Page 13 of Taken by Moonlight

Damn that girl. And to think I felt bad for her and offered to babysit because she always had trouble finding people to watch herkid.

Nomore.

“Shifters love virgins, but they’re hard to get. C’mon Peyton, it’s a sweet deal. Only one night of sex. Whaddayah holding out for anyway? Mr.Right?”

Not for Mr. Right Now, certainly. Love, maybe, or at least a steadyrelationship.

Not a quick tumble between the sheets and a feeling as if I weremeat.

“No.”

“You’ll get the full $25,000, cash, and I’ll split fifty-fifty with you whatever the bid goes above thatamount.”

Fifty percent of what? Virgin or not, I doubt I’d even collect $25,000.

“Twenty five thousand, guaranteed. Even if the bid isn’t more than ten.” Norm watched my face, his expressioncalculating.

Damn.

Doubledamn.

It was either selling my body to some shifter or homelessness. Or worse, spending the weekend having sex with the Brown brothers, who would probably not honor any agreement to forgive thedebt.

I might be able to stay in a motel for a while if they took the house, but what about my stuff? I’d have to rent a U-Haul to bring it to storage, and if I called in sick Tuesday to handle that, I knew what wouldhappen.

My boss would figure I did so out of resentment and fire me. He’d lectured me Friday on adapting a winning attitude. We had a huge client starting with us Tuesday and all hands wereneeded.

I’d have to wait until after work and by then, the Browns would have taken possession of myhome.

I was soscrewed.

Or I was about to be… by a shifter who would pay for thatprivilege.

Lifting my shoulders in a helpless shrug, I met his greedy gaze. “Whathappens?”

When he told me what was expected, I nearly backed out. And then I thought of the Brown brothers combing through my mom’s china, breaking the delicate music boxes that were mygrandmothers.

Destroying all my happy memories of a belovedchildhood.

I swallowed hard. “Allright.”

Normgrinned.

Horror filled me. What if the Browns were here tonight? But when I asked Norm, he shook hishead.

“After the last fight with Dante, their membership wasrevoked.”

Still, I had to be sure. “What are theterms?”

“You’re auctioned off to the shifter who bids the highest. Sex takes place here, in one of the rooms. The shifter has you for the entireevening.”

At least it would be here, where I could have a modicum of some protection if the shifter got rough. Guy wouldn’t let me gethurt.

“We’re talking sex in human form, right? Because I’m not into that kind of kinkystuff.”

Norm looked interested. “Really? Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, Peyton. You’d be impressed at how limber my snake canget.”

Eewww.