Bad Behavior Read online

  “No, Sir.”

  He snapped off the cuff and held it under David’s nose. David looked at him and blinked.

  “Did you jerk off?”

  Despite a guilty grimace, David tried to wriggle off. “Not exactly.”

  Tai leaned back. “Spontaneous combustion?”

  David shook his head.

  “So?”

  “I was having a dream. And in the dream, I was close, and then I woke up and—” When David tried to tell the rest of the story to his toes, Tai grabbed his chin and forced him to look up. “And I humped into my hand. Does that count?” David finished.

  “What do you think?”

  David grinned. “There’s not really a right answer for that, is there?”

  “The answer is ‘Yes, Sir.’” He let go of David’s chin.

  David swallowed. “So—uh—what happens now?”

  He was pushing. No question about it. Tai hadn’t ever met anyone who was more in need of consequences. But unlike most subs, David didn’t understand that need in himself, and it wasn’t part of the power exchange that turned him on. Yet.

  “I gave you an order. You disobeyed me.” Tai pulled David’s other arm up and unsnapped the cuff.

  David looked down at his wrists and then encircled his left one with his fingers. “I did plan to replace them. After.”

  “That’s not what this is about.” Tai slapped the cuffs against his palm. David watched, face set with a square jaw. “You can’t buy off a consequence with me.”

  David reared back. “I didn’t—”

  Tai put his thumb over David’s lips. “Don’t interrupt me. If I ask you a question, you can answer.” With David’s nod, Tai lowered his hand. “You had a taste of this. Enough to know if you like it. Do you want to keep going?”

  David’s face became animated. “Absolutely. I—” He took a deep breath. “Yes, Sir.”

  “Okay. Then part of it is accepting punishment. Take off your shoes.”

  “What are—?” David stopped on his own.

  “Go ahead.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I promised you I won’t spank you unless you ask me to. You’re going to take a shower.”

  David leaned to look around Tai at the shower stall. “It might not be the spa at the Four Seasons, but I think I can handle it.”

  Tai smiled. “You can think it’s funny now. Don’t forget your safeword.”

  “Even in punishment?”

  “Especially in punishment. Now, the next time you say something without being asked a question means more time.”

  David might not understand what was coming, but he sealed his mouth.

  “I’ll support you so you can keep weight off your leg. Put your hand on my shoulder.” Tai hunched down.

  As David levered himself up, Tai reached for the fly of David’s shorts. His lips parted and then pinched shut again.

  Tai peeled off David’s shorts, then slid thumbs in the waistband of his briefs. “What’s wrong?”

  “It feels—Normally I enjoy being undressed by an attractive man, but this is making me feel uncomfortable.”

  “That’s kind of the point of punishment, David.” Tai stripped the briefs down to David’s ankles, and he stepped out of them.

  Tai put an extra towel on the floor before handing David a washcloth and liquid soap. David’s glance bounced around the shower, then searched Tai’s face for an explanation. “You can keep hanging on to me to keep the weight off your leg.” Tai reached in, adjusted the dial, and blasted David with icy water.

  “What the—?” David tried to step forward, and Tai held him inside the stall. David’s eyes widened. He glanced at the temperature control and back at Tai, who nodded.

  David stuck it through, Tai would give him that. Shaking and teeth chattering, David fumbled with the soap and washcloth. He managed to get through his face and arms, but as he rubbed down his chest and the cloth brushed his cock, he jumped. “Jesus fucking Christ, that’s cold.”

  “Extra time, David. And if you swear again, that’s thirty more seconds.” David looked at the washcloth and his cock.

  “Wash. It’s not getting any warmer.” Tai was only getting a splatter of the cold water. It was still cold enough to make his balls tighten, even safely hidden under two layers.

  Squinching his face, David washed between his legs and into his crack, then down his legs, before dropping the washcloth. His mouth opened and then he shut it, standing with folded arms and shivering.

  “Why are you being punished, David?”

  David rolled his eyes.

  “Another five seconds. Why are you being punished?”

  “Because I was horny and jerked off,” David spat out.

