He smiled back. “Pretty bright, aren’t you?”

“That’s me.” She pushed her hair out of her face. “Jake?”

She hadn’t braided or coiled her hair today. Not that he’d complain. The way her hair fluffed over her shoulders made him remember burying his fingers in it. “Mmm-hmm?”

Looking down, she opened the can. Turned it around in her hands. Finally said, “Last night, you heard what my old classmates were saying, and I was surprised at your reaction.”

“Because I didn’t beat them up for you?”

From her startled expression, she hadn’t even considered he might have defended her that way.

Now he rather wished he’d mopped the floor with them. “I don’t try to defend against whispering. Open rudeness, yes. Behind the back is—”

“No, God, no, I didn’t want you to… Sheesh.” Her hands closed on the can, denting it. “No, I simply noticed you weren’t embarrassed or—”

“About what assholes are farting about?”

At her appalled stare, he grinned. “Sorry for the crudeness.”

“Well. Right.” Her fingers loosened. “It’s just… When people don’t like you and you’ll never change their opinion, it must be nice to not really care.”

Jake’s eyes narrowed. Once again, he was realizing just how much she did care what others thought. “Rainie—”

She straightened. “So, can you fit in a walk-in?”

Totally changing the subject. He glanced at the waiting area, nodded to the three clients who waited with their pets, and answered, “I finished the buckshot extraction on the Doberman. So, yes, I should be able to take another.”

The reception door opened and closed. “Jake,” a woman called across the room.

Jake let out a sigh. The day lacked only this. “Nadia, what are you doing here?”

“Why, I told you last night.” She glanced at Rainie, and her lips twisted into a smirk. “Remember? I said I’d drop by to take you to lunch.”

As the bitch’s claws ripped through Rainie’s skin and ribs and heart, she forced her face blank. What Jake did with Nadia was his own business. After all, he liked the woman. Had left with her after the wedding. Rainie should wish them well.

Not going to happen.

She checked her blouse in case blood was leaking from the far-too-accurate heart shot. When Jake didn’t say anything, she looked up.

Eyes narrowed, he regarded Rainie…reading with a Dom’s uncanny perception every single emotion she was feeling. Dammit.

“Jake, honey, are you ready to leave?” Nadia asked, her voice thicker than cold molasses.

Ignoring her, Jake touched Rainie’s cheek with a gentle finger, holding her gaze trapped for…forever.

Finally, he straightened. “Nadia, last night when you called”—his glance at Rainie undoubtedly caught the surprise and relief on her face—”I said I didn’t have time for lunch. Or anything else you offered.”

“Oh, Jake.” Nadia’s pout took full advantage of her well-collagened lips. She gave Rainie a look of disdain. “I certainly hope someone like her hasn’t come between us.”

Jake gave a short laugh. “Nadia, there is no us. I dated you years ago, before you married. I have no interest in seeing you now. At all.”

The whispers from the waiting room clients grew audible.

Jake turned his back on Nadia, leaned a hip on the desk, and said to Rainie, “The lab work on Brennan’s rabbit came back, and I need to change the antibiotics. Can you get the owner on the line?”

“I—of course. Right away, Sir.”

His lips quirked at her submissive slip, but he simply opened a folder and flipped through the contents.

The outer door made its distinctive hiss, and Rainie gave a quick glance up.

Color almost purple, head held high, Nadia stalked out.

The elderly man in the waiting room had his hand over his mouth, but his shoulders were shaking. The woman with the cat carrier winked at Rainie. The one with the poodle gave her a surreptitious thumbs-up.

Rainie’s body hummed with amazement. Jake didn’t want the redhead. Eventually, her fingers managed to bring up Mr. Brennan’s file—without any mental input, thank goodness, since her brain had taken an extended leave.

Annoyed with herself, she huffed out a breath.

And Jake turned his attention back to her. The power in his gaze made her hands turn clammy. “Problem, Rainie?”

“N-no, Sir.” Realizing she’d called him “Sir” again, she flushed.

