Definitely submissive. Last night, he’d suspected it, even as she’d pushed back again and again. But she hadn’t been his to test or claim. All that had changed. Hunter planned to make sure she understood exactly who and what he was—and uncover the submissive inside her he felt sure she’d never trusted any man enough to let out.

Kata had some serious hang-ups about control. They’d get to the bottom of those. Yes, the power to refuse always rested with the submissive. But Hunter sensed that she needed reassurance that he’d never want a doormat and didn’t want her to change. He’d help her understand what she secretly yearned for and teach her to ask for what she feared to want.

“It’s an order, honey, not a negotiation.” He kept his voice low, deceptively soft. “I’m waiting.”

She hesitated, and Hunter sensed a million thoughts whirling in her head. Desire, anger, and exasperation crossed her gorgeous face. Finally, she raised her chin and crossed her arms over her chest.

Submissive ... but not going down without a fight. He held in a smile.

“Don’t do this now, when I’m exhausted and afraid,” she murmured. “I know you want to exert your dominance or whatever, but why over something as inconsequential as a bath?”

Since Kata didn’t understand him or his ways, that wasn’t an unfair question. His cock was nagging him like a toothache, as was his impatience to reach the woman behind her defense mechanisms and bind her to him, but that was his problem. She deserved answers first.

“Everything about you concerns me. You’re a smart woman, and I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that I don’t merely like to dominate; I am a Dominant.”

JUST like Ben had said. Kata wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. That he was itching to restrain and spank her? That he liked to play Master/slave games?

A forbidden ache settled with horrific insistence right under her clit. She tried to ignore it. No damn way was she submitting an inch of her independence, even in the bedroom, just to get her freak on.

She mentally sorted through escape routes out of this mini Fort Knox. “Not with me. Hell no!”

Disappointment and anger tightened Hunter’s face, settling in with the exhaustion. A pinprick of guilt pierced her before she checked it. He was bringing this argument on. They could be in bed even now, drifting off to a much-needed night’s sleep. But no, he insisted on pushing her now. No way would she be his doormat, not after everything she’d seen in the last dozen years. She’d rather take a bullet to her brain than endure what Mamá had under Gordon’s rule.

Hunter could tie her into a pretzel if he wanted to restrain her. God knew he had the strength, the intelligence, and the balls. So she had to keep her wits about her. Kata retreated another step.

He grabbed her hand, his thumb brushing over the top of hers in a soft sweep unexpectedly soothing. “Kata, it’s the way I’m wired. Everything I demand is aimed at providing you what you need, while giving me what I crave. Tonight, that’s you relaxing in a hot tub while I massage the tenseness from your muscles so you reach a physical and mental state optimal for sleep.” He shrugged. “And I’ll have the peace of mind that comes with knowing you’re safe and well.”

That’s it? She stared at him suspiciously. This was supposed to be for her benefit? What about the high he got from ordering her around? How much bigger did he feel by having power over another? “Why not just say that instead of bossing me around?”

“Part of what I need as a Dom is for you to trust me, so I won’t explain myself unless you’re genuinely concerned or frightened. I need you to put yourself in my hands, submit to me completely, and know that I have your best interest at heart. I understand you’ll find that a challenge. Submission won’t be easy for you.”

Won’t be easy? Kata would have laughed in his face if her racing thoughts hadn’t been tangling with emotions she barely understood. The kicker was, he seemed so confident that she would eventually comply.

The fact that he thought she could ever submit proved he didn’t understand her. Maybe he didn’t want to. Maybe she hadn’t made herself clear enough.

Kata stared, taking in every inch of his gorgeous face. She couldn’t deny the attraction curling through her. Why couldn’t he be more laid back like Ben? Why couldn’t they just enjoy each other without the power trip? She wanted to be with Hunter. He definitely made her feel something no man ever had. Why couldn’t they just have sex without her having to be submissive?

He sighed as he turned off the faucet. Water steamed from the tub. “Your face is an open book, honey. I get what you’re thinking. We need to talk about what dominance is and isn’t.”

“It’s a power play, pure and simple.”

“It is about power—but it’s mostly yours. I can only take what you’re able to give. This isn’t to inflate my ego. It’s to form a bond. We’ll test our trust every day. And each time I respect your boundaries, yet push you until you’re satisfied mentally, emotionally, and sexually, our bond deepens.”

Some part of her wanted to believe him. In fact, she ached for such a relationship. How goddamn dangerous was that? Bonds so deep that Hunter could see into her soul, and vice versa, sounded great—on the surface. But Kata had her doubts that’s how it would actually work. In her experience, a man ordered, a woman complied and cowed, until it broke her self-esteem, and he got some sick kick out of the fact that he could bend her to his will. The next day, he’d bend her more, then still more, until she crumbled. The insides, her self-esteem and spirit he’d carved out, he tossed aside with unrepentant glee.

“That’s crap.” She snatched her hand back and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Have a lot of experience with Dominance and submission, do you?” Hunter arched a tawny brow at her.

“I don’t have to in order to know I don’t want any of this. So take your chains and ropes and floggers, and go f—”

“Don’t finish that sentence.” Hunter stepped closer. He didn’t loom over her, but bent until they were eye to eye. “I want tonight to be about comfort and relaxation. But if you finish that sentence, I’m going to smack your ass so red, you won’t sit for days.”

She blinked. “So now you’re going to abuse me?”

His smile wasn’t pretty, and it made her belly clench with nothing she could remotely term fear. An answering chord tightened between her legs.

