Ryan
“All you need is a boom box or for me to be standing here in an ugly bridesmaid dress for the picture to be complete.” Scott’s grin said he found something funny, but I wasn’t sure what it was. I’d been struck by how sexy he looked in his suit, and I wasn’t sure what he was talking about.
Had I missed part of the conversation?
Had he always looked that hot when he went to work?
It was no wonder all those little old ladies loved going to him. “What?”
A boom box?
Scott laughed. “You need to watch more movies.”
“I do watch movies.” Just not the ones he was watching, because I had no idea what he was talking about.
“Never mind.” He shook his head as he stepped closer. “All you watch are explosions and idiots trying to save the world.”
It was my turn to shake my head. “What other types of movies are there?”
I was mostly kidding. He had a not-so-secret love affair with old movies. Everything from really classic…AKA really old…to newer classics from the eighties.
Scott grinned and then leaned in to give me a kiss. No prompting required and barely a blush. “I think since you’re my boyfriend now I should get to pick the movies more often. I think that’s a rule or something.”
I reached out to run a hand up his arm. “I think you’re making shit up.”
“Possibly, but since we’re in a relationship where rules are the norm, there’s nothing to say I can’t make up another one.” His eyes danced with excitement and he leaned in closer to my touch.
“I’m pretty sure I only agreed to rules about sex.” I was not the type of…sub who wanted rules about housework and things like that.
He snickered. “So we’re trading sexual favors for movies?”
I wasn’t sure if it was a question or a suggestion, but it would work for me. “Deal.”
Scott let out a bark of laughter and shook his head. “I thought this was a date, not a negotiation.”
“Why can’t it be both?” Leaning in, I gave him another quick kiss. I wasn’t sure if being able to touch him like that would ever get old, but I hoped not. “But you’re right. We’re supposed to have fun. I want to have fun with you.”
He blushed slightly. “I’ve always had fun with you. This just makes it even better.”
He was so sweet. “Me too.”
Taking Scott’s hand, I pushed off the car and glanced toward the restaurant. “You ready for dinner?”
“Starved. I didn’t get much time for lunch.” As he walked beside me toward the door, Scott brushed his arm against mine and smiled. “Some of my ladies came in because they had another friend who needed help.”
The way he stressed “help” had me smiling. “I’m starting to think you’re just getting clients because those old ladies like the way you fill out that suit.”
He blushed. “Some of my clients are married or men.”
“You’re smart and good at your job, but that doesn’t mean you’re not eye candy to those old ladies. And no discriminating, those old guys might find you hot too. You never know.” I loved the way his blush deepened as he shook his head.
“You’re insane.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m wrong.” Then I grinned. “I have an idea. I say we let Dare decide. He hasn’t seen you all dressed up. We’ll see if he thinks you’re eye candy in this suit.”
Scott shook his head again. “You’re crazy.”
Before I could respond, he’d reached for the door. Deciding to behave in front of the group of people waiting for a table, I shrugged noncommittally as I stepped inside. “Thank you.”
He whispered low as I walked in front of him. “I just want to see your ass when you go inside.”
My bark of laughter had several people turning to look, and Scott just smirked. He might’ve never been the most outrageous person around, but something about opening up to Dare and me had helped him relax.
With each hurdle, things got easier and came more naturally.
When Dare had messaged me first thing asking me if I’d given Scott a sexy good-morning kiss yet, I’d been a little embarrassed to admit I wasn’t sure what he would think of it. We’d been friends for so long, moving fully into boyfriend mode seemed weird when we lived together.
Dare had sent back a devil emoji and a laughing one and had given me a shove in the right direction, along with an order for us to have a date night. I’d been happy to comply with both instructions. So had Scott.
As we were seated and told our waiter would be with us shortly, I turned back to Scott. “I’m assuming you got the new clients you were talking about?”
He lit up. “Yeah, it went really well. I’d always thought I’d focus on clients more my age since the fact that I’m not that old can work against me with older clients, but it’s working out a lot better than I expected. I like hearing their stories and they seem happy with me, so it seems to be a good fit.”