  “No. Keep thinking and give me the right answer.”

  “I can’t think.” He stuttered the words. “I’m too cold.”

  Tai reached in and shut off the water. “Why are you being punished?”

  David’s jaw was tight, eyes narrow.

  “You’re not getting out of there without the right answer.” Tai took the jutting jaw in his hand and rubbed his thumb across the trembling lips. “Tell me.”

  The huffed sigh meant David was still fighting, but he answered, “Because I disobeyed you.”

  “Yes.”

  Tai reached in and turned the water on again.

  “I answered.” David’s hands moved down to cover his dick. “C’mon. I’m sorry.”

  “You’re not sorry. You’re sorry you’re being punished, but that will do for now.”

  David shivered and shifted around the stall, trying to get different skin in and out of the icy spray.

  “I’m starting your extra time now. Fifteen seconds.”

  “Ten. I only said something twice.”

  “Now it’s twenty.”

  David looked away, but he didn’t stop the squirming around. Tai shut off the spray and handed David a fresh towel.

  “Oh God, that’s so warm.”

  Tai lifted him over the lip and onto the towel on the floor, wrapping David in the terrycloth and the warmth of Tai’s body.

  David held himself stiffly for a minute, then relaxed. “That sucked.”

  “Don’t disobey me.”

  Tai dried him off, shifting from rubbing to caressing. David leaned against him.

  Yes, this boy wouldn’t hold on to resentment. Tai could see how sweet a sub David would make. Brushing a kiss across his jaw and then behind his ear, Tai asked, “How do you feel?”

  “Weird. It’s kind of dizzying. I’m still really pissed at you, but I can’t get close enough to you.”

  Tai yanked off his damp tank top, and David’s cool arms landed around Tai’s chest, face on his shoulder.

  “So, do we get to fuck now?”

  Tai grinned and kissed him. “Don’t make me go shopping for a ball gag.”

  Chapter Seven

  BEACH SPRAWLED on his back on Tai’s bed, skin still tingling from that ice bath. As miserable as it had been, as furious as he had been at Tai for that implacable look on his face, something about it had felt right. And that was downright scary. For the first time in his life, Beach wondered if he was in way over his head.

  If he had any sense, he’d be ready to leave. He’d been curious. Now he knew he liked being dominated by a guy in bed. Especially if the guy had a voice like smoke and gravel and could lift Beach up like he was a doll.

  As for the other stuff….

  He definitely hadn’t liked it while it was happening, being undressed like a child, suffering under the brain-locking cold. No, that didn’t turn him on. But waiting here for Tai to get back after taking Jez out, Beach felt good. Better than just knowing-sex-was-coming good.

  No one had ever accused Beach of having too much sense.

  Keeping the towel wrapped around him, he rolled over onto his stomach, making the pillow send up a solid breath of Tai, his aftershave and sweat. Beach pressed his face in and took another whiff,
his hips making a slow stroke to drive his cock against the towel. It hurt a little, skin still cold, the nubs on the cloth rough. Flattening himself on the too-firm mattress, he drew steady, deep breaths. The smell put Tai’s voice in the room like he was standing there.

  No, David. That’s mine.

  Beach made another slow rub, defying his imagination. And the sensitivity of his chilled skin. Damn it. It was like Tai could enforce his will without actually being there. Why couldn’t his idea of consequences be something like his dick up Beach’s ass?

  With a sigh, Beach flopped onto his back. He collected his phone from his shorts and found a picture of a ball gag.

  The idea of a shiny plastic—or was that rubber?—ball in his mouth had Beach’s tongue practicing how he could push it out. He put a hand to his cheek like the strap was already there, feeling a great deal of sympathy for horses that curled their lips at the sight of a bit. And what the fuck was that for? He enlarged the next image of lips forced open around a circle. Why would—oh. Tai’s cock forcing Beach’s throat open, the eye-watering gag reflex.

  Which made his distinctly perverted libido send blood zinging to his dick.

  It wouldn’t be the first time it had gotten him in serious trouble.

