I consider just sending back a message telling him I’m fine, but then I decide against it. I tell him what happened, what I found out about Ash from that article and how Papa has locked me in my bedroom.

  Cameron: He can’t do that, Selma, it’s unlawful imprisonment or something. You’re an adult.

  Me: Well, he has. What’s going to happen tomorrow, I have no idea.

  Cameron: What do you want me to do?

  I hesitate with my fingers over the keys. Do I want to be rescued? The thought of Cameron breaking the door down and coming to my aid is almost laughable, but the other option is unthinkable...Ash coming here and rescuing me. Oh, God, how can he be the man I read about in that article? It doesn’t feel right, but it’s was right there in black and white.

  Cameron: Selma?

  Me: Nothing. Don’t do anything, Cameron. I’ll talk to Papa again in the morning. I’m not even sure Ash is right for me anymore.

  Cameron: He is. Trust me, I have far more experience with men than you do. I’ll check in with you in the morning. Keep your phone on.

  Me: I’m going to sleep. Goodnight.

  It’s a lie. There’s no way I can sleep like this. I just lie here, staring at the ceiling and thinking about Ash and wondering how someone like him could say the things he did. When I see the sun starting to peek over the horizon, I’m still lying there on the bare mattress, and I hear a noise coming from outside my room. A moment later, there’s the click of the key in the lock on my room, and the door is pulled open.

  “Well?” Papa stares at me like I might grow fangs and try to attack him.

  I sigh. “Well, what?”

  “Have you prayed?”

  “Yes,” I answer, honestly. I did nothing but pray.

  “Good. Bathe and get dressed. I’ve laid out your dress for today in the bathroom. And...” He growls like it’s difficult to say. “And I owe you an apology.” Hearing him say that makes my heart soar like maybe everything is going to be okay. Then his next words tear it all down. “Everything that’s happened is my fault. I gave you far too much freedom. I let you dress in bright colors. I let you go to that school with all those outsiders. I even gave you a telephone.” He shakes his head, then holds out his hand. “Give it to me. You won’t be needing it anymore after today.”

  My mind is racing. What should I do? Should I run? The way he’s standing in the doorway, I know, I won’t challenge him. Later, I’ll try to talk to him again and persuade him to let me go back to school. He’s just angry right now.

  I take a heavy breath, then stand and hand him my phone. Then I follow him out of the room and enter the bathroom.

  And what I find there nearly makes my heart stop.

  The clothes he’s laid out for me. It’s a wedding dress. Not a long white lace beautiful pearled and sequined silk for a girl to feel like a princess on her special day. No. This is the drab cotton shift that is the traditional bridal wear for women in our community.

  “Hurry up in there,” I hear Papa say through the door, as the tears are streaming down my face. “There are things we need to do to get you prepared for the ceremony, and we only have a few hours. Today you’ll be married, and tomorrow you’ll be in West Virginia with your new family. I won’t let you shame me like your mother did, Selma. I won’t.”

  AS I TRUDGE DOWN THE corridor a few hours later, dressed in the plain wedding dress, I can’t believe what’s happening to my life. There’s nowhere to go, nowhere to run. Papa is going to perform the ceremony himself, and I’ll be attached to a man I don’t love.

  A man I don’t know.

  Even if I did, I wouldn’t love him.

  Because I’m in love with Ash.

  When I enter the front room, there is a group of people I don’t recognize, along with a few members of our own community. Libertine isn’t even here.

  “Come girl.” Papa sounds irritated. I feel like I’m walking to my execution. “This is Daniel. He’s going to be your husband.”

  A man beside him turns my way and looks me up and down, then he shakes his head, looks at the ceiling then the floor, heaving a sigh that is more disappointment than approval. He leans over to the stern man standing at his side, who I assume is his father, and mutters, “I hope she’s housebroken.”

