I was at Ruin doing the books that night because I hadn’t made an appearance in over a week. Rome was the center of my universe, and naturally, I let my other responsibilities slip away. Jackson was too much of an idiot to be of much help, so everything fell on my shoulders. Thankfully, he wasn’t there that night. If he were, he would have given me shit about Rome for an hour straight.

Christopher texted me, my phone lighting up with his name.

What did he want?

I swiped the screen and saw his message.

I need to call in a bro-code favor.

I’d never heard of such a thing. I’m listening.

I’m at the bar right now. I’ve got two women on the hook who want to see my pad. This is my first threesome, and I CAN’T fuck it up.

You need me to teach you how to be with two women? I smiled just before I sent the message. My affection for Rome only grew the more I got to know her adoptive brother. I liked him a great deal, and he made my life so much easier.

Fuck you, asshole. I need you to get Rome out of the apartment. She said she was staying in tonight.

He’d never had a problem telling his sister to take a hike before. Why don’t you just tell her?

Because she’s my roommate. It’s her home too. I can’t kick her out whenever I want. It would be different if she was just crashing on my couch. And you owe me a favor, man. Whatever plans you have, cancel them.

Whoa, what? I don’t owe you shit. Last time I checked, I hooked him up with a great apartment in a prime location. You have a sweet apartment because of me.

That I can’t keep until she decides to move out. And it doesn’t seem like she’s leaving anytime soon. So, back to the original subject, can you take her out to dinner or something? Just get her out of my hair, alright?

I had no problem spending time with Rome. I was just caught up in a few things at Ruin. I’ll ask her to sleep over.

Thanks. I need her out of there in thirty minutes. My ladies are ready to leave.

I’ll do my best.

You’ll get it done, man. We’re talking about a threesome here. That’s like the Nobel prize for pigs.

I rolled my eyes and shoved my phone into my pocket. I’d have to come in sometime tomorrow and finish the books. It would be easier to hire someone, but I didn’t trust anyone to handle my finances. That was something my father taught me. I hated to admit it, but he was right.

I left the office and came face-to-face with Isabella. Thin, with a slender neck and a petite waistline, she looked like she was wasting away. She had lost more weight than she could afford, but her hair was just as silky and her features just as beautiful. The only reason she would be back here was if she was heading to my office. “Good evening, Isabella.” I locked the door behind me so she wouldn’t be tempted to fuck up my office. Breakups always led to bitter people. We had ended our arrangement nearly six months ago, but she still hadn’t gotten over it. When I compared my thoughts and feelings for Rome to how I acted toward Isabella, I wasn’t sure how Isabella got so attached to me. I wasn’t even that nice to her—not like I was to Rome.

“Good evening, Calloway.” In a black cocktail dress that hugged her tits together and showed her cleavage line, she looked stunning. Every man in that club wanted to get her on her knees, her ass in the air.

But I couldn’t care less. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Still seeing that little whore?”

My eyes narrowed in offense, and I had the urge to grab her by the throat—but not because I was aroused. “Talk about her like that again, and I’ll ban you from Ruin. You’re lucky I haven’t done it already.”

She pouted her lips in mock apology. “I thought being a whore was a good thing?”

It was hard to believe I ever cared about Isabella. Now, she just annoyed the shit out of me. “What do you want, Isabella? I’m very busy.”

“Just wanted to see if you’re still happy being her boyfriend.” She emphasized the final word like it was an insult. “Wanted to check to see if you were tired of the same flavor every single night—vanilla.”

She could only know those things if Jackson had told her. I’d have to kick his ass later. “Actually, the flavor has grown on me.” I walked around her, making sure not to even brush my shoulder against hers. Her obsession with me wasn’t the least bit attractive. Not like when I caught Rome staring at me. That lust in her eyes made me feel like a bigger man that I was.

Isabella’s voice followed me as I walked away. “You can’t keep up this charade much longer. Your dominance is going to get the best of you—and I’ll be right here waiting.”

I froze in the hallway, unsure why my feet stopped moving.

