The flight was a little over three hours, and then we landed with a gentle bump at a private airfield. I had no idea where we were.I exited the plane and followed marcus to a waiting car, this one a stretch limousine. He held the door for me, closed it, and then slid into the driver’s seat. He said nothing, only waited as someone else loaded my suitcases into the trunk.I’d half expected to see someone sitting in the shadows of the limousine, but there was no one. Only long expanses of black leather, lights, and a radio, and more champagne. I folded my hands on my lap and waited as Marcus drove. It was a long journey, and we got closer to what looked to be New York. We went over the Brooklyn Bridge and into Manhattan. We wove through thick traffic, heading uptown.After almost an hour of driving, high-rises piercing the night sky all around, Marcus pulled the limousine into an underground garage.My heart was hammering as He led me, sans suitcases, to the elevator. The elevator rose

You’re very sure of yourself,” I said, trying to sound stronger than I felt. In truth, the raw sincerity and utter surety in his voice shook me to the core. He believed what he said to be nothing but the unquestionable truth.“Yes, I am.” Now his voice was a mere breath of heat on the shell of my ear. “I will make sure you beg me for it.”Holy shit. What was I supposed to say to that? I could barely stand up. The potent mix of emotions this man engendered in me had me trembling, knees knocking. I was turned on, I had to admit. And that scared me. So badly. I didn’t want to want him. I didn’t want to be owned by him. But somehow, with nothing but a few words and touches, he had me aching in ways I’d never thought possible.“See?” His fingertip traced the apple of my cheek, ran beneath the swell of my lower lip. “Already you begin to understand. You’re turned on, freya. I can smell it on you. Your nostrils are flaring. You’re trembling and blushing. You hate it, though, don’t you?”I di

“It’s…subjective, I think. The difference in definition varies from person to person.”“Yes, I know. That’s why I’m asking you what you think.”I blinked behind the blindfold, an instinctive reaction to thinking. “Could I…sit down? Please?”“Of course. How rude of me to leave us standing here in the foyer.” He took my hand. “Come.”“Wait…the blindfold…aren’t you going to take it off?” I pulled back against his hand, reached for the fabric covering my eyes.Strong fingers imprisoned my wrist, stopping me gently but firmly. “No. Not yet. Not for a while, I think.”“What? What do you mean, not for a while?” I jerked my hand free, turned to where I thought he was standing.“I mean that I’ll remove the blindfold when I’m ready to do so. I am not yet ready for you to see me. You have four other senses, Kyrie. Focus on those.”“Are you, like, ugly or disfigured or something?”He laughed, and the sound was loud with raw amusement. “How very blunt of you. ” He took my hand once more, and I cou

Then why…like this?” I gestured to the blindfold, and then away, meaning the way I was picked up. “Why the checks? Why the hired goon saying he was ‘collecting’ me? Why the blindfold and the…the mysteriousness? Why? If you wanted me, why not simply arrange to meet me?”“Would you have come?” I heard leather creak, and his voice sounded nominally closer, as if he’d leaned forward. “If I’d arranged so that we ‘accidentally’” —I heard the quotes around the word— “met, would you have believed me? What would I have said? ‘Oh, hello, freya, I’m the guy who’s been sending you the checks.’ I think not. And if I’d arranged a meeting and gotten to know you under what would be considered normal circumstances, and then eventually revealed that I was the one who’d sent the checks, would you not have been upset that I’d kept the truth from you? That knowledge would’ve tainted whatever relationship we’d established up to that point. Am I wrong?”I sighed. “I guess you’re right. I hadn’t thought abou

“Quickly, and easily. Don’t feel any guilt for their lives, Miss Lomie. They intended to take turns raping you two for hours. They were evil, sadistic creatures with not even a speck of humanity in them. I showed them the mercy of quick deaths.”“But you…you killed them. For me.”“Yes. I did. And I would do so again.”“Then there was also the matter of a potential mugger, just this past month,” he said. “marcus made sure the mugger never reached his intended point of ambush. That particular individual was merely…persuaded, shall we say, to give up a life of crime.”“Indeed,” Marcus said. “I can be rather persuasive.”I had a hard time breathing suddenly. “What—what else did you do on my behalf?”He answered. “Only one other matter required intervention. The last gentleman you dated. Steven dexter.”“Steven? What did you do to Steven?”“The Steven you knew, and the real Steven…they were not the same person.” He paused, and I heard the tone of his voice shift to address Marcus “You may