Masks Read online

  An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

  www.ellorascave.com

  Masks

  ISBN # 1-4199-0442-6

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  Masks Copyright© 2005 Evangeline Anderson

  Edited by Shannon Combs.

  Cover art by Syneca.

  Electronic book Publication: December 2005

  This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

  Warning:

  The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. Masks has been rated E–rotic by a minimum of three independent reviewers.

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-rotic), and X (X-treme).

  S-ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

  E-rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as “fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature.

  X-treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles, stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

  Masks

  Evangeline Anderson

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  Jell-O: Kraft Foods Holdings, Inc. Corporation

  Jaguar: Jaguar Cars Limited Corporation

  Chapter One

  Chloe stared at the large man in the black leather mask standing on the doorstep. She didn’t know what she has been expecting, but he wasn’t it. He was tall for one thing. Taller than her, despite the four-inch, thigh-high boots she was wearing. Broad shoulders strained the fabric of his well-tailored suit and direct blue eyes stared at her through the eye holes of the mask. The man smiled, revealing white, even teeth.

  He didn’t look like a man that wanted to be dominated. Of course, you couldn’t judge by appearances in this case, Chloe reminded herself. After all, she herself looked like a dominatrix, but nothing could be further from the truth.

  “Mistress Sensua?” The man’s voice was a deep rumble, coming from the bottom of his chest that Chloe could feel in her bones. “Mistress?” he said again, taking another step forward.

  Chloe stumbled backwards a step before she remembered she was supposed to be in charge of this situation. Mistress Sensua—that’s me! She had never felt less in charge of anything in her whole life—including herself.

  How was she supposed to handle this? How was she supposed to dominate this giant when she was shaking in her thigh-high boots? How had she gotten herself into this in the first place? Oh, right—doing her sister a favor…

  * * * * *

  “Chloe, I need a favor. I need you to switch with me.”

  “Are you insane?” Chloe rolled her eyes at her identical twin sister who was currently lounging on her expensive memory foam mattress with her injured right ankle propped on a mound of fluffy goose down pillows. Nothing but the best for Zoe—somehow her twin always seemed to get what she wanted. But not this time.

  “This is really important. I have a meeting with a client that I can’t miss.” Zoe’s big, green eyes begged pitifully. “It’s just a little favor.” She twisted a strand of her honey blonde hair around one perfectly manicured finger and looked appealingly at her identical twin. Same hair, same eyes, but Zoe’s hair was an artful tumble around her perfectly made-up face while Chloe’s was up in a sensible ponytail, showing a face that was bare of makeup.

  Chloe sighed. “We haven’t done a switch since high school. And you remember how that turned out.”

  Zoe’s eyes took on a dreamy look. “Of course I remember. I lost my virginity to Christian Agan in the shallow end of his swimming pool. Most romantic day of my life.”

  “Maybe you’re forgetting what happened to me while you were having the time of your life.” Chloe frowned in frustration. “I was taking your place in advanced dramatics and it just happened to be the day that you were supposed to deliver your monologue in front of the entire school assembly. I’ve never been so humiliated in my life!”

  “Which is why you’ve never switched with me since,” Zoe finished for her. “But this time it’ll be different, Chloe, I swear. It’s been ten years since high school—just let it go.” She shifted on her black satin sheets and regarded her twin with a sparkle of mischief in her eyes. “You might even have fun.”

  “How am I going to have fun dressing up in one of your business suits and pretending to be an investment banker?” Chloe crossed her arms over the sensible, gray turtleneck sweater she wore. Zoe, of course, was lounging in bed in a black silk teddy, but she always dressed impractically.

  “Well…” Zoe bit her full bottom lip and then patted the bed beside her. “C’mere, sis, I have something to tell you. Only you have to promise not to tell Mom and Dad. It would kill them.”

  “What?” Chloe eyed her twin mistrustfully. When Zoe got that look in her eyes, it invariably spelled trouble. Still, she perched on the edge of the luxurious bed, curious to hear what Zoe had to say.

  “I’m not exactly an investment banker,” Zoe confessed. “In fact, I’m not in any kind of banking or finance at all.”

  “What?” Chloe looked at her blankly. “But you were a business major in college. What about all the meetings you have with clients, the way you’re always jetting off to exotic, foreign lands for last-minute mergers? And how do you pay for all this?” She swept out an arm, indicating the plush luxury of her twin sister’s palatial home.

  “I’ll tell you but you have to promise not to be shocked.”

  Chloe sighed. “As if anything about you could shock me anymore.” It was true—of the two of them, Zoe was always the adventurous one. The one always getting into trouble.

  How they’d ended up with such totally different personalities when their faces and bodies were identical was beyond Chloe, but she was more than willing to let her sister have her wild life of travel and excitement. Chloe herself was perfectly content with her own life even if it wasn’t as glamorous as Zoe’s.

  She had a neat, little, one-bedroom house in a nice neighborhood and a rewarding career as a first grade teacher. So what if Zoe always seemed to have the sexiest clothes, the hottest dates, and the most exotic adventures? That was fine for her twin but Chloe preferred security and stability to thrills and chills—or so she told herself.

  “So what do you do?” she asked, seeing the indecision on her twin sister’s face. “C’mon, Zoe, you can tell me. You know I won’t tell Mom and Dad.”

  “Pinky swear?” Zoe held out her hand, the elegantly manicured pinky finger extended.

  “Pinky swear.” It was a ritual of their childhood. No matter how different they were, they were still sisters and Chloe loved her twin with all her heart, even if Zoe was exasperating at times. She held out her own pinky, the nail painted an innocent pink. It contrasted oddly with the fire-engine red of Zoe’s when they locked pinkies.

  Zoe