Part Eight Be There #2
Heads turned to watch them go. Scott was sure he would have blushed bright red, if it weren’t for the fact he’d felt every drop of blood drain from his face when he realised just how badly he must have offended Joe.
“Sorry, mate,” Joe said, as he brushed past the ma?tre d’ without even slowing down. “Change of plans.”
It was all Scott could do to stay on his feet as Joe strode on, his long legs eating up the ground at an astonishing pace. When they reached the pavement outside the restaurant, Scott knew he had to do something. He dug his feet in as best he could, and tugged hard against Joe’s grip on his hand.
His elbow and wrist protested, but Scott held his ground until Joe looked over his shoulder and came to a stop. Joe’s expression was a mixture of surprise and confusion; as if it had never occurred to him that Scott would try to bring them to a halt without his permission.
“I’m s-so sorry,” Scott blurted out. “I really d-didn’t mean to blurt out something s-so stupid. I m-mean, you went to all this t-t-trouble and—”
“Do shut up. There’s a good boy,” Joe said.
Scott shut up, took a deep breath, and braced himself for the worst.
Releasing Scott’s hand, Joe undid his own tie and the top button of his shirt.
He let out a sigh of relief. “Damn, but I’m glad that’s over.
” Joe pushed his hand through his hair and the thick black strands immediately resumed their usual disordered style.
He rolled his shoulders, as if working out a week’s worth of tension from the muscles.
Scott blinked. Suddenly, he was face to face with the Joe he had come to know and… Scott’s mind rebelled at that point, refusing to even consider what word might best finish that particular sentence.
But that didn’t change the fact that the man who stood before Scott now looked a lot more like Scott’s familiar version of Joe—and a dozen times hotter than the imposter that had tried to take his place.
First things first. “You’re n-not pissed off with me?” Scott checked.
* * * * *
Joe rolled up his tie and pushed it into his pocket. Taking his uncomfortable suit trousers off in the middle of the street probably wasn’t a good idea, but it was tempting. He’d have given damn near anything for a well-worn pair of jeans or leathers.
He glanced at Scott as he turned his attention back to the conversation. “Why would I be pissed off with you?”
“Because you set up a b-big fancy date and I r-r-ruined it?” Scott suggested.
Joe chuckled as he shrugged his suit jacket off and slipped his finger through the loop inside the neck so he could toss it over his shoulder. “That just proves you’ve got good taste. Bloody awful place, wasn’t it?”
Scott said nothing.
Joe stopped wishing that he’d thought ahead and brought a change of clothes along with him.
He studied Scott more carefully. “I thought that kind of place would be right up your street.” He rubbed his jawline as he frowned, mildly annoyed with himself, but not altogether disappointed he’d read Scott wrongly in this instance.
“I still have a bit of work to do on understanding the whole vanilla romance thing, don’t I? ”
Scott blinked, as if he really hadn’t had a clue why Joe had booked a table there until that moment. “You don’t n-need to—”
“To do whatever the hell I want?” Joe finished for him. “Pity, because I fully intend to. Do you know this part of town?”
Scott shook his head.
Joe looked down each of the cross roads. There wasn’t a McDonalds in sight— another reason to hate the posher part of the city. “Got your car with you?”
Scott seemed to have reverted to his completely mute mode. He shook his head again.
“Good, because we’re taking mine.” Joe strode off toward the side street he’d parked on. It took him a few seconds to realise that he could only hear one set of footsteps. Turning around, he clicked his fingers to get Scott’s attention.
Scott came obediently to his side. Joe looped his arm casually around Scott’s shoulders.
“We’re going to have to work on your ability to walk at heel.
” When Scott seemed about to speak, Joe kept going without giving him the chance.
“Here’s the deal. Unless I tell you to stay, I expect you to keep up with me.
Imagine you’re a puppy. If I walk away, you follow me. Understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
Scott came to a complete stop the moment the honorific hit the air.
Joe chuckled, tightened his hold around Scott’s shoulders and nudged him into resuming their progress toward his car.
“I’m not going to complain if that’s what you want to call me, Scottie,” he whispered in his ear.
Hell, if it was pet commands that brought out Scott’s subbiest side, Joe had no problem with that.
Scott blushed, but that was probably less at being treated like a pet and more from blurting out the honorific for the first time.
He didn’t utter a single word during the drive across town, to the last McDonalds Joe could remember passing.
