Bad Behavior Read online

  The brow arch was a mixture of amusement and disbelief. “Toluaotai. But most people stick to Tai.”

  “And most people call me Beach.”

  Tai stared at the knotty and thick scar on Beach’s shin.

  “I assure you, I’ve had worse.” Beach rubbed at the thinner, raised line on his scalp, under the too-short hair. At least he didn’t remember much about that. Comas were good for something. “The time I took a fence without my mount stands out. Lucky for me it was only my collarbone and not my neck.”

  Tai shook his head as if disgusted. “You need a keeper more than a Dom.”

  “I have one.” Beach smiled and pointed to the ankle bracelet. “And apparently yet another new probation officer. Which leaves the other position… available.”

  With something that might have been a laugh, Tai slid down the wall to sit next to Beach. “What do you expect from this?”

  Beach turned on all the self-deprecating charm at his disposal, which he had to confess was substantial. It hadn’t let him down so far in life. “I’m afraid that’s where my bravado ends. I throw myself on the mercy of your greater experience.”

  “Well, being a Dom doesn’t give me mind-reading skills. Only knowledge of what I like.”

  “That’s what I want.” Beach pounced on that. It was the whole point, right? “I want to do what you like. It—I didn’t expect to feel like this. In fact, it was one hell of a surprise. But I want to do that—give you what you like.”

  “You don’t know what that is. You—Damn it, David, you can’t just go offering yourself to random guys. You need to make sure it’s going to be safe.”

  “I trust you.”

  “And you’re right back to lying.”

  “No.” So sometimes Beach was good at bending the truth into the shape that suited the occasion, but this wasn’t a lie. He was sure of that.

  “Get dressed. And get out.”

  “Please.” Like many of Beach’s reactions around this man, his cry surprised him. So did the raw feeling in it. Not like his usual voice at all. “Please don’t cut me off from this.” He stared down at his carpet-reddened knees. “I—Nothing has ever felt so… real before, so much a part of me brought to life. It scares me how much I find myself—I don’t know that I could trust someone else with it.”

  Eli had told Beach to be direct about what he wanted. But Eli hadn’t mentioned how horrible it could feel to have your soul exposed like that. Far more naked than skin, everything Beach kept hidden about himself lay wailing and exposed like an abandoned infant. At any moment Tai would shovel the quivering mess right out the door.

  Instead Tai put both hands behind his neck and laced his fingers, letting out an explosive breath. “Put your pants on and come sit on the couch. We need to talk.”

  Since Beach hoped he wouldn’t be back in his trousers for long, he skipped the briefs. The television was muted, some explosion-heavy action movie making flashes across Tai’s face and bare arms. In contrast with the lighted hall, this part of the apartment was gloomy. Twilight couldn’t compete with the tilted blinds.

  After Beach sank into the opposite corner of the sofa, Tai started. From the ominous need to talk pronouncement, Beach was expecting a struggle, but he didn’t know it would take the wind out of him so much when Tai started with, “This—us—this can’t happen.”

  Slapping on a smile to cover the hollowness, Beach countered, “But you aren’t my probation officer anymore.”

  “No, but you’re still in county court custody, and I’m an officer of the court. Just you being here like this, now, I could lose my job. Hell, I’d fire me if I knew.”

  Beach looked down at his knees, picking at the still-sharp crease in his khakis. They really did deliver on their stain-wrinkle-resistant promise. He glanced up to deliver his apology. “I am truly ashamed of my earlier audacity. I’m afraid I’ve been known to react rather badly to limits.”

  In the light of a fresh explosion, Tai’s eyebrows came to a peak on his forehead. “And yet?”

  “Imagine my surprise,” Beach agreed dryly.

  “Why me?”

  The orange flashes from the television made Tai appear firelit. Black hair, black eyes, unyielding jaw, broad nose and cheeks. His lips were full, but right now they held a tight line. Not the classically handsome prep-school type, but dead sexy. Beach hadn’t known he wanted a man who looked like he could snap him in two until he met Tai.

