“But would you bid?” I asked softly. “Would you be there to bid on me?”
And his eyes turned to ice fire then, blazing hotly as they ate up my curvy form.
“You bet your bottom,” he growled. “Honey, I’d absolutely bid on you. I’d bid so hard that I’d run my bank account dry, spend my billions to own that sweet body.”
I paused, blood thrumming in my ears. Because this is what I wanted, this is why I’d left my dorm in a rush on the eve of finals. I wanted to be with this man specifically, not some random dudes with fat wallets, even if they were his brothers. I wanted Jared White, I wanted this alpha specifically. And to hear that he wanted me too made my heart pound, body grow soft and loose.
“But I’m here now,” I murmured. “You don’t have to buy me.”
A conflicted expression crossed Jared’s face then.
“I know, but I came out on a recruiting trip,” he rasped, like the words were ripped from his throat. “I owe it to my brothers. Like I said, finding a girl is a one in a million experience, we expect nothing most times. So to find you …” his voice trailed off.
“So?” I pressed softly. “So?”
He shook his head, like an enraged bull, trying to clear it.
“Finding you is like finding the Hope Diamond, honey,” he rasped again. “No one expects it, we do our best, going about the recruitment process methodically to land a jewel like you. So to finally find you,” he ground out, head dropping from his shoulders. “To finally find you, I can’t just take it all for myself. I can’t betray the brotherhood like that, acting the selfish prick.”
But I shook my head again, helpless.
“You’re not betraying them,” I whispered. “I don’t want to go up for sale, I want to be with you.”
And here, his head lifted so that those blue eyes took mine, penetrating, seizing my soul.
“You don’t know what you’re saying,” he ground out roughly. “It’s enough to set you up for life, you don’t know what you’re saying.”
I shook my head, stubborn.
“I’ve never wanted to sell my body,” I stated emphatically. “Never, and that hasn’t changed. It’s insane that there are girls who want to,” I added darkly. “It’s crazy.”
Mr. White shrugged.
“It’s not crazy,” he said. “And some of those girls are now married to their billionaires,” he said with a tight smile. “Yeah, believe it or not, married to the men they fucked for a week, things were so good between the product and the buyer.”
I gasped, eyes wide. Holy cow, so this auction business was way more serious than I thought. Evidently the girls they sourced were so perfect for club members, so wholly suited that some dudes even ended up putting a ring on it, making it real. A shiver ran down my spine because I wanted that, definitely. I wanted to be married to my man, a powerful, dominant alpha who made my knees weak. The problem was that my best prospect was sitting right here in front of me, proposing that I sell myself to someone else. How fucked up was that? How messed up was it to hear these words, to listen to his proposal? Suddenly, I was exhausted, overwhelmed with confusion and overcome with a myriad of feelings. My thoughts twisted this way and that, and I wasn’t sure what to think anymore, what to feel.
“So what do we do?” I asked, eyes dim. “You seem to think that an auction is best for me, but I’ve just told you it’s not what I want. I don’t care how much I can make,” I added again, firm. “It’s not about the money.”
Jared shook his head.
“You don’t know what money is because you’ve never needed it, baby girl,” he ground out. “Besides, we don’t have to dive right into the deep end. Because of your resistance, why don’t you come to the Billionaires Ball first? We’re having a party, baby, and it’ll be a good way for you to acclimate, to get introduced to what our world is like.”
I snorted then.
“The Billionaires Ball?” I asked skeptically. “Sounds like some kind of twisted fantasy. Besides, I’ve already seen how you guys operate,” I added. “I was at the club tonight.”
Even though my words scalded, I couldn’t help it. I wanted this man, I wanted him so badly, and yet he kept pushing me to sell myself to someone else. It hurt so bad that I lashed out, unable to keep my emotions in check.
But Jared admirably kept his cool.
“You only saw a pop-up tonight,” he said smoothly. “Like I mentioned, tonight’s Club was just a pop-up, the real deal is based in Vegas.”
“So?” I asked, still hurt and disappointed. “Who says the real deal is any better?”