Cade's Property 1: Alpha Billionaire Romance Read online

  Victor tied on the satin blindfolds. He didn’t want a girl showing a preference, giving some lucky attendee a come-hither look and pissing off the rest of the bidders. We were the ones to be chosen. We weren’t allowed to try to influence the results. For me, I welcomed the blindfold. I knew I would start shaking in my gold panties if someone new decided they had to have me and gave my usuals a run for their money. One thing in Victor’s favor, he weeded out any real weirdos or at least claimed he did. But sometimes an expensive, respectable suit was the perfect camouflage for a kinky, sick soul.

  The speakers blared synthetic dance music. The bass was turned up so high it made the stage floor tremble. Yet, even with the loud music, the deep rumble of male voices could be heard. Standing in the auction line, nearly naked and blindfolded, I tried to shut down my emotions and senses, everything that made me human. I told myself I was merely an inanimate object.

  The music cut out, and I took a steadying breath. “Gentlemen,” —Victor tapped his microphone twice— “may I have your attention. The curtain is about to open, and we’ll start the bidding for the most priceless jewels, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire and, of course, Diamond. Those of you not lucky enough to earn the favors of one of the precious four will then be able to bid on our semi-precious lot. And, I assure you, they are just as valuable in all the ways that count.”

  Victor started every auction with the same speech, and even for the repeat attendees, the same stupid line always earned him laughs.

  “Once the curtain is raised, you are invited to come up on stage and get a closer look at the jewels. As always, please look but don’t touch. Break this rule and Brian will escort you from the staging area.”

  He always paused a few seconds so that the attendees could absorb the fact of Brian. Brian was no ordinary bouncer. He was a behemoth in a tuxedo, with prison tattoos across his knuckles.

  “The curtains, please,” Victor intoned like a ringmaster.

  The pulleys squeaked as they drew back the heavy theater curtains. The cool air of the cavernous room rushed in. A familiar hush fell over the crowd. Then the murmuring followed, as it always did.

  “My gems, please drop your capes,” Victor said.

  I reached up and felt for the thin ribbon. I pulled the bow loose, and the cape slipped off my shoulders. The chill penetrated the thin fabric of my teddy, and I could feel my nipples hardening again. The sound of thirty-plus men sucking in a simultaneous breath always amused me.

  Footsteps pounded up the hollow steps leading to the stage. A dim light crept around the edges of the blindfold as I stood obediently in my lacy lingerie and my fake diamond necklace. This was the worst of it. I could feel the warm breaths of the men who gathered around. They brushed by close enough to stir my hair, but not close enough to antagonize Brian. In hushed voices, they discussed our assets as if the blindfolds made us deaf, as well. I tapped my thigh lightly with impatience. I wanted to get on with it; to perform and be done with the night.

  The familiar scent of staid cologne mixed with a whiff of a strong breath mint told me J.D. was near. I didn’t know his true name. He hadn’t shared anything beyond the fact that he was a corporate lawyer. From the gold band on his finger, I assumed he was married.

  “Looking radiant as ever, Diamond.” He spoke in intimate tones, as if the deal was in the bag and he was envisioning what he’d do to me. Which would be nothing particularly creative, thank God. He was a handsome man, in a vanilla sort of way, with vanilla tastes.

  The jewels were not allowed to speak, so I responded with a sly smile. Victor probably hadn’t realized how we could influence a bidder with just a tilt of our lips. I definitely preferred J. D.’s technique over Fremont’s clumsy pawing.

  The buyers were ushered off stage, and the bidding started, as always, with me. Victor hovered in front of me, his back to the audience. “More titty, doll.” As I did my best to comply, he took hold of my wrist.

  I felt his pants against my palm. “What the hell?” I said aloud and yanked back hard, snapping the cheap bracelet. The glass diamonds clattered on the stage floor. Had he assumed I wouldn’t make a fuss in front of an audience?

  “Behave,” Victor said harshly under his breath. He took hold of my elbow in a painful grip and led me forward.

