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Maybe it was my past experiences muddling things up, but I’d rather not risk it. Ilikedbeing the one who wouldn’t risk it, who shouldered that responsibility.

“You’re not going to deny the chances of me fucking you then?”

I sighed. Sadly, it was expected that would be what he focused on. “How many times do you want me to tell you it’s happening?”

“You know what they say about words and actions.”

I poured the water into my glass, then his, while I figured out how to redirect the conversation back to where I wanted it.

“Let me worry about the actions.” I watched him over the rim of the glass as I took a small sip. “You can worry about telling me what you want from this.”

“I can?” Jaime tried, but he didn’t cover up the gulp quickly enough.

“Remember when I took delivery to your place?” I barely waited for him to give me a succinct nod before continuing. “You wanted us to talk more about me owning you, but we got sidetracked. I’m remedying it tonight.”

“You couldn’t give me more of a warning?” Jaime scowled. “Catching people off guard is not nice.”

“It sucks, doesn’t it?” I teased right back.

There was a fine line between keeping a brat on a tight leash and showing them you could give as hard as they did.

Jaime narrowed his eyes. “Very funny.”

“Uh-huh.” The problem about these tiny chairs—and tables—was that spreading was a challenge. I could sit down properly; I was not a Neanderthal. It just felt nicer to have breathing room. “Tell me what you want, pup.”

“What I really, really want?”

Not groaning out loud was painful. The reward—the pouting disappointment in his face—made it worth it. “You’re too young to get away with that.”

“But you’re not too old not to get it.” Jaime smirked. “I’m proud of you.”

Now I rolled my eyes. Was that better than groaning? Jury was still out.

Before he could try his hand at another—equally painful—pun, I spotted his server friend come out of the kitchen with both of our plates. I gave him a look to behave before I attuned to them and thanked them.

The burger looked as good as the picture in the menu had promised. In my experience, exclusively vegan restaurants were tricky. They could either be great or they focused so much on adding the newest, trendiest, healthiest ingredients and herbs that I didn’t know what anything was supposed to taste like. Going with burgers and falafel usually saved me that problem.

“Now, have you gotten all the jokes out of your system?”

“No such thing.” Jaime hummed. I supposed he needed a minute to eye fuck the giant pile of cheese in front of him. “Is it weird that I prefer vegan cheese to normal cheese?”

“Why would it be?” I frowned.

I didn’t like all versions of vegan cheese, but I noted it for next time I wanted to prepare him something. From what I read in the menu online, they blended cashews with spices to make their cheese blend. That was the version I liked best, too.

“Don’t know,” Jaime said as he struggled to grab one of the tortilla chips from the base, the soy meat and jalapeños mixed in with the cheese quickly leaving the scoop. I wasn’t sure there was merit to the plate outside of how social media worthy it was, but I kept the thought to myself. “I need more specific questions.”

“Huh?”

“Y’know.” Now he spoke through a mouthful of cashew cheese and little else. I didn’t need to pin him with a glare before he was swallowing—without trying to talk at the same time. “I have to tell María to come get this with me. But anyway. I mean the relationship shit you wanna talk about. I need more specific questions than justtell me your wants and needs.”

I cut into my burger like a civilized person as I weighed his words. My first instinct was to push, to challenge him beyond what he was comfortable with so that I knew he actually meant what came out of his mouth. My biases were dominating this, but I’d seen way too many subs go with the assumptions of what their prospective Dominant wanted to hear. I felt in my bones it wouldn’t be the case with Jaime. He’d proved himself multiple times—from the very beginning, really.

I wanted to argue that some habits were hard to break, but I reconsidered. Some habitswerehard to break, but this was the same as my hang-ups with milestones I should’ve ticked off eons ago. I couldn’t ask shit of someone if I wasn’t willing to lead by example.

“I want something more serious with you.” This time, I waited until he’d swallowed his food to start talking. I’d been of two minds on what he’d do, but I had Jaime’s rapt attention. He didn’t even try to hide as a blush spread up his cheeks. “I want to keep you collared whenever we’re at the club or my place, and I want to be in charge of you, as much as you let me.”

The chair Jaime was sitting on scraped against the floor as he suddenly struggled to find a comfortable position. “You already said most of that the other day.”