The sun lines beside his eyes crinkled, and he bent to whisper in her ear. “Did you know that each time you call me ‘Sir,’ you lighten my day?”

The resonance in his voice shivered through her, and then he disappeared into the treatment area, leaving her staring after him. God, she wanted him so badly. Thank goodness, she’d be gone before he sucked her into—

Oh no. What had she done?

The blood drained right out of her head with an almost sucking sound. She must have moaned, since Rhage came out from under her desk to press against her legs. As her fingers teased his soft ears, she tried to swallow past a dry throat.

You stupid, senseless, slow-witted squid.

Master Z had got her. Got her good. She watched her hand reach for the phone. Punch up the contact. Wait. Don’t answer. Don’t answer.

“Shadowlands.” Master Z’s voice couldn’t be mistaken for anyone else’s. His power sizzled through all the miles between them, probably making the telephone wires shake as violently as she was.

“This is Rainie,” she said almost in a whisper. Pull it together. She forced her spine straight…and watched her fingers tremble. “You…won, Sir. The bet.”

“Indeed.”

He let her hang for only an eternity or two before he said gently, “You will come to the Shadowlands on Friday at nine. Tell Ben to notify me when you arrive.”

Total trust. Total submission. With Master Jake. Her gaze instinctively lowered as she whispered, “Yes, Sir.”

Chapter Thirteen

When Jake arrived at the Shadowlands, he swung by the bar where Raoul sat talking to Cullen. “Men,” Jake greeted.

He received chin lifts.

“I thought you said you needed time off,” Raoul said. “Did you change your mind?”

He hadn’t. The Shadowlands held too many memories of Rainie. “Not exactly. Z asked me to stop in and talk to him.” And had refused to discuss the problem, whatever it was, on the phone.

“He’s in the back.” Raoul nodded toward the rear of the club. “Near the cages.”

“Thanks.” Jake slapped Raoul on the shoulder and headed through the room, walking past the various scenes, inhaling the scents of leather, light perfume, sweat, and fear.

With Jessica curled in his lap, Z sat in a black leather chair, watching a newer Domme practice with a flogger. He noticed Jake’s approach and squeezed his submissive’s shoulder. “Can you give us a few minutes, kitten? I don’t want to put you in the position of keeping secrets from a friend.”

Jessica frowned at him. “What evil thing are you up to now?” When her Dom didn’t answer, she gave a cute grunt of exasperation, then rubbed her cheek against Z’s in a pretty surrender.

As the little blonde walked away with one hand on her rounded belly, Jake took a seat. “What’s up?”

“Thank you for coming in.” Z picked up his drink. “Did Rainie mention our wager?”

Rainie and Z? “No.” Jake shut his mouth on the questions and waited.

“She thought you wanted to be with another woman—one more suited to your class. I bet her that you would demonstrate her error.”

What the hell? “My class?”

“Indeed.”

Jake scowled. Rainie must have seen Nadia at the wedding. Nadia was beautiful; it was true. But Rainie seemed more comfortable in her own body than most women Jake had met, small or large. “What’s this ‘class’ bullshit?”

Z steepled his fingers in consideration. “Has she spoken of her goals in life?”

“I know she’s studied for a career in business. She wants a management position—a high status one.”

“And why did she choose high status as a goal?”

“Isn’t that what every businessperson wants?”

“Not any more than all vets want to handle horses.” Z smiled slightly. “Her friends say she loves your clinic—the animals, the challenges, the people. My question—which she wouldn’t answer—is why she’d give up a job she loves to do something else. And why she said she had to ‘be more.’”

Jake’s eyes narrowed. “Be more what? She’s already…” perfect. “I don’t understand.”

“Nor do I. Which is why I made the bet.”

Jesus, if Z made a bet with a submissive, the consequences could get ugly. Jake straightened. If Rainie were uncomfortable with the penalty, Z would damn well back off. “What are you going to make her do?”

Laughter lit Z’s gray eyes. “She agreed to come here tonight to serve you in total trust and total submission.”