Auctioned

by Lulu Pratt

  Tate ran to me, falling to his knees and laying his face onto my lap. My hands cradled his head as he hugged me close.

  “I love you, Kiki,” he said. “I should’ve told you the moment we met. I love you. Let’s make a new life together, okay?”

  “Okay,” I agreed. “Now untie me and let’s get out of here.”

  Tate scrambled up and moved around to the back of my chair, loosening the binds. I kept my eyes on Mac’s astonished face. He clearly wasn’t accustomed to losing, so besting him in a game of wits was even more rewarding. In no time, Tate had slipped me free of the constraints and helped me out of the chair, my legs still on pins and needles from the tightened ropes.

  “I’m so sorry,” he whispered into my ear as his hands worked me free. “I’ll never hurt you again, so long as I live.”

  “You’ve made up for it by totally rescuing my ass,” I joked, standing up as the last ropes slipped to the floor.

  Tate and I were now on our feet, facing Mac. Tate straightened his suit as I brushed off my rumpled uniform. He was a delicious sight, towering over me, his wide jaw set to suggest he would broach no argument.

  In a low voice filled with natural authority, Tate said to Mac, “Kiki and I are walking out of here. God help you if you try to stop us. And we’re never coming back. From here on out, you leave both of us the fuck alone. Understood?”

  A shiver ran down my spine. Despite the ordeal of the day, I wanted to fuck him right then and there, feel his thick hands — and thicker cock — slip between my pale legs.

  “I’m going to ruin you,” Mac spluttered, trying to move his legs into a power stance, but in actuality looking like a shaking dog.

  Tate chuckled and took my hand in his. “I’d like to see you try.”

  Together, we walked out of the room and into our new life together.

  CHAPTER 31

  Kiki

  AS SOON AS we passed through the doors of RES and into the warm Vegas air, I collapsed into Tate’s arms, my legs suddenly weak from the stress of the past few hours.

  “You love me, huh?” I laughed into his lapel, scrunching my hands in the fabric.

  “Don’t sound so surprised. And, hey, feel free to say that it’s mutual.”

  I pulled back, just enough to get a good look in his bright blue eyes.

  “You already know it is.”

  He smiled, mighty pleased with himself, and dove in for a long, hard kiss. A few people around us whistled and clapped, perhaps mistaking us for a newly engaged couple. I couldn’t blame them — we looked like a perfect happily ever after, the waitress and the casino owner. It was a Cinderella story. And here I’d been, assuming fairy tales don’t happen.

  “I called my car. It should be here in a moment or two,” Tate told me, never taking his hands off the small of my back.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, not really caring about the answer.

  “Anywhere you like.”

  He took my hand once more and led me through the crowds of visitors outside RES, to a long, black stretch limo that idled on the curb. I recognized the limo from our last little trip. Was I just gonna become the kind of girl who traveled everywhere in limos from here on out?

  Don’t get ahead of yourself, I thought. This could all evaporate in a moment.

  But even as the thought crossed my mind, I knew it wasn’t true. The connection between us had been real from the very first moment I laid eyes on Tate — even if I’d been too stubborn to say as much. I wasn’t going to make the mistake of letting pride get in my way again. Love was too important to throw it away on a silly thing like that.

  Tate held open the door for me and I climbed inside, my body brushing past his. The time we’d spent apart had only made me lust for him more. Although I’d been the one to push him away, I’d passed every intervening minute thinking about him inside me, thrusting deeper and bringing me to climax.

  He got in and closed the door, taking the seat across from me so that our knees were touching.

  “Tate?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I don’t think I can wait until we get back to your place. You know what I mean?”

  He grinned, and hungrily licked his lips. “I believe I do.”

  Tate took a remote and rolled down the window between us and the driver.

  “Where to, sir?”

  Tate’s eyes flicked to me and then replied, “Just keep driving around the block.”

  The man stifled a knowing laugh, but agreed. Tate rolled the window back up, setting the remote behind him.

  “Now, where were we?”

