Chapter 12
Toby followed Roper into the elevator, crowding the boy a bit, making his physical presence impossible for the boy to ignore. They hadn’t spoken at all on the walk home; he’d chosen to say what he wanted to say with touch, with proximity, giving Roper something to focus on.
Whiskey howled at them as they entered the apartment, but seemed to pick up on the energy quickly, taking to her perch on the back of the couch to watch them.
“Go sit and put that foot up.” He pointed to the couch. “I’ll get us some water.”
“All right, Professor. Thank you.” Roper didn’t seem to be moving slow, but he did sit and put his booted foot on a pillow.
He got two bottles of water and handed one to Roper. “That was a nice walk. How do you feel?”
“Good. Good. I needed that break, but I really think it’s healing, finally. I want to take the boot off and test it, but I’m being good.”
“Smarter to wait and see what the doctor says.” It was good to see Roper being cautious.
“Yes, Sir. I know, but damn it’s a temptation. I won’t risk another pin, yet.”
“I understand. I’d want out of that thing too, I’m sure. Plus, I imagine it’s hard to be fully yourself with that hindrance.” A boot probably made mischief a bit more challenging.
“It’s the weird stuff—showering, soaking in a hot tub, needing to reach up on tiptoe—that’s the worst.”
“Frustrating. Do you cook?” He needed to come up with something to keep Roper busy.
“Not really. I mean, Ry is the fancy cook. I can make super basic stuff, if I have a recipe, but not fancy anything.” Roper smiled at him. “Mostly I assemble. Sandwiches, that sort of thing.”
“Sounds like we’re about in the same league. That said, I think I’ll put you in charge of dinner when I have class. I’m sure google can help with the recipes.” He waited to see how that went over.
“Sure. Totally. I mean, I totally can make sure you eat, you got my word. I won’t let you starve.”
“That’s kind of you.” Toby rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t really argue with that until he’d had takeout several nights in a row.
Then he was going to have to put the fear of God into his boy.
He was looking forward to that.
“All right. So let’s get a look at you then.” He moved to the couch with Roper and caught the boy’s jaw in one hand. “You have such unusual coloring—the dark eyes, the silver hair. Is that genetic?” He turned Roper’s head one way and then the other, finding the scars and other marks.
“Yeah, it must be. Me and Ryder turned gray at the same time. It was fast.” Roper’s eyelashes were long, lush, and Toby could see an earring hole from this close. “It isn’t all silver though. Just the head hair.”
“Spoilers!” He chuckled, amused. “What do you usually wear in this ear?”
“I never wear earrings when I’m cowboying up, but I got two—one for each tattoo.” He held up his arm with the locked rope ink. “I got a key on a hoop for this one.”
“Oh, very nice.” He traced the ink, admiring both the work and the sentiment. “What’s the other one? Is that a spoiler too?”
“Oh, yeah. Not even Ry’s seen the other one. It’s not for public consumption.”
Well, that was sexy as hell. “I look forward to discovering it very soon.” He shifted his hands to Roper’s shirt, intending to slide it right off. “Arms up.”
Roper blinked but lifted his arms without a second’s hesitation. “I’m not ticklish, you know.”
“Damn. Are you sure? Or are you covering for actually being ticklish?” He tickled Roper’s ribs but got distracted by the eight-pack and tried not to drool. “Holy hell, you’re ripped.”
Ripped and tan, smooth and tight—Roper flexed for him, those muscles moving like magic.
“Has anyone ever ordered you to just stand there and do that for a while?” He could watch that, no problem. “Seems like an excellent pastime.”
Roper tilted his head. “No… I can’t say they have, Professor. I never had someone who wanted to look hard.”
“I’ll let you get away with the ‘I never’ since I asked the question.
” He shook his head. “And what fools they all were then.” He decided to get a little familiar, test a little, see where Roper was with things.
He started by smoothing a hand over one bare shoulder.
“I don’t see any reason you need to put that shirt back on tonight. ”
He found a huge, ropy scar on the back of that shoulder, his fingers dancing over it as Roper leaned into the touch, his boy’s nipples drawing up.
“Damn, boy. What happened here? Surgery?” It was hard to tell how much was an injury scar and how much was medical.
“Got stepped on and separated my shoulder a few years back. Rode with it wonky for a week during finals, then I got it surged on.”
So practical, so easy—a bull stepped on me, no big deal.
“You rode with it…” Everything about this boy was different. Interesting. New. “Okay. Pain tolerance, very high. Noted.”
“Yessir. I’m a cowboy, and I push for what I need.” There was pride there, an intensity that almost seemed to buzz.
