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He took my hand in his, guiding me to an area in his mansion that I hadn’t toured before. Honestly, we’d spent most of our time in the kitchen, living room, or his bedroom. There was never a reason to venture off anywhere else.

Trailing behind him, the house was so quiet that my heels echoed off the marble floors, and the sound of my heart thumping erratically in my chest was loud enough to bounce off the lavish art lining the hallway.

I didn’t often get nervous, but Hunter had me in a tailspin. If he didn’t show me whatever it was that he wanted to in the next sixty seconds, my heart might fall out of my chest at this rate.

Coming to a full stop, his hand rested on the handle of a cryptic door at the end of his hallway.

“My job is very important to me, so is my image. I keep a lot of things close to my chest, Andi. Especially this.”

“Should I be worried?”

“I hope not.”

Twisting the knob, he pushed open the door, and I had to admit … I don’t think I’d ever been so shocked in my life.

This room was fairly new. Everyone that had a hand in remodeling it had to sign an NDA. Anyone that had ever stepped foot in this room, including women I’d been with in the past, were also asked to sign an NDA before even seeing it.

But with Andi, it was different.

She gave me her trust, and I was giving her mine.

As I walked through the door with Andi’s hand in mine, the rich smells of vanilla and sandalwood drifted around us. The lights were dim, and the Himalayan salt lamps offered a warm glow.

This room was everything that I had in mind.

Sexy.

Erotic.

Sensual.

A place to escape.

Since meeting Andi, I’d experienced a wide variety of her emotions. I’d seen her sad and vulnerable, sarcastic and witty, carefree and happy. But this had to be the first time I’d seen her truly in shock.

“Hunter Wolfe.” Her jaw was slack, and her eyes grew wide as she took in the scenery around us.

“Andi, remember that night between us when you mentioned making me your fuck toy?” Inching closer to her, I watched as she took in her surroundings, slowly running my fingers down her arms.

“Y-Yes. I do,” she stuttered in a hushed whisper that I almost would have missed if it wasn’t so quiet in here.

“How would you feel if the tables were turned? If you handed me over the control and allowed me to play with you in whichever ways you were comfortable with?”

Andi spun around to face me, her deep green eyes filled with lust and curiosity.

“Are you asking me to fully give up my control freak tendencies, Hotshot?”

My lips lifted into a smirk. “When you kissed me back in that shitty motel room and told me I’d been your first kiss in however many years … I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how it felt that you allowed me that kind of control.” My fingers danced along her collar bone, toying with the gold body jewelry that dipped below her cleavage.

“I want to tie you up and have my way with you. To hear you scream my name because you’ve lost all control. I don’t know every little thing you’ve done intimately, but I want to own as many firsts as I can from you and never allow another person to take that away from me. I want you to submit to me, Andi, but most of all, I need you to trust me in every aspect.”

For a moment there, quietness filled the space between us, but not one that worried me. The type of silence that told me she was thinking of her next move.

Patiently, I waited for Andi to take in everything I’d just said. I was blatantly aware that this room, my request, this side of me, could all come as a bit of a shock to her. Before tonight, I was Hunter: the owner of the Las Vegas Neon; the widower who had stayed single for decades because I couldn’t find my perfect match; the man who quit playing hockey because he couldn’t step foot on the ice without having a panic attack for years. To most, I was a weak man who had suffered the worst type of loss at too early of an age.

But years ago, it was something one of my therapists said to me that got me thinking.

Find a way to let go of the hurt and the pain of the things you can’t control. When you start to find yourself aching inside because it cuts too deep, remember you’re the one in control of your emotions. You don’t have to live your days being angry at a decision that someone else made. Yes, it has affected your life. But it doesn’t need to take over your future. Find something you can control and focus on that.