My new book 'IMAGE or LIKENESS' is on and people have asked me a sneak peek. On Amazon you can read more than this, but I decided to post the first two chapters here.
Here it goes, chapter 1. Enjoy!
Chapter one
the note
“You become responsible, forever, for what you have
tamed.”
‘Hello, my Queen!’ Sam said cheerily.
Lana twisted her nose petulantly looking at
him over her shoulder.
She was comfortably installed on the big couch on their
four bedroom apartment’s TV room, watching ‘Fight
club’ once again.
‘Queen, queen, queen, queen!’ He chanted
and bended by the waist to kiss her lips.
‘I still hate this pet name! So corny!’
Lana complained and Sam smiled wickedly.
‘Why do you always smell so good?’ He asked
with his nose deep in her neck. Samuel Vaughn knew his wife hated the pet name
but he used it anyway. He was damn crazy about Lana Zaraki-Vaughn since he
first met her by chance at a coffee house eight years before. She was a
stunning brunette of twenty five then, good natured, good humored and proud of
her freedom; he fell for her as soon as she gave him the cold shoulder.
Rich, young and successful, Samuel wasn’t
used to being snubbed by women. Tall, dark, athletic and handsome; enthusiast
of triathlon competitions, he was always surrounded by nice specimen of the fairer
sex and was known by his appetite towards them. Feminine snubbing was rare and
usually superficial; it required feeble determination from him to get whatever
he wanted from them. But Lana had given him a run for his money.
It took him a while to understand that she
wasn’t playing coy, she really wasn’t free for him like he wanted her to be. In
love with someone else, she made him squirm to get her phone number and sweat
to take her out on an actual date. It took Sam a while longer to prove that he
could give Lana the monogamy she demanded from a partner, an underlying demand
to reach her heart.
Inadvertently, her resistance rendered him
completely enslaved to this beautiful half Greek and half Brazilian woman;
enchanted with her sweetness when she let him taste it; enticed by her sharp
witty tongue; seduced by her curvaceous tanned body, long hair and green eyes.
She was irresistible to him.
‘Here, Lalie. Doorman handed me our mail
when I arrived.’ Sam sorted their correspondence distractedly balancing letters
between his hands. He walked around the couch to let her bundle fall into her
outstretched hands and dropped his on the side chair before shrugging off his
jacket and tie. ‘I hate when I have to wear a suit. It makes me feel old.’ He
complained.
‘What you need is to spend a few hours
letting your body challenge its limits!’ She smiled at him and he relaxed. Her
intimate smile had such power over his bad mood. ‘When is the next triathlon
competition?’
‘In three weeks there’ll be one in Brazil.
Florianópolis.’ He sighed and she raised her brows. ‘I’m not fit to it though.’
She chuckled. ‘You’re not fit to win because your work load have been
stealing your training time. But you are more than fit to compete.’ She said
and gave him an appreciative once-over.
He smiled and blushed discretely. ‘I’m not
fit.’ He said flopping down on the arm chair. ‘Eddie?’
‘Asleep already… Sorry, my love.’ She
answered his question about Eduarda, their three years old daughter.
‘I guessed. The house is too quiet and you
are here lazily watching this amazing
movie again.’ Sam mocked his wife’s fixation.
‘Shhh… Now, just… now! Look!’ She said
smiling entranced by the violent sequence that was about to start.
Sam squinted at the big TV and felt that,
instead of the actor’s, his own hand was burning. The first time they watched
the movie together he was amused how much the sexy woman he was trying to
seduce liked the guy flick but dismissed her interest as simply appreciation
for Brad Pitt’s presence. But she really liked it though, the underlying
tension, the double personality character. She must relate to it somehow, he
thought. After all, she had read the book, talked about it, watched it every
chance she got and laughed at the most absurd moments.
‘Oh, I just love this part.’ She sighed.
‘Eddie was impossible today. Her teacher sent us a note again.’ And as Lana
recounted him their tom boy sweet girl’s adventures in school that day, Sam
perused his mail arranging it in two piles - important stuff and garbage. He
didn’t have much patience for junk mail and never wasted time on it.
He laughed as she told him how Eduarda had talked
three of her kindergarten friends into hiding in the janitor’s closet while she
raised the alarm, convincing the teacher they were missing. The whole school
spent half the afternoon searching for the kids and their prank was only
discovered when Eddie burst into helpless giggles.
‘And was she grounded?’ He asked grinning,
but got no answer whatsoever. ‘Lalie? Was Eduarda grounded? Will we have to
send her to Barbie’s jail house?’
Lana still didn’t answer so he looked up
from his mail at her. She had a small smile and a neat small manila envelope in
her hands.
‘What, Lalie?’
