Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 100417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
“I didn’t choose the one that was uploaded.” I’d only allowed Ivanna to use it because I’d looked a world away from the last pictures taken of me, when I was still a teenager.
“You’re twenty-six?”
Ivanna had inflated the number. “Old enough to know better.”
Máxim peered at my breasts. “Measurements: thirty-five, twenty-three, thirty-six?”
“Thirty-four and a half on a good day. I didn’t put that up either. I like my size.” I could go braless if I wanted to, but could still produce cleavage when necessary.
His brows drew together. I got the impression he was trying to fit me into a box, and having unexpected difficulties.
I could’ve told him, My ass won’t fit, yo.
“You have a marked accent. Not native to the States?”
“I grew up in a Spanish-speaking household.” With una madre loca, Catholic to the core. Despite her refusal to learn English, she’d homeschooled me until high school and kept most people away from our secluded beach. I didn’t like thinking about my childhood, much less talking about it.
“In Miami?”
I shrugged. Questions like this made me nervous. The less anyone knew about me the better. Connections to others were breadcrumbs. That was why I didn’t date, didn’t socialize. Not that I had time between scrubbing toilets and going to school.
“You don’t care to talk about yourself?” He gave a humorless laugh. “That’s a first.”
“Oh, you don’t want to hear about my boring life. I have an idea: let’s institute a no-personal-questions rule.”
“And you think you can keep yourself from digging about me?”
If it kept him from doing the same? “Sí.”
“Very well, then let’s get down to business. I believe this is the part where you upsell me.”
Busted.
“I’ll only need you for an hour or so,” he continued, “but I don’t like to be mindful of such things, so I booked half the night. How much will it cost to let me do anything I desire to you?”
What would a guy like this—gorgeous, rich, condescending—want? “Some things aren’t on the table.”
A flash of anger. “Everything is on my table, little girl.”
This was turning into an issue. No, no, remember your mantra. When faced with a difficulty, good businesswomen said, “It’s not a problem,” then went to work fixing it.
“Though I’d love to get to know your body better”—I gave him a brazen once-over that seemed to surprise him—“I can’t provide some of the services you might desire. There’s not enough money in the world.”
“Such as?”
“BBBJ. In fact, bareback anything is out.”
“I have no interest in that. You replaced another tonight—I’ll expect you to do what she would have. What I ordered from your agency.”
I recalled Ivanna’s kink specialization: bondage, discipline, submission, and the like. She had gear all over her apartment. Had this guy requested her for more than her looks?
As a vetted hobbyist, he couldn’t be too dangerous. If he offered me enough money, could I trust a strange man to tie me up? To make me helpless?
No, gracias. My ability to trust was broken, like a fractured limb that had never been set, now shrunken and useless. I even refused to trust myself when it came to men.
But I didn’t want to lose out on this money. “Why don’t we take tonight as it comes? See where it leads us?” See where I can lead you. “I promise we’ll both be satisfied.”
He narrowed his blue eyes, and it was like a blast of icy air blew over me. “Do not play games with me. And don’t mistake my intent—I couldn’t care less if you enjoy this or not, so don’t pretend to.”
What a dick! Cállate la boca, Cat! Shut your mouth—
“I won’t tolerate feigned passion.”
So much for Ivanna’s article. Somehow I managed to say, “Understood.”
“Then I’ll pay you three thousand—and you’ll be amenable to my interests.”
My knees almost buckled. That much money would be life-changing! Yet words were leaving my lips: “Make it five, and we have a deal.”
He stilled. Had I angered him? Blown everything? Mima, my island grandmother, had a saying: “Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.” I was about to be bacon.
“Deal,” he said.
En serio? Wait, what had I agreed to? Amenable to his interests?
“I assume you’ll want to be paid in advance.”
Holy shit! “Yes, por favor.”
“Follow me.” He returned to the living room, heading toward a stylish briefcase on a console.
Once fifty bound Benjamins sat tucked in my purse, my fate had been sealed.
He took my empty glass from me, setting it down. I’d drunk that wine too? I might’ve been buzzed, but my nerves prevented it. Now that the thrill of the deal was fading, anxiety took its place.
He crossed to a suite, saying over his shoulder. “Come. I’m keen to see what five thousand buys me in Miami.”
I stiffened at the reminder.
At the bedroom entrance, he turned to me. “What’s your hesitation? Feigning shyness won’t be tolerated either.”
My thoughts were in a tangle. Two stood out. You’re going to be a hooker, Cat, warred with Five thousand dollars, idiota! Gut check? Oh, yeah.
But Ivanna was right; I would have sex with this guy for free.
Besides, my situation demanded drastic measures. Nothing this man could do to me would be worse than what Edward would do if he caught me.
Since he was my husband, and I’d foiled his plan to kill me.
With that in mind, I joined the Russian in the bedroom. What I saw on the bed made me freeze in my tracks.
CHAPTER 3
A ball gag. A crop. Leather restraints.
Ni en broma! Not on your life.
No, no, surely I could figure out a happy medium. This man had to be interested in more than BDSM. “Explain what you’d do to me.”
He coolly said, “Once you’ve stripped, you’ll go to your knees at the edge of the mattress, buckling the gag on yourself. I’ll bind your arms behind your back, and you’ll lean forward resting on your forehead. Then I’ll whip your body wherever it occurs to me to. When I’m satisfied with that, I’ll fuck you from behind.”
This sounded like a script. Like he did this with every escort.