The Arrangement by Riley Sharpe Read Free Book Online

The Arrangement
    I wake up with a jolt. The night is utterly silent, and for a moment I think I haven’t opened my eyes, the night is so pitch. They are open, though, it’s just that nothing is casting any light with the stars hidden behind stormy skies and the moon’s reflection blotted out by the earth this time of month. My house should still have lights, though—I run some outdoors, or hell, even the clock radio ought to shine out red numbers for me to see. Instead…nothing.
    What woke me up?
    I reach out toward the bedside lamp and freeze. It’s a cool night, the first hint of autumn in the countryside, and when I raise my arm I realize absolutely nothing is covering it. I went to bed in a long-sleeved nightgown, and the rest of my body suddenly registers the bedsheet flush against my skin for the whole length of my body. Even my cunt is bare. How did I become naked? My other hand, on the bed, flexes and clenches, encountering ragged shreds of fabric that were once my pajamas. At the same moment a deep voice behind me says, “Good evening, pretty lady.”
    He’s come for me.
    My pulse jacks up as I dive my hand under my pillow, all vestiges of sleep vanished in an instant. Before my fingers can curl around the cool metal of my pistol, a hard, hot hand clamps down on my wrist, twisting it up behind me as he twines his other arm with mine, so fast that he’s pressing into a pressure point on my shoulder with that arm locked tight before my wrist is pulled far enough for pain to lance down from my shoulder. He twists further, and I bite back a cry.
    “Go ahead and scream, Asha,” the voice says, a silky smooth baritone now close to my ear and accompanied by a hot male breath. “This little cabin of yours is so secluded it’s all but inaccessible. Even if I hadn’t cut your phone lines, and if you could reach a phone, what’s the standard police response in these parts? Whatever it is, you’d have to add ten minutes for the maze through your fields that you call a driveway.” His nose brushes hair from my neck, leaving it to hang just past my shoulder blades, and a moment later lips press against my skin. “I can do a lot in ten minutes.”
    A little shiver runs down my spine, straight from his mouth to my naked cunt, which tightens in anticipation. My mind whips into a frenzy, trying to formulate a plan, ignoring the growing pain in my arm. It’s no surprise he chose the night of the new moon to attack, although that will be a disadvantage to him as well at some point. First, though—I should make sure he is the person I think he is. It’s not like I can recognize the voice.
    “You got a name I can call you by, stranger?” I ask in the most casual drawl I can manage. Just because he can feel the blood pounding in my neck doesn’t mean I can’t try to pretend my heart isn’t trying to flap its way out of my chest.
    “I’ve got plenty of names, little girl,” he answers, and nips at my neck, causing me to suck in a sharp breath that I try to keep quiet. “You can just call me Rune.”
    It’s him. I hide a smile and tilt my head to touch his temple. He doesn’t let me, immediately shifting out of reach, but I feel the brush of metal, confirming my suspicions. He also, though, yanks my arm upward so that I hiss sharply in an effort to keep quiet. Still, my eyes begin to tear. How far until he dislocates something?
    “Well, Rune,” I say, with attempted nonchalance that comes out breathless, “usually my alarm system catches any intruder early enough to wake me and get the police on their way before he makes it anywhere near my front porch. That’s an impressive feat you managed, slipping your way in.” I shift my legs under the sheet, my toes preparing to grip it.
    “What can I say, babe? Electronics just like me.”
    “And you went through all that work to get to this?” I ask, and on the last word I use my toes to rapidly pull the sheet away from my lower half, exposing my legs to the