Epilogue
Leo
Three months later
“He’s going to be fine.” Luca tried to sound confident but we both winced as Mick hid behind a potted plant on the way back from the bathroom. “Okay, he’s going to be fine eventually.”
Only if the models stopped trying to talk him into doing the shoot with them.
“They know not to actually take their clothes off and everyone here promised not to orgasm in front of him.” Luca stopped when I rolled my eyes. “What? I thought those were reasonable limits.”
For most people.
“They can take their clothes off all they want. He’s seen all of them online a thousand times.” That should’ve been obvious. “He doesn’t have the confidence to be in front of the camera.”
And he was on the fence about being naked in front of people he wanted to be friends with.
The club? He had no problems playing pretend or What-If about going there.
The models he stalked? Nope. That was totally different.
We were still working on the why but he couldn’t completely articulate it yet. So our first step had been to have conversations with them that didn’t involve kidnapping my boy. It’d gone fairly well with only one questionable abduction situation that I’d stopped before it’d gotten out of control.
Emerson just could not understand why he couldn’t drag Mick away anywhere he wanted…and my boy could not figure out how to tell the nut no.
We were working on that too.
“But he’s got a wonderful bone structure and a very photogenic grin. Hell, I think he’d look good wide-eyed after being…shit…kidnapped again.” Luca shrugged as I glared at him. “It was an honest mistake.”
No, it had not been.
“We’re going to take things one step at a time.
He’d like to see what a photo shoot here looks like, and then if he’s comfortable, we were going to talk to you about doing a small private one.
” For some reason Mick thought I could make him look too good on camera, so we needed someone who wasn’t invested in making him happy to do it.
Brat.
Of course I’d make him look as good as I could.
“Oh.” Luca blinked like he hadn’t thought about that option at all. “He’s your boy.”
Duh.
Maybe Mick was right and I was smarter than the other Doms.
“That’s the point.” He was odder than I’d thought. “You can always say you’re not comfortable with doing a shoot for him.”
Did they have a limit about who he could photograph?
How was he allowed around the models if that was the case?
Half of them were in various states of undress as they got ready for the shoot and the half that were fully clothed were flirting with everyone or looking entirely too innocent.
The tall guy with the long hair looked suspiciously innocent and needed to work on his routine if he wanted it to be believable.
“That’s not it.” Luca still looked like that was it. Raising one eyebrow in his direction got a sigh from him. “I wasn’t sure if he’d be comfortable with that.”
Okay, I could see that being confusing.
“You’re an artist. You’re not a regular person, so the naked rules are very different.” Oddly different but I didn’t have to explain that to Luca. “You’re also hot, so I think that’s making a difference too.”
My naughty boy had a thing for men who fell into the handsome and sexy category.
Flirty and on the more feminine side of attractive still confused him in a variety of ways.
I was pretty sure that was just leftover fuckery from childhood, but we were still dancing around the idea of him going to therapy.
In his mind, other people were more in desperate need of therapy than him, so it was only polite to let them go first…all of them. It was slightly unfortunate that he kept running into models who behaved so ridiculously I had a hard time arguing with him.
Like Emerson who was quietly making his way around the other side of the fake tree that seemed to be part of the photo shoot this week.
I’d win eventually, but my boy was happy so that was all I was focused on.
Well, his happiness and helping him to practice telling the models at Leashes & Lace no.
“Master!”
Well, he had been happy.
My pretty boy was halfway across the room, making a mad dash between models before I’d taken a step, but I was fast once I got started and had him swept up in my arms before anyone could react.
“I didn’t do it.”
Okay, before anyone but Emerson could react.
“It’s. I.” Upset and nearly hyperventilating as tears welled in his eyes, it took me entirely too long to realize why he was waving his hand in my face. “Help.”
He’d warned me.
Splinters were very upsetting and something else a therapist probably needed to review with him, but for the time being, I was just glad Emerson hadn’t done something unexpectedly triggering.
We were still working on going over what could go wrong at a photo shoot, so I wasn’t sure what might fall into that category.
Splinters hadn’t been on my list, though.
Miming taking a deep breath, I ignored everyone else around us and kept his gaze on mine. “Breathe. I’ll fix it but you have to breathe for me.”
It took us a few moments to get air going in and out at a reasonable pace, but eventually he was doing great and was getting enough oxygen that I wasn’t worried about how pale he’d gone. “Good boy.”
Air in.
Air out.
Trying to take a peek at his finger that was still going back and forth at a mind-altering pace turned out to be a bad decision.
Oops.
“No. Don’t look at it.” That level of panic would not be helpful or healthy. “I’m going to play doctor with my pretty doll.”
A giggle from somewhere off to the side got a shaky laugh from Cece, so I played along and rolled my eyes. “Not that kind of playing doctor. I don’t have the right toys for that.”
Going very still, Cece barely giggled but I could see he wanted to. “That’s right. Dolls are very still and silent, even when they’ve got booboos.”
