“Oh my,” she drawled, taking a slow sip of her drink.“He truly is hitting the low notes.”
Rex’s fingers curled into fists.He could feel the pressure of her resentment in the way it coiled around them like smoke.
“We need to talk.”
“Yes, indeed we do.”She tilted her head with her eyes gleaming a challenge.“So, let’s begin.Who’s first on the agenda for tonight?Little Miss Daisy?Or wait...Pixie!Yes, plump as a peach and as pretty as a rose.Clever too.She has a PhD in microbiology.”
His patience snapped.“You said you were okay when we spoke on the phone.”
Her eyes flashed.“I am okay.”
“No.You’re not.”His voice rumbled in a low and dangerous bass.“That’s what we’re going to talk about, Xia.Not the fucking potentials on the list.”
She stiffened.His chest constricted as, for a moment, the barest crack appeared in her armor—fear, maybe, or shame—flashed in her eyes.But then it was gone, smothered beneath the same cold, unyielding mask she suddenly wore.
“There’s nothing to discuss.I turned into a whore for you.End of story.”
The words were a blade to his ribs.“Exactly my point.We didn’t discuss what happened afterward...since you disappeared into thin air.”His eyes narrowed as she pressed her lips into a thin line.“Why did you join the BDSM lifestyle, Xia?”
She recoiled as if he’d struck her.“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Everything.”He turned sideways to keep her in his direct sight.She squirmed and buried her nose in her drink.“I’m waiting.”
“I told you I’m not discussing this,” she snapped as she set down the glass and tried to stand, but his hand shot out, wrapping around her throat before she could rise.
“Wh-What!?”She gasped, her fingers clawing at his wrist as he pulled her onto his lap, forcing her to straddle him with his fingers forming a tight band around her throat.
“You’re not going anywhere until I’m satisfied with your answers.”
Her breath came in short, sharp bursts.With her eyes stretched wide, she stared at him.He wasn’t quite sure whether it was with fear or defiance.
“What about your potentials?”she choked out.“That’s why we’re here, not to draw out my intestines about something that has fuck all to do with you!”
His eyes turned obsidian as he squeezed harder, watching her eyes widen and her lips opening as she struggled to breathe.
“Fuck the potentials.”He growled.“This is more important.”
For a moment, she continued to struggle, but then she stilled.Her breath was ragged as her eyes locked onto his.He could see the war in her gaze—the need to fight and the desire to submit.He relaxed his hold, but only enough to allow shallow breaths.
“I’m still waiting, Xia.”The air between them was thick with unspoken words, with tension that could either break or bind.Rex’s fingers flexed around Xia’s throat, not tight enough to hurt, but enough to remind her who held the power in this moment.
For the first time, he wasn’t sure if that power was his to wield.
“I ask again.Why did you join the lifestyle, Xia?”His voice sounded rough.Not anger.Not demand, but a dark command driving every syllable.
She swallowed as her throat worked against his palm.“Because I was tired of pretending.”
His thumb stopped.“Pretending?”
“Pretending I didn’t want what I needed.”Her voice was quiet but wrapped in steel.“Pretending I was satisfied with vanilla sex, with polite touches and careful words.Pretending I didn’t crave something...more.”
His grip loosened, but he didn’t let go.He couldn’t.Not yet.“What did you crave?”
Her lashes fluttered as her gaze dropped for the briefest second before his fingers tightened, forcing her eyes back to his.
“I craved the loss of control.The surrender.The way it feels when someone else takes the wheel, whentheydecide what I need before I even know it myself.”A shaky breath escaped her.“I craved the way it made me feel alive.”
His chest tightened.“And being humiliated?The degradation?”
