By
USA Today Bestselling Author
Becca Jameson

Until the mysterious woman
sleeping in my bed learns to trust me,
my hands are tied…

Grace

The sun is finally shining on me. New life. New town. Jobs lined up doing what I love: dog walking. Until darkness descends, sucking me into a world of sex slavery I never knew existed. I’m trained to please a Master I’ve been sold to. No one is looking for me. If I don’t find a way to save myself, I’ll be lost forever.

Khai

It was supposed to be an overdue vacation at my cabin. Fishing, hiking, relaxing. But someone is in my cabin, in my bed, and she’s been here a while. She tells me nothing, but I know two things: she’s in trouble, and there is no way I can walk away from her.

When FBI agents surround my cabin, I realize Grace is in far more danger than I suspected. It’s time for her to open up. I can only fight the battles I’m aware of.
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Tulip is startled awake by her new master shouting her name. She hasn’t heard her real name, Grace, in over a year. She’s not sure where she is or how long she’s been out of it from the drugs he gave her. He orders her to first stand, then to take a shower and drink a protein drink he left for her. He gives her 30 minutes to accomplish the tasks.

She knows what’s coming and as he observes her, noting he paid a lot of money for her, she looks for a way out. He’s drinking and she hopes he gets drunk enough she can get away. It doesn’t stop her from looking for an opportunity. She gets her chance after he puts another log on the fire and staggers a bit as he heads to the bar for another drink. She quietly races to grab the fire poker and back to where he is when he turns, she hits him soundly in the temple.

Not knowing if he’s dead or just knocked out, she hurriedly grabs his suit jacket to cover herself and leaves. She encounters a neighbor but doesn’t trust enough to ask for help, the police were involved in her being taken.

She runs until she can’t anymore, and finds herself at a well-stocked cabin, where she remains while trying to figure out what to do. She’s about out of food two months later, and needs a plan. That’s when she gets quite the surprise.

This is a favorite scene.

“Fuck,” Khai muttered under his breath when he tipped the flowerpot to its side and felt around for the key to his cabin. “What the hell?” It wasn’t there. Had it fallen off the edge of the porch and gotten lost in the dirt?

Ugh. He’d driven too far to get here tonight to deal with the missing key. He was tired and grumpy and needed sleep. He probably should have stopped halfway and gotten a hotel for the night instead of driving straight through, but he’d wanted to wake up tomorrow in his cabin, not some hotel room.

After trudging back to his truck with a faint limp, he rubbed his sore leg, leaned in the passenger side, popped the glove compartment, and shined the flashlight from his phone into the small space. He had too much junk jammed in there, but he was pretty sure the original key to the cabin was among the shit.

Unfortunately, there were six keys tossed in there, and Khai held them all in his palm before deciding which two were more likely to be to the cabin as opposed to spare car keys, boat keys, or Lord only knew what.

Frustrated, he trudged back to the cabin. The second key he tried worked, and he blessedly opened the door.

Khai felt along the wall from memory, found the light switch, and flipped it on. Before he managed to turn back toward the open space, someone screamed, nearly scaring him out of his mind.

Khai jerked his gaze toward the sound of the noise. His bed. A woman was sitting in his bed, clutching the covers to her front. Her eyes were wide. They were also the most gorgeous shade of green he’d ever seen. And her hair. Shit. How long was it? He couldn’t see the end of it. It was draped all around her. Strawberry blond. More blond than strawberry.

Was she naked? He could see her bare shoulders. He shifted his gaze all around, looking for another person, thinking probably some teenage couple had broken into his cabin to fuck, which pissed him off. How old was the woman anyway?

“Are you alone?” he asked her.

She sucked in a breath and nodded, eyes still wide.

He shut the door and dropped his duffle bag on the floor. “What are you doing here?”

She cringed and scampered back several inches, dragging the covers with her. She looked scared out of her mind.

He held up both hands. “I’m not going to hurt you.” Now that he’d eliminated the idea of two teenagers using his cabin as a love nest, some of the anger left his sails.

This woman looked traumatized, two seconds from a full-on panic attack. When she finally started breathing, she was panting.

especially when he was frowning, and he did that a lot. It seemed like all he’d done since he’d been medically discharged from the Army was frown and scowl.

School your features, man, he told himself. <em<You’re scaring the fuck out of her. And why did he care? She was trespassing on his property. It would appear she’d moved into his cabin. Made herself at home. Cooked and cleaned even.

Another close look at her told him she needed compassion, not reprimanding. At least she spoke English. He sat up straight and rubbed the back of his neck. “Looks like you’ve been here a while. I’ve never seen the place this clean.” He forced a smile, hoping she might relax.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated, barely audibly. She also dipped her face down, letting her hair fall all around her, nearly hiding behind it.

“It’s okay, love. Apparently, you needed a place to stay. It’s okay.” Why the hell did he call her love? It had slipped out. He’d never called anyone love. It wasn’t a natural endearment that would ordinarily come out of his mouth.

She blew out a breath, not meeting his gaze. At least her panic was subsiding.

“If you don’t tell me your name, I’m going to call you Goldie.”

Her brow was furrowed when she lifted her face.

He smiled. “You know, from Goldilocks. Someone’s been sleeping in my bed, and she’s still there.”

Finally, she gave him the slightest smile. It lit up her face. It lit up the room. He desperately wanted to see it again.

