Sold for the Night by Ki Brightly

4

Mark

Blearily I draggedmy stolen robe tighter around my body against the chill of the AC as I stepped down from the stairs to the main floor of the house. I didn’t feel too bad about the clothing theft, since Camden had taken a lot more than a damned robe from me last night, such as several unapproved bites out of my flesh—my shoulder and the nape of my neck still hurt when I moved them. Somehow he’d foiled my determination to run.

That last thing really stuck in my craw. What audacity that man had to fuck like a goddamned champion after he’d basically abducted me.

And I could say many things about Camden if pressed, but he was also hot, and knew how to fuck. Apparently all of my common sense had emptied from my body along with the cum from my balls. The man purchased me for a night of messy sex. He was as much of a degenerate as Ross Midberry. I scowled. Fuck, I still enjoyed Ross’ company, and I kept answering questions for him while he navigated having a real job, for once in his life.

I’d have to examine all of my life choices after I had some caffeine.

I still wasn’t quite sure why I’d agreed to sleep with Camden, except for the fact that my cock had stiffened in his presence faster than human decency could comprehend. I had no idea what was wrong with me, but how often did men like him tell me they wanted to fuck me? Never, that was when. The scent of coffee doggedly coaxed me along through the dining room toward the kitchen. The cool wooden floor was nice under my feet, and the AC chugging along reminded me that the summer air was probably already getting awful outside.

Vaguely, I recalled this level of the house from arriving last night, but at the time I’d been preoccupied and hadn’t been focused on the classic wooden furniture and sturdy family-style table that took up the center of the room. I nodded to myself, and my estimation of Camden lifted. His house told me he was a solid man. Maybe last night was a one-time aberration?

Yeah, and maybe pigs can strap on jetpacks and fly, too.I snorted at myself and walked faster. “I could really use about ten cups,” I called. The sound of small feet approaching from the kitchen confused me into slowing, and then a tiny girl with long blonde braids and a red-checkered sundress stood before me and halted my progress. For no good reason I could determine, she had a strip of tape across her upper lip, resembling a mustache, and she clutched a stuffed shark and blinked up at me. I stared down at her while the gears in my brain turned and produced a puff of smoke. My mind refused to compute what this child might be doing here.

“Who are you?” she asked, and I almost wanted to stomp my foot because she’d stolen my question.

“It’s very rude to ask adults things without bringing them a cup of coffee,” I fired back.

She tilted her head, and I was mesmerized by her huge brown eyes. They were so bright and glistened. I’d never seen anything so perfect. This seemed like a trap of some sort, and I backpedaled, but she followed, and I stopped again.

“ ’Kay, but who are you?”

There was a deep chuckle from the kitchen doorway, and I glanced up to see Camden leaning a shoulder against the wooden frame. His head almost brushed the beam across the top, and I swallowed hard as I got a look at his broad bare chest. He was obviously not worried about being half naked in his own house, and the pajama pants he wore were family friendly, but the muscles he had under them weren’t. Mainly because I couldn’t stop imagining him without the clothes. My mouth went dry. He stepped forward and handed me something. I almost cried when I realized they were two painkillers, and happily tipped the pills in my mouth. I chugged the water he handed me next, then passed back the empty glass.

“Thank you. That was thoughtful,” I said.

He lifted a shoulder. “I know I needed them. Thought you would, too.”

“Who is he?” the little girl asked and tapped him on the belly with her shark.

Camden chuckled. “This is Mark, and we’re going to be nice to Mark, okay? No twenty questions.”

“What’s wrong with his head?”

I smacked a hand to my hair, and not only did it desperately need to be washed—I could feel the product had lost the battle with sweat, leaving an unappealing crunchy mess behind—but I was also dealing with the beginnings of my curls.

“Nothing, Ellie. That was rude. He just has red hair.”

I relaxed a little and smiled at her.

“How?” she demanded and whomped me on the knee with her shark. She really put her weight behind it, and I grunted. “You paint it that way?”

“I—no.” Camden studied me, and embarrassment wormed its way through my chest and upward to set my cheeks on fire. “But it is contagious, so you better run!” I tugged on one of her braids, and her little mouth fell open before she raced off back to the kitchen.

