Once a Myth (Goddess Isles Book 1) Page 7

  I wasn’t such a monster that I didn’t offer a small rehabilitation period. A settling in time, as it were. By now, the girl I’d purchased would have heard my terms, realised I wasn’t such a bad guy after all, understood that as far as bastards went to be sold to, I was the best they could’ve ended up with, and agreed to behave.

  They were escorted to their villa.

  They were left alone to acclimatise.

  They were free…or as free as an owned possession could be.

  But no.

  This fucking girl had to intrigue me.

  She had to stand up against me even though I’d treated her with respect and decorum. She’d turned a simple conversation into a war, and that was something you should never do with me.

  I didn’t lose.

  To anyone.

  And now…fuck, she’d pay the price.

  I didn’t let the thought linger that I might’ve broken her by making her drink. I didn’t worry that such a prime, highly sellable product might not make it to the shelf. All I’d cared about was she’d defied me, and the price for that was great.

  It was time to ruin that aggravating pride, smudge out that bold elegance, and destroy that goddamn grace by any means necessary—before it became a problem and ruined the obedience upon my island.

  She scrambled away, ripping her chin from my knuckles. “What do you mean…I don’t have much time?”

  Standing, I smirked at her clueless on the floor. “You probably have about ten minutes…fifteen tops.”

  She crawled to her feet, pushing unsteadily upright to face me. Nervousness painted her beautiful features. “What will happen in ten minutes?”

  “You’ll find out.” Turning my back on her, I returned to my desk, collected my pen, and began the meeting all over again. This time, the girl drifted to stand demurely in front of me. No fire burned in her gaze. No hate tainted the air. She’d turned inward, assessing her reactions, doing her best to guess what her system would do and racking her brain on how to save herself.

  There was no saving her.

  She would be in a personal hell for quite a few hours.

  Swallowing any remaining animosity, she balled her hands. “Is there an antidote?”

  I laughed a single bark before I could stop myself.

  An antidote?

  Ha!

  There was an antidote…of a kind.

  But she wouldn’t be getting it from me.

  No matter how much she begged. And, oh, she’d beg. She’d offer me her soul in perpetuity in about nine and a half minutes.

  “Normally, I take my time explaining what your future holds. But…seeing as I lost my temper and have done something rather unfortunate, I will have to rush, to ensure you hear what I say before….” I looked her up and down, eyeing her closely for signs that she could no longer coherently follow my voice.

  She still stood quietly. Still focused on me.

  Her tongue licked her bottom lip just once, her eyes flaring at the sensation. Her chest rose as she inhaled, a lightning shiver shooting down her spine.

  Shit, that stuff was strong.

  Wrenching out a contract, I slapped it onto the desk, the fine-print facing her.

  She shivered again as she moved forward, her clothing rubbing on skin that was steadily turning into overly sensitive sandpaper. “What’s that?”

  “That is binding and already signed by me.” Scooting my limited-edition Mont Blanc to her, I added, “Sign it and it’s done.”

  “I won’t sign anything that I haven’t read—”

  “Just like you won’t take drugs you don’t know or agree to something you haven’t analysed to the point of suicide. Yes, I’m beginning to understand that about you.”

  I already understood more than that.

  I’d already deduced that this girl…she wouldn’t be allowed near me unsupervised after today. I wasn’t so cocky to think there wasn’t something about her that tempted me beyond realms that should never be crossed.

  If I was honest, I’d been waiting for a purchase to affect me worse than the others.

  I’d been dealing in sex for so long now, I secretly wondered if I’d ruined any chance of suffering true lust again. I hadn’t expected someone as young as her to entice me, but then again, I’d been a fucking idiot to list all the feminine attributes that I found attractive—not just my clients—for my next goddess.

  I should’ve known I’d custom-designed a mail-order fuck slave that I’d have trouble resisting.

