11. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
S ince Sloan’s last date had been an epic failure, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous.
Watch, he’d show up at As You Like It and find out Kai was somehow Rick’s bestie and end up fleeing the scene again.
Though given that the guy had only recently moved to the area, the likelihood was slim. The sun beat down on his back as he walked along the street from where he’d parked. He lived close enough to take the light rail if he’d wanted to but on enough of the outskirts to make walking to Whipped annoying. And since As You Like It was right up the street from his job, it made for the perfect meeting place.
And also a lot easier of an escape if this date turned out miserably.
He rolled up the sleeves of his burgundy button-down for the five thousandth time that day. Decision-making had never been his forte, and when nerves got tossed into the boiling pot, that made it worse .
The sign for As You Like It flashed into view, elegant script with a picture of a book beside it. The bookstore bar was cozy and known for its wine, both of which he enjoyed. Kai was new to the area and didn’t seem too particular, so he figured showing him a great local spot couldn’t hurt. His steps slowed upon approach, none of the pulse-pounding excitement there the way it had been for his last date.
Not due to Kai, though, because seeing him at the munch again had proved the chemistry sparking between them.
No, this was just garden variety nerves about another bad date, another bad outcome.
He sucked a breath in and pulled open the door.
Smooth jazz filtered his way, and he scanned the place for a sign of Kai. A lot of the two-seaters were tucked away or obscured behind the bookshelves, designed for a more intimate time, but it also made finding people a fuck of a lot harder.
His phone buzzed, and he checked it, hoping for a message from his date.
Meg had texted him instead.
Just set up a date to meet with Rachel for lunch. We’ll get to the bottom of this.
The assurance settled his gut the slightest bit, even though it had to do with different circumstances. Maybe it was the reminder that no matter what happened here, he had a safe place to fall back to.
“Sloan?” a voice called out.
Kai approached from one of the bookshelves by the windows.
Sloan’s mouth dried with want.
Kai had dressed in a hunter-green Henley that highlighted his luscious tan skin and hazel eyes, and he filled it out to perfection. His tousled hair hinted he’d run product through it, and his gaze emanated warmth. Sloan’s legs carried him in Kai’s direction at once, not even hesitating.
“Hey, you got here early.” Sloan walked with him toward the two-seater by the window Kai had claimed.
“This is the first date I’ve been on since I got divorced.” Kai cringed. “Which is probably a bit of a date killer, right? I promise I’ll stop talking about my ex-wife.”
Sloan shrugged as he settled into a seat by the table. “As long as you’re not secretly pining or trying to get back together with her, talk away. If our conversation can’t make it beyond a mutual love of boats, I don’t think we’re going to go on too many dates. Maybe a boating convention, though.”
Kai wrinkled his nose and plunked into the opposite seat. “Do you like boats?”
He grinned. “Not in the slightest. I get seasick pretty easily. Hope that’s not a deal-breaker.”
“Drat, my plan to become the next Willem Schouten is foiled.” Kai picked up one of the menus and scanned it over.
“Babe, I hope you know I have no idea who that is,” Sloan said, amusement filtering through his veins. Maybe this date wouldn’t be an epic disaster.
“The first guy to intentionally sail through Cape Horn.” Kai didn’t look up from the menu.
“Am I supposed to know that one too?” Sloan teased.
A flush rose to Kai’s cheeks. “Right, I’m a history nerd, and I forget not everyone watches history documentaries for fun.”
“My brand of documentaries is nature, but my geek sphere is more in terms of Magic the Gathering,” Sloan said, not wanting Kai to retreat out of embarrassment. He found the guy charming as fuck, even if he got easily embarrassed or flustered. Sloan had been in the scene for so long he could barely remember a time when he got shy about nudity or fucking with random play partners or friends, but that sort of reaction was common when folks explored kink for the first time.
“The card game?” Kai asked.
“Yeah, I play it over at Tabletop Tavern once in a while.” He didn’t bother to look at the menu. He’d order what he always did. “A board game café nearby. They host Magic tournaments.”
“That’s awesome.” Kai chewed on his lower lip, making it nice and shiny. They were similar heights, but Sloan paid attention to his sturdy frame. If his cock was as pretty as him, he could make Sloan feel so damn good. “Shit, my best friend from back home would be laughing his ass off if he saw me fumbling to make conversation the way I am now.”
