Counterpoint

by Anna Zabo

  The look Adrian gave Dom was worth everything. A cross between shock and lust, until intense control took over. He nodded once, then headed down the hall to the stairs.

  Dom sank down on the couch. The vestiges of his panic attack lingered, as did the anxiety that brought it on. Showing both sides of his life to someone who wasn’t in the band was hard. He’d kinda had to do it with Zavier when he joined them on tour—but Zavier had known the old Dom in high school, at least in passing.

  Adrian only had ever known Dominic. Showing him Domino was gonna be interesting. Sure, there were the songs and the videos, but existing in the same space as Adrian—that would be different.

  He expected a jolt of worry, but none came. Excitement did, though—same as he’d felt when he’d dragged Adrian to the Met. He was something he could share. Give over. And those aspects of himself? Adrian fucking cherished them. Worshiped them.

  Kind of like how Adrian worshiped Dom in his own way. Yeah, Dom might be the one on his knees, but Adrian took care of him, and that took Dom’s breath away. He turned the thought over and over in his head. Let it heat his blood and melt away the lingering stress and worry.

  When he heard the creak of the steps, he turned toward the hall to see Adrian return. He still wore his dress slacks and belt. Socks and shoes. The jacket and tie were gone, but the white shirt remained. The top two buttons had been undone to expose his throat and his pale freckled skin. Dom focused on that spot before raising his gaze to those lips. He slid off the couch and onto his knees.

  Adrian’s stare burned through him. “You really do know what you want.”

  Those words alone made Dom’s mouth water. But what Adrian carried in his hands made his bones melt and dick harden. Several bundles of rope in one hand and a leather collar in the other. With rings attached.

  “Yeah, I do.” Dom met Adrian’s hot stare. “And I love you, too. Trust you. Want to share myself with you.”

  Those eyes flickered like a fire, and Adrian nodded. He strode to Dom and placed the items in his hands on the couch before stroking the side of Dom’s jaw with his fingers. “Are you fine with wearing a collar for me?”

  “Yeah. I like ’em. I mean, when I wear them onstage.”

  “So I saw in this photos. But this one’s mine, and will serve a different purpose.”

  Dom’s cock pressed against the zipper of his pants. “Figured, given the loops.” He licked his lips. “I want to be yours tonight.”

  Adrian stepped closer and tipped Dom’s chin up. “Good. Because every inch of you is going to be.”

  Dom shivered. Couldn’t help it.

  Adrian stepped back. “Up to your feet, please. Take those pretty shoes and your socks off.”

  Somehow, Dom managed to rise without falling. He toed off the shoes and removed the socks, then waited, heart in his throat.

  “You’re so very good at this.” Adrian cupped his face. “Giving yourself to me.” His lips brushed Dom’s in the barest of kisses.

  Dom couldn’t help the moan the came from his soul. “I fucking love you,” he whispered.

  Adrian bushed his thumb over Dom’s lips. “Shhh. Feel.”

  Oh god, he felt. Every touch, every move of Adrian’s hands on his. All his nerves firing when that gold-flecked gaze slid down to Dom’s bowtie and nimble fingers pulled at the ends and untied the knot.

  The tie landed on the couch next to the rope.

  Fingers worked at the top button on Adrian’s shirt. “Everything about you is—” Breath skimmed over his neck before Adrian’s lips and tongue branded him there, kissing and sucking below his ear. “Delectable.”

  He would have fallen over, if it hadn’t been for Adrian’s grip on his shirt.

  Adrian worked buttons over and kissed his way down Dom’s neck until the shirt was open. Then it was sliding off his shoulders, and Adrian’s teeth nipped at Dom’s collarbone.

  “I could spend years kissing every inch of you.”

  “Please.” Dom groaned the word out.

  A huff of amusement, and with a tug and yank, Adrian freed Dom’s hands from his shirt. That landed on top of the bowtie. He caressed his hands over Dom’s arms and pecs, skimming against nipples. “I love all this ink.” He gripped the knot-work on Dom’s shoulder. “This one most of all. Strong, like you.”

  Dom lolled his head back when Adrian’s hands dipped lower to pull at his belt. Lost in the sensations of lips and breath. The sound of Adrian’s voice. The firm way he undid Dom’s belt and pants.

