by Emma York
"You've lost me."
"Just don't use her and toss her aside like you do with everyone else."
"I've no idea what you're talking about," I said, taking the bottle from her and walking back to Alice.
"So," she said when I sat down. "So."
"So?"
"So I'm not great at small talk."
"All right. Why not tell me something about yourself. What do you do when you're not serving drinks?"
"Well I just finished a long series of unemployment so I'm not in my pyjamas every day anymore which is nice."
"That's good."
"What about you? What do you do?"
"Not very much."
"Unemployed too?"
I laughed. "I own a couple of businesses but I have plenty of good people doing the hard work for me. Gives me more time to meet people like you."
"A couple of businesses. We've all got a couple of businesses. One not enough for you?"
"I got greedy, what can I say?"
"Can I ask a question?" She sounded nervous as she said it, as if she thought I might say no.
"Of course you can."
"Why did you bid on me?"
"Because I want to take your virginity."
"I see." She picked up her glass and almost drained it in one gulp. "Hey, that's not bad," she said, grabbing the bottle and pouring another glassful.
"It's all right, isn't it?" I said, sipping at my own. "For a red Lafite."
She fell silent.
"Back in a moment," I said, leaving her alone. I went to the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror. "You're a lucky man," I said out loud. "But you're an idiot. What the hell are you doing? He'll kill you if he finds out." I knew I should cancel, tell her I'd made a mistake.
When I came back, she was halfway through the bottle. Her nerves had faded, her shoulders less tense. "Welcome back," she said, holding up her glass to toast my return. "Come on, you need to catch up."
"Take it steady," I replied. "We've got a while to go yet."
"Where are you staying?" she asked. "Is it a penthouse? I bet it's a penthouse."
"Just my house."
"I bet it's not. I bet it's at the top of The Shard with a butler at the door."
"I'm at my house, I promise you."
"Right, prove it."
"What?"
"Show me your house. Prove you're right."
I stood up. "All right. Come on then."
She grabbed the bottle, bringing it with her as we weaved our way to the door. Outside she looked along the row of cars. "The Lamborghini, that's yours isn't it."
"Nope."
"The Rolls then. I bet that's it."
"Guess again."
"That one."
"That's a taxi."
"Oh, right. Sorry. All right, I give up. Which one's yours?"
"This one," I said, unlocking the Ferrari.
"This? I've got one like this, just for running around in of course."
"Then you know you're trying to open the petrol tank with that handle."
"Is this really your car?"
I nodded. "It has one advantage over all these others."
"What?" she asked, shivering as the cold started to hit her despite the wine.
"Climb in and find out."
She got in and I started the engine, keeping my smile from my lips as I thought about what I was going to do. I was going to see what was under those clothes. I was going to do to her the things I'd wanted to from the moment I saw her. And she had no idea. She was just swigging from the bottle of wine and giggling. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she said as I pulled out of the car park. "Mom would kill me."
"What for? Drinking?"
"You know what I mean. I don't ever do this sort of thing."
I put on my most innocent voice. "We're just going so I can prove I live in an ordinary house like you. That's all."
"Of course," she said, putting a mock stern look on her face. "Absolutely."
As I drove, I couldn't help but think of Elora and the last auction I'd taken part in. She'd come home with me in much the same way. After it all went wrong, I had no desire to spend more than an hour with another woman. Until Alice reappeared in my life. Until those twinkling eyes and that perfect smile I'd forgotten about, the one she was giving me as I turned the corner and put my foot down. "Go on then," she said. "Why is this car so good?"
"Because the heating gets going really quickly."
"What? Seriously?"
I nodded. "Would I lie to you?"
"You're pulling my leg."
"I'm really not. Aren't you feeling warm already."
"I suppose so."
Silence for a minute before she spoke. "So what are you going to do to me when we get in?"
"I'm going to cook you something."
"You don't have a personal chef to do that for you?"
"Not at nearly midnight. I do let him get some sleep sometimes."
"That's very magnanimous of you."
"I'm a generous guy. I'm even thinking of paying him one of these days."
"Stop it, you're breaking my heart."
She was grinning and I couldn't help smiling too. I thought of Elora, of the way things had gone, the way they'd ended. I thought of how empty the house had been since then.
I glanced down at her chest, almost hitting a parked car as my eyes refused to look away. What would happen if I tore her clothes off her? Told her to strip for me maybe? I could watch her peel those things off until she was naked and then...well then I had a lot of things lined up, far too many for just one night.
We pulled into the driveway just as she finished the bottle and by then I needed a drink myself. One glass was my limit when I was driving but now I was home, I could have more. I would need it if I was going to control the rising beast inside me. It made me want to take her before we even got out of the car.
Did she realise the risk she was in coming home with me? How I might not let her go? How I was planning to do things to her that would make her scream and not just with pleasure?
"Welcome to my home," I said, opening her car door and holding out my hand to help her out. "Told you it wasn't a penthouse."