  After all, I had strong inclinations toward brunettes. And she was most definitely a brunette with her dark, bitter chocolate hair. I liked tall girls with strength in their limbs and a willowy grace that belied feminine power. I liked clear skin and light eyes.

  I should never have let her on my fucking shores.

  She moaned low under her breath, wrenching my gaze to watch her closely. Her lips had parted, sipping air as if afraid of the creeping, stealthy takeover of her body. Her nipples had hardened beneath whatever shit the traffickers had dressed her in, and her thighs pressed together against her will.

  Goddammit, it’d affected her too fast.

  Standing, I stormed around my desk, grabbed her hand, and wrapped her fingers around the pen. Pressing her wrist against the paper, I commanded, “Sign. It makes no difference to me if you do or don’t. You’re here, you’re mine, your future is already entirely in my control. This part is for you. For your peace of mind.”

  She swayed, her eyelashes fluttering as her pupils dilated. “Why…why do you want me to sign then? Why do you care about my peace of mind?” Her voice had slipped from snippy and sharp to sensual and full of sex.

  “Because I find a willing employee better than a forced one.”

  “You should’ve just hired people then, instead of kidnapping them.”

  I smiled, pulling her closer, angling her hand so the nib of the pen dug into the paper and bled ink. “But then I wouldn’t get the same level of quality, would I? Owning something rather than asking ensures much better results.”

  She leaned into me, her nose seeking my lapels and inhaling deep. She moaned again, her eyes closing and forehead furrowing as she fought the hostage takeover of her senses. “What…what’s happening to me?”

  Ignoring her question, I rushed, “I own forty-four islands. I rather like that number. Therefore, your time here will be measured by that amount.” Manhandling her, I moved behind, supporting her sudden lethargy while keeping her hand on the contract. “Four years. That’s all I ask. I bought you. I could keep you for eternity. I could use you until you’re worthless, then kill and feed you to the numerous sharks that stalk my shores. But…I won’t. I value commodity. I appreciate hard work. And I reward good behaviour.”

  She reclined into me, her spine arching and her ass rubbing against parts of me that should stay the fuck away from her at all costs. I went to push her away, but she snapped upright, bashing her hipbones against the desk in her need to get as far away from me as possible.

  Huh.

  She was strong then.

  Strong enough to fight the potency swimming in her veins.

  But she wouldn’t win against it.

  No one could.

  That was why I had the best scientists working on the formula. Why the word elixir promised such impossible feats like turning metals into gold, alchemists into immortals, and humans into demigods.

  My island wasn’t just a fuckfest for the obscenely rich.

  It was a wonderland for the men who’d become jaded by life. Who wanted the fantastical. Who believed in the utopia that we’d all been so cruelly denied.

  Women.

  Willing women.

  Animalistic, X-rated women.

  And this elixir, made from the very same orchids that grew on my archipelago, granted them paradise in the form of an overly-sexed, hyper-sensitive, orgasm-begging creature who no longer knew her own name, who no longer cared about what she looked like naked or had any capaci
ty to lie, cheat, or fake her own desire.

  Men came to my island for the joy of not only sleeping with a goddess but being gods themselves. The sole giver of pleasure that women crawled for, cried for, craved over and over and fucking over again.

  The hunger, the greed, the all-encompassing need to be fucked ensured both parties were satisfied. Nothing was false about the barbaric, raw sex that happened here. The girls were dripping, and the men fed off their uninhibited eroticism.

  My sole purpose was to select women who, once they took my elixir, became slaves…not to me…but their own snarling, starving libido.

  And this girl? Fuck, she had a long way to fall. A long way to realise that her pride would soon be stripped, her morals shredded, her priorities up in flames.

  Her mind would soon be taken over by more basic requirements.

  The need for a cock.

  The greed for a man—any man, multiple men—to fill her up and thrust until that crippling, clawing fervour could be sated.

  I felt sorry for her.

