Into The Sunset: An Erotic Romance Anthology (11 page)

“
You’ll think of something,” Lucas
teased, shaking his head. “Get some rest. Come find me when you’re
ready.”

And with that, he left her at her door. It was
so hard to walk away without claiming so much as a kiss, but Lucas
had been in the business world long enough to know when it was
important to bide his time. He wanted Aurelia, but more than that,
he wanted her to come to him. Now he just had to be patient… maybe
go for a run, or do some laps in the pool. As if that would cool
his ardor for Aurelia.

Lucas chuckled at himself as he headed
downstairs.

*******************************

Aurelia was straight up astounded. When Lucas
had left her at the door of her new bedroom, she’d opened the door
and nearly lost her mind. The room was stunning, the bottom half of
the walls lined in cream wainscoting printed with white tree
branches, the top half covered in a delicate pastel cherry blossom
print. The floors were different from the rest of the house, a
lightly polished oak. A massive white four poster bed dominated the
middle of the room, hung with gauzy white and pastel curtains. A
matching vanity and armoire stood to one side of the room, a
beautiful oak desk took up the middle wall, and the remaining wall
was practically all windows, carefully bedecked with gauzy white
curtains.

For a solid minute, Aurelia just stood in the
doorway with her mouth hanging open. If she’d make a collage of her
perfect room, cut out of hundreds of home design magazines, it
could never have been as perfectly suited to her taste as this
room.

She walked in and closed both the door and her
mouth, admiring the details. A typewriter on the desk, with a fresh
piece of paper ready for her words. Orchids and cherry blossoms on
the vanity. A cream chaise lounge by the window. A bedside table
with several bottles of water chilling in a silver champagne
bucket; when she got closer, she realized it was her favorite
obscure brand.

Flinging open the armoire, she saw that it was
filled with every manner of clothing. The vanity had a few makeup
products that she favored, her favorite perfume…

She froze. Examining the vanity more closely,
she plucked a faded index card from the mirror’s edge. She didn’t
have to read the text, she knew what it said.

“
You’re
gorgeous, gorgeous!”
was scrawled
in her own loopy adolescent handwriting.

Where in the hell had Lucas gotten something
from the bedroom she’d had at her favorite foster home over ten
years ago?

Carefully replacing the card, Aurelia backed
away and made for the bed. Climbing up onto the top, she flopped
down face-first.

A dozen, or maybe a million, separate emotions
flooded through her mind. Tension, relief, fear, exhaustion,
gratitude, bewilderment… everything swirled in her mind, making her
dizzy. Squeezing her eyes closed, she dragged in a huge
breath.

No, there was no preventing it. The tears
rushed up, and suddenly she was sniffling. Then hiccuping. Then she
was sobbing outright, gasping for breath, taken hostage by her
homesick heart.

The card had been too much. Aurelia cried and
cried, pouring out every last drop of resistance and anger and fear
and anxiety along with her salty-sweet tears. Sometime between the
tears slowing, and her realization that someone had done all this
just for her…

Aurelia fell fast asleep.

A full twelve hours later, Aurelia finally
emerged from her room. She’d explored the rest of her suite,
finding a delightful sitting room complete with tea service and
bell pull, although she wasn’t sure whether there were servants of
not. Then she’d found the pristine white-tiled bathroom, dominated
by an immense claw foot tub. All her favorite bath products, things
she’d never been able to get in India or even in New Zealand, were
at her fingertips.

She’d taken a full bubble bath, pampered every
inch of her skin and hair, painted her toes…

And then she’d dug into her new wardrobe. She
didn’t think she could handle exploring everything just now, so
she’d grabbed the first thing at hand… actually, the first thing
had been a stunning Christian Siriano cocktail dress, so she’d put
it back. The second thing she’d grabbed was a pale peach maxi
dress, halter-style and neatly tapered at the waist before falling
in a graceful pool at her feet. The linen was so soft, she actually
sighed as she slid it on over her head.

She’d let her long hair dry naturally, and
forewent perfume or makeup. It felt nice to be so natural and
relaxed, so she left her shoes off as well. The men had been
barefoot when she’d seen them, and she liked that. It lacked
pretension.

Walking over to the desk, Aurelia picked up
the neat sheaf of printed pages that lay waiting. She pushed back
the chair and sat down, scanning the first page of her
contract.

She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, exactly.
Lucas was a businessman, so maybe a detailed breakdown of what she
would owe him: frequency of sexual congress, absolute obedience,
keeping her appearance up at all times.

Instead, it was a simple affair. The contract
listed their names, and the location of the compound. It stated
that Aurelia would provide companionship for a period of one year,
and in return Lucas would alleviate her legal issues, provide her a
generous stipend for the duration of their contract, and leave her
with at least $250,000 in funds at the end of their time together.
Aurelia had to look at the figure for a long time, trying to absorb
it. $250,000 was a huge amount of money, in her book.

At the bottom of the page were two lines for
signatures and dates. The top line was already signed with Lucas’s
elegant scrawl.

Frowning, Aurelia flipped to the second page.
It was blank.

“
That’s it?” she wondered
aloud.

She picked up a beautiful fountain pen that
had been left for her to use just on this occasion, and sighed.
There was no point in waiting, was there?

She uncapped the pen and signed the contract.
A knot of anxiety formed in her stomach, but she pushed it down.
Dropping the pen without ceremony, she pushed back from the desk
and rose to her feet. It was time to face Lucas, begin to provide
the companionship that had bought her livelihood.

Aurelia headed downstairs, carefully picking
up the hem of her dress as she walked. It was slightly too long,
and that imperfection somehow made her feel less overwhelmed by
Lucas’s hospitality.

When she hit the bottom of the stairs, she
caught a snatch of conversation.