FIVE - ALICE
It might not have been a penthouse but it was more than just a house. It was almost as big as the club, a huge red brick building that looked like it should come with it's own retinue of liveried staff. If a butler had appeared on the doorstep to greet me, I wouldn't have been surprised. If a horse had wandered past and the groom nodded, "Evening Master Powers," I'd have thought it perfectly normal.
"What do you think?" he asked, leading me up the steps to the door.
"Last time we all came to your house, it was nothing like this."
"That was ten years ago. I've upgraded since then."
"Why haven't I seen you since then?"
He shrugged. "You were studying, I was working."
"You must have worked pretty hard to get a place like this."
"I'm glad it meets your approval. Now what would you like to eat? I've got a kitchen that can do pretty much everything."
"Can it order me a lemon chicken from the Red Dragon?"
"You still eat that?"
I nodded, the craving for it growing stronger by the second. It was always the same when I had wine. "Screw the carbs, get me that with fried rice and I'll worship you forever."
"I'll remember you said that."
He unlocked the front door and we stepped inside to a wall of heat. Compared to the icy cold wind on the drive, this was bliss. I giggled, the empty bottle slipping from my hand as I did so. "Whoops," I said as it hit the floor with a thud, somehow not smashing but instead rolling slowly away behind me.
"You're drunk," he said.
"Maybe a bit. Just don't take advantage of me."
"I'll try not to. Now do you want anything else apart from the number seventeen."
"Nope. Hang on, how do you know it's a number seventeen?"
He lowered his voice. "Don't tell my chef but I might sometimes order it myself."
"Your secret's safe with me," I said before yelling, "Ethan orders lemon shicken from Red Dragon takeaway."
"Shicken?"
"Chicken."
"Not shicken?"
"Shush."
You mean chush."
"You're teasing me."
Only a little."
He pushed open the door to a drawing room like something out of a Merchant Ivory film. The only pretension to modernity a phone on the far wall and an enormous flatscreen TV beside it. He picked up the phone. "Hi, Lee. Not too late to order? Great. Two seventeens and a twenty-three. Wonderful, thanks."
He hung up the phone and turned back to me. "Do you want to sit down?"
"I'm not sure. Are you allowed to sit on museum pieces?"
"Are you complaining about the furniture?"
"It's not exactly Ikea quality, is it?"
"Maybe not but can you forgive me?"
"For now but you better get some flat pack in your life soon or you'll regret it when these things crumble to dust."
"That's lasted three hundred years so far. I think we'll be all right."
I sat on a sofa so soft, I was almost swallowed by the cushions. He took the seat opposite, sitting in an armchair and looking suddenly masterful. It came with a slight shift of his body language, his facial expression hardening at the same time. "While we're waiting for the food, we should talk."
"Oh, should we? What about?"
"About what wine to have with it."
I cheered. "You're my kind of guy."
"Glad to hear it. What would you like?"
"Can we have the one we had at the club?"
"The Lafite? I might have a bottle or two in the cellar. Be back in a minute."
While he was gone, I sat back and examined the room. It was like I was dreaming. I'd started the night working behind the bar, just another shift like the last week's worth. Now I was in Ethan Powers' mansion while he brought me wine and Chinese food as if he was my servant. Not only that but he'd paid seven hundred and fifty thousand for the privilege of enjoying my company for the evening.
I thought about him. What was under that suit? I found myself thinking about that more and more as I waited. He'd said it was just an evening of company but I remembered Rowena's words. Everything was negotiable. Did he know how inexperienced he was? Of course he did. Was he just doing this to protect my innocence from the other bidders?
I had to show him I wanted him, that I was an adult like him. Time to bring my flirting game to the fore.
It took him a while to get back and when he did, I was ready, leaning forwards, hint of cleavage on display, toes turned inwards, trying to act all innocent as if I didn't know my boobs were peeking out.
"Your wine," he said as the doorbell rang from far down the hallway. "And your food too by the sounds of it."
"That got here quick."
"I tip them well." He left the open bottle and glasses with me and I poured out two generous quantities, sipping at mine while I waited. It really did taste good, sweet and subtle and there was the glass emptied already. Oh well, time for more.
It never occurred to me to wonder why I was drinking so quickly. If I'd stopped to think about it, I might have realised I was trying to drink away my anxiety. I had been insanely nervous since the moment my name was called out. The vodka from Rowena had helped take the edge of it and then when he'd given me wine, I'd gulped it down, my nerves fading more and more as the level in the bottle started to run down. Now I was having another glass but I wasn't thinking why, I was thinking how much fun this was, how much I wanted him, how relaxed I felt.
He walked back in with the food, handing me chopsticks which I tried and failed to use. "I'm normally really good at this," I said as I flung another portion of rice onto the floor. "Honest."
"I have a back up," he said, producing a fork from nowhere. "Try this."
"You don't trust me?"
"I just think carpets look better without the paddy field look to them, that's all."
When we'd eaten, I sat back and sighed. "That was good."
"Yes it was," he agreed. "Now we need to talk properly."
