Follow Me Under Read online

  Praise for Helen Hardt’s

  FOLLOW ME DARKLY

  An Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best Romance

  One of the 22 Best Erotic Novels to Read from

  Marie Claire magazine

  “Hardt spins erotic gold.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Intensely erotic and wildly emotional.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones

  “With an edgy, enigmatic hero and loads of sexual tension, Helen Hardt’s fast-paced Follow Me Darkly had me turning pages late into the night!”

  —New York Times bestselling author J. Kenner

  “A tour de force where the reader will be pulled in as if they’re being seduced by Braden Black, taken for a wild ride, and left wanting more.”

  —USA Today bestselling author Julie Morgan

  “Hot. Sexy. Intriguing. Page-turner.”

  —International bestselling author Victoria Blue

  “Helen Hardt’s gift for engaging storytelling and unforgettable characters is at its full shine.”

  —USA Today bestselling author Angel Payne

  “Christian, Gideon, and now…Braden Black.”

  —Books, Wine, and Besties

  “This book is off-the-charts hot, very near scalding.”

  —Books Best

  “It completely consumed me and I’m in love with the mysterious Braden. I want and need to know more about this man.”

  —The Sassy Nerd Blog

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Follow Me Always

  A Note From Helen

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2021 by Helen Hardt. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

  Entangled Publishing, LLC

  10940 S Parker Road

  Suite 327

  Parker, CO 80134

  [email protected]

  Amara is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

  Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.

  Edited by Liz Pelletier

  Cover design by Bree Archer

  Cover images by GSPictures/Gettyimages,

  s_christina/Depositphotos

  Interior design by Toni Kerr

  ISBN 978-1-68281-554-0

  Ebook ISBN 978-1-68281-555-7

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  First Edition January 2021

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Also by Helen Hardt

  FOLLOW ME SERIES

  Follow Me Darkly

  WOLFES OF MANHATTAN

  Rebel

  Recluse

  Runaway

  STEEL BROTHERS SAGA

  Craving

  Obsession

  Possession

  Melt

  Burn

  Surrender

  Shattered

  Twisted

  Unraveled

  Breathless

  Ravenous

  Insatiable

  Fate

  Legacy

  Descent

  Awakened

  For everyone who read Follow Me Darkly and loved it. Get ready to go under…

  Chapter One

  Everything’s ready for tonight. Are you?

  I stare at the text from Braden.

  For a moment, I’m no longer sitting with Betsy, my new friend who’s known my ex-boss, Instagram influencer Addison Ames, since they were kids. Instead, I’m in some kind of time-warped vacuum, where only my phone and I exist. Betsy hasn’t just told me that Braden dumped Addie for refusing to get kinky with him after something he did left her shaken. That women are a game to him. That Braden is dangerous. I’m simply alone, reading Braden’s enigmatic text and anticipating what he has in store for me tonight.

  But only for a moment.

  When I look up, Betsy is fidgeting, clasping and unclasping her hands. She’s clearly nervous. Clearly frightened that Addie will somehow find out she’s telling me all this. How was Betsy ever friends with Addison Ames? High school was a while ago for them, of course. She and Addie are twenty-nine now.

  I look at the text from Braden once more.

  Everything’s ready for tonight. Are you?

  I can’t feel my face. Only minutes earlier, I was alive with excitement and anticipation about tonight.

  Now?

  Am I feeling fear?

  Not exactly.

  Apprehension.

  Yeah, a little, but that’s not the sum of what’s whirling through me.

  Trepidation and nervousness, yes.

  But underneath it all, flowing through my veins, is what I’ve felt all along.

  Love.

  Even after what Betsy told me—that Braden dumped Addie after she refused to do what he asked—I’m still in love with him.

  I still yearn for him.

  But I need answers. Big-time.

  My hands clench into fists. My shoulders ache from the tension. A drum pounds in my head. I’m sitting here in the back room of Betsy’s Bark Boutique—she even closed the shop to talk to me—and I’m ready to implode.

  There’s an explanation. There has to be. Braden is a man who volunteers at the food pantry that kept him fed when he was a child. He’s a man who rescues dogs.

  Betsy continues to speak, but her words are only a high buzzing sound between my ears. Her mouth moves, her lips flap, but nothing resonates in my
brain.

  Then her clammy palm lands on one of my fists.

  “Skye?”

