Passing through a lobby decorated in green marble, Rawn led me to an elevator and hit the button for the top floor. The penthouse.

"Is this where you live?" I asked, my palms suddenly sweating with the anticipation of what would come next.

"No," he said. "No more questions."

I was disappointed, but I swallowed it, glad just to be in his company.

As it turned out, there was more than one apartment on the top floor. The one we entered was smaller than I'd imagined, but it was modern and pristine-with a breathtaking view of the river and the surrounding woodland.

"Is this our new love shack?" I joked.

"Of sorts," he said, serious.

"Oh."

Again, I was disappointed. Rawn had meant what he said when he'd warned me he could not offer me what I deserved. There would be no Sundays being lazy in his home, wherever that was. No sorting through his closet so that I could steal one of his shirts. We may have feelings for each other, but this was as far as it went.

Sex was just sex.

"You're not married, are you?" I asked, feeling my temper rise out of my disappointment.

"No," he said vehemently. "I'm not husband material. I'm selfish about my own time."

"Then why do we have to travel all the way out here to fuck?"

His expression didn't alter. "Because my home is like my office. Mostly, I just work there. Here is something entirely different. Here is where my heart is. Let me show you what I've been working on all day." With his hand between my shoulder blades, he led me into the bedroom.

My mouth dropped open in awe.

The walls were freshly wallpapered in a lavish champagne gold-except for one wall that was almost entirely glass, looking out across the river and woodlands. Against it was a beige lounger with extensive embroidery within its cushions. At the back of the room, facing the glass, was a four poster bed with a matching beige satin comforter. Bordering the wall nearest to the bed was a wall of wardrobes built of wood so pale, it resembled sandstone.

"You've recreated our hotel suite in Italy," I said, admiring the rich textures of the room, moved by the gift. "It's wonderful."

"There's more," he revealed. "And now, the secret."

Lifting a remote from the bed, he pressed a button, causing the wardrobes to slide open.

Immediately, my body began to pulse. With all the blood rushing down to my core, I was left speechless. And turned on.

The wardrobe closest to the bed was the most tame, containing an array of lingerie on padded hangers, all in my size, from silk nightgowns to tiny fragments of leather that covered nothing, meant for visual pleasure only.

Beside it was a wall of vibrators on display as if they were Jimmy Choos. Gold ones that matched the room, small enough to hide in the palm of my hand. Big ones. Curvy ones. Popular ones. Every imaginable kind of vibrator there was.

But the vibrators were innocent compared to the final wardrobe. Lined in black velvet, it housed rows upon rows of handcuffs, whips, blindfolds, feathers, and other devices I had never seen before except in medieval paintings.

"You've created a sex room," I said, trailing my hand along the lingerie. "Our own personal Gabinetto Segreto."

"For you," he told me, coming up behind me, moving my hair off my neck so that he could kiss it. "For your pleasure."

"And yours, I'm sure," I murmured, enjoying his kisses on my neck, hoping his lips would soon find their way to where my body pulsed the most.

"And mine," he concurred.

"Then please me," I cooed. "I'm here."

"Not now," he stated. "Rest here tonight. Explore the room. Explore yourself. I'll be back tomorrow. Don't leave. Wait for me."

"What about work?" I asked. "I can't miss the first meeting for the product launch."

He tensed and moved away. "The meeting isn't until the end of the day. I'll have you back by then. But there is something I'd like to talk to you about. Will you join me in the living room for a drink?"

Rawn was asking nicely. It unnerved me. Knowing him only as a cool, confident, passionate man, this mild side sent warning bells ringing in my head.

"Okay," I said, not sure if everything was okay.

Taking a seat on the plush couch in the living room, I waited as he poured two glasses of champagne. When he joined me on the couch, he was back to the Rawn I knew-relaxed and in control.

"My assistant called me today from Fiji. She's pregnant, so she's decided to find employment less demanding of her time. She won't be returning. It's her choice, and I respect her decision."

"Does that mean I get to keep her laptop?" I joked, afraid of where the conversation was headed.

"No. When her honeymoon is over, she'll come to collect her stuff. Madison, I want you to be my new assistant."

I no longer had to be afraid of where the conversation was headed. It was already there. I couldn't escape it.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," I said, wishing I could throw a blanket over my head again. "I don't think being so close to you will be good."

"But you agreed to come with me here."

"You know as much as I that I was never going to stay away forever. That's why you created the secret room. It's something we can share-in private. Away from everyone. Here, we can pretend that what we have isn't dangerous, that neither of us is going to walk away from this brokenhearted. We can't do that if we carry this...relationship into the office."

Contemplative, he took a drink of his champagne. "Do you consider me incapable of love?"

I was taken aback. "Isn't that what you've been warning me against?"

"I am very much capable of love," he revealed. "It's commitment I have an issue with."

"You want to sleep with other girls?"

"No. I just don't want to hurt the woman I'm sleeping with when I can't give her everything she deserves. When she needs companionship but I'm at the office for a week straight. Or visiting my family. Commitment is a responsibility, and I'm tired of responsibilities. Love, on the other hand...that I enter into freely."

Was Rawn telling me he loved me? It was impossible. We barely knew each other.

My heart was torn in a thousand different directions. If I understood correctly, I could have his bed, I could even have his heart, but I couldn't have him.

It should have been reassurance. I was as dangerous for Rawn as he was for me. But I knew, deep down, it wasn't enough. When it came to Rawn, I wanted it all. The only way I could stay sane trapped within my conflicting emotions was if we set boundaries...illusions that helped me forget what we could not share by focusing on what we could.

We could not share a lifetime. But we could share a few blissful hours each day, hours of forgetting.

