Chapter 2

Jerk

In a split second, his eyes met hers. Just like that, she could feel the anxiety piling up in her chest especially when the man winked at her. She could not help but swallow the lump in her throat.

It can’t be. I don't want this guy to own me. I can't stand him. Please, somebody has to bid higher than his bidding price. There's no way I'd spend a month with this idiot.

“Any higher bid?” the auctioneer spoke up but nobody responded after that. Now, she couldn't feel any more nervous. “Going once, going twice, sold!”

Sold. 

She could not move her body. Everything rendered her speechless. She refused to believe what just happened. But there he was, standing right before her the moment the auctioneer told him to claim her on the stage. They held eyes for a moment and then, he stretched out a mischievous smirk.

Upbeat music played in the background, making her come back to her senses. The man was standing in front of her, staring directly into her eyes. Then, he took off his black coat and placed it onto her shoulders. His sudden gesture made her heart skip a beat or two. She could feel his breathing brushed against her skin as he leaned closer to her ears.

“You are mine now,” he whispered, his eyes gleaming.

Elle swallowed hard. She felt nervous but she brought back her alluring smile, trying to hide the irritation she felt towards the man.

“Good for you, El Greco. You won me over,” then she snaked her arms around his nape. “Brace yourself. We'll see how far you'll go.”

Suddenly, everything turned pitch black. Before her eyes could wander around, the man held her chin and pulled her in for a kiss. She stood motionless, not knowing what to do. He grabbed her hips closer and deepened the kiss. She tried to bring her hands to his chest and pushed him away but he didn't budge.

They had kissed before. The first one was a stolen kiss. But this time around, he was making it more obvious. He was kissing her hard. He knew that he had the right to do it now. However, it is not the time yet. They needed to sign a contract first before anything else.

She felt him biting her lips which made her gasp. Then, his tongue found an opportunity to enter into her mouth. She held her breath as she let the man kiss her more deeply, wanting her to respond to the kiss. Slowly, she shut her eyes and her mouth started to move. Right now, she could only focus on how soft she felt against his mouth, letting the sensation of the kiss drown her fully. 

“You are mine, Brianna Eleanor Garcia.”

ღ❤ღ

Another series of deep breaths escaped from her mouth as she looked at herself in the mirror. For her, everything seemed so hard to swallow. She had no idea how long she'd been sitting in front of the dresser brushing her wet hair with a paddle brush, still lost in her thoughts. After the auction and talking about the condition of agreement back in the club, the man brought her to his place. 

“You seemed pretty serious. A penny for your thoughts?”

She was caught completely by surprise with the chilling voice coming from behind. Her hand clutched her chest as she slowly looked over her shoulder to face the man. The nervousness she felt early on intensified as soon as she saw him wearing nothing but a white towel wrapped around his waist. His hair and chest dripping wet, fresh from the shower. She cleared her throat and blinked her eyes in awkwardness.

“N-nothing,” she shook her head and looked back in the mirror to take her eyes off of him. “Are you done?”

He scoffed a bit. "You seemed pretty pleased,"

She almost choked in disbelief hearing his arrogance. "What?"

"Are you pleased by the view?"

"What are you talking about?"

He went closer to her and spun her around. He then grabbed her hand and placed them against his toned abs. "This."

Heat rose to her cheeks as she took back her hand. She could almost feel the loud beating of her heart. 

"You have no idea how I've seen so much like this in my job. So, please, don't flatter yourself,"

"Is that so?"

She rolled her eyes and was about to turn around when he held her firmly, not wanting to let her go. She could almost feel her knees start to shake but she knew she had to show her toughness. He held her gaze for a long time, trying to see something more from her eyes. After a few moments, she saw the obvious smirk forming on his lips.

“Impressive,” he grabbed the brush from her hand then leaned closer before gently combing her hair all the way down. "Your mouth can lie but your eyes can't, you know what I'm saying?"

What does that even mean? 

She bit her tongue before pushing him off of her. She tried to grab the hairbrush from his hand but he was fast to stop her from doing so.

"Did I make you nervous?" he asked.

This time, she scoffed as she met his gaze and stared directly into his eyes. "Why would I feel nervous? Is there something to be nervous about?"

He shrugged. "I don’t know. I could just see the uneasiness in your eyes telling me how bad of a liar you are."

He took a step forward, wrapping his arms around her waist to close the gap between them.

“Also, why are you gripping that robe so tight? You don't want me to see you naked?”

The heat of desire rushed into her face. “It's nothing like that. You know, it's our first night together so I just wanted to take everything slow,” 

They stared at each other. The way his eyes looked at her felt like challenging her to be bold. She gulped hard as she held her head high, then began untying the lace of the robe. His gaze went to her chest. Slowly, she began stripping off the robe halfway, enough to tease him with her cleavage. Intentionally exposing her flawless porcelain-like skin. Then, a smirk formed her lips as she saw the euphoria reflected in his eyes.

This jerk.

His smile widened at the sight of her. “You never failed to amuse me, woman. A beautiful liar, that's what you are,”

“Why do you keep telling me that I’m lying?”

"You just told me you wanted to take everything slowly, didn't you? Yet, here you are stripping right before me. Can't you get any more inconsistent?”

She tore her gaze from him, slightly taken aback by his straightforwardness. But she couldn't eat her pride so she faced him again with confidence, crossing her arms against her chest. "Why? Are you disappointed by the fact that I'm not an easy nut to crack? I'm allowed to be bold, aren't I?"

He smirked. “Of course. You just need to prove it to me. So, I dare you.”