Colored lights burst behind my closed lids as I crest the hill and detonate on a long moan. My walls squeeze and pulse around him, sending waves of pleasure into every part of me. His movements begin to slow as my orgasm ebbs and my body relaxes into the ropes again.

“Beautiful.” He kisses my forehead and strokes my hair, showing his softer caring side even when he’s in his Dominant mode. “That was your warm-up round. Now we’re going to kick things up a few levels.”

My eyebrows raise above the blindfold when I hear him open a drawer. “Up like how?”

“With a vibrating egg inside and vibrating wand on the outside.”

“Oh, is that all?” I ask sarcastically.

“I can grab the vibrating butt⁠—”

“Forget I said anything.”

He chuckles. “Figured as much. Now, I’d tell you to hold still, but I already took care of that for you.”

“You sound so pleased with your— oh gods that’s cold.” More sexy chuckling as he slowly presses the egg with lube on it inside my swollen sex. As soon as it’s fully inserted with nothing but the tail hanging out, Finn turns it on. “Oh wow, that’s…really nice, actually.”

“You won’t think it’s nice for long. That’s the lowest setting. So is this.”

I draw in a sharp breath when the vibrating head of the wand is placed on my clit. Between that and the stimulation of my G-spot from the egg, my next orgasm is barreling down on me like a freight train. But this is different from the last one. I have a wand like this back in L.A. and the only time I used it was in the shower for clean-up reasons.

“Finn, wait. It’s too much like this.” Gods, the mess.

“I know what you’re worried about, and don’t be. All I want you focused on is coming for me.”

I clench my teeth as I try to hold my climax at bay. “But…”

His warm breath tickles my ear. “Do you trust me to take care of you, solnyshko? Answer me properly and answer me true.”

As though I could answer any other way. “Yes, sire.”

“Then let yourself go. Let it all go…and come for me.”

The speed on the wand is turned up before he presses it more firmly against my clit. There’s not enough self-restraint in the world to prevent my climax now. The twisted band inside my belly snaps. I scream and arch my back as much as the restraints allow as ecstasy floods every cell of my body and gushes from between my legs.

“Good girl, that’s it,” he coos in my ear. “Again.”

For what seems like an eternity, Finn makes good on his promise. He forces orgasm after orgasm with his evil toys and sweet praise. I lose count after number thirteen and the pleasure has turned into a fiery ball of pleasure-pain I both love and hate.

“No more,” I beg. “I can’t do it again.”

“You give me one last good one and we’ll be done.” I make some kind of whining noise in the back of my throat. “One more, little sun. Or you can call red.”

Damn my stubborn pride all to hell. I roll my lips in and shake my head, determined to make it to the end. My head disconnected from my body forever ago, leaving me in a floaty state where time stands still and the only things that exist in my world are Finn’s touches and words.

“Good girl. Here we go.” He clicks both toys onto a higher setting—fucking hell I thought we’d reached the max settings already—and my entire body shakes within the confines of the ropes.

“Oh gods.” My teeth clench and my eyes squeeze shut beneath the blindfold as the flames of the pleasure-pain lick at my clit and the inner walls of my sex. There’s no waiting for his command this time. I couldn’t hold this back if I wanted to. I scream as my climax detonates like a bomb in my center, a white-hot euphoria spreading out to the tips of my fingers and toes and the roots of my hair.

I sag in relief when the wand is turned off and the egg carefully removed. I’m a boneless puddle held together by rope, and I fear there’s a very real chance that once he unties me, I’ll fall apart.

“You did so well, solnyshko. I’m proud of you,” he whispers against my temple, then presses a fervent kiss there. His praise fills me up with a different kind of warmth that both surprises and comforts me. Somewhere in the distant part of my mind, I recognize how unlike me that is, but I’m too content right now to pay any attention to it.

Finn carefully lowers me to the floor, and I instantly melt into the carpet. The fact that it isn’t soaked confuses me, considering he extracted every ounce of fluid in my body. “Weird… ’s dry…” Perfect. Apparently, he extracted my ability to speak coherently, too.

He smiles on a low chuckle and removes my blindfold. “Not my first rodeo, baby. That’s waterproof.”

My gaze follows where he’s pointing to a plush, burgundy blanket lying in a pile off to the side. My eyebrows shoot toward my hairline, and I make a sound that resembles huh but that’s all I have the energy for.