Camden snickered. “That’s good. You’re all right with kids, then?”

I tried not to stare at any one part of him while my mind blanked and I attempted to decide how I wanted to answer, but that left my gaze roving his body. By the time I made myself focus on his face, the corner of his mouth was twisted in a very self-satisfied way that had me feeling prickly. I opened my mouth, and he cut me off by holding up a finger. I crossed my arms but quickly relaxed as he leaned around the doorway to snag something on the other side. I almost floated off the floor when the smell of good coffee wafted from the massive red mug he held.

“It reminded me of you,” he said, then shrugged, while that smile turned into something closer to humble.

Sighing deeply, I resigned myself to the inevitable. “Because it’s red?”

“Uh… yeah.” He laughed.

“I forgive you for everything,” I muttered as he handed me the brew. Then I took a sip. The coffee was too hot and burned the tip of my tongue, but I didn’t even care. Just the scent in my nose made everything better. The seared inside of my mouth was worth it.

“You’ve been seeing him long enough to be mad at him?” A pretty woman with apple cheeks and blonde hair that matched the little girl who’d attacked me peeked around the doorway, and I jerked. My coffee sloshed and missed my hand but unhappily splashed to the floor. She covered her mouth, tried to fight back a laugh, and was mostly unsuccessful. When she stepped into sight, she was wearing an outfit that matched the little girl’s, right down to strappy sandals on her feet, though her soft curves filled it out much differently. It took me a second to connect the dots. This must be Camden’s ex-wife, but what the hell was she doing here? “Oops, Cam, clean that up, your honey-bunny and me are going to talk.”

“Wait a sec,” he said, but she already had her hand hooked on my arm, dragging me into the kitchen. I held my cup away from myself in hopes I could keep whatever was left in there, because I needed the coffee more than I needed air.

“So,” she said, with a conspiratorial smile. “Where are you from?”

“Why?”

“What do you do?” She cocked her head and slid her gaze down my body, which had me double-checking that the knot on the robe belt was secure.

“I… aren’t you… why are you….”

“Do you like pancakes?” Her eyebrows rose high.

Bafflement scrambled my brain, and I found myself saying, “I’m allergic to milk. I have to use my own recipe.”

She frowned sadly. “Really?”

“Yes, really. I can’t answer questions yet.”

“Why?” she asked and had the nerve to sound indignant as she slapped her hand to her hip.

“The little girl must be yours.”

“Yeah, Eloise is my mini-me.” Her eyes twinkled.

I closed my eyes to better ignore her and sipped at the remainder of my coffee. Bliss. I opened my eyes, and she was still staring. “New Gothenburg, work in an office. Yes, I do. I need coffee to function. Before you ask, no, the allergy isn’t deadly, but it does give me hives, and you probably want to know my name is Mark.”

“You remembered all that?” Her mouth fell open in an impressed little O. I thought maybe I should hate her, since she used to be married to Camden and that’s always what my more dramatic acquaintances said they did—hated their current fling’s exes—but she was too odd to hate. I’d never had anyone so ready to accept everything about me. Or, at least, she seemed friendly. Maybe it was all a trick? She blinked big brown innocent eyes at me, and I decided no, she was genuinely this strange.

“I’m used to pushy people firing off orders.”

She nodded and watched me sip the coffee again. Her focus unnerved me, but the coffee was too good to stop. “I’m Olivia. And there’s creamer in there.”

I spit my mouthful back into the cup and stared down into the black, murky depths.

“Gotcha.”

I scowled. Was she here because she wanted to torture anyone getting together with her ex? She laughed, though, and appeared fairly innocuous, so maybe she was just annoying. “If Cam likes you, we promise not to murder you off the first day.”

“But you don’t promise any other days?”

She shoved my shoulder, and I held back a hiss of pain. “Of course not.”

“Why are you here?” I didn’t mean to sound so rude, but she just covered her mouth with her hand while her eyes laughed at me.

“To see Wayland.” There was a little girl sitting on the counter in the corner who appeared older than the first one I’d met, and somehow I’d missed her. Camden had mentioned he had two little girls. This small person wore yellow sneakers, blue shorts, and a Wild Kratts T-shirt. She pushed herself off the counter and hit the floor with a thud.

