Colton wasn’t expecting the prickle of tears that hit him at that declaration. “Yes, Sir.”

  Rom’s grip gentled. He tipped Colton’s head back again. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, Sir.”

  “That wasn’t a nothing tone. Another of my rules will be you don’t lie to me, you don’t play verbal games with me, you don’t get to be passive-aggressive. Even if it’s an uncomfortable truth, I want the truth.”

  Colton needed a moment to process it, put it into words. “I haven’t had anyone in my life like that except Grammy. And I lost her four years ago. I mean, the attention. She was the same way. If we were eating, or talking, her full attention was on me, and she expected the same.”

  Rom’s expression looked guarded, but even the thoughtfulness Colton found there was still sexy as hell.

  Rom scratched the top of Colton’s head. “Yeah, I have some issues of my own in that department. Let’s see how we like each other after tonight, then we can do a lot of heavy talking about that.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Fair warning—if we take this to a serious level, another requirement of mine is I also get full access to all your social media, e-mail, your phone, all of that. But, in return, you get that with me, too. Fair’s fair, for that. Completely equal footing. And I won’t sneak around behind you to check it. If I ask to see a device, hand it over. Likewise, if you tell me you want to see my phone, I’ll hand it over. Trust is a very important thing to me. If I don’t have trust, I can’t have a relationship with someone.”

  Colton shivered. “I want that, Sir.”

  He nodded. “Anything you need or want to add to all of that tonight?”

  Colton didn’t want to break eye contact with Rom. There was something so…soothing about his brown gaze. Like a quiet strength.

  Like a man who knew who he was and didn’t feel he needed to prove anything. Colton had quit counting the number of guys he’d turned down at the gym who hit on him—and women, but mostly guys—who seemed to have something to prove.

  Colton felt like one of those kids’ picture games, the little metal flakes on the picture, where you used a magnet to drag them around and create new images.

  Like he was the scattered flakes of iron ore, and Rom was the magnet gently drawing him together again into a recognizable whole.

  He realized Rom was still waiting for him to answer.

  “Not tonight, Sir,” he said.

  Rom stroked Colton’s hair. “I don’t have anywhere to be in the morning, although I am going to dinner at my brother’s house tomorrow night.”

  “Me, either.”

  Rom slowly nodded. Then it felt like his mood—hell, the whole atmosphere in the room—shifted into darkly serious territory. “My thing about honesty goes both ways.” His lips curled a little in a smile. “You are fucking gorgeous, dude. I mean, that’s not the only reason I’m playing with you, but…damn. I honestly can’t understand why you’re playing with me right now.”

  “Because I think raw honesty is hot as fuck. I’m attracted to you because you’re not…posturing. I need to be attracted to a guy to sleep with him. I see buff, pretty guys all the time at the gym, and they’re usually either jerks or idiots, if they’re available. I haven’t been attracted to a guy in a couple of years the way I’m attracted to you right now. I like that you’re honest.”

  “Fair enough.” Rom sighed. “Fair warning—I have some emotional triggers of my own. I’m going to need some time before I can explain them to you. But everything we’ve covered tonight in terms of rules and expectations covers my triggers, too.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Rom finally smiled again. The sheer gleeful evil there made Colton’s cock throb. “Red, yellow, and green for safewords. ‘Ow, motherfucker’ is not a safeword, and will only make me want to hit you more and harder.”

  The air in the room had shifted again, back to fun and relaxed.

  Colton smiled. “Maybe that’s what I have in mind, Sir.”

  “Excellent. Then hopefully you’ll still like me when we’re finished.”

  “What would you like me to do now, Sir?”

  Rom’s evil grin made Colton’s cock throb even harder. “You can strip for me, boy.”

  Chapter Eight

  If Rom didn’t know Colton had his heart set on a scene, he’d willingly skip the beating and go right to the sex.

  Fucking.

  Gorgeous.

  The man’s body was tight, and yes, the Adonis belt was completely appropriately named on Colton. Even better, he trimmed his body hair, leaving him pleasantly short all over. And his cock.

