She’s shivering.

Gia looks so miserable; it brings me back to the time in Belarus. I take a deep breath. I need to keep the memory where it is, at least for right now.

It belongs in the past.

Everything about that belongs in the past.

When we walk up to the row house, I set her down and I press the code that opens the garage. I have no idea if it’s going to be occupied by a renter right now; there are private chambers that I keep open just in case, but most of my properties are either vacation rentals or occupied by people who just rent them from me.

It looks like there’s no one here.

We walk across the cement floor of the garage, shoes squelching. When we get to the door that leads up to the living room, Gia pauses.

“Gia?”

“This… is yours?” Her brown eyes are wide, and I think she might be going into shock.

“Yes.”

“How?”

I smile. “There are some secrets even you don’t know, Gia Rossi.”

She shakes her head.

I shut the door behind us and carry Gia upstairs to the primary suite. There are towels hanging on the rack, soap in the shower, and a bathtub built to hold an entire soccer team.

I gently set her down. “I can leave if you want.”

She shakes her head. “No. I… I think I need help getting out of this.”

I look down at her expensive leather Chanel suit.

“I’ll bet you do.”

Slowly, I help Gia undress. The cold at this point is getting to me too. Every motion that I take feels like it’s taking too much time, and my limbs feel heavy.

Heavier than usual.

I turn when she’s in her bra and underwear, trying to keep my eyes off of the tanned expanse of her skin. I turn and start to turn the bathtub on, testing the taps until they’re warm.

“Get in,” I whisper against her neck.

She shivers.

That one, tiny reaction sets off a chain reaction in my chest that’s like a nuclear bomb. My skin explodes with heat, my eyes focus on Gia, and my cock starts to swell against my too-wet pants.

She liked that.

Gia Rossi. The bossiest woman that I’ve ever met. The woman who has haunted my dreams for nearly a year now.

She liked that I gave her an order.

And she’s following it.

Still in her underwear, Gia gets into the tub. She sits there, shaking, then turns her beautiful face up to me.

“What about you?”