Wilde by Abby Brooks

Chapter One

Juliet

Juliet Lane had to pee. In fact, she’d had to pee for the last sixty miles or so, but each rest stop she passed seemed more remote than the last.

Considering her circumstances, she wasn’t in the mood for remote.

Not one little bit.

Hell, at that point, not even mildly populated would do. She wanted bright lights. Tons of visibility. And people around her. Lots of people. After surviving the last couple months, she wasn’t about to give another asshole the chance to make her his victim.

“Isn’t that right, Lulu?” She singsonged to the Yorkshire terrier in the seat next to her, smiling happily. “No more dominant jerks for us.”

God, it felt good to say that and mean it,Juliet thought as she fortified her bladder and returned her attention to the road. The next rest area would be everything she needed. She just knew it.

Up until recently, her self-sufficient streak ensured she’d never been dependent on anyone, let alone put herself in a position to be someone’s victim. Enter Peter Vox, CEO of Tech Lord, the newest, biggest, and best in technology today. Cutting edge tech for those in the know! At least according to the Tech Lord slogan.

Peter certainly said it enough, spouting it at every meeting, every press conference, even going so far as to put himself into every commercial. Always leaning back in his pretentious leather chair in his office on the bajillionteenth floor of one of the tallest buildings in New York City. The commercials screamed sex (and power) with Peter’s gray eyes blazing into the camera. His blonde hair impeccably styled. The floor-to-ceiling windows behind him sparkling with the lights of the city.

No doubt about it, panties got wet across America every time he was on screen.

There’d been a time when Juliet herself melted into a puddle of barely comprehensible woman simply because he looked at her. But that was in the beginning—those feelings faded sharply as she got to know him. After everything that happened between them, she felt nothing but relief to have a few hundred miles of highway between her and the city. Between her, Peter Vox, and his fashionably twitchy palm.

It seemed like every woman in the world was fantasizing about having a super-hot billionaire boyfriend of her own. One who knew what he wanted and had the balls to reach out and take without waiting for permission. Throw in a touch of sadism with a dash of cold and domineering and you had the perfect recipe with which to ‘explore your sexuality.’

Juliet had been excited—okay, she’d been downright ecstatic—when Peter slid that contract across the boardroom table for her to sign. Heart racing, she ticked off her list of hard and soft limits while they discussed rules and safe words. She’d always liked her sex a little rough and there she was, presented with the chance to really let down her hair and walk on the wild side.

To hand control over to someone bigger than her.

Someone stronger than her.

To allow him to take her on some marvelous sexual journey of self-exploration.

But life wasn’t like the movies and BDSM wasn’t the fun and games pop culture had her believing.

At least not when your partner lost control...

Shit got real, then. Fast.

She inhaled deeply and let it out slowly, then checked her mirrors before making herself smile. Positivity was a habit and smiling was the first step. Peter Vox didn’t have power over her anymore. She’d taken it back for herself when she packed her car and left the city that morning. Wasting any more time worrying about him (or their past) was just another way of handing the reins right back to him. She’d taken precautions. He’d never find her. Her life was hers again and the freedom tasted sublime.

So what if she didn’t know where she was going?

So what if she didn’t have a plan?

She’d fake it till she made it.

Even if that idea scared her to death.

Lulu looked at her expectantly, panting in the pool of early spring sunlight that blazed through the passenger window. The little dog probably needed a pitstop even more than Juliet did.

“We’ll stop at the very next one,” she promised. Lulu dropped her head to her paws and Juliet checked the rearview mirror one more time.

He’s not back there,she chided herself. He’s probably just now figuring out you’re gone and there’s no way he’ll know where you are. He’s rich, but he’s not Batman.

Twenty miles later, Juliet finally found a rest area and pulled off at the exit, stretching as she straightened out of the driver’s seat. Despite the evening hour, heat radiated off her car and shimmered above the pavement. That morning, frost had glittered on the road as she left the city, but the farther south she drove, the hotter it got. She blinked in the bright light and took a deep breath, then smiled as she ticked one more box off her mental bucket list.

What did the ocean smell like? Salty. Fishy. Pungent. And green.