“I’ll be ready to listen to your every command, to do everything you ask without question. I’ll get on my knees simply because you say so. I’ll submit—just the way you like.”

I clenched both of my hands in desperation, wanting to do those exact things with Rome. I was attracted to her strong independence, but I also wanted that powerful woman to bow to me, to give me more control than I had ever had before. Some days, I thought I could live without that dominance. But moments like now made me realize just how impossible that was. It was something I needed in order to survive.

Would Rome ever give me that?

My feet began to move again, and I walked away without looking back, thinking about the woman I’d become blindly obsessed with. Rome trusted me in a way she never had before, and that made me feel guilty for not telling her the truth.

But I would come clean about everything.

When the time was right. I had to make sure her answer would be yes and that she wouldn’t walk away from me. I knew I couldn’t handle the loss. I knew I couldn’t let her walk away.

Because she was my whole world.

* * *

I took Rome out to dinner before we headed back to my place. Christopher was enjoying his threesome, but I was enjoying myself more with his sister. Across the table, I enjoyed the tiny bites she took of her food. She still didn’t eat much, but I’d gotten used to it. I never bothered with appetizers because that was an entire meal to her.

We returned to my place, and Isabella popped into my head. I thought about her offer to allow me to be her Dom whenever my relationship with Rome went south. Her obsession with me was inexplicable, but a part of me was intrigued by the offer. I didn’t want any other woman but Rome, but I missed being a Dom. I missed being in control. I missed having my commands obeyed without resistance. Sexually, Rome usually complied with my demands. But outside of the bedroom, I could never get her to listen to me. That was an uphill battle—one I would never win.

“Everything alright?” She ran her hand across my back, soothing me.

I returned to the conversation, realizing my thoughts had drifted away. “Yeah…just trying to remember if I left a tip.”

“Nope. But that’s because I did.” She grabbed the front of my jacket and pushed it off my shoulders until it hit the ground. Playfulness burned in her eyes as she gripped my tie and undid the knot with just a few fingers. Everything she did was sexy, and the fact that she wasn’t even trying to be sexy just made her sexier. When the tie was separated, she grabbed both pieces and yanked me toward her.

I liked it—a lot.

But I also hated it. I hated letting someone else be in control, even for a second. It made me feel castrated and useless. It made me feel like less of a man, like I didn’t deserve the woman I was with.

I yanked the tie from around my neck and wrapped it around hers instead. With a firm grip, I pulled her face to mine and kissed her hard on the mouth, taking back the control and feeling innately good about it. Her neck needed to be in my grasp. Her freedom needed to be mine as well.

Rome must not have cared about the change in roles because she kissed me back harder, panting into my mouth with arousal.

I lifted her into my chest and carried her upstairs into my bedroom, kissing her all the while. When I got her on my bed, I pinned her hands to the headboard and tied them to one of the wooden bars. When I bought this bed frame, my designer said she didn’t like the look of it. The colors and finish didn’t match my personality. But she didn’t understand the kind of shit I did with the headboard.

Rome tugged on the tie, testing its strength. She could barely move because my knot was an expert one. She still had her dress and heels on, but I didn’t need to get those off anyway. The only article of clothing that truly needed to be on the floor were her panties.

I undressed in front of her, slowly dropping everything with a thud on the rug. I kicked my shoes and yanked off my socks, keeping my eyes trained on her the entire time. I watched her lips part with a deep breath, her tongue peeking out slightly. When my cock came into view, she bit her bottom lip.

She was better than any submissive I’d ever had.

I crawled up the bed and started slow, kissing the inside of her knees and moving up slowly. Her black dress was still on, so my hands shoved her knees to her waist. My lips migrated, the scruff from my chin rubbing against the delicate area.

She yanked on the tie automatically, wanting to dig her fingers into my hair.

I pressed warm kisses against her cotton panties, moving over the fabric covering her throbbing clit. I deepened the kisses, soaking her underwear with my saliva as well as her own lubrication. Her legs widened and tensed as she rolled her head back, enjoying every second of what I was doing to her. A moan escaped her lips, a hint of my name on her tongue.

