Friction

Citation preview

YES! Kim Dare

Dedication To everyone who is willing to fight for what they want – and especially to those who fight dirty!

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Chapter One

“Are you calling me a slut?” “I’m merely making an observation,” Kevin’s friend corrected. “You seem to have trouble saying no to men.” He swallowed a mouthful of his coffee and set the mug down on the low table between them. Andrew Holt raised an eyebrow. He took a sip from his own steaming mug and carefully considered the young man sitting opposite him. He was certainly the type of man Andrew would enjoy saying yes to. If he hadn’t turned up on Kevin’s arm, Andrew was quite sure he would have said yes, along with far more interesting things, to him weeks ago. However, while Andrew might not be willing to admit to having many morals, he did have standards. Poaching his friend’s lover was beneath them. A bit of harmless flirtation on a quiet Saturday morning was quite a different thing, he reassured himself. There weren’t any other attractive men in the coffee shop—Kevin would understand how easy it was to get bored in that situation. “No.” Andrew smiled across the coffee table. “I appear to be quite capable of saying the word to you.” Kevin’s friend met his eyes and held his gaze for several long seconds. “I’ve never asked you anything that would tempt you to say yes to me.” As serious as he was obviously trying to appear, a hint of a smile continued to play around his lips. Andrew sighed. For all his faults, knew when the ice was getting thin. It appeared Kevin’s new guy really was Andrew’s favourite type—cheeky, cute and ready to play. If he wasn’t very much mistaken, there was also something about Kevin’s friend that hinted he had the potential to be a very interesting dominant in a few years’ time. Andrew set his coffee mug and his inclination to give in to temptation aside. “He may be a submissive, but Kevin would still have your balls on a platter if he found out you were screwing around behind his back. Mine too, if I was the one stupid enough to help you cheat on him.”

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The guy’s gaze didn’t falter. “Kevin has no interest in any part of my anatomy—on a platter or otherwise. And I don’t think you’re his type, are you?” Andrew brushed the issue of his own relationship with Kevin aside. Perhaps two submissives could find a way to have some fun with each other, but he’d never been particularly interested in finding out what sort of fun that was. But if Stephen wasn’t involved with Kevin…that really could make things interesting. “Kevin’s aware that he has no interest in you?” Andrew studied the other man’s responses very carefully. His friend had certainly seemed taken with the guy last time he saw him. There was no hesitation, no guilt. The guy nodded. “That’s right.” Andrew nodded, filing that little snippet away in a file marked—yippee! “What was your name again?” “Stephen Phillips.” Andrew looked Stephen up and down. With his limbs all folded up in the complicated arrangement required for a man his height to sit on the very low coffee room chair, he wasn’t shown to his best advantage. It would have been easy to miss the fact that he was pleasingly tall, at least several inches taller than Andrew’s own six foot. At least the posture didn’t hide the fact he was gloriously broad across the shoulders. He looked wonderfully athletic, Andrew decided. He probably worked out a lot. Strength and stamina. A few delicious possibilities began to rise in his mind. Behind his fly, his cock began to rise too. “You consider yourself to be a dominant?” he asked, although he was already pretty damn sure on that score. “Yes.” Straight forward and to the point. He might not be willing to rush in and agree with the other man’s assessment of himself, but Andrew had heard far worse answers. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed as an unpleasant thought struck him. If Kevin hadn’t made a move on a man who was both stunning and inclined towards dominance, it might be for a bloody good reason. “How old are you?” “Nineteen.”

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“You look younger.” From the neck up anyway. He had a man’s body, a man’s muscles, but his smile was boyish and the chestnut hair flopping down into his eyes betokened a student rather than an office worker. “Apparently I’ll be very grateful for that in twenty years’ time,” Stephen said, with a forced smile that said he’d heard the same thing from a lot of guys and was thoroughly sick of it. “Fed up with getting carded at the door?” Andrew asked. “I’ve a mind to ask for proof you’re legal myself.” Stephen took his wallet out and handed his driver’s licence across the coffee table with something that sounded suspiciously like the noise a man might make while trying to hold back a long suffering sigh. The card tallied up with his claim to nineteen. He might have been a few years younger than Andrew’s twenty-six, but he was certainly old enough to know what he was doing—for vanilla anyway. Andrew passed the driver’s licence back and made a mental note to check back in five or ten years to see if he grew into an interesting dominant. For now, there was plenty of vanilla fun to be had with a man who looked like Stephen. “Where were we?” Andrew mused, leaning back on the low sofa and stretching his feet out under the coffee table. “Oh yes, you were explaining why I’m a slut?” “I didn’t say that,” Stephen corrected, perfectly politely. “I said you find it easier to say yes to men than to say no to them.” His eyes raked up and down his body as Andrew presented it for his inspection. They’d look good together, Andrew decided, as he returned the other man’s analysis. Stephen’s darker colouring would only serve to make his blond hair and blue eyes appear even more angelic. His fairness would go a long way towards making the other look deliciously brooding. When Stephen met his gaze, there wasn’t a single trace of embarrassment in his expression. He made no attempt to deny he’d been admiring what was being so subtly displayed for his appraisal. There wasn’t a trace of submission in him, Andrew noted, just confidence that hinted he might be a bloody brilliant dominant when he finished growing up and got a lot more experience under his belt. The last of Andrew’s boredom melted away.

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“So, Dr. Freud,” he said. “How do you suggest I should be cured of such a grievous affliction? Sex as therapy is always popular with the amateur psychologists, isn’t it?” He still had the rest of weekend free. Bending over a psychiatrist’s couch for Stephen would fill that time up very nicely. “I’m not a psychologist, amateur or otherwise. And if it’s a choice rather than a compulsion, I don’t see why it needs to be cured.” “You suddenly find my promiscuity healthy?” Andrew grinned. It really was amazing what the prospect of getting laid could do to a man’s perceptions of the world. Stephen shook his head, still doing his part in pretending they were having a serious conversation. “No, I don’t think it’s healthy. And I’m not so sure it’s not a compulsion either.” “You don’t believe that I can say no when I want to? I’ll have you know I don’t screw everyone who makes a pass at me. I do have some standards,” he added, along with a chuckle to show that there were no hard feelings. “I’m sure you have standards. What I don’t believe is that you have the self-control to say no to someone who you want to have sex with.” Andrew shrugged. “Where’s the fun in saying no when you want to say yes? Masochism never was one of my strong points.” “Nor is self-control,” Stephen reiterated. Andrew sat up a bit straighter, no longer finding his lounging sprawl on the sofa entirely comfortable. “My self-control is more than adequate when I choose to exercise it,” he informed the other man, suddenly impatient to skip this bizarre form of flirting and move on to the bit where someone got screwed. “Really?” Stephen’s tone of voice wasn’t a challenge as much as an insult. “Prove it.” Andrew relaxed when he saw the obvious trap. It was just a game. That was okay. He was good at games. “And how would I prove something like that?” he asked, pushing his moment of impatience aside to play along a little. “A simple bet. If you can say ‘no’ to me for twelve hours, you win. If you say ’yes’ to any question I ask you at any point then I win.” “And what would the loser forfeit?” Andrew asked. Stephen shrugged. “I decided the terms, you decide the stakes.”

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“So sure you’ll win?” He couldn’t have even the mildest pretensions to dominance and still be comfortable giving a stranger that sort of control over the bet if he wasn’t. “Yes.” Andrew studied him very carefully. He certainly seemed confident. “I’ve been watching you for weeks, Andrew. You’re beautiful and you know it. Men have probably fallen over themselves for you your whole life. If someone offers you something appealing, you take it. If you want something, you get it.” “And you’re going to teach me a lesson? Stop me from taking advantage of the poor people who keep giving me things,” Andrew asked, his tone cooling with each word. He sat up straight in his seat. “I may be a slut, Stephen, but I’m no whore.” That was a completely different accusation. Even more annoyingly, he found himself completely unable to work out if this was supposed to be some fun bit of role play or a bizarre attempt to screw with his mind. Stephen shook his head. “I know you’re not a rent-boy,” he picked up his mug and blew on surface of his coffee. “Like I said, I’ve watched you. I’ve asked around about you too. You screw around, but only with people who know the score and who are free to do the same. You’re not hurting anyone but yourself.” “I’m not hurting myself, either. Your description of my life didn’t sound painful, darling, it sounds like a bloody good time.” Andrew pushed his hair back from his face, no doubt ruining the careful style he’d put in place before he left the house. The realisation did little to improve his temper. “But sometimes you do wish that life was a bit more of a challenge, don’t you? Sometimes, you smile at a guy in a bar and a tiny bit of you hopes he’ll make you work for it.” “I’m not sure you’ve been watching the right person,” Andrew said, although a quick scan of his memories couldn’t bring to mind the last time a guy he’d wanted hadn’t leapt at the chance of receiving whatever he offered them, be it simple sex or his submission. Stephen ignored the interruption. “I don’t think it’s ever occurred to you that you should try saying no to yourself. A bit of self denial makes the final success all the sweeter.”

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“And I suppose you practise this sack cloth and ashes lifestyle, yourself?” Andrew was very tempted to snap the words, but it turned out he had more self-control than Stephen gave him credit for. The words sounded as polite as any he’d ever uttered. “I’ve watched you for weeks without trying to get into your bed,” Stephen reminded him. “And in doing so, denied yourself the chance of something you want?” “Yes. I wanted you and your submission the first moment I saw you,” Stephen admitted with an honesty and an intensity that made Andrew slightly uncomfortable. “So, you wasted the last few weeks.” Andrew shrugged and did his best to brush the issue aside. “It’s a pity, we could have had a lot of fun.” “We still could. And it will be more fun now I’ve let the anticipation build.” “I’m not sure if you’re some sort of crazy genius, or just crazy,” Andrew said. He ran the conversation over in his mind as he took another mouthful of coffee and played for time to work out his next move. Pushing the issue of self-control aside for a moment, Andrew knew he didn’t possess the strength to walk away from the game Stephen was offering to play. “And when do you plan to enact this bet? Does that have to be set aside, so we can savour the anticipation of that too?” “Do you have any plans in the next twelve hours?” Andrew smiled. “No.” He found a peculiar thrill in saying the word to Stephen right then. The younger man pointed to the clock on the coffee shop wall. “Noon until midnight.” It was five minutes to the hour. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do for the rest of the day. Andrew nodded his acceptance. “Choose a safe word.” Andrew raised an eyebrow. “We’re playing a game, not a scene. My submission isn’t part of the deal. I don’t play with novices.” Stephen stared at his coffee for several seconds before he looked up. “You’re going to say no to me a lot—even when you want to say yes. I need to know when you are saying it as part of the game and when you really mean it. At times I won’t pay too much attention if it’s the former, the latter is a different matter.”

