by M. A. Innes
“I missed your question. Sorry.”
The sigh coming from the darkness told Mason that he’d probably missed more than one question. Hell, there probably hadn’t been a question at all. Oh, well. It’s not as if Mason was going to see him again anyway. And even if he did, the guy wasn’t going to recognize him. Maybe there was something to this dating-in-the-dark thing after all.
Mason held back a sigh of relief when Richard called the waiter over to ask about the restroom just as dessert was about to be served. From his sexy neighbor’s laugh, he might not have been as discreet as he’d hoped. The lack of light seemed to magnify the sounds, but that was probably just his imagination. If the darkness magnified anything, it was his imagination.
“He’s not that bad,” the sexy voice said from his right.
“I didn’t say he was. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Maddie was going to kill him. Not only was the date boring, his neighbor knew how frustrated he was. Fingers crossed, his neighbor didn’t know how sexy Mason found him. No matter what Mason’s fantasies were, there was no way Sexy-Voice-Man could live up to his imagination. He’d been down that road before.
“Oh, don’t lie and compound your sins.” The sexy voice laughed in a husky tone. God, that sound would melt butter.
“Sins?” Mason couldn’t help but ask. If just to have the voice keep talking as he fiddled with his silverware waiting for Richard to get back so he could eat his dessert. Dinner had not been enough to fill him up and the dessert in front of him was supposed to be some kind of chocolate torte thing.
“He spent the last ten minutes talking about his work and family. Then you pipe up, completely distracted, and apologize for missing his question.” The low laugh in Sexy-Voice-Man’s words had Mason blushing.
He couldn’t have missed that much of the conversation. Could he have? “Shit.”
“Language. You don’t sound old enough to curse anyway.”
Mouth hanging open, Mason was glad the darkness hid his blush and his surprise. “I’m old enough, thank you very much. We don’t have to be old fogies to date.”
“Old, huh?”
Then, to play into Mason’s every naughty fantasy, he thought he could just make out a comment Sexy-Voice-Man made under his breath about naughty boys needing to be put in their place.
Fuck, he was going to jerk off to that for days. Just the thought of his fantasy daddy bending him over and putting him in his place made his hard-on go from painful to excruciating.
“Language, Boy.”
Shit, Mason had to stop talking. He’d never had a problem controlling his mouth in business settings, so why did his filter have to fail now? Yes, he had a hard time keeping his mouth shut sometimes, but Mason was obsessive about keeping his desires private. Deep breath, and stop acting like a moron.
The nickname was a joke, Mason knew that, but just hearing his living breathing fantasy man say it sent shivers through his body. Thank god for the darkness or he’d never live this down.
“Yes, sir.” The words were meant to be sarcastic, teasing like Sexy-Voice-Man’s, but something in Mason just couldn’t do it. The words escaped a little breathy and entirely too serious.
Damn fantasies. Maddie was going to KILL him. Who knew what kind of phone calls she was going to get tomorrow? His list of sins was starting to add up.
There was a moment of silence before Sexy-Voice-Man laughed and said, “Respect. I like that.”
In Mason’s mind, he tacked on that “Boy” again. Damn, he wasn’t even going to make it home before he jerked off.
“Why couldn’t you show that respect to your date for the evening?” The voice was curious, but Mason thought he heard something else as well.
“You don’t seem to be showing your date any respect, so you shouldn’t comment on me.” Pot meet kettle. The guy hadn’t talked to his date for several minutes. Not that Mason was complaining. He’d listen to him all night long if he could.
“If you had been paying attention, you would have noticed that my date was called away on a family emergency. The waiter came over several minutes ago and he had to leave.” Disapproval dripped from Sexy-Voice-Man’s words.
Part of Mason hated the disappointment in his voice, but another bigger, naughtier part pictured getting spanked for disappointing his daddy. But the point was made about paying attention. “Ah…I have a lot on my mind. Sorry.”
Sexy-Voice-Man laughed again. “Of course.”
Moron. He looked like a moron. Maddie was going to kill him.
“I asked a question, or have you forgotten already?”
Damn that voice. “We don’t have much in common if you must know.” Mason tried to listen and hear if his date was coming back. Deciding to try to behave, he dropped his voice down to a whisper. “Besides, he’s boring and I’m not sure why we were put together to begin with.”
“I’m sure there must have been some items on your applications in common or you would have been matched with someone else,” Sexy-Voice-Man spoke as if that were obvious.
Yeah, his non-existent application. “I have no idea what that could have been.”
Sexy-Voice-Man must have heard something in his voice because when he spoke again, Mason could hear the curiosity. “Why wouldn’t you have something in common with him?”
Mason was saved from answering when the waiter came up to his table.
“I’m sorry, sir, but I have been asked to pass along a message that your date was unexpectedly called away.” Robert’s voice was carefully neutral as he relayed the information.
Mason barked out a laugh before he could contain himself. “Thank you for passing along the message.”
“You’re welcome, sir.”
The laughter coming from Sexy-Voice-Man made a shiver race down Mason’s back. “Hey, it’s not that funny. It’s not surprising either, unfortunately.”
