Lily and the Beast (Lily and the Beast #1)
Read Lily and the Beast (Lily and the Beast #1) Online
Authors: Amelia Jayne
Lily and the Beast
An erotic, contemporary spin on Beauty & the Beast
Amelia Jayne
Aidan Pierce led a charmed life. Wealth, power, the love of a good woman – until his taste for kink triggers a devastating accident that forever changes his life. Now a mysterious recluse, Aidan doesn’t let anyone see what he’s become.
In order to save a loved one, Lily Gray is forced into an agreement that gives Aidan absolute power over her body for one year. Lily has sacrificed her freedom and surrendered her body, but she never imagined he’d take possession of her heart. What will happen when Aidan threatens to dominate her entire life? Steeped in darkness for so many years, Aidan never dreamed his sweet little sub would come to command him with a single smile. Can her love lead him into the light?
Will beauty tame the savage beast, or will his dark desires tear them apart?
Table of Contents
“I can’t fucking believe I’m doing this.”
“Did you say something, miss?” The driver lifted his eyes to the rearview mirror and I immediately hunched lower in my seat.
“No, sorry.” I had, but I didn’t exactly want to get chatty with the driver about my sketchy life decisions, especially since I wasn’t sure how much he knew about where I was headed. Maybe he did this sort of thing all the time, delivered fresh girls to the mansion, but on the off chance he was rented with the car, I decided not to mention my case of nerves over signing my life away.
We turned into a private driveway, the wrought iron gate automatically opening as if expecting us. A discreet plaque declared this to be Pierce Manor, but it was almost completely covered by dead ivy. The feeble lights atop the gate pillars didn’t offer much of a view of my new home, the dark trees obscuring what little there was to be seen, but I could tell it was set far back from the road. For one chilling moment, I imagined the driver would dump me off right at the gate with my suitcase at my feet, but then we pulled forward, instantly enveloped in the inky black that swallowed the car’s headlights.
As we got closer, I didn’t need lights to see that the manor house itself was huge. Gargantuan. Big as fuck. So large, I couldn’t imagine a person really living there. A private school maybe, but a family? No way. A single guy, even a billionaire, like Aidan Pierce? I couldn’t imagine him roaming around a humungous place like that all by himself. How incredibly lonely. Was that why he felt the need to contract girls to come live with him?
I started to worry that I wasn’t dressed right for the occasion. What do you wear to meet your new owner? Something told me jeans and a red Sriracha t-shirt weren’t going to cut it, but I’d chickened out of wearing a dress. Dressing up seemed like more of an invitation, you know? Besides, despite the fact that the groundhog hadn’t been scared by its shadow last week, it was
cold
outside. Screw it, it would have to do.
Stepping out of the heated towncar, I wrapped my long, wool coat tighter around me, wishing I’d done up the buttons beforehand. It was four sizes too big, and I’d gotten it out of a second hand store, but I loved the thing. It hid a multitude of sins, but it wasn’t quite warm enough to fight the bitter chill in the air, and I wished I’d thought to wear a scarf.
And then the driver did leave me standing there, shivering with my suitcase in hand, as he hopped back into the car and drove away. What kind of a shitty move was that? What if no one was home? What if I was stuck out there all night? All of a sudden I was glad I hadn’t given him a tip – or was that why he’d left so suddenly? Rich people etiquette went completely over my head.
I was still glaring at his disappearing tail lights when I noticed how quiet it was. No, I mean really quiet. Not the kind you get in the suburbs where you still hear the odd car or dog barking, I’m talking the complete absence of noise. Talk about creepy. I think I might’ve actually felt better if I’d heard the baying of a wolf in the distance, because it would’ve meant I wasn’t completely alone.
When the massive wooden door opened, I jumped about a foot, landing awkwardly as I spun around to see if it was
him
. Of course not. A rich guy like Aidan Pierce didn’t answer his own door. Instead, an older lady stood there in a severe, black dress, buttoned up to her throat. With her somber expression, she looked ready for a funeral, and I wondered if some kind of tragedy had struck. My heart leapt at the thought – maybe I wouldn’t have to go through with this after all?
“Hi, I’m Lily Gray,” I stammered, teeth chattering despite my efforts to smile politely.
