Chapter 23
VINCENT PICKED through the selection of collars in the playroom with growing dismay.
They were all simple, cheap leather or metal.
Vincent couldn’t exactly expect high quality considering they were free for any guests to use, but if he was going to put a collar on Jasper, he wanted it to be a good one, even if it was temporary.
Maybe he should wait until they were back home.
Especially since he had a feeling neither of them would want to remove a collar once it was in place.
He wouldn’t want Jasper removing it even to go to classes or work, which left most of the leather ones out of the question as too obvious.
He’d need a day collar that functioned more like a fashionable necklace.
Giving up on finding a suitable collar here as a lost cause, he headed back upstairs and settled on the bed next to a still-sleeping Jasper.
He picked up his phone and waited for it to turn on, then browsed one of his usual stores for kink supplies.
They had a decent selection of collars, but none of them called to him.
After several minutes of searching in vain, he pulled up one of the specialty sites with a good reputation in the community.
Their collar selection was bigger, and he immediately spotted a few that could work, but he didn’t want a simple silver band.
Stylish leather didn’t feel right either; it needed to have some weight to it. Something Jasper wouldn’t be able to ignore easily even when he was used to wearing it.
Jasper stirred beside him, waking enough to roll over and octopus his limbs around Vincent’s legs with a sleepy grumble before dozing off again.
Vincent dropped a hand to his head, absently running his fingers through Jasper’s hair as he continued browsing. Studs and spikes were out of the question. So were the wide bands with a ring in the center. The ones with a lock were too on the nose even for him.
Finally he found one crafted from woven links of black stainless steel and hovered his thumb over it for a moment before bringing it up.
Instead of a single ring in the center it had a double ring.
The larger outer ring was a simple solid black circle while the inner ring was interwoven silver like the metal had been twisted around itself until it formed a tight circle.
It looked sturdy, and the ring was fashionable while still doubling as a place to hook a leash.
Or a finger. There was nowhere to put an engraving, but that was fine.
He didn’t need to be promising Jasper a forever in so many words.
Not until Jasper could trust him not to cancel the contract on a whim, anyway.
He debated only a few moments before adding it to the cart and checking out.
He even paid for express delivery to make sure it arrived by the time they returned.
Then, while he was apparently in the mood to make potentially life-changing decisions, he made another to offer Jasper a key to his home.
It still felt too early, but he suspected it always would.
Adam had been a slow, drawn-out affair through his last years of college.
Then they returned to the States and moved in together.
Anything was going to seem fast compared to that, and he wasn’t too keen on only seeing Jasper a few nights a week for that long.
If anything, this vacation had proved they were compatible even with prolonged exposure.
Was there really any reason to drag things out longer?
He knew he wanted Jasper. His only worry was that Jasper would realize that any decent Dom would treat him how Vincent was treating him and move on.
So far their tastes seemed to align, but the chance Jasper would learn he wanted something Vincent couldn’t provide was nonzero.
Like whips. He’d had his fill of those. Could barely stand to see them in the club, though at least he didn’t flinch at their sharp cracks anymore.
He set his phone aside when he received the order confirmation and turned his attention to Jasper, still dragging his fingers through blond hair.
He looked peaceful, though Vincent was fairly sure that was drool he felt seeping into his thigh.
“A brat even in your sleep,” he murmured, flexing his fingers tighter to elicit a sigh.
Far too easily he could get used to waking up like this on more than just weekends.
He hadn’t let himself imagine Jasper moving in, knowing his imagination was an idealized, best-case fantasy.
Living with Adam had been fine at first. It was only when they’d both settled into their new lives that things started to change for the worse.
Things would change with Jasper too, especially once he finished college and started a job.
Medical professions, he knew, were rough.
Long, demanding hours. Physical labor. The stress of holding literal lives in their hands.
Jasper seemed driven enough to stick with it.
Vincent could only hope he wasn’t so exhausted at the end of his shifts that he had no time or energy left for Vincent.
Not to mention Jasper’s tendency to bottle things up rather than talk about them.
Sooner or later that could become a much bigger problem, though so far they’d managed to find a way through.
Which was far more than he could say about Adam.
He hated comparing Jasper to his ex, but everything about them so far was such a polar opposite that he couldn’t help it.
Jasper made him feel alive and seen in ways he hadn’t felt since his mother was alive.
He curled his fingers tighter as he considered that.
Was it fear of losing that all over again driving him, or was he overthinking things?
He’d been drawn to Jasper from the beginning, on more than a physical attraction level.
It wasn’t often he found someone he enjoyed being near for an extended period of time, and with Zach and Ash hundreds of miles away, his close circle of friends was basically nonexistent.
The only other person he’d consider a close friend was back in London.
With a sigh he shifted down the bed enough to stretch out, careful not to dislodge Jasper as he settled in to try to get more sleep.
He managed to drift off at some point because he was woken by a delicious pressure and heat nuzzling against his groin. He drew in a slow breath and let it out on a soft groan.
Jasper hummed against him, and Vincent rolled to his back with a sigh and propped a knee up to give Jasper more room. He snaked a hand under the covers and tangled his fingers in Jasper’s hair.