“Is it something you’re going to work on developing? I mean, focusing on more mature clients?” I wasn’t a salesman by nature but it seemed like a good market if he could keep building it up.
He glanced down at the menu before looking back up at me. “I think so.” He shrugged. “I need to figure out how to develop and then grow it but it’s working so far.”
I grinned. “Because you’re hot.”
He blushed and rolled his eyes, either not sure how to take the compliment or not sure if I was serious. “I’m pretty certain that’s not it.”
Before I could go into exact detail about how right I was on that statement, the waiter approached the table. Ordering went smoothly and we got our food quickly. In fact, everything went smoothly. I’d never had a date like it.
In the past, there had always been a level of uneasiness or just general wariness during a date. Even when the guy was nice and we seemed to click, there was always the idea in the back of my head that he wouldn’t understand.
I’d known that I’d probably let a couple of great guys escape because of my own issues. I’d either not been ready to talk about it or I’d been skittish because of some vague comment about alpha guys. Big meant take-charge to a lot of people, and I’d never figured out how to change that perception.
We’d both ordered steaks, and with the baked potatoes and sides mostly consumed I was starting to get full. “Did you get a chance to talk to Dare today?”
Scott gave me a curious look. “Just a few texts, and they seemed deliberately vague.”
I had to laugh; he was right. “Probably.”
He waited a few seconds then shook his head. “Do you want to tell me why he was vague about our date tonight?”
“I’m not sure I’m supposed to.” Dare had to work most of the afternoon and possibly well into the evening. It all depended on how the group he was working for went. He’d said that he was going to try and meet us at the restaurant for dessert but he wasn’t sure if it would work.
Scott sighed. “I’m not sure whether or not I should just let you be cryptic or if I should push.”
“No idea.” On one hand, I liked making him a little frustrated, it kept him on his toes; on the other, I wanted to tease him about what might happen later.
“I’m not sure I like surprises.” His dry response made me laugh.
“You’ll learn to live with it. I think Dare likes them.” I stretched my foot forward so my leg brushed against his. “Next time, it might be you driving me crazy, though.”
He grinned as he cut off another bite of steak. “That would be much more fun.”
As we finished, we talked about work and plans for the rest of the week. We both touched on weekend plans with Dare, but he hadn’t said anything specific, and I wasn’t sure what Scott was ready for. I was voting for him staying the weekend with us, but that might be pushing it. Especially since we hadn’t even had sex yet. None of us.
Which brought me back to getting physical with Scott.
“So we’re both wimping out with this conversation.” I set my fork down and focused on Scott, not willing to let myself talk around it again. “What do you think we should do this weekend? Traditional date or something more?”
We’d start simple.
Scott seemed relieved I’d pushed the issue, and seeing his nod made something inside me relax. “Both. I think we should do something like a traditional date because getting to know him and just see how we all fit together is important. But I also think we need to see how we…how things feel when he’s…in charge.”
It was more open than I’d expected from Scott, so I didn’t let my own reservations stop me. “I agree.” I dropped my voice lower. “If we don’t have time in a scene of some sort we’ll never see how it feels.”
Scott smiled. “And we’ll never see if it’s as hot as we think it will be.”
I barked out a laugh that had people at several tables looking at us. “Agreed.”
Before I could say anything else, Scott’s eyes widened and he smiled. I felt a hand on my shoulder and a warm breath across my ear. “May I sit down? It seems like you boys are ready for dessert.”
My cock knew who it was even if I hadn’t recognized the voice. I turned my head and grinned, gesturing to the chair beside me at the small square table. “Of course.” Then I looked at Scott, raising one eyebrow in question. “I think dessert sounds…delicious.”
Scott licked his lips and nodded. “Yes.”
Dare’s smile widened as he moved to sit down. The way his body arched had me wanting to run my hands over the lean muscles I knew were hiding under his pants and tightly fitting polo shirt. He looked business casual, like he could have come from any number of meetings, but all I could think about was watching him take off his clothes.
“How were your steaks?” Dare glanced back and forth at our nearly empty plates. “It looks like you enjoyed your dinner so far.”
