out of the parking house attached to the auction building, his handsome profile came into view, rendering me speechless.
He was handsome. Dangerously handsome.
He didn't look at me, instead focusing his gaze on the cityscape of London as we drove away from it. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, though. I was mesmerized.
“Why did you want me to come with you right away?” I demanded.
“I saw you,” he answered simply. “I didn’t want to wait.”
“Are you…” I bit my lower lip. So many questions were on the tip of my tongue, yet I was too nervous to ask.
“Go ahead,” he encouraged me with a sly smirk.
“Are you going to hurt me?” I blurted out.
He pondered my question for a moment, before nodding once, saying, “Yes. But you’ll be rewarded handsomely for it.”
“The payment I’m getting is meager compared to what you paid,” I muttered.
“I’m not talking about that.” His voice was sexy, dark and dangerous. And it was doing things to my insides I didn’t want to admit.
“What then?”
“I’m talking about another offer, from me to you, Kitty.”
My skin prickled when he used my nickname for Le Cabaret. “Do we know each other?”
“We will soon,” he answered cryptically.
I reached over to the car door and opened it. He called out my nickname and lunged for me, dragging me back into the vehicle and slamming the door shut. My heart beat faster than ever as he held me in his arms.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I hissed.
“Saving you from your own stupidity,” he scoffed, letting go of me. I retreated to my seat, my cheeks burning with embarrassment. He buckled me in himself then, careful not to touch me as he slid the seatbelt over my body.
For the next few minutes, he allowed me to stare sullenly out of the window. I had so many more questions. I needed to know what he’d meant by the offer he mentioned.
"What is your offer?" My voice was shaky as I delivered the question.
"I knew you’d ask soon enough. Well, Kitty, I'm not an evil man," Grayson told me, a wicked smirk taking over his handsome face. "I am a cruel one. I am offering you half of the money I paid for you today.”
"Three hundred and seventy-five thousand?" I tried not to show my own shock as he nodded.
"That's right."
"What do I have to do for it?" Couture House was only paying me seventy-five thousand quid. It was breadcrumbs compared to the money this man was putting on the table.
"I don't want one night with you, Amicia." He reached forward, his fingers taking my chin and making me look up at him. My breath catches in my throat, waiting for his next words. "I want twenty-four of them."
"What d-do you mean?" I hadn't meant to stutter, but I was feeling weak in his presence.
"I want you to be my willing captive for twenty-four days, and twenty-four nights. You'll begin today, December first. By Christmas morning, you'll be free."
"And until then?"
"Until then..." His fingers moved down my neck, wrapping around my throat with firm pressure. "You do everything I tell you to do. You don't leave, not once, or you renounce your right to the money. You are mine. For twenty-four days."
I gasped as his fingers squeezed, making my mouth open and my eyes flutter as I stared up at him.
"So, what do you say, Kitty?" His voice was silky smooth and delicious like aged bourbon. "Will you be my Christmas captive?"
Chapter 6
Grayson
She’d said yes.
I wasn’t sure whether she would. Amicia Romano was certainly different to the other girls before her. She was headstrong, with a will of her own. No one pushed my kitty around, that was for sure. I’d be the only one allowed to do that.
After she signed the papers right there in the limo, I ordered my driver to take us to the penthouse. Kai was still away running some business for me in Florida, and would only return by Christmas, so I was running short on manpower. I had a lot of work to attend to over the next week, therefore my new toy would have to learn how to be patient.
“This is where you live?” her mouth gaped open as we pulled up in front of the building. “It looks like something out of a film…” She tapped the brick wall to make sure it was real, making me chuckle.
“It’s all too real, Kitty,” I told her. “Now come. We have a lot of work