She shifted in her chair, the blanket slipping from her shoulder. She sighed. A small sound, but I loved that sound. I loved all the sounds she made. I’d memorized them. Each and every one of them.
I shifted, as Ethan helped put another pillow under my head. The bed creaked, barely audible, but it was enough. Her lashes fluttered open. She blinked once. Then again.
And then her eyes found mine.
She was on her feet in an instant.
“You’re awake,” she whispered.
Ethan’s hand rested briefly on my shoulder. “I’ll give you two a minute.”
Without taking my eyes off Mira, I said, “Later, brother.”
He left quietly.
I held out my hand and was surprised when she actually accepted it.
“I need to say a few things.”
“You need to rest.”
I shook my head and closed my hand around hers. “Mira, my sweet Mira.”
“Sebastian, we can talk later.” A tear slipped down her cheek.
“No,” I said softly. “If I don’t say this now, I won’t get it right.”
She stilled.
“In the club that night,” I continued, “when I walked up to you. I didn’t know it was you. When I gave you my card, I suspected—but I didn’t know for sure.” I swallowed. “Not until I wrapped that cuff around your wrist during that first session.”
Her breath hitched. “Was it a joke to you?”
I lifted my free hand and cupped her cheek, brushing the tear away with my thumb. “Never.”
Her eyes searched mine, guarded and hopeful all at once.
“For some reason,” I said quietly, “I’m different with you. I’ve been different since the first day you stepped onto the wrong elevator.”
Her lips parted, but no sound came out.
“I didn’t plan it,” I went on. “I didn’t want it. But I wanted you.” My thumb traced her cheek, reverent. “And I still do.”
“But why?”
I huffed a quiet breath. “Because it wasn’t like I could say,hey, want to grab dinner—and then addby the way, I have a complicated relationship with control and trust.I want to tie you up, bring you to the edge, again and again, and maybe I might let you come if you’re a good girl. Oh, and you won’t be able to sit for days.”
She smiled, turning several shades of red at the same time. God, I loved her. My heart stopped when the realization hit me like a freight train. I was falling in love with Mira Rhodes.
“I was going to end things,” she admitted quietly. “I broke the rule.”
“Which one?”
Her gaze dropped. I reached for her, sliding my fingers beneath her chin and lifting her face gently until she looked at me again.
“Mira?”
She swallowed. “I looked forward to our sessions a little too much. And sometimes… I took some of the gentler moments between my master and me as more than what they were.”
