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ChapterSeven
Ava
I’m not sure how I’m going to survive a night, much less an entire week, with the heart-stoppingly gorgeous but terrifying man with the dark hair and intense blue eyes who has bought me and who’s supposed to be my partner for the games.Althoughpartnerseems like a bit of misnomer; he seems to think of it more as a dictatorship, with me doing whatever he says.
Sitting half-naked in his lap during the auction was bad enough, especially given the way he kept running his hands over my body like he owned me, which I suppose he does.That thought doesn’t make me feel any better.Neither does the fact he’s currently leading me back to his suite on a leash, still bound and wearing nothing but my panties and what amounts to a collar around my waist.
He wordlessly guides me into the elevator and then back out of it when we reach the top floor of the hotel, finally stopping in front of a door where he inserts his keycard, opens the door, and tugs me inside.I stand motionless in the middle of the elegant room, watching as he shrugs out of his suit jacket and tugs off his tie.He glances at me, his eyes unreadable.
“Come here,” he rasps.
I slowly walk to him, and he turns me around gently.With patient fingers, he unties the ropes that bind my wrists.My arms and shoulders are tight from being forced into the same position for so long, and his strong fingers massage out the kinks until I feel my sore muscles soften like putty beneath his hands.
He turns me back around so that I’m facing him and rubs his thumb across the marks the soft rope has left on the tender skin of my wrists.
“You have exquisite skin,” he marvels.“It marks beautifully.”
I don’t know what to say to that, so I simply stand there, waiting to see what he’s going to do next.
He circles me, much like Master Collin did, removes the harness from my waist, and then takes my hand, pulling me over to one of the elegant sofas.
“Sit.We should get to know each other.”
I lower myself gingerly until I’m perched on the edge of the sofa.“Can I, um, put some clothes on?”
“No.”
Okay, then.I cross my arms protectively over my chest.
“Put your arms down,” he says softly, “or I’ll tie them behind you again.”
I swallow hard as something unfamiliar clenches in my core, and I slowly lower my arms, feeling my face flame.He sits down next to me and lifts my chin with his finger in a gesture that reminds me achingly of Emmett.Sweet, safe Emmett, who’s somewhere in this hotel, but might as well be on the other side of the universe for all the good it’s doing me now.
“Your body is beautiful,” he says bluntly.“I won’t allow you to be ashamed or self-conscious of it.”
“You won’t allow it?”The man is unbelievable!“And how exactly do you plan to control how I think about my body?”
“By requiring you to remain naked—whether you’re here in the suite or out in the hotel—until you feel comfortable with your femininity,” he answers matter-of-factly.“If that doesn’t work, I have other ways of helping you overcome your insecurities.”
I give an involuntary little shudder.I have a feeling I don’t want to know what his “other ways” involve.
“I’m not insecure,” I protest.“I’m just not used to sitting around half-naked carrying on a conversation with a man whose name I don’t even know.”
“It’s Roman.”He relaxes against the couch.“Roman Castile.But you will address me as Sir.”
Is he serious?Apparently, he is.
“Aw, fuck me!”I swear softly.
Something almost like humor flares in his eyes, but he doesn’t crack a smile.“That’sfuck me please, Sir,” he corrects.“And I’d be happy to, but perhaps we’ll wait until we know each other a little better.”He quirks an eyebrow at me sardonically.
I feel my face flush again.This is worse than anything I could have imagined.When I see Emmett again, I’m going to sucker punch him in the stomach for ever suggesting this.
“It’s a hard limit,” I mumble.
“So, Avalon, tell me about yourself.”
I bristle at the sound of my given name.“It’s Ava.”