  Adrian slid his hand down into Dom’s boxers and wrapped his warmth around Dom’s cock. “You’re always so fucking hard for me.” A few strokes stole Dom’s breath and threatened to take his legs out from under him until Adrian pulled their bodies together.

  Adrian didn’t stop working Dom’s cock. “Never takes much to make you come for me, does it, Dominic?”

  “No.” He breathed out the word. “You always make me hard. Make me wanna come so fast. But I’d rather wait.” He gripped Adrian’s shirt. “But only if that’s what you want.”

  “You’re so very good,” Adrian said again. “I adore making you wait. Stringing you out. Watching you squirm and pant and buck for me.”

  Finally, Adrian relented, which was for the best because Dom was so close to release, he didn’t know if he could have staved it off much longer. He was humming like a struck chord that went on forever and ever.

  Adrian pushed Dom’s pants and underwear off, then opened space between them. “Step out of those.” He beckoned Dom forward.

  Moving was like walking in a dream, all floating and light. “You make my head spin.”

  A raised eyebrow. “Good spin or bad spin?”

  “Good. Always so good.” Dom really wanted to kneel again, but that wasn’t what Adrian had asked for.

  From the couch, Adrian claimed the collar and held it up. “May I?”

  Of course Adrian would ask. Dom’s heart melted even more, even as his whole body lit. “Yes. Please.”

  A smile, then there was leather around Dom’s neck, being tightened until it was snug. “There.”

  So fucking good. The only thing on his body—Adrian’s collar. Fuck, he wanted more. Hands, tongue, body. He moaned.

  “Babe.” Adrian’s lips brushed his again, then picked the rope up from the couch. “Kitchen, please.”

  Not quite sure how he managed to cross the distance, but he did. Adrian nodded to the chairs at the breakfast bar—metallic, tall, and with reasonably high backs. “Sit, please. Hands on your thighs.”

  Dom did as told, the chair cool against his flesh. He couldn’t help wondering if Adrian had picked these chairs for this reason—slick and hard against naked skin and with enough places to hook rope around.

  This time, Adrian slid his hands over Dom’s shoulder, drifting fingertips down biceps. “So open and so hidden,” he murmured before meeting Dom’s gaze. “Would you mind if I listened to your songs? Watched your videos?”

  A shock of heat ran through Dom. The thought of Adrian seeing and hearing the other part of his life beyond the magazine was like slowly ripping off a Band-Aid. It itched and burned, though he knew it had to be done. “I—Yeah. I mean, you should. Watch them. Listen to the albums.”

  That earned him a kiss to his forehead. “I won’t when you’re here, I promise.”

  Which meant, at some point, Dom would need to leave. Probably before the weekend was over. “I love you,” he whispered, because he hadn’t said it enough.

  “Sweet, sweet Dominic.” Adrian planted another kiss on his forehead, then took a long sip from his mouth, one that left Dom breathless. “You are my heart.” He stepped back and pulled at one of the bundles of rope, unfurling it.

  Dom’s whimper was swallowed up by Adrian’s chuckle. “Shall I take that as consent to tie you up, Dominic?”

  �
�Fuck. Please, please, please tie me up already, Adrian.”

  He did, crossing rope over limbs and torso and around the metal of the chair. Through the loops on the collar around Dom’s neck, adding to the wonderful sensation of being caught, being bound and held and helpless.

  Kind of amazing how just a little pressure around his neck could send him skyward. Make him so hard he wanted to rock and buck and beg Adrian to get him off. In short order, he couldn’t have moved if he wanted to—and he didn’t want to. Not with Adrian so close, so flushed, and his pants tented like that. The way Adrian drank the sight of him made Dom dizzy.

  Adrian fingered Dom’s nipple. Not hard, but playfully. The gentle tugging went straight to his balls, though, and he tried to rock his hips. Failed, then moaned at the conflict between pleasure and need and—wherever the hell he went whenever Adrian tied him up.

  “In the clouds, aren’t you?” Adrian tipped his chin up. Looked down at him with those beautiful eyes.

  “You make me fly.” The words were out before Dom even registered them. But that was true. He flew and soared. Different from a concert. So safe, too.

