Billionaire Auction by Brynn Paulin

Chapter Fourteen

Kendrick sat up in bed, clutching his bare chest, sensing something was off. Moriah wasn’t next to him like she should be. Panic wrenched his lungs, especially when he saw it was four in the morning.

“Illuminate,” he commanded the lights in his bedroom.

The pants he’d pulled off Moriah when he’d put her to bed still remained crumpled on the floor where he’d dropped them. He scrambled off the mattress and, while dragging on a pair of sweatpants, rushed into the bathroom— she wasn’t there. If someone had taken her, surely he would have woken, but reasoning with himself did little to quell his thudding heart.

He left his room, sought out the light in his office, and found Moriah sitting at his desk, in a T-shirt and panties. It took all his willpower not to pull her up, bend her over and spank the new underwear off her little rear end for the scare she’d given him. She was supposed to be in bed, not trying to break into his computer.

“Moriah,” he said as he drew near. “What are you doing?”

“I have to know,” she sobbed. “I have to find out.”

His lingering panic and frustration melted away to anxiety. He knelt beside her and carefully spun her chair to face him. “Know what? Talk to me, Moriah. Why are you crying?”

“All the women. All the young women my father used to bring home, even while my mother was dying from cancer. They never stayed around long—I saw them once or twice, and now, I worry…” She smothered her distress with a palm over her mouth.

“Oh, kitten,” he murmured softly, pulling her from the chair and into his arms. She joined him on the floor, holding him so tight as if to never let go.

“I just assumed they were… I don’t know,” she hiccupped. “They were probably trafficked, sold off to whoever by my father, and I didn’t do anything to stop it.”

He smoothed her hair off her tear-stained face. “You can’t think that way. We don’t know if the allegations are true,” he said, taking the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ stance. “Do you have any contact with these women? Are they missing?”

“No, I didn’t want to keep in touch with them,” she lamented. “I didn’t bother to get to know them or even ask them their names. I was too resentful. I thought they were gold diggers looking for a sugar daddy, but now…”

He placed his finger over her lips. “Then what did you hope to find on the computer?”

“I don’t know—something. Anything.”

“Okay. Listen. This isn’t your guilt to bear, kitten. You couldn’t have known what your father was doing with these women, if he even did anything wrong. He might be innocent of the trafficking allegations.”

Moriah pulled backward from his finger and gave him a skeptical frown. “Please, Kendrick. He sold my virginity to the highest bidder in some awful auction he managed to setup in under three days. How did he even know people like that—people who’d buy things like that—if he hadn’t done something like that before?”

Kendrick didn’t want to agree, if only to spare her the likely truth, so he deflected. “Let’s go to bed. You can call the detectives tomorrow.”

“Some of the women weren’t even from around here. He met them on oversea on business trips. Oh my God,” she cried, as if realizing the implications.

“Then we can call the FBI if that will help,” he assured, “but I believe Detectives Jenkins and Jones are already in touch with a taskforce. The point is, there’s nothing you could have done differently. You were a child and hindsight is always 20-20. Traffickers are master manipulators and, unfortunately, are often too good at what they do. They know how to hide their crimes and avoid detection, even from family and friends.”

“You’re right,” she conceded. “I… With that asshole wanting to ‘collect’ me… I might have been one of those women if you hadn’t bought me, and now, I’m targeted.”

Kendrick captured her face in his palms. “No. No one will take you from me. No one. You got that?”

She nodded, dislodging more tears.

“Let me hear you say it,” he demanded.

“No one will take me away from you. I am safe with you,” she whispered.

“I mean it, Moriah. You’re mine. I love you. I protect what is mine.”

Moriah suddenly kissed him, long and hard and deep and desperate. Then she pulled away and ripped her T-shirt off, tossing it behind her before ravaging his lips again. Her aggressive seduction was a blatant sign, and he recognized her need to control something—anything—in her life, especially now.

He allowed her to proceed as she wanted, passively returning her attentions without taking the lead.

Moriah delved her hands downward and into his sweatpants. She gripped his already hard dick and stroked it a couple times before she pulled it from the fabric constraints. Kendrick moved her panties to the side as she guided the head toward her entrance.

She let all her weight drop on his cock, her pussy gliding down his girth with snug ease. He groaned as her heat enveloped him. The tight vise of her walls tested his determination to let her take the lead. It was heaven and hell; pleasure and pure torture. He wouldn’t change a thing.

Moriah rode him hard and fast, grunting and panting and crying and moaning, as if trying to fuck away all the bad feelings plaguing her. Kendrick did what he could without impeding her, which had him supporting her hips while her breasts bounced in his face. He leaned forward and capture one between his lips, sucking it deep while she yelled out her approval, her arms circling his head and holding him there. Not a problem. He’d give her whatever she needed. With each draw of his mouth, he felt the corresponding clench of her pussy around him, milking his cock to the end of his endurance. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold out.

Thankfully, her climax was strong and quick to arrive, with her screaming and digging her fingernails into his shoulders as she ground her pussy down on him.

“Fuck,” he growled, thrusting impossibly deeper. He kept plunging into her as she cried out, pleasure and possibly some pain propelling her into a second, stronger orgasm.

