Sanctuary Read Free Page A

particularly like to be described in those terms, but she couldn’t think of another word that fit him as well. He was beautiful. And wicked-looking in the most luscious way.
    The cab raced through the dark night, down Lombard Street now, with all its restaurants and bars, brightly lit neon signs whizzing past the windows in a blur of yellow, blue, pink. The streets were still lively at…she checked her watch. It was already almost one in the morning. How long had she stood at the edge of the Ring watching him? No wonder Kimmie had taken off.
    Crap. Kimmie. She pulled her cell phone from her purse and pulled up Kimmie’s number. Her friend’s voicemail picked up.
    â€œHi, Kimmie. I’m sorry I left, but I had to get out of there and I couldn’t find you. I…just call me tomorrow, okay?”
    She stuffed her phone back into purse. She didn’t want to talk about the club tonight, even to her best friend. She needed some time to absorb her feelings, her reaction to the Ring.
    The cab pulled up in front of her building, a classic San Francisco-style stucco built in the twenties, like so many of the other buildings in this part of town. She paid the driver and went inside. Too edgy to wait for the elevator, she jogged up the four flights of carpeted stairs and let herself, breathless, into her apartment.
    It was chilly inside and she flipped the heat on as she passed the thermostat in the hall. In her room she kicked off her black stiletto heels, placed them on her closet shelf where her shoes were lined up in perfectly ordered rows. She quickly changed into her burgundy velvet robe, a vintage piece she’d found at one of the thrift stores on Haight Street. After hanging up her skirt in the closet, she put her red lace top into the laundry basket, then padded on slippered feet across the wood-floored hall to the bathroom. There she ran the water to wash her face, then decided she wanted the bar smells out of her hair and turned the shower on instead.
    She carefully took off her makeup while the water heated, twisted her long, straight auburn hair up into a clip and slipped out of her robe before stepping into the steaming blast of water.
    This was one of the things she loved most about her apartment. The view of the Palace of Fine Arts only eight blocks away was gorgeous, and she loved the dark, gleaming hardwood floors and the bay window in the living room. She loved the ornate crown moldings in every room and the old black-and-white tile work in the kitchen, but she was absolutely in love with the bathroom. It was enormous and had the best water pressure and endless hot water, something one rarely found in these older buildings. She could stay in the shower forever if she wanted to. She loved the pure decadence of it. Loved the sensation of the water sluicing hot and silky over her skin.
    She let her head fall back against the dark green tiles as the shower stall filled with steam and let her mind wander, remembering once more what she’d seen tonight.
    Of course, the first image that came to mind was Shaye. His bare torso shadowed in the nightclub lights that defined and illuminated every ridge and plane of muscle. His flashing white teeth. His lips on her hand.
    His soft, soft lips.
    She shivered.
    That brief, hot kiss on her palm had been one of the most erotic moments of her life.
    Her body went warm and loose all over. She pictured the way Shaye had looked when he was working that first girl with the paddle, the muscles of his back rippling, the tattooed armbands gripping his flexing biceps, and her pussy pooled with molten heat. No, if she were being truthful, what really did it for her was imagining she was the one he was doing it to. That it was her stripped nearly naked and on display for all those people. That it was her flesh being smacked with the paddle. By him .
    She let out a groan and her hand smoothed down her body, sliding over her breasts, over the hard peaks of her