And why were those instincts scrambled between trust and mistrust, unable to see the truth hiding in his lies?

My office returned. The alley disappeared. Penn was still there. His pressure on my shoulder stronger, pestering me to fall into servitude before him.

I breathed hard. “You expect me to wrap my lips around your cock? Here? Now? In my office?”

He nodded. “Absolutely.” He fisted my hair without warning, tilting my head to attack my throat with his mouth and teeth. “Here, you’re god. Here, you’re in charge. It turns me the fuck on knowing you’re the one with all the power, yet you’re considering getting on your knees to serve me.”

It took every ounce of willpower, every brave denial, but I managed to untangle my fingers from his and tear my neck from his kisses. “Too bad for you, you’ll have to remain turned on. I have no intention of doing such a thing.”

“What are you afraid of?” His eyes narrowed. “You know this is a game. You understand the rules.”

“I don’t understand any of this.”

“The rules are sex. Mutually enjoyed sex. Despite what you think, you like being told what to do.” He gathered me close, inhaling my perfume. “Give me two minutes. Two minutes to command you, and if you don’t like it, I’ll walk away.”

My heart beat crazy. “Two minutes?”

He bit his lip, nodding. “You have my word.”

“If you break it, I’m turning you into a eunuch with a sharp kick.”

He chuckled, stepping back and spreading his thighs. “There are worst things I can imagine than your leg between mine.” His eyes were dark as nightmares. “But for now, get on your fucking knees.”

Get her on her knees.

A similar command had torn me apart. The thought of sucking strange men in an alley grotesque. However, this command turned my chest into a furnace, charring my heart to dust.

I didn’t know what happened to my brain.

I didn’t understand how hate could be such an aphrodisiac.

But he circumnavigated the CEO. He spoke to some primitive part of me.

I wanted to tell him to leave.

I wanted to prove I had more respect than that.

Yet I sank down the door to my knees.

Sage watched me as if all her respect for me as her human evaporated.

Damn cat.

Penn shuddered, looking part monster, part angel. “Shit, you make me hard when you obey.” His gaze fell on my breasts. “Now that you’re playing, we’re going to do a little show and tell.”

Before we show you ours, you have to show us yours.

The alley.

I was back there again.

Huddled in pain, grasping at dignity.

I stayed silent, doing my best to stay alive while my heart tried to slam through my ribs.

The past and future were merely two dimensions separated from each other by the present. Yet I lived in neither. I existed in the glue bridging them together, somehow allowing three years ago to affect today.

I wanted Nameless to barge into my world and rescue me for the second time.

Penn’s hands fell to his belt, pushing aside the tails of his midnight blazer, and undoing the leather slowly. “I’m going to show you what you do to me, Elle. But in return, I want to see you.”

Let’s see what your tits are like.

I gulped.

He morphed into one of those bastards, flickering with Adidas symbols and expensive suits. He never looked away as he pulled the belt, unthreading it and letting it hang in the loops. “Unbutton your shirt.”

Forcing myself to shed the memories and focus entirely on him, I latched onto the most idiotic thing I’d ever uttered. “It’s a blouse.”

“I don’t care.” His growl echoed through my core. “Unbutton it.”

My hands shook but slowly connected with the pearl buttons and hesitantly undid one.

This was now. Penn was now. Nameless was yesterday.

It took more effort than I could afford, but I shut the door on the past and slotted firmly back into the present.

“The next.” Penn trembled as he locked his hands on the button of his waistband. The crisp cream shirt and dark jeans he wore made him untouchable yet so normal.

I popped the next button, breathing hard and quick.

He followed, undoing his and pulling on his zipper.

Without waiting for his command, I undid buttons three then four; my eyes locked on his hands as he pulled his zipper down and down.

When my blouse hung undone, and his zipper had nowhere else to go, our eyes met.

Our lips parted; mirrored images of desire.

“Open it.” His voice had lost the playful kink from before, slipping straight into serious smut. “Let me see you.”

With bravery I didn’t know I had, I pushed my blouse away from my breasts, revealing the dusky pink bra.

He groaned, his hand disappearing into his jeans.

My stomach clenched so hard, so deep, I bent over a little in surprise.

His lips twisted. “Do you like that?” He squeezed himself, his thighs tightening beneath the denim. “Do you like knowing I’m this hard all because of you? That I haven’t been this hard in years. That all I can think about is sticking this in every place you’ll let me.”

Oh. My. God.

I swam in heat. I drowned in liquid. I was so wet my panties were soaked.

“Pull your bra down, and I’ll show you more.”

My fingers hooked on the front cups of my bra as his latched around his jeans and levered them a little off his hips. Never looking away, objectifying both of us by only watching our bodies and not our souls, he reached into his tight black boxer-briefs and pulled out his cock.