As she rode the waves of ecstasy, Kendrick withdrew then drove into her again, and again, and again, until she shrieked like a demon possessed. The pulsing clasp of her walls pulled him over the edge. An explosion of pleasure went through him, and his cum spilled into her tight grip. Beyond reason, he wished his seed could take hold and bind her to him even more than the tenuous feelings between them.

After long moments, they both returned to themselves. With damp foreheads pressed together, they breathed each other’s air as they panted. When they finally caught their breaths, he murmured, “I love you.”

“I love you,” she whispered.

Kendrick’s world rocked. It was her first time saying that to him. Obviously, he’d known she felt deeply for him—her eyes said what her lips didn’t—but to hear the words moved him more than he cared to admit.

“We should go back to bed. Let’s go back to bed,” he said.

* * * *

Kendrick had stayed awake to watch Moriah sleep. When seven AM rolled around, he rose from the bed and ran a bath for her. She’d asked to go to church, so to church she would go. He figured it would be good for her. She’d find comfort there. After all, her spirituality was important to her, and therefore, it was now important to him, too. He would see her there then back home safely.

When the bathtub was filled with hot, bubbly water and the fireplace was roaring, he went to collect Moriah from the bed.

“Rise and shine, kitten,”

She moaned and batted at him to leave her alone then rolled over to give him her back. He wasn’t having that. He simply lifted her from the bed and carried her toward the bathroom. She groaned her displeasure at being disturbed.

“I’d hate to have to wake you up with a spanking.”

That got her attention. Her eyes flew open as he put her on her feet. She stared him down. “Why? Because you woke me up? Maybe, I should give you a spanking.”

He chuckled. “You wanted to go to church. And your bath is ready.”

Moriah spun around, and her irritation melted into delight. “Oh, wow! Thank you so much.” Since she only wore panties, she was naked and in the tub in no time. He picked up the underwear and deposited it into the hamper. He figured he should retrieve her pants from his bedroom floor and her shirt from his office.

“This feels so good,” she cooed. “You should join me.”

“We won’t make it to church if I join you.”

She had the audacity to smirk. “Can’t control yourself, huh?”

Kendrick lifted his brow then promptly dropped his sweats. “Fine. I’ll join you. But if our bath escalates into something more than bathing, I’ll paddle your ass—with a paddle. Got it?”

Moriah huffed and folded her arms. “Please. I can control myself.”

So he joined her in the large tub, sitting opposite of her. There was a lot of room. Kendrick couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a bath. He was more of a shower man. But as long as Moriah wanted him with her, he could change over.

They sat in silence and stared at each other. It was almost as if they were daring each other to do something—or perhaps, she was afraid to do more for fear of that spanking he’d threatened earlier. He loved the firelight reflecting off her body and the way the water droplets rolled over her smooth skin. He enjoyed the glimpses of her breasts as the bubbles parted with her small movements.

He enjoyed the peeks too much. His dick was hard yet again.

“Let me wash you,” she said.

“I should be washing you.”

Moriah shook her head. “You always take care of me. Let me take care of you.”

“Hmm.” But he allowed her to float over to him, where she settled between his legs. She smiled, obviously feeling the erection pressing into her while she reached over his shoulder to collect the soap and sponge. She leaned back and straddled him, her breasts firm and high and on display for his perusal. She rubbed her palms together until a scented froth formed and dropped from her fingertips. His cock ached at being so close to her heat yet so far away.

The soap, released from her grip, splashed into the water. She placed the lathered sponge on his chest and lazily circled around, her free hand following the foamy path left behind by her ministrations as if to massage the suds into his skin.

Then she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, her nipples swaying in his face like ripe cherries ready for picking on a breezy day, and proceeded to wash his shoulders and back. He swallowed a groan and resisted the urge to suck a taut bud between his lips, even as his mouth watered with the possibility of tasting her sweetness.

It wouldn’t do for him to lose his self-control. Not only would she get to spank him, but they were supposed to go to church soon.

“Okay,” he said, pulling the sponge from her fingers. “Let’s get washed up.” And with a focused hand, he proceeded to wash her quickly. She giggled at the rough, practical scrubbing. He didn’t know if she were simply ticklish or laughing at his obvious discomfort. His dick was so hard it was painful. Fuck. He hadn’t had blue balls since he was a teen.

“Out you go,” he announced.

“My hair?” she said with a vixen’s grin.

“We’ll revisit this after church. I washed the parts that matter, so that you could go to the altar without shame, considering what we did earlier this morning,” he said.

She huffed at him in mock offense, but she rose up. “I guess I should go to confession for my shameful behavior this weekend.”

On his feet, he kissed her hard. “I was kidding. Nothing we do is shameful. If anything, it’s quite the opposite. It’s beautiful. Making love with you is heaven on earth as far as I’m concerned.”

“Aw,” she said, a blush tingeing her cheeks beyond the pink there from the steam and heat. “Maybe, we should skip church.”

Kendrick smacked her ass and helped her from the tub. “Go put on a pretty dress, kitten. We’re going to Mass.”