Once we pull up, I keep her door locked until I walk around and pull her out, throwing her over my shoulder again. She starts to kick and hit my back, but we’re in my casino now, and I don’t give a fuck.

I land three more smacks on her ass as I walk into my elevator.

“This is so embarrassing,” she moans against my back.

“You remember that the next time you think about running away from me.”

When we get to the penthouse, I punch in the code and go straight for the bedroom. I don’t hesitate to throw her in the middle of the bed and jump on top of her, pinning her flailing arms down while I cuff them.

“Let me go! I said I would talk, Charles. You can’t cuff me!”

As the second cuff snaps around her wrist, I lean down and flash her my most wicked smile. “Looks like I just did, kitten.”

“Start talking,” she says through gritted teeth.

I grab her chin and make her look at me, slowly running my thumb across her bottom lip. “You forget your place, Mandy. You don’t tell me what to do.”

She tries to shake her head free, but I just hold her steady and keep rubbing her lip, waiting for her to calm down. Eventually, my patience is rewarded and she takes a deep breath, letting some of the tension go.

“Yes, I was at Stella’s auction. It was the first and only other auction I ever attended besides yours.”

“Why did you go?”

“Basically to be a dick and raise the price for them. I knew how bad they wanted her, and I used that knowledge to my advantage. I needed something from them and I needed leverage.”

“What did you need?” She sounds hopeful but cautious when she asks, not wanting to let her heart fully believe the worst.

“You, kitten. I needed you.”

“But I don’t understand. You had me. You got me for thirty days from them. What happened?”

“A while back Justin came into the Snake Eyes to have a date with some reality TV housewife, and it went bad. I ended up helping him get out of a sticky situation, but I kept the video of their encounter. I used that to blackmail them into them giving me you for a month. I was so jealous that they had you, and it consumed me. I’d never wanted anything in my life as much as I wanted you. From the very first second I saw you, I had to have you. I thought at first that you belonged to them, but after the auction and the switch, I knew the truth.”

“Then why didn’t you do something about it when I was working here? Why did you let me go through the auction?”

“When you worked here for me, I was so consumed with every breath you took, and I couldn’t focus on anything. I didn’t trust myself to do the things I wanted to do to you without ruining you. You seemed too perfect and too good for me. You still are.”

“So why the auction then. Why buy me?”

“Because I knew if I had you under contract you couldn’t say no. It’s that simple.”

“And everything with Aaron and Justin?”

“It was all taken care of two weeks ago. I knew that I didn’t want this to end, and I felt that you didn’t either. This past month had been the best of my life, and I wanted to make things right with them. I gave Justin the video and we mended fences. I didn’t realize they were going to tell Stella part of the story and she was going to flip out and come to try to take you away.”

At my words, Mandy smiles, and I can see her letting her anger go. “So, you and me?”

I climb off her body and go to my dresser. I take out a box and come back to the bed.

“I had this made after the first time I ever saw you.”

Opening the box, I show her the engagement ring I picked out. It’s a five carat ruby, surrounded by black diamonds. I wanted my mark on her at all times, even then.

I look into her eyes and see tears start to form, and I lean down to kiss each one away. “I’ve loved you from the second I laid eyes on you, even when I didn’t think I could have you. I don’t know how or why, but I can’t live without you. If I have to keep you cuffed to this bed for the next fifty years, I’ll do it because for me, there’s no other option. There’s no plan B.”

“Charles, I love you too,” she whispers, and I pull the ring out of the box and slide it on her finger.

“I’ll love you, worship you, and own you until the day you take your last breath. I’ll never let you go, never let you leave me, and I’ll always bring you back if you try.”

Leaning down, I press my lips to hers, saying with my body what I can’t say with words, and when I feel her legs wrap around me I know she’s saying “yes”. Good thing, because there was never a choice.

THE END

Epilogue

Charles

Five years later…

“Harder, Sir.”

“No.”

“Please, Sir. I promise I’ll be so good for the rest of the day.”

“You say that every time, and you never do it.”

“This time I mean it, I swear.”

One day I’m going to have to stop giving her what she wants. She topping from the bottom again and she knows it. If I give in she’ll do something bratty later so I’ll punish her. It’s a cycle that always leads to us naked and sated, so I shouldn’t complain too much.

“You’re too far along.”

“You heard the doctor, it’s totally okay. Please, Sir. I need it.”

Mandy is due any day now with our first baby. We decided to wait a while and spend some time enjoying being married before starting a family. So when we finally decided to take the plunge, we were shocked to find out that we got pregnant on the first try. Mandy said it was all the practice, and I said it was her body telling me she wanted to breed with me. Both scenarios worked.