  More images. Men and women hog-tied with cuffs and clips like the ones Tai had used to bind Beach’s hands. Beach rolled back onto his stomach to try to copy the posture. Maybe ten years ago he could have done it.

  A bar, legs cuffed at the ankle to keep the man’s legs from closing. To keep Beach’s legs from closing while Tai did whatever he wanted. That set the blood to throbbing slow and steady, and Beach was definitely warming up now.

  Collars. Beach put his hand to his throat, squinting at the text. For play and everyday wear. Every day? Like so other people would know you liked to have a man tell you what to do in bed?

  He glanced around the room and wondered if Tai had that stuff tucked away in here.

  Maybe in the closet?

  Before he’d left, Tai had done the lifting-the-chin thing that was starting to have as much of a direct line to Beach’s dick as a nip on the side of his neck and said, “Be a good boy, stay on the bed, and don’t poke around in my things.”

  Beach rolled onto his side and stared at the closet. It wasn’t that he expected a Bluebeard’s-wife type discovery. But curiosity was a horrible curse. He looked at his wrists and thought about those cuffs, trying to find some sort of rationalization for snooping. It would only be polite to find out what sort of things Tai liked if Beach was going to buy Tai another pair.

  Beach’s breath seized up like he was back under the cold shower. Until that moment he hadn’t really thought about how many other men had worn those cuffs, had knelt for Tai, probably with a great deal more finesse or deference or whatever it was Tai liked. Beach had never given much thought to a lover’s previous experience before, except to prefer they had some. He certainly didn’t promise fidelity or expect it in return. So he couldn’t understand why the thought of those more submissive men should hit like a punch to his gut.

  The sound of Tai coming back into the apartment was soon drowned out under the click of Jez’s nails as she trotted toward the bedroom and nosed open the door.

  “Hi, pretty girl. Yes, I’m still here.”

  She approached and sniffed, then let him rub behind her ears.

  “She wasn’t the only one wondering.” Tai leaned against the doorjamb.

  Beach shrugged, hiding a confused mess of jealousy, shyness, and lust under a grin. He wished it was as easy to turn off the way those feelings tangled around each other, their roots shooting all the way down into his thighs until they ached. Maybe he should have run when he had the chance. “I’m an adventurous sort. Don’t scare easy.”

  “I scare you?”

  “No.”

  Beach wasn’t afraid of Tai, but himself. The way he was with Tai. Like someone Beach didn’t recognize, but he’d been trying to find. Someone drowning in a hunger that was satisfied with something as simple as Tai’s growled good boy.

  Tai did that stare, the one that seemed to look right through Beach’s head, the slash of his brows making the look more intimidating.

  “Sir,” Beach added with an inviting smile.

  Tai’s face relaxed. He kicked off his sneakers and sat on the bed. Scratching the dog’s giant head, he said, “Jez, down.” To Beach, Tai said, “Does it bother you if she’s in the room?”

  “Is she likely to post compromising pictures online?”

  “She’s likely to make grumbling noises and go out into the living room.”

  “And what are you likely to do?” Beach drew the towel off his lap.

  Tai tossed off his T-shirt. “Do you ever turn off?”

  Beach eyed the breadth of that chest, the way the muscles underneath bunched and shifted like cars out on I-95. Each shoulder could easily be concealing a Volkswagen underneath the skin. “Why on earth would I want to?” He was looking forward to using his tongue to trace the intricate geometry of the tattoo covering Tai from shoulder to elbow.

  From other touches, Beach knew the skin underneath was smooth, so Tai had worn the ink for years, yet the lines were clean and sharp. They spread from his shoulder to his chest, even under his arm. Did it hurt? Beach bit back the stupid question before it slipped out. Of course it had. But for some reason Tai had chosen to endure it. To prove something? A warrior-style initiation like the hazing Beach had undergone as a Citadel cadet?

