Highest Bidder (A Bad Boy Romance)

by Mia Carson

  “A few more minutes,” she murmured and shivered when his hand cupped the nape of her neck. “Or an hour.”

  Laughing, he kissed her forehead and pulled back. “Nope. If you insist on keeping your current job, I’ll get you home so you’re not a zombie tomorrow.”

  “I wish I could quit and be done with it,” she muttered as she slid out of the booth.

  “Why can’t you? You earned enough money last week to live off for a while if you wanted.”

  Harley sucked in her cheeks as she picked at her nails. “Yeah, of course, but I have to wait a while before that money clears. It was all in the contract I signed,” she lied.

  Sam’s blank stare told her he didn’t believe her, but he didn’t argue with her. “I still think you should go back to school if that’s what you want to do.”

  “It is and I will,” she promised. “Once everything’s settled, I will.”

  Everything settled, of course, meant potentially sleeping with another man, which was why the voice screamed in her mind she had to wait with Sam. She had to. If he ever found out, it would kill her and possibly ruin whatever chance at a relationship they might have. Unless she found another way to get Ricky to leave them alone and close that damn deal.

  Why don’t you just tell him the truth? Come clean now before you get any deeper into this.

  “Harley? Are you all right?” he asked.

  “Yeah…sorry, I was thinking.” What if she did tell him? Maybe he could do something about it—or maybe he would get sucked into Ricky’s net, too, and get hurt. Harley was ready to risk herself and her reputation to save her sister, but she wasn’t going to risk Sam’s. “I just remembered I’m only working the early shift tomorrow.”

  His lips twitched as he held her hand while they left the bar. “Are you trying to subtly ask me what I’m doing tomorrow night?”

  “If I was, what would you say?” The words came out of her mouth unbidden, but there was no taking them back now.

  He swung her around and embraced her warmly. “I’d say I’ll pick you up at seven.”

  “Your seven or actual seven?” she asked with a wry smile.

  “Smart ass,” he murmured and captured her lips with his.

  He dropped her off at her apartment, and Harley felt as if she was floating on clouds. Her sister asked about her night, and Harley told her with a wide grin that she was happier than she’d been in a long time. Brianna wanted to hear all about the date, so Harley spent the next hour or so sitting up with her sister and talking to her about Sam. Her struggle to hold out was failing quickly and she hated herself for keeping such a large secret from Sam. She would have to tell him and soon, when the time was right.

  And she would have to tell Ricky to find another way for her to pay him back what Brianna owed. Two nights with Sam and she was hopeless to resist the pull to him.

  The next few days passed quickly, and Harley’s life was finally looking up. Her possible meeting with Devois still loomed on the horizon, but with Sam, the future didn’t seem so bleak, until she reminded herself she had yet to tell him the whole truth. It ate at her, but she couldn’t seem to find the words or the right time to bring up the issue. They called each other every night and texted throughout the day. They went out whenever they could, him taking her to the same bar outside the city where they could have their booth and enjoy each other’s company. One night, they went to his penthouse and attempted to watch a movie. They made out on the couch instead, and her body still tingled when she remembered how his hands were so gentle and demanding at the same time, wanting to hold every inch of her.

  When she walked into his place that night before the make-out session, she’d stared in amazement at the huge fish tank in his living room. “That’s an impressive tank,” she told him.

  He grinned as he led her to it. “It’s peaceful to look at.”

  “I can see why. How many fish do you have in there?” she asked as she watched the colorful fish dart from one end of the tank the other. She pressed her hand against the glass and smiled at yet another interesting quirk about Sam.

  “Ten, I believe, and an eel and a few starfish,” he said with a laugh. “I had a fish when I was younger, and my mom helped me take care of it.” His eyes took on a faraway look as he stared at the tank. “It’s one of the few good memories I have of her before she died.”

  “She meant a lot to you,” Harley said and rested her hand on his arm.

