SEAL’s Desire by Elle James

way, you look hot in.”
    Trying to keep her mind off the close confines of the room and what Candi had in store for them, Mitchell said, “I might save the outfit. I kind of like how sexy it makes me feel.”
    “That’s right, you had a date for Valentine’s Day.” Kelli’s eyes rounded. “That was today, wasn’t it?”
    Mitchell nodded. “I didn’t feel right going out having fun when my best friend was missing. I spent Valentine’s Day pole dancing at the Naughty Ladies Lounge.”
    Kelli massaged her muscles. “I’d have paid good money to see that.”
    “I made good money doing it. I’m considering changing careers.”
    With a snort, Kelli hugged her. “Like that would ever happen.”
    “I gave up the navy, why couldn’t I give up my current job?”
    “Because you like it entirely too much.” Kelli went to work on Mitchell’s other leg. “You didn’t quite answer me on the date issue. Is he back? Are you going to see him?”
    Heat rose in Mitchell’s cheeks. “He’s back.”
    “And you two have already done it.” Kelli dropped her leg and clapped her hands. The happiness in her expression was incongruous to their current circumstances.
    Footsteps outside the door brought them back to their plight.
    The women in the room whimpered or moaned, their eyes glassy, their movements lethargic. They’d be no help breaking out of this prison. Their rescue would be up to Kelli and Mitchell.
    Mitchell flexed her arm and bent her legs.
    Kelli glanced at the door as a key scraped the lock. “If only they’d wait a few more minutes.”
    “Don’t fight. Make them think you’re as drugged out as the rest of them,” Mitchell urged. “Wait for our chance.”
    The door swung open and two men strode in, followed by two more.
    The first two grabbed Kelli by the arms and half-carried, half-dragged her out of the room. She remained limp, a woman spaced-out on drugs.
    Lying with her eyes closed most of the way, Mitchell pretended to be asleep, observing everything through slitted eyes as they crossed to where she lay on the mattress.
    The second two men draped Mitchell’s arms over their shoulders and dragged her out, closing the door behind them.
    She didn’t make it easy on them, pretending complete immobility, which wasn’t too far from the truth. Muscle control was slowly coming back, and she prayed it would be soon enough.
    At the end of a long hallway, the men turned into a room that was much different than the one where the women were held captive. This room had a Persian carpet spread across the concrete and the walls had been painted a soft shade of wheat gold. To the right were six lounge chairs filled with men dressed in slick black business suits. Their avid gazes followed Kelli, taking her in from the top of her strawberry blond hair to her trim ankles and bare feet. One leaned across to the other, speaking in a foreign language.
    When they carried Mitchell into the room, the gentlemen in the lounge chairs sat forward, talking to each other softly and smiling. She bet her boots and corset were the subject of their conversation.
    Candi sat to the side of the room with Rocco in the seat next to her. She whispered something into Rocco’s ear. He nodded and turned to look at the audience of men. “Gentlemen. I present these two beautiful women for your consideration.”
    Caught between Rocco’s thugs, Mitchell watched the well-dressed men through her eyelashes.
    “We’ll start the bidding at five thousand dollars,” Rocco said.
    A hard knot lodged in Mitchell’s throat and she was glad because she might have said something out loud, otherwise. They were to be sold like cattle or slaves. Sex slaves by the expressions of lust clearly etched into the men’s faces.
    She’d go down fighting before she had sex with any one of them. In Mitchell’s opinion, men or women who treated people as cattle weren’t human. She tested her legs, carefully so as not to draw attention to herself. Shaky, but