  Sorry that, unlike the goddesses who received the dose just before their first client, who went to their chosen on their hands and knees, their body wet and carnal, and had the reward of being fucked until they either passed out from delirium or drained their partner from every drop of cum he could give her, this girl would suffer.

  Fuck, she would suffer.

  Her legs buckled as she ground her hips into my desk. Her skin flushed. Her body heat scorched a thousand degrees.

  My own body responded.

  My cock, that had never fully calmed down, thickened to the point of excruciation. It would be so easy to unzip and fill her.

  She’d let me. Fuck, she’d beg me.

  She’d spread and arch, and I’d thrust—

  Shit.

  The longer I stayed here, the bigger the cracks in my willpower.

  She shook her head, falling deeper and deeper into the lecherous lewdness she couldn’t control.

  I had to get away from her.

  I had to lock her away from everyone—male and female if I didn’t want her to mount someone to chase relief.

  My fingers tightened around hers, digging the pen deeper into the page. “Four years. A tiny cost to have your freedom returned.”

  She moaned again, louder this time, losing civility under the crippling greed. “Just give me my freedom now. Give me…” Her head fell back as she pressed her pussy against the desk again. “Give me something. God, what did you give me? What’s happening to me?”

  Deciding to destroy her just because I could, just because she drew out needs I didn’t want, I swept her hair away from her nape, and pressed a chaste kiss to the heat-sticky skin, inhaling the flush of a woman in full musky heat. “You’re freer than you’ve ever been in your life.”

  She did more than shudder. She almost orgasmed from my touch. Her entire body quaked as internal muscles clenched so hard, I almost saw the wave of ecstasy flutter her stomach. “Please…make it stop.”

  “Can’t.” I kissed the nodules of her spine, tracing where they disappeared under the thick wave of tangled hair. “Just give in.”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  I reached around and grabbed her between the legs. “Are you sure? Don’t you want to ride my hand? Don’t you want to come so bad your teeth ache, your belly aches, your entire soul aches for me to bend you over right here and fucking drive my cock inside you?”

  “Oh, God.” Her free arm lashed around my neck, clinging to me as her hips rocked into my hand. “Let me go.”

  “You’re holding me.” I chuckled, but it came out more like a growl.

  “Stop this. God, stop it.” Her hips thrust forward. “I don’t want this.”

  A spurt of heat and wetness filled my hand.

  I dug the heel of my palm against her clit. “Your body says otherwise.”

  The long jumper she wore rode up until I cupped her through her underwear. The material was fucking drenched. The slipperiness went past coy and straight into desperation. I rubbed her, dragging my fingers through the sopping saturation of her cunt. “How badly do you want me to stab my fingers inside you?”

  She cried out as she thrust wildly into my hand.

  A second later, she tried to push me away, shaking her head, almost sobbing. “No. No. Let me go. I don’t want this.”

  I smirked and let her go. I backed away, leaving her steaming with a slick of wetness glistening on her thigh. “Sign the contract and I’ll take you to your villa. You can spend the day getting off until you calm down.”

  “I can’t.” She buckled over, clutching her stomach as if she could vomit out the effects.

  That wouldn’t work. It was in her blood now. It was racing through every vein and artery, swelling her clit, her nipples, her brain with the incessant need to fuck.

  Fuck.

  And fuck.

  “How many men?” the question ripped with torture from her lips. A heady groan followed as her hand pressed against her pussy. Embarrassment flooded her cheeks, fighting the urge to masturbate in front of me, not knowing that in another minute she’d do anything I asked.

  She’d insert anything inside herself. She’d have sex with anything in this room if I allowed it. She’d fall to her knees and stick her entire fist inside her if I promised she could have my cock as a reward.

  See how I don’t like to play games, girl? Don’t ever cross me. Don’t fight me. You’ll never come out on top.

  I wiped my hand on my trousers, smearing the leftover residue of her need. “Four men. Sign and give me four years. Four times you’ll be given this drug and four times you will be fucked within an inch of your life and love every sordid moment of it.”