“Wayland?” I glanced at Camden and felt my lips pursing, in spite of my best efforts. He’d essentially amounted to a shotgun one-night stand. He didn’t owe me anything, obviously, but damn it. “You said you weren’t with anyone. Who’s Wayland?”

Olivia giggled, and when she caught her breath, she said, “Addy, show Mark where Wayland lives.”

I glanced at Camden. He seemed to be thinking very hard about something. “What?” I asked.

“You can’t eat milk products, like, at all?”

“Can’t have cheese, either. Sick of me yet? This was a poor choice right here.” I both felt happy I’d gotten a dig in and awful because I’d made myself feel bad, calling myself defective. “Especially if you already have someone named Wayland.”

Yep, I wasn’t a good pick for a man who could afford this house and already had a family. I didn’t know much about kids, other than they were generally okay, and honestly, I was getting way too fucking far ahead of myself. Addy snagged my hand and made me walk with a tug that had my legs aching. I hadn’t run like I had last night in ages. I nodded to myself. I’d simply enjoy this break from my normal Sunday, and then by next week it would be as if it had never happened. This would be like a lucid dream I told people about at work parties when I’d had one shot too many. I kept that positivity mantra right up until the little girl marched me to the back door.

“I’m not dressed.” I tried to put on the brakes, but she was having none of it.

“You’re fine. Daddy goes outside in only his shorts sometimes. You’re wearing way more than that.” She tugged.

I leaned back, but she had a startling amount of strength for someone two feet shorter than me. “It’s a robe.”

She was unswayed as she tugged on my hand, and finally, with a shrug, I went along. The grass was cold on my feet and the sun wasn’t very high in the sky yet. What was she even doing awake? Didn’t kids sleep in or something? She stomped her tiny self toward a decorative pond in the far-right corner of the backyard near some blooming teacup-rosebushes and a nice fire pit with chairs around it. When she got to the very edge of the pond and the tips of her shoes were touching the water, she studied the ground, then gave a happy cry as she let my hand go. I almost had heart palpitations as she sank down to her knees. What was she doing? She pointed at what I thought was a rock at first, but then it moved, and I jumped back.

She pointed more firmly. “Wayland. He’s a painted box turtle. We saved him from getting smooshed in the road. He’s my good-luck charm.”

All at once I was smiling more than I had in a long time. Addy reminded me of my nephews and nieces. My sister, Maribeth, had five kids, but I never saw them because she lived with her husband in Phoenix. They’d moved for his work. Plus, okay, maybe realizing Wayland was a turtle and not another man with muscles like Camden’s had improved my mood drastically.

I bent forward to examine the yellow and red on the turtle’s shell. “He’s a very beautiful example of the species. And why, Miss Addy, do you need good luck?”

Camden came out the back door holding a banana for some reason and smiled when he noticed me staring. He waved, and I returned it.

Addy popped to her feet and took me by surprise when she shook her fist near my face. “To knock out Henry Raedecker’s tooth.”

“What?” Camden squawked from just behind us.

Olivia, who had come out of the door on his heels, was already tittering before she reached us. Apparently she was familiar with this violent plan. I frowned at Camden because I couldn’t say I approved, but this wasn’t my child.

“Baby,” Camden said with a chuckle. “You can’t punch anyone.”

“But he needs me to!” she wailed at an earsplitting volume. “We need ten bucks!”

Bafflement settled on Camden’s features, and he turned to Olivia with a what the hell is this shrug.

Olivia only shook her head. “It’s the neighbor boy in the house on our right. They want to buy bubble guns, and I told them they would also have to buy Eloise and Andrew, Henry’s little brother, one each, so they don’t feel left out. It’s a long, sad tale of tears. They have money for their guns but not the extras.”

Camden nodded like any of that made sense.

“How does punching neighbor Henry factor into this?” I asked Addy when no explanation was forthcoming from the adults. And to top it all off, they were all acting like it was perfectly natural for me to be standing outside in only a robe—though I was sure no one else knew that but me—near a pond, at barely past the asscrack of dawn.

