Page 72 of The Fire We Crave

“It will make me so speedy, you won’t see me moving. I’ll be faster than the Flash.”

“I spent the whole time driving over here convincing myself this wasn’t a date.”

She runs a finger over my collar. “Is that why you put on a nice shirt and boots, to take me on a non-date?”

I dip my finger in the bib of her denim overalls that shouldn’t look so damn sexy on her, but somehow do. “Stop talking. Start doing.”

“I feel like a hard boundary for me might be knowing whether I’m going on a date or I’m going for food with a friend.”

“Keep this up, and I might take you into the kitchen, pull those overalls down, and spank your ass to make it clear.”

She glances around the empty store. “What if I said I might like that?” Her voice comes out on a whisper.

My cock thickens in my jeans.

Without truly thinking through what I’m doing, I step into the bakery, lock the door, and turn the sign to,We Are Closed.

Quinn’s hand is small in mine when I lead her behind the counter to the kitchen. Deliberately, I avoid looking at the photograph hanging on the wall as we walk by.

“Smoke,” she says.

“I don’t know what this is, but I know you aren’t vanilla, Quinn. Last night in the truck, you said some things. I’m proud of you for being honest with me. I like when you do that. Do you know how to define what it is you want?”

She bites her lip and looks up at the boarded window. “Not really. I?—”

“Eyes on me,” I say, and she immediately turns to look at me. “We’re going to talk about this. We’re going to figure out what you like, together. And you’re going to trust me to push you when I think you’re lying to me, or more importantly, yourself.”

“Does that make me your submissive?” she asks.

I want to say yes. There’s a yearning deep down in the pit of my soul that has already decided she’s mine. “It makes youasubmissive.”

She looks a little disappointed in the semantics.

“Why does that last sentence make you sad?” I ask.

“It seemed a little dismissive. Like I’m just a body to you, not special.”

I tuck her hair back behind her ear. “For years, you’ve hated me. And this, you and me, it’s changed fast in the last week. Real fucking fast. Probably too fast for either of us to know if this is truly a good idea or not.”

She sighs; her shoulders drop. “That’s fair.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s nothing, though. Doesn’t mean you’re nothing to me. You’re someone, Quinn. Someone who’s fast becoming…special.”

The corners of her lips turn up in a shy smile, and it warms me from the inside out. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

She nods.

“Your face lit up like a firecracker when I said I was going to spank you. So, I think because you’ve been honest with me, I’m going to reward you.”

“You are?”

I tap the end of her nose. “Go stand facing the counter.”

She does as I say, and I make her wait while I roll my sleeves up. I see her do a little jiggle. It starts with her toes and makes its way to her hips.

It’s an almost childlike excitement. Smiling isn’t something I do a lot of, period. Let alone when it comes to sex. But for her, I could be a playful Dom, I’m sure.

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