The Associate by Anna T. Pope

“Some men command obedience. He taught me to crave it.”

Fresh out of law school and desperate to bury the trauma that nearly broke him, Samuel’s only goal is simple: keep his head down and survive. But that becomes impossible when he’s placed under Gael Wise, the firm’s most feared senior partner whose reputation alone is enough to break seasoned attorneys.
Gael picks up on Samuel’s tells instantly. The too-fast apologies. The rigid posture. The instinctive compliance no one else has ever questioned. And soon, what should have been a professional hierarchy shifts into a volatile, magnetic pull that exposes every defense Samuel has left.

What starts as curiosity becomes something darker.
Desire turns razor-sharp.
And Gael’s interest threatens to pull Samuel into a world he isn’t sure he can survive—or walk away from.

With old wounds rising fast and lines blurring beyond recognition, both men must face a truth neither expected:
Some obsessions don’t stay hidden… and some connections can break you long before they save you.

A dark, age-gap, BDSM-charged MM romance — The Associateis the first book in The Crimson Knot series.