Lucas, Samantha - The Seduction of Anne Ruby [The Seduction 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  The Seduction 2

  The Seduction of Anne Ruby

  Hollywood heartthrob Grey Hendrix only needs a single glance to know Anne Ruby is his perfect submissive. Despite her innocence and resistance, every time she looks at him, he sees the truth revealed in her eyes.

  Anne’s experiences with men have not ended well, but she admits she’s never met a man quite like Grey. He already stars in all her secret fantasies, but can she find the courage to let him turn those fantasies into reality?

  Time may be against them, Anne may be unsure, but at the game of bondage, domination, and seduction, Grey’s a master, and he's already decided she will be his.

  Genre: BDSM, Contemporary

  Length: 84,529 words

  THE SEDUCTION OF ANNE RUBY

  The Seduction 2

  Samantha Lucas

  EROTIC ROMANCE

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED: Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal computer or device. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Erotic Romance

  THE SEDUCTION OF ANNE RUBY

  Copyright © 2012 by Samantha Lucas

  E-book ISBN: 1-61926-467-6

  First E-book Publication: March 2012

  Cover design by Jinger Heaston

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  If you have purchased this copy of The Seduction of Anne Ruby by Samantha Lucas from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

  Regarding E-book Piracy

  This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

  The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

  This is Samantha Lucas’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Lucas’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  A year ago I met a man who opened my eyes to new possibilities and set my mind down paths I had never considered exploring. The journey he started me on has changed the woman I am, and that includes my writing. I am more real today than in the past. I am more courageous than ever. I am more willing to take leaps of faith and tell stories I only ever allowed circle my head. I hope someday he realizes just how much of a difference he made by doing nothing but being himself. I’m eternally grateful our paths crossed, even if just for a little while.

  THE SEDUCTION OF ANNE RUBY

  The Seduction 2

  SAMANTHA LUCAS

  Copyright © 2012

  Chapter One

  Grey slid the mirrored glasses up the bridge of his nose, hoping to remain undiscovered but knew the fulfillment of his desire to be unlikely. He grabbed his bag from the trunk of the low-slung sports car and walked three spaces over to where the Ford F-150 and Harley Night Train that had pulled in the underground parking structure behind him were parked. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any paparazzi lying in wait for them.

  “You’re such an ass, Vaughn Taylor!” He laughed even as he proclaimed it, but that move on the freeway a few moments ago had been completely idiotic.

  Vaughn laughed in return as he moved off the Harley. His jeans had more tears in them than there was fabric left, and his waist-length, dark hair was tied back in a braid for the ride from Los Angeles to Anaheim. At the same time, Jake Talbot slid out of the F-150 and shoved a black Texan cowboy hat on his short, glossy, jet-black hair.

  “I’ll take ‘ass,’ Grey.” Vaughn slapped him on the arm as he reached into the bed of the truck and pulled out a bag. “But you love me anyway!”

  Grey growled beneath his breath and took two of the bagged guitars Jake handed him, hanging the straps over his shoulder.

  “‘Love’ may be a bit of an exaggeration.” His dry retort hid his true feelings effectively, because the truth was, he and Vaughn had been best friends since grade school. He’d be lost without Vaughn’s friendship. Growing up the way he had, battered by the frequent violent storms that passed between his parents, his friendship with Vaughn gave him a sense of comfort the way nothing else ever did.

  “All right, ladies, Vaughn’s reckless driving notwithstanding, we’re here to have a good time, so stop your bitching, Grey.”

  The kid of the group, Jake, had also been given the undesirable task of keeping Grey and Vaughn on the straight and narrow. Coming from a large family, that responsibility seemed to come naturally to him. As the trio crossed the concrete to the glass hotel doors, energy he couldn’t quite place thrummed in Grey’s body. It was different than anything he’d ever felt in his life, and it was feeding him with an odd combination of edginess and excitement.

  “I wasn’t bitching.”

  Jake laughed.

  Vaughn leaned forward enough from the other side of Jake to slide Grey a look that could only be described as incredulous, then straightened.

  Grey grabbed the door and held it for his friends. As he’d found out when he called earlier, the elevators were right inside the parking-garage doors, so slipping into one and taking it all the way to the top concierge level without being seen was no trouble at all. There was a familiar buzz coming from the lobby. Shouts and laughter mixed with a continuous drone of conversation rolling across the space as the other musicians and business execs mingled at the check-in. The National Association of Music Merchants annual convention was an event not to be missed for anyone in the industry. Grey wasn’t, but his two best friends were. Though it was a great idea to spend the week together, he knew their ulterior motive was to try and keep his mind off Brittany and Sophie. He
wasn’t sure it would work, but he was willing to give it a try.

