I know I should have been grateful to be entering through the doors of Spiked Roses a free woman… well, sort of. I no longer belonged to Marco Nunez, and somehow I was able to still keep all the money. But Harley Crow had told me on the drive over here that my new owner was Kenneth Saxon. He had bought out my contract—whatever that meant.

I walked into the main room, taking in the red and black leather furniture, the black bar with red barstools, and the black spiked vases cast all around that held two to three dozen roses in each ostentatious urn. I glanced up to look at the huge crystal chandeliers that appeared as if they were dripping diamonds onto the clients below. The large overhead fixtures reflected the gas lanterns that dotted the damasked wallpapered walls, giving off a warm and seductive vibe. I scrutinized the men who sat around sipping on top-shelf booze and smoking hand-rolled cigars searching for Mr. Kenneth Saxon. He’d saved me, and yet I wanted to fucking kill him too.

He’d left me.

He’d abandoned me.

He’d allowed me to be hurt.

And yet… he had ultimately saved me.

It didn’t take me long to see him sitting in a black leather chair in the far corner of room. It was one of his favorite places. He could lurk in the distance, out of the view of most, and observe. Watch. Just like he had watched me while I worked.

When Harley saw that both Kenneth and I had made eye contact, he patted my back and silently left me to walk the rest of the distance alone to where Kenneth sat.

“Why did you buy the contract?” I asked, deciding to get straight to the point as I approached him.

He stood up and reached for my hand, guiding me to another chair next to his. “Can I get you something to drink? A Jack and Coke?”

I shook my head. “No, I want what you’re having.”

His eyebrows rose. “I’m drinking whiskey that is $300 a glass.”

I nodded. “Yes, I’ll take what you’re drinking.” This was just the beginning of making the bastard pay.

He signaled for the waitress for her to bring us two more drinks, and then took a seat next to me. “I want to start off by saying that I am sorry. I should have never let you go back to Marco. I should have bought out the contract to begin with.”

His immediate apology threw me. I hadn’t expected for it to happen without me pointing out what a dickhead move that had been.

“I also want to say,” he continued on, “that I am sorry for how I treated you after we had sex.” He took a deep breath and finished what was left of the whiskey in his first glass. “The truth is, I was scared. You fucked with my head and it scared me.”

“Scared you?” This conversation wasn’t going at all how I’d expected. I’d thought for sure I would be walking up to an arrogant bastard who now thought he had the right to piss on me if he chose to because he’d bought out my contract. Not that I’d expected Kenneth would actually pee on me, but I’d thought his demeanor would be one of superiority rather than humility.

“Yes. You threw me off my game. From the minute you came into my office looking for a job, you had me changing the rules of a game that I had dominated up until now. I would have never fucked you. In fact, I would have never actually been the one to go get you in the first place. You intrigued me from the beginning and then acted like a damn magnet. I couldn’t keep my eyes off you in the club. I couldn’t get you out of my thoughts. And when you signed that contract with Marco, I fucking wanted to explode.”

The waitress arrived with our drinks, and I did take a moment to appreciate the fact that there was $600 worth of booze sitting on the small table between us.

When the waitress left, he continued. “I don’t expect you to forgive me. I don’t even want to know what Marco did to you when I left. If you tell me, I might just kill the man. So don’t.” He paused and looked into my eyes with so much sadness. “But I wish to God I could somehow take it all away. I wish that I could wipe the memory of that monster from your nightmares and you’d never have to remember it again. Is that even something that is possible? How bad did he break you?”

I took a sip of the whiskey and tried not to cough. It burned but I liked it. “He didn’t break me,” I said softly. “I think I was already broken. And the truth is, I did this. You didn’t. You kept telling me to give the money back and I refused. So this is on me.” And as much as I wanted to blame Kenneth because it felt good to have someone else to blame besides myself, I was the one who had put myself in that situation not once but twice.

“If it wasn’t Marco who broke you, who did?” he asked.

“Not a who. A what. Life, I guess. Or the lack of it. I wanted something so bad, but I couldn’t exactly put my finger on what that was. I suppose I wanted color. Bright, bold, and exciting color. And in search of that, all I got was black. Thick, ugly black.”

