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“ W ow,” Maggie said in awe as she glanced around the big store.

They’d gotten into Jack’s truck and he’d driven them further into town, past shops that she wouldn’t have minded looking in. Not that she had any money, but it cost nothing to window-shop.

And then he’d parked and led her along the street and into a gigantic toy store. Okay, Ian must have told him. It wasn’t like she’d told him to keep it a secret.

But still . . .

“A toy store?”

“Do you like it?”

Um, yeah. Duh. Although she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go exploring or run and hide. She heard a noise and saw a small, dark-haired woman run through the aisles, carrying an armful of stuffed toys.

“Milana, come back here,” a deep voice stated.

A well-built man strode after the woman, who squealed, then ran past Jack and Maggie where they stood.

Maggie leaned into Jack and he wrapped his arm around her. “Someone is about to get into trouble,” he whispered.

Huh? What?

“I haven’t done anything,” she squealed, reaching a hand behind her to cover her poor bottom.

“I wasn’t talking about you,” he told her. “Although are you feeling guilty? Anything you want to confess?”

No. But heck, she’d happily make something up if it meant he’d keep talking to her in that dark, dominant voice.

Jack kept surprising her. Just as she thought she had him worked out, she discovered a new side of him.

“No.”

“Sure?”

“Yes, Sir.”

He leaned into her, his mouth brushing her ear. “I like when you call me Sir.”

What was happening right now? What was she thinking, calling him Sir?

Before she could ask him what was happening, the man from before stepped out in front of them. His face was now dark with anger.

“Milana, come here. Right now.”

Whoa. There was power in his voice. He wasn’t happy. If she was Milana, she’d do what he said immediately.

Unless Milana wanted to get in trouble. Maybe she did. Hey, if that was the case, Maggie wasn’t going to yuck on her yum.

The gorgeous Milana stuck her head out of one of the aisles. She gave them a curious look before turning to the man with big, sad eyes.

Whoa. Was he going to fall for that?

“If he falls for that, he’s an idiot,” Jack whispered.

That wasn’t very nice. Was he immune to her puppy dog eyes? She turned a pout on him. He just grinned.

“Nice try. I’m not Ian.”

What did that mean? Was he saying that Ian wasn’t immune to her pout?

Hmm. She might have to test that.

“Milana. Here.” The man sounded stern as he pointed to a spot before him.

Milana shot them a nervous look but then stomped over to the guy. Had she picked up more toys? She could barely hold them in her arms.

She came to a stop about two feet away from the man. “You bellowed?”

“Watch the tone, young lady.”

Whoa. That sent a shiver through Maggie’s body. She started feeling guilty and she hadn’t even done anything wrong.

“Sorry, Daddy.”

Maggie had to admit that she was surprised they were both being so open in front of her and Jack. Back home, that would never happen. She’d only ever let her Little side out in the club. With Daddy Doms that she’d sort of known.

But Milana and her Daddy didn’t seem to care.

“How many soft toys are you allowed to get today?” the man asked.

“Just one. But Daddy, that’s so unfair.”

“No. It’s not unfair. It was what you are allowed.”

“But I should be allowed as many as I want.”

He just folded his arms over his chest. “We wouldn’t even be able to get through our front door if you were allowed as many as you wanted. And we’d be bankrupt. Now, you’re going to go and put each of those toys away exactly where you got them from. Then we’re going home to have a very serious talk about doing as Daddy says and how I expect you to behave while in public.”

“That doesn’t sound fun.”

“It’s not going to be. Off you go.” He turned her around, giving her a smack on the ass.

She jumped, yelping. “Ouch! Daddy! So mean.” Then she turned at the end of the aisle. “I get to keep one, though, Daddy? Right?”

“Of course you get to keep one.” He turned to wink at Maggie. “I’m not a monster.”

Jack drew her against him, wrapping an arm around her possessively. The man gave them both a curious look before turning away and walking off.

She glanced up at Jack, worried about how tense he was. “Jack? Are you all right?”

“No.”

Worry filled her. She didn’t like the idea of something being wrong with her happy guy.

“Can I help?”

“Not sure. Let me try something.” He walked them along until they could see Milana and her Daddy down one aisle. Then he pulled Maggie against his chest and, holding onto the back of her neck, he kissed her. This was different from in the storage room.

Hot. Hard.

Commanding from the second their lips touched.

It was a kiss of ownership.

When he drew back, he looked smug. Like he’d done exactly what he’d set out to do. Taking hold of her hand once again, he drew her toward the back of the store.

“What . . . what was that about?” she asked as he started whistling.

“What was what about?”

“That kiss.”

“You didn’t like it?”

“Of course I liked it. I’d have to be dead not to like it. Even if I was dead, I’m certain that kiss would have reanimated me. But you said something was wrong. That kiss helped?”

“It sure did.”

“And you had to do it in front of those strangers?”

Jack stopped and smiled down at her. “I sure did.”

Men. Would she ever understand them? Did she want to?

