Bought & Paid For

Ivory was ready in fifty minutes flat, having skipped dinner herself. She met Risk on the stairwell decked out in all the pearls he had purchased for her. More than all the other trinkets, she knew the pearls affected him. Her memory bore testament to the ferocious way he had attacked her clit when he had given her a pearl bracelet that was a perfect match for the ring. If she knew him as well as she suspected, the ring was just another one of those things that reminded him of her clit, and she exploited that fact by keeping it visible during their entire drive.

Her hand in her hair, smoothing it back. Her hand by her neck, rubbing the necklace. Her hand on her thighs, brushing off imaginary dust. Her hand by her mouth, smoothing the lines of her lipstick. And she watched as his eyes followed the ring everywhere it cared to go. She could see his eyes darken, but she wouldn't give him the pleasure. Not this time.

As they entered the ballroom all eyes turned to them, as they always did. More so to him, she wryly admitted to herself. She was just arm candy. Candy that would be replaced at first light.

No sooner had they walked through the archway than Risk left her side. Ivory was not surprised to see the tongues go wagging at this tidbit. She and Risk had developed a bit of a reputation in the past months. He was generally never far from her side. She would spend the whole night at any given event telling him to behave himself as his eyes devoured her flesh, his words tempted her to throw caution to the wind, and his hands set fire to her skin everywhere he touched.

Ivory stood there fuming, careful to keep her expression neutral. Her resentment was eating her alive and she nearly walked out right then, but as if by magic the crowds parted and she spotted Giancarlo. She headed straight for him before she could rethink the wisdom of what she was about to do.

Hips swaying, eyes glittering, heart pumping, Ivory zeroed in on her target.

Giancarlo watched Ivory approach. He wasn't surprised to see her here, but he was surprised to see her without Risk.

"Giancarlo," she said by way of greeting, her tongue rolling over the sound as if she'd like to have more than just his name in her mouth.

"Ivory," he returned, "Although without the presence of your solicitous protector I barely recognize you."

"Actually, we're not together anymore."

Giancarlo's eyes widened. He couldn't keep the surprise from leaking into his voice. "That's news to me. Risk didn't mention it."

"He can be surprisingly closed mouthed when he wants to be," Ivory concurred, none of the emotion she felt for Risk audible in her words. "Anyhow, would you care to dance?"

She flowed into Giancarlo's arms like a river of honey and he accepted her presence without another word. After dancing the Cha Cha for a few minutes, Ivory couldn't keep the excitement inside any longer. Dancing had always been a passion of hers and it released everything good in her.

Her enchanting presence and conversation began weaving its spell and Giancarlo was powerless to resist. Giancarlo laughed several times at some witty remark or another and as time wore on he grew more comfortable about dancing exclusively with Risk's ex. How Risk had let such a seductive treasure get away from him, Giancarlo didn't know. But Risk's loss was his gain, and he wasn't one to stand around and let the grass grow under his feet. He drew her into a very lover–like embrace as the first notes of a slow song curled around them.

Ivory stiffened in his arms for a brief moment as she felt a flurry of panic, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. She was more so disappointed that she didn't feel even a flicker of the excitement she felt watching Risk walking into a room while Giancarlo was holding her close enough to slide into her body were they both naked. It probably went without saying that she would never recover fully from having made the tactical error of falling in love with someone who had paid cash for her body.

Moving closer into Giancarlo's embrace, Ivory rested her head over his heart and let the steady rhythm soothe her battered heart. She felt a punishing grip on her arm just seconds before her eyes collided with the glittering fury in Risk's. Her heart gave a tiny leap of pleasure before she stifled all such ridiculous emotions.

"Giancarlo," Risk greeted, not injecting the word with any of the warmth and desire Ivory had earlier.

"Risk," he returned, hardly daring to believe he was about to cross words with one of his closest friends. "This is a surprise."

"I should say so," Risk admonished, tugging Ivory's still form in front of him so he could curl an arm possessively around her waist.

Giancarlo's eyes zeroed in on that arm and accusing eyes clashed with Ivory's before going back to Risk's.