  My lips part, but I can’t force any words out. Instead, a squeak emerges.

  “Skye?” she says again.

  This time I bite my lower lip. The magnitude of the accusation she just lobbed against the man I love hits me with the full force of a sucker punch to the gut.

  Addie passed out after one of their escapades. When she refused to get kinky with him again, he dumped her cold and broke her heart. She was never the same. It took her forever to rebuild her confidence—not until her Instagram took off, really.

  “She’s lying,” I say. “Addison is lying.”

  Betsy bites her lip and starts fidgeting with her fingers again. “Maybe. All I have is what she told me. I certainly wasn’t witness to what transpired between her and Braden.”

  “Besides, you’re the one who told me that she pursued him. Maybe he decided she wasn’t the right match for him.” I can’t help my pleading tone. I’m angry—frightened, even—but I won’t take these emotions out on Betsy. None of this is her fault, and she’s only trying to help me.

  “I’m not saying anything, Skye, other than what Addison told me. I don’t know if it’s true, but if there was even the slightest chance it is”—Betsy shrugged, clasping her hands together—“I felt I needed to tell you. I don’t want you to end up brokenhearted like she did. I betrayed a huge confidence telling you this because I care about you.”

  I nod. Betsy’s a good person.

  But Addison is not a good person. And I think deep down, Betsy knows it.

  “I’ve searched everywhere on the internet, trying to uncover this”—I make air quotes—“‘secret’ that neither Addie nor Braden will talk about. And you’re telling me the only secret is that he likes to tie women up, and she decided she didn’t want to do that anymore?”

  Is this supposed to surprise me? Addie’s a major influencer. She has a public image of leadership, of being in charge of her life. Of course she doesn’t want to be submissive.

  Still…she knew about my nipple clamps. Did Braden use them on her? She must have consented, or Braden wouldn’t have dominated her in any way. It’s possible she submitted at first and then decided that wasn’t her jam after they did something that freaked her out…

  And then he dumped her?

  Betsy looks away and unclasps her hands, fiddling with her fingers again before zeroing back in on my gaze and placing her palm on my fist once more. “If there is even a tiny chance of it being true, I had to tell you, Skye. I’d decided not to, but then you said you’re in love with him. I can’t let you get hurt.”

  “Braden would never hurt anyone. If he was the one who ended the relationship, he had a good reason.” My words sound confident. Almost too confident. Am I trying to convince myself? If Betsy is telling the truth, was Addie refusing to do some kind of kink a good reason?

  Or is this all an elaborately created lie? Betsy’s not lying. She’s telling me the truth as she knows it. But the “truth” comes from Addie, and she could very well have lied.

  Silence looms between us, almost visible in its thickness. Finally, Betsy removes her palm from my balled-up fist.

  “Please tell me I haven’t made a mistake, Skye.”

  “You haven’t. I’m just not sure what to do with this information.”

  “Whatever you do, please keep my name out of it.”

  “Of course. I give you my word.”

  She breathes a visible sigh of relief. Is she really that scared of Addison? After all, Addison does promotional posts for her business for free, supposedly because Betsy knows Addie basically stalked Braden ten years ago.

  Unless there’s more that Betsy isn’t telling me…

  “What else do you know?” I asked.

  She pauses a few seconds, looking down at her plate.

  Then, still not meeting my gaze, “Nothing. That’s it.”

  “Betsy…”

  “I’ve already said a lot more than I should have. Please let it go at that.”

  Though my stomach is full of knots, I nod. Clearly she’s gone way out of her comfort zone, and she did it for me, in an effort to keep me from getting my heart stomped on. I’ve never felt unsafe with Braden. He always made sure he had permission to do everything he did. I don’t even have a safe word. What did he do to Addie that freaked her out? Is Addie embarrassed by all that happened? What part did she play in the whole thing? I already know she was the one who pursued him in the beginning. In fact, she went way beyond simple pursuit. She stalked him.

  “Thank you for trusting me,” I say.

  She offers me a soft smile. “I like you. I felt I had to…”

  “I know. Again, thank you.”

  She idly pulls a loose thread on her blouse. “What are you going to do?”

  I sigh. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I do need to confront Braden about it, though.”

  Her eyes widen and her lips tremble.

  “Don’t worry,” I rush to add. “You can trust me to keep your name out of it.”

