Auctioned to the Honorable Dom [The Spectrum Auctions 1] (Siren Publishing Allure)

by Doris O'Connor

“No, I haven’t, Mistress. Or at least I didn’t until he decided to call in big brother.” She stiffened in Slade’s arms and Scarlett laughed.

  “Well, my dear, Master or not, he is a man, and you know, they don’t always think straight.” His longtime friend and business partner winked at him and then continued.

  “I would suggest you take your new sub home, Master Slade, she looks exhausted. You can leave big bro here to me. I’m sure I can find something for him to do to work off that aggression in far more pleasurable ways—for me anyway.”

  She smirked and stepped right into Michael’s personal space. He took several steps back until his back hit the wall. With her high heels, the top of her head fit just under his nose, yet Michael swallowed hard several times, his eyes fixated on the Domme’s bright red lips. She tapped his nose with one perfectly manicured fingernail and then ran that nail down over his lips and across his clavicle, before she stepped back and cupped his groin with a considering look.

  “What do you reckon, big boy? Up to playing with the big girls, or are you too chicken?”

  Michael turned all sorts of interesting shades of green and Scarlett laughed.

  “Guess you are. If you change your mind, you know where to find me.” She winked at Laura, and Slade felt her silent chuckles under his arm. Her brother’s gaze was too focused on Scarlett’s swaying behind as the Domme sashayed out of the room with much more swagger than she usually showed. Slade grinned to himself. Trust Scarlett to put up a show.

  “Fuck, is she for real?” Michael asked when the heavy door had swung shut, blocking the view of Scarlett’s departure.

  “Mistress Scarlett makes grown men cry on a regular basis.” Slade smiled at Michael’s wince in return, and this time Laura did giggle, as she extricated herself out Slade’s arms.

  “It would serve you right if she took a chunk out of your self-inflated ego, oh brother of mine.”

  Michael snorted in disgust and Slade stepped between brother and sister who seemed to have a silent battle of wills if the way they were glaring at each other was anything to go by.

  “She also takes her lucky subs to the heights of ecstasy you can only dream of, so I wouldn’t dismiss her offer out of hand if I was you, Mike.”

  “You’re fucking insane if you think I want anything to do with this sick shit. And you’re not dragging my sister into any of this. I told you before, you leave her alone. She’s not for the likes of you.”

  “She is right here, you bigoted idiot. You have no idea what you are talking about.” Laura’s annoyed voice cut through the tension in the room like a hot knife through butter. It also gave Slade a warm glow inside to hear her defending his chosen lifestyle with such vehemence. Outrage poured off her slender frame in almost palpable ways. He never understood the expression of eyes spitting fire, but Laura’s certainly were now. It was such a contrast to her earlier submission he could do nothing but drink in the sight of the woman he loved.

  Blood rushed in his ears and the rest of the heated conversation between brother and sister passed him by as the truth dawned on him. He’d always loved her as Michael’s little sister, but something had changed between them at the funeral all those years ago. She had clung to him then in much the same trusting submission that she had shown him today. Back then he had run from her. Partly at her brother’s request, but more importantly out of fear of his own feelings. Even back then he had sensed their undeniable connection. She had been too young for him, however. Even now her innocence called to him, as much as her inner strength. He wanted to claim her, brand her as his, make her wear his collar and consequences be damned.

  “You cannot be serious. You cannot want this? Do you get off on men beating you up?” Michael’s shouted words registered seconds before the slap did. Slade whistled through his teeth as Laura slapped her brother with enough force to make his head spin around and leave a nasty red print on his cheek.

  “How fucking dare you? If I wanted to be slapped around I could have stayed with Johan.” She looked on the verge of tears, and an uneasy fist closed around his heart at the mention of Laura’s ex-fiancé. He’d only met the guy once, and he hadn’t liked him then, but he had been Michael’s partner on the force at the time, and her brother had done his best to push Laura and Johan together. It had been a deliberate ploy to stop Laura’s fixation, as he’d called it, on Slade. Why ever had he allowed Michael to interfere in his life to such a degree?