“Ah, so were you a charmer back home?” Sloan settled in his seat.
The waiter stopped at their table, and they ordered two glasses of house red, oysters for Sloan, and an avocado BLT for Kai.
“I wouldn’t say a charmer, but I could string sentences way more easily than I can now.” Kai’s smile was genuine, even if sadness tinged the edges. Truth be told, even with the bits he disclosed, he remained a bit of a mystery to Sloan.
“To be fair, it’s a lot easier to be outspoken around people you’ve known for most of your life. Considering we’re talking small Midwestern town, I’m guessing that was the case?”
Kai snorted. “Absolutely. We had a nosy-as-fuck group there, but they were all solid people.”
While divorcing someone in a small town sounded uncomfortable, Sloan still felt like he was missing a piece of the puzzle. That change didn’t seem enough reason to move half the country over when Kai clearly held a lot of fondness for his hometown .
“So, I assume your late blooming bisexuality is what sent you racing away from your town in middle America?” Sloan teased.
Kai licked his lips and glanced to the side. “Nah, Collier’s Creek is filled with open-minded folks. My best friend’s bi.”
Maybe San Francisco’s illustrious kink scene had beckoned him, but Sloan doubted it. Despite reading people well, he didn’t pry for secrets, and Kai wasn’t parading in with more information.
“Wait, am I your first date with a guy?” The realization sent a jolt of excitement through him.
Kai nodded, a cute blush returning to his cheeks, which made him look “very aww, shucks farm boy,” but Sloan had the feeling he could be as filthy as anyone given time.
“Lucky me,” he said with a purr.
The waiter dropped off their wine, and Sloan brought his glass to his lips at once. His gaze didn’t leave Kai’s as he took a long, slow sip and ran his tongue over his lower lip.
“God, unfair,” Kai moaned.
The heat blazing in Kai’s eyes was what he’d been waiting for, and he didn’t mind playing dirty to get results. In fact, dirty was exactly the way he liked to play.
“How’s it unfair when I’m very willing to come through on my promises?” He batted his lashes less than innocently.
Kai swore under his breath, which fueled Sloan’s fire. Sometimes folks were surprised he flirted as much as he did or was direct about what he wanted, since he was as submissive as they came, but he needed to be fucked and filled and dominated as often as possible. Confidence had nothing to do with preferences. Once he had a partner in mind, he happily handed over the reins.
“Someone as gorgeous as you could have your pick of any experienced Dom,” Kai said, and a little bit of vulnerability crept into his hazel eyes. “Why me, when I’m not only newly bi but also new to kink?”
“Corruption of innocents is my part-time gig.” Sloan smirked. “But in all honesty…” He sucked in a deep breath. He could offer any number of ego-stroking compliments, but instead, what came out was the truth. “You feel safe.”
Ezra had felt safe too, and the situation still had him in a lurch. He hadn’t summoned the nerve to text him back, even though he desperately wanted to. The guilt of judging Ezra based on his brother still haunted him.
Kai’s eyes crinkled with a genuine smile. “Mmm, you feel like trouble to me.”
Sloan placed a hand over his chest. “Now, where would you get that idea?”
“Considering you flat out propositioned me after the first class I attended at Whipped? No idea,” Kai said, the sarcastic deadpan something Sloan had caught in bursts. He liked it. Maybe Kai had started to get more comfortable around him.
“Come on now. I had to. Pretty piece of ass like you? You were going to get swarmed with subs once you started coming to the bigger events.”
“Psh, no one wants a newbie Dom.” Kai shook his head. “Besides, I’m realizing I’m not just a top anyway.”
Sloan’s lips quirked. “Ah, are you curious about submitting?”
Kai’s flush intensified. Oh, interesting. If he hadn’t been talking to Kai all week, hadn’t experienced the man’s steady touch on him, he might be a little more worried that Kai was no longer interested. That he’d found a Dom and wanted to pursue bottoming for scenes. However, he was here, and that meant something .
“That look tells me someone’s done a little experimenting,” Sloan teased.
Kai squeezed his nape. “I’d asked Meg for suggestions on who to talk to about domming, and while I learned some tips from him, we’d tried an impact scene as well.”
