Holy fucking shit.

I thought I was ready for anything. I thought I’d heard it all, with the wealth of information my friends had shared. They’d even brought over some porn videos one evening. All those guys wanted was for the girl to touch them, in every possible way.

And I’d thought nothing would shock me. Well, any more than the reality of all this was going to anyway…

I stood, probably with my mouth hanging open as he unbuckled the diamond collar from around my neck. “I don’t much care for these,” he said, putting it down on the coffee table. I put a hand absently to my throat and blinked, trying to understand.

“You will call me Kaine, not Master,” he said smoothly, watching me. “Sit.” He shifted on the pale grey sofa to make room.

I sank down, the thoughts rioting so loud in my head I was sure he could hear them too. I closed my mouth and took a breath.

“If you have questions, Grace, ask them now. I’ll answer only what I can. Most things have to wait until you’ve agreed to my conditions.” He reached for my hand. His felt warm and very strong.

“You can touch me…?” I began, feeling a strike like lightening shoot up my arm. It was the first time I’d felt the touch of his skin, and it tingled like electricity. “But why… You… don’t… like to be touched…?”

“I will touch you all I please, Grace. And it will please both of us… intensely. I will touch you in any manner I choose and I will touch you a great deal,” he said seductively. He ran his fingers up the inside of my arm and stopped just short, when the back of his hand brushed the curve of my breast. “That’s a very different thing from being touched.” He moved his hand to my lips and brushed his thumb over the lower one. “You can never reach out to touch me,” he said, his voice growing slightly harder. “If I choose, I might place your hands on me, but only if I choose. You will not reach out on your own. Not even in the most casual way.”

His words rolled through my head as I looked at him, feeling his touch along my jaw… his fingers trailing to my collarbone. When his fingers dropped lower, to the cleft between my breasts, something deep inside me tightened and tingled. His eyes never left mine. We just watched each other, and somehow I knew he could feel everything that was happening inside my body. He wanted to feel it. For some reason, he needed to.

“One week with me,” he said. “And you won’t have to go back to the auction. There will not be any other men.” His voice had a hard edge and he took his hand off me. My skin felt strangely colder without it.

“It should be a relief to you,” he went on, “to get what you want from this bargain without having to deal with the… preferences… of a number of men. But it requires a certain strength on your part. To make a commitment based on blind trust. Not knowing what my demands are going to be.”

He stood and walked over to the bar. “Would you care for anything?” he asked, pouring himself a tall glass of mineral water.

“Water too, please,” I answered.

“Water please, what?”

“Water please, Mast… Kaine?” I asked, faltering.

He smiled and handed me the glass. I was careful not to let our fingers touch and had a funny feeling I’d passed a test of some kind. I smiled back unevenly.

I looked at him over the top of my glass and felt that strange, warm stirring again inside. He was frighteningly large standing in front of me, but I couldn’t argue that what he was offering had to be better than facing as many as six more strangers after tonight. And he’d told me I could stop any time I wanted to. I could agree to do this now, without giving up the right to change my mind. All I had to do was agree to never touch him… and to keep my mouth shut about whatever he does to me…

I swallowed the water and it went down in a lump. I still had no idea what the hell he would do to me… But then I came here knowing I’d be facing a fucking mountain of unknowns.

He shrugged off his jacket and sat down opposite me. He crossed those long, powerful legs and I took in the lines of his broad, thick shoulders. His arms looked almost muscle bound through his thin white dress shirt. His head was tilted as he watched me. He looked patient enough to sit and wait as long as it took.

“I can see the question in your eyes,” he said, his voice husky in his throat. “It’s the last one I’ll answer… and only if I can.”

“I… it’s just that I…,” I started, unable to meet his steely gaze. Then something inside made me lift my face and look at him hard. I’m no fucking victim here, I told myself. So stop acting like one.

“Why here? Why me?” I asked. But the real question I didn’t ask was… What the hell is it that you want to do to me, that you have pay a hundred grand for??

He laughed, deep and throaty, taking me by surprise. The sound was such a shock, after an evening filled with more tension and fear than I’ve ever felt. In spite of myself, I smiled too, feeling a sudden lightness inside I hadn’t felt in a damned long time. Somehow, I was sure he understood exactly what I was really asking.

He stood and came to sit next to me, his smile giving way to a look that was deeper, more thoughtful. He paused for a moment before he answered.

“Because I will tolerate no arguments, no questions, no… complications.”

“Because you’ll do everything I demand, even if you think you can’t. Because this isn’t personal between us, Grace. And because it never can be.”

He put a large hand gently on my hair and let a long curl slide through his fingers. “I’ve found it takes a great deal of money to buy the kind of silence I need. You can’t ever reveal, to anyone, what we’ve done together… or what you may see. That part is ironclad and it’s best insured in a place like this.” He turned the curl gently so that it caught the light.

What I… see?

“I’ll never hurt you,” he said darkly, as I felt my stomach tighten in fear.

“But I can promise you... we will both suffer, just the same.”