  “Don’t be ridiculous. Johan would never hit a woman. He is constant and dependable and just what you needed. I will never understand why you cheated on him,” Michael said. With his arms crossed over his chest he was the image of the disapproving older brother. He also looked like a right prick and Slade’s hands itched to return the earlier punch the man had landed on his jaw. It still fucking hurt.

  It seemed everyone in the room had changed since he’d been away, and in Michael’s case it had not been for the better.

  “And you believed him, of course.” Laura’s reply carried so much pain and disappointment it hurt to listen to, and at long last Michael looked a tad doubtful.

  “I had no reason not to believe him. You were out partying with that so called tarty friend of yours all the time after you broke up. I didn’t even recognize my own sister. Why wouldn’t I believe him when he said he found you in bed with another man? I mean, look at you now. You’ve sold yourself at a bloody slave auction to line the coffers of the perverts who run this place.”

  “Actually the proceeds of the auctions go to orphanages around the country.” Slade took a certain amount of satisfaction from seeing Michael’s flush of embarrassment, but he was more concerned with Laura right now. She looked so fucking miserable and fragile as though a breath of air could knock her over. It was time to take charge and let the chips fall where they might.

  “Scarlett was right, Laura looks exhausted. I need to take her home and give her the aftercare she needs. We had an intense scene and she is my responsibility now. You heard your sister, she is here of her own free will, and regardless of what you might think of us perverts, we do look after our submissives.”

  Michael glared at him, but Slade turned his back on him and cupped Laura’s chin.

  “Look at me, petal. Focus on my voice and mine alone. Nothing else matters.”

  A shudder went through her and her tear-filled gaze connected with his.

  “We’ll sort this out in the morning. Your brother is leaving and I’m taking you home, to my place, because I don’t think you should be on your own right now. This is not a request, petal. Do you hear me?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Michael snorted at her whispered reply, but Slade paid him no heed. He picked up his precious bundle and made for the exit.

  Chapter Four

  The ride to Slade’s house was completed in tense silence. He’d shut down every one of her protests with a terse, “Not up for discussion, petal,” and she’d eventually stopped trying. In truth returning to her empty bed-sit filled her with dread. Having her worst suspicions confirmed had dredged up the past she’d thought buried. Hours and hours of shrink time ruined in one angry discussion with her brother. They had been close once. She’d looked up to Michael with the same kind of hero worship she’d bestowed on Slade, but their relationship had never truly recovered from her parents’ death. She knew he blamed her for that car crash as much as she blamed herself.

  Had she not landed herself in trouble that night, her parents would not have had to come to her rescue and they wouldn’t have been on the road to get run off it by a car full of drunken joy riders.

  Laura had gotten away with only minor cuts and bruises. Having fallen into a drunken stupor herself on the backseat had saved her from the impact, according to the police enquiry. Her parents hadn’t been that lucky. The front-on impact had killed her father instantly and her mother had died in hospital two days later, never having regained consciousness.

  Laura’s relationship with her brother had died
that day, too, not that she had realized it at the time. Desperate for her brother’s approval and left up the creek without the proverbial paddle after Slade’s abrupt departure, Laura had bent over backward to see the approval she’d craved in her brother’s eyes—approval that had never returned.

  Getting involved with Johan had been one desperate last-ditch attempt to gain that approval. It had opened her up to a world of hurt, until she had finally pulled up her big girl panties and told him to get stuffed.

  The car’s abrupt stop brought Laura out of her angst-filled internal musings and her eyes widened when big wrought-iron gates swung open in front of her. That explained how he could afford the outrageous sum of money he’d paid for her. Clearly, Slade was rather well-off these days.

  She looked across at Slade and found him watching her. The ghost of a smile crossed his features and then the car was moving again. The crunch of gravel seemed too loud and Laura snapped her mouth shut when she got the first look of Slade’s house.

  The three story building rose up in front of them, and she blinked to get her gritty eyes to focus.

  “You live here?”

  “Yes, I do, petal.”

