Her skin was reddened around her neck and chest. Sebastian’s stubble
had left marks that would probably take just as long as the bruise to fade.
Those same marks could be seen in between her thighs and along her belly. And
she was sore down there too, she realized. Her thighs felt tight, like the
muscles had been worked far too much, and yet Penny ran five miles every day.
“What have you done, Pen?” she whispered to herself. “What have you
done?”
Shaking herself, she used the toilet and then grabbed a wrapped
toothbrush from the little cupboard next to the sink. A thorough brushing
later, and a copious amount of cold water dashed on her face, things seemed a
little better. It was all about getting away now. That was the main thing. She
had to get that money and get to the auction before six.
“Find a way, Pen,” she whispered. “You have to find a way.”
A large white robe was hooked on the back of the bathroom door and
Penny slipped into it before taking a deep breath. Off the top of her head she
could think of nothing, but maybe the best plan was no plan. Simply wing it and
see what would happen?
What else do you
have
, she thought.
Nothing.
Sebastian sat waiting on the bed wearing a pair of faded jeans. They
hung low on his hips, outlining his amazing chest. He was bare foot and Penny
sighed inwardly. How attractive he was! No wonder she was such a mess.
“Two hundred grand?” he asked.
It was then that she noticed the pile of money that sat next to him.
It fanned out across the mattress, practically covering the entire bed. Abruptly
she remembered undoing her waist bag whilst she ran from the safe room, the
weight of the money making it slide down her hips. It had skidded away as
Sebastian bumped into her. How could she have forgotten all about it? Her
precious tablet! She hoped the impact hadn’t damaged it and then there was the
money. Her eyes roamed over it stretched across the bed.
So
much money.
Penny clenched her fists. She needed it! She had to find a
way for Sebastian to let her have it.
“I could have taken much more,” she said, walking over and sitting
on the other side of the cash. She was dying to ask where her bag was, but
suspected pointing out her criminal paraphernalia might not be in her best
interests.
“That you could have,” he agreed. “There was over a million in that
safe.
So why only two hundred grand?”
Penny shrugged and fingered one of the piles, her heart racing in
about a million different directions. The money—so much of it so close,
Sebastian, bare-chested and looking at her with an intensity she couldn’t quite
understand
. It was all crowding in on her and for a
moment she wished she could just go home, slip into her little single bed that
smelled of lilacs, close her eyes, and pretend it was all a dream, one of her
fantasies come to life.
“Your safe can only take a couple of assaults before it triggers a
silent alarm,” she said, seeing no reason to keep quiet now. “This was all I
could get.”
“So you would have taken all the money if you could have?” he asked.
“Of course.
I’d
have taken everything you have.”
He sighed and Penny couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking.
She kept her eyes fixed on the money because it was so much easier to just do
that. To not have to look into his whisky eyes and feel the low stirrings of
desire in her belly all over again.
“How did you do it?” Sebastian continued. “Get in here, get this
money? Tell me.”
“And if I do?”
“Then perhaps I will be lenient.”
She peeked up, not surprised to see his eyes fixed firmly on her
face.
Now is your opening.
“How
lenient?” she asked, allowing a seductive sort of grin to blossom.
“After last night I can hardly call the police can I?” Sebastian
said. “What would I tell them? Yes she broke into my home, but I thought I’d
fuck her before handing her over?”
Relief filled her, sweet relief, but she allowed none of it to show
on her face. “I guess.”
“No the police option was gone the moment we kissed.”
“Then what?”
“I will tell you,” he said. “Perhaps you will like it, perhaps you
will not. Perhaps you will think it madness. I do myself if I am honest and yet
it seems the plan is already formed in my mind.”
“I don’t understand what—”
“You’re going to stay here,” he said. “You’ll tell me how exactly
you got around my security and I will fix those breaches, and then here you
will remain. What other choice is there? I can’t call the police, can’t let you
go. Who knows who else you’re planning to go off and rob? No it seems the only
option is to keep you here for now.”
Here you will remain….
Penny shook her head, not quite getting what he was suggesting. She
eyed the money again and then him, wondering how it could all have gotten so
out of control so quickly. “What do you mean exactly by remain here?”
“Until this madness has passed,” Demetrious said.
“Madness?”
He reached out and ran a finger from the money on the mattress up to
her lips. His thumb lightly brushed over the bruise before trailing along her
jaw. His touch was so soft, so careful that Penny felt her heart thump.
“You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?” he asked softly.
“I’m not sure I do. Spell it out for me.”
“Sex,” he said, drawing the word out and making her nerves sing.
“Which we did plenty of.”
“And which I want more of. So you have to stay here until I’ve
fucked you enough to get it out of my system. This is the madness I talk about,
this desire that you make me feel.”
“You’re not serious?”
He shrugged. “It seems that I am. I want you,
Kleftisa
.
Badly.
Why I do not know. I know only that I am going to have you—so I think it comes
down to two options. You can open your legs or you can go to prison. That seems
to be the best plan I have come up with.”
Chapter Twelve
The moment the words left his lips, Sebastian wanted to take them
back. Had he really just said that? Practically threatened her with prison if
she didn’t continue to sleep with him?
Yes,
you did. Fuck.
But what else was there to do? He’d sat waiting whilst she used the
bathroom, wondering what the hell he was going to do about the situation.
