In many ways, she was.

“Let it build, lovely. We’ve waited so long already. No need to rush it now.”

Callie opened her mouth to protest. No doubt, he would have to remind her about the meaning of submission again, even if he did find her willful insistence adorable at times.

But he couldn’t remind her of anything if he didn’t first persuade her to stay.

Sean stilled her hips and sent her a stern glance of warning. Then he brought her down on his cock again, like a knife through melting butter. Slowly. So damn slowly a shudder wracked him again. Her keening cry zipped to his balls and straight up his stiff length. Damn it, she was going to dismantle his self-control if he didn’t get a grip.

Her delicate fingers bit into his shoulders. She moved with him, graceful, sensual. Their breathing aligned. Sean watched her close her eyes and finally let him dictate their rhythm. He witnessed her slow, intoxicating loss of control.

As she undulated, the delicate collar he’d clipped around her neck twinkled above her breasts, which bounced gently in his face. He took one nipple in his mouth, melting inside as the candy-hard tip tightened on his tongue. Then he took the other tight pink bud between his lips and laved her before sucking deep. Her pussy clamped down on him. Callie was so utterly responsive, and he didn’t think for an instant that she simply needed sex after her long abstinence. He wasn’t going to be done here until he knew that she needed him.

“Sean . . .” Her little cry told him that pleasure was driving her to the peak.

He lifted one hand from her hip, tucking it under her little skirt, then dragged his thumb over her clit.

Her response was instant and gratifying. She shrieked and began fluttering around his cock, seconds from orgasm.

“Come, Callie,” he growled.

As if those words held magic for her, she tossed her head back and let out a wail of pleasure. Her back arched, her breasts thrust high, and her cunt held him in a velvet vise. He gritted his teeth, clenching his fists and sweating like a bitch to hold it together.

“Sean!”

Loving the sound of his name on her lips, he rode the wave of her climax, from the short pulses through the endless clutches, to the sweet little aftershocks. Then she dissolved against him, struggling to catch her breath. The urge to explode inside her and mark her with his seed nearly overwhelmed him. Miraculously, willpower and logic prevailed. He needed more of this woman who tripped every sexual trigger in his body.

Brushing her hair away from her damp face, he forced her to look at him. Her eyes were dazed and dilated, her cheeks rosy-hot. That turned him on even more.

“How are you feeling, lovely?”

With a tired, loopy grin that did his heart good, she sighed and melted against his chest. “Fabulous.”

“Good to hear.” Unfortunately, he was in hell.

She stretched and wriggled. Then she paused.

Callie blinked at him. “You’re still . . . You didn’t . . .”

“I am and I haven’t.”

“Oh.” Her eyes danced as she leveled him with that vixenish stare he’d come to adore. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to take more of you. What a shame.”

“A bloody shame for sure.” He managed to tease back.

When he urged her up and down his cock again, however, the smile slid from her face. A gasp fell from her lips, then she seemed to stop breathing for a long minute.

“Ah . . . yes,” she panted above him. Feminine. A goddess.

The sight aroused him so deeply, Sean knew he couldn’t hold on much longer.

Trailing his thumb back to her clit, he slowly rotated until she sucked in a sharp breath, until her body jolted, and she started looking to him for permission.

God, that shit turned him on, even more so with her.

“Lean against me. Put your chest to mine and . . . yes,” he praised as she complied.

Then Sean gripped her hips tightly and pistoned inside her, probing deep and quickly learning her body. Her entire front wall was sensitive, so he dragged the head of his cock along it with every thrust. But she also had a spot deep and high. She loved having her cervix nudged. He worked her, paying close attention to every reaction. Callie held her breath, closed her eyes, tensed up, then came the high-pitched pants that rang in his head like an erotic chant. Her fingernails dug into his shoulders. Her pussy clutched him.

He gripped her hair in his fist and tugged. “Look at me. That’s it . . . Come for me now!”