  Oh, thank you!

  A little longer and thicker than his own, and already rigid, standing out from Colton’s body. No teeny-weeny steroid peenie on this guy.

  Colton didn’t have cuffs or a collar, so Rom grabbed what he needed from the closet, adding a ball gag and blindfold for extra measure. Then he turned to study the man and pointed at the floor again.

  Rom sucked in a sharp breath as Colton knelt without hesitation. He’d love nothing more than to grab Colton’s head and start fucking his face right now, but he needed to have patience.

  The guy deserved to have a good scene and see Rom at his most ruthless.

  Well, maybe not most ruthless. He didn’t want to scare him off.

  I’ll need to buy him his own cuffs and collar.

  Wait, what?

  Rom really didn’t want to take the time to unpack that thought at that moment, but…yeah. He could already see himself with the guy for more than just tonight.

  That was a terrifying thought, too.

  He walked over to him. “Hands up.”

  Colton looked up and met Rom’s gaze as he perfectly held his hands up in front of him, not like he was reaching for the sky for a robbery, but at the perfect height for Rom to buckle the cuffs onto his wrists.

  Jesusfuck, he was beautiful.

  Normally, Rom wasn’t a shallow or superficial kind of guy, but he didn’t usually have partners who were this damn good-looking, either.

  Then he buckled the collar around Colton’s neck. It was something he could also picture him doing far into the future, countless times.

  Rom buried his fingers in the man’s blond hair and tipped his head back again, staring down into his eyes. “Pain before pleasure,” he hoarsely said, his own cock screaming for relief. “Bench, cross, or bed? If you pick the bed, I expect you to stay in position without being restrained. If you don’t think that’s possible, then pick the bench or cross.”

  Passion burned in Colton’s eyes. “Bed, Sir.”

  Rom snapped his fingers and pointed. “Over the end of it, feet on the floor, hands flat on the mattress and head down. Put a towel down first.”

  Colton jumped up to comply.

  Rom put on music with his phone, patched into the Bluetooth speaker conveniently provided. He picked a Pandora station he loved to scene to, a mixture of heavy rock. Meanwhile, Colton patiently waited where Rom had ordered him to, bent over the end of the bed.

  Rom hadn’t opened the blindfold yet. He grabbed the bag and dropped it back in its bin in the closet.

  Fuck it, he wanted to see his boy’s eyes, the pain, the tears, the passion and pleasure. He grabbed the ball gag and buckled that on Colton before he did anything else. Absolutely, this was going to get loud.

  Very loud.

  First things first…

  Before he even unzipped his own gear bag, Rom stood behind Colton, nudging his feet farther apart with his own and grabbing his hips. Like this, Colton would be at the perfect fuckable height. Colton groaned and rocked back, grinding his ass against Rom.

  “That’s what I like to see.” Rom delivered a bare-handed slap to Colton’s right ass cheek, then the left, not too hard but wanting to gauge his true tolerance.

  Man didn’t even flinch.

  Excellent.

  He stepped it up, until he was bare-handed spanking him as hard as he could, turning the man’s ass beautiful shades of pink and red, and Colton acted eager for more.

  Rom couldn’t help it—he leaned in and bit the man’s gorgeous fucking ass, one bite on each cheek, kissing and soothing the bites with his lips after.

  This.

  Man.

  He grabbed his implement bag and started setting things out.

  We are going to have some fun tonight.

  * * * *

  Colton struggled not to hump himself against the bed. And when Rom bit him, he had to force himself not to beg for his fucking now. The rational part of his mind understood what Rom was doing—that the Dom was sizing him up, seeing how much he could take.

  Except so far, Rom had been perfect.

  Rom started off slow with the implements, quickly building up steam once he saw Colton’s tolerance for them. Floggers first, followed by straps, various paddles, and canes.

  Rom played him like an instrument, and Colton knew he could quickly grow addicted to playing with him.