It had been a damn long time since he’d been with a woman. He hadn’t been on a single date since he’d returned to U.S. soil two years ago, and he certainly hadn’t been sleeping with women while he’d been focused on his deployment.

He lifted a brow. “Name, love?”

She swallowed. “T- T- T-… Grace.”

He chuckled. “I’m going to assume your real name starts with a T, but you’re afraid to tell me what it is, so you’d like me to call you Grace.”

She bit her lip, not responding.

He sighed. “I can call you Grace if that’s what you’d like. You can even keep your secrets. For now.” He reached down to untie his boot and tug it off before doing the same to the other.

After a quick glance at his sofa, he ran a hand down his face. Apparently, he would be sleeping on the couch tonight. He needed sleep more than he needed answers. This woman was harmless. She was scared out of her mind for one thing. She was obviously squatting in his cabin for a reason. Either she was homeless, or she was hiding from an abusive boyfriend— something of that nature.

He pushed to his feet, wincing at the twinge in his calf, and shuffled toward the bathroom. After closing the door, he pissed, brushed his teeth, and splashed water on his face.

When he turned around, he paused, uncertain what he was looking at. Something was hanging in his shower. Several things, actually. Taking a step closer, he realized three of his T-shirts were draped over the glass door. His laundry detergent sat next to the toilet. She’d apparently worn his shirts, washed them, and hung them to dry.

What kind of trouble was this girl in? Whatever it was, she wasn’t a slob. He had a very tidy squatter on his hands.

Khai returned to the main room to find Grace in exactly the same spot where he’d left her. He approached slowly, pointing toward one of the pillows on his bed. “I’ll sleep on the sofa, but may I use one of the pillows?”

She glanced at the pillow and then back at him. “You’re going to sleep on the sofa?” she whispered incredulously.

“Yes. It’s the middle of the night. I drove a long way to get here. I’m too tired to ask you more questions tonight. Promise me you won’t stab me in my sleep?” He gave her a crooked smile as he reached for the pillow.

She gasped. “I was more worried you would stab me in my sleep. I’m the one trespassing.”

“Well, it’s your lucky day. I’ve never stabbed anyone to death for the crime of sleeping.”

Her eyes went wide, and she licked her full pink lips. “Have you stabbed anyone for any other crime?”

He winced, pulled up the sleeve of his T-shirt, and pointed toward the tattoo on his biceps. “I was in the Army, deployed three times. So, unfortunately, yes, I have stabbed some people. None of them were women. All of them were threatening my life.”

Khai had never told a single human any of that. Not a civilian anyway. He wasn’t sure why he felt like he could or should share something so violent and descriptive, but it seemed Grace needed honesty, so he gave it to her.

Khai backed up toward the sofa. As badly as he wanted to climb into his nice warm bed and sleep for ten hours, instead, he was going to keep his damn jeans on and catch some Zs on the sofa.

“I can’t take your bed,” she murmured.

He fluffed the pillow and dropped it onto the end of the couch. “You already did,” he pointed out.

“But, I mean now. Now that you’re here.”

He smiled at her. “Love, my mother raised me to be a gentleman, and a gentleman would never sleep in his bed and put a woman on the couch. You’re fine. Go back to sleep. We’ll talk more in the morning.”

She slid onto her back, pulling the covers up to her chin. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“You’re welcome.” Khai flipped off the overhead light, dropped onto his back on the couch, and took several deep breaths. What the fuck was going on here? Was he crazy? Should he have called the police or interrogated her until she talked?

However, neither of those options felt right. Grace— if that was even her name— needed compassion, not police. And Khai needed sleep. Perhaps he was far too trusting, but he was too tired to think any harder. He closed his eyes and let blessed sleep take him under.
Becca Jameson. Tulip – Becca Jameson (Kindle Locations 263-339). Kindle Edition.

The owner of the cabin, Khai, is shocked to find a very scared woman squatting in his cabin. He puts her mind at ease long enough to tell her he’d sleep on the couch and they’d talk in the morning. Unfortunately, her screams wake him before that as a nightmare grips her. He calms her and staying on top of the blankets holds her as she sleeps.

Khai, doesn’t understand why he’s falling so hard and fast for this beautiful woman, but he is. He’s not going to call the authorities, he’s going to protect her.

He succeeds at least for a little while, then the FBI shows up at his door. Jagger Whitley has quite the story to tell Khai and puts Tulip at ease by mentioning Marigold, Oleander, and Jasmine. He also tells her he only knows her as Tulip and asks her real name. Grace tells him and he also convinces them to move into his home with Kalinda as it’s far more secure than the cabin.

There are a lot of twists in this one as they search for the man kidnapped her and the one who bought her. I loved the way her relationship with Khai grows with every new development and the bond between the women.

I can’t wait to read the next book in this series!

5 Contented Purrs for Becca!

Becca Jameson

Becca Jameson is a USA Today bestselling author of over 100 books. She is most well-known for her Wolf Masters Series, her Fight Club series, and her Club Zodiac series. She currently lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and Goldendoodle. Two grown kids pop in every once in a while too! She is loving this journey and has dabbled in a variety of genres, including paranormal, sports romance, military, and BDSM.

A total night owl, Becca writes late at night, sequestering herself in her office with a glass of red wine and a bar of dark chocolate, her fingers flying across the keyboard as her characters weave their own stories.

During the day–which never starts before ten in the morning!–she can be found jogging, running errands, or reading in her favorite hammock chair!

…where Alphas dominate…