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Andrew watched as the guy glanced back down at his mug and then lifted his eyes again to meet his gaze square on. “I’m well aware that you don’t submit to any man who hasn’t got a very well established reputation on the local scene. But I won’t risk putting you in a position where you don’t have a clear way of calling a halt to the bet if you need to. Pick your word.” There was a certain sort of logic to that. Andrew studied him very carefully. “Just in case you missed any of the important points when you were taking all that time to ask around about me,” he said. “Here are the highlights. Yes, I’m a submissive. But I submit as and when I choose—and only to the dominants I choose. So, don’t expect me to defer to you just because you’ve suddenly decided you’d like to boss someone around when you have sex with them. I expect a damn sight more than that from a dominant and, at your age, there’s not a chance in hell you’ve got what it takes to bring me to your heel.” Stephen gave one jerky nod—not so much an agreement as an acknowledgement that he’d heard what Andrew said. He looked back to his coffee mug. “And your word?” “Red.” Stephen nodded again. This time it appeared to be a far more relaxed gesture. “You also need to state the forfeit.” Andrew was just as sure as Stephen was that he would be the winner. There was no harm in keeping his options open. “A simple truth or dare,” he decided. Stephen raised an eyebrow. “If I lose you can ask me anything or ask me to do anything—no limits, no outs. If you win, you get a simple guarantee that I will answer you honestly or do whatever you challenge me to do, without complaint,” Andrew said. “Although I won’t guarantee it will be without sarcasm. That might be testing my limited self-control a little too far.” “I’ll remember to bring a gag with me, just in case,” Stephen said. “And if I lose, you can decide if you want to use it on me instead.” Andrew bowed his head once in acknowledgement, willing to risk a little bit of bondage now he was sure Stephen understood it wouldn’t come with a side dose of submission. The younger man glanced at the wall clock and then at his wrist watch, checking they were in sync. They both watched the clock tick around until both hands pointed straight up.

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The moment it hit twelve, Stephen stood up and tossed a tip on the table. Not a ‘aren’t I generous, aren’t you impressed’ tip, Andrew noted, just a regular one. “Ready to go?” “No.” Their eyes met across the table. Andrew gave Stephen a disappointed look, wondering if he really thought he could trick him into an early defeat that easily. Unrepentant and seemingly a million times more relaxed now the game was on, Stephen grinned. “It was worth a try.” Andrew left his own tip next to his empty mug and shrugged. The game had started. He was going to win. School boy tactics weren’t going to worry him. In fact, he was sure his biggest challenge would be deciding what to dare Stephen to do when he collected his forfeit from the younger man. He looked the honest sort. It would be a waste to ask him a truth, but admiring Stephen’s body as he followed him from the shop, Andrew could think of so many wonderful things he could dare the man to do. There was always something special about twisting things around on a would-be dominant and taking the control away from him for a little while. It did them good to be reminded that they weren’t all powerful gods at an early stage in their kinky career. It made them better dominants in the end. Anyway, there was plenty of time to work that out. For now, all he had to do was remember one word. No. How hard could that be? Andrew smiled quietly to himself as they walked out of the coffee shop and into the car park along side it. He’d seen Stephen several times over the last few weeks, but as they made their way through the car park, Andrew realised he hadn’t seen his ride before. A sports car gleamed in the sunlight. When Stephen stopped next to it, Andrew knew he had to be joking. Stephen clicked open the central locking. “Did you steal it?” Andrew whispered. Stephen smiled. “I have a weakness for fast cars.”

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“And being so into self-denial you obviously resisted the temptation,” Andrew said, still keeping his voice slightly hushed in deference to one of the most beautiful pieces of machinery he’d ever seen. The car screamed out to be stroked. Only the idea of finger prints marring the black metallic finish stopped him from reaching out and touching it. “Do you want to drive?” Andrew’s jaw actually dropped a little. He swallowed, looking over every stunning line of the car and imagining what it would be like to get behind the wheel. He was almost shocked into giving his answer without thinking. Just in time he realised what he’d been about to do. He closed his eyes and counted to ten, trying to convince himself to say the right thing. “Andrew?” Stephen held up the keys and shook them slightly to catch his attention. All he had to do was reach out and take them. All he had to do was say… Andrew bit his lip. “No.” Stephen grinned and shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He slipped into the driver’s seat without another word. Andrew forced himself to get in the other side and to try and look at least vaguely content with the passenger’s seat. It was the newest model. It still had that amazing new car smell. Andrew took a deep breath and arched his back against the leather seat. Turning his head, he looked enviously at the wheel. Stephen’s hands wrapped around the curve and his fingers stroked the delicate stitching. “If I’d given a different answer, would you have actually let me drive?” Andrew asked. “Of course. I don’t believe in offering anyone anything I’m not capable of providing.” Stephen turned the ignition. The engine purred to life. “And that goes for everything you offer today?” Andrew checked. “Of course.” Stephen glanced in the mirrors and guided the car out of the parking space. The thrum of the engine rolled through Andrew’s body. The car wasn’t important, he told himself. It was just a chunk of metal balanced on four circular bits of rubber. It was impractical. It was polluting. It was loud. Andrew sighed. It was a wet dream on wheels, and he wanted it.

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He could have it. Andrew had no doubt that if he told Stephen to repeat the question, one word could have him behind the wheel and tearing through the countryside in it for the next eleven hours and forty five minutes. He came within an inch of giving in to the temptation, but a sideways look at Stephen’s smug expression had Andrew resting his elbow on the lower edge of the car window and subtly covering his mouth with his hand. He was not going to give the guy the satisfaction of being that right about him. “Do you want to know where we are going?” Andrew cast him another look. “No.” Stephen nodded contentedly and didn’t offer any further information. “You could tell me anyway,” Andrew pointed out after a while. “Where would be the fun in that?” Andrew tapped his fingers on his knee. They were out of the city now. Taking note of the sign posts and trying to guess their destination wasn’t helping. They were going west, but there were a hell of a lot of places Stephen could intend to stop at before they ran out of land and hit sea. By nature, Andrew didn’t believe himself to be a control freak. He was generally content to go with the flow. When he was with a real dominant who knew what he was doing, he was consistently happy to put himself in a dominant’s hands and accept whatever fun happened next. If Stephen hadn’t asked if he wanted to know, he was sure he could have had a very comfortable journey without ever worrying himself over their destination. “Have you eaten yet?” “No.” At least it wasn’t a backward worded question designed to starve him. It seemed likely that Stephen might let him eat at some point during the day. When they pulled up outside a gorgeous restaurant an hour or so later, the day seemed to be looking up. He’d skipped breakfast the same way as he always did. The aroma as they stepped into the restaurant reminded him he should have bought something to eat when he stopped off at the coffee shop for his caffeine fix. The restaurant was already busy with a lunch time rush. While they waited to be seated, Andrew studied the framed menu on the wall. So many fantastic options available for his enjoyment and so little time to try them all.

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Andrew smiled at all the possibilities. A good metabolism and a healthy interest in competitive sports kept him trim and healthy. While he could get away with eating sixteen ounce steaks followed by double chocolate fudge cakes, Andrew was more than content to let salads happen to other people. A waiter carried an order past them to a nearby table. The steak looked mouth wateringly tender. The ale pie smelt delicious too. Another waiter walked past with a lobster dish. Lobster was one of his favourites. Andrew’s tongue slipped past his lips and moistened them in anticipation. He felt Stephen step up behind him and consider the menu over his shoulder. The heat from the other man’s body seeped through Andrew’s clothes. Stephen leaned in even closer to whisper in his ear. “Do you want to order for yourself, Andrew?” Order for… The glass covering the elaborate calligraphy on the menu offered a very slight reflection. Andrew met Stephen’s eyes in the glass. Did he want to order for himself? Of course he bloody well did! “Answer the question, Andrew. Do you want to order for yourself?” Stephen whispered, settling his hand on Andrews’s waist and stroking his finger tips along the waistband of his trousers. “No,” Andrew bit out. “No problem, I’ll order for you.” For the briefest of moments, he pressed his lips against Andrew’s jaw, just where the muscle clenched with knotted tension. Andrew glared at the smug expression in the other man’s eyes. “No,” he said. Stephen’s reflection smiled. “That wasn’t a question. I already gave you the option, you said no.” Andrew ground his teeth together. “Would you like me to ask the question again so you can change your answer?” “No.” “Table for two for Mr. Phillips?” “That’s us.” Stephen led the way and held out Andrew’s chair for him when the waiter indicated their table. Andrew sat down and waited until the waiter walked away before he spoke. “Nice manners, but I’m not actually female,” he said politely.

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Taking his own seat, Stephen’s smile didn’t falter. “I’ll be sure to check and make sure later.” It wasn’t a question. Andrew wasn’t compelled to say no, so he said nothing. He was starting to wonder if that anatomy check was the most fun he would have until he called in his dare. “And,” Stephen said, picking up the menu, “male or female, you are my date for the next,” he checked his watch, “ten hours and thirty seven minutes. You don’t mind if I make my own rules, do you?” Yes, he bloody well did. “No.” “How many food allergies do you have?” “How many?” Andrew frowned. Then he realised it wasn’t a yes or no question, Stephen actually needed an honest answer before he ordered. “Would you believe I have a serious allergy to any sort of healthy food?” Stephen grinned. “Very unlikely.” “Then I don’t have any.” There wasn’t any point in reading the menu when he wasn’t allowed to pick what he wanted. He watched Stephen read through it very slowly instead. Boredom quickly settled in. Andrew tapped his finger tips on the table top until he saw Stephen smile at the gesture. Snatching his hand away, Andrew put both his hands on his lap out of the other man’s sight. He looked around the restaurant. They were seated in a quiet, out of the way, part of the room. Not having anything better to do, Andrew amused himself by wondering what they could get up to without anyone noticing two guys getting it on in the corner. The waiter came back to take their order. He didn’t look the type to be easily shocked. If he came to check on them and found one busy under the table, he probably wouldn’t be scarred for life or anything. He was quite cute too. Not compared to Stephen, admittedly, but still. Andrew offered him an inviting little smile, just in case he was gay. “One steak with all the trimmings, medium rare, and one chicken salad. For dessert, one of the chocolate indulgences,” Stephen said. The waiter stopped smiling back at Andrew and wrote down the order. “Chicken salad?” Andrew asked, when the waiter had left. “Would you prefer to swap for the steak?”

