“You’re gonna be the death of me, woman,” Jacob says as we both stand in the bathtub, the water from the shower hitting our head and shoulders before trailing down our entangled bodies.

When I got home, Jacob was working on his laptop in the living room. I didn’t expect him there, but he’s been here so much lately it only makes sense that he’d start moving his stuff over here and doing his work here.

I told him I met Caine Foster. I said it had gone well and everything’s fine now. Then I told him I needed to take a shower and I’d talk to him after. He followed me into the bathroom, stripped, and jumped into the shower with me.

“What are you talking about? I just solved everything on my own.” I laugh softly.

“Do you know how much I worry about you? You can’t just go off and do dangerous shit like that.” Jacob grabs my face with both hands and stare at me seriously, trying to hammer his point into my head.

But the water dripping down his face keeps getting in the way, making him blink weirdly and sputter out water from his mouth. The final effect feels like I’m watching a big grizzly bear doing something funny and adorable, knowing he can crush me with one hand if he wants to. Luckily, this grizzly bear seems pretty smitten with me.

“The guy was already there at the school. He just wanted to talk, and Tony was there the whole time. Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.” I smile at Jacob.

“It’s just… The idea of this stranger who’s potentially dangerous being alone with you while I’m not there… I can’t be okay with that. It makes me mad that I couldn’t be there. I was just reading the fucking financial section of the newspaper at home when it happened.”

“It wasn’t the life-or-death situation you imagine it to be. We were just talking in a classroom, at school, where there were a bunch of other people. I knew it was safe,” I say.

“I told you not to meet dangerous strange men on your own.”

“You did. And I’m sorry, but it was just something I had to do.” I put one hand on Jacob’s forehead to shield his eyes from the water pelting his face. I stand on my tippy toes, give him a big smile, and plant a light kiss on his lips. His expression softens, his muscles relax.

I usually hate it when people tell me what I can and cannot do, but with Jacob I know he’s only looking out for my best interests. I can’t get angry with him for worrying about me, but he needs to understand I’m still the one in charge of making my own decisions.

“So he told you nobody’s coming after you anymore?”

“Yeah. It’s good news, right? We should be celebrating.”

“It is good news,” Jacob says.

Sensing some hesitation in his voice, I say, “You don’t seem too happy about it.”

“I just don’t know if I can trust this guy. So he just walked in and said everything is solved?”

“Yeah. He said he’s related to Nancy and wanted to ‘get her affairs in order,’” I say as I make air quotes between us and laugh. “That’s how he talked the entire time, by the way.”

“There’s no catch?”

“None.” I shake my head. “Believe me, there’s nothing Caine Foster could possibly want from me. He already has everything.”

“He doesn’t have you,” Jacob says in a quiet voice. Is he jealous? That is adorable.

“Yeah, he doesn’t. Because you do.” I look into his eyes and hope my cheesy line works.

I like talking to Jacob, but right now I’m not in the mood for conversation. Not when he’s standing in front of me buck naked, with his chiseled abs, broad shoulders, and muscled arms. With those eyes looking at me like that, like he wants to shield me from all the bad things in the world.

“Say that again. Tell me I have you. Tell me you belong to me.” Jacob pins me against the wet, tiled wall. He leans in and puts his head on my shoulder.

“I belong to you, Jacob.” I close my eyes and feel the water running down my body, hot like Jacob’s breath on my neck.

“Fuck. I can’t keep my hands off you.” Jacob bites my neck, making me cry out in a mixture of pain and pleasure. His hands roam all over my skin, which is slippery with water and soap. He slaps my ass and grab a cheek. His stubble grazes my neck as he places his lips right by my ear. He whispers, “Lucky for me, you’re all mine.”

“All yours.” I wrap my arms around Jacob’s hard body, one hand grabbing onto his back while the other strokes his head, accepting his desire and whatever that brings, whether it’s pain or pleasure or both.

Jacob nibbles down my throat until he ends up between my breasts. He pulls me close with his hand on my back, while I offer myself to his overpowering assault. My breathless moans echo dully in the bathroom as he kisses and licks and bites my nipples.

“Turn around, baby.” Jacob could’ve flipped me with his strength and he knows I wouldn’t have resisted, but I can tell he likes to watch me obey him.

There’s always one moment in every single one of our sexual encounters when I give up my thoughts, my protests, my own desires, and trade them all for single-minded pursuit of pleasure—his pleasure.

