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“Hell no.” Cece recovered from the mental image faster. “I mean, he might be rougher fucking me. Or he bites me. But we don’t have a D/s thing.”

“Right.” Tony readjusted himself as he spoke. “Then the answer is no.”

Wait a second.

I turned to him. “So, if they’d said yes, youwouldpunish me because they said so?”

That sounded like bullshit.

Tony rolled his eyes. I had more to say, but he grabbed me and lifted me onto his lap.

He bit the shell of my ear before whispering, “If you doled out a punishment I deemed wrong? You bet your ass that falls under the shit I take responsibility for.”

All air left the room. That was a thing that happened, right? Or another red flag I now had. Something was wrong if his threat got me all hot and bothered. If it made me moan wantonly, out loud, in front of Cece and the unfinished plates I really wanted to finish.

A slap on my ass had me gasping.

“Eat up, pups.”

I whimpered.

Cece pinched my side. I didn’t have my wits about me to do or say anything back. So I focused on the food, and maybe I didn’t cool my expression enough when Tony handed us our boba teas. He mentioned something about how the owner of the place knew us well enough she told him what our favorites were when he gave her our names. I had a feeling it was supposed to be a jab, but honestly? I was supporting a local business. Nothing wrong with that.

Nothing wrong with melting a bit when Tony agreed to let us use his legs as a pillow while we watchedNewsiesor when he kept his fingers splayed against my ass.

THIRTEEN

jaime

“You’re okay with leaving?” I double checked.

Technically, I hadn’t even asked him to leave. He’d just headed to grab his coat after the musical had ended and I’d roused Cece. Seriously, something really bad had happened. Cece, falling asleep while her favorite musical of all time—with her dream cast—was on?

Unheard of.

I ignored the twinge in my stomach. I should be pressing more. And I shouldn’t have shoved Tony in here, with no thoughts to Cece, when I’d seen him at the door.

Cece definitely had had a point about me being selfish and putting myself first, even though I still didn’t agree with everything else they’d said.

“I’m not going to overstay my welcome, pup.” Tony pulled me closer as he spoke. There really was something wrong with the way my body reacted whenever he manhandled me like this. “And you have to take care of your beta, don’t you?”

There was a hint of humor when he said beta. I’d text him about it later, but he had a point. Whenever one of us was not feeling great, cuddling in bed was mandatory. I might have anissue with thinking clearly when Tony was around, but I still kept some functioning brain cells.

I still had to check. “You don’t mind?”

If he said he did, I’d kick him out and lick my wounds or something. Tony had been okay with everything Cece had explained. He’d been fine with Cece telling him not to touch her while we were on the couch, and he’d been fine with me having an arm around her and nuzzling into her hair from time to time.

Not all D-types understood our thing. We’d been burned a few times. Nothing dramatic, but it was the principle of it.

“Do I give you the impression that I’d stay quiet if I minded?”

Fair enough.

“Ugh, just get a room.”

Cece made me jump when she walked past us. She’d gone to the bathroom while Tony grabbed his coat, but I always forgot how eerily quick she was.

I growled at her. A puppy growl. Human growls were not nice, and they were forbidden, but puppy growling was fair game. She was lucky Tony’s arms were around me or I would’ve pounced to bite her.