"I hadn't figured you for the type to make a play for my girl while my back was turned, but I guess I was wrong."

The ugly insult was not lost on Giancarlo and his frame went rigid with undisguised tension. "I apologize," his voice gruff. "I was misinformed about the status of your relationship." The note of accusation in his voice was back with a vengeance as his condemning eyes once again trapped Ivory's.

Ivory finally came to life again struggling to be free of Risk's parody of an embrace. "No, you were not misinformed. He has another bimbo all lined up to replace me first thing tomorrow! I was given my walking papers shortly after 6 this evening, so you see, I am free after all." This last was said with a decided sneer at Risk that he should dare to contradict her claim after the cold way he had dealt with her earlier. If he had had his way she would be out of his life already.

Ivory tried to calm herself as she noted the curious glances turned their way. It hadn't escaped anyone's notice that she had been dancing exclusively with Giancarlo for the last half hour or that she had been treating him as a bit more than Risk's friend. Her anger was quickly re-riled by Risk's next words.

"Well, it's not tomorrow yet, so I expect you to fulfill your role in my life until such time as you have been irrevocably replaced." He turned to Giancarlo after dropping that bomb in her life, "If you'll excuse us," and he stormed off without another word, using his grip on her arm to drag her after him.

The curious stares followed them all the way to the balcony and down the stairs. From there they became lost in shadows, but everyone inside was already imaging what they would be doing when they were alone, and correctly so.

They walked at a speed designed to cool Risk's agitation and rage, but it only served to irritate and tire Ivory out as she raced to keep up with him. When he finally released her at the edge of the garden far from the house, she let loose the frustration she had been feeling since his callous dismissal earlier. "Why the caveman tactics? You don't want me, so no one else can either?"

"If I had realized you were so desperate for a man tonight, I wouldn't have brought you out of the house at all," he smoothly returned, his eyes fixed on her heaving breasts.

"You say that as if you actually have what it takes to follow through."

"After months of me owning that sweet body I'm surprised you'd try to deny it," he rasped, his eyes finally lifting to her face, his hands taking control of her wrists, securing them above her head as he backed her against a tree.

"Yes, but all those months you didn't have a bit on the side like you do now," she retaliated. "I'd hate for you to waste some of that precious energy she is going to expect you to use on her. We can't have a playboy like you disappointing."

Ivory could have kicked herself for her deliberately inflammative comments, but Risk had a way of pushing her farther over the edge than she had ever been before. Her delaying tactics went far from the mark as she watched him push her dress to her waist.

"And you can let go of me right now you dog, because you'll get nothing else from me," she berated, twisting against his possessive hold.

His reply was to rip her panties from her and push deep into her hot flesh. Risk knew without a doubt that he was hurting her. Her clenching muscles had only possessed the slightest dew as he had pushed in providing next to nothing in the way of slickness to ease the force of his demanding length.

Ivory clamped her lips shut against the moan that would have sprang forth. She wouldn't give him the pleasure of knowing he was hurting her. Closing her eyes, she cursed the day she had ever met him and spread her thighs further to allow him free access. Let him pound into her flesh until he spent himself and walked away. Good riddance...

Risk could feel the voice of reason calling his name, demanding that he take more time in claiming her, but his mind was locked with fury and jealousy such as he had never experienced before. Flirting with another man. Worse. Flirting with one of his closest friends. In his face. Challenging him. Refusing him. Not without punishment, not while he lived.

Snaking his hand behind her knee, he brought her leg up around his waist and held it there as his thrusts deepened, his passion nowhere near being assuaged. Ivory felt a slight flash of fire go through her pelvis and began to struggle anew. That's just what he wanted, she derided, to force himself on her and have her beg for it in the end. Then her humiliation would be complete. She couldn't allow it.

"The world must be coming to an end," she whispered somewhat breathlessly, hoping against hope that he put it down to her struggles and not the excitement she was trying to subdue. "I never thought I would see the day when a rich playboy had to buy his women and then rape them." Ivory knew her words were extremely inflammatory, but she didn't care. So long as they accomplished their task and made him stop.