  He nodded and wiped quickly at his eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, she did.”

  They talked about their lives, but he didn’t talk about his past after that conversation about his mother, just as she didn’t talk about hers. As comfortable as she was around him, there were some parts of her life she felt were too dark to share so early on in a relationship. That, and she worried if she opened up about her parents, she would slip about her current predicament with Ricky and her sister.

  She was working on a way around the Devois situation, but nothing came to mind except trying to run with what money she had. It wouldn’t get them far and Ricky would catch up to them, one way or another. He had men all over the city, and from what Brianna had told her, his network stretched all the way to the West Coast. Harley couldn’t even figure out how to get out from under his eye in the city long enough to try and leave. She had spotted a car parked outside their apartment lately with two men sitting in it. The idea that Ricky was watching them put her even more on edge than before, and it was hard to keep the truth from Sam.

  A week after their first official date, she texted Sam in the morning to see what he was doing for lunch. She had the day off and hoped to swing by his office to tell him they needed to talk before this went any further, but he didn’t text her back right away as usual. She waited an hour and tried to call him.

  “Hello?” he answered, his voice rough.

  “Sam? Are you okay?” she asked, worried. “I tried texting.”

  “Sorry, I’m not at the office today,” he told her. “It’s not a good day.”

  “What’s wrong? Do you want me to bring you anything?” All her well-laid-out plans of telling him the truth disappeared to hear him so depressed.

  “No, I’m just out of sorts today,” he explained, but his tone of voice told her it was much more than that. He sounded lost and in pain. She knew that tone. She’d heard it from her own mouth many times before. “I don’t think I’d be very good company today.”

  “If you’re sure,” she said as she picked up her keys and purse.

  “Yeah, I’ll call you later, though.” He hung up, and Harley stood at her door for a long time before she made up her mind to go see him in person—just to be sure he was all right. She knew without even having to think about it that he would do the same for her.

  She drove her shitty truck across the city, smirking at how out of place it looked amongst the fancy sport cars in the garage of his building. The ride up to his floor took forever, and she had a moment of doubt where she almost rode it right back down, but the doors opened and her worry for Sam overrode everything else. She knocked on his door, calling his name softly.

  “Look, if you don’t want me to stay I won’t,” she said when he didn’t answer right away. “But you didn’t sound in a good place and you know I’m here for you if you need me.”

  She rolled her eyes at how terribly cheesy her words sounded, but the door opened and the overwhelming pain in Sam’s eyes tore at her heart. She didn’t even get another word out before he took her hand and pulled her inside, hugging her close. She wrapped her arms around him securely, wondering what was going on today that had him so broken up.

  “You came over anyway,” he whispered into her hair.

  “I wasn’t going to let you wallow alone,” she said. “Want to talk about it?”

  “No,” he said as he leaned back and the need to escape from his pain hit her like a tidal wave.

  She traced along his jaw and smiled softly. “Sam, I’m here for you, whatever you need.” />
  “I need you,” he growled and kissed her fiercely.

  She gasped at the intensity of his touch, but she wanted him just as badly. She’d had this moment planned in her mind—how she would make it the perfect night—but he needed her now and she was more than ready to give herself to him, body and soul. She’d be lying if she said he hadn’t stolen her heart the first night they met.

  He backed her against the door, his lips trailing along her jaw and down to her neck. Her fingers fumbled over the buttons of his shirt, desperate to see his broad chest beneath the fabric and run her lips over his skin. She shoved the tight fabric over his shoulders, struggling to free him of his shirt as he grabbed the hem of hers and lifted it over her head. He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he buried his face between her breasts. The rough scratching of his stubble made her legs pull him in even closer as she dug her nails into his shoulders. Their hands were frantic on each other’s bodies, and he fumbled at her back for the bra hooks. She reached behind to help him and tore the scrap of fabric from her body for him.

