Avery Collins is an ambitious young journalist in early-1900s Charleston, South Carolina, when exotic newcomers Timothy and Vonnie Duke spot him at a fancy gala on the Battery. The Dukes like bringing pretty playthings to their marriage bed, and with a promotion in mind, Avery entertains their advances not knowing lust can quickly turn to love — and love to murder.
Wolf Among Sheep by
Sara Dobie Bauer
New from Hot Ink
Press
An excerpt …
My darling Vonnie did not wait for our table to be cleared
before she asked for the check, and now, here we are, in our hotel suite. I
watch my wife take Avery’s hand and lead him to our bed. She beckons to me.
The light in our room is dim due to the setting sun. What
light pours in is tinged blue—a reflection of the nearby sea. There is already
a chair set for me at the foot of the old-fashioned four-poster as my wife
requests, most mornings, I watch her please herself.
I hide behind an expression of vague interest. Meanwhile, I
shake inside in suspense at seeing Avery’s skin. I imagine he will be pale,
perhaps a few darks hairs on his chest and thighs, but not much more as he has
the face of a man who could never grow a beard. The contrast of his skin
against the darker shade of my wife’s will be delicious, like melted chocolate
poured over ice cream.
I sit. I wait.
Vonnie removes her hat and throws it to the room’s corner.
She pulls off her gloves, one at a time, and drops them at her feet. She kicks
out of her shoes, and even Avery seems surprised by her stature. My wife is
small, petite, and easy to throw around. It is her persona that makes her seem
so statuesque.
She reaches for his shirt first, tries to touch the button
nearest his throat, but he lifts her from the ground. He keeps his skin hidden
as he carries her like his bride to the bed and lays her, carefully, down the
center. He removes his gray suit jacket, nothing more. He then kisses her
throat, once, twice. His long-fingered right hand sweeps across the satin
fabric of her gown, down her stomach and farther, down her thigh.
My wife makes the noise I adore—the breathless moan of a
creature in heat.
He does not look at me, but he knows I’m there. He shifts
her body sideways, half off the bed, so I can watch as he kneels on the floor
and lifts the red fabric up over her calves, her thighs, pressing chaste kisses
up her dark skin as he goes. Then, he reveals her fully, and I am shocked—duly
impressed even—with the way her flower blooms for him. She is wet, heaving, and
he has done all this with nothing more than trifling kisses and the touch of
his hand.
I reconsider what kind of man we’ve invited to our marriage bed.
Avery must have had many, many women to know how to make a body sing like that.
Or, perhaps, his power over my wife’s imagination is stronger than I first
assumed.
He reduces her to a whimpering mass of flesh. She screams.
It is over too soon—so soon that I barely notice Avery slip back into his suit
coat and then disappear into the ever-darkening night.
Sara Dobie Bauer is a writer, model, and mental health
advocate with a creative writing degree from Ohio University. She spends most
days at home in her pajamas as a book nerd and sex-pert for SheKnows.com. Her
short story, “Don’t Ball the Boss,” was nominated for the 2015 Pushcart Prize,
inspired by her shameless crush on Benedict Cumberbatch. She lives with her
hottie husband and two precious pups in Northeast Ohio, although she would
really like to live in a Tim Burton film. She is the author of Life without Harry, Forever Dead, and Wolf Among
Sheep. World Weaver Press will publish her novel, BITE SOMEBODY, this
summer.
My website: http://SaraDobieBauer.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/SaraDobie
Wolf Among Sheep on
Amazon:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your comment awaits moderation. Thank you :-)