  “Why not?” Beach knew exactly how to inject a purr of appreciation in his voice.

  “I’m not fishing for compliments. I want to know.”

  “Toluaotai.” Beach was a pretty good mimic. He bet he had the inflection right. Glottal stops and all.

  “Close enough,” Tai agreed.

  “What does it mean? I mean, David is beloved, if you can believe that. Aiken was my grandmother’s maiden name; we’re from Aiken too. And Beauchamp is French for—”

  Tai’s hand landed on Beach’s knee and squeezed. “David, focus. And answer my question.”

  All the static went away for an instant, and Beach was nothing but the heat of the palm on his knee. Didn’t need to be or do or think about anything but this.

  “Because of that.” He looked directly into those dark eyes under slashed brows and, with all the sincerity he possessed, tried to explain. “Because you do that, and I want to give you exactly what you asked for. I’m not saying you’re not hot. You are. But I don’t do this. I don’t chase lovers for do-overs. You’re not the first man who’s ever been take-charge in bed, but you’re the first one who’s ever made me feel like this.”

  It wasn’t because of what Eli had told him to do. Or because he was playing some role.

  Beach went to his knees at Tai’s feet because something in him had to be there.

  Beach had thought he was nervous before, in the hall, exposed and waiting, but this was far worse. That could have been dismissed as a game, an experiment, curiosity. But now there was no arrogance or bravado in him. He needed Tai to understand more than Beach had ever needed anything in his life. And until that moment, everything was paralyzed. Lungs, heart, blood, nothing worked. His chest locked in a frozen burn.

  Then Tai let out a breath and put his hand on Beach’s head, and everything was going to be okay again. His breath came back in a shaky rush.

  Tai’s hand sifted through Beach’s hair. “Okay, David. But we still need to talk about some things.”

  “I wouldn’t tell anyone, of course.” Beach tried not to think of how many people he’d already involved in his little quest. If Gavin knew something, chances were Jamie did. There was Eli, which meant his boyfriend Quinn. And possibly the other two, Nate and Kellan. But they only knew Beach was looking. Not who he was looking for.

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  Beach’s mind strayed to the things Eli had talked about. “Oh. I understand that punishment might come up in this.”

  “Yes. It can be playful.”

  Beach had heard that from Eli but still doubted it.

  “When it’s not, it’s uncomfortable, but it’s part of the dynamic,” Tai continued. “And something tells me that with you, it’s going to be a really necessary part of the dynamic.”

  “And this punishment is… corporal.” Beach had bared his soul to this man and yet tripped over the word spanking.

  “Not always, but it can be. Is that something you don’t want to do?”

  “I’m afraid of pain,” Beach confessed.

  Tai’s fingers were still drifting through Beach’s hair. They paused, and a rough pad moved carefully over the thin scar on his scalp. “Yet you do all these crazy stunts that have seriously painful outcomes.”

  “A natural consequence is one thing. But to let someone hurt me on purpose, I don’t know if I can.”

  Tai cupped Beach’s chin. When Tai spoke gently, his deep voice buzzed in his throat like part of it was trapped there. “You realize we’re not talking about anything permanent or scarri
ng. I was only thinking of spanking you.”

  Beach felt his cheeks—both sets—heat up like fresh sunburn. He nodded.

  “A consequence shouldn’t be something you like. Especially if it keeps you out of the kind of trouble you get into. But I tell you what. We’ll do different things. I won’t spank you unless you ask me for it.”

  Since Beach was positive that would never happen, he was happy to agree.

  “Good. Now get up here and kiss me.”

  Beach considered himself to be an average-sized man. Clothes were easy enough to come by, even if he bought them off the rack, a standard size. But as Tai pulled Beach onto his lap, he felt Eli-sized and more aware of what Tai’s dominance brought out in Beach than when on his knees. An improbable wave of shyness put a light tremble in his hand as he put a palm on Tai’s face.

