“Why?” I managed to squeak the word, my eyes nearly bulging at the figure he was offering. “I don’t understand…why are you doing this? You’re a decent looking guy. You could be knee-deep in pussy if you wanted — for free, no less — why are you willing to pay for me?”

“Because I don’t want entanglements,” he answered with a negligent flick of his gaze. “I sense you’re not the kind of woman looking for a hero or someone to save you, so you’re not going to get clingy when I’m through with your company.”

Cold as fuck, but logical. I couldn’t fault him for knowing what he wanted and what he didn’t want.

He leaned forward, close enough so that I could smell the spice of his pricey cologne. “I also like what I see,” he said, reaching to pull my chair closer, proving a fair amount of muscle lurked beneath that unassuming T-shirt. My heart fluttered as he invaded my bubble. “Since the moment I saw you, I’ve been fantasizing about those long legs, wondering how you’d feel wrapped around me as I pound the shit out of that sweet pussy. And that long, dark hair…mmmm….your even darker eyes…in my mind, I’ve fucked you a hundred times already and I’m impatient for the real thing. I want to hear you cum and I want to taste you when you gush.”

Was I totally cracked in the head thinking that was the sexiest thing I’d ever heard?

He didn’t use flattery — which wouldn’t work on me, anyway — he just flat-out stated the raw truth.

God, I was a sucker for a direct man.

“I want you, Mari and I’m willing to pay.”

Couldn’t get more direct than that.

“What if I’m not for sale?” I practically whispered, my throat dry.

“Everyone has a price,” he replied, patient yet firm.

I lost all sense of time — all that existed was the charged air between us — and I found myself drawn to those dangerous lips as if a giant magnet was buried in my forehead and I was helpless to stop.

But it was Gage who pulled away, even as his eyes gleamed with heat and the energy between us swirled with sexual tension. He shifted in his chair, drawing attention to his obvious erection.

Of course, my eyes went straight to that bulge and I actually blushed like a virgin on prom night. He grinned and jerked his head toward the napkin lying between us with the obscene offer scribbled on the cheap square. “What’s it going to be?”

If I said yes, did that make me a whore? Could I afford to care?

Being homeless wasn’t appealing. Neither was stripping. The Pink Lady was a worse dive than Jimmy’s. I’d probably get some kind of STD just walking through the glittery pink doors.

Gage was hot, rich and even if he was a self-entitled prick, he wasn’t asking for forever.

Saying yes would solve all my problems. I could even go home if I wanted.

No more suffering through New York winters in an apartment with less insulation than a wood shack.

No more dodging grubby fingers trying to touch my tits or grab my ass.

No more feeling like a total and complete failure for falling so ingloriously on my face.

All those things were true but could I live with myself after the deed was done? Could I look myself in the mirror and not see a woman whose only value had been between her legs?

“Make your choice,” Gage instructed, pushing me toward the inevitable.

Who was I kidding? There wasn’t a choice for me and he knew the way I would choose when he made the offer. A part of me grudgingly marveled at his ability to read people but another part of me hated that I was far less complex than I liked to think I was.

Most people, myself included, liked to think they were hard to figure out.

“How do I know you’re not just telling me whatever I want to hear so you can get into my pants for the night?”

“Would you like a good-faith payment?” he asked as if it were a simple business transaction between us, not me selling my dignity and agreeing to be his beck-and-call-girl.

“Something like that would be great,” I answered, though I had no idea how to facilitate that. I assumed he would know. “Half up front,” I tacked on boldly as if I had experience in these kinds of negotiations.

He chuckled as he countered, “Half and I get to taste you right here and now.”

My tongue unstuck from the roof of my mouth. “Taste me? Here?”

“Right here.”

There was relative privacy because the bar was empty and Manny was, no doubt, chortling over his money stash, lost in a delirium over how he would spend his good fortune but we were still out in the open.

Knowing Manny, he would blow the lot of it trying to be a high-roller at a poker game where he was outmatched and underfunded but that was his problem.

My problem was staring at me with those incredible eyes.

“Say yes.”

The murmured directive sent a shiver dancing down my spine.

The moment was here. If I hesitated much longer, the offer would dry up and I’d be in the same position I was in this morning — about to lose everything, even my cat.

