Dimitri returned, a smile on his face. I was determined to enjoy this time with him and live on the memories forever if I had to.
He put his arms around my waist, and I wrapped mine around his neck. “I think we have some things to talk about, my darling.”
I swallowed hard. “Okay.”
“When do you have to leave here? Tonight? Tomorrow?”
“I’m not sure. To tell you the truth, I had to get pretty drunk to go through with the auction. I only remember the most basic details.”
“Will you give me your name, now? Your phone number…address?”
“I made an agreement not to do that. The contract is null and void if I—“
“Don’t you think we’ve gone a bit beyond the contract at this point?”
I thought about what had happened to me in the past few months. Eric had tricked me onto the yacht with a non-existent party. Alexis had tricked me into coming over for an “innocent”
girls’ night in. Eric had tricked me into thinking we were on a date when, all along, he planned to sell me to the highest bidder.
And I’d totally believed my boss when he told me not to worry about the lay-offs because I was one of his best employees and I wouldn’t be affected.
The truth was, I was gullible. I’d always been that way, and if I didn’t start looking out for myself better, I was going to be homeless with no options but a life of crime.
Come to think of it, I wasn’t even sure I was in this country legally. And what kind of people smuggled half-naked women all over the world? Supposedly, it was his brother, not him, but what did I really know about them?
“Dimitri, yesterday was the best day of my life, but I can’t gamble away my home.”
“A gamble? Is that what this feels like to you?”
“I don’t have a good gut instinct about these things. For all I know, you and your brother do this every weekend and make bets on whether you can get the woman to give you her name, then send her home empty-handed and celebrate your prowess in the bar downstairs.”
I thought I’d seen Dimitri angry, but the rage that came over his face at the last remark made me stop breathing.
And I didn’t mean it, really. I only wanted him to understand that I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. This was a matter of survival for me.
A strange calm entered his voice as he said, “So you’re saying that whatever it is you feel for me is not worth the risk.”
“I don’t know, Dimitri!” I replied. “I’ve known you for a couple of days. How can I make a sacrifice like that based on a couple of days of hot sex?”
“Sex,” Dimitri murmured as he gazed out at the brick wall. “Sex and money. That’s what it always comes down to with women. They have the sex. They want the money. Case closed…
For a little while, I let myself believe you were different.”
“I am…it’s just that—”
“Save your excuses for your next victim.”
“But I want—“
“It doesn’t matter what you want. It matters what I want. You’re here to service me sexually and I may as well get my brother’s money’s worth.” He grabbed my wrist and strode toward the bedroom door. I had no choice but to follow. “In fact,” he said as we reached the living room.
“Why don’t we do it all in here. Maybe my brother will come home and he can see that he got his money’s worth. Then there will be no question that you deserve to get paid!” When he let go of me, I was facing the side of the couch.
“No, Dimitri, I don’t want him to see—”
“Take off the robe.”
Anger coursed through me. How could he not understand the position I was in? I stared at him, too livid to put any more words together intelligently.
“Take off the robe or you’ll be in breach of contract,” he said as he tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at me.
I untied the robe and let it drop to the floor.
“Yes, I thought that would convince a mercenary-type like yourself.” He placed a hand on my upper back and pushed. I put my hands out to catch myself. They landed on the couch cushion. My body was bent over the large rounded sofa arm. I was grateful that at least it was thick upholstery rather than wood or wrought iron.
But what a humiliating position—my ass in the air, facing the front door.
“Stay there,” he commanded and he walked off to the bedroom. When I heard his footsteps return, the back of the couch blocked my view of him until he was behind me.
I became aware of the familiar sensation of cold steel. Dimitri kicked my feet apart and attached the spreader bar to my ankles. “For a while there I almost forgot you were a paid whore, here for a specific purpose. What do you think it will take to erase the anger I’m feeling now?”
“I don’t know,” I said quietly. “I never wanted to make you ang—”
“Say your name…go ahead…like my brother told you.”
“Marissa,” I whispered.
Thwack… The whip stung the backs of my thighs so intensely that tears popped through right away.
“Again. Tell me again.”
“Marissa,” I said louder. I wanted him to whip me. I deserved his anger and his punishment.
I’d sold myself for money. I’d chosen it over him.
Thwack… I jerked forward from the sting.
“Again.”
“Marissa, Marissa, Marissa, Marissa.”
Thwack…thwack…thwack…thwack…
My thighs burned as if they’d been seared by a hot iron. But I needed the pain to assuage my own guilt and cover the intense sadness I felt.
“Damn you! Damn my brother! Damn Marissa!” I heard the whip hit the ground and the sound of a zipper.
Fresh tears dripped from my eyes and fell on the sofa cushion.
Dimitri entered me suddenly, his cock thrusting angrily inside me. I cried harder because I wanted him inside me, but I didn’t deserve to have him. Because this would probably be the last time I was with him.
“She’s just a whore,” he whispered, as though reminding himself.
I couldn’t blame him.
He pulled out.
“No!” I cried out. “Don’t stop!”
He snorted as if disgusted. I wasn’t sure if it was with me or with himself. He moved around behind me, but I couldn’t tell what he was doing…until I felt his gooey cock press against my ass.
