Highest Bidder (Salacious Players Club, #5)

by Sara Cate

For all the daddy’s girls

“No, Ronan. I love you for free.”

SOBBING

“Please, Shannon. If you won’t take it for yourself, take it for her. So I know you understand that she is just as important to me as you are. So she never has to want for anything. So she knows she’s worth it. Do this for your daughter, Shannon.” I look up at her with a pleading expression. “I know a parent’s love.”

Which is why I have gone to great, slightly unhinged, lengths to figure it out—including some minor stalking, moving across the country, getting a job where I know he goes, and slowly studying him over the course of three months.

She doesn't seem all that scared of commitment

The owner’s name is Sherie, and her husband died last May, so I try to stop in more often to see how things are going.

I LOVE THIS MAN

“You’re not sleeping in your van again.” I watch her expression harden. “Am I being kidnapped right now?” “You drove yourself here.” I lean my arm against the wall, maintaining my smile.

“It means he forces you to enjoy yourself. He gets off on getting you off,”

Hot

Wondering what he looks like under those clothes. Imagining how he makes his submissive come so many times—with his tongue, his fingers, or a toy?

“So you don’t want to make them jealous? I’ll let you sit on my lap while you drink it,” he replies with a smirk.

I picture myself walking naked across the room. Ronan would never let me do that, of course. He’d find me. He’d shove me against a wall and cover my naked body with his own. Maybe, he’d put me over his knee. Spank me. I can almost feel his harsh palm against my backside.

“In fact, I’m the one who needs out of the situation I’m in. There’s no excitement in my life anymore. And hearing you play today…it made me realize how much I need you.”

Why is that so sexy? His thick forearms are on display, and I briefly wonder to myself if this is what seeing cleavage is like to men.

“That is my wife, Julia, and my son, Miles. They were killed in a car accident twenty-eight years ago.”

I'm sobbing

“It means I like to be in control, but I like to bring my partner pleasure. I like being able to control when they come, how they come, and how often they come.”

“You are so innocent and naive, Daisy. And I think I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Stop pouting because I told you not to call me that,” he responds. “What?” I ask, feeling obstinate. “Daddy? Why not? Because you like it too much?” With a strong hand on my hip, he grinds my body against his legs, and when I feel the hard bulge in his pants, I let out a gasp. “Yes, Daisy, I do. I like it far too much.”

Call me a sick fuck, but I want to be her daddy. I’d teach her every fucking thing she wants to know. I’d take care of her and protect her and make her feel so goddamn good.

“What are you doing?” she mutters. “I sleep better with you near me.” “Last night was the first night we slept next to each other,” she argues. “I know, and I slept great,” I reply coolly.

“I’m going to put you over my knee and spank your ass until you learn.” A wicked laugh bursts out of me as I smile up at him. “Sounds like something a daddy would do,” I tease in return.

His eyes find mine and they are wild and hungry, rich brown irises gazing down at me, and I realize I’ve never wanted someone so much in my entire life.

“It’s not that I don’t want you, Daisy. You have to understand just how much I want you.”

“But the things I want to do to you, baby girl, are dirty, filthy things. And you’re too fucking sweet for me.”

“You tell them your daddy said no.” “Oh, so you can call yourself my daddy, but I can’t say it?” I ask in a teasing tone.

“We’re not leaving. I just had to get you away from that smooth talker, Matis. He’d have you on that table, devouring you like a meal in minutes, if I hadn’t stepped in.” My brow furrows in confusion as he pulls me farther into the club. “Wow,” I reply sarcastically, “thanks for saving me from that.”

LMAOOO

“Let me,” I say in a bold request. She stares at me over her shoulder, a rightfully perplexed expression on her face. “Let you what?” I nuzzle closer. “Let me relieve your ache, Daisy.”

“Oh, Daisy.” I growl. “You’re suffering, baby girl. Do you want Daddy to make you feel better?”