  In a split second, I had moved across the tiny aisle separating us and flung myself onto Tate’s lap, spreading my thighs wide apart as I ground onto his lap. He was already hard and ready. I could feel his cock, needy beneath me.

  “Do you want me?” I purred as I moved up and down, gyrating in his lap.

  “Always.”

  I was undressed in a moment, clothes flying this way and that as though a fairy godmother had magicked them off my body. I took Tate’s tie in my hands and slid it off his neck and around mine, making him laugh.

  “It looks better on you than it does on me,” he observed. “I’d tie you up, but I think you’ve had enough of that for today.”

  We both guffawed at this, doubling over at the waist. But I wouldn’t be distracted from my mission for long — I returned to his shirt, unbuttoning each button with methodical practice until I’d revealed his bulging chest.

  “God, you’re hot,” I moaned, sliding my fingers across his carved surface, wanted to lick every inch of him.

  He didn’t reply, just took one of my nipples in his mouth and lapped at it with his tongue. I scratched my fingernails up and down his back, loving the way his biceps were rock hard in my hand, just like his cock. How had I lucked into the love of a literal Adonis? Just another element of my fairy tale, I guess — getting the perfect prince. I made a mental note to write a thank-you letter to the universe.

  “You’re literally killing me with how sexy you are,” he admitted, his fingers gliding down to my pussy lips and spreading them open.

  “Well, don’t die before I come,” I teased. “Because I feel like I’ve waited long enough for this. I’m not sure I could last a moment longer.”

  “Remember when you were a virgin? My, how things have changed.”

  “Guess I was just waiting for the right guy.” He looked at me with a raised brow, and I added, “And yes, that’s you.”

  “Phew, you had me nervous for a sec.”

  His fingers curved into me, slipping past my clit and right inside my hole.

  “Oh… fuck…”

  Tate made S-shaped undulations in me, a ‘come hither’ that was just for us. My core clenched as one delicious sensation after another hit me. Wow, did he know how to use those hands. I could feel my juices dripping down his pointer and middle fingers. I looked down and saw that I’d made a little wet mark on the thigh of his suit pants. Now that’s what I call leaving an impression.

  “You better take those pants off,” I giggled. “I think you might have a small, uh, stain.”

  Tate took his fingers out of me and slipped them into his mouth, tasting my liquids.

  “Yummy.”

  I pressed myself up into the air so that he could tug off his pants in one fluid motion, the practiced gesture of a man who’d done this more than a few times. I’d always thought that the downside of being a twenty-one-year-old virgin would be that when I did go to lose my virginity — and the subsequent occasions after that — I’d feel cowed by how inexperienced I was compared to other men my age. Again, me and my stupid pride. In reality, it was wonderful fucking someone with such prowess. It actually made me feel strangely safe.

  Tate’s cock rose out of his underwear as he slid the clothing past his thighs and onto the black floor beneath us. His dick was veiny and throbbing, eager for my touch.

  “That erection is quite the compliment,”
I noted, rather pleased with myself.

  Bodily reactions are difficult to fake. Seeing Tate’s anxious cock reminded me that this wasn’t just in my head. His attraction to me was as real as the danger we’d just been in. Then again, speaking of the danger, maybe he was just turned on by the adrenaline.

  As if reading my mind, Tate replied, “I’ve been nursing it for days, just waiting to have you back in my arms.” He grabbed a condom from his discarded pants and rolled it on as he looked at me.

  “Okay, enough talk, Mr. Smooth. We’ve both been waiting long enough.”

  Tate took my meaning, and in a breath, thrust his member inside me.

  “Ride me,” he urged, pushing his flattened hands into my back, moving my breasts closer to his chest with uncloaked need.

  I colored, feeling a renewed sense of shame. “I’m, um, not quite sure I know how.”

  “It’s easy. Just push your hips forward and back, like you were riding a horse.”

  I rolled my eyes. Of course his rich ass would make an equestrian reference.

  “I’ve never ridden a horse,” I explained patiently.

