Damien brings me my pina colada with a tequila shot on the side, and sits on the dock next to me with an identical drink in his hands.

I’ve got a summer dress on, my legs hanging free, and I feel like I’m gaining steam to get back on top of the world after a traumatizing week. Except now, it’s evident I’m not the only one with baggage.

“Cheers,” he says with a slight smile, his sunglasses reflecting the water. We clink glasses as we look out over the water. The sun beats down on my legs, but my upper body is saved by the shady overhang. We both stare out into the seemingly endless sea. I think about the world of possibility that exists between Damien and I. But another thought creeps in. Endless possibility means room for endless hurt.

“What are we cheers-ing to?” I ask, before taking a sip of either drink.

“How about to our ten-night stand being halfway over,” he grins, baiting me.

“It’s been five dates already?”

“Let’s see,” he hesitates, setting his drinks down to count on his fingers. When he leans back I can’t help but stare at his sexy tattooed torso and how it glimmers in the morning sun. Forget our beverages, I want to drink him in all afternoon. “First, we had the gun range. Second, we ate...chili.”

I throw my head back in laughter. “That’s not all you ate.”

“You’re right. Fuck the chili,” he chuckles. “Third date was in the hospital. Fourth was on the plane. So now—we’re onto the fifth. Right now. Halfway there.”

I nod. “Seems accurate. And how’s Junior hanging in there? He doing okay?” I make a pouty face and glance at his lower abdomen. He laughs.

“Oh that guy? He’s been having some hard nights, to be honest. And he’s been a little blue. But he’ll live. He’s in this for the long game.”

I giggle at that one. “To the long game,” I wink.

We clink our glasses together and take a sip.

I breathe in the fresh air, and damn it tastes good. Damien moves a little closer to me, letting one of his fingers fall on top of my hand as I lean back on the dock. It’s subtle, but it feels good to be making contact.

“So are you going to tell me about Rhonda?”

He takes a deep breath, and I see him struggling internally. “You know how I told you I have secrets, too?”

“Yes,” I say, still wondering what’s in that damn box.

“Well it’s true. I did a lot of things in my youth that I wish I hadn’t. Of course hindsight is twenty twenty.”

“What happened, exactly?”

He takes a long, strong pull on his drink.

“I told you I was a stripper. And how I did bachelorette parties.”

“Yes,” I answer simply. The thought of Damien in front of a group girls—and what they might do or have done to him—makes my stomach churn with anxiety.

“Well, one time in my early twenties, Axel and I came out here—just to get away, you know? We didn’t think anything of it. We were young, and he’d just opened up his shop, and I’d just started getting into being male entertainment. I made a lot of money doing it. We actually came here for vacation, not to work. But I met Rhonda on the beach. I was surfing, and we struck up a conversation. She mentioned that the strippers she had for her friend’s bachelorette party were on the low end because they couldn’t find anyone to travel here with them. I told her I could help her and her friends out, if the price was right. So she offered me a thousand dollars. It was a lot of money to me at the time, and I took it. I spent the night with her and the bachelorette party, dancing and drinking away on the beach.”

I nod, processing this information. “Okay. I already knew that, though. You told me you were a stripper.”

Damien takes a deep breath. “Right. So that night—I ended up sleeping with Rhonda. Little did I know, she was looking for an excuse to break up with her husband, and rightfully so. The guy was an abusive dick. But the next morning, I woke up in her bed and she made it a point to have her husband ‘accidentally’ come into the room, over from the bachelor party. They got into a huge altercation, and I had to step in, to stop the guy from going after her physically. Finally, they broke up, and while she was separated, I stayed here a while with her. I was her rebound. She was processing getting over her breakup. For me, it was mostly physical. Just a fling, though. The intention was never to make it anything more than that.”

I take a big, long sip of my drink and stare at my tequila shot, too. Damien shrugs, and takes his down.

Taking the lime off the lip of the glass, I take the shot, follow it with the lime, and follow that with a pull of my sweet pina colada.

“So you had a relationship with her for a while,” I remark.

“Yes. It was a friends-with-benefits situation, basically. Turned out she was in the military, too. She and I liked the same kinds of things.”

I inhale deeply, a slight buzz hitting me from the tequila shot. “So that’s it? You dated her for a little while?”

“That’s it. We dated for a while. She liked me a lot. But I didn’t think it could last. This wasn’t real life, it was a vacation for me. She ended up staying here and buying into one of the local resorts. I don’t think she ever left.”

I look at him, and it bothers me somewhat that I can’t see his eyes through the sunglasses. “I feel like you’re holding something back for some reason. Are you?”

His body language is stiff. “I don’t think so.”

I raise an eyebrow. “You don’t think so? What does that mean?”

“Hey, I’m not the one whose ex is going after me, trying to kidnap you and assaulting me with a metal bat! When am I going to get the full story on that?”

“We’re not talking about me,” I seethe. “We’re talking about you right now. What is it?”

“What is what?”

“Alright, that’s it.” Frustrated, I head inside to the cabana. Clearly I’ve struck a nerve with him, and he’s not budging. Maybe it’s the lost sleep from the plane ride. Maybe I do have my own secrets too. Maybe it’s the box he refuses to give me the key to.

Or maybe it’s the fact that our secret, relaxing retreat has been tainted by the fact that some blond bombshell is now on my mind.

