The club was insanely loud, the techno music pumping through the place and sending sickening bass sounds straight to my gut. Bear grabbed my hand and led me to a back room that by the looks of the way it was separated from the rest of the place, meant it was probably a VIP area.

We sat in a booth overlooking the rest of the club and he ordered drinks when the waitress appeared. I couldn’t hear a thing they said, though, and all I could do was hope he ordered water for me, instead of something alcoholic.

The crowd was huge, and the dance floor was small, making for a very entertaining situation to watch as people tried to dance without running into each other. It didn’t work.

Most people danced with their hands waving in the air, leaving their boobs and butts and everything else fair game to be rubbed up on.

I turned to Bear and screamed.

“Do you come here often?” I asked.

“What?” he screamed back.

“You come here a lot?” I yelled again.

“Did you ask if I like tator-tots?” he yelled.

I rolled my eyes. This was useless. I shook my head and gave up any attempt at conversation. He shrugged and smiled, putting his hand on my thigh and brushing a kiss across my cheek.

The waitress came back and I cringed when I saw her set an entire bottle of champagne in front of us. I guess Bear really did want to celebrate. He’d told me a little about the deal he’d closed today in the car on the way over. It was some huge office building in Brooklyn that had been fraught with complications of every kind that he’d been trying to work through for years. Today, he’d finally gotten through all the red tape and it was his to do with as he pleased.

I watched him pour the foamy, bubbly liquid in two glasses and he handed one to me. I smiled, watching as he held up his own glass in a toast.

He said something about a building and the future but that’s all I could make out before he clinked my glass and downed his champagne in one shot. I sipped mine slowly, knowing it would hit me quickly.

Champagne only affected me in one of two ways—it either made me very happy and giggly or it made me puke. The fact that I’d already consumed wine made me pretty sure where things were headed if I drank too much now.

Instead, I watched as Bear got drunk. I couldn’t say anything, because he was so happy, but why would I anyway? It wasn’t my place to say anything. He wasn’t driving. And, he was celebrating. He seemed so happy.

So, I sat there, doing what I thought I should be doing. We couldn’t talk to each other because of the music and he wasn’t making any move to dance, so I sat there, pretending to drink my champagne and smiling at him occasionally. Despite the fact that he hadn’t answered my question, it was obvious this was definitely not his first time here. At least six different women and three men came up to greet him. Each one leaned down, whispering in his ear and patting him on the back. I tried to ignore the gushing cheek kisses pressed to his face and the side glances that were thrown my way once they saw me sitting next to him and nobody tried to talk to me.

Finally, I got up to go to the ladies room, leaving him in the booth alone with his champagne and his endless stream of friends.

The line for the ladies room was out the door. I groaned and got in line behind a statuesque blonde with a skimpy red dress on. When she turned around, I realized it was the same girl from the steakhouse—Zoe Rothchild.

She recognized me immediately.

“Oh, it’s you!” she said. “I’m surprised to see you again.”

“Hello,” I said, my voice cold as ice. I’d already decided I hated her the first time.

“So, did it happen?” she asked.

“Did what happen?”

“Bear, of course. I warned you about him. Did he break your heart yet?”

“No,” I said. “We’re just friends.”

“Oh, please!” she laughed. “Bear isn’t just friends with any woman. Don’t forget what I said, little one,” she winked, “Bear Dalton will eat you alive!”

“I’m looking forward to it,” I replied, lifting my chin.

Fuck her, I thought. Who does she think she is? I don’t even know her and she thinks she can say these things to me?

She laughed again and then raked her eyes up and down my body.

“You aren’t his usual type,” she said, wrinkling her perfect little button nose. I suppressed a sudden urge to punch it. “Maybe you’ll stick around a little longer than the others.”

“But others, do you mean you, Zoe?” I asked.

“Oh, you’re a little firecracker, aren’t you?” she said, raising an eyebrow.

“Maybe I’m just not intimidated by women like you.”

“No?” she asked, putting a perfectly manicured finger up to her lips mockingly. “Well, good for you. Bear needs a woman who can take a lot of punishment.”

