Page 9 of Proposition 1

My gaze turned back to Leo, my eyebrows raised.

“You said you had an offer for me.”

One side of his lips tipped up as he huffed. Moving around me, he placed his hands on my shoulders before running them down to my upper arms and turning me to face the empty chairs.

“I have an opportunity for you. Something that will make you enough money to pay back what your brother owes in one night. Maybe more.”

My breath caught in my throat. Nothing that could make that much money in one night could be legal, yet I was out of options.

I blame the butterflies in my stomach on my fear of what he’s going to suggest, and not the heat of his hands on the bare skin of my arms. I’ve been so busy trying to keep my family above water that I never had time for the usual teenage fumblings. I’m still a virgin, and I can’t remember the last time a man touched me even casually.

My throat worked as I swallowed, but I couldn’t force out the question racing through my mind.

“I’m setting up an event for some of our… acquaintances. We like to provide entertainment every once in a while, and it can be quite lucrative.”

His voice was a purr in my ear, his warm breath ghosting against my neck and raising goosebumps along my skin. My nipples tightened as I resisted the urge to shiver.

“I’m short a girl, and I think you’d fit in perfectly.”

My stomach was a tight knot, my body quivering with the urge to flee. This man was too much for me. Too powerful. Too dangerous. I didn’t know what I had been thinking even considering listening to an offer from him.

“I—I need to go.”

My whisper was lost in the emptiness in front of me, the man at my back brushing away my words like they hadn’t been said. His hands remained firm on my arms.

“It’s only one night. You stand on this stage and face the audience as they bid on you. You get half the money and can pay your brother’s debt.”

I knew he could feel my body trembling in his grip, just as he knew I didn’t need to ask why the men would be bidding on me. There was only one thing they could want, but was it something I was willing to give? As bad as we needed the money, could I live with myself if I did what he was suggesting?

Could I live with myself if something happened to my brother because I didn’t?

“That’s illegal,” I gasped, trying to buy myself time.

“It’s a bit… illicit.”

His rumble didn’t help, my mind warring with my body for what was more important to focus on. There was one thing both halves had in common that my brain insisted was important.

“I’m a virgin.”

The words blurted from my mouth before I could stop them. I don’t know if I thought it would make him rescind his offer because I wasn’t experienced, but the subtle tightening of his fingers seemed to tell me a different story.

Before I knew what he was doing, he’d spun me around and was crushing me to his chest. One arm around my waist, the other hand buried in my hair, my head was pulled back as he stared down at me.

“That makes you more valuable. Maybe you’ll get enough to pay some of your other debts.”

His green eyes roved over my face, the hungry look in them causing my core to clench. Leo looked like he wanted to devour me, and as his gaze settled on my lips, I held my breath.

“Saturday night. Ten o’clock. I’ll send a car to your house to pick you up.”

My brain was so twisted up, it took a moment for his words to make sense, and the only response I could come up with was weak.

“I have to work.”

“Call in sick. For Sunday too, you’ll be tired.”

The warmth of his arms disappeared so fast I almost stumbled when he stepped away from me. His face was a blank mask again, the calculating look in his eye a bucket of cold water to my raging body.

I tried to pull myself together, straightening my back as I searched for a valid excuse not to do this, but he knew as well as I did that I didn’t have one. For every reason to say no, I had two more to say yes. If selling my virginity would pay off my brother’s debt and possibly leave me with a bit extra to get by, how could I not?

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