She looked up at him changing her
expressions to a sexy irresistible smile and he felt his loins tingle. He
raised his brows in question when she flipped the envelope on her hands.
‘I bet the mailman didn’t bring this nice
envelope.’ Lana said languidly.
‘No?’ He asked.
‘Nope.’ She said smiling sexily. ‘I bet
this came by courier…’
Sam frowned.
‘And I bet…’ She said and started opening
the envelope. ‘Ah!... I knew it
smelled good!’ She stole a glance at him.
He stared stupidly at her and she chuckled
low in her throat.
Samuel had had a very tiring day facing difficult clients at
his advertising agency and while driving home in one hell of a traffic jam he
dreamt of finding exactly what he did when he arrived: his sexy tanned woman
alone waiting for him, their daughter asleep, maids retired for the day, the
house all for themselves. Guilt of arriving too late to enjoy his baby’s
company nagged him but the prospect of having sex with his love to sooth his
broken spirit won that day.
Lana ripped open the heavyweight envelope
and extracted another one, only pink. As she waved it with a flourish he
finally understood her sexy teasing. His insides churned.
‘Fuck.’ He muttered under his breath when
the sickly sweet fragrance reached his nostrils.
‘Yes, yes my love: hyacinth and orange
blossom!’ She passed the pink envelope in front of her nose pretending to
inhale the fragrance. ‘Anais…’ She sighed dramatically ‘…Anais!’
He knew it was a tease. One of the things
he remembered most of her trembling voice that night on their darkened bed was:
‘She wore so much perfume; it’s still
stuck in my nose. Can you smell orange blossom and hyacinth? I do… I hate that
sweet perfume. It’s like she forced herself on me through her scent.’
‘Fuck, why wasn’t I more attentive?’ Vaughn
grumbled.
Lana laughed. ‘It’s my mail, what could you do?’
‘Throw it away, burn it, send it back.’ He
said aggravated.
‘No sender.’ She said inspecting the bigger
envelope.
‘Like last time. Garbage then.’ He muttered
before thinking.
‘Last time?’ Lana asked.
Vaughn blushed discretely.
‘Samuel?’ She urged him.
‘Oh, the fuck with it. I did throw one of
these away last spring.’ He admitted and she gasped. ‘It was just after Eddie
came back from the hospital with pneumonia. You didn’t need that.’
‘Sam! That’s such disrespect!’ Lana
complained.
‘No. It was care. I care for you.’ He answered angrily. ‘I can’t believe you’ll
fight me over this filth!’
She opened her mouth to argue but had to
close it. He knew she had nothing to say against his actions. Of course he
considered how intruding it would be but at the time she had been destroyed by
worry, both their hearts had been broken by seeing their love child sick. He
had scanned everything he could to make sure no other harm would reach them.
When he perused the correspondence he only thought about cleaning out junk
mail, he couldn’t have never ever predicted that hateful immoral woman would
dare to reach his wife.
‘What did it say?’ She asked blushing. ‘The
letter you threw away?’ Her beguiling green eyes expectantly regarding his
face.
He shrugged. ‘Have no idea. I ripped it
without opening. Didn’t have to read, this scent is too strong to mean anything
nice.’
She looked at him for a few moments and
then at the envelope burning her hands.
‘Give it to me, my Queen.’ He extended his
hand to her. ‘Let me get rid of this one too.’ He said condescendingly.
She looked at him again and shook her head
‘no’.
‘Last Spring, you say?’ She asked with a
pained expression.
Samuel thought her voice was a little
weaker now that he had justified his crime.
‘Yes.’ He frowned. ‘You don’t sound as
cocky as you did when you found this shit.’
‘Six… seven months ago?’ She asked.
‘Yes.’ He barked running a hand over his
face tiredly. And then heard paper ripping.
Lana was opening the envelope gingerly. He
sighed aggravated. “Damn this woman for
being so curious.’ He could see her shoulders stiff and her beautiful green
eyes slightly widened. She took a small pink note from inside and read it, her
eyes moving quickly and then… she smiled. She poised the note on her lap and
reached inside the envelope for two tickets.
‘George Michael!’ She chuckled.
Sam frowned and she passed him the note.
“My sweet Lalie,
I hope this finds you and your lovely family well.
It came to my notice that one of your favorite
artists will perform a single exclusive concert next week in New York, so I
thought it would put a smile on your face.
Will you accept this gift from a dear friend?
Have fun.
Yours, Anais.”
‘Fuck this woman. I swear I’ll have her
arrested for this.’ Vaughn growled angrily, bowled the note in his hand and
reached for his jacket to find his phone. ‘I’ll call our lawyer and he’ll know
what to-‘
‘No, love.’ Lana said leaning forward to
poise her delicate hand on his arm.