“Going to do anything but tease, pet?”
“Gettin’ to it,” Jasper murmured before lightly dragging his teeth over Vincent’s sweats and boxers.
Vincent closed his eyes, resisting the urge to pull himself out and push into Jasper’s mouth to test his limits.
Jasper had initiated this, which was gratifying on its own, and he wanted to see how far his submission would go without Vincent actively guiding him.
When Jasper’s fingers settled on the waistband of his sweats and then stopped, Vincent gave him a fifty-fifty chance of continuing without some prodding.
He held his tongue and waited, silently counting to seventeen before Jasper took a shuddering breath and tugged.
Cool air washed over his hips and groin, but Vincent hardly noticed since he was distracted by the sheer pleasure of Jasper willingly stepping out of his comfort zone.
Then hot breath caressed his dick, followed by the hesitant flick of a wet tongue on his bare skin, and he was distracted for an entirely different reason.
He breathed out a groan and flexed his fingers tighter in Jasper’s hair before forcing them to release. As much as he wanted to hold Jasper still and take his pleasure, this was nice too. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been woken by a blow job.
Jasper curled a hand against the side of Vincent’s cock as he kissed his way down the other side, then licked him from base to tip.
Vincent let out a louder groan as encouragement, relishing the answering shaky breath over his sensitive skin.
He let Jasper explore at his own pace, even if it was equal parts torture and bliss.
It was so much more intense without a condom between them—not only the wet heat of Jasper’s mouth, but the friction of his tongue on skin rather than the vague pressure against rubber.
The way Jasper worked his cock in deeper with slow bobs of his head tested Vincent’s patience, but he persevered. At least for a while.
When he couldn’t remain still any longer, he slid his hand to the back of Jasper’s neck and pushed back the covers with his other hand.
Jasper made a soft noise of surprised protest that he ignored.
The sight of Jasper with flushed cheeks, his eyes wide and his mouth stretched around Vincent’s cock, had a fresh heat pooling low in his belly, and he couldn’t stop the moan that tore out of his chest.
Scarlet burst across Jasper’s nose, which only added to the pooling heat.
“Look good like that, pet,” he said, his voice rough with restraint.
He slid his hand back into Jasper’s hair and curled tight as he settled his other hand against Jasper’s cheek and pressed his thumb in beside his cock.
Then, because Jasper had enjoyed it so much, he slipped into his British accent as he said, “My perfect little slut.”
Jasper let out a helpless moan, his eyes darkening almost to black as he swallowed and took Vincent in deeper.
“That’s it,” he murmured. “Take it all.”
Jasper’s fingers twitched where he’d slipped them under Vincent’s hips for leverage before he dug them into Vincent’s ass and lowered his head until his nose pressed into Vincent’s pelvis.
He immediately gagged and backed off, but Vincent kept him from pulling away completely, and the resulting whimper that vibrated around him pushed him closer to the edge than he liked.
“Already getting close. Going to swallow, pet?”
He pulled his thumb out and left a wet streak across Jasper’s cheek, relenting enough to let him pull off half an inch to answer with a breathless “Yes, Sir.”
“Good boy,” he growled, curling his hand around the side of Jasper’s throat in a brief caress before settling on the back of his neck. Hardly any pressure was needed for Jasper to put his mouth back on him. Or to take Vincent as deep as he could and hold there for a long moment.
Vincent groaned his pleasure, loud enough that Jasper’s ears reddened as he pulled up to the tip and swallowed.
His muscles flexed as he held off his impending orgasm, but he knew that wouldn’t help for long.
Another two slick glides into Jasper’s mouth and a few more swirls of his tongue, and Vincent was coming.
Pleasure whited his vision, his fingers twisting in Jasper’s hair as he shot down his pet’s throat.
For a moment everything faded beneath the intense afterglow zinging through him, and then Jasper was hovering over his chest. Eyes bright, cheeks flushed, lips slick and swollen.
Vincent hummed and dragged him in for a kiss.
Tasting himself on Jasper’s tongue was a novelty that drew a growl out of his chest, and he rolled them over to pin Jasper down, shove a hand into his boxers, and devour his lips as he jerked him off with a few quick strokes.
Jasper arched beneath him with a desperate, pleading whine, his hips bucking into Vincent’s hand before he shuddered with his own release.
Vincent didn’t stop kissing him, but the intensity faded into a lazy exploration.
Most of his weight settled on top of Jasper to keep him in place.
Not that he ever tried to get away. Eventually Vincent moved from Jasper’s lips to his neck and throat, finding the marks he’d left there to renew them.
Jasper’s sighs and moans were almost enough for Vincent to get it up again, but it wasn’t happening.
“Thank you, pet,” he murmured between kisses.
Jasper’s fingers twitched in Vincent’s hair, apparently beyond a coherent response, because all he managed was a drowsy hum.
As unwilling as he was to move, Vincent finally pulled away long enough to get them cleaned up.
It felt like a waste to spend their vacation sleeping when they only had a few days left, but it wasn’t like he ever got enough to begin with, so he gave up on doing anything before noon and followed Jasper into sleep again.