As our third date nears its end, I’m plagued by thoughts that Liam isn’t as attracted to me as I am to him. Besides goodnight kisses, he has yet to seduce me. Physically, that is—I’m already mentally and emotionally seduced.

Tonight, however, after a light dinner in Brentwood, he doesn’t drive me to my apartment as usual. Without bothering to ask, he takes me to his home in the Hollywood Hills.

We don’t speak much on the drive there, and I barely notice my surroundings. My panties are soaked by the time he navigates up a winding driveway.

Liam puts the car in park, eyes shadowed as they cut to my face. “Do you want me to take you home?” he asks softly.

My voice comes on the third try. “No.”

His lips curve in satisfaction. “Come on, then.”

He leads me through the front door, which closes soundly behind us.

“Do you know what I want?” he asks.

I brace myself—body and soul—to be wrong. I’m weightless. Breathless with need and anticipation. Please, let this be happening. Let me be right.

Lowering my eyes to the floor, I say the words I haven’t spoken in two years. I say them with relief, with an ache that burns so brightly inside me I can feel it. Heat and light.

“Yes, sir.”

A soft sigh. “Very good.”

He walks toward me, fingertips whispering along the curtain of hair beside my face. I can barely feel the touch, only its aftershocks in my scalp.

“And what should I call you, hmm?”

It’s a rhetorical question—he’ll call me whatever he wants—but I revel in the dissolution of my identity. My remaking.

Names are given such power over our lives. But they’re essentially impotent, a mere collection of letters assigned at birth. How can such a word define me? Does Eden mean something in and of itself?

No.

But this one will.

“Dove,” he murmurs, a fingertip trailing down my cheek and beneath my chin. With gentle pressure, he guides my face up. “Soft. Innocent. Yielding.”

I must betray surprise, because he chuckles. “You’re none of those, are you, Eden?” I shake my head. “Voice, please.”

“No, sir,” I whisper.

He pinches my chin lightly. Staring into his eyes, I see a future that terrifies and enthralls me. He’s smiling, the impish grin I’ve become accustomed to. That I look forward to. Dream about.

But it’s the look in his eyes that peels back my layers and finds the dark center of me. The one that craves relief from the pressures of the world. That, if not exactly innocent, is both soft and yielding.

“My dove,” he murmurs. “Do you trust me to care for you?”

There’s only one answer, and it’s true.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. And I will. I promise to keep you safe.”

Liam takes me by the hand, leading me through the shadowed house. We ascend an elegant wooden staircase, one side open to the lower floor. Down a hallway, past several closed doors, and through the open one at the end. Large windows overlook the backyard, and in the distance, the glowing band of the city.

“Sit on the bed.”

There’s enough ambient light for me to see. I cross the room and settle on the foot of the bed, clasping my trembling hands between my knees.

Liam crosses to a dresser. A drawer opens. After a few moments, he turns to observe me. There’s a length of red rope in his hands.

“I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you don’t like verbal debasement.” As I scramble for a reply, not wanting to disappoint him, Liam cocks his head. “Innocent little dove, aren’t you? We’ll iron out limits another time. I’ll take it easy on you tonight.”

He wraps the rope around his hand, the motion distracting me. All thoughts leave my head.

“These are the ground rules. Pay attention.” I focus with effort; my breath hitches as he walks toward me. “When I say ‘Eden,’ I’m checking in. Green means continue, yellow means slow down, red means stop. Got it?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, sir.”

He strokes my cheek with his knuckles. “That’s a good girl. Now I want you to stand up and take off your clothes. Fast, slow, doesn’t matter. Then present yourself to me with your wrists together and extended.”

Liquid dark eyes pierce me. Unveil me. I sit frozen.

“Now, dove.”

Nothing in his voice but calm certainty. He will be obeyed. I will be his. He will take my darkness and replace it with himself.

Oh, sweet relief.

I jerk to my feet. With Liam’s gaze sharp and hot on my movements, I step out of my skirt and kick it to the side. My tank top comes off next, then my bra. Cool air skates across my breasts. My nipples tingle and harden under his gaze. Finally, I remove my body’s last defense. My thong flutters to the floor.

Before he asks, I offer him my wrists. Smooth nylon coils around them. His hands move surely and swiftly, a blur of skill as the rope draws up around my torso, swings around my neck. Confident fingers sweep my hair up and out of the way. There are knots, a final tug as he finishes, but I hardly notice.

I’ve never been claustrophobic. Instead I feel like a piece of art. Discovered and brought to life. My breasts are forced high and tight, rope around and between them. The binding isn’t uncomfortable, but the pressure on my throat does give me a moment’s panic.

“Breathe,” he says.

I do. Slowly and evenly until my pulse settles.

“Eden?”

I blink up at him. His tense jaw and furrowed brow. Then I understand. “Green,” I whisper.

He pinches my nipples lightly, tugging with increasing aggression until they’re distended and red. The pain is distant, soothed the instant it flares by soft flicks of his tongue.

“Spread your legs, dove.”

With a whimper of need, I spread my legs. Air touches my most sensitive skin. Anticipation brings a fresh surge of blood. I pulse. I pound. Desperate for his touch. As my hips jerk toward him, Liam smiles. He cups my sex in his hand, spreading me open.

“Drenched,” he growls, eyes flashing up. “Get on the bed, dove. I need to fuck you right now.”

I scramble onto the bed. It’s not easy with my arms bound, but I make do, wiggling until there’s space below for him. I finally still as Liam’s pants hit the floor.

In the shadows, all I can see is that he’s fully erect, long and thick and curving slightly upward. My womb clenches in mingled desire and trepidation. He’s big—far bigger than I dared to imagine.

I begin to pant as he strokes himself a few times before rolling a condom on.

“Breathe, dove.”

Not until he says the word do I realize I’m hyperventilating. A wave of mortification crashes through me. I must freeze, or stop breathing altogether, because Liam seizes my ankles in his hands. His touch grounds me, calms me. But only for a moment.

I yelp as he yanks me down the bed and throws my legs apart. One finger, then two thrust inside me without warning. A third joins, stretching and priming, pistoning hard until I release a ragged moan.

“Eden?”

“Green, green, green,” I chant.

His hand disappears. I gasp at the withdrawal, but then I feel him, blunt and thick, sliding through my wetness and teasing my entrance.

“Please,” I beg.

“Again.”

“Please, please, sir, please.”

Seizing the rope between my wrists and neck, he thrusts inside me. It takes a good minute for my body to accept all of him, for my mind to sort through all the sensations—the constriction on my throat, the incredible fullness, the completion and surrender.

Wetness rolls down my temples; I realize I’m crying.

“Eden,” he snaps.

He’s called my name several times. He’s inside me but unmoving, the rope slack between us.

I sob, drag air into my lungs, and scream, “Green!”

I come on his fifth savage thrust, bucking against him with the rope tight around my neck. My vision washes red, then white. I can’t cry out, can’t breathe, the pleasure so exquisite it dissolves any remaining sense of self.

With a gentle tug, the rope falls free. I suck air greedily, still pulsing around him. The aftershocks of my orgasm are powerful enough that they feel like separate climaxes.

“You’re bloody perfect,” he murmurs, hips rolling languidly against me.

When I’ve calmed enough to open my eyes, Liam covers me. My legs lock around his hips. I open my mouth for his tongue, clench the firm skin of his waist in my fingers.

And slowly, so slowly, his mouth never leaving mine, he drives me once more over the glistening edge.