Kane and I part ways in silence when we return to the warehouse. I’m still raging about the pissing contest he got into with Elijah as I shower, change into another pair of clean ripped jeans, and get sucked into all the emails that piled up while we were out chasing ghosts. I shoot Valentina a note telling her that I have another finished piece.

How dare he tell me I can’t go back to the scrap yard? He doesn’t get to make that call.

I wolf down food from the fridge when Kane doesn’t reappear for hours. I assume he’s in the heart of the bat cave, trying to track down Rafe or the people who want him dead.

Rafe is smart, I remind myself. No one will find him unless he wants them to.

Except he was stupid enough to get himself into this mess, which makes me want to slap him upside the head.

I hop off the stool I’ve been on and pace the floor, racking my brain about how the hell to get us out of this clusterfuck, and where I’m going to get more scrap metal and a torch to make more sculptures for Valentina if I can’t go to Elijah’s. I don’t realize I’m stomping loud enough to imitate a herd of elephants until Kane finally appears behind me, scaring the ever-loving hell out of me.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“You still pissed?”

“Yes.” I don’t even try to lie. I also try not to notice that he showered and changed and smells ridiculously good.

“Come on. We’re leaving.”

I let go of my anger for a hot second. “Did you find something? A lead?”

He doesn’t answer, just heads for the elevator.

“But—”

He opens the gate. “You coming or not?”

Am I going to put my blind trust in a hit man who thinks he can order me around? I spin on my heel and follow him. Apparently, I am.

“Where are we going?” I ask a short while later.

He tugged the beanie off my head when we hit the outskirts of town. It’s dark now, and I probably should be wondering if I made a mistake trusting him, but I don’t.

“You’ll see.”

“What does that mean?”

He grunts and takes an unlit road. It’s another ten minutes before I realize where we’re going and my mouth drops open. “You’ve got to be kidding me. We can’t be here!”

He shoots me a look across the front seat of the Tahoe. “Why not?”

I wave both hands in front of me, gesturing to my makeup-free face, ripped jeans, and T-shirt that’s seen many a better day, including when I got it in college.

“I can’t be here. They’ll throw me out. It has to be a violation of some dress code no one told me about.”

The headlights illuminate the wrought-iron gate at the end of the road in front of us, and my brief moment of panic fades into the anger that I was already dying to set free.

“Turn this car around. Right now. I want to go home.” I sound like a spoiled little brat, but I don’t care. I’m not going to humiliate myself by being paraded through that gorgeous mansion wearing clothes I’d only wear to the scrap yard.

He brakes at the gate and rolls down the window before barking out Saxon to the speaker. He closes the window before I hear if there’s any response, but the gate swings open and he continues through.

“Don’t you dare do this to me. I’m not in the mood, Kane. Or Saxon. Or whoever the hell you are tonight. Take me home.”

He glances over at me. “No.”

Lord, save me from alpha males who think they can control me.

I lock my arms over my chest again. “I’m not getting out of the car. You can go right ahead and get out, and I’ll be waiting for you when you’re done.”

He says nothing, just puts the Tahoe in park once we reach the valet.

“I’m not doing this.” My voice wobbles, and I’d be lying if the heat of my anger hadn’t somehow managed to find its way between my legs.

I will never admit it.

When the valet opens the door, Kane gives him a nod and climbs out. I stay in my seat.

It’s not like he’s going to—

My thoughts are cut off when Kane rounds the hood and yanks open the passenger door. “Seat belt.”

“Not going.”

“Seat belt,” he repeats.

“Fuck. You.” I whisper the two words quietly enough that even the valet, who is waiting outside Kane’s open door, can’t hear them.

“No, princess. Tonight, I’m fucking the sass right out of you.”

His hand snakes out, and instead of going for the buckle like I anticipate, he reaches for the top of the belt, near my shoulder, and something flashes in the dome light. The seat belt drops into my lap before being sucked away.

A knife. No way. He didn’t.

But while I’m still grappling with the fact that Kane cut my seat belt off, he reaches for me and lifts me out of the car before tossing me over his shoulder.

“Oh, don’t you—”

“I’m taking the back entrance,” he says to someone I can’t see.

“Don’t you dare think about taking my back entrance, you ass. I said I wanted to go—”

He laughs, hefting me higher on his shoulder. “You don’t know what you need sometimes, princess. But I see it. That heat running in your blood, telling you to push against me. But what you really need is to show me exactly why you kept coming back, even when you told yourself you shouldn’t.”

I hear a creaking door, and then we’re inside and going down some stairs.

