Jane’s hands started to shake. Same thing every week. She felt like she was at war with herself each time she stood in front of his door. Not too late to back out. Leave quietly. Jacob was probably on his laptop, answering leftover work emails, unaware she was unable to bring herself to use his key.

If Jane kept letting him in, he’d end up devastating her. She gave him complete creative freedom to play with her body, but her heart would always belong to her. A pretty lie she kept telling herself.

Leaving now would mean remaining unfulfilled for the next six days. On edge. Moody.

Jacob never locked the front door. She pushed the door open to find him in the living room, laptop propped on his knees. He didn’t look up when she entered. He never did. For a few seconds, she allowed herself a full view of him.

He was twice her age, but he regularly worked out and it showed. Muscles peeked under his plain white shirt and the worn jeans he wore. Jane liked how he wanted her to look all dolled-up while he dressed down. Jacob always wore his black hair slightly peppered with white military short, and it made his face look brutal, almost severe.

Jacob leveled his piercing gray eyes on her and did that little twirl with his finger, as if to say, what are you waiting for? They’d done this particular dance several times. He didn’t need to give her orders. She knew what to do.

Jane set her purse on the floor, next to his rack of shoes. She slipped out of the pink fuck-me stilettos she’d chosen for the evening. Next, she took her coat off. She folded it neatly right over her bag, almost forgetting his little assignment.

Jane knelt, plucked his old baby blanket from the front pocket of the coat, unsurprised to see his denim-clad legs in front of her. Her heart spiked, seeing what he held in his right hand. Her collar. A simple black leather band with a circular silver tag on it. Two words were embossed on it. His pet name for her. Little Sparrow.

Seeing her collar filled her with indescribable joy, a strange inner peace. All her initial apprehension, her fears about falling hard for a man who’d never be hers, disappeared. The past was a distant memory, and the future was filled with too many uncertainties. None of it mattered. This was the present and tonight was Friday. Their special night.

Jacob hooked a finger under her chin, making her look up. He didn’t smile. Jane never thought she’d ever seen him curve his lips upward, only down.

“What do you have for me tonight, Little Sparrow?”