A Million Dirty Secrets (Million Dollar Duet 1)

“Gentlemen,” Scott said with a clap of his hands as he came to stand behind me. “This is the lovely Delaine Talbot, item number sixty-nine on our list tonight. I believe you have all of her specs, but allow me to highlight some of her finer attributes.

“First and foremost, she has come to us of her own accord. Obviously, she’s spectacular to look at, which can make life infinitely easier for those of you who require a partner to attend social functions. She’s young, but not too young, so your friends and family will find it more believable that you have a traditional type of relationship, if that sort of thing is important to you. She’s educated and well-mannered, has all her teeth, and is in good health. And there’s no drug problem to be bothered with, which means no detox period to hold you back from what you really want to do with her … and to her.

“And probably the most valuable asset of all is that her innocence is still completely intact. This, my fine gentlemen, is a grade A virgin. Unsullied, untouched … pure as the fresh-fallen snow. Perfect to train, no? With that said, let’s start the bidding at one million dollars, and may the luckiest bastard win,” he finished with a huge fake smile. He turned to wink at me and then stepped off to the side.

The platform that I stood on in the middle of the room began to move, and although it wasn’t exactly on warp speed, it still caught me unawares, and I stumbled a little before I regained my balance. Around and around I went while the bidding process began. There were no audible sounds of voices, just the occasional buzz as the lights over the doors illuminated. I could see the men pick up the telephone beside them and speak into the receiver before their light lit up, so I assumed that was their method of placing bids.

I had no idea how high the bids were going. I just hoped that it ended with enough to pay for Faye’s surgery. After a while, the sheik and the tiny guy dropped out, leaving Jabba the Hutt and Mystery Man to battle it out. Sure, I had no idea what Mystery Man looked like, but he had to be better than drowning in a pool of Jabba the Hutt.

The bidding between the two of them began to slow down, and I was becoming increasingly dizzy from spinning around on the platform. In truth, I just wanted it to be over with so that I would know my fate and could get on with it. I was still secretly rooting for the mysterious stranger.

Jabba the Hutt’s light was the last to flash, and I knew the bid was back to Mystery Man, but he wasn’t answering. I started to panic when Scott came back into the room and stood next to me. He smiled at Jabba and then cast a questioning brow in Mystery Man’s direction. I knew it was obvious by the look in my eyes that I was pleading with him, and I had no clue whatsoever if it made a bit of difference to him one way or the other, but I had to try.

The seconds ticked by agonizingly. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, and I felt light-headed and dizzy. I knew that I was going to pass out at any moment if I didn’t get some oxygen to my brain, but I was holding my breath, praying that Mystery Man would come through for me and that I wouldn’t regret willing him to be the winner.

“It looks like we have a win—” Scott started, but abruptly stopped when the light above Mystery Man’s room lit up and the buzzer sounded.

I sucked in a much-needed breath, feeling my brain tingle with the life-giving sensation. My head shot toward Jabba the Hutt. I sighed in relief when he shook his head and waved his hand dismissively in the air before struggling to push out of his chair to extinguish the light on the table.

“You have a new owner, Miss Talbot,” Scott cooed, a little too close to my ear. “Why don’t you walk on over and meet your master?”

“I’m not calling him master,” I seethed, loud enough for only Scott to hear me as he forced me to step down from the platform.

“You’ll call him whatever he wants you to call him if you want the cool two million he just paid for you,” he retorted, grabbing my elbow and guiding me toward Mystery Man’s room.

“Two million dollars?” I asked, astounded. I tried to yank my elbow out of his grip because his manhandling was not part of the deal and he was really pissing me off. However, he grabbed me again, more firmly this time, and pulled me forward.

“What? Not enough? Greedy little thing, aren’t you?” Without giving me a chance to respond, he opened the glass door to Mystery Man’s room and entered with me in tow.

The odor of cigarette smoke attacked my olfactory sense, but strangely, I wasn’t repulsed.

“Miss Delaine Talbot,” Scott introduced me to the figure still shrouded in darkness. “Congratulations on your win, Mr. Crawford. I have a feeling she’ll be worth every penny.”

“Have the contract sent to my address,” a deep, sultry voice said from the shadows. The cherry on the end of his cigarette blazed and lit up his features dimly before he disappeared again. “And take your hands off my property, for Christ’s sake. I’m not paying for damaged goods.”

Scott released his hold on me immediately, and I rubbed at the spot on the back of my arm, knowing there was going to be a bruise there by morning.

“As you wish.” Scott bowed unceremoniously. “Take your time with the room, but be careful—she’s a feisty one.”

I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do, so I just stood there awkwardly for what seemed like forever.

When I had about convinced myself that he might actually be planning on the two of us staying there for the duration of the two years, he finally sighed and butted out his cigarette. The light clicked on, momentarily blinding me, because my eyes had become accustomed to the dark. When they had adjusted again, I looked at him.

My stomach flipped, and I swear I think my heart skipped a beat … or two … maybe three.

He was gorgeous. And I was having a really hard time not ogling him. He simply sat there smirking as I took him in. He was dressed in a tailor-made suit, black on black. He wasn’t wearing a tie, and the top buttons of his shirt were undone to reveal his collarbones and a brief peek at a sculpted chest with a smattering of hair. My eyes followed the tight tendons of his neck to his prominent jaw, shadowed with the beginnings of a beard. His lips were succulent and the perfect shade of deep pink, his nose was straight and perfect, and his eyes … my God, his eyes. Never had I seen a hazel so intense and infused with so many different colors, or a man with lashes that long. His dark brown hair was cut short, longer on top with the front spiked. He was quite possibly the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.