Elizabeth Lennox

Her Gentle Capture - Introduction

Young and fit caucasian adult couple in an embrace. Semi-nude and topless against a dark background with the woman wearing a sexy red and black lace corset..

Adriana’s Story….

“Eat your peas, Adriana,” her mother said.

Adriana looked down at the green balls, disgusted. She’d even tried mushing them into her mashed potatoes, but discovered that her mother was doing the tricky cooking again. They weren’t mashed potatoes at all. Mash gruel was more like it. “The mashed potatoes taste funny,” she replied.

Jemma resisted smiling at her lovely blond daughter. “They aren’t potatoes, dear. It’s mashed cauliflower.”

Adriana looked over at her older brother Dylan who had already finished all of his dinner, and was sitting back smugly.

“Why do I have to eat them? The other boys don’t have to.” She hated peas and she hated cauliflower. Okay, so she hated most vegetables but what kid doesn’t? Her eyes moved over to her brother again. Of course Dylan liked vegetables. He ate everything! At twelve, he was bigger and more annoying that her other three brothers combined. Okay, so sometimes he was kind of cool. But normally, he was just telling her what to do.

She looked down at the end of the table. Her mother was feeding Antonio something more disgusting than mashed cauliflower so she supposed she should count herself lucky. “What’s he eating?” she asked of her mother.

Jemma looked over at her daughter, noting that she hadn’t taken even a second bite. “He can’t eat cauliflower yet, dear. But when he’s old enough, he will. So eat up.”

Adriana piled the stuff higher on her plate, unaware of the scowl marring her otherwise perfect features.

There was a sudden clunk under the table. Looking up, she glanced across at her little brother. Both Davis and Marcus looked back at her innocently.

Thinking she must have imagined it, she stared back down at her food, hoping her mother would get tired of trying to convince her to eat it and she’d be excused. She’d even give up ice cream if she didn’t have to eat this slop.

Another clunk!

Her eyes looked up, narrowing as Marcus giggled. Looking at his plate, she realized that he’d already finished his glop as well. So had Davis. Drat them! They would have to show her up! How was it that they always finished the disgusting stuff before her? She wanted to know their secret. It was like the three of them inhaled the gross stuff. They always got ice cream after dinner!

There was a sudden clatter at the front door and everyone looked in that direction, their eyes wide with hope. Sure enough, the noise was their father! He was home early!

“Dad!” Dylan jumped up, throwing his arms around their father’s waist. Marcus and Antonio were equally as fast and Adriana waited her turn as patiently as her excitement would allow.

“How are you, my little beauty?” he asked, lifting her up over the boys’ heads and giving her a hug.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, smelling that wonderful “dad” smell. This man wasn’t her biological father. He was really her uncle, but he had adopted her after her own parents had died seven years ago. She remembered the pain of that loss, quickly followed by his arrival and those arms, coming into her house and sweeping her up, telling her that he was going to take care of her. She’d been so sad that day. But he’d never let her down. And when he’d married the woman she now called mom, her world had never been happier. She even liked her brothers. Well, sometimes. Not when they were finished with their vegetables before her. Making her look bad.

“You haven’t finished your dinner, honey. Why don’t you sit down and then we can all have some dessert together. I brought cannoli,” he announced, grabbing a box that he’d hidden outside the dining room door.

Cannoli? “From Ms. Spurizzio’s?” she asked hopefully.

“Are there any other kind?”

She grinned from ear to ear, thrilled with the promised treat. Her father usually brought back some treat when he went on a business trip. She couldn’t wait until she could go with him.

Sitting back down in her chair, she picked up her fork and just started shoveling the mashed cauliflower and peas into her mouth, swallowing the vile stuff and trying hard not to gag. When the last bite was finished, she looked hopefully towards her father. But he was too busy kissing their mother and she looked over at Dylan who was making gagging sounds. The four of them laughed together, Antonio being too small to understand so he just stared at the rest of them with wide, blue eyes.