“It was delicious. Did you want to order anything?” Scott glanced around to see if the waiter was nearby.
“No, but thanks.” Dare reached over and gave Scott’s hand a squeeze before letting it go. “I could be talked into dessert, though.”
What kind? Food or something else?
Scott must have been having similar thoughts because he blushed faintly, which only made Dare’s smile wider. He gave Scott a teasing leer. “I meant cake, but I have a feeling you’re thinking of something else.”
Scott reached out to take a sip of his coke before finally just shrugging. Dare chuckled and his hand disappeared under the table. He must have reached for Scott’s leg because Scott’s entire body relaxed and he leaned closer toward Dare, almost unconsciously.
“Yes.” Scott’s quiet word was more than I thought he’d say, but I still wasn’t sure how much more he wanted.
Dare didn’t seem fazed by it. He addressed us both as he asked, “Should I push you into exploring something else?”
I nodded, not embarrassed at all to flat-out admit I wanted more than just cake for dessert. Scott, on the other hand, was embarrassed but not enough to hide what he wanted completely. “Yes. That would be…helpful.”
Dare nearly leered at Scott’s choice of words. The heat just poured off of him. “I’m always happy to be helpful to my boys.”
And we both blushed that time.
Dare’s smile turned sweeter, even though the passion was still clear in his eyes. “You have no idea how sexy you are. Strong…dressed up in those incredible suits…You look like the sexiest bankers I’ve ever seen, but only I know what dirty things are under that dapper surface.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. Was “thank you” a reasonable option? Probably not.
Again, Dare didn’t seem to mind we were awkward because he just kept going. “I know you both have work tomorrow, but I thought I could have dessert here with you and then go to your place to hang out for a while. Does that work?”
Scott always had work he could do, but we both nodded at the same time. Work could wait. I wanted to see where Dare would take things, and it looked like Scott had the same idea. Before we could find our words, because Scott seemed as lost in thought as I was, the waiter came back.
He was tall and thin and had a disapproving look to him even though there wasn’t anything we’d done to piss him off. I couldn’t even say it was because we were gay, because he’d been wearing the same look when he’d first introduced himself.
“Is there anything else I can bring you gentlemen?” Then he glanced at Dare. “Would you like a menu, sir?”
Dare shook his head. “No, thank you. But we will be having dessert.”
There wasn’t a dessert menu, but he listed off the specials for the evening. Dare and Scott ended up ordering a chocolate cake that seemed to have hot fudge in the middle, but I picked a simple cheesecake. As the waiter walked off to put the order in, Dare turned back to us.
I thought he’d bring the conversation back to something simpler, but he had other ideas. “So we need to talk about limits. Do you want to sit down with lists this weekend or does that seem too overwhelming?”
“B.” Scott answered right away.
I laughed. “Um, I agree.”
“Okay, so no lists, but we are going to have a talk. Preferences, what you want to explore, and pain tolerances.” Then Dare glanced at Scott with a grin. “Especially with you, handsome.”
Scott’s eyes widened and he licked his lips. “Okay.”
Dare’s arm moved and Scott stilled so I had a feeling Dare’s hands were wandering. “Because I can’t give you what you want unless I know what that is. And you want me to give you everything you’re fantasizing about, don’t you?”
Scott slowly nodded, making me wonder what was going through his head. “Yes.”
Then he glanced down at the table and back up at Dare. “I’ll talk to you about it.” His gaze turned to me. “Both of you.”
Yes!
I tried to sound more reasonable than that, though. A touchdown dance in the middle of an expensive steak house wasn’t the best idea. “I think a discussion like that is perfect.”
Dare’s hand moved again and Scott squeaked. Dare glanced at me and grinned a big “don’t you want to know what I’m doing” smile. “Good. Then we’re going to talk when we get to your place. After we talk, then I’ll see what we’re going to do.”
He smiled knowingly at both of us. “You want me to decide, don’t you?”
We both nodded stupidly as he grinned. “That’s what I thought.” Then he looked across the room. “Ah, dessert.” Dare’s grin turned into a wicked smirk. “I’m starving.”
Thank god.