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“I know.”

Shaking his head, the tall man crossed over to an armchair and sat regally, propping his shiny black shoe on the opposite knee as he ran his thumb over his mouth. “Does she know anything about the lifestyle? Have you explained it to her, laid out BDSM and what it entails? It’s quite obvious she’s not from our world, Merrick—is being thrown headlong into it the right thing to do?”

She jolted when Merrick’s hand slipped down to rest on her shoulder. She didn’t realize how tense the argument was making her until his touch unraveled some of the knots in her muscles.

“Got an eyeful of it last night, didn’t she? An element of it, at least. We both know I’m not allowed to tell her anything until you hand over those papers,” he continued. “Once she’s signed the NDA, I’ll take her through the rest.”

“Very well. You might consider a collar, Merrick. Permanent for the duration of her stay, or a temporary one for when she’s outside the cabin. Not for ownership, but as a facet of protection—if she has your name around her neck, no one will fuck with her.”

Things were beginning to flit over her head—BDSM? Ownership? Collars? If the giant tangle of limbs and appendages she’d walked in on last night wasn’t a huge red flag, then this was certainly a sign she was in over her head.

“We’ll discuss it,” was all Merrick said. “The papers, Eli.”

Reaching for his briefcase beside the chair, Eli pulled it onto his lap and opened it, removing a thin packet of paper and a fancy red pen. He rose and walked to the coffee table in front of her, setting them down on the glass. “I don’t mean to offend you, little one. Your presence here has been… disruptive, frankly. That’s not your fault. We just need to take precautionary measures from a business point of view.”

She stared at the pen, then the paperwork with all the words typed out. There was no way she could read even a fraction of them.

“The top sheet is the only one you need to worry about right now, darlin’. It’s what’s called a nondisclosure agreement, or NDA. Once you sign it, you agree not to talk about anything or anyone you see here.” Merrick squeezed her shoulder gently. “Want me to read it to you first?”

No, it sounded simple enough. It wasn’t like shecouldtalk to anyone about anything, anyway. Besides, if it turned out she was signing her life away, there wasn’t really much to sign over.

They would never get Foxy.

Lifting the pen, she gripped it in her fist, but Merrick leaned over and adjusted her hold on it so it was balanced between her index and middle finger near the tip, with the side of her thumb bracing the shaft. “Remember how you told me your name, little owl? I need you to do that again, right on that long line at the bottom of the page. Take your time.”

Elias helpfully tapped a finger on said line.

Tongue between her teeth, she shuffled to the edge of the couch and plunked her cast down on the papers to keep them still. As ordered, she touched the point of the pen to the black line and painstakingly wrote each letter like she’d done before.

By the time she was done, her hand was unsteady with the effort, and her name was an untidy wave on the line. TheAwas higher than theT, theMlower. TheSwas okay, as was theN, but the tail of theYstretched down more than it should.

“Tell the girls at reception to hook Tamsyn up with a membership, Merrick. Might as well make everything official. Thank you, little one, I’ll take that.” Elias nabbed the paper and filed it away in his briefcase. “No scening in the club until her limits list is logged in the system and her membership clears, Merrick. What you do in the privacy of your own home is entirely up to you.”

Tamsyn tipped her head back, staring up at Merrick’s face as he glanced down. One side of his mouth curved; his eyebrow twitched. “Won’t that be fun, darlin’?”

Funwasn’t the word that came to mind, actually.

She knew what he’d done, whatshe’ddone when she signed her wonky name.

They’d both made a choice today.

Hers was to stay.

His was to keep her.

Chapter Five

Merrick

An entire month passed since Tamsyn’s arrival and everything was… perfect.

Well, as perfect as it could be when a man wasn’t having sex, Merrick thought, lifting a hand to Jonah as he passed through the bar. In the two weeks since she signed the NDA, they’d figured out a pretty solid routine.

He came to work, did his job with the same attention to detail as always, but he didn’t touch any of the guests in a sexual manner. He flogged, whipped, caned, and bound them, brought them to orgasm with every single toy at his disposal, only now he denied them his hands, his mouth, and most definitely his cock.

When he went home, Tamsyn was waiting for him. She’d started cleaning the cabin, rendering housekeeping useless because her attention to detail left nothing for them to do. She cooked for him every day, presenting plates of food with a beaming smile, her need to please shining in her eyes.

She was one hell of a goddamn cook.