Raines, Elizabeth - Sold [Wicked Missions 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (4 page)

Shit. If he didn’t get his thoughts under control, he’d have a perpetual hard-on until that moment arrived. At least he’d worn a loose shirt that wasn’t tucked in his waistband, so the shirttails covered the very stout proof of his attraction to her.

The doctor—at least Carter hoped the guy was a doctor—patted the wooden table. “Hop up here, young lady. Let’s get this over with. Only take a few minutes if you’re a good girl.”

Lyrianna folded her arms over her full breasts. “Not until you tell me what you’re planning to do.”

The doctor patted the table again. “Standard auction procedure, missy. We implant contraceptive and behavior controls—”

Carter had never seen anyone move so quickly. One moment, Lyrianna was standing by his side, and the next, she had left the curtained area and was sprinting back toward the transport ship. “Wait! Lyrianna!” he shouted.

“Better get that behavior control set on high!” the doctor called as Carter ran after her. “That one’s gonna keep you hopping!”

He caught her before she reached the entrance hatch. Snaking his arm around her waist, he dragged her back against his chest, letting her feet dangle, suspended several centimeters off the grass. “Where exactly do you think you’re going?”

She thrashed against him, getting a few good kicks against his shins before she must have realized she wasn’t getting away. Then her body went as limp as a rag doll.

“Did you think I’d just let you go after I paid five hundred unis for you?” he asked, trying to ignore how right she felt with her body so close to his. Could she feel his hard dick between those delectable cheeks of her bottom? He couldn’t help himself. He had to taste her.

Gently pressing his lips against the soft skin of her neck, he savored the feel of her, the taste of her, the wonderful feminine smell. Gooseflesh rose where he’d kissed, and he was glad she couldn’t see his smug smile. She might not be here because she wanted to be with him, but she wasn’t entirely cold to him, either. With kindness and coaxing, he had no doubt that she’d come to their beds willingly.
And soon
. “Relax. Please. This is for your own good.”

Her body stiffened, becoming as rigid as a board. “Behavior control is for my own good?”

“Brandon and I won’t use it to punish you. I promise you that. What we want is the tracking device that goes along with it.”

“Afraid I’ll run away, Mr. Verdel?”

“Call me Carter. Please.” Then he chuckled. “And I’d be a fool not to believe you’ll give escape a try.”

“I will, you know. Tracking device, behavior control, or not. I’ll get away.”

“Oh, Lyrianna. Don’t you understand?”

She shook her head.

“We’ll never let you go.”

* * * *

A promise or a threat?

Lyrianna hated giving in to his wishes, fearing it would make her appear weak in his eyes. Then again, if Carter thought she was weak, he might not feel the need to ever use the behavior control. She knew what the device was—the black market on Rozale sold it to people who wanted to “handle” wayward spouses or children. The gizmo offered different levels of shock as a way to keep a person in line.

“Besides,” Carter continued, “you don’t want to get pregnant when… Well, let’s just say Pagonna isn’t meant for too many people to raise families. Not many other children. Brandon and I don’t want children. At least not now.”

“I won’t sleep with you,” she vowed. “Ever.”

He set her back on her feet and gently turned her to face him. “We’ll see.” His smug smile told her he liked a challenge exactly like the one she’d just handed him. And why that made her smile in return was beyond her. “Brandon’s a handsome devil,” he added with a wink. “You might not be able to resist him.”

The way Carter spoke of Brandon made Lyrianna wonder about their relationship. After all, they were two men who lived alone for heaven knew how long. Deciding she’d be better off knowing all she could about them, she asked the blunt question that was crowding out all her other thoughts. “Are you and Brandon married? I mean…you said you were lovers. I still don’t get why you needed me.”

“Most people on Earth are still prejudiced enough that the United Continents doesn’t allow same-sex marriages. So, no, we aren’t married, and we’ve been so busy trying to make our farm a success, we haven’t taken the time to marry here on Pagonna. Sure, we both love each other, and sucking cock or getting your ass nailed is nice. But pussy?” His grin was devilish. “We both miss pussy something awful.”

Although she didn’t want to grin, she did, because she’d deserved that equally blunt answer.

Ten minutes later, Lyrianna sported a microchip that controlled her reproductive cycles and her behavior, and Carter had possession of the small remote that now governed her life. At least the injection procedure hadn’t hurt much. Now, she stood next to Carter as he talked softly to another man who was still watching the auction. Something drew Lyrianna’s attention to the platform. She gasped when she saw Simone standing there, her arms wrapped around herself as she trembled.

The poor girl looked utterly terrified. Her eyes were wide, and when they locked on Lyrianna, she immediately read her overwhelming fear. She tried to will some of her strength to Simone, giving her a curt nod and a wan smile. Simone nodded in return, straightened her shoulders, and let her hands drop to her sides, although she kept them in tight fists.
Good girl
.

Carter tried to pull her away, but she laid a gentle hand on his arm, trying to ignore the wonderful heat of his skin against her cool fingertips. “Please.” She turned her gaze to Simone and then back to Carter. “May we see where she goes?”

“Sure. We’ll wait.” He dragged her closer to the stage while the bidding finally came down to two men—an older man with rotting teeth and a dirty face and the younger man who was now standing next to Carter. Lyrianna gave a quick prayer that the younger man would win the auction.

“Six hundred uni-credits!” the older man shouted.

“I’ve only got six twenty-five,” the younger man whispered to Carter. “What should I do?”

Carter looked over to Lyrianna, his gaze holding hers. She wasn’t sure what emotion she read there, but he asked her, “What do you know about that girl?”

