Page 51 of King of Desire

“Are you saving me?” I gasp, lifting my head to see what’s happening.

“No, Honeyeh,” he grits out even as the crowd rises to its feet, the noise going from silent to deafening. “I bought you.”

And then his free hand comes down in a hard smack on my upturned behind.

I gasp, going rigid, but I don’t struggle. Not even when he steps down off the stage, his shoulder biting into my soft middle.

Men surround us, some of them grabbing me and pulling. But Triston spins with a snarl. “Touch her again and I’ll rip your fucking head off. The girl is mine.”

I look around his side just in time to see him jab his fingers into the throat of a man, who gags and then falls into the crowd.

I clutch at his waist, as the crowd surges.

“The auction has been closed. This man is the winner,” Dimitri’s voice booms over the assembled crowd. “The whorehouse is opening in ten minutes for any man who might need to partake.”

There is a pause in the chaos and Triston doesn’t hesitate. With me still over his shoulder, he strides for the door.

I have no idea what happens next, but whatever it is, I’ll take whatever Triston hands out. I wilt against his back even as his hand comes down hard on my backside again. It stings but I don’t even jump.

Instead, I sink deeper into him, my eyes closing as I reach my arms around his waist.

“What the fuck were you thinking?”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Triston

SeeingHoneyeh up on that stage, every gorgeous curve on full display as every man in that room pictured sinking inside her has uncorked some feral male drive inside me.

I’m going to kill every man here, and when I’m done…

My hand comes down on Honeyeh’s ass again. I’m going to spank her raw for putting herself in danger and then?—

I make myself stop. Because I’m right back where I was yesterday. I was a fool to think I could have Honeyeh under my roof, in front of my eyes, without touching her.

Ryker’s luxury SUV sits idling at the curb.

He climbs into the driver’s seat, Rush moving to the passenger’s chair. I open the back door, tumbling Honeyeh inside, before I climb in too, closing the door.

Ryker’s peeling out before I’ve even sat down, Honeyeh’s legs in the way. I don’t move them. Instead, I roll her on her stomach and smack her ass three more times with hard decisive strikes.

She doesn’t make a sound. “You haven’t answered me yet,” I snarl.

She’s got her face turned into the seat, her hair blocking her face. “What was the question?”

Anger and fear are beating through me in equal measures, and I smack her sweet ass one more time. It’s bright red and clearly visible through the see-through fabric. “Why the fuck would you go there instead of coming to me?”

She barely moves, doesn’t lift her face. “After last night…”

Her words taper off, but I know what she means. We left things very tense and rather ambiguous. I hang my head, sitting next to her legs on a sliver of the seat, as I rest my hand on her ass. “You still should have asked me.”

She shakes her hair, her glossy curls moving with her. “I need my job. I couldn’t jeopardize that by asking you for ten thousand dollars.”

“Ten? You were going to sell yourself for ten thousand dollars?” I ask, so pissed I nearly spank her again. I just wired Dimitri a hundred thousand. If Mason knew I pumped that kind of money into one of Dimitri’s businesses…

Not to mention that Dimitri and I are far from done. If anything, this made relations between us much worse.

But those are both problems for another time because Honeyeh’s head jerks up. “My phone!”

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