Master for Tonight Read Free

from the blanket. She rose a bit too quickly,
almost tripping over the blanket that had fallen to the floor. She
caught the side of the coffee table with her hands and righted
herself.
    “I'm coming!”
    I just got to the good
part, her thoughts whined as she stomped to
the nuisance of a door. Helen obviously
didn’t let everyone know I’m off, or ‘someone’ just didn’t
listen. Kate reprimanded her ungracious
thoughts, blaming it on the wine, rather than her genuine need for
‘me’ time.
    Rushing to get rid of whoever was on the
other side, Kate didn’t look through the peephole. She flipped the
deadbolt and yanked open the front door…to no one.
    Startled and confused, she tip-toed on bare
feet onto the wooden porch. Sounds of the night wrapped around her,
and a slight breeze blew through her hair, raising goose bumps on
her arms. She looked to both sides, only seeing the wicker settee
to her left. The white-washed porch swing to her right swayed in
the breeze.
    Her home was 30 minutes outside of the city,
down a country road, and set back far enough that no one would know
it was there unless meant to. She chose this location after weeks
of research and driving the area, wanting the silence and the
solitude, which was never present in the city. Someone ringing her
doorbell at this time of night was no accident.
    Kate stood outside her door for a while,
looking out into the darkness, seeing and hearing nothing, except
the gurgle of the fountain in her front yard and the strains of
music from inside. She glanced around one last time, chalked it up
to a wild imagination fueled by fictional detectives and murderers
on the streets of the big city, and flipped around to go back to
her book. Immediately face planting into the bulk of a man in front
of her door, her hands flew up to land on a chest hard as stone.
With a sharp intake of breath, her green eyes rose to meet
intensely blue ones.

Chapter 3
    “Kate, let me in.” His voice, soft, low and
accented, sounded like a mixture of sweet cream and venom.
    Her wine buzz vanished, and panic at a level
she had never encountered sliced through her body. A sound started
to come from her, which she knew was fueled by instinctive and
uncontrollable fear. An almost silent, high pitched and keening
sound passed through her clenched teeth, out into the night, as her
heart raced to the point she knew she would pass out.
    If she passed out, what then? She did not
know this man! How did he know her name? Why was he there? What did
he want from her?
    Quick as lightning, he gripped the tops of
her naked arms just below her shoulders and held her in place. No
way, would she be able to overpower him or get away. His grip on
her was solid.
    “Kate, keep looking at me,” he
commanded.
    Run! Scream! Fight! Do
something! her mind shrieked, but Kate
couldn’t move. She was frozen to that spot in fear, and the man’s
grip on her arms was strong and unmovable. His eyes held hers to
his just as strongly and refused to let go. Trapped in his eyes,
Kate saw a small flame burst to life in their center, and she let
out a wail.
    As she continued to stare, entranced, she
began to sense a lightheadedness, and her peripheral vision started
to contract. Her vision continued to constrict tighter until the
trees lining the outskirts of the property blacked out. As it
continued to slide together like curtains, the lawn disappeared,
the walls of the house—everything disappeared, until the only
things visible were his scorching eyes staring directly into
hers.
    With a trembling whisper, Kate asked, “Who
are you?”
    “I’m your Master for tonight, Kate.” His
voice held no emotion.
    “My—”
    “Yes, your Master for tonight, Kate. The
sooner you let me in, the sooner we can begin.”
    Long fingers ran through her hair gently,
yet insistently, pulling her head back with their strength. She
recognized they were his fingers. She wanted to pull away...to run
screaming to the road and hail down a