A desperate sounding yelp escapes her lips right when I know she’s there. “That’s my girl,” I murmur against her ear. “Come on Daddy’s hand.”

I’ll gladly wear those scars with pride.

I feel like his, and I want them all to know it.

I love this so much

“Thank you,” I whisper into his neck. When I pull away, I gaze into his eyes. “For everything.”

The number of years a person has lived seems like such a trivial detail when you find someone who lights a spark in your soul and makes life worth living again.

Just then, the Eiffel Tower illuminates in glowing white light, sparkling in the dark night sky. At that very moment, Ronan moves his fingers to my clit, circling hard and fast, forcing me to come so violently, I let out a muffled scream. Thankfully, the crowd cheers for the lights, drowning out my cries.

My body takes over, and the next thing I know, I’m on my knees in front of her. I don’t care that we’re in an elevator that could stop for anyone. I need her taste on my tongue. I drag up the hem of her dress, while I lift her left leg, and suddenly, I’m unhinged.

Then, I press my thumb to her clit, rubbing hard circles as I pick up my movement again. I watch with delight as her face morphs into divine pleasure.

At that very moment, I realize something. I could never come again for the rest of my life but spend every single day making her do that, and I’d die a very happy man. I love the way she comes. Everything from the way she squeezes her eyes shut to the way she curls her toes. I love it all.

just to hear the lively beating of her heart.

You want your life to be poetic, so here you go. I’m not a poet but I’ve been dying to tell you this. Your eyes are not as blue as the sky. The sky is as blue as your eyes. You write the rest.

“Just because I wanted her, doesn’t mean I deserved her. And it doesn’t mean we were meant to be. I loved her…a lot. But I refuse to live in the past. I’m here now, and this is exactly where I want to be.”

“I want to learn about everything you do. I want to be what you need.” “Baby,” I reply, keeping my tone soft, “you are everything I need.”

“Hope” is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words, and never stops—at all… That’s how Daisy makes me feel. Like I have more life left to live than I let myself think. Like I might have more love left to give.

“Because you scared me, baby. You scared the fuck out of me. Now I want to hear you scream and cry and thrash, because at least then, I’ll know you’re alive and well. Scream for me, Daisy.”

Our fingers are mingled, rubbing and touching each other. Our legs are pressed together, and I can feel his heartbeat through my back, so we’re practically fused.

“It’s just years,” I say. “Who cares about the difference when it feels like this?” “That’s right, baby girl.” His voice is soothing in my ear as he holds me.

We sit together in silence until the water cools, not saying another word and not touching each other more than this. I’ve never enjoyed silence with someone so much in my life.

As we crawl under the covers together, I write another song in my head as I drift off to sleep. This one is about a man who looks good in hospital lighting and the weight of secrets so heavy, they nearly drown me in the bubble bath.

“Look at you,” he says, setting down the bottle in his hand and shooting me a soft expression. “You’re in love.” I can feel the blush rising as I bite my lip and try to hide my silly, lovestruck face. Which only makes Geo double down. “Holy shit. You are really in love.”

Geo’s right, although it wasn’t really the sex that changed my mind, was it? It was changed before then. The night he tried to carry me over his shoulder to his apartment. The day he wrote a line of poetry in my journal. The way I felt in his arms last night in the tub, when we both held each other with our eyes closed.

With her hand on my arm, she leans in toward my ear and whispers, “You might tell Geo everything. Well, Ronan tells me everything.”

Ronan didn’t just capture my heart; he ruthlessly stole it right out of my chest. He didn’t even have to try. He did it by being genuine. By just being him. He might be the best person I’ve ever met in my life. No, he is. He definitely is.

Slowly, I drop to my knees near the door, and his eyes darken at the sight. As I start crawling toward him without a word, his tongue peeks out to wet his lips before he tugs the bottom one between his teeth, biting down hard as he watches me move toward him on all fours.