LOGINLily woke up tangled in Damien’s arms, her head resting on his chest. One of his arms was under her upper back protectively holding her closer to him, while the other was under his head cradling it. His breathing was deep and even, the steady rise and fall of his chest a rhythm against her cheek. In sleep, the ragged lines of his face and the usual intensity that resided in his jaw were gone, leaving him looking boyish and more younger than he was.As she studied him, she couldn’t help but smile at how innocent he looked like this. She leaned in and brushed a tiny kiss against his mouth. He didn’t stir. She placed another lingering kiss on his chin, then on his throat, down to his chest. She lifted higher over him and started trailing kisses across his sternum, his stomach, lower to the trail of hair that dipped under his pajama pants.She eased the waistband down slowly and gently until she managed to remove his pajama pants. His cock was already half hard in slee
Damien stepped forward until he was towering over the older man, nose to nose. “Get. Fucking. Lost.” He bit out every word, barely restraining the urge to put his hands on him.Baldani sensing the danger backed away slowly, hands raised in mock surrender, and disappeared into the crowd.“I can’t believe Edna would say something like that about Lily,” Melanie muttered. “What a fucking cunt.”“I always hated her. Sorry Damien. She and that creep deserve each other,” Lucien agreed.Someone from the committee pulled Melanie away a moment later. Lily, who had stood silently through the entire exchange, quietly excused herself to use the bathroom. The night had only succeeded in making her feel smaller and smaller. She needed space. Needed to go home, crawl into her own bed, and cry until the anxiety brewing in her chest eased.In the powder room she stood in front of the mirror and stared at her own reflection. A dull headache was building beh
The auction was a curated parade of young women between the ages of eighteen and thirty. They had to be single and unmarried. Engagements did not count. The prize was a private date with the woman the highest bidder claimed. Eligible young spinsters signed up through the Horizon Hope Foundation committee. Most committee members who had daughters in that age range made certain their own girls were on the list, mostly for the connections and networking that came with it. Melanie was no exception. Ever since she had joined the committee she had signed Lily up whenever her daughter was in the country.Lily had hated it the first few years. The men who won were almost always older and gross, far too handsy once the formalities ended. But once she and Dax became official, he had made it his personal mission to win her every single time, no matter the cost.The MC called the women in alphabetical order by first name. It was finally Lily’s turn. She had already fixed her m
He turned to Lily and looked her over slowly and openly from head to toe. “What a pretty little thing.” He held out his free hand. “I’m Alex. Alex Baldani. At your pleasure.”Lily took his hand out of polite social reflex. Alex pressed a wet lingering kiss to the back of it. She grimaced in open disgust and pulled her arm away, wiping it against the fabric of her dress. Beside her, Damien went rigid.“Careful, Alex,” Damien said through clenched teeth. “I don’t want to knock out your dentures.”Alex leaned closer to Edna but kept his lustful gaze fixed on Lily, then dropped it to her ring finger. “I know exactly who I’ll be bidding on tonight.” He smiled a wide yellowing smile.Edna’s voice rose with enthusiasm. “And you know what’s even better?” she said to Alex. “She’s into men twice her age!” She exclaimed it like it was the best news in the world, then added in a singsong tone, “She’s got a kink for the raisin.”Alex let out a triumphant little “Woof woof,” making Edna laugh.Feel
“Oh my god Damien, so sorry to keep you waiting,” Melanie said, walking toward him.“It’s no problem. You look extremely beautiful, Mel.” He kissed her cheek in greeting.“You ain’t bad yourself. You look so lovely.” Melanie complemented him. “Oh, this old lady thing.” He joked lightly.Melanie winked. “Wait till you see what I have in store for you at the party.”Damien knew exactly what that meant. She intended to set him up with someone and he already dreaded it.Then Lily walked up to him, and said with a shy smile. “Uncle Damien. You look so handsome.”He smiled a little dangerously. “You look so lovely yourself.”He held out his hand and she took it. Her floral perfume that had mixed with her body heat engulfed him. He leaned in slightly on pure instinct, inhaling more of it before he could stop himself.They followed Melanie and Lucien to Lucien’s Rolls Royce Phantom Extended limousine. The two couples sat opposite each other. Damien and Lily shared one long seat, the heat of
The Horizon Hope Foundation charity gala was one of the biggest events of the year in the country. A-list celebrities, old money titans and the richest people in the nation usually converged under one roof to support a cause they publicly deemed worthy. This year the theme centered on emergency relief for the catastrophic flooding that had swallowed entire coastal towns three months earlier, where homes had been reduced to waterlogged skeletons displacing families. It was an invite only affair. No amount of money could buy a ticket if your name was not already on the list. Melanie had sat on the organizing committee for five years running. That, combined with the fact that the Ross-Gallagher family donated heavily every cycle meant the entire family always received invitations.One of the main spectacles inside this evening was the traditional auction, where a single woman below the age of thirty was brought onto the stage and bid upon. The highest bidder received a private date with