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Andrew took a deep breath. “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?” “Yes,” Stephen rolled the word around in his mouth, obviously savouring his ability to say it whenever he wanted to. “If this wasn’t a nice polite restaurant, I’d have a few other words for you.” Stephen grinned. Andrew was winning the game. He was saying no at every opportunity. Stephen was being proved wrong—he was losing. Therefore Stephen shouldn’t be enjoying himself that much. Andrew frowned at the basic unfairness of it all. “You have this all planned out, don’t you?” The waiter chose that moment to bring their lunch. Andrew didn’t even feel inclined to flirt with him right then. He looked across the table and watched Stephen begin to tuck into his steak with obvious enjoyment while he picked at his salad. He didn’t like salad. He didn’t like chicken. The fact that those pieces that he ate were deliciously cooked and the chicken practically melted on his tongue, were minor factors that he wasn’t going to let get in the way of his deprived feeling. Stephen kept up a steady stream of conversation, asking a score of questions that couldn’t be answered yes or no. Andrew, after realising he’d been pouting like a two-year old for the last ten minutes, finally joined in. By the time the waiter came back to clear the table, Andrew was very surprised to find he’d eaten every scrap of the food from his plate— even the lettuce. Feeling somewhat guilty, he decided it was time to get in the spirit of the game. His time for revenge would come soon enough. The dessert the waiter placed in front of Stephen a few minutes later made it hard to stick to his resolution. The thick slab of chocolate fudge cake was topped with chocolate sauce, and cream, and white chocolate, and ice cream, and fudge sauce and pretty much anything else that a reasonable person could put on a piece of cake. He wasn’t hungry. It didn’t make any difference. He still wanted it. Andrew leaned back in his chair and settled to watch Stephen eat it with as much good grace as he could muster. The guy didn’t seem to feel even the tiniest twinge of guilt. Twirling his spoon through the cake to catch up the sticky trails of toffee and sauce, he murmured his delight around the first mouthful. His eyes dropped closed as he took a deep

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breath, evidently savouring every morsel on his tongue. His eyes stayed closed as he swallowed the sweetness down. “Glorious,” he murmured as he blinked his eyes open. Andrew met his eyes across the table. Yes. With his head tipped back and his eyes all hooded with pleasure, the younger man certainly was glorious. All thought of food gone, Andrew fell to wondering when he would have the opportunity to taste the main course. His eyes traced the path the next spoonful took to Stephen’s mouth and watched as his lips caressed the chocolate from the spoon. Licking his own lips at the possibilities, Andrew only just resisted the temptation to lean across and kiss some of the sweetness from the other man’s mouth. Stephen’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed more of it down. Andrew’s fingers itched to stroke the strong lines of muscles down his throat to where they disappeared into his shirt. He formed his fingers into a fist under the table and pressed the heel of his hand as subtly as possible against the erection swelling in his trousers. He couldn’t look away. Even reminding himself over and over again, that getting up from behind the table would soon be very embarrassing didn’t help. “Would you like a taste?” Hell, yes! Andrew didn’t care if he was talking about the dessert or something even more decadent. Andrew wanted it all. He wanted the latter so badly, he had to close his eyes for several long moments before he could make himself say the word. “No.” As he forced his eyes open and flicked his tongue over suddenly dry lips, Andrew saw Stephen was watching him with just as much lust as he felt. Stephen loaded up his spoon and held it out to him across the table. “I said no.” He had. Hadn’t he? In that moment, he wasn’t one hundred percent sure what words had passed his lips. The whispered word hadn’t been any sort of competition for the yes, yes, yes, echoing around inside his mind. “I know that you said no. Humour me and try a little bit anyway.” Leaning forwards Andrew took Stephen’s spoon between his lips and slid his tongue against the smooth metal as he pulled away. Chocolate and sugar, cream and toffee all swirled together on his taste buds. Andrew kept his eyes open and his gaze locked with Stephen’s.

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It was all a game, he reminded himself. Letting another man feed him like a damn pet had nothing to do with submitting to him. It was all to do with getting a taste of the chocolate—and it was much better than he had ever imagined. The coordination needed to eat off a utensil held in someone else hand wasn’t quite there. A smudge of chocolate lingered on the corner of Andrew’s lip. Lifting a hand up to wipe it away, Andrew found Stephen’s hand wrapped tight around his wrist. With his other hand, Stephen gently wiped the smudge away with his thumb and licked the digit clean himself. Swirling his tongue around the pad, he sucked it into his mouth and visibly savoured the mixed taste of Andrew and the chocolate. “Good?” Stephen asked. Reluctant to look down and give the other man the impression that he felt the least bit submissive towards him, Andrew still couldn’t meet his gaze while he lied to him. He turned his attention to the table top. “No.” Stephen shared the rest of the dessert with him anyway. Their coordination improved beyond all recognition when Stephen dispensed with the formality of the spoon and made the most of their secluded spot to feed them both with his hands. He slid his fingers into Andrew’s mouth as he fed him. Andrew licked and sucked around them with genuine enjoyment. There was no reason to hide that pleasure from Stephen, not when he knew every murmur around a chocolate covered finger tip made Stephen all the more likely to keep feeding him the sticky sauce. Andrew pushed away the part of him that wondered if the younger man knew his responses were about sex and chocolate rather than submission. It wasn’t a problem, he told himself. If the guy fell into the wrong impression, he would find out just who was calling the shots when he ran out of chocolate. By the time the other man wiped the last of the sauce from the plate and slipped it between his lips, Andrew might not have been feeling particularly submissive, but he was hard as hell and aching with frustration. “Are you turned on?” Stephen asked. For the first time, Andrew realised that while he’d been paying attention to more important and erotic chocolate matters, Stephen’s chair had migrated around the corner of the table, so he sat close to Andrew’s side.

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“No,” he said, for form’s sake. Stephen grinned. “Are you telling me the truth?” he whispered in his ear. Andrew laughed. “No.” “Good, I’d hate to be the only one trying to hide a tent behind my coat on the way out of here.” “All your forward planning didn’t foresee this problem?” “We could have gone straight to my place, but I don’t think you’d have found my culinary skills quite as appropriate.” “Beans on toast?” Andrew asked. “Not quite that bad. I sometimes manage cheese on toast too. Or there is the really adventurous option—scrambled eggs on toast.” When the waiter arrived and presented them with the bill, Andrew automatically reached for his wallet. Stephen did the same. “Do you want to pay?” Andrew’s eyes narrowed. Yes. He always paid his way. Feeling distinctly uncomfortable with the answer he had to give, he forced himself to put his wallet back in his pocket. “No.” “You can catch the next one,” Stephen said, putting his money on the table. Andrew raised an eyebrow at the other man. “I don’t make a habit of screwing the same guys over and over again. I usually find once is enough. What makes you so sure there will be a next one?” Stephen smiled. “Do you doubt it?” “Over confident, aren’t we?” Andrew asked as he rose from the table, and held his jacket discreetly in front of his body. He shifted his stance trying to adjust his erection in the suddenly tight confines of his trousers without being too obvious about it. Stephen, holding his own coat in exactly the same manner, looked from one garment to the other. “Am I?” Andrew rolled his eyes. “Did you actually sit around practising ways to phrase questions so you always get the answer you want?” Stephen nodded cheerful. “Yes.” He savoured the word before he continued. “It was so worth the effort.”

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Back in the low slung sports car, trying to find a comfortable way to arrange his legs that didn’t cause his trousers to strangle his erection, Andrew didn’t miss Stephen checking out the tent in his trousers. “I told you I liked your car, didn’t I?” Andrew asked. Stephen’s lips twitched into a smile, but he made no comment on just what Andrew seemed to like so much. The space inside the car felt smaller on the trip back into the city. Stephen’s presence in it seemed far more overpowering. Andrew felt the would-be dominant’s energy pound through the compartment the moment he closed the door behind him, but if he’d expected Stephen to crack and make a move in the car park like a teenage boy in heat, he was to be disappointed. The younger man’s self-control was apparently limitless and they were soon racing back through the countryside towards the city. Andrew glanced across at him, wondering what Stephen would do if he gave in to the temptation to reach over and stroke him through his trousers. As enticing as the idea was, Andrew resisted giving in to it. He doubted the reaction of whoever they rear ended while the driver was distracted would be as pretty as Stephen’s shock at the impromptu teasing. Still, imagining just what he could do as Stephen drove passed the time very pleasantly. His long frame didn’t leave a lot of room between his crotch and the steering wheel, but there would be room enough to lean over and nuzzle his erection through the black material. There would be just enough room to push the material aside and see if the impressive line his erection made against the fabric was false advertising or not. He looked to be well hung. Of course, if Stephen asked, Andrew would have said no, he wasn’t. But, if he wasn’t playing some stupid game that made it necessary for him to lie about damn near everything, Andrew would quite happily admit that he was a complete size queen. What you did with it might be more important, but in his extensive experience, it helped if you had a lot to work with. “What are you thinking?” Stephen asked as they hit the shoppers’ traffic on the road back into the city and slowed to a walking pace. Andrew turned and smiled sweetly at him. “I’m wondering how big your cock is.”

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The younger man swallowed rapidly and kept his eyes fixed firmly on the road and the crawling traffic. Andrew waited for the reply, but none was forthcoming. Score one for the overly indulgent. “If you want the game to go all your own way, stick to yes or no questions, darling,” he advised. Stephen smiled slightly and nodded, just once in acknowledgement of a point well scored. Revelling in having his tormentor thrown off his stride, Andrew wasn’t going to give him time to recover. “Would you like to know what else I was thinking?” It would probably be a long drive back to wherever Stephen lived. Andrew saw no reason why he should be the only excessively frustrated one, and it would do the younger man good to be reminded his companion wasn’t feeling the least bit submissive that day. “Go ahead,” Stephen allowed. His voice was very controlled. It also sounded artificially deep—a sure sign that Stephen was still young enough to remember the embarrassment of his voice suddenly returning to soprano in a stressful situation. Andrew let his own voice drop until it was barely audible over the purr of the engine. “I was wondering if you would lose control of the car if I sucked you off as you drove.” “Yes, I would. It’s a good thing you’re learning self-control today or we would both be in a lot of trouble.” “You have no sense of adventure.” “Perhaps not, but I do have a very good imagination. So I have no interest in having your teeth anywhere near my cock when I might have to brake suddenly.” Stephen shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the thought. “What about my hand?” Andrew suggested. “That couldn’t do much damage. I’ve even got short nails. Look.” He put his hand over Stephen’s on the wheel and stroked his way up the younger man’s arm. “We’re in a traffic jam,” Stephen pointed out. “With cars all around us.” “So?” “So, I doubt they are as interested in seeing my cock as you are.” “Pity,” Andrew whispered. They were barely rolling forward in the queue of cars now. Mindful that there might actually be people watching and that they shouldn’t see

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anything that would upset them, Andrew slid his hand up Stephen’s thigh and stroked him through the material. “Very nice,” he whispered. He didn’t need a measuring tape to know Stephen would be impressive when released from the confines of his clothes. If his self-control extended into his sex life, it was looking be a very good night indeed. Surely even Stephen would break down his mighty restraint long enough for them to have some fun together once they got back to his place. If not, Andrew decided, he should hang up his condoms and retire. If he couldn’t tempt a healthy nineteen-year old into a good time—even after said guy had admitted he wanted to screw him—Andrew decided he didn’t deserve to get laid. His fingers stroked around the bulge in Stephen’s trousers again and again purposely giving the impression he could happily continue the action until they reached their destination. When the car started moving properly again, Stephen cracked enough to say, in a slightly strained voice, “Do you intend to keep doing that?” Andrew smiled. “No.” His answer didn’t actually make any difference to what he was doing though. The younger man didn’t seem to know what to do about that. As they reached full speed, he finally took pity on him. He retrieved his hand and let Stephen concentrate on his driving. As subtle as the younger man obviously tried to be, Andrew didn’t miss the long rise and fall of Stephen’s chest when he took a slow, steadying breath and let it out as a silent sigh. Perhaps Stephen’s long term planning wasn’t just a single edged sword. He’d obviously put a great deal of thought into the plans for the day. That had to mean he’d spent a lot of time thinking about Andrew and thinking about having sex with him. No doubt the would-be dominant would be testing his own self-control on the issue as well as Andrew’s. Stephen wanted exactly the same things as he did. Andrew would bet far more than a truth or dare on it. It shouldn’t be that difficult to convince a man to grant himself exactly what he wanted. Stephen wanted them to have sex. Andrew was confident that even if he didn’t get things exactly how he wanted them, then he should at least be able to get some action out of the other man.

