Page 15 of Bought

Well, that wasn’t happening. If she was coming back to my home, I needed to know everything about her. Her name, her background, her personal situation. What she was really doing in Arcadia and why it was me, in particular, she wanted when it was obvious she was afraid of me.

“Home, please,” I told my driver and then glanced at her.

She sat in the exact middle of the seat beside me, not the farthest away, but not as close as she could get either. Almost as if she was determined to prove that she wasn’t going to let my presence affect her in any way, very much at odds with her professed desire for me.

Everything about her seemed to be the opposite of what she said, which again tugged at my curiosity, making me want to know why.

The car pulled away and I leaned forward, pressing a button so the partition between the driver and the backseat was raised.

“My driver is trustworthy,” I said into the heavy silence. “But I’m assuming you’d like some privacy.”

She glanced at me, her face shadowed by the red hood. “Why would I want some privacy?” There was a slight note of apprehension in her voice though it sounded as if she was trying to hide it.

So. Still afraid. Well, she probably wouldn’t like this next bit either, but I wasn’t taking a stranger into my home. I wanted answers and I was going to get them. And if that scared her, she’d have to handle it.

I met her gaze and held it. “Because you’re going to tell me all about yourself. Every single thing.”

She gave a soft laugh. “Am I now?”

It sounded natural that laugh, but it wasn’t. I could hear the note of force she had to put into it.

“Yes,” I said calmly, coldly. “You will. Now, I won’t hurt you. I have a daughter your age and I do not hurt women. But I will use your fear to get what I want, make no mistake. I don’t allow strangers into my home, which means that at the end of this journey, if you still want to come in, you can’t be a stranger, understand?”

She shifted, rearranging the folds of her cloak with casual movements of her hands. Obviously trying to prove to me how comfortable and unworried she was. “I’m not afraid of you.”

She’d already told me that in Arcadia, but she’d been lying then, and she was lying now.

I decided to ignore it for the meantime. “Do you understand?” I repeated.

She sighed. “Fine. Ask me anything you want.”

“Look at me, please.”

She turned her head in an exaggerated fashion, her gaze meeting mine. Her expression was very calm, but beneath it, I could see steel. And despite everything I’d told myself, the Dom in me stirred.

Challenging me was a mistake.

“Your name,” I said. “What is it?”

“Catherine.” She gave me a sunny smile. “But you can call me Cathy.”

I smiled back, though there was no sun in mine. It was all threat. “The truth, little one, please.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Oh, okay. In that case, it’s Elizabeth. But I prefer Lizzie. And please don’t call me little one. It’s patronizing as hell.”

My dominant side stirred again, enjoying this challenge to its authority, which was odd given that I didn’t like brats.

“So,” I murmured. “Is that really the way you want to play it?”

She lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not lying.”

But she was. The little witch was lying through her teeth.

A hot thread of anticipation wound through me, though I ignored it. She didn’t know what these challenges were doing to me, she had no idea, and I wasn’t going to tell her. There were too many reasons why this couldn’t be sexual, too many very good reasons, starting with the fact that not only was she a virgin, but also, she was a very young virgin. I was nearly twenty years older than her both in years and in experience, and not only that, beneath that fragile facade of confidence lay fear. And I wasn’t touching that. It was too complicated.

Given that, she probably wouldn’t be into BDSM, and besides, I wanted subs who knew the rules, knew what to do, and to whom I didn’t have to explain protocol.

But weren’t you thinking just before about how bored you were?