InvitingTheDevil Read Online Free PDF Page B

with shoes, purses and other accessories strewn throughout my living and dining room. I definitely needed to look for a larger apartment, if not for myself, at least one so I’d have room for my suddenly huge wardrobe.
    I should have been hungry, but I wasn’t. I automatically started to make coffee then changed my mind. I poured a glass of red wine instead and went to my bedroom to stand before the mirror. Though I was only wearing the tights and top I’d put on that morning, I felt glamorous and sophisticated. I admired my long hair hanging loose in shimmering golden waves. Hans had only trimmed the ends, styled it, and highlighted. It made a huge difference. My hair was normally a sandy blonde. It looked almost platinum. The makeup brought out the contours of my face, the eye makeup made my eyes look bigger and accenting their color. He’d delicately shaped my eyebrows. As I stood admiring the new me, my confidence slowly built within me.
    I sipped the last of my wine just as the buzzer announced a visitor. I knew it was Shannon. I pushed the button to let her in the front door downstairs and went to my door to wait for her.
    She came bounding up the stairs, two treads at a time and stopped suddenly when she saw me standing in the open doorway.
    “My God, girlfriend. Is that really you?”
    “I think it is.”
    “You look absolutely fabulous!”
    “Thanks. Come inside before the neighbors start complaining.”
    I refilled my glass and poured a glass of wine for Shannon. “It still feels surreal.”
    “What’s all this?”
    “Clothes. He wants me dressed in his designs at all times, except for modeling lessons. I have to wear tights and a top for that. Tomorrow will be a full day in the studio. I probably won’t get a chance to wear any of them until I’ve had my crash course in modeling.”
    Shannon made room on the couch and sat. “Tell me everything, from when you got there this morning until now.”
    I sat cross-legged on the floor close to her and while sipping my wine told her about my day. I left out the part where Kalem told me to strip, how he’d examined my body, and slapped me on the butt.
    “I’m so jealous,” Shannon said. “How much progress have you made with the man of your dreams?”
    I didn’t meet her eyes. “None. I’m not even sure I want to get involved with him now. Sure, he’s a hunk, but it’s not good to get involved with one’s boss.”
    “You’re hedging around something. Tell me the truth? You’ve really got the hots for him now, right?”
    “No more than before.” Another lie. Just thinking about him made me ache with a fiery lust and a longing I couldn’t quite place. “Shannon, I think it could be dangerous to get involved with him.” Now I was voicing some of my deep down fear of involvement with Kalem.
    “Dangerous how?”
    “It could lead to a broken heart. I don’t see him as the serious type. Women are toys to him.”
    “What makes you think that?”
    “My gut.”
    “Hell, woman. Ride the rollercoaster while it lasts. Just don’t allow yourself to fall in love with him.”
    “He’s not interested in me that way.”
    “So you say.”
    How could I tell her that him feeling my body all over was not sexual, but had to do with his art, his designs. And that he’d humiliated me by smacking me soundly on my ass. Humiliated? Is that what I call it now? Did I really feel humiliated? I had to be honest with myself. I’d rather enjoyed the sudden smack, the sensations, the reaction it caused within me, and real deep down, I almost wished he’d smacked me again, and again.
    “Have you phoned your mother yet?”
    “No. I want to finish my training first and be more established before I do.”
    “Why? You signed a contract for a year. Is there a trial period?”
    “It didn’t say anywhere in either contract.” It did say in the modeling contract that disobedience could cause dismissal. Again, I couldn’t tell Shannon. She and I always shared