Risk stilled above her briefly, before continuing his physical assault on her defenses. His hand released her thigh, giving Ivory cause to release a sigh of relief. Her respite lasted for only a moment though as her muscles tensed in renewed negation as his knowing finger moved to cover her clit.

Ivory's frame pushed harder against the tree trying to escape his caress, but there was nowhere for her to go, and that was what he intended. She fought the moan that rose in her throat, this time from pleasure, but she knew without opening her eyes that he could read her body with or without her giving verbal expression to her feelings.

"A very cute ploy," he derided, "But you'll never be able to cry rape from my touch and be telling the truth. Not when your body responds to mine as if it were made for it. Not when I can pull cries of joy from your mouth even while you think to refuse me."

Ivory turned her face away from his penetrating eyes, wishing she could close her ears to his taunting words.

"Cum for me Ivory."

His finger pressed harder against her aching clit and she tensed all around his invading flesh as he pulsed inside of her, struggling with every breath to refuse his demand.

"Cum for me because you just can't help it." He pulled out of her and pushed back in and that was all it took to turn her silent mutinous mouth into a symphony of gasping, moaning cries of pure pleasure.

While aftershocks of pleasure still pierced her body, Risk withdrew from her and turned her face so that her eyes were level with his. "Open your eyes Ivory." Reluctantly she did so.

"Never think to deny me again."

Ivory shook off his gentle grasp on her chin to free herself. "There won't be an opportunity for me to do so, will there?" Silently she set about fixing her clothes. Bundling the torn panties into her clutch, she smoothed a hand over her hair. Her angry eyes collided with the proud erection straining against the zip of Risk's pants, and more damning than anything else that had come before it, she felt a trill of desire as she looked at it. Not her problem anymore after tonight. Someone else would welcome his hot thick length into their body, suck the life out of it to give him pleasure. Someone else. Not her. Not anymore.

"Don't look at me like that unless you're going to do something about it."

Her eyes snapped up to meet his. That he could relegate everything between them to sex, always sex, made her so furious she could barely stand, and suddenly she was consumed with a rage so black that all she wanted to do was strike out at him. To hit back.

"Be sure to send me an invoice for the remaining balance," she threw over her shoulder turning to walk away.

"Consider all debts paid in full."

"I will consider it so, when it is so." He moved to take her arm and she flinched away before he could touch her. "I can make my own way. Thank you. We should start out as we mean to go on."

Risk let her be. Besides, he liked watching her bottom swing as she walked. She looked like a cat whose fur had been brushed up the wrong way. She was still absolutely gorgeous. How he was going to get on without her, he couldn't be sure. But he would do it if it meant not being emotionally slapped down by his own mistress.

They reentered the ballroom together, both pretending not to see the many interested looks cast their way. They'd get over it. Scandal was nothing new in their world.

Ivory made a beeline straight for the door. Risk couldn't see it, but he imagined there must have been something in her face that said don't mess with me, because no one stopped her, and that in itself was a rarity.

Ivory took a taxi straight to Risk's house. She had the driver wait while she gathered her things and with a quick goodbye to Millie she was gone.

While her mother was surprised to see her, she kept her comments to a minimum. Ivory retired to her room and cried herself to sleep before drifting into a fitful sleep.

The following morning Ivory sat down at her computer to run the numbers for how much money she still owed Risk. Close to $600,000. Although, as far as deals went, she had gotten the sweeter one. Parts of her debt forgiven for spending time with the man she loved. Although her broken heart bore testament to the fact that that arrangement hadn't worked out quite as well as it could have.

Ivory called the escort agency, where she was not at all surprised to receive a cool reception. She had quit her job on the basis of a family emergency and had in the ensuing months been seen on the arms of a playboy at just about every type of function imaginable. But that too had its plus side. She was almost to celebrity status and could command a higher price, which meant a bigger cut for the agency, so in the end they welcomed her back.