I’d had enough of the foreplay. This woman wanted me all the time, so it wasn’t necessary. I just did it to tease her—and to tease myself.

I pulled her panties off and tossed them on top of my boxers. Then I moved between her legs, my cock rubbing against her slick pussy. I wanted to turn her over and smack her ass until it was red. My palm ached when I resisted the urge.

I positioned my face over hers, seeing her lips part in desperation for a kiss. Her elbows were next to her temples, and her nipples pointed toward the ceiling. I widened her legs with my arms, pinning her knees against her ribs. I wanted to fuck her hard, to take her like the prisoner she was. I wanted to give her so much of my cock she winced in pain. I wanted to make her cry from both pain and pleasure. And most of all, I wanted to hurt her.

But I wouldn’t—for now.

I pressed my face close to hers but didn’t kiss her, wanting to tease her as long as possible. My cock rubbed against her wet entrance, my length coated in her lubrication. I never had trouble getting a woman wet, but I’d never made a woman as wet as Rome. “You want me to fuck you, Vanilla?”

“Yes.” She pulled on the tie, her hands going nowhere.

I kissed the corner of her mouth, pressing my steel length against her clit. I applied pressure and ground against her throbbing nub, making her move her hips back into me, moaning at the same time.

“Fuck me, Calloway,” she whispered. “Please.”

Fuck. Nothing hotter than a beautiful woman begging to be fucked.

“You want me to fuck you hard, Vanilla?”

“So hard that you can’t call me Vanilla anymore.”

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and my cock twitched in response. She said a lot of sexy things, but that had to be a top pick for me. Sometimes she walked in the shadows with me, being one with the darkness. It made me feel less alone, like I could have everything I wanted with this innocent woman.

I meant to tease her, but she somehow teased me. I slipped my cock inside her, pushing through her tight wetness until I was completely buried. I was balls deep, implanted deep in her channel where no man had ever gone before.

I looked down at her, seeing her hard nipples and red chest, her beautiful brown hair cascading across the pillow, and my cock buried deep inside her pussy. Her hands were pinned above her head, her fair skin flawless.

I wanted this moment to last forever.

The second I started to move inside her, I wanted to come. I wanted to pound as much come inside her as possible, filling her to the brim like every other night. But something felt different tonight.

My fingers dug into the muscles of her thighs, and I listened to her deep breathing. Her tits moved toward the sky with every breath, her nipples begging to be pinched between my forefinger and thumb. Missionary was my least favorite position, but she made it the most erotic experience of my life.

I slid through her wet channel, feeling her intimately. My cock was in heaven and never wanted to leave, welcomed by her warmth. I’d never gotten so much pleasure from fucking other women. I didn’t know if it was because Rome was a virgin, because she was exceptionally beautiful, or because she could slap like a boss. But whatever it was, it got my engine going.

My hips rocked gently into her, but then they developed a mind of their own. They began to thrust hard, fucking her with speed and agility. The headboard tapped against the wall rhythmically.

“Harder.”

I moaned and worked my body to give her what she wanted, fucking her with as much strength as I could. My headboard began to crash into the wall, leaving dents and marks.

Like I gave a fuck.

Rome moaned incoherently, her words muffled by her screams. When she came, she tightened around me and yanked so hard on the silk tie that she nearly ripped it. A few seams broke, but it remained intact. Her head rolled back, and she screamed like a dying animal, my name muffled by the sounds she made. “Oh god…” She closed her eyes as she enjoyed the remaining high that was slowly depleting from her body. Her pussy gradually released my cock, allowing it to slide through with less resistance.

“You put on quite a show, sweetheart.” I leaned over her and kissed her on the mouth, tasting the salt from her sweat. I pumped into her a few more times, preparing for the grand finale. I loved the beginning, the middle, and the end. But coming inside her was a supernatural experience. I touched heaven and hell at the exact same time.

I released inside her, getting lost in the overwhelming pleasure this woman gave me. I’d come inside her more times than I could count, and each experience was better than the last. I sucked her nipple into my mouth and tasted her flesh as I finished. “I want to keep you tied up like that forever.” I wanted to keep her as a prisoner, her sole purpose to please me around the clock, ensuring she had no other life outside these walls. I would be the center of her universe.