  His hands were at my waist. “I’ll help you. Just do what feels good. It’ll come as easy as breathing.”

  Slowly, with a bundle of nerves inside me, I pressed my hips to Tate. I felt the tip of his cock touch my back wall, felt the way he curved to hit the exact right spot in me. I pressed forward again. Yes, yes, this was it, I knew it for sure.

  Tate’s head tilted back and fell on the seat.

  “You’re a natural, Kiki,” he groaned. “Don’t stop.”

  I didn’t need any more urging. I moved forward again and again until I found a rhythm, bouncing on his massive dick, letting it take me to new places, my hair flowing around my shoulders like I was a cowgirl riding into the sunset. Tate was right — I hadn’t needed any instruction. When it came down to it, my body knew exactly what to do.

  “Keep going,” he managed to say. “Fuck, this feels…”

  “Incredible,” I finished in a pant.

  There were no more words between us, just the sound of my flesh hitting him, feeling my belly rub against his abs, my breasts on his chest, so tight you could hardly fit a penny between us, each move bringing me closer to orgasm.

  Tate’s eyes opened wide, like those of a panther, and with a sudden ferocity he flung me onto the floor, cradling my impact as his body landed atop mine. I could see that he was right near the edge, and that while my riding had been fantastic for both of us, his cock wanted to go fast, fast, fast.

  He plunged back into me, and I went somewhere else inside myself. His pace was insane, almost superhuman — could all guys fuck at this speed and with these perfect motions? He was a fighter, a dancer, a lover. How was Tate making me feel like this? His hand went between my legs, never slowing his pace, and he rubbed my clit, his breath hot on my cheek.

  “I’m gonna come,” he told me, the words barely audible as he raggedly drove his cock into my womanhood. “Tell me you love me.”

  “I love you.”

  “Again,” he breathed, his pace picking up with a wild fury.

  “I love you!” I screamed, the truth breaking free from my lips and echoing in the limo.

  And with that, Tate exploded inside me. My juices were sticky between my legs. I clung tightly to him, pressing my feet into the backs of his thighs, forcing every last drop of goodness from his dick.

  At last, I knew I’d wrung every drop out of him. Tate sat shakily back onto his knees and then scooted his naked, sweaty ass onto the bare limo seat, not caring that he was certainly leaving marks on the leather. I sat up on my elbows so that I could see his face, including the one single, damp lock of dark blond hair that hung above his forehead, making him look like some kind of classic 1950s jock. All he was missing was the varsity sweater.

  “Okay,” he said, wiping a hand across his forehead. “I definitely love you.”

  We laughed in unison.

  CHAPTER 32

  Tate

  POST-COITUS, I wrapped Kiki in a leather jacket I’d left in the limo a few days prior. It was so big on her that it hung all the way to her thighs. There was something primarily satisfying about seeing her in my clothing, knowing that my scent would linger on and inside her for the rest of the day.

  She pushed her hair back, the roots slightly darker than the rest of her hair from our communal sweat.

  “Did you mean it?” she asked as she nestled into the seat across from me, her feet in my lap.

  I began to massage them while my driver continued to do laps around the Strip, still just waiting for me to decide where we went next.

  “I said I love you and I’ll say it every day until I die,” I said as I kissed her forehead.

  “I know,” she replied with a contented smile. “I mean the other thing. Are you really gonna sell Dazzlers?”

  I thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah. I said it on the spur of the moment, obviously, but… I think it’s what I’ve been wanting to say for a long time. It just took the pressure of the situation, and seeing you in danger, to make me rearrange my priorities. I wish it hadn’t taken a full-blown kidnapping for me to get my shit together, but hey, at least I figured it out, right?”

  She shook her head. “I love you, but I don’t believe you. Dazzlers is your life, your legacy. Are you sure you wanna leave it behind?”

  “It’s my father’s legacy. I have so much more I want to do with my life. Our life together. I’ll prove it to you.”

