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“I really don’t think it’s necessary to buy both sanders,” she said, staring at the large upright sander, then at the smaller one, which didn’t seem such a bad investment. Maybe she could start making her own furniture or something.

Perhaps it would take off and she’d make a heap of money.

You should just stick to what you know and not have dreams, Opal. Girls like you shouldn’t have dreams. You don’t deserve them.

Crap.

A sick feeling developed in her stomach. Stefan’s voice was infiltrating her mind more and more lately and she didn’t know why.

It was like the more that she tried not to think about him . . . the more she thought about him.

Urgh. It really sucked.

“We could just rent the floor sander, right?” she questioned.

“Am I a man?”

Weird question.

“Uh, yes.”

He slid her some side eye. “I don’t appreciate the way you hesitated over that, Gem.”

She grinned. “Apologies, your manliness. Yes, you’re a man. A very manly man. The manliest of all men. I bow down before your manliness.” She bowed and he grunted.

“A yes would have sufficed.”

It might have, but it wouldn’t have been so funny.

“What does having a dick got to do with sanders?” she asked him.

A woman in front of them turned to give her an affronted look. Opal just grinned at her. “Well? It’s a legit question, right?”

He sighed as the woman walked off. “I’m a man, I buy tools. I don’t rent them.”

“Wow. I didn’t realize that was written down in the man handbook or is it the caveman handbook?”

“Keep pushing, Gem. You’ll find out which handbook it is.”

That sounded like it was supposed to be a threat . . . but she wouldn’t mind a bit of caveman right now.

“We’re buying the sanders,” he stated as he picked up the pail of stain she’d chosen earlier.

Her floors were going to look so good.

Opal frowned. She was feeling antsy.

And she figured she knew why.

It had been five days since he’d eaten her out in the storage closet, and since then . . . crickets.

She hadn’t gotten to come again.

She also hadn’t received those spankings he’d threatened her with.

There was a dumb, insecure part of her that told her it was because he’d changed his mind. Because he’d discovered that she wasn’t for him.

But she shut that bitch down quick. Because he hadn’t shown any lack of interest. He was always kissing and touching her. If they were out and about, then she wasn’t allowed to be more than an arm’s length away from him.

It was both annoying and amazing.

The man had turned every preconception she had about being in a relationship on its head.

But he still wasn’t touching her the way she wanted him to.

She wanted Daddy to take her over his knee and spank her ass.

Then she wanted Renard to kiss it all better.

Maybe this was his idea of torture. Was he getting off on not getting her off?

Huh.

That was a thought.

“Anything else, sir?”

Wait. Shit. How had they reached the counter already? She was really zoning out.

“Nope,” Renard told Trey. She smiled at the poor guy, who was giving Renard nervous glances.

He seemed to inspire that reaction a lot.

She dug around in her handbag for her wallet. She hated to think about the hit her bank account was going to take. However, before she could get her wallet out, Renard was flipping his card out to pay.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Paying.” He shot her a look. “And you might want to put your purse away before I get mad.”

“Before you get . . . why would you get mad?”

“We’ve already had this conversation, Gem.”

They had?

“We have? Was I there for that conversation?” She put her hands on her hips, staring up at him as the guy handed over the receipt.

“Uh, here you go, sir.”

“Yeah, the conversation where we agreed that I was a guy.” He took the receipt and started pushing the cart out to his truck.

“That’s it? You’re a guy so you pay?”

“Yep.”

“But that makes no sense! This stuff is for my place, not yours. I mean, maybe if you were buying the sanders because you needed them it would be a different story, but?—”

“Fine, I am.”

“Oh, you are. Really?” she asked as they got to his truck.

“No, Gem. Not really. What would I need a sander for? I rent an apartment that I don’t like being in, why would I want to spend more time being in it?”

“Is it really that bad?” she asked.

“Yep. You ever see my apartment and you won’t like being in it either.”

“Well, now I need to see your apartment.” She was kind of upset that she hadn’t seen his apartment. Why hadn’t he invited her over? “How come I’ve never seen your apartment?”

He had finished loading up the back of his truck and now he turned her. “Are you mad because you haven’t seen my apartment?”

Was she?

Kind of.

“Um, yeah.”

“Fine, you can come see it whenever you want. Nothing to see and you will be disappointed.”

“I just think that when you’re dating you should see where the other person lives.”

“Right. Get in the truck, Gem.” He walked around to open the front passenger door.

“I still think that I should pay,” she told him as she pulled herself into her seat.

“And I know that you’re my woman and while you’re my woman, you don’t pay for shit. And you don’t push me on that stuff.” He grabbed the seatbelt and pulled it over her before buckling her in.

Um.

What just happened?

“Did you just buckle me in?”

“Yep.” He tugged on the seatbelt, then shut the door.

The man was nuts. And yet she’d never felt so cared for as she did right then.

As they were driving to her place, they saw a car on the side of the road with two teenage boys staring down at the flat tire.

“Jesus,” Renard muttered as they approached.

She saw two teenage girls standing on the footpath.

Oh no. A date gone wrong?

Renard drove past before muttering something to himself.

“Not going to stop?” she asked.

“It’s their own problem. Kids should learn how to change a tire.”

“How can they learn unless someone shows them?” she asked.

He muttered to himself before pulling over and doing a U-turn. Then he drove back to where the boys were searching in their trunk for something.

A spare tire?

“Stay here,” he said.

“I can help.”

“You know how to change a tire?”

“Well, no,” she said. “But I could be your assistant.”