Carrying him over to an oversized chair that was positioned in the corner, I set him sideways on my lap and shifted my tone to being his Owner. Cece was trying to be a good doll and stay calm, but keeping his hand out of his line of sight was the only way that was going to work.
“Let’s see. What do I need to take care of my pretty doll?” Making an exaggerated thinking sound, I shifted his hand to the side and turned it palm up to see he really did have a good-sized splinter from what I’d thought had been a fake tree.
Maybe real trees just came in ones that looked fake too?
“I’m going to need tweezers and a pretty bandage, of course.” Still making thinking sounds, I glanced around to see several of the models digging through bags and one cutie who was clearly a little digging through a backpack with cartoon characters I didn’t recognize on it.
Yep, trust the little to have brightly colored bandages.
“Then I’m going to take care of my pretty doll and find a treat for him.
” Snickers from the dirty minds around us had Cece almost breaking character to laugh himself, but he was fully invested in being a doll so he didn’t have to think about being tortured by the splinter.
“Snuggles and a new outfit too. That’s always important. ”
His chest barely jerked in silent laughter, and I knew he’d tease me about shopping later. “I might need a lab coat too. I hadn’t thought about playing doctor.”
A cutie in a short nightie was smart enough to approach us from behind Cece to pass me the tweezers, but as I looked over, a voice from the back distracted both of us.
“You guys were right. Where do I find an Owner?”
Cece was never going to be able to stay in character with a group that was so ridiculous, but he did his best as I eased what he probably thought was a large tree from his finger.
His chest jerked as there were more whispers about how sexy it was that he could be carried and as subs wondered what playing doctor would look like, but he stayed mostly still as I freed the tree from his hand and the helpful little brought over a Scooby Doo Band-Aid.
“Perfect. The doctor saved the day.” When he was safe, Cece collapsed into me and suddenly everyone remembered they had a job to do.
I waited until the roar of their conversations came back and we had what I was going to call privacy before I kissed his head.
“How are you feeling, pretty boy? Are you okay?”
His shaky exhale said no.
“Yes, Master.” He’d made enough progress I didn’t call him out, but I kissed his head again and rubbed his back. “I…I thought it was fake.”
“Me too.” I was going to double-check things like that in the future. “But you came to me as soon as there was a problem and you let me know what happened. I’m very proud of you.”
Cece snuggled into me as he let out a long breath. “I…I got a little upset.”
“That’s okay.” And that was also an understatement. “I knew what to do and you made sure I knew it would upset you if it ever happened. We were prepared and you did a wonderful job.”
Wrapping his non-injured arm around me, he carefully set the problem hand in his lap. “You even got me a Band-Aid.”
“Because you’re my special doll.” Of course he’d need a bandage of some sort. “I’m just glad it’s cute and not ugly.”
Giggling, he pressed a kiss to my cheek before nuzzling against me again, completely ignoring the chaos around us. “You always find pretty things for me.”
Scoffing got another happy sound from him. “Because you’re my special doll. You deserve all the pretty things.”
Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly. “Master? Do you remember when you told me that one day I’d have a funny tummy?”
He was the cutest sub I’d ever met…how could I forget that day?
“Yes, pretty boy.” Kissing his forehead, I relaxed back in the chair and snuggled him close as somehow the chaos turned into an actual photo shoot. “Is your tummy funny?”
Nodding, his focus was still on his injury but he rubbed against me and sighed. “You saved me.”
“Because you’re my special doll and my pretty boy.” Kissing him again, I let him process as I held him tight. “I’ll always save you.”
No matter if that was saving him from himself or Emerson who kept trying to kidnap him.
“I love you, Master. Not just because you saved me, but that’s important too.” His shaky breath had me hugging him tight and moving his hand behind his back so he had to stop staring at it. “Thank you.”
Ignoring the questions that were popping up left and right in the back of my head, I gave him a soft kiss and rested my forehead against his. “You’re welcome.”
That got a giggle from him. “That’s not what you’re supposed to say.”
Playing dumb, I frowned. “You say thank you and I say you’re welcome. That’s how it works.”
Barely holding back more laughter he straightened and frowned. “No. I say I love you and you say it back.”
“Oh…” Another giggle escaped before he caught it. “Well, I thought that was obvious and good manners seemed to be more important. But you’re right. I love you too.”
Snorting out a laugh, he collapsed against me. “You’re so silly.”
“Me?” Definitely not. “I’m just the boring Owner who works hard to take care of his doll.”
And the Master who kept him from getting kidnapped.
And the boyfriend who’d pushed him to get a job at the old folks home.
“You take good care of me.” Kissing my cheek again, he let out a happy sigh as I kept him from moving his hand. “You’re really good at it.”
“Because I love you, pretty boy.” We might’ve started out with passion and kinks and questionable logic, but he was my boy, my lover, and my partner.
I’d never thought love at first sight was real, but when dolls came to life, anything was possible.
~~~