I wait in a room at the back of the venue with Heather. She can’t seem to stop biting her lip and grinning. “That was…” she says for the fifth time. “Just spectacular. People will be talking about this for years.”

“About the sizable donation to your cause?” I ask.

She jumps slightly. “Yes. Of course. About the charity.”

There’s a knock at the door behind us. I turn in my chair to watch as a man with a shaved head leans in. “The bidder is here,” he says.

Heather fusses with her hair and takes a deep breath. “Let her in,” she says.

The girl I gave the blank check to steps inside. I still don’t know her name, but I don’t plan to get too attached anyway. Attachments are… messy. I straighten my tie unconsciously as I eye her in the brighter light of the small office. She’s my type. There’s a certain overbearing confidence that comes with classic beauty. Women who know they are beautiful can become insufferable. This woman though… She doesn’t know how beautiful she is. I can see it in the way she hunches her shoulders just slightly. In how restlessly her eyes dart to what she really wants to look at and then away again as if she’s afraid of being caught.

She has black, silky hair that catches every last shred of light from the fluorescents overhead and throws it back. I’m very particular in my tastes, and the more I look at this woman, the more intrigued I become. From the almost dainty, feminine slope and point of her nose to the imperfect set of her teeth that adds just the right amount of originality to her face… It’s all perfect.

I almost feel guilty when I stand to shake her hand and see the way she can’t meet my eye. I know what I’ll do to her. I know once I’ve had my fun with her, I’ll set her aside like everyone who has come before her. Even as I know it and hate myself for it, I can’t stop. I can’t stop from touching the small of her back as I guide her to the seat beside mine and relishing in the soft warmth of her skin and the way goosebumps ripple across her arms a moment later.

She wants this so badly she can barely contain it.

I take the seat beside her and grip the armrests too hard. I’m not used to the indecision. For a moment, I’m worried I’ll call the whole thing off and set her loose. There is surely a special place in hell for a man who would sully something so pure and pristine as this woman, but how can I stop myself? How could I let her go when I’ve felt her against my fingertips and smelled her warmth.

“So,” Heather starts. She takes her place opposite us at her desk and pulls out a pen. She pauses when she looks up at the girl across from me. “Wait,” she says suddenly. “Don’t I know you?”

The girl scratches the back of her neck. “Maybe?”

“You’re Stephanie!” she says. “I remember you. You’re in social services, right? You handle the…” she pauses mid-sentence and her face starts to turn whiter than the check in Stephanie’s hand. “Fuck. This was some kind of prank, then? I’ll have your—”

“It’s no prank,” I say. I take the check from Stephanie’s hand and write the figure down before holding it out to Heather. “I told her to make the bid on my behalf. Consider it a donation.”

“Y-you?” She stammers, but her eyes never leave the tip of my pen as it adds zero after zero to the number in the box. “You’re sure?”

I slide the check across the table. “I’m sure.”

“Well.” Heather licks her lips as her eyes go over the numbers on the check again and again. “Given your background, I guess we don’t really need to worry about this check clearing, do we?”

“We’re done here,” I say, standing and motioning for Stephanie to join me.

She stands instinctively, as if she already knows her role in all of this, as if she can already feel the desire to submit to me.

“Have fun on your date!” says Heather. “Are you going right now?”

“Yes,” I growl before slamming the door behind us and taking Stephanie by the hand. I lead her through the hallways in the back of the venue until we reach the exit. Stephanie hesitates, tugging against my hand as I try to lead her outside. Her resistance makes me itch to discipline her, but there will be time for that. After all, she has no idea what she’s getting into yet, and I’ll need to properly explain how tonight is going to work before I can really begin to enjoy this.

“My friend will worry about me. I gave her a ride here and if I just leave—”

“Call her,” I say. “Tell her she can take your car home.”

Stephanie reaches in her purse and lifts up a pair of keys. “She’ll need these.”

I grit my teeth in annoyance. “Then tell her to wait out front. I’ll have my driver take her home.”

Stephanie looks down, cheeks staining red. From the reserved way she pulls her phone out and starts dialing, I can see I offended her with my tone.

“Wait,” I say, touching her arm with my fingertips to stop her from dialing. “I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that. Not yet,” I add. “I have very particular… tastes.” I pause. We’re standing in the middle of an empty hallway at the back of the building and it hardly feels like the right place to have this talk with her. I rub at my nose and sigh. “Go ahead and call her. I’ll explain everything when we get to my place.”

