I took my time in the shower. It was such a nice shower. The one back at the apartment was too small, and always looked somewhat grimy, no matter how often that I cleaned it. That one was the product of Samuel's tender loving care, where everything was bright, shiny, and color-coordinated. Honestly, the non-slip mat in the shower matched the curtains and the hamper.

Samuel was ridiculous, and good God, I had missed his brand of ridiculousness.

The hot water felt really good to the few spots where the gang had gotten a lucky shot in yesterday. The hot water also really helped with the dried remains of the hot kitchen love-making that I hadn't planned on the night before, and as it washed down the drain, I was again reminded that we should probably have used some sort of birth control. I was an omega, after all. Samuel was one of the few people I allowed to know that, but Samuel knew everything there was about me. He knew that I liked men, that I was an omega, and that I wanted nothing more than to submit to him in every way possible.

Samuel was the only person I could trust. I couldn't even begin to imagine how the information would destroy my career if anyone else ever found out. My entire career was based on presenting the most "alpha" male presence to the audience. I had to present the idea that I was tough and able to take care of myself. Someone finding out that I was a submissive omega who was also gay would destroy the legion of alpha men who wanted to be me, as well as the omega and heterosexual women who wanted to be with me. My job was based very much on illusion, and the illusion would be completely destroyed if the public knew who I was.

But it was a good day, and there was no need to ruin it with that kind of doomsday thinking. Turning off the water, I reached for a towel and began to scrub off the remainder of the soap. The towels smelled like Samuel, and so did the sandalwood and lavender body soap that I had used from his shower.

It was going to be a great day, I thought, because it had been two years since I had been able to smell this good. No matter what body soap I had gotten out of the store, nothing had ever matched the familiar and comfortable sent that Samuel had in his shower. I was pretty sure that he ordered his from some ridiculous online shop, to match all of his other very specific preferences – one of which was me.

It was hard to stop grinning as I stepped out of the shower and began to get dressed. The clothes were still messy, but I had an extra set of spare clothes in my locker at the gym.

As I walked down the steps, I noticed for the second time that day that there were a long line of photographs along the wall. None of them had my face in them, but several of them were places we had been together. I noticed a photograph of the Jersey Shore, a picture of a peach farm in Georgia, and the beach in Miami where we had spent our first anniversary together.

I thought again about the fact that I had wasted two years without Samuel, when I could have been building our life together. How much more would my accomplishments have meant to me if I could have been sharing them with Samuel?

How much more fulfilling would my championships have been if I had simply talked over my concerns with Samuel two years ago instead of bolting right out of his life? Sure, it almost seemed like it was too good to be true, but as Samuel had sat across from me the night before and looked into my eyes, I had been sure that he was telling the truth.

"You getting ready to head out?" Samuel asked as I arrived at the bottom of the stairs.

"Yes," I answered. "I have a long day of training in order to get ready for the next championship."

Samuel came over and cupped my cheek. I had always been weak for that particular move, and he was certainly using it to his full advantage since we'd been reunited. I wasn't exactly complaining, though.

"I have to work too, but the afternoon is all yours," Samuel promised.

"Sounds great," I murmured, before I allowed Samuel to tilt my chin up to meet his.

Unlike the kiss from the night before, this one started out gently. His lips lightly caressed mine before becoming more insistent. I returned the passion of the kiss, and by the time that Samuel broke the kiss, I was breathless.

"I'll see you tonight," I promised, suppressing a shiver.

Samuel waved goodbye to me as I left, and I was certain that there was nothing that I had wanted more in the past two years than to know that someone was waiting on me at home while I went off to work.

Training at the gym was oddly distracting. For the first time in at least two weeks, I didn't see Terrance anywhere. That was weird, but welcomed. Who wanted Terrance to ruin a perfectly good mood?

Still, I was at the gym at the same time that I was every morning, so I definitely noticed that Terrance wasn't there.

Alex, on the other hand, was definitely waiting on me as I arrived at the pull-up bars.

"Well, well, well," he said cheerfully. "Someone has the look of having just gotten laid last night."

"Alex, my man, you have no idea what a great night last night was," I answered cheerfully.

He laughed as he pulled himself up to the bar. A few repetitions later, he commented, "So tell me about the lucky girl. Anyone I know? You manage to snag an omega? I hear omega women flock to your shows all the time."

It felt like hard rocks had suddenly been thrown into the bottom of my stomach. But I couldn't exactly answer his question directly. Too much of my career depended upon it, and Alex ... wasn't that good of a friend. I could trust him to spot me, but not enough to hold information that could destroy my career in the palm of his hand.

The MMA community was a community, but it was also very competitive.