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As they pulled up outside a smart terraced house near the outskirts of the city, Andrew watched Stephen take another one of those long steadying breaths that swelled his chest so every line of muscle was visible through his thin cotton shirt. That shirt would have to go. So would the trousers. Every stitch on Stephen’s back, and on every other part of him, would have to go. His own clothes would have to go too. Andrew predicted that would happen within five minutes of closing the front door.

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Chapter Two

Something went wrong. Somehow, Stephen managed to regain every ounce of his selfcontrol on the short walk up the steps to the front door. Andrew didn’t know if it was the chill in the spring air or the home court advantage. Whatever it was, when the younger man stepped back and allowed Andrew to precede him through the door like a good date, he knew Stephen was back on plan. Interestingly enough, it seemed like he only faltered when presented with a situation he couldn’t have foreseen during his planning. Andrew immediately decided he would have to make sure there were as many of those situations as possible. He smiled to himself. The possibility of an evening spent shocking the hell of out Stephen held a rather evil appeal, especially since it was just possible that he would prove delightfully easy to shock. For all his game plan, Andrew was starting to wonder if the younger man would prove to be even less experienced than he’d first assumed. If Stephen had practised a fraction of the restraint he was so quick to praise, he obviously wasn’t old enough to have had the time to accumulate too much experience. A natural inclination towards dominance was good, but it was no guarantee against a man who was very selective in his submission and who’d been screwing his way around the kinky scene for the best part of a decade. Stephen closed the front door behind him. “Do you want permission to wear clothes in my house, Andrew?” Andrew smiled. Ordered to strip in less than five seconds, forget five minutes. Condom retirement could wait a few decades yet. Shyness wasn’t one of his faults, but it wouldn’t do to let the would-be dominant get ideas above his station. ”No,” he said for form’s sake. Stephen obviously thought that decided the matter. He frowned when Andrew made no move to undress.

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“I don’t belong to you. I haven’t offered you my submission. I don’t need your permission to wear clothes in your house, Stephen.” He met the younger man’s eyes and held his gaze for several seconds. Stephen didn’t look down, but he nodded his acceptance of the point. “As long as we both understand that,” Andrew said. “Nudity isn’t an unreasonable request.” He didn’t bother to wait for further instruction. If nothing else, stripping down would get his erection out of the uncomfortable confines of his trousers. Standing in the small hallway, he draped his coat over the banister at the bottom of the stairs and turned to his shirt. Stephen leaned a shoulder against the wall in the narrow space and watched every move. He hadn’t asked for a show, so Andrew kept it simple in spite of his instinctive desire to impress his audience. Sliding each button slowly through the corresponding holes, he gradually revealed his skin. A guy should always keep himself well presented and wear nice underwear. He might get knocked down by a bus. The paramedics might be cute. Andrew dropped his shirt over the banister. Boring workouts weren’t his thing, but between basketball, football and a very active sex life, his hobbies gave him a good build. His shoulders were broad and his chest and abs were equally well developed. Andrew gave Stephen a few moments to look and reached for his shoes. Men standing with their trousers around their ankles while they tried to take their shoes off never appeared their best. Shoes and socks dispensed with first, Andrew undid his belt and took his trousers and his boxer-briefs off in one easy motion. Kicking them aside, he stood entirely naked in Stephen’s hallway. Erect and curving back to his stomach, his cock gloried in the freedom from clothing. Stephen stayed where he was and just watched. Andrew watched Stephen study his body and saw the desire burning in his eyes. He waited with more patience than he would grant any other man, for Stephen to do something about that lust. Finally, the younger man stepped forward. Andrew had been given plenty of time to predict a lot of different responses, but he didn’t expect the gentle touch of Stephen’s knuckles tracing the line of his jaw.

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“I won’t tell you that you’re amazing. You already know you are.” Andrew frowned. What the hell had he done to deserve that? Stephen shook his head. “I’m not calling you vain. But you’d have to be blind, deaf and stupid not to know anyone who looks at you thinks you’re a walking, talking, Greek god. You know you’re beautiful, because you are. There’s nothing wrong with that.” He traced his finger tips down the outside line of Andrew’s arm. Then he turned his attention to his hair, catching a few of the blond strands between his fingers and twisting them as if testing the texture. There was nothing particularly erotic about the touch. He looked more like a farmer at a market inspecting a new head of cattle than a man looking at someone he wanted to screw. “I really can’t work you out,” Andrew complained. Stephen shook his head. “I’m simple. You are the complicated one.” “Right, because I’m the one playing silly games?” Andrew asked, thoroughly pissed off by the realisation that those games weren’t over now it was time to have sex. “No. You are the one who wanted to make today about some stupid bet. You are the one who keeps putting off the part of the night where someone screws someone else.” “You really think you’re so simple and straight forward?” Stephen asked. Andrew didn’t bother to give a yes or a no. “I’m very straight forward,” he said instead. “I want to have sex with you. See, that’s my whole intent summed up in seven very simple words.” Stephen shook his head. Andrew held back a sigh. “If the vocabulary’s confusing you, I do a great range in hand gestures. Or I could just start and you can join in when you catch up, if you’d prefer that.” Stephen’s smile still didn’t fade a jot. “What are you trying to work out about me?” Andrew gave up holding back the sigh and resorted to the truth. “I don’t know if you loathe me and want to punish me, or if you fancy me and want to screw me, or if you’re just getting off on playing with my mind and making me jump through hoops.” “Do you want an honest answer?”

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Andrew studied his eyes. What he wanted and what he could ask for weren’t the same thing and Stephen bloody well knew it. “No,” Andrew said. ”Please lie to me, that’s always a great turn on.” Stephen ignored everything that came after the no. He nodded to the door behind him and followed Andrew into a bright, airy living room at the front of the house. He turned around as soon as the door was closed and studied Andrew very carefully, not his body though, just his eyes. He wouldn’t let him look away when he tried to break the eye contact off to the side. “You’re wasting your twelve hours,” Andrew reminded him. “Am I?” “No. But my saying a word doesn’t change the facts.” Stephen continued to stare into Andrew’s eyes until the older man began to worry about what he might see there. Suddenly he understood why so many of the other submissives he knew found it hard to maintain eye contact with their dominants. Except that Stephen wasn’t his dominant. At this point in his life, he couldn’t be little more than a guy who might be a dominant when he grew up. “I assume you have thought about what happens past this point?” Andrew asked. Inexperienced was one thing, but if he’d actually played the game this well with genuine virgin status, Andrew was pretty bloody impressed with his ability to act like he knew what he was doing if nothing else. Stephen smiled. “Yes, I have. More times than you can probably imagine. You have amazing eyes.” Andrew blinked at him. No, he didn’t. He had a good build, a classic profile and nice hair. His eyes were, if anything, his worst feature. Small, brown and very average, they really did little more than fill up the appropriate space on his face. Stephen leaned forward and brushed his lips over Andrew’s eyes, left first, then right. Andrew automatically closed his eyes. When he opened them he looked suspiciously up at the taller man. Maybe he was inexperienced in normal sex because his fetishes were completely off the wall. “Kinky, I can live with. Kinky is good. But I’m a few seconds away from believing you’re just plain weird.”

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Apparently not the least bit offended, Stephen smiled and repeated the process. Andrew closed his eyes. At the same time, he realised hadn’t actually met anyone with an eyelid fetish before. He was half tempted to believe the night might turn out to be educational after all. Even if the idea that Stephen could teach an acknowledged slut like him new tricks did put him slightly off balance. Slowly, Stephen seemed to remember the rest of him existed then. While he stood naked in the middle of the room, the younger man circled him, stroking his body and occasionally tasting his skin with delicate kisses that heightened his senses without giving them anything to really sink their teeth into. Every touch was brief. He could never guess where or when the next one would come. The inside of his wrist. The back of his neck. The curve of his back. Each part of him was inspected and caressed, but they weren’t real touches. They were barely teases. All they did was made him crave more. They never came close to actually sating his desire. Andrew began to shift impatiently. “Do you want to move?” Stephen asked. “No.” But just because he said it, that didn’t mean he had to live it. Andrew stepped forward, ready to show Stephen just how much fun an active partner could make things. Stephen’s hand immediately snapped around his wrist and held him where he was. “Would you like me to repeat the question?” Andrew looked into his eyes. Stephen was enjoying himself. “No.” “Good. We have hours yet.” His eyes glittered with pleasure at the thought. He was getting off on being in control of the game. An active partner probably couldn’t compete with that for a would-be dominant. Andrew looked down in frustration. “And there’s no rush, is there?” Stephen pushed. “No.” Stephen stepped behind him and encouraged Andrew to lean back against his chest. Feeling Stephen’s clothes against his skin, Andrew frowned, wondering why the hell was he still the only one naked after all this time. “Aren’t you going to take anything off?”

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“Do you want me to?” Stephen let Andrew turn in his arms. He made it very clear he was letting him. Holding him in place for a moment as he began to turn, he made it perfectly plain that he could keep him exactly where he chose. Then, as if humouring him, he allowed the movement. Novice dominant, Andrew thought to himself, it would probably be his pride that led to his downfall. “Something you’re ashamed of?” he asked. Stephen stroked Andrew’s check. He didn’t seem the least insulted or inclined to prove his vital statistic. Before Andrew could decide which button to push next, his back hit the wall and Stephen’s lips covered his. Finally! Trapped between the wall and Stephen’s body, he used the leverage of the one to press against the other. He gloried in finally being able to feel Stephen’s body under his hands and to explore it, even through the other man’s clothing. Andrew moaned his enjoyment and tried to squeeze a hand between them to undo the buttons on Stephen’s shirt. Just as suddenly as the kiss started, the lips moulding against his disappeared, the tongue sparring marvellously against his vanished. Grasping uselessly thin air, Andrew tried to catch hold of the younger man as he stepped away. He was too slow. Stephen left him gasping against the wall. The novice dominant recovered quickly. No. Andrew studied him for a few long seconds and decided it would have been far more accurate to say the other man slipped into an act quickly. Stephen’s breathing was just as ragged as his own. No doubt his pulse raced just as fast as his too, but hidden behind his clothes and following a plan, he looked like he was in control. Even as an act, it was impressive. Andrew slumped against the wall, in no fit state to act in any other way than his nature dictated. “Is that what you want?” Stepping forward again, Stephen put his hands against the wall on either side of Andrew’s shoulders. Andrew licked his lips.

