Too Dear for Deer

Chapter 9

9

SCOTT

Selecting a dildo was fun. I had a range of choices, and once I’d decided, I went to the front counter and paid for our purchases, which included a deer headband, the butt plug tail, and the harness. When I was done, I headed out to the car Deer had come in, and we got into the back together.

“What did you buy?” He peeked at me from beneath those long lashes, fluttering them ever so slightly. Naughty boy. He knew how to get my attention.

“That’s a surprise for tonight.” I winked and settled back into the leather seat of the car. I slid my hand onto his thigh and squeezed, eliciting a whimpering gasp from him. “Because I’ve waited long enough. It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since I’ve met you, and I want in that pretty little arse of yours. What do you reckon?”

A visible shudder went through him, and I didn’t miss the small whine that fell from between his lips. “Yeah. Yeah, I like the sound of that.”

I chuckled, pleasure simmering low in my stomach as I thought about all the filthy things I was going to do to him. His exes didn’t treat him right, and I was going to show him how a real man took care of his partner.

“Let’s go to the shops, and then I’ll take you home and cook tea.” I swooped toward him to nibble on his ear. I unclipped his seat belt so I could drag him to the middle seat beside me; although, the action ignited a heated pain through my injured shoulder which I ignored. The closer he was, the better.

“Tea? I don’t drink tea.” His confusion drew a deep laugh out of me.

“Tea as in dinner. We’ll go to the grocery store, and then I’ll cook dinner.”

“Then, why didn’t you just say that?” His eyebrows threaded together and he scrunched his nose.

Fuck, I wanted to eat him up. I didn’t think he realized how bloody adorable and hot he was at the same time. “I did.”

He shook his head and smiled. “You’re a pain in the ass.”

“I’m not yet, but I will be tonight.” Winking at him, I chuckled when his face turned a bright red, and he grumbled something under his breath.

He groaned and leaned his head on my shoulder, and it was nice to have him trust me. I wrapped my arm around his waist and held him. Luckily, he was on the side of my uninjured shoulder, which meant I didn’t have an issue with hugging him.

We spent the afternoon going to the grocery shop and buying a few things. Even after all the years I’d lived in the States, it still blew my mind that you could buy beer and wine at the grocery store. Then, we got back into the car and headed to the tower.

It’d snowed while we were shopping, and I grunted when we exited the car. The snow was fresh under my shoes, but it made everything more slippery. “I hate snow.”

Deer sent me an incredulous look. “What kind of person are you?”

“The kind who thinks Die Hard is a Christmas movie and that snow is the devil.” I winked at him, and he shook his head with a laugh.

The driver sent word for help to bring in the grocery bags—the tower staff also unpacked them into my fridge and cupboard—while Deer and I went to the reception desk, and I filled out the paperwork to get Deer approved for a key card and entrance to my apartment. He gave me one of those adorable nervous smiles as he handed over his New York ID. Diarmuid Marshall was clear on the card. Normally, they would do a full background check, but since he was my personal guest, they noted the details and that was it. They scanned his retina to add to the security measures, and by the time we were done, it was nearing six and I was sick of listening to the Christmas carols in the lobby.

“We Wish you a Merry Christmas” my arse.

Why couldn’t they wait a few more days before blasting us with all this holiday shite? My stomach clenched as I thought about Skippy and his family at home in Australia, as well as my younger brother Cricket, and of Avery, who was far away in St. Loren. Sure, I had Zombie and Hashtag here, but they had families of their own that they wanted to spend Christmas with.

At least this year I had Deer.

We went up in the lift, and as soon as we were in my apartment, I grasped his hand in mine.

“I’m going to make you an Aussie delicacy.” I dragged him into the kitchen toward the marble island, where I forced him onto one of the tall black leather stools.

“You’re actually going to cook?” He grinned, and I had a feeling he didn’t believe me.

I hummed and shifted into the kitchen, snatching up my “It’s all fun and games until someone burns their wiener!” apron. On the front of the red material was a picture of a sausage cooking on a barbie. I turned toward Deer and held out my arms. “How do I look? Sophisticated?”