“Pushy. You said.” Roper was referring to sex, but…close enough. “You don’t get to be reckless here, you know that, right? I expect you to take care of yourself.”
Roper blinked at him as they came to face each other, almost confused. “I’ll do my best.”
“Yes, you will.” He circled one of those stiff nubs with his thumb. “So, I understood what you didn’t like about your experience at the club, but you haven’t been too clear about what you are into. So, yes or no questions. Raise your hand if you want to explain your answer. Ready?”
Roper nodded easily, but his focus seemed mostly on his nipple. “Y-yes.”
He didn’t stop, teasing that one little pink bud as he spoke. “Bondage.”
Roper’s belly rippled, so pretty. “Yes.”
He nodded. Some things he expected, others he was curious about. “Punishment.”
Roper’s eyes went wide for a second, and Toby swore he could see his boy weighing what to say, whether to be honest.
He didn’t let himself grin, but he wanted to. “I didn’t promise the questions would be easy.” He gave that little nipple a twist.
“You didn’t.” Roper slid his hands up along his arms. “And yeah, sometimes.”
He was going to revisit that one. Probably in-scene. There was something there he needed to get his teeth into. “Pain?”
“Yes.” There was no worry there. Interesting. There was a follow-up question there too.
“Toys.”
“I don’t know.”
His eyebrow went up more or less of its own accord. “Elaborate.”
“I haven’t tried any. I travel with my twin. We haven’t spent a ton of time apart, and…it’s just never happened. I don’t have an opinion.”
“Fun.” Toby could roll with that. He knew exactly what was happening tomorrow. “Impact play.”
That earned him a serious, firm nod. “Absolutely.”
He wasn’t shocked at all. “Elaborate.”
“Uh… I don’t know what you mean, Professor. I mean, elaborate on what?”
He chuckled. “Any tools you particularly like?”
“Oh! Uh, I’ve had spankings and paddles and one crop. The spankings feel…intimate.” Roper’s cheeks were pink, and his breath sped the slightest bit.
He did smile then and leaned closer to the boy. “I like it too.” And it was where things were going to start. Tonight. Maybe in an hour. “Sensory play, sensory deprivation?”
This time Roper did lift his hand.
Interesting. “Go ahead.”
“Okay, so… I haven’t done much, but I don’t know if I didn’t like the blindfold with you because I was nervous or because I was hurting or because I wasn’t sure of you. I didn’t mind it before you, but it wasn’t intense before, more just weird.”
“Okay.” That was fair; he’d sprung that on Roper and made the boy uncomfortable on purpose. “We’ll explore it differently. Carefully. And you can always safe word.”
The answer to his next one was always telling. “Humiliation.”
“That depends a lot on things, Professor, whether it’s intense or squirmy or sexy or mean.”
“Add a swat to your list for not raising your hand.” He shifted though, so Roper could see his eyes. “It’s never my intention to be mean, and if anything ever feels that way, you can and you should call me on it.”
Roper nodded, reached out and squeezed his hand, and he got a smile unlike any one he’d received before—this was honest, open, almost gentle. “Thank you.”
The sincerity was a flat-out win, and it made him a little breathless, but at the same time, he felt badly about whatever or whoever had put that worry in the boy’s heart.
“This should always be a win-win arrangement, and if it ever doesn’t feel that way to you, even the smallest thing, I want to know. ”
“Yes, Sir. You too, Professor. If you need something, please say. I’m not the most intuitive man on earth.”
“Thank you. You’re very sweet for a tough guy.” He gave Roper a wink. “Public play.”
There went the hand. “Public like a club and a safe space or public like a grocery store?”
“Both, at a location-appropriate level. No bondage gear in the grocery store, but what I whisper in your ear or what butt plug you’re wearing would be fair game.”
“Oh.” That was heat, right here. “Okay. Yes.”
“Okay, that’s my list. So the last questions are not yes or no. Do you have any fetishes? Kinks? Interests you want me to know about?”
“I guess…with sex, I like ass play, and I love when a lover fucks my mouth. I like pushing boundaries but not hurting anybody—like I’m into having a hard spanking for breaking rules, but I’m not into hurting your feelings.”
“Thank you.” It was surprising how articulate the boy was considering what seemed to be a lack of experience.
Or at least an education with holes in it.
It was good, though, because they could do all of this awkward stuff now, and not have to do it again.
“We’re going to be just fine, Roper. I know you’re worried, and I understand the anxiety, but I think you can relax. I’m confident.”
He couldn’t speak to anything long term, but as a start, he saw no reason why they shouldn’t work well together.