************************************************

Risk sat at his desk glowering. He had cut her out of his life and still she was affecting his work. He couldn't focus on anything but Ivory. She had been gone when he had returned to the house, but all the jewelry and clothes he had purchased for her had been left behind. All the pearls she had worn earlier in the night were sitting on the nightstand like a refused wedding band.

He had had Millie package all the items and send them via courier and armed guard to her home address. He would be damned if she left any of the things that reminded him of her in his house. As it was he had slept in a guest bedroom rather than breathe in her scent all night.

The buzz of the intercom revived him from his stupor, and it was with something approaching glee that he received confirmation that the items had reached their destination safely and been signed for. Good. Step by step, piece by piece, he was going to remove every trace of her from his life until it reached a level of normalcy again. With single minded purpose he turned his head to work and by some miracle actually managed to get something accomplished.

**************************************************

Ivory accepted the packages with something approaching dismay. How he could be so cold as to send her the very things she had indicated very clearly she didn't want from the start was a mystery to her, but she was determined not to keep any of it. Not to nurse her broken heart back to health just so it could break again when she saw him with his new floozy.

Energized by that thought, Ivory put all the clothes into her car and drove them to a local second hand shop. Her logical mind said she could use the clothes for work; her tormented heart said she would rather go naked.

She called several of her favorite charities and arranged for them to pick up her donated jewelry items, saving a stunning ruby set to donate to her mother's pet charity project. Each agency promised to have the items appraised and a contribution slip sent to her within a week for tax purposes. Her logical mind said sell the jewelry and pay the bastard off; her battered heart said there was no honor in letting him pay off his own debt.

That night, she sat in for a quiet dinner with her mother, and managed a severely edited version of the truth. Her mother didn't pretend to understand, lamenting about how young people were so capricious. Ivory couldn't argue with her; Risk had proved to be fickle. Anyhow, it wasn't her concern anymore.

***************************************************

Two weeks in, and Risk was considering a pretty blond over lunch. She had nice curves and a generous smile, but he doubted she would be as giving and free in bed as Ivory had been. Could anyone be? He mused over the blonde's assets as his cell phone vied for his attention, the ring signaling it was his mother.

"Hello mother," he greeted.

"Risk darling," she returned in a sophisticated purr, still very much the bell of the ball at 52.

"How is everything?"

"Everything is wonderful darling. How could it be any different?" she asked, inviting herself to indulge in a self encouraged monologue. "I have a charming husband, a thoughtful son, I chair a thriving charity." One of her slightly dramatic, perfectly timed pauses. "Speaking of the charity," Risk laughed on his end. She was leading herself up to something, that much was clear. "I received a lovely donation last week. A collection of diamonds. Necklaces, bracelets, anklets, rings, earrings. There was so much of it I thought that it had to be extremely well heeled costume jewelry, but the appraisal revealed their total value to be several hundred thousand dollars."

"That's nice," Risk agreed. "That must have made your day."

"It did, but you'll be surprised to know the cut of the necklace looked suspiciously like the one you gave me for Christmas last year."

That got his attention and he sat up a little straighter in his chair, hanging on her every word, his attention officially caught. The necklace he had given his mother had been one of only five in creation, and to further ensure it's originality he had had his initials carved into the smooth underside of the platinum on the two he had purchased. A feature he had told his mother about, but not his mistress. He hadn't wanted her to feel anymore kept than she already had.

"Did you check it for an inscription?" he asked, his voice suddenly quiet.

"I did."

Risk waited for her to add additional information knowing his interest was piqued, but she played her little social game, drawing out the tale, making it something of a scandal.

"And...?"

"And it had your initials on it. I checked the donation receipts and found your ex-girlfriend's name there."

Risk stood from the table, tossing bills down as he exited the establishment. His anger was such he didn't trust himself to be in a public place. He had known her story was leading somewhere, but he had never imagined to Ivory.

There were three other necklaces out there, just like the two he had purchased. He had hoped his mother was mistaken about the inscription, but the donation receipt coincidentally bearing Ivory's name was more than chance. And what did that say about Ivory? What woman in her right mind would give up a diamond necklace priced at thousands and thousands of dollars? Unless she despised the giver.