“That’s a big word for an Australian,” he teased.

I gaped at him. “Wow. Look at that sharp tongue coming out to play. We can find fun things to do with that later.”

He ducked his head and dropped his face into his hands. “Oh my God, you are such a flirt.”

I leaned my elbows on the island top and hooked my finger under his chin, raising his eyes to meet mine. I stroked my thumb over his bruised jaw, mesmerized by how his lashes fluttered so innocently. “Usually, I’m not. I have one-night stands, that’s it. I don’t have time to keep someone around. But you changed my mind. December’s going to be one hell of a month.”

His cheeks might be permanently stained red. He smiled, and it was so sweet that it nearly gave me a bloody cavity. Yeah, Deer’s exes were fucking idiots.

“So, what are you making?” He tilted his head, leaning into my touch, and I traced his smooth skin across his cheekbone and around the side of his left eye, mapping out his face so I knew it by heart.

“That’s for you to find out.” I stepped back, opened the fridge, and pulled out the snags. I cut the plastic with a knife and switched on one of the many stovetops I had in this kitchen. I didn’t cook often because there was only me, but I couldn’t forget the skills. They’d been ingrained in me since I was a kid.

“Can I ask you a question?” He leaned his elbows on the island top, attention fully on me. The afternoon sun filtered through the wall of glass, glinting across his dark hair like a halo.

“Of course you can. Whether I answer or not, I can’t say. Depends on what you want to know.” I grinned as I grabbed a grill pan out of the cupboard and rested it on the stove plate that I’d turned on. A little bit of oil and some heating was all it needed.

“How do you know how to cook?” He pursed his lips thoughtfully. “I mean, you’re rich. You’ve always been rich. Aren’t you used to people waiting on you , not the other way around?”

I chuckled and washed my hands in the sink in the island. “Nah, yeah.” Wiping my hands with a tea towel, I grinned at him. “My mum.”

“Your mom is the reason?” he whispered, as though it was a big secret between us.

I nodded. “She didn’t come from money. Her and Dad met at a pub where she was skolling a drink in under sixty seconds when a friend dared her to. Dad always said he knew from the moment he met her that she was his soulmate.” I smiled. Dad told us a lot of stories about Mum after she died. It was his way of coping with her early death. “She, uh, she never let Dad’s money go to her head. She raised us to be grateful of our privilege and to acknowledge that we were very lucky to be born into a family with so much wealth.”

I turned my back so I could lay the sausages into the sizzling pan, then lowered the temperature so they could take their time to cook.

I glanced at him again. “Drink?” I didn’t wait for an answer. I went to the wine cupboard and pulled out a bottle of red. “Anyway, Mum taught me and my brothers how to take care of ourselves. She thought it was a valuable lesson. She made us wash our own clothes and do our chores, and she made us understand the importance of kindness. When I was seven, I started helping her in the kitchen.”

I grabbed two glasses and rested them on the island in front of him. Unscrewing the top, I winked at him, then poured some of the wine for us.

“What, no extravagant vino? Pretty sure the Yellow Tail is in my price range.” He snickered and wrinkled his nose.

“Nah, prefer this brand.”

He watched eagerly, curiosity dancing in his eyes as he followed my movements. I was the main show, and he was my audience. It was the kind of attention from him I enjoyed, apparently.

I took a sip of my wine as I walked back around to my side of the island and checked on the sausages. After some deliberation, I turned them with tongs. When I was happy with how they were progressing, I focused on him, leaning back against the counter near the stove.

“Mum’s view on life was that we need to know how to take care of ourselves and the ones we love. She believed that giving was love. So yeah, I’m a rarity. The sort of rich bloke who helps other rich fuckers find what they want. I’m no saint, though. I donate money to charity, but I’m not the kind who lives on bare minimum for the sake of others. I like my luxuries.”

He sipped his wine delicately out of his glass, then cringed and set it down again.

“First time having wine?”

He shrugged, the corners of his mouth crinkling with his smile. “Nope, but I’m not much of a wine fan.”

