a black velvet box and opened it to reveal a five-carat canary diamond ring that took her breath away.

  “I’d be a fool to let you get away from me, Rain. I want you to be mine for eternity. Tell me yes, that you’ll marry me again and share the rest of our days together.”

  Even though she’d already married him twice, she would happily reaffirm her vows with him. For a man with such a commanding persona, it was sort of sweet that he’d make such a fuss. It had been so easy to say yes again. She couldn’t imagine her life without him now. He’d swept into her life and uprooted everything she thought she’d ever known about the opposite sex. In the beginning he’d been so passionate and kind but as days turned into weeks and weeks turned into years she had begun to see hints of another side to this man she adored. There was something dark there, something unexplored that caused her every instinct to go on high alert. What was he hiding?

  The rain was pelting down on her with more force now, pulling her attention from her memories of the night he’d proposed to her again on the Belle of Louisville. She turned and there she was again: the figure of a woman, but this time she was holding the hand of a young woman with long brown hair who appeared to be about twenty years old.

  Where had the women come from? When Rain passed by, the older woman looked through her as if dissecting her soul. Her eyes were blue but so pale in color that they had an eerie white haze to them. The other, younger woman reached out toward Rain with her free hand and mouthed one word: help.

  Rain passed them and couldn’t resist looking back over her shoulder. They had both disappeared. When the hair on the back of her neck stood up, a chill coursed through her that had nothing to do with the weather.

  Chapter Two

  Blaze stood by the picture window in his office, watching as his wife ran up the front steps, soaked to the skin. What the hell was she thinking?

  But he knew exactly what she was thinking, and it sent him deep into the throes of caveman-like sexual aggression. As soon as she entered the house and kicked off her shoes he grabbed her shoulders, rougher than he had meant to. His brutal grip was an outward sign of the fear that seized him whenever she wasn’t in his protective presence. She had a vicious hold on him and she didn’t even know it.

  With one massive hand clutching her elbow, he led her up the stairs to their bedroom and marched her into the adjoining bathroom. He pulled a towel from the linen closet and stepped in close behind her. He yanked the band from her hair and rubbed the towel over her head. Her riotous curls were springing to life without the weight of the water holding them down.

  Her eyes remained steady on his reflection in the gilded mirror above the sink. Dropping the towel, Blaze rested his hands on her shoulders and slipped his thumbs beneath the thin straps of her snug-fitting athletic top. He slid the straps down exposing her small, firm breasts to his lustful gaze. He pulled her back against him as he cupped her breasts, the pads of his thumbs circling around her taut, pale pink nipples. He slipped the shirt down over her slim hips and pulled the wet yoga pants down, too, leaving her sleek curves bare to his hungry gaze. He dropped to a knee behind her, using both hands to knead her perfectly round ass before leaning in and biting down on the firm flesh. The sting of pain prompted her to gasp harshly as he smiled against her skin. He loved how her lean, athletic body curved in all the right places. Rising to his feet once more, he slid an arm around her ribcage and cupped her breast as his other hand slid down over her flat stomach, eventually coming to rest between her thighs.

  “I thought you might hurry home when it began to rain, but you didn’t. You must have had a lot on your mind, hmm?” His fingertips were greeted by an abundance of slick, creamy heat. He closed his eyes as he stroked her there. “No, shhh, shhh…” he murmured when she began to speak. “You think you’re leaving me? That I’d ever let you go?” He jerked her around to face him, gripping her neck until her breath hitched in her throat and her eyes widened with alarm. “Why do you put us both through this unnecessary drama? We both know you require what only I can provide.”

  He cupped her bare mound again and pushed two fingers inside her, firmly rubbing his fingertips along her inner walls, unerringly finding the bundle of nerves he knew so well. At her ragged breathing in response to his touch, his smile was more of a sneer. He slid his fingers from her folds and held them up between them, taunting her with glistening evidence of the pleasure she took from his dominance. He closed his lips around one slick finger and slowly drew it out, humming with satisfaction at the flavor of her pussy on his tongue. Then he slid the second digit between her full lips, his mouth going slack as he watched her suck on his finger. Sensing his avid interest, she defiantly swirled her tongue around his thick finger, mimicking the repertoire of oral caresses she usually bestowed on his aching cock.

  “Mmmm…I like the way you think,” he purred as he slid his finger from her lips. He placed his hands on her shoulders and pressed down until she was on her knees before him. He unzipped his pants and his thick length landed heavily in his palm, the broad hood already glistening with precum. As he gripped his cock, he cupped the back of her head with his free hand and leaned in to whisper with grim intent, “You know I’m right, darling. I’ll kill you before I ever let you go.”

