I chew on my thumbnail and bounce on my toes, full of nervous excitement. Lorenzo takes my hand and pulls it away from my mouth.
“I’m excited,” I say breathlessly and peer through the windows while I wait for the car to pull up at the front door.
“You remember the rules, sunshine?”
“No nervous babbling. No negativity about myself, and no brushing off compliments.” Those are the only rules he gave me for our first time out as a couple. I figure he’s taking it easy on me—way too easy, if you ask me—because he thinks I’ll struggle to obey his rules. Like I told him, I’m excited rather than nervous, and I can keep my babbling in check for a few hours. As for talking bad about myself, I know I joke about my fat butt occasionally, but I’m a woman confident in her own skin. I can so do this. This submissive thing is a breeze. I’m going to ace my first test.
The car pulls up and Lorenzo places his hand on the small of my back, flashing me a wicked grin, like he knows something I don’t. “You ready?” We’re going on a double date with Joey and Max, and I’m beyond giddy with excitement. “You remember the other rule, right? The one that’s always in play?” he asks, dusting his lips over my neck and making me shiver.
“Do whatever you say without question.”
“Good girl.”
Joey pushes her plate away, groaning loudly. “I’m so full,” she moans, rubbing a hand over her stomach. “That was so much pasta.”
Max grins at his wife. “Pretty sure you’ll still have room for dessert, baby girl.”
“There’s always room for dessert, DiMarco.” She grins back at him, and he licks his lips.
“Do you two really have to do that in front of me?” Lorenzo asks with a groan. “Can we not have one meal without some kind of sexual innuendo?”
“Says the man who’s been feeling his date up under the table all night?” Joey fires back with a pop of her eyebrow. “Don’t think we can’t see you.”
I suppress a smile because she’s right, he has been doing that.
Lorenzo narrows his eyes at her. “I wasn’t trying to hide it. But Mia isn’t Max’s little sister, is she?”
Joey rolls her eyes, but Max laughs. “We’ll be good, buddy,” Max adds when Lorenzo shoots him a look.
I push some chicken from my Caesar salad around my plate. “You had enough to eat, Mia?” Joey asks. Her pasta looked delicious, but I went for the lighter option because I don’t want to burst out of the beautiful new dress that Lorenzo bought me—it cost more than I used to earn in a year—and also because this is my first dinner out with Lorenzo. I want to make a good impression.
“Yeah.” It’s not exactly a lie. I have eaten enough, although I could eat a lot more.
I feel Lorenzo’s eyes on me. He and Max ordered ribeye steaks, which were massive, and they practically wiped their plates clean.
Joey extends her arm and makes a gimme gesture. “Pass me that dessert menu.”
Max rolls his eyes and takes a menu from the empty table beside us. He grabs another one and hands it to me, but I shake my head. “Oh, none for me, thanks.”
“You don’t want dessert?” Joey asks incredulously. “What was the point of getting that tiny ass salad if not to save room for a dessert as big as a bus?”
“Yeah, well my ass is already the size of a bus, so I have to stay away from sugar and fat,” I say, laughing.
Joey rolls her eyes but doesn’t question me further. “Loz, you’ll order dessert with me, right?”
He takes the menu from her outstretched hand. “Sure, kid.”
As we walk out of the restaurant, my cheeks hurt from laughing and smiling. I hug Joey and Max goodbye, and then Lorenzo and I climb into the waiting car. When the car merges into traffic, he presses a button to speak to the driver.
“Take the fastest route home, Tommy,” he orders.
“Of course, Boss.”
I bite down on my bottom lip, wondering what he has in store for me when we get home. Surely I just aced my first sub mission. I run my hand over the lapel of his jacket. “Tonight was lovely. Thank you.”
He gives a subtle nod. “It was, sunshine.”
“And I obeyed all the rules, right?”
His handsome face furrows and he shoots me a look that makes an uneasy feeling settle in my gut.
“I know the night’s not over yet, b-but—”
He pats his thighs. “Come here.”
I straddle him, wrapping my arms around his neck. He pulls my thick hair aside and trails soft kisses over my collarbone. Warmth rolls in my core. He runs his fingertips up my thigh, slowly pushing my dress up.
My breath hitches. He goes on kissing my neck, teeth gently scraping my skin.
“Lorenzo,” I whimper, dropping my hips and chasing friction between my thighs.
His tongue darts out, licking the length of my throat as his hands coast higher. When he reaches the apex of my thighs, he yanks my panties to the side and brushes the pad of his thumb over my clit.
My thighs tremble and I gasp.
He lifts his head, his dark eyes boring into mine. “You had two rules, Mia. Can you tell me which one you broke?”
I open and close my mouth like a goldfish, genuinely confused as he goes on softly rubbing my clit. “I know I talked a lot, but I was chatting with Joey about the casino. I didn’t babble.”
“I never said you talked too much,” he replies coolly.
“I-I—” Heat flashes over my cheeks. He’s talking about the negativity thing. “I didn’t … Joey said I looked stunning, and I just said thank you …” Now I’m babbling, and he’s making it hard to think with his delicious teasing between my thighs. I did accept Joey’s compliment, and Max’s, even though it felt strange not to brush them off.
His eyes narrow. “What did you have to eat?”
“A Caesar salad.”
He increases the pressure with his thumb, and I whimper. “Why?”
“Because I—”
“Don’t lie to me, Mia,” he warns.
I swallow down the words that were about to trip off my tongue, not so much a lie as a well-practiced habit. “Because I didn’t want to appear greedy,” I admit on a whisper while heat and need coil deep in my core.
“Did anyone else at the table appear greedy for eating what they wanted?”
“No, but I …” I bite my lip, wanting to scowl at him but too distracted by what he’s doing with that magical thumb to follow through. “So, I want to eat healthily. I don’t get how that’s a bad thing.”
“It’s not, but when you deny yourself an occasional pleasure because of some fucked-up idea that you’re fat, it isn’t healthy.” He rubs harder, swiping the pad of his thumb from side to side.
“I didn’t deny myself.” I try to snap at him, but my words come out on a moan.
“Did you want dessert? Do you think I didn’t hear your stomach growl when I was eating mine? If I take you out for dinner, Mia, I expect you to fucking enjoy it.”
“I did enjoy dinner. Just because I didn’t eat dessert—” My climax builds to a crescendo, and I throw my head back on a moan. How does he have me so close using only his thumb? Wizard! “I didn’t even know that was part of the rules,” I whimper.
“It wasn’t. But what did you say when Joey asked why you weren’t having dessert?”
Oh bananas! Here I was thinking I aced his test. My cheeks burn with shame. “That my ass was fat,” I whisper.
He changes the angle of his thumb, sweeping back and forth now. “That it was the size of a bus?”
“I … I was joking. It’s a reflex thing—” I gasp, my thighs and core tightening with my impending orgasm. Just before it hits, Lorenzo stops, slips his hand away, and grabs my jaw, holding my head in place so I have nowhere to look but his eyes.
“It’s not a joke, Mia. It’s a deeply ingrained, fucked-up belief that I’m going to rid you of.”
My breath catches in my throat. “Are you going to punish me?”
His mouth curls into a smirk. “Yes I am.”
Lifting me off his lap, he returns me to my seat and places his thumb into his mouth, sucking it clean. I lean my head back and swallow the ball of anxiety in my throat. We spend the rest of the drive home in silence.
