Digging Deeper

by Bellora Quinn

Jake swallowed what was in his mouth before saying, “What did you find? Anything? I’m assuming you didn’t or you wouldn’t be this pissed off.”

  Mari looked up at him. “What are you—?”

  “You spent the whole afternoon digging into her business, didn’t you? You were probably on your phone, looking, as soon as you walked out of the door, if I know you. And I do. So? Nothing? No arrests for fraud? Not even a parking ticket you could use to convince Anni she’s bad news?”

  Mari’s chopsticks twitched, then he put them down and dropped his face into both hands, shaking his head. “There’s nothing. She’s got good recommendations from former patients. About five years ago, she was running a drag club in Bristol Temple Meads then—she claims—a head injury caused her Elemental gifts to flourish. She was helping to restrain a man who was hit by a car and she cured his broken leg. Her mother owns a dress agency in Weston-super-Mare. She was baptized Andrew Calvin but changed her name by deed poll about seven years back. She’s thirty-five years old and there is absolutely nothing dodgy whatsoever in her profile.” He sucked in a long breath and let it go, looking up at Jake with dejected eyes. “Why does she make my skin itch?”

  Jake reached over and put his hand over the top of Mari’s, brushing his thumb across the top soothingly. “Because you’re scared she’ll get your mother’s hopes up. Because you’re scared she might get your hopes up. Babe, this changes nothing. If she’s a sham, you’ll know it long before we get close to a year being up. And if she isn’t…” Jake shrugged. “It can’t hurt for Anni to see her.”

  Mari lifted Jake’s knuckles to his lips and kissed them.

  “You always say the right things,” he said, though he sounded less than happy about it.

  Jake offered a fond grin. “Don’t be so disappointed. Pick up your sticks and eat. Don’t make me force-feed you.”

  Mari’s lips quirked and he picked up one chopstick and tapped it against the plate.

  “You want to make me eat, huh? Is that right?” There was a seductive purr to his words that made Jake’s abs clench in anticipation of something more than food.

  He didn’t give away any indication of how that tone sent a surge of heat through him. Instead, he took another bite before answering. “I like to watch you eat. And you need to keep your strength up for later.”

  “Promises, promises,” Mari teased, but he did retrieve his chopsticks and plucked out another piece of chicken, popping it into his mouth and chewing slowly. He swallowed and reached straight away for more. “This is delicious, by the way. Where did you learn to cook?”

  Jake ignored the awkward stab the compliment gave him. Cooking was ‘women’s work’, as far as his father had been concerned, but if Jake hadn’t learned, dinner would have come from a carry-out carton, or the microwave, every night.

  “It’s just something I picked up when I was a kid.”

  Mari gave him a curious look, like something he’d said had touched a chord.

  “You’ve had plenty of practice then,” he said, licking his lips and taking his time about it. He put another sliver of chicken in his mouth, chewing slowly, swallowing it with a low, throaty murmur of approval. “No wonder it’s good. Are you going to make me eat my greens, Chivis?”

  Jake’s lips twitched and he suppressed a grin. “Every bit. I want to see a clean plate, mister.”

  Mari pouted and pretended to think about this while stirring the food with his chopsticks. He nibbled on a bean sprout but put it down again with a manipulative twinkle in his eye. “Do I get a reward?”

  Jake lifted his eyes, letting his gaze roam down Mari’s body purposefully. “I think Solana is right. You do look tense. I’ve got something much better than a massage to help with that, if you eat your dinner.”

  The twinkle became a gleam and Mari tucked away another mouthful. He didn’t take his eyes off Jake as he chewed and swallowed with more purpose. After a couple of minutes, though, he put down his chopsticks.

  “I’m all full up.”

  Jake looked at Mari’s still not quite empty plate and back at his face. He knew for a fact that Mari was still hungry because he usually hoovered up every last beansprout, but tonight he was likely either distracted or just wanted to see what would happen if he pushed his luck. Jake kind of wanted to see what would happen, too, but he carried on eating his own meal. When Mari just stared at him like a puppy begging for scraps, he said, “Pick your sticks up and eat the rest of your dinner.”

  Mari whined in sheer desperation. “Jake…damn it! Don’t torment me like this.”

