“This place,” I said to Tyler, tamping down an unwelcome rush of jealousy. “Do you come here a lot?”

“I don’t, no.”

I frowned, something in his voice sparking my curiosity.

“We just passed a woman,” I said. “I saw her earlier. At Destiny.” I hesitated, then added, “You were talking with her.”

“That’s Michelle,” he said, and the name rang in my memory.

“Michelle.” I remembered the note on his computer and the conversation in his office. “Wait. Isn’t she Cole’s girlfriend?”

He stopped, then turned to me with a questioning expression. “You were in the hall,” he said, remembering.

“She’s his girlfriend, right?” I’m fucking her, Cole had said.

“No,” he said, with a touch of amusement in his voice. “Cole doesn’t date.”

“Oh.” I considered where we were and what that meant. Cole didn’t date, so what exactly did he do? “So, um, is Cole here now, too?”

“He’s not.” Tyler lifted a brow. “Do you want me to call him?”

“God no!” I had no issues with whatever arrangement he had with Michelle, but I really wasn’t keen on him seeing me naked. Or, at least, with seeing me naked when I wasn’t dancing on a stage.

“Good,” he said, then started walking again.

We soon reached the end of the hallway, and I found myself looking into a cavernous room dotted with several distinct areas. Most were shadowed, though some were more well lit. Some were occupied by only one or two people, and some seemed to have gathered a crowd. In one, a woman was on her knees, sucking the cock of a leather-clad man who stood in front of her. In another, a woman stood nude, her wrists bound and her arms stretched high above her, held fast by a chain. Another woman was lashing her with a flail, breasts, belly, sex, as the bound woman cried out in pleasure for her mistress to please let her come.

I was looking at scenes, I knew. Sexual play that ran the gamut from simple to hard core. And I had no idea where Tyler intended us to fall on the scale. I wasn’t certain if I was terrified or excited, but I did know that Tyler wouldn’t push too far. On that point at least, I trusted him completely.

I started to ask Tyler what he had in mind for me, but decided to keep my mouth shut. He’d be expecting the question, after all.

A giant metal circle mounted on a dais stood against one of the walls. It was lit from above by a soft glowing light. There was a table near the circle that had a variety of thin leather strips. Otherwise, there was nothing.

“I liked watching you dance tonight.” Tyler spoke softly as he took my hand and led me up the dais to the circle. “I liked watching you enjoy it.” He took my hand and put it on the circle’s rim.

“Tyler.” His name was a protest. Yes, I’d walked naked to this room. But now, to be standing so boldly …

“It’s okay,” he said, then brushed a kiss over my lips. “Do this, Sloane,” he said, and I knew that my choice was simple—stay with him or break our arrangement and go.

I stayed. I wanted our deal—wanted him. And I would do a lot more than stand naked in a circle of light if that’s what it took to stay in Tyler’s bed.

”Good girl,” he said. He took my opposite hand and put it on the circle as well, so that my body formed a Y within the circle. “I even liked the other men watching you, wanting you. Do you know why I liked that?”

I shook my head.

“Because I like owning what other people covet. And those men tonight, they coveted you.” He tapped my legs, indicating that he wanted me to spread them.

I licked my lips and sucked in a breath for courage, but I complied.

“But what I didn’t like was that those men at the club didn’t know you were mine. Here, anyone who walks by knows.”

The circle was bathed in light, and beyond it, I could see only shadows. But there were people in those shadows, I knew, and I imagined them coming over, looking at me, wanting me. I turned my head away, not because I was ashamed to be up there, but because I was aroused. Despite his words, despite being on display, all I wanted right then was to lose myself in Tyler’s touch.

Despite? I scoffed at myself. You’re turned on because of it. Because of Tyler. Because of who he is and where he takes you.

And it was true. So help me, it was true. I’d been aroused from the moment I met him.

“Here, I can touch you.” Tyler moved behind me, his voice smooth and seductive. “I can stroke you. I can fuck you. I can claim you completely. Do you want me to?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

“So do I. But not now. Not here.”

I twisted my head, trying futilely to see him.

“I’m going to make you come, Sloane,” he said. “I’m going to get hard watching you. Watching your nipples tighten. Watching your cunt grow slick and wet. I’m going to watch you lose yourself to pleasure, sweetheart, and I’m going to know that I’m the one who pushed you over the edge.”

“Yes,” I pleaded, as I closed my eyes. “Touch me. Please touch me.”

“I am,” he said, though it was only his voice that caressed me. “Can you feel my lips on your ear, trailing down your neck? Can you imagine my mouth closing over your breast? Can you feel me teasing your nipple with my teeth?”

My nipples tightened as I imagined him touching me, sucking me.

“You can,” he said, still behind me, his breath the only thing that was actually touching me. “I can see how much it’s turning you on.”

“I’m caressing your belly now, my hands sliding down your abdomen, my lips and tongue tasting you as your skin quivers with each touch.”

I shuddered, tightening my hands on the metal circle out of fear that I would take them off and touch myself in desperation. I felt everything he described, as if his words were a caress sending trails of fire down my body.

“I’m moving lower now, using my hands and lips to brush ever so softly over your hip, your thigh. I can see how wet you are. How open. I press my mouth to your sex and blow, just slightly, so that my breath teases your sex, cools your heat. Do you feel it?”

I nodded.

“I know you do—I can see it. The way your lips are parted. The way your pulse is beating more quickly. There’s a flush on your skin—you’re aroused, your body tight, your cunt aching with desire, your skin begging for my touch.”

“Yes, god, yes.”

“I’m touching you now,” he said. “My fingers sliding over you, feeling how slick you are. I’m teasing your clit—stroking and teasing you, then sliding my fingers deep inside you. Can you feel me, baby? Can you feel me inside you, your body tight around me as if you don’t want to let me go?”

I made a sound. That was the best that I could do.

“You’re so close now. It’s building, growing in you. Pleasure, need, like steam under pressure you’re so close to exploding, and I’m right there, touching you, relentless, taking you closer and closer.”

“Yes,” I said, my body on fire, like a mirror of his words, I was there, I was closer, I could feel every word, every syllable, every whisper of sound as sweetly as if his hands were on me.