I’d dragged him outside to get some air when I’d been about ready to implode from wanting him, only to run into Reaper.

Reaper had broken my heart and it had taken me years to put the pieces back together. He was the first and only dom I’d ever truly submitted to and I’d been in love with him when he’d pushed me away and gone down a self-destructive spiral. I’d been left questioning my worth. I never wanted to have my sense of self on the table again for someone to casually strip away.

Standing up there spinning fire poi, Reaper had looked almost primordial, like something out of a Bacchanalian rite. Then he’d spotted me and winked, a move that would’ve made me weak at the knees once upon a time, but I was mostly immune to his charm now. Goddess save me from charming men.

“You brought your new boyfriend to a party at my house? Dirty tease…”

The low voice that came from the darkness to my left sent shivers down my spine, proving I wasn’t as immune to Reaper’s charm as I liked to think I was.

I hadn’t heard him approach and refused to turn and look at him. “You think everything is about you. It isn’t.”

He chuckled. “Did you bring him to make me jealous or do you plan to share?”

“Fuck off, Reaper.” I started to walk the other direction down the hall.

He was on me in what felt like seconds. He spun me by the wrist to face him and pinned me against his body.

In a flash, every old instinct rose to the surface, to be obedient, to submit, to serve him.

He cupped my chin possessively, smiling because he knew. “He can’t make you feel the way I do.”

He leaned in to kiss me.

I’d waited years for this from him, for him to want me back badly enough to fight for it. But I didn’t want it anymore.

“Sasquatch.”

His eyes widened, but he immediately released me.

It was the first time I’d ever used a safe word with him. I didn’t want to talk or tease or play. I was done with these head games.

I found Alex just down the hall.

He held his hands up innocently. “I didn’t know where to go and thought I would get myself into more trouble guessing than just waiting for you.”

I couldn’t see most of his expression because of the mask, but his eyes were assessing and intense. To our left, a man was kneeling in front of a woman, head between her thighs as he brought her such pleasure she was gasping and pulling his hair.

Alex asked, “Is it normal to feel a little out of control here, watching and holding back and thinking you might go crazy?”

That rumbling deep voice was a form of foreplay in its own right.

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never tried to be here as an observer before.”