After gently untying me, he held me on the floor for a while, offering a bottle of water as I rested against him. He asked how I was feeling about everything, and I laughed softly, realizing I couldn’t even remember how to spell anxiety. Then he carried me to bed and carefully tucked me in, as if he thought I’d want to be alone.

But when he turned to leave, I stopped him, needing him to stay. Without hesitation, he stripped down to his underwear and climbed in beside me, wrapping his arms around me as I nestled against him, finding comfort in the warmth and closeness.

“Finn,” I say softly into the darkness.

“Hmm?”

I hesitate, uncertain if making declarations in this hazy aftermath is the wisest course of action. Then decide I don’t care. “I don’t know what this is, but I’m willing to lean in, if you are. For now, anyway.”

“I’ll match you step for step, for as long as you want.” Finn strokes a hand over my hair and breathes a warm kiss onto my neck. “Get some sleep, solnyshko.”

As though my body is still under his command, I do.

FIFTEENFINNIAN

Perched high above the shimmering expanse of the Vegas Strip, the Eiffel Tower restaurant at the Paris Hotel feels like a world apart. The warm glow of the interior is a feast for the eyes, with its rich wood accents and soft, intimate lighting, enveloping diners in a cocoon of elegance and sophistication. The aroma of gourmet French cuisine mingles with the scent of fresh flowers, and the Bellagio fountains burst into life across the way.

Taryn loved the mesmerizing water ballet so much yesterday, I knew this would be the perfect place to take her for dinner. With every performance, her eyes light up and she doesn’t look away until the last drop of water settles back into the lake. Knowing dinner would take a couple hours, I timed the reservation to get the maximum number of shows for her. And as she watches them dance a third time, I get to watch her.

Last night with Taryn was a revelation. It was so much more than just a scene, more than rope and the gift of her submission. The connection between us was all-consuming and transcended anything I’ve ever experienced with my bottoms before.

Afterward, when she said she was willing to lean in with whatever this is between us, I kept my response casual. Because she’d run in the opposite direction if she knew the truth. That I’m already leaning in so far I’m fucking inches away from falling.

But there’s so much going on right now, it’s hard to know what’s real. I was in the kitchen when Taryn woke up this morning, all sleepy-eyed and adorable. I opened my arms as she approached, and she walked right into my embrace, sighing as she rested her cheek on my chest. There was nothing strange about it, until I kissed the top of her head and the image I’d had yesterday of that exact scenario came rushing back to me. All day I’ve been wondering if it was just wishful thinking made into reality…or something more.

This is only the third day we’ve been together, and it’s crazy how we fell into a combined routine of sorts. She made us coffee while I cooked us some breakfast. After we ate and cleaned up, we worked out in the home gym, content to do our own things with the occasional smack talk flying around like our own form of foreplay.

Unfortunately, it didn’t have the chance to turn into anything. Tiernan got word from Dmitri about rescuing Taryn and he summoned me via bitchy text to get my ass over to the Midnight Manor. As much as I didn’t want to leave Taryn, I couldn’t avoid the lecture forever, and it was better to get it over with.

I let them get their obligatory big-brothering out of the way, then I filled them in on how the rescue went down and about the current situation with Dmitri searching for the traitors within his clan and Taryn staying with me in the meantime. Which meant admitting that I have a safe house in the city they didn’t know about. Luckily, they spared me another lecture about keeping secrets and settled for scrutinizing side-eye instead.

Part of me wanted to tell them about our grandmother’s letter to me, but I want some time to figure out if it actually leads anywhere first. There’s no point in getting everyone riled up if it turns out to be nothing. And I like that this is something Taryn and I are doing together. I don’t want to bring the rest of the world in on it just yet, selfish as that may be.

The last notes of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” plays and the streaming jets of water return to the lake to sleep for the next half hour. Taryn turns her gaze to me, her beautiful smile lighting up her whole face. “I don’t think that will ever get old. This is all so great, thank you for bringing me.”

“It’s not quite the same as the real thing,” I say, indicating our surroundings, “but we excel at making ‘next best things’ here in Vegas. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”

“I am. This is the best I’ve felt in a long time. And I’ve been to the real Paris lots of times. This isn’t just a facsimile. It has its own unique energy and feel to it. The whole city does. Your father knew what he was doing when he came up with the idea.”