He didn’t speak when Joe stopped his car, in the nearest on-street parking space to the McDonalds either.
Joe turned in his seat. If it hadn’t been for the fact Scott’s hard-on was tenting his trousers, Joe might have thought he was having a full blown panic attack.
“They had a really strict dress code in that restaurant,” Joe said, conversationally.
Scott glanced in his direction.
“No tie, no table.”
Scott swallowed, but he still didn’t speak.
“Of course, that wasn’t the only reason I told you to wear a tie.”
“I’m n-not sure what you mean,” Scott finally whispered.
Joe reached out and tugged Scott’s tie, tightening the knot. “It’s not leather cuffs, but it will look just as good tied around your wrists as it does around your neck.”
Scott peered down at the pale blue fabric as if he had never seen it before. “I prefer you when you’re l-like this.” His expression changed, making it obvious that he’d had no intention of saying that out loud.
“Like this?” Joe raised an eyebrow.
“Kinky s-suits you.”
Joe chuckled. Leaning forward, he brushed their lips together. “Submissiveness suits you,” he said, against Scott’s mouth.
Scott looked down, resting his forehead against Joe’s temple.
“So does confidence,” Joe murmured as he trailed kisses back toward Scott’s ear. “They’re not mutually exclusive, you know?”
Scott took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
Joe gave him a minute before he spoke up again. “Now, go and fetch some food for us, okay?”
Scott nodded. Taking his wallet out of his back pocket, Joe tossed it to Scott. One glance at Joe’s expression and Scott seemed to realise that who would pay wasn’t up for debate. He didn’t bother to argue, he merely listened to Joe’s menu order and nodded again before leaving the car.
Joe watched in the rear view mirror as Scott disappeared into the building. Just as he’d suspected, Scott’s jacket was long enough to hide his embarrassment. No one was going to spot Scott’s hard-on unless Scott wanted them to.
A few minutes later, Joe saw Scott step back onto the pavement; two brown paper bags and Joe’s wallet in one hand, and a cardboard tray containing two drinks balanced precariously in the other.
For some reason, Scott seemed to think that there was a curse attached to the wallet. The moment he was back in the car, Scott set the bags of food on his lap and pushed the wallet into Joe’s hands as if he couldn’t wait to get rid of it. “The bill c-came to—”
“I don’t ask men to trust me to tie them up, or spank them, unless I’m willing to put my trust in them in return,” Joe cut in. He slid the wallet back into his pocket without checking its contents.
Scott glanced up at Joe through his lashes as he offered him one of the bags of food.
“No. You hang on to it for now. I know the perfect spot for us.” Joe pulled away from the kerb. The park he had in mind was close to the edge of town. Their luck was in. There wasn’t a single car parked by the lake when they arrived. Joe pulled into the furthest parking spot from the path. Perfect…
The sound of rustling paper filled the car as they both opened their bags.
While Scott kept his eyes firmly on his meal, Joe barely even noticed what he was eating.
His attention was all on Scott. But, no matter how hard Joe stared at Scott, it was impossible for him to tell what was going on in Scott’s mind.
He didn’t seem to be on the verge of a panic attack at that very moment—but that never seemed to last long with Scott.
Eventually, Scott glanced across the car at him. Joe made a point of catching his eye, more for the joy of making him blush than anything else.
“If anyone s-sees the windows all steamed up, they’re g-g-going to think we’re screwing each other in here,” Scott offered.
“Give me a minute to finish this burger, and they’ll be right.”
Joe reached out and rubbed Scott’s back as Scott choked on a fry.
“I…” Scott shook his head, apparently giving up on the idea of talking altogether. He dropped his head back against the headrest as he caught his breath. By the time he turned toward Joe again, he seemed to have composed himself slightly.
“Joe?”
“Yeah?”
“The th-thing outside the restaurant, when you s-s-straightened my tie,” Scott said.
Joe frowned as he scrolled back in his memory. “What about it?”
“I expected you to b-be ashamed to be seen with me, n-not the other way around.”
“Then you’re an idiot.”
Scott smiled as if he thought that was some sort of endearment.
Joe rolled up all their empty wrappers. One sort of hunger had been dealt with.
He was more than ready to move on to another.
Getting out of the car, he tossed the wrappers in a rubbish bin attached to the fence around the car park.
His car looked sexy, but it was damn near impossible for two reasonably tall men to actually do anything kinky in there.
Rather than get back in the car, Joe ducked his head and peered in at Scott.