Page 6 of Skin Trade

“Noth—” She flushed hot red, paused and took a breath. “Your name. I was thinking about your name.”

“And?”

“And …” Her breathing hitched. He knew, didn’t he? She swallowed. “Your fingers.” Her heart strummed as the words left her mouth because he looked at her again … he fucking looked at her in that way again, and not that she could describe it. Whatever it was, whatever he did, something flickered in his eyes, in his intent, and it stroked through her body like fire.

She went to look away from him, but he caught her chin with his fingers and made her face him. But he said nothing. He did nothing, and all she could do was squirm in his grasp. “Seth …”

“You play the little girl so well,” he said, finally, “but I must tell you.” He slipped his hand around to her nape. “I prefer a woman. There is something intrinsically sexy when a woman knows how to be strong. You’re strong, aren’t you, Payton? You’re not the little girl you pretend to be?”

His pupils made her brain swirl, and her thoughts crashed in her head. Another second and she was going to be in a pool on the seat, and she'd not be able to do anything then. He was in her head already, inside her … that voice … those eyes … that intense stare. Everything about him caressed her inner femininity, and she swallowed hard.

“That’s better.” He leant in closer, his mouth to her neck and she tried to fight him, tried to push back, but her body wasn’t listening to her. He scraped his fangs along the sensitive skin of her throat, all the way down to her collarbone.

“No,” she said, turning her head, pulling herself back. “Stop it.” She snapped her mind back, but she was hot, so damn hot. She rasped out a breath.

The shit grinned at her, victorious. “Ready to go?” he asked.

Breathless … “Where are we going?”

“Skin Trade.”

“A club?”

One teasing grin. “My club.”

Chapter Five

The words Skin Trade lit up the sky like a signal going out to Batman across the city. Neon, red and green. It could have been by far the tallest building on the block.

“The whole place is a club?” It looked more like someone had taken the Empire State building and placed it in the middle of this city, but made it wider, taller, stretched out in every angle and made into a solid block.

Seth leant over her and peered out of the window. He squinted. "Part of it is the club, down at the bottom, but it is a mix of everything. One place for everything your little heart could desire."

“Bookable by the hour,” Payton said before catching herself. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Honesty, remember?” With that, he got out of the car and came around to her side. She stayed where she was, not because she expected chivalry, but because she knew her place and that was only to move when he said to, and he hadn't told her.

A second later, he pulled the door open for her and offered out his hand.

“We’re going into the club?” she asked and hesitated a little before placing her hand in his.

“You’re nervous?”

“No. Just …”

He waited.

"If you bought me so I can work for you, you have the wrong girl. I’ve never—”

He leant into her, cutting her off, one hand rested on the roof of his car, and the other still held her hand. But she wasn't backing down. No way. She sat straighter, facing his intimidating performance. "I bought you, which means, if I want you to dance, then you dance." He gave a pause for her to say something in retort and it was there on her lips, ready to spill out and smack him across the face for even thinking she'd be that kind of woman. "Perhaps I only wish for you to dance for me. Now come, before dawn approaches. I'm not partial to the idea of being roasted outside my own building."

They walked up to the main door. It wasn’t the armed guards who caught Payton’s attention. She expected those. Two scantily clad women opened the doors. They even bowed. Payton couldn’t believe it. She stopped to stare at them, but Seth tugged on her hand like an impatient puppy and pulled her in.

“You know, I can almost hear what you’re thinking?” he said as he led her into a small entryway.

“If you could hear what I thought, you’d have me killed.”

“Is that so?”

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