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“Is it?” the younger man demanded, his lips hovering a touch above his. Andrew leaned in, eager for another kiss, but Stephen pulled back out of his range. “Answer the question, Andrew. You can have whatever you want. Just say the word.” “No.” Stephen stepped away again. Andrew closed his eyes. He’d had his share of control freaks, experienced dominants and downright sadists over the years. Stephen’s actions refused to fit neatly into any definition. A dominant—even an inexperienced one—got off on making you tell them how much you wanted something. They liked to hear their submissive beg for it. The last thing they enjoyed was hearing their submissive refuse them over and over again. Pushing a hand through his hair, Andrew tried to snap himself back into the bet. Trying to make sense of Stephen’s actions by comparing him to a dominant was stupid. He wasn’t acting like a dominant, because he wasn’t one. He was a guy playing a game, nothing more. “Come here.” Taking a deep breath and forcing his eyes open, Andrew saw Stephen had already retreated across the room and settled himself comfortably on the leather sofa by the window. Andrew walked across to him. A glance at the floor saw a cushion had been placed in a convenient position between Stephen’s outstretched legs. Andrew knew he would end up kneeling at Stephen’s feet sooner or later. He could put up a protest and answer half a dozen of Stephen’s cleverly worded questions, or he could just accept the fact and get on with it. He dropped to his knees at Stephen’s feet and lifted an eyebrow in enquiry. What was Stephen’s pleasure now? If the younger man thought putting him on his knees would make him feel small or weak or convince Andrew that he was in any way submitting to him, he was in for a shock. Knowing full well he did a lot of his best work on his knees, the position only made the older man more relaxed. If he’d offered his submission to Stephen perhaps it might have been different. If he’d opened up that part of his mind to the idea he belonged to the other man, then his place kneeling at Stephen’s feet might have reinforced that decision.

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As it was, Stephen was just another vanilla guy and on his knees and with his lips wrapped around a vanilla cock, Andrew was never in any doubt about who was in control of that situation. Comfortable in the knowledge that he could make any man of his acquaintance scream, beg or actually pass out if he was in the mood to play with his best technique, Andrew was pretty sure Stephen was destined for a long time stalled on option B if he wasn’t careful. Whether it was now or after midnight, Andrew was growing more and more determined to have Stephen jump through a few hoops of his own. They would see how he liked being the one working to another man’s script. “Something you said earlier was right,” Stephen told him as he stroked his cheek. “There are a lot of very interesting things I could do with you.” He sat above him, and just watched him for a while, as if he was playing out the possibilities inside his head—as if their positions didn’t indicated he had already made his choice. “Do you want to come?” he asked suddenly. Daft question, between the restaurant and the house, Stephen had been teasing him for hours. “No,” Andrew muttered, just for form’s sake. “Do you have any objection to helping me out then?” Andrew smiled slightly. “No,” and he made sure Stephen knew that was an honest rather than a sarcastic answer. He had no objection to going down on Stephen. Anything was okay with him as long as it got the night started! “I want your mouth.” It was a statement, not a question. He was under no obligation to say no to it. Andrew nodded and placed his hand on Stephen’s knee. Stopping him and leaning forward to taste his lips just one more time, Stephen lingered there, as if he was in no real rush to feel those same lips wrapped around his cock. When he broke the kiss, he leaned back comfortably and nodded his permission for Andrew to start. Raising his eyebrow at the idea Stephen hadn’t grasped just how little he cared if he had his permission or not, Andrew didn’t bother to get into an argument about it right then.

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Deftly freeing Stephen’s erection from the confines of his trousers and his underwear with one hand, Andrew decided it was time to show the novice just how good a blow job could be. Stephen was just as well endowed as Andrew had guessed—more than large enough to give someone with limited experience some concern and a sore jaw. Sometimes having a history as something of a slut was wonderfully useful. Leaning forward, Andrew deep throated Stephen in one swift motion, swallowing him down until his lips touched the base of his cock and the head slipped into his throat. The less experienced man yelped a curse and caught hold of Andrew’s shoulder as he shuddered in his seat. Andrew wasn’t in a position to smile, but when he glanced up at Stephen he knew the younger man saw how much he’d enjoyed receiving that reaction. One of the wonderful things about having his mouth full—it didn’t matter what Stephen asked him, he couldn’t answer either way. Andrew wasn’t about to waste such a wonderful opportunity. Thrown off balance by the sudden move, the would-be dominant just gawped down at him in complete amazement as Andrew set about showing him what a lot of experience on his knees could do for a man’s technique. As easily as taking the other man into his mouth, Andrew knew he was back where he belonged—in complete and perfect control of the game. He murmured contently around Stephen’s shaft as he began to bob his head into his lap. Alternating between swift movements as his tongue flickered over the very tip of Stephen’s cock and deep strokes as he took the whole length between his lips, Andrew kept his eyes fixed on Stephen’s expression. The younger man was gloriously easy to read now. There was no mask for him to hide behind. He was off script, up the stream without a paddle and a million other metaphors that Andrew would bet his arse Stephen no longer had the available brain power to recall. Lust, pleasure and more than a little bit of awe shone clearly in his eyes. He didn’t ask any carefully worded questions. He bit down on his bottom lip and kept his comments on Andrew’s actions restricted to enthralled whimpers. Several minutes after Andrew first wrapped his lips around his cock, Stephen finally gathered the coordination and let go of his grip on his shoulder. He stroked Andrew’s cheek

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very gently with his finger tips, tracing the high cheek bone just above where his cheek hollowed as he created the perfect vacuum for Stephen’s enjoyment. “God, you are so beautiful,” he whispered. Andrew was half sure the other man didn’t realise he’d said the words out loud. Right then, he didn’t care if liking it made him vain in Stephen’s eyes. Andrew liked hearing those words, especially when they were whispered in that tone of voice. The praise appealed to the submissive inside him and sent a shiver down his spine that went straight to his cock. His master was pleased with him. Andrew pushed the idea away the instant it formed inside his mind. He was playing a game. He wasn’t submitting. Stephen wasn’t his master. Hell, the jury was still out on if he was willing to label the guy a dominant, let alone anything else. He shoved the word master to the back of his mind and reminded himself that he was in control. They had all night and cradling Stephen’s cock in his mouth was making Andrew increasingly desperate to come sooner rather than later. He dropped one hand from where it rested on Stephen’s thigh and wrapped it firmly around his own erection. Rapidly stroking the satiny skin, he took himself quickly to the edge, reminding himself with every rough caress that this was about sex and game play, not submission. There would be plenty of time for another round with more active participation from Stephen later, right then he just needed to come in the quickest most convenient way available. Clearing some of the arousal and frustration from his brain would make everything better. Coming would let him remember who was who, and what was what, and exactly why he wasn’t prepared to submit to Stephen or any other novice dominant. Andrew kept his head bobbing as his hand took up a matching rhythm, twisting on the upstroke to cover the head and smear his leaking pre-cum down the shaft to slick his hand. “Do you want to touch yourself, Andrew?” There was a gasp in the middle of the sentence, but the words were clear and the sentence perfectly well formed. Andrew’s hand stilled, more in shock at the correct grammar rather than the question. He pulled together a few of his own wayward brain cells and translated the question into an

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order. He didn’t bother to break oral contact to give his answer, he just put his hand back on Stephen’s leg to show that he had stopped. If Stephen wanted to play in turns rather than together, Andrew could accept that. He didn’t like it right then, but he was sure it would be made worth his while in due course. That wasn’t submissive. He was making a conscious decision to agree with the other man’s suggestion. He was playing the game. He felt a lot better about it once he put it that way. Nevertheless, if such complicated higher brain functions were still ongoing inside Stephen’s head, he would have to work harder. Stephen gasped and his head jerked back against the back of the chair as Andrew sucked hard around his shaft and flicked his tongue in a complicated pattern across the head. The younger man bit his lip to stop from crying out. That was more like it. Trying to ignore his own painfully hard shaft, Andrew gave Stephen his complete attention, taking him to the edge of his orgasm and pushing him right to the brink. It would be so easy to make him come right then. It would have felt so good to give the other man that pleasure. However, Stephen had gone out of his way to make it very clear that he wasn’t in a rush for anything. As much as something inside him wanted to please the other man, Andrew knew it was time to test that self-control the younger man was so proud of. Andrew let Stephen’s length slide completely out of his mouth for the first time since his lips had touched his cock. For a moment, Stephen didn’t react at all. Then, as Andrew wiped the corners of his lips with his fingertips and sat back on his heels, Stephen blinked his eyes open. He made an obvious effort to try to focus in on Andrew’s face. Apparently he didn’t find that particular task very easy right then. While he waited, Andrew ran through the other man’s options in his head. Stephen could gather the brain cells and word a complicated question that would put Andrew’s head back in his lap. But he’d have to be aware that particular course of action meant admitting a certain amount of defeat at this point. Or he could let the blow job end there. That would involve a lot of frustration on Stephen’s part, although Andrew was pretty bloody certain it wouldn’t leave the would-be dominant quite as frustrated as he felt—simply because no one could possibly feel as

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frustrated as he felt right then. Andrew doubted Stephen had enough control to call a complete halt that way. That left option three, Andrew’s personal favourite. Stephen could give up on the idea of driving either of them insane with frustration and just let them get on with actually having sex. That would be a very good solution to Stephen’s current dilemma. Andrew was quite happy to believe it would demonstrate nothing more than the fact Stephen was a very nice, very sane man. Licking his lips, Andrew watched Stephen stare at his mouth, following the movements of his tongue. Stephen swallowed jerkily. “You want to stop?” In that moment, it didn’t sound like part of the game. Voice rough and deep with desire, it sounded like an honest question. Confusion mixed with the lust in his voice as he continued to try and focus in on Andrew. Matching honesty for honesty, Andrew shook his head. “No.” Stephen shook his head too, apparently still trying to clear the fuzz. “Why did you stop?” he rephrased. Andrew knew an out when he was offered one. Stephen was honestly asking if he wanted to stop, and Andrew could see that he actually meant it. He wouldn’t take an out he didn’t need, but nudging some of the sanctimonious spirit out of his date was another matter. “Isn’t it more fun if we let the anticipation build?” he asked, with all the innocence he could muster. Stephen looked back down at him and granted a nod of approval at a shot well made. “Any more anticipation and I think I might explode.” “Promises, promises,” Andrew murmured. Stephen dropped his head back and groaned. “I knew ribbing you about self-control would come back and bite me on the arse sooner or later.” Andrew smiled. “We can do that too if you like. You’ll have to take your trousers off first though. Cloth’s a bugger to bite through. You won’t get any proper teeth marks to show for it if you leave them on.”