It’s like a switch flicks and I’m no longer the stubborn, strong-willed, argumentative person I usually am. Instead, I’m a sensual, submissive slut who’d do anything for his cock.

I’ve never experienced something like this before, and yet it comes so naturally to me. I’ve never allowed other men to order me around. But with Jacob… With Jacob, all I want to do is please him. His pleasure is more important than mine. It’s all that matters.

If he’s satisfied with what my body can offer him, that brings me more pleasure than just any old orgasm can bring. And if he brings me to orgasm, that’s ecstasy.

So I face the wall and feel Jacob’s body behind me, his cock growing, pressing against my ass. I realize I’m the one that’s making him hard. I’m the reason he’s got a raging boner. I don’t care if he’s the one issuing the orders. Like me, he’s just a slave to this vortex of desire swirling around us.

Jacob’s hands explore my tits, my abdomen, my hips, my ass. He grabs my hair and pushes me forward with his wet, warm body, squishing me against the tiled wall.

“If you’re mine, that means I can do anything to you, doesn’t it?” Jacob groans into my ear as his hard cock slides between my legs, teasing my slick lower lips.

“Yeah.” I stick my ass out, needing more of him. My clit pulses, aching for his attention.

“You’re already so wet for me. And I haven’t even begun.” He chuckles as his hand snakes around me and settles over my pussy. He pushes his cock inside me, his girth stretching me and filling me up.

Jacob fucks me leisurely at first, knowing I’m at his mercy. He slides all the way out, then plunges back in until his balls slap against me, wet skin on wet skin. His hand lazily plays with my pussy lips, only occasionally brushing against my clit. It makes me gasp every time. I can almost hear him smile when I do.

“I’m going to fuck you until I’m all your pussy remembers. I’ll make every part of you understand that you’re mine now. You’ll beg for me, you’ll come for me, your body will give pleasure only to me,” Jacob says.

He pulls out just to dip two of his fingers inside me. He sticks those fingers into my mouth as his cock pushes back inside me, impaling me against the wall. He picks up his pace, pushing me forward every time he thrusts inside.

I surrender to the overwhelming sensations. I close my eyes and throw my head back against Jacob’s shoulder. I don’t do anymore; I just feel. Feel the warm, yielding water on my hair and the hard wall against my thighs, my tits, my cheek. Feel Jacob’s insistent fingers in my mouth, on my clit. And most of all, feel Jacob’s hot, hard cock inside me.

“Come for me, baby. Come all over my cock,” Jacob growls. “Cream all over me and show me how much you love being my own personal slut.”

I scream as it all becomes too much. I shatter at his words. I don’t even know anymore if I’m only coming because that’s what he wants. It’s all blurring together, my desires and his, all becoming one as hot water washes over us.

Jacob grunts, pulls on my hair, slams into me over and over again until he comes inside me, biting me on the shoulder. He grinds into me, pushing me right up against the wet tiles.

When Jacob’s done shooting the last drop of cum inside me, he kisses my neck and turns me around. Without saying anything, he washes my body, lathers me up, and rinses me clean. We kiss, we touch, both of us quietly complicit in this filthy cleansing ritual.

* * *

“Where’s Max, by the way?” I shout at Jacob over the sound of the hair dryer.

“I don’t know,” Jacob says. “Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen him.”

It’s unfair how guys don’t have to spend any time on grooming. I’ve combed my hair and put my clothes on, but I still have to dry my hair and apply my face cream. Meanwhile, Jacob stepped out of the shower the same time I did, threw on some clothes, and now he’s on the couch watching some animal documentary.

“I haven’t seen him either since I got home. He usually greets me at the door.” I frown.

Could Max be sick? Maybe his energy level is low. He is an old dog. I shut the hair dryer off and comb through my hair one last time with my fingers.

“Max!” I call out randomly as I check every room in the house. This is strange. He’s not even barking back. This house isn’t big enough for him to be anywhere indoors and not hear me. I turn up my volume regardless. “Max!”

I open the door to the backyard, and scream when I finally see a hunk of fur on the grass. It’s still moving, its rib cage going up and down with every labored breath.

It can’t be anything other than Max, can it? And yet...it can’t be Max. It just can’t.

I run toward the furry body and kneel beside it.

It is Max.

Tears stream out of my eyes. What happened to him?