I pull up next to the sink in our little kitchen, slam my tequila glass down and refill it. Damien comes charging inside after me.

“Baby, what are you doing?” he growls behind me as he takes his glasses off.

“I’m filling up my glass again,” I say as I pour another shot.

“Fill mine up too.” He sets his empty shot glass right next to mine.

I fill both of them up. We don’t say ‘cheers’ as we drink.

It burns as I swallow it down, and I don’t have a lime chaser this time.

“I want to make something very clear to you,” Damien says, slamming his shot glass down on the counter. “I’m not sure if you’ve realized, but since I’ve met you, I don’t give a shit about other girls. I had no idea Rhonda would be here. I haven’t talked to her for over a year. There’s one person I want. And she’s right here.”

My face burns from the heat and my buzz. My skin tingles as Damien flips my body around by the waist and grinds his hips into me. I breath hard as his brown eyes sear into me.

“What the matter, baby girl? You don’t think I want you?”

I breathe heavy, and lower my eyes, frozen.

“Because I do. Trust me. I want you in all the ways. I want to fall asleep cuddling on the couch like we did the other night. I want to beat up the bad guys who come after you. And last but not least—I want to fuck you so good, so hard, and so deep, that you become mine.”

My body quivers and my chest tightens. Butterflies in my stomach combine with the increasing tequila buzz so that I’m about to lose control. I lightly grip his muscled arms, so ready to succumb. “I want to be yours,” I mutter.

He kisses my lips softly, and I feel my surrender beginning.

“But,” I protest. “I don’t want you to keep things from me. I feel like you’re keeping something from me.”

He nibbles my ear, then runs his tongue down my jawline until he kisses my neck. “You really want to know?” he asks, flashing those gorgeous eyes.

“I told you, Damien. Yes.”

“Get the box. Open it. And I’ll tell you.”

My heart hammers and my eyes widen. “You want to let me see now? I thought we were going to wait.”

Even though I say the words, I’m dying of curiosity to know what’s inside. And how this is related to Rhonda.

He nods. “Get it now. This trip was supposed to be fun. A vacation. But it’s obvious I can’t keep things from you, and that it’s time I tell you. So get the box, and I’ll level with you.” He runs a hand through my hair.

“About everything?”

“Everything. I’ll tell you everything you want. You want details, I’ll give them to you.”

“Okay,” I breathe, and he reluctantly lets go of me so I can walk over to my luggage and get the box.

I bring it over, and he pulls out a key from the keychain he has in his pocket.

“You carry this around with you?” I remark.

“I do,” he says as he inserts the key into the padlock and uncovers the box. “Pull it out,” he says.

I reach in and grab hold of a long, black… “What is this?” I ask, holding it out. There are two pieces, both leather.

“It’s a tie up and collar set,” he says.

My heart jumps up to my throat, and I feel a crushing anxiety coming over me. “This is...what do you use this for?”

His pupils dilate and he focuses on me. He takes the straps and hold them in front of me. “Isn’t it obvious? To tie you up. And collar you. I want to make you mine, Krista.”

As if I wasn’t hot before, my face starts to tingle with emotion. Anxiety. But above all, desire. “This is the secret you’ve been keeping from me?” I swallow, running my hands along the leather. There’s a fuzzy material on the inside. “You...like to tie girls up?”

“Not ‘girls,’” he says with a degree of seriousness. “You. I want to tie you up.”

“Oh,” I swallow.

He lowers his eyes. “You’re so cute. You have no idea just how bad I can be, do you?”

I tense as he cups my cheek. Glancing up at him, suddenly I feel like I’m looking at a stranger again, just like the very first night. My mind floods with thoughts, mostly doubts. I’ve only really know Damien for what—a week?

“And you’ve done this before?”

His face tenses. “With Rhonda—I started to experiment. After her, though—I backed away from everything I was doing. It got too intense. I was afraid of who I might become. I bought this leather tie-and-collar set when I got back from Boca del Toro, but after that just put it in a box and never used it. I quit my job as a stripper for bachelorette parties, and used the money I’d made to get into real estate. I never thought I’d have the desire—or the trust—to want to give this lifestyle a go again.”

“Baby,” I whisper between short breaths. “Why didn’t you just tell me?” I run my hand through Damien’s thick hair, and bring it down to caress his bare shoulders. I take the leather set out of his hand and examine it more closely.

He lowers his eyes. “I trust you a lot—more than anyone I’ve met. I thought, maybe it’s too soon to have this conversation. And I worried because of how violent Nick seemed, that maybe I shouldn’t go there with you.”

“But you want to go there.”

He raises his eyes until they meet mine. “Yes,” he growls. “I do.”

His hand slides to my hip, and my body tingles all over. “What if I told you I want you to?”

“Want me to what?” he says his voice gravelly.

“Tie me up, Damien,” I say, handing it back to him. “I want you to tie me up.”

He draws his body closer into me. “You trust me?”

“Of course I do,” I mutter. “More than anyone I’ve ever met.”

“I’m going to make you mine, Krista.” His voice is low and leaves no room for argument. Taking my hand, he leads me to the bedroom.

For some reason, my mind flashes back to Damien going after Nick. He’s a physically powerful man who could do damage if he wanted to. Truthfully though, I trust him with my life.

I turn to face him.

“You ready for the fun and games to begin, Princess?”