by Harte, Marie
“But I—”
“And you don’t listen when you’re told what to do. That won’t work. Sure, I can pass you off as my new trainee, but I have standards. You’re cute enough, but you need work. I won’t have any credibility as a Dom if my sub questions my every word.”
Gavin’s flush at cute told Aidan a good bit about his partner. His boy needed praise as much as he needed a good fucking. Gavin’s erection made his mouth water. Their attraction would serve its purpose. Aidan should have been satisfied with that. But the truth was, he liked knowing Gavin wanted him. It made his desire for the male easier to swallow.
And on that note… “Come closer, boy.”
“I’m already on top of you,” Gavin muttered.
Aidan sighed. “You weren’t told to speak. You remain quiet unless given permission to talk. You call me Sir or Master—I’m not picky about which. And you do what you’re told, when you’re told. Understand?”
Gavin’s swallow sounded loud in the otherwise silent room. “I, ah, yes.” He stared into Aidan’s face and quickly glanced away. “Sir.”
“Good.” Aidan walked around him, glad Gavin remained in place. “Maybe the key to this relationship will be contact. We’ll work through the physical to the mental.” And what fun that would be. Aidan didn’t think he’d ever anticipated training for a mission so much. “Take off the rest of your clothes.”
Gavin started but obeyed. He worked his sneakers free, then his socks and jeans. He paused at his boxers but quickly stepped out of them after a hard look from Aidan.
“Better.” Aidan stopped again behind him, loving the lines of his new playmate. Gavin reached Aidan’s nose, putting him at a solid six feet. He had a toned body, not overlarge with muscle, but lean and strong. That ass begged to be filled, bitten, licked. So tight.
Aidan ran his hands over Gavin’s shoulders and back and lingered on his ass. He stroked, feeling the fine tremor of nerves beneath his palm. “Shh, it’s all right. I’m not going to hurt you. Not yet.”
A burst of images shot through Gavin and switched Aidan from aroused to desperate to fuck. The things Gavin wanted shocked him, because he’d never suspected Gavin to be into rough play. Normally quiet and agreeable, Gavin seemed friendly with everyone. A help and an asset to the team with his business sense and his ability to maintain PowerUp!’s secrecy. His experience with the PWP gave him common ground with them all, but other than that, he seemed to blend in with the woodwork.
The things his sub wanted to do… Spankings, hard fucking, clamps, hot wax—it made Aidan burn to induct him into the exquisite release bondage and dominance could bring. Except beyond all the kink, Gavin yearned to give over his trust and heart to someone stronger.
The heart part scared the shit out of Aidan, because he had the ridiculous urge to give his new boy what he wanted. With other subs who’d only needed the physical ease, Aidan had easily gratified them. In dominating them, he’d gotten what he needed as well. Trust Gavin to make things difficult by being emotional about the exchange.
In a gruff voice, Aidan ordered, “Move to the table and brace your hands on the edge. Lean forward and spread your legs. Thrust that ass out.”
Gavin obeyed with a hesitancy Aidan would need to break. But slowly. He understood that their time crunch wouldn’t allow for an easy melding of trust, but Gavin and he weren’t total strangers. That would help.
“What are you going to do?”
The timid voice should have angered him. He’d just told Gavin not to talk without permission. Yet the thread of fear he heard didn’t sit well. He didn’t want anything but Gavin’s hoarse shouts and groans as he came.
“I told you not to talk without permission, didn’t I?”
When Gavin wisely remained quiet, Aidan nodded. “Good boy. Now answer me.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“But you spoke. What should I do with you? Tell me.”
“Punish me?” came out as a whisper, but the hint of excitement in his voice spurred Aidan to action.
“That’s right, boy. You need to be punished.” Aidan stepped closer and rolled up his sleeves. He couldn’t wait to test Gavin’s boundaries. “I’m going to be with you, in your mind. I can’t chance hurting you, and I need to know how far I can push you.”
“I-I know, Aidan. I trust you.”
No, he didn’t. “That’s ‘I trust you, Sir.’” Aidan spanked his ass hard, leaving a red mark on Gavin’s cheek.
Gavin cried out but didn’t move. His knuckles turned white, and his entire body tensed.
“Relax, or it will hurt more.” Aidan waited until Gavin eased his muscles, then spanked him again, putting a matching handprint on Gavin’s left cheek. “Nice.” He reached around, not surprised to feel his partner hard and wet. He rubbed his fingers over Gavin’s slit, more than aroused when Gavin groaned. Mentally, Gavin didn’t know how to feel, and Aidan wanted to overwhelm him, not give him time to think.
“You need to respond to my command, to obey without question when we’re in front of others.” He stroked Gavin up and down, feeling that thick cock and listening to the heavy pants of hunger. After releasing Gavin, he knelt behind him and then pried his cheeks apart. “That’s one pretty little hole.”
Gavin’s entire body shook. Aidan caught no fear, just tendrils of excitement. He kissed Gavin’s ass and licked his hole. “You taste good, boy. All nice and clean, just for me, hmm?” The faint scent of soap pleased him, because Aidan understood his boy had wanted to be nice for him. Aidan licked again, then feasted on Gavin’s tight, firm flesh. He worked his saliva around his boy’s sensitive rim while he ran his hands along Gavin’s inner thighs. Aidan would near Gavin’s sac and then drop down his legs again, teasing without touching.
Gavin quivered and shook, moaning with breathy cries that turned Aidan’s erection painful.
“Keep still,” he barked and returned to licking Gavin’s anus. When he’d gotten it as wet as he wanted, he pulled back and shoved his finger deep. He didn’t hesitate, even when Gavin squirmed. Instead he pushed all the way inside that tight, fuckable hole. “You’re small here. Not too many partners. Last one was over a year ago?” Aidan liked what he saw in Gavin’s mind. “You needed more than what he could give you. Much, much more.”
Chapter Four
Gavin couldn’t help his loud moans and quivering body. God, Aidan’s mouth wouldn’t quit. And when the bastard did finally ease that incredible tongue from his ass, he’d replaced it with a finger as thick as a cock. Gavin couldn’t help rocking into it, even when Aidan ordered him not to. Damn, he wanted to please, and that inborn need scared him. Because he didn’t just want to please anyone, he wanted to please Aidan.
The blond giant remained behind him, one hand on Gavin’s ass while he kept that thick finger inside him, the other hand creeping up Gavin’s thigh. He skated past Gavin’s balls and gripped Gavin’s cock. Hard.
The pain wouldn’t have been so bad, but then Aidan squeezed, and Gavin feared he’d come.
“Not yet. Not until I tell you to.” Aidan’s quiet authority alerted every nerve in Gavin’s body to pay attention. “Now let’s see how you handle more.”
More?
“Yes, baby. More.”
Baby. Fuck. Gavin couldn’t help squeezing around Aidan’s finger. Aidan had shoved inside him dry, with only Aidan’s saliva to lube him. It had burned, more so because Gavin hadn’t played with anyone or anything in his ass for way too long.
“I’m going to fix that real soon.”
Aidan continued to read his mind, and the invasion added another penetration, arousing Gavin unbearably. He didn’t like anyone in his private thoughts, but Aidan owned him. Body and mind. And soul? He’d known about Aidan while in the PWP, but as no more than an annoying peer, one far above Gavin due to Aidan’s ability to work missions. Aidan Marshall—a legend in the field and a rumored beast in the sack. And right now, Gavin was learning firsthand how Aidan had gotten his reputation.
&nb
sp; “I earned it, boy. Hard work and a lot of hard fucking.” Aidan removed his finger and stood.
Gavin wanted desperately to know what he was doing, but he hadn’t been told he could ask or turn around. He thought the question with focus and jumped when Aidan smacked his ass again. The pain stung, and the resulting throb in his cock and heaviness in his balls didn’t help. He wanted to come right now.
“You’re asking. Voiceless or not, you weren’t given permission to talk.”
“Oh, come on. Sir.”
Aidan smacked him several more times, and Gavin’s grunts turned into pleas for harder discipline.
“You little slut.” Aidan chuckled. “Who knew you had it in you? I like it, boy. I like it a lot.”
Aidan knelt behind him again, and Gavin held on to the table for dear life. After some rustling and a few moments of silence, a cold, slick finger eased into him. And then another joined the first.
“Wider. Can you take more, I wonder…?” Aidan let his fingers rest inside Gavin, allowing Gavin to adjust to the stretch in his rectum.
Fuck, it hurt. But Aidan wasn’t content to idly sit still. He prodded and reached, and he hit that spot inside Gavin that turned Gavin’s whole world white.
“There it is.” Aidan finger fucked him a few times, and just as Gavin readied to come, permission or not, the bastard stopped.
Damn it.
“Bad boy. You need to be punished again.” Aidan sighed.
Gavin heard a zipper and tensed, praying it meant what he thought it did. After a moment, Aidan positioned himself behind Gavin. The big blond didn’t speak, letting his actions tell their own story.
The broad head of his cock penetrated and continued to push, thicker than those fingers had been. Thank God he’d lubed himself, though, or Gavin feared he’d have done real damage.
“I told you not to come without permission, and you were intending to release no matter what. If you’d waited, I’d have made this better for you. But you need to learn.” Aidan suddenly shoved the whole of himself deep and nearly took Gavin off his feet.
“Shit.”
“Oh fuck. You feel good.” He shoved a hand between Gavin’s shoulder blades to keep him down and gripped his waist at the same time. “I’m going to come inside you.”
Gavin didn’t know how he felt about that. On the one hand, he didn’t worry about safety. Aidan wouldn’t compromise himself or Gavin. He might be an asshole, but on this point, Gavin trusted him.
“We have to start with trust somewhere,” Aidan said on a grunt and fucked him harder. The rough friction hurt. Especially since Gavin was aching with the need to climax.
“Oh yeah, there it is.” Aidan groaned, pumping into Gavin as he continued to release. “That felt good. I needed that.”
I need it too, Gavin wanted to shout, twitchy and stuffed full. Unsatisfied yet strangely content, he didn’t understand what the hell he could feel good about.
“You like that I came. You liked making your Master happy. And that’s good, because you’ve been pretty bad today.”
“Wh—”
Aidan remained inside him and leaned over his back to murmur in his ear, “You aren’t allowed to speak. You still consider me a bastard and an asshole. Tsk-tsk.” He rotated his pelvis and jostled that spot inside Gavin that made it hard to think about anything but coming. “And you don’t obey. You still want things your way. You can come, but it won’t be the joy you think it will.”
Aidan reached around and jerked him off in three strokes.
Gavin cried out and shot hard, gripping the thick rod still buried in his ass. When he could catch his breath again, he didn’t understand how Aidan could be right. The orgasm relieved him, but it hadn’t been as good as it had yesterday.
“Think about it. Go clean up; then get your ass back in here. Let’s see if your genius-level IQ is good for more than numbers.” Aidan withdrew and stood back, waiting.
Gavin didn’t censor his annoyance as he stumbled out of the kitchen. He walked down a hallway lined with prints of the mountains and natural wildflowers, poetic pieces he wouldn’t have thought Aidan would appreciate, and found the bathroom. A guest bath done in blues and browns, it had a masculine feel while being clean and polished enough to belong in a designer magazine. Yet another side of Aidan he’d never imagined.
After cleaning himself thoroughly using the shampoo and soap in the shower, and taking care to pay attention to the sorer parts of his body—namely, his ass—he dried off. Aidan hadn’t said he could wear the towel out. He’d insisted Gavin bring nothing with him for their training, and Gavin knew that meant he’d spend the better part of their time together naked.
With a glance at his body in the mirror, he saw what Aidan would see. A flushed, naive-looking young man whose eyes shone with sexual satisfaction, confusion, and worry. Holy shit. Just thinking that he’d had sex with hunky Aidan Marshall turned him inside out. Not that he didn’t consider himself okay in the looks department—Aidan had called him cute after all. But Aidan was the type of master that Gavin had been dreaming about for years. Strong, gruff, but not abusive. He meted out punishment and didn’t take any shit.
To Gavin’s horror, he started to grow hard again. His orgasm had been much needed, but not as good as yesterday’s, when he’d come all over Aidan’s belly. That sense of connection had been missing. But why? Hell, he’d had Aidan buried inside him. How much tighter could they get?
Aidan had given him permission to come. Yet Gavin hadn’t pleased his master. Not the way he should have. He realized his mistake and flushed with shame. And just as quickly, the notion infuriated him. He stormed out of the bathroom, heedless of his nudity, and confronted Aidan.
“You told me I could come.”
“Yet the first time, you almost came without permission, didn’t you? It was all about Gavin and Gavin’s feelings. You didn’t want to obey anyone but your cock.”
Gavin opened his mouth to retort but didn’t. He thought about it. “You got me really hard. That’s good.”
“Yes. And you showed absolutely no sense of understanding.” Aidan shook his head. His gaze remained on Gavin’s face, and the lack of desire Gavin sensed left him feeling embarrassed. He was fine to be naked when Aidan wanted him, but now he felt vulnerable and way underdressed.
“Exactly.” Aidan sat down behind the table. “You are vulnerable. The whole point about domination and submission is an exchange of power.”
“Where you hold all of it,” Gavin grumbled.
The disappointment on Aidan’s face dismayed him. God, why did he suddenly feel like crying? Frustration—that had to be it. That was all Aidan would need to think of him as a total lost cause.
“Gavin. Look at me.” Aidan’s soft voice shook him out of his thoughts. “It’s my job to see to your needs, not yours. It’s my job to make sure you’re warm, that you’re secure, that you’re coming when you need to. Not yours. The ultimate power is pleasure. Your pleasure. But the control is mine.”
Gavin needed a moment.
“No. Come here.”
Shit. He hated having nothing private.
“Now.”
He trudged to stand next to Aidan and let out a surprised curse when Aidan yanked him down onto his lap.
“You’re cold. And your ass is sore.”
Aidan pulled him into a hug that warmed him within. He didn’t protest when his head was shoved against Aidan’s broad chest, and the sound of his partner’s—Master’s—heartbeat racing under his ear brought him a sense of peace he’d been needing for a very long time.
“That’s it. Let it all go, Gavin. It’s my job to take care of you. And I always do my job.”
Gavin buried deep his secret wish that this could be more than a job. Because this feeling of closeness struck him right where it would hurt the most. His heart.
AIDAN LET GAVIN rest in his arms for a good while, until the slighter man fell into a light doze. Nothing sounded but the slow, steady breath of his
boy against his chest. God, he didn’t understand this. Aidan didn’t want their embrace to end. He’d given comfort to any number of subs over the years. After a hard whipping or a rough beating, he’d soothe with creams and hugs, some gentle cuddling to ease the sub out of his zone. But he’d never felt such tenderness for a partner before.
Not sure why the hell this had to happen now and with Gavin, of all people. He slowly stood with Gavin in his arms. His boy snuggled closer and sighed, and Aidan tightened his hold. A funny ache in his chest told him he needed distance, so he carried Gavin into his bedroom and put him in bed. Gavin looked so small and innocent in the middle of the spacious room. After covering him with a thick, warm blanket, he closed the door behind him and went to the phone.
The second he heard Kitty answer, he asked, “Anything yet?”
“And hello to you too, Aidan.” She sounded irritated. “Hold on.”
Ian joined him. “Yo, Viking. What hails from the cold north?”
“Idiot. I’m three miles west of the gym.”
“With that cutie Gavin, I hear. Yum, yum.” Ian snickered.
“Shut it. So what’s the deal? You have my invite yet?”
“Almost. Gimme another day. I’m e-mailing you your cover, though. Big tough Dom and your boy toy. You’ll be a small arms dealer with connections in Canada. We’ll work the northerly bad-boy angle. What do you think?”
“Whatever. Just give me what I need, and I’ll take care of this.”
“Of course you will.”
Ian’s platitude annoyed him. “Anything else I should be aware of while I’m there?”
“Well, this didn’t come from Jack, but…”
“Ian.”
“That book is important to you-know-who. Problem is, even without the book, rumor has it Carl is gunning for our client. If it were me, I’d grab the book and take care of trouble, if you know what I mean.” Kill Carl Kerr went without saying. “Because as you know, you-know-who is a big player and one of the main reasons those jackasses stay off our tails.”