“Oh, it is that humorous and you’re right, this was not the right match for you.”
“You’re not kidding. At least I don’t have to wait to eat my dessert anymore.”
“I’m not sure you needed to wait. He wouldn’t know if you’d waited for him or not.”
“So now I have permission to have bad manners, huh?”
“Just for tonight.”
Mason could hear that imaginary “Boy” again. Some perverse part of Mason wanted to ask Sexy-Voice-Man to say it one more time. He managed to stop himself, however. No point in making the guy think he was rude and crazy.
The torte seemed to be two or three bites of some kind of gooey chocolate. He was going to have to find a drive-thru on the way home. It was good, but definitely not enough food.
Listening in the dark room, Mason heard other waiters talking and it sounded like people were being led out of the room. On one hand, he was glad that the awkward date was over. But on the other, he was frustrated that Sexy-Voice-Man was going to leave.
Mason was going to enjoy the fantasy for as long as he could. Sexy-Voice-Man was going to star in his dreams for months, if not more.
From the darkness, he heard Robert approach the table. Something about the way the guy walked was distinctive now.
“Sir? If you are ready to leave, I can escort you to the door.”
“Thank you, Robert.”
Rising from the table, Mason was startled when he heard Sexy-Voice-Man speak from the darkness, “You never did say how you knew you and your date would not work out.”
Freezing, Mason couldn’t decide what to do. Lie or tell the truth? Deciding that discretion would be the better idea, Mason opened his mouth to make a glib comment when Sexy-Voice-Man spoke again. His deep voice sending shivers through Mason.
“The truth.”
It was that unsaid “Boy” that pushed Mason to do it. Maddy was going to kill him. Oh well, twenty-four was old enough anyway. He leaned down, close to where he imagined Sexy-Voice-Man sitting although he wasn’t sure exactly where he was.
Smelling the sexy man’s afte
rshave, Mason must have been within inches of him as he whispered, “Because what I need is a daddy. A sexy man who can take control and really knows how to treat his boy.”
Mason heard Sexy-Voice-Man’s sharp exhale and for a minute, almost thought he felt his breath on his cheek.
“How much control?” was the breathless question.
Unable to resist, Mason answered honestly. “Complete. My daddy would take care of everything.”
“Everything?”
In Mason’s mind, that word was heavy with meaning, but it was just his imagination. Sexy-Voice-Man was probably shocked in a staring-at-a-car-wreck kind of way.
“Everything. I want to belong to my daddy completely.” He’d never said that to a man before. He’d barely even been able to explain it to Maddy when she’d gotten him completely wasted one night, hell bent on finding out more about Mason’s naughty fantasies.
Something about that voice in the darkness just made him want to open up. To confess. To share his every naughty fantasy. No more dating in the dark for him. He was too much of an idiot for this. Straightening up, he turned toward where he thought Robert should be and said, “I’m ready, Robert.”
He felt a hand come out of the dark and guide his arm to Robert’s shoulder. “It will be just the same as when we walked in, sir.”
“Thank you, Robert.”
What he wanted to do was beg Robert to take him last. So he could have just one more minute, but that was a joke. He would blow his fantasy right out of the water if he stayed any longer. As soon as Sexy-Voice-Man got over his shock, he was going to be horrified and Mason didn’t want to have that in his head to ruin the fantasy.
CHAPTER 2
Looking out at the city skyline, Edward had to admire the view. At the same time, he hated the fact that he was standing here obsessing like a teenager instead of working. Putting distractions out of his head to focus on work had never been a problem. This time though, he simply could not get the boy out of his head. And no matter how the young man had protested, compared to Edward’s forty, he was just a boy.
His smooth, slightly breathy voice made Edward picture him younger but he knew the boy had to be at least twenty-one to belong to the dating group. Most of the younger members were actually closer to twenty-five or twenty-six because the organization required participants to be up-and-coming in their field, if not already successful.
It was one of the reasons he had accepted the gift certificate to the dinner in the first place. His usual preference for companions was mature and successful. Not young and still working as an intern somewhere.
Because the boy had arrived late, Edward hadn’t been able to hear his name. So Edward had dubbed him Boy in his head. Not very dignified, but it seemed to fit. His irreverent manner and obvious boredom gave weight to the nickname as well.
Boy and his dinner companion hadn’t connected in any way. Whoever matched them should re-evaluate their assessment. Pairing that irreverent little thing with an accountant couldn’t have been a worse match, even if he was some kind of computer programmer.
On the other hand, Edward’s date was a good match for him. He was funny, intelligent, and ambitious. It was too bad Edward had been so distracted by the boy that he couldn’t make a good impression. Edward still managed to be polite and attentive, which was more than he could say about the boy.
Edward was incredibly curious to know what had him so distracted. His poor date. The final straw had to have been when the man spent ten minutes talking about his work and family, only to have the boy apologize for missing the question. Edward had almost died laughing, picturing the man’s shock. Thank heavens for the darkness. He could not have managed a straight face.
He had also been incredibly grateful for the darkness when the conversation had taken a more interesting turn. He would not have been able to hide his shock without it. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to hide that shock completely from the boy. Shock had been what the boy was after, but how much was real and how much was he making up just to surprise the old man?
Edward was very good at reading people because he had to be; his job depended on it. As a founding partner in one of the city’s premier law firms, Edward was one of the best lawyers in the area. He never had a problem reading anyone’s honesty. It was easier if he could see them but even the darkness hadn’t prevented him from hearing the hitch in the boy’s breath as he lied or the pause that was a little bit too long when he was trying to hide something.
The boy hadn’t been lying when he’d described what he wanted. It would have been easier if he had been—the truth was much harder to understand.
His reaction to it was even harder to understand. Talking to the boy and teasing him had Edward half-hard as dinner was ending. It was easy to imagine taking Boy home and seeing if Edward could make him moan as well as the dessert could. God, the boy seemed to have no idea the sexy noises he’d made while eating the chocolate torte.
Then he had leaned down and whispered in Edward’s ear that the reason he knew it wouldn’t work with the accountant was because he was looking for a daddy. Edward couldn’t have been more shocked, or more turned on.
Traditional, that’s how Edward always thought of himself. Not vanilla or boring, just traditional. He preferred getting to know his partners before jumping into bed. He had also never needed anything unique or interesting in order to enjoy sex with his partners. Of course, he’d heard of different kinks and roleplay games in the bedroom; he’d simply never considered them something that would appeal to him.
When he’d felt Boy’s hot breath against his ear saying daddy, it had gone right to his head and much lower parts of his anatomy. His cock had gone from half-hard and interested, to painful and demanding in seconds.
The dirty thoughts that had flashed through his head shocked him. Much more than what Boy actually said if he was perfectly honest. Immediately, pictures of the different possibilities flashed through Edward’s imagination. Sheltered wasn’t how he would describe himself by any means, but these images were erotic and intense.
He was familiar with many different fetishes but it was all in a strictly academic sense. You couldn’t turn on the news these days without seeing something related to a kink or fetish. This time, it was different. This wasn’t something abstract and odd; it was personal and erotic. What could Boy have meant?
Was he simply looking for someone to dominate him in the bedroom? No, if that were it he would have said he was looking for a Dom or something to that effect. He’d said he wanted a daddy. Daddy implied care taking and a more encompassing relationship, not just discipline. What could he have meant?
The office door opened, saving him from himself.
Walking into the office with a confident, relaxed stride, John threw himself down on Edward’s leather couch, and leaned back, spreading his arms along the back. John was the other founding partner in the firm.
They’d graduated law school together and had known right away that they didn’t want to slave away at someone else’s firm for years. He was tall, lanky, and much more laid back—a very good lawyer, just more relaxed and less type A than Edward.
“I’ve heard through the grapevine this morning that you haven’t gotten a thing done. Late night?”
John’s leer made it clear he was expecting Edward to have a juicy story but Edward just shook his head. “Not in the way you mean.”
The gift certificate to the matching service had been John’s way of getting Edward to relax. In his words, Edward needed a hobby and something else to obsess over besides work. Why in John’s mind that meant he needed a man, Edward wasn’t sure. John was probably right to a degree. The firm was Edward’s primary focus in life and even he could see that it was a little bit unhealthy. That just meant he just needed a diversion; not a man.
“Just a lot on my mind.” Wasn’t that an understatement? “Aren’t you late for a lunch meeting somewhere?”
Ignoring him, John cocked his head and his grin
turned to an expression of worry. “Was it that bad? The company has an impeccable reputation.”
“No. The dinner was excellent and the company was interesting.” He didn’t want John to regret the gift, but how would he explain what his problem was? “I just met someone last night and I’m not sure what to think.”
“Tell me about him then.”
He was a good sounding board so if anyone could help advise Edward it would be John. It was so far out of left field that it was going to sound weird no matter how he phrased it. Edward sighed and turned back toward the window. Might as well.
It took about ten minutes of pacing to rehash the evening and explain, albeit not explicitly, his dilemma. John did his best to hide his amusement when Edward started the story, but by the end, he wasn’t even trying to hide his laughter.
His devilish grin, spreading from ear to ear said it all. John found the situation hilarious. He cleared his throat. “So let me get this straight. You went to a mixer for the most boring gay men in the entire city and managed to find the one kinky guy in the entire room?”
He waited for Edward to nod. “And to top it off he doesn’t just want to be tied up and spanked—because let’s face it that’s normal these days—he wants a daddy. Do we even know exactly what that means? If I said to any woman I’ve dated recently that I wanted to be their daddy they would have told me in no uncertain terms where to stick it.”
“I have a reasonable guess as to what daddy means from the context of the conversation but what he means specifically, I have no idea.” And he hated that. Edward did not like walking into a situation unprepared.
Whether it was contract negotiations or court, he wanted to be as prepared as possible. How did you get ready for this kind of situation? The better question was, Did he even want to? Something about Boy just pulled him in, but was that enough?