  Leaning in for the kiss, Beach realized he was out of his element in more ways than one. Kissing was a means to an end. Necessary and fun with women. With men it was usually an accompaniment to the hard slam of bodies, the rough urgency spilling into groans pushed into each other’s mouths with tongues.

  But Beach was always up for a challenge. He held Tai with both hands and put their lips together.

  Soft-hard flesh and the silky prickle of Tai’s goatee greeted Beach’s effort. He waited, then drew back.

  “I told you to kiss me,” Tai said.

  Beach had thought the point of being with Tai was that Beach could take orders and coast on the feelings, but all right, he could manage that much. He parted his lips and pressed in again, teasing sensation with a flick of his tongue, like he would do if he were trying to seal the deal with a woman as they stood outside her door.

  There wasn’t much reaction. Beach held Tai’s face more firmly, tilting it to be able to get in closer, and kissed him, forgetting about anything but how he wanted to make Tai feel, respond. Beach had to know he’d gotten it right. No calculation, pure hunger and need.

  Tai’s hand came up to hold the back of Beach’s head, and Tai kissed him back. Relief was almost as sweet as an orgasm. Tai shared his mouth, his tongue, texture and taste. That sent a hot jolt to Beach’s dick, an explosion of bass under his diaphragm. He drew away for breath and realized the explosion was only the start of the fireworks down in the harbor.

  “The earth moved for you too, huh?” Tai smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

  Beach put a hand on his chest. “I was breathless.”

  With a snort of laughter, Tai dragged them both into a more horizontal position. “Not yet, but you’re going to be.”

  Holding Beach’s head, Tai took the kiss from Beach. Not with the subtle give-and-take they’d been doing, but with a full assault of mouth and tongue. He was right. Beach couldn’t breathe. Oxygen was overrated when a man was this focused on him, was pinning him with a hand at his neck and ass, forcing sensation into his body, building the tension with the dry hump of their hips together.

  Beach let it all go, let Tai shift him, hold him, kiss him in whatever way suited making out on the couch, because Beach had no doubt about how this was going to end. His dick already associated the sounds from Tai’s throat with very good things. The dizzying pulse of lust promised an epically memorable orgasm. Though the dizzy part could be from the loss of oxygen. Right when the pressure in Beach’s lungs got unpleasant, Tai released him.

  “Take your pants off again and kneel for me, David.”

  He would have resented the interruption if it wasn’t for the lurch of excitement in his gut. This was what he’d come here for. Not only the sex but the rush that came from Tai telling him what to do.

  “Good boy.” Tai ran a thumb over Beach’s mouth. “Stay right there.”

  His footsteps moved away behind Beach. There was a lot of this Beach liked, but the next time they had a conversation, he was going to point out how goddamned boring the waiting bits were.

  JEZ LIFTED her head and huffed when Tai came into the bedroom. She was growing used to the harbor fireworks; the city found dozens of reasons to set them off between May and September. As a rapid-fire splatter of shots echoed off the humid air, she twitched her ears and settled back down, eyes still watchful.

  “It’s okay, Jez.”

  She gave him a look out of what his mom had called “high eyes.” Tai had no trouble reading Jez’s opinion of things. Sez you.

  It was okay. Everything his gut had told him about David Beauchamp’s hunger to surrender control had been true. The guy wasn’t polished like a playmate Tai might find at Nic’s, but Tai liked the rough edges; he liked the idea of shaping them to please him. Of knowing he had been the one to make David discover that need, that it was Tai David knelt for.

  Tai opened his bottom dresser drawer and pulled out a set of cuffs and a link, then had to stop and press on his swelling dick with a firm palm. His head was suffering from serious lack of blood, and that was no way to start a scene. The idea of learning how to push David up to his limits until the power took them both to heaven made Tai feel like he was carrying a Taser charge in his blood. Like he was the novice, hyped up on adrenaline. He needed to get control of himself.