  Colton fisted the sheets and arched his back, loving every bit of pain, of heat, of mind-numbing agony rolling through his body and sending him straight into subspace.

  Holy fuck.

  It was difficult for him to reach subspace. Or, it used to be. Then again, it’d been a long time since he’d played.

  Except Rom was good. Really good. Colton suspected Rom would never have trouble helping him achieve subspace. Not if he was this good and barely knew him. He could only imagine how good he’d be once he got to know Colton’s body and mind better.

  I hope he’ll want to keep playing with me.

  Colton lost all track of time as Rom worked over his back, his ass, the backs of his thighs. At one point, Rom stretched out next to him on the bed, hooked his arm under Colton’s head and fisted his hair, drawing him close to kiss him around the ball gag. But Colton kept his hands in position, where he’d started, unwilling to disobey Rom unless he ordered Colton to move.

  As Rom kissed him, Colton felt Rom’s other hand on his ass. Then he delivered another series of bare-handed impacts that had Colton moaning around the ball gag.

  “Mmm-hmm,” Rom whispered. “That’s what I want to hear. Is my boy ready for his reward?”

  Colton tried to nuzzle his face against Rom’s, but Rom’s fist in his hair held him immobile. “Yeth, Thir,” he mumbled around the gag.

  Rom’s tongue lightly traced Colton’s lips. “Going to have to get you your own ball gag,” he whispered. “Because that’s sexy as fuck.”

  Colton whined, wishing he could kiss the man, suck his cock.

  Beg him to never stop doing this with him.

  Rom finally unfastened the ball gag and removed it from him. Then he pulled Colton in for another kiss, slanting their lips together and devouring each other.

  Oh, fucking yeah!

  The guy was a damned good kisser, too.

  “You can move now, boy,” he murmured against Colton’s lips. “And A+ for not moving before I told you to. That was impressive.” Rom rolled onto his back.

  Colton climbed on top of him, straddling him, kissing him. “Please, Sir,” he begged between kisses.

  Rom’s hands settled on his hips and squeezed. “Someone’s eager.”

  “Someone’s desperately horny, Sir.”

  He felt Rom toe off his sneakers. “Then get me naked and let me feel that mouth of yours on my cock to convince me to let you ride me.”

  Colton’s hands were trembling, he was so eager to please this man. He managed to unbutton Rom’s shirt without ripping the buttons clean off. Yep, his guess was right—the guy was fucking gorgeous under his clothes, lean planes of muscle that he wanted to lick and trace with his tongue.

  Mostly, he was eager to get Rom’s cock in his mouth. He worked his way down to his jeans and managed to get them unfastened. Rom’s hands settled on his head as he fished his cock out and swallowed him to the root, both of them moaning over it.

  * * * *

  Fuck!

  Rom wasn’t sure he might not explode from the sizzling perfection of Colton’s mouth around his cock. “Easy,” he hissed. “I don’t want to go off too soon.”

  He lifted his head to find Colton watching him even as he went down on Rom, and it was beyond fucking sexy.

  He was perfect.

  Don’t think that right now. It’s too damn soon.

  But it sure felt perfect.

  There was the benefit that Kent had introduced them, although Rom didn’t know Kent beyond servicing his bank accounts.

  Although Colton was welcomed to service Rom however he damn well wanted, at this rate.

  “Grab a condom,” Rom said. He patted Colton on the head to get him to let go, and sat up so he could shrug off his shirt.

  Colton still wore a sweetly glazed look in his eyes when Rom pointed to where he’d grabbed condoms and lube from his bag and left them on the nightstand.

  He stood and finished stripping, then shoved Colton back onto the bed. “On second thought, I want to fuck you like this for the first time.” He wanted his cock buried inside the man, right now.

  Colton lubed himself while Rom rolled the condom on, then knelt between the larger man’s thighs. Colton held his legs spread wide and pulled back while Rom nudged into position.

  “How you want it, baby?”

  “Hard, Sir. I’m more than ready.”

