“Tequila. Two shots please.” I said to the bartender ignoring Derrick and his jackassness.

“Alright! Make that four,” Derrick exclaimed beside me.

“Whoa Jenna, don’t you think you should slow it down a bit.” Olivia piped up knowing I was headed past buzzedville and straight to drunk town.

“Yeah Jenna you have had a lot to drink already,” Audrey echoed Livy’s concerns.

I scowled at both of them and slammed both shots back, one after the other.

“Damn! She’s not joking around tonight ladies,” Derrick laughed and took his two shots.

“No she is definitely not.” I heard Olivia mutter as I stormed off toward the bathrooms.

I just about made it to the door of the ladies room when I felt someone slam me backwards and into the wall. It took me a second or two to register who it was but the second his hands held tight onto my wrists I knew it was him. My mind may have hated him but my body still craved his touch.

“What the fuck do you think you are doing, Jenna?” he growled in my ear in a deep low tone.

“Umm…having fun, duh.” I snapped back trying to pull myself away from him to no avail. “And how about it’s none of your fucking business.”

He didn’t respond right away instead he just glared coldly at me for what seemed like forever. “That’s where you’re wrong Jenna; it is very much my business what my wife is doing.”

I think it was the way he said wife that sent me over the edge. “Oh please, you don’t give a shit about me. You made that abundantly clear five years ago. So why don’t you just piss off!” I pushed him this time with as much force as I could muster. Jamieson didn’t move in inch but I did. The impact of hitting his broad chest was enough to make me sway off my six inch heels. I felt like everything was happening in slow motion. I could feel myself falling and trying to right myself but unsuccessfully. I then felt Jamieson’s large hands swoop out and steady me, pulling me safely against his chest.

I wanted to swat his hands away and storm off defiantly but it was glaringly obvious that my alcohol was finally catching up with me.

“Hey James, you got her?” Barry, our favorite bouncer asked him.

Barry must have seen me almost fall. I knew he wouldn’t actually kick me out but I also knew that was his way of politely saying it was time for me to head home.

“Yeah Barry, I got her,” he said still holding me plastered against his side.

“Audrey and Olivia are over by the bar.” I craned my neck behind him in search of my friends.

“I know.” He said simply and began dragging me with him through the sea of people toward the exit.

“Jamieson…” I tried to protest. I wanted to find my friends.

“Don’t argue, Jenna.” he growled pulling me through the exit and into the dark parking lot. He was still angry and I could give a shit less, I was angry too. I had been angry for five years.

Unlocking his Ford truck, he opened the passenger door for me and held out his hand to help me climb up inside. I just scoffed at his offer and yanked myself up. He slammed the door shut behind me. He quickly hopped into the driver’s seat, starting the loud diesel engine.

I didn’t speak a word as we made our way out of downtown Huntsville. It wasn’t until he turned onto the highway that panic struck me.

“Where are we going?” I demanded.

He didn’t say anything at first, he just took a in a deep breath and looked over at me for a half a second. “Home Jenna, I’m taking you home.”

I knew he wasn’t talking about my apartment; no Jamieson Wellington was taking me to his grand mansion of horrors, the one place on earth I dreaded most.

CHAPTER EIGHT

December 24, 2009…

“Good morning, baby.” Jamieson whispered in my ear gently waking me from my blissful sleep. We had traveled most of the night to get to Aspen. We were supposed to have left earlier in the week to meet up with Jamieson’s family, but an emergency business meeting came up and we had to wait until the day before Christmas Eve to travel. I was quickly coming to understand just how busy Jamieson really was. He was running his family’s large whiskey company basically on his own. Soon after we met, he had told me how his father had passed away suddenly from a heart attack two years earlier. At the time, Jamieson stepped up into his role at the family business. I had become used to the constant phone calls and endless meetings he had to attend. But no matter how busy Jamieson was, he still made me feel like a priority. I was falling hard, but as happy as things were, I still worried about him. He was stretched too thin. He tried to hide it from me but I saw it. More nights than I could count I would wake up alone in bed. I wouldn’t have to go far to find him, he was always in his enormous office just down the hall. Sometimes he would be awake staring at his multiple computer screens and other times he would be sleeping soundly on the leather couch. In the beginning I would make my presence known to him, which would inevitably end in another passion filled exchange that had fatigued me in the first place. Now, I didn’t disturb him when I found him in his office. I had decided it was best to give him that time to be undistracted.

I was hoping this time in Aspen would help give him the rest I knew he desperately needed. We had gotten to his family’s large log home sometime in the wee hours of the morning. It was pitch dark out but the lights from the house reflected off the deep snow enough to lightly illuminate the impressive home. I shouldn’t have been surprised considering Jamieson’s own home was massive, but he had indicated the house in Aspen was more like a cabin. Well I certainly had not ever heard of a cabin having ten bedrooms, fourteen bathrooms and a freaking indoor pool. I hadn’t had time last night to truly appreciate the expansive home because it was so late and Jamieson had quickly whisked me upstairs to his room. I was exhausted from our red eye flight but once I was alone with Jamieson my body came alive. It seems he had also had a surge of energy as well.

When I entered the large bedroom I was overwhelmed by the beauty of it. His room was the size of a small home. Just like throughout the beautiful log cabin there sky-high ceilings, exposed beams and rugged stone work. In the middle of the oversized room was a massive wood framed bed that matched the rest of the wood in the home. It had been made up with a cozy red plaid duvet cover and what seemed like a million white fluffy pillows. The gorgeous bed faced a stunning stone fire place that Jamieson immediately turned on. The dim light of the roaring fire illuminated the expansive windows that ran the length of the room. It was too dark to see what the view outside, but I was sure it would be equally as amazing as the rest of the home.

“Come here, baby.” Jamieson purred from next to the fire.

I obliged and readily went into his arms.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” I whispered to him as we embraced watching the fire.

“Thank you for coming with me. I have been counting down the hours until I could have you alone.”

“Really?” I asked playfully.

“You have no idea,” he declared before picking me up and carrying me to the bed.

He lightly tossed me into the center of it and crawled on top of me. He had the look of a complete predator and I loved it. My body shuddered in anticipation of what was to come next. It was always like that between us. We had had sex more times than I could count but each time felt somehow new and different. My body craved him and betrayed me in the process. No matter how hard I tried to be unaffected by his wanton advances, I would crumble under his touch becoming his, always inexplicitly his.

“What are you doing to me, Jenna?” he growled in my ear as he stripped away my clothes.