  A smile, then Adrian stepped away. “I have a treat for you.” Then he vanished from view—heading for the fridge, from the direction. Dom couldn’t crane his body, nor turn his head enough to watch. But the sounds were of the fridge opening and closing. A knife cutting something. A dish. The clink of metal on ceramic.

  Dessert. Adrian had said he had dessert. Dom hoped it was pie.

  And yes, when Adrian returned, he held a plate with one of the most amazing slices of lemon meringue Dom had ever seen. “Oh fuck, Adrian.” He didn’t think he could want this man more. Now. Forever.

  “Sunlight in your eyes and on your tongue.” Adrian set the pie down on the breakfast bar, pulled over the other chair, and perched on it.

  “And you say you’re not a poet.” Dom swallowed. His skin was alive with sensations. The hard unyielding chair against his back, ass, and thighs. The soft, powerful rope pressing across his skin from his shoulders to his ankles. The strip of warm leather at his neck that he could feel with every breath and syllable and swallow.

  Adrian didn’t reply. He just cut a piece of pie off with his fork and held it out to Dom.

  He couldn’t do more than open his mouth—the way his collar was tied down didn’t permit him to move his head forward. Adrian slipped the piece of pie into his mouth, sending tingles down Dom’s spine, even before he closed his lips over the tines of the fork.

  Tart and sweet exploded onto his tongue. Flakey crust. Perfect cloud-like meringue. Liquid lemon. The hard tines slid out over his lips and he moaned in ecstasy, every bit of his being overwhelmed by touch and taste. The citrus smell of the pie, the woodsy scent of Adrian. He closed his eyes because sight was too much to handle.

  After he swallowed, Adrian’s mouth claimed his, tongue forcing past his lips. He moaned and squirmed and fought against the ropes, but couldn’t move.

  Adrian could, though. Hands caressed thighs before one wrapped around Dom’s cock and stroked slowly.

  Dom whimpered into Adrian’s mouth. This would do him in. There’d be a headline on some gossip site: DOMINO GRINDER SUCCUMBS TO ROPE BONDAGE, PIE, AND A KISS.

  Adrian relented with a chuckle. “You taste so good.”

  “You’re gonna kill me.”

  “Oh no.” Adrian sat back and took his own bite of pie. “Not kill. Tease. Fuck. Make you cry out so loud the neighbors hear you again.”

  Too much. Dom’s whole being was on fire. Body, mind, soul.

  “Adrian.” There was an edge to his voice.

  Adrian heard it. “Too much?”

  “No.” Dom was swirling in pleasure, head so high, cock so hard. He didn’t know he could even exist in this state for this long. “Might come without you touching me.”

  “Now wouldn’t that be a treat?” That fucking smile was light and heat, and Dom shivered in his ropes, the tugs and pulls cascading waves of pleasure over his heightened senses. “More pie?”

  Dom opened his mouth. Each astounding bite was followed by more kisses and touches, until the pie was gone and Dom was a mess of moans and pleading. For freedom, for captivity. To be fucked so hard.

  Adrian untied him from the chair and Dom nearly fell out of it. It wasn’t that his limbs were numb—his entire body was so turned on he couldn’t think straight. Like too many glasses of gin, but so much better than that. There was citrus in his mouth and he was in Adrian’s arms, with Adrian’s collar around his neck. “Upstairs?”

  A huff of laughter. “Yes, babe.”

  Adrian helped him up the stairs, as if he was in a drunken stupor, and Dom groaned in frustration, even as he got his legs back under him and he slid down from that perfect high.

  “Dominic?” Adrian’s voice sounded strained. They’d made it to the second floor and into Adrian’s bedroom.

  “You’re not gonna fuck me, are you? ’Cause you think I’m too far gone to consent?” Tears pricked his eyes. “You’re gonna pour me into bed, tell me you love me, and kiss my cheek, and—”

  Adrian whirled him around until they were face-to-face, chests touching. Dom grappled at Adrian’s shirt and met his heated gaze.

  “You want me to fuck you?” Adrian growled the words.

  “Yeah. Hard. Until I’m screaming.”

  Adrian pushed him back until he hit the side of the bed. “You sure?”

  “Want all of you. Like you want all of me.”

  Something shifted in Adrian’s expression, and he nodded. “Then I need more rope. And the cuffs.”