  Rom kept his gaze fixed on Colton’s as he slammed home, something good inside him twisting a little tighter at the sexy way Colton bit down on his lower lip at the intrusion.

  He pulled Colton’s legs around his waist and braced his hands by his head, leaning in to kiss him. “Give me a minute,” Rom gasped. “You feel so fucking good.”

  Colton’s hands roamed everywhere, down Rom’s back, in his hair, playing with Rom’s nipples, his own nipples, nonstop exploration. Meanwhile, his ass, that gorgeous fucking delicacy with the matching Adonis belt to go with it, was grabbing at Rom’s cock in a way that threatened to make him go off right there.

  He stared down into Colton’s eyes. “I promise if I blow too soon we’ll have a round two of this as soon as I recover.”

  Colton grinned. “I was hoping for at least a round three, Sir.”

  “You okay with spending the whole night here?”

  He draped his arms around Rom’s neck. “I was hoping we could, Sir.”

  “Okay, so yeah, that’s a rule now. You call me Sir. I did warn you.”

  Colton pulled him in for a kiss. “Yes, Sir.”

  “Fuck!” Rom started fucking him, unable to hold back. “I need this one, buddy, sorry.” He rode him hard, feeling the man’s rigid cock rubbing between them. Every perfect fantasy he’d ever had made real, into flesh and blood, and now he was the lucky bastard pounding his cock into him.

  The climax hit him hard and fast and he didn’t even try to hold back as his eyes fell closed. He already knew he’d be able to get it up again soon enough, and could pass that time going down on Colton.

  By the time he finished and fell still, trying to catch his breath, he dared risking a look and spotted Colton’s playful smile.

  “What?”

  “Glad to know I’m not the only one tonight’s had an effect on, Sir.”

  “Got that fucking right.” Rom kissed him, then pulled out to go clean up in the bathroom. “Don’t move.”

  When he returned, Colton was in the same position, and Rom climbed up onto the bed. “Okay, your turn. No permission needed—tonight.”

  He bent his head to Colton’s cock, wrapped his fingers around the base, and slowly swirled his tongue along the head. The raw, pure lust in the deep moan that rolled from the man already had Rom’s cock twitching again with renewed interest.

  It didn’t take him long to get the man over, and yes, he swallowed. Because Rom was hoping they’d be doing this a lot, exclusively, for a long, long time.

  Like hell would he miss out on this experience with him.

  He glanced up as Colton’s cock erupted and found his helpless, needy O face the sexiest thing he’d ever seen in his life.

  Yeah, going to repeat this again as soon as possible.

  Just because he was a Top didn’t mean he didn’t like going down on a guy.

  But now that they’d both sated their immediate needs, Rom crawled up the bed and kissed him, loving how Colton clung to him, wrapped himself around him. Rom rolled to his side, taking the other man with him.

  “How was that for a warm-up?” Rom joked.

  Colton’s laughter sounded even sexier than his moans. “That was fucking fantastic, Sir. I hope you keep the beard—that was amazing.”

  Rom rubbed his face in Colton’s hair, loving the texture of it, a little coarser than his own but shorter than his, too. “It’s a work in progress.”

  * * * *

  Colton tipped his head back to study him. “I don’t want to freak you out, but can we get together and go out this week? And next weekend? And…can I just call dibs on you, for now?”

  “Yes, but we’re not done getting together tonight yet. You don’t have to share me with anyone except my brother and sister-in-law… and I just realized how creepy and wrong that sounded while I said it. Sorry.”

  Colton laughed. “I knew what you meant, but thanks for the clarification.” He finally noticed the bracelet on Rom’s right wrist. “What’s that?”

  “Oh, allergy alert. Peanuts. No peanut butter, no peanut oil—nothing. So please don’t eat a PB&J before you kiss me.”

  “How allergic?”

  “That bulge you’ll usually feel in the pocket of my slacks might be that I’m happy to see you, but is also probably my EpiPen.”

  “Yikes.”