“I know. I can’t believe it either, sweetheart,” he says to me.
We’re hustled off stage to a claustrophobic office where he pays the twenty thousand dollars before whisking me down a series of hallways and outside where I finally catch my breath.
“Nice to meet you,” he says in one of the sexiest sounding voices I’ve ever heard.
And that I am even thinking about his voice makes it all the more annoying he side-tracked my plan. “Why the hell did you buy me?”
“Excuse me?”
I park a hand on my hip. “Why did you buy me?”
Ugh. I should have planned for the risk someone else could outbid Steele, but I really didn’t think anyone had a giant set of balls to do such a thing. This guy must have Mt. Everest-sized balls.
Steele Wentworth is the man around these parts, and no one, I mean no one, crosses him. It was all set up perfectly. My girl on the outside guaranteed if I looked lost and innocent that Steele would go for my bait—hook, line, and sinker.
And he did until the guy staring at me like I have two-heads ruined months of planning.
“Why do you think?” he finally says. “You can’t tell me I’m not your best option from what was in there. Can you? Think about it. I’ll wait. Let you study the goods like the people in that building did you.”
He’s got a valid point. “You know what, I am going to study you. As revenge for all the women being ogled everywhere.”
He holds his arms out as if to say ‘enjoy the view’ and warmth spreads across my cheeks as I peruse his sculpted body, starting with his booted feet, traveling up his long legs, past his lean hips, lingering on his broad chest before stopping at his handsome face. A smirk graces his sensual lips as I scan the angles of his cheekbones, across his scruffy jaw, over the dark hair cut close to his head and end by meeting his even darker eyes.
“How was the tour?” he asks. “Satisfied with me?”
I mean, yeah. There’s no denying if you’re going to be bought by someone, you would want him as the buyer. He’s even got colorful tattoos peeking out of his t-shirt, and if the situation were different, I’d love to see them.
“I said,” I draw out, “that you should have let Steele pay for me. You ruined everything.” I step away from him, heading toward the parking lot.
“Wait a minute,” the man says. “I bought you to protect you. Do you know Steele?”
I stop, turning around. “Do you know Steele?”
“No, not really.”
“What does that mean? So, you do know him?”
“I said no, ok?”
I spin back around, heading toward the cars again, and say over my shoulder, “Then why do you think I need protection?”
“I didn’t say you did. Hold on, can you please stop?” He walks behind me, catching up quickly.
The only reason I stop is because he said please. “What?” I ask, tapping my foot.
“Let’s start over. I’m Titan. And you are?”
“Blue. I need to know where Steele went.”
His eyes narrow. “You his girl or something?”
“Yeah, something like that.” I don’t trust this man to reveal the truth, and I want to get to Steele before I lose him. Maybe he’s still here, somewhere in the parking lot. Maybe I can still catch him.
Maybe I can convince him to take me anyway.
“So, you wanted Steele to buy you or something?”
“Or something.”
“But if you’re his girl, why do you need him to buy you?”
I blink. I still can’t believe I made it this far undercover in the sex trafficking ring to have everything ruined by this... what did he say his name was? Titan? “Listen, thank you for buying me, but I have to go.” I dash away from him but he follows.
“Wait, I bought you.”
I stop. I was scared of this happening. Here’s the thing… I am a woman. I am my own independent person. I am not a piece of property to be purchased and sold against my free will. I’m a journalist struggling to stop what law enforcement won’t. Frank, my boss, and I came up with this plan to work undercover and expose the whole operation. Six months I’ve been working on this assignment. And now Titan has wrecked it in less than an hour.
“What’s your last name?”
“Titan Henry.”
“Well, Titan Henry, I’m not a woman who is for sale. I can’t be purchased. Maybe they’ll give you a refund if you say I ran off.”
His eyes blaze into mine. “Look, I’ll level with you. I didn’t buy you for any of the reasons men buy women. I bought you because you looked like you needed help.”
I laugh a little, but feel a pang in the center of my chest that he wanted to rescue me. “Well, I don’t need help. Thank you, though.”