Three firm knocks on my office door echoed through the room. I lifted my chin and looked at the door, ready for what was to come. The kid I’d tried to scare off three years back had returned, made a fool of himself, and ruined the rest of his life. He’d chosen the wrong fucking night to come back, guns blazing, to my casino. I’d work my anger and frustration out on him, get him carted off, and then approach the rest of the day with the clear mind I needed in order to make the necessary changes to my business. I would make Master proud.

“Come in,” I said, tone steely.

One of the solid wood doors opened. My head of security, Sam, pushed a familiar kid into the room. The kid, not so much a kid anymore, but a young man, stumbled, then found his footing and corrected his posture. He tugged at his sleeves and shot a look over his shoulder at Sam. “Really, Steven?”

Sam said nothing. He stood in the doorway, barricading the way out.

“You can go,” I told Sam. “Shut the door behind you. I want to speak to Mr. Mills alone.”

Sam bowed his head and made his exit. The door closed.

We were alone.

Robin brushed down the front of his shirt, lips curled in displeasure, and while he remained still, I took a moment to look him over. The years had changed him in subtle ways. The shape of his face remained the same, but the features on it had altered. His eyes, once young and bright, were more mature than I remembered, although they still gleamed with the same sharp intelligence and seething distaste as they had the last time we’d met. He’d kept the same haircut over the years—long, but pushed back from his face. Full, pink lips drew my eye, and I felt a twinge of guilt for even looking. What would Master think if he knew I’d noticed something like that about another man?

No matter what he thought, it wouldn’t matter. When I tore into Robin and had him escorted away by the police, Master would know that not only was I serious about changing the way I did business, but that I was serious about him. I would not disappoint him again.

“Three years ago, you were banned from The Palisade hotel and casino, and all properties belonging to it,” I told Robin coolly, lacing my hands together on my desk. At full height, he was tall, and his slender frame was sleek. The look in his eyes made him seem foxlike, and their intense blue color did things to me that I preferred not to think about. I’d been single since I’d taken control of The Palisade over from my father, but submissive to Master for a little more than a year and a half. Some spunky, strapping delinquent wasn’t going to steal me from him. Only Master could treat me like I needed to be treated and take the burden of my world off my shoulders. An arrogant young man like Robin Mills could never make me happy in the same way. “I’ll give you one chance to explain yourself before I call the police.”

Robin lifted a brow and shook his head. He ran a hand through his hair, shaking it out, then looked at me with a gaze ten times more intense than any I’d seen before. A jolt shot through my body, starting in my heart and ending in my groin. His arrogance was gone, and in its place emerged unshakable, mature confidence. The difference was subtle, but it was stunning. It was like Robin had gone from thinking he was better than me to knowing it. The look in his eyes told me that he owned me, and that standing in my office was nothing more than an amusing, if childish, excursion for him.

My cock twitched. Of all the ways this encounter could have gone, I hadn’t been expecting it to go like this.

“You want me to explain myself?” The tone of his voice had darkened from when he’d first stumbled into the room and spoken to Sam. The sound of it sent another chilling jolt straight through me. My heart raced, and my pulse drummed in my ears. I knew that voice.

Robin stepped forward, a confident, playful sway to his hips. He kept his eyes locked on me. “Just one chance, Troy?”

I sat where I was, too stunned to say or do anything. My cock pushed against the front of my slacks, no longer willing to stay flaccid.

That voice.

Robin arrived at the other side of my desk, eyes holding my gaze, refusing to let me go. In my peripheral vision, I saw him reach into his back pocket and pull something out. It wasn’t until I saw a flash of color that I understood what it was.

Red panties.

Pretty red lace panties, with ribbons done up over the front panel like a corset, where they’d tighten and hold his cock snug, outlining it.

My heart pounded against my rib cage, threatening to burst from my chest. Heat rose up my neck and washed over my face.

“I don’t think I’m the one who needs to explain himself,” Robin—Master—told me. He dropped his panties on my desk, his eyes never leaving mine. “I’m not the only one who’s been bad. Now, why don’t you tell me… what are you planning to do about it?”