  T H I R T E E N

  Ash

  “WE’RE HERE, SIR.” THEODORE, my driver, sounds less than impressed with our surroundings, and I know why. My team is loyal, and it’s their job to keep me safe. Coming into the Dresden community, we passed quite a few folks who looked less than thrilled to see my limo driving in.

  “Keep the engine running,” I tell him as I open the door and climb out. I’m running on pure adrenaline. I slept zero minutes last night wondering what the hell was going on with her and her father. Hating myself for letting her go with him, but understanding, I have to let her make some of her own decisions too. I’m not going to turn into another Papa controlling her against her will.

  Cameron phoned me at the hotel this morning and gave me Selma’s mobile phone number, and immediately I wondered why she’d lied to me about having a cell, but Cameron explains she cannot receive or make calls to any pre-authorized numbers. And now that I’ve met her father, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been on that authorized list.

  After Cameron tells me about their text exchange, I’m in a rage. He’s been trying to reach her since, but he’s gotten no more communication from her. Even though I couldn’t get through to her, I could have one of my tech guys find out where the phone was pinging from and send me her location.

  There are a few other vehicles parked outside the house where her phone is still broadcasting a signal. A couple of beat-up old trucks and a wood-paneled station wagon sit outside the simple wooden structure. I don’t have any idea what I’m going to find inside, but I know one thing for sure: I’m not leaving without Selma.

  As I get close to the door, I hear a voice, and I recognize it immediately as her father. I can’t make out the words, but from the tone, it sounds like a sermon.

  Pushing open the door without knocking, I see her kneeling, head down at the feet of a man in a suit. Selma is dressed in the ugliest cotton dress I’ve ever seen, and it breaks my heart. She deserves so much better. There are people standing in a U shape around Selma and the man, while her father stands in front of them all. And it doesn’t take a genius to work out what’s happening.

  It’s a wedding.

  When he hears the door open, he stops speaking and stares at me with fire in his eyes.

  “Stop this right now.” I slam the door behind me and stride past the handful of gathered people, ignoring their horrified gasps.

  Selma turns at the sound of my voice, her eyes are red-rimmed and tired, but when she sees me, her face lights up.

  I reach down and pull her to her feet, unperturbed by the protest of the people around as I plant my lips firmly against hers. The kiss deepens, and I pull her close, thrusting my body against hers as she responds with a moan of pleasure and wraps her hands around my neck. Selma is mine, and nobody is taking her from me.

  “You whore.” Daniel makes a noise like he’s about to throw up.

  I see red. I don’t waste a moment as I break the kiss and hold Selma behind me, then throw the punch. It connects with a crunch, and the guy staggers back, his hands going to his face. Blood is streaming from his nose and top lip, but I step forward and land a second blow to his gut.

  He goes down like a sack of potatoes, gasping for air as he scrabbles back from me on the floor.

  An older man steps forward and lays his hand on Daniel’s shoulder, reaching down to help him to his feet and pulling him away from me. “I don’t know what is going on here, but we will not be attached to a family such as this. I knew something was wrong when they wanted to rush the ceremony.”

  The pair of them head for the door, and a small group of other men and women follow quickly after them muttering and praying, then I turn to Selma’s father.

  “Sir.” I do what I can to remain respectful to her father, but it’s a challenge. “I’m not here to argue. Or fight, but Selma and I are—”

  “You’re not welcome here, get out of my house!”

  I take a deep breath. “I know this is unexpected, but I’m an honorable man. I love Selma. Isn’t that what God is all about? Love?”

  He laughs. “Honorable? You come in here and attack her fiancé, and somehow you think you’re the honorable one? Leave my daughter alone. You have no right—”

  “Don’t you think we should ask Selma what she wants?” I feel the heat rise to my face. He might be Selma’s father, but I’m quickly losing my cool. “She’s old enough to make up her own mind.”

  “I want to go with Ash,” she says without pausing for breath, and the tone of her voice tells me Anastasia Snow is being let out to handle this one. “I’m going with Ash.”

