by Riley Love
Caitriona
What was that old saying, again? Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. Yeah, that one. It might sound like a cliché, but it was true. At least, it was for me.
I had my whole life planned out. I was going to graduate from college, marry my boyfriend Steve in his father’s church, become a teacher, and then live happily ever after.
Except, you know … life.
So now, instead of sitting in the library studying for my next test, I was parked next to Steve on a leather couch in the basement of an exclusive sex club somewhere in the middle of downtown. I’d been so busy with school that I hadn’t noticed he’d turned into the type of person who blew all our money on hookers and blackjack.
Which was where I came in. Because it turned out I had something a certain type of man would pay handsomely for. My virginity.
“You can’t be serious?” My head swung between Steve and Janessa Carmichael, the sophisticated woman sitting across from us. On either side of her two suited goons stood guard like silent sentries. “You want to sell my virginity?”
“Miss Patrick, I understand this probably isn’t how you planned to spend your afternoon.”
“You think?” I asked, shooting to my feet and turning on Steve. “I have an exam in two days!”
Steve rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “Trust me, I know. Your exams all are you ever talk about.”
“That’s because I have to get good grades to keep my scholarships. We’ve talked about this, and you said you understood.”
“I did, until you started ignoring me. It’s your fault we’re here in the first place.”
“How is it my fault you gambled away all my dad’s money?” I stood over him, my fists clenched and my chest sawing in and out with fury. I wasn’t a violent person, but I was about two seconds away from putting my hands around his neck and squeezing for all I was worth.
With a deep breath, I stepped away and counted down from ten. “Can you repeat the details of the deal he made with you?” I asked, turning back to Janessa.
It made zero sense that I was considering going through with this, but what choice did I have? If these people didn’t get their money, they’d hurt Steve. Today’s revelations had hurt me, but that didn’t mean I wanted him laid up in traction in some hospital somewhere—or worse.
“I want to know exactly what I’m signing up for,” I added, my shoulders thrown back. If I was going to prostitute myself, I wasn’t going to do it with my head bowed in shame. I would not let Steve’s bad choices ruin me.
They just might free you, a naughty voice in the back of my head whispered, and I could just about picture a tiny devil on my shoulder rubbing its hands with anticipation.
Sliding a bundle of papers across her desk, Janessa inclined her head toward the chair in front of me. “Please, take a seat, and we can go over the contract.”
When I dropped into it, Steve stood and made his way to me. “I don’t want him here.”
Janessa tilted her head, her long, elegant neck stretching to show off the pale column of her throat, and one of her goons leaned forward. After a few words in his ear, he stepped out from behind her desk and gestured toward Steve. “Please come with me, Mr. Parker.”
Steve’s head whipped frantically between me, Janessa, and the behemoth making his way around the desk. The other goon waited patiently in front of the door. “You can’t do this, Cait. You love me. You have to make sure they don’t hurt me.” When I stayed silent, Steve’s words turned angry, destroying any hope I had that he might still be the sweet boy I’d fallen in love with when I was fourteen. “You slut. I hope whoever buys you fucks you hard and merciless.”
And then they tossed him out the door, leaving me alone with Janessa.
A few shocked, silent seconds ticked by while I absorbed his words. “What now?” I eventually asked, rubbing my sweating palms up and down my jean-clad thighs.
Janessa’s red lips twitched, and she leaned forward, her hands clasped in front of her. Her manicure, like her lipstick, was impeccable. “I’m a successful businesswoman, and you’re an enchanting girl who is in possession of something formidable men will give their fortunes to possess.”
“I don’t get it,” I said, my mind still trying to grasp how I’d gotten here. “If you’re going to pay for sex, wouldn’t you want it to at least be good? I’ve never even given a hand job.”
Not for a lack of trying, my subconscious reminded me. Steve had been hell-bent on keeping me “completely pure” until our wedding night—another thing I’d never been able to understand.
She chuckled and shook her head. “Can I ask you something, Miss Patrick?”
I gulped and nodded. “Of course.”
“Why did you agree to pay Mr. Parker’s debt? He’s obviously not the man you hoped.” I shrugged and looked away, my cheeks turning pink.
The truth was, there was a very good reason I hadn’t walked out the second I’d learned about Steve’s debt, and it had nothing to do with my loyalty to him. But I couldn’t bring myself to voice the words aloud. The filthy, dirty, erotic words.
She laughed, and her mask dropped, revealing a look of genuine pleasure. “Oh, that’s going to do wonders for your price on the auction block.”
I chewed my bottom lip, my face growing redder by the second. My lips slammed shut and my gaze dropped to the carpet at my feet.
“Eyes up, Miss Patrick,” she said, recalling my attention. “If that blush is anything to go by, I think I know exactly why you’re here, and I promise you, there’s nothing wrong with your desires.”
Who was this woman? At first, I’d thought she was the devil disguised in a Prada suit, but now, I wondered if she wasn’t actually my fairy godmother.
Slowly, I raised my eyes and let her see all the wickedness I’d kept hidden from the world. Somehow, I knew she would understand my dark, lustful thoughts and give me the power to own them. “Do you remember what Steve said just before you threw him out?”
