Highest Bidder – By Aria R. Blue #3
A dark figure steps inside. I don’t look in his direction, but I’m acutely aware of his presence. The scent of him fills my nostrils. It’s a little easier to breathe now, but I still feel like my head is being held underwater.
“What’s your name?” His voice is a warm caress against my bare skin.
I close my eyes. “Lily.”
“That’s your real name?”
I nod. “What’s yours?”
He’s hesitant for a moment.
“Gabriel,” he says finally.
“Gabriel Montgomery,” I say out loud, testing the name on my tongue. The combination of these two words sounds so familiar, but I can’t place it in this moment.
He walks toward me.
My cheeks grow heated. My heart starts racing again, beating way too hard inside my ribcage.
“You’re nervous,” he observes.
I stand and turn to face him. My hands are clammy, so I rub them on my thighs. And finally, I find the courage to look him in the eye.
My world freezes to a halt once more.
It’s not just the effect of looking at this man. Yes, he’s handsome and has a face that looks like it’s straight from Greek mythology. But it’s the way he looks at me that takes my breath away.
“Have I done something wrong?” I ask.
“What?”
“You’ve been scowling at me the entire night,” I say, clearing my throat. “If I did something to upset you, I didn’t mean to.”
His lips purse together. “No. It’s not that.”
I wait for him to offer an explanation, but he doesn’t give me anything.
“Your hair looks beautiful like that,” he says.
I touch the back of my head. I don’t know why my cheeks feel like they’re burning at a million degrees Fahrenheit. I realize that he’s trying to diffuse the tension between us.
“Thank you,” I say. “They gave me a hair spa earlier this evening. It was nice.”
“It’s your first time at the club,” he says. It’s not a question.
I nod. “Yes.”
“How did you end up here?”
The question catches me off guard. He’s not supposed to ask me things like that. I don’t know much about the club, but they informed me that personal questions aren’t allowed.
“It seemed like a fun place to work,” I say.
“You’re lying.” His slate gray eyes narrow, resembling a silver bolt of lightning. It sends a ripple of desire down my spine.
“Money,” I say. “I came here because I needed money.”
“And what do you plan on doing with the money?” he asks.
I think about the four men who showed up at my house in the middle of the night. Every word they said is burned into my memory.
I clutch my hands behind my back to hide the way they’re trembling.
“Ihave an expensive taste in bags and jewelry,” I say.
“Another lie,” he says.
I suck in a breath and look up at him. He’s studying me like I’m a new species he’s never seen before.
“What is your problem?” The words leave my lips before I can stop them. “This isn’t what you paid for.”
He walks toward me, closing the distance between us in a few strides. The warmth of his body envelops me like a lover’s caress. I stop breathing completely.
I’m helpless to do anything but stare up at this imposing man.
“Tell me, Lily,” he says. “What exactly did I pay for?”
He softly lifts his hand, about to touch me. When I suck in a breath, his hand hovers over my cheek. He takes in the emotions that flit across my face. And then he drops his hand.
“Tell me what I paid for, Lily,” he says, moving even closer. He steals all the air from the room, leaving none for me.
I take a reflex step back, only for him to close the distance again. When the back of my knees hit the bed, I lose balance and fall gracelessly on top of the sheets. He watches me with a dark satisfaction in his eyes.
My dress bunches around my upper thighs. I’m about to fix it when he makes a clicking sound with his tongue.
“No,” he says. “Let me see. After all, I already paid for it.”
He keeps throwing my words back at me. I’m supposed to find it offensive, but I don’t. There’s a delicious fire burning low in my belly, and this man keeps adding gasoline with every look he gives me.
He pulls up a nearby chair and sits in front of the bed.
“Do you even know what you signed up for, Lily?” he asks, leaning back in his chair like a king would on his throne.
“I know what you want,” I say, tipping my chin up and trying to look brave.
“And what do you think I want?” he asks.
“What every other man wanted,” I say.
He shakes his head. “I think you’re attractive, but that’s not the only reason I’m here.”
“What do you want, then?” I ask.
“I’ve been asking myself that same question ever since I laid eyes on you,” he murmurs.
A hush falls between us.
He stares at me, and I stare at him. He’s looking at me like I’m the first woman he ever laid eyes on.
“Here’s the thing, Lily,” he says. “I don’t care about people. I’ve never met anyone who made my entire world stop. But there’s something about you that made me pause. I was in the middle of something very important to me, but I couldn’t bear the thought of any other man having you.”
