Page 8 of Puppy on a Leash

No idea why I said that. I was sure my face showed it, too. I didn’t blurt out shit like that.

Jaime was too quick on his feet for his own good, though. For both of ours. The question made him freeze for a second, but only a second. Then a smile plastered on his face, and his lightbrown eyes gleamed with mischief. It was all I could do not to stumble when he moved off the couch.

“So youareflirting with me.”

What?

I started to shake my head, but he prowled closer. This was ridiculous. I shouldn’t be short-circuiting. I shouldn’t be holding my breath like I did as a teenager in the locker room trying not to get an accidental boner during PE. I shouldn’t be walking backward, letting Jaime gain the upper hand until he had my back pressed against the threshold to the living room.

“I’m not.” It was too late, too meaningless, by the time I managed to utter those words.

Jaime just gave me a lopsided grin. He was a fucking enigma. Always had been. Within the walls of the club, he was a menace of a pup. He fucked everyone with reckless abandon and wreaked havoc wherever he went—albeit he never strayed too far from the other pup, Cece. Outside of the club, though? I’d only seen him a couple of times. He used to hang out with my exes—Marga and Jen—from time to time. I’d picked them up and crossed paths with him then.

The first time, I hadn’t even recognized him. He’d looked too put together and hadn’t fit the image he portrayed in the club at all. Perfectly styled golden-brown hair, clothes no one would bat an eye at if he wore them to my snobbish family’s meals. He’d been wearingloaferswhen he stepped inside today. Loafers and perfectly pressed chinos and a button-down. He was in his twenties, and nothing about him screamed he came from the kind of family that would explain those fashion choices.

It didn’t make sense.

I might have spent double the time studying him than anyone else in the club. He was fierce and had one hell of a brat in him whenever he opened his mouth. He was opinionated and loud, but he didn’t look it outside of the club. He certainly didn’tlook it here—running hot and cold since he walked in, moving between bravado, anger, and something akin to fear.

His body pressed against mine. I wasn’t thinking straight when I felt a bulge against my inner thigh. I glanced downward. Did he…?

My throat bobbed as I gulped.

Years ago, Erika had dragged a bunch of us for a meeting in a bar near the club. I couldn’t remember what it was about, but we’d started drinking. Someone asked León something about… his transition, maybe? Anyway, he said that he only packed if he had plans to use that dildo on someone.

I supposed everyone was different.

Of course, Jaime caught my reaction. “Answer my questions and I’ll show you.”

“Show me?”

He was smaller than I was, but he didn’tfeelsmaller. The height I had on him meant nothing, and the knowledge was disturbing.

“You know what I’m talking about.”

Did I?

“Boy,” I growled, fists clenching at my sides.

My nostrils flared.

It was an amateur move at best, but I needed to get back on top here. I didn’t like feeling small, watched, taunted. It wasn’t what I signed up for when I joined Plumas, and I had no plans to make changes in that area.

Jaime watched me for a second. Something flicked through his gaze, but I couldn’t read him. I was taking stock of my own body, too busy regulating my heartbeat to think clearly.

“You act as if you’ve got zero experience.”

If only you knew.

I pressed my lips together before I could say something else I didn’t mean.

“You were just talking about putting food on the table,” I sneered, leaning into that cruel space I had no business stepping into without a negotiation that hadn’t taken place. “Don’t you have any self-preservation or was that just talk?”

Of course I knew it wasn’t talk. I’d been a student once, too—I hadn’t shared the struggles, but I’d witnessed them. Hell, Jaime didn’t even pay the membership fee at the club. Erika allowed for a small percentage of members who couldn’t cover the fees to pay by volunteering as either DMs, cleaning service, or anything else. It wasn’t something I’d looked too hard into. Just enough to know who to cover for if we crossed paths outside of Plumas. At the time, it had felt like the bare minimum I could do.

As if that would offset everything my family—and their money—stood for, and against.

“I still have questions,” Jaime said after a beat. I couldn’t tell if that was acquiescence or more bravado. He didn’t move, didn’t give me room to step back without having to push him away. “And you want me to ask them.”

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