  “After you.” Vaughn gave Grey a snarky look as the elevator doors slid open.

  He wondered, however, how he was going to keep his good friends from bugging the living shit out of him over the next week. It wasn’t them exactly. The nature of their friendship required a certain level of bitching, but he was raw from the last few months, and even at his best, he could still be known to lose his temper at the tiniest provocation.

  At least he wasn’t overanxious about a relapse. Nearly four years sober, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d even been tempted. If he ever was, he simply pictured Sophie in his mind and he quickly chose the straight and narrow. However, that straight-and-narrow path was wearing on him, and he literally itched for some trouble—a dangerous mood for him.

  Inside, Jake pushed the concierge-level button, and they began a quick ride up.

  “Didn’t this hotel just get bought out?”

  Vaughn’s question seemed out of place, but then again, Vaughn was an artist, and his flow of thought wasn’t always seamless.

  “Maybe.” Grey didn’t really give a fuck. Hotels weren’t his business, although he had invested in that one resort in Phoenix, but that had been Brittany’s idea, and at the time, he’d been trying to make their relationship work.

  Jake was first to step off the elevators. It was a short walk across a hallway to the entrance of the VIP lobby where they were to check in. A shiver slid down Grey’s spine as he walked into the room. It was an odd sensation, one he rarely experienced, but it instantly raised the awareness of his surroundings.

  “Hello, darlin’, I believe you have a suite reserved for us under the name of Bosworth.” Jake gave the name of his manager, set down his bag, and took a seat at the desk.

  Grey laid the guitars and his bag against the wall then stepped away, allowing Jake and Vaughn to handle the check-in procedures. The lounge wasn’t large and was decorated in a monochromatic scheme of beige. One side of the lounge had glass shelving reaching to the ceiling, lit and lined with bottles of alcohol, books, and awards. A marble counter intersected the shelving, and displayed along it was an array of pastries and fresh fruit. Beside that was the coffee. Grey inhaled deeply the scent of exotic beans and helped himself to a cup. He rolled his neck, trying to release some of the unusual tension, and turned to stare out the floor-to-ceiling windows that lined the opposite wall, exquisitely framing the city of Anaheim, California.

  “What’s up?”

  He turned his head to see Vaughn’s nosy ass staring at him.

  “I’m drinking coffee. What’s up with you?”

  Grey narrowed his eyes. He was irritated a lot lately, under too much stress in general, but at the same time, there was something inside him that was changing. Maybe it was Sophie. From the day she came into his life, his entire world had changed. Maybe it was simply that he was nearing forty, and despite that he tried to live a balanced and centered spiritual life these days, or that he had great success in his career, millions of fans across the globe, all the money he could ever want, and access to any material possession or experience imaginable, he still felt empty inside. Whatever it was, the people around him were beginning to notice and were responding by either alienating themselves or, like Vaughn, getting too damned nosy.

  “Your mood shifted the second we walked in here…You fuck the girl at the desk or something?”

  “No!” He leaned around Vaughn to look at her to make certain then straightened. “No.”

  Vaughn laughed.

  Grey stepped away.

  Vaughn followed.

  Grey groaned.

  “What?” He wasn’t in the mood for the third degree. “This week is supposed to be nothing but fun, right?”

  “Sure.” Vaughn’s tone was tentative.

  Grey couldn’t hate him or even really be angry with him. This was the friend who knew him better than anyone else on the planet and had been with him through the fires of hell, or addiction to be more specific, which was pretty much the same thing.

  “I just got a feeling when I walked in here. I’m having trouble shaking it.”

  “What kind of feeling?” Jake stepped up behind him, making him jump.

  “Don’t do that!”

  Vaughn laughed.

  Jake smiled.

  Grey rolled his eyes.

  “Is our suite ready?”

  “Sure ’nuff, but what feeling?”

  At least he was keeping his voice down. Several other people had just entered the lounge, helping themselves to the food provided.

  “He says he’s fine, Jake.” Vaughn stepped over and helped himself to a glass of champagne.

  “Don’t look fine, Grey. You look pale.”