"I prefer to work for Ms. Goldstein," I said firmly. "It's for the best."

He was hurt. I knew because, for once, he didn't try to hide it. In fact, he looked more than hurt. He was angry. He stood from the couch. "What is it that you are hiding? Is it your sister?"

It was, but I still couldn't bring myself to tell him.

In my silence, he continued. "Don't live like this. Free yourself to me."

"I have!" I claimed, my voice rising. "I'm here. Right now. I'm present. But don't ask of me what you are not willing to give me in return."

He looked just as conflicted as I was. "Are you capable of love, Madison?"

"Yes," I said. "I am. And it's because of my capacity to love that I say what I do. In the office-in the outside world-we're colleagues. In the beautiful room you've created, we're lovers. It's the only way we'll both survive this."

He sat next to me once more. "I can't change your mind regarding being my assistant, can I?"

"No. Is that what angers you? That I won't do as you say?"

"I told you, dominance is about pleasing you. Anything I command of you is for your own good. Being my assistant is a promotion, a step up. It could be advantageous for you."

Accepting that he was working in my best interest, I relaxed into the couch. "I think I'm doing just fine."

He smiled, weary but proud. "Yes, you are."

I leaned my head towards him. "Promise me you'll still visit before work tomorrow."

"I don't need to promise. Nothing could keep me away."

The rain was back. It pounded steadily against the window. This time, I took comfort in the melody it created. Without Rawn, the apartment felt quiet and empty, lacking some of its thrill.

I returned to the bedroom, and, intrigued, I went to the wardrobe with the lingerie. Immersing myself into the opulence Rawn had created, I chose a black satin camisole and shorts, over which I wore a fuchsia robe that cocooned my skin with its softness.

Dressed more appropriately for my environment, my curiosity propelled me to the last wardrobe-particularity to the row of whips. They looked like they belonged in an equestrian center, not a bedroom. I felt the leather tassels of one of the whips, wondering how it would feel if beat against my skin.

My phone buzzed on the bookshelf. It was a text message from Annie.

If he's kidnapped you and is holding you prisoner in some dungeon, I need to know.

It was kind of true.

I'm a willing prisoner. He is free to tie me up as he wishes.

Too much information. Save the sexting for your man.

Fair enough. Thanks for being my girl.

Setting the phone down, I scanned the books on the shelf. They were all erotic, of course. Some of Kama Sutra. Others a lot more devious. The one that held my attention was a history book on the Gabinetto Segreto. It was heavy and laminated, like a picture book for the indecent.

No, not the indecent, I corrected myself, thinking back to what Rawn had said in Italy. The artifacts in this room should be celebrated, as they were in Pompeii and Herculaneum.

With the book in hand, I went to the bed, but the text soon began to blur. Listening to the music of the rain, I fell asleep.

Chapter Nine.

"Madison."

In the dark, I heard my name murmured. Night still consumed the earth, and Rawn still consumed my dreams, making it difficult to open my eyes. They fluttered, holding on to all the joys of my subconscious desires. Desires that my body ached for. Beside me, my hands touched the laminated cover of the book I had been reading. The book had inspired my dreams. I wanted to live within its pages with Rawn.

"Madison."

There it was again-the voice that called to me so sweetly, like a king playing a harp.

"Please don't make me wake," I beseeched the voice. "Please let me dream."

"Madison, it's me. Rawn."

Immediately, I was awake. And joyously so. "You're back," I said. "I wasn't expecting you back until the morning."

"I couldn't wait," Rawn said, brushing a piece of hair away from my face. I had been sweating in my sleep, causing my hair to stick to my skin. "I was a fool to think I could."

Though still in my midnight daze, I kissed him, pouring all of my desire into his lips, letting him know how much I wanted him. He kissed me back, wrapping his hands into my hair, clinging to me, unwilling to let go. It was romantic, but though this room spoke of love and passion, I knew there was nothing civil about his intentions.

"Wait here," he instructed as he moved away from the bed and towards the wardrobes. "I see you have already found something appallingly delectable to wear. Now it's my turn to pick out something you'll find just as...tantalizing."

My heart skipped a beat within my chest as he considered the row of chains and then the whips. Leaving the leather to rest on the black velvet, he selected a particularly frightful chain with grooves on the end-a sadistic form of handcuffs. Returning to me, he slipped the end of the chain around my wrist, and then he fastened the other end to the bedpost. The metal was heavy, but it was sleek against my skin, almost like the black satin of my camisole and shorts, which were now the only things I wore after Rawn removed my robe.

I'm not sure if I'm ready for this, I thought.

"Prepare to experience your body in a way you never have before. I know this may seem forbidding at first, but trust me, you'll appreciate sex in a whole new way. Your body is capable of so much pleasure, more than you have ever known."

"I trust you," I avowed. "Do what you like to me."

From the drawer beside the bed, Rawn pulled out a gilded pair of scissors. Tugging at the bottom of my camisole, he cut away at the fabric and tore the material off me so that my breasts spilled out. He then did the same with my shorts, leaving me naked and at his mercy. To my dismay, he kept his suit on, a gorgeous warden about to sentence his prisoner to what I hoped was a candy kind of torture.

Returning to the display, he picked out a purple vibrator in the shape of a large pill and the whip with the tassels at the end. Naked and chained to the bed, I knew all I could do was relax and enjoy what was to come, but I could not help but feel a small dose of fear rise within me. Somehow, the fear heightened the arousal I already felt being so close to Rawn, awakening my body more than I thought a chain, vibrator, and whip could.

Sitting beside me on the bed, he ran his hands across my stomach, his touch as light as a feather, soothing me before the pain.

"Spread your legs for me," he ordered. "Spread them wide so that I can see exactly what I'm doing to you."