Leo rinses me off and wraps me up in towels, making sure I feel warm after that marathon session in the shower. He leaves me alone to brush out my hair. I stare at my reflection in the mirror and wonder who's looking back at me.

I've let this heartbreaker back into my life. It's not really a choice is it, when the guy buys you for a month? I'm glad I don't have to go out with any other men, at least for the time being. I really can't imagine it anymore...being with someone other than Leo, even for a date.

But this is bad, it worries me. I'm getting in too deep. I'll get hurt.

Suddenly I feel like I'm drowning in a flood of conflicting emotions and I don't know how to get out of it. I need to breathe. I need air.

I don’t hear him in the bedroom, so I push open the bathroom door and cross to the balcony off the bedroom, going outside to soak in the vibrant Vegas air. The city hums below me, full of noise and lights and sin, but I'm in the penthouse, on top of the world. I should feel privileged, right? I do. I mean, I'm grateful for him, I guess, but I'm also disposable and that realization cuts like a knife. 

"Sienna, are you okay?" Leo must have come back into the bedroom because he's calling through the door.

I take a deep breath and step away from the balcony railing.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just needed some air."

I take another deep breath to try to calm the array of emotions that are swirling within me, making me feel simultaneously excited but nervous about the future. I can only play house with him like this for so long. Then he'll ditch me and I'll have to escort around town, all the time watching him from afar with his latest conquest.

I can't do it. That can't be my life. I've gotta get off this rollercoaster, and that means shutting down all feelings and breaking my threads of connection to Leo. It's just physical, right? I can handle that. It's fine. I’m strong.

I drop the towels to the floor as I step back inside and join him in bed. He's waiting with a glass of wine for me, scotch for him.

"It's getting late," he says.

"Yeah." I take a sip of win then put the glass on the night table and curl up next to him.

His body and his breathing always calm me down. I think I might've had a panic attack out there. For a moment, the earth stood still and I couldn't breathe. But something about being in his presence is soothing, like he's big enough to contain all my shit. Like nothing about me would ever scare him off.

I relax into that intimate feeling and fall asleep. Leo's entire body is curled around mine. I dream of a time when we can be together with nothing between us. It's a deep sleep.

And yet, something wakes me. Those same old fears are plaguing my mind.

What if I get hit with anguish again? It took me years to recover from him. I was finally finding my footing, my new life and now this comes out of nowhere. I'm back in bed with the enemy.

I take my wine glass from earlier and drink it all down to calm the anxiety. Then I look over at Leo's sleeping profile. He's so hot, boyish innocence softening his hard edges in sleep.

I decide the best way to quell any nagging fears is to embrace the moment. And what better way then to take advantage of the hot, naked body lying next to me? I crawl under the covers and start sucking his cock, licking up and down his shaft with long, slow strokes of my tongue before wrapping my lips around him and creating the tight, we suction that drives him crazy. I want him to wake up with my mouth wrapped around him. His cock rises to my touch before he does.

It doesn’t take long for him to wake with a start. He pulls my face up from his now hard cock to meet his eyes. He looks at me, his expression unreadable, and then kisses me.

I pull back. "Leo, I'm worried."

"About what?" he says groggily.

"I don't know. About the future, I guess."

"It's okay, baby. I promise. There's nothing that could go wrong. My plan is full proof."

My heart sinks. He’s talking about our fake relationship. Of course he is. Why would I think this has turned into anything else for him? I’m setting myself up for heartbreak all over again if I forget for even a minute that this is all a game.

I try to forget about it. It’s not hard to do when he rolls me over and pins me under his hard body. He spreads my legs, and without delay or hesitation, pushes his cock all the way in. I'm already wet from sucking him off, so he slides right in. I watch as he spreads my legs wider and then I wrap them around his toned waist.

We fuck slowly this time, and I swear there's a connection. I know he must feel it, too. It can't just be me. You can’t fake this sort of thing, can you?

He moves his body, rocking into me at a slow, steady pace. And the rhythmic waves start to pull from deep within my pussy. Heat rises and my orgasm builds fast. I come hard all around his cock, biting the pillow to muffle my cry.

"I want to see you." He pulls my face forward so that he's gazing into my eyes, penetrating my soul, my body, everything.

There's nothing to hide and nowhere to run. He sees me.

And I guess I'm done running from this. If he hurts me, so be it. I'll live. I've gotten through it before. What's stopping me now? All I know is that I have to submit to this thing with him. I can’t hide from it anymore. I have to let it be and stop fighting against what everything in my nature is telling me to do.

He slides in and out, taking his time, fucking me at a leisurely pace, and I try to memorize every second of it. This a different side of Leo, and I love it. I move my hips to try to take him deeper, wanting to be as close as we can possibly be.

Eventually, after tearing through my soul with his eyes, he flips me over and thrusts into me from behind. The tip of his cock is hitting me just right, teasing my throbbing G-spot. It feels so fucking good.

"Tell me what I need to hear," he says.

I'm silent save for the moans that escape me.

"Tell me."

I resist, and he torments me over and over again. Finally, he's too strong and he wins. I simply have to come.

"I'm yours, Leo. There's no other."

As soon as I say it, he rocks harder and harder into me. He’s done being gentle. I let myself go and I come harder than before, my entire body quaking from the intensity. Blackness falls over me for a moment, and I know he's releasing into me but I'm so sated I’m hardly aware of it. 

I lean my head down onto the sheets and try to catch my breath. 

He slaps my ass and says, "Good girl."

We're both totally spent, but where's the love?

He casually leans over and takes his scotch. I watch him rest against the pillows, one arm behind his head. 

I turn over and wipe the sticky cum, both of our mingled juices, off my legs with the sheets. I crawl towards him and take the scotch from his hands.

"I need something...stronger."

He gazes at me like I'm his little plaything and nothing more. He knows he's got me wrapped around his fucking finger and I'm not sure if I love it or I hate it.

We finish the scotch together and then I let him wrap his body around mine once more. I'm a prisoner in the cage that is Leo, and yet it feels so safe. Are my instincts off or is something more happening here?

I just don’t know. That was so different, so intense, and not in the way it usually is with him. It felt like that was more than just sex, yet now here he is acting like it wasn’t anything different.

Pulling the dark grey sheets around my body, and feeling the weight of Leo's measured breathing around me makes me feel somehow at home, like I've found my place. Do I dare dream that this could be my reality?

This is me getting in deeper, choosing to fly rather than run. I hope I come out unscathed.

Being with Leo for at least the next month is all I have to count on. Either he'll prove to be that same old heartbreaker, or something new and undiscovered will emerge where I get to see a new depth to him.

I'm hoping that's he's changed, that he'd never hurt me again, but until I know for sure which way the pendulum will swing, all I have to rely on is his steady breathing and the solid way he's been changing my life.

There's a season for everything and maybe now is my time for something new. I just pray this whole prostitution ring accusation falls by the wayside and that I come out with something besides a broken heart.

For now, all I know is that I'm stronger now then I was back then, and no matter what Leo Asher does to me, I'll find a way to come out on top.