Chosen by Ella James Read Free Book Online Page A

the name beautifully, the sound of it giving Julia a pleasant little shiver, and Meredith repeated it into the microphone.
    After she said everyone’s whole name and a little more negotiating was done, they endured yet another long silence before the intercom beeped again. To Julia’s astonishment, they were welcomed inside the polka-dot kingdom.  

 
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
    It took a lot to make running from kidnappers seem like the exotic vacation she’d never had, but House of the Gods, St. Moritz was…well, a lot. As Mer drove them through the huge gate, their path slanted slightly down; when it leveled out, the dome-like buildings fit a little more naturally into the icy, early morning landscape—surrounded by fir-looking trees and great, fluffy, holly-looking bushes. The building’s exterior, which had originally looked like rough sandstone, was actually closer to marble; the stone glittered through the tufts of fir needles and gleamed wetly under melting snowflakes as they passed a few small buildings.
    The landscape, which at first seemed so organic, began to reveal its pattern: loosely plotted groves of short, bushy trees, gently waving seas of prickly bushes—and all of it topped by a thick layer of snow.
    Carlin was the first to shriek. She covered her mouth, bounced up and down in her seat, and shrieked again, this time through her long, thin fingers.
    “Omigod, omigod, it’s Jess Stanton! And… oh baby.”
    Now that Julia had heard Carlin gush over Mr. Manly Hands, she wasn’t quite as shocked to hear her going movie-star crazy. She followed the line of Carlin’s arm as it stretched toward the back window, pointing at a cluster of bushy trees where a pretty blonde who looked very, very much like Jessica Stanton stood by a bench, wearing a baby blue snow suit, furry boots, and a chic gray beanie, and talking into an iPhone.
    The woman was super fit and super-hot, and Julia decided yes, it probably was Jessica Stanton. Then she forgot about the celebrity altogether, because she noticed Jess was flanked by three beefy bodyguards, and Julia’s jaw literally dropped.
    HOLY HOLY CRAP, HOLY FREAKING HOTNESS, BATMAN.
    The bodyguards…
    They were…
    “Oh my God. Oh . Wow.”
    Her eyes did a quadruple take, fighting to stay on the bodyguards as Meredith wove the van between trees. At some point in the space-time continuum, Mer stopped driving, making high-pitched oohing and aahing sounds of her own.
    Julia had managed to stop the sounds coming from her own throat and was trying to talk her mind and body out of their revolt. Yes, Jess’s guards were very, very good-looking. They were tall, with the kind of shoulders you didn’t usually find outside an NFL defensive line and the kind of faces you didn’t find outside of fantasies. It was true their backsides were tight enough to bounce a quarter off of and clad in just-the-right-amount-of-tight gray ski pants. And the one standing sideways had a package that…
    Oh dear God, did she just critique his…
    “No. No, no .”
    Julia shook her head, stealing a guilty glance at Cayne, who was looking at her with his brows clenched and his mouth twisted. She told herself to stop , but they had such slim, grab-able hips. And their hair…
    It was all of the Edan variety. Luscious. Mmm, just beckoning your fingers.
    Body Guard #1 wore his pale blond locks down to his shoulders; unlike most man hair, this guy’s tresses actually seemed brushed. The second one sported jet black spikes that shone like raven’s wings; they were neither stiff nor sharp, and rather than looking silly and overdone, they simply served to emphasize his breathtaking face; the third had a wildly curly strawberry-blond mane that hung into his eyes—deep gold-brown andbright against his mocha skin.
    She knew she shouldn’t be looking at other guys, but the three of them together…well, they were something else.
    The thought echoed in Julia’s head, and then—in an instant—the moment was