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Prologue

Laken put the finishing touches on the dinner she’d slaved over for hours She’d made all his favorites Thick slices of beef—his so rare she didn’t knohy she bothered to cook it—along with garlic-reen beans and apple pie for dessert Buying the ingredients had wiped her bank account clean, but it orth it

Besides, soon she wouldn’t have to worry about counting her pennies She’d just been given a promotion She could scarcely believe it And after just a year of working for one of New York’s fashion houses At twenty-two, she hadn’t really believed that she would be in this position already

Best of all, Duncan was due back tonight It had been four weeks since she had last seen hi hih she had spoken to him a number of times, she had kept her promotion a secret She wanted to tell him in person

There was another reason she wanted toto tell Duncan that she loved him Nerves fluttered in her stomach What if he rejected her? What if he didn’t feel the same way?

She pushed aside her reservations and took a deep breath Duncan loved her, she knew he did He s or es close to his chest, but his love was there in his eyes She could see it in the way he watched her, as if she was soht

It was present in the way he took care of her

They’d grown up in the same small town, but Duncan was six years older and they’d little to do with each other He had always been just one of those Jones boys There were ten of theh, loud and wild, the brothers had been the terror of Haven Their est was just a baby and their father had been more interested in his next drink than what his sons were doing

It wasn’t until they had crossed paths years later in New York that she truly noticed hinized her After all, he was no longer a poor kid with ripped clothes and untidy hair He was the Duncan Jones, Linebacker for the New York Giants

Gone was the scrawny kid; in his place was aman with dark, serious eyes, smooth, tanned skin and firmly chiseled face When his eyes focused on hers, Laken felt like she was the most important person in the world

It was Duncan who had introduced her to BDSM They’d been dating for a while,up whenever his schedule allowed At first, he had slowly introduced her into his lifestyle, training her to subly, she had come to love it, to crave it

Her only coh of him

Laken stepped back froet hadn’t stretched to Chaed a nice bottle of wine

Now, to just wait for Duncan

Three hours later, Laken finished off her third glass of wine and shook the bottle, wondering if she should just finish it off Where was he? She had waited the first hour out patiently, knowing he had probably been delayed at the airport

Then she had texted him, worried that he’d been in an accident No reply She had called hiotten his voicemail He could have at least tried to contact her if he wasn’t going to make it

Laken stared at the clock on her wall, her brain sluggish Hing down that wine

But her appetite was gone The food was ruined and once again, Duncan wasn’t co This was the third tiotten excited about hi other plans just so she could see hi for hi he couldn’t make it

This time he hadn’t even bothered to text