The leather cuffs dangling from the man's hands froze Karmen Graham's breath. With every second she became more aware of her burning lungs but breathing took concentration she couldn't spare.

Don't back down. Otherwise you'll never understand.

Jaw clenched, she blinked repeatedly and re-focused. She was wrong. It wasn't the cuffs so much as the dusky male fingers that captured her attention. She knew his name-Rico Llanos-but little else. The lighting in this so-called bedroom was dim, the setting sliding off into nothing until only the stranger she'd agreed to spend time with mattered. He was too damn tall. Her reaction surprised her because at 5'1" she believed she was accustomed to the sharp contrast between her height and most men.

Maybe she shouldn't have come in here.

Music played from hidden speakers, a whisper of drums and guitar. The air was warm and clean smelling with a hint of rose. Roses were full of contrast, lovely flowers and sharp thorns. Maybe that's what Rico was, a mix of sexuality and danger.

No, not danger in the real world. She trusted the organization known as Unchained not to put her at risk.

Risk?

That's what the cuffs represented.

"Tell me what you're thinking," Rico said, speaking for the first time. "What you're feeling."

Scared. Excited. Out of my element. She pressed her fists against her hips. "Maybe I prefer to be the one asking the questions."

He shook his head. "Maybe later but not now. For the record, I've managed a lot of people, not the other way around. Besides-" He lifted the cuffs. "This is your journey."

Yours too, she wanted to point out but arguing might take them too far from what this room was about.

"Where did you get them?" She indicated what he held.

The way he cocked his head left no doubt he'd caught her attempt at stalling. "Over there." He nodded at a table a few feet from the bed holding center stage in the middle of the room. "Maybe that's why I was told to come in first, so I could familiarize myself with what we'll be working with."

She'd spent years molding herself into a fearless woman and these days taught other women how to defend themselves. Not long ago standing in a place like this would have never occurred to her but here she was.

Those weren't regulation handcuffs. Instead of law enforcement metal they were mostly wide leather strips with fastenings like a belt or dog collar. Whoever had designed them had probably deliberately chosen black. Just thinking of them tightening around her wrists made her hands sweat and, strangely, her crotch hot.

"Working with?" she finally thought to say. "I'm not sure that's the operative word."

He stared down at her, hammering home the difference between their physical bodies. "I'm not interested in semantics. I came here for one overriding reason, one I intend to keep to myself. All I want from you is honesty of emotion."

This wasn't going to be as easy as she'd told herself it would be. Rico wasn't an Unchained employee trained to play the part of a domineering man. He was an unknown, unpredictable, and in charge because he held the toy.

She hadn't expected him to be so masculine. For reasons she didn't want to get into, she'd convinced herself that her fellow Unchained client would be a middle aged businessman whose wife had no knowledge of his secret fascination with BDSM.

BDSM? The letters were part of something she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to wrap her mind around.

"Then what you're saying is I'm supposed to spill my guts while you keep your mouth shut." She shrugged. "What are you getting out of this?"

His gaze narrowed. "That's none of your concern."

Much as she wanted to call him on his edict, she couldn't take her attention off the confining leather long enough to do so. Her wrists heated. What would it feel like to be restrained and under this near stranger's domination? The scary and exciting thing was he might know more about that secret pulsing deep inside her than she did.

"I want you off balance." He stepped toward her. "Tell me something. Will this be a new experience for you? You're used to being in charge."

She folded her arms over her breasts and stared up at him. Her one hundred and five pounds wasn't going to get her very far against his close to two hundred. "Yes," she told him then stopped before she made the mistake of telling him it hadn't always been that way. "Did you get a report on me? All I know about you is that you have your own company and are financially successful."

"That's important to you?"

His sharp comment pulled her attention off the restraint dangling from his fingers. "I don't give a damn whether you're rich or living on the street. I don't need any man's money."

"In other words, you want to make it clear you aren't a gold digger."

Why in the world had Unchained's management paired her with this SOB? He had all the social skills of a caveman. Unfortunately he also had a caveman's size and strength to say nothing of a certain arrogance she figured came from having unlimited funds at his disposal.

"I might not be in the same tax bracket you are, but I'm doing all right."

A cool smile came and went. "So I understand. The file I got on you said you too are self-employed. Looking at you, I'd never expect you have a black belt in karate."

Just because she was short. Damn it, would she never get past being judged for her lack of physical structure? "What about you? You obviously take physical care of yourself."

"Gym membership. I'm in there around five every morning."

She easily pictured him sweating and lifting weights, maybe shirtless and in shorts that barely covered his taut thighs. As for why he went to the gym so early, maybe there was no woman keeping him in bed. Now that they'd been talking for a few minutes she'd started to relax a little. He still held the means to restrain her but wanting to wrap her mind around the appeal of being tied up was why she'd contacted Unchained. Talking was putting off the inevitable.

What she needed.

A little shocked by the admission, she nevertheless managed to pull herself together enough to stop staring at him. The table containing the equipment they'd be using wasn't that far away. Once she'd familiarized herself with the items on it, she'd be ready to jump into this exercise as Unchained's staff called it.

She turned and started toward the table.

"Stop. Get back here."

He hadn't yelled but the command couldn't have made more of an impact if he had. "What-"

"I didn't give you permission. From now on you don't do anything unless I approve it."

"Don't order me. I-"

"Let's get something straight, Karmen. I'm here in part because I'm determined to dig through your emotional layers. I only know one way to get maximum performance from my employees, by being direct. That's what you want, isn't it? For me to be in charge."

Not giving her time to respond, he jabbed his free forefinger at the floor in front of him. "Plant your ass there."

A part of her wanted to tell him to fuck himself, yet she found herself doing as he'd ordered. As she was getting ready to come here she'd told herself to unquestioningly embrace the experience. Analyze later.

"That's better," he said when she stood before him. "I can't take that tone with my employees but they understand. That's the mindset I brought here. I have expectations of you. I'll enforce them and you'll obey."