ETHAN STARED AT THE outstretched arm in front of him with a raised eyebrow.

Amelia seemed to glow in an iridescent glow which, considering the gloomy atmosphere of the room, was odd.

She held his gaze, defiant and challenging.

An image flashed in his brain. Of her naked and on her knees.

No, he told himself sharply, pushing the thoughts at the back of his mind.

He had his rules for a reason. And he stuck by those rules.

He reached forward as if he was going to shake her hand, holding her gaze. Instead, he pulled the drink from the counter to her left.

She blinked, her daze broken by his rude gesture. 

Her eyes followed his motions, studying his movements intently.

She had dropped her arm by then.

“Okay,” she muttered, dragging the syllable dramatically as she brought her eyes back to his face.

“What do you want, Amelia Harold?” He asked with just the right amount of sharpness.

“I…” she trailed off, unsure of how to put her needs in words.

She dropped her gaze to the floor, her foot tapping against the marble anxiously.

The urge was too strong so he gave in.

Just this once, he told himself strictly.

He reached forward and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up.

She let out a small gasp the moment his skin touched hers as if she had been set on fire. 

Ethan felt it too, the electric current in his veins at the contact. He wasn't sure what that meant.

“What do you want?” He asked once again.

She looked at him with wide eyes as if in awe.

“You,” she whispered and that single word made him strain against his pants. 

“I want you. I want you to take me. I want you to take me as your Submissive. As your slave.”

His cock twitched in response.

He dropped her chin, the warmth of her skin suddenly too much to bear.

She looked new from the way she was dressed and from her naive actions but no one would have guessed from her words that it was her first time stepping into a BDSM club.

She was good with those.

“Did you get your tour?” He asked and she nodded.

“Who was your guide?”

“Dylan.”

“And he told you about all the Doms in this place?”

She nodded.

“Did he tell you that I don't take new Subs? And the rest of my policies?”

She nodded once again.

“Use your words, Amelia or I'll make sure you won't be able to speak in front of me ever again.”

“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, he did.”

“Good girl. Then why are you asking me to take you when you know I won't?”

She took a deep breath, shuffling uncomfortably in her position.

“Because I want you to change your mind. Just this once.”

His lips curled into a smile. A mocking, belittling sort of smile.

“You know, Amelia, your wants and needs are of no consequence to me.”

“I saw your playroom. I saw what was happening inside and I want that. All of that.” She tried again.

“I know exactly what you want just by looking at the desperation on your face,” he spat, both a bit annoyed and intrigued.

He wanted to see how far she was willing to go. She turned a deep pink at his words and averted her gaze.

“All the other Doms here can provide you with that.”

“I don't want any other Dom. I… You're the only one I want.”

“And I won't take you.” He said, finality in his voice as he stood up to leave.

She stood up as well, too quickly for him to react as she grabbed his elbow to stop him.

“Let go of my hand,” he whispered warningly, his voice adopting that dominant edge that he had tried to fight off till now.

She immediately obliged, dropping her gaze to the floor.

He walked towards her slowly. His fingers touched the soft skin of her cheek and she shuddered at the touch.

He pushed back the dark curl that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear. 

He could hear her heart thumping violently against her chest. Her fear turned him on.

“Do you know what I do to stubborn little girls like you?” He questioned, his words meant only for her.

He felt her small intake of breath on the nape of his neck.

They were too close and it took every ounce of Ethan's self control to not rip her clothes off of her and take her right then and there.

“No,” she said. It was more a breathy intake than a word but he understood it.

His fingers tightened around her ponytail and he yanked her head back.

She gasped, blue eyes widening.

“Let me show you,” he said, giving in to the wild desire that had grown hungrier and hungrier with all of her words and small touches.

He hadn't planned to. He really hadn't. He had wanted to send her away without even laying a finger on her. 

But Xaden was right. She was persistent.

He pulled her in the opposite direction and towards the twisting staircase. She whimpered in pain but he didn't lose his grip. 

She stumbled and tripped with every step, walking backwards as he pulled her by her hair.

The upper floor had numerous rooms, one for each Dom, filled with their choice of toys.

He pushed open the door right in front of him just as the stairs ended.

It was probably the biggest room in the hallway, a little less than half the size of the lobby below.

It was empty right now and sparklingly clean even though he was sure there might have been a scene happening there just a little while ago.

He pushed her inside and she almost fell to her knees but somehow managed to regain her balance just in time.

“If you want me to stop, get out of here right now,” he ordered and she immediately shook her head.

“No, I don't. I don't want you to stop.”

Ethan clenched his jaw, closing the door behind him.