“Sean!” Her body jerked and her cunt clamped down on him. “Sean!”

As soon as she screamed his name, pleasure sizzled through his blood, igniting everything inside him. Climax rocketed his system, launching him into a realm of thick, tangled ecstasy he’d never known existed. The explosion blasted through his body, deep in his chest, marking his soul. In his head, she might be his, but he knew damn well that he was now hers. Tonight had complicated the fuck out of everything. But as he surged to the peak, he didn’t care at all.

“Callie . . .” he panted. “I love you!”

Chapter Three

STANDING in the shadows of Dominion’s dungeon, Mitchell Thorpe couldn’t miss the orgasm that wracked Callie’s body, the fact that she screamed another man’s name, or the unabashed way in which she shared herself with that fucking suspicious Scot. As much as he wanted to deny it, the sight and sounds damn near felled Thorpe like a hatchet to the chest.

He’d hoped that insisting on so many restrictions when he’d allowed Sean Kirkpatrick to collar Callie would frustrate the man. That the asshole would leave. Thorpe didn’t trust Kirkpatrick. Something was off about the guy . . . But no matter what he’d done, Sean had proven goddamn single-minded when it came to the girl.

Damn it! Thorpe hated the sight of the other man surging deep inside Callie, where he ached to be himself. Clutching the little silk robe he’d retrieved from her room the second he’d realized she meant to let Sean fuck her, he closed his eyes, refusing to watch the bastard come inside her.

The reasons Thorpe could never have Callie were carved into his brain. And even though he’d beaten the dead horse mentally enough to recite the rationale in his sleep, he clenched his jaw and reminded himself again. There would always be fourteen years, two months, and three days’ difference in their ages. Besides, he knew Callie wasn’t likely to stay with him much longer. Forever was out of the question. More important, he could never give her the kind of love she craved and deserved.

Cursing under his breath, he dared to open his eyes and stare at the wild tangle of Callie’s black hair brushing the fair, flushed skin of her back. Desire gnawed at him, biting deep. He’d always believed that by walking away from her that December night two years ago, he could prevent her from breaking his heart. Thorpe didn’t find it comforting to be proven so wrong.

Kirkpatrick shouting out his love for her gouged him in the gut. Hearing the Scot admit his feelings for Callie aloud not only made him jealous as hell, but it proved the man had balls. Thorpe was almost in awe. But Sean obviously didn’t understand her at all. Thorpe had no doubt what Callie’s response to the man’s unexpected declaration would be.

Right on cue, she stiffened and shook her head, then scrambled off his lap. Kirkpatrick stood and tore off his condom, trying to zip up while reaching for her with an expression meant to be gentle and calm.

Thorpe snorted. Wrong approach again.

It didn’t surprise him at all when Callie whirled around, eyes squeezed shut tightly, arms over her breasts, and ran—straight into him.

When she would have stumbled back from their collision, he gripped her shoulders. Thorpe tried not to look at her breasts again. Why tempt himself with what he couldn’t have? She blinked up at him, fear and anguish mixed on her face. Guilt followed.

“Let go,” she begged. “Please.”

Those words alone told Thorpe how raw Kirkpatrick had scraped Callie. Normally, she’d try all kinds of foot stomping, demanding, and plain ol’ manipulation before she resorted to showing her soft, submissive side to anyone. Whatever the man’s game, Thorpe had to give Sean credit for opening her emotions far wider than expected.

Over her shoulders, he eased the robe he’d retrieved in case her second thoughts about having sex with the Scot set in. Nice to see that he still knew her so well.

He sent her a sharp shake of his head. “Not yet, pet.”

Callie shoved her arms through the holes and belted the robe tight, sending him a defiant glare. But tears still lurked under it. The fucking Scot playing with her heart had rattled her. Thorpe hated the asshole for it even more. His need to protect her growled, chomping at the bit to tear the collar from her neck and free her. He couldn’t do that, but he had every intention of having a “chat” with Kirkpatrick.