  “I’m going to marry your daughter,” I say suddenly, no longer willing to keep it back. “With or without your blessing, we’re going to be together. So, you can either get on board with that or carry on hating me, but it’s happening either way. I’m going to give her everything, whatever she wants she’ll have. I love her more than anything else in this world, and that’s something that any God would approve of.”

  Selma looks up into my face, her eyes wide. “Is that true?”

  “Yes, baby. All of it. We’re going to be together forever.”

  Her father scoffs. “Giving her everything. Calling her ‘baby’ like she’s some common street—”

  I shoot him a look, and he falls silent. Which is lucky for him, because if he’d said the word he was about to say he would be lying on the floor in a heap right now.

  “Come on, baby, we’re leaving.” I wrap an arm around her back and guide her to the front door.

  “What about my things? Papa took my necklace.” Her eyes fill with tears.

  “We’ll get you more things, Selma. Anything you want, you just have to say.”

  “SELMA IS SITTING NEXT to me in the back of the car, and I can tell she’s nervous about something. It’s been a hell of a few days, but I want her to always be able to talk to me about anything.

  “Talk to me, baby.” It turns my stomach thinking she’d feel she had to keep anything from me. “Tell me what you are thinking about right now.”

  She presses her lips together then says, “I read an article in a magazine...never mind. It’s nothing.”

  “Baby, whatever you need to say, just say it. I’ll never hurt you, Selma. I’d never let anyone, or anything hurt you. I’d die first.”

  She nods and takes a breath. “It said that you hate religion. That you think religious people are idiots who can’t think for themselves. I may not be as devout as my father, but I still believe...”

  I sigh. “I read that article, Selma. It wasn’t honest, but there’s apparently nothing I can do about it. I did say the words they quoted, but they were taken out of context, and the commentary from the article writer is all down to them. I don’t hate religion, and I don’t think people who believe in God are stupid. All I said was that many of the big religious institutions these days are, simply put, businesses. Money is their God. I’ve seen people taken in by those pretending to be holy. They’re more about the bottom line that being pious. The big churches, the big religions, they should be taxed like any other business.” I take her hand and kiss it. “I have nothing but respect for people who follow a religion of their own free will. If it brings you comfort, then I’m all for it.”

  “Really?” Her eyes light up, and I nod.

  “Really.”

  “So you promise if I do something you don’t like, you’re not going to lock me in my room?” Her frown turns to a tentative smile.

  Her hand comes over to rest on my thigh, then pushes up and grips the length of my painful erection.

  “I don’t know.” I shift lower in the seat, my hands going to my belt. “Bad girls have to be punished sometimes.”

  “But you said I was a good girl.” She bites her lips and smiles, cheeks turning red.

  “Good girls make the best bad girls. Right, Selma? Or is it Anastasia?”

  I’ve been rock hard since we got in the car and seeing the hope in her eyes pushes me forward.

  I look at her. Her youth. Her innocence. Her naiveté.

  We shouldn’t fit, but we do. Perfectly.

  Her light sweetness is what I need. I’ve lived for my work forever, but finally, I’ve come to realize what it means when people say it’s time for them to live for themselves. I didn’t know what I was missing until Selma, but now that I do, I’m done wasting time.

  The stoic professional who rules a world of numbers and bottom lines is fading, and a man who sees a future with a woman, with a family, is quickly taking his place.

  When we left, I told my driver to keep driving until I gave him a destination, knowing we would need to talk. Now that it feels we’re on solid ground, I have other needs.

  I work open my trousers as she looks at me and playfully licks her lips. Then I pull my erection free, the tip already slick with pre-cum, my balls tight and ready to unload. “I’ve got a treat for you.”

  “I like treats.” She pulls her shoulders up, and as much as I want her mouth on my cock this second, she needs that God-awful wedding dress off.

  “Take off your dress,” I order, and she looks down at herself then back at me.

  “But I don’t have anything to change into.”