  Laura didn’t miss the hint of disapproval in his voice, but she couldn’t stop herself from questioning him either.

  “Since when? I mean, I didn’t even know you had a house over here. When you said you’d take me home I was expecting a flat or something, not a town house in…Where exactly are we?”

  The car slowed to a stop and Slade switched off the engine. An uncomfortable silence settled between them, and they were plunged into semidarkness when the porch security lights dimmed.

  Slade’s fingers drumming on the steering wheel were the only movement in the silent interior of his Range Rover, and Laura flinched when he moved and wrapped his hand around her neck.

  Large and warm it reassured her. Regardless of where they were, this was Slade. She knew him. He wouldn’t abuse her trust. There was no need for the sudden rise of panic that made it hard to breathe.

  Slade sighed and she jumped when his hot breath feathered over her heated cheeks.

  “Does it matter where we are, little brat.” His childhood nickname for her brought tears to her eyes, and he swiped them off her face with his free hand.

  “Look at me. What is this all about? It’s me, Slade. Let’s leave everything else behind and just focus on that. What has that bastard done to you to make you so wary?”

  Laura screwed her eyes shut, and tried to shake her head, but Slade had an iron grip on her neck, and simply pulled her closer.

  “Breathe, Laura. In…out…with me. Come on, come back to me and let go of it. Whatever it is.”

  Her body responded to his quiet strength, the edge of command in his deep voice. It pulled her back from the brink of the panic attack, pulled her out of that well of despair tonight’s events had pitched her into. He released her when her breathing returned to normal and Laura moaned the loss of his warmth. Cool air rushed into the interior of the car, and she blinked in the sudden light when the security light came back on. She froze, utterly unable to move, as Slade opened the front door, and disappeared inside for a few seconds. The house lit up and before she could even blink he was back, opening her door. She made a grab for the blanket still wrapped around her, and he smiled and undid her seat belt.

  “Let’s get you inside, and stop looking at me as though I’m going to eat you. Nothing else is going to happen tonight. You’re in no fit state to make any decisions. I just need to take care of you. Will you let me?”

  Laura blinked and gaped at him, and his smile deepened. It left grooves along his mouth, and the fine lines around his eyes deepened. Her fingers itched to trace them. It wasn’t fair how men got more attractive with age, and Slade just oozed confidence and sex appeal with every pore of his being. He held out his hand, patiently waiting for her to take it, and Laura realized with a start that she was as much in danger of falling in love with this Slade, than she’d been in her teenage years. Only now she was a woman, a messed up version to be sure, but a woman who knew when a man wanted her. It was there in the tight control of his muscles, the way his eyes darkened, when she let the blanket slip a little, and his jaw clenched.

  “Petal, you don’t want to earn yourself another punishment tonight. Don’t push me.” His warning washed over her, and chased the last of her doubts away. She might well regret this in the morning because the longer she stayed in his company, the harder it would be to leave again, but god, she wanted him, all of him. She’d had a taste of his domination and she knew she wanted, needed, more. The freedom to just be, to let go, yes, she needed that. She needed him. Her sore ass protested as she tried to move, yet she couldn’t help her grin at the reminder. She would have bruises in the morning, and that thought made a bubble of happiness pop up in her chest.

  “Jesus, woman, you’ll be the death of me.”

  Slade’s annoyed grumble made her giggle and then the world tilted, and the air left her lungs in a whoosh as he swung her over his shoulder. He slapped her ass twice, and she hissed her compliance. The sweet burn made her skin tingle and she went limp. With her hair falling over her head she couldn’t see much of her surroundings, bar the polished oak flooring and the far more interesting view of Slade’s tight ass. How she would love to run her hands all over it and sink her teeth into the enticing buns, leaving her own mark on him.

  As though he read her thoughts, another swat to her butt followed, much harder than the two before, and she glared at his back.

  “Ow, that hurt!”

  She felt his chuckle seconds before she heard it.

  “It was supposed to. And there is more where that came from. I don’t like bratty subs.”

  She bobbed up and down on his shoulder as he took the stairs three at a time, and her reply came out rather wheezy.