‘Lalie, this is insane! This woman is
harassing you!’ He barked.
She shook her head. ‘No, she’s not.’ She
said in a weak voice, a tad louder than a whisper. ‘You said the last time she
tried to contact me was more than six months ago. It was a long time.’
‘Long time, Lalie? Twice in a year!’ Vaughn
yelled.
‘Calm down, love. It’s just a gift.’ Lana
said placidly in a tone of voice he knew she knew would dampen his fire.
‘Damn it.’ He said and slapped his knee.
‘You’ll accept it!’
‘Well… it’s George Michael…’ She said
unable to restrain a smile.
Incredulously Samuel noticed that she had
found her voice again, it was as if the faint sexy smile on her luscious lips
had given her courage.
‘Are you crazy?’ He asked aggravated and
shook his head. ‘You are out of your mind.’
Lana rested back on the couch and fingered
the tickets.
He took a good look at her, analyzing her languid
stare at the note and how the damned sexy smile illuminated her face. Uncertain
if he was madder at her for considering the immoral woman’s gift or at himself
for being aroused by her reaction, he stood up to leave.
‘I’m going for a bath. Don’t come after
me.’ He said by the door. She didn’t raise her head to look at him over her
shoulders but he knew she understood his message. ‘Just remember your family -
me and your daughter - before playing with fire, Lana.’ He spit the words and
strode away.
Samuel Vaughn climbed the steps two at a
time seething. He felt a hollow in chest he was unable to deal with. He was
bounded, muffled, restrained. He had hated this situation from moment zero, he
feared the day this woman would want a piece of his Queen again.
Lana was attracted to this filth like a fly
to a spider’s web. She couldn’t fight it, and he suspected she didn’t want to.
By the second floor landing of their
penthouse he stopped to calm his breath for a while and entered their baby
girl’s room. She was heavily snoring, sweetly asleep, spread eagled on her
light pink canopy bed. Her bedroom was the ultimate modern princess retreat:
walls striped in pastel turquoise and green, light pink furniture, an
assortment of spunky princesses dolls, a Venetian mirror, Breakfast at
Tiffany’s portraits.
When a very pregnant Lana showed him her
sketches for their princess’ room, he was doubtful of what would come of that
but her absurdly happy smile and enthusiastic explanations about the décor made
him approve it all. He never doubted her professional skill; she had already
shown him countless times how good an interior designer she was. For their
first daughter she wanted a room that would host a modern woman, independent
and spirited. He had smiled at that because it was exactly what Vaughn wanted:
a mini Lana.
‘Dad’s home, Princess.’ Samuel whispered in
Eduarda’s ear and smiled at her sleepily grumble of approval.
After that he kissed her mop of brown hair
and tucked her in. When he was assured she was in deep sleep again he left her
room and braced himself for what he had to do.
---
“Twenty
nine minutes and counting…” Vaughn thought smiling
at the clock on their double vanity suite bathroom and entered the shower.
Not one minute later he heard footsteps on
the marble floor and didn’t have to open his eyes under the water spray to know
his wife was there.
‘Hi…’ Lana said tentatively.
He smiled to himself but kept the angry
façade. He knew she would come to make amends before long, and he hoped she
would try to seduce him in the shower. Of course he would put on a show to
persuade her he was right in this but he would give in to her.
She was too compelling to him.
As she was for that filthy woman.
He had called their lawyer as soon as he
had gotten to their bedroom and made arrangements to ensure their security. It
had been a long time since he hadn’t mentioned any of those measures and his
lawyer was curious as to why he needed to discuss this matter out of the blue,
in the middle of a week night. He explained the note and they decided on a
course of action. After that he used the bathroom and hopped into the shower.
‘Can I join you?’ She asked in a soft
voice.
Vaughn willed his dick not to answer for
him. ‘It depends. Alone or would you bring someone else with you?’
‘Oh Love… Please.’ She sighed. ‘I don’t
want to fight you.’
‘Then throw that stupid note and tickets in
the toilet.’ He said opening his eyes under the streaming water to look at her
beguiling green gems.
‘It’s just a concert.’ She begged.
‘You are not that naïve.’ He said and
reached for the soap.
She bit her lower lip and took off her
shirt dress. Only in her beige panties, standing on the shower door she looked
at the vanity. Sam still marveled at having vanity space for him since Lizzy
decided to store her perfume tray somewhere inside her closet, some two years
ago. He saw her notice the phone he had left there but didn’t comment.
‘I think she would be watching us.’ Finally
she said.
He snorted. ‘I’m sure she would be watching
you.’ He answered.
Lana bended on her midriff to take off her
panties and Vaughn had to turn his back to her. “Damn it.” He had never heard of a man having sexual desire for a
C-section scar, he knew it was foolish to feel this drive for the telltale of
their history. But it was so neatly hidden under the tan line of her smallish
Brazilian bikinis, on a white area on the apex of her delicious brown thighs.
