“You understand there is always a price for my help?”
Panic wrapped an iron band around my chest, and I sucked in a shaky breath. I’d known this was coming, and I had no idea what he’d want in return for his help. “I don’t have any money.”
“Oh, I don’t trade in money.” He laughed, but his face flashed with something villainous. “My currency is dark deeds and dirty secrets.”
I swallowed hard and glanced at the hallway, wondering if it was too late to escape. I had no secrets, none that I remembered anyway, which meant he would want a dark deed of some kind. Would he ask for something illegal? Something dangerous? Something I would regret for the rest of my life? I nearly ran out the door, but then I pictured Brandy’s son looking up at me with barely contained tears as he asked when his mom was coming home, and my resolve hardened. I looked Lucas in the eye and nodded.
He leaned forward, no longer casual. “Are you willing to do whatever it takes?”
“Yes,” I said breathlessly. “What do you want?”
“You.”
My jaw dropped, and my stomach dropped lower. Possibly through the floor. All the floors. “Me?”
He chuckled, the sound a dark melody full of wicked promises. “Six nights with you. Here in my penthouse. Mine to do with as I please.”
I gasped at the sensual pause between each of his last three words. Then I shook my head, certain I’d misheard. Misunderstood perhaps. Yes, that last one. “Excuse me? You expect me to give you carte blanche to do anything to me? For six nights?”
“Would you prefer seven?” A sinful grin crossed his lips as he leaned back against the soft leather of the couch. “I will warn you, I don’t rest on the seventh day.”
“Seven?” My thoughts scrambled, and all I could do was stare at him. Was he serious?
He nodded. “Yes, let’s make it seven nights. One for each deadly sin. Even better.”
Shit. I really shouldn’t have questioned that six nights thing. I ran the scenarios through my head, my face warming as I saw many of them in glorious detail. Yes, the man was insanely attractive, but he was proposing something six degrees of indecent. Not to mention, he was a total stranger. A very gorgeous, very dangerous stranger. What he was asking of me…it was too much. Maybe there was some other way I could find Brandy. Someone else I could go to for help.
Lucas watched me, waiting for my decision. “Tick-tock. Time is slipping away. The longer you wait, the less likely we’ll find your friend alive.”
Fear pulsed through me at the thought, but he was right. She’d already been missing for days. I needed to make a decision quickly, but I had to be sure about what I was getting myself into. I cleared my throat. “Let me get this straight. You want me to stay here with you for seven nights while you…do whatever you want to me. Sexually.”
His gaze darkened to a glower, and I nearly trembled at the intensity of it. “I have never forced myself on a woman, and I never will, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
A breath of relief left my lips. “I had to be sure. I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“I promise no harm will come to you by my hand. But as for sex…” He rose to his feet and walked the few steps toward me, making me look up at him. Then he bent forward and rested his hands on the back of the couch on either side of my head, caging me in. “Don’t you know who I am? They call me the devil for a reason. Temptation, lust, sin, all wrapped up in a neat little package. Oh, who am I kidding? A huge package. Trust me, before the week ends you’ll be begging for every single thing I do to you.”