  “Eat!” Jake told him, pushing himself to his feet and pointing to the chopsticks he had just put down. “Did I slave over a hot stove for nothing? Eat your dinner.”

  Mari’s eyes widened but, when Jake just stared him down, he did as he was told, reaching for his discarded chopsticks. There was still a tiny flare of heat in his eyes as he pulled the plate toward him.

  Jake stepped behind him and smoothed his fingers through Mari’s silky hair. Mostly he moved there so Mari couldn’t see how hard he was fighting not to laugh. Mari got off on this stuff, and that—more than anything—was what got Jake hot. Sometimes, though, he was surprised by how it turned Mari on when Jake got bossy or manhandled him. He’d experimented with the whole BDSM thing with a couple of other lovers, but more often than not it had just been playing around. Mari was into it more seriously. Jake couldn’t help thinking that, if the shoe were on the other foot tonight, he would have told Mari to fuck right off.

  Mari diligently chewed and swallowed until his plate was clean. Jake rested his hands on Mari’s shoulders, kneading lightly and bending to kiss the top of his head. Tilting in his seat to look up at him, Mari put the utensils down so he could reach above his head to run his fingers through Jake’s hair in response.

  “This is really doing it for me. I want you so much it hurts,” he breathed.

  Jake paused for a second, considering his next move. In all honesty, he could have thrown Mari across the table and taken him at that very moment, but this was part of the game, he knew. Escalation, Jake’s research had called it. Of course, he wasn’t going to let Mari realize he was onto him.

  “All right, sweetheart. Strip.”

  Those vivid blue eyes went huge and Mari quivered as his fingers worked on the buttons of his shirt and he shrugged it off his shoulders. His skin dimpled with the chill and the rush of excitement that was mirrored in his gaze. He ran his hands down his stomach to his waistband and popped the button of his fly.

  “Can I stand up?” he asked huskily.

  “Did I say you could?” Jake tried to keep his expression serious.

  Mari pouted at him and somehow managed to wriggle his way out of his jeans without actually leaving his seat. He pushed them to his ankles and kicked his feet free of them, looking up at Jake again, reduced to his skimpy blue briefs and the twinkle in his summer-sky eyes.

  “You are angling for that whipping, aren’t you? I said, strip. All the way, then sit tight and put your hands on the table where I can see them.”

  Mari licked his lips and Jake knew he hadn’t just been imagining it. His pretty mate had a passion for punishment. Their games in the bedroom were not always rough, but when they got that way, Mari was practically insatiable until he’d been spanked good and hard.

  “We haven’t played a scene in a long time,” Mari chided him, letting him know that his thoughts were running on the same lines.

  Jake pushed his fingers into Mari’s hair and pulled his head back, bending to kiss him, short and hard. “Are you feeling neglected, baby?”

  Mari nodded and looked up at him with a soulful stare. “I love how you take care of me. But I love how you keep me in line as well. It really turns me on, Chivis.”

  “I know it does, babe,” Jake murmured against his lips. “And I understand. I’m gonna give you what you need.”

  Mari shivered again. He was gloriously hard, practically straining right out of those tin
y mesh briefs that Jake loved to see him in. He wriggled the skimpy garment off under the table then slapped his hands down on the top, obedient to the last, but a little bit defiant, too.

  “Good boy. I think you earned your reward.”

  Jake picked him up and Mari wrapped his arms around his neck. He carried him into the bedroom and set him down on the bed, kneeling down on the floor between Mari’s thighs and kissing him. “I love you. You’ll use your word if you need to tonight?”

  It wasn’t exactly a question but Jake expected an answer. The blue of Mari’s eyes darkened at the mention of their safeword and his pupils grew larger, making his gaze seem more intense than ever. Jake had instigated its use once he knew that their initial forays into light bondage and playful hand spankings were never going to be quite enough to satisfy Mari’s needs. They hadn’t ever discussed how these needs had arisen in the first place. Mari tended to become reticent when Jake steered the conversation in that direction. But he had been persuaded, after much arguing, to accept a means of bringing his punishment to a halt if things grew too unbearable.

