“That’s a journey we’ll take together. It’ll be in steps. But listen to me, and hear my promise to you. My need to dominate you will never quell my need to make you happy, to make you soar.” He pressed a soft kiss on her lips. “To keep you safe.”

Sage smiled. “I know.” She raised her hand, meshing her fingers with his. “So…what happens now?”

Garrett let their hands fall apart. Gone was the cameo appearance from his gentle Dom. The hard-hewn conqueror was back, standing before her with an agenda in his eyes. An agenda that didn’t involve a lot of couch cuddling anymore.

Shit. Shit.

“Kneel for me, Sage.”

Yes. Yes.

That simple act pulled her mind and body into deeper focus on him. She heard his quiet rumble of satisfaction and rejoiced. She felt him step to her again and melted. As his long fingers descended atop her head, a long sigh left her trembling lips.

“From now on, when you choose to come in here with me, you are no longer Sage. You will be only S. And I will be simply Master. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, Master.”

“We’ll certainly discuss things that Sage has done, perhaps to address how she’ll be disciplined for them, but Sage herself belongs to that world out there. She belongs to the place where you have to worry, to think, to care. S does none of those things. In here, Master does the worrying. S is here merely to be a receptacle of things on Sage’s behalf.” His hand spread harder against her scalp. “Do you still understand?”

She lifted her face. Dear sweet God, if this man was stunning as Garrett, he was resplendent as Master. Every inch of his gaze exuded power, strength, control. He was huge and mighty and confident, yet every molecule of air he breathed on her, every inch of his touch on her, was composed of his loving care, his fervent protectiveness. She was terrified of him like this, yet her body, her senses, her very blood and breath never wanted him more.

“Yes.” She gave it to him on a raw rasp. “I still understand, Master.”

“And…do you still want this? With me? Even after everything I’ve told you?”

“Oh, yes!” Hoping he excused her for the burst of beginner’s zeal, she grabbed his other hand and pressed a kiss on his upturned palm. Garrett used that hand to guide her back to her feet. She was greeted by a beautiful warmth pouring from his cyan eyes.

“That pleases me,” he told her, “but I want you to be sure.” He nodded toward the bed. “You see this equipment and you know what it means, right? That when I say you’ll be a receptacle for Sage, I mean for rewards and punishments. You will always have safe words. You’ll always be able to slow me down or stop me if you need to. Then we’ll take it outside and talk.” His fingers alighted on the column of her neck, trailing possessively along both sides of her wind pipe. “But when you’re in here, S…when you’re in my realm…you’re mine. All of you belongs to me.”

By the time Sage remembered she had a voice, let alone how to use it, he’d trailed his touch down, coming to the black bra clasp between her breasts. “I still want this,” she insisted. “I still understand, Master. Ohhh, Master…oh…ummm…”

She interrupted herself as he played with the fastening. His voice alone had turned her nipples into nubs of sheer need. Now she literally couldn’t talk from the intense need. Over the last week, he’d been fond of learning what her breasts could endure. Because of those test runs, both those peaks were hypersensitive to the tiniest brush of arousal, especially if that brush was in his hands.

But the real challenge here was…Garrett knew that too. A stolen glance up at his face confirmed that fact with crystal clarity. He was like a bronze container of serenity and composure. She, on the other hand, could think of nothing else but letting his long, magical fingers roam all over her aching breasts.

“Did you need to finish that, S?”

“Y-Yes.” She forced her voice into compliance, even though he teased at the clasp in maddening experimentation, making her bend toward him in a wanton grovel. “Yes, Master, I did need to…to…”

“Focus,” he murmured. “Lock your hands behind your waist and concentrate. I’m right here, and I’m listening. Now continue.”

“I’ll…I’ll try. Oh! Ohhhh…”

Continue? He expected her to continue, to concentrate at all, when he opened the bra and pushed it down her arms but did nothing with her exposed swells except run his knuckles along their undersides?

“Yes?” he prompted. “I’m right here. I’m listening, sugar.”

