Yes or no? What will she do? Can Annabelle redeem Beast with her heart intact, or will her time at La Rosa Prison ruin her? Find out who Beast really is in the dark, erotic retelling of Beauty & The Beast.

“You look nervous,” he says. His hand, still in my hair, turns to my cheek. It’s warm. Smells good. “Come and sit down.”

He takes my hand and leads me to a window seat. A built-in bench, pressed up against a wall of glass. He wraps his hands around my waist and lifts me up. Sits me down up there. My eyes scan the patchy, dirt-strewn yard outside. The way the rain smashes off the ground and into something else. The sky is white. Stark white.

“Just a minute,” he says.

My mind screams as he steps away. He reaches onto some shelves along the wall and grabs an armful of navy blue blankets. Painters’ blankets, I realize as he holds them out for me. He sits them on the bench beside me. Smooths one out. Lifts me up and sits me on it. Then he tucks another one behind me.

“Thank you,” I murmur. Despite the blankets’ tattered appearance, they seem soft enough. There’s no paint on them, and they don’t smell like it. Another one unfolded by his big hands, tucked around me.

“You got wet. Warm up a moment.”

I sit there because my brain is broken and my heart feels puffed up like a balloon.

He climbs up behind me and gently nudges me forward. He leans his torso up against mine, spreads his legs around my butt and thighs. Strong hands begin to knead my shoulders.

“Don’t be nervous here, Angel. I’ll take care of you. Always.”

Ella James is a Colorado author who writes teen and adult romance. She is happily married to a man who knows how to wield a red pen, and together they are raising a feisty two-year-old who will probably grow up believing everyone’s parents go to war over the placement of a comma.

Ella’s books have been listed on numerous Amazon bestseller lists, including the Movers & Shakers list and the Amazon Top 100; two were listed among Amazon’s Top 100 Young Adult Ebooks of 2012.

To find out more about Ella’s projects and get dates on upcoming releases, find her on Facebook at facebook.com/ellajamesauthorpage and follow her blog, www.ellajamesbooks.com. Questions or comments? Tweet her at author_ellaj or e-mail her at ella_f_james@ymail.com.

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