Slowly, he walked a half circle around her, settled his hands on her hips, and whispered in her ear. “It’s nothing like abuse. You’ll come, more than once. You’re a hellcat, but deep down, I’ll bet you have fantasies you won’t admit to . . . but you want fulfilled. I’ll be the man to do that for you.”

Hunter caressed his way down her ass. As her skin burned, Kata tensed, sucked in a breath. Her heart careened against her chest in a painful thud. She couldn’t string two words together to sling the tart reply trapped on her tongue.

He circled around her again, faced her. Then he sent her a long, hot stare. She could feel her thong going from damp to soaked.

God, was he reading her wayward thoughts? Based on the sex they’d shared the night before, she feared he could—and see all the way down to her soul. She didn’t doubt that he’d be able to satisfy her body completely. But what about her heart? How could a relationship between them work if he demanded more than she could willingly give?

“I don’t want this.” Her voice shook. Liar.

“I won’t tolerate dishonesty. That’s your second punishable offense. I’ll let you slide because you’re tired and new to this dynamic. But one more . . .” He reached around and popped her ass once, then he soothed his palm over her warmed flesh.

Before she could stop herself, Kata gasped—and not in pain. Hunter sent her a satisfied grin.

A new fear wrapped around her. Why couldn’t she understand—or control—her own traitorous reactions? Suddenly, the thing she’d long feared was the thing she wanted most.

“Let’s try this again,” he suggested. “Strip.”

If she complied, he would turn her inside out. She knew it. After everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, she already felt raw. Kata couldn’t take more now. “I’d rather bathe alone.”

Hunter took his time responding. “Okay. But when you’re hot and you need me to ease your ache, I’ll make you wait for an orgasm until you beg. For hours.” He shrugged. “It’s your choice.”

Kata had no doubt Hunter could—and would—do exactly that. Even the suggestion made her clit pulse.

He grabbed her shoulders. “I don’t want to fight about this. Trust me, honey. I won’t hurt you or let you down.”

The blaze in his eyes sizzled her skin. The deep timbre of his seductive voice resonated through her, settling right between her legs. Hunter, along with his air of power and control, got to her like no man ever had. In his place, someone like Ben would have yelled, thrown a tantrum. Hunter had merely laid his cards on the table and now waited patiently, certain he’d come out victorious eventually.

Kata swallowed. Maybe she was being paranoid and looking at his demands all wrong. Denying herself a hot guy wasn’t her style. Refusing to try something new wasn’t like her, either. So Hunter played the game differently than Ben or any of her previous lovers. No big deal, right? She couldn’t deny that she’d eaten up everything he’d done to her so far. Yes, he was a lot to handle. But she was strong. No reason to assume that she couldn’t manage.

“If ... we try this and I want out?”

“‘No’ isn’t an acceptable safe word. Instead, say ‘Ben.’ If you do, I’ll know you’re not ready to move past your status quo yet, and I’ll back away until you are.”

It almost seemed too simple. Where was the loophole? Or did Hunter have so much self-control that stopping at any time wouldn’t be a problem? “That’s it?”

“Nothing more complicated than that. You know what I want. I’m waiting, honey.”

Fine. If he wanted to see her naked because it turned him on, then she was all for it. Kata wasn’t too cowardly to admit that the way he watched her like a predator getting ready to pounce aroused her.

She grabbed at the bottom of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head, tossed it to the floor. Hunter sucked in a breath, and Kata looked down. Ah, yes. The red bra with lace cups so sheer, he could see through them. His gaze caressed her wide, rosy areola, and she knew he saw her hard nipples almost poking above the delicate, low-slung fabric.

He didn’t move, didn’t say a word, but there was no missing the sudden tension in his body or the erection straining the front of his jeans. He’d filled her utterly last night. But now . . . he looked even harder, bigger. He’d have to really work to bury all of that inside her.

Kata shivered, and her panties turned even wetter at the thought. She reached for the snap of her capris and slowly unfastened them. Her fingers drifted down over the denim . . . until she rubbed at the ache in her pussy. A muscle ticked in Hunter’s jaw.

Holding in her smile, she slid her hand back up her stomach and found the tab of her zipper. She began tugging it down, torturously slow. A peek at Hunter only proved that he was even more rigid—everywhere.

When Kata had lowered the zipper, she hooked her thumbs in the waistband and began to shove them past her shimmying hips, over her ass, down her thighs. Finally, they pooled at her ankles, exposing her matching red thong.

“Fuck me, you look hot,” he muttered, his stare harsh, electric. Possessive as hell.

Her pussy spasmed, clenched.

As much as it pained her to admit that Hunter was right, in her deepest, darkest fantasies Kata had imagined being overpowered and restrained. Imagining him dominating her, securing his ropes around her wrists and taking her at will, only turned her ache into an unrelenting throb.

“The bra, Kata. Now.”

Strain showed in Hunter’s voice, suddenly husky and gravelfilled. His deep tone, coupled with those electric blue eyes of his, seared her. She was hyperaware of every beat of her heart, every inch of her exposed skin, every long-held fantasy she’d ever repressed.

She reached behind her and grabbed the band, unhooked the fastenings one at a time. Before the bra slid down her arms, she pressed her palms to her breasts, precariously holding the cups in place.

“Let go.” Hunter made a fist at his side. “Or I’ll rip it off.”

Kata had no doubt he meant that . . . but the devil in her prodded her to goad him. “But it’s the only bra I have with me.”

A nasty smile curled up the side of his mouth. “Oh well.”

He tensed, reached for her. Kata let the bra fall, exposing her breasts.