Sell Your Soul (Body & Soul Book 3)

by Rochelle Paige

  “Yes, my father”—I put a lot of emphasis on the word because he hadn’t been my daddy since the day I was shipped off to boarding school—“for some odd reason, which I’ll never understand because heaven forbid he actually have a real conversation with me, is not happy about you placing the winning bid. I have no idea how it’s even possible, but losing a date with me managed to harm one of his business relationships.”

  It was impossible to miss the flare of anger in his eyes as his gaze swept over me before he shifted the car back into drive. “Screw my good intentions.”

  “Pardon me?”

  As we pulled out onto the street in front of my parents’ estate, he reached over to clasp my hand in his. “You may deserve more, but with the path your father is apparently going down, you’re likely to end up with a hell of a lot worse than me.”

  “Umm,” I mumbled. “Was that supposed to make what you said clearer to me? Because I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Nope, that was more for me than for you.”

  “That’s good, because I’m still not understanding over here,” I grumbled.

  “I know,” he quipped. “But that’s how I want it for now.”

  “Then I guess I’ll let you get away with it,” I conceded begrudgingly, but only because I had a feeling getting Vaughn to share something he didn’t want to share was near to impossible. “For now.”

  “Works for me,” he murmured, sending an approving smile my way. “I was hoping you’d be looking forward to our date enough that you’d let it pass.”

  I felt my cheeks heat in embarrassment. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to seem like I’m not excited. Because I am. Really.”

  The squeeze he gave my hand was comforting, but the grin he flashed me had my stomach fluttering—excitement quickly replacing the irritation I’d been feeling only moments earlier. “Really, huh?

  The question should have come across cocky, but it worked for him. A little too well, considering the butterflies that were taking flight inside me. “What can I say? I’m nineteen. We say things like really a lot.”

  “Hmmm. I must have missed that memo,” he teased. “I guess they didn’t think to CC me because I haven’t been nineteen in quite a while.”

  “I’m pretty sure there wasn’t an actual memo. Way too old school. A snapchat? Maybe,” I giggled. “But since you brought it up, how long of a while has it been?”

  “Is that your clever way of asking me how old I am?”

  And here I thought I’d managed to be semi-subtle about it. “More like my not-so-clever way, yeah,” I confirmed.

  His fingers tightened around mine. “Does my age matter to you?”

  “No, I don’t think it does.” Sure, I was curious about it, but it wasn’t as though I didn’t already know there was a considerable difference in our ages. It hadn’t stopped me from being attracted to him. With the sparks he set off in me, I was starting to think nothing would dampen my attraction to him.

  “Good,” he exhaled, loosening his hold slightly. “Because it’s been almost ten years since I was a teenager.”

  “Is that all?” I gasped, surprised by his response. With the way he carried himself, I would have guessed mid-thirties if he’d asked.

  “Chronologically, yes. But it feels like a hell of a lot longer, probably because I spent the last two years of my teens in the Army.”

  It was sobering to know he’d been off fighting for his country for a year already when he was my age. It certainly put my troubles with my parents in a whole new light, strengthening my resolve to find a way to get out from under their stifling control sooner rather than later. It also made me feel even more out of my depth with Vaughn, adding another impressive layer to an already remarkable package. One which got impossibly better when he pulled up in front of the perfect location for our date.

  Chapter 5

  Vaughn

  “I’ve heard this place is amazing.” Carissa smiled up at me as I helped her out of the car. Her face was lit up in pleasure, making her even more beautiful. Almost impossibly so. There didn’t seem to be a bit of artifice in her, not when her expression gave everything away. She seemed to be a completely open book, and it made me feel even more protective of her.

  If my instincts about this situation were right, and they usually were, she was in a need of a hero. Too bad for her, she was stuck with me. I might not be anyone’s idea of a hero, not even my own, but I sure as shit could keep her safe from harm a damn sight better than any other man—including her father, the dumb shit who’d put her in the line of fire in the first place.

