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“ Y ou shouldn’t be here, Immy.” Tobias shook his head at her.

“I like it here. It’s different than what I’m used to, but that doesn’t make it wrong or bad. And the people here are nice once you give them a chance. You should learn not to judge a book by its cover.”

He shot her an incredulous look. “Cherry, all my life, people have judged me by what they’ve seen. Someone with too many tattoos, a bad attitude, and dangerous.”

“And?” she prompted.

“And they’d be right. Sometimes, people are exactly what they seem.”

She waved her hand through the air. “Pish-posh.”

Pish-posh? Was she nuts?

An older woman came over to take their order. Well, his order since apparently, Immy had a regular drink.

“You’re in big trouble,” he told her once the server left.

“Me? Why?” she asked with an innocent look that he was not falling for.

“You wandered away from me. Twice.”

“I was just excited for my diet soda with lime. And here it is. Thanks, Esme.”

The older woman just grunted and limped away.

Immy used her tongue to grab hold of the straw.

Fuck. Fuck.

Fuck!

That was far too sexy and it was taking all of his control not to lean over and see what she could do with that tongue when he had it in his mouth. Grabbing the lime out of her drink, she sucked on it, then put the rind down. He reached over and ran his finger over the corner of her mouth.

“What . . . what are you doing?” she whispered.

“You had a bit of lime there.” He showed her his finger. Then, deciding to push things a bit, he put his finger in his mouth and sucked.

Her lower lip dropped open as she gaped at him. “You did not just do that.”

Tobias raised his eyebrows. “Pretty sure I did.”

“Holy moly. What was that? I don’t think bodyguards are supposed to do things like that.”

“Just as well I’m not actually a bodyguard then, huh? I’m guarding you, Immy. But we do it my way. And my way involves you listening to me. And obeying me. And, trust me, you don’t want to push me on this because my punishment will not involve taking away your candy.”

Fuck.

He hoped she didn’t run now. Well, maybe it would be a good thing as it meant they could leave this hellhole.

But to his surprise, her breathing seemed to grow faster as her eyes widened.

“What would it involve?” she asked, leaning closer.

Oh, she wasn’t scared. She was definitely interested. And aroused.

“Well, it might involve me putting you over my knee, then my hand smacking down on your naughty, bare ass.”

Another heavy swallow.

“Cupcakes,” she whispered. “You wouldn’t.”

“You know better than that. Already had a taste.”

Immy sat up, looking flustered. “That didn’t go well.”

“You know me better now.”

“But don’t I, uh, have to consent to that or something?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Do you? Is that in your books? Do you read about BDSM relationships?”

“Sometimes,” she said.

“I’m a Dom. But we don’t have that relationship.” Yet. “You say stop, I’ll stop.”

“You will?”

“You don’t trust me to stop, Cherry?”

She studied him, then let out a deep breath. “I trust you to stop.”

And just like that, he felt like he was twelve feet tall and could do anything. Just because he had her trust.

Christ.

If this woman ever discovered the power she could have over him . . . he would be in big trouble.

Urgh.

Immy was in big trouble.

Because her brain would not stop conjuring up the image of her over Tobias’s knee.

And. It. Was. Hot.

So hot that she felt flushed. Was it getting hotter in here? Was she getting sick?

Actually, that wouldn’t surprise her since she hadn’t been taking very good care of herself. And she’d been avoiding the others as much as she could over the last few weeks, knowing that they’d know something was up.

All because of what happened with Jenner . . . all right, that was enough to throw a bucket of cold water on her arousal.

Urgh.

What happened between them was all her fault. Only she couldn’t work out how to apologize.

Sorry for throwing myself at you?

Sorry for kissing you?

It was an accident?

Lame, Immy.

“Cherry? You good? Or did I put you into a coma?” Tobias asked, sounding amused.

“I think I liked it better when you barely spoke.”

“I bet you did. Then you didn’t get threatened with a spanking for being naughty.”

Urgh.

Why did those words go straight to her clit?

This was too much. She needed another drink. Or maybe a bucket of ice. Why did him talking to her like this turn her on so much?

Anyone would think that she wanted to be spanked.

That she was naughty.

She was not. Immy was a good girl.

Well. Most of the time. Half of the time. Okay, a third of the time she was a good girl. The rest was debatable.

But she managed to keep that mostly hidden.

She thought.

It wasn’t like anyone seemed to know that sometimes she ate cookies for breakfast, or went a touch over the speed limit, or that she sometimes swam naked in the pool when there was no one else home.

It happened very rarely.

But it was hard to be good all the time.

“You gonna drink your soda?” Tobias asked. “If not, we’re going.”

Wow. He was so uptight. And he’d seemed so relaxed when she’d first met him.

“You know you’re very wound up. Maybe you should get a massage or something. To help you relax.”

“You offering?”