She turned away and walked into the stall, leaving me stand there, my heart racing, my face flushed. Another stall opened up and I walked in, locking the door behind me and falling into it. I didn’t care how long it took, I planned on staying in there until I was sure Zoe was gone. She was so creepy and her words sliced right through me.

How many people knew about Bear’s tendencies for rough sex? Did everyone know? Was I just one more notch on the wall of his dungeon?

I waited a good ten minutes, looking under the stalls for Zoe’s sky high red pumps. I didn’t see them, so I left the bathroom, slowly making my way back to Bear and keeping an eye out for Zoe at the same time. I was done talking to that bitch.

My heart sank when I saw her sitting in my seat next to Bear, the two of them laughing together. I started to turn away and leave them alone when I heard Bear call my name. I froze and turned back to see the two of them smiling at me and Bear gesturing for me to come back.

Deep breath, I reminded myself as I put one foot in front of the other. I plastered a fake smile on my face and nodded to them as I approached.

“Chloe, I want you to meet a dear friend of mine, Zoe Rothchild. Zoe, this is Chloe, she’s going to be designing my new hotel.”

She smiled and held out her hand. I reached out, shaking it, my stomach flipping in disgust.

“Chloe, that’s a big job,” she said.Don’t remind me, I thought.

“Yes, I’m looking forward to it,” I lied. In fact, I was lying so hard that I was surprised my pants hadn’t caught on fire. Oh, right, I wasn’t wearing any. In fact, I wasn’t wearing panties either. But still, if I was, there would have been flames. That’s how much I wasn’t looking forward to this job.

“I’m sure you’ll do a tremendous job,” she said. She reached over and put her hand over Bear’s and squeezed, flashing the fakest, whitest, widest smile I’d ever seen. I could have sown I saw a little sparkle flash from her teeth. “Working with Bear is a delight!”

“Yes, it is,” I replied, meeting her gaze daringly, shooting daggers into her with my eyes. “Have you had the pleasure?”

“Me?” she asked, throwing a teasing glance at Bear. “Well, yes, we’ve done a little business together.”

“Zoe is a designer herself, Chloe. She led the design team that worked on my first hotel ten years ago. We go way back. We met back in Yale.”

“Oh,” I said, my heart sinking as I watched the two of them stare admiringly at one another. “I see.”

“So, what are you?” she asked, looking back at me. “ Pratt? Parsons? Cornell?”

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“Where did you get your degree, Chloe?”

“Oh. Portland State,” I replied.

“Oh,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “That’s so cute! How quaint!”

My eyes landed on her perfect little beak once more. It was now raised so high up in the air I could see up it. I clenched my fists at my sides and realized that I’d never felt the need to actually punch someone before. Instead, I smiled at her silently, not bothering with a response to her thinly veiled insult.

“I should be going, Bear,” she said, kissing him again on the cheek. “I’m redesigning The Mark Hotel, did you hear?”

“I did not! Congratulations, dear,” he said, standing up as she did.

“Talk to you soon,” she said, turning to me and winking. “Nice to meet you, Chloe.”

I nodded, speechless.

The balls on that woman, I thought as I sat back down. I grabbed my glass of champagne and downed it. Bear looked at me curiously and smiled as he poured more in my glass.

“Want to dance?” he asked. I looked down at the crowded dance floor and shook my head.

“Not really,” I said. “Actually, can we get out of here? It’s a little too crowded. I could use some air.”

He reached over and squeezed my thigh, his warm hand sliding up under my skirt. He brushed his fingers against my bare pussy and nodded approvingly.

“That’s sounds like a good idea,” he said, “as soon as we finish this bottle!”

He turned and poured more champagne, drinking it quickly. I looked at the bottle and was equally delighted and dismayed that it was almost all gone. He’d drank a lot. And by the pulsing in my temples, I’d had a little too much myself.

But all I could think about was getting out of there, so I grabbed the bottle and poured the rest in my glass, downing it quickly.

“Now?” I asked.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding,” he laughed, grabbing his coat.

We trailed out of the club, which took twice as long as it normally would, because he stopped every few minutes to say goodbye to someone. To my relief, Zoe wasn’t anywhere in sight.

By the time we got back in the car, my head was throbbing.

“Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?” he asked, reaching for another drink from the bar.

“Sure,” I said, clutching my temples.

“You don’t seem like your normal self,” he remarked.

My normal self? I thought. What did that even look like? All of this was so far out of my usual self that I’d forgotten what normal actually looked like.

“I guess I’m just a little tired,” I said, trying to muster a smile. The truth was that seeing Zoe again had shaken me. Now that I’d seen Bear at his darkest, seen his secret dungeon, for lack of a better word, seen the side of him that I thought he didn’t show most people, I thought we had something special.

Zoe had managed to rip that all away in just a few words.

“Tired? But, Beauty, the night is still young!” he said, as he reached forward and pushed the button, the glass between us and his driver sliding down.

“Take us to the Empire State Building, please, Max,” he said.

“Yes, sir,” Max said.

“What!” I said. “Bear, it’s so late.”

“You haven’t been, have you? It’s open until two in the morning, love. You’ll love it! Trust me! It’s beautiful this time of night!”

“Okay, okay,” I relented, suppressing a yawn. More than anything, I wanted to go home. I wanted to think about everything, make sense of stuff that didn’t make sense to me yet.

We were silent on the drive. He kept drinking in the car, lost in his own thoughts. But by the time we arrived, he perked up, his eyes flashing with excitement.

“I haven’t been here in years!” he said. “The elevator ride alone is amazing.”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me inside. I waited while he bought tickets and when the elevator doors opened, we walked in first. We stood in the back while a few other people walked on.

Once the door closed, I jumped when I felt his hand slid up the back of my skirt. We were standing against the back wall of the elevator, out of view of everyone else, and my eyes widened when his fingers slid up and pressed against my naked ass. He slipped inside my asshole and I bit my lip to keep from crying out. I turned my head to look at him, but he stood staring straight ahead, as if his hand was half buried in my ass, his finger fucking in and out of me.

When the elevator dinged, he slid out and pulled the back of my skirt down as the people in front of us walked out. I looked back at him and he winked, grabbing my arm and leading me away from all the people.

“Come this way,” he said. “I want to show you something.”

He opened a door that led outside, a blast of cold air hitting us as soon as we stepped out. The city sparkled below us and we walked around the open observation deck that was lined with coin-operated telescopes.

“This is incredible!” I said, the wind blowing my hair around me.

“Isn’t it?” he asked, as he led me around the deck. “I knew you’d love it.”

“I do, Bear! It’s stunning!” The freezing wind had woken me up, all traces of sleepiness having vanished as soon as we stepped out into it.

“Look over there,” he finally stopped and pointed in the distance. “Lady Liberty herself!”

“Oh! That’s the first time I’ve seen her since I’ve been here,” I said.

“And look over there,” he pointed somewhere else. “That’s your apartment building.”

“Oh, I see it!” I said, squinting to try to make sense of the millions of lights laid out in front of us.

“Now, walk around here,” he said, leading me away again. I followed him, hand in hand until he stopped abruptly and turned around to face me. We were alone, with no other people in sight.

He let go of my hand and reached down, unzipping his pants and pulling out his rock hard cock.

“Suck it,” he growled.

“What? Here, Bear?” I asked, already shaking my head no.

“On your fucking knees, Chloe!” he said, his voice low and seething.

“But Bear—,” I began to protest.

He reached up and grabbed my head, pulling me into him and kissing me hard on the mouth.

“Shut the fuck up!” he growled. “Suck my cock now!”

“What about the people?” I cried, my pussy twitching with excitement.

“I don’t care about them. I don’t care if they see you sucking my cock, Chloe. I want your mouth and I want it right this fucking instant, do you fucking hear me?”

I sighed with dismay, looking over my shoulder before sinking to my knees in front of him.

“Mmm, good girl,” he whispered, stroking my hair as I slid his cock inside of my mouth. “That’s it, baby, that’s so good.”

His words shot right through me, waking up that part of me that I’d been so unable to access earlier. I was so worried about the job, about not knowing what I was doing, about trying to figure him out and figure out what all of this meant, that I couldn’t focus on the way he made me feel. I’d been worrying way too much.

