Chapter 1
Jared Bartolli’s dick was a work of art.
There was no other way to describe it. North wasn’t ashamed to say that he’d sucked his fair share of dicks.
But none of them compared to this man’s.
“Are you thinking about how magnificent my dick is again?” Jared asked in a dry voice.
North raised his eyes to Jared’s gaze. The other man was staring at him coolly, but North saw a hint of amusement in his eyes.
“What gave it away?” North asked, unperturbed.
“It could be the fact that you’ve been staring at my dick for the last five minutes and licking your lips instead of listening to me. Which usually means you’re daydreaming about my dick.”
Most men would tremble at the stern look that filled Jared’s face. Having a Bartolli give you their undivided attention wasn’t normally a good thing.
But North liked to ride the edge of danger. It made him feel alive.
“Shall I punish you for ignoring me?” Jared mused.
North tipped his head to one side, hiding his rush of excitement. “I don’t think I deserve punishment for daydreaming about your dick. I mean, perhaps if I was thinking about someone else’s dick . . .”
Ooh.
Watching Jared’s face fill with cold anger made his heart race faster and his own dick grow firmer.
Was there something wrong with him?
Definitely.
Would he fix it?
Nope. North was too far gone for that and they all knew it. All he could do was ride the wave and hope that one day he didn’t push Jared too far.
“Not going to kill you, North,” Jared said in a low voice. “But definitely going to punish you.”
“What for? I told you that I wasn’t thinking about anyone else’s dick,” North said mildly.
“Stop talking about other men’s dicks,” Jared ordered in a hard voice. “I’m going to punish you because you need it.”
“Need it?” North repeated. “Hmm. I’m not sure that’s true.”
Jared pushed his chair back and North felt his dick pressing against his pants in anticipation.
There was nothing he loved more than when Jared took him “in hand.”
Or over his knee. Or over the desk. Bent over any piece of furniture, really.
Pressed to a wall. On the floor, the bed.
Yeah, North wasn’t a fussy guy.
They didn’t sleep in the same bed. However, North had been known to wake Jared up with his mouth around Jared’s dick.
Yum.
“What are you thinking about now?” Jared murmured. “You are being a brat today, aren’t you? A naughty boy.”
North narrowed his gaze at Jared. The other man knew he didn’t like to be called a brat or a boy. He was neither of those things.
Sure, he was a sub. But only for Jared and he liked to push until the other man forced him to obey.
That was the game they both played.
He really wasn’t the mild-mannered, almost timid assistant that he played in front of others.
There was most definitely a darker side to him.
Sometimes he did wonder if Jared wished he would let Jared “Daddy” him.
Those times he also wondered if he’d made a mistake sending Angie away.
Fuck.
He pushed her from his mind. She was gone and she wouldn’t return.
Although just because that’s what you want doesn’t mean it’s what Jared wants.
Fuck it.
Was he developing a conscience? Thinking of others over his own wants and needs?
That would suck.
It was only really with Jared, though.
That thought soothed the turmoil in his head.
“What’s going on with you?” Jared asked. “You seem to be a million miles away.”
“Just thinking about your dick,” he lied. “That’s all I ever think about.”
Jared snorted. “Just what I want to hear from my assistant.”
“I can assist you, Sir. In whatever way you want.” What North needed was sex. Something to distract him. Some punishment to clear his head and help him feel settled.
Rules. Boundaries. Punishment.
They were the only way he could function without the darkness completely overtaking him.
Jared crooked a finger at him. “Then come here.”
Getting up, he walked over to Jared, then he just stood there.
“You do need me, don’t you?” He grabbed hold of North’s cock through his pants. “A naughty boy who has to be punished.” Unzipping North’s pants, he drew his boxers down to free his cock. Jared pumped North’s dick several times, nearly making him moan.
Maybe he was going to go easy on him today.
North felt a brush of disappointment at that thought but pushed it to one side. He should be grateful that he got to come.
Sometimes he didn’t. Those were the worst punishments. He’d rather be whipped with Jared’s belt than be put through orgasm denial.
But he should have known better. Suddenly, Jared grasped hold of his dick firmly, making North gasp.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Jared said in a fake voice.
Red alert.
Jared never said sorry and meant it. He never apologized.
North was in trouble.
Swallowing heavily as he tried to dampen his rising arousal, North glanced down at the other man.
His boss. His lover. His Dom.
His fucking salvation.
North would be nothing without Jared. Which is why he would do anything for him.
