Saving Erica
By J.A. Melville
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Synopsis
Erica Rothman looked to have it all.
Beauty, a successful modelling career, overseas travel, money and a handsome
boyfriend or did she? Looks can be deceiving.
After fleeing the UK and her violent,
abusive boyfriend she gave up modelling and came home to Australia to lick her
wounds after Liam had attempted to kill them both in a car accident during a
fit of jealous rage.
She wanted to keep what had happened to her
a secret from her family until her brother Nathan accidentally learns the
truth.
When he takes her to see the project he
and his business partner and friend have bought to make money on, it seemed
innocent enough until she meets his friend.
Zane Harrison is gorgeous, sexy and
everything a woman could ever want in a man. He was probably used to having
women fall at his feet. That’s exactly what Erica did when she met him; she
literally fainted at the man’s feet.
The attraction is there and he could be
the perfect man for her but is it too risky to get involved with him? Can she
escape the horrors of her past? Will she ever be able to overcome just what it
is about him that affects her so much?
WARNING: THIS BOOK IS
INTENDED FOR THOSE 18 YEARS AND OVER. IT CONTAINS CONSENSUAL SEX SCENES,
DESCRIPTIONS OF ABUSE AND ONE NON CONSENSUAL SEX SCENE. HOWEVER THIS IS NOT
DARK EROTICA AND I DO BELIEVE IN HAPPILY EVER AFTER.
This book is a sequel to Taming
Eric but set 15 years later. It is a standalone novel and it is not necessary
to read Taming Eric first.
Excerpt
Erica
let herself into her parents’ home, the home she’d lived in from birth and
listened for a moment to the laughter and voices coming from the dining
room. It was Christmas Eve and she was late for the family dinner. Not
that her family knew that since she hadn’t been able to guarantee she’d
make it home for Christmas anyway.
It
was just lucky that filming had finished early and she’d been able to get a
seat on the first flight out of London. Someone had cancelled making a
seat available and although she’d been stuck with an economy seat and
jammed in between a quite large woman and a man who had spent most of the
flight trying to chat her up, it had been worth it to get home that little bit quicker.
She knew she could have called Daddy and he would have sent the company jet but
she wanted to surprise her family when they really weren’t expecting her.
She
stopped for a moment to check her appearance in the mirror over the hall stand
and noticed the dark circles under her blue eyes, a blue that vivid they
appeared almost purple under some lighting. Her auburn hair hung down one
shoulder in a plait that finished just below her full breasts and she ran
her hands down over her dress trying to smooth out the creases after being crammed
in a plane for so many hours.
Slowly
she moved towards the dining room, smiling as the voices grew louder the closer she
got. Nathan was telling them something about his and his girlfriend Taylah’s
last holiday together. Apparently she had managed to lock herself out of
their room while only wearing a towel and Erica grinned to herself when
everyone burst out laughing.
She
made it to the dining room doorway and got her first look at her family in
three months. Alice was there as were Beverly, Tom and Maggie but her eyes
shifted past them to the tall figure of her Father standing by the window.
Even in his early 50’s he was still a very attractive man and to her he
was her hero. She loved her Father, she always had. He had been her protector,
her savior and the person who could never say no to her.
Nathan
was seated at the table, the light shining on his strawberry blonde hair with Taylah
by his side; her dark almost exotic looks a complete contrast to him.
Brooklyn
and Charlotte occupied another couple of chairs at the table and Erica noticed Brooklyn
had somehow talked her parents in to letting her get a nose piercing if the
diamond glinting in it was any indication. At 15 they were looking so much
more mature than she remembered but the phones in their hands as they
texted or were on Facebook proved that they still had some maturing to do
yet.
Her
Mother was seated up the other end of the table, looking her usual unruffled
self, her auburn hair the exact same color as Erica’s twisted into some
elaborate knot at her nape.
Erica
smiled at the sight of them all together, all the people she loved most in her
life. Suddenly her Mother looked up and saw her standing there and a wide
smile transformed her face at the sight of her eldest daughter.
“Erica,
darling, you made it.” She stood up with her usual grace. Her Mother’s mention
of her name was enough to draw the attention of everyone else and the
chatter stopped briefly before everyone started getting to their feet to
come and greet her.
