“Why?” Lance asked, still staring at the collar but not touching it.

“I don’t know. Why do girls who don’t have boyfriends buy bridal magazines? They buy them to dream, I guess. Even Dominatrixes have dreams.”

“I wish I could make your dreams come true, Mistress.”

“You can. For an hour maybe. Dreams don’t last long. They don’t even last the whole night.”

“How? I’ll do anything.”

“Wear this for me. Accept it. Be mine until morning since that’s all we have left.”

“It’s not enough time.”

“How much would be enough?” she asked, not expecting an answer. “The longer we put this off, the more it will hurt, the more people who will know about us. You know she’s more important to you than I am. You know she has to be.”

Lance nodded reluctantly.

Nora unbuckled the lock on the collar.

“Until dawn?” she asked. “Just until then?”

“Yes. Better an hour in paradise than a lifetime outside the walls.”

“Come inside,” she said and raised the collar.

“Are you sure? You shouldn’t waste something—”

She laid her hand on the side of his face and caressed his stubble with her thumb.

“The night we met you gave the bartender a ten-dollar tip for seven dollars’ worth of beer at a club where the alcohol is free and the only guys who tip the server are trying to get her in bed which you weren’t. Yes, I’m sure. And no, it’s not a waste.”

Lance raised no more objections. He leaned forward and rested his forehead head on her shoulder. Nora locked the collar around his neck and he sat up straight again. As she knew it would, it fit Lance perfectly. Never in her twelve years in the Underground had she seen a more handsome collared sub. The collar drew attention to the muscles in his shoulders and his powerful neck. He looked stronger in it, not weaker, more manly, not less.

“You’re mine.” She kissed his lips. “My property. My possession. My slave and servant. My knight and my protector.”

“Yours,” he said and seemingly could say no more.

Nora placed her hands on either side of his neck, feeling his pulse beating against the leather collar.

“Make love to me any way you want. Whatever your fantasy is, whatever your dream, live it with me now. Don’t worry if I’ll like it or not, because I’m with you. I know I’ll love it.”

Lance slid out of the bed and stood behind her. He pressed his naked body against her back. Nora’s hips were flush with the bed. Against her lower back she felt his erection, impossibly hard and thick. He kissed the side of her neck and the leather of the collar scraped her skin, a sensation so surprising and erotic that chills passed through her all the way to her feet. For one brief moment she thought of Søren. Had he relished the feel of her collar on his shoulder or chest as she lay under him? Did he miss it now that she no longer wore it?