Her aching bladder reminded Juliet why she pulled over in the first place. She cracked a window to keep the car cool for the dog and locked the door before she waddle-walked as fast as she could into the restroom. Poor little Lulu was just going to have to wait her turn, and heaven help her if she peed in the car. A few minutes later, she rushed back out to the parking lot, eager for the scent of briny coastal air to replace the overwhelming smell of rural rest stop bathroom. Another car had pulled in while she was inside, a giant boat of a Buick, and Juliet’s confident paced slowed to a hesitant shuffle.

Heart pounding, she studied the driver.

Was that a touch of blonde hair…? Were those eyes cold and gray…?

Her thoughts whirled into panic until she realized what she was doing and let out a laugh.

Of course that wasn’t Peter. He’d never drive something as mundane as a Buick. Hell, if he was going to make an appearance, he’d do it by landing a helicopter at her feet, wind plastering the grass to the ground and blowing the leaves on the palm trees. Then, after an appropriately dramatic build up, he’d step down from the chopper in his expertly tailored suit with his designer tie flapping freely as he strode toward her, those bedroom eyes gleaming in anticipation of how he’d make her scream an apology when he got her back behind closed doors...

Juliet shuddered. No more, she chided herself. He doesn’t deserve one. more. thought.

She got to her car and opened the door, leaned over the driver’s seat, and reached into the back for Lulu’s leash while a tiny old woman heaved the door shut on the Buick and lumbered off toward the bathrooms. As Julz dug through the few boxes she’d been able to pack, looking for the currently AWOL leash, another car pulled in beside the Buick.

This one was sleek and expensive and gleamed in the evening sun—a power-mobile if she’d ever seen one. She didn’t need to see the driver to know he had something to prove. Probably a class-A jerk with a tiny dick. Giggling to herself, she rolled her eyes. Lord knew she’d dealt with her fair share of those in New York.

Maybe cut the guy some slack? Don’t judge everyone on the Peter scale of awful.

With a heavy sigh, Juliet pushed the rest of her small frame as far into the backseat as possible. “I’m sorry, babe,” she said as Lulu put her paws on Juliet’s back. “That silly leash is just gone.”

She stretched one more time, her ass fully in the air, and found the leash where it had fallen on the floor behind her seat. With a triumphant little “aha!,” she wriggled back into the front seat in time to see the old woman stumble.

She tripped against the curb.

Wobbled, arms flailing.

Then fell heavily to the pavement.

With a gasp, Juliet threw open the door and raced to help. Lulu bolted out of the car, passing a startled Julz without a backward glance, and kept right on running toward the line of palm trees on a hill that blocked the view of the beach.

The old woman struggled into a sitting position as Julz screamed for her dog, then crouched to help the stranger to her feet. “Are you all right?”

“Nothing hurt but my pride, I ‘spect.”

She offered the woman a hand, heart sinking as her furry friend shrank in the distance, her little legs eating up the ground faster than you could say ‘who wants a treat?’

“Lulu!” Panic laced Juliet’s voice.

“Getcher dog,” said the woman with a smile. “I’m tougher’n I look.”

Eyes on Lulu—who’d started running in circles, barking at something in the grass—Julz kept a hold on the woman until she was on her feet and stable. “You sure you’re okay?” she asked a final time.

“I’m old. I just bit the dust in front of a stranger…I’m as okay as I’ll ever be.” The woman smiled again and waved her away. “Now go get yer dog ‘fore she reaches the water.”

Lulu stopped running in circles and disappeared past the row of palm trees. Juliet took off, frantically calling her name. The panic she’d tried to keep at bay finally rose into her throat and tears pricked the corner of her eyes.

If she lost the darn dog, that might be the last straw.

Her heart might finally break, and she might actually lose her mind.

That little pup was one of the few things she still had from life before Peter. One of the few things she’d ever let herself love and the only thing that really loved her back.

Please let her come back. Please let her come back. Please.

And then…

…hestepped out from the row of palms.

He was gorgeous. Wearing a tux, because obviously. Everything about him was expensive, from his haircut, to his jacket, to his shoes.

But better than all that…

Better than the chiseled cheekbones and strong jaw…

Better than the perfect cut of his suit that showed off the broad shoulders and tapered waist, was the fact that Lulu wriggled in his arms, enthusiastically licking his clean-shaven cheeks.