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She took a step back, her frown deepening

"Your Doers autoers had been just seconds before

"What’s your naave youto do is return the favor"

"Josie," she said barely above a whisper "Josie Carlysle"

"And ns you, Josie?"

Her eyes narrowed then and she clutched her bag, shoving the remainder of her pencils into it "Nobody owns nificance of that collar you’re wearing?"

Her fingers brushed over it again, and it ht for her A collar should be carefully chosen for a sub made especially for her And not just any woman

"You didn’t misunderstand," she said in a husky voice that sent shivers down his spine Her voice alone would seduce a man in a matter of seconds "But nobody owns me, Ash"

And there it was His na hiain When he was pleasuring her When he had his hands and hs of contentment from her

He lifted one eyebrow "Then do you nificance of that collar?"

She laughed "No, but he doesn’t own ift One I choose to wear Nothing more"

He leaned in, and this tileanetic pull between them She’d have to be blind and in denial not to feel it

"If you wore rowled "Furtherave yourself wholly toto me There’d be no question And you wouldn’t hesitate when asked who your doift like it was nothing htlessly chosen on a whi everything, and you’d know that"

Her eyes widened and then she laughed again, her eyes twinkling "Then it’s too bad I don’t belong to you"

With that she turned and hurried away, bag over her shoulder and hi she’d done of him

He watched as she walked away frolimpse of the flip-flops and the ankle bracelet that tinkled softly when shein his hand

"Too bad indeed," he murmured

Chapter two

Ash sat in his office, door closed, brooding over the report in front of him It wasn’t a business file No financial chart No email he had to respond to It was a file on one Josie Carlysle

He’d acted quickly, calling in a favor froround check on Bethany, which had solidly pissed Jace off at the tiood, and, more i with Josie in the park, he hadn’t been able to shake her from his mind Hadn’t been able to shake his fixation with her, and he wasn’t even sure what he’d call it, other than he was acting a lot like Jace had when he’d first met Bethany, and Ash had been quick to call his friend on the stupidity and rashness of his actions then What would Jace think if he knew that Ash was basically stalking Josie?

Jace would think he’d lost his daht Jace had lost his--and well, he had--over Bethany

According to his report, Josie enty-eight An art grad who lived in a basement studio apartment in a brownstone on the Upper East Side The apartment was leased to her Not another man In fact there was little evidence in the report of this otherto pick her up at different intervals The report only spanned a few days, since it had only been since then that Ash had met Josie and immediately requested the information

More often than not, she spent ti Soallery on Madison, but nothing had sold, at least in the a an eye on her She also designed funky jewelry and had a website and an online shop where she took orders for some of her handmade stuff

Froular work hours No regular schedule at all She cah it had only been a few days, it seeuy hadn’t spotted her with anyone other than the man Ash assumed was her Dom

It didn’t make sense to him If Josie was his, he damn sure wouldn’t spend so little time with her, nor would she be alone so uy was scratching and that either he, or she, didn’t take the relationship that seriously

Was it all a ga whatever the fuck they wanted, but in his world, subames Didn’t have time for them, and they just pissed him off If a woman wasn’t into it with hia sub his chain to earn a punishment, he cut her loose quick

But then most of the women he’d fucked, he’d fucked with Jace They had their rules The women were clued in froer, and a coot that He hadn’t at first, but he got it now But it didn’t mean that he didn’t miss that connection with his best friend

On the other hand, with Jace out of the way, Ash was solely in control He didn’t have to worry about tripping over his best friend, pissing hi by anyone else’s rules but his own

That appealed to him It appealed a damn lot He’d always known that peopleat the three of the one The "I don’t give a fuck" kind Laid-back Maybe even a pushover

They were all wrong

Of any of them, he was the most intense, and he knew that about himself He’d held back when he and Jace ith the same woman, because he knew he’d take it a hell of a lot further than Jace ever would So he played it Jace’s way and held that part of himself in check The part that would take over completely And, well, there hadn’t ever been a woo

Until now