When their parents turned back to see what was so funny, their mother just rolled her eyes and hugged their father closer. “You said something about cannoli?” she prompted.

He lifted the box and everyone wiggled in their chairs, eager for the treat.

By the time the dessert had been consumed and school updates provided, it was time for bath time and reading. Adriana looked at her older brother with envy. He got to stay up to nine-thirty now. She still had the nine o’clock bedtime. At least her’s wasn’t as early as Davis and Marcus who had lights out at eight-thirty. And little Antonio was in bed most nights by eight o’clock but he ran around all the time so when his head hit the pillow, he was out anyway.

She was walking up the grand stairs when she noticed something odd. Her dog Maisey was wagging her tail, walking right beside Adriana because they slept curled up together. But there was a strange, white blob of something on his collar. Looking more closely, she smelled the strange mass. Was she hurt? Had she gotten into something out in the horse pastures?

Adriana was just about to call for her mother, worried because Maisey was her best friend, especially when she was mad at her brothers. But when she got closer, she caught a whiff of its smell. It wasn’t…was it…?

She looked to the top of the stairs where Marcus and Davis were looking down, grinning from ear to ear. Adriana remembered the thunking noise underneath the table that night at dinner. Something was rotten, she thought.

Dylan raced up behind her, his longer legs able to take the stairs two at a time. “Looks like Maisey had a pretty good night,” he said and whipped past her.

Adriana opened her mouth to call her mother but she caught sight of something in Davis’ hand. He might only be six years old, but he knew exactly how to control his world. Hanging by the hair was her doll. And in Marcus’ hands were a pair of scissors.

“Say a word,” Dylan threatened, “and Trixie gets a haircut.”

The threat was horrid but also extremely effective. She saw Davis looking at Dylan for guidance but wasn’t sure what to do. So instead of tattling, she snapped her mouth closed and glared up the stairs. Maisey’s tail continued to wag next to her as she looked up, not sure why they weren’t following their usual routine up the stairs.

“What’s going on?” their mother asked, coming around the corner.

Adriana looked down at her mother then back up at her brothers, all of whom were looking innocent with their hair wet and their teeth gleaming, obviously brushed. Trixie and the scissors were nowhere in sight.

“Adriana, stop fooling around and get your bath finished,” their mother admonished, then disappeared into their father’s study, Antonio in her arms.

A moment later, their father came out of his study, their youngest in his arms as he moved quickly up the stairs, obviously eager to help Antonio with his bath. “Adriana, you’re not following instructions,” he said, his deep voice disappointed and Adriana swallowed painfully. She hated disappointing her father. Their mother was around all the time and she was awesome. But their dad traveled a lot so when he was here, she wanted to shine in his eyes.

“I’m going,” she said morosely, but her mind was working overtime. As she showered and brushed her teeth, her imagination thought up and discarded several ideas. She wasn’t going to take this lying down. Revenge was imperative.

By the time she closed her eyes that night, she was ready.

She was the first one downstairs for breakfast, eager to put her plan in place. She grimaced when she entered the kitchen because her mother and father were kissing. Again! She slipped into her seat and ate her oatmeal, adding extra raisins since the boys weren’t down and her mother wasn’t looking.

“Sleep well, dear?” her mom asked, bending over and kissing Adriana on the top of the head.

Adriana loved her mother’s kisses and smiled happily. “Yep. It’s going to be a great day!” she said and scratched Maisey’s ears while she ate.

“What’s going on that is going to make it so great?” her father asked, sipping his coffee and watching while their mom made lunches. Most of the kids bought lunches at school but their mother wanted her kids to eat healthier, so they brought their lunches every day.

By the time her brothers came down the stairs, she was already finished. “Good morning boys,” her father called out. Adriana slipped into the pantry and grabbed the one thing she was going to need, then hurried on up the stairs. It took her only a few seconds and she was back into her own room, brushing her teeth and making her bed. She waited until she heard her brothers stomp up the stairs again before she slipped back down the stairs. Was she gone? Sure enough, her mother and father were in his study and the lunches were sitting innocently on the counter.