Maybe they needed to be all locked up for their own good. Or therapy should be made mandatory.

If you have a dick, go talk to the Doc.

Hmm. It had a ring to it.

“Come on. Let me show you the surprise.”

“Is it something I want?” she asked.

“I think so.”

He led them to an elevator. When they got in, she shut her eyes and started counting.

“Baby? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t like elevators.”

You’re fine. You’re fine. It’s not that small. You can get out. You’re not trapped.

She knew it was silly, considering she liked to hide in bathtubs. But in there, she felt in control.

In the elevator, she definitely didn’t.

“Come here.” He held her against his chest for the whole two seconds before they came to a stop and she heard the doors open.

She was such a wimp.

“Sorry,” she told him after he led her out of the elevator.

Grasping her chin, he tilted her face back. “Why are you saying sorry?”

“Um, because I have a ridiculous fear of elevators?”

“Ridiculous?”

“Yes. It’s ridiculous. I know they’re safe. It’s just . . . when I was about four, my sister shut me in an elevator and I didn’t know how to get out. I didn’t know I needed to push the buttons and the doors would open. I screamed and cried, and it wasn’t until someone else came to use it that I was able to get out.”

“That fucking bitch.”

She winced at the words. “She was only ten.”

“Ten is old enough to know better. You don’t need to defend her.”

Yeah, she guessed it was. Maggie didn’t know why she defended her. Maybe because that was what she’d always done. It was what she knew.

Wanting to distract herself, she turned and looked around. Her jaw dropped open.

“What is this place?”

What it looked like was the most magical place in the world! There was an enormous bouncy slide that she immediately wanted to go down. As well as that, there were several large bouncy pillows set into the floor.

And there was even a castle! She almost swooned. A castle with slides.

Could there be anything more amazing?

A ball pit was in the very middle of the room. She wanted to dive in. And, most marvelous of all, no one else was in the room. She started to run. She was going to head for the ball pit first. No, the castle! The big slide!

Oh, it was way too hard to decide.

Before she could move more than two steps, she was brought up short. She looked behind her to find that Jack had hold of the back of her jeans.

“Jack! Let go! I want to play!” Whoa. Was that a whine in her voice?

Where had that come from?

Jack’s eyebrows rose. Had he noticed?

“You want to play?”

“Uh-huh. Let me go!”

“Don’t you think you need to know the rules first?”

“Rules-schmules.”

Monkeyballs. What was she doing? He seemed to know she was a Little, though. And he was the one who had brought her here. To a toy store and the most magical, amazing place in the world!

“There can’t be any rules in a place like this!” she protested.

“I’m afraid there are.”

Maggie crossed her arms over her chest with a huff. “I thought you were the fun one.”

“Am I?” He grinned. “What does that make Ian then?”

“The grumpy one, of course. You don’t want to be the grumpy one, do you? Because I’m sure the fun one doesn’t make rules.”

“I can be fun and still enforce rules.” Reaching out with his other hand, he tapped her lower lip. “And that doesn’t work on me.”

Bummer.

“All right, what are these silly rules?”

“No shoes on the bouncy material.”

Oh. That actually wasn’t a silly rule at all. Now she felt bad. He let go of her jeans and she slid off her shoes, spotting cubby holes to put them in.

“Where is everyone else? Are other people going to come here?” She wasn’t sure if she could let go and have fun if people were watching.

“I hired it out for an hour. We’ve got about fifty minutes of that left.”

Wow. He’d really thought of everything, hadn’t he? Maggie knew she could have lots of fun playing in that amount of time. She started to race off again.

Only to be brought to a sudden stop.

“Jack!” she cried, turning to glare at him.

“You haven’t heard all the rules yet.”

“There are more?” she cried.

“Yes. Next rule is that you have to stop when I tell you to.”

Sheesh. She wasn’t a darn toddler.

“Okay. And?” she asked.

“Have fun.”

“That’s it?” she asked.

“That’s it. Go!”

With a squeal that filled the room, she raced off. She went to the giant bouncy pillow first. To her shock, it suddenly went really high. She looked over to find Jack on the other side.

“You don’t mind if I join in, right?”

She laughed. “No! Come on! I’m going in the castle.” She raced up the stairs and reached the top, looking down at him. “I’m the queen of the castle and you’re a dirty rascal.”

“I don’t think I’m the rascal, brat. You better move.”

With a squeal, she ran to the slide and went down it as he climbed the stairs. Then she headed to the big slide.

She couldn’t remember when she’d had this much fun. Even as her cheeks ached from smiling and her heart raced with exertion, she didn’t stop.

Although she probably should have listened to her body when her hip started to ache.

But she had a limited time to play and needed to make the most of it.

“Baby, you okay?” Jack called out.

“Yep, I’m fine.”

“Stop for a moment.”

She thought about refusing, but he stepped into her path, grabbing her.

“Time for a drink,” he stated, studying her carefully.

“But I’m not thirsty.”

“Come on.” He took her hand and dragged her over to the side of the room.

Had he even heard her?

Sheesh.