Common sense had said take back his money and kick her out of his home with a
dire warning never to return. But common sense seemed to be in short supply,
and after the amazing sex of the night before all he could think was to find a
way to keep her with him until he could sate the desires plaguing him.
The image of her bent over, rosy ass cheeks pert in front of him,
her legs—which seemed to stretch easily in any direction he moved them—wrapped
around his neck, her lips clenched around his cock-head, all those images
flashed through his brain and though he knew it was all wrong in so many ways
he wanted more. The plan formed before he could really think it through and now
there it was, laid out before them and Sebastian was not surprised to see her
eyes narrowing, filling with calculation. She did not seem shocked by his proposition.
If anything it was as though she half expected it.
Again it was so fucking wrong! He was shocked, yet she wasn’t.
“I get to keep the two hundred grand?”
“You want to keep the money you stole?”
She shrugged. “That seems fair to me.
If you’re going
to keep me here as your sex slave, then at least I should be compensated for
it.”
“Sex slave?” He spluttered on the words, because that was so far
from what he meant. She wanted him, he knew she did. No woman could fake the
passion that had flared between them night before. Sebastian had fucked more
women than he could remember. He’d been wild in his youth. With all the money
going to his head and the women throwing themselves at him, of course he’d
taken advantage of the situation. Those times were long since past now, but he
knew enough about the female anatomy to know when it was real. And what had
passed between them last night was shockingly real. Sebastian wasn’t sure he’d
ever felt anything like it. It had been simply amazing and he had to have more.
Thinking with his dick? Yes, probably. No, certainly. But for once he wanted to
do just that, to do and worry about the consequences after the fact. Again
madness!
“And criminal consultant,” she added.
“
Kleftisa
,
are you serious?”
She nodded. “Where money is concerned, Sebastian, I always am.”
He lifted a hand and tucked a finger under her chin, making her keep
their eye contact. It irked him that she seemed able to gaze around the place
freely without being drawn back to him. He couldn’t keep his fucking eyes off
her. He noticed the bruise blossoming around her lip and felt guilt well up in
him all over again. Slowly, he leant forward and placed a light kiss on it. The
shiver that went through her body did not escape him and his excitement peaked.
How he wanted her.
“Besides people pay big money to security consultants,” she added,
“and God knows you need some help in that area. It was far too easy to get into
your house.”
“The security consultant part I agree,” he said slowly. “That needs
to be fixed but I’m not sure I like the way your thoughts are going in the
other direction.”
“The sex slave part?”
“Yes.”
“That is what you’re saying though, Sebastian,” she said. “You’re
telling me I have to stay here until you’ve fucked me enough. You want me, you want
to have me,
so
you’ll have to pay for the privilege.”
“That is not what I meant!”
“No?” she chided. “You can go to prison or you can open your legs?
Those were your words.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.” Sebastian paused, trying to order his
thoughts, not an easy job when he was busy thinking with his cock. “That came
out all wrong. Didn’t I already say it was too late to call the police? But I
do want you, I will not deny that, and it is madness! I should not want you
like this.”
“But you do?”
“Yes. I want to bury myself in you over and over. You excite me,
Kleftisa
.”
She smiled, and it lit up her eyes. Sebastian felt his heart give a
little stutter and his dick harden. He wasn’t sure really which worried him
more.
“I want you also,” she said after a moment. “More than seems
sensible. So I will happily remain here fucking you until we tire of it.
Happily.
But I want that money.”
Pleasure throbbed through him at her words but it was swiftly
followed by anger. “Is this another of your work areas then?
Prostitution?”
He bit the words out, shocked by the feelings surging through him. Why that
thought should be so repugnant he didn’t know, but it was. The idea of her
bedding man after man made him clench his fists. What
did you
expect
, his mind whispered. She’s a thief who snuck into your home and
rifled through your safe, and yet you tell her she has to remain until you tire
of her. How can you predict her reactions? You know nothing about her.
She shrugged, her cat eyes narrowing. “Not yet, but I’m willing to
be flexible.”
“You need the money that badly?”
“Of course.
This
isn’t a hobby for me you know. I don’t just rob people for the fun of it. I do
it because I need the cash.”
“Well yes, but—”
“You wouldn’t get that though,” she continued, and he saw the truth
in her eyes. “You’re so rich you’ve never had to worry about such things, but I
need that cash and if that means I have to sell myself to you to get it so be
it.”
“Sell yourself.” Sebastian stood up abruptly, unable to remain
still. He was angry and edgy and he had no idea what the hell he was doing. He
could have any woman he wanted for fucks sake. He did not have to stoop to
paying
a woman to share his bed! And yet here he was
contemplating doing just that.
“I’m a realistic woman, Sebastian,” she continued. “I do what needs
to be done. So here is
my
plan. You
give me that two hundred grand and promise me that you will not call the
police. In return I’ll remain here with you for as long as you require. I’ll
tell you how I got round your security systems and fuck you senseless whenever
you require, however you require.”
“
Kleftisa
….”
“And you’ll love every moment of it, and being the honest sort of
woman I am I can agree that I will, too.”
The snare wound itself around him and Sebastian floundered. Everything
she said was true. He wanted her so much and two hundred grand? Well it was
nothing really, was it? He could easily let it go.
But you’re paying her for her body, her time.
He shuddered. Was he
already too far gone to care?