Free Invitation to Ecstasy by Nina Pierce

his chest against her back, no doubt trying to make her feel safe, but
it only added to the cloying desperation and fear choking her.
    “Master!” The word dragged out in a mournful wail as she
called after the only man who’d been willing to face her pain.
    Ethan released one wrist and she clawed at the other
binding. Confusion blinded her. She fought desperately against the sexual haze
of endorphins and adrenaline, trying to figure out how everything had gone so
horribly wrong.
    “Sara, you’re safe. He can’t hurt you. There’s no need to
fight.”
    “Let me go!” As soon as the binding relaxed, she ripped her
hand free and pushed away from the mirror, trying to get away from Ethan. “He
needs me.”
    “No.” He twisted her to face him. Even if his fingers hadn’t
been digging into her shoulders, Ethan’s commanding voice alone would have
stopped her cold. “You don’t owe him anything.” The ebony eyes raking her face
glistened with pain. “Thank God I got here when I did.” He looked down her
body, both of them seeing the blood that coated her legs. “Jesus, I thought he
knew better. I’m sorry, Sara. So very sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen
again.”
    “No, the blood…it was an accident—”
    “This kind of behavior is no accident, Sara. I heard your
cries from the beach for chrissake.”
    Ethan had misunderstood her pleas—but not Derek.
    Derek had known what she needed and been brave enough to
push at the final anchor holding her in the past. He’d seen her reaction to
being called beautiful—Marc’s public command of absolute obedience—and had
insisted she face it, to feel safe when she said it. Both of them understood
that. Sara just hadn’t been ready to believe Derek was strong enough to hold
back the wash of memories that would come when she pulled down that last
barrier. She saw that now.
    But she’d been wrong.
    As clearly as the sound of the retreating Wave Runner
carrying Derek away, Sara knew he’d delivered her safely through hell’s fires
unscathed. She felt the truth of it kiss her unchained heart. Even as the
burden of her past lifted, leaving her feeling lightheaded and free, she
suffered the hollow emptiness of her Master’s abandonment. Her shoulders sagged
with the loss.
    “Sara?”
    “Derek did it,” she said quietly, forcing her gaze to meet
Ethan’s concerned expression. “He pushed and refused to take ‘no’ for an
answer.”
    Ethan pulled her into a fierce hug. “I know. I’m sorry. He’s
too green. I shouldn’t have sent him here.”
    A hoarse laugh escaped over the absurdity of the situation
and the giddy happiness of realizing with Derek’s help, she’d purged herself of
Marc’s ghost. “I do love you, Ethan, but sometimes even you are a blind ass.”
    He set her away from him, gauging her sanity, and she
laughed again.
    “ Trust me when I say, you sent the perfect Dom for
the job.” She pushed out of his arms and spun so Ethan could examine all of
her. “You’re looking at a new woman, my friend. The only baggage leaving XTC
Resorts with me tomorrow is the one I can carry in my hand.”
    Ethan’s mouth curved in a weary smile. “You sure you’re not
hurt?”
    “The blood’s Derek’s, he cut himself on the… Oh, never
mind.” She headed to the door, remembering she had no way to leave. “How’d you
get here? It seems my kayak’s drifted away in the storm and I need to find my
Master.”
    “I took off on a Wave Runner when said kayak drifted to the
dock. I thought you’d capsized in the storm.”
    “Nope.” Her smile made her cheeks ache. “Seems Derek saved
my life twice this afternoon.”
    * * * * *
    Derek slugged down his tonic water, slamming the glass on
the mahogany bar of the club and swiping at his mouth with the back of his hand.
He’d like to have something stronger, but it wouldn’t do to face Ethan with
alcohol in his system. He’d get stinking drunk tonight when he was back in
Boston. Isn’t that what