Page 15 of Claimed By the Billionaires

“Because your father gave you to us.”

“You asked for me.”

“Then that’s why you’re here.”

Argh.

“I’m not putting on this dress, and I’m not going to my parents’ house so they can blatantly see I’m not wearing the Pegasus mark. My father won’t be able to take this insult after you already deliberately chose to shun him when he brought me here.” Her heart thickened with sadness as she remembered the way her father’s expression turned from eager pride to confusion, to real pain.

“I don’t understand any of this, and unless you explain it to me—”

“You’ll do as you’re told,” Konnor said quietly.

"I will not.” She stood her ground and folded her arms across her chest. “If you don’t want me anymore, then let me go. But I won’t allow you to degrade my father again in front of his guests. I’m leaving—”

“We own you. Now put the dress on.”

“I’m still a virgin. I don’t have your brand on my body. You have no claim to me.”

What was their endgame? Why did they want to attend the elaborate dinner her parents were hosting to celebrate the union of the Masters of Pegasus with their Creer virgin, but with her wearing a dress that would clearly and unequivocally say they hadn’t touched her yet?

Didn’t they understand this was even more of an insult against her family name than not getting the call from them for decades upon decades for previous generations of the Pegasus dynasty?

It meant there was something wrong, which came with its own brand of shame, but that same shame would also land squarely on her father.

Why were they doing this? Why were they being so cruel to her and her family?

She had to leave. At once.

“Put the dress on, Winter.” The dark, frosty bite in Aston’s tone turned her spine to jelly, halting her attempt to flee with just his words.

She stood her ground despite being drenched in a blanket of apprehension. For the life of her, she could never explain why her body continued to betray her. Her mouth dried, and her nipples pebbled involuntarily. Her stomach knotted in some sort of perverse arousal.

Half of her wanted to put the dress on if it meant they would stay away from her. The other half of her was a paralyzed hot mess, her nerves clamoring to feel the effect of their touch again, and she didn’t care how.

“Last chance, Winter, or we’re going to put it on for you,” Houston said, the hint of a smile playing on his lips. God, he was gorgeous. She looked into his blue, blue eyes, and the feeling of being strategically disintegrated under his attention amazed her.

For a fleeting second, she saw Konnor remove his jacket and loosen his tie.

Oh god.

She couldn’t let them touch her again. She spun around, dropping the dress to the floor but felt the floor leave her feet as she was whisked up by Konnor, who wrapped one arm around her waist and pressed her back against a wall, taking the air from her with such speed that she couldn’t catch her breath.

Pinned down with little effort on Konnor’s part, the scent of his cologne whispered against her own skin. He was so tall that at her eye level, all she could see was his immensely broad chest.

She gasped as he slipped his thigh between her legs, parting the robe she had been wearing and reminding her she was completely naked underneath it.

She struggled against him, pushing futilely at his chest with her fists while she tried impossibly to close her legs.

“Drop your hands to your side like a good little virgin,” he murmured. Instead, she renewed her efforts to be freed. Until … until he slipped his thigh higher up against her, she could feel his heat as if it were her own. She couldn’t let that happen. But that had been Konnor’s warning, and she had misread him.

He lifted a little more, and this time her soaked pussy lips were nestled lightly against the muscle in his thigh.

Dear god, she would rather eat nails than leave a stain of her wetness on his pants.

Stilling immediately, she dropped her hands to her sides. Her erratic pants were the only sound in the room, and it was deafening to her.

She whipped her gaze up to him when he undid the belt of the robe and then stopped breathing altogether as he slid his hands beneath the thick fabric.

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