Highest Bidder Collection - Lauren Landish Page 0,322

billows of soft grey smoke spill from between the split logs.

She hasn’t been the same. I hate how much control he has over her. How weak he’s made her. She keeps saying he saved her, but she has no idea how wrong she is.

“Sweetheart,” I call out to her and she lifts her head from resting on her knees and stares back at me with the desire to be commanded in her eyes. She’s lost and scared, just like she was before Brooks got his hands on her. He kept her that way, molded her to believe something else. To believe she was better when he only made her suffer that much more.

I’m going to fix her. It’s the only thing I give a damn about anymore.

“I want you to come here,” I tell her as I walk to the edge of the rug. She’s still on her ass, curled beneath the heat of the fire, but she makes a move to come to me. She nearly crawls. For the split second that she’s on all fours, I want her to. The idea of her crawling the few feet and waiting on her knees to please me makes my dick twitch with need. Soon. I’m ready to give in, but only once she fully submits. And that starts tonight.

She slowly rises and I can see in her eyes that she questions if she should have crawled to me. If she wanted to, she should have. It’s as simple as that. She’ll learn. I’ll learn with her. And together we’ll enjoy that depraved darkness we both desire.

“Do you want me?” I ask her. Her eyes spark with fear, the green flecks mixing with a light gold and shining back with panic.

“I… Yes… I-” she doesn’t answer with confidence. Her eyes look down at the plush rug beneath her bare feet.

“You need to know what you want, sweetheart. If you can tell me, I’ll give it to you.”

“But for how long?” she finally asks the question that’s been holding her back. My lips turn up into that smile, the one I love. The one that reflects the happiness she gives me. I brush the stray hairs from her face with the back of my knuckles and lean forward, my hand cupping her chin.

I whisper, my lips nearly touching hers. “However long you’ll let me have you.”

“I don’t want to leave,” she tells me with her eyes open, but there’s a pain in her voice caused by her confession. Our hot breath mingles as she says, “You make me weak.”

The words are like a knife to my heart. If only she knew. I’m the weak one. Only for her.

I press my lips to hers and let my hands roam her body. My fingers trail down to the dip in her waist before I pull back, leaving her to stand on her own, although she almost stumbles.

“Undress for me,” I tell her as I grip the ends of my shirt, forcing myself to hold anything other than her. She doesn’t hesitate, although her eyes spark with a hint of anger for leaving her in the heat of the moment. The fire crackles and sparks behind her, lighting her with shadows dancing over her slender body as she slowly strips, dropping her clothes to the floor in a puddle at her feet. I do the same, mimicking her movements until we’re both naked before each other, bathed in the glow of the fire and nothing else.

“I want you,” she whispers, and her simple words contain so much power. They're so raw and full of a truth that’s undeniable.

I step forward, closing the space between us as my toes dig into the plush rug and confess, “I want you, too.”

Her lips crash with mine and her fingers spear through my hair as she moans into my mouth. Yes! This, this is exactly what I want.

My blunt nails dig into the flesh of her ass as I lift her up, parting her thighs and nestling my dick between her legs as I lower her to the floor beneath us, sinking into the rug in front of the fire.

The soft fur of the rug is nothing like the feel of her skin. So delicate, so easily bruised and broken. But I want her like this. Every part of her moving with me, wanting me just as much as I want her.

I leave open-mouth kisses along her body, over every inch. My hot breath trails along her skin. Her