“Of course,” she answered, her lips spreading with a knowing grin.
“I want that.” My neck grew hot, and my panties grew damp under my jeans. “When I close my eyes at night, that’s what I dream about.”
“What else do you dream about, my tempting little virgin?”
“I … I dream about a man who knows what my body craves before I do. Someone who will take me to the edge of what I can endure. A man who will give me pleasure unlike anything I’ve ever known.”
“Hmm,” she mused, tapping steepled fingers against her crimson lips and then flipping over the top page of the stack of papers in front of her. “Why don't we take a look at the contract. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
The sudden shift in conversation was like a bucket of cold water being tossed over my steaming head. I could still feel my clit throbbing between my legs. I was so damn horny, and I hadn’t even touched myself.
With my eyes fixed on my own copy, I began reading. The first few pages were standard legalese, but as I flipped the pages, things got really interesting. My eyes flew over the words, and my heartbeat sped up.
“I thought Steve’s debt was a hundred thousand dollars?”
“It is,” she answered with a regal nod.
“But it says here that I’ll receive a hundred grand when I sign the contract for the auction, and another four hundred thousand once the deed is done. Bidding starts at—” My eyes bugged out of my head.
“One million dollars,” she finished for me.
“That’s absurd!”
“Why? Because Steve owes significantly less than that?”
“Well, yes. I thought I was doing this to pay off his debt. I thought …” I trailed off, at a loss for words. Honestly, I didn’t know what I’d thought. I hadn’t let my mind travel that far.
“Personally, I’ve always considered it bad form to let a man define your worth; especially a spineless one like Steve Parker.” When I simply
stared at her, too dumbstruck and dumbfounded to speak, she continued. “The truth is, a million dollars is nothing to these men. They toss that away on toys they never even play with. But you are something they’ll treasure, an experience they will take to their graves.”
“But a million dollars is a lot of money.”
She shook her head. “Not to them.”
I might have been innocent, but I knew there were sick people in this world. If a man spent a million dollars purchasing my virginity, what else would he expect? Would he want to hurt me—and not the way I was looking forward to? My belly clenched in sudden fear. “Whoever buys me is going to want certain things, isn’t he? What if they’re things I can’t give?”
“Ah, you haven’t reached the end of the document yet,” she answered, her eyes laced with understanding. “You have more power in this situation than you comprehend.”
Janessa pushed her chair back, and made her way to a door I hadn’t noticed on the other side of the room, her heels clacking on the polished hardwood floor. She pressed a button that blended in with the wallpaper and craned her neck over her shoulder. “When you’re finished reviewing the contract, ring that bell to your left and I’ll return. We’ll discuss specifics then.”
Without waiting for a response, she slipped through the door, leaving me to review what other surprises the contract contained.
And what surprises they were.
Janessa hadn’t exaggerated when she said I was in charge. Everything was laid out in excruciating detail, including what I was willing to do and what I wasn’t. Each box I checked would give the bidder insight into all ways he could use me. The problem was I didn’t know what most of the items on the list were. Beyond what I’d read in romance novels, most of this stuff was just words on a sheet of paper.
Age play, ass play, bondage, breath play, consensual non-consent, fisting, impact play, sadism, sensation play, Shibari, watersports … on and on it went until my head was spinning with ideas.
My breath came fast as I pictured all the ways the mystery billionaire would claim me. I was a smart girl with an active imagination. And right now that imagination was operating in overdrive.
My nipples hardened, and my clit started throbbing again.
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Untitled
The CEO’s Secret
I'm not a wild child. I keep my head down and my focus on my friends, family, and career. My one teeny-tiny nod to rebellion? I never back down from a dare.
So when my sister challenges me to make out with the handsome stranger who's been staring at me all night long, I march right up to him, grab his tie, and pull him in for a long, slow kiss. And then he pulled me upstairs where he kissed me ... everywhere.
I’d never done anything like that, but it was the single hottest moment of my life. One I'll have to replay in my memories since I'll never see him again.
At least, that's what I thought.
Because the guy who made me feel more alive than anyone ever had before? He’s my new boss. And now Lucas Traynor is staring at me exactly like he did three months ago.
But no one can ever know what we did. No one can ever find out what we’re about to do again.
Chapter Two
My sister Melissa sidled up beside me and passed me a fresh gin and tonic, heavy on the gin. “That man has been staring at you all night.”
I raised the straw to my lips and sucked the crisp, cold liquid into my mouth. “I know. He’s hot, right?”
Hot was one way of describing the sexy stranger. Handsome, delectable, and panty-melting were three others. At well over six feet tall, he filled out his three-piece suit in all the right places. But it wasn’t just his body that had me captivated. Even from across the room, his eyes were arresting. They were the most startling shade of green I’d ever seen. Deep and earthy, they spoke of buried secrets … and something elemental.
Melissa mimed fanning herself. “Totally hot. You should go ask him to dance.” She nudged me with her hip, and my gin sloshed over the rim of my glass.
