Descent (Black Heart Romance presents Heaven & Hell)

else, Hallie.”
His words are reassuring, but not good enough. “This ‘relationship’ is very uncomfortable for me
the way you’ve set it up. It’s highly untraditional. You have all the power and I have none. If I have
dinner with a male friend and you don’t like it, you might shoot him. What can I do if you do
something I don’t like? Nothing, because you’ve taken every bit of the power for yourself.”
“I understand that,” he says. “I’m not an easy man to be with, Hallie. There’s a reason I had to
resort to blackmail to get you here.”
“I realize that, but the way things are now, it’s very unfair to me. Does that matter to you? Or are
you fine with being unfair to me as long as it means you get what you want out of the arrangement?”
His brow furrows. “Of course that matters to me. I’m not above bullying you to get you where I
want you, obviously, but now that you’re there I’d prefer that you’re happy.”
“Isn’t there anything you can do to make it feel less… high-risk for me?”
“I’m not sure it’s what I can do, but what you can do.”
My eyebrows rise. “Me?”
“You have to trust me. You call our type of relationship untraditional, and I suppose it is, but it’s
not unheard of. I have friends who are involved in the BDSM scene who have relationships exactly
like that. They work because their partners trust them to take care of their needs.”
“I knew you were into BDSM,” I mutter under my breath.
“I’m not, they are.”
“Right. You’re not, you just like to have BDSM style relationships, sex, and—oh, yeah—the
torture machine in the corner. But yeah, you’re right. Definitely not into BDSM.”
He rolls his eyes. “I’m not. I told you I’ve dabbled. The club we met at is a common playground
for people who enjoy the lifestyle, but it wasn’t enough for me. I did that for a while because it was
the closest to a satisfying experience I could get, but even that grew dull. That’s why you’re here. In
BDSM, the sub is the one who truly has all the power. Because of those rules—safe, sane, and
consensual—she would be the one with the ultimate power in the relationship. That’s not what I
want.”
“You want a prisoner.”
I swear, the man almost says yes, but he stops short, probably realizing that is not a socially
acceptable thing to admit.
“You can tell the truth,” I tell him, shrugging one shoulder.
He regards me carefully, but I suppose because I’m calm and blasé about it, he feels comfortable
admitting it. “I want someone who can’t leave.”
I nod slowly. I’m sensing some deep-seated abandonment issues. “Do you realize that by not