Chapter 45
Jamie took a mental victory lap. Dinner could not have gone better. His mom”s lemony chicken was perfection in a roasting pan. In fact, it was so stupendous that he had Rebecca assist him while he staged several Pulitzer-worthy food selfies, including one he immediately added to the family message thread showcasing not just the chicken but the ambiance of an Arizona evening. For the eagle-eyed, this shot showed two place settings and two wine glasses reflecting light from a flickering candle.
The picture was a mini announcement—he wanted his parents to know he was dating someone. That, in itself, was a major milestone.
Now, it was time for some after-dinner play with a grown-up toy he was sure his lady would find fun.
”I don”t know,” Rebecca drawled in the adorable, doubtful way she had. ”Isn”t Wi-Fi and an app cheating? I mean, I remember my high school astronomy club. We lugged heavy tripod telescopes out to the football field for nighttime star gazing. This just doesn”t seem right.”
”It”s a three thousand dollar piece of equipment!”He laughed. ”Not some crappy piece of junk stored in a school closet. This baby is lithium-powered, has killer optics, and has a stargazing app! It auto-aligns and everything. How is that cheating?”
Their playfully bickering banter was so them. Jamie enjoyed his lady”s spunk. There was a hint of mischief in her gentle teasing. The Rebecca he knew and had come to have deep feelings for never met a topic she couldn”t turn into a debate.
Rebecca”s laughter blended with the sound of the garden wind chimes, lightly tinkling with each warm breeze. With small gestures like playing with her hair or casually touching him, she captivated Jamie with her displays of confidence. Jamie felt a kick of satisfaction that, with his help, she was blooming right before his eyes.
”Why, Dr. Hunter,”she teased. ”Is that the sound of you flexing? Three grand for a toy? I do believe that”s the definition of boasting about your coolness.”
”You think I”m cool? Hot diggity!”
He crowded her from behind, put his hands on her waist, and directed her toward the viewfinder.
Maybe it was the wine, the girl, or the effects of a balmy, romantic evening—Jamie wasn”t sure—but the atmosphere suddenly changed. What began as mild flirting turned sultry when she lowered her head to look into the viewfinder and wiggled her ass against the swelling bulge in his jeans.
An audacious ass wiggle was the perfect invitation for a playful swat. She yelped and jumped, straightened quickly, and looked at him.
He answered the question in her expression with a cocky smirk.
”Behave, woman.”
”What did I do?”she asked with unconvincing shock in her expression.
”You rubbed your ass on my cock.”
The rush of dusty pink onto her cheeks was fucking awesome.
Everything shifted. The world kept spinning, but time slowed here on his back deck. In layman”s terms, the dance had begun.
His Dom side took over.
Wrapping an arm around her waist, he pulled her close and made sure the hard-on she inspired made a firm impression.
”I”m imagining burying my cock in your sweet body—balls deep.”
”Jamie,”she breathlessly gasped.
He moved her hair and casually nibbled her shoulder.
”Can you see it, Rebecca? Our bodies joined in rapture? Can you hear it? Your whimpers? The wet fucking?”
She gasped again, and he bit her neck pretty damn hard.
It was most satisfying when her knees nearly gave out.
Stammering in a breathy voice, she told him, ”I can”t look through the telescope when you do things like that.”
Unable to see her eyes, Jamie couldn”t read her expression—not that he needed to. Her response to his actions came through loud and clear. Her skin warmed, and her body softened under his touch. She was wobbly, and her breathing turned to short pants.
”Do things like what?”he murmured in her ear.
”Bite me. My neck,”she added as if he needed clarification.
He licked her shoulder and blew a short breathon the spot to heighten her awareness. Her body quivered so beautifully.
”I like biting you,”he growled lustfully. ”In the animal kingdom, males often subdue a female with their teeth. Primitive men took their cues from the natural world. It”s very effective—a display of dominance.”
Nibbling on her smooth, warm neck, Jamie inhaled her scent and savored the taste of her skin. His tongue swirled and drew lines from her ear to her collarbone and out to the edge of her shoulder.
”I”ve never known anyone like you,”Rebecca sighed.
”Thank god because right now, I”m far too lust-drunk to fight someone over you.”
She turned in his arms and searched his face. ”Would you really? Fight someone over me?”
”Why do you sound so surprised?”The smile he gave her started gently but turned to a feral leer. ”If you remember, I was ready to engage in an alpha battle with some guy I saw you having dinner with. That was a bit of a wake-up call.”
Her eyes slowlyblinked as she processed his words.
