6. SIGNED, SEALED AND OWNED

SOPHIA

Cassian's hand shot out, fingers wrapping around my throat before I could draw another breath. He didn't choke me, but his nails were digging angrily into my skin.

His mouth crashed against mine, and I gasped at the violent sweetness of it.

He kissed with absolute control. His tongue swept into my mouth, tasting, taking, and owning me.

I melted against him, my hands fisting in his shirt as heat pooled between my legs.

I wanted him. I wanted to forget everything except the way his body felt pressed against mine.

Then he pulled back, his silver eyes burning into mine. "Don't lie to me, Sophia."

I was dazed. "I'm not lying to you "

"You expect me to believe you were married for four years and never fucked your husband?" His grip on my throat tightened just slightly, enough to make my pulse jump. "That you're still a virgin at twenty-four?"

"I am." My voice came out breathless, and I hated how needy I sounded. "David never touched me even once."

Cassian's eyes narrowed, searching my face for deception. "Why?"

"Because he didn't want to." I swallowed against his palm. "David was gay, Cassian. Our marriage was business. He needed a wife to hide behind, and I needed someone to pay my mother's medical bills. We had an arrangement."

"And before David?"

I felt heat creep up my neck. "There was no before. I met David when I was nineteen. I was already drowning in debt. Romance was the last thing on my mind.”

Cassian released my throat and stepped back, running a hand through his dark hair.

For the first time since I'd met him, he looked unsettled. "You're telling me the truth?"

"I am."

Cassian stared at me for a long moment. Then he stood, crossed to a drawer in the console table, and pulled out a folder.

"Before we discuss your virginity," he said, his voice perfectly level, "we need to formalize our arrangement."

I stared, my jaw gaping open. Of all the reactions I'd expected after dropping that particular bomb, signing documents wasn't one of them.

"You want me to sign paperwork now?"

"Yes, sit down.”

I stayed on my knees, the nipple clamps pulling deliciously with every breath. "I thought you liked me on the floor."

“I do. But you can't read a contract from down there, and I need you to understand exactly what you're agreeing to before I fuck you."

I stood, my legs shaky, and sat on the edge of the couch. The leather was cool against my bare ass.

Cassian sat beside me, close enough that his thigh pressed against mine, and opened the folder.

"Read all of it." Cassian ordered.

I scanned the first page, and the date was from months ago. I looked up, my heart skipping a beat when I found his dark eyes possessively on the nipple clamps.

"You had this prepared already?"

"I've had it prepared for six months."

"Six months?"

"Since the day I saw you on that rooftop. I knew eventually you'd come to me. I wanted to be ready."

That should have scared me. Instead, heat coiled low in my belly. He'd been planning this, and somehow that made it better. I was something he'd wanted badly enough to prepare for.

"This is protection for both of us. You get what you need. I get what I want. And we both know exactly where we stand."

My pulse hammered. Some of them I understood, others I'd have to G****e later.

"You can add limits, and anything you absolutely won't do." Cassian said.

I thought about it. "No humiliation in public."

He nodded. "Added." He pulled out a pen and wrote it in the margin. "Anything else?"

"No children ever. I won't bring a kid into this mess."

"Agreed. I'll add mandatory birth control to the contract."

I exhaled slowly. This was really happening. I was negotiating the terms of my own sexual servitude like it was a fucking job contract.

"Sign here," Cassian said, pointing to the bottom of the final page. "And initial each page."

I picked up the pen. My hand trembled slightly as I signed my name. Sophia Cole Winters.

Cassian signed under me: Cassian Mikhail Devine.

The second his signature was complete, he set the folder aside and turned to me. "I'll fuck you, Sophia. I'll use you, hurt you, make you scream my name until you forget your own. But I'm going to do it when I'm ready, and I'm not right now.”

Before I could respond, before I could argue or beg or do anything, an alarm shattered the moment.

Cassian's entire demeanor changed. The man who'd been almost gentle a second ago vanished.

He grabbed his phone from the table, pressed something, and Marcus's voice crackled through the speaker.

"Sir, we have a situation. Big Mike's men just pulled up outside. There’s twenty of them, and they're heavily armed. They're demanding we send Sophia out or they'll burn the building down."

My blood turned to ice, and a shiver wracked through me.

"How many exits are they covering?"

"All of them.”

"Of course they are," Cassian's voice was flat, emotionless. "Mobilize everyone into defensive positions, but no one fires unless I give the order."

"Yes, sir."

The line went dead. I stood there, naked and trembling, the reality crashing over me.

Big Mike had found me. I'd been stupid to think I could just disappear.

"Cassian," I whispered. "I'm sorry. I didn't think…"

"Get dressed," he cut me off, his tone brooking no argument. "Now."

He walked to a panel in the wall, pressed something, and a hidden compartment opened revealing a row of guns.

He selected a Glock, checked the magazine, and tucked it into the waistband of his pants like this was just another Tuesday.

"Cassian…”

"I said get dressed, Sophia." He didn't even look at me. "We have company. And I need to go have a conversation with your father-in-law about boundaries."