The dark night led Sawyer through the streets of Las Vegas as he sat behind the wheel of his truck. It was minutes past midnight now, and exhaustion weighed on him. The city remained alive and busy. While he loved that about Vegas, he craved to drop into sleepy slumber. He pressed his foot against the accelerator, knowing that rest wouldn’t come without putting something else to bed first.
Once he crossed through the intersection, he pulled up in front of the charming bookstore on the corner. A sign hanging over the door read THE BOOK NOOK. At one time the bookstore had appeared run down, but now with the fresh paint and new store windows it had been rejuvenated. He cut the engine of his truck and exited, locking the doors behind him. To his left he noted that the contractor had finished the work on the tattoo shop next to the bookstore. All of which would lead into a new casino a year from now.
Determined to see the people in the apartment above the bookstore, Sawyer moved forward. The warm breeze of a beautiful Las Vegas night touched him as he approached the building’s side door. It came as no surprise that he needed to ring the bell three times before he heard someone trotting down the stairs.
When the door opened, a sleepy Porter, wearing only black shorts, frowned at Sawyer. “What do you want?”
“Mind if I come in?”
Porter stepped away from the door, allowing Sawyer to enter. The wooden stairs creaked under his footsteps as he followed Porter into the apartment. Once he entered through the narrow doorway, he discovered a small apartment with simple furnishings, but the space had homey touches. Knickknacks layered just about every blank space available. Then Sawyer saw Kenzie standing in the tiny kitchen, wearing her bathrobe.
Hair in disarray, she glanced from Porter to Sawyer. “Is everything all right?”
“It will be.” Sawyer sighed and shut the door behind him. “Can I have a few minutes alone with Porter?”
Her sleepy eyes flicked at Porter, who nodded agreement. Then she smiled at Sawyer. “Of course. Good night.”
Porter waited until the bedroom door closed before moving into the living room and taking a seat on the couch. “Do tell. What needs to be said that couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”
“I’ve come to apologize.” Sawyer dropped down into the recliner near the window, noticing the plants on the antique table next to him. “Tonight might not have been my finest of moments.”
“No shit.” Fire blazed in Porter’s eyes.
Sawyer gave his friend a moment to settle down before continuing. “I’m protective of her.”
“I get that.” A vein showed along Porter’s forehead. “You do know you’re not the only one who cares for Chloe?”
“Yes, I know.” Sawyer gave a small nod.
“I’m glad to hear you say that.” Porter’s hands were fisted on his lap, and his voice was icy. “Because how you acted tonight implied that I don’t give two shits about her welfare.”
Sawyer accepted the tongue-lashing. He deserved it. “I know that’s how it appeared and I’m sorry, but that isn’t what I intended.”
The two men were silent for a moment, staring at each other. Finally Porter said, “Help me understand all this. From where I’m sitting, you should be happy she wants to go there and is curious about your lifestyle. Believe me when I tell you that I never expected Chloe to be so accepting of all this. She seems too…”
“Innocent?” Sawyer offered.
Porter nodded, putting his feet up on the coffee table. “That’s a good way to put it.”
Sawyer clenched his hands, letting the raw feelings course through him instead of fighting them. “Part of me is, of course, pleased Chloe is open to understanding our lifestyle.”
“But the other part of you?”
“Wants to protect her from it.”
Porter’s brows winged up. “Protect her from what?”
Sawyer ran his hands over his face. “Protect her from me.”
During the long pause that followed, Porter stared at him, hard. “I don’t understand. You’d be good for Chloe.”
“Would I?” He stared at Porter in challenge. “Chloe is perfect just the way she is. What will happen if I change that? What will happen if I bring her into an erotic world she wasn’t a part of before? Will she be better because of it? Or will it just make her different? More of what I want, but not truly who she is?”
Porter’s expression told Sawyer that he was giving those questions serious thought.
Sawyer rubbed at the tight muscles in his shoulders. “You saw her tonight. Being there didn’t make her happy. It made her insecure.”
“You’re right, I did see that.” Porter tapped his fingers against his leg. “But I also saw her react with curiosity when she watched a woman being flogged. She asked me questions about it. That’s not a woman who was afraid of what she saw.”
