Page 24 of Bought

Fox had come in after me and had let the door shut behind him. He stood in front of it, his arms crossed over his broad chest, stern gaze on mine.

Carefully, allowing no hint of my nerves to show, I sat down on the bed, letting my cloak fall open a little. Giving him a glimpse of me but not too much. “You look like you’re about to deliver a lecture.” I leaned back slowly on my hands. “What’s it about? The dangers of riding in limos with strange billionaires?”

“I want your word you won’t go off selling your virginity anywhere else.” His gaze didn’t drop to the gap in my cloak, not once. Clearly, if I wanted to seduce him, I was going to have to do more than show him my naked body.

My palms were sweaty. I had to get it together and figure out a plan because this was now or never. If I let him walk out that door, I’d never see him again, that was certain.

Touching him had been the catalyst the last couple of times his rigid control had broken, and I didn’t think it was because he didn’t want to be touched. It was because I tested that control. Because he’d liked it, I’d seen the flare of desire glowing hot beneath the ice in his eyes.

Perhaps I should do that now, push him physically even as I pushed against that iron will of his.

“So, if I give you my word that I won’t, what will you give me?” I asked.

“I’ve already given you five hundred thousand dollars. What more could you possibly want?”

I slid off the bed and took a couple of slow steps toward him. He watched me approach, not moving an inch. “Oh, lots of things,” I murmured. “But there’s really only one way you can ensure that I won’t go off selling my virginity anywhere else.” I came to a stop in front of him and stared up at his face from beneath my lashes. “And you won’t need to trust my word for it.”

“Is that right?” His icy gaze bored steadily into mine. “And what way is that?”

I took another step, getting as close to him as I had back in Arcadia, only inches away, the heat of his body and the warm spice of his scent surrounding me. His eyes were so clear and deep. The kind of blue that haunted your dreams. The kind of blue you could drown in. Though in his case you’d probably freeze to death before you could drown.

“Well,” I said huskily. “If you took it yourself, I wouldn’t have to sell it, would I?”

His gaze flickered. “I thought I made my position on that clear.”

“Oh, you did, and you were very clear.” I took yet another step, getting even closer. “So, I have to ask myself, why did you follow me up into this room? And why are you still standing here?”

A muscle in his hard jaw flexed. “You haven’t earned the right to ask me those questions.”

A thrill pulsed through me, a strange, almost excited edge to my fear. If I hadn’t interested him, he would have left, yet he hadn’t. He had no reason to still be here, none at all, so why was he?

You know why.

This close he was so tall, a solid wall of male muscle, and he didn’t move. I should have been terrified and I was, and yet I couldn’t stop looking at him. He was beautiful, his features stern, the cold force of his will a steady pressure. I could see white at his temples, and a few lines around his eyes and mouth the only signs of his age.

It was me. I was holding him here. He was powerful, rich beyond my wildest imaginings. A man who did whatever he wanted and certainly nothing he didn’t. Yet even though he’d made it clear he was going to get rid of me, he hadn’t. And he hadn’t walked away, either.

“What do I have to do to earn the right?” I asked.

There was that flicker in his eyes again, as if the question had triggered some kind of response, though what I had no idea. “Nothing you’d be comfortable with.”

“Are you sure?” The strangest urge to touch him filled me. I wanted to put my hands on his broad chest and press against it, feel how hard he was. In fact, it was weird how badly I wanted to given how he scared me. “I had an unrestricted contract remember. I’m comfortable with a lot of things.” None of which I’d expected to have to do, of course, but he didn’t know that.

He remained still, watching me with those piercing blue eyes. “What are you doing, little one?”

Did he really not know? He must, surely. I wasn’t being shy about the way I was looking at him.

I let him see the heat in my eyes and then, mustering all my courage, I lifted my hand and put it directly over the zipper of his pants. “This,” I said.

10

Tennyson

I should have moved before she touched me. I should definitely have left the room. I should have left her to find her own way up in the elevator, perhaps even let the concierge give her the room key.

I shouldn’t have accompanied her.

I shouldn’t have walked into this room and let the door shut behind me.