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Chapter Twenty Two
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BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Twenty Three
Carter approached the bars with heavy steps. The Bellevue jail smelled of bleach and mildew, and the windows, lined with bars and high on the back wall of each cell, offered virtually no natural light. Fluorescent buzzed overhead, which only added to his growing agitation.Within the cell, Layla was seated in an exhausted hunch with her back to him. The bed she sat on was sunken in and its pillow lay on the concrete floor.“Hey,” he said, keeping his booming tone low so as not to garnish the guard’s attention who was standing post near the jail’s entrance, which separated it from the front desk where a wealth of police officers were in and out, getting calls and drinking coffee.“Yeah?” she said, glancing over her shoulder before looking away, gaze falling to the pillow on the floor. “If you’re not here about my bail or to let me know when Harold’s coming or to give me a shred of good news then I would rather be alone.” “Come to the bars, Layla, I shouldn’t have to shout.”“Why? So y
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Twenty Four
Mira was seated in a chair and trying not to shift around, even though she felt uncomfortable lying back at a forty five degree angle with a metal plate pressed against her face. The plate was cold as ice, yet the light Dr. Fitzpatrick used to see through her left eye then the right caused the white starbursts to flare as they had that morning.“Right now, Mira , I’m taking images of the optic nerves,” he explained, and then she heard a series of faint clicks. “You may feel a little woozy, but that’s perfectly normal.”To say she might feel a little woozy was the understatement of the century. Prior to helping her into the chair, which she imagined looked just like one a dentist would use, Dr. Fitzpatrick’s nurse shot a numbing agent into each eye, and the second it hit her bloodstream she felt downright drunk“Okay, Mira , you are going to feel some pressure,” he said. A moment later, she felt the prick of his surgical needle easing through her right eye.Nate held her right arm, whi
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Twenty Five
Sensing him enter the room behind her, she pulled her shirt up and over her head and let it fall to the floor as she turned. She stripped her bra off next and caught the sweet sound of him faintly groaning a long exhale.“Take off your shirt,” she whispered, as he advanced on her quickly.He slowed, taking a moment to peel the layer off before wrestling his belt open.The cool AC stung her bare breasts, and she felt her nipples grow hard as she undid her jeans and pulled them down, stepping out of them once she had kicked off her shoes.Just as she hooked her thumbs under the sides of her panties, he stopped her, holding her hands then using his own to graze the skin around her backside until he was gripping her ass.His mouth, the smooth slippery curve of his tongue, played around her right nipple before he sucked the mound of her breast, simultaneously massaging her ass, making her grow wet and tingly.“I need to forget,” she said, savoring the feel of his hands as they grazed up he
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Twenty Six
With Layla out of One World, Mira couldn’t seem to get a hold of Carter other than a few briefly worded text messages. She wasn’t so naive as to think that she would retain Carter’s loyalty after having fired hisgirlfriend, but she thought he would at least resign by giving her a direct explanation as to why he couldn’t continue in his role with her organization.It had been three days of this. Nate had been in and out, working hard to get Starlight back on track but with materials that Mira would approve of. In the meantime, other members of One World had come to the. Escala to strategize with her, namely Hector and Jenny, who were certainly committed but lacked experience.If she were being honest, losing Carter and Layla was coming at a very high price.Nevertheless, they planned to meet their attorney, Harold, at the Starlight site and present their negotiation that the construction company dig a new trench eight miles out from the Bellevue town community, so any future natural g
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Twenty Seven
It didn’t matter that she had dragged Carter out of the trailer. It didn’t matter that she had let him have it, utterly furious he could havebetrayed her like this after she’d begged him never to breathe a word ofwhat they’d found in Nate’s office, much less go to the press with it. And it didn’t matter that she’d scrambled to reach Nate in the trailer to try to explain. The fact of the matter was that she’d grossly violated his trust, and there would be no telling how this would impact his life.Mira sat in Nate ’s living room feeling beside herself. She kept replaying her words and his, kept reliving the anguish in his tone, and the terrible declaration he had made that he would be staying at a hotel for awhile to clear his head.He had arranged for his driver to take her back to the Escala, butnnow that she was here it felt so wrong.What the hell had Carter been thinking?Ruining Nate was no guarantee of shutting down the Starlight pipeline. It would only serve to tarnish, if not
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Twenty Eight
His hands, gloved and unrelenting, clamped tighter around her throat. Mira slammed her fists down onto his forearms, praying she could break his hold, but the impact only incited him and he growled, shuffling sideways until he banged her head back against the glass window.Scrambling for a way out of this, Mira tried desperately to visualize the room. Were there any objects nearby she could use as a weapon? Soon her thinking became murky, as she struggled for air that wasno longer reaching her lungs. Refusing to give up and sensing where his feet were planted, where his legs held firm and met at the apex between his legs, she kneed him hard, driving her leg up and screaming.It was a good hit and he keeled over, releasing her, and she sprinted, rushing and tripping around the coffee table then the sofa chair as she made her frantic way to the bedroom.She could feel him on her heels, but just as she crossed the threshold and grabbed the edge of the open door to slam it shut, he caug
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Twenty Nine
Nate didn’t respond except to let out a carefully measured breath, drawing his warm hand up and down her back. She pictured him clenching his jaw, puzzled, his gaze turning soft as he slipped into deep thought.“It’s too great a coincidence that hours after Carter threatened us that he had gone to the press, you ended up getting attacked.”Mira gaped fearfully. The police had suggested as much, but it hadn’t felt as real as it did now, hearing Nate state the possibility.“Whoever they are,” he went on, “they won’t get away with this.Every inch of this building is covered with security cameras. It’s only a matter of time before we find out who they are. Trust me, they’re going to go to prison for a very long time.”She found herself leaning into him, melting into a more relaxed pose in response to his strong arm resting around her back, his warm hand hooked on her hip.“I wasn’t sure you’d ever speak to me again,” she said.“Hey,” he said in a reassuring tone. “I have a lot to figure
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Chapter Thirty
The next morning, Nate slipped out of bed without disturbing Mira , who was sleeping deeply. After making coffee and taking a quick shower, he dressed quietly in his walk-in closet before meeting a locksmithat his door at exactly 7:15 a.m.It only took twenty minutes for the technician to install another keycard lock. He gave Nate three copies and explained that he would still have to use his old one to get into the building downstairs, but that would only be in the event that the doormen weren’t standing post, which Nate knew wouldn’t be likely.After thanking the man and wiring the payment, Nate sent him on his way then peaked in on Mira . She looked like an angel under the covers, breathing softly. The gauze around her eyes was becoming a part of her, and Nate almost couldn’t remember what she’d looked like prior to the accident.Taking a moment to ride the swell of how intense his feelings were for her, Nate became all the more concerned that she had been attacked.His father’s t
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