Until now.

His cock slid back and forth between my lips, the skin so soft and velvety and hard, all at the same time, his throbbing, pulsing sex coming to life in my mouth. I moaned, twirling my tongue around the head and sucking him in hard, my hand reaching up and gripping his shaft.

I melted into the act, but at the same time, I was terrified of getting caught. Don’t people get arrested for stuff like this? I wondered. I couldn’t imagine the security guards took too lightly to people fucking up here. We were in a dark corner and while we hadn’t yet been discovered, once again, just like on the trail, I could hear faint voices approaching. I moved faster, sucking harder, swirling my tongue around him as fast as I could, hoping he would come quickly and we could finish this somewhere a lot warmer and much more private.

He had other ideas, though.

“Stand up,” he commanded, pulling his cock from my grip.

I stood up, ignoring the pain in my knees from kneeling. I met his gaze and saw the fiery passion there that I’d come to love. Something stirred in me, as if he was creating a storm inside of me and churning it up into some kind of furious wild abandon that gripped my soul.

He turned me around, his hands on my waist as he pushed me up against a window. He reached down, pulling my skirt up around my hips and exposing my bare ass and pussy to all of New York City.

“Isn’t this exciting?” he growled. “You could get caught at any moment, Chloe, then everyone will know what a slut you are.”

I groaned, my pussy spasming at his words, my nipples hardening into tiny little pebbles of forbidden arousal.

His hand landed smartly on my ass, smacking it hard before he plunged his cock inside of my pussy. I was already wet. So fucking wet. And within seconds, I was writhing on his hardness, loving the delicious smooth slide of his piercing cock. He reached up and grabbed my hair, pulling my head back as he fucked into me. His other hand reached into the top of my dress, pulling out my breasts and pinching my nipples hard.

I cried out, unable to stay quiet during his relentless fucking. I spasmed around his shaft, coming hard and quick, pulsing around him as he pistoned in and out of me.

“Good girl,” he growled in my ear. “Yes, Chloe, come on my cock, that’s it, baby.”

I came hard, again and again, as he continued fucking me.

I was just catching my breath when I felt him pull out. I thought he was finished and started to raise myself up, but his hand landed on the middle of my back and he pushed me back down.

“I’m not done,” he said. My eyes flew open as I felt the head of his cock press against my asshole. I shook my head frantically.

“I don’t think I can do that, Bear,” I cried, looking over my shoulder at him.

“Yes you can,” he said, pressing forward. I whimpered, completely bewildered as to why he would attempt something like this here, on top of the Empire State Building, of all places.

I’d never been fucked in the ass before, not officially. Sure, I’d had fingers and vibrators, but that is nothing compared to a live, hard cock, as I was about to discover.

I felt the pain immediately.

Burning, searing, white-hot pain flashed through my body as he slid inside of me.

“Bear!” I cried, doing my best to stay still.

He began thrusting in and out of my ass slowly and at first, I couldn’t believe how much it hurt. Hot, stinging tears welled up in my eyes.

“Oh, baby, baby,” he growled behind me, kissing my neck. “You’re so fucking tight. So warm. So fucking perfect.” He reached around me, finding my clit and slowly rubbing it as he slowly fucked in and out of me. Within seconds of him touching my clit, the pain began to change into hot waves of pleasure bubbling up inside of me, my pussy once again flowing like a river.

A deep moan escaped from my lips, the pain fading away completely until I was writhing in the purest pleasure, my body pressed up against the window as he pounded into my ass. Savage, raw, delicious passion ripped through me, turning every nerve in my body into a symphony of bliss that took over my entire soul, until I was coming again, my body seizing up around him as he continued to fuck into me. He swelled bigger and hotter inside of me, his cock throbbing as he exploded, his hot seed spilling out, burning me with his sweet release.

He fell against my back, panting, his cock sliding out of me, leaving me yearning for more. I moaned, turning my face back to his.

“That was incredible,” I said, my eyes wide with wonder.

“Better than the view?” he asked, a sly smile on his face. I pulled my skirt down and turned around as he pushed his cock back into his pants and zipped them up.

“Much better than the view,” I whispered, a sense of something I couldn’t quite name rushing over me.