  He rubbed the slick head of his cock along her lips, leaving them glossy and ripe. “You’re mine, Rain. You can go for your little runs and pretend you’re leaving, but there is no escaping me. The sooner you realize that, the better off you’ll be. Think of your family. I know you’d hate to see them homeless. Don’t push me. I promise you’ll regret it if you do.” He caressed her cheeks, sliding his thumbs along the freckles he loved so much, then clenched his
fingers in the soft curls on either side of her head and pulled her mouth onto his cock until he met with resistance at the back of her throat. He pulsed his hips so that the end of his cock rhythmically nudged the soft, velvety flesh. “Mm-mmm…We can do so much better than that, can’t we.”

  He stepped between her legs, resting the tip of his high-gloss designer shoe beneath the apex of her thighs. “Open,” he barked, his voice stern. Sitting on her haunches, she spread her knees as wide as they would go, leaving her clit and inner folds exposed. He inched his foot closer so that the fabric of his pants pressed against her clit and she instinctively began to roll her hips in a quest for the friction that would get her off.

  “Now, take it down your throat.” The words were clipped, brooking no resistance. She gulped in preparation for what she was about to do, and the clenching of her velvety muscles against the sensitive hood of his cock made him moan. “Fuck, I want to feel that when I’m in there. Do it. Now, Rain.”

  She relaxed her throat and pressed forward tentatively, wincing at the ring of muscle’s initial resistance before allowing him entry into the slim, snug column of her neck. He clasped both hands behind her head and pulled her toward him as his hips pumped slow and steady. A trickle of sweat appeared at his hairline, leaving a glossy trail on his skin as it slithered down his temple and came to rest along his rigid jawline. All the while, she rubbed her clit against his leg, her thrusts becoming frantic and irregular as the orgasm made its steady approach. In the seconds before she came, she pulled her head back, rubbing her lips together as she sucked in air through her nose, mindless in her pleasure.

  Blaze’s eyes were greedy and his lips twisted arrogantly as he pinched her nose closed. When she opened her mouth for precious air, he slid his cock between her lips again, pushing forward ruthlessly until he was locked into place, his hips pressing full-force against her face. As expected, his penchant for this brand of sexual asphyxiation sent her rocketing into her orgasm, her prolonged groan muffled against his body as he jerked against her, releasing hot jets of cum down her throat.

  When her body bucked with pleasure he hissed in a primal groan, “Mine.” It was true. She was deceiving herself. He would stop at nothing to keep her. His obsession with her ran as deep as the darkness in his soul. He leaned in and whispered one final threat: “There are forces at work that you couldn’t possibly understand. Don’t fuck with me, little one. I. Will. Hurt. You.”

  He zipped his pants efficiently, turned, and strode from the room with the confidence of a man who knew he’d made his point. It wasn’t just her safety in question but that of her family. The secret they shared was one that would go to her grave. When a former admirer from her youth had contacted her a year earlier, the man had taken one look at Blaze and decided Rain needed her freedom. He had been a fool, attempting to offer ‘help’ that she hadn’t wanted. The man had been mysteriously killed in a carjacking.

  She was certain Blaze had been responsible for ordering the hit. She supposed she should feel guilty but the death had been inevitable. The man had relentlessly pursued her to the point of stalking. It had only been a matter of time until her husband dealt with the bothersome pest. All was fair in love and war when it came to a man with a fiery nature like Blaze. Any fool who didn’t know better than to tamper with the promise of ‘until death do us part’ deserved what he got. Blaze had taken that vow to heart.

  She turned the shower on, tested the water temperature, and stepped in. As she let the water wash over her hair, she closed her eyes and imagined it could wash away the dark stain her husband had left on her soul. He was a beast in a bespoke suit. Oddly enough, though, part of her was strangely enamored with his obsessive need to keep her.

  “Get the fuck over here,” he growled when she stepped out of the bathroom twenty minutes later. She was nude, having tossed her towel in the laundry hamper after drying off. Blaze slid out from beneath the covers and stood by the bed, brutally beautiful as his cock jutted out in front of him. The broad head was red and swollen, and thick veins coursed along his gorgeous shaft.

  She stepped slowly toward him. When she reached him, he grabbed her upper arms and turned her to face the bed. He kicked her feet apart and planted his hand between her shoulder blades as he shoved her face down into the mattress. He sank his cock into her pussy in a single thrust. The force of his entry jerked her farther along the mattress as she cried out in an agonized wail of pleasure and pain.

  As he slowly drew back and slammed into her again and again, he reveled in the hoarse grunts that poured from her mouth with each harsh slam of his hips. “Say what you want, Rain, but you like this. Every time I pull out, your little pussy sucks me back in like a greedy mouth.”

  Her pussy clamped hard around his cock. He laughed, the sound coming out as a series of gasping breaths as he ground his hips against her. “Feel that? I fucking do. Your body betrays you. Your need for this cock goes way beyond any guilt, or shame, or your need to run.” He slowed his thrusts to a steady grind and clamped his hand hard around her jawline. “You need this, to feel this, don’t you?”