Disappointment thudded through Sloan. Impact wasn’t as much his bag. Noles and so many of the other subs lapped the pain play up, but that had never been for him. Before Rick, it hadn’t been his favorite, and after Rick…yeah, he’d steered far fucking clear from it.
“Ah, you practicing with a flogger?” He tried to mask his insecurity with a joke.
Kai still didn’t look up. “Ah, no. I don’t think I’m interested in topping for impact, if I’m being honest, but I loved submitting for it. Sorry, I know that’s the flashy thing most Doms do and all…”
Relief fluttered through Sloan. “No apologies. I’m not a fan of impact. I’m a touch slut, so honestly, what we did at the sensory play workshop worked just fine for me.”
“What other kinks do you like?” Kai asked. The question was one of Sloan’s favorites, and finding out someone’s kinks offered instant access to aspects of their personality.
“I’m a hedonist.” Sloan leaned back in the seat comfortably. He took another sip of the wine to wet his lips, but he was enjoying himself. “So I’m more about the pleasure than the pain. Whether it’s sensory, group play, gangbangs, bondage, whatever, as long as it feels good, I’m in.”
Kai’s eyes widened, and he glanced around as if waiting for folks to peek around the stacks and gasp over the topic of conversation.
“The tables are secluded enough that no one’s listening in, farm boy,” Sloan teased .
“Look, you say anything in public in a small town, and by the end of the day, everyone and their mother discussed it,” Kai said, an impish grin on his lips. “So…do you like multiple partners a lot?”
“Why? Curious to try?” Sloan asked, his heart thumping a little harder. Group scenes were his bread and butter, and if Kai wasn’t comfortable with his lifestyle, that might be a deal-breaker.
“It’s on the miles-long list of things I’ve never done but have wondered about,” Kai said, shaking his head. “Look, I went from straight and vanilla in a monogamous relationship, so this whole shift has been a bit of a shock.”
“No need to rush anything.” Sloan shrugged. “But so you’re aware, I’m ethically nonmonogamous.”
“What does that mean?” Kai cocked his head to the side.
Sloan let out a slow breath. He’d had to give the subject a lot of thought himself after Rick. Even beyond the abuse from Rick, being confined to one partner had never felt right to him, like he only accessed a part of his life. Ever since, even though he hadn’t been searching for relationships, he’d needed a sense of freedom in his.
“That can mean a lot of things to a lot of people,” he said at last. “For me, it means that even if I’m in a long-term romantic relationship, I need a variety of partners to feel fulfilled. Whether that’s sexual or romantic varies.”
Kai nodded, his brow crinkled as if deep in thought. “Can I say I don’t know how I feel about that?”
Sloan nodded, relief curling through him. “Given your lack of knowledge on the subject, I’d be more concerned if you were like, okay, cool. Better to take your time and figure out if it’s something you’d be comfortable with. Unless it’s a threesome you want to experiment with.” Sloan waggled his brows. “Because we can dive right in there. ”
“Oh yeah?” The seductive rasp to Kai’s voice offered a green fucking light if he ever heard one, and he liked it. “What would you want, two Doms topping you?”
“Dream come true.” Sloan clasped his hands and fluttered his lashes.
Kai let out a bark of a laugh so genuine and real it sent a shiver down his spine. Something about this guy screamed authentic, and Sloan enjoyed it.
Kai looked behind him, and his eyes widened in surprise. “Ezra?”
Sloan’s body stiffened.
Not now. When they hadn’t even discussed anything yet.
“What’s going on?” Ezra’s familiar voice sounded behind him. Guaranteed he didn’t realize who Kai was on a date with.
“Ah, just hanging out with Sloan.” A blush spread on Kai’s cheeks.
All too easily, Sloan drew the conclusions.
About the other Dom Kai was learning from. His stomach flip-flopped, and he didn’t know how the fuck to feel about that. About any of this situation.
He sucked in a sharp breath.
However, it seemed like he would have to deal with what he’d run from regardless.
Sloan turned around in his seat. Ezra stood behind him, and his eyes widened.
Fucking hell. With Ezra’s dark hair slicked back, a leather jacket on, and those thick brows drawn together, attraction punched Sloan in the gut.
“Hey, Ezra.”