Page 56 of Bought

“Suspicious, I see. So far, so Ten.”

“She’s not suspicious,” I said, not wanting to get into it. “She’s not a threat. I just need to know who she is so I can discount her.” I paused and then added, as if he wasn’t already aware, “You know the situation with Isabel. You know the Hamiltons are moving against me. I can’t be too careful.”

He gave another sigh. “Yeah, okay. Good point. Though I’m surprised you took her home without a background check. She must have been quite something to make you forget that.”

Heat stole through me at the memory of her mouth and the quite frankly magnificent blow job she’d given me. She’d been inexperienced, yes, but watching her face, seeing the hunger in her eyes as she’d licked me, as if tasting me was the most incredible experience of her life…

It had been far too long since I’d had a woman who’d looked at me like that and I couldn’t deny it had been an intoxicating experience. It reminded me once again of things I’d missed, things I hadn’t known I’d missed because the subs I’d been with didn’t want me. Oh, they wanted a Dom, and they liked my brand of BDSM, but it wasn’t me they were after. Any Dom would do in the end.

But not this little sub. She was mine and she looked at me the way a Dom’s sub should.

As if you were hers too.

I ignored that thought. I was Juliana’s and Juliana’s only. Nothing could ever change that.

“Yes,” I said. “She was something.”

“Well, in that case,” Atlas said on a long breath. “I suppose I can try finding out her name. It’s probably better to leave Cal out of this.”

“Agreed.” Caleb would not like me interfering with Arcadia’s rules on privacy, not one bit. “Text me when you know.”

I ended the call and slipped my phone back into my pocket, thinking about Isabel and what friends she had, because she didn’t have many. I knew that was thanks to me and my security concerns, and while I regretted the need for my security measures, I’d never apologize for keeping her safe.

She hadn’t mentioned anyone that I could recall, though she’d been interning at Caleb’s company, Cross International, and she’d mentioned one of her coworkers. Zara.

Could the little sub be Zara? That’s if she had indeed been texting my Isabel.

In which case you’ve spent twenty-four hours screwing your daughter’s friend senseless as well as making her give you a blow job.

I took another sip of scotch, hoping to wash away the splinter of ice that had settled in my gut. There were…implications if the worst came to the worst and the sub was Isabel’s friend Zara. Implications I couldn’t ignore.

Her youth, yes, was a factor. And that she worked with Isabel. She said she’d been at that auction for me, which meant—

But no. I was letting my imagination run away with me.

The little sub wasn’t Isabel’s friend, and she hadn’t been texting her. I was either seeing things or she just happened to have a friend called Isabel who wasn’t my daughter. And I could have another day with her, one last day where she was mine. Because I couldn’t keep her. No matter how much something inside me was asking what was wrong with keeping her for another couple of days, just a couple more. It wouldn’t hurt. Just to fully get rid of this fascination with her, nothing more.

But no. Better to limit myself. And maybe once she’d gone, I really would try and find myself another sub. Because it was only sex, nothing more.

Speaking of….

I’d let the little sub sleep long enough.

I wanted to make this night last as long as possible.

21

Zara

Sunday morning, I woke very late since he’d kept me up until almost dawn — honestly weren’t older men supposed to get tired at some point? Apparently not him — and I was alone in his bedroom.

I couldn’t remember whether he’d been with me when I’d fallen asleep or not — I’d been exhausted after the last orgasm he’d given me — but he was clearly not there now.

I ached in all sorts of delicious places, yet the ache that sat in the pit of my stomach at the thought of leaving today hurt more than I’d thought it would.

A weekend, he’d said. And though today had only just begun, this would be the last day I’d have with him.

Last day to get the evidence you came for.