There was an abrupt halt to my giggling. I could feel all the blood in my face drain with his words, and I was suddenly paralyzed with fear.
“How much will it take? A thousand? Ten thousand? A hundred grand? Oh no, that’s right. The going price is two million dollars, right? Damn, that pussy’s gotta be lined in gold.”
Oh, God. He knew.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, my voice sounding unconvincing even to my own ears.
“No?” Judging by the look on his face, it was safe to say he knew for sure that I knew what he was talking about. “Let’s see if this rings a bell. Noah made a trip to a little club called Foreplay and then slipped in through the back door to attend a secret auction where he bought you for a cool two mill … to be his sex slave. Sound familiar?”
My whole body shook with trepidation.
“How did you know?”
David chuckled. “I might have access to a certain contract.”
He found the contract? But how?
“What do you want?” I asked, ready to hear his demands.
He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me against his body. Then he leaned down and whispered into my ear. “I already told you. I want Scarlet Lotus. And I want to sample the golden pussy for myself.”
“No!” I said, shoving at him, but he was too strong and I couldn’t make him budge.
“Ah, why be so stingy? It’s what you’re paid to do, right? The difference is I’m offering you so much more than the measly amount my partner paid. You can have it all, including me. At least then you’ll get to know what it’s like to be with a real man,” he said, and then he licked the length of my neck from my collarbone to my earlobe. “You do this or Noah’s ship is sunk. I’ll go to the board and the press about your little deal, and he’ll lose everything; his company, his dignity, his standing in the public eye. Plus your folks will know their daughter is nothing but a common whore. So what’s it going to be, Delaine?”
He palmed my breast and began to take liberties, squeezing it like it was a stress ball. I felt so completely vulnerable, and I was scared out of my wits. His hot breath fanned out over my skin, and he started to plant slimy kisses along the length of my neck.
My heart pounded furiously in its cage and I willed my mind to think of a way out of the predicament that I’d found myself in. Noah. I wanted my Noah. He’d be home shortly and then he’d …
And then it hit me. That was exactly what David was counting on. He wanted Noah to walk in and see him fucking me, just like when Noah had walked in and found him fucking Julie. David meant to destroy him completely.
So the decision I was left with was to either let him have what he wanted and break Noah’s heart, or to refuse him and watch helplessly as Noah handed his company over to David Stone—a company his parents had built from scratch. Noah would be ruined, and my parents would know what I had done. But if he walked in and saw us together, it might do far more damage. Could Noah still love me after all that? Either way, it seemed there was no easy answer.
Images of Noah’s face flashed across my mind: the anguished expression when he first told me he’d fallen in love with me, the light in his eyes when I finally got a chance to say it back, the desperation as he stood in the rain half naked and asked me to marry him. I couldn’t rip his heart out. I refused to put him through the same thing Julie had.
Material things could be replaced. Noah was smart enough and had the talent to rebuild. As for his damnation in the public eye, people were bloodthirsty and ruthless when it came to celebrities, but as soon as the next star fell from the sky, his sin would be forgotten. And yeah, I would forever see the disappointment in my parents’ eyes after they learned their daughter had sold her body for two million dollars, but the loss of their respect was a fair price to pay when I thought about the alternative. It was much more difficult to mend a broken heart, and Noah couldn’t take much more heartache. It took a lot for him to finally trust someone else, and he’d put everything he had left in the palm of my hands. No way was I going to destroy a gift that precious.
“No,” I answered David. “I belong to Noah, and Noah alone. I am his.”
I felt every muscle in David’s body tense as he registered my words. A low growl rumbled from his chest and he pulled back to glare down at me. “I will have you. Willingly, or not.”
Before I had a chance to react, he grabbed my shirt and ripped it apart, sending buttons flying across the floor.
“No!” I screamed, and then I gathered every ounce of strength I had in my body and pushed against him.
It was enough force to make him stumble back, giving me room to get out of his clutches. I made a run for the door, but David was quick on my heels. Just as I reached for the door handle, he grabbed my arm and yanked me back, sending me sailing across the floor until I hit my head on the wall.
David stalked toward me, undoing his pants in the process. I scrambled, trying to get away, but he was on me in a nanosecond. So I did the only thing I could do: I fought. If he was going to take me, I wasn’t about to make it easy for him. He hovered over me, and I kicked my foot out, nailing him in the balls.
“You bitch!” He doubled over, but the kick hadn’t been enough to stop him. With renewed determination, he grabbed at my flailing arms and pinned me down to the floor. I was trapped under his weight, unable to move as he wedged his knees between my thighs and forced them apart while fumbling with my pants.
“Please! No!” I cried out. Tears streamed down my cheeks.
I squeezed my eyes shut to block out the horrific image of the disgusting man on top of me. He was a fucking animal; a panting, feral beast that was out of control with determined lust. The stench of his sweat burned my nostrils, and scalding tears ran freely down my face, their saltiness leaking past my trembling lips. At that moment I hated David Stone enough to want to kill him.
His hands went to the button on my jeans and I struggled to break free of his unyielding strength, determined not to let him touch me.
I was not a whore!
Just then, the front door flew open.
“Get the fuck off her!” It was Noah’s voice, and he sounded demonic, as if he were possessed by Satan himself.
My bare skin felt an unexpected chill before I realized David was no longer on top of me. Instead, he was flying through the air, his body crashing into the side table with a sickening yet pleasing crack as its wood splintered under his weight.