“I winced and Caleb stuck his head inside the door. "Everything alright in here?""Yes, prince," my guard said sarcastically as he crossed his arms in the corner. "A needle stick isn't supposed to feel like cherries in springtime."I snorted a laugh. Caleb raised his eyebrow at me with a twist of his lips.”

“You love strapping me in, don’t you?” “In any form,” he says, a wicked grin playing on his lips. “You are a pervert.” “I know.” He raises his eyebrows and his grin broadens. “My pervert,” I whisper. “Yes, yours.”

“It wasn't long before I had the urge to glance inside. I then had a slight moment of panic. Number one, Big John was walking out the door with a meat cleaver gleaming in his hand. Yes, a meat cleaver.Number two, he was glaring at Caleb like he was the devil himself.”

“In the dark, my master let down his guard and he was Caleb again. He didn’t correct me. He didn’t punish me. He didn’t push me away emotionally. Caleb was there to hold me until the nightmares passed. He was there to tell me I was beautiful. He was there to tell me I was going to be okay. In the dark, he seduced me. I didn’t want the seduction to end.”

“Do I look like a commitment sort of girl to you?”“You look like trouble,” he grinned. “When I was growing up, my mother used to tell me to never trust a redhead.”I frowned. “There are only two reasons she’d say something like that.” Caleb raised his eyebrows. “And they are?”“Your father either slept with one, or she is one.”I buzzed under his crooked smile. It extended all the way to his eyes this time.“I like you,” he said.“That’s swell, Boy Scout. Real swell.”

“The light clicks on, right above my head, drawing my eyes to it. The moment I look up, squinting, I know I’m in trouble. There isn’t even a guy leaning against the corner, trying to play bad cop. There isn’t a guy smiling and offering me a cup of coffee. There’s just one man in a suit, with a folder in his arms that he isn’t looking at. He’s looking at me, raising his eyebrows and looking as if I have a note stuck to my forehead that I haven’t noticed yet.”