“There’s vodka in the cupboard.” I pointed at the wooden doors beside the stoves behind him. “And soft drink in the fridge if you like to mix it with Coke or something.”

“ Soft drink ,” he mocked, sending me a teasing smile as he headed to the cupboard, where he grabbed the bottle of vodka. He moved around the kitchen, going to the fridge, and I watched him, not willing to glance away from how his hips swung ever so slightly and how his arse bounced in the most enticing way.

“Mm. You look good enough to have for tea instead,” I murmured, unable to resist walking over to him while he was at the fridge to slap his arse.

He gasped and closed the door, a bottle of Coke clutched in his hand as he leaned back against the fridge. I dipped in for a kiss, and like a good deer , he tilted his head back, accepting my lips on his briefly.

“Yummy. I can’t wait to taste the rest of you later.” I winked and shifted away again to head back to the sausages.

From the corner of my eye, I caught him giving himself a squeeze through his pants before he nearly ran back to his stool. I held in a chuckle as I turned the sausages again.

“You mock me for the words I use, but my grandfather’s Texan, you know? They use some of the same sayings as us.” Once the flipping was done, I focused on him again, not quite able or willing to look anywhere else.

He filled a new glass with some vodka before adding Coke. “Texas is a whole other ballpark. That doesn’t count.” He shot me a mischievous grin, and I laughed.

“Obviously, your family is Irish.”

He nodded as he took a sip. His Adam’s apple bounced and his throat worked in the most delicious way that my cock jerked at the sight. What would he look like with me shoved down his throat?

“Yeah. Irish. I don’t know if we’re anything else.” He shrugged. “They’re extra Irish.” He rolled his eyes. “What about you?”

“I’ve got lots in me, sweetheart. I’m Irish, Italian, English, German, American, and there’s some Scottish in there somewhere.” I licked my bottom lip as he did the same to catch some of the liquid on it. “When I’m fucking that tight little hole of yours tonight, you can have all that in you, too.”

He choked on the sip he was taking and coughed, the alcohol coming out of his nose and mouth at the same time and splashing across the marble island. “Ouch! Ouch! Oh God, I’m so sorry.”

I howled in laughter until tears flooded my eyes and I had to wipe them away. “Fuck, you are adorable.”

He glared as he reached over the island to grab a cloth and wipe up his mess. “You surprised me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, sweetheart. Do you want a kiss to make it better?”

He whined in the back of his throat.

“Speaking of kisses and fucking, we need to have a good ole chat.” I switched off the stove and moved the pan over to a plate that wasn’t on. I shifted around the kitchen, grabbing a couple of dinner plates and laying them on the island before getting the loaf of sliced bread.

He watched me carefully. “A talk about what? I’m not a virgin.”

“You’ve said.” I eyed him as I took out pieces of bread and laid one on each plate. “Do you have a hang-up about that? Someone give you shit about being a virgin?”

He traced the rim of his glass with his pointer finger. “Not really. Some people just think I am.”

“There’s nothing wrong with it if you were, but I’m glad you’re not because then I’d have to take more time to make sure you were comfortable with a cock inside your tight little arse.” I grabbed the pan next and used the tongs to put a sausage on each piece of bread.

He frowned at my masterpiece. “ What are you doing?”

I laughed. “Making the ultimate Bunnings snag.”

“What?” His eyebrows shot upward and his lips twitched.

“Would you like tomato sauce with your snag ?” I asked but didn’t stop as I opened the fridge and pulled out the ketchup bottle. That was one thing I’d finally managed to change in my vocab. Tomato sauce was different here, and asking for it on hot chips got me weird looks. “There’s a hardware store back home called Bunnings. Every Saturday and Sunday, they’d have a charity there cooking snags on the barbie to raise money. It’s called the Bunnings snag. Sausage on bread with sauce. Sometimes cooked onion, too, if that’s your thing. Usually, it’s mine, but I couldn’t be fucked to cut and cook it, too.”

His eyes widened and the confusion warped into pure disbelief as his mouth opened.