“You need someone to channel your energy. Tell you it’s okay to want more. To show you how to take more. I’m not your jailer, your assistant, or your fucking bodyguard, Temperance. I’m your man, and it’s time to remind you exactly why you want me to be.”

His declarations pummel me, and I’m too speechless to contest them because I’m stuck on one big one—I’m your man.

Is that what he is? I haven’t let myself consider the possibility that there’s any chance we can have something outside this crazy situation. It’s been tearing me to shreds thinking that once this is over, he’ll be gone, and I’ll be left with nothing but memories of the one time in my life when I found a man who was my equal.

My man.

A shiver zips down my spine, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that we’re stepping into a room that is completely foreign to me.

Kane lowers me to my feet and cups both my cheeks in his hands. “That’s right, princess. Your man. That’s what I am. You get that?” He locks me in place with his intense stare. “I’m gonna need you to tell me you understand and that you want this.”

I press my lips together, overwhelmed by the massive wave of emotions rolling through me.

“You with me? If you’re not, you say the word and we walk back out that door.”

I tear my gaze from his and scan the room. “Where are we?”

“A BDSM room.”

A rush of excitement hits me, and my thighs clench together.

“Yes or no, Temperance. Make your decision.”

It’s already a foregone conclusion what I’m going to say. It always is with Kane.

“Yes.”

As soon as the word leaves my lips, Kane releases my face, picks me up, and bends me over some kind of bench.

“What are you doing?”

“Making sure there’s no fucking confusion about who you belong to. Have you ever been restrained?” he asks.

“No.”

“You’re about to be. If it’s too much, all you have to do is say no, or stop. You don’t need a fancy safe word to get me to quit if you’ve had enough.” He pauses with his hand on my ankle. “You good with that?”

“Yes.”

“Good girl.” He wraps restraints around my ankles and wrists, then buckles them.

I tug at the softly lined cuffs and my heart beats faster, this time not out of anger, but anticipation mixed with a small dose of fear. His hands wrap around my waist, and I soak in the warmth of his body. This man has unleashed something wild in me. Something that needs his brand of dominance to be satisfied.

Kane makes quick work of the button on my jeans, and he tugs them down over my ass, along with my thong, and wastes no time delivering the first light smack to my right cheek.

My spine arches, as if seeking more.

“You think I don’t know you need this? You think I can’t tell when you’re feeling unsure and scared and don’t know how to ask for what you need to make it all go away? I see you, Temperance. I see every single part of you—even the ones you don’t want to see yourself.”

How does he see that part of me when I’m afraid to admit it exists?

He lands another strike, and I push into it. He rubs my heated skin, soothing the burn and intensifying it at the same time.

“This ass? It’s mine. I will spank it, plug it, fuck it, and do whatever else I want to it.” Another blow connects and I moan. “And you’re going to love every single goddamn minute of it because . . . You. Are. Mine.” He punctuates each blow with another slap, lighting up every nerve ending under my skin.

I’m aching for him. If I weren’t strapped down, I’d be climbing him and begging.

“Please—” The word comes out plaintive.

“What, princess? You need more?”

“Yes,” I whisper.

“You’re gonna get all you can handle. I promise you that.” He lands three more blows on my cheeks before tapping my inner thighs.

“Spread your knees. I want to see how wet my pussy is.”

His pussy. It shouldn’t send a shiver of pleasure through me to hear him declare ownership of my body . . . but it does. This is the man I never thought I’d be able to keep, but it seems he’s claimed me—which means I get to claim him. Keep him.

I’ve never wanted to keep someone like I want to keep Kane.

He reaches between my legs from behind, and the pads of his fingers slide through my wetness. “Always so fucking wet. So ready for me. You love this, don’t you?”

I attempt to hold back another moan, but it escapes as he pushes a thick finger inside me. “Yes.”

He fucks me with one finger until I’m nearing the edge of sanity, tugging at my restraints, attempting to free myself from this captivity. But, really, all I want is more of whatever he wants to give me.

And then he drags his soaked finger back from my pussy toward my ass.

“Tell me no if you want me to stop right now and leave this pretty little asshole alone.” He circles the tight ring. “Is that what you want, princess? For me to stop?”

I flex my hips, pushing toward his finger, seeking more pressure. But he thwarts me by pulling away and delivering a slap to my hip.

“Answer me, or we stop.”

“I don’t want to stop.”

“Are you sure?”

He steps away from me and I hear him tear something open.

“What are you doing?”

“That’s not the question, Temperance. I want to know how far you’re willing to go. How much you’ll let me give you.”

I struggle against my bonds.

“You can’t move until I let you out. Now, answer the question or tonight’s already over.”