“Have you ever had a man in here, Marissa?”
My throat closed as I thought about the size of his cock. “No,” I answered hoarsely. The idea scared me so much, my teeth tried to chatter, but I jammed them together.
He moved around between my cheeks, circling the hole until it was slippery. A thrill of pleasure tumbled through me. I wanted him there. He would be the only man I’d ever allow in.
Something only we shared together.
The tip broke through and I shuddered from the pain-pleasure. But when he tried to push in further, the pain became so extreme, I tensed and pulled my hips forward to get away. “You’re too big,” I said.
“You can adjust. You’re a whore now, after all. You need to learn the tricks of the trade.”
It was crazy the way his control of me turned me on. The thought that he was really planning to pound my ass with his big cock nearly made me pass out from excitement…and terror.
“I’m afraid.”
“You only have to tell me your real name and you don’t have to go through with it. Consider it your ‘safe word.’”
Confused thoughts swirled through my head. I wanted him to know who I was. I needed the money. I wanted his cock in my ass. I was scared to death to have him there.
He retreated a few centimeters and paused. When I said nothing, he taunted me with a shallow prod.
I groaned and pressed my bottom back toward him. He pulled out again and gave me
another shallow push.
“Are you sure there’s nothing you want to say to me?”
&nbs
p; Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew he was talking about my name, giving me one more opportunity to say the word and get out of this, yet…
“Fuck my ass” was what I wanted to say, but all that came out was, “I’m sure.”
I pushed backward again, and he plunged in farther than before. I cried out from the pain but there was no question in my mind now that I wanted it.
He grabbed my bottom, one cheek in each hand. “What a beautiful thing to hold,” he said, almost wistfully. He spread my cheeks. I peeked back over my shoulder and saw him watching his cock move in and out of my most private place. “What a beautiful thing to fuck.”
He released my ass and slipped a hand around in front of me, sliding it down to my crotch.
“At least this way, you’ll never forget me, my little whore,” he said. His thick finger fucked my pussy once, twice, three times prior to spreading the cream onto my clit.
As he made little circles he plunged his full length into my ass.
“Ohhh…” I groaned. He stilled for a moment. The muscle that encircled his cock ached and throbbed. I had the urge to reach back and push him away. But he continued swirling my clit while he fucked my ass faster and faster. Jolts of pleasure ping-ponged between my pussy and asshole.
“This is all I should have ever done with you.” He said. “Taken you in the ass and never looked into your face.” He jerked, as if he nearly came, but he went still until the feeling passed.
My heart broke at his angry words.
He began fucking me again and his finger resumed its work on my clit. I wondered why he would still try to give me pleasure if he was so angry with me, but it was all so decadent and it felt so good…and Dimitri was inside me.
Suddenly, he seemed to lose control. He drove into me, harder and faster, until he was pounding my ass with his big cock.
“Holy fucking mother of—” He tensed and shuddered and thrust his finger back into my pussy. My muscles tensed around his digit. I began to shake as wave after wave of orgasm enveloped me.
He spasmed so hard, I was squeezed between his forearm and body and all the air was pushed out of me. I gasped as one last twinge of pleasure hit me.
Dimitri pulled away. “You can have some privacy,” he said. “I’ll use the other bathroom.”
Chapter Four
When I got out of the shower, I went to the glass doors again and stared at the brick wall.
Some of the walls I’d encountered in my life had been beyond my control. But what about this one?
Dimitri said he wanted me. Sure, in my experience people said a lot of things they didn’t mean, but was I supposed to mistrust everyone and every emotion because of it? I was gullible and naïve, but I could see the difference between people like Eric and Alexis and someone like Dimitri.
He cared about me, truly, didn’t he?
But what if he was one of those men who fell in love too easily then decided the woman he thought he loved was a whore or a bitch or whatever he renamed her when he tired of her?
Should I worry so much about the future that I throw away the present?
Dimitri’s face came to me, crystal clear in my mind. I watched his expression when he told me I didn’t have Marissa’s eyes. The tenderness he’d shown me yesterday. The breakfast he’d made me today.
He thought after all that, I’d change my mind and tell him who I was so we’d have a chance together.
I realized I couldn’t take the money and leave him. If I did, I’d always regret not taking the chance with him. I needed to tell him.
I threw on his robe and ran through the house calling his name, but my own voice echoed back at me. He was nowhere to be found.
I didn’t know how to call him on the phone. I didn’t know how to call anyone in Greece, come to think of it.
After pacing around for an hour, I went to lie on his bed and wait for him. I’d decided this was one risk I had to take. As much as I loved my grandfather’s house, it wasn’t the same as having a real live person to love. I closed my eyes and dreamed of a future with Dimitri.
*****
I awoke to the feel of rough hands on me. Fear swept through me as I became aware of the blindfold over my eyes. I struggled to remove it, but my hands were pulled behind me and shackled.
“No!” I cried. “No!”
“Oren’s orders,” a man’s voice said briskly.
“Dimitri!” I screamed.
“Quiet or I’ll gag you. Dimitri’s not here anyway.”