  Her gaze met mine, frenzied and almost demented with lust.

  I didn’t move.

  I let her make the choice.

  Suddenly, as if she couldn’t bear it any longer, she spun around, snatched my pen, and scrawled her name on my contract. She willingly entered my employment.

  With a manic moan, she slithered from standing to her knees, rocking with her arms around her middle at my feet.

  Stepping around her yearning puddle, I read the name she’d given.

  Eleanor Grace.

  I smirked down at the wild creature, fighting the urge not to fuck her own fingers.

  Not so graceful now, are you?

  Her hand wrapped around my ankle. Her fingernails dug into my flesh. She looked up with far too much determination. “Please.”

  A beg.

  A beg oozing with need.

  I froze, crippled beneath a wave of my own consuming hunger.

  Seeing her like this, knowing she’d let me do anything to her, fuck…I should get far away from her. I should lock her up so no guests could take her. I should keep her far away from the other goddesses.

  But…in her thirsty grey eyes, I drank a different version of elixir.

  Mine wasn’t chemically delivered but entirely designed by my own urges.

  I wanted her.

  I more than wanted her. I wanted to fucking destroy her.

  I wanted to fuck her until I killed her. Until we both stop breathing, straining to copulate, brutal and broken until the end.

  She’d cursed me.

  In a flash, I knew what her goddess name would be.

  Jinx.

  Eleanor might’ve been her name when she was a tame, sexually repressed girl dating an equally repressed boy, but while she was mine…she was Jinx.

  I shouldn’t call her that—what if her arrival wasn’t just poorly planned, but the beginning of bad fortune on my islands? What if she lived up to the promise of a jinx? A voodoo? A plague upon my shores?

  But her eyes flashed again, stormy and as dark as slate, and I accepted that she’d already put a spell on me. She’d become my nemesis. A female who I didn’t know. Who I’d paid handsomely for. A woman who didn’t have to say a word to me, and I’d grown insanely hard with the inc
essant desire to rip her apart, challenge everything about her, and suck her passion dry by any means necessary.

  Bending, I removed her claws from my ankle and hoisted her to her feet.

  She squeezed her eyes at the sensation of me touching her. She crowded into me, rubbing against my leg like a cat in full season. “Please…help me. I can’t take it.”

  I allowed her closeness.

  I permitted one moment where I dabbled with the idea of keeping her as my own personal entertainment.

  And then I ensured I’d never have to break my ironclad rule not to indulge in my goddesses. Because I had one last weapon to ensure she might want to fuck any man on this planet, but I’d ensure she’d never want me.

  I could remain immune and resist the temptation of killing both of us with undiluted pleasure.

  She gasped as I tugged her hair, tipping her head back so I could whisper directly into her ear. She quaked in my hold. Quivered for my touch, any touch.

  “I left out a little of the fine-print, Eleanor.”

  Her head turned; our eyes locked.

  “You didn’t think I’d only ask you to sleep with four men in four years, did you?” I kissed the tip of her nose, sending another wash of lust to incapacitate her.

  I smiled as I let her slither down my body to the floor where, this time, she didn’t stop her hand from slipping between her legs.

  I watched as she curled into herself, no more embarrassment. No more barriers that society placed on us as people. No more expectations that men and women weren’t meant to be animals and enjoy in our baser desires.

  We were animals.

  As surely as any other creature.

  But we were the only ones who hid sex behind closed doors and buried our true natures until no one was truthful about what they wanted.

  I’d just freed her from that oppressive cage.

  I let her be true.

  I gave her the privilege of sexual honesty.

  But that privilege came with consequences.

  And my consequences hadn’t been delivered yet.

  Ducking to my haunches, I captured her chin again. When her glazed grey gaze met mine, I murmured, “Four men a month, Eleanor Grace. One hundred and ninety two men. And then…you’re free.”