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Chapter 17
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The Fantasy Maker Chapter 18
Emma shouldered her way through the growing crowd, her camera clutched tight against her chest to protect it from an accidental jab from someone's elbow. She caught her mother's eye and offered a slight smile, as though to say, what can you expect?The smile faltered when Steve moved up behind her mother, tapping her shoulder to let her know he was there. Of all the school programs he had ever made it to since Seth had started school, he had to make it to this one. She wanted to scream with frustration. The last thing she needed today was Steve.But he was their father.Emma found a blank spot against a far wall. She lifted the camera to her eye, focusing the lens on the stage where Justin's class would soon appear. They had worked on this play for weeks. Emma knew Justin's part better than she suspected he knew it. He was so nervous this morning that he almost talked her into letting him stay home. She hoped he was better now that he was around his friends. But she suspected not.
The Fantasy Maker Chapter 19
The glass of wine tasted like sweet nectar on her tongue. It wasn't even five o'clock in the afternoon. She had just picked up the boys from school, should be in the dining room helping them with their homework. But she so needed the oblivion the wine offered. She wasn't sure how much longer she could do this.It took so much more effort to pretend that everything was okay than it did to accept defeat. Her marriage was over. She could say it to herself. Why couldn't she say it to him?Speaking of the devil. Steve walked into the room, tugging at the tie around his neck as he spotted the bottle of wine on the table. He went to a cabinet and pulled down a glass. "What are you doing here?" she asked as he made his way to the table."I still live here," he said, helping himself to the wine.Emma let the comment slide, not really in the mood to argue with him. Instead, she swallowed the last of the wine in her glass and held it out for a refill. He obliged, filling it to the rim
The Fantasy Maker Chapter 20
Dante stood in the middle of the room, his wrists tied with a thick silk rope that ran through an eye in the ceiling and tied off on another eye attached to the wall. He was naked, his body fully exposed. Emma, dressed in a tight bustier and her a thong, walked slowly around him, a leather flogger with no less than thirty distinct lashes clutched too tightly in her hand."I don't want to hurt you.""You won't.""But this thing looks pretty solid."Dante smiled. "It'll sting, but it won't leave marks."Emma bit her lip. "I just don't want do something wrong.""You won't," he said again. "Trust me."She moved close to him and ran a hand along his chest. "I like this, I like the control," she said as she let her hand wander down the length of his abdomen. "I like touching you.""I can't say I mind it all that much," he said, stepping forward as far as the rope would allow him. "You can do that all you want."Emma looked up, attracted by the rough edge to his voice, but it was the
The Fantasy Maker Chapter 21
"You've been married twelve years, is that right?"Steve nodded. "Yes, twelve years this past November."The reporter nodded, looking at her phone where she had notes stored. "And you celebrated in the Turks and Caicos Islands, correct?"Emma couldn't help the tension that slid into her shoulders at the mention of that recently contentious location. Steve squeezed her hand, as though trying to remind her of the pact they had made."It was a gift from my in-laws."The reporter looked up, her blue eyes roving slowly over Steve's face as though looking for some sort of clue in his expression. She had been looking at him that way since she walked into the house. Emma looked away, trying to remind herself that she was no longer supposed to get jealous when women looked at Steve in a certain way. It was no longer any of her business.But some habits are hard to break.She shifted slightly on the couch, her eyes roaming the tidiness of the great room. It was perfect for this sort of th
The Fantasy Maker Chapter 22
"Did you really think they wouldn't put it together?"Steve shook his head as he tugged at the bow tie he had already tied four times and still couldn't get quite right. He dropped his hands to his sides in frustration. Emma glanced at him, annoyed that he was there. If her parents hadn't arrived early to sit with the kids, he would be downstairs in the study, dressing in front of a handheld shaving mirror."How?""I guess investigative reporters are pretty smart, Steve," Emma said. "At least, they aren't as oblivious as I was.""Emma""Don't," she said, her voice filled more with defeat than anything else. She leaned forward, trying to apply eye liner with a hand that shook. He'd turned back to his laptop, tension in every line of his body.Some blogger had printed a post just two hours ago that accused Steve of an affair. Although Steve had managed to ignore the bait Amanda Barker had thrown out at him three days ago, this anonymous blogger had found what he called 'strong evid
The Fantasy Maker Chapter 23
Emma found herself sitting between the governor's chief of staff and a Houston oil man. Steve sat across from her. She could feel his eyes on her each time she said something to one of her dinner companions, or took a sip of the white wine they had served with the salmon. She disliked fish with a passion, so she swallowed more wine than food."There must be some perks to being married to the mayor," the oilman, Ted-something, said in her ear."A few, I suppose," she said."Like a break on sales tax."Emma laughed. "I wish.""Or prime parking spots."Emma shook her head. "No, not really.""Then what?" he asked, his eyes wandering her chest as he gazed down at her."There's always exciting dinners like this and meeting people like you."His muddy eyes moved up to hers. "But I'm sure you get bored, meeting new people all the time.""Not always. I've met some really good people at these events."He leaned closer, practically drooling down the front of her dress. "How many of the
The Fantasy Maker Chapter 24
"Is there anything you won't do?"Dante glanced at Emma as he rolled up the thin silk rope he had just removed from her wrists. "Only one.""What's that?"He dropped the rope into a cabinet where it would wait for its next victim. "Autoerotic-asphyxiation.""What's that?"Dante came to the bed where she had crawled to rest against the pillows. He moved up beside her, lying on his side as he ran a couple of fingers over her belly."It's where you put a rope around your throat and apply pressure while you, or someone else, applies sexual stimulation.""What do you mean, pressure?""This." He slid his hand over her breasts slowly before allowing it to come to rest at her throat. Then he grabbed it roughly, choking her for a brief second. "Cutting off the air supply."Emma took hold of his wrist, even though he had moved his hand back down to her breasts, to push it further away from her throat. "Why would someone want to do that?"He shrugged. "I've heard that the resulting orga
The Fantasy Maker Chapter 25
"Have you ever met one of the guys from the Ranch outside?""Outside?"Emma set down the glass of sweet tea she had been holding, reaching under the table to wipe her hand on her thigh. They were in a small diner near the campus of the University of North Texas. A group of college students walked by on the sidewalk outside, laughing at something Emma could only imagine. She waited till they had passed before she focused on Jen again."Outside of the spa."Jen studied her face, concern etched into her familiar features. "Has Dante asked you""No," Emma said immediately, lying to her best friend for what she was pretty sure was the first time. "I was just wondering if-I mean, you've been going there for a while."Jen nodded. "I had a guy ask me to have dinner with him once. I reported him to the management and he was fired a few days later."Emma picked up her glass again, but didn't drink. The tea was too sweet for her taste. But she swirled the straw around a little, watching th
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