Title: Before Him Comes Me
Author: Alexandria Sure
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance
Blurb:
Faced with an unexpected choice, a simple nod is all it will take to change the course of Zara's life.
Bound to a life predetermined by the restrictive traditions of her community, Zara is offered a glimmer of hope by a complete stranger, a man selected for her. She can choose to walk away from the life she has been trained for.
Make new friends and lose her best friend.
Explore new places and lose her home.
Find herself and lose herself.
Will Zara nod and risk everything she knows to discover who she is meant to be?
Alexandria Sure is an avid reader and has written her first novel as homage to fans of the genre she loves. She hopes others will appreciate her novel as much as she enjoyed writing it.
Sure follows the work of several authors and feels she has benefited from reading and commenting on their author pages on Facebook. This has given her the opportunity to get to know the people behind the characters she has grown to love. She hopes her readers will check out her Facebook page so she can get to know them and pay it forward.
Sure is from Michigan and adores her supportive family, her deaf rescue pup and her mighty Spartans. Her experiences in writing her first novel have revealed the true meaning in Jack Canfield's quote, "Everything you want is on the other side of fear."
Author Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Alexandria-Sure-283345031858469/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlexandriaSure
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwBP8A7XIMZub-rMph6uFKA
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9841965.Alexandria_Sure
Buy Link: Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Ofw9w5
CHAPTER ONE
Zara opens her eyes, her bedroom already filled with morning sunlight. Closing her eyes, she lays perfectly still taking inventory of her body, her feelings and her overall state of mind. Turning eighteen has not made Zara feel any different, yet today will be the first day of her new life.
Looking up at Audrey Hepburn in her My Fair Lady poster, Zara takes a deep breath and begins to memorize her belongings that she will never see again. Zara shifts her gaze to the two framed pictures on the nightstand. The first is a picture of her and her best friend Sloane from the first time they went horseback riding. Both of them got the giggles so badly that Sloane’s mother threatened to bring them home if they didn’t pay attention to the lesson.
The second picture, taken eight years ago on Zara’s tenth birthday, is of Fredrik giving Zara a bouquet of daisies. Ever since then, he has given her daisies on her birthday and they have become her favorite flower. This neither pleases nor displeases their father; therefore it continues to occur.
Zara begins to take mental pictures of each object surrounding the frames. The mini stuffed PINK dog from Victoria’s Secret was something she and Sloane each had to have. Convincing both mothers of the need for the PINK dogs was no easy task and the effort alone required the prominent display of their victory. This neither pleases nor displeases her father; therefore it continues to occur.
Next she notices a pink and green polka dotted hair tie. There is nothing special about it, but it was the first of many she and Sloane made over the summer. Their mothers had been looking through craft idea cards in a store when they found one for making easy hair ties. They had spent the longest time picking out fabric for their new project. Zara picks up the hair tie and slips it around her wrist like a rubber band.
Funny… the things I’ll miss.
On the back of Zara’s nightstand is a bottle of cucumber melon lotion that she won in a drawing at the mall. Never believing for a second that she would win, Zara filled out the entry form. Sloane had cautioned, “The Community exists on the fringe of society, Zara. The less direct interaction that we have with outsiders, the better.”
Zara giggles recalling their mixed surprise when she won.
Of course I would win.
Picking up the lotion and popping the top open, Zara takes a big whiff. She quickly closes it and places it back in its home on the nightstand. A chill travels the length of her back as the details of the only night she wore the lotion comes into focus. Zara’s father promptly sent her back to shower off the odor he found offensive and she was forced to listen to a lecture on how it is up to her Dom to pick the scents that please him. Until the time comes for Zara to be handed over to her Dom, there would be no scents worn in this house that were disagreeable to her father. Vanilla… for her father, it is vanilla on her mother and because Zara’s father does not like the smell of cucumber melon, it is not used in his home.
Propping herself up against the headboard, two items stand out. A massive bouquet of daisies from Fredrik sits on her dresser and an equally massive wedding dress for the ceremony is hung on her closet door. She smiles at the flowers. He had given them to her a day early so she could enjoy them one last full day. Zara aches at the reality of not seeing Fredrik or getting her birthday daisies after today.