The question caught her by surprise and made her gape at him for a long moment. Was she offering?

Could she do that?

“I can see the answer is no,” he murmured. “But I’m gonna take it as a ‘not yet.’”

Right. Uh-huh.

Yep.

“Oh, there’s my friend, Dev. I didn’t see him walk in.” She waved, trying to get the other man’s attention. But he didn’t turn around. “Let’s go say hi.”

“We can do that on our way out.”

“But I don’t want to leave now.”

“Tough.” Tobias got up and drew out his wallet, putting some bills down on the table.

She got out her wallet and added a few more bills to the pile.

“What is that?”

“Um.” She stared down at the money, then at Tobias. She wasn’t following. “It’s money.”

“I put enough down to cover the drinks. And a good tip,” he said to her with a frown.

“Ah, yeah, but,” she leaned in close to him, “see, I leave extra for Esme because she needs a hip replacement. Only, she wouldn’t let me do a collection. Got quite upset about it. So now, I just leave her a huge tip.”

He stared at her for a long moment, not looking happy. Then he picked up the bills that she’d put down and handed them to her.

“What are you . . .” Her voice trailed off as he then took his wallet back out and put down some more money. “I don’t get it.”

He raised his eyebrows. “When you’re out with me, I pay.”

“Um, okay.” Kind of alpha, but her friends could be like that, too. She never paid for food or drinks when she was out with them. “But I wasn’t paying for the food or drinks, it was extra for Esme.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

She kind of thought it did. “That doesn’t seem fair for you to have to pay that much extra. Maybe I could?—”

“Gonna stop you right there, Immy. You offering to pay anything for me is a spanking offense.”

“It is not!” She gasped in outrage.

“It is.”

“Says who?”

“Says me. Now, stop testing me and let's go.”

He was out of control. Obviously, he needed some reining in. Which meant that he probably needed to be the victim of an Immy-joke.

Hmm. What to do, though?

Put hair dye in his shampoo? Hair removal cream in his shower gel? Slime in his shoes?

That one was a classic.

They walked up to Dev, who was sitting at the bar.

“Hey, Dev,” she said cheerfully.

“Who’re you?” he grumbled.

She leaned into Tobias. “We always play this game. I’m a bit worried that he has dementia.”

“Don’t have dementia, girl, and my hearing is excellent. Just don’t remember you.” Half-turning in his seat, he flicked his gaze from her to Tobias. “Why you got a gang member with you?”

“Now, that’s just rude. Tobias isn’t a gang member, Dev. Although, half the people in this room likely are. And so what? It’s not nice to stereotype.”

Tobias groaned for some reason. “Immy. Quiet.”

“Uh, no. I won’t be quiet. Dev, be nice to Tobias. He’s a good man.”

“I’m really fucking not. And it’s time to go.” Tobias nodded at Dev before he picked her up and swung her over his shoulder.

It took her a moment to realize what was happening. And then she had to catch her breath. It really was no fun being carried over someone’s shoulder.

Sounded romantic when you read about it, but in reality it kind of made her feel sick and dizzy.

“Put me down! Tobias, put me down!” She wriggled in his hold.

Slap!

She froze.

What. The. Heck?

All right, so they’d just been talking about spankings . . . but she didn’t expect him to actually do it!

And certainly not in public! That was just rude.

“What do you think you are doing?” she cried.

“Stay still, Immy. Or there’s more where that came from.”

They stepped outside and the heat of the sun beat down on them. Then he came to a stop and let her down slowly. She was still a bit dizzy and had to take a half-step back to catch her balance.

“What was that about? I could walk!”

“Immy, do you know that guy?” he asked.

“Who?”

“The guy you were scolding in there,” he said, sounding exasperated.

“Who? Dev? Yes, of course I know him.”

“Didn’t seem like you did.”

“Um, well, we’re not best buds or anything,” she said.

“That right there tells me that you don’t know him well.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because a guy like that doesn’t have best buds. That guy has enemies. He has people he hates. And then he has people he doesn’t hate but is indifferent to. You do not want to be one of the people he takes notice of. It won’t end well for you.”

“How do you know that? How do you know Dev? You just met him. I’ve known him for months.”

“Sweetness, he didn’t even remember you. I don’t know why he’s hanging out at the same bar. But you will not be going back there.”

“You don’t get to decide that.” Immy went onto her tiptoes to glare up at him.

He glared back at her.

Rude.

“I do get to decide that.”

“I’m not in any danger. Pretty sure I don’t need an escort.”

“You do. You have one. And you’ll do what I tell you to do.”

“Urgh! You are so infuriating.” She stomped her foot on the ground. “You don’t even know Dev. How can you decide that he’s not a good guy?”

“Because I’ve met a few guys like Dev and I can tell you that they’re dead inside. There’s no soul left in there, Immy. Looked into his eyes, it was all darkness. And you will not be around him.”