So why don’t you give him what he truly seems to want?
North knew about the photo in Jared’s bedside drawer. He’d seen one of the toys she used to sleep with in Jared’s wardrobe, tucked away out of sight. Jared had found it outside somewhere after North helped her escape.
It made North wonder about his choices that night . . . and he hated regretting things that had already happened. He hated thinking at all.
North was a man of instinct. Of action.
Thinking was such a waste of time.
People would get much more done if they just stopped thinking.
“Bend over the desk. You need to be punished,” Jared told him.
“Yes, Sir. I do.”
He really did. For more than Jared realized. Because the other man didn’t know what he’d done . . . if he found out . . .
North swallowed heavily. Sometimes he wondered if he wanted Jared to know.
To hurt him.
Turning, he bent over the desk and Jared reached under him to grab his cock again.
“What are you being punished for, my boy?”
North couldn’t hold back his shudder.
Fuck, that made him hot.
“Not going to talk? Have you gone non-verbal?”
“I don’t go non-verbal,” North told him.
That was something a Little might do. Not him.
“Well, that was a challenge if I ever heard one.” Jared reached around and grabbed his dick again, running his hand lightly up and down it.
Up. Down.
“Do it harder,” North demanded.
Smack! Smack!
Jared slapped his hand down on North’s ass.
Oh. Fuck.
How did that feel so good? The pain, along with being under Jared’s complete control, was a heady mix.
It gave him a high that was far healthier than anything else he’d tried.
Jared slapped him again. “You don’t get to make demands, boy. Because you’re not in charge, are you?”
“I’m in charge,” North said, just to poke and provoke.
It was their thing.
They both knew that Jared had full control.
Safe. Sane. Consensual.
Jared had tried drumming that into North’s head. As well as the need for a safeword.
North didn’t really give a shit about any of that stuff. North was confident that there was very little that he couldn’t take. And if Jared went too far? Well, North knew he wouldn’t, but if he did it wasn’t like there was anyone to mourn North, was there?
Sounded morbid, but that was the truth.
“Do not go drifting into your head, boy. Stay here,” Jared ordered, moving his hand away from North’s cock to squeeze his balls.
Motherfucker.
That damn well hurt.
And North was pretty certain that precum leaked from the tip of his dick.
Yeah, he was twisted.
But Jared knew that and still wanted him.
There’s no way that Angie would want him if she knew the truth.
Why was he thinking about her? He didn’t even like her, let alone care what she thought of him.
North didn’t care what anyone thought of him but Jared.
There was no way he could have anything so . . . soft in his life. And she’d probably scoff at being called soft because Angie definitely had some sharp edges. She’d wrapped herself up in barbed wire and landmines and he couldn’t blame her.
Not after the hell that she’d lived through.
Smack! Smack!
“No thinking. Do I need to tie you up and play with your cock until you scream? Do I need to put you in a cock cage for the day? Deny you any orgasms. Hmm? Is that what you need?”
“No, Sir,” he replied. The last thing he wanted was to not come.
“Then give me all of your attention. I’m going to make you scream and beg. For ignoring me. For mentioning other men’s cocks. But mostly because I know you need it.”
Yeah. That was what he needed.
Jared started his torture again and North was determined not to give in.
At least not too easily.
So he bit his lip and held onto his control. How long he was going to manage, he didn’t know.
Jared paused every so often to spank him. The pain only added to his need.
Christ.
The other man was going to fucking kill him.
Jared played with his dick for so long that North actually started shaking. He couldn’t believe that such a light touch could affect him like this. But here he was, trembling and panting, on the verge of begging.
“That’s it, my boy. You’re getting so close to the edge, aren’t you? You need to come, but you need to beg me before I’ll let you come. Such a hard, firm cock.”
Fuck! He was right there. It wasn’t going to take much more until he fell over the edge.
Come on. Come on.
Then Jared’s hand disappeared from North’s dick and his other hand slapped his ass which was hot and throbbing by now.
Shit.
It was too much. He was going to break. He could feel it. And as twisted as it sounded this was one of the reasons he could respect Jared. Could listen to him. Could let him have this sort of control.
Because the bastard could make him break.
The only difference from everyone else in North’s life was that Jared could also piece him back together.
“Fuck,” North said on a groan as Jared started playing with his cock again. “I need . . . I need . . .”
“What do you need, boy?” Jared asked as he moved away from him completely, opening up a drawer in his desk.
“To come. I need to come.”