“I know!” she finally snapped. “I know, okay? But damn it, Gar—Master—please!”

He simply kept up the maddening teasing. His fingers traced heat into the flesh of her breasts, but he went nowhere near the puckered circles that tingled in their centers, squeezing and hurting for his touch.

“I’m gonna let that outburst slide, because you followed it up so sweetly,” he stated. “Do not unlock those hands, S. Use the stance to help yourself focus, to give me the words. Tell me what you’re feeling, my heart. Say it.”

“Are you kidding me?” She couldn’t help it. The pressure was loaded so damn high, pushing at her nipples with tormenting need, and it was his doing. “God, Garrett, can’t you tell? Frustrated. I’m frustrated, okay? I feel trapped, and helpless, and—and you won’t do what I want you to. What I need you to!”

She averted her eyes, now getting to pile awkward and embarrassed onto that heap of adjectives. Exasperated and enraged joined the list when Garrett moved his hands back in, framing her face completely with them, forcing her stare back up to his.

“Now you’re getting a glimpse of how I felt when Sage took on King’s guards all by herself.”

She dropped her jaw. That’s what this was all about? “I…I was trying to save our asses!”

“We’re not discussing you. We’re discussing Sage. Who was naked and unarmed.”

“Not for very long.”

“A pair of whips doesn’t count as armed, damn it.”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

His fingers curled into her scalp again and he growled. It wasn’t his usual mountain lion growl, either. This sound belonged to Bigfoot, or something worse. Scratch that; it was worse. The rumble didn’t just resonate with a big dose of angry. It vibrated with pain. And yes, fear. He was battling to hide that part from her, but she saw it flashing through the smokescreen in his gaze too. She’d terrified him that night with her daredevil move. Yes, it was the step that swung the advantage their direction, but it very well could’ve been the stunt that got her killed.

Her gut twisted, followed soon by her heart. He really had been a knuckle-dragging, overbearing beast since they’d gotten back, but he’d had damn good reasons for all that chest beating. He was a different creature now, and she had to learn his different sides all over again—just like he had to learn hers. And, quite possibly, just like he’d have to corral in some parts of her beastie side from time to time.

They were learning together. Growing together. And this room was going to give them some of the most fun and sexy ways to do that.

With that conclusion at the forefront of her mind, she dipped her head and gave her Master a resigned nod. “You’re right. It might have worked, but that didn’t make it the sanest action plan.”

Garrett inched closer. He kissed the top of her head. “Thank you. I accept that, as well as the sweet sincerity with which you gave it. Now”—he lowered both hands to her breasts again, though this time he thumbed both nipples with enough pressure to make her sob—“you’re going to accept my discipline for it too.”

She thought about protesting. Part of her wanted to. Her heart had seriously been in the right place. The trouble was, her head hadn’t been. One more factor led to the second soft nod she gave him with her head still lowered. She wanted this. Needed it. Had craved it since the first swat Garrett gave her pussy back in Thailand. She’d spent so damn long making all the decisions, doing all the governing, worrying about her very survival. For a while, she longed to be a little reckless and have someone else call the shots about it—which meant that for a while, they were probably going to be in this room a lot.

She tried not to smile about that.

Just like she tried not to let a few drops of fear sneak into the dutiful response she whispered to Garrett. “Yes, Master. Of course.”

Another low rumble rolled out of him, but this time it was laced with an undertone of anticipation. “Very nice. But you’ll look nicer with those panties off, kneeling naked in the middle of the bed for me.”

Sage moved to obey. With every step she took over to the bed, her mind seemed to ambulate as well, shifting into a zone not reality or fantasy but a surreal place in between. The fog of the headspace was only thickened by the ethereal music Garrett had plugged into the sound system’s speakers, a dreamy melody backed by a throbbing, blatantly sexual dance beat. Almost instantly, the depths of her body responded to it, coiling on themselves to squeeze out more drops of anticipation into her tight channel, her pouting pussy lips.

“Are you ready, S?”