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Stephen blinked. “Don’t talk about teeth when you’re in the middle of sucking a guy off. Very bad karma.” “What would you prefer me to talk about?” Andrew asked. “Talking isn’t essential,” Stephen said. “Don’t get me wrong, I love your voice, but it can’t really compete with the other things your mouth can do right now.” He touched his finger tips to Andrew’s lips, tracing their outline. They were red now, and swollen from Andrew’s efforts, the gentle fingertip touches sent a wave of pleasure through him. It wasn’t a prompt to return to what he’d been doing though. It felt more like the fascination of a moth that couldn’t resist examining the flame more closely. Andrew flicked out his tongue and tasted the fingers, just for the joy of watching Stephen’s eyes drop closed in self-defence. Andrew smiled against his fingers. Anticipation was a wonderful thing when you really knew how to build with it. He took two of Stephen’s fingers into his mouth. Murmuring again, he let the would-be dominant’s fingers feel the benefit of expert fellatio, inviting Stephen to remember how great it had felt when it was his shaft in Andrew’s mouth. Taking his time, the older man let his eyes drop closed too. Concentrating on nothing but the feeling of Stephen’s fingers in his mouth, he ran his tongue over them again and again. He still tasted ever so faintly of the dessert. Sweet and slightly salty, he tasted perfectly more-ish. For all his annoying kinks towards building the anticipation to a level where any sane man would lose his mind, Andrew had to congratulate Stephen on his good manners. He shifted in his seat with frustration, but he never once tried to bring Andrew’s mouth back to where he wanted it most. His grip on the sofa arm turned white knuckled, but he kept quiet. He let Andrew do as he pleased until it pleased him to return to his erection. Eventually, Andrew took pity on him and did just that. The moment his hand was freed, Stephen put it on the back of Andrew’s head, but to the older man’s surprise he still retained enough control to pet his hair without applying any pressure. Nuzzling and licking Stephen’s erection, Andrew made him wait just a few minutes longer, until the younger man was steadily leaking pre-cum and biting his lip so hard he was

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almost drawing blood. He wanted Stephen right on the edge when he took him back into his mouth. He wanted Stephen to be almost as desperate as he felt himself. Taking him into the tight cocoon of his mouth one last time, Andrew decided there had been more than enough of playing games. Stephen had been a good sport about the teasing. He deserved a break. Swirling his tongue more rapidly as he bobbed his head, Andrew easily brought Stephen off into his mouth and swallowed him down without any hesitation. As he softened, Andrew let him rest in his mouth for a little while. Gentling his ministrations, he eventually pulled back and let Stephen slip from his mouth. The would-be dominant looked perfectly stunning with his eyes heavy lidded with satisfaction and his lips still parted as he sought extra oxygen. Andrew, somewhat out of breath himself, waited for Stephen to recover a little. That wasn’t submissive, he reassured himself. He was merely demonstrating that he had selfcontrol. He had patience. He was very patiently waiting for Stephen to pull himself back together and get the game going again. Eventually, just around the time when Andrew was beginning to remember why he found self-restraint so boring, Stephen leaned forward and kissed him. With complete confidence that access wouldn’t be denied to him, Stephen slid his tongue into Andrew’s mouth, parting his lips and murmuring his pleasure at tasting himself there. Andrew let his lips ease apart in welcome. He even let Stephen keep control of the sleepy, easy kiss. Smiling down at him as he leaned back, Stephen stroked Andrew’s lips with his thumb. “Amazing,” he whispered. Compliments were nice. Andrew really liked compliments. Right there and then an orgasm would still have been much better received. “Do you want me to return the favour?” Andrew’s eyes snapped up and met Stephen’s. The sleepy tone of voice had faded away. Stephen had his game face back on. How the hell did he manage to have a recovery time that quick? What happened to the haze of afterglow? What the hell happened to good head putting a man in a good mood?

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Logic suggested that Stephen should be feeling very pleased with the world and very generous, but Andrew saw none of that in his eyes right then. Biting his tongue, Andrew reminded himself that this was all part of the game. He knew better than to forget that. Just as surely, he knew he hadn’t been trying to set up an exchange of mouths. That wasn’t how he operated. Offering sex with strings or expectations was far too close to whoring for his tastes. He’d have brushed away unenthusiastic reciprocation as quickly as it was offered. But yes, if the other guy was willing, he wanted Stephen to go down on him. That was just the honest truth. He wasn’t allowed the truth right then. “No,” he whispered. “That is a pity,” Stephen said, leaning forward and lacing his voice with regret. “I would have enjoyed going down on you.” Andrew glanced up at the larger man as Stephen’s fingers wound into his hair. “I may not have quite your talent,” the would-be dominant conceded. “But I do know a few tricks myself.” His fingers stroked down Andrew’s throat and along his wind pipe obviously enjoying the memory of being lodged so deeply inside him so recently. “I was looking forward to tasting you,” Stephen whispered. “Stroking you with my tongue. Lapping at your cock and sucking up those first few beads of pre-cum when you began to leak for me. That was my plan, Andrew. I was going to let you come up here and sit above me while I knelt and did everything I could think of to thank you for that amazing blow job.” Stephen’s fingers trailed back up to Andrew’s face and traced the outline of his features. As he stroked over his eyes again and again, Andrew gave up opening them between touches. Once he couldn’t see how things really were, he had no choice but to imagine the scenario Stephen described to him. “I bet you taste so wonderful, darling,” Stephen whispered. “You’d feel so good inside my mouth, stretching my lips and sliding against my tongue. I want that so much. I want to feel you inside me, Andrew. I want to hear you tell me exactly what to do, exactly how you want me to worship at your feet. I want to feel you fill my mouth as you thrust into me.”

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Andrew swallowed rapidly as he tried not to picture it all happening just as Stephen portrayed it but unable to stop the images filling his mind and making him dizzy with desire. “I want your hand on the back on my head, tangling in my hair and holding me still so you can take my mouth exactly as you want. I want you so far inside me I can’t breathe, until I can’t ask you any more stupid questions. You’ll be the one with all the words, Andrew. You can tell me exactly what you think of all these games I’ve been playing with you today and I won’t be able to say a word in my defence. You won’t have to listen to any of that if you let me suck your amazing cock, Andrew.” Andrew shook his head, doing his damnedest not to listen. “I want that so much, Andrew. I want to taste you as you spill into my mouth and slip down my throat. I want to swallow you down so I feel like you are part of me. I want you to wipe away the memory of every man I’ve ever gone down on, so I’ll never remember anyone else inside me but you. “I want you so much, darling. Let me, Andrew. Please, let me suck your cock. Tell me that’s what you want. Am I allowed the privilege of sucking your cock, Andrew? Please?” Andrew blinked his eyes open and tried to meet Stephen’s eyes. “I…” Stephen looked down at him, big blue eyes all earnest and pleading. Andrew licked his lips and tried to make words happen. The only word in his head was yes. He couldn’t remember any others. He didn’t want to say no. He ached to feel Stephen’s lips against his shaft. And if Stephen wanted it too, why not? It was a stupid bet. If he lost he would pay the dare. He’d probably enjoy paying it. Really, what could Stephen possibly come up with that was so bad it could make Andrew regret coming in Stephen’s mouth right then? He closed his eyes. As he forced his eyes open again and saw Stephen watching him, he saw his own naked want reflected in the other man’s eyes. If he said yes, he knew that emotion would turn to triumph. Andrew looked down. There was a far worse possibility. Maybe Stephen wouldn’t look smug. Maybe he would just look disappointed. Maybe Stephen would write him off as

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what he’d thought Andrew was from the beginning—a slut who didn’t have the self-control to say no when he was offered a cheap thrill. Maybe the guy was right and that’s all he really was. Even if that was the case, Andrew could let Stephen to see it right then. Suddenly, what he wanted more than anything was for the other man to think he was better than that. Andrew glanced up at him and then quickly down again. Stephen wasn’t a good enough actor to fake the sincerity in everything he just said. Stephen wanted to give what he’d offered. If he said no, Andrew knew he’d be refusing them both what they really wanted. Stephen might be disappointed that he said no too. Thoughts swirled around inside his head and it became impossible for Andrew to work out what would best please his master. He forced himself to look up and meet Stephen’s eyes. The deep blue expression was unreadable. Andrew wasn’t sure exactly what he was going to say, until the single word passed his lips to hang in the air between them.

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Chapter Three

“No.” He couldn’t make it more than a trembling whisper. Stephen smiled a fraction, but it didn’t look like triumph. It almost looked like he was proud of Andrew. Andrew shook his head. There obviously wasn’t enough blood going to his brain. He was going crazy with frustration. Nevertheless, as Stephen turned his face back up for a kiss, he didn’t seem to be gloating over Andrew’s inability to get what he wanted. It felt gentle and honest and exactly like the praise a good master would offer a submissive who pleased him. That wasn’t crazy—that was just stupid. Even if Stephen did have more dominance in him than Andrew was willing to admit, he wasn’t his master. Andrew repeated the fact over and over in his head several times. Then he opened his eyes. “You really are a sadistic—” Stephen kissed him again, making sure the insult was thoroughly silenced before he took his lips away. “That’s not a nice thing to call the man who still has several hours on the clock and a great many plans for you.” Andrew raised an eyebrow, doing his damnedest to get back into the game properly. “Good plans or frustrating plans?” “For me or for you?” Stephen teased with a smile. “I have no doubt I will enjoy myself. You might find them somewhat frustrating.” “Only somewhat?” Andrew asked sceptically. “There wouldn’t be much pleasure in victory if you didn’t have to fight for it, would there?” Stephen smiled down at him and stroked his hair back from his face. “You’re one of those people who actually enjoys walking up the stairs to the fourteenth floor when you could take the elevator, aren’t you?” Andrew asked, as Stephen stood up and helped him to his feet.

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“I’m what?” He frowned his confusion as he tugged Andrew forward until he stood close within the circle of his arms. Andrew went willingly with the movement. Stephen’s embrace settled casually around him, his hands linking comfortably together on the small of his back. “You like making your life hard work,” Andrew said. “Fair enough. It’s weird. But I can respect that. But in this instance YKIOIJNMK.” The mixture of clunky constants rolled off his tongue with the ease of long practise. “Pardon?” Stephen’s hands slid down to cup Andrew’s arse, pulling him closer, so his erection rubbed against the front of Stephen’s trousers. “Your Kink Is Okay, It’s Just Not My Kink,” Andrew expanded, rocking with the massaging hands as they worked his buttocks. “An easy life is very enjoyable. I like taking the elevator. I like getting laid without any trouble. These legitimate preferences are not character flaws.” “You look like you’re enjoying yourself right now.” Stephen leaned back and put some space between their bodies. He stroked one finger tip along the underside of Andrew’s cock, caught the beads of pre-cum gathering on the head, and licked them from his finger. Leaning close he whispered in Andrew’s ear. “I knew you would taste fantastic.” “Tease,” Andrew muttered. “It’s taken you all this time to work that out?” Stephen laughed as led him to the bottom of the stairs and followed him up, taking the opportunity to stroke his back, his legs and his arse as they went. Andrew didn’t rush away from the caresses. Even tormenting touches that didn’t deliver on their promises were better than nothing. In a crazily masochistic way, he even found himself relishing any touch from the other man. Prompting him to a door at the far end of the landing, Stephen followed Andrew into a bedroom. It had the comfortable lived in feel that a guest bedroom could never convey. It was Stephen’s own bedroom then. Andrew looked around. The room was directly above the living room and had the same general shape. It also had the same atmosphere. Nice and tidy, it wasn’t overly fussy or dressed to impress a guest. It was what it was, take it or leave it.

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Andrew was a past master at assessing a man’s bedroom. He’d seen enough of them over the years to know the signs to look for. The headboard looked like it would take restraints easily. The bed was made up with green sheets. They looked clean and fresh, but there wasn’t a hospital corner in sight. He wasn’t a neat freak, then. That was good. It always killed the mood if they guy was too busy freaking out about getting cum on the sheets to enjoy putting it there. The sheets weren’t red either, which was a plus as far as he was concerned. Rightly or wrongly, red sheets always made Andrew wonder if the guy was into blood play. There was no sign of anything leather, but there was the very faint scent of it in the air, and the box peeking out from under the bed was obviously a toy box of some sort. Stephen wrapped his arms around Andrew’s waist and kissed his neck, cutting short his analysis of the room. “You don’t mind if I leave a few marks, do you?” he whispered. “No. Just keep them temporary.” Stephen kissed his neck again, taking his time in selecting a suitable point to mark with a love bite. Andrew leant his head to the side, granting him better access as he murmured his appreciation. He always liked a few marks to remember a lover by. It was nice to look at his body in a mirror the next day and recall what process had produced them. He was also well aware that finding another man’s marks on his body tended to bring out the competitor in a dominant lover. Everyone always wanted to be the best. It was always fun to be the focus of that sort of competition. He wasn’t sporting any memories right then but, for once, Andrew found himself strangely glad of it. He couldn’t imagine Stephen being impressed and trying to outdo a rival. He would probably just chalk it up as more evidence of promiscuity and ignore it. A few minutes later, as Stephen stroked over the mark he’d made and examined his creation, Andrew wondered if he might have underestimated the man. For all his games and teasing, he really didn’t strike Andrew as the type to share. No, he wouldn’t be at all happy to find another man’s marks on his lover. He’d be possessive, the way all the best dominants were.