She stepped outside, grabbed the flower and stuffed it and the note she’d written earlier that morning into the correct bag, then dashed out again. She was sitting on her dad’s desk, showing him the latest video she’d discovered when she heard the screams. Looking up innocently, she glanced at her father, then towards the door.

“You did this!” Davis shouted out.

Playing it as innocently as possible, she reared back in horror as her brother showed off his new, blue teeth.

“Ew!” she said.

Damien Alfieri looked at his son, then at his daughter, wondering what was going on. Jemma was already out at the barn feeding the horses, so he stood up, trying to arbitrate the latest issue. “Davis, why do you think Adriana turned your teeth blue?” he asked calmly, then had to smother his own amusement when Davis and Marcus sputtered, obviously trying to hide whatever prank they’d played on her.

“She put something on my toothbrush, Dad!” he explained furiously.

“First of all, she’s been down here showing me the latest video so I doubt she had time to do anything to your toothbrush.” He looked sternly at his boys. “And secondly, the only reason Adriana plays one of these pranks is in retaliation. So I ask again, what did you do to her?”

Dylan and Marcus just glared. “She probably thinks we did something, but we didn’t.”

Adriana sat on her dad’s desk, trying hard to maintain her innocent expression. “I didn’t, Dad,” she told him, looking up at him with big brown eyes. “It was probably Dylan who did it to them. They were all bathed and ready for bed early last night so they most likely were up to something.”

He looked down at her, not fooled for a second. “Go get ready for school, guys.”

Adriana took that to mean she’d won this round. Hopping down, she practically skipped out of his office.

Several hours later, Adriana walked to her normal table in the lunch room with her lunch bag, looking around for her brother. He was two grades ahead of her, but they had overlapping lunch periods.

When he sat down, she saw all of his friends taking their usual seats as well and she gripped her friend’s arm while she watched. “What’s going on?” Amanda asked, looking in the same direction. “Oh, is Dylan…”

Adriana shook her head, a smile on her lips as Dylan dumped his lunch out on the table. There was a stunned silence for several moments as all the boys around him stared in horror. The flower and the folded up note were both grabbed by Dylan’s friends and the teasing started up loud and relentless.

“Does he have a girlfriend?” Amanda asked with a forlorn tone of voice.

“Nope,” Adriana replied with a smug, satisfied grin, taking her sandwich and happily eating the whole wheat with turkey, tomato and lettuce sandwich. “No one special at least.”

“Then who gave him the flower?” Amanda asked, taking a bite of her own sandwich, both of them staring at the lunch table where the boys were tossing the flower around.

“He earned it by tricking my dog into eating his cauliflower last night,” she explained happily, feeling that her revenge was now complete.

Mitch’s story….

“Thanks Ms. Jamison,” Mitch said, slipping the twenty dollar bill into his pocket. “See you next week.”

The little old lady waved, then went back into her house. Mitch put the trimmer on top of the lawn mower and started the walk back to his house. He was just packing it all back into the shed when his father drove up.

“Afternoon, son,” he said, patting Mitch on the back. “Finished with your homework?” he asked, already distracted as he tugged his briefcase out of the back seat of his beaten up Ford.

“Yes, sir,” Mitch replied.

“Good. Need to study hard to get a good job.” A moment later, his father disappeared into the tiny study at the front of the house. “When’s dinner, dear?” he called out, unloading the papers he’d brought home from the office.

“Thirty minutes!” his mom called back, wiping her hands on an apron. Smiling at Mitch, she pulled the meatloaf out of the oven. “Go wash your hands so you can help me with dinner, honey.”

Mitch nodded his head and shot up the stairs. He washed his hands quickly before racing into his room and stashing his new money into his hiding place. Mitch believed in hard work, but there was no way he was taking the same route as his dad. The man worked fifty or sixty hours a week but could barely afford the two bedroom, one bath house on his salary. He was a good man and Mitch respected his work ethic, but there was a much more fascinating world out there for him.