I squeezed a line of ketchup over each sausage, then placed the bottle on the counter before stepping back to look at my pièce de résistance. I kissed the tips of my fingers. “Perfecto. The pinnacle of Australian culture.”

“You’re kidding.” A laugh fell from his lips and he slapped a hand over his mouth.

I pointed at him as I slid his plate over. “I never kid about a snag on bread.”

He held up his palms to me. “I’m not arguing. I trust you.” He glanced down at the food. “Maybe.”

“Trust me, it’s fucking delicious. They also have them during elections. We call it the Democracy Snag. You can’t vote without a full stomach, right?” I took my seat beside him with my plate and curled the bread around the sausage before taking a large bite. “Mmm. Fuck that’s good.” I sent him a smirk. “There’s only one thing I love eating more than a snag on bread. Want to guess what it is?” I purposely glanced down at his arse.

“No.” He took a large bite of his food and chewed. I watched him and the expression of wonder on his face before he hummed in approval. “It’s good.”

I chuckled. I hadn’t expected anything less. “All right. Let’s talk sex safety and kink.”

He gave me a wide-eyed look.

“Don’t be scared. This is a conversation we need to have before we have sex. I want you to know what you’re getting into.” I took two more bites, then a sip of wine. The food and alcohol weren’t perfectly paired, but I didn’t give a shit.

“I know.” He pulled at the bread’s crust, almost thoughtfully, and worried his bottom lip between his teeth. “I’m not going to back out of anything.”

“Why? Because you need the money?” I asked seriously. There were certain things I didn’t joke about and this was one of them. I wasn’t going to force an inexperienced man into something he might not be prepared for because of cash. Sure, he’d agreed already, but I still wanted to have a discussion about expectations.

“Well, yeah...but I like the idea of being a deer. The headband and tail are exciting.” His knees pulled together in front of him and his shoulders curled forward, almost as if he was trying to hide from the embarrassment of his words.

I grinned, heat starting in my chest and spreading out to the rest of my limbs until my fingers tingled. The hair on my arms rose as pleasure simmered low in my stomach. My cock twitched, and blood traveled south. Oh fuck . The things I wanted to do to him....

“Right. But why ? Why are they exciting? Because they come with the cash?”

He snorted and rolled his eyes. “Are you my therapist? You certainly sound like the psychologist my mom sent me to when I was younger. What’re yer thoughts, Diarmuid? ” he asked in a deep, mocking tone that was heavily Irish.

That piece of information was something to unpack later. From the tidbits I’d heard from him, there was something going on with his mum. Though, I needed to mind my own business. I shouldn’t care what was happening in his personal life. I wasn’t his bodyguard, and I certainly wasn’t his boyfriend.

I chuckled instead. “Fine. Don’t answer. But you are new to kink, so we’re going to go through some important things before we do anything, all right?” I held up my palm when it looked as if he was going to argue. “This is not debatable, Deer. My best mate runs a kink club, and he’d have my knackers if I don’t do this properly with any sub. I’m more scared of him than I am of you, trust me. I want my balls where they are.”

He hesitated, then sighed. Grabbing his glass of vodka and Coke, he waved his hand toward me. “Fine. Enlighten me.”

“First, stop with the attitude.” I flicked him on the nose, and he huffed and tried to swat me away. “You really are in your twenties, aren’t you?”

“Says the man in his....Wait, how old are you?” He cocked his head.

I was tempted to make a game out of it and get him to guess, but the quicker we ate and had this conversation, the quicker I could have him in his pet gear so I could fuck him. “I’m forty-one, which means I have a lot more experience than you, so listen up, Fawn.”

He rolled his eyes at the pun and his lips quirked into a smile. “I’m all ears, Stag.”

I snorted and finished off my food, then brushed the crumbs from my hands. “I’m not going to give you the clinical version that Avery would prefer. I’m gonna be straight out honest with you. Kink isn’t for everyone. It’s a lifestyle, and I play in the bedroom but not outside of the apartment.”