"No we don't," I said. "We've done enough talking. What we need to do is get down to kissing." Wine had upped my flirting game off the charts.
I stood up and slid my skirt up enough to reveal my thigh. "What do you think?"
"I think you're drunk."
"No, I'm not," I said, sounding indignant as I swayed across to him. "Kiss me."
"You are drunk. You'd never say that otherwise."
"Come on," I said, reaching up and fumbling with my top, trying to tease him, thinking it was a great idea, a fantastic way to show him I wanted him.
I can't remember much about what happened after that. I remember saying some other words but they might have been anything. I remember suddenly feeling incredibly hot and knowing that it was my clothes that were stopping me from cooling down. I needed to get rid of them. I remember a little voice telling me that was a bad idea. Then I remember a gap and then trying to kiss him but as I walked forwards, things went dark.
Then I don't remember anything at all.
SIX - ETHAN
Three quarters of a million had got me a drunken strip show from my best friend's daughter. It wasn't exactly what I had planned. She was clearly not used to drinking that much.
From sitting on the sofa and slurring her woods to stripping out of her clothes in a couple of minutes. If I was less of a man I might have taken advantage of the half naked drunk girl unconscious on the rug. But I couldn't do that, much as my cock throbbed at the sight of her body in panties and bra.
She looked good, really good, before she passed out. Slipping her top over her head had revealed a lacy white bra that was thin enough to make out the colour of her nipples within. Then she'd slid her skirt off and stood there pouting at me.
Then she stumbled forwards, those slender legs losing their balance as she slumped forwards, mumbling to herself as she did so. Then she collapsed and started snoring. It was the most adorable sound.
"Are you all right?" I asked, looking down at her. How could she look hot just laid there?
No reply.
I shook my head slowly before leaning down and scooping her up into my arms. The feel of her skin under my hands was as close to her as I got to her that night. So much for winning the auction. Making her mine. Being her first. That would have to wait.
I carried her through to the guest bedroom nearest my own, trying not to look down at her body, my cock was throbbing painfully enough as it was. I could feel the warmth and softness of her skin and it was torture without adding looking at her into the equation.
I laid her down on the bed, ignoring her mumbles as she rolled onto her side, facing away from me. I took a single glance at her perfect ass in those panties before I covered her with the blankets, tucking her in gently.
"Good night, Alice," I whispered as I headed for the landing. I'd said it many times before when I'd looked after her so Bill could enjoy a night off but this was different. This was very different.
I turned out the lights on the way out. She didn't make a sound. Then I pulled the door quietly closed and turned away. I got into my room and sat on the bed. I couldn't get the image of her body out of my head. It made me ache deep inside to know she was so close to me. I wanted her closer. I also didn't want her to leave.
The night had gone by far too quickly. From putting her name into the hat to getting her home to putting her to bed. It had been a blur.
I got up, heading downstairs. Once I got there, I collected her skirt and her top. They both smelt of her. It was intoxicating.
For a moment, I was unable to move, it was like the ghost of her was entering my nostrils. It had never been like that with Elora. It was hard to put my finger on why but this was different. Maybe it was because Elora had been working the clu
b floor, used to all the things that went on in there.
Alice was different. She seemed shocked by everything, like she was experiencing it for the first time. She was excited too, there was a glint in her eyes and a cheek to her manner. I liked it.
She even got drunk in her own cute way, not getting belligerent, just trying a fumbling attempt at seducing me before passing out.
I left her clothes outside her bedroom door before returning to my own room. I climbed into bed and turned out the bedside light. In the dark, my mind returned to how she'd looked stood in her underwear. She'd looked amazing. I wanted her more than anything. My night with her might be over but she hadn't left yet. There was still the morning.
I woke up early the next day, taking a second to recall what had happened last night. Then I was up and heading downstairs. "Good morning, Sir," Eaves said as I walked into the kitchen. "Breakfasting early today?"
"I'm going to cook, Eaves," I replied. "Go and take the morning for yourself."
"Thank you, Sir."
I paid him enough for there to be no questions. Once I had the kitchen to myself, I started to prepare. She would wake up soon and if I was any judge of her, she'd need a decent meal to start the day, help clear the fog. She'd had nearly two bottles of Lafite to herself. That would be enough to make anyone groggy.
When would she want to leave? I realised I had no idea. I hadn't planned this far ahead. I'd made it possible to claim her for myself but I hadn't thought through what to do the next day. It hadn't gone at all to plan. I hadn't aimed for her to be so drunk she passed out. She'd done that all by herself. What I could do though was make her stay another night. It wasn't in the rules of the auction what happened the next day, that was for us to negotiate.
I could make her stay. The thought sent a spark of excitement through me. I could tell her she wasn't leaving until I said so. How would she react to that? Would she submit? Or run for the door, calling the police as she went?
I heard movement on the stairs. Just in time. Another few minutes and the bacon would be burned. Any minute now she would appear in the doorway. I had a ridiculous hope that she would still be in her underwear. The thought was enough to make my cock twitch. Let her taste breakfast first. Then I would taste her.
