Julie barely noticed Master Parks standing behind him. As she made her way to where Daniel stood, she found she couldn’t keep her eyes off him. His eyes burned with a restrained intensity, though he gave her a warm smile when she made it to his side.

She drank in the sight of him, trying to take in every detail, knowing her time to do so for the next while would be short. He gently stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.

“Julie,” he said in the voice that always made her knees weak. “Do you come here today of your own free will and desire?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Kneel before me.”

She gladly dropped to her knees on the pillow he had waiting. In the last few months, she’d come to look forward to the times she surrendered to him. Those precious moments she yielded and allowed him to take over. Yet it felt even more intense in that moment.

Something rustled above her.

Daniel spoke low and rough. “I offer this as a representation of my dominance over you. I promise to love and respect you. To guide and to teach you. I will push you to help you become the best submissive you can be, but I will never betray or violate your trust. I will protect you with my life and hold you above all. Julie, will you accept my collar? Wear it always as a symbol of your submission to me?”

His words warmed her, wrapped around her in a promise she knew he’d never break. With all her heart, she answered with the words she’d prepared specifically for him and painstakingly memorized.

“Yes, sir, I will accept and wear your collar, acknowledging your dominance over me. I will serve you gladly and with my whole being, striving to be the best submissive possible. I will obey and honor your command, knowing you act only for my betterment. I offer my body for your use, your wish, your will, and my love and desire will be for you alone.”

His hands were on her, slipping warm metal around her neck, and fastening it with the click of a key. It took all her strength not to reach up and touch it. There would be plenty of time for that later. She still wondered what it looked like.

“Thank you, kitten,” he whispered for her ears alone.

“Thank you,” she said, then added for the first time, “Master.”

Saying the word made her shiver. She’d said it out loud alone in her house and in her head, but never to him. It seemed to magnify in power as she spoke it.

“Stand for me,” he said, and his voice was heavy with emotion.

She stood as gracefully as possible and when he lifted her chin, she saw his eyes overflowing with emotion. Standing before him, seeing what she meant to him reflected in his gaze, she couldn’t remember what she’d been afraid of.

Then he pulled her into his embrace and kissed her with a ferocity that left her needy and wanting. She moved closer to him and his arms tightened around her. Their witnesses were forgotten until Master Parks discreetly coughed.

Daniel pulled back and she felt his smile against her lips. “I think it’s time our guests left.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” she whispered.

They reluctantly separated just long enough to accept Dena’s and Master Parks’s congratulations. Dena hugged her close and whispered how happy she was for her. Julie wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard a hint of longing in her voice. She wished she could assure Dena that everything would work out between her and Master Parks, but Dena had never shared their history. It didn’t feel right to say anything other than she wished Dena every happiness.

Daniel turned to her when they were finally alone, his gaze heated. “It’s time for me to fully claim my collared submissive so there’s no doubt to whom she belongs. Hurry on to the playroom, I’ll be there in less than five.”

One of Daniel’s requirements was that she be n**ed in his playroom. As she entered that night, she saw he had a hanger out for her dress. She slipped out of the white cotton and hung it up, excitement building with every second.

In the middle of the room stood something covered by a black cloth. Interesting, but she needed to mentally prepare, so she turned her attention inward, kneeling and calming her breathing the way Daniel had taught her. It wasn’t long before she heard his footsteps coming down the stairs.

By the time he made it to where she waited, the room nearly buzzed with anticipation. And still he made her wait.

After what seemed like forever, he spoke. “You have no idea what it means to me, having you here, wearing nothing but my collar.” He took a few steps away. “Just the very sight of you . . .”

The air around her moved, and all at once, she was covered by the black cloth she’d noticed earlier.

“Stand for me,” he commanded.

She stood up and as she rose, he draped the cloth around her like a shawl. Because he was in front of her, she wasn’t able to see exactly what the cloth had covered. But when he moved behind her, she noticed it was a mirror. Her eyes were immediately drawn to her neck and she gasped. The collar was more than anything she’d imagined.