  “I’ve always wanted to eat here, but I’m surprised the event organizers picked it. It doesn’t seem flashy enough for a quarter-of-a-million-dollar date,” she continued, lowering her voice as we walked into the Japanese Yakiniku restaurant.

  The restaurant had been my first choice for several reasons, none of which had anything to do with the event organizers. I was able to book a private dining room which would offer us much-needed seclusion from other diners. I figured she would probably be a little nervous, being alone with me like that considering it was her first date, but the do-it-yourself style meal tended to be a good ice-breaker. Also, it was sure to take us at least a couple of hours to finish our meal, and I’d wanted as much time with her as I could get—even before I’d decided to take her for myself.

  “Actually, they didn’t,” I whispered in her ear as the hostess walked up to greet us. “I did.”

  Her startled gaze flew up to meet mine, but the hostess’s greeting prevented her from asking any of the questions I saw in her eyes. We followed the hostess to our private dining room, walking side-by-side with my hand resting on Carissa’s lower back. She was dressed more conservatively than she had been at the charity gala, so there wasn’t any bare skin underneath my hand. But damn, I still felt the heat of her through the silky material of her dress.

  We were led to a quiet room near the back of the restaurant. The hostess instructed us to place our shoes on a rack off to the right before leaving us alone. I toed mine off and quickly moved to help Carissa out of her strappy heels.

  “I’ve got it,” she protested. “You don’t have to help.”

  “Maybe not,” I agreed. “But I want to.”

  Her cheeks filled with color as I set her hands on my shoulders before wrapping my fingers around her ankle to lift her foot out of her sandal. When she tottered on the other heel, her hands pressed into me and I slid one of my hands up her leg, all the way to her hip, to help steady her. The smooth glide of her skin under my hand had my cock hardening—something I normally had total control over. But with Carissa, it seemed to have a mind of its own, one completely focused on getting inside her no matter how much I willed it back down.

  It would have been so damn easy to slide my hands under her skirt after I’d gotten the other sandal off. She was gazing down at me with wide eyes, heated cheeks and parted lips. Her breathing was choppy and I could see her pulse fluttering at her throat. She was just as turned on as I was, but the timing wasn’t right. Although I’d learned everything I could about her in the last two days, she knew virtually nothing about me except my name. So I forced my hands away from her body and turned away from her to put both pairs of shoes on the rack. After taking a few calming breaths, I swiveled back around and helped her down the couple of steps to our sunken table.

  “I guess I should have worn pants,” Carissa mumbled, staring down at the cushions on the floor.

  Taking in how the room was set up, my lips turned up in a wolfish grin. There was a rectangular wood table, set low to the ground, with a round aluminum grill sunk in the middle. On both sides of the table, there were two long cushions with a bench back on the floor. The table was cut back so you could sit comfortably, but getting down onto the cushion without flashing me her panties was going to be difficult for Carissa. “Or a shorter skirt.”

  “That would only make it worse!”

>   “Or better, depending on your perspective.” I flashed her a wink, making her giggle.

  I helped her get settled on one of the cushions and then swept my gaze along her body before I dropped down onto the cushion next to her. “Really, though. Can you blame me? I’d have to be dead not to want to see more of your gorgeous body.”

  “I can’t believe I’m actually saying this,” she answered softly. “But ditto.”

  Surprised laughter burst from me just as the waiter opened the door and came into the room, carrying a tray laden with several drinks and platters of meats and vegetables. After he placed everything on the table, he made sure the white charcoal in the grill was burning at the proper temperature and then quickly exited the room. Since I’d given them instructions to limit interruptions while we were dining, I was pleased to see he’d brought everything I’d ordered all at once.

  “We didn’t even order.” Carissa’s confusion was clear in her voice.

  “I took care of it when I made the reservation,” I explained.