  The patterns were reminiscent of woven leather, like the gauntlets a now-nude Tai slid over his wrists, zipping them tight. An echo of that sound purred from Beach’s belly to his balls. Straddling Beach as he lay on his back, Tai kept his weight supported on his thighs, only offering a brush of contact at Beach’s hips. The ripple of abs and the cut of hips were an even more inviting place to touch and taste. Beach curled up, thumbs finding the grooves, tongue hungry for a taste of that semihard cock. He planned to start practicing with bananas, but maybe he ought to go straight for a Coke can.

  Tai watched him look, but when Beach snaked a hand through to cup the velvety sac inches from his own, Tai circled Beach’s wrist with a grip like the cuff had.

  “David.”

  Beach was catching on, learning when Tai switched fully into that demanding mode that made electricity spark along every nerve in Beach’s body. “Yes, Sir.”

  “Good boy.” Tai ran a hand through David’s hair. “If you behave, you can explore later. Tell me exactly what the doctor said about taking care of your leg.”

  Beach managed to keep the sigh and the eye roll to himself. His skin was still sensitive from the deep freeze. “Keep weight-bearing activities to a minimum, pain meds and ibuprofen as needed—though according to my probation, the pain meds are out—and start physical therapy.”

  “Did you start physical therapy?”

  The squirm began inside, deep in the pit of Beach’s stomach, rolling to his ass and legs. It was coming out of the shower all over again. A pissed-off insistence that Tai didn’t get a say in things that weren’t part of them having sex, battling with the shivery jolt of being the focus of Tai’s attention. Beach shut his eyes and shifted his shoulders on the mattress.

  “What’s wrong?” Tai moved so he wasn’t touching Beach at all.

  “Nothing. Nothing sex won’t fix, Sir.”

  “Answer my other question first.”

  “I just got the cast off.”

  Tai stretched out over Beach in a push-up pose, the promise of hot, hard flesh grinding against him frustratingly out of reach. He put his arms around Tai’s neck to drag him down, but Tai shook his head.

  “Obviously the answer is no.” Beach paused. “Sir.”

  “Don’t be a brat, or I’ll send you home.”

  As a threat, that was particularly effective. “Sorry, Sir.”

  “David, I want you to call and make an appointment.”

  Beach tucked his hands behind his head. Measuring his t
one and words carefully, he said, “I don’t understand what that has to do with this.”

  Tai lowered himself until he was radiating prickling warmth to spark across the inches still separating them. His breath tickled Beach’s lips. “You don’t need to. You’ll take care of your body as long as you’re offering it to me.”

  There was that same strange shudder of pleasure without anything touching his dick. “Okay.”

  “Try again.” Tai’s brow got that look that had Beach remembering how fucking cold that shower had been.

  “Yes, I will make an appointment, Sir.”

  “On Monday.”

  Damn. Beach’s lips vibrated with the need to find the words that would carve him a loophole, fight this last bit of capitulation. But Tai stared down. It wasn’t the threat as much as the anticipation that tipped Beach over. And not only for the physical reward hovering close enough to taste.

  “On Monday, Sir.”

  “Good boy.” Tai lowered himself, and damn he felt incredible, weight and praise all sinking into Beach with a heat that went to his bones. Tai rocked his hips so their cocks slid together, dragging a shudder and groan from Beach. That last orgasm felt a lot further away than this morning.

  Beach squeezed Tai’s shoulders and tried to urge him faster, harder. His dick was so hot, so heavy on Beach’s. Blood raced, thickening his cock to answer the pressure. Tai took Beach’s mouth, tongue driving in to remind him of the way it had felt with Tai’s cock stealing his breath. Beach hung on tighter and lifted his hips. Tai pressed him down into the mattress.

  Tai raised his head. “Do you have somewhere to be?”

  Beach’s lips felt huge, scraped. “No, Sir.”

  “Then slow down.”

  Beach groaned. Tai chuckled. The bed squeaked as he shifted his weight again, beard scraping against Beach’s neck, wet kisses following. Tai repeated the action on Beach’s chest, sensitizing the skin with the rub of hair and then kissing and teasing with lips and tongue.

  When Tai did that to Beach’s nipples, he arched off the bed, gripping Tai’s head. Tai nipped the swollen flesh, then commanded, “Let go.”