Was it love? It felt like love. It felt like I’d never felt before. My heart was full and all I wanted to do was fall into his arms. I’d never done that before and I’d certainly never expected that to happen in a place like this, let alone with a man like him.

Suddenly, I felt so vulnerable. I wanted him to hold me. I wanted him to kiss me gently and tell me everything really did make sense, even if it didn’t seem that way.

But he didn’t. He turned away, taking in the view, as if he hadn’t just plunged himself into my most sacred place.

“Let’s go,” he said, walking away from me, his gait a little unsteady. Silently, I followed him, studying his back for some sign of emotion.

Nothing.

We got back in the elevator and he didn’t touch me the entire ride back down. When we got back in the limo, he sat opposite me, reaching for more champagne.

I sighed, shifting gingerly. Between the bruises and welts still on my skin and the pounding he had just given my ass, I was pretty proud of the fact that I wasn’t crying out from all the pain. Now that he wasn’t inside of me, the pleasure had faded and the wincing and stinging was back in full force.

“How well do you know Zoe?” I asked, my words seeming to come from out of nowhere. I certainly hadn’t planned on letting them escape my stupid brain, but they fell out like a bunch of oranges from a shopping bag.

“Zoe?” he asked, confusion filling his eyes.

“Yes,” I asked, staring over at him. He squinted a second, then cocked his head.

“Why do you ask?”

“She seems to know a lot about you,” I remarked.

“She does?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said. “Did she tell you I met her in the bathroom? That wasn’t the first time, either. I saw her the first time at that steak house we went to.”

“She didn’t tell me any of that,” he shook his head. “What did she say to you? She can be a bit of a bitch sometimes.”

“She said you would eat me alive,” I said, raising my chin.

His laughter echoed through the limo and he slapped his knee.

“She told you that, did she?” he said, gasping for air.

“I’m glad you think that’s funny,” I said.

“Don’t you?”

“No, not particularly,” I said.

“Surely, you aren’t jealous of Zoe Rothchild, are you?” he said.

“What place do I have to be jealous of anyone?” I said, spitting out the words. Anger began welling up in side of me. Maybe it was because I was feeling so lost, so vulnerable. Maybe I just needed answers. Maybe none of this was for me and I didn’t have the skills to handle it.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked.

“Never mind,” I shook my head, looking away from him. I didn’t want any part of his piercing gaze. I didn’t want him to look right through me anymore. I didn’t want him to see my confusion, my uncertainty, my self-doubt. I hated being vulnerable.

I wanted him to see a sophisticated woman, like Zoe, when he looked at me. So far, I was pretty sure that wasn’t happening.

“Chloe,” he said. “Look at me.”

“Forget I said anything,” I replied, refusing to look his way. The limo pulled up in front of my apartment building and I took a deep breath. Putting my hand on the door handle, I turned back to look at him finally.

He looked confused and lost and buzzed.

“Chloe, what’s going on?” he asked.

“I can’t do this,” I said.

“Do what, darling?”

I shook my head, his beautiful dark eyes staring back at me, and I knew this moment would probably haunt me forever.

“This, Bear, I can’t do this. All of it.”

“Is it the job? Chloe, we can find something else for you to do, if you want.”

“It’s the job, yes. But it’s more than that. I can’t do this right now. I don’t even know what I’m doing!”

“Chloe, calm down. Everything is going to be fine.”

“No, it isn’t!” I cried. “I don’t even know who you are, Bear. One minute, you’re gentle and loving and the next minute you’re acting like I’m some whore you picked up in Times Square!”

“They don’t have whores in Times Square anymore,” he said, smiling.

I crossed my arms and looked away, shaking my head.

“Chloe, come on—,” he began, reaching for me.

I put out a hand and shook my head.

“No, Bear,” I said.

I got out of the car and stood on the sidewalk, staring down at him in the limo. I shook my head, my heart in my throat.

“I’m sorry, Bear,” I said, my voice quivering with emotion.

“Chloe, let’s talk about this.”

“Peaches.”

“What!” he yelled. “Chloe! Come on!”

I shook my head and walked away, tears spilling down my face.