“I want it all, dammit!” The words come out like a battle cry before softening. “Everything you have. I want all of you.”

He strokes my ass again. “Good. Because that’s exactly what I’m going to give you. Every single fucking bit of me. To the depths of my soul. You have me, Temperance. All of me. I’m going to show you.”

He drizzles something cold on my ass, and a shiver rips through my limbs.

“It’s lube, princess. Don’t worry.”

Before, that might have scared me, but I trust Kane with my body . . . and more. He smooths the slippery liquid over my back entrance before sliding something slick between the bench and my clit that immediately starts to vibrate.

“You’re going to come so hard you forget everything, even your own damn name.”

With the toy trapped against me, Kane circles my asshole, increasing the pressure incrementally before retreating. Finally, he pushes his thick fingertip in just far enough to breach the muscle before pulling back.

In short, he’s making me crazy.

“More,” I beg.

“You’ll get what I give you, when I say you’re ready for it.”

He pushes in more the next time, maybe to the first knuckle, but his finger feels massive. It’s the most decadent stretch I’ve ever felt.

“I’ve wanted to fuck your ass since the first time you walked into that room with your perfect little skirt suit and blouse. And then when you started squirming on the desk when that Dom told his woman he was going to fuck her ass . . . I thought you were going to come right there.”

I couldn’t block the memory from my mind, even if I wanted to. I squirm now, remembering just how intense that moment had been.

“He told her she’d been shaking her ass at other people, and he was going to show her who owned it,” I recall.

He pushes in deeper with his fingertip, and my nipples spike into hard points as my clit pulses against the vibrations coming from the toy.

“That’s how I felt earlier at the scrap yard. Watching you strut around in your ripped jeans and T-shirt, hair all wild with your bandana. He watched you like you were putting on a show for him, and it took everything I had not to come up behind you at that workbench, bend you over it, and show him exactly why he’ll never have you again.”

I should be seething at the scene he describes. How he wanted to show Elijah that I belong to him. I’m a self-sufficient woman and I may not need a man, but good Lord above, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting one—or wanting to be manhandled every once in a while.

“What would you have done next?” I ask.

A deep growl fills the room as he pushes deeper into my ass with his finger, and the vibrator pulses at the same slow, steady rate.

“You want me to tell you exactly what I was thinking?”

“Yes,” I whisper. “Every dirty word of it.”

He bends forward with a groan and nips my ear with his teeth before continuing. “After I ran him off, I would’ve yanked your jeans over your hips and spanked that sassy ass until it was bright red from my hand and you begged for more.”

The slow and steady rhythm of him fucking my ass is driving me wild. I push against it, seeking more, and he obliges.

“Then I would’ve fucked you over that workbench until you screamed my name loud enough for the world to hear.”

His words ignite a fever in me and I buck against the toy, needing more. Wishing it were Kane filling me and touching me at the same time.

“I need more.”

His finger buried in my ass, he pauses. “You need my cock filling you, princess. That’s what you need.”

“Yes!”

He steps away again for another few moments before I hear water running and then another package tearing open. Finally, he turns, and I’m desperate for more.

“I’m going to plug your ass before I fuck you, so you know what it’s like to have both holes filled at the same time.”

The head of his cock notches against my entrance.

“Yes. Please.” My begging is getting out of hand, but I don’t care. I need more.

“Not yet.”

I hear the cap of the lube again and feel another drizzle on my asshole. Then he pushes something against my hole, and I tense.

“Relax, princess. It’s a little bigger than my finger. You can take it. Ready?”

I nod, but he doesn’t move.

“I need to hear it.”

“Yes. I’m ready.”

My nipples are hard enough to cut glass as the toy breaches my ass and slides inside, unleashing a wave of dark pleasure that feels so wrong, so dirty, and so delicious, all at the same time.

“Fuck, you look so sweet with that plug in your ass.” He presses against the base, and I shy away before pressing back harder. “My girl loves having a plug in her ass,” he says, and something within me glows at the praise.

Then I feel pressure again—this time, from the head of his cock at my entrance. But where before it felt big, now it feels massive.

“It’s not going to fit,” I whisper, fearing that my body can’t take him.

“It’s gonna fit. I promise.” He pushes in another half inch. “You’re so fucking tight, but it fits. You’re gonna strangle me with this sweet cunt, princess. Sweetest fucking cunt I’ve ever buried my dick inside.” He slides in the rest of the way and we both moan before going quiet, our lungs heaving.

It’s almost too much . . .

And then he starts to move.

“Oh my God!” I yell as my first orgasm detonates.