Chapter Twenty-Nine
Harmon
I feel Cassius’s gaze on me as I walk toward the bathtub to check the water level and temperature. It’s perfect—just a touch too hot.
“Come here,” I say, glancing over my shoulder.
Cassius hesitates before walking toward me, taking sure and confident steps. His cock glistens from my leftover saliva and it only has me wanting to take him into my mouth again.
I offer my hand. He takes it. I gesture for him to get into the tub. He steps over the edge, hissing when his toes hit the water and pulls them out.
“Slowly,” I tell him.
He dips it back in, taking a few breaths before easing himself into the water. Leaning back, his eyes fall closed and he sinks deeper in, the steam rising up around him.
I dim the lights, leaving them on only enough for us to see, and then I climb in across from him and lie back against the opposite edge.
It’s quiet for a long time… but not empty. It’s a different sort of quiet than what I’m used to. It’s something I never thought I’d get—silence and comfort with another person.
I told him I don’t do relationships, and I don’t.
But he makes me think that maybe I could.
That maybe, with Cassius, I could have a partner.
Things with him are easy, almost natural.
But my issues with having a partner don’t lie with the person.
That’s only one part of it. A big part, of course, but not the biggest.
There have been other people I’ve been comfortable with. Slaves I’ve had for longer periods of time that I’ve almost crossed lines with.
Almost.
Cassius is different. He’s special. I am well aware that everything I do with him is a mistake. It shouldn’t happen. Yet I can’t bring myself to stop.
Being with him, like this, always, could be a good thing.
Except for everyone else.
The way the company would see me. The public.
My sales would take a dip. People would boycott.
Investors would drop. It would be a catastrophe.
It would be my livelihood. It’s the one thing my father hated the most and he planted that seed in this company a long, long time ago.
I’ve done my best not to water it, to let it be and die away, but it’s still there.
It’s still toxic. And the problem is it isn’t the only seed.
It doesn’t only belong to him. They’re everywhere.
Cassius and I could keep it a secret, but for how long? Everything always gets out. It’s a surprise I’ve kept what I do behind closed doors a secret for this long.
Only me and my slaves know what I like, and I’ve treated them well, so they’ve never wanted to hold it over my head.
There were the NDAs of course, but they don’t stop people from talking.
They just put a bit of fear into someone to not talk in the first place.
Because if they did, the damage would be done, and the repercussions for them would be pointless.
But if Cassius and I move forward… people would know. His family, maybe. I couldn’t ask him to lie to everyone, to keep it a secret from everyone. How dare I consider asking Cassius to hide who he is? To keep this a secret? I couldn’t do that to him. I won’t.
All of this concern going on in my head and who’s to say I have to worry about it at all? He said he was fine with what we are doing, so why am I concerning myself with more? There won’t be more. There doesn’t have to be.
But if there was… I could see it with him.
“I can’t remember the last time I took a bath,” he says, his voice calm.
“I take one at least once a week,” I respond.
“Do you really?” I don’t miss the humor in his voice.
“It’s good for relaxing.”
He hums a sound, letting me know he heard me, then says, “The last time I took a bath, it was in an over-sized bucket when I was four.”
I open my eyes to look at him to see if he’s joking. The look on his face tells me he’s entirely serious. I don’t like the way it makes me feel.
“I’m sorry for that,” I say.
“Nothing to be sorry for.”
“I hope your apartment has a bathtub.”
“Oh, it does.” He laughs. “But I’m too big for it.”
I can’t imagine what it would be like to want something and not have it.
Well, that’s not entirely true, now is it?
I know exactly what it’s like to want something and not have it. I don’t choose to not be in a relationship because it’s what I want, it’s just what I need to do. But anything else? It’s unfathomable.
“Maybe one day you will buy a house that has a bathtub as big as this,” I say.
“Yeah… maybe.”
I watch him briefly, taking in the way his chest rises and how his face is so relaxed. I’ve watched him often, but right here, he looks completely at ease. And so young. I forget how young he is. He’s full of wisdom and has gone through much too much for his short years. And his sisters…
Cassius Carr is by far the most glorious human I have ever had the pleasure of laying my eyes on. And I get to have him in ways no one else does. In ways I told myself I would not.
