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Prologue

She was naked, and curled up on her sto child Her cheek was pressed to the floor, her knees folded beneath her, her arms threaded under her body between the the tattoo of a flower at her lower back, just above the pale pink thong she wore That rope connected to the wraps around her ankles, as well as to her bound wrists, folded prayer-like between her feet

Aelse rested on his bare heels next to her His fingertips trailed along her spine, questing, seeking response Her lips parted, her eyes lifting to his shadowed face His dark, close cropped beard had threads of silver She had blue eyes They were pretty any day of the week, but when she looked at him, the emotions that filled thes couldn't be suiven They had to be earned, with trust and love

The blue becaht of a temple

"Master," she whispered When he touched her mouth, he had a belt folded over in his hand Her lips pressed against his knuckles, the strap She had no fear Only desire, and a craving to feel his touch, the strike of that need

Julie paused the video on her phone Madison had sent it to her ive her an idea of what she wanted to accomplish with Wonder, her erotic performance theater How many times had she watched it since then? The Dom in the video was never clearly in the ca a presence as if he were center screen Whenever his sub yearning, the edge of all she wanted, just beyond her bound fingertips

Only she wasn't the girl in the video She merely wished she was

"I'm almost forty, and no one has ever fallen in love with ainst the concrete walls

Julie put her feet

in the hotel's indoor pool The Hainia was a quiet place on a weeknight, so she had the space to herself A glass wall allowed her to see the faint outline of the rolling hills behind the hotel In daylight, she'd probably see the details: green pastures, farmland and forest Maybe a hint of the distant h which she'd passed on the winding turnpike to get this far from New York City in one day

What incredible stillness Where she lived in New York there was always noise Cabbies honking at all hours, and an undercurrent of y Here there was the distant trundling of the elevator, the occasional ainst their wavy reflection on the gray satin painted concrete wall

Her whispered words joined the echo She'd never said them aloud, and she'd definitely never say them to anyone else Eh it hadn't been reciprocated, she had considered herself in love, several ti if that was really true

Julie folded her ankle socks into snowballs, as she liked to call thened them with toes out, because shoes spentto point toward one another At least when hers were off, they could see what else was out in the world Though there orse things than always having to gaze at your other half, if you were lucky enough to find him Shoes came predestined as couples

Yeah, she was in one of those kinds ofin theater