He shoved the thought away because he didn’t have to make any decisions now. He couldn’t imagine not being an operative, but he also couldn’t imagine life without her. The job required long times away from home. The job sometimes required him to fuck for information.

He couldn’t ever take another woman. How was he supposed to fuck a target and then come home to Penelope?

“Master? Don’t. Not now.” She reached for him. “Stay with me.”

She understood him, saw him in a way no one else could, not even himself. She knew when he was drifting and knew how to bring him back. He had to make a few things clear. He touched the chain, tracing it with his fingertips. The metal was cool and her skin warm. The chain twinkled with polished beauty but she was the real gem. He’d been so cold, hard, until he’d managed to fasten himself around her warm heart. “I won’t let you down. We have things to work out, but I won’t let you down. Not ever.”

Her hands covered his, holding the chain to her body. “Say it, Damon. Say the words for me.”

He frowned. He knew what she wanted. He just didn’t know if he should give them to her, didn’t know if it was right. “Penelope, I’m not sure that I believe them. I want you. I care for you. I need you.”

“You don’t have to believe them. I believe them. Damon, I can love enough for both of us. Say them. Say them for me. Say them because I need to hear them.”

When she put it like that, he couldn’t refuse. “I love you, Penelope.”

“I love you, my Master.” The tears shining in her eyes were worth the little lie.

If it was a lie. Maybe he just didn’t understand. She’d said she spoke his language. He should try to speak hers. “I love you. I love you.”

Maybe, if he said it enough, he would believe it. Maybe he would believe he was capable of more than fighting and killing, that he was capable of nurturing her, of giving her a home she could be happy in.

Maybe if he said it enough, he would believe he could give her a family.

He couldn’t hold back a moment longer. She’d been a good girl. She’d held the plug through everything. She’d been steadfast.

“Turn over for me.” He helped her turn over, getting her to her hands and knees.

“Oh, god, Master. The chain.”

It was pulling on her, forcing her to focus on her nipples and her clit. “Tell me if it hurts.”

Her back moved with a chuckle. “It hurts. It aches. I need more.”

She was perfect for him. And he would give her so much more. He reached for the lube, finally able to give his dick some small relief. He lubed up his hand and stroked himself, preparing for her. He gently pulled out the plug, watching her hole struggling to keep it now. He brought it out by the base and placed it on the stand, his whole being focused on making this good for her.

He needed to take her every way he could, to push past any barriers that were still between them. He wanted to bind her to him in every way a man could bind a woman.

With a long sigh, he pressed the head of his cock against her sweetly puckered hole. She moaned as he rimmed her with his dick.

“Open for me. I won’t let you keep me out. Press back against me. Take me inside, Penelope.” Heat was already coursing through his system. The pressure was building and he wasn’t inside her yet.

Penelope straightened her back, her arse moving toward him.

He slipped inside, just a bit, but he wouldn’t give up his territory. With ruthless intent, he gripped her hips and began to impale her on his cock, the tight hole fighting him all the way.

He fucked his way inside, her muscles already threatening to milk his dick.

She clenched around him. Pleasure raced along his skin. Little thrusts. He kept them tight, giving her time to adjust to his size. His whole consciousness faded to the point where only their connection mattered. His whole world was Penelope and the pleasure they shared.

“Master. I can’t. You’re too big.”

He reached down and jingled the chain and she cried out again. He slid home. “You can handle me.”

Her head fell forward. “You’re killing me. I’m so full. I can’t breathe. I can’t even think.”

Because he was stimulating her everywhere. He pulled the chain gently, toying with her clit. Penelope responded with a low moan, clenching around him. “I don’t want you to think. I want you to feel. Feel me.”

“I can’t feel anything else. Oh, god, Master. Please move. You have to move. If you would just move I think…”

She could breathe? Oh, he was going to show her. He dragged his cock slowly back out.

“Oh, my god.” Her whole spine straightened, her body moving back toward him, trying to get his dick back, fighting for the sensation. “It feels so good.”

That was what he wanted to hear. He pulled out so just the tip of his cock remained within the tight ring of her muscles. He stroked her back, soothing her as he tilted his pelvis up and fucked his way back in.