“Do you want me to have Marco killed?” he asked with zero emotion.

“Would you? If I said yes?” I was surprised by this. I didn’t take Kenneth as the murdering type. Other members of the club were for sure, but I didn’t think Kenneth was.

He shrugged. “I’ll probably have someone else do it. But if you want him dead, I can make that happen.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head slowly. “Marco is a sick asshole, but he didn’t do anything I hadn’t agreed to. It was spelled out in the contract. He went into that tasting with his expectations and wants set out on paper. I knew what they were. I’m not saying I like the guy or ever want to see him again, but I did agree to his terms. He was only fulfilling his end of the contract. I’m really the one to blame for all this. I have to come to terms with what I had agreed to do. I’m so fucking ashamed. And I really hit the lowest point of my life tonight with Marco, but then… sometimes you have to stare the devil in the eyes to be able to conquer him. I’ll get past this. I’m going to see it as a nightmare that I have woken from. I’m awake now. It was all a really bad dream.”

“Will you tell me why you wanted the money so badly?”

“For a friend,” I finally confessed. “My friend Virgie is an elderly lady I used to work for in Muckaluk. She became a really good friend, and pretty much the only friend I’ve ever had. The State placed her in a nursing home unless she got 24hr care from a registered nurse. Her insurance wouldn’t pay for it. So, with Marco’s money, I thought I could help her. It’s why I went to the tasting to begin with. That house you kidnapped me from was hers. It’s all she has, and it means the world to her. I feel she has the right to live the rest of her life out in her home and not a facility.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this?” he asked, the sadness even deeper in his eyes.

“Would it have mattered?”

“Yes! I’m not a fucking monster. I know you think I am, but I’m not. If you had told me why, and if you’d actually made the situation hit me in the fucking face with reality, I would have realized why you did what you did. Hell, I would have given you the goddamn money just so I didn’t have to deal with the mess. I thought you were just being a fucking stubborn ass with a stupid point to prove. I thought it was a battle of wills, and I was determined to win because I’m the idiot who feels he always has to win.”

“Maybe I should have,” I said, taking another sip of the whiskey. Damn, this shit was good. A girl could get used to this… if I ever had $300 to simply drink away… which was never.

“I’m sorry, Anita. I really am. I should have stopped being a bastard for one minute, and stopped feeling like I had to win, and truly read you. Asked you. Talked to you. All I did was fuck you, treat you like shit, and act like an ass. I’m sorry.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “I didn’t mind the fucking.”

What did I just say?

It must have been the whiskey. Yes, the whiskey was to blame for that last comment. Always blame the booze for revealing your deepest and darkest secret.

He chuckled as he sipped his own drink. “I didn’t mind the fucking either.”

“So what now?” I asked. “I quit Spiked Roses, but Harley said that I am under contract with you.”

He crossed his leg casually as I had seen him do so many times before when conducting business deals in the club as I served cigars. “We have a couple options. But I am going to allow you to decide what you want.”

“What options?”

“Well, we made things more complicated when you and I had sex. There is a rule among the members of Spiked Roses that if you have sex with any of the women—or want to—then both parties have to sign a contract. In that contract it will state the terms, but basically you will be mine.”

“Yours?” I asked, not being able to fight back my fascination with the thought.

He nodded. “We can both break the contract at any time. If you break it, you walk away and nothing happens other than you go about living your life. If I break it, I have to pay you a year’s salary of what you would have made at Spiked Roses.”

“Why would members sign a contract like this?”

“It protects the club and members from future litigation if the relationship goes sour.”

“And what is this contract going to say?”

“Well, I’m not going to pee on you, if that’s your concern,” he said with a boyish smile. “But it will be a contract saying that we are going to be in a sexual relationship. We can negotiate it however we feel fit. Set our own terms.”

“And what about the 100k I got from Marco? Do I get to keep that?”

He nodded as he sipped from his whiskey. “It’s yours. I paid that plus ten percent to Marco in exchange for you being handed over to me tonight.”