He winced as he finished off his sausage, leaving his half-eaten bread on the plate. What a felony that was. I’d ignore it—this time. I was sure he had his reasons. “Yeah, I don’t think I’d be into humiliation.”

“Eh, to some it’s not. It’s who they are and they enjoy it and don’t give a shit about anyone else. More power to them.” I grasped my wineglass and took a sip. “I don’t like any of the rough or violent shit. I’m not into giving pain. As I’ve said before, I’m a service Dom. I enjoy pleasuring my sub.”

“Me too.” The tips of his ears went red before the rest of his face. “I mean, I don’t think I like pain at all. It scares me.” Nervous tension vibrated off him as he wrung his hands and chewed on his lip more roughly.

“Righto, then we’re compatible in that area.” I nudged his shoulder with my good one and reached over to pull his lip out from between his teeth. “Don’t do that. You’ll hurt yourself.”

He nodded and smiled gently.

“We’ll need to sit down tomorrow and go through our likes and dislikes more thoroughly. Or we can discover what we enjoy as we go.” I tickled my fingers over the back of his hand, drawing the tips over his knuckles. The tension in his body seeped out of him and he relaxed. “Tonight, we’ll start slow. You can wear the headband and butt plug if you want. See how you feel in it. When you become a pet, any kind of pet, you’re submitting yourself to your owner. You’re giving me control over you. That’s a big thing, and it can come with a lot of feelings. I want to make sure you’re ready for that.”

“I’ve never done this,” he whispered. “But I did like what I saw in the sex shop. I do want this.”

I chuckled quietly. “I’m sure you do, sweetheart, but it’s not just putting on the headband and slipping in the butt plug and everything’s hunky-dory. I’m guessing, and this is in no way judgment, you’ve had pretty vanilla sex up until now, right?”

He cringed away from me, but I slipped my fingers in his to make sure he couldn’t run. Groaning, he muttered under his breath, so I nearly missed it. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Right.” I pressed a kiss to his hot cheek and nuzzled the uninjured side of his jaw. “That’s fine, sweetheart. My point is that you haven’t experienced the highs and lows of this kind of sex. Because while there are plenty of highs, lows are possible, too, especially if I bring you to multiple orgasms through the night. I want you to be prepared for that. It can be a pain in the arse, but if it does happen, I need to be able to take care of you. Do you understand?”

He scrunched up his nose. “Not really? Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” I kissed him on the temple, not able to resist because, fuck , he was dangerously attractive and sweet. “I’m glad you’re telling me the truth. That’s important. I’ve known a lot of bad Doms in my life who threw their boys into the deep end. I’m not going to do that to you.” I slid my stool closer to his until our hips bumped. I wrapped an arm around his waist and squeezed his side. “Kink comes with a lot of adrenaline. You’re so high with pleasure that your brain can’t give you anymore. There’s no room left. So, if you can’t go up, where are you going to go?”

“Down,” he murmured.

“Down. We call it a drop. Subs or Doms can get it, but it’s more likely to happen to subs because Doms are the ones handing out the pleasure— if they’re doing it right. Sub drops can happen anytime during the scene or even a few hours after. Sometimes a day or more. They’re the same as anxiety attacks or depressive episodes. Fucks with your mind.”

He tilted his chin up to stare at me. “Have you had it happen to you?”

I made a sound in the back of my throat. “Once, when I was younger and didn’t take proper care of myself. I was a wreck. If it hadn’t been for my mate Avery, I probably would’ve done something stupid.”

“Am I allowed to ask what happened?” He shifted closer and his warmth was nice against my side. It’d been a long time since I’d had a man in my home like this.

“Yeah, you can ask. That’s what the conversation’s for, right?” I tapped him lightly on the nose, and he smiled. “It’s when I was discovering a part of myself. For the longest time, I tried to convince myself, and everyone around who knew me, I was straight. Until one day I’d had enough of the lies. I went into my first kink club with no idea what I was doing, and I took the first sub who was interested back to my house. He was destructive, and I got caught up in his whirlwind for a few weeks. It was nice at first, but then....” I waved my hand as I tried to think of the words to use to describe the first sub I’d ever been with. I couldn’t even remember his name anymore. “Then, it got bad. He pushed me into things I wasn’t interested in sexually. He wanted me to hurt him. It brought out a scary part of me. I nearly killed him.”

