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“You two must have been such a sight!”

I crossed my arms and smirked at her.

“Are you laughing at me, Miss Cole?”

“I would never dare,” she retorted.

Her eyes twinkled, a sure sign I was on my way to securing the win.

“Does this mean you’ll accept my gift?”

“I suppose I could,” she mused.

I hesitated before dropping the next bomb on her.

“I hope so because this isn’t all of it.”

Her shoulders slumped, and she shook her head back and forth.

“No more gifts, Alex,” she implored.

“You said you’d accept. What’s next is just part of the package.”

“Please. No,” she said, but I ignored her pleas.

I went over to the dresser and picked up the small, gift-wrapped box I had left sitting there. When I turned back to face her, there was no describing the look of horror spreading across her face. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the package in my hand.

I looked from her to the box, then back up at her. Then it dawned on me.

“Chill out, baby. If I were going to propose, I’d do it better than this,” I said dryly. “Just open it.”

I thrust the cube-shaped box into her hand, annoyed this was going so badly.

A blush crept over Krystina’s cheeks. I was reasonably certain her embarrassment over jumping the gun was the only thing keeping her mouth shut while she went to work on opening the package.

Carefully, she pulled at the satin bow and slid her fingernail across the tapeline to unwrap it. Inside the box, nestled in a royal blue pillow, lay the necklace I had a local jeweler custom craft for her.

“Alex, it’s beautiful,” she said in awe. She ran her fingers across the platinum interlocked spiral emblem and over the three smooth sapphires placed in the surrounding circle. She looked up at me and smiled.

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!

Confident she wasn’t going to argue with me about the necklace, I released a sigh of relief.

“It’s a triskelion—or at least a variation of one,” I told her. “Some people call it a triskele.”

“What’s a triskele?”

“It’s a symbol of the BDSM community.”

“Oh. Well, um…” She hesitated, and her smile faltered. “Am I…to wear this? I mean, don’t get me wrong—it is truly a beautiful necklace. I’m just not too keen on advertising my newfound interests.”

“Don’t worry.” I laughed. “The triskelion symbol has many meanings depending on who you ask. Most people you encounter will think it means something entirely different. I personally believe it may be why the BDSM community adopted it. Look it up one day, Krystina. You may be intrigued by its history.”

“How so?”

“BDSM may be a subject never talked about, but many aspects of it are often in plain sight. Here, let me put it on you.”

I reached to take the box from her hands. I could still see the apprehension on her face, but she didn’t argue when I secured the clasp around the back of her neck. The emblem rested perfectly against her smooth skin, accenting the flawless swell of her breasts.