“Yes, of course. Come in before you catch your death.” She waved me in and I melted in relief.
“Thanks.” I hustled inside, but it wasn’t that much warmer in there. With nothing but marble and stone as far as the eye could see, I could guess why. It must cost a fortune to heat a house that size with its soaring ceilings and columns.
“This way, please.” Without waiting for a response, she walked off down one of the tall, gothic corridors, and I scrambled to follow, gawking like a tourist with my mouth hanging open.
Did places like this really exist in the United States? I half imagined I’d been magically transported to the misty moors of England, not a two hour drive from the heart of New York City. I was no expert, but it looked like Pierce had more treasures lining the hallways than I’d seen in any museum. But as my breath fogged in front of my face, I decided I preferred my own cozy dorm room, cramped though it was.
Not breaking her stride, she leaned over her shoulder to ask, “Are you hungry?”
“No, ma’am.”
“You can call me Mrs. Fisk, miss.”
“No thanks, Mrs. Fisk.” I was way too nervous to eat. “You can call me Lily.”
She nodded, stopping in front of an open door, the golden light from inside spilling into the hallway. “This way, Miss Lily.”
The opening led to a large parlor, made cozy by a fire blazing in the fireplace. A man sat next to it, warming his feet. “Oh, you’re finally here,” he commented, sitting up straight. I was surprised to see he was well over fifty, his hair more gray than brown, and a definite paunch around the middle. I could’ve sworn my father had always described Aidan Pierce as a much younger man, but as he rose, I saw the medical kit by his side.
“Shall we get started?”
“What’s this?” I asked, looking to Mrs. Fisk for an explanation, but she merely backed away, closing the door with her.
“Nothing to be alarmed over, just your standard physical.”
“You’re here to examine me? Why?”
“To ensure you’re perfectly healthy, per the terms of the contract.” He frowned at my hesitation. “It’s my understanding that you’d already agreed to this.”
I remembered seeing something about confirming I was in good physical health when signing the contract, but somehow that hadn’t translated into an actual exam in my head. And definitely not in this setting.
His bushy brows rose in question. “Is there a problem?”
“No, no problem,” I replied, watching him lay out a series of standard implements on a fabric covered tray. Nothing to be too worried about, until he pulled out a syringe. “As long as you’re a doctor. You, ah…
are
a doctor, right?”
“Yes, I am,” he chuckled. “I’m Dr. Jeffries.”
Apparently I’d have to take his word for it, since he made no move to show me any credentials. But nothing he did was out of the ordinary, and I didn’t get a skeezy vibe off of him, even when he asked me to take my clothes off. He did a pretty thorough exam, even checking out my eyes and teeth, and the syringe was used to take three vials of blood.
“What do you need so much blood for?” I asked, holding tight to the lump of cotton on the inside of my elbow.
“To run the standard battery of tests for drugs, pregnancy, STDs, nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Right,” I nodded, wondering if this was his usual gig. He seemed so blasé about it all, as if it was perfectly normal to drive out to a mansion to examine a girl at all hours of the night. Maybe for him it was? Maybe Pierce had a whole stable of girls that kept the doc busy?
“I take it you test him too, right?” Disease wasn’t something I’d counted on when agreeing to the intimate terms of the contract, but that worry reared its ugly head now.
“Mr. Pierce is perfectly healthy,” he said shortly, closing up his case. “Good evening, Miss Gray.” And then he was gone, and Mrs. Fisk waited in the hallway. Had she been there the entire time, hovering, waiting to be of use?
“I’ll show you up to your suite, Miss Lily.”
The suite was no less grand than any other part of the house, decorated in more feminine tones of rose, the heavy wood trim painted a creamy white. The dominant feature of the room was a large bed, but there was also a small sitting area next to the fireplace and a deep window seat in front of the bay window. Luckily, I had my own bathroom, complete with a claw foot tub; wandering through the drafty halls to go pee in the middle of the night didn’t sound like a whole lot of fun. No TV though, that was going to be a serious bummer.
I set my suitcase down and Mrs. Fisk took my coat, hanging it up in the adjoining walk-in closet, which was completely bare. It wasn’t as comfy as my dorm room, but it was a lot cozier and more cheery than the rest of the house. All things considered, I had no room for complaints.
