He didn’t even seem to question where we were heading, but I wanted to make sure he understood the plan. “I would like you to sleep in here with me, but if you would prefer, I can get you settled into the guest room.”

  Asa blinked several times, staring up at me like the words were slow to process. “I can sleep with you?”

  I was pretty sure he’d had more than a few dirty fantasies about being caged under the bed or something like that, but he wasn’t awake enough to be teased so I handled it seriously. “Yes. Is that what you want?”

  Nodding, he curled into me. “Yes, Master.”

  With that decided, I kissed his head and nudged him toward the bathroom. “If you want privacy, take it now.”

  He was awake enough to giggle at the implications and nodded as he pulled away. “Thank you, Master.”

  “You’re welcome. There are toothbrushes in the top drawer of the sink.” I couldn’t think of anything else he’d need for the time being.

  As he went into the bathroom and closed the door, I looked at the bed and tried to decide how I wanted to handle things. Making sure he felt owned and wanted was my primary goal. However, figuring out the best way to accomplish that wasn’t always easy.

  “That might work.” Heading over to the closet, I picked out a soft, lined cuff that would fit around Asa’s ankle and dug through the few odds and ends I had aside from the new things I’d ordered for Asa. I’d never been one to randomly bring home guys, so I only had a few things, but the leash would be perfect.

  It’d actually been something of a gag gift that I’d changed my mind about giving, so it’d never been used. It still wasn’t a toy I could see using on Asa in a regular scene, but as a punishment for a whiny brat, it could be interesting.

  I had the leash looped around the end of the bed with the cuff attached and slid up neatly under the sheets by the time Asa came out of the bathroom. He looked more awake, but his brain was still half-asleep because it took him entirely too long to notice the restraint.

  “Come here. This is going to be your side of the bed.” If he had any worries about the cuff, I didn’t see it on his face. I just got a sleepy smile and a content look as he crawled in bed. “Good boy.”

  Wrapping the cuff around his right ankle, I made sure it wasn’t cutting off his circulation. Without a lock it was more of a mental restraint than a physical one, but the way he relaxed into the bed and gave the leash a gentle tug before settling in completely made his feelings clear. “Thank you, Master.”

  Giving him a kiss, I smiled and covered him with the sheet on the bed. “Close your eyes. I’ll be right back. I’m going to get a quick shower.”

  I could see him trying to force himself to stay awake, so I chuckled. “You won’t last five minutes. That’s fine. But the rule is that if you need to get up in the middle of the night for anything, you need to wake me. I will be the one to release you. Is that clear?”

  Asa gave me a faint nod that he probably thought was firmer than it really was. “Yes, Master.”

  “If you’re ready to get up before me, you need to wake me up before you get out of bed.” I gave his still half-hard dick a pat. “Even if it’s just to piss. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, Master.” The fact that he didn’t even seem embarrassed showed how little his brain was working.

  With his exhaustion coming through in every word, I kissed his head again. “Close your eyes and I’ll be right back.”

  He obeyed, but before I could step away from the bed, his hand reached out and stroked my arm. “Master?”

  The sleepy word was quiet and made it clear how close he was to sleep. “Yes, baby?”

  That got me a faint smile before his face relaxed again. “I did a good job? Cleaning and dinner and…there’s something else…but yes…everything?”

  Sitting down beside him on the bed, I stroked his head. “You did a wonderful job.”

  Sensing his need to unload his thoughts as he drifted off, I kept up the gentle touch. “What did you think about being my cockwarmer?”

  The sweet sigh that escaped gave me his answer, but the words came eventually. “That’s the word. It made me feel wonderfully drifty. And peaceful. Special. Is that weird?”

  Kissing his head again, I gently caressed his forehead in a slow rhythmic pattern back and forth. I had a vague memory of someone stroking my head the same way before I’d gone into foster care.

  “No, I think it makes perfect sense. I’m glad you liked it because I loved having you at my feet like that.” Continuing the gentle touch, I kept going. “You looked relaxed and peaceful, and I kept thinking how perfect it was to end the day with you like that.”

  I got another ghost of a smile and his fingers twitched on my arm like he thought he was petting me. “And the sucking? It wasn’t like a…a regular thing…”

  “A regular blow job?” I had to smile.

  When he nodded, I kissed his head again. “That was slow and perfect for how relaxed we both were. You did a very good job as a cockwarmer and as my slave.”

  That had some of the last of his strength fading as pleasure seemed to flood through him. “I was a good slave?”

  “Oh yes.” Continuing the caress that seemed to be easing him to sleep, I decided to see what he would say when he was right on the edge of unconsciousness. “What did you think about being my slave? Do you like being my slave boy?”

  That got me a faint nod but words were slower to come. “Yes…dream and so long…just right…”

  The words came in stops and starts, randomly dropped like he’d kept the rest of the sentences in his head. “Good…Master…”

  Since the words seemed to indicate that at the very least he’d dreamed about it and it’d lived up to his expectations, I smiled and let him finally drift away.