Fuck, I couldn’t believe I was admitting any of this to Deer. He could run to the cops in fear, for all I knew.

I rubbed the back of my neck. “I called Avery, and he came to help me. We got the sub to the hospital and that was that. I knew from then that I only wanted to serve and give pleasure, not pain. At least, not in bed.”

“Outside of bed?” he asked, so quietly I nearly didn’t hear him.

“I don’t hurt the people I’m having sex with, in or out of bed.” I pursed my lips. “Others? That’s another story. I’m protective of the people I love. Friends and family. That sub unlocked a dark part of me that I let out here and there when it’s necessary.”

Deer smiled in understanding. “Avery, he gave you some lessons of your own, huh?”

I laughed. “Oh yeah. That bloke sat me down and gave me the biggest lecture in history. He’s younger than me, and at that point, I’d only known him through work, and even then, I didn’t want to cross him. He’s like a feral chihuahua—small but vicious. I learned a lot from him. Not physically, of course, we’re only mates and he was married at the time. But he gave me the rundown. I owe him a lot.”

“He’s a good friend.”

I dipped down to kiss Deer because he was staring at me with those big brown eyes and his mouth popped out. He was asking for it. “The best. Now, the most important part of this is a safe word. This is a word that means to stop everything . No matter what, the scene and sex ends. It can’t be no because most people say that while they’re pleasure fucked out of their mind.”

He brushed his nose over mine, hunger flooding his gaze. His cock had begun tenting his pants and it’d be difficult to ignore even if I wanted to. I reached down to give him a good squeeze, and he gasped.

“I need a safe word, Fawn. Come now. Think of something.”

His lashes fluttered. His hips rocked, driving his hardening cock up into my palm. “Snag.”

I froze.

The corners of his mouth twitched until he couldn’t hold back a smile, and I gave his cock a squeeze hard enough to elicit a loud moan from him.

“Nice one. Try again.”

He half laughed, half whimpered. “Cheesecake. I hate cheesecake, so that’s my safe word.”

I hummed in acknowledgement. “Doms usually don’t need one as much because we’re in control, but I’ll give you mine just in case. It’s red. That’s it. Just red. Simple and to the point.” I kissed the corner of his mouth, and his tongue darted out, as if he wanted to get a taste of me. I stroked him through his pants, and his gasps became more desperate. I released him and rose.

He pouted up at me.

“Don’t give me that look.” My heart gave a rough jolt anyway because he was just too pretty. “Final part of the talk. I’m negative.”

“Me too.” He fumbled for his phone, as if he was going to show me, and I put a hand on his arm.

“That’s fine. I believe you.”

He blew out a long breath. “I’m also getting the Apretude shot. I like it because you don’t have to remember a pill every day.”

“Same! I switched to that, too.”

He gave me a shy grin.

Chuckling, I moved to the dining table to the left of us to grab the purchases that the staff had brought in. I opened the sex shop package and grabbed out the headband and butt plug. Staring at the harness, I decided I’d put that on him another day. Same with the dildo. We had the entire month. I returned to him with the costume pieces.

“Why don’t you be a good boy and get naked and put these on for me? The collar in your room, too. Then, meet me in the main suite.” I stroked up his cheekbone after he’d taken the items from me. His skin was soft under the pads of my fingers, and I wanted to stay there and explore, but I was too desperate to get inside him tonight. “I’ll clean up here and meet you in there. All right?”

He whimpered, desperate and lustful. The sound made its way to my cock, which twitched and hardened. All my blood went south, leaving me little brain power to do anything but wave him off.

He nearly tripped over his stool as he got up, and then he was off.

All I could do was watch him clutch the headband and tail to his chest as he ran out of the kitchen.

Fuck. I was in trouble.