The Taming School – An Excerpt
Kat Valdez liked Peter Richard’s home. It teetered that fine line between the masculine and the feminine, leaning on the grace and beauty of both. She felt comfortable there—even in her nudity—as if she’d been there and walked its rooms countless times. It was nice.
Idly, she walked to the big round dining table, letting her fingers trail its edge. There, wrapped up prettily, was a box. She wondered what was inside. It looked expensive, expertly wrapped the way that it was. The glitteringly gold wrapping paper was perfectly creased and folded and the shimmery, deep green ribbon was tied in the kind of big, floppy bow that she’d never seen outside department store displays.
Kat had grown up lower-middle-class and unaccustomed to having luxuries—always scraping by paycheck to paycheck. The gift box alone looked too lavish for someone in her income bracket, never mind the gift inside. She was afraid to touch it.
But because Peter said she could—because he’d gotten it just for her—she did, carefully undoing the bow before rolling the ribbon neatly. Then she carefully turned the package over and scrounged around for the hidden strips of tape, before gingerly peeling back the paper from the box. She lifted the plain white cover and reached inside. Read more »