  She glanced at the array of thinly sliced meats and sliced vegetables before smiling up at me irreverently. “After dropping a quarter of a million dollars on your bid, there wasn’t anything left over in the date budget for a chef to cook the food?”

  “Cooking it ourselves is half of the fun,” I assured her. “But we can go somewhere else if you’d prefer.”

  “No, this is perfect,” she replied, reaching out to grab my hand. “You could have taken me for fast food, and I’m sure it somehow still would have been perfect.”

  “I’m saving the Big Macs for our second date since you deserve the best for your first.” I lifted her hand and pressed a light kiss against her knuckles. “This might not be as fancy as some of the other places I could have taken you, but I can guarantee you a delicious dinner and a fun date.”

  “I’m not much of a cook,” she admitted shyly.

  I leaned forward and lowered my voice, as though I was sharing a secret with her. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a man.”

  “Oh, I’ve noticed all right,” she breathed out.

  She was fucking killing my self-control with the signals she was sending my way. I pressed a kiss against her forehead because if I claimed her lips, I wouldn’t want to give them up again for hours and my girl needed to eat. “This isn’t really cooking, it’s grilling. And I’d have to give up my man card if I wasn’t an expert griller.”

  She waved her hand towards the middle of the table. “I guess this is the perfect opportunity for you to impress me with your skills.”

  I laid some of the sliced steak, marinated beef short ribs, sweet peppers and shitake mushrooms on the grill to start us out. It didn’t take long before the steak was done, and I pulled it from the grill to put on our plates. Carissa went to take a bite, but I stopped her and poured some of the yakiniku sauce on it first.

  “You don’t want to miss out on the sauce. It’s what makes yakiniku more than just grilled meat.”

  She looked up at me doubtfully, her nose wrinkled up adorably. “What does it taste like?”

  “It’s hard to describe the taste of yakiniku sauce if you’ve never had it.”

  “I guess I’ll have to trust you and just give it a try then.” She was only joking around, but my chest expanded at hearing her say she trusted me. I wasn’t sure how long I’d have with her to build the kind of trust I had a feeling I was going to need, but it felt like a small step in the right direction. “Mmm, it’s really good. Sweet, garlicky and soy-saucy all at the same time.”

  I ate one of the slices off my plate and had to agree with her, the restaurant had outdone themselves with their sauce recipe. As we devoured the food I’d already cooked, I placed more items on the grill, including a portion of pork belly. It only took a couple of moments before flames leapt upwards.

  “So much for being an expert at grilling,” Carissa giggled, bending as far back away from the table as she could get.

  “Don’t blame me, it’s the pork belly’s fault,” I protested. “I wanted to give you the full yakiniku experience—playing with fire and trying lots of different things.”

  “Just be careful. Sometimes when you play with fire, you get burned.”

  “I can handle the heat for the both of us.” She didn’t know it yet, but I wasn’t talking about the flames shooting up from the grill. I was referring to the danger heading her way—trouble she’d never even know about if I could keep her in the dark while also protecting her from it.

  Chapter 6

  Carissa

  I gulped down some of my water, trying to cool myself off—and not from the heat of the grill. It was Vaughn’s raspy voice that had my pulse racing. He might have been talking about the fire, but my mind immediately jumped to the heat burning between us instead. I had no doubt he knew exactly how to handle it, but I was completely out of my depth with him. It didn’t stop me from wanting to fling myself into the deep end with him, though.

  “I already know you’re an expert griller,” I teased as I cut off a charred portion of the pork belly and put it on his plate. “And an amazing kisser. But I don’t know much else about you.”

  “I’m twenty-nine, single, and self-employed,” he rattled off.

  “You’re going to have to do better than that. I already knew your age, assumed you were single or else we wouldn’t be here together, and saying you’re self-employed doesn’t tell me anything about what you do.”

  “I’m an extremely private person. Sharing about myself doesn’t come naturally to me,” he explained.

