Gabe, Shaya, and Dominic weren’t very happy with her for running off and made it clear with reproachful looks, but their silent treatment didn’t last any more than two minutes, and soon they were chewing her ear off about one thing or another.

Having demolished his overloaded plate in record time, Dante leaned back in his seat.

“You’re off work today, right?”

“Yep,” she said as she petted a loudly purring Hunk. “Sundays are my day of rest from work.”

“Rest?”

Smiling at the way he echoed the word in utter confusion, she said, “Yes. I like to rest or go do something fun. Shaya and I have already arranged to go shopping for a few hours.” She was about to add that she’d take two enforcers along when Dante began shaking his head madly.

“You two can’t go out shopping alone when Glory and her brothers are desperate to get their hands on you, Jaime.”

The nonnegotiable tone had Jaime slowly arching a brow. “I can’t?” Dante shook his head again, his face darkening. “No. Not a chance.” She gave him a sympathetic smile. “Aw, Dante, exercising your will on me is purely a waste of time. You know this already. Would you like an aspirin?”

“You’re not going. That’s it.”

“Whatfreakingever.”

“I’m serious! There’s no way I’ll let you put yourself in that kind of danger!” Let her? “Dante, don’t make me kick you to death.”

Pissed with her attitude, he growled. His wolf was just as unhappy about her intentions.

“Look, it’s one thing not having a flight response, but it’s another thing to have no sense of self-preservation. Not only did Glory confront you, but her brothers tried to attack you.”

“Ten out of ten for observation.”

“You can’t go off and make yourself an easy target. I won’t allow it.” Jaime sighed. “I’m pretty sure we went over this yesterday, big guy. Just because you and I have close encounters of the best kind doesn’t mean you get to control me or baby me.”

“I want to do a lot of things to you. ‘Babying’ isn’t one of them.”

“Good. Then it’s all settled.” She gave him a winning smile. “See how easy that was?”

“Jaime,” he gritted out. Seeing the resolve on her beautiful face, he bit out, “Fine. I’ll go with you.”

She had to have heard him wrong. “Sorry?”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he repeated, “I’ll go with you.”

“You’ll go shopping?” she said slowly, stunned.

“Yes.”

“But you’ll be off doing Beta stuff.”

“I have Tao and four enforcers—I can delegate.” He noticed the surprise on the faces of those around him, but he paid them no attention. He was only interested in ensuring that the stubborn female beside him didn’t hand herself over to Glory’s brothers on a platter.

The workaholic was actually prepared to take most of the day off? Nah, surely not. She glanced around the room as she said, “I’m being Punk’d, aren’t I?”

“‘Fucked’ is what you’ll be getting, but that’s for later.” She studied his face, still incredulous. “But you hate the mall.” Yeah, he did. He hated shopping, period. “I hate the thought of you in danger more.” Aw, how could she resist him when he said stuff like that? “Okay, big guy. You can come.”

“Why thank you,” he replied acerbically.

“Great,” said Dominic, “you guys can drop me off at the tattoo studio first. I’m getting the finishing touches done to my tattoo.”

Jaime went to ask him about it, but Dante’s words distracted her.

“I have a condition, though.”

“A condition to what?” she asked, both suspicious and confused.

“To coming with you shopping instead of making your day miserable by hounding you. I get to buy you something.”

That would have excited her if he hadn’t said it like a threat. “Define ‘something.’” His impish smile surfaced. “You’ll see.”

Five hours later, she saw. And gawked. When she could finally speak, she said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Nope.”

“You can’t buy me this.”

He folded his arms across his chest—a gesture that said this was nonnegotiable. He’d anticipated resistance, because he knew Jaime well enough to know that she wasn’t the slightest bit materialistic. “Yes, I can. You’re mine, I protect what’s mine, and you’re going to accept this. The end.”

“Dante, I’m serious.”

“Baby, so am I.”

“I thought you meant chocolates or maybe a pair of shoes or something. Not a brand-new top-of-the-line car!” His grin was totally unapologetic, which peeved her even more. “Dante, I’m not letting you spend that much money on me.”

He advanced on her. “Hey, I’ll spend my money on you if I want to, when I want to.” She made a slashing motion with her hands. “Look, I appreciate the offer, but it’s too much.”

“No, no more arguing. I had the patience of a damn saint today. I let you drag me around the mall, and I hardly moaned at all.”

He was right. Call her mean, but Jaime had quite enjoyed dragging him, Tao, and Ryan from store to store. Whenever Dante tried rushing her, she had slowed her pace until he finally received the message and stopped pestering her.

While Ryan often manned the entrance, Dante would personally escort her around every store while Tao escorted Shaya. It had been hilarious watching Dante’s huge frame try to squeeze through racks of clothes. It hadn’t been hilarious when the female assistants openly stared at him or flirted.

Several times Jaime had shot snarls at the women or placed her hand on his arm possessively, warning them away. She literally hadn’t been able to stop herself from doing it.

He naturally found that funny. The only thing that had saved him from getting a whack over the head was that he hadn’t once—no, not even once—responded to the ogles or the flirting. He had been solely focused on Jaime, despite most of his oglers being model material. That had scored him some serious bonus points.

He lost some of said points when he tried telling her what she could and couldn’t wear.

Basically he wanted every inch of her body covered at all times. She had just given him an indulgent,