His gaze feels like he can see all the way down to my soul.I don’t think any man has ever looked at me like this. And even if they have, I don’t think I ever noticed it.
“What were you in the middle of?” I ask.
The darkness in his eyes deepens, growing sadder. The pain I see in them makes something twist in my chest.
“A man hurt someone I care about,” he says. “And I was trying to find him.”
“Did you?” I ask.
He stares at me like he can’t believe we’re having this conversation. I can’t believe it, either. I didn’t think that there would be much talking going on in this room.
“I found him,” he says. “And then I found you.”
I swallow. “Did you let him go?”
“No,” he says. “We worked too hard to find him. My brother is at the club too. He’s taking care of it.”
“What did the man do?” I ask.
It’s none of my business. I shouldn’t be probing into his personal life. I’m supposed to be sexy and alluring. But I want to know the reason his aura just got heavier.
Gabriel glances out of the window. Candlelight falls on his cheek, making him look like something carved by angels.
The sharp contours of his face juxtapose with his softer features.
He has full lips and eyelashes that most women would envy.
He’s a beautiful specimen of a man, but I also see the signs of unrest on his face—the way the space under his eyes looks sunken, like he hasn’t had a good night’s rest in months.
“You’re asking me to confide my deepest, darkest secrets to you,” he says, turning to look at me. “And you’re just a stranger.”
“Maybe a stranger is the best person to hold your secrets,” I say. “After all, it’s very likely we’ll never cross paths after tonight.”
He leans forward in his seat. The simple motion has a ripple effect that I feel in every cell of my body.
“Maybe,” he says. “What do I get in return?”
“What do you want?” I whisper.
“A secret for a secret,” he says.
My heartbeat kicks up a notch. I don’t think this man is good for my heart. I no longer remember the way it used to beat before I met him.
“Okay,” I say. “You go first.”
He studies me for another moment, like he’s trying to imprint as much of me as he can in his memory.I can’t describe the emotions he elicits in me, but something tells me I’ll be thinking about his gaze on me for years to come.
“A few months ago, I got a phone call,” he says. “Nothing, absolutely nothing in the world, could have prepared me for it.”
He takes a moment to breathe. He’s looking at me, but his eyes are in another time and place.
“It was from an unknown number, but I knew the area code,” he says. “My hometown. It was the hospital calling to tell me that my mother lost her battle with cancer.”
My hands fist the white bedsheet underneath me. I don’t know what I was expecting him to say, but it wasn’t this.
“I’m so sorry,” I say.
“I didn’t even know that she was sick,” he says. “And as the oldest child, I had to be the one to call all of my siblings. I have four brothers and a little sister. I had to be the one to tell them the news.”
This man is a stranger, but I have an urge to wrapmy arms around him. I want to comfort him in some way.
“I thought that the worst that could happen had already happened,” he says.
“But on the morning of the funeral, my grandfather pulled me and my brothersaside. He told us that something wasn’t right about the situation.
The doctor-on-call that night had disappeared.
The hospital’s video footage was erased.
My mother’s medical file was nowhere to be seen.
He told us what he suspected—that our mother was murdered. ”
His confession lands between us like a grenade. Unfiltered rage flashes across his eyes.
I don’t trust myself to say the right thing, so I don’t say anything.
He takes a moment to compose himself.
“The man I was looking for tonight is the missing doctor’s brother. He might even be involved, since the two of them lived together,” he says.
“Did both of them disappear on the same night?” I ask.
He nods. “Yes. They were never seen again. It didn’t even look like it was planned.All of their belongings were abandoned. Their mailbox was overflowing. They left no digital footprint.It was like the two of them just stopped...existing.”
“That’s so strange,” I say.
“It is, isn’t it?” he says. And then he frowns. “I don’t know why I feel comfortable sharing this with you.”
“I already told you. It’s easy to share things with strangers.”
His sharp gaze studies me.
“Your turn,” he murmurs.
I suck in a breath. We made a deal. Asecret for a secret.
He told me something very personal to him. I don’t have to do the same, but something tells me I’ll feel lighter if I confide in him.
“You asked me earlier what brought me here tonight,” I say. “I’m here because of my brother. He has a gambling addiction.”
There’s no reaction on Gabriel’s face. He simply watches me, waiting for me to continue.
So I tell him things I didn’t even have the courage to tell my best friend.