  When his limbs were heavy and he was taking slow deep breaths, I moved his hand to the bed and finally stood up. It took me a few moments to move away. There was just something about how innocent he looked that brought back the visual of him kneeling for me at dinner.

  It was an image I knew I’d never forget.

  Chapter 17

  Asa

  “How soon is too soon to move in together?” Getting to the end of Dr. Sheppard’s office, I turned and started to go the other direction back toward the desk.

  He really needed a longer office.

  I could see his lips quirk in a faint smile as he looked over toward his calendar. “Anything before two and a half weeks after a couple first starts taking their relationship seriously would be too soon, obviously. But after that should be fine.”

  “That’s what I was thinking.” Beaming, I reached his desk and turned around again. “What do you think Stuart would say? I’m thinking of telling him I want to spend more time with him than just the weekend and then dropping hints about how much better off I would be financially and health-wise if he watched over me all the time.”

  Spinning, I started pacing back toward his desk. “Do you think that would work? I thought about seeing how much I could just keep staying there and then slowly moving in. I think it would take him a while before he actually asked what I was doing, but that could work.”

  Dr. Sheppard started coughing, but it was so fake I rolled my eyes. When he caught his breath, he pointed to the chair I’d started off in. “Sit down, Asa.”

  Sighing, I did as he asked.

  When I was situated, he smiled. “Why don’t you just tell him how you’re feeling and ask how he feels about living together?”

  “You don’t think it’s too soon?” As he shook his head, I felt my shoulders start to lower and it became easier to sit straight. I hadn’t realized how tense I was until I’d seen his reaction.

  “Not for you, no.” Dr. Sheppard relaxed back in his chair, a good reminder that my pacing sometimes made him a tad bit anxious. Not that he’d ever point that out.

  He was too polite.

  “Do you think it’s too soon for Stuart? Not too soon for me implies that it would be too soon for other people.” That seemed to be an understatement, so I clarified. “Probably most people. But I don’t think it would be too much for Stuart.”

  Hopefully?

  “He likes having me over and he really likes controlling me.” Another understatement, but Dr. Sheppard knew that, so I kept going. “I think he even bought me a collar, or maybe it’s something really kinky because he was grinning like a kid at Christmas the other day and he wouldn’t tell me why he was so pleased with himself.”

  Just remembering it had me wiggling in my seat. “He wouldn’t tell me. He just kept saying that he’d tell me when I was ready.”

  My snort made Dr. Sheppard laugh.

  “I was ready, and he damned well knew it. He’s just not ready. But does not ready to give me my present mean that he’s not ready for me to move in?” Having a Master was a lot more work than I’d imagined, but it was worth it.

  Especially when I got cuddles or I got to be his cockwarmer at dinner.

  Those were the important things to focus on, not timelines and the fact that he was dawdling.

  “Possibly. But tell me more about why you think he might not want you to move in.” Dr. Sheppard’s face was neutral enough that I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

  “Well.” I shifted in my seat but stayed put and managed not to wander around. “Technically two weeks isn’t really a long time in just about any relationship. Even though it feels like forever, and BDSM relationships move faster, it might not be completely reasonable.”

  I hated having to say that—but it was technically true, so I had to.

  “What else?” Dr. Sheppard managed not to laugh when I sighed.

  “He worries about being too controlling even though we’ve discussed limits.” That made me wince. “He had a lot of exes and even just people from the club give him shit for needing more control than they liked.”

  Which was just ridiculous.

  People needed to learn to be more flexible in life.

  “So he worries.” I spoke up again before Dr. Sheppard could respond. “But we’re communicating, and both our needs are being met.”

  He grinned. “I’m glad to hear that.”

  “I don’t think I’m being too pushy, if that’s what you were thinking.” I shrugged when his grin widened. “Okay, I’m pushy, but he likes that about me, and I don’t see the point in waiting forever if he’s the right person for me and I make him happy.”

  “I can understand that.” He glanced over at the clock and frowned. “Alright, you have to go or you’re going to be late for dinner.”

  I’d explained when I’d first walked in that I had to leave early today because I was having dinner with Stuart and all his friends. If he lived closer to Stuart’s friends it would’ve been fine, but he had to live forever away from real civilization, and the drive back to Stuart’s house so we could head over together wasn’t short either.

  “One last question. What do you think I’m going to tell you to do?” He smiled as I sighed, rising to leave.

  “Talk to Master?” I wanted to flop back in the chair and be dramatic, but I didn’t have time for that.

  “Yes.” He beamed like I was his pupil.

  The man really should’ve been a teacher.

  “Alright.” Not that I was going to enjoy the discussion.

  Walking me to his door, Dr. Sheppard stopped just before opening it. “Logically, what do you think is the worst consequence that might come from the discussion?”

  “The worst?” I had to think for a moment. “That I’m kind of clingy and…maybe that I want more than he’s giving me right now? I don’t want him to think he’s not being a good Master.”

  That would suck.

  “Then maybe the best way to prevent that might be to explain how you’re feeling and see what he can come up with to help?” His answer might have made me sigh again. “It’ll give you a chance to see what he’s thinking and where he’s at. Then talk about living together when you have more details.”

