Highest Bidder

“No. Don’t fool yourself. I’m not your hero. I was being selfish and making damn sure nobody else got you.” His voice was harsh. It was clear he didn’t want me to feel grateful to him or read more into his actions than he had intended.

I licked my lips nervously.

His eyes dropped to my mouth, and a strange expression passed in his eyes. “Enjoy the rest of the evening,” he said before suddenly turning around and walking away.

I stared at him, numb but for my drumming heart. His gait was enthralling. I couldn’t understand how he pulled it off, but even in his evening wear, he had a lethal and effortless animal grace to him. Like a panther sitting on a warm rock and calmly observing the world as it churned in turmoil, while he watched with pity from his own ordered powerful domain.

“Brent,” I called out, before I could stop myself.

He turned and glanced back at me.

I walked up to him. “I want to feel good again.”

He glanced briefly around the courtyard, and then slipped his hands into the pocket of his coat. “Go on,” he encouraged.

I gaped at him, furious that he wanted me to completely lay out my request. “Don’t you understand what I mean?”

“No,” he responded quietly. “I don't make assumptions.”

I took a deep breath then. “I want you,” I whispered hoarsely. “You have a few minutes to spare, don’t you? I don’t care where.”

He watched me intently, his eyes darkening with primal lust.

In response, my chest swelled with a throbbing warmth that took my breath away.

He fished out his phone from his pocket and lifted it to his ear. “Bring the car back to where you just dropped me off,” he said into it.

I went with him, my heart pounding loudly. What the hell was happening to me? Was I under some kind of spell? As we walked past the garden pathway and towards the driveway, I started to consider that perhaps I was being too impetuous. Perhaps a quick phone call to Maddie right now would snap some sense back into me before it was too late.

Then Brent’s midnight blue Rolls pulled up and the moment was gone.

Freya

He held the door open for me, the fire in his gaze was a promise of what was to come.

I wanted to feel. I needed to wash away the hurt that was throbbing in my heart, and nothing else could do it but Brent, inside me, fucking me, taking me away to a place where there was no need to think.

“Is a hotel okay with yo—”

“No, the car is fine,” I responded, not wanting to make anything whatsoever out of this. “We’ll make it quick. Somewhere secluded.” As the words left my mouth, it amazed me that I felt no shame whatsoever. Perhaps it was because we both knew that he was the only one I had ever been intimate with, so there was little risk of me coming off as promiscuous. I had a feeling he would have rejected the offer otherwise as he didn’t seem like the kind to respond to just any call for a quick roll in the hay, but then maybe I was wrong about that too.

“Michael, find a secluded spot to park in, away from the lot,” he instructed.

A few minutes later, Michael exited the car.

I was left staring at the massive but naked silhouette of the tree beyond the windshield, the rhythm of our breathing now the only sound in the car besides the steady hum of the running engine.

Brent’s deep voice finally broke the silence, “What is this going to cost me?”

For a moment, I felt struck.

It took me a few more seconds to see that he meant absolutely nothing by the question. I realized by the frankness in his gaze that it wouldn't mean a thing to him if I said nothing or something. He didn’t know me and I wanted to keep it that way.

“What are you willing to pay this time around?” I asked as I rose up from my side to position myself astride him.

“How much do you want?”

“Double,” I said softly, as if I was really serious.

“That’s a pretty expensive fuck.”

I leaned forward, trailed his jawline with the tip of my nose, and breathed in his heady scent. Surrounded by his scent and warmth, I breathed him in and committed every little nuance to memory. This was just what I needed. I felt the knots inside my stomach slowly begin to unravel. I recalled then, like a splash of cold water that he had refused to kiss me even during our first time at the club.

“Why didn’t you want to kiss me?” I asked, holding his gaze boldly.

He didn’t retreat from the question. “I didn’t want to give you too much head space.”

“But fucking is okay?”

“Fucking is easier.”

“So … I’m just a body to you?”

“I think we both know the answer to that.”

I waited to see if he would explain himself a bit more, but he just watched me intently with those glowing eyes of his. So, I closed my eyes and settled into the warmth of his body, letting it surround me like a shield; a shield from the ills of life outside the interior of this car. Slowly, he began to stroke his fingers lightly down my arm until my eyes fluttered open.

He shifted, and the movement rubbed my already wet underwear against his hardened crotch. He pulled at the delicate ribbons behind my neck that were holding up my dress. They unraveled and my dress fell apart exposing my breasts. They felt swollen and heavy. I pushed my chest out and he inhaled sharply.