  The gauntlets were a gift from Nic, butter-smooth dark brown leather, laced through brass gussets for an exact fit, with a zipper to make them quick to get on or off. Once Tai had found that place where the Dom came from, he’d never needed any help accessing it, but Nic had explained they weren’t for that. Tai didn’t need a leather vest or chaps to make things clear. The compression on his wrists was there as a reminder to keep something leashed. To remind him that it was an exchange—as the sub gave up the power, Tai’s job was to control it inside their secure boundaries.

  He could hear his mentor’s advice. The sub always runs the show, but the fun and the skill lies in making both of you forget that. He’d need all the help he could get, remembering that with David. His combination of submission and stubbornness pulled on Tai’s need to protect and control like the moon on the tide.

  In the living room, David hadn’t moved at all from where he knelt near the couch. “Good boy.” Tai put a hand under David’s chin to lift his head.

  David’s gaze lingered on the gauntlets before zeroing in on the cuffs Tai held.

  “Um.” David’s tongue darted out to flick over his lips. “I heard something about a safeword.”

  “Do you have one in mind?”

  “SOS?” David offered with a nervous laugh.

  “Do you think that will spring easily to mind if you panic? Be easy to say?”

  David shook his head.

  “Let’s start with something simple. Red, like a stoplight. You do stop at stoplights?”

  That model-perfect smile lit up David’s face. “Only if there’s a good reason.”

  Tai’s fingers locked on his jaw. “Well, I will stop. No matter what the reason. You understand that?”

  David nodded as much as the grip allowed.

  “And if your mouth is otherwise occupied”—Tai grinned—“you tap or poke me three times.”

  “Dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot?” All the fear had vanished from David’s eyes, leaving nothing but a bratty gleam. This was going to be fun.

  Tai squatted down. “Boy, you better practice your Morse code, because I think your mouth is going to be occupied a lot. Give me your hands.”

  David lifted them from his thighs. Tai buckled on the cuffs and checked the fit.

  “You law-enforcement types do like your restraints.”

  Tai wrapped some of David’s hair in his fingers and dragged him into a hard kiss, ignoring David’s efforts to kiss back or even to open his mouth to let Tai kiss him. He kept it rough, moving his head to leave the skin around David’s mouth sensitive and swollen from pressure.

  When Tai released him, David licked his lips again, but he didn’t shift from his kneeling position. As Tai watched, David’s cock swelled from firm to hard, offering definite approval of the rough treatment. Tai clipped the cuffs together
and rose to stand.

  David raised his hands and tugged once before lowering them to his thighs.

  “How does that feel?” Tai studied David’s face.

  “Okay.”

  “I mean on the inside.”

  The smile was quick, almost apologetic. “Like when I’m fishing and I’ve hooked something big and I’m excited, but at the same time hoping it doesn’t turn out to be something big enough to hurt me.”

  “Good.” Tai unzipped his cargo shorts and pulled his cock through, giving it a few strokes as David watched, eyes widening. “I think you said something about a blow job. Your treat.”

  David pushed up on his knees. “That’s quite a treat. I’m a bit stunned I got that up my ass without poppers.”

  “The flattery is stalling. Open up.”

  David raised his cuffed hands, and Tai moved his hips back. “I don’t want a hand job. Just your mouth, David.”

  His eyes had been glowing an unearthly blue in the light from the TV. Now they shifted, showing his hesitation in a quick dart to the left before they lowered, dimming the reflected light. Despite his nerves, David obediently opened his mouth and leaned forward.

  For the first minute, Tai let him work, savoring the wet heat of a mouth engulfing the head, the tonguing kisses down the shaft, then back up, diligent attention to the spot under the ridge where focus did the most good. When David opened his mouth wide, Tai pushed forward, driving against David’s hard palate, enjoying the friction and the convulsive pressure of a frantic swallow.

  After easing back until David’s lips sealed around the rim, Tai drove in deeper, not stopping until he hit the back of David’s throat, ready with hands on David’s head when he tried to back off. He pushed deeper, first feeling, then hearing the sputter and gasp. When David struggled to free his head, Tai kept him there for another choking gasp and then released him.