Miss Switch.

I could hire a good lawyer if I took the deal. I could hire a shark mean enough to chew Landon up and spit him out, maybe even run him out of New York, if I chose.

The idea of beating Landon after he’d humiliated me so completely made the decision less difficult.

“I’ll do it.”

“Good choice.” He swiped right on his phone, grinned, saying, “Done. Half of my offer is in your bank account. Feel free to check.”

He waited patiently as I fumbled with shaking fingers to check my banking app. My mouth gaped. A pending deposit of a ridiculous sum was processing. Even with only half, by morning my troubles would be over. I looked up to find him watching, a slow, feral smile fitting to his lips.

Before I could say anything, he jerked me into his arms and I landed squarely on his solid lap. My arms went automatically around his neck for stability. “From this moment forward, until I release you…you are mine. Understand?”

I nodded, unsure of the rules of this game. “What does that mean?”

“It means, your body is mine to explore, touch and pleasure. You cum with my permission, you exist to please me. You do nothing without my express permission. Do you understand?”

I nodded, a strange thrill tickling my belly. There was something unbelievably hot about surrender that I never would’ve imagined or believed but coming from Gage…I totally got it.

“Good girl,” he said with a husky growl of approval that I felt all the way to my toes. I was out of my element, a bit scared, but excited, too. Gage’s firm touch on my ass, commanding and yet gentle, guided me to straddle him.

“And what if you never get tired of me?” I asked.

“As beautiful as you are…nothing holds my interest for long,” he answered as his mouth found mine, his hands gripping my ass.

He thought I was beautiful? My feminine pride preened at the unexpected compliment. I wasn’t often called beautiful. Most times, I was labeled quirky, cute, or unique, but rarely beautiful.

I owned real estate in the Friend Zone so being the one who turned a guy’s head at first glance wasn’t my experience and it threw me for a loop.

Even so, I didn’t want to be this guy’s plaything forever — but there was something about his answer that plucked a chord deep inside me.

Poor little rich boy, I thought derisively, refusing to let anything resembling feelings pop up between us.

His tongue sought mine, tasting, encouraging me to do the same. He knew just when to push and when to tease, quickly driving me insane with the building pressure inside me.

It wasn’t long before I was squirming in his grasp, wanting to tear my clothes off to feel skin on skin.

“You’re so fucking hot,” Gage growled against my mouth, his grip tightening on my ass. “Jesus, Mari, I want to fuck you right now.”

His words sent an illicit thrill shooting through me. I was no stranger to being turned on but Gage took arousal to a wild new level.

My heart hammered with an urgency I felt in my pelvis. My panties were already wet. He ground himself against my slit and a groan popped from my mouth even as he devoured every sound.

Desire obliterated the final whisper of reservation until I was more than willing to do whatever he wanted.

It felt good to simply be in the moment. I poured my heartache over Landon into that kiss. I didn’t want to admit that Landon had broken my heart but as tears threatened, I couldn’t deny that this time, I’d lost something of myself.

Gage’s tongue battled with mine in a slick game of dominance, building heat and stoking the need to fuck the pain away.

The ridge of my jeans pressed against my swelling clit as I rode the bulge of Gage’s cock.

For a moment I forgot that I was grinding on a stranger’s cock in Manny’s VIP room, desperately close to an orgasm in spite of the fact Gage hadn’t so much as fingered me yet.

“Someone has already forgotten the rules,” he murmured, when my hips began to thrust harder against him, needing that friction to find my release.

“What?” I asked in a haze of sexual need as he slowly pushed me off his lap. I stood, confused and forlorn as his chest heaved the same as mine, his gaze glittering with desire. “I don’t understand…”

He stood and jerked me to him using my belt loops on my jeans. “You cum, when I say you can cum,” he reminded me softly before turning me, his deft fingers quickly popping my fly and unzipping my jeans. Before I could gasp a protest, I was exposed and bent over the table, gripping the sides, my eyes open wide as my breathing turned shallow.

Those firm hands that had cupped my ass only moments prior, slid down my cheeks, squeezing hard enough to leave a red mark but there was something so hot about the way he stopped just short of true pain.