"Well, it's true that plenty of women flock all around the stage. Lots of people do," I said simply. "That's what being a three-time MMA championship winner will do, Alex. If you work very hard, maybe you too will enjoy that level of fame."

"And groupies?" Alex asked. "Because you can keep the magazine covers if I can have half the number of groupies that you're rumored to have scored."

I almost told Alex that I had been celibate for two years until last night had changed that. But that wasn't any of his business, and hey, if it kept people from nosing around in my actual business, they could believe whatever they wanted.

A few repetitions passed, and Alex asked again, "So who is she?"

"Nobody you know," I answered breezily. "Way out of your league."

"Ouch," Alex said with a laugh that congratulated me on my conquest instead of taking genuine offense. "So tell me, Mr. Ego, am I ever going to meet her?"

"Not anytime soon," I retorted.

"I understand. You have to make sure the groupie is a keeper, right?"

That question made me feel completely awful. I already knew that Samuel was a keeper. I almost married him. But I shrugged and didn't answer Alex. He didn't ask any additional questions, and I allowed him to come to the conclusions that he wanted to come to without correcting him.

That was better than an outright lie, I told myself.

Later that night, when I met Samuel at his house again, I felt terrible for the lie of omission that I had told. I pushed that feeling of guilt down by wrapping my arms around Samuel the minute that he stepped into the living room. Briefly, I realized that the curtains were pulled open, allowing plenty of sunlight to spill all over the living room floor.

But I pushed away the thought of paranoia about whether or not anyone would see us. It wasn't as though someone was going to be walking by the window with the intention of seeing me in a compromising position. Alex wasn't that interested in my groupies.

"Miss me, baby?" Samuel asked.

I could feel my face flush at the pet name, and it didn't help that Samuel was petting my hair without breaking the embrace.

"I missed you so much," I confessed. "I have been thinking about you all day."

It was true, and not just because I had been actively lying about him most of the day.

"Mm, you seem to be in a quite a mood," Samuel noted. "A mood to experiment, perhaps?"

"Yes," I breathed out into his shoulder. "Please."

"Okay then," Samuel said. "Let's head upstairs."

He took my hand in his and led me up the stairs. I didn't need my hand held, but was a nice feeling of submitting to him. As much as I had fantasized about this type of lifestyle with my partner, I had never realized that the smallest things would be so important. A simple feeling of being led up the stairs was just as important as the feel of being held down as he had his delightfully wicked way with me across the kitchen island.

As we entered the bedroom, he swept me up into his arms and carried me to the bed. It was ridiculous, because I was the strong one. I was the muscled one who spent hours in the gym every day. But I wanted nothing more than to allow him to take that strength from me and lead the show.

I was never going to make fun of his "cardio muscles" ever again.

"I'm going to take good care of you," he murmured as he began to undress me. "Do you want to be bound tonight?"

"Please."

I had no purposeful intention of begging, but it came out regardless. Fortunately, Samuel's reply was a nod. What other people would have considered a weakness, he considered just part of me, and more incredibly, a part of me that he wanted.

"I'll take care of you," he announced. "I promise."

He got up off the bed, and I watched him go to the closet and remove a box. My entire body ached for his touch, and maybe I let out a whimper.

"Patience," he said, as he removed the silk ties that he had used two days ago from the box.

"Is a virtue shared by other people."

"Bratty sub," he said, his voice full of warmth and laughter. I focused on the warmth of that voice as Samuel began to tie my hands.

"I'm not going to bind you to the bed," he said. "Since you had some difficulty with that yesterday, I'm only going to bind your hands to each other."

"Okay," I said agreeably. "Are you going to bind my feet as well?"

"As bratty as you've been today?" Samuel teased. "I think it's definitely called for, don't you?"

"Pft. You think this is bratty? I think I've been pretty good," I answered. "But if you want to bind my feet... I'd like that. Uh, green, I mean."

He moved so fast when I was tied up, or maybe I was simply delusional.

Perhaps I was truly delusional with the type of pleasure that began to course through me the minute that the silk ties were around my wrists. But if I thought that sensation was overwhelming, it was nothing compared to the way it felt with similar silk ties were wrapped around my feet, binding them together.

"Lie still," he commanded, as though I wanted to do anything else. "You were very sensitive and seemed to enjoy being touched, so we're going to start with some light touch play. As always, keep your safe words in mind. Feel free to use yellow and red if you need to."

I watched as he pulled a long leather strap out of the box of toys he'd had stored in his closet.

"Sometimes this is used for flogging, but I don't think that's quite your style," he said.

I didn't have time to respond before the long leather strap was being dragged down the front of my chest. The sensation alone was foreign, but somehow utterly delightful. The strap was heavy and easily two of my fingers thick; I couldn't imagine being flogged with it. It would have been incredibly painful.

