In her club in Tokyo she had three different men she played with, mostly because she hadn’t found one man who gave her everything she needed. Out of those three subs, she’d had sex with only one. Oh, she’d let the other three pleasure her, but sometimes all she wanted was a man to pet her. If she needed to get off, she owned a collection of vibrators. But that body-to-body, skin-to-skin contact couldn’t be duplicated. Hard touches, tender caresses, a lazy sweep of a rough-skinned hand, a warm mouth sliding across every inch of her flesh . . . That’s what she craved, because that’s what she’d always been denied.

Now, after being naked with Knox and having his hands and mouth all over her, she knew sex with him would be explosive. His natural, submissive instincts with her would push her to the pinnacle of pleasure, so she had to make sure she retained control at all times.

The sound of footsteps reached her, and she turned to see who else had shown up today.

Fee.

“I knew you’d be here,” Fee said.

“Why?”

“Because this place feels like home.” She seemed surprised by her own admission. “Anyway, if you’re not busy, can you come upstairs and we’ll go over what we’re teaching at the self-defense class on Saturday?”

“Sure. Do I need to change?”

Fee’s gaze flicked over Shiori’s bronze blouse tucked into wide-legged brown and cream plaid trousers and her nude heels. “No. You look fantastic, as usual. Too bad it’s wasted on these guys.” She jerked her head toward the training room. “Katie just wants to double-check to make sure we don’t go over the allotted time.”

“All right. Let’s go.”

An hour later, they’d fine-tuned every detail. Katie had planned everything almost down to the minute, which was overkill, but better to be fully prepared.

They rode the elevator down to the second floor and had stopped beside the exit to the front door to discuss lunch plans for after the self-defense class when Knox stuck his head out the door.

“Shiori, I need to talk to you . . . if you’re done discussing Denver’s best tequila bars.”

Fee muttered, “Jerkoff.”

Katie smiled brightly at Knox. “She’s all yours, Shihan. We’re outta here. Everything on the third floor is shut down.”

Shiori waited until they’d left before she faced Knox. “You bellowed?”

“Get in here.”

She wondered what his problem was and hated that his cranky attitude would likely rub off on her.

Inside the office she saw Knox standing by the window with his back to her. “Shut the door.”

“If this is about us doing the self-defense class, I’ll remind you that both you and Blue passed on it.” She walked to her desk and set the printout from Katie next to the report on recent equipment breakage.

“That’s not why I called you in here.”

“Then why?”

Hands landed on her shoulders and she jumped. God. He was as stealthy as Ronin.

“Why? Because I can’t get you—or what happened last night—out of my damn mind.”

She smiled, although he couldn’t see it.

“Then, just when I’d blocked thoughts of your naked body and what I’d really love to do to you the next time you ordered me to my knees, I saw you standing in the doorway to the training room.”

“Oh?”

“And Ivan took advantage of my distraction and punched me in the face.”

She snickered. “Poor baby. Need me to get some ice for that?”

“No. I need you to kiss it and make it better.” Knox turned her around and loomed over her.

“If someone walks in, Knox, they’ll think—”

“No one else is here.”

She set her hands on his pecs. “Isn’t that fortunate.”

“You tell me. Can I kiss you or not?”

It made her almost giddy that he’d asked. “Yes, you may kiss me.”

He clutched her hips and said, “Jump up.” As soon as she was sitting on her desk, he lowered his mouth to hers. The kiss started out sweet and slow, but it quickly built up steam.

As much as she loved the way he kissed—with his whole body—if they didn’t stop, he’d be banging her on the desk. She turned her head away, breaking the seal of their mouths.

Knox nuzzled her temple. “So I’ve thought about what you said last night.”

“And?”

“And I’d like to explore more with you.”