“Then you should.” The fire was back in her eyes already, wanting another round even though mounds of my come were already sitting inside her.

I pulled her bottom lip into my mouth and nicked her with my teeth, applying strong pressure without breaking the skin. “Maybe I will.”

* * *

We lay in bed together, both satisfied from our evening of fucking. I didn’t feel guilty for not getting any work done today for Ruin because spending time with Rome was a much better utilization of my time.

She traced her fingers down my chest, feeling the grooves of my abs. “How’s your brother?”

I didn’t like talking about other men when we were in bed together. I would’ve commanded her to never say such a thing again if she were my submissive. I clenched my jaw and waited for the anger to pass, knowing I had no right to tell her off. Isabella was right when she said I wouldn’t be able to do this forever. Already, I felt myself beginning to crack. The more time I spent with Rome, the more possessive I became. And the more possessive I became, the more controlling I wanted to be. “I’m sure he’s good. Haven’t seen him much lately.”

“It’s interesting. Even when I wasn’t living with Christopher, I would still talk to him a few times a week.”

“That’s because Christopher isn’t an asshole.”

She chuckled. “You obviously don’t know him very well.”

Actually, she didn’t know me very well. “Jackson and I have never been close. He’s always resented me because he assumed our father favored me.”

“Why did he assume that?” She continued to touch me, stroking her fingers across my chiseled physique.

“My father left most of his inheritance to me. Jackson didn’t get anything.” When I read his will, I could hardly believe it. The man spent most of his life hating me, chasing me down the hallway with a bat. It wasn’t until I became a man that I started fighting back. That only pushed him harder because he no longer had the control. But I met his ferocity with my own. It wasn’t until years after his death that I realized what our problem was.

We were too much alike.

The first time I tied up a woman and whipped her, I came so hard I screamed. In that moment, I knew I was just as sick as he was. I knew growing up in his shadow had made me just like him. And I suspected he’d realized it too.

“Why is that?” she whispered. Her head lay on the pillow beside me, her beautiful eyes gleaming in the dark.

“Not sure. Sometimes I wonder if it was his form of an apology.” My father and I only talked about business. We hardly ever talked about Mom. When she was admitted to a facility, he never mentioned her again. It was like she’d never existed to begin with. He was the coldest man I’ve ever known—and I knew I’d inherited that same trait.

“Maybe,” she said. “But money can’t make things right.”

She was right about that. The money had never changed my opinion of him. If he knew I used most of it to start up Humanitarians United, he’d be convulsing in his grave right now. “No, it can’t. Jackson has always been jealous that he got cut out of the will. That’s why we disagree so much.”

“Does he know?”

I knew what she was asking. “No. I never told him.”

“Why?”

I’d been through a lot of pain, but I’d never suffered as much as I did when someone I loved struggled. Seeing my mom lose her mind was much worse than a knife to the stomach. Seeing her stare at me without an ounce of recognition was worse than a bullet to the head. “I don’t want Jackson to feel guilty.”

“Why would he feel guilty?”

“Because I took all the beatings so he didn’t have to. When Jackson did something wrong, I always took the blame. He never knew about any of that…”

Rome looked at me with affection, her hand grazing over my heart. “You’re so sweet, Calloway.”

Sometimes. But most of the time, I was just evil.

“I understand how you feel. I would never want Christopher to be in any pain. I love him too much.”

I wouldn’t say I loved my brother…but he was still family.

“You should tell him, Calloway.”

“No.” I preferred the distance between us rather than a new bond through suffering.

“If he knew the truth, maybe things would be different.”

“Maybe. But would that really make anything better?”

She leaned into me and pressed a kiss to the skin over my heart, her lips soft and warm. “You never know. At least it would help him understand what happened. Help him understand his older brother better.”

I watched her kiss me, moved by the slight affection. I’d never let a woman be so gentle with me. I preferred being slapped in the face to a kiss on the shoulder. But Rome made me feel so good that I couldn’t stop her.

I never wanted to stop her.

