Read Online Exposed: Laid Bare by S.R. Grey - Free Book Online

the things he’d exposed to me. I knew in my soul I was still connected to Lucien in some visceral way. He may have tried to break our connection, but it was still there. Faintly, yes, but not completely severed.
    So where was I supposed to go from here?

D ays passed, weeks passed, months passed. My photos of Lucien ran in the magazine. I received several accolades, as I’d expected. I even won a small award.
    But it all meant nothing.
    I got up every day. I ate, I showered, I worked, and I slept. On the weekends, I spent time with Veronica, watching movies or ordering in food. I never went out socially. I had no desire to date or meet men.
    How could any man ever compare to what I had experienced?
    Veronica tried to cheer me up, but it was of no use. I was empty, incomplete. Something was missing. And I knew what that something was—Lucien.
    It was ridiculous of me to hold onto him like this. He’d moved on. There were photos of him out with models—dating, living his life. Never a clear shot of him, he didn’t allow that, but the paparazzi had caught him out a time or two.
    On a wintry March morning, with a thick carpet of snow still on the ground, I bundled up in a heavy sweater, high boots, and a bulky coat, and drove north of the city.
    “This is crazy,” I told myself as I pulled into a lot in a public park, a public park not far from Lucien’s estate. The park was empty, save for a flock of Canada geese out on the ice-covered lake.
    “I need to do this,” I whispered, glancing up at my reflection in the rearview mirror.
    I looked tired, with dark circles under my eyes. The past two months had been rough. No Lucien, no hits of whatever it was he gave to me.
    Well, I was here to get my fix, even if it was only from afar.
    I got out of the car and walked in the direction of Lucien’s estate, trudging through heavy drifts of snow like they were nothing. I was on a mission.
    I’d not felt Lucien’s presence in so long. This was my experiment to see if narrowing the geography between us would result in re-establishing his connection with me. I’d not felt him in my head since the morning he’d left me.
    We were still tethered, though, and I missed him.
    Continuing on through the heavy snow, I worked my way to the edge of the lake. With no leaves on the trees, I was hoping Lucien’s mansion would be visible up at the northernmost tip of the large body of water.
    So, I headed north.
    Unfortunately, it was slow going as there was lots of ice around the lake. I walked and walked, still, and as I made my way along the lake shore, the geese honked at me as if I were an intruder. I supposed in their iced-over world I was an unwelcome sight.
    “Sorry,” I mumbled when I passed an exceptionally noisy group.
    “Or would that be a gaggle?” I said to myself, smiling at my own random musings.
    Suddenly, to my utter shock and surprise, someone answered.
    “That would indeed be a gaggle, Miss Vaughn,” a smooth male voice replied.
    I spun to face whoever had snuck up on me. However, I knew before I turned around whom I’d find standing there. I knew not just from the voice, a voice I missed, but from the presence I felt.
    “Lucien,” I whispered, “you’re here.”
    I smiled, and he smiled back at me, as dashing as ever. He was bundled up in a long black overcoat and a gray wool scarf. His dark hair was a little mussed and slightly longer than usual, making him look wild and untamed.
    “Dahlia,” he said, my name rolling off his tongue deliciously, like the day he’d first uttered it.
    Oh, how I burned for this man . I longed to tell him how much I had missed him, but there was no need.
    “I missed you, too,” he quietly replied.
    “This is crazy,” I said as I stood there and simply stared at him.
    He threw back his head and laughed. “Indeed, it is.” He offered me his arm. “Come, Dahlia, walk with me.”
    When I touched him, looping my arm through his, it felt as if I’d come home. Relaxed in a