Page 52 of Bound

I know going in this room means the stakes will be higher. We will go further. He will push me further. The man who wants to drag me behind ten locked doors and call it love stands in the doorway of the room he built for control and lets me choose whether to enter.

My throat tightens. “Don’t look so handsome,” I say, stepping inside. “It’s unsettling.”

The door shuts behind us with that soft, stomach-tightening click. No lock. Only choices.

His eyes move over me, slowly and dark and possessive enough to make my pulse stumble.

“We leave for New York soon,” he says.

“I know,” I say.

“You will be visible,” he says.

My stomach tightens with nerves. “I know.”

“Carlos will see you.” His jaw tightens.

“I know.”

His jaw tightens. “Stop saying that as if knowing makes it acceptable.”

“It doesn’t make it acceptable.” I step closer. “It makes it right.”

He looks away.

I grab his hand. “I’m not fearless, Lucian. I’m not walking into this because I have some death wish or because I need to prove I’m brave enough for you.”

His expression hardens. “I know that.”

“Do you?”

Silence.

I smile faintly. “That wasn’t rhetorical.”

“I know.” His thumb moves over my knuckles.

That is honest enough to reach me.

He lifts my hand and presses his mouth to my fingers. His eyes darken. Lucian’s voice lowers. “I brought you here because I want to give you something.”

I glance around the room, pulse quickening.

He leads me to the cabinet along the wall. The locked one. Of course.

He opens the drawer slowly, not taking his eyes off me. Inside, nestled against black velvet, are things that make my pulse jump.

A small bottle of lubricant. A slim wand with a dark glass handle. And beside it, several plugs arranged by size, each one smooth, elegant, wicked.

My breath catches. “Oh.”

Lucian watches my face. “You asked once what else happens in this room.”

“I ask many reckless questions.”

“I enjoy every reckless thing about you until you place yourself in harm’s way.” He stares. “Which you do. Often.”

I look back at the drawer. “And this is about danger?”