Sawyer bobbed her head. “Yet she chose to leave. When I arrived she seemed…devastated.”
Porter frowned. “Devastated?”
“I saw it in her eyes.” Sawyer hung his head, knowing that he could express his concerns to his close friend. “She began to question the whole idea of her and me together, and started wondering how she could be the woman that I need.” He lifted his eyes to find his friend staring at him compassionately. “I don’t want to force Chloe into a world where she doesn’t belong.”
“True.” Emotion, both sympathy and concern, rushed across Porter’s face. “But you can’t force yourself into a world where you don’t belong, either.”
“And that, my friend, is precisely the problem.”
Chloe gasped awake, her heart hammering against the wall of her chest, swearing she’d heard the sound of a window being smashed. She scanned Sawyer’s dark bedroom before she realized that Sawyer wasn’t in bed with her. Achy and sore everywhere on her body, especially between her thighs, she ran her hand over the bed, finding his spot cold.
Still trying to shake off the nightmare that had woken her, she rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling fan above her. She placed her hand against her chest, feeling the thumping of her heart and blowing out a long, slow breath.
God, she hated when she woke up like that. Dreams like that could confuse anyone into believing danger surrounded her when it didn’t. She was safe. Hell, she lay in Sawyer’s bed. That comforting thought eased the panic coursing through her veins.
Composed and breathing normally now, she brushed the hair off her face and sat up as the sound of a door closing came from the hallway. Sawyer must’ve gone into the bathroom. She sank back into bed, her mind again working to make sense of what had happened that night.
The strong ache in her chest reminded her that while Sawyer said he wasn’t expecting anything from her, she couldn’t forget that for them to be together he had to give something up. With sudden sadness, she realized that such a situation would be a direct repeat of what had happened with Josh. His life had overtaken hers. His friends had become her friends. And she didn’t want that for Sawyer. If she was being honest, she didn’t want it for herself, either.
Chloe wanted Sawyer to stay the same. She wanted to stay the same.
Their relationship was new. Wasn’t this when things should be fun and uncomplicated? All the same, she didn’t want to walk away from Sawyer.
So where did that leave them?
Couldn’t she simply just give this BDSM lifestyle a try? She saw how it provided structure and stability to his life. She could act submissive in the bedroom, couldn’t she? What concerned her more than anything else was whether Sawyer would fall to pieces if he didn’t have the lifestyle. If that happened, she’d be at fault.
The burden seemed almost too much to bear.
Again came the sound of a door opening in the hallway. She couldn’t stay in the cold and empty bed any longer. Regardless of the worries going through her mind, she needed to be in Sawyer’s arms. Somehow that made everything better.
As she pushed the blankets off, the full moon outside cast a cool glow over the bedroom. She grabbed Sawyer’s T-shirt off the floor and pulled it on, inhaling the woodsy scent lingering on the fabric. Finding her ripped underwear on the floor, she reached for it, knotted the sides back together, and put them on.
Just then she heard another creak in the hallway. She tilted her head, listening to the sounds out in the hallway. Instinct set off alarm bells in her head. Why would Sawyer be walking around his own house that way?
Heart banging against her chest, she spun on her heel and snatched her phone off the nightstand. Another creak sounded outside the doorway. Thinking quickly, she stuffed her cell phone into the front of her panties, settling it between her legs. Only when she knew it wouldn’t fall out did she turn toward the door.
A dark figure entered the room, too short to be Sawyer. Then she heard a chilling voice. “You threaten people to get to me. I don’t fucking run. You wanted me. Now you’ve got me.”
With shaky fingers, Chloe turned on the nightstand light, unsurprised to find Travis standing in the doorway. She stared into his bloodshot, crazed eyes, hoping that once he noticed it wasn’t Sawyer standing there, he’d take off.
But he didn’t leave. As he strode toward her, she noticed the glassiness of his eyes with their widely dilated pupils.
“Get out or I’ll call the police,” she spat.
Travis gave her a cruel smile as he raised his hand. That’s when Chloe saw the black gun aimed at her chest. “If I can’t have him, I’ll definitely have you.”
Chloe parted her lips to scream. Just then something heavy hit her skull and she tumbled into darkness.