  I reach over and pinch her chin. “Do as I say. I’ll never let you be harmed or embarrassed. You are mine, and I take care of what’s mine. Now get the dress off.” My tone is gruff, but she quickly unbuttons the button at the back of her neck, wiggles in the seat and strips the horrid thick fabric from her young body.

  Under, she’s wearing a white bra and plain white panties. It’s the only time she’s worn panties when undressed for me and it makes me irrationally annoyed.

  “Naked.” I stroke my cock while I watch her strip off the last two items and nearly fill my fist with cum as she does. Having her do as I say, when I say, without hesitation, makes me feel like her king, and she will be my queen. “See, you are a very good girl.”

  She gives me a pout but then drops to her knees on the floor of the limo between my legs. “Thank you. I try.”

  “Now, get your mouth on my cock. Show me what you were made for. Show me who you serve. Show me you love me. Because,” I reach down and gather her chin in my grip one more time, making sure her eyes are on me. “Because I love you, my Treasure. Don’t you ever forget it. Now suck like a good bad girl.”

  She nods, opens her mouth, and gives the tip of my cock a quick kiss, her eyes on mine, and I nearly explode all over her face.

  “Yes, sir,” she answers, then wraps a hand around the base and her tongue runs around the ledge of the head while she bats those eyelashes at me.

  Cum is already leaking out the tip as her lips cover the head and she moans.

  “I’m trying to hold onto what little control I have. When you look at me like that, moan like that, I’m going to lose it.”

  She smiles around my cock, and I know she understands her power over me. It feels so fucking good; I swear I’ve died and gone to heaven with my little preacher’s daughter.

  Her other hand comes up to massage my balls, and she explores with her fingers, watching me for each reaction. I didn’t think it could feel any better than it already did—how wrong I was.

  I reach out and gather her hair onto the top of her head and grip it hard in my hand, controlling the movement of her head as I listen to the sloppy wet sound of her mouth popping over the head, then back down my shaft again and again until I can’t breathe.

  “Slow. I want to feel that mouth. That magic mouth.” I guide her with one hand in her hair, the other under her chin, feeling the way her throat presses into my hand when my cock goes deep. “You want to learn to deep throat my cock, baby?”

  Her wide blue eyes sparkle, and she makes a half gagging sound that I take as yes.

  “Good girl. Relax your throat, look up at me, keep your head like this...” I tip her head back an inch, so my cock will not hit the top of her palate and make her less likely to gag.

  She does as I say, and I slowly pull her face down on my cock. There’s no way she can take it all, I know what I have is close to a horse cock, but I don’t need her to swallow it all. As much as she can will be enough, as much as makes her feel she’s pleasing me and in turn, I will always please her. Ten times over.

  I glide deeper, her spit getting thicker and easing the way as I withdraw a couple of inches, then give her a bit more until I feel the back of her throat tighten.

  “Baby, now swallow around the head, breathe around my cock, and swallow.”

  Both her hands come to hold the base tight, and I feel the back of her throat contract then release, then again, and it’s more than heaven.

  “Fuck, I’m going to cum, baby, that’s so fucking good. So, good.”

  She gasps for air around the girth, and the hot breath pushes me over the edge. She gags but I see her lips turn upward as the first jets of cum heave out of my dick.

  My balls clamp tight and surge cum out of my cock as she swallows, but there’s too much for her to take. White cream drips out of her mouth, down onto her tits, and it’s so fucking hot it sets off another wave of my orgasm, and I roar into the ceiling of the limo as I see stars.

  When I’m finally able to see straight, I look down to find her with my cock still in her mouth, hands still holding on, my cum dripping from her chin, down her chest, on her tits.

  “Reach down and rub that all over. I want my scent on you from now on.”

  I pull her mouth off my cock, as much as it pains me, and she takes her hands and starts to rub my cum into her nearly translucent skin. While she does, I pull my boxers back into place but take a moment to breathe before bothering with my trousers.

  “Like this?” She plays as she rubs around her hard little nipples, making my cock jerk upward again.