Only he could see and touch it.
She stepped into the double shower box and
although it was big enough for them to bathe independently, she hugged him from
behind and didn’t turn her shower head on.
‘I want to go.’ She said, actually asking
his permission to do it.
‘I don’t want you to want to go.’ He
answered washing himself.
‘Nothing will happen. You’ll protect me.’
She moved her hands from his waist to his chest and glued her cheek to his
shoulder blades.
‘Thank you for putting me in such a cozy
position, my Queen.’ He spat.
‘Love… please?’ She whined and kissed his
back.
‘Lalie, if I thought for one minute you
wanted to watch this concert, I would say yes. You know I would. We have visited
Brazil just because you wanted to attend Rock in Rio. But we both know what you
really want.’ He said and turned to her.
She blinked at him and smiled wickedly,
sexily, lazily.
‘I like this voyeur thing…’ She said
wasting her French accent on him.
It wakened in Vaughn so many bittersweet
memories that he had to swallow the bile in his throat and calm the arousal on
his loins.
‘You know what my problem is, Lana?’ He asked in an even voice to let her know she
had won this battle. ‘I love you too much.’
‘Sam…’ She let go of him and hugged her
chest pushing up her full breasts. ‘Don’t make a fuss. It’s not like I’d be
kidnapped or something!’
‘Make a fuss!’ He snorted. ‘Listen to you!’
‘Yes. If she wanted something from me she
would have made contact sooner.’ She said while he shook his head. ‘And not by
courier. Obviously she knows where we live! And that we are not living in
Chicago anymore but in New York now and will be here by the time of the concert!...’
Her reasoning gave him goose bumps.
‘How can you not fear for our daughter?’ He
accused her.
‘Oh please!’ Lana threw up her hands.
‘She’s not the Wicked Witch of the East, you know?’
‘West.’ He smiled. She was as adorable as
sexy.
‘What?’ She frowned and squinted due to the
drops of water ricocheting from his head to her eyes as she looked up at him.
‘Wicked Witch of the West.’ He said.
‘Whatever, Samuel.’ She crossed her arms
again. ‘I want to go.’ She pouted and averted her eyes.
He shook his head ‘no’.
‘You would profit from this experience, you
know.’ She said and sexily raised her eyes to him, long lashes framing green
gems.
He raised his brows surprised that she
hadn’t noticed she had already won this argument. She was still giving him the
option to refuse.
‘You know how horny I get when…’ She smiled
sideways and uncrossing her arms fingered one nipple. ‘Well… the thrill of a
new setting…’
He swallowed hard.
‘Remember last time we were in Rio and we
tried that rent-by-the-hour motel?’ She said giving him her best teasing look
while a hand traveled down her stomach.
He groaned and in one swift motion got a
good hold of her waist to twist them so she was facing the tiled wall. Gluing
his erection to her butt, he said. ‘I know exactly what you are trying to do to
me, and I’ll let you have it.’ He grinded himself into her and she moaned. ‘But
know this.’ He opened her cheeks with a hand so he could touch her sex. ‘If
that harpy gets into our eyesight
I’ll have her arrested. Tomorrow morning our lawyer will start working on it.’
He caressed her and she melted on his fingertips. ‘I’ll take you to this
concert and you, my sweet Queen, will be the bait to catch this barracuda.’
She tried to turn and argue but he pressed
her to the wall and entered her.
From then on, it was a dance they had
already mastered, way before she agreed to be his officially.
---
‘Can you really have her arrested?’ She
asked afterwards when they were lying naked in the plush semi darkness of their
bedroom.
He shrugged. ‘I can if she comes close to
you.’ He blinked and turned to her. ‘Why? Will you try to defend her?’
‘No.’ She said and crossed her arms under
her head. ‘But I can’t help it. I fell aroused by this.’
Lana kept silent for a while. Samuel
respected, waiting his wife find words to express herself.
‘Do you think I’m crazy?’ She whispered.
‘Do you hate me for this?’
He considered her questions. He had lost
his best friend because of the mess she had let happen, she had waned the
friendship with said friend’s wife as an aftermath, he had lost contact with a
guy he never liked in the first place but was an important business
acquaintance because of her and he had been dragged into the filthiness of the
world.
He had felt desperate.
Confused.
Enraged.
Humiliated.
Avid for revenge.
But he didn’t hate his Queen.
He never felt hatred for the woman who
ruled his life. He always saw her as a victim.
Sweet, naïve, curious as a cat, unaware of
her power, a perfect victim.
‘No.’ He answered simply and let it hang.
---
Curious? ...
bj
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