“I have to talk to Dimitri! He wanted me to tell him something.”
“You’ve served your time. You’ll have a bank transfer waiting in your account when you get home.”
“I don’t want it!” I struggled at my handcuffs and kicked at my kidnappers. “I don’t want it!
Please, just let me tell Dimitri!” I was gagged and lifted from the floor. Within seconds, I was taken down a staircase and placed in a vehicle.
All I could do was lie silently in the car as tears flowed from my eyes.
*****
A month later, I walked out to my mailbox as I did every day. As ridiculous as it was, I had the same fantasy each time—that Dimitri had somehow located me and sent me a letter. I never got as far as what the letter would say exactly. It was a silly dream, anyway.
“Tanya!”
Great. Mrs. Valdez from next door was coming my way. She knew my mother and my grandparents, and I used to enjoy chatting with her before the weekend with Dimitri. But since I got back, I’d been so depressed, I couldn’t stand to see the “poor baby” look in her eyes—the same one she had for months after my mother died.
Besides, instead of wearing work clothes, I was spending my days in yoga pants and t-shirts.
I didn’t want to see anyone. At least I’d remembered to brush my hair this time.
“How are you?” she asked. Except the “you” came out sounding more like “Jew,” which reminded me of the way my dad’s mom used to say it. On days like today, it almost made me cry. She toddled up to me, placing her hands on my cheek and forehead as if checking for a fever.
“I’m fine,” I said.
“Aye, pobrecita!”—There it was, the “poor baby” part. “You’re not fine. I think you may need to see a doctor.”
“I’m just a little down, since I lost my job and everything.” It was the “and everything” part I could never, ever tell her. She’d be mortified. Luckily, I’d never told her I was losing the house, so I didn’t have to explain how I’d kept it.
The opening bars of Bad to the Bone wafted through the air.
“Oh, I left my phone on the porch,” she said as she headed back to her house. My daughter Belinda is about to have a baby so I have to answer—oh, you know Belinda!” She called out as she picked up her phone.
I was relieved. She’d always been so kind to me, I was afraid I’d break down in front of her and start babbling about Dimitri. I looked down at my mail.
Bills, bills, advertisements. The usual. I was vaguely aware that a car stopped across the street, but I had no interest in gossiping about who was visiting whom in the neighborhood. I took in a long, deep breath and sighed it out. I turned back toward my front door.
“Tanya!” That wasn’t Mrs. Valdez. And the voice was very familiar, even if I’d never heard my name called out by it before. I froze in place, afraid to turn and find it was someone else.
Maybe it was no one at all. Maybe I’d advanced from depression to auditory hallucinations.
“Tanya?” The voice was directly behind me now. So deep, so masculine, so…?
I turned my head enough to see a pair of large men’s dress shoes on the street near the curb.
So there was definitely someone there. I closed my eyes and allowed my feet to inch around very slowly until I was facing the street. I opened my eyes.
“Hi,” Dimitri said. His voice was gentle and tentative in a way I’d never heard.
The mail fell from my hands as I pinched my arm t
o make sure this wasn’t a dream. “You found me?” I asked, which was a pretty stupid question, I guess.
He bent down to pick up my envelopes and fliers. When he handed them back to me, he was so close, I had to lean my head back to see his face.
He glanced next door. I followed his gaze and saw Mrs. Valdez in suspended animation watching us. The phone was still near her ear, but if someone was talking to her, they weren’t getting any response.
“Could we sit on your porch for a minute?” Dimitri asked. When I just stared up at him, he said, “If you don’t mind?”
I turned and walked up my porch stairs and sat down on the swing, still dazed. He sat on the old metal chair. It crossed my mind that I hoped he didn’t get any rust on the beautiful black suit he was wearing. Gray shirt…and a black tie. I’d never seen him in a tie. What was he so dressed up for?
I looked down at my faded pink t-shirt and gray yoga pants. “You’re overdressed,” was what came out of my mouth. Neither of us laughed at the ridiculous statement. Our gazes met. “How
—?”
“I harassed Oren constantly for two weeks.”
“So, he told you?”
“No. I issued threats for several days in a row. I finally told him I’d push him down the stairs and leave him until he starved to death, if he survived the fall.”
“So, then he told you.”
“No. He left town to give me time to cool off. But it occurred to me that Oren never threw away a contract in his life. He’s meticulous about anything he signs.”
“So, you went to his files.”
“Yes, but they were locked. I went downstairs and got all the tools from the back of the bar and ripped the cabinets apart.” He pulled some pages out of his pocket. “I’ve been staring at this every day for the last week.”
“Why did you wait? Why didn’t you come a week ago?” I asked. That would have saved me three of the six pounds I’ve gained and about a hundred dollars in ice cream expense.
“I wasn’t sure you wanted me to find you. I mean…after I thought about it, I understood your position. You hardly knew me. It was too big a risk…” He propped his elbows on his knees and looked down at his hands. “But the last time. What I did to you… In my mind, I thought we both wanted it, even if I was so angry, but then I started to wonder if I—” He looked up into my eyes. His were more vulnerable than I’d ever seen them. “Did I force you?”
Bought and Bound Page 5
