Free For His Taking (For His Pleasure, Book 2) (The Submission of Miss Masters, Domination, BDSM) by Kelly Favor Page A

sound of shattering glass.
    Her eyes snapped open and her heart was instantly racing. She didn’t even know where she was at first, and then it all came back to her.
    Another loud crash from somewhere in the house.
    What if there’s been a break-in? She thought, imagining masked intruders with guns throwing everything that wasn’t nailed down into giant duffel bags.
    In her mind’s eye, Red was on the floor, his head bleeding from where they’d hit him.
    She heard a wild scream, a shout of rage and pain. It was primal, like an animal.
    Nicole crept out of the theatre room, her hands shaking with terror. Down the hall, she couldn’t see what was happening, but she had an idea where the sound was coming from.
    “Oh, god, oh god, please don’t let them hurt me,” she whimpered. She contemplated hiding, but couldn’t bring herself to cower like that. What if Red was in trouble, what if he needed her help?
    Finally, the sounds got louder, and she knew she was close.
    There were shadows on the wall from inside the dining room. Nicole crept toward the doorway, leaning just far enough to peek inside and see who was in there.
    It was Red, and he was alone.
    He was wearing only his silk black boxers and he was glistening with sweat.
    There was broken glass all over the floor, pieces of china and dishes everywhere. He’d torn the room apart.
    Red Jameson was a maniac. Terrified for her life, Nicole turned and ran past the dining room, hoping to get outside and down the road before he could catch her.
    But Red must have heard her footsteps, because a moment later he was chasing.
    “Nicole!” he shouted. “Nicole, wait!”
    She turned and looked over her shoulder, horrified at the sight of him. He was a madman, his curly black hair blown backwards as he ran at full speed to catch up.
    Near the foyer, he caught her arm and stopped her forward progress. Nicole turned and tried to fight him off, screaming as loud as she could for help.
    “Nicole,” he said, quieting his own voice and trying to get her attention. “Calm down. Honey…”
    “Please leave me alone.” She tried desperately to pull away, but Red was far too strong. He held her effortlessly, as if she were a child.
    “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”
    “I don’t care.” She glared at him. “I want to go back to my apartment now.
    Please.”
    “Let me explain.”
    She shook her head, closing her eyes momentarily. An image came to her mind, of him throwing wine glasses against the wall and screaming. She didn’t want to be with him here alone, not after all of this.
    “I need…I need to go home. Immediately.”
    He must have seen, from the look on her face, that she meant it. “I’ll take you now. Just let me change.”
    She looked at his feet. “You’re bleeding.”
    He glanced down. “Oh. I must have cut myself from all that glass.” He tried to laugh.
    “I don’t want you to drive me anywhere. Please call me a car.” She hugged herself, retreating from his nearness.
    “Nicole…” he tried once more and she turned her head. Red sighed, a deep sigh that sounded as though it came from the very bottom of his beleaguered soul. “I’ll call a car. It should be here in minutes.”
    “I’m going to wait outside,” she told him, already walking away. “Please stay in here.”
    “Of course.”
    Suddenly, she felt a pang of regret that resonated in her chest. A pang of remorse for how she was treating him. She didn’t even know what had caused his outburst.
    Perhaps he’d gotten terrible news; a death in the family, someone was paralyzed. She had no idea and hadn’t bothered asking.
    But then she remembered how oddly he’d been behaving all night—the coldness with which he’d treated her. Even during their sexual interplay, he’d called her slut and treated her far too roughly—cruelly, when you got right down to it.
    She deserved better than this. No matter how beautiful the house, no matter how wonderful the pond and the