By no stretch of anyone”s imagination would he be considered an expert on male-female dynamics, but there was one thing he felt confident about. A woman in love wanted to be claimed. A territorial male could use that advantageously with small acts like holding her hand in public.
”Let”s wrap things up out here and go inside. I have something to give you.”
The erotic haze wrapped around them didn”t vanish, but it did jiggle a bit with fun when his snarky sub gave him an adorably audacious smirk and said. ”You have something to give me? Would that be the salami in your pants?”
God damn, she was perfection.
”We”re going to have to explore some creative uses for your smart mouth that do not involve talking.”
”Gulp,”she said with a playful snort.
He barked a few orders. She mockingly saluted and dashed about gathering things that needed to go inside. In no time, he”d stowed the telescope away, rolled the beverage cart into the kitchen, left just the solar garden lights to illuminate the yard, and turned off the patio lights.
They worked as a team in the kitchen, putting things in the dishwasher, wrapping the leftovers, and returning everything to his preferred state of order.
”Shall we finish the bottle?”she asked.
”How many fingers am I holding up?”
”Three,”she chuckled.
”Then, yes, by all means, let”s take the last of it with us. I”ll get fresh glasses.”
As they made their way to the living room, she asked, ”May I take my shoes off?”
He set the glasses on the coffee table and, with the bottle of wine in his hand, looked her over.
”You”re going to be taking everything off, so you may as well start with the shoes.”
The fabric covering her boobs did little to hide her peaking nipples, a sure sign of her response to his verbal seduction.
Pouring the wine while she performed some shoe choreography, he marveled at how a woman could make something as mundane as taking off her shoes look sexy as fuck.
Satisfaction filled him when she remained standing. They were in the zone, and though this was her first formal submissive endeavor, she knew enough to wait until his permission was given.
Before handing off the glass of wine, he went to the bookcase and opened an antique box.
After careful thought, he concluded that Rebecca would respond favorably to a variation of a D/s collaring—something understated but significant, a touchstone to help her shift from the mundane to the special place where it was just the two of them.
As luck would have it, he found something within five minutes of stepping into a small jeweler”s shop. He knew this gesture of claiming had to happen before they had sex—it would be tacky as fuck to do it afterward as if to say the sex was more important than anything else. He wasn”t that big of a dick.
”Rather than asking Betty for a copy of our relationship declaration to frame and hang on the wall, I think this occasion needs a symbol—an accessory.”
”Ooh!”She clapped. ”An accessory? I love accessories.”
Opening the jeweler”s box, he showed her the necklace inside.
”I debated over this,”he laughed. ”Is a dog paw on a chain sexist?”
”Aww! It”s sweet! A veterinarian symbol. I love it, Jamie.”
Her enthused delight gave him all the feels. Satisfied with her response, he draped it around her neck and fastened the clasp.
”As symbols go, this one straddles a line. Is it just a necklace? Or a collar? I think it”s both.”
”Ohh,”she softly exclaimed. ”Really?”
Touching the tiny paw charm, she nibbled her lip and searched his expression.
Her eyes glittered. ”You have my attention, sir.”
His smile widened with approval. Fingering the delicate chain and the silky skin it rested on, he spoke carefully.
”I”m not telling you to wear this all the time. And, I don”t want to give the impression that a romantic gesture is the same as a collaring. It”s not—and to be clear, the only symbol I care about as far as something formally binding us is a wedding ring.”
She looked panicked.
”And we”re not there yet. But we are here, Rebecca,”he gently murmured as he touched the necklace.”I hope that when you wear this, you”ll think of me and us.”
Their eyes met and held.
”And this is just a suggestion, but it would please me very much if you wore it whenever you”re here.”
”A talisman,”she whispered. ”Like a ritual object.”
Jamie nodded slowly. She was picking up his meaning.
Then, he subjected her to a heated leer and quipped, ”When you wear it, will there be elbow nudges and raised eyebrows? Fuck, yeah. Because every single one of those Justice fuckers will have some eye-rolling comment about the dorky veterinarian putting what is essentially a dog collar around your neck. I”m sure the jokes about yanking your chain will have a life all of their own.”
She tried to keep a straight face. Tried not to laugh.
Wait for it, his inner voice chuckled.
When she couldn”t hold back any longer, her laughing snorts tickled his funny bone.
”Collared by the Veterinarian,”she quipped. ”That”s going to be the name of the romance book they write about us.”
”Does it bother you that people will talk?”
She blew out a harsh breath. ”They”ve been talking about us for months. There”s a bet going on, remember?”
”I”d say somebody is about to cash out,”he replied in a cocky drawl.