“Nothing to see here,” she said, smiling just a little too enthusiastically.
“And the other hand, little girl,” he said.
“What other hand?”
Well, that was about as lame as it could possibly get. He looked on the verge of losing his patience.
“I’m about to lose my patience,” he said.
Looks like you called that one, damn it.
Dropping the lid and belt behind her, she stomped her foot, threw both hands in the air, and yelled, “Ta da!”
The heavy chastity belt hit the wooden floor with a loud, awful metallicclinkthat seemed to echo through the entire bakery like achurch bell. No amount of ta-da-ing or stomping was going to cover that sound.
Well… shoot.
“What was that?” Tanner angled his head to both sides of her, trying to look around her back.
She scooted back and forth, blocking his view as best she could.
“Must’ve hit the trash can or something.”
“Yeah, or something.”
Tanner stepped around the counter, picked Junie up like she was a feather, and set her on the counter.
“You don’t move from that spot,” he said, pointing his finger directly at her feet.
She knew from his tone that there would be no disobeying. Her heart slammed against her ribs so hard she felt dizzy. Panic flooded her chest.
The moment his eyes landed on what it really was, his entire body went rigid. His jaw clenched so tight she could see the muscle jumping. When he held the chastity belt up between them, there was a violent fury in his eyes.
“What the fuck is this?”
Junie swallowed hard, her throat suddenly dry as sandpaper. Shame burned through her so fiercely she wanted to melt into the floor. Her voice came out tiny and shaky, barely more than a whisper as she stared at his boots instead of his face.
“I… I thought it was just a belt at first,” she whispered, cheeks flaming hotter. “It came this morning.”
“This is a chastity belt, Junie.” His eyes lifted to hers, dark with fury. “You didn’t buy this for yourself, did you?”
Her cheeks burned hotter as she shook her head quickly. “N-no. I wouldn’t even know where to get something like that.”
“Then why don’t you tell me whodidbuy it?”
His voice was becoming quieter, like a gentle but intensifying wind that foretold a thunderstorm.
The words slipped out before she could stop them, small and shaky. “Well… I thought it could have been you.”
Lying to Tanner was so uncomfortable and guilt-inducing that she knew she was only delaying the inevitable and digging herself a much deeper hole one lie at a time. She just couldn’t help herself.
“Do I look like the kind of man who’d want his woman wearing a chastity belt?”
Heat flooded straight down between her legs in a sudden, throbbing rush. Her core clenched hard at the picture his words painted—all the intimate, wicked things he could do to her that the awful belt would stop.
The thought left her breathless, embarrassed, and achingly aware of how empty and needy she suddenly felt despite the situation.
“Okay, I’m going to tell you something, but you have to stay calm. Promise me you’ll remain calm.”