“You paid that?” I was shocked. I knew Kenneth was rich, but I didn’t take him for a man who simply threw his money around without serious consideration. “Why? Why would you do that for me?”

“Call it penance if you want. I should have stood up for you and protected you. I should have been the man you needed and deserved. I know I’m an asshole, but I really didn’t think I was a monster until today.” He sighed. “So the money is yours to help your friend. And if it’s not enough to help her, or you need some assistance with the State, I will help. If it means making this fucked up situation even a little right, I will do it.”

“I appreciate that. For Virgie’s sake. Thank you. I’ve never dealt with the State before, and all that paperwork stuff does intimidate me. I’m sure Virgie will appreciate your help as well. She truly is the kindest woman I have ever met.”

“Then consider it done. I’ll handle all of that and act as your and Virgie’s legal council. This is one area I can fix with my eyes closed. We’ll get her out of that facility and into her home immediately.” The sadness in Kenneth’s eyes seemed to lessen a bit with seeing a way he could now help me.

Feeling as if a heavy weight had been lifted from my shoulders, I asked, “So about this contract?” I took a sip of my whiskey. “What terms do you want?”

“Well, it will start off as the standard contract I wrote for our members. It will state that we are both freely and consensually agreeing to engage in sexual relations until either party cancels. Like a marriage of sorts. I, as the member, will take care of your financial needs and you will—”

“Take care of your sexual needs,” I interrupted.

“Only if you want to sign the contract. I won’t force you. My offer to help you and Virgie has nothing to do with this contract.”

“Go on,” I said with a smile. “What other terms are in this contract?”

God help me, but I liked what I was hearing. I didn’t want to run for the doors, if anything I wanted to run right into Kenneth’s arms. The way he looked at me. The way he made me feel safe and protected by offering to make everything with Virgie right. The way that Kenneth simply sat there and looked at me, had me hooked.

“I’d want you to move in with me. You would be mine, and I would want to keep you close.”

“Would I be able to get my job back at Spiked Roses?”

He shook his head. “No. Not while under the contract.”

“So I’d be a kept woman. Is that what you are saying?” I giggled at the thought.

“Yes.” Apparently, it didn’t seem out of the ordinary for Kenneth.

“And the sex? What sexual acts will be in the contract? What will you spell out?”

“I won’t spell out a thing. There will be one sentence only.”

I raised an eyebrow and tilted my head, taking another sip of my drink. “And that sentence would be what?”

“Whatever the fuck I want.”

“Whatever the fuck I want? No details?” For some reason, my stomach flipped at the thought of everything Kenneth would want, and my body instantly craved exactly that.

“No details. You will have to just trust that whatever the fuck I want will be exactly what you need and could ever desire.”

Damn I wanted to fuck him. How could it be that easy? All he had to do was show even an ounce of that whiskey drinking bastard and I wanted to fuck him. I wanted him to fuck me.

“Do you want this contract, Kenneth? Is it because you feel guilty?”

“I want the contract. Not out of guilt, but because I want you.”

His words were so powerful.

So direct.

Firm.

He just said he wanted me.

Me.

“What terms do you want?” he asked. “We can add whatever the fuck you want as well in the document.” He smiled and I all but melted. He was so handsome I could just die. The power this man had over me.

“I don’t know,” I said softly. “Can I think about it?” My head was swimming in a sea of confusion and lust. I was exhausted, and I was horny. I couldn’t make a life altering decision right now, especially not with how Kenneth was making me feel. I needed some time to gather my senses.

He nodded and stood. “Yes, of course. I’ll have my driver take you home so you can get some sleep. You’ve been through a lot. Come by here tomorrow, and we’ll start work on getting Virgie home and also finalize the contract negotiations.” He reached for my hand and assisted me out of my chair.

I looked up into his eyes, then his lips that I desperately wanted to nibble, then back at his eyes. “Thank you, Kenneth. Thank you for everything.”

“I don’t deserve your thanks. Not yet. But I promise you that if you do sign the contract, and you do become mine, I will work damn hard to earn your thanks.” He leaned down and softly kissed me on the lips. When he pulled away, he added. “Get some sleep. Tomorrow is a new day, and the first day for us.”