When it came to Rome, I felt like two different men. I felt like a man in a romance novel, someone who cared about a woman he couldn’t live without. But I also felt like a demon who moaned at the thought of hurting something so delicate. I was never both men at one time—only one or the other.

* * *

I sat at my desk and stared at my computer screen. I had just received an email from a donor asking about our annual blood drive, but the words blurred together, and I couldn’t decipher them.

I couldn’t pay attention because of Rome.

She was just down the hall, thirty yards away on the other side of the building. I knew she wore that green dress I liked because she got ready at my place that morning. She wore a gold necklace that hung low and matched her earrings. Her hair was pulled back so every exquisite feature could be seen. She was so beautiful, it hurt. A part of me couldn’t blame Dean for making a move.

But I still wanted to rip out his throat anyway.

I couldn’t explain the feeling that came over me. Just an hour ago, I was fine. I arranged a lunch meeting with my secretary, and then I examined the revised budget reports that Dean had sent over.

But now I felt hollow.

All I wanted was Rome, to feel her in my arms and smell her hair. I wanted to touch that heavenly soft skin and feel the goose bumps form on her arms as I touched her. My mouth craved her lips, the taste of vanilla from her ChapStick teasing my senses.

The feeling wasn’t sexual in the least. It was something else entirely.

I hit the intercom and spoke directly to my assistant. “Please ask Ms. Moretti to step into my office for a moment.”

“Right away, sir.”

I leaned back in the chair and waited for the large black doors to open. My office had the most privacy of any other room in the building. I kept it that way on purpose, wanting my authority to be mysterious. People never became too friendly with me, always keeping their distance.

The less people knew about me, the better.

The door opened, and Rome walked inside, closing it behind her and looking just as beautiful as she had that morning. Her sleek ponytail highlighted the natural curves of her face. If she’d lived in a different era of history, civilizations would worship her as a goddess. She stopped in front of my desk, her hands together at her waist. “Did you need something, Mr. Owens?”

I didn’t like it when she addressed me that way. Calloway or Sexy was much better. “Yes.” I walked around the desk until I was right in front of her, just a few feet away.

Her cheeks flushed slightly, and her breathing elevated, suspecting the close proximity wasn’t going to be professional. She did her eye makeup differently this morning, making them stand out in a breathtaking way.

I took a step forward so we were close together. My eyes went to her lips, seeing the way they slightly broke apart as if she expected a kiss. My hands went to her petite waist, and I gripped her firmly, making sure she couldn’t slip away. I pressed my forehead to hers and closed my eyes, enjoying the overwhelming power that surged within me.

“Calloway…we can’t do this.”

“Ten minutes,” I whispered. “I’m not going to kiss you. I’m not going to fuck you. I just want to hold you.” My hand snaked to the back of her neck where I could feel her gentle pulse. The smell of roses washed over me, and I inhaled deeply, feeling the sting of the breath. There was something about the way she made me feel…it was addictive. It felt like a form of happiness, an indescribable joy. I didn’t know what this woman was doing to me. I wasn’t even sure if it was good or bad.

“Everything okay?”

“Yes.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead before I returned my head against hers. My hands moved to her shoulders and down her arms, feeling the smooth skin and the goose bumps I’d expected to feel. Her reaction to me was just as powerful as mine was to her. “I missed you. I tried writing an email, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you.” I’d spent all night with her, her hands bound to my headboard, but it just wasn’t enough.

“I always miss you…”

I pulled her closer into my chest and rested her cheek over my heart. Her tits were firm against me, but the touch didn’t get me hard. My need for her wasn’t sexual—and that was the most surprising thing of all.

When ten minutes had passed, I knew I needed to let her go. “I’ll let you get back to work…”

She reluctantly pulled away, her stance on our office romance unclear. When it came to affection at Humanitarians United, she wanted nothing to do with it. She didn’t want a single person in the building to know we slept in the same bed. But now, her position had weakened. She looked at me with desire in her eyes, wanting our embrace to never end. “You want to get dinner tonight?”

I didn’t need to give her my answer. “I’ll pick you up at six.”