  His eyes narrowed at her heavy breasts, and she sucked in a breath as his want for her seeped from his body. Carrying her as he turned, he moved to the couch and sat down so she straddled his lap. She caught his lips with hers, tasting the coffee and whiskey on his tongue before he drew back and his mouth slipped to the tender flesh of her breast. She gripped the nape of his neck and pressed him even closer until his lips closed around her nipple and sucked hard.

  Her eyes rolling back at the coiling of want deep in her belly, she came apart bit by bit in Sam’s hands. His tongue flicked the sensitive nub of pointed flesh, and she was helpless to do anything except moan from the sharp jolt of pleasure shooting straight to her belly. His mouth ravaged her breasts, his scruff leaving beard burns on her skin, but she loved his touch. He drove her crazy with want, and her hand snaked between their bodies, wanting to hold him in her palm, to feel his burning cock against her bare skin before she took him into her waiting body. She managed to get the button undone and the zipper halfway down before his hand caught hers, and in a move too fast for her to follow, he pinned her to the couch with her hands above her head.

  “If we’re doing this, we’re doing it right,” he whispered in her ear as she squirmed against him. “You said you dreamt of us. Tell me what you saw.”

  She licked her lips, and his eyes followed the movement with blatant desire. “I’m not sure I can.”

  “Yes, you can. Tell me,” he pleaded. He needed a distraction as much as he needed her in that moment.

  Harley thought about her dreams and, not believing what she was about to tell him, said, “I saw you over me like this as you dragged my jeans down my legs.”

  With one hand, he undid her jeans. He released her hands, but she kept them over her head as he pulled the tight denim down her legs, freeing them. “Then what happened?” he whispered, running his bearded face along her calf followed by his lips. “Harley.”

  “I’m thinking,” she whispered on a breath. “It’s hard to focus.”

  “Oh? Why is that?”

  She didn’t have to look to know he was smirking at her as his lips moved further up her legs. “Well, you…uh, you pressed your palm against me.”

  “Like this?” he asked as he palmed her just as he had in her dream, only this struck her right at her core.

  She pressed herself harder against his hand. He moved up her body, his teeth grazing her skin as he took her panties between them and lifted her ass. He removed them so she was completely naked before him on the couch. He didn’t say anything and Harley glanced up at him, worried. Then he grinned as he spread her legs wider, settling between her thighs, and as she had seen that man do at the club, he ran his fingers along the length of her. Harley’s legs fell open even wider and her back arched as he did it again, but this time he pinched her bundle of nerves, rolling it between his fingers. She grabbed the arm of the couch and watched him as he lowered his head, and suddenly, his tongue spread her swollen, soaking lips to penetrate her sheath.

  Her breathing ragged, she tried to form words, but the only sound that escaped her lips was a moan that seemed endless. He slithered one of his hands up her body and massaged her breast as his mouth plundered her depths. She thought, when they’d kissed earlier, that she had an inkling of what being with Sam would be like, but this…this was so much more she couldn’t even think straight. His fingers replaced his tongue as he stretched her, twisting within her body. The pleasure building in her belly was too much, and she squirmed, wanting to be closer and further away at the same time. He pinned her legs down and held her in place so she couldn’t get away, and the climax grew closer with each thrust of his fingers, driving her back into the couch. Harley’s last thought before ecstasy exploded within her was how happy she was they had waited and that she was damn glad she’d waited for Sam.

  Her cry was swallowed by his kiss as he climbed her body and pressed his thumb hard against her clit as she rode out the climax on his hand. He wrung every drop of pleasure from her, and when she sank back onto the cushions, his chuckle vibrated through their bodies. He smoothed back her hair from her face and stood, hoisting her into his arms. She was too limp to argue and dragged his mouth down to hers as he walked through his penthouse towards his bedroom. He set her on the bed, and she rose to her knees, their lips still connected, and worked at sliding off his jeans.

