Page 7 of His Bet To Take

I’m no longer enough.

“Is it so bad to know you have someone that wants to give you everything?” My knuckles brush her heated cheek and I inhale a sharp breath when I feel how soft her skin is.

“You want to take everything from me in return.” She leans into the touch and then pulls back when she realizes what she’s doing.

“So?” My hands find their home on her thighs. “I do want everything from you, Mae.” I lick my lips, thinking about that virgin cunt and how no other man has touched her. “You want the truth? Your brother offered you up on a platter for me and I agreed. But then I saw you, and I realized I wanted more than a debt to be paid.”

“What if I don’t want to pay his debt to you?”

I wrap a hand around her throat and press my nose against hers, my lips ghosting above her mouth. I’m so close, I can feel her breath teasing me, tempting me, drugging me. “Then I’ll make you pay it, Mae,” I growl, letting our eyes lock.

Her chest rises and falls and instead of tensing like a normal woman would, she relaxes, her eyes becoming glassy with lust.

“You like that, don’t you?” I drag my lips down her cheek, the slender curve of her jaw, and I eye the pulse thumping in her throat.

Beating.

Throbbing.

Faster.

Harder.

And her reaction is all for me.

“You like knowing your choice is taken away, the decision, the pressure because that means you don’t have to take care of yourself, you’re letting me take control.” I tuck a piece of hair behind her ear, humming when her eyes flutter shut. “All your life you’ve struggled and fought to get where you are and you’re so tired, aren’t you? So tired of having to be strong all the time.”

She nods absent-mindedly, scooting toward the edge of the seat.

“And now you have me, someone who will make sure you’ll never have to struggle again,” I whisper, unable to stop myself from touching her. “You started as a debt for me to take, but you’re more than that, Mae. Allow me to be what you need, and you’ll never need anything again. Give me you and I’ll give you all of me.”

She opens her eyes at last. Eyes full of questions and concerns, and a dash of that fear that makes my cock hard.

“Not that you have a choice.” The car comes to a stop and as I look out the window, I see my mansion, the sun dropping below the sea as it sets. “Your old life ended when your brother came to me, but you won’t miss it, Mae.” I grip her face as James opens the car door. “You won’t miss it at all. I promise.”

“And if you break that promise?” She’s quiet, her words shaking and unstable.

“Roulettes don’t break promises, Mae.” I dig into my pocket and grab my knife, slicing through her zip-ties. I rub her red, irritated skin, then bring the abused flesh to my lips, kissing it. “Loyalty is one thing you don’t have to worry about with me.”

“So you won’t fuck whoever you want? I’ve heard the stories. You aren’t a one-woman kind of man.”

I step out of the car and hold out my hand to help her out. She comes willingly, her knees are weak, so they buckle, and she falls into me. I wrap my arms around her, catching her so she doesn’t fall.

“I am now. They were just a fuck. A means to an end.”

“And is that not what I am?”

“No, Mae, that’s not what you are.”

“Then what am I to you if I’m not that?”

I take her hand and slip our fingers together, tugging her towards the front door.

“Ian! Answer me. If I’m not a means to an end, what am I?”

I don’t want to answer. She doesn’t understand.

I’m not good. I don’t have the ability to be.