"Color? Stay in the present, my pretty little omega," Samuel chided. "No letting the brain go for a walk without us. Stay with me."

"Green!," I said quickly, before he could take my wandering mind as a cause to stop. "I will try to stay in the present."

"Good boy," he praised, as he dragged the strap down along the same path that he had taken the feathers two days ago. By the time that both of my legs had been subjected to the long, drawn out teasing of the leather strap, I was hard and my breathing was ragged. The leather strap wasn't exactly like being tickled; it was more along the lines of having fingers continually trace along the lines of my muscles.

Every inch of my skin felt more sensitive than it had before we'd started, and it took all of my effort not to squirm in my restraints. But I wasn't going to be that bratty; I was going to be still, as he'd asked me to be. No – I was going to be still, as he had commanded me to be.

"How do you feel?" he asked. "Do you want to try something new?"

"Yes," I said, my voice doing the familiar hoarse feeling that it had decided to fall back on whenever I was too excited. "Please. Whatever you want to try, I want to try it too."

He placed the leather strap in the box, and came back to me with a thin strip of material. Was he going to tease my skin with that, as well? It looked too small to do anything with, if you were asking me.

"This is a blind fold," he said. "You've been watching my every movement. I want to take that away from you, so that you can only hear me. Your trust has to be based on what you can hear, instead of what you can see."

I licked my lips in anticipation, and grew irritated at his slowness before I realized what he was waiting for.

"Green," I said softly.

Slowly, the blindfold was wrapped around my eyes. After a few minutes of readjusting, my world was dark. But I could feel Samuel's hands caressing my face.

"How does that feel, baby?" he asked, with this thumb brushing over my bottom lip.

"It feels great," I whispered. "Please. Keep me like this. I need ... " I trailed off, uncertain how to ask for what I wanted.

"I'm going to make love to you like this," he promised. "Is that what you want, my pretty little, obedient omega sub?"

"God, yes," I breathed out.

"Good," Samuel praised.

I wondered idly if he was going to untie my feet before he entered me, but he didn't. Instead, he pushed the feet above my head and although I couldn't see him, I was fairly certain they were being held by one of his hands above me.

As I laid there, his careful touches became more firm. Those touches gave way to his firm hands pressing my legs apart.

“I’m going to enter you now,” Samuel warned, and the reason for the warning became very obvious as he fulfilled his promise.

With the blindfold on, I couldn’t look up into Sam’s trusting face. The sensation of being filled was much more overwhelming.

Behind the blindfold, I closed my eyes and I surrendered to the mass of emotions flowing over me. Samuel was more talkative than I'd ever heard him be before, and each thrust of his hips was accentuated by a soft praise, even if it was something as simple as "My good, good boy."

I was bound, but I heard him talking, and I knew that I was safe here, in this bed with him, even if the world was otherwise dark.

He touched me everywhere – or at least, almost everywhere. My cock went untouched, no matter how loudly I whined. But I didn't beg for him to touch me, because I knew that no matter what else had changed, Samuel wasn't a selfish lover. I knew that he was going to give me release.

But I had to wait. I had to wait until his cries grew frenzied and his fingers dug deeply into my ankle and my hip. Wait further I did, until I was full of his cum, and he was lowering my legs back down onto the bed.

"You've been so good for me, my obedient little omega," he whispered, and I could hear how out of breath he was – how out of breath I had made him. "Are you ready to be rewarded?"

"Yes," I cried out. "Yes, please, Sam, please."

I could hear a rustle of bed sheets, and then Samuel took me into his mouth. For a moment, I forgot my promise to be still, and I bucked up into his mouth before he was pushing my hips down. It was a frustrating feeling, not being able to buck into the mouth when I so desperately wanted to.

But I didn't have very long to consider how frustrating it was, because my climax was spilling into Samuel's mouth. He was loud as he swallowed, perhaps unnecessarily so, but the groans around my cock helped to highlight exactly how blind I was at the moment.

It was a delicious contrast, and it made my climax all he more intense. Finishing was like letting go of a full body sigh. I was both full of relief and incredibly tired. I wanted nothing more than to lie here like this, and keep Samuel with me.

"It's been a while since you've called me Sam," he murmured, as he began to untie me.

I responded by wrapping my arms around him, certain that I didn't want to let go.

We decided to go out for dinner. It had been a while since I'd had a really good pizza, and that sounded amazing to me after the appetite we'd worked up.

"You look so happy," Samuel noted as we walked out of the house and into his car.

"I am," I noted.

For a moment, it was so important to tell him that I leaned up and kissed him right there, in broad daylight.