“You can assist me by keeping your butt planted in my truck.”

Yikes.

She wouldn’t want to be those boys. She could see their faces drop as he approached them and one of them shuffled his feet. Likely the driver.

Shit.

Was he eroding the poor boy’s confidence? Just as she thought she might have to intervene, the boy’s shoulders lifted, and he grinned at Renard.

Okay, whew.

Didn’t take them long to change the tire in the end and the boys did most of it, with Renard guiding them.

As he got back in, the kids all waved him off.

“Aren’t you going to wave back?” she asked with amusement as they drove off.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Don’t wave.”

She bit her lip to hold back her smile.

“Don’t say it.”

Fine. She wouldn’t. But she also thought that he was the gruffest, sexiest teddy bear she’d ever met.

She just wished he would touch her.

Fuck her. Spank her. She didn’t mind which.

“You all right, Gem?”

“Yes, sure, I’m fine.” She startled out of her introspection to find that they’d reached her house. Shoot. She couldn’t even remember the drive here. “Why do you ask?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Maybe because you’ve been sitting there for five minutes, staring at nothing.”

Oh. Oops.

“Well, there’s no time for sitting. We’ve gotta get to work.” She unbuckled before reaching over for the door handle.

Renard shot out his hand, placing it over hers. “I know you weren’t about to open your own door, baby. And how I know that is because I’ve told you before that you aren’t to open your own door.”

Right.

She did know that. She knew the rules.

It was just that right now she didn’t necessarily feel like sticking to them.

But she chickened out of opening the door and, instead, put her hand back on her lap.

“That’s my girl.”

They’d spent time together every day. Every morning, he’d turn up at the shop with coffee for her. And last night, he’d picked her up to take her to Dirty Delights for her set before taking her home and spending the night.

In her bed.

Without touching her.

The man was everything she’d ever dreamed of.

Except for the fact he hadn’t fucked her or spanked her.

Sure, he’d been giving her back time to heal. But, honest to God, it was fine. And a girl had needs.

Thank God for her trusty vibrator. Which she probably needed to buy batteries for soon. Wouldn’t do to run out at an inopportune time.

“Opal?”

Shit. She turned her head to find him standing in the open door, frowning at her.

“Sorry!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m fine.”

She hadn’t actually meant to use that word . . . the banned one. But after she did, it felt right.

He narrowed his gaze. “You did not just use that word.”

Opal grinned. “Sorry, Daddy.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, scowling at her. Although she felt sure she saw some heat in his gaze.

“Inside, now.” He lifted her down and turned her toward the house, smacking her ass.

Yes! Finally.

“But don’t you need some help carrying the stuff in? I can carry something.”

“Gem, even if I have to make five trips, you will not be carrying a thing. Get me?”

“But why? That seems silly.”

“Have I got a dick?”

“Well, I wouldn’t know, since I’ve never got to see it or play with it.”

“Gem,” he growled before she found herself pressed up against his truck with him looming over her.

Hellooo.

Now this is what she was talking about. Her heart raced in anticipation as he leaned his hands on the truck above her.

A small bit of fear tried to infiltrate her arousal, but she shoved it down.

No bringing up the past. Stefan had to stay buried.

So, yep, she ignored the fear and stared bravely up into Renard’s face.

This is Renard.

Renard. Renard.

“What is your name?” she asked.

He blinked? “How the fuck did we go from talking about my very real dick to my name?”

“I don’t know, but I just realized that I don’t know if Renard is your first or last name. I should know that, right?”

“Last.” He turned and walked away.

Drat.

She’d ruined that moment. “Well?”

“Well, what?” he asked as he pulled out the two sanders and carried them inside.

Opal picked up the brushes. She’d grab the stain, but she didn’t want to push him too far.

He was a sadist, after all.

Picking up the brushes, she carried them into the house. Renard walked out of the spare bedroom as she entered the hallway.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Uh oh.

“What?” she countered.

“That.” He nodded at the brushes in her hand. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Then suddenly he was there, close to her, staring down at her.

With a rather scary look on his face.

“Carrying the brushes.”

He tilted his head to the side. “Thought I made myself clear outside, Gem. Do you need me to remind you?”

Suddenly, she was rethinking her plan to poke the bear.

Stupid, stupid idea.

“Um. No?”

“What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing. I’m fine.”

His eyes narrowed and that scary look grew even scarier. “Right.”

He picked her up suddenly and she wrapped her legs around him as he carried her into the kitchen, setting her down on the counter.

Then he placed his hands on the counter on either side of her. “Talk to me.”

“Well, it’s a nice day outside . . .”

“You want to stop right now. I’m this close to bending you over my knee, Gem,” he growled at her.

“Well, why don’t you?” she cried.

His eyes widened, his face filling with shock. “What?”

“Nothing. I want to get down now.”

“You want me to spank you? Is that what this has been about?”

God. Now she felt like a complete idiot. She ran her hand over her face. “Sorry. I’m being a fool. I just . . .”

“Didn’t know how to ask me so you decided to disobey me so I’d spank you?”

“I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do,” she said.

He grasped hold of her chin, frowning at her. “What makes you think I wouldn’t want to spank your ass? Especially when you need it.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say need it.”

“Don’t play coy. Say what you need.”

“It’s just that you haven’t touched me since the day in the closet.”

“I touch you all the time, touching you right now.”

“Not like that! I want you to touch me like you did in the closet! Do you know how many batteries by vibrator has gone through since I met you?”

That explosion was met with silence.