  “Skye, that woman has eyes and ears everywhere.” Betsy rises. “I hope I haven’t made a mistake. I have to reopen the store. I can’t afford the loss of sales.” She walks out of the back room and into the shop.

  I rise as well.

  I’m not scared of Addison Ames.

  Still, Betsy’s words feel like invisible knives scraping across the top layer of my skin.

  Chapter Two

  My feet, seemingly of their own accord, take me to Braden’s office building. I whisk past the reception desk to the elevators with the receptionist’s “ma’am!” ringing in my ears.

  I ignore her plea and take the elevator to the requisite floor, past the floor receptionist, and to Braden’s office.

  “Ma’am!”

  Stiletto footsteps follow behind me, but I’m on a mission. A mission to confront the man I love.

  Braden’s assistant rises as I approach. “Hello, Ms. Manning. May I help you?”

  “I’m here to see Braden.”

  “He’s on a phone call at the moment.”

  “I’ll just wait in his office. Thanks.”

  “I’m sorry. I can’t let you disturb him.”

  “I won’t disturb him.” I keep walking, the compulsion to get to his office overwhelming me. Yes, I should stop. Yes, I should listen to the receptionist. Yes, I should do a lot of things.

  “Ms. Manning—”

  I stroll past her, my heart pounding as fear slides through me. I grasp the doorknob to Braden’s office, turn it, but I don’t go through.

  Stop it, Skye. Just open the fucking door and go in.

  I push the door open and enter.

  Braden sits at his desk, his back to me, cell phone to his ear.

  I clear my throat.

  He turns, and his eyes widen.

  He motions to the phone and then nods toward a chair.

  I don’t budge. This isn’t the bedroom, despite what took place the last time I was here. I haven’t given up control in this office. Besides, I couldn’t sit still if I wanted to right now.

  Finally, he says into the phone, “Excuse me for a moment, please.” Then, to me, “Skye, I’ll be with you in a few minutes. This is important.”

  “Are you going to dump me if I won’t do what you want?” Shit. Shit. Shit. I didn’t mean to just blurt it out like that.

  His countenance darkens. I’ve woken the beast. I should be frightened, but I’m not. I don’t know whether I’m angry or sad or in love.

  Yes, I do. I’m all three.

  “This is important,” he says again, but he shifts his gaze to my restless hands I can’t stop wringing before he goes back to his call. “Hey, Ken, I’m going to have to put these negotiations on hold. Someth
ing has come up that requires my immediate attention.” Braden ends his call and stands.

  God, he seems even taller and more formidable than normal. He’s angry. Really fucking angry.

  And really fucking attractive.

  “Have you really just accused me of being so shallow that I’d break things off with you if you don’t do what I want in the bedroom?”

  My jaw drops. “Of course not.”

  “You just said it.”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “Enlighten me, then.”

  “I…”

  Shit. For someone who touts having control, I’m exhibiting a complete lack of control by forcing my way in here with a ten-year-old story I don’t even know is true. This isn’t close to how I rehearsed this conversation in my head. Except that it kind of is. The closer I got to Braden’s building, the faster I walked and the angrier I became.

  No. That’s not true. The more frightened I became. Frightened of losing the man I love.

  “Talk, then, Skye. Apparently you have a lot to say to me.”

  “This isn’t my fault,” I say. “You won’t tell me what happened between you and Addison. What choice did I have other than to try to find out myself?”

  Braden stares at me for what seems like a long time but is really only a few seconds. I can’t read his expression, which frightens me even more.

  Finally, “You have one very important choice, Skye.” He walks out from behind his desk, like a Grim Reaper coming for my soul. “Your choice is to trust me.”

  Trust him? Trust that he didn’t dump Addie because she wouldn’t do what he wanted? Trust isn’t my issue. I let my guard down with Braden. I gave him my control. I did so because I do trust him.

  “Have I ever,” he says, “in all our times together, made you feel unsafe in my presence?”

  “Physically or emotionally?” I instantly regret the words.

  “Either,” he says, his voice low.

  “No.”

  “Have I ever made you feel that I’d end our relationship if you refused anything I asked?”

  “No, but—”

  “Then what’s this about?”

  “You. And Addie. How your relationship ended.”

  “Still none of your business.”

  “It is! It is because… What if you do the same thing to me?”

  “I’m rapidly losing my patience here.”