  Dom’s legs gave out and he crumpled to the bed, both stunned and entirely turned on. “Yeah. Good. Get them.”

  A raised eyebrow. “Topping from the bottom, are you?”

  Dom gave a shrug. “All those books say the submissive’s the one with the true power.”

  Adrian laughed, and it was a pure sound. “Oh, babe. You’re completely there, all right. Quite capable of consent.” He went to his dresser drawer, the one with all his toys, and pulled out the cuffs Dom had worn before. And rope. Several more bundles.

  “How many of those do you have?”

  “Enough,” Adrian said, his teeth flashing as he grinned. He slid Dom’s glasses off.

  Enough, indeed. By the time Adrian was done, Dom was bound in rope, ass in the air, hands cuffed to his ankles. It was heaven. He’d moaned and rocked and squirmed while Adrian pulled and tied and ordered him still. The end was pure bliss. Open, exposed, yet covered everywhere and secure. “Oh fuck. Fuck me.”

  “That,” Adrian said as he ran a warm hand over one of Dom’s ass cheeks, “is the idea.”

  The lube was cool and slick against Dom’s overheated skin as Adrian spread it up and down his crack, and he nearly lost it when Adrian pressed a finger inside him. The stretching and the pleasure of it all, on top of his senses being on fire all night long.

  Adrian finger-fucked him slowly, and Dom groaned in frustration. He’d been riding the edge of pleasure for what felt like hours. “Fuck me. Please, please, please fuck me.” He tried to push back on Adrian’s hand, but he was too tightly bound—and that only spiked his pleasure higher.

  “I am fucking you,” Adrian said, too much amusement in his voice.

  “I want it hard. This is—” Dom lost his breath when Adrian rammed several fingers in and slid over his prostate.

  “You were saying?”

  Dom pressed his forehead against the mattress and moaned. Another hard thrust. Same fireworks in Dom’s brain and body. “Oh god.”

  “That’s what I thought.” Adrian withdrew his fingers, and there was the telltale sound of a condom wrapper.

  Dom needed him. All of him. Every ounce of his focus. His hands and mouth and cock.

  “You’re so splendid like this, babe. Out of your
mind for me.” Adrian pressed against Dom’s hole.

  That edge of pleasure vanished, along with Dom’s mind when Adrian gripped the ropes at his waist, and thrust in. All that remained was ecstasy and security and the hard, fast rhythm of being fucked into oblivion.

  The room smelled of sex and rope and leather. Of Adrian. Salt and sweet clung to Dom’s mouth as he moaned and shouted and begged for Adrian to never stop. Never. Never. He wanted to stretch the moment, live in the heat and safety and joy of their union.

  But when Adrian slid those hands up to Dom’s shoulders and kissed his spine while plowing into him, there wasn’t anything left to hold on to, and he fell over that edge, screaming into bliss and fire and light.

  Adrian’s teeth scraped across Dom’s back. “Oh fuck, baby, yeah. Come for me.”

  Dom could barely breathe through the intensity of it all, the way Adrian rammed in harder, the stretch of the ropes against his flesh as he shook. He’d never come without a stroke or some friction on his cock before, but he shot hard and long until tears were in his eyes and Adrian’s own shout was in his ear.

  Didn’t really register that it was over until Adrian had him half unbound, ’cause his body sang and sang and sang like one giant guitar string that had been plucked. He was vibrating with love and life and delight and couldn’t stop.

  “Adrian.” His voice was a scrape across broken glass.

  “I’m here.” Fingers on his cheeks, and Adrian’s lovely eyes peering into his. “Talk to me, babe.”

  Worry threaded through every word. So much concern. So much love. “Can pour me into bed now.”

  A smile, like sunshine, like lemon. His Adrian. “Let me finish. Get you cleaned up.” He kissed Dom so softly. “I love you, Dominic.”

  Yeah. And Dom loved him, too. “Please stay with me.” He didn’t mean now. He meant longer. Didn’t know how to ask for that.

  A flicker in those eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Good. ’Cause I love you, too.” Dom closed his eyes. “Never loved anyone before you.”

  Lips against his forehead, then Adrian made good on his promise. The rest of the ropes were undone. The cuffs and the collar removed, and the last thing Dom was aware of was being tucked under those cool sheets he felt so safe in.