Free Descended (The Red Blindfold Book 3) by Rose Devereux Page A

the terrace. There was a separate sitting room
with a flat-screen television, and a dramatic limestone fireplace
with ornate columns on either side.
    I’d graduated from
bus station benches to outrageous affluence. These had been three
very strange days.
    “I’d go get your
luggage but you don’t have any,” Drex said.
    I untied my apron and
laid it over a brown velvet chaise. “The bright side of traveling
extremely light.”
    “We’ve been busy
with other things the last few hours,” he said, sitting on the bed.
“I don’t mean to ignore the obvious.”
    “It was nice to
escape it for a little while,” I said. “I needed that.”
    “So did I.” He
watched me take off the rest of the uniform, then gestured for me to
come to him.
    I lay in his arms on
top of the covers. I couldn’t imagine anything feeling softer, or
safer, or more secure. I’d known him less than half a day, but he
was my only friend.
    “We can’t avoid
what’s coming,” he said, his tone quiet but firm. “We need to
find out what’s going on and who you are.”
    That was all I’d
wanted to know since waking up, but now I just wanted to stop time.
“Can’t I be Jane for a couple of days?” I asked. “Do we have
to rush it?”
    His strong arms held me
tightly. “I don’t want to rush anything, believe me. But you have
a family somewhere. Do you want them to go crazy worrying?”
    Guilt washing over me,
I closed my eyes. “No. I just wonder where they were when I was
waking up alone.”
    “It doesn’t make
sense,” he said. “I get that.”
    “I just met you and I
want to stay here with you,” I said. “That doesn’t make sense,
either.”
    “After the last
couple of hours, I’d say you know me better than a lot of people.”
    I slid a foot away so I
could look at him. “I feel like I hardly know anything about you.
I’d like to know more.”
    His lips curved into a
reassuring smile. “Ask me anything.”
    “Okay,” I said.
“What’s your real life like, when you’re not here with me?”
    He slid a hand behind
his head. “Well, I work a lot. I travel and go out when I can, but
my company comes first. I have about three hundred employees. I
started the company six years ago and it’s really taken off. These
aren’t pool halls for cowboys and rednecks. They’re upscale, with
a wealthier clientele. They’ve done very well.”
    That a man like Drex
had been in Chimayo, and stopped for me, were back-to-back miracles
I’d never understand. “Wow,” I said. “I’m impressed.”
    “Thank you. I haven’t
accomplished half of what I want to, but I’m pretty lucky
considering how I started. This shouldn’t have happened to me, but
it did.”
    “You must have worked
hard,” I said.
    “I worked hard, and
did what was necessary. It wasn’t pretty sometimes, but you can’t
always play by the rules.” He stroked my hair back from my
forehead. “I wish I could ask about your life. It must be
frustrating not to know.”
    “It’s weird,” I
said. “This feels normal to me. I didn’t know I should remember
anything until people kept asking my name and where I was from. I
figured out something was wrong pretty fast.”
    He rubbed my shoulder
again and again in a hypnotic circle. “You said you did some
things…do you want to talk about it?”
    “Talk about not
playing by the rules,” I said, forcing myself to smile. I might not
remember much, but I knew I’d broken laws. Lots of them, probably.
    “You don’t have to
tell me,” he said, slipping his hand around my cheek. “Either
way, I understand you. I want you to know that.”
    He leaned forward to
kiss me, and the whole complicated world disappeared. As our lips
touched, I pressed myself against him and wound my bare legs around
his. I was wet again, my muscles tightly-strung and my heart
throbbing hard. It had only been an hour since he was inside me, and
I wanted him again. Badly.
    As if on instinct, I
opened my eyes just as light arced across