  She didn’t want to wait any longer. Her body screamed for him, and she only let her lips leave his when she had to bend down to shove his jeans over his well-toned ass and thighs. The second his throbbing cock came into view, her stomach clenched with anticipation. She gripped him in her palm, and he groaned and his eyes slid closed. She couldn’t wait to have him fill her. They climbed onto the bed together, and she lay beneath his burning-hot body. His knee spread her legs again gently, and she grabbed his shoulders as his eyes locked on hers.

  Sam moved his hips slowly, and his crown pressed against her dripping wet lips, seeking entrance. Her nails dug into his shoulders to urge him forward. His brow wrinkled as his hips moved slowly and he spread her. He had been big in her hand, and she wanted to feel him stretch her, to fill her until she didn’t think she could handle any more.

  “Harley,” he whispered as he stilled.

  “I’m good,” she promised. “Kiss me.”

  He lowered his mouth to her and kissed her, running his tongue along hers as he pulled out and thrust further within her. She gasped as he pulled out and thrust a final time, filling her completely. The sharp pinch of pain faded almost instantly, and she trembled beneath him. Her legs caught his waist, and she nipped at his lip as his hips moved, building a steady rhythm. Their bodies moved as one, sweat covering them in the afternoon sunlight pouring in through the window.

  Harley’s eyes widened at the dragging sensation of him against her body, rubbing all the right places. She was lost in the increasing pleasure and the quiet groans slipping through his lips. Each lingering touch of his hands on her body spurred her on more, so he moved faster. Harley sensed the climax coming but held out, wanting to let go the same time he did. His body stiffened and his lips broke away from hers as he spent himself within her, his cry of release mingling with hers as her muscles clenched around him, holding him deep inside her. The climax exploded within her, and Sam collapsed to the bed, rolling them over so he didn’t crush her.

  Her chest rose and fell with each deep breath he sucked in, and when he slipped free, she gasped as the last tendrils of the orgasm shot through her body. She stared deep into his eyes, and he grinned softly.

  “I’m so glad we waited,” she told him.

  He laughed, and when he hugged her to his chest, a sense of happiness settled over her she’d never experienced until Sam. “Same.” He lifted his head and kissed her forehead. “How did you know to come over?”

  “You sounded like you needed someone,” she said simply.

  “I’m glad you
did.” His smile fell, and his head sank back into the pillow. “I think I need a drink. You?”

  She sat up and noticed all the ways her body felt different. She wanted to say she felt free, but she wouldn’t be free until she got out of this shitty situation with Ricky. “Whiskey?”

  “Yeah. Whiskey would be good.” She slipped off the bed and took his hand to drag him to his feet. He held her face in his palms and kissed her sweetly. “Drinks, then I’ll tell you what’s so bad about today.”

  “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

  “No, I do,” he assured her. “You’re actually one of the few people I want to tell everything.”

  “Sam?” she asked when he glanced away, a mix of anger, sadness, and fear flitting across his face. “Hey, whatever happened to you, I won’t hold it against you. Trust me. You’re in good company if you want to compare terrible pasts.”

  “It’s a good thing we both have the day off then,” he said as he held her hand as they walked out of his bedroom.

  “That long a story, huh?”

  “That, and if you keep walking around naked, I’m not going to be able to resist having you again…and again,” he said as he pressed her back into the wall and kissed her neck.

  Harley’s thighs clamped together as her toes curled. “I think I’m all right with that.”

  Chapter 7

  This day was always hard for Sam. He never went into work and usually drank himself into a stupor, but this year, he wasn’t alone. For the first time, he told another person about this horrible day. He sipped his whiskey as he lay in bed with Harley beside him. The sheet pooled around her waist and his gaze lingered on her naked skin, flushed from their recent bout of sex. Once he’d had a taste of her, he didn’t want to stop, but she told him as good as the sex was, talking about his issues would help him move on from whatever happened in his past.

  “This is the day my grandfather died,” he finally said quietly. “Twelve years ago today.”