I faked the orgasms so I could keep his gifts. But it wouldn’t be true. And he’d know. Somehow, he always knows what I’m going to do before I do it.
He toys with the hem of my dress. “Is your cunt already drenched for me?”
“I paid,” I breathe. “I paid for everything.”
“Not yet.” He slides his fingers higher and strokes along my wet panties. “But you will.” When he finds my clit and uses his finger to press against it, I jolt. The tiger gets to its feet, perhaps sensing my alarm or the carnal need that swirls inside me.
I can’t think, can only feel his unforgiving finger as he caresses me, caging me right along with the tiger that’s far too close.
And then, when I’m almost at the edge of an orgasm, his fingers retreat, though I can still feel his hard length pressed against my lower back.
“I’m coming for payment tonight.”
The cat stalks toward me, its fangs on display.
“Please,” I keen.
A burst of laughter sounds behind us, and then his weight lifts. I push back from the tiger, and when I turn, there are several men standing around, talking and laughing.
He’s there. He has to be. One of these men is my loan shark, my tormentor. But all of them are in masks. Just like me.
But he found me, didn’t he? In this fairytale forest and under my disguise—he knew it was me. I’ll never escape him. Not until I pay what I owe. Unless I can find out who he is, and then … then maybe I can make him pay.
2
Clark
She stares at each of us in turn, her light blue eyes peering at us through our masks. Perhaps she lingers on me for a little longer than the others, but I can’t be sure.
Unsatisfied, she storms from the room and back to her pathetic prince, the man she’s sold herself for. I watch every move, every toss of her hair, the way she walks, the impeccable balance in her too-high heels with the red bottoms.
I follow. Just as I have from the first moment I saw her tentative post in a kink forum. She was looking for a sugar daddy. But she wasn’t being honest. Not at all. She was looking for a mark, someone she could use to climb to greater heights. Someone like Graves Duverin, whose family has generations of wealth just waiting to be plundered.
I take my time and ease out into the foyer, music swelling all around and giving the place a hint of total fantasy. But I’m not imagining things. My feet are firmly on the ground. I spot my princess quickly. She hangs on the arm of her foolish beaux. He smiles and laughs at every joke from his friends whether it’s funny or not.
He’s a boy.
I’m a man.
My Lily is a princess who thinks she wants to wed the prince, drain him dry, then leave him lonely. But that’s not what she needs.
I bring my fingers to my lips and sample her taste. A groan threatens to break free from me, and my cock has long been engaged in battle with my fly. Ever since I saw her in her short dress, her silver mask, and her seeming innocence.
She knew what my terms were when we made our first deal, then our second, and more and more until here we are. I’ve been playing with my food, stalking her like the cat in the cage. But there are no bars around me, nothing to keep the monster inside me contained.
Lily thought she was setting a trap when she posed as a silly girl looking for a rich man. But I’m the one who caught her in my jaws. She won’t escape. Not until I’ve tasted every bit of our bargain.
“Hi.” My date returns to my arm, her dancer’s body molding to my side. “I wondered where you’d gotten off to. This place is huge, and the Constantines aren’t fucking around. I saw Caroline earlier, but she’s already been through three costume changes. Can you imagine? Each one has to cost a fortune and she …”
Carissa prattles on as I keep my eyes on my prize.
Graves leads her into the grand ballroom. I ease Carissa in that direction, and she comes along with me, still gossiping about the Constantines and the Morellis, the dirt and the lies.
“I think they killed Lane, don’t you?” she stage whispers.
“Who?” I’m half listening as I follow my little princess who shimmers only for me.
“The