“I have seven thousand and change saved that I can pay you instantly. The rest of it will take me time, but I will pay you back even if I have to...”
A slow grin spread across his devilish mouth. He shifted his feet, bit his lower lip, as if to contain the laughter spilling out, leaned his hip against the wall as if he were posing for a photo shoot and smiled again. The veins in his forearms stood out as he folded his arms, oozing sex appeal.
Jasmine’s breath caught at the sheer, stark beauty of it.
There was nothing false or practiced about the curve of his mouth now.
It lit up his light gray eyes, carved a dimple in his cheek. Her knees turned to mush as he dipped his head low and batted at her with his shoulder. “So you’re determined to pay me back, then, yes?”
Of course, the man didn’t need his fists anymore. He could charm the birds from the sky with that smile. Was it any wonder that women threw themselves at his feet? What woman wouldn’t want him to look at her with need in those gorgeous eyes? What woman wouldn’t want those rough hands on her, that luscious mouth driving her wild?
She was getting hot just thinking about it. “Every last penny,” she croaked out.
“How?”
“I’ll come up with something.”
“You know, Jas...” He pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes in an exaggerated show of patience. “Spanking’s never been my thing but, Theos, I’m so tempted to give it a try right now. You and your ideas and your plans...”
She gasped, heat streaking her cheeks. “I was running out of options.”
He prowled toward her like a predator. Heat from his body enveloped her, coating her very breath.
“And what if someone else ended up buying...you?”
“You’re trying to scare me.”
“There was someone else, Jas, someone who was willing to pay a lot of money to own you.”
Jas remained silent, fear and confusion stealing rational thought from her.
“Didn’t you think of contacting me even once? Did you have to wait until it got this desperate?”
She had. She had thought of him countless times, her body and mind weary after another long night, after facing another of her mother’s drunken episodes. After feeling as if she would never make a dent in her debt, after facing another man look at her as if he could own her body and soul for a few bucks. After seeing her life pass day after day in that pit.
In a moment of weakness, she had called Katrakis Textiles in Athens once. The receptionist had even politely asked her for her name. In the end, she had chickened out.
In the end, it had been easier to hate him from a distance than take his pity.
“I don’t like depending on anyone for anything,” she said instead.
“Fate has a way of punching us with exactly what we don’t want. There was someone else who bid for you. Which meant Noah had two dogs out for the same bone, and he let us go at it.”
Another bidder? Her knees gave out and she sank to the longue.
Sweat beaded her brow, nausea climbing up her throat. Noah had tricked her. If Dmitri hadn’t come along, he would have sold her virginity to someone else.
The horror of what could have happened filled her with dread.
“Noah said you called it a virginity auction. And that’s what it truly was. What I can’t figure out is who else wanted to pay off that debt and why.”
Her head spun in a thousand different directions and Jasmine struggled to hold on to her sanity. Clutching her head, she walked away from him.
Just leave. Don’t care what he paid, Jas. He can afford it.
Walk away, the survivor in her begged.
“How much did you pay Noah?”
“You’re not my priciest toy, if that’s what worries you.”
Her gut heaved with anticipated dread, her right eye twitching uncontrollably from keeping her gaze so straight. Something was very wrong; she knew it in her bones.
“Stop taunting me, Dmitri. How much do I owe you?”
“A hundred and thirty thousand pounds, but since I’m feeling generous I’ll round it down to an even hundred.”
A hundred thousand pounds? Her gut flopped to her feet. “That can’t be true. That much money... It’s ridiculous, God...”
Clutching the wall behind her, she gasped for breath. “This is my worst nightmare come true... Oh, God...” It would take her ten lifetimes to make so much money. She would never be able to pay him back, never walk away from this.
“Being saved from a life of trading your body is your worst nightmare?”