Graduate student Vivienne Charles is afraid of her own desires-ashamed to admit that she fantasizes about being taken by force, by a man who will claim her completely and without mercy. When the magnetic, mysterious Jonah Marks learns her secret, he makes an offer that stuns her: they will remain near-strangers to each other, and meet in secret so that he can fulfill her fantasy. Their arrangement is twisted. The sex is incredible. And-despite their attempts to stay apart-soon their emotions are bound together as tightly as the rope around Vivienne's wrists. But the secrets in their pasts threaten to turn their affair even darker...