Concentrating on her breathing to keep the tears from falling, Zara looks up at the ceiling and takes a deep breath. When she regains control, she looks once more at her lovely flowers sitting on a dresser in a bedroom in a house with a family that she will say goodbye to forever, for she follows traditions that go back generation upon generation. Very soon Zara will walk out the door and that will be that.
While most brides pack suitcases of new clothes and take old belongings into their new life, there will be no packing for Zara. It is customary for the father to transfer his daughter into her new life with nothing from her old life. Once she is in the care of her Dom, her family steps away and the Dom is responsible for every aspect of his new submissive’s wellbeing. This includes ingratiating her into the Dom’s family at every level.
The wedding dress hanging in the corner demands Zara embrace the fact that today is her wedding day. Glancing back at the daisies, she wipes the single tear that escapes down her cheek. There will be no daisies for Zara at her wedding. The dress is not of her choosing. The ceremony will be the beginning of a life of no voice and no opinion. The dress is exquisite and the ceremony will be perfect. Zara’s father will be pleased.
Zara begins to move through her normal morning routine, knowing there is nothing normal about this particular morning. Her silky long chestnut hair looks healthy and full of body. Pausing to look at herself in the mirror after her shower, the first signs of cracks in her well-trained armor begin to appear. Her green eyes are a tad puffy and have a hint of red. Raising her hand to her bare neck, she realizes it is only a matter of hours before there is a collar. And a Dom attached to it.
Zara, no thinking about it yet. It is what it is!
Zara walks into her bedroom, sits on the corner of her bed and begins to focus. Using a technique her mother taught her to get through stressful moments like this one, she closes her eyes, inhales deeply… holds her breath… and slowly exhales. So as not to give any indication that the focus is on anything but the here and now, she concentrates straight ahead on a spot on the wall. As she has been trained, deep concentration shifts her away from the overwhelming feelings that are trying to take hold of her.
Zara chooses a memory of riding her horse, Gentlemen, crossing the field at a full gallop, with no one else around… just the two of them. She remembers the feeling of control as she sits deeper in the saddle, her legs wrapped tight around him, pushing him just a bit faster. The air whips through her hair as they cross the open field. The sun beats down making the colors of the sky and field more vivid. It is a feeling of complete, unadulterated freedom.
Three swift, hard knocks on the door jar Zara back to the present.
“Come on in, Fredrik.”
“Ready!” Fredrik throws the door open with a loud clap. “I am taking you to a few of your favorite places to say a final farewell. NOT THE MALL, so do not even ask. We have two hours on our own if we hurry. Mother and the other ladies are going to transport the dress and other wedding stuff for you. But, Zara… this is it.”
Standing slowly, Zara walks around the room that she has lived in for the last eighteen years. It is a room that is down the hallway from the brother that she adores. She touches her dresser and runs her hand over the footboard. It is a relatively simple room, but she loves it. Standing in front of her Monet print, she smiles and then glances at the Hepburn poster.
Stepping over to the chair by the window, she picks up her current read, Little Women, and removes the bookmark. Zara rests it on top of the book and puts the book on the chair. While Fredrik patiently waits, Zara moves the curtain and takes in what a lovely sunny day her last birthday in Chattanooga is turning out to be.
“I guess this is it,” Zara whispers as she walks towards the door. Fredrik steps out of the room to allow his sister one final moment alone with her thoughts. Reaching back in, Zara grabs the cucumber melon lotion and squirts one last pea-size amount into the palm of her hand and replaces the bottle. Then she closes the door of her bedroom and her childhood.
Zara walks quickly past Fredrik and out of the house she can no longer claim as “hers” to Fredrik’s car. Once inside, she rubs the lotion into her hands with a small kernel of satisfaction. Leaning back against the seat, all that is left for Zara to do in this moment is breathe, so she does. Deeply.
After a moment, the driver side door opens and Fredrik slides in. He hands her the travel mug she has used since she began drinking coffee.
“Where are we off to?” Fredrik asks in a surprisingly cheerful voice. Without direction from his sister, he starts the car and begins to drive.
Zara takes a sip of her mother’s blended coffee and stares silently out the window. The taste of home is all she can think of as she tries to stomach another sip. The coffee is perfect, but the vast memories of what she is leaving behind swirl around inside the mug. She pops the top closed and puts it in the drink holder between them.
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