This one caught my attention early on. It was a quick read and kept me interested all the way through. 
 A Human military linguist goes to an alien trading outpost regularly to trade goods with the native species that values business acumen above nearly all else. He particularly enjoys dealing with one trader who takes the time to entice him with new vocabulary and cultural understanding, and he learns quickly and becomes the best Human trader. 
 A new base commander takes over and thinks more highly of himself than the people who've been dealing with the alien culture for multiple years. The commander commits a grave faux-pas with the aliens and is called to an unknown temple meeting which humans have never before been invited to. As a result of that meeting, the alien trader takes possession of the linguist away from the Human military and makes him his own. The rest of the story is the linguist trying to understand what has happened to him, why, and whether or not he can reconcile his new status with himself. Is he a slave to be traded away at any moment, or is his position more than that? 
 I love reading cultural diversity in sci-fi stories, and this one is well done. Via means of submission and domination, it explores the difference between sex, pleasure, love, and intimacy in an interesting way, because what one needs from the relationship is NOT what the other wants from it, and they have to figure out how to come to a mutually beneficial understanding through the cultural barrier, and sometimes the language barrier too. What means something to one may mean nothing to the other. 
 Enjoyable read. 4 stars. Comparable to I Was An Alien Cat Toy with a slightly happier ending.