She might have the stupid panties on under her dress and they might burn like they were made of fire, but she rolled her eyes and forced her back straight. “The doctor-patient fantasy is incredibly overdone. You know that, right?”

“I’m going to ask you some questions and you had better answer them honestly. Your future will be much more unpleasant and uncomfortable if you lie.”

A new knot of tension coiled in her belly. “What kind of questions?”

“Have you ever done anal?”

Her mouth dropped. She was so terrified she forgot to be humiliated. “What the freaking what?” It took her more than a moment to find her balance again. “I’m not going to answer that.”

“I suppose I’ll just have to guess as to the size of the butt plug I’m going to purchase for you.”

“Fuck you!”

“Sadly, I won’t be participating past an instructor level. I thought I’d made that clear. I’m not going to touch you with any part of my physical body.”

“What kind of terrible things do you fantasize about?”

A few words, a single sentence, knocked down her tower of bricks she’d walled around herself. She was vulnerable now. Exposed. That contract wasn’t specific. She’d never insisted on a list of things Rome couldn’t do. She’d blindly signed, like a total amateur and an idiot. When was she ever going to learn that she couldn’t trust anyone? That chivalry was indeed dead, and honor was a foreign concept to people like Rome and to institutions like insurance companies, which started this whole stupid mess.

They might have finished it, but they didn’t start it. One man lied and lied and took those lies to court and had a judge decide in his favor. He’s the one responsible for all of this. If she was more of a wolf, a true wolf, if she’d been raised in a different world by different parents, if it was kill or be killed, if she was more like Rome,she would hunt that bastard down and force him to give back every penny of her money. She’d make him admit the truth.

Even thinking about harming another person, even one who had lied and ruined her and caused her downfall, caused her to have to trade her body in this terrible exchange, sickened her.

She wasn’t that kind of wolf.

She’d rather endure six months of humiliation and depravity.

And clearly, it was going to be utterly depraved. She’d been so naïve to think there could be a limit.

“That’s a question for me to ask you. It’s only fair that you enjoy our time together. It would be much more pleasant that way.”

“It’s so cliché that you’d enjoy this.” She finally looked into his black eyes again. There was nothing in the indoor lighting to distinguish the parts of them. No ring, no bursts, no grains, no patterns. Just endless black like a starless night.

“Explain.”

“You enjoy pain.”

“You’re equally as tattooed as I am.”

“I’m an artist. It’s different. I don’t enjoy anyone’s pain. I try to do my best to limit the discomfort if I can.”

“Do you like it when your clients go against your advice? When you know it could be easy for them and they refuse? When they need to punish themselves to prove something?”

His eyes might be black, but they were a lake of fire, probing her skin, trying to get inside her. She wrapped her arms around her torso like she could ward him off. They were at an end, she could feel it. An end of his patience, his questions, his willingness to wait. A new kind of torture was about to begin.

Chapter 4

Rome

This was never going to do. He wasn’t about to issue commands that wouldn’t be obeyed.

Seren had come to him. She’d signed his contract. She hadn’t given him a damn list of things she wasn’t willing to do. He’d given her the money and she’d already put it to use. She wasn’t properly grateful as she should be. She needed to be taught a lesson.

“Get on your knees.” His harsh command changed the tone in the room.

Seren’s eyes went wide, but she tried to cover by rolling them. “How absolutely token.”

“Trust me, you want to obey.”