He gave over to the pleasure, moving in and out of her, letting the world fall away because nothing else mattered. He lost himself in her, giving and receiving pleasure because she was his.

He finally understood that meant he was hers. He belonged to Penelope Cash and that was a good thing. Before her, the power exchange had been a mere transfer of responsibilities. It was a contract that could be easily broken.

He could never break with her. He could never be complete without her.

Damon felt her body shake with her orgasm. She called out his name over and over. Damon. Not Master. He wouldn’t punish her because in that moment he was hers. Her Damon. He’d hidden behind Master because he understood the role in a way he’d never understood himself.

Now he realized he liked being Penny’s Damon. He wasn’t exactly sure who that man was, but he intended to find out.

The minute she relaxed beneath him, he let go. His balls drew up, come exploding from him in a hot wash of joy and pleasure and connection unlike anything he’d felt before. He pumped into her until he had nothing left to give.

Peace settled on him as he moved out of her, drawing her to her side as he fell to the bed. He settled her on her back, admiring the way her skin flushed and her breasts moved with the force of her breaths.

He hated to do it, wanted to see the marks of his possession on her always, but he couldn’t leave them there.

He slipped the first clamp off, delighting in her squeal and the way she squirmed as he eased the pain with his tongue and lips. He moved to her other nipple, and she didn’t fight him at all. Her hands found his hair, holding him to her breast.

“I love you, Master.”

He looked up at her. “Damon.”

A soft smile spread on her lips. Her hands smoothed his hair back. “I love you, Damon.”

“I love you, Penelope.” The words came easier.

He rather thought that had been her point in making him say them. He chuckled as he kissed his way down the chain.

* * *

Two days later, Penny sat in the suite Damon had rented for her and the rest of the team in Berlin. She wished she could spend time enjoying the city, but it looked like this would be a very short trip. After a three-hour train ride from the cruise terminal, Damon still wasn’t done going over and over all the logistics with the afternoon’s operation. Penny gave her Master her surest smile. He was so nervous. It made him a bit crabby with everyone.

“Do you understand what I’ll do if anyone deviates from the plan?” Damon asked, looking sternly at the man and women assigned to keep her company.

Damon had told her it was so she wouldn’t be lonely, but she rather thought he was leaving them behind as bodyguards.

“Yeah, yeah, you’ll murder me in cold blood,” Simon Weston said, rolling his eyes. He turned to Ian Taggart. “Why am I babysitting the women?”

“Because Jake let the girls run wild last time,” Taggart announced.

“Hey, I could stay behind. I’m good at watching a couple of pretty ladies.” Brody Carter looked a bit more cheerful without his hands cuffed behind his back and his mouth ball gag free.

The Aussie had proven perfectly charming once he realized they weren’t the enemy. They had been careful to keep him in one of the cabins and out of the sight of the ship’s many cameras just in case. He seemed to spend all of his time either eating massive quantities of food or working out. She had to admit she and Charlotte had spent a nice afternoon watching him do one-armed pushups. He was a lovely man.

But she would never let her Master know it. He was a tad possessive.

“I believe you’re required at today’s mission. I think Mr. Bennett would be a tad surprised if you didn’t show up,” Penelope said. She put a hand on Damon’s shoulder. She’d discovered she could calm him down by touching him.

She’d had to do a lot of calming during their days at sea. When he wasn’t on top of her, he was pretty much coming up with all the ways the mission could go wrong and she could die. She’d had to promise to stay at the hotel in Berlin. Then he and Taggart had decided that Charlotte should stay with her.

Now she and Charlotte needed a bodyguard and they’d decided Jake was too indulgent.

“I’m merely saying I could be more helpful in the field,” Simon said with a frown. “Charlotte can handle this. For that matter, Penny is quite smart. I think she can bloody well lock her door and stay in her room.”

Ian frowned his wife’s way. “Leaving Charlotte in charge is a very bad idea. She could blow up the hotel while we’re gone.”

Charlotte smiled. “I would yell at him but he’s right. I can’t help it. It’s fun to cause trouble.”