  “I’ll tell you, this little thing makes me so horny,” he said when he got to the podium. He chuckled into the microphone, like a boor enjoying his own tasteless joke. “Tits, ass, she’s got it all. And underneath that blindfold, she has the greenest eyes, like a spiteful kitten.” He chortled again, and the audience laughed with him.

  I could feel my face flaming in embarrassment.

  “So what am I bid for this rare jewel?” Victor’s baritone voice echoed off the walls of the theater.

  “Fifteen hundred.”

  I could hear grumbling from the crowd. J.D. always set a high starting bid.

  There were some follow-up bids raising the price by increments of a hundred. I knew from experience that these bidders would start to drop away. J.D. and Fremont seemed to take pleasure in leaving the other bidders in the dust. It was a status thing, like driving the most expensive car on the block. Which made me think of the gorgeous guy roaring out of the mini-mart parking lot in his Ferrari.

  A frisson of worry brought me out of my reverie. Where was Fremont? The bidding was up to twenty-seven hundred, and I had yet to hear him make an offer. Victor would not be pleased.

  “Three thousand.” There was J.D. again.

  “Thirty-five hundred.” I never thought I’d be so happy to hear Fremont’s raspy voice. Fremont was an older man whose voice had been made hoarse from too much booze and too many cigars.

  Even blindfolded, I knew that Victor was licking his lips in greed. It was rare for both of them to be present at the same event. When they’d competed in the past, the bidding had ended at four thousand. Fetching the top price of any of Victor’s jewels was my claim to fame. A dubious achievement, which I hoped to replicate tonight.

  I waited in the darkness of the blindfold, shivering slightly. I realized I was getting caught up in the bidding, forgetting for a moment that I was the object on offer.

  “Four thousand.” I wondered if J.D. sounded that impatient in the courtroom.

  “Forty-five,” Fremont countered.

  “Five,” J.D. said, his voice less confident than before. I’d have enough to reserve a spot at the treatment center.

  “Five thousand,” Victor repeated. “Do I hear fifty-five?”

  The crowd conversed in low-tones, but there was no answering bid. The price was too steep even for Fremont, who seemed to have pockets lined with gold. My shoulders relaxed. It would be several hours with J.D. and then I’d have a nice chunk of cash.

  “Five thousand. Do I have any other offers?”

  “I bid ten thousand,” a deep voice intoned.

  My heart rate sped up. There was no mistaking that orgasm-inducing voice. It belonged to the man I’d been fantasizing about all evening. Had he followed me here? And even if he had, it wasn’t as if Victor sold tickets at the door.

  “Excuse me, sir,” Victor called out. “Did you say ten thousand?”

  “I did.” His assured response made me tingle from head-to-toe.

  I blushed thinking about the man in his conservative suit, watching me from the audience, while I stood in my trampy little costume balancing on spiky fuck-me heels.

  “Fifteen thousand,” Fremont’s tone was clipped and angry. Dammit, why was he jumping back into the game?

  One of the girls behind me gasped.

  “Twenty,” came the response in the time it took my pulse to skip a beat. I was feeling a little giddy. I wanted to pull the blindfold off to get my bearings. What would be expected of me for that price?

  “Twenty-five thousand. Now close th
e damned bidding.” Fremont’s tone was threatening. I gathered this was more than just a pissing match. Fremont held some sort of serious grudge against his competitor. The crowd became more vocal. Contentious bidding was unusual. Despite the sordid atmosphere and the fact that they were getting drunk off their asses while vying for hookers, the invitees always maintained a sort of gentlemanly decorum when it came to the auction. I suspected it was because many of these men had to do business with each other in the light of day.

  Audience members were shouting at Victor to bang the gavel.

  “Going once,” Victor said, sounding rather hesitant.

  Disappointment washed over me. I wanted to be fucked by that gorgeous, arrogant bastard in the worst way.

  “Thirty thousand.” The man’s deep voice broke through the din of the disgruntled crowd. I pinched the inside of my arm to keep from fainting.

  I imagined the color draining from Victor’s salon-tanned face.