Last year, Mitch’s dad had helped him open a checking account. Whenever he did a job at home or around the neighborhood, he would walk to the bank the next day and deposit the cash. At home, using his computer, he had opened an online trading account. He was able to transfer money from his checking account to the trading account – leaving some in the checking account in case his father ever checked it.

Pressing a few keys on his computer, he checked the stock prices. He’d earned a thousand dollars last summer mowing lawns, weeding gardens, and doing other odd jobs for neighbors. Over the past year, Mitch had invested that thousand and turned it into three thousand. He was twelve years old and already knew how to sift through the details of a company’s financial information and figure out which were good finds. He loved playing the stock market despite his father’s gloom and doom forecast. It was thrilling and he knew exactly what he was going to do with this summer’s earnings. There was a company out in California that was about to introduce a new product. He’d seen it on a website months ago but no one knew it even existed. Then he’d caught another sighting of it in a magazine. The company was learning how to market the product and, in a year, it was going to explode.

Just a few more lawns and he’d have enough to buy ten shares.

Four years later…

“Car magazines, farming magazines, fitness, medicine…” Jodie Suarez tossed the last magazine onto the pile and came around the counter. “Is there anything you don’t read?” she asked.

Mitch quickly made room for her on the couch. They were hanging out in the office of the community center’s pool, both of them life guards waiting for their next shift in the guard chairs. Each of the guards took turns in the various life guard positions on a thirty minute rotation.

“The world is an interesting place,” he replied, his eyes unabashedly skimming down her svelte figure in the red bathing suit.

“Am I interesting?” she asked, twirling a lock of blond hair around her finger, smiling because she’d noticed Mitch’s perusal. There were some guys she wouldn’t like looking in her direction, but Mitch was the hottest guard this summer. He was at least a foot taller than the rest of the staff, with great abs and awesome shoulders! All the girls flirted with him and she wasn’t passing up this opportunity to be alone with him.

“Hi Mitch,” one of the high school girls called out, dropping her pool pass onto the desk and sashaying into the pool area.

Jodie glared at the other girl, irritated when she stretched out on one of the pool chairs, obviously displaying her figure for Mitch’s personal viewing. Looking back, she realized that Mitch was not immune to the other girl’s assets.

“So, what are you doing after work today?” she asked, drawing his eyes back to her.

Mitch loved this job. He got paid to watch the sun-bathing beauties all day and he didn’t have to push a lawn mower except in his own yard. “No plans as of right now,” he replied back, picking up the magazine on farm machinery. There was a new part coming out and he wanted to read about it. He didn’t advertise this at all, but the portfolio he’d created with his his summer and after school earnings was now worth more than a hundred thousand dollars. He didn’t feel rich, even though he suspected that he had more money than his parents. Nope, his goals were much higher than merely a hundred grand.

“Did you hear about the V8 engine coming out on the new Camaro? It has something like 400 horsepower!”

Mitch laughed, impressed with her knowledge of cars. “Impressive,” he replied back. “Why would you buy the Camaro versus the Corvette? They are both Chevys and have the same engine.” He was genuinely interested, not really in the cars but in the decision making process of an individual. He wanted to understand why someone buys one thing over another.

Jodie leaned forward, eager to discuss just about anything with this guy. Mitch was hot! She felt special with his undivided attention, even looked back to see if her competition could see that she was in a deep, interesting conversation. Ha! Let them pose and bake in the sun – she had his eye now!

Mitch didn’t just listen, he studied the way she spoke, her body language, her word choices and various other things about the conversation. And he picked up on the way Jodie kept glancing around, trying to see where the other girls at the pool were and what they were doing. He would have laughed, but he was too interested in their mind games. Humans were fascinating!

Learn more about Her Gentle Capture, book one of three in The Alfieri Saga

Scroll to Top