Page 27 of Purchase Power
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Lucy’s smile was like a convenient light in a room that had gone all but dark. “You wealthy types really live in a different world, huh?”
“Am I a wealthy type?” Noah had never been called something like that before. Certainly not by a woman he was paying for her time. “No, never mind. I see where you’re going with that.” Of course he was a wealthy type. He had bought her for a month with the millions of dollars he had lying around. He had made her rich in her own right in one night, although she wouldn’t be getting anything but the deposit until she left the house. The club owners were that much richer because of him. Noah was a personal acquaintance of the owner. The man was wealthy going back four generations.
Lucy didn’t touch her tea any more than she had to, as if Noah had conveniently contaminated it on his way to her room. Did she think he had laced it? It had been proven that she was a willing participant in this endeavor. Besides, if she really didn’t want to be with him, she could simply say so. She wouldn’t get most of the money, but they would both sleep easier at night knowing that they had asserted their boundaries.
Ah, yes. Boundaries. Something Noah understood very well.
“Always know what you want, and what you don’t want when entering a relationship.”That came from the husband-wife therapist team who had treated Stacey and Noah at the same time. Mostly because Stacey refused to go into any room with only strangers to sit beside her, let alone talk to her. Not like Noah resented it. God knew he needed to hear most of the things the therapists said as they walked Stacey and Noah through “How to Say No” and “Healthy Adult Relationships.”“Don’t be afraid to say no at any time,”the husband had said repeatedly.“You donotowe anyone sex or intimacy. Nor does anybody owe that toyou.It doesn’t matter if they gave their consent five minutes ago. The moment they say no, it’s time to back away.”
Those therapists couldn’t help Noah when he actually rejoined the world of dating and sex, though. Especially young, college-aged Noah who was known in his fraternity as “Captain Freakazoid” because of how much he drank and how many girls he took to bed.
“So…” Lucy said, interrupting his chaotic thoughts. “What can I do for you, Mr. Gabriel? I’m assuming you didn’t just come here for tea and to say hello.”
I came here to fuck you. Isn’t that obvious.Yet Noah couldn’t bring himself to say it. He was stuck too deep in his thoughts. The therapists babbled incessantly. Stacey rocked in her chair. The horses bucked and the dirt kicked up, obscuring the world that had once been Noah’s to control. Candace gave him a scathing look. David egged him on. Lucy…
Lucy danced half-naked in front of the window, enticing him to bring her into his world.
She was here now.
“Have you had dinner yet?” Noah asked.
Lucy glanced at the clock on the wall. “No. Is dinner usually served early?”
“I suppose it is rather early for dinner. It’s usually served around six. We like to keep to a schedule around here.” He made it sound like that washisschedule they kept to like it was the Word. In reality, it was Stacey who dictated the scheduled workings of Gabriel Manor. The day meals were five minutes late were liable to be some of her worst. Any deviation from the schedule had the power to send her into a meltdown. Noah had merely learned to become as scheduled as her. He hardly noticed it anymore. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
“It’s your time to interrupt,” Lucy coyly said with a flutter of her eyelashes. “I’m here for the ride, remember?” The way she shifted her hips when she said that reminded Noah of every definition ofride.Why, no, he wouldn’t mind losing his thoughts to the blissful silence that was a clear head. Where all he cared about was fucking a woman to completion.Clear both of my heads that way.A small smile cracked on his face. Why, yes! Noah Gabrielwascapable of amusing himself with a dirty double entendre.
Noah shook that from his thoughts. Clear. Thoughts. That’s what was allowed.
“I don’t want you associating my visits with nothing but sex, Ms. Craig.”
“So far, we’re fifty-fifty on that front. You made it quite clear last night that you weren’t interested in screwing my brains out. Did you get that out of your system Friday night?”
He leveled his gaze on her, daring Lucy to keep talking that way. “Hardly. First thing I did when I returned to my hotel room was take a shower. It was a convenient place to keep thinking about what a lucky man I was to win your hand.”
“Win my hand? Well, I guess I’m a lucky woman, too, Mr. Gabriel. I can safely say I’ve never had it like… that… before. Although I was quite the opposite of you. I was very satisfied.Very.”
She was probably lying, but that was all right. Women in Lucy’s position only told the truth about what they really thought of the men they fucked if they were paid for that kind of humiliation. Didn’t mean Noah kept his best back, though. Whether with a “real” date or a woman he hired for the evening, Noah intended to give her the best he had. More fun that way.
More honorable. If any change came to Gabriel Manor when Noah moved back in to take things over, it was the state of honor.
“It can get boring in here, Mr. Gabriel.” Lucy pushed herself closer to the edge of the couch, the loose front of her wrap-dress spilling open. Oh. She wasn’t wearing a bra. That was the major difference from the push-up from the other night. Certainly made a difference, didn’t it? Somehow… more alluring… “Lonely.”
“My apologies for the loneliness you feel. Perhaps I can arrange for you to invite someone over to stay a couple of days.”
“Why?” Lucy draped her torso over the arm of the couch. “So they can go stand outside while you have your way with me?”
“I think you’re seriously misinterpreting why you’re here, Ms. Craig.”
“Am I? Mr. Gabriel, you purchased my time and services at an auction all about selling my body. Then you came into my waiting room, fucked my brains out, and proceeded to plan for me living in your big countryside house. What, pray tell, am I supposed to assume about what I’m doing here?”
She had him there.Kicking me right in the balls.The blue balls, the rate things were going. Noah would never intentionally choose a romantic partner who challenged him every time he opened his mouth, but there was something attractive about it, right? That little glint in her eye every time she called him on his bluff made him want to scream.
In ecstasy.
“Why don’t you tell me whatyouthink you’re doing here, Ms. Craig,” Noah said. “I’d love to hear it from the woman who is staying in my house for a month.”
Every time Lucy pursed her lips, Noah imagined her doing something else with them. Then again, he kept imagining anything other than sitting at the table havingtea.Like grabbing her. Touching her hair. Running his finger along those lips. Squeezing her ass and introducing his nose to the small of her back. Noah didn’t make a habit of fantasizing about – let alone lusting after – the women in his vicinity, but Lucy was right about one thing. That was the status quo established from the moment he bid on her body Friday night.