“
-don’t even know if she’s alive,
at this point,” Ben was saying.

“
I’d say she’s just fine,” Lucas
said, turning to find her in the doorway. She hadn’t made any
noise, yet he’d divined her presence.

The man Lucas had introduced as Walker stood
as if to back away and give her space to approach, but she waved
him down.

“
I’m fine. Stay put,” she said,
drawing near the couches where the men sprawled.

“
I trust you slept well?” Lucas
asked. “I see you found the clothes I brought in for
you.”

Aurelia blushed, running her hands down the
front of her dress.

“
Yes, I did. Thank
you.”

“
You look really nice,” Ben
blurted out, turning his own shade of red. He crammed a hand
through his hair, awkward.

“
Thank you,” she replied, giving
him a warm smile. Ben was adorable, leaner and less uptight than
the other two. His wrinkled jeans and band tee, the dark brown hair
that spilled over his forehead, his shy smile… oh, yeah. He had a
hot geek thing going on, for sure.

“
Nice,” Walker snapped.

Walker was giving Ben a serious scowl. Walker
was huge, the biggest of the three. Chestnut hair clipped close to
the scalp, deep brown eyes that held no little bit of anger. He
swaggered when he moved, and he was intimidating to the max, but
Aurelia sensed something deeply wounded inside him. The man was
hurting, and neither of his friends seemed to acknowledge
it.

“
Guys?” Lucas said, prompting
them.

“
Food?” Walker asked without
preamble.

“
God, yes,” Aurelia admitted. “I
could have slept for another whole day, but I woke up
ravenous.”

“
Grilled chicken, asparagus,
butternut squash,” Walker said. He was obviously a man who didn’t
waste words.

“
That sounds amazing,” Aurelia
said.

Walker went into the state-of-the-art kitchen
and started making her a plate. Aurelia started towards him, but
Lucas shook his head.

“
Join us,” he suggested. “Just
tell Ben what you’d like to drink.”

“
We’ve got fresh juices, your
fancy bottled water, beer, soft drinks…” Ben offered.

“
I’d love some juice. Do you have
apple?” she asked.

“
Totally, and it’s sooooo good,”
Ben said, his simple enthusiasm infectious. Aurelia grinned at him,
unable to help herself. She didn’t miss the glare Lucas shot at his
friend, but she ignored it.

In a couple of minutes she was seated with a
tray of food, a huge icy glass of apple juice, and three hunky men
staring her down as she ate. She looked around at them, biting her
lip as she picked up her fork.

“
Um… do you think we could turn on
the TV or something?” she asked, hesitant.

Ben laughed, and Lucas nodded. The remote was
found, and soon a rerun of The Daily Show was on the den’s huge
projection screen. Walker’s attention went to the show, and Lucas
and Ben make an effort to hold a conversation with one another so
that she could relax a little.

Aurelia ate with relish, enjoying the fare
very much.

“
Did you guys cook this?” she
asked. “It’s awesome.”

“
Ben,” Lucas said, shrugging.
“He’s a great chef.”

Ben blushed again, ducking his
head.

“
I like eating, and I like
watching people eat what I make. It’s satisfying,” he
said.

“
Well it’s great, thanks. I wish I
could eat more, but I’m afraid I’ll burst and ruin this beautiful
dress,” she teased.

Ben looked thrilled, and Aurelia smiled to
herself. At least she’d won one of them over. He whisked away her
tray, leaving the juice on the coffee table.

While Ben was preoccupied and Walker was
staring at the TV, Aurelia cocked her head at Lucas.

“
Do you want to show me the back
porch?” she suggested, tilting her head at the sliding glass
doors.

Lucas gave her a mega-watt grin, standing and
offering her a hand. When she slid her hand into his, a burst of
warmth spread from the contact just as it had the first time they’d
touched.

She could feel his gaze as he escorted her
outside, but she kept her eyes down as she walked. She needed a
moment to gather her thoughts, piece her words together. Words were
all she had to offer him, just now.

Sweeping her gaze up, she walked out to the
cedar railing and took in the view. The forest was all around them,
lush and verdant and beckoning to her wolf. The land sloped away
from one side of the house, dropping dramatically to showcase the
breathtaking mountains.

“
We’re in the Blue Ridge Parkway,”
Lucas said, propping an elbow on the railing next to her and giving
her a considering gaze. Taking her measure, maybe waiting to see if
she’d run.

Aurelia wasn’t planning to run, not from a
place like this. Even if she’d wanted to, she had nowhere to
go.

“
It’s beautiful,” she commented,
keeping her eyes trained on the view. She wasn’t quite ready to
look at Lucas, the man who’d made all this happen for her. Who’d
saved her from a terrible fate, and dropped her in every woman’s
fantasy.

“
I thought it was an appropriate
backdrop for a beautiful woman,” he said.

Biting her lip, Aurelia allowed herself to
turn and take Lucas in. Tall, muscular without the bulk, deeply
tanned skin that spoke of how much time he spent outside. He had
gorgeous curly blond hair with a handsome light streak in front,
silver eyes, and very lickable lips. His smile, growing under her
appraisal, was devilish and made her heart flutter a
little.

“
I’m going to kiss you,” he
warned, moving closer.

Aurelia froze, lips parting as she frantically
wondered how she should respond. An instant later, it didn’t
matter. A burst of warmth shattered her reticence, sensation
flooding her body as he closed in and cupped her jaw in his big
hand. Using his thumb to angle her just so, Lucas leaned down and
brushed his lips over hers. Another brush, and she released a soft
sound.

Lucas dropped his hands to her waist, pulling
her flush against his hard body.

“
Kiss me,” he coaxed.

Staring up at him, she made a decision.
Reaching up, she slid her palms across his shoulders to rest at his
neck. Tilting her head back, she offered up her mouth.