Page 32 of Secured By the Buyer

“Except for my freedom,” I say, the words less heavy than they were before.

He hesitates, a flicker of pain in his expression. “I’ll give you as much freedom as possible, but we can’t risk you being recognized by the people who run the trafficking ring and realizing you’re not with Caruso.”

A nagging thought tugs at the edge of my mind. “Won’t someone notice Caruso is missing?”

“We chose him because he has vacation houses allover the world and leaves for months on end.” His fingers move to massage my chest. “He doesn’t work, living off an inheritance, and he’s cut off from his family. It will be a while before anyone realizes he’s gone. By then, we’ll come up with an explanation, like him overdosing in one of his villas, where we have cops paid off who will produce the paperwork to match.”

Grudging respect fills me at how much thought they put into this, and how Liam had risked their entire mission to purchase me, despite spending less than an hour together.

That knowledge stirs desire within me that I shouldn’t feel, but is there nonetheless.

If I’m truthful with myself, if all the horrors of the auction had never happened, I would still have ended up here.

I would have met Liam at the vending machine, let him wine and dine me, and then allowed him to take me to some fancy hotel and fuck me. And if he’d invited me to come home with him afterward? Promised to take care of and give me the family I so desperately wanted? I would have gone without a second thought.

Does it matter that I don’t have my freedom the way things played out? Especially when it makes iteasier to finally cut out my father? With no choice but to stay with Liam, there can be no guilt in abandoning my old life.

Pulse quickening, I catch Liam’s oil-slick hand and drag it beneath the water to press between my legs.

Liam groans, his breath hot against my skin. “Is this some new method of trying to kill me?”

I turn my face into his neck, inhaling the delicious scent of his pheromones. “Show me what kind of Alpha you’ll be for me.”

11

The warmth of Liam’s arms envelops me as he carries me out of the bathroom wrapped in a giant towel that covers me from shoulder to calf.

He insisted on rinsing all the soap off my body, then drying my hair. The delay should have cooled my burgeoning desire, but the anticipation only managed to increase it to a raging fire.

Who knew being pampered could be such a turn-on?

It was a slow seduction, a prelude to what will happen next. The hard cock straining against the front of his bath-dampened pants leaves no room to doubt that this will end with him simply tucking me into bed.

The fluffy mattress dips beneath my weight as Liam lays me down, towel and all, and my heart beats faster with anticipation.

Instead of unwrapping me like the gift I am, he sits near the footboard and pulls the bottle of coconut oil from his back pocket.

He starts with my feet, massaging the ache left from back-to-back jobs that require being on them all day.

When he reaches my ankle, he bends to kiss the top of my foot. “You even have freckles here. Every part of you is so pretty.”

The praise curls through me, stoking my desire higher, if that’s even possible.

His strong hands move up to my calves, working out the knots, the sensation both relaxing and stimulating, making me bite my lip to keep from moaning.

Slowly, I relax under his touch, and when he lingers on the backs of my knees, I purr for him.

No one has ever touched me like this, as if I mattered. As if I’m worth more than the dirt on their shoes.

He works the oil into my thighs and hips, too, while avoiding my straining dick for now, leaving the towel over my waist. The man is determined to workevery ache from my body without touching where I want him most, and it feels so good that I don’t argue.

Next, he moves up to sit beside me and focuses on my hands, thumbs working between the delicate bones, spending time on my wrists before moving upward.

He massages my chest again, lingering on my shoulders and neck, and I let out a shaky breath as I melt beneath his touch. The towel opens little by little as he works on each newly revealed part of my body, and when his palms glide over my waist, Liam’s head dips to lick one of my nipples.

Pleasure spirals down to my hips, and I tremble as slick leaks from my entrance. The soft terrycloth shifts against my hard dick, and a needy moan escapes.

I bite my lip to stifle the sound, arching my back toward him, seeking more contact. His fingers splay across my stomach, massaging in slow, sensual circles, his thumb lingering over the heart-shaped birthmark above my hip bone. The heat of his touch spreads through me, his pheromones, heavy with his desire, fill my lungs, but he shows no plan to rush.

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