Crazy Seduction(erotica)

“The name’s Henry Gable, and I’m the new sheriff in these parts, these parts being the world. Behave, and I might even assist you with digging your collection out from the cave under your house.”

“AHH! How did you know about the cave?” she cried.

“Walter had a cave under his. His collection now belongs to a friend of mine. What’s your name?”

Pale blue eyes examined him. “Alice Shaw.” The blonde woman licked her lips nervously. “You-you can really help me retrieve my collection from under the wreckage?”

“Did you have a vestibule with a door leading into your cave?” She nodded, wide-eyed.

Henry fished a business card from his wallet and handed it to her. “Come see me at this address at the start of the new year. I’ll take you to the cave, and you can begin transferring the contents to a new location. But only if you promise to release any people you’re hoarding.”

“Thank you!” She grabbed his hand and squeezed it.Belongs to NôvelDrama.Org - All rights reserved.

The SUV pulled up to the curb, and Henry pulled his hand back. “Be good.”

Lorelei was almost purple with suppressed laughter as she pulled Henry into the back seat of the vehicle. She had to make two attempts to say her address before the driver pulled away from the curb and got them moving.

Then she let it out. She howled, and Henry just watched her with a grin on his face.

“The name’s Gable, and I’m the- the- new sheriff!” She exploded into laughter again.

When she finally started coming down from her laughter high, she smiled at him. “What on Earth made you start giving lines from a weird Western?”

Henry shrugged. “I-I don’t know. Her crisp British accent just suddenly made me feel like some kinda yokel, and the western accent popped up. Besides, it seemed very appropriate for the moment. I picked it up from one of the movies Sandy likes to watch.”

“You are priceless!” Lorelei sighed with a wide grin as she took his hand in hers.

They rode the rest of the way in comfortable silence.

When the SUV stopped before her building, she turned to Henry and leaned forward. He met her halfway, and the kiss was sweet but short. He looked at her in question.

“I had a wonderful time tonight, and I really want to invite you upstairs, but I don’t want to rush things,” she bit her lip nervously.

He reached up and gently freed her lip from the bite. “I had a great time, too! Not rushing things is fine with me. I look forward to our next date. Maybe we could go see a western.”

She laughed and nodded as he eased himself out of the car and helped her out as well. “You’re coming with us to the Christmas Party at the mansion, yes?” She nodded. “If I can see a closet door in your apartment, I can link it to a door in the mansion so you can walk directly from your place to the mansion.”

She blinked at him. “That sounds suspiciously like an excuse to come upstairs,” she said with a raised brow.

“I agree it does, but it’s not. I need to see a door before I can link them, and traveling by Magic Door is so much easier.” He watched her and raised a brow. “You trust me, or you don’t. Remember, I’m the sheriff!”

She grinned. “Okay.”

He put his head back into the car. “You can go back to VRL. Thanks!” He closed the door, and it drove away.

When he turned back to Lorelei, she had her hands on her hips, and she was staring at him.

“I’ll use a door to get back to my condo. This saves me the long drive. Didn’t we just talk about trust?” he asked with a raised eyebrow, and she nodded in embarrassment. She led him inside as he rubbernecked the lobby and the adjoining pool area. “This is a lovely building!”

“Thank you.”

They got in the elevator, and she pressed the button for the Penthouse.

With an impressed smile, Henry leaned back against the elevator wall. Lorelei bit her lip again as she considered the lovely man smiling back at her. She’d been serious about wanting to take it slow. She wanted to be sure she was ready to get involved with a man already in so many other relationships. Her body definitely wanted him to stay, but her heart said it was too soon.

The elevator made a bing sound as the doors opened, and she stepped out with Henry following. She got her key out, but her hand was shaking too much to make it fit. Henry put his hand under hers and steadied it. She unlocked the door and stepped inside. Henry waited for her to invite him in.

When she did, he stepped inside and closed the door. He gestured to the closet door. “This one will do fine. What day will you be joining us?”

“What- what day does the party begin?” she stammered.

“The mansion opens up for breakfast on Saturday morning, December twenty-third, and then closes again on December twenty-sixth as we go back to work the next day. Tomorrow, Roy, Mary, and I are going up to set up the doors in the cave vestibule for all of the guests who wish to maintain a direct link to the mansion over the four days,” he explained. Would you like me to set one up for you? I can link it to this door. I can also set it to only work for you.”