He trailed a finger along its length. “You like it?”

“I love it, Master.”

“The strand with the diamonds represents you.” He stepped closer and she felt his warmth on her neck. “The beauty of your submission to me.”

She couldn’t take her eyes off it. How it looked on her. How it felt: warm and heavy against her skin.

“The plain strand is me and I’m surrounding you, protecting and holding you. But just as the collar would be incomplete without both strands, so are we incomplete without the other. My dominance is only possible because of your submission.”

Ever so slowly, he pushed the cloth down, exposing her shoulders. He kissed one, caught her gaze in the mirror, and trailed his lips to the other side. “In this room, who does this body belong to?”

“You, Master.”

“That’s right, kitten, I’m your Master now. This body is mine to use as I wish.” He moved even closer behind her and she felt him through the thin cloth. “Keep your eyes on the mirror.”

She found herself unable to do anything else as he slipped the material down farther and her br**sts came in view. His hands cupped her and she watched him pinch and tease her nipples. A moan left her lips as he rolled them between his thumb and fingers.

She didn’t realize she’d closed her eyes until he bit her shoulder. “Watch.”

Her eyes flew open in time to watch the black cloth fall to the ground. She didn’t close her eyes again, but instead watched as he claimed every part of her body with his touch and kiss. While his hands explored her belly, his lips ran over her back, dipping low to kiss the curve of her bottom.

He worked his way down her body before starting back up. When he stood behind her again, he kicked her legs apart and slapped her ass. “Keep your eyes on mine, kitten. Watch me claim what’s mine.”

His fingers slipped between her legs and pushed inside. “Every part of you. Your sighs, your moans, your very breath.”

Under his intense gaze, she almost wavered, but she refocused on him instead of her unease. She found if she kept her mind on him, it was easier to meet his gaze.

“That’s it,” he said, and she swore his eyes darkened.

To have him touching her so intimately while she watched was intensely erotic. He knew her body so well. Knew just how to touch and for how long to take her just to the brink without taking her over.

“Keep watching,” he said, coming to her side and turning her so their profiles were reflected.

She gasped in surprise as he pulled her against him and lifted her right leg. Positioned as they were, he was poised just at her entrance. He teased her, all the while looking deeply into her eyes. Just when she thought he’d enter her, he pulled back.

“Beg.”

It was almost too much, the combination of his ruthless gaze and his command of her body. From the corner of her eye she saw his collar and its meaning struck her anew as did his previous words. She was claimed and as she stood, balanced between need and want, she recalled what Dena once said about the right Dom.

“Please, Master.”

His gaze never wavered. “Please, Master, what?”

“Please, Master, make me fly.”

An animalistic growl was his only reply when he finally took her. And as he roughly drove them both to an unparalleled pleasure and later, when he carried her up the stairs to his room and made tender love to her, she knew she was finally free.

EPILOGUE

Dena walked to her car, Jeff at her side, having just left Daniel and Julie’s collaring ceremony.

“They’re good together,” she said. “I think they’ll be really happy.”

Jeff didn’t say anything. Ever since they’d played together months ago, he’d been even more withdrawn, more silent, more absent than before. Anger she could handle. It was the apathy that left her bewildered.

“I wish Cole could have been here. He’ll hate he missed it,” she tried again.

Still nothing.

“You going to say something or just pretend like I don’t exist?”

They’d made it to her car. Jeff’s scowl would have frozen most people in their tracks.

She put her hands on her hips. “You forget that look stopped working on me years ago.”

“Dena, stop.”

“Ah, he speaks.”

“Sarcasm never was one of your more attractive traits.”

She flinched. She’d forgotten how deeply his words could cut. “What happened to the man who held me so tenderly and kissed me with such passion?”

He shook his head. “Let’s not rehash this. We’re not good. Good in the playroom? Yes. But outside, we just hurt each other.” Grief etched his expression. “And I love you too much to hurt you anymore.”