“No, Master.”

“I’m not surprised. You won’t be having one with me, either.” His pronouncement excited her more. Perhaps she saw a challenge in it—or a game. She’d find out soon enough he was serious. The only person coming tonight would be him. Or there would be dire consequences.

This time, he took it slow. There were no guests to get back to, and for better or worse, Faith knew where he was. He spent half an hour tying Caprice up. He wanted her immobile and unable to squirm away, while still being accessible and open.

“Ow! These ropes are too tight, and they’re scratching me.”

Leo stepped back to observe his work, ignoring her whining.

“Leo!”

He extracted a collapsible, stainless steel cane from his bag, then with a sharp flick of his wrist, extended it to its full size. He whacked her on the ass, and she let out a sharp squeal.

“What did I say my name was?”

“Master,” she gasped. That tinge of fear was back in her eyes, and remembering herself, she quickly averted her gaze to the floor as the tears started to flow.

Leo went to the minibar and poured himself a drink, then sat in an overstuffed chair, his eyes drinking in his captive.

“Why are you with her?” Caprice asked after a few minutes.

“What kind of question is that? She’s my fiancée.”

“But she’s not like us. I just don’t understand what you see in her. Are you trying to be a martyr? I can give you what you want. If you break up with her, I’ll do anything. I swear. We shouldn’t have broken up.”

He downed the rest of his drink and placed the glass on the side table, his eyes narrowing. “You’ll manipulate and connive and cheat and get whatever you want while pretending to be my slave. You’ll play the good girl when I’m watching and do whatever the hell you want when I’m not. I put you up here as my guest, and I walk in to find you screwing another man under the sheets my credit card paid for. We might not be in a relationship, but that’s tacky by anyone’s standards.”

She turned away.

“Well, am I wrong?”

“You want too much,” she said, barely above a whisper.

“Yes, and that was the conclusion we came to the last time we had this conversation when we were breaking up. You gave me an ultimatum, and I told you to leave. The fact that you felt you could give me an ultimatum is 90 percent of the problem. I don’t want to play a game with you!”

“Then why are you here playing one? Is the vanilla suburban wife game going to be any more appealing to you? Missionary position, lights off. Is that better than this? I can’t give you everything, Leo, but I can give you something.”

Two women in his bed in the same night, both promising him half of the whole he craved. It wasn’t enough. From either of them. He rose slowly, alcohol and predation running through his veins and bent to grab the back of her neck.