“Tooth fairy. She gives money for teeth. I need the good luck because I’ve never knocked a tooth out. I want to do it right.” She shrugged.

Camden snorted and somehow managed to keep a straight face.

Olivia sighed. “So, how long have you two been dating?” she asked slyly and stepped away to eye up Camden’s back while giving me a low-down thumbs-up. My entire body flushed solar-meltdown hot with mortification.

“We’re not,” I mumbled. “I should go.”

Addy stooped and lifted the turtle with two steady hands. The poor thing’s feet waved, but other than that it didn’t appear overly distressed. “You should kiss Wayland for luck first. He’s having a good day.”

I laughed in spite of myself and checked the belt of the robe again to make sure it was secure. I had not planned for a G-rated audience. “How can you tell?”

“He’s smiling, see?” She held the turtle higher.

“Oh, yes. I do.”

Addy bent her little head, and before I could tell what she was up to, Olivia was groaning.

“No, don’t… and there it is.” Addy plopped a kiss on the turtle’s head before it could pull back into its shell. “You’re going to get good-luck salmonella. I said no kissing.”

“How else am I gonna get the luck?” Addy demanded and jumped up and down.

Camden waved his hand at Olivia. “She’s fine.”

“Oh, I’m with Olivia on that.” I winced and stepped back as Addy settled the turtle onto the ground again. “Kissing turtles doesn’t seem like a great idea.”

Camden slapped the banana he’d been holding into my palm, and I stared at it in confusion. The other little girl, Eloise, stood near the pond, so good and quiet I hadn’t noticed her at all. But even as I thought about how she must be the one they didn’t have to worry about, she slipped and fell into the water near Addy, drenching her. Olivia laughed while Addy howled in rage and Eloise squealed in delight.

With a shrug, I peeled the banana because my stomach gave a growl. It had been forever since I’d eaten anything. I shoved half the banana into my mouth at once and had trouble chewing. The sugar hit my taste buds and I nearly died of delight.

“Oh, I see why Cam likes you,” Olivia said, once she’d caught her breath from laughing at the kids, but then she started right back up again as I glared at her. In my anger I tried to swallow the food so I could snap back with something, hopefully clever, but my airway was blocked. Then I spent a good minute coughing, and it took a whack on my back from Camden before I didn’t feel like I was dying anymore.

Addy stood woefully dripping dirty pond water and shook her head at me. “That wouldn’t have happened if you’d kissed Wayland.”

I dropped the rest of the banana on the ground and tucked the edges of the robe tight to my body. “You know, I need to go. You have a very sweet family, and I am clearly interrupting your weekend.” I crept toward the side of the house, seriously considering fleeing. Except for the day Ross was arrested, I’d never been more embarrassed, and maybe not even then. Because this was different. This was personal. Sometime between the first and fourth orgasm last night, I’d begun to think maybe this whole Camden thing was worth giving a fair shot, if he wanted to see me again.

Obviously I had Stockholm syndrome or something.

“Wait,” Camden said. Olivia started after me. I turned around, and in spite of my state of undress, I headed off around the side lawn in the direction of the front of the house. Maybe Olivia and Camden weren’t married anymore, but they were clearly still close—and what did I care? They could be bestest buddies all day long. I wouldn’t be here to see it. It wasn’t like he’d been trying to sweep me off my feet last night. He’d purchased me, for God’s sake. We’d fucked, it was hot, the end.

Now it was done.

I stepped on something that burned my instep and groaned. I lifted my foot and found a honeybee stinger stuck in the center of my sole. I flicked it away and growled. Maybe I should have fucking kissed Wayland after all.

“Wait! I didn’t mean to chase you off!” Olivia was still letting out short bursts of laughter as she caught up with me, and I stopped near the front corner of the white house. The perfect house for raising a family. A hateful part of me wanted to ask why she wasn’t living here anymore, but even for someone who’d annoyed me this much, I couldn’t bring myself to be outright mean, especially not in such a waspish way.

She rested a hand on my arm and gave it a pat. “Cam and I are friends. He must like you. He doesn’t usually bring people here because I pop in and out with the kids.” She smiled, and I flushed under her keen interest.

