Page 127 of Plug and Claim

Nathaniel led her into a café.

The café was busy, but they managed to secure a small table by the window.

“Sit,” he instructed.

She gasped as she sat down. The hard chair surface pushed the flared base of the plug, causing it to burrow deeper. She squirmed, hating the way Nathaniel noticed.

“Wipe that smile off your face,” she growled.

Nathaniel laughed. “So feisty.”

“Maybe next time you can wear the plug and see how you like it.”

“Maybe,” he mused.

His answer caught her off guard. She leant forward and whispered, “Have you worn one before?”

He glanced up from his menu. “Never. But if anyone’s ever going to plug me, I have a feeling it will be you.”

Damn straight, Kira thought, scanning the menu.

The waiter took their orders, and soon brought them their meals. Nathaniel ordered orange crêpes and black tea. Kira, meanwhile, had a plate of mud cake with cherries and cream, and a mug of foam-topped coffee. The meal was perfect—down to the last sprinkle—but she hardly tasted it. She was scanning the shops outside, including the shopping bags the pedestrians were holding. Some bags were marked with shop names, and she noted the direction the people were coming from, trying to build a rough map in her mind of where each shop was located.

“You seem distracted by more than just the plug,” Nathaniel said, sipping from his tea and looking every bit the gentleman with his pinkie raised.

Why was such a simple gesture so attractive? And why was she not as afraid of him as she’d once been?

“I’m just admiring the atmosphere,” Kira answered cheerily, taking a hasty sip of her coffee. “There’s no place I’d rather be than here with you.”

Nathaniel gave her an endearing smile and reached forward to brush foam from her upper lip. “If only that were true, pet. That would make me happy.”

“It would?”

His smile turned rueful, and he changed the subject. “Would you like to try my crêpes? They’re very good.”

“Sure,” she said, using the spare seconds she had while he cut her a piece to survey the shops again. A woman wearing a fur coat in the distance was walking down the street. Was it possible she had just purchased it from the taxidermist?

“Open your mouth,” Nathaniel murmured.

Kira did as he asked, and she chewed the food without thinking before going still. “Oh my god,” she moaned, touching her lips as she chewed slower.

“It’s good, isn’t it?”

“Oh, my god…is that alcohol?”

“An orange liqueur.”

“And the crêpe itself…it’s so soft, and powdery on the outside, and on the inside it’s—”

“Moist,” Nathaniel finished, his eyes twinkling. “Would you like another piece?”

“Why not,” she said, leaning forward and tearing half his crêpe away. It dripped liqueur across the table between their plates, but Nathaniel seemed unperturbed, and she certainly didn’t care for good manners—not now, anyway. Table manners had gone out the window when he’d forced her to wear another fucking butt plug.

I’m going to enjoy my crêpe my way.

“It’s actually rather convenient that we’ve come to the shops,” Nathaniel said. “I have a gift for you.”

“A gift?” she asked suspiciously. She’d had enough of Nathaniel’s so-called-gifts. Especially if it was more jewellery.