  “Goddamned upstart bastard,” Fremont bellowed. Then the emergency exit door to the right of the stage was thrown open with force and a gust of fresh air blew in.

  “Sold for thirty thousand!” Victor shouted triumphantly as his gavel hammered the wood block.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Remi

  Going east, the strip started with old-fashioned steak houses, then the restaurants got a little trendier. Victor’s bar and grill, where I worked, was situated next to a restaurant that served French and Japanese fusion. After the row of eateries, the businesses devolved into burlesque theaters, topless bars and finally to the all-nude joints. The rent-by-the-hour motels and sex toy shops were clustered at the end of the street, just before the wash.

  The semi-precious jewels were shuttled off to one of the less-seedy motels. We jewels had the privilege of servicing our clients backstage in the revamped dressing rooms.

  I was trembling with anticipation when I walked backstage. So much for keeping my emotions tamped down. I could hear Victor’s rapid speech and the gavel coming down faster, which meant the auction had moved onto the semi-precious jewels.

  Ceci, Victor’s sapphire, sashayed by me in the hall. She was beaming. “Thanks to the insane numbers you posted, they’re ponying up the big bucks tonight. Not near what you brought in, sweetie, but plenty big. Now, if your guy didn’t look just like a reptile, your day would be perfect.”

  My heart thunked in my chest. Had I wanted tall, dark, and alpha so badly I’d imagined his voice?

  I wondered if Ceci had a trick to peek past her blindfold. “How did you see my client?”

  “I stopped by Victor’s office for a chat.” Ceci did a lot of chatting with Victor, usually while bent over his desk. “And in comes this old bastard with these two young executive types. One gave me goosebumps. Imagine a hunky MMA fighter in an expensive suit.” I could imagine since I’d experienced the goosebumps myself. “The hunk explained they would be bidding on this old man Lampton’s behalf.” She tapped her chin. “Or was his name Lamprey like the eel?”

  Usually I enjoyed listening to Ceci’s colorful take on things. Tonight it just depressed the hell out of me.

  “When Victor wasn’t looking, I slipped the hunk my card,” she said with a laugh as she shimmied past me. Ceci had had some sleek cards printed up with just Sapphire and a phone number. Cards that Victor would shred if he ever found them. And that would be if he was in a generous mood. Otherwise, I shuddered to think what might happen. It was forbidden to do additional trade using the jewel names.

  I swallowed back my huge disappointment and slipped into my room. I kept myself busy straightening the pillows and the quilt, fixing my makeup and smoothing my hair. I heard the other doors close and the muffled sounds of conversation from Hannah’s room penetrating the thin walls. What was taking so long? What if the guy had backed out of the deal? I paced the floor of the small room, then walked to the green room to get a bottle of white wine. The men rarely wanted any of it, but it certainly helped me to relax.

  As I was bent over the small fridge, Brian walked in. He whistled through his teeth. “Thirty fucking thousand.”

  Brian poured himself a cup of coffee. “It’s sure to be awhile. They’re settling the payment arrangements.”

  “Wait, I’ve got something special for your coffee.” I filled a bucket with ice and jammed the wine into it. I hurried back to my room and set the ice bucket down. After pulling on a sweatshirt, I grabbed the pint of scotch and returned to the green room. Engulfed in his enormous fist, the bottle looked like one of those mini-bar bottles. It would be a swallow for the guy.

  He gave me a smile, his diamond studded front tooth glittering, and patted his thigh. I took a seat on his lap, wrapping one arm around his bull-sized neck. Brian was a devoted family man who never hit on the girls. Beneath the intimidating exterior, beat the heart of a sweetie. He uncapped the scotch and poured some into his coffee before handing me the bottle.

  I tapped his cup with the bottle and made a toast. “To my last night.” I took a gulp that had me coughing and my eyes watering.

  “Whoa, does Victor know?”

  “Not yet.”

  He rubbed my back with his big paw.

  The tears became real, as it suddenly occurred to me that even a quick exit from this life wouldn’t improve my future. Romance was now closed to me. Finding my soulmate followed by a happily-ever-after was never going to happen. What man would ever want to marry me? I tucked my head under Brian’s chin and nestled closer.