Time to find out if she knew why I was there. “Does Mr. Pierce always give this room to his concubines?” I asked, plopping onto the edge of the bed for an experimental bounce.
“The master isn’t given to allowing overnight guests,” she said primly, her lips turned down in disapproval. Of me, or the
master’s
policy, I couldn’t tell. “You’ll want to bathe and prepare yourself for when he calls.”
“Prepare myself? Like… wrap myself up in a bow or something?” I hadn’t brought any fancy lingerie, I didn’t own any. If that’s what he expected, he was about to be disappointed.
“Just put on whatever you have that’s best,” she replied, taking an extra quilt out of a cedar chest at the end of the bed and folding it neatly on top. “I’ll take your cell phone and laptop now, if you’ve brought them.”
My stomach clenched into a hard ball of worry. “My… what for?”
Mrs. Fisk gave a long suffering sigh. “Because they’re not allowed for the duration of your stay. It was in the contract.”
Was it? I was starting to regret not reading that thing more carefully. At the time, I’d been more concerned with the physical implications rather than spend my time on all the odds and ends. Numbly, I opened my suitcase and surrendered the red laptop, my most cherished possession in the whole world. “Can’t you disable my Wi-Fi and let me have the laptop itself?”
“That’s for the master to decide. You can ask him about it later,” she replied, taking it from me. “Only… I wouldn’t ask for it when you first meet him,” she cautioned, a ribbon of worry creasing her brow.
“Why not?”
“He can be a bit irritable sometimes. Best if he gets to know you before you start making demands of him.”
“I wasn’t going to
demand
anything, sheesh,” I grumbled. I knew what I’d agreed to – his word was law for the next year.
“Yes, well, I’ll have the phone next,” she prompted, holding out her hand.
I couldn’t do it. “Oh, um… I left it at home. I figured I wouldn’t have any cell signal out here anyway, and my dad wasn’t about to pay for the service if I wasn’t using it so…” I trailed off lamely, sure she could tell I was lying from the heat in my cheeks, but she only nodded briskly.
“I’ll be back to collect you when he calls for you.”
As soon as the door clicked shut, I hid my cell between the mattress and the box spring, glad she hadn’t noticed the charger in my luggage. Maybe it was in violation of my contract, but I had to give myself an out, in case it got really bad. Even though I’d left things up in the air with him, I knew Michael would come and get me in a pinch.
There wasn’t much time to
prepare myself
before her sharp knock came on the door. I’d barely washed my face and run a brush through my hair. Scowling at myself in the mirror, I pulled it into a sleek ponytail, up and out of the way. I didn’t even have time to put on a coat of mascara as she rapped again. So much for dolling myself up. Then again, why bother? Maybe if he didn’t like me, he’d send me home.
Mrs. Fisk’s brows drew together in disapproval when she saw me, but she didn’t criticize my appearance. “Don’t forget about the blindfold,” she said, as though it was a reminder. “You’ll find a selection in the drawer by the bed, there.”
I stared at her, sure I must’ve heard her wrong. “Blindfold?”
“Yes, you must always wear the blindfold when you’re in the master’s presence. It’s the highest rule you must abide here.”
“Why?” slipped out. Was I about to be shot by firing squad or play pin the tail on the donkey?
Mrs. Fisk returned my stare, taken aback by the question. “Why, because he wishes it, of course.”
“Yes, but
why
does he wish it? What am I not supposed to see?”
“That’s for him to decide.”
I opened the drawer in question, fingers sifting through the pile of fabrics. Satins, silks, leather and lace – blindfolds of all sizes. “I have to wear one at all times?” She had to be fucking kidding me. “Isn’t that going to make living here kind of awkward?”
“That may be so, but it’s the same rule for you as all the others.”
“Then there
have
been others?” I’d thought she’d said he didn’t like overnight guests.
“Hurry and pick one, girl. He’s waiting,” she said with an irritable frown, and I grabbed the first one my fingers closed over – a simple red satin mask without ruffles or lace. I slipped it over my head, but parked it on my forehead, not wanting to cover my eyes until I absolutely had to. Mrs. Fisk didn’t object, leading the way down the stairs, and past the parlor I’d met the doctor in, deeper into the house.