“I want to taste you,” he said, leaning down to whisper in my ear. “What does Mari taste like, I wonder…”

I didn’t have time to answer before his finger penetrated me right there in the middle of the room as I lay bent over the same table we’d brokered our deal.

Was this really happening?

Gage found my G-spot and I clenched as a wave of pleasure rippled through me. God, yes it was. I gasped, my fingers curling against the wood as he inserted two fingers, strumming my G-spot until I squirmed.

“There it is,” he said with approval as I panted, sweat beading my hairline as I pushed against his fingers, wanting him to go deep but his fingers weren’t enough, only a tease for what I really wanted.

“Fucking delicious,” he murmured, the sound of him licking his fingers causing a decadent arc of wild pleasure curling my nerve endings. There was something so primal about a man who wasn’t squeamish about a woman’s pussy juices.

Landon hadn’t been a fan. He’d even made me feel dirty about myself.

Jesus, just fuck me already, I wanted to scream but the game was in full play.

I wanted to be filled. I wanted to feel his cock stretching me. But if I begged, he’d torture me longer. He liked the control. He wanted me to beg. Some perverse sense of rebellion had me biting my lip, refusing to give in.

But who was I truly torturing? I was dripping already. I needed to feel him inside me, to fuck away the grinding pain that drove me each day since realizing my own stupidity.

“You have the most fuckable ass,” Gage said, popping his fly. I glanced back. His cock sprang free, thick and long. If I hadn’t been wet already, I would’ve needed a tube of lube to get that anaconda inside me. But I wasn’t going to do anal with that thing. Fuck that. I started to rise but he pushed me back down with a soft warning. “No.”

I held my breath, wondering what he would do. How could I feel safe with a man who also scared me a little bit? There was something dark about Gage that pulled and teased, coaxing a part of me that I hadn’t even known existed until this moment.

Would he fuck me right here?

I wanted him to.

He gripped my hips, kicking my feet as wide as I could go and suddenly his hand was buried deep inside my hair. I gasped as he pushed himself inside me. I arched and he went deeper, burying himself balls-deep until I was practically choking on cock.

It was the most amazing sensation I’d ever experienced.

But he didn’t start pounding, not yet. No, he wanted to draw out the torture until I was reduced to a gibbering idiot. This was no quickie. He wanted me to squirm on his cock, to cry and mewl like a kitten and, damn, I was already halfway there.

So much for my dignity.

I felt every flex of his hip, every strain as he pushed deeper. Just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore, he switched things up and started driving me hard, hitting that spot so perfectly it was nearly a crime.

I was babbling, groaning, crying. I couldn’t stop what was coming. I clenched against him and he answered with a guttural groan that ramped up the intensity between us.

“I c-can’t stop…” I cried, tumbling into the hardest, most intense orgasm of my life. Everything went into overdrive — sensation, taste, smell — as every pleasure center burst into glittery bits of awesome stardust.

He answered with a harsh grunt as he came, too. I was too busy trying to catch my breath to realize we hadn’t used a condom until he withdrew and I felt the slick wetness dribbling down my inner thigh.

I pushed myself up from the table and whirled to face him, my shock evident in my breathless tone. “What the fuck?”

Gage tucked his spent cock away, saying, “I’m clean and so are you. You are also on birth control.”

“How do you know all that?” I asked, jerking my skirt down. Then I realized he must’ve hacked into my medical files as well. It was hard to scowl when your pussy was still pulsing with pleasure besides, if he had no qualms invading my financial records, I suppose medical records weren’t safe either. “You’re an asshole,” was all I could manage and as it was, my statement was too breathless to contain any bite.

He pulled me into his arms. “And you are every bit as fuckable as I thought you’d be.” He finished with a deep kiss and I could taste myself on his lips. God, that was fucking hot. He turned me loose and gestured, saying, “Let’s go. I’m hungry.”

And why not? Nothing about this night was anything resembling normal so I might as well just go with the flow, whatever that may be.

Rich man was hungry, rich man got food.

I grabbed my purse. As I followed Gage out of the bar, my thighs still wet from his cum, I caught Manny’s face peering from his office and I knew the fucker had watched.

But I didn’t care because I was never coming back.

Yeah, so this was definitely happening.

And, Lord help me, it was exciting as hell.