Free Bought and Bound by Lyla Sinclair Page A

they don’t really have to do anything. Anyway, they like to play this game where they hold an auction. If they win the bid, the woman they bid on is their slave for an erotic three-day weekend.”
    I blinked several times and shook my head, trying to clear the alcohol haze. Was I in a wine-induced hallucination or was Eric really suggesting what I thought he was suggesting?
    He saw the look on my face and talked faster. “It’s fifty-thousand dollars for three days.
    Even if you paid your house off completely with the money, you’d have months to find a new job.”
    “But what kind of freaks—?”
    “It’s usually some kind of domination scenario, which we both already know gets you hot
    —“
    “With a stranger? Eric—” The thought of being alone with a man I’d never met before—at his mercy…
    “Listen, I have it all worked out. I know one of the bidders. You’re his type. I showed him your picture and he’s going to buy you.”
    “Buy me?”
    “ Rent you… And here’s the best part. He’s a voyeur. He just wants to tell you what to do and get off watching you do it. Maybe some Peeping Tom role-play or something. He’s got this OCD thing. He won’t even touch you.”
    “You’re saying he’d pay me fifty thousand dollars to not have sex with him?”
    “Yeah, as long as you go along with the game. Fifty thou’ to him is like fifty cents to a normal person. He inherited billions.”
    “If you know who’s going to ‘buy’ me…” I noticed I was talking like I was actually going to do this. “Why do we have to go through with the auction?”
    “It’s part of the fun for them. Feeing like they’re in the white slave trade…and the excitement of bidding.”
    I’d never thought about what people did for excitement once they didn’t have to worry about survival anymore. I wondered how many safaris and yachting adventures rich men went on before they signed up for the white slave fantasy league.
    A thought struck me. “Wait, Eric, what’s in this for you?”
    “I get a finder’s fee.”
    “I thought your family had money.”
    “’Family’ being the operative word. I’ve run out of money this month.”
    “It’s only the tenth. How could you run out of money?”
    “My grandfather’s trust fund doesn’t kick in until I’m thirty, if you can believe that. The uncle I’m supposed to inherit from is still alive as are my parents…and my parents won’t bail me out anymore. They’re on this kick about making me a responsible member of society.”
    “That’s working out great,” I said sarcastically. “What about the money from your job?”
    “I was in Vegas last weekend and—“
    “Shit, Eric, I’m struggling to keep my house and you’re blowing your month’s salary on craps?”
    “High stakes poker.”
    “Whatever.”
    My family had always been so careful with money, out of necessity. I couldn’t imagine living Eric’s lifestyle. And he seemed convinced he should be able to live like a ne’er-do-well playboy. His grandfather was right to hold off on the trust fund. Maybe a few more years would mature his grandson enough to be responsible with the money.
    Fat chance.
    “Come on Miranda. When will you get another opportunity like this?”
    “Eric, you know I’m not very… outgoing , sexually.”
    “You don’t have to be. You just do what you’re told, and we both know you’re good at that.”
    I looked out the window, embarrassed that Eric was aware of the kinds of depraved sexual activities that turned me on. But if it weren’t for him and Alexis, I wouldn’t have even known about my little perversions.
    “Hey,” he said. I turned, and he flashed his most charming boyish smile. It was effective, even though I knew he was playing me. “What else are you going to do this weekend that will earn you fifty thousand dollars?”
    That was a good question. And I only had a few weeks left before foreclosure, so even if I got a job next week, I wouldn’t have