“Come here,” I say, my voice ragged.
His eyes pop open, and I raise a brow. He doesn’t move.
“I won’t repeat myself.”
He smirks. “Feisty today,” he comments as he pushes himself up and turns so his back is to me. I spread my legs, allowing him room, and he settles in as if we’ve done this a thousand times before.
He lays his back on my shoulder, and I run my hands along his stomach and chest beneath the water, taking in his curves and soft spots.
Feeling him against me, the heat of the water, and his soft skin at the end of my fingertips has me calm in a way I didn’t think I could feel.
Like a hole inside me has been filled and I can finally… breathe.
It’s clear Cassius does not have the same idea of relaxing when he starts to wiggle against me, and his movements only increase when my dick gets hard.
“You really are a brat,” I growl into his ear.
“I know what I like.”
“You want to be fucked, Cassius?” I ask, grinding against him.
“God, yes,” he breathes out.
With my hands on his hips, I urge him up and forward. He gets to his knees, forearms resting on the ledge, and I hoist him up even further, then lean down to drag my tongue through his crease.
He groans, pushing against my face, silently asking for more. I give it to him until I’ve had my fill, then I reach for the small bottle of lube sitting beside the shampoo and body wash. After last night, I had the staff bring some up because I knew once wasn’t enough with him.
I lather it on him, passing over his hole a few times to tease but not enter him.
“You were prepared for this,” he breathes out, but I don’t miss the cockiness in his tone.
“Stop talking,” I say as I slide a finger inside him.
He groans, tightening around me. I work him open, just enough that he’s ready. I lift up higher, shifting my foot to get a good grip and slide into him.
His warmth wraps around me, clenching tightly around my cock. It’s a perfect fit, feeling as if I belong here.
“You take me so well.”
I run my hand along his lower back, then down his thigh. I lean forward to kiss up his back until I reach the base of his neck.
“Can I use you how I like?” I whisper.
“P-please do.”
I start to move, gliding in and out of him. The water splashes over the side, making a mess, but I keep fucking him. Harder. Faster. My instincts take over, and all I can think is to keep going, to keep showing him that he belongs to me and no one else.
“Har-Harmon, fuck… oh my—”
“Tell me how good it feels.”
“So good! Harder, please. Go harder.”
I adjust my grip on his hips and slam into him even harder. His skin is red, but I don’t let it deter me.
“Yes, like that,” he says. “Just like that!”
“Are you going to come for me again?”
“C-can I?”
A low rumble leaves my chest. “I love that you ask. Yes, slave. You can come for me.”
I pump into him a few more times, and he lets out the sexiest moan I’ve ever heard as he clenches around me, his orgasm hitting him so hard I feel it around my cock. I come a moment later, unable to hold back.
I’m breathless when the pleasure subsides, small ripples still coursing through my body. I rest my forehead against his flushed back and try to catch my breath.
My cock softens, slipping out of him, and I look down at my cum dripping from his hole. I drag my finger through and shove it back in, wishing it could stay there all day.
“Keep it in there,” I say.
He clenches, holding it in.
I wrap my arm around his waist and press my chest to his back, hugging him to me. My chest is full of warmth and contentment—something new to me. A little overwhelming.
Eventually we sit back in the tub, but it’s no longer hot and half empty, so we don’t stay for long. I stand to get out, but Cassius stops me.
“Let me do it.” I raise a brow. “Slave, remember?”
I watch him as he carefully steps out of the bathtub and makes his way to the towels that are piled on a rack. He lays a few along the floor to soak up the water and make it so neither of us will slip.
My heart clenches in my chest.
He comes back over, offering me his hand.
I stare at it for far too long before taking it and getting out of the tub.
He takes a step toward the towels again, but I pull him to me.
He slips, but I catch him and hold him in my arms. His wrap around my waist. We’re chest to chest, and I stare into his eyes, wondering what it is about him that makes me want him so badly.
I tilt his chin up and kiss him gently, a soft press of my lips. He looks confused when I pull back, but all I do is smile.