Billionaire Auction by Brynn Paulin

Chapter Five

Unable to concentrate, Kendrick threw his phone on a table and wondered for a thousandth time how he could so easily be goaded into sex by a virgin. Where was his backbone? Where was his self-control?

He rubbed the tension from his brow. Honestly, he should be ashamed by how quickly he’d caved into her ridiculous demand that he see the contract through. Instead of diffusing the situation, he let himself be swayed by her confession.

“I want you. I have for a long time.”

He replayed those words again and again in his head, and his cock ached from imagining the possibilities of the weekend to come.

“And you will obey me?”

“Yes, I’ll obey you.”

He looked to where Moriah lay curled in her seat, snuggled deep into a blanket and snoring ever-so quietly like a purring kitten. She’d never even changed out of his jacket. The clothes he’d given her when they’d arrived had become a pillow not long after takeoff, and she was asleep before the jet had finished its ascent. She’d slept the whole flight. He could only imagine the stress that asshole Jofre had put her through the past few days. She was probably mentally and physically exhausted. He couldn’t help smiling though. She knew she was safe with him. If not, she would have fought sleeping.

In a few minutes, they’d begin descent. They would land, and soon she’d be in his car. Then in his home. Then in his bed…

“I want you. I have for a long time.”

When Moriah was younger, Kendrick hadn’t pay her much mind. He’d been too busy to be concerned with childish things. But since Moriah had graduated from high school, he’d seen more of her around the office—and his libido had taken notice of the woman she’d become. She was so unlike the other females he encountered from day-to-day. She was authentic from her shoes to her personality. What you saw was what you got, and it was enticingly low maintenance, especially for someone of her affluent upbringing.

Possessing her was something he’d secretly fantasized about from time-to-time, especially in the last few months, but he’d denied himself ever pursuing her in reality. Besides, she was Jofre’s daughter, she was innocent and far too inexperienced for the more dominant passions he enjoyed.

Or so he’d thought.

“You’ll take my virginity. You paid for it, it is yours, and I demand you honor the contract. You will fuck me.”

Kendrick remembered Jof once complaining about his prudish daughter, something that had bothered Kendrick at the time, but he eventually chalked up to Jof’s mercenary ways. When it came to money, nothing was off the table for Jof, including using his daughter to get ahead with clients. “She’s still a damn virgin,” Jof had lamented. “She’s never been kissed much less fucked by a man. I should have removed her from St. Agnes the moment her mother died. Who the hell waits for marriage anymore?”

What kind of man said that about his daughter? If it had been up to Kendrick, Jof would have been gone from the firm a long time ago. But the Board of Directors liked him. It wasn’t a personality contest, they had reasoned. Profit is the goal, they had preached.

Amy, the flight attendant in charge, sashayed her way over to him. “Mr Bergana, we’ll be landing momentarily. Is there anything I can get you?” she asked cheerily.

“No, thank you,” he murmured, placing a finger over his lips and tilting his head toward Moriah.

Amy smiled brightly in understanding and acknowledgment of his sleeping companion. “Very well,” she whispered with a nod. However, when she turned to return to the galley, he caught the shade she threw Moriah.

Ah. This would be a problem.

Kendrick retrieved his phone and sent the assistant in charge of his traveling logistics a text. Besides requesting a secure limousine to be waiting rather than his usual car since he’d need the privacy, he also arranged to have his penthouse stocked with food and ordered that the staff vacated it by his arrival.

Also, request a new flight crew for all future flights.

True, he was unhappy with only one member of the team, but a team they were, and as a team, the crew would be reassigned to another contract. Moriah might only be his for the weekend, but he protected what was his, and that included protecting what was his from little green monsters. Not that Kendrick worried Amy would harm Moriah, but why bother with the discomfort. While this wasn’t the first time Kendrick had been on the receiving side of a crush, he demanded self-discipline and professionalism from all contractors and employees, and Amy was lacking both.

The jet landed smoothly, allowing Moriah to sleep through that, as well. He almost hated waking her since he was sure she’d hadn’t slept much the last few days.

“Come, kitten,” he said as he helped her to her feet. He kept the blanket wrapped around her as she groggily followed his lead out the plane. As requested, a limo waited. The well-dressed chauffeur, who also doubled as his security, had the door already open.

He guided Moriah into the back the luxury vehicle and took position across from her. With the privacy partition up and locked between the chauffeur and the passenger compartment, Kendrick used the intercom to communicate his desires to the driver then muted the system.

Moriah seemed content to just look out the window. It was only after they were on the road for while that she finally spoke.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

She sounded hoarse, so Kendrick gave her a bottle of water. She took it with a small smile and thanked him for his consideration.

“We’re going to my home,” he answered.

“Which one?”

He lifted a brow. “I only have one home. The other houses you’ve visited with your father are simply places where I host events, conduct business, etcetera.”

“Oh,” she nodded.

Kendrick took a moment to study her. She was beautiful, even when sleepy. But something wasn’t quite right…

He collected a linen square from the small drink cabinet and moistened it with bottled water. He crossed over to her side of the limo. Surprised and wide eyed, she leaned away as he lifted the napkin toward her face.

“No, no, no,” he said. “You are mine for the weekend. Stay put.”