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Andrew turned around in Stephen’s arms. All this standing around while the younger man had the fun was making him silly. It was a casual one night stand with a side order of wager. Stephen didn’t care about him any more than he cared about Stephen, and he no more belonged to Stephen than Stephen belonged to him. They would have sex, have fun, someone would pay their forfeit. They would both part on good terms and that would be the end of it. Nothing more, nothing less. He didn’t give Stephen time to ask any well worded questions. He kissed him, moulding their lips together. Threading his fingers into Stephen’s hair, he pulled him down into the kiss to make their difference in heights irrelevant. Stumbling backwards, Andrew kept going until he felt the mattress against the back of his legs and they collapsed in a tangle of limbs onto Stephen’s bed. Supporting himself over Andrew’s prone body, Stephen broke the kiss and smiled down at him. His body had felt so good, so heavy and solid against Andrew and his still neglected erection. Andrew scrabbled at the other man, trying to gain purchase and pull him back down on top of him. The other man relented a bit. He didn’t allow another kiss, but he rested more of his weight against Andrew’s skin. Stephen was already hard again. Andrew grinned. Nineteen might not give the guy a huge amount of experience, but sometimes experience wasn’t the be all and end all. “Do you want to top?” Stephen asked. “No.” He was finally going to have sex. Andrew was past caring who got to do what. It appeared that he was finally going to see the rest of that body Stephen had been intent on keeping hidden. Slipping from his grip, Stephen climbed off the bed and began to strip his clothes off. Andrew leaned up on his elbows to see what could be seen. “You sunbathe nude?” Stephen blinked and only then seemed to realise he was under inspection. “Yeah,” he allowed with a nod. Andrew didn’t doubt it. The guy’s tan was superb and there wasn’t a single line of white skin to mar the perfection. “Turn around.” Stephen blinked his enquiry.

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“You made me wait, now let me look.” Andrew was quietly proud of the demand. No submission there! With an easy laugh, Stephen turned slowly around, holding his hands away from his body to let Andrew look all he wanted. He didn’t stop at one turn either. Andrew wasn’t going to object while he had such a wonderful sight to look on. After three turns where Andrew was free to take in every detail, Stephen stopped and crashed down onto the bed next to him. “I’ll get dizzy if I keep going ‘round.” “I was starting to think you were shy,” Andrew said. It took more strength of will than he would ever admit, to reach out and touch the other man without permission. Somehow he managed to do it. He ran his hand across Stephen’s chest, spreading his fingers out wide to touch as much of him as possible. “Anticipation,” Stephen reminded him. Andrew pushed his supporting elbow away so Stephen collapsed on his back. “I’m starting to hate that word.” Stephen just laughed. It was as if he was so comfortable in his dominance that nothing Andrew did could shake him out of that comfort zone. It felt like he didn’t need to act like a submissive around him. Stephen saw that side of him anyway. He knew how to call that side of him out to play better than any man Andrew had ever known. Andrew still fought against the instinct to just lie back and let Stephen call all the shots. He leaned over him and bowed his head to whisper his next words in his ear. “We’ve had enough anticipation, Stephen.” “Would you like us to stop wasting time?” Stephen asked. Andrew rolled away in disgust and flopped down on the sheet, limbs flung out across the mattress. “You’re trying to kill me,” he moaned. “Of course not. You’d be no use to me dead,” Stephen said. He snatched a brief kiss and nudged Andrew onto his side as he shifted behind him. That was promising. Another nudge had Andrew on his stomach, trying to find a comfortable place to settle his erection without resorting to finding a knife and cutting a round hole in the mattress. He shifted his legs apart a bit in invitation.

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Stephen either didn’t notice or he didn’t care. He nudged Andrew to move further up the bed and rest his head on the pillow, seemingly determined to have him exactly where he wanted him before he would allow him to have any fun at all. With all the good grace he could muster while clinging to his complete belief that he wasn’t giving the other man his submission, Andrew let Stephen arrange him. When he was satisfied with his placement on the bed, Andrew saw Stephen reach into the bedside draw. Andrew whispered his thanks up to heaven. A moment later, Andrew felt Stephen stroking something into his shoulders. “Unless you’re into a kink I’ve never heard of, the lubes not going to do much good up there.” “It’s massage oil. You’re too tense. You won’t enjoy yourself if you don’t relax.” “I’m relaxed,” Andrew grumbled. It was a bare faced lie. Every muscle was knotted with unfamiliar frustration. His mind might want to win the bet, but his poor body didn’t have a clue what was going on or why his mouth kept saying stupid things like no, while every fibre of his body screamed yes, please! The idea that Stephen had the potential to grow into one of the best dominants he’d ever come across wasn’t helping either. “You’re stiff as a board.” Andrew leaned up on his elbows and looked over his shoulder, annoyance cutting through everything else for a moment. “You think you’ll cure that by rubbing my shoulders?” “Your whole body, not just your cock.” Stephen nudged him until he lay back down with his head on the pillow. “Do you know what does wonders for stress relief?” Andrew asked. He didn’t bother to wait for an answer. “Orgasms. You can’t beat them for removing excess tension from the body. Honestly. It’s a medically proven fact. It works every time.” “Really?” Stephen sounded fascinated by the prospect. “Do you think we should try that?” “I’m going to treat that as a rhetorical question,” Andrew grumbled against the pillow case. “And I’m going to treat that as a no,” Stephen said with a chuckle. Andrew gave in to the fact that he was going to have a massage.

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“You have wonderful hands,” he murmured a few minutes later. It wasn’t doing anything to help his stress levels, or his frustration levels, but it was a marvellous sensation. Big strong hands found every knot in his muscles and worked them out of his body. It should have felt like the other man was being submissive, as if Stephen was serving him for his own pleasure, but it didn’t. Stephen was quite calmly doing exactly what he wanted with him. Andrew did his damnedest to ignore that fact. Across his shoulders, along his back, down his arms, up his legs, Stephen didn’t miss a spot. When he started massaging his arse, letting his fingers work down between the cheeks to stroke across him more intimately, Andrew couldn’t help but push back against his touch, inviting more. Andrew closed his eyes and bit his lip as he tried to stay still, but he couldn’t stop himself from offering himself to his master. A few more minutes and any pretence of his touch being a massage rather than an exploration evaporated. Stephen’s fingers began to stroke against his hole with acknowledged intent. Disappearing only to come back coated in lube, he encouraged Andrew to part his legs and grant him access. Any doubts about Stephen’s hesitation to have sex earlier in the day being down to complete inexperience vanished. His fingers moved inside him with perfect confidence in what he was doing and complete ability to find his prostate in seconds. Andrew let out a mewing little whimper and pushed back against his fingers. Stephen ignored his prompts to hurry up and he hushed him when he tried to make it clearer verbally. “There’s no rush.” “So speaks the man who came five minutes ago,” Andrew muttered into his pillow. “Are you in a rush, Andrew?” “No.” He sighed and gripped the pillow tighter. “Good, because we’re going to take things nice and slow.” If nothing else, Stephen was true to his word. He went so slowly, Andrew began to wonder if they would still be there at midnight when the bet ran out. He tried to lay still but it was impossible. Whimpering, he began to move, pushing himself firmly back onto Stephen’s fingers. He gasped and whimpered as he gripped the mattress for leverage and began to work himself against Stephen’s hand.

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He knew he was acting like a slut now. He didn’t care. He couldn’t stop himself. Stephen’s fingers stilled but didn’t move away. It wasn’t what Andrew truly wanted. He wanted to feel Stephen’s cock buried inside him. Unable to demand more, he just took whatever he could get right then. Stephen’s fingers filling him as he pushed back and the friction of the sheet against his shaft as he rocked forward weren’t enough. Starved of anything else, Andrew gloried in those permitted sensations anyway. Stephen didn’t allow such independent motion for long. He took his fingers away for the moment it took to turn Andrew on his side so they spooned together on the bed. “Does that feel good, Andrew?” Stephen asked as he replaced his fingers and stroked across his prostate again and again. Andrew didn’t want to lie to his master. “Answer,” Stephen pushed. “No,” Andrew whispered. “I guess I’ll just have to try harder then,” Stephen said, “you know, I do want you to feel good, love.” Andrew had no idea what that would involve. From recent experience it would only mean something even more frustrating would take place. Then Stephen shifted behind him. Out of his line of sight, he heard a wrapper tear. A moment later, lube coated latex pressed against Andrew and he realised that trying harder would actually involve real sex. He was all in favour of that. “Pick a colour, Andrew.” “What?” “Pick a colour.” Andrew had enough of playing games. He was about to tell Stephen so in no uncertain terms. Just in time, just as his lips were framing the first curse word, he realised Stephen was checking in with him. Colour. Red. Safe word. Saying ‘Red’ would mean he was saying no for real. Stephen was letting him know it was okay to use his safe word if he really didn’t want this. Andrew closed his eyes against the sheer mastery evident in the question.