  “I…I thought we were just you and me. You know, Laura and Slade, not Dom and sub.”

  A door opened and shut, and the world tilted again, until there were soft covers under her back, and Slade released her. He loomed over her for one heart-stopping second, his chiseled features a mask of controlled emotion, before he stepped back.

  “Yes, about that. We need to discuss those parameters, but first,” he ran a not quite steady hand through his hair and then turned to a door on the other side of the bedroom they were now in. “First, I’m going to run you a bath. I was hard on you at the club, and with your fair skin you will bruise easily. You’ll be stiff in the morning if we don’t take care of that.”

  “Maybe I enjoy a bit of stiffness,” she said and he stopped dead.

  “Yes, we’ll be discussing that too. Now, stop pushing me, or I’ll forget everything I just said and take you to my playroom for the proper punishment you deserve, before I fuck you senseless.”

  He threw her a dark glance across his shoulder and every feminine pore in her body clenched in need.

  There he was, the dark and dangerous Slade she wanted to see more of. Arousal pounded through her veins at the thought of being taken in a myriad of ways by this Slade, her body his for the taking to do with as he pleased. Before she could say anything else, however, the soft thud of the door shutting behind him stopped her. There was movement next door in what she realized must be an en suite bathroom. Water was being turned on, and she smiled to herself at the thought of Slade running her a bath.

  No one had run her a bath since she was little and her parents had still been alive. A tear slid down her face and she curled into a ball on the king-size bed Slade had placed her on. His familiar scent clung to the covers, and she pulled a cushion against her body and simply allowed herself to cry.

  * * * *

  Slade wiped the steam off the bathroom mirror and shook his head at his reflection. What was he doing? Yeah, bringing her to your house was such a smart move, dumbass.

  His reflection mocked him and he sat down on the edge of the filled bath with a sigh. For the umpteenth time he
had to adjust his throbbing dick. He highly doubted he would deflate any time soon, not with the object of his every fantasy lying on his bed in the next room. Yeah, such a smart move that had been. When she left in the morning, he would forever remember her there in his bed, all soft and pliant, and practically asking for him to take her.

  This was all sorts of fucked-up. He had to remember who she was. This was Laura, Michael’s little sister, and she needed his protection, not his cock shoved inside her sweet pussy.

  Fuck.

  Slade slid to the floor and unzipped his trousers. He was strung too tight to go back in there and help her into the bath with his cock a rigid pole in his hands. His boxer-briefs were stained with his pre-cum and taking himself in hand he used his natural lubrication to aid the glide of his hand up and down his thick shaft. In his mind’s eye it was Laura crawling along the floor toward him, her small hands fondling his balls, before she wrapped her pink lips around his prick. He wrapped his fists into imaginary Laura’s hair and fucked her mouth. Harder, deeper, until he came with a groan all over his hand and abdomen.

  Slade swore under his breath and thunked his head against the side of the bath with enough force to give himself concussion.

  Another smart move, dumbass.

  With another groan, Slade got up, grabbed a washcloth from the towel rail, and cleaned himself up. At least he was marginally more comfortable now, even if the thought of Laura’s curves covered in the bubbles of the bath had him semihard again.

  He checked the water temperature again and taking a deep breath, opened the door. Laura lay curled on her side, clutching one of the pillows. At first look he thought she’d gone to sleep, but then he saw the way her shoulders heaved.

  Shit, was she crying?

  When he got close enough to see her face, he realized that she was indeed crying. Big soft tears slid down her face and she’d stuffed the cushion in her mouth to stop herself from making a noise. Emotion swamped him, a wave of protectiveness so strong it took his breath away. With it came cold hard fury at the men in Laura’s life who should have protected her. It was pretty damn obvious, even without her having spelled it out, that her ex-fiancé had been an abusive asshole and her brother had at best been an insensitive lout, at worst a coconspirator. And had he done so much better? He’d left when she needed him most, had been at her most vulnerable. Sure he’d done it to protect her, or so he’d thought, but had he not just been kidding himself? Had he run to protect himself?