“I know you won’t.”

There was something else happening in those beautiful green eyes. Another worry that had surfaced.

“Tell me what else is wrong,” he said gruffly.

She pulled in a shaky breath. “Is there something wrong with me that I want to be treated like…like I do when Camille was being hurt at home?”

His heart rolled over in his chest. Brick closed his eyes and took a breath. “Remington.”

A single tear rolled down her cheek and broke his fucking heart.

“You know it’s different.”

She sniffled. “I know you’re different. But does it mean there’s something wrong with me that I like it when my best friend...”

“Baby, come here.” He couldn’t stand watching her worry her way through this alone. He sat on the bed and pulled her into his lap. “What we do together, we agree on.”

“Technically don’t Camille and Warren have an agreement? She stays or he’ll kill her.”

Brick tucked her head under his chin. “This is different. You’re the one who told me that nothing we do together is wrong.”

She nodded. “And I believe that. I really do. It’s just it feels muddled in my head right now. Like maybe I shouldn’t want it. Or it shouldn’t make me feel so…safe? So I don’t know, treasured?”

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Baby, what we have is different. This isn’t me controlling you with physical force. You know that, right?”

She nodded. “It is about control, but you don’t want to control me. You like it when I surrender to you.”

He fucking lived for it. A wild creature like Remi giving up control to him, trusting him to take care of her, was a potent turn-on. It filled a void in him that he hadn’t known existed.

“I do,” he agreed. “And you like submitting to me and letting me take that control. We both get something out of it. It’s a mutual agreement. A mutual satisfaction. Do you know that I would never hurt you in that way?”

“Don’t be a dumbass just because I’m being one,” Remi said.

“Then you also need to realize that if someone tried to hurt you the way Vorhees hurts Camille, I’d end him.”

She stiffened in his arms and didn’t relax until he began to rub little circles in her neck with his fingers.

“I’m not trying to humiliate you or control you, Remi. I’m trying to give you what you need. In return, you give me the same.”

“What do you need?” she asked softly, melting against him.

“I get off on having the uncontrollable Remington Ford do what I say. But, baby, when we have our clothes on and we’re out in public, if you started playing submissive with me, I’d lose my damn mind. I love your wild side. I love your fearlessness. I love your independence even when it drives me fucking crazy. When you let me take you, when you give yourself to me? There’s nothing more intoxicating in the world than you thinking I’m good enough to surrender to.”