  “No!” she said, stubbornly trying to convince herself as much as him.

  “Yes, you do,” he bit out, his voice throaty from arousal as he began to thrust more aggressively. “You fucking love it. This greedy pussy’s only happy when it’s being rammed by my cock.” His face twisted at the mindless pleasure of being inside his wife. “Fuck…unh,” he grunted on a particularly hard drive of his hips.

  Her hips bucked wildly, meeting his eagerly, thrust for thrust. When she came, the sensation was so intense that she felt momentarily separated from her body. She could almost swear that she was looking down on them, watching Blaze’s face contort and flush red as his neck and shoulders clenched with the force of his orgasm.

  As he rode out his climax, he threw his head back and groaned. His heavy-lidded eyes were unfocused and almost seemed to glitter strangely.

  In that moment, Rain decided Blaze was right; there was no escaping the hold he had on her. They had ruined each other for anyone else. He’d killed for her, hadn’t he? It didn’t get any more real than that.

  He pulled out of her and she rolled over onto her back. He stepped back to watch his cum seep from her puffy, pink slit. “I’ll never let you go. Never. The thought brings out the worst in me, Rain. You’re going to get somebody hurt, you know that? Isn’t it enough that one man’s already dead? That the thought of him trying to touch you made me fucking insane?”

  Resting a knee on the mattress next to her, he reached down and used his fingers to gently push his semen back inside her where it belonged. He pressed his slick fingers against her lips and eased inside. “Suck.” She opened her eyes and suckled his fingers, his taste familiar and comforting in her post-orgasmic haze.

  He lifted her and gently lowered her spent body down next to him. He tugged her to his chest with a possessive squeeze of his arm. He was enormously pleased with himself; he’d fucked any illusions she had of leaving him right out of her. As her breathing slipped into the languorous rhythm of slumber, he looked ahead to their future with renewed resolve. “I’m keeping you,” he whispered. “You’re not going anywhere. I don’t care about anything else…”

  Feeling boneless and serenely content, they slept.

  Blaze was watching the eleven o’clock news, the volume turned low. Through a drowsy haze, Rain listened half-heartedly, curled up against his chest. Suddenly she jerked upright in bed with her hand on Blaze’s chest. The photograph displayed on the screen, combined with the reporter’s commentary, made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

  ‘When twenty-year-old Electra Karmin didn’t come home yesterday, her family assumed she had just gone for a longer run than usual and would soon return home. Now a day later, her parents are certain something has happened to their only daughter. A BOLO alert has been issued. Electra Karmin is twenty years old, approximately 5’6” and 120 pounds, with long brown hair and hazel
eyes. If you’ve seen her or have any information about her whereabouts, please call local law enforcement at the number on your screen.’

  “Oh no,” she whispered as she shook her head frantically, her voice barely audible. “No, no, no… Blaze, I saw that woman on my run today. It was her, I’m certain of it.”

  His lips compressed into a tight, anxious line. “So it’s starting again. It’s been a while. Tell me what she looked like–details, Rain.”

  “There were two women but the second didn’t show up right away. The first woman was eerie looking. She had long white hair and the most translucent blue eyes.”

  Blaze’s body stiffened beneath her hand. He ran a hand over her hair, rhythmically stroking her tousled curls to soothe her as she struggled to recall details of what she’d seen. “Go on. Every detail could be important.”

  “She was all in white with a long, white cloak. She appeared and then she was gone. When I saw her again on the way home, she was holding a young woman’s hand. She looked homeless or suffering from neglect, like she hadn’t bathed in a long time. Her hair was long and looked brown but it was hard to tell. She was about 5’6. She had hazel eyes. I don’t know how I managed to notice something like that as I was passing by, but I did. They were definitely hazel.”

  “Did she say anything?”

  “Yeah.” Her voice broke as she covered her lips with her fingertips. “She said, ‘Help.’”

  “It’s been months since you had a vision. This is a sign, Rain, that you and I are bound for eternity. No one else will understand this gift you have, but I do. I understand you, Rain, like no one else can.”

  “Then you’ll understand why I have to find her. This has happened before, but I didn’t do anything about it. It always ends the same way. This one’s still alive. It’s like I can feel her out there somewhere.”

  “You’re right. You have a gift and you must use it.” Blaze pulled her close and rested his chin on the top of her head. “I’m sorry I’ve been so distant. Maybe finding this woman and bringing her to safety will be just what we need to put us back together. I’m convinced no one else can help her–only us…only you.” He turned the tv off. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and cradled the back of her head in his hand. His eyes glittered in the moonlight that streamed in through the window by their bed. "Think of it this way: I won’t let you go so you might as well fall back in love with me.”