  “I might be new to the dating thing, but I’m pretty sure that’s what first dates are all about. Getting to know each other.” A horrible thought crossed my mind. “Unless. I mean. I guess that’s only if you want a second date. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

  “Carissa, stop,” he barked out, stopping my awkward rambling. “I don’t just want a second date with you, I want all the dates. Never, not even for a single moment, mistake my discomfort at talking about myself for not wanting you. Not unless you need me to prove exactly how much I want you.”

  “Okay,” I whispered, awfully tempted to do exactly that. Instead, I decided to make it a little easier for him to share by telling him about myself. “I’m nineteen, single, and have no idea what I’m going to do with my life. Both of my best friends live in Europe, Celina and Bryony, and I’ve been wondering if I wouldn’t have been better off staying with one of them instead of coming home. I’d planned to go to college in the Fall, but my parents have been avoiding the subject. Since I’m dependent upon them until I can access the trust my grandparents left to me, I’m kind of stuck at a standstill for now. It’s especially difficult since I’m not close to them. Like, at all since I’ve spent the last six years at an all-girls boarding school in Switzerland.”

  “I’m fucking thrilled you decided to come home—”

  Vaughn’s response was cut off by the arrival of the waiter. He placed dishes of ice cream in front of each of us, cleared the table and then quietly left us alone again. Vaughn dipped a spoon into my dish and lifted it to my mouth.

  “You have to try the ice cream. It’s black sesame flavored.”

  I let him slide the spoon between my parted lips, enjoying the cool creaminess before the flavor exploded on my taste buds. The toasted black sesame reminded me of the roasted buckwheat Celina was basically addicted to. “Delicious.”

  He dipped his head and swept his tongue across my lips. “Exquisite,” he agreed.

  “Vaughn?”

  “Yes.”

  “The ice cream is amazing, but your kisses are even better.”

  “I guess I’d better give you another one since I did say you deserved the best.”

  “Yes, please.”

  Before I could say anything else, he slammed his lips down on mine. Cupping the back of my neck, he pulled me closer and deepened the kiss. His tongue tangled with mine until my heart was racing. Then he drew back slight
ly, running his tongue across my bottom lip before nibbling on it.

  “Yes, exactly like that.” I licked my lips, trying to capture the taste of him, and he moaned.

  “You really don’t have a clue what you’re doing to me, do you?”

  “Nope, but I’m going to enjoy figuring it out.”

  His eyes flared with heat, so it surprised me when he settled back on his cushion and nudged my bowl of ice cream towards me, handing me the spoon from the table. He dipped the spoon he’d used to feed me into his dish and took a bite. We sat there, eating ice cream like he hadn’t just kissed me senseless, for a couple minutes before he started talking.

  “Like you, I was an only child. When my parents died in a car crash during finals of my senior year of high school, I wasn’t left with many options. So I joined the Army and served for eight years. I met my best friend and business partner, Gaige, there.”

  “I’m sorry about your parents.” As difficult as my relationship with mine was, I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to lose them the way Vaughn had lost his.

  “Thanks, beautiful, but it was a long time ago.”

  It was obvious he didn’t want to discuss them further, so I let it drop and switched to a safer subject. “What kind of business are you and Gaige in?”

  “Consulting. Security mostly.”

  Thinking about the security staff my father employed, it was hard to believe Vaughn earned the kind of money that allowed him to drop a quarter of a million dollars like he had at the charity gala. My skepticism must have shown on my face because he offered up more details.

  “I was a sniper in the Army. Gaige was my flanker. We both learned a unique set of skills that command a high price when needed in the civilian world. I didn’t just learn marksmanship and long range shooting. They taught me how to avoid detection, target range estimation methods, camouflage, infiltration, special reconnaissance and observation, along with surveillance and target acquisition.”

  I only followed about a quarter of what he said, but his time in the military certainly explained the confidence with which he carried himself and the aura of danger surrounding him. One thing did jump out at me as being odd, though. “What brought you to the charity gala?”