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“Green,” Andrew whispered. If Stephen understood red meant stop, he must know green was for go, mustn’t he? Apparently, the other man understood what he was trying to say, and he obviously didn’t need him to say it twice. Stephen slid into him in one perfect motion, stretching him and filling him, making him groan with pleasure. Stephen finally found a use for his oh-so annoying control which Andrew could approve of. The younger man stilled for several long moments, allowing Andrew to adjust to the penetration. It was a nice gesture. In Andrew’s experience most guys didn’t bother to give him that time if they knew he’d screwed around a lot. Stephen held him close and gave him the time to relax around his shaft, making sure he could enjoy everything that little bit more once he started moving. Andrew leaned into the embrace savouring it no matter how hard he tried not to. Stephen held him like that until he rocked back against the other man, letting him know he was ready. “Do you want to come, Andrew?” Stephen teased, kissing his neck. For a few seconds Andrew didn’t answer. He wanted to say yes so badly, but not yet. After midnight he would be able to say it as often as he wanted. Right then… “No.” He would wait until midnight if he had to. If that was the only way he could please his master he’d find some way to do it. “Good, that means we can take our time,” Stephen said against his neck and began thrusting lazily inside him. Andrew rocked his hips back encouraging him to go faster and provide the rough friction he loved, but Stephen didn’t seem to be prepared to be rushed on some silent whim. “Do you want me to go faster, darling?” “Stephen,” Andrew began. He shook his head and sighed. He would come when his master wanted, not before. “No.” It was all he could do to stop himself tacking the word sir onto his answer right then. “Do you have any idea how good you feel like this, Andrew, all hot and tight around me? You’re so amazing. I can’t believe I have you here in my bed. God, you’re perfect. If I had my way I’d keep you here just like this, forever. I’ve thought about this so many times. And you’re so much better than anything I imagined.” Stephen whispered the words as

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broken sentences as he teased Andrew’s earlobe with his lips. “I could stay inside you all night, just like this.” Andrew made a disapproving sound in the back of his throat. There was no way he could keep saying no if Stephen did that, but he already knew it wasn’t true. From the instinctive way he settled into that slow, easy rhythm, Andrew could tell it was one of Stephen’s personal favourites. The younger man would eventually be able to get off from this slow gentle love making, but Andrew knew he couldn’t do the same, not when he was bottoming, not without something stroking his shaft at the same time. As easily as the idea of friction against his cock appeared inside his head, Andrew reached down to take himself in hand. For just a couple of glorious seconds he matched the slow stokes inside him movement for movement. Then Stephen caught his wrist and pulled his hand up above his head. Catching the other one with it en route, he pinned them both to the pillow. “No!” Andrew protested. There hadn’t been a question. His master hadn’t told him not to touch himself that way. At least, not since they were down stairs, and it was unrealistic for any dominant to expect that sort of memory span when he was so desperate to come. “Do you want to move your hands?” Stephen asked. Andrew cursed. “No.” Stephen let go of his wrists, obviously confident that Andrew would keep his hands where they were. He was right. Andrew looked at his hands, but he made no attempt to move them. His own stillness left his master’s hand free to play. Stephen reached over and stroked his palm down the front of Andrew’s body. That part of him had been rather neglected during the face down massage. Stephen seemed determined to make up for that omission. He traced the muscles on Andrew’s chest and abs. Up and down, back and forth, and all in time with the infuriatingly slow thrusts. He paused to tease his nipples until Andrew was rocking back against him as hard as he could—though in his current position and without any leverage to work with, that was incredibly little. Stephen stilled the movement of his hips completely and shifted his legs, preventing Andrew getting any kind of speed or depth to his movements. From then on, Andrew could do little more than wriggle against him.

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The younger man stroked down Andrew’s stomach, bypassing his cock to palm his tightly drawn up sacs and roll them between his fingers. Andrew gasped. Sensing a possibility of relief, he tried to push himself forward into a hand that could so easily choose to wrap itself around his shaft. Stephen immediately backed the pressure off, keeping it all light and teasing. His master hushed him, soothing him to settle, as if he didn’t know Andrew wasn’t in control of the way his body writhed any more. If he could just get a little bit more. If he could just get his master to cooperate just a little bit. A few quick strokes, was all it would take. Andrew would have come within an inch of selling his soul for the freedom to jack himself off right then, but his hands stayed idle where his master placed them on the pillow. Some part of him already accepted that he no long had the right to sell something that already belonged to his master. “S—“ No. Not sir. He hadn’t been invited to call his master that. “Stephen…” “Do you want me to stroke your cock, Andrew?” Stephen whispered in his ear. His hand moved to stroke Andrew’s stomach instead. Every so often, he let the back of his knuckles brush against his cock for a fraction of a second. It was just enough to make Andrew even more acutely aware of how sensitive his swollen shaft was, as if he needed to be reminded how easy it would be for his master to make him come right then. “Just three little letters, Andrew,” Stephen coaxed, “Y… E… S…” he rocked his hips slightly as he said each letter, allowing just a fraction of stimulation against his prostate. Andrew shook his head, almost passed the point where he could form words even if he wanted to. His lips open and closed, he sucked in air, but nothing like a coherent thought transferred itself to his voice box. Stephen slid the hand that had been caressing Andrew’s stomach down along his hip and further down to trail against the inside of his leg. “Stephen, please.” It was more a whimper than a whisper. “Can you come without someone touching your cock?” Stephen asked. “No.” That wasn’t part of the game. That was the honest truth. Andrew knew men who could climax from nothing but anal, he’d wasn’t one of them, damn it. “Sure?” Stephen asked. Andrew didn’t bother to lie an answer.

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Regardless of his stated habit of self-denial, Andrew could sense Stephen was getting close to his second orgasm of the night. He wanted to screw properly. Safe in the knowledge a real movement wouldn’t alleviate Andrew’s building frustration, he began to thrust into him in earnest. Altering his rhythm, going faster, harder, he gasped against Andrew’s neck. As he moved inside him, he pushed Andrew closer and closer to an edge he knew he couldn’t fall over. Then, as Stephen thrust hard against his prostate and came inside him, the edge vanished. Andrew’s climax raced through his body, spiralling out of control. “Yes!” he gasped. “Yes… God… Yes…” He clutched at the pillow, bucking wildly back against Stephen as his semen landed in long spurts over the sheet. Stephen wrapped his arm around his waist. He held him close through the jerks and groans as he came untouched for the first time in his adult life. Fighting for breath as they both stilled, Andrew saw the room blur in front of him. He closed his eyes and tried to push more air into his lungs. He hadn’t thought there were any sexual firsts left in him, but he’d been so sure he couldn’t come just from anal and… Damn, that rush was worth being proven wrong for. And all the sweeter for the anticipation. Stephen would be unbearably smug if he admitted it, but Andrew had the terrible feeling it actually was true. As his brain came back online, he realised something else. “I don’t suppose the word I screamed at the top of my lung while I came was ‘no’, was it?” Stephen chuckled against his neck. “If we play this game again, remind me to ask you something right before you come. That was a terrible missed opportunity.” Stephen pulled Andrew back into place when he would have moved away. “It still counts,” Andrew said. “I didn’t ask you anything.” “I still said it.” Stephen let him turn around within his embrace when he wriggled and tried to turn to face him again. Andrew looked in his eyes. He didn’t believe in wasting the warmth of afterglow by arguing about anything straight after sex and he could see from the stubborn light in the younger man’s eyes that he wouldn’t get his way without one hell of an argument.

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“Call it a draw then?” he suggested. “So, neither of us gets to call truth or dare?” Stephen asked, suddenly sounding so disappointed. A trace of a teenager’s pout made it into his voice. “Or both of us do?” Andrew suggested, lying on his side, facing Stephen and bunching a pillow up under his head to make himself comfortable. That found more favour. The younger man nodded. “You first. Truth or dare?” Andrew considered his many and varied options. Half way through the day he’d been sure Stephen was going to end up spending a considerable length of time in a chastity belt— one that would allow him absolutely no chance of an orgasm for several weeks—just so Stephen would be able to feel just a fraction of the frustration he’d enjoyed inflicting. Sated now, and having found a whole new way to orgasm as a bonus, Andrew felt somewhat more forgiving. There were plenty of other dares, but as he watched Stephen watch him, Andrew decided that he looked the accommodating type. He would probably be willing to try out whatever kink Andrew suggested without a dare being involved. It would be a waste of an opportunity, and, as much as he hated to admit it, the idea of submitting to Stephen’s dare appealed far more than turning the tables on him and making his master jump through hoops for him. Playing at being dominant over his master wouldn’t be fun for either of them anymore. That left truth, and there was one question Andrew wanted to know the answer to. “Truth,” he said. Stephen looked surprised, but he nodded and waited for Andrew’s question. “What was today really about?” Stephen blinked. A small smile teased his lips. He rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. “Honestly?” “There are absolutely no excuses for lying during truth or dare,” Andrew stated firmly, not letting a single trace of submission seep into his voice. The answer felt far too important to let a sexual preference ruin it. “You’re kind of intimidating,” Stephen told the ceiling. Andrew frowned. “There may be excuses for giving answers that make no sense, but I don’t want to hear them.”

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Stephen didn’t take his eyes off the ceiling. “You have a lot of options and a very short attention span.” Andrew leaned up on his elbow and stared down at Stephen, trying and failing to understand what the other man was telling him. “Is making sense going to happen any time soon?” “I figured if I wanted to stand out from the crowd and get a second date, I should make the first date interesting.” “Interesting?” Stephen shrugged. “Memorable?” he suggested instead. Andrew tried to think of something to say. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before he found any words. “You’ve been winding me up, driving me distracted with frustration and insulting my self-control all day because you seriously want to date me?” Stephen glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “When you put it like that…” “You know that little boy who pulled the girl’s hair in the playground because he had a crush on her? You never grew out of that phase, did you?” Stephen laughed. “But memorable, right?” he pointed out. “I guessed I’d see you again, if only because you wanted revenge. There didn’t seem to be any other way except…” “Except?” Andrew prompted. Stephen shrugged. “The only guys you ever take seriously, the only dominants who you ever submit to, are the ones who have been established masters on the local scene for years. I can be patient when I need to. If that’s the only way I can convince you to submit to me, to belong to me, then I’ll do it.” Belong to him? Andrew swallowed. He stopped trying to wrap his mind around the idea of dating the younger man and turned his attention to imagining something far more serious. It was far easier to imagine belonging to Stephen than it should have been. “I’ll play the clubs until you can see I’m as good as the guys who’ve been doing this for years if that’s what you need,” Stephen said. “But if there was any chance I could have you now. I had to take it.” “What about anticipation and…”

YES!

Kim Dare

167

Stephen gave a chuckle that didn’t sound the least bit funny. “Waiting for sex, I can do. Waiting around and watching the guy I’m in love with screw half the men on the planet isn’t so easy.” Andrew swallowed again. “I… You…” Stephen gave another very forced chuckle. “I’ve known you for ten weeks, Andrew. I’m pretty sure I’ve been in love with you for nine of them.” Andrew cleared his throat, not sure what to say in response. He looked down at the mattress between them. Stalling for time, he sought for something to say which wasn’t an admission that it had apparently taken him less than a day to fall for Stephen in return. “Your turn,” he finally whispered when he couldn’t bear the silence any longer. “Truth or dare.” Stephen looked back to the ceiling as if it held all the answers in the world. “Truth.” Surprised, Andrew just gave one nod to show he understood and waited for the question. With his track record, Stephen might come out with anything. The question was a long time in coming, but in the end Stephen did speak up. “Do I get my second date?” Turning his head on the pillow, he studied Andrew very carefully as he waited for his final verdict. Andrew’s lips twisted into a small smile. The younger man was asking for a hell of a lot more than that, and he bloody well knew it. Agreeing to a second date right then would be tantamount to admitting he felt the same way. Just because Stephen wasn’t demanding he rush into saying the words back to him right then, that didn’t change the fact that they both knew damn well he wouldn’t lead on a man who was in love with him unless he was bloody well sure he felt the same way about him. Even knowing that, there was only one answer he could possibly give. Andrew closed his eyes and savoured the word. Even more than that, he savoured the right to say it to the younger man right then. Andrew opened his eyes and met his new master’s gaze. “Yes!”

About the Author Kim is 25 years old, from a small town in South Wales. After writing for years, Kim is finally editing some of the stories to share with the rest of the world. Kim writes both male/male and male/female stories that range from the dark and paranormal right through to the lighter, funnier side of life. The only thing every story contains is a happy ever after for the two (or more!) characters that deserve it most. Oh, and kinky sex — there’s always plenty of that too — but Kim takes no responsibility for any of that. It’s all the characters’ fault. Honest…

Email: [email protected] Kim loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at http://www.total-e-bound.com

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