“Why are your hands on Callie?” Sean demanded. “She’s my sub.”

“You’re under my roof, and she’s obviously upset.”

“Which is why I need to talk to her. She and I should be sorting this out. Alone.”

Normally, he would agree. But he wouldn’t risk Callie by leaving her vulnerable with a man he swore had some hidden agenda. A fraud. Besides, Kirkpatrick didn’t know her like he did and never would. “At Dominion, my word is law. Play by my rules or you’re welcome to leave. Your choice.”

Sean clenched his fists and ignored him, focusing on Callie. “Talk to me, lovely. If I upset you, help me understand why.”

Thorpe felt her stiffen in his grip, then she looked up at him, her gaze imploring. He understood instantly. She’d developed feelings for this man and hated to hurt him. But he also knew that she didn’t dare let him close.

“Callie, go to your room. I’ll be in to see you in a minute.” Thorpe motioned for Zeb, one of the dungeon monitors.

“You can’t send her from me. I didn’t hurt her,” Kirkpatrick protested.

With a shrug, Thorpe blew Sean off and addressed the approaching DM. “Take Callie to her room. No one enters until I say otherwise. And she doesn’t leave.” When Callie gasped, he sent her a knowing look. “Do you have something to say, pet?”

Since she wasn’t about to admit that she’d plotted to flee the club, she remained silent. But he knew it as sure as he knew himself. Kilpatrick hadn’t just plumbed her physically. He’d pried her heart open, and she was preparing to react to that in the only way she knew—by running. Already, she’d mentally packed her bags. Thorpe forced down his panic and reminded himself that as long as she was still here, he could fix the situation. The easiest solution would be to toss the damn Scot out on his ear.

Callie looked ready to grind her teeth as she stomped off. Zeb followed with a grin and a wink.

Thorpe vowed to deal with her little fit of pique as soon as he’d unmasked this fraud and rid him from her life. “My office. Now.”

He didn’t wait to see if Kirkpatrick followed. He’d rather the fucker find the exit and save him the breath. But when he reached his personal domain and rounded his desk, the Scot stood in the portal, all but foaming at the mouth.

Sean slammed the door, enclosing them in a privacy steeped in thick air. “You have no right to separate me from Callie.”

“I’m responsible for the welfare of all the subs under this roof. Until I know why she was running away from you in tears, then yes, I do.”

“That’s a piss-poor excuse. You’re jealous because you want her for your own.”

Thorpe took his time answering, sitting in his leather chair and staring the charlatan down. Idly, he wondered when and how he’d been stupid enough to tip Sean off. Xander had pointed it out, too, a few months ago. Maybe he was getting sloppy.

“I have not laid a single finger on the girl for any reason in nearly two years. So what you believe I want is irrelevant. Let’s talk about what actually happened.”

Sean sat, poised on the edge of his chair as if he’d rather fight. “I restrained and blindfolded her, then I flogged her. She reached a peaceful subspace. Then when she came out, I made love to her. It’s been an emotional night. That’s all.”

Is that what the idiot thought? “That’s not how Callie works. Have you been too busy fucking her to get to know her?”

“You’ve watched me like you’re her bloody keeper, so I suspect you know that’s not true.” Kirkpatrick raised a brow at him. “Just like I suspect you’ve been too busy getting to know her to fuck her. Your knickers are in a twist now that you’ve lost your chance. Be warned. I mean to make her mine in every way.”

Thorpe wanted to rip the guy’s face off, but managed to keep his composure. “She’s wearing your collar already.”

“I want more, and you’re standing in my way.”

“I’m standing in the way because her teary dash away from you didn’t indicate happiness. I’ll confess that Callie is special to me. I’ve protected her since she came to Dominion. I know her inside and out. She’s not a girl prone to crying jags. So her behavior tonight has to be a direct reflection of something you’ve done.”