  Grey drew a deep breath. The two of them were worse than a dog with a bone.

  “I just got a weird sensation when I walked in here. If I were a dog, I’d say we were expecting a quake, but as I’ve never felt anything before any of the countless others, I’m guessing it’s something else.” He hadn’t intended to say anything more, but then the warmest sensation washed over him, making him feel something akin to wistfulness. “It’s like something important was going to happen, or had happened…I can’t explain it better than that. Now can we go?”

  He didn’t wait for an answer. He went and picked up his bag and the guitars again. “These things are heavy.”

  Jake barked laughter and slapped him on the back. “Wuss.”

  Grey looked back over his shoulder as they left the lounge. Something about the place was calling to him. It was hard to explain, hard to deny, and even harder to resist. He’d only gotten a feeling like that a few times in his life—the night his parents died, the day he first met Thorton Wolfe, the day his baby was born, and now.

  He pushed it away and followed his friends down the corridor. This week was just supposed to be about fun…right?

  * * * *

  “Something about this convention brings out the horny in me.”

  Jordan’s gaze was directed at the ceiling of the golden metal box. Anne wondered if she even realized she had spoken out loud.

  “Jordan, is there anything that doesn’t bring out the horny in you?”

  Jordan batted her baby blues innocently, smiling wickedly as she twisted a long auburn lock of perfectly styled hair around one long perfectly manicured finger.

  “Probably not, but musicians? Good God.” She shivered and threw in a cat growl. “Is there anything hotter?”

  “I envy you.” It was a rare moment when Anne allowed her true feelings on men and sex to rise to the surface. She’d been shoving them down for so many years now that it was nearly a natural state, but Jordan’s ease with both subjects always awed her. Anne felt uncomfortable in the presence of a man and with her body and her desires. She truly did envy the way with which her friend seemed so at ease.

  “Why? It’s not like I’ve actually met any of these hot, unnamed musicians.”

  “No, but you will. I looked over the core registry, and we have a half dozen famous names on the floor for the week, and by the time they check out, I’ll bet you will have personally met each one and then some.”

  The elevator stopped on the tenth floor, and the doors slid open to the sight of three men in tattered jeans, one with a guitar in a custom bag slung over his shoulder, all with long hair. It was official, N.A.M.M. had begun.

  “Going down?”

  Jordan giggled lasciviously.

  Anne’s face grew hot. “No. Up.” She tried to smile, but the sexual tension had gone through the roof, and she was choking on it.

  The man who’d spoken smiled at Jordan.

  “Maybe next time, sugar.” He winked, and Jordan leaned with the closing doors until they shut completely and the elevator resumed their trip back to work.

  “For the record, Anne, the answer to that question is always ‘yes.’” Jordan laughed. “Hey, have you heard that Nickelback song?” She started
singing. “Sex is never a question. It’s always the answer, and the answer is yes.” She smiled. “I love that song.”

  “Of course you do.”

  That feeling swirled again in the pit of her stomach. It wasn’t that she was oblivious to sex, though. It was more like shame and confusion screwing with her head—and at her age, it was humiliating.

  Of course, even if she did know what she wanted, she secretly feared it was simply too late. After all, where was she going to find some man willing to teach her all the things she wanted to know—a man she actually found attractive and felt that connection thing with? If she hadn’t found it in all this time, it wasn’t likely to change. She absolutely refused to settle for anything less.

  “Sex is so easy for you. I just don’t get it.”

  “It’s no big deal, hon. I just have a hell of a lot more man-experience than you do. I lost my virginity at the ripe old age of fourteen. One of my whore mother’s men of the night had a taste for something a little younger.”

  Anne cringed. She hated Jordan’s past, but the fact they both had mothers who couldn’t have raised a cat, let alone a child, had created the original bond between them, despite Jordan being nearly ten years younger. Now Jordan was the best friend she ever had.

  “Don’t give me that pitying look. I went after him. I figured I needed to learn sometime. Now I know what I want, I know what I like, and I know how to get it.”

  The doors slid open again, this time on their floor. Together they stepped off the elevator on the concierge level. Anne smiled at the cleaning woman and stepped across the hall to the lounge where she spent literally more than half her life these days, surrounded by a monochromatic color scheme of beige upon ecru upon eggshell. It was the middle of the night, and the wall of windows opposite the only entrance to the room perfectly framed the lights of the amusement park across the street and scattered lighting of the city as far as the eye could see.