  I crawled across the seats to retrieve my pants from the floor, digging inside their pockets until I located my phone. I pulled it out and pressed a few buttons, then hit speakerphone. A dial tone rang through.

  The person at the other end picked up after the first ring.

  “What can I do for you, sir?”

  I held Kiki’s green eyes with mine as I spoke clearly into the phone.

  “Sell Dazzlers, Jack.”

  Kiki grinned, biting her tongue between her teeth. There was a decades-long pause over the phone.

  At last, Jack replied, “This isn’t funny, sir.”

  I restrained a laugh. That was certainly the most uppity thing he’d said to me in years of working together.

  “I’m serious, Jack. I want out of this business, out of this town. You’re gonna sell Dazzlers. Sell it as a whole casino, or shut down operations and sell the lot. Hire the Realtors, do whatever you have to do. I trust that you can handle this. I imagine it’ll take some time, but I’m in no hurry. Just get it done.”

  “No, sir, I can’t let you make such a rash decision.”

  “Oh, Jack. I wasn’t putting in a request. It’s an order. Sell Dazzlers.”

  Kiki’s hands went up to cover her agape mouth, her eyes so wide I could see the little disco lights reflected in them.

  There was another eternal silence until he finally answered, “Very well then, sir. If that’s what you wish.”

  “Good. Talk to you soon.”

  I hung up the phone and threw it back across the limo. It skittered on the seats before coming to a stop.

  “What now?” she asked, voice breathy with astonishment.

  “Well, I figure I’ll take the money from the sale, go to Silicon Valley and start investing in tech. Like I told you before, that’s my dream. And life’s too short to waste it doing other people’s dreams. You taught me that, Kiki. You taught me how to follow my heart.”

  Her hands found mine and we met once more for a slow, aching kiss, our lips twining around one another with a practiced familiarity, as though we’d memorized each other’s curves long ago, perhaps in another lifetime. I brushed a hair away from her and felt her smooth skin at my fingertips, the pulse racing her neck. There was no question, no doubt, in my mind — this was the path I was meant to walk.

  Sure, it was different than my father had imagined, but he’d followed his own dreams. It was only fair that I got to follow mine. I would go into business, a
nd for once in my life, I’d work hard. I think that alone would’ve made him proud, to see me striving to a goal. And if it didn’t — if he looked down from beyond the grave, and disapproved of my actions — well, fuck it. He wasn’t exactly a hell of a father.

  “I’m so happy for you,” Kiki murmured as her lips left mine.

  A smile danced across her mouth, lighting up the area around us.

  “Thanks. I couldn’t have done it without you.” That reminded me… “And, since Dazzlers is getting sold, I’ll be able to scrub the books of your dad’s debt. Jack was watching them like a hawk before, so we couldn’t have simply evaporated that kind of money. But in a billion-dollar sale, every now and then a hundred thousand or so goes missing.”

  I looked to Kiki, waiting to see if this compromise was acceptable. She’d been very touchy about the subject of money, but I hoped that my proposition would pass muster. After all, it would no longer be me to whom she owed money. That should change the circumstances. All I wanted was to be done with this idea of debts and collection and legacy, and to just move into the future, unencumbered by the past. We both deserved as much.

  “Okay,” she said, nodding her head. “I can take that. I know you’re still doing me a favor but… but I’m working on dealing with my pride and accepting help when people offer it. I’ve realized that I can’t do everything alone, no matter how much I might want to. And that you’re not doing this to make a big show out of having money, but because you love me.”

  “I really do, Kiki.”

  “Then… well, then, it’s okay. Because people who are in love help one another.”

  “And while I can help you with money, you can help me with showing how to live a rewarding life. Everyone brings different strengths to a relationship.”

  Oh shit, did I just say relationship? Fuck, what if she wasn’t ready to agree to that, what if I’d jumped the gun and ruined everything? It wasn’t like me to overcommit, to take a step before the other person was ready, but here I was, being impetuous and crazy and just wanting to move as fast as possible. Maybe that’s what everyone’s like, when they find the one.