“I really doubt that.”

A man came around the side of the house, very close to us, and it took me a moment to recognize him as the big security guy from the Courtesan who’d been backstage. Dirt smudged his jeans today, unlike last night, and he had on a black leather jacket in spite of the heat. His long dark beard gleamed in the sunshine as if he took some care with it. Fear tore through me while he stomped along on cowboy boots. Was he here to force me back? He glanced at Olivia, and though I didn’t necessarily like her, I didn’t want her to get caught up in this, either. With shaking knees, I planted myself in front of her.

“I’m not going back.” I had absolutely nothing to use to defend myself, so I raised my fists.

“Hey, what do you want?” Camden called, jogging up from behind us.

The man held up a paper bag. “Madam Winters sent his things.”

I felt silly, but before I could step forward to take the bag, Camden had rushed past me to do it, glaring all the while. He passed me the bag while high-key posturing at the man, and I nearly rolled my eyes. But I was excited to dig around and snag my phone out of the mess of dirty clothes. I almost cried when I saw the battery wasn’t dead yet. I kissed the phone and felt like it was a reasonable substitute for Wayland. I wasn’t totally fucked.

“Tell Ms. Winters that we’re done. She had her laugh, and I’m not in any position to do anything about it.” Some of the fear from last night rushed around in my belly, but in the light of day, with Camden standing in front of me like a guard dog, most of it faded.

The man gave me a craggy smile. “I make deliveries. I’m not a messenger. All I can tell you is that the madam didn’t ask me to toss you over the back of my bike.”

I dropped my phone into the bag. “You tell that woman she can—”

“Whoa, firecracker,” Camden said and turned to shake his head at me. “Didn’t you piss her off once? Isn’t that what got you in trouble?”

I gritted my teeth. “I’m leaving, if that’s all.”

Camden’s face fell. “But—”

“Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Olivia said faintly. I could tell this wasn’t what she’d thought would be happening, and perhaps she was confused, but I wasn’t Camden’s new boyfriend ready to step in and play Daddy-lite with her kids. I owed her no explanations, and I wasn’t anyone to them.

My foot was aching already as I walked determinedly past Ms. Winters’ man to the front lawn. For some reason, with Camden so close, he didn’t seem half as scary as he had a few minutes ago. In the front there was a tall, decorative wooden fence, with a gate that currently hung open, high enough that someone would really have to try to see inside. The damned thing was literally painted white, to match the house. It didn’t get more family friendly than that. I could see why he hadn’t worried about me being out here in the robe, however. He could do all sorts of things on his lawn without abusing his neighbors’ eyes.

That had me thinking about last night again, and my belly heated. What did he do outside?

Camden caught up to me and drew me aside as the other man left through the gate, but he didn’t bother closing it behind him. Olivia was nowhere to be seen, so I assumed she was off taking care of the kids.

“What are you doing?” he asked, leaning down so he could look into my eyes. I didn’t like it because it made me dizzy. “Are you really walking home in my robe?” His lips twitched.

I set my jaw and went to go toward the gate, but he held my arm tight, and I didn’t fight him.

“Didn’t you have a good time last night?”

“How can that be the point in all this?” He let go when I gave a pitiful yank on my arm. “I don’t do things like what happened last night. I just don’t.”

“How is the fun you had not the point? What else is sex about? I want to see you again.” He surprised me when he gripped my shoulders and dragged me a few steps to our right. The fence was hard at my back when he crowded me against it. I was trapped—again.

I gulped and couldn’t even pretend I hated it.

“You like running from me.” There was a light in his eyes that gave me scared shivers and excited me in other ways. At this moment he wasn’t the family man laughing over the hijinks of his kids; he was a beast waiting to fuck me.

And hell, I wanted it again. I sucked in a breath and berated my dick for pushing up against the soft fabric of the robe. Everything just felt so fucking good with his body heat warming my front and his hard hands on my hips…. When had they gotten there?

I tried to shove Camden off because no good would come of any of this, but he only tightened his hold. “Your family is back there.”

“They are.”

Okay, he didn’t seem to care if anyone saw us in an intimate situation. Fuck. “What could you possibly want with me in the real world?”