  As I nodded, he grinned. “And don’t skip that last step.”

  It was my turn to grin. “Would I do that?”

  He scoffed. “Brat.”

  If everyone wanted me to think that was a bad thing, they needed to stop smiling when they said it.

  Heading out the door, I thought about what he’d said as I waved to the college student who was working with Dr. Sheppard. He was kind of quiet, but not in a he’s weird kind of way. It was more like Dr. Sheppard when he was relaxed.

  I kept telling myself one day I’d say more than just hi because Dr. Sheppard kept saying that I would like the guy and that I needed more friends, but I could honestly say I didn’t have enough time today. The drive up to the house was going to take a while, and if I was late, Stuart would worry.

  He hadn’t been a fan of agreeing to dinner when I had my appointment, but the rest of the guys had such odd schedules that this was the best night for everyone. Stuart and Warner had wanted to get together on Friday before everyone met at the club, but for some reason that hadn’t worked.

  I missed most of the story because I’d been focusing on keeping Master’s cock warm while he’d been on the phone, but he’d said something about Niall and Julian both being dicks.

  I was assuming that meant they’d had other plans or hadn’t liked Friday, but I’d missed out on the details. Floating was much better than gossip any day, and I’d helped Master relax after the call, so he hadn’t been worried about the details later.

  As much as I wanted to think about fun parts of the last few weeks or even dinner with Master’s friends, the rest of my trip was filled with thoughts about what Dr. Sheppard had said and how I should talk to Stuart.

  It didn’t take long to come to the conclusion that I’d rather write lines.

  ****

  “You know, kiddo. I don’t think this behavior is going to help you make friends.” Stuart’s teasing, quietly whispered words had me fighting to hold back a smile. “Looking stoic won’t help you win friends and influence people.”

  I scoffed…quietly, of course.

  “That book was not as helpful as everyone made it out to be.” My quiet response had Stuart chuckling which made every head at the table turn in our direction.

  Even without Julian and Niall, it was still enough people to make me feel self-conscious, so I clammed up again.

  I knew it wasn’t exactly what Stuart had been going for, but I just couldn’t help it. Trying to get to know people always ended up going badly or just awkwardly, and I didn’t want either of those to happen with Stuart’s friends.

  Thankfully Master knew I wasn’t exactly comfortable being the center of attention, so he turned to Warner who was sitting on his other side and grinned. “Ordered any pizza lately?”

  The teasing question had everyone laughing and turning to give the laid-back-looking Dom a hard time. He took the teasing in stride and pulled the attention to himself.

  Probably a very deliberate action, which I appreciated.

  “I’m going to have to start going through the phone book. I can’t have Italian anymore. She’s starting to throw more relatives my way and I got a note with someone’s phone number on Friday.” He grinned wider as the laughter got louder. “I’m open to suggestions.”

  “My suggestion was to grow a pair and just ask the pizza boy out.” Stuart chuckled as Warner gave him a teasing punch on the arm, encouraging the raucous behavior.

  I was content to watch because I thought they were entertaining, but Landon seemed to think I needed a friend or maybe just company. For some reason he was seated on my right, so he just had to lean over and drop his voice to keep his comment private. “I never expected Doms to get nervous about asking someone out. What about you?”

  The question wasn’t bad, even though his Dom had probably been the one to push him to talk to me.

  Keeping my voice just as low, I nodded and managed a somewhat intelligent response. “I thought the confidence they radiate would have been more consistent, but it seems that when their emotions are involved that confidence wavers more than I would have assumed.”

  Landon gave me a curious look which had me wondering if I’d said something odd, but then he nodded and something in his expression made me relax. “I hadn’t thought about it that way, but you might be right.”

  Of course I was right.

  But I kept that to myself.

  “Was it that way with your Dom?”

  Wait. Was that rude?

  “Ignore that question if it’s inappropriate.” Before I could find a way to apologize or decide if I needed to, Landon shrugged.

  “I’m okay with answering questions. I’m not sure about the social rules for that kind of stuff, though.” When I nodded and tried to look more relaxed, he answered my question. “I was so…confused, I guess, when I first came to the club that he had to take control and be confident. So we were a bit different, I think.”

  “That makes sense.”

  I was trying to decide what to say next when he took that decision out of my hands. “What about you guys? Or should I not ask?”

  That was a very good question…both of them.

  Stuart had never seemed like the overly sharing type, but he also wasn’t embarrassed by our relationship, so I didn’t know how to answer. When my silence started to make Landon nervous, I had to try to say something or risk him being offended.

  And since that was not what Stuart wanted from me tonight, I made an attempt.

  “Our case is a bit unusual because he knew me when I was young.” Dropping my voice quieter, I ignored the quick glances we were getting from around the table. “I think he’s worried about making the wrong decision more than his emotions affecting his confidence.”

  Before I could decide how to ask him to keep that to himself, he smiled and seemed to open up a bit. “I don’t know about that. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. But don’t worry, I won’t say anything to anyone.”

  He glanced around and I could still see a sparkle in his eyes. “I don’t really know any of them well enough to share anyway.”

 

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