“She’s only eighteen,” she replied.

“What did she do to get here?”

“I’m not sure,” she replied, “but she’s an innocent in many, many ways. I’m sure of it. Please trust me, I’m an empath.”

The fact that Carter did little more than raise a curious eyebrow to her pronouncement came as a surprise. Then he turned to the man at his side. “I can loan you more, Tyler,” Carter replied, “if you want this one.”

“Six-twenty-five!” Tyler bid.

“Six-thirty!” the older man shouted back, throwing a nasty frown at Tyler.

“Six-forty,” Carter whispered to Tyler who immediately shouted the bid.

Narrowing his beady eyes, the older man scowled at Carter and Tyler before he shook his head, turned, and started walking away.

“Six hundred forty unis,” the auctioneer called. “Going once. Going twice. Sold to Tyler Honeycutt for six hundred forty.”

Carter handed some money to Tyler and slapped him hard on the back as the young man accepted enthusiastic congratulations from the other men who had quickly gathered around them. Lyrianna stepped back, not wanting to be around all of them, desperately needing some distance. After a few moments, Tyler all but ran to get Simone, and when the two young people gave each other tender smiles in greeting, Lyrianna felt tears spilling over her eyes.

“Lyrianna?” Carter was now standing in front of her.

She bowed her head, not wanting him to see her losing control. At that moment, the weight of the entire universe seemed to be settling on her shoulders, and the relief that Simone had obviously been sold to a kind man was making her too emotional to hold back her feelings any longer. Especially when she realized she was now the property of a kind man as well. “Thank you,” she managed to mumble before a sob slipped out.

Carter wrapped his arm around her shoulders and walked with her until they reached a line of boats on a small wooden dock. He helped her board a medium-sized sailboat and guided her to take a seat. In short order, he’d released the boat and raised a sail to catch the good, strong wind. They were far enough away from the city that the noise had died to nothing but the sound of the breeze in the sails and the call of birds.

“Feeling better?” Carter asked as he tied off the sail and came to sit next to her.

She nodded, still not wanting to look in his face. Her emotions were too raw and too close to the surface.

Warm fingers gripped her chin, forcing her head up. “Lyrianna… Are you okay?”

“Thank you,” she whispered as she met his gaze. Since her own emotions were running rampant, she didn’t even bother trying to read his. She did, however, see a compassion there that made her give him a weak smile. “Thank you for helping Simone. Who was that young man you gave the money to?”

“Tyler Honeycutt. He’s the oldest son of the Honeycutt family. Just turned eighteen. He’s buying Simone as a wife, not a… As a wife. His family gave him the money to get him to stay on Pagonna. One day, he and Simone will run their farm. Don’t worry. He’ll treat her well.”

Such a wonderful future for Simone
. Lyrianna smiled.

“That’s better. Damn, honey, but you’re pretty when you smile.”

She tried to turn her face away. He wouldn’t let her. Then she read the emotion glowing brilliant is his dark eyes.

Lust
.

Or was that her own emotion?

Since she was going to have to spend some time in the man’s company before she could find a way out of this hell, Lyrianna decided to at least be kind to him. Perhaps he’d relax his guard that way, and after his compassion to Simone, she wanted to give him a small token of her appreciation.

Leaning in slowly, trying to find a hundred ridiculous reasons for why she was doing something so bold and possibly foolish, she gently pressed her lips against his.

Mistake!
A flood of desire threatened to drown her in its intensity, a mixture of the attraction she had for him and the draw he clearly felt to her. A low growl rumbled through his chest as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her hard against him and then onto his lap, forcing her to straddle his hips. His tongue slipped past her lips as he took control, demanding more of her.

She gave him more. His delicious taste made her whimper, and the feel of his tongue gliding over hers was heavenly. She squirmed against the hard cock she could feel through his thin shorts and her barely there leggings. He was a big man, but his erection didn’t frighten her. It made heat flood her pussy as she opened her legs a little wider to press harder against him.

The mixture of their passion was impossible to resist, especially with a touch of desperation and long-denied craving she felt from somewhere deep inside him. Her mind kept trying to intrude, to tell her that she should push him away. She simply…couldn’t. She wanted to taste him, to feel him. Her hands slipped under the hem of his shirttail, and she smoothed her fingertips over rock-hard abs up to weave through the patch of soft hair at the center of his chest.

Carter broke away from the kiss to growl again before he started nibbling the tender flesh behind her ear. “You’re so soft. So perfect,” he whispered between nips that he soothed with long licks of his velvet tongue. A hand settled on her breast, followed by a gasp—his—as her nipple instantly hardened against his palm. “You’re not wearing a bra.”

She saw no reason to comment on the obvious when she wanted to be kissing him again. So she simply did just that as he tried to jerk her tank top over her head. “Now. I want you now, honey.”

His words hit her like another splash of cold water in the face. She squealed as she tried to yank her shirt back down and crawl off his lap. His hands settled on her waist to hold her in place. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “I mean…I want you. You want me. Why—”

“You don’t want
me!
You want
sex!
” she shouted despite the fact that her face was still close to his. “You may own me, but if I do this, I’ll be nothing but a whore.”

Chapter 4

Carter was having a hard timing clearing the desire away from his thoughts long enough to have a coherent conversation with Lyrianna. Everything about her had been screaming how much she wanted him—probably as much as he wanted her. Every sweet moan. Every squeeze of her slender thighs. Every stroke of her tongue. Her desire wasn’t the obstacle. The true barrier became clear the moment she screamed those words at him.