“I’d like that. Thank you.”

“I’ll say good night then. Thanks again for an amazing date! It was fun!” he said with a smile.

She stepped close and pressed her lips to his. This time the kiss was slow and sensual.

He pulled back, and she made a small sound of protest.

“That was really nice. Good night, Lorelei.”

She smiled as she knew he was being strong for her. Not trusting herself, she nodded.

He touched the closet door and stepped into a hallway, closing the door behind him.

Lorelei opened the closet to see her coats and boots. She shook her head with a smile.

She’d been seconds away from dragging him to her bedroom, but she knew it was too soon.

Luckily, he knew it too.

She was really looking forward to their next date.

>>>>>>>

Friday was home renovation day as they’d be doing a lot of carpentry and painting at Meixiu’s mansion, with her approval.

Roy and Mary had the most experience with this. They got the squad to provide some needed manpower to purchase and pick up sixteen identical doors, the most they could fit in the vestibule, from three separate hardware stores and bring them all to VRL where Henry and Roy carried them into the mansion through a Magic Door he made in the parking garage.

As a surprise, Roy also collected the double doors they’d busted off the torture club. They were in excellent shape, considering they’d been blown off in an explosion. It seems the frame hadn’t been properly installed in the building’s structure. Henry thought he might strip the old stain and replace the hardware with antique brass handles. He hadn’t yet decided what he would use them for, so they were stored in the cave.

Roy also had the artificial men at VRL dig out box after box of lights and decorations for use inside and out. These were brought to the mansion and put in the front sitting room.

Mary, with Roy’s assistance, framed new walls, each with openings for eight doors. The two rows of doors faced each other across the vestibule outside the cave. Once the framework was up, they began installing the doors. As they finished each, Meixiu stepped in to paint them.

As sixteen doors lined the two walls, she decided to paint the first and last doors on each side with stylized depictions of the four seasons and the remaining twelve with the Chinese Zodiac animals.

These distinct paint jobs would make the doors easy to identify for the families using them to pass through to their homes.

They had to work out the logistics of who would get doors as they only had the sixteen, and there were more people than that.

Meixiu would use a door in the second-floor master bedroom. She didn’t need one of the sixteen. Henry was hoping Sigrid would return, but she’d likely use the same door as Meixiu as the source was a closet in Sigrid’s home.

Tish’s six siblings lived in separate homes, as well as one of her sister’s oldest daughters. That meant seven of the doors were reserved for them.

Dayshia’s sister needed a door as she was in Boston.

Camila, Marisa, Roy, now living with Mary, Siobhan, Lorelei, and the Kings, all lived in separate homes, which counted for another six.

As Sandy, Dayshia, Michelle, Mahati, and Kali all lived on the same floor as Henry, Tish gave them copies of their door key, and they would use the Magic Door in their place.

That meant fifteen of the sixteen were accounted for. This left one as a spare.

Henry linked the Fall door to a closet at Mary’s place. He teased Roy about moving from his bachelor pad and settling down. He got growled at for that.

Meixiu insisted that the first door on the left, the Spring doorway, should be for Henry, so he set up that Magic Door to their front hall closet and Tish joined them at the mansion with the baby in a chest-mounted child carrier. Henry linked more doors and greeted Lorelei, Siobhan, Camila, and Marisa with her baby in a baby sling, as they were part of the decorating team. Mahati and Kali, using a new glamor likely created by her sister, joined him and went upstairs to assist. This group went after the boxes in the sitting room to work on the design.

Eleanor King was still working for the same hospital, explaining her changed look with the simple phrase, Skyfall Event. She had emergency surgery, so she and Raymond said they would join them in the morning. Meixiu would have to activate the door as she’d been to their place once.

Before Tish could help with decorating, her family would require connections to their homes. She called each of her siblings and her niece and let them know the mansion’s Magic Doors would be linked to the doors in their homes tomorrow morning. They used video calls to ensure Tish knew which ones to use. The kids were super excited about getting to see each other and walking through a Magic Door to do it.