Red, blue, silver, or gold?

Colin hadn’t known luxury condoms even existed. Pacing beside the hotel bed, forced to choose from the assortment packet Andrew had tossed him before disappearing into the bathroom, he wished he’d done a bit of research.

He peered at the silky foil wrappers to see if they indicated sizes or textures, but found nