With a sigh of both remorse and vast relief, Reese left the room, the house, and Hank, this time for good.
~*~
Luca’s cell phone dinged Wednesday evening, jerking him from his game. He grabbed the phone, anxious to know how the talk had gone with Hank. He read the text, which said, “Glad that’s over.”
Without thinking it through, Luca pressed the call button. He wanted to hear Reese’s voice. As soon as Reese answered, Luca asked, “So, how did it go? You okay?” He held his breath, not sure he wanted the answer.
“I’m not sure what I am right now,” Reese replied. He sounded exhausted.
“You want to come over?”
“Thanks, but I think I’ll just stay at my place and chill tonight.”
Luca glanced over at the box he’d placed on the bed, a red ribbon looped in a bow around it, and suppressed a sigh. Had he been foolish to push Reese to deal with Hank? Had the guy somehow talked his way back into Reese’s heart?
Luca’s stomach dropped unpleasantly, but he tried not to leap to any conclusions. What they’d shared was real, no matter what else happened or didn’t going forward. He would accept Reese’s explanation at face value. He would stay in the moment and just savor the astonishing connection they’d made, without letting his own insecurities and issues get in the way. Reese needed him and he’d be there for him.
“It was rough, huh?” he offered sympathetically.
“Yeah.” Reese sighed. “I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t pretty. Still, I think he finally got the message that it—that part of our relationship—is over. If we’re not able to stay friends, well, that’s the way it goes. I’m just glad I was open with him. What he chooses to do with that is on him.”
“It was brave of you,” Luca said. “You did the right thing. The honorable thing. I’m proud of you.” He glanced again at the box on the bed. Maybe all Reese needed was some proper distraction. “I, uh, I bought s-s-something today. S-s-something for you—for us.”
“Oh, yeah? What did you get?” There was a lift to Reese’s voice, as if he were smiling.
“Not telling,” Luca said, grinning into the phone. “You’ll have to c-c-c-ome over tomorrow after work so I can show you.”
“Now I’m intrigued,” Reese said, and Luca was relieved to hear him laugh. “Come on. Tell me what you got.”
“Nope. I’ll show you when you come over next time.”
“Okay, okay,” Reese capitulated, still chuckling. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Good night, sexy boy.”
“Good night, s-s-sexier boy,” Luca replied, his heart squeezing with longing. “S-s-sleep well.”
~*~
Reese hit the ground running Thursday morning. He’d slept surprisingly well. He’d expected to toss and turn, guilty thoughts of Hank wiping away his tears coloring his dreams. But Luca’s calm, sweet insistence that he’d done the right thing—the honorable thing—had given him comfort. And though Hank had clearly been hurt, hopefully, he’d come to see that it was for the best. They’d been stagnating for years now—just going through the motions. Life was short, and Reese, for one, planned to seize the moment and keep moving forward. He was done with the cynicism and the games. He was ready—at last—for love.
When he returned to the office from client calls late in the day, Luca wasn’t at his desk. He shot him a quick text. “Where are you?”
A moment later, Luca replied, “I’m at home, making you spaghetti and meatballs, my specialty.”
Reese, who had worked through lunch, realized he was hungry. “Sounds delicious. Shall I bring a bottle of red wine?”
“That’d be perfect. See you when you get here.”
On his way to Luca’s, Reese bought a nice bottle of cabernet sauvignon that would go perfectly with red sauce and pasta. He hadn’t heard anything from Hank since he’d left his house the evening before, and he decided that no news was good news. He’d put Hank firmly out of his mind, focusing instead on Luca, spaghetti with meatballs and whatever it was Luca had bought for him.
When he arrived at Luca’s place, his heart gave a pleasant lurch as Luca opened the door and his arms. He was barefoot, in jeans and a black T-shirt with the statement: 1+1=10 in white. Reese had learned enough about computer code at this point that he got that it was something to do with binary numbers. Luca’s hair was its usual tangled mop, his eyes bright and smiling.
They embraced, their mouths meeting for a long, passionate kiss. As they stepped apart, Reese said, “Yum, it smells fantastic in here.”
“Garlic bread,” Luca said. “Everything’s j-j-just about ready.”
“Good, because I’m starving. Oh. And I got this.” Reese held out the bottle of wine for Luca’s inspection.
“Perfect,” Luca said with a nod. “Come open it while I get the food on the table.”
Once they were seated, Luca lifted his glass of wine and took a long drink. “I don’t know anything about wines, but this is really good.”
Reese opened his mouth, thinking to impress Luca with his in-depth knowledge of vintage, color, clarity and value—all things he’d had drummed into him by his one-time tutor in all things, Hank. He stopped himself, however. He didn’t need to impress Luca. He could just be himself. The realization made him smile. “It is good,” he agreed instead. “If you like it, that’s really all you need to know.”
After dinner, they washed up and put things away. Reese had been patient all evening, but now he burst out, “Okay, out with it. What did you buy that’s such a big secret?”
Luca smiled a slow, sexy smile. “Come with me and I’ll show you.”
Reese followed him into the bedroom. Luca walked over to the bed, bent down and pulled a long, thin box tied with a loopy red ribbon from beneath it. They sat side-by-side on the bed and Luca placed the box on Reese’s lap.
“Wow. Gift wrapped and everything.” He looked at Luca with a smile, his heart warm. “It’s not even my birthday. What’s the occasion?”
Luca smiled back shyly. “Open it and s-s-see.”
Reese plucked at the lopsided bow and pulled the ribbon from the box. He lifted the lid, wildly curious. There was a layer of pale blue tissue paper on top. Pulling it aside, he saw a small black leather flogger and a matching pair of wrist cuffs with clips already attached.
He looked at Luca with a grin, his cock instantly hardening with anticipation. “Wow, these are cool. Where’d you get these?”
“That f-f-fetish store on East Virginia Avenue. A really nice sales girl helped me to pick the right thing.” Luca chuckled. “I had no idea there was s-s-o much gear out there.”
Reese laughed. “Even more online. Anything you can imagine—someone’s invented it already, plus a ton of stuff you never would have imagined.” He took the flogger from the tissue paper and stroked the soft, suede tresses. “This is a really nice one.” He held the flogger to his nose, inhaling the delicious, fresh scent of good leather. His skin tingled with anticipation of its stinging kiss.
“Aisha—that was the woman who helped me—she gave me a lesson. She owns the shop with her, uh”—Luca paused, blushing a little—“her Master.”
“No kidding,” Reese said, grinning.
“Yeah,” Luca said, grinning back. “She said I’m a natural.” He took the flogger from Reese and snapped it with some authority on the bed between them. “I can’t wait to try it out on your ass.” His smile fell away, something sparking in those lovely silvery gray eyes. He rose to his feet. “I want you to strip and stand at attention for me, hands clasped behind your neck.”
“Oh,” Reese said softly, the word pulled from him in surprise and dark delight. It was so startling and yet so thrillingly perfect when Luca took control like this. While he’d been utterly charmed by Luca’s sweet innocence and honesty, this side of him—this masterful, dominant side, was so unexpected and yet so perfectly right.
Reese got quickly to his feet, already pulling his shirt over his head as he rose. He t
ossed the shirt aside and then pulled off his boots, jeans and underwear. He stood at attention, hands behind his head. His cock was already fully erect with anticipation, his heart thudding pleasantly in his chest. He watched with hungry eyes as Luca, too, removed his shirt. He kept his jeans on, the bulge of his own erection clearly visible at his crotch.
Reese sighed with submissive pleasure as Luca closed the leather cuffs around his wrists and clipped them together. He loved the ironically freeing feeling of being bound. All choice was removed or rather, given as a gift to his Master.
Luca moved to stand in front of him, his eyes burning into Reese’s as he stroked the soft leather over Reese’s chest, shoulders, abdomen and groin. As the suede tips swished over his cock, Reese’s balls tightened with need.
“I’m going to flog you, Reese,” Luca said softly, power emanating from him like an aura. He loved this transformation in Luca—the way he took control of a scene. It had happened when he’d picked up the riding crop at Reese’s place, and it was happening again now. “I’m going to stroke every inch of your flesh with this flogger. Then I’m going to fuck you.”
“Yes, please,” Reese groaned, his cock aching. “Yes, please, Sir.”
“The saleswoman said you’d need a safeword.”
Reese almost laughed, but caught himself in time. He sincerely doubted he’d need a safeword with sweet, cautious Luca. Still, it was never a bad idea to be prepared, especially since Luca was so new to the scene. Carrera had been his safeword with Hank, because that was the type of car Hank had driven in high school. But obviously that wouldn’t do now.
“Um,” he said, thinking. “How about red light?” Simple and direct.
“Red light,” Luca repeated, nodding. “You can talk to me, too. I mean, let me know if something isn’t right.”
“Absolutely,” Reese agreed, impressed anew with Luca’s natural and easy way of approaching things. Hank had loved the ceremony and games that went along with BDSM play. He would never have let Reese talk during a scene, except to use his safeword. Reese closed his eyes, banishing thoughts of Hank from his mind. He wouldn’t compare the two. He would stay fully present.
Luca moved around behind Reese. The leather tresses moved tantalizingly over his back and ass. Then Luca delivered the first stinging stroke across both cheeks. Reese gasped with pleasure and surprise.
He struck again, swishing the flogger in an expert arc so the tips landed with perfect, stinging precision. Reese moaned his approval. It was hard to believe Luca had only had the one lesson at the store.
Luca kept going, covering Reese’s ass and the backs of his thighs in a thorough flogging until Reese’s skin was glowing and on fire, the erotic pain almost too much to handle. Just before Reese opened his mouth to say it was too much, Luca instinctively changed his tack, lightly brushing Reese’s back and shoulders with the tresses, the experience purely sensual.
He moved around in front of Reese, his eyes blazing. Tucking the flogger in the back of his jeans, he took Reese’s head in his hands and kissed him deeply. Reese’s knees nearly buckled with pleasure and longing as they kissed. When Luca let him go, he moved forward, lips still parted, as if he were metal and Luca a magnet.
Luca stroked the flogger’s tresses over his chest and abs, lightly at first and then with more force. He slapped at Reese’s bobbing cock with the stinging tips of leather and then struck his balls, pulling a yelp from Reese’s lips.
“You want more?” Luca said, his voice low and sexy.
“Yes, please, Sir,” Reese gasped, dancing on his toes as the flogger smacked his shaft and balls. It hurt so perfectly, so wonderfully, that he almost couldn’t bear it. He was hovering on the edge of an orgasm from the flogging alone.
Luca moved again behind him, striking his tender ass with considerable force. It was exactly what Reese needed, and he groaned with approval. The leather swished and thwacked in a relentless, perfect rhythm until Reese’s head fell back, his lips parting in ecstasy, his spirit rising from the confines of his body.
It took a moment to realize the flogger had been replaced by Luca’s body, naked now and warm against his stinging flesh as he pressed up against him from behind. Luca released the clips that held Reese’s cuffs together, but didn’t remove the cuffs.
“Lie down on your stomach,” he commanded in a softy, sexy voice.
Reese obeyed at once, trapping his erect, throbbing cock beneath his body.
He sighed with pleasure as Luca straddled his thighs and smoothed something creamy and cool over his skin. Then Luca’s fingers slipped between his ass cheeks, seeking the tiny pucker and pushing past the ring of muscle. Reese lay in a stupor of pleasure as Luca added a second finger and then a third, stroking his prostate until Reese was panting with lust and aching for the feel of Luca’s hard cock inside him.
The fingers were withdrawn. “Get on your hands and knees and offer your ass to me,” Luca commanded.
Reese scrambled into position, wantonly pulling his ass cheeks apart in offering. Luca reached for a tube of lube and a condom he had at the ready on the nightstand. He slipped the condom over his cock and rubbed fingers gooey with lube between Reese’s cheeks.
Luca entered Reese slowly and smoothly, not stopping until he was buried to the hilt inside him. Then he moved in a sensual, swiveling way that sent spirals of raw pleasure hurtling through Reese’s core. Reese’s ass and thighs stung pleasantly from the flogging, the erotic pain a perfect complement to the wild, fierce pleasure of Luca’s hard, thick cock thrusting inside him.
Just when he was going to beg for permission to stroke himself, Luca reached around him and gripped his shaft. “Oh, god,” Reese moaned, trembling with lust. “I’m going to come.”
“No, you’re not,” Luca said breathlessly. “You will wait for me.”
Reese gasped, trying his best to hold back the rising climax moving through his loins. Luca thrust hard behind him, one hand on his hip, the other gripping his throbbing shaft with sure fingers.
It was no use. He was just too aroused and too close to the edge. Jism spurted from his shaft over Luca’s fingers as he came in several shuddering spasms. A moment later, Luca tensed and then ejaculated inside him with a soft cry. They fell forward together onto the bed, Luca on top of Reese, his cock still buried deep inside.
They lay still for a long moment, the room silent save for their shared panting. As their breathing slowed and hearts returned to normal, Luca rolled away from Reese and collapsed beside him on the bed.
Reese turned slowly onto his side toward Luca. “Sorry about that,” he said with a sheepish grin. “I just couldn’t hold on another second.”
Luca smiled a slow, sexy smile. “You know what happens to sub boys who disobey, right?”
Reese’s eyes widened with surprise. Who was this new Luca? Whoever he was, Reese adored him. “Tell me,” he whispered.
“They get punished.”
“Oooh,” Reese breathed, his cock, so recently spent, surging back to life. “Yes, please.”
Chapter 11
Luca moved through that Friday in a fog of stunned happiness. The night before had surpassed his wildest dreams. Reese’s incredibly sensual responses to the flogging and Luca’s directives had thrilled him to his bones.
Dominating Reese—taking control as he had—was even better than the high from writing a really good piece of code. It was better than music. It was the missing piece in his life. When he was in his dominant groove, he felt powerful and confident, his stammer gone, no false steps in his stride.
Even more astonishing perhaps was Reese’s powerful, authentic reaction. How amazing it had been to give Reese—a guy he would have considered a few dozen light-years out of his league only a week ago—such apparent pleasure and intensity of experience. It was a dream come true—one he hoped he never woke from.
He fingered the card he’d carried in his pocket since Aisha had given it to him. He’d checked out the BDSM club’s website and had be
en both shocked and thrilled by what he’d seen. The club was set up in a series of “play stations,” each one equipped with a different piece of BDSM gear—one with a spanking bench, another with a whipping post, another with a medical exam table complete with stirrups and straps for holding down the “patient.” Had Reese ever gone to such a place? What would he think if Luca suggested it?
Matt, another programmer, pulled Luca from his ruminations by popping his head around the divider screen. “Hey, Guru,” he said, using the nickname the other programmers had given Luca. “Can you help me? I’m totally stuck on this simple piece of code. I’m trying to write a program that outputs all possibilities to put plus or minus or nothing between the numbers one through nine so that the result is always a hundred. I’m stuck in an array somewhere, but I can’t figure out what it is.”
“Sure, I’ll have a look,” Luca said, getting up from his desk. He studied Matt’s code for a while, thinking aloud as he went through it. “You need to decompose the problem into smaller problems. You know, divide and conquer. What if we tried this…” He was quickly lost in the problem. It was after seven by the time he’d resolved it.
“Thanks, man. I owe you, as usual,” Matt said. “I really didn’t want to spend Friday night working on this damn thing.”
“My pleasure,” Luca said with a smile.
“Say, want to come over to our place?” Matt shared an apartment with another of the programmers named Scott. He grabbed his messenger bag from the hat rack by his station and slung it over his shoulder. “We’re inviting a couple of the guys over for a Dungeons and Dragon tournament. Very retro. Oh, and there’ll be pizza.”
Only a week before, Luca would have jumped at the chance. As if on cue, however, Reese breezed into the building, which had mostly cleared out for the weekend. “Luca,” he called, heading for Luca’s desk in the corner of the building. “Where are you?”
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