Free Naked & Unleashed by Emily Ryan-Davis

approval that warmed her even in this muddy sea of awkwardness.
    “After the situation with Maria, I vowed to keep my relationships so clean the public eye would have nothing to look at. A few months passed before I felt like I was going to crawl out of my own skin. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I approached the owner with a job title and a list of duties and he created the position for me. I got to live with all the energy but none of the risks.” He reached across the table and picked up her hand, toying with her fingers. “It hasn’t been enough. I don’t want to watch. I want to control and possess. And I want you. On my terms, which are ‘no terms’.”
    “That doesn’t sound safe.” But it made her hot all over anyway.
    He folded his hand around her fingers. “It’s not safe. Most people you saw in that club last night would disapprove very strongly. If you came to me and told me someone else laid down the same statement to you, I’d tell you to run and don’t look back. But I don’t think you want safe. I think you want me.”
    Her mouth was dry. Callista reached for the mimosa, but Mikal beat her to it and moved the champagne flute out of reach. He pushed a glass of water into her hand instead.
    “You have a decision to make and you’ll make it sober,” he said. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a letter-sized envelope packed thick with paper, which he placed on the table between them. The second object he put on the table made her stop breathing.
    “That’s a ring,” she managed to gasp, staring at the blue Tiffany’s box. “Mikal, no.”
    “Prenuptial agreements and diamonds come together as a set,” he said.
    “I don’t understand.”
    “Prenuptials are legally binding. I need something with more weight than the kind of contract typically drawn up between BDSM couples.”
    Callista blinked rapidly. “You want me to marry you so we can have sex.”
    “I want you to marry me so I can have you . The contract only serves as a clear definition of the marital rights you confer upon me.”
    But she was shaking her head before he finished speaking. “No. This is insane. You don’t love me.”
    “Yes I do.”
    “Don’t say that. You left me with a stranger last night.”
    “I left you with someone who could take care of you because I couldn’t. Callista, read the terms of the contract and at least consider my proposal. You don’t have to decide now, but I’m going to want to know soon. You think about how much of your free will you want to give away and about how much trust you can give me. If you decide you want to be with me, you’re going to have to be somebody I can trust too. I’ll take care of you but you can’t fuck me over just because you get scared.”
    Anger spun through her but instead of taking her to a boiling point, it froze her solid. She swallowed a calming sip of water and gave him a level look. “This is for your protection. You’re not thinking of me. You’re thinking of you.”
    “Callista—”
    “No,” she said, cutting him off. “My answer is no. The ‘no means no’ kind.”
    Several emotions crossed his face as she stood from the table without once touching the envelope or the ring box. He didn’t say anything else, for which she was grateful, and he didn’t try to stop her when she walked away.
    * * * * *
     
    He called her several times an hour throughout the day and into the night on Friday. Callista turned off her phone after the second after-midnight call. Saturday afternoon, a courier delivered a package from Mikal. Since the bag she’d left in his car couldn’t have fit inside the padded envelope, she didn’t bother opening it. She did e-mail him a curt message requesting the return of her bag, then arranged for her ISP to block his e-mail address so he couldn’t reach her via that method.
    She went to bed early Saturday night, heartsick but committed to her decision. The reasons to marry him were few while the reasons to