Strict (Part One)

I met him in the kind of place where bad things happen. The kind of place where women fall to their knees, call men sir, and get lashed with a belt.

Gage Stratford. Dark, damaged, cold-blooded and gorgeous, with secrets so deep you could drown. He touched me that night, made me feel things that excited and terrified me in equal measure.

When I turned up at my internship the next day, I was shocked to find he was my new boss. My billionaire boss was the one who had made me feel like I couldn’t help but fall to my knees and do whatever he commanded.

He says he can’t stay away from me. That he needs to make me his submissive, to take me over his desk, to punish me and make me his.

But our horrific pasts have made us who we are, and to get close to him means to crack each other open and expose the very things we’ve worked so hard to bury. And when our secrets come out, not only our love but also our lives will be on the line -- leaving us bound together forever, or destroyed and shattered beyond repair.

Being together isn’t an option.

But staying apart is impossible….