With her eyes on me, Ava slowly crosses her legs again, smirking as I watch her do it with a pained expression on my face. She’s like a bratty submissive who is begging to be tamed, and I’m so tired of holding back. I close my eyes and let the pained expression melt away. I drop the mask I’ve been wearing all day—the one I don every morning as I leave the house and walk around to talk to people. I let the Dom inside me come to the forefront, and when my eyes open, it’s he who has taken over.

Oh, my god. He’s going to do it!

“Ava,” I say, my voice a low growl as I finally let myself think about all the ways I want to touch her. “Put your legs back where they were.”

Ava’s bratty smirk shifts as she lowers her head and smiles at me. She slowly places both of her feet back on the floor and stops moving, waiting for my next instruction.

“Open them,” I command, pointing to her legs.

Oh, my fucking god! Right there in the office? Right there in the office!

Ava spreads her legs, letting me see her gorgeous little pussy, and all of my nerves evaporate. Instead of feeling anxious, I’m empowered. Situations like these are where I feel the most at home. This is where I can be my true self, and God bless the woman who’s capable of bringing this out of me.

With a new smirk on my face, I rise from my seat and walk over to Ava, stepping right between her knees and forcing them apart with my legs. I know she wants me to reach down and touch her there, but she’ll have to earn that. Instead, I wrap my hand around her throat.

The darkness in me slams against its cage, roaring to be released by the mention of a hand on a throat, and it sends me reeling.

I want that. I want it so bad it hurts. I want to be choked … hard. Choke me until there’s no breath left.

Goddamn it.

I jump off the couch, nearly knocking over the now-empty glass of wine on the end table as I run into the bedroom. In a frenzy, I quickly make my way over to the nightstand and pull open the bottom drawer, where my beloved rose suction vibrator sleeps peacefully. I yank it out of the drawer and run back into the living room, loosening the drawstring on my robe as I go. I pick the book back up and make myself comfortable on my back as I turn on the rose and continue reading.