Chapter One

The Beginning of the End

Bella Lisa Mauricio slipped out of her dress and sat on the bed very close to her Dom, Phillipe Williamson, her ankles tucked under her. She rested her arm on his shoulder, the warm soft flesh of her breasts brushing lightly over the side of his cheek. Back from the dead, Phillipe felt fortunate to be alone with his sub again, naked and unashamed, her youthful pale skin shimmering in the luster of the bright lights. He squeezed a damp cloth in his fist and watched the rivulets of water run through the valley of her cleavage and drip down her torso onto the linen. He traced the wet trail with his finger between her breasts to the entrance of her sex. Like the wings of a butterfly, Bella Lisa slowly parted her thighs to offer access to her most private area. When her moist lips opened, Williamson desired to mount and thrust himself into her like a stallion, but his wounded body was unable to respond. Bella Lisa tilted her head back as he touched her, shut her eyes and softly moaned. Then the lovers heard a discrete clearing of the throat outside the closed curtain surrounding the hospital bed.

“Excuse me, Mr. Williamson. Your doctor is here and wishes to have a word with you,” Williamson’s assistant Andre Firmin said.

“Please ask the Doctor to wait a moment, Andre,” Williamson said.

Bella Lisa stood up, slipped back into her dress and opened the curtain.

“Hello again, Doctor,” Bella Lisa said pleasantly, her cheeks flushed.

“Ah, your midnight angel has returned to you, I see. Hello, Ms. Mauricio. And how do you feel this morning, Mr. Williamson?”

“Not too bad, Doctor, for being clinically dead a few hours ago.”

“Yes, the whole thing is quite perplexing to me. Apparently, the cardiac monitoring unit was not malfunctioning, according to our technicians. I can’t explain it. Forgive the cliché, but I suppose it was just not your time to go. You are a very lucky man, Mr. Williamson…”

“I think you’re right, Doctor,” Williamson said, winking at Bella Lisa.

“Let me just take a quick peek at your cut here.”

The Doctor lifted the bed sheet and carefully removed the large bandage covering Phillipe’s pelvis to examine the wound.

“Yes, it seems to be healing fine, no signs of infection. I’ll have the nurse come in and change the dressing. You’ll have to clean the wound with hydrogen peroxide and