  That thought, in turn, made Jake angry—the idea of Mari playing these games with a mate who didn’t care if he hurt him. Someone had taught Mari to accept that the passive acceptance of pain was his due, something he had no control over. Jake kept the anger under wraps when he had a paddle or a belt in his hand, though.

  “I promise,” Mari said with a curt nod.

  “Say it for me.” Jake rested his hands on Mari’s knees, looking up at him seriously.

  “Kotka,” Mari said. It was his happy place, the holiday home of his childhood. When he spoke its name, Jake saw the light that shone for a moment in his summer-blue eyes.

  Jake ran gentle fingers down his long legs then reached under the bed frame and pulled out the footlocker where they kept their growing collection of bondage gear and toys. He opened the box and selected a pair of leather cuffs and some thick, leather straps.

  “Lie down and bend your knees up. Put your wrists down by your ankles.”

  Mari made a purring noise and wriggled into the required position at once, with a naughty curl of his lips. He loved to be cuffed or tied up, and his excitement was all too clear.

  Jake put the cuffs around his wrists and buckled them, using the trailing straps to fasten his ankles to each wrist so he couldn’t unbend his knees or raise his arms. Once he had him strapped down, he spent a moment or two stroking him all over, up his legs and arms and down his chest, everywhere but his straining cock. Mari was already getting that faraway look in his eyes that he got whenever they played like this.

  Jake reached down into the toy box and pulled out a slim length of rough rope. This was something that Mari had already hinted he was interested in, but Jake had wanted to be sure he knew what he was doing before he tied up his balls. The last thing he wanted was to do permanent damage to such sensitive parts of his lover and best friend.

  He used the end of the rope to tickle just below Mari’s balls and fondled them briefly, pulling them down between his thighs before he started to wind the rope around the stretched skin of his sac in a figure of eight.

  “Mmmhhh… Fuck!” Mari exhaled, his body curling up off the bed in response to the friction of the cord against the sensitive skin of his scrotum. He kept his squirming minimal, though, until Jake was done binding him.

  “Not too tight?” Jake asked.

  “No. It’s…okay.” Mari swallowed, his voice thickening.

  “Good.” Jake circled his thumb and forefinger over where the rope was wound and lifted Mari’s balls. The skin of his sac was stretched tight around them. Jake summoned his courage. What he was about to do went counter to his every masculine instinct. Swallowing his doubts, he flicked a light finger against one of Mari’s bound testes.

  Jake felt him flinch but the reaction was not as extreme as he had feared. Mari was biting down on his lips but, beyond sucking in a hard breath through his nostrils, he did not make a single sound. He was still fully erect, his cock arching over his sleek belly toward his navel as he squirmed in the cuffs. The leather creaked a soft complaint but held him fast.

  Jake stroked a hand up and down one of his lean, hard-muscled thighs. The soft whorls of fine, light-golden hair on Mari’s upper leg tickled against his palm and he whispered, “Good boy. You’re so beautiful.”

  Mari’s teeth released his lips at last and he gulped in another breath, exhaling, “I love you more than you could ever know, Chivis.”

  Jake bent his head to lick the spot he’d just flicked, drawing his tongue up the length of Mari’s cock and lapping around the glans before closing his mouth around the crown. Mari lurched almost as much as he had when Jake had flicked him. He lifted his hips to get deeper but Jake didn’t let him. He swirled his tongue around one more time then knelt up, letting Mari slip free. Jake pushed on Mari’s shins until his knees almost touched his shoulders and ran his tongue over the smooth stretch of skin beneath his balls and between his cheeks, swiping the tip over his flexing hole.

  “Uhhhhh…oh fuck! Fuck!” Mari yelped and tugged on the cuffs around his wrists. His body jumped and jolted violently at every touch but he didn’t ask Jake to stop.

  Jake did stop, though, after a few moments of tonguing him. He held him in position, knees up and ass exposed, the wetness of saliva glistening around his hole. Reaching down into the box again, he chose a short-handled flogger with small, hard knots tied in the tails. It took more precision to whip Mari this way, but that was why he picked the shorter instrument. He used it to strike Mari across one buttock, without any warning.