“I want to mate you,” he said, then darted forward and nipped at my earlobe like he hadn’t just said something outrageous.

“That’s….” I drew in a deep breath as he sucked away the pain and pleasure shivered through my insides. The thought of him holding me down to fuck me, especially now that I knew how good he was at it, had my body going nearly numb from delight. “What?”

His guttural laugh, nearly feral in timbre, had my stomach clenching in a good way. “I want to make you scream like an animal. My animal. Have you bite and scratch and do whatever makes you feel good while you come on my cock. I want you to let go.”

“Are you out of your damned mind? Me? Let go? Clearly we haven’t met. I’m leaving now. All of this is a nightmare.” I could say all that, but I couldn’t control the huskiness in my voice or stop my dick from pushing at the cloth of the robe even more. He crowded closer to me and slipped his hand between us, parting the fabric to cup my cock. I gasped. There truly hadn’t been much between me and the world.

“You really think so?” he murmured into my ear. Need had me holding my breath, and a frantic desire to shove him back in the house and up to his bedroom nearly had me doing it. The only thing that stopped me was the feeling of being wild and out of control—the very thing I’d always valued about myself.

“I have to leave right now.” I’d never known anything with more certainty in my life. I had to get my act together before work tomorrow. I had to eat. I had to sit in a corner and rock for a while until I could come to terms with all the things I’d done and enjoyed in his bed—and beside the lake. “I suppose if you were able to track me down, I might consider a repeat. Since you like chasing me.” Yes, this was definitely Stockholm syndrome. That was all I could blame the horribly chosen words spilling out of my mouth on. I thumped my head back against the fence.

“Give me your number.”

“No. I said you had to track me down, not that I’d let you find me.”

His nostrils flared and his eyes brightened as a smile slid across his lips. “I don’t think you know what you’re doing. Not really.” He leaned forward. “Wherever I find you, I’m going to fuck you, so you better be ready.”

I swallowed hard. “I….” Part of me wanted to plead with him to let me take it back, but the larger part of myself, the one that apparently had somehow made peace with last night’s terror in the face of some really hot sex, wanted it again.

He touched a finger to my chin. “Tell me, what’s your safeword?”

“W-what?”

He laughed and brushed his lips to mine, giving me a squeeze. I moaned. “Fine, you want me to stop when you stutter ‘what’ and look cute. I can handle that. Rest today. You’re prey tomorrow.” He gave me one more light brush on the lips with his, closed the robe over my front, made sure the flaps were secure, and then stepped back.

“You sure you don’t want to go inside and dress?”

I shook my head, and he gestured at the open gate. I ran. Actually, I hobbled because my stung foot ached like a son of a bitch and was already swelling on the bottom. I made myself wait until I was halfway down the block before I scraped my phone out of the bag and hit Jaxson’s number.

“Hello? Mark, is that—”

“Can you come get me?”

He sighed. “Are you okay?”

I laughed and couldn’t catch my breath. Before I was finished, I was hiccupping and swiping a few tears from my cheeks. “I think? But I need a ride.” I looked at the signs on the quaint tree-lined street and told him where I was as best I could.

“We’ll be there,” he fired back quickly, the same as if we were in the office. The utter familiarity of his tone and attitude soothed my frayed edges.

“Do not bring Vane,” I said sternly. “I do not want to see him until absolutely necessary.”

“Uh… okay. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Maybe twenty. Just stay put.” He hung up.

Anger—at Vane and Ms. Winters, and even partly at Camden for making me feel… sexual—swirled in me. It was weird to be so aware of myself as a person with needs. Maybe it was because I was standing around with only a robe saving me from flashing people. There was a woman on the other side of the street, walking with her head down, doing her best not to make eye contact. Hell, this was weird because drafts of air kept going underneath the robe to tickle my balls and cock. I was never, ever outside naked.

Except when I was last night.

I groaned and dropped my chin to my chest. And what the fuck had Camden meant that I would be prey? What the hell was he into? Excitement beat in my chest. I didn’t know what he liked for sure, but he wanted to chase me down. Fucked up or not, I wanted what he’d give me when he caught me.