  “Can you afford to give up waitressing?”

  Brian had figured, as I had, that Victor wouldn’t let me keep the legit job. “I’ll find something else.”

  “The boss is not going to be pleased to lose his prize jewel.” He tugged gently on one of my curls. “Rem, you keep that news to yourself until he’s counting up tonight’s take.” Brian left unsaid the fact that he was always present in the office after hours. Victor wouldn’t go ballistic in front of him.

  Floating down the hallway, I could hear Rose’s trilling laughter. Rose, a paper-pusher by day, moonlighted at the playhouse as a sort of usher, serving drinks and escorting the men down one at a time so there would be no awkwardness in the narrow passageway. Rose was not given to flirting with the clients. But by the sound of her laugh, obviously someone had landed a handsome one, which meant she wasn’t bringing my date down. I took another sip from the bottle.

  Rose glanced into the green room as she passed, then backed up a few steps to the open doorway. She raised her eyebrows in a comical manner, gesticulating in the direction of the man coming up behind her. My heart leapt into my throat. My fantasies hadn’t done him justice. He was sinfully hot.

  His eyes flicked with obvious anger from me to Brian and back again. What was with the attitude? I scrambled off Brian’s lap, and as delicately as I could, patted the tears away with the sleeve of my sweatshirt to avoid smearing my makeup.

  He didn’t step aside, so I had to squeeze by him. I got a dizzying whiff of his intoxicating scent—expensive cologne and edible man.

  I’d never felt more self-conscious in my life, as I did having that intimidating man following me. Was he making certain his business associate received the royal treatment? Maybe he was one of those kinky guys who got off on watching.

  I held my tongue until we were inside the dressing room.

  The second I shut the door, I turned to face him. “Why are you here?”

  “What the hell?” He looked confused. “To fuck you of course. Or did I pay thirty grand to watch you making out with this outfit’s security?”

  When I’d first seen him, I’d thought—there goes one of those guys anointed with beauty and wealth at birth. But I knew instantly that this guy was tougher and meaner than the silver spoon set.

  “Brian’s a friend,” I said and then wanted to kick
myself for offering an explanation he didn’t deserve.

  My body was tensing up with worry. I was expecting Rose to bring down his companion at any moment. “I don’t do menage,” I blurted out.

  His brow furrowed again. “There’s just you and me, babe.”

  “Weren’t you arranging a date for an associate?”

  “A date. Is that what they’re calling it nowadays?” He quirked one black eyebrow. “My associate and I had a disagreement. I told him he could choose any girl but Diamond. The stubborn asshole insisted it had to be you, and I insisted right the fuck back.”

  He glanced around the room, and I imagined how tawdry it must all look. The satin comforter and sheets which were really more polyester than satin. The piles of pillows, enough to prop a woman in the most wanton positions. A gold painted vanity with an array of lotions, oils, and condoms. A pole had been erected in the center of the room with a screw which secured a pair of fur-lined handcuffs. And, of course, the expected ceiling mirrors which glittered overhead.

  “Now it’s my turn for the third degree,” he said, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “First, the obvious question, what the hell is a beautiful girl like you doing in a place like this?”

  The pleasure I took in hearing that he thought me beautiful was instantly overtaken by annoyance. Why was he making this difficult? Neither J.D. nor Fremont had ever asked me a single personal question. As far as they were concerned, I only existed for the hour it took me to service them.

  He stared at my lips. I knew what they looked like when I got a stubborn look on my face. I instinctively sucked in my pouting bottom lip.

  “Careful how you answer. I’ve already spoken to your pimp.”

  “Victor wouldn’t appreciate being called that.”

  He lifted his broad shoulders in an I-don’t-give-a-fuck shrug.

  Victor knew nothing about why I’d chosen to do this. I’d never even mentioned my sister to him. Vulnerabilities were not a safe thing to share with a snake like Victor. “My day job doesn’t pay enough.”