“Take off your clothes.”

She obliged immediately, pulling her top over her head and untying the knot around her waist.

He found her in a matching set of undergarments.

It turned him on more than anything else she'd done till now.

She was shaking as she unhooked her bra. She let it slip off her shoulders, exposing herself to him. 

Ethan inhaled sharply, his eyes roving over her body. She was perfect.

There was still a lot of distance between them. He wasn't sure why.

She took off her panties and stood completely naked in front of him. 

Ethan clenched his fists tightly to stop himself from acting too harshly. She was new. He needed to be gentle. He needed to keep himself under control.

She stood staring at him, her chest lifting and falling with each breath.

“I'm not fragile. I won't break,” she whispered as if sensing his hesitation.

“Tell me your safe word,” he hissed, closing the distance between them with long careful steps.

She held his gaze before speaking. “Lucifer.”

Ethan stilled. The safeword sounded like it was hand picked for him. 

She'd thought about everything. From the choice of her undergarments to her safeword. 

She had known exactly how her day would end. With him doing exactly what she wanted him to do. Like she'd known the day would end with her naked in front of him.

It left a bitter taste in Ethan's mouth. He didn't like being ordered around. Even if it was indirect.

“Get clothed and get out of here.” 

She blinked, the fear and anticipation rearranging itself in confusion.

“What?” She demanded.

“I said leave.”

“Why?” She shot back.

He wrapped his arm around her neck, applying just the right amount of pressure. 

She gasped at the contact, her hands flying up to claw away at his hands.

Ethan ignored the nails scratching his skin. He'd anticipated it. She was new after all.

Her eyes were wide as she tried to breathe through her nose. He increased the pressure just a little more.

“Don't ask me questions. If I tell you to do something, you do it without making me fucking repeat myself.”

She had managed to fight back the panic at not being able to breathe fairly quickly. 

Her eyes were still a little wide but she held his gaze defiantly as if silently urging him to try her. 

He was starting to hate her. But apparently his body wasn't sharing those feelings. It had a mind of its own.

He lifted her a little off her feet, pushing her against the door harshly.

And then his lips were on hers.

It was a hungry, lustful kiss. One where he lost himself in the taste of her lips and her smell. One where every problem seemed a little less daunting and a little too far away to actually hurt him.

It was a kind of kiss Ethan had never experienced before. It scared him a little, the way he was losing himself in her.

Nothing good can come from this, he was sure.

He needed to stop.

The reason, he convinced his brain, was because he wasn't going to let her have her way so easily.

Her frantic hands fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, breaking him from his daze.

He dropped his hand from around her neck and took a few steps back.

He was so hard it was starting to hurt.

She was breathing heavily, the blue of her eyes not the sky on a clear day anymore. There were thunderstorms in there now, dark and so full of need.

“Why?” She whispered and he glanced down to see her arousal coating her inner thigh.

“Because I like to bend them to my will until they shatter. And you don't look like someone who can pull yourself back together once you shatter.”

She stared at him for a long while and then, to his utter surprise, her lips turned upwards in a smile.

Ethan was hit by the realization that she was beautiful. Beautiful in an innocent sort of way. There was something about her. Maybe her eyes? Something that pulled him in. 

“Then maybe you're not as good at reading people as I thought.”

The thought was immediately replaced by a burst of annoyance. He could make her regret every single word. He could punish her in ways her brain hadn’t even imagined.

But he didn't react.

“Leave, Amelia.”

Her jaw clenched but then she walked past him and began putting on her clothes hurriedly before she left.

Ethan watched her walk away until she disappeared in the curve of the stairs.

He stood there for a long while, unable to untangle any one particular emotion from the knot of feelings.

“You're not taking her, right?” A voice called and he looked up to see a man a little shorter than him with blond hair approach him.

Another Dom. Dylan, maybe. He wasn't sure.

“No, I'm not,” he said even though that's not what he wanted to say.

“Wonderful. I'm going to ask her.” He said and that was all he needed to hear to make up his mind.

Something managed to untangle itself from his knot of emotions. 

Desire. It was a raw, visceral sort of desire.

He wasn't going to let anyone else have her. 

Ethan stopped the guy with a hand on his shoulder.

“Actually, I changed my mind. I'm going to take her.” He said and saw a look of disappointment cross the guy's features but he nodded and left without another word.

‘You're not as good at reading people as I thought.’

He was going to prove her wrong. He was going to push her until she was on her knees and regretting her decision and then he was going to remind her of this day.

But then again, she'd all but begged for this so whatever was going to happen to her, it'll be her own doing.