Moriah bit her lower lip as she returned upright, and the urge to kiss her was near unbearable. But he held back. There was no rush. And he didn’t want to scare her. He simply wanted to remove some of the makeup she was wore, a reminder of the auction and how her father had exploited her, trying to force her to be something she was not—a whore.

Gently, he wiped away the heavy eye makeup, some of which had smudged beneath while she’d slept. With a clean portion of the fabric, he swiped away the blood-red lipstick to reveal as much of her natural lip color as possible, though they were stained from the tint. It was still better than it had been.

She seemed surprised again when he folded the napkin and returned to his seat across from her. He tried to smile. “Did you expect me to ravish you?”

Rolling her eyes, she grinned. “Yes. I guess I did. I don’t know.”

“I’m going to ask you a very personal question, and I want—no, need—you to be completely honest with me.”

“Okay,” she answered. “I can do that.”

“What’s your level of experience with men?” he asked.

“None. Hence the auction.”

“Have you ever held hands with a man?”

“In an intimate fashion? No.”

“Have you kissed a man?”

“No.”

“May I ask why?”

She released a heavy exhale. “I went to a very strict, all-girls catholic boarding school in the middle of nowhere. When I graduated and returned home, I…had no inclination to date, no matter how much my father insisted I should earn my keep by entertaining some of his clients.”

Hearing that pissed him off. What the hell was wrong with Jofre? Besides the embezzling, apparently a lot of things.

“I…” She lowered her gaze. “I wanted something…or someone…more.”

The “someone” wasn’t lost on him. “Why? Until the last few months, we didn’t interact very much.”

Moriah shrugged. “You were always nice to me. You always treated me with respect. You didn’t require anything of me. You were kind to my mother, which my father was not.”

He wrinkled his nose in distaste. “So I can chalk this up to daddy issues?”

She burst into laughter. “God, no. You’re also pretty hot. And not even close to old enough to be my father.”

He chuckled. “Well, you won me for the weekend. So let us begin.”

“You won me.”

Kendrick shook his head. “No, you convinced me to honor the contract you could have walked away from without penalty.”

“You make me feel like I’m in the position of power.”

“You are,” he agreed. “You will be all weekend. You also agreed to obey me in all things. That’s where your power lies.”

“How so?”

“Remove the blanket and jacket, please. Right now. Hand both to me.”

Her eyes widened as her ease faltered. She looked out the windows and back at him then back again to the outside, as if to compel him into seeing all the traffic and people walking around downtown. He didn’t have to look. He knew they were there.

“Moriah. Blanket and jacket,” he reiterated. “Please give them to me.”

She didn’t move to follow his directions. She simply lowered her gaze. He sucked his teeth in disappointment and shook his head. “Naughty girl. Do you remember what I said to you in the plane right after you said, ‘Yes, I’ll obey you.’?”

“What?” she whispered.

“I don’t share. Not the sight of things meant only for me, not your touch, not even the sound of your pleasure—or discipline. What I desire, what you desire, is private and remains in private,” he repeated verbatim. “You failed your first test.”

He immediately saw he’d hurt her feelings. She looked simultaneously frustrated and crestfallen at the same time.

“There are people everywhere!”

“Kitten, we’re in the back of a locked limo with the darkest tint allowed. We can see out. No one can see in.” He exhaled heavily. “For our weekend to be pleasurable—for both of us—you need to trust me. If you can’t trust me, then we shouldn’t be intimate.”

With a huff, Moriah tore off the blanket and tossed it to him. The jacket followed a moment later. Kendrick wanted to take her to task for the outburst, but she sat there in nothing but heels, diamonds, and underwear, and fuck, she was gorgeous.

“I do trust you,” she declared. “You saved me. You’re the only person I trust in this world.”

Her admission moved him more than it should have. “How do you feel?” he asked.

“Vulnerable.”

“Good. Anything else?”

“Like?”

“Excitement?”

Though he saw her embarrassment, she didn’t look away. “Yes. Even though no one can see inside, there’s still an element of danger.” She then stared him down. “How do you feel?”

Oh, he liked this. He liked her brat side very much. “Aroused.”

“Anything else?” she retorted.

“I feel like I want to slip off your pretty white panties and feast on your pussy.”

He said it to shock her, to teach her lesson about attitude, and he received the response he wanted. She turned beet red.

Her chest heaved. “Do it.”

Kendrick grinned. “There’s an order to things like this. You’ve never even experienced a passionate kiss before—”

“Yes, I have.”

It was his turn to be shocked. “You told me—”

“You asked if I’d ever kissed a man. And I said no. I have been kissed, though, by a girl.”

“Intriguing,” he said quietly. “Did this woman do anything else besides kiss you?”

Moriah shrugged it off. “She was a friend at the academy. She kissed me. And put her hand up my shirt. Nothing more. I…I just wasn’t into girls like she was. It was fine with me that she was into girls. I just…wasn’t.”

He nodded in understanding. “What did you think of the experience?”

“It was nice, just…” Moriah looked out the window. “Like I told you earlier, I wanted someone else more.”

Kendrick left his seat and knelt before her. “Are you sure? We’ve not even had our first kiss yet.”

She nodded. “Yes, please.”