Before
anyone reached her, she saw her father coming towards her with that long stride of
his and he caught her up, swinging her around and around in his arms despite
her protests and squeals at him.
He
lowered her feet to the floor and pulled her into his arms for a hug, holding
her tight and Erica realized at that moment how much her father had missed
her. They’d been inseparable until her career had started to take off and
now she was often gone for weeks or even several months at a time. Lately
it was months and months in between visits back home.
“Daddy.”
She said and that was all she could say as the tears started to fall and when she
finally pulled back enough to see her father’s face, he had tears rolling down
his cheeks too.
“I
missed you so much Daddy.”
“Not
as much as I’ve missed you sweet pea.” He told her huskily before hugging her tightly
to him again.
Erica
knew her father hated her job. She’d heard often enough about how he used to only
date models years ago before Mum’s time. He’d found them shallow and
self-centered so he had found it hard to accept that his own daughter had
gone on to become a highly successful model.
He’d
never once tried to stop her and had always been supportive and going by the collection
of her professional photos hanging around the house, he was proud of her
despite her career choice. Technically she hadn’t intended to get into
modelling but it had been the fairy tale beginning for her. After being
spotted at sixteen and talked into having some studio shots taken the rest
as they say was history.
She
had become an extremely wealthy woman from modelling but all that money didn’t mean
much when her personal life was one huge mess. She had come home not just to
see her family but to lick her wounds and recover from the physical and
emotional damage done to her by her ex-boyfriend. She didn’t dare tell her
father about what Liam had done to her. She just wanted to spend time with
her family and try to push the whole horrible nightmare to the back of her
mind.
With
a huge grin on her face she pulled out of her father’s arms and turned to greet
the rest of her family, her arms spread wide. “Well come on then, is Daddy
the only one pleased to see me? Where’s my hugs?”
Her
Mother stepped forward, a wide smile on her face, her arms outstretched and
Erica walked into her embrace, dropping her head on her shoulder as she
breathed in her Mother’s familiar vanilla scent. Before she could get too
comfortable though, she was pulled into Nathan’s arms and given a hug that
tight, she winced. She fought to keep the pain from her expression because
her pain was from more than his big bear hug embrace, it was pain from bones
that were still healing. She didn’t want anyone to see that though so she
struggled to mask her reaction from her family. She didn’t want anyone to
know what had happened. She just needed time to get over this with the
people she loved most around her. She needed time to forget what Liam had done
to her. God, just thinking about him sent a shiver through her and Erica pulled
away from her brother and with a false smile on her face she said. “I’m
starving. Can your poor old daughter and sister get something to eat
before I collapse?”
With
bursts of laughter and Nathan teasing her about her not being entitled to
anything more than a lettuce leaf given she was some big shot model, her
family cleared a spot for her at the table.
Brooklyn
and Charlotte dropped kisses on her cheeks when she sat down. Erica took the plate
of food from her mother’s hands that seemed to have miraculously filled itself
and began to eat. The constant noise and laughter from her family was both
comforting and familiar to her. She realized just how much she’d missed
it, how much she’d missed them. Being back with them like this would help
for a short time at least. She could forget about the past, forget about the
pain and try and push the hell Liam had put her through from her mind.
About J.A. Melville
From
my teenage years, all I wanted to do was become a writer one day. Even now as
an adult woman with a partner and three children who are not so little anymore,
I've always lived with my head in the clouds, a dreamer, often amusing myself
with my own imagination. It might have taken me awhile to finally live my
dream, but I did it. I hope to one day be good enough to stand beside the many
talented writers out there who have kept me entertained with their wonderful
stories over the years. I live in a sleepy country town in Tasmania, Australia
with my partner and three children plus our 4 cats, dog and cattle. I've had to
overcome many emotional obstacles along the way to get to this point and
attempting to self-publish a book does tend to make a person feel like they've
thrown themselves in at the deep end of the pool. Here's hoping some of you
actually like what I write and save me from drowning in the deep end as I
probably forgot to mention, I can't swim.
Where to find J.A. Melville
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