  “Mmmmuuuhhhh!” Mari whined, gnawing harder on his lips as his body vibrated from the impact. He twisted and bucked but didn’t protest or ask for release. When his eyes met Jake’s, they were almost midnight blue, dark with longing.

  Jake trailed the tails across Mari’s skin then lifted the flail and struck him again. Mari sucked in a sharp breath and Jake smacked his other cheek with the flogger before returning to the first, back and forth. He didn’t swing as hard as he could but they weren’t light swats, either. Jake started out slow but built up a steady rhythm, gradually increasing both the pace and the force behind the swing.

  He’d never thought this would be something he’d get off on, and he certainly wouldn’t have if Mari weren’t into it. But he was—very, very much. The way he gasped and moaned and whimpered and the way his cock flushed a darker color with the rush of his arousal were all Jake needed to get into the scene himself.

  When Mari’s ass was well and truly striped, Jake stopped and ran a hand over the red marks. The skin was hot to the touch but Mari didn’t flinch away. He pulled on the cuffs, keeping his legs and backside raised and on offer.

  “Mari…” His own voice almost startled him, it sounded so deep and husky. “Say something, baby. Show me you’re still with me.”

  “Mmmhhhh, Chivis,” his beloved crooned, wriggling under his touch. His normally light tone was also deeper and much gruffer than usual. “I love being your bad boy. You make me feel like I’m flying.” Jake eased Mari’s legs down until his heels were touching his ass again and, parting his knees, bent over to kiss him. He combed his fingers through Mari’s hair until he broke off the kiss. That was the only tenderness he got before Jake snared the lube. Mari was so keyed up from the beating that, when Jake oiled him and eased two fingers into him, he lurched and tossed his head. Jake pulled them out and slicked lube over his cock, nudging it between Mari’s glowing cheeks.

  “Ahhh…ohhhh…mhhhh…” Mari murmured something in Suomi which, as far as Jake had been able to establish from asking him in the past, translated as something like ‘your father was a devil with a dick like a reindeer’. It sounded much more impressive in the Finnish national tongue—and fifty times hotter, the way Mari growled it as he was riding Jake’s fingers or his dick.

  Jake pressed into him, pushing Mari’s thighs apart and settling between with an ease that had not been
possible when they’d first started seeing each other. Sometimes he still needed to coax Mari into a more relaxed frame of mind and body before he could attempt to get inside him, but it was never an issue when the bondage gear and whips came out. The way Mari handed over the reins, completely trusting, scared Jake sometimes. But at least Mari was with him and not someone who would hurt him without mercy. Curling over him, he kissed Mari hard as he picked up almost the same pounding rhythm he’d flogged him with. As his hands slid under Mari’s sweat-slick back, he crushed him to his chest, fucking him hard and kissing him with fierce heat.

  Mari arched his torso as Jake thrust into him, heels on Jake’s shoulders, pushing his hips down to meet each stroke and using the cuffs that locked his wrists against his ankles for added leverage. Though he was naturally lean and almost fey-looking, his physique was deceptive. Jake knew from experience that Mari was physically stronger than many people gave him credit for.

  He certainly had stamina and tolerance for pain, in abundance.

  “Oh my stars… Jake… That feels good!” he groaned, twisting and thrashing urgently under him. “So big! I love you, Jake!”

  “I love you, too.” Jake panted, sucking and nipping at Mari’s neck. When the moment came, he didn’t hold anything in reserve. He pushed deep and held there until the shudders started to taper off, before rocking into him more slowly.

  Mari was still hard, purring at the gentler surging between his long legs and the brush of Jake’s warm mouth over his throat.

  “Mmhm… I am such a lucky boy,” he sighed almost drowsily. “I love the way that feels. Love making you come like this.”

  “Mm,” Jake agreed. He pulled out very slowly and came up on hands and knees, looking down at him with a tender smile. “Time to turn over, babe.”

  He knelt up and helped Mari roll over. With his wrists still bound to his ankles, he was on his knees and shoulders, his ass in the air. Jake leaned over the edge of the bed and grabbed his jeans to pull his belt out of the loops. “Spread your legs wider.”

  Mari obliged him instantly, wriggling until Jake had space to kneel between his thighs if he wanted to. Mari turned his head and watched Jake retrieving his belt with a yearning sigh.