“Look,” she says, clearly feeling uncomfortable, but I can practically see her fighting to overcome her shyness. “I’m not sure I even want to go on this date with you, okay? Honestly, I thought I’d be pissing you off by bidding so much of your money.”

With any other woman, I’d let her walk right now. I’d turn my back on the trouble and move on with my day without so much as a second thought. But somehow I knew Stephanie was going to get to me more than any of the others ever did. I knew it when I handed her the check, and I sure as hell knew it when she walked into the office where I waited with Heather. So the thought of her walking on me is unacceptable.

I press my palm into the wall beside her head, leaning down so our eyes are level and our faces are only inches apart. She flinches back but can’t seem to break eye-contact with me. “You wanted to piss me off?” I ask darkly.

“You were so arrogant,” she says in a near whisper, as if it’s enough of an explanation.

I say nothing. I keep pressing my hand harder and harder into the wall to channel the anger that is flowing through me into something that won’t break. It’s new for me to feel this much of any emotion, and there’s something intoxicating in the intensity of it, like I can feel all the anger of her refusal hanging on a razor’s edge, just waiting for the signal to turn into an insatiable kind of sexual hunger.

“I’ve had a rough fucking day, okay?” she snaps.

“Yeah?” I ask, not bothering to hold back the grin. The way her innocence and fire are at war with each other makes me even more sure she’d be the perfect submissive. For a night, at least. “So why don’t you end your rough fucking day with a plain old rough fucking?”

Her already-red cheeks burn even darker. “I think I need to leave.” Her voice is tight and constricted, like she’s having to force the words out. Judging by her body language, she is. Because I can see her hardened nipples through her white blouse already. I can see the way even her neck and chest are flushing red, the way her eyes are wide and unblinking. She’s so goddamn hungry for what I’m offering it must hurt, but she doesn’t want to admit it to herself.

“You cost me a million dollars. Do you think I’m going to just let you walk away?”

She licks her lips, drawing my eyes down to her sweet mouth until I can barely stop myself. For the briefest moment, I let my mind wander a dangerous path. I imagine that maybe this time it could be different. Maybe I don’t have to keep this one at arm’s length and cut her loose before there’s any risk of forming a real attachment. For once, maybe it could be more than just a night.

As quickly as the thought comes, my past rushes up to meet it like a black wave that turns my stomach. I remember how her wrinkled hands felt on my leg—the way I could smell cigarettes on her breath and the feeling of claustrophobia and hopelessness…

Like always, the horrors of my past are enough to calm the fire. I’m going to fuck her tonight, but that will be it. I’ll cut ties like I always do as soon as it’s done, and I’ll move on with my life.

“Are you saying I’m not allowed to leave?” she asks. There’s a hint of fear in her eyes, but the way her chest is heaving and her cheeks are still stained with red tells me that’s not the only emotion she’s feeling. She wants what I’m offering. I know under her blouse those nipples are hard and I bet she’s already soaking her panties for me.

I’m so close I can feel the heat of her breath and smell its sweetness. “I’m saying I don’t let a million dollar prize—no, a treasure—slip through my fingers without a fight.”

A smile twitches across her lips but she covers it with her hand before I can fully enjoy it. “A treasure, huh?”

I grin. Somehow, Stephanie has a way of taking my mind from the normal sense of dread that follows me every time I get involved with a woman. Instead of my past forcing itself into the present against my will, it feels like I’m the one having to remind myself to be careful this time. Letting my guard down around her is easy. Too easy. Being around her could become very addicting for me, and cutting her loose might not be as easy as I’m expecting. Still, I know what I need to do.

“Yes. For tonight, you’re my treasure. But you’re a treasure I’ll drag kicking and screaming back to my place if I have to,” I add with a grin.

She laughs self-consciously, chewing the corner of her lip as she watches me with those big, innocent eyes. “I almost want to defy you just to see if you’re serious. But fine. I’ll go with you. As long as you call your driver and have them take care of Jamie. I’ll text her and let her know what’s going on once we’re in the car, but she’s still going to kill me for ditching her like this.”

“I think she’ll enjoy the car ride enough to start forgiving you. It’s a fully stocked limo. She can bring a friend if she likes.”

Stephanie grins. “Okay, yeah. That will probably help my case.”