I wiped the back of my hand against my long black dress and shook my head. “I’m not asking him to dance. I hate this song. In fact, I hate all of these songs. Wedding DJs are the worst.”
It wasn’t just the DJ that I hated—I abhorred weddings, period. Actually, no. That wasn’t true. It wasn’t weddings I hated so much as it was the pressure that came with them for a single woman inching dangerously close to thirty.
While I was happy for my cousin Logan and his beautiful young bride, I was ready to blow this popsicle stand. I just had to stay until they cut the cake, and then I could sneak out. I metaphorically crossed my fingers and hoped our great aunt Mildred didn’t find me before then. With Logan off the market, I was the last of the Davis cousins left standing. As far as good old Aunt Mildred was concerned, that was simply unacceptable. And she had no problem telling me—loudly, and with much fanfare— that at the ripe old age of twenty-seven I was flirting with spinsterhood.
If I’d had a serious boyfriend, I could probably hold off her interrogation for another year or so, but since the closest thing I had to a relationship these days was with my vibrator, the less I spoke with her the better.
“Where’s Chase?” I asked my sister, my eyes scanning the crowd for my cousin’s best friend. If anyone hated weddings more than me, it was him. As Logan’s best man, he’d been pressed into action all day, but about an hour ago, I’d seen him loosening his tie and downing a large tumbler of scotch. If I found him, maybe he could help me avoid mine and Logan’s nosy relations.
Melissa snickered. “Funny you should ask.” She jutted her chin toward the sexy stranger across the room. He and Chase were shaking hands, and both men were smiling. “You should have him introduce you.”
I watched him interact with my cousin’s best friend. It was obvious the two men were friendly with one another, and suddenly I wondered just how friendly. It wasn’t acknowledged openly, but a few of us—my sister not included—knew there was more to Logan and Chase’s friendship than they had ever let on. It must have been hard for Chase to watch Logan marry someone else. For the first time all day, he finally looked relaxed. Maybe Melissa was barking up the wrong tree with my sexy stranger.
And yet, as Chase ambled away, the man’s hypnotic green eyes searched me out again. His lips quirked to the side, and he raised his glass in silent salute.
Melissa squealed excitedly and gripped my arm. “Now you definitely have to go talk to him.”
“I don’t know, Miss …” I wanted to go say hi, but if I were being honest, I was intimidated by him. None of the guys I’d ever dated had looked as good as this guy did in a suit. While I cleaned up well enough, this guy was totally out of my league.
Melissa spun me around, her hands locked around my biceps. “Jennifer Marie Davis.”
Uh oh, she used my full name. The only time my twin ever did that was when things were about to get serious.
“When was the last time you had an orgasm?”
“Melissa!” I looked around frantically to make sure no one had overheard. Thankfully, no one was paying us any attention. “Keep your voice down.”
“Answer the question.” She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her high-heeled foot on the parquet floor.
“Last night,” I answered, my chin lifted defiantly.
She rolled her eyes. “I mean from a real live human.”
“I am a real live human.”
“Quit being obtuse. When was the last time you were properly fucked?”
I hesitated answering—not because I was ashamed or anything. No, I didn’t have an immediate response because I couldn’t actually remember when I’d last gotten naked with a man. I was pretty sure it had been some time the year before, but that had only been because I was afraid if I didn’t have sex with someone, tumbleweeds were going to grow in my vagina. Thinking back on the encounter, I wasn’t sure it’d been worth all the fuss
since I’d had to resort to my electric boyfriend the moment I’d gotten home anyhow.
“Oh, Jenny,” she said, her tone softening. “You need to get laid.”
I blew out a frustrated breath. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Then why won’t you go talk to Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome over there? He’s obviously interested.”
“I …”
Before I could finish telling my sister what kept me rooted to her side, she grabbed my drink from my hand and set it on the tray of a passing waiter. “I didn’t want to have to resort to dirty tricks, but here it goes. I dare you to march your ass over there and plant one on him.”
I groaned and closed my eyes. She’d just tossed down the gauntlet—one I would never be able to ignore. I was a responsible woman. I was a good friend, I loved and cared for my family, and I was dedicated to my career. All our lives, Melissa had been the impetuous one, while I took my time and considered my actions from all angles before making a decision. But for all the ways in which I was mostly risk-averse, there was one way I was just as wild as my twin—maybe even more wild.
I never backed down from a dare.
Never.
And Melissa knew that.
I opened my eyes to find the object of my fascination leaning casually against a wall at the back of the ballroom, a drink dangling lazily from his fingertips. He raised an eyebrow, as if to ask me what I was waiting for, and that was all it took. I took a deep breath and then let it out on a long, slow gust. I tossed my sibling an annoyed look. “If he’s a bad kisser, I’m blaming this on you.”
“He won’t be a bad kisser,” she answered, her eyes raking him over from head to toe. My sister might be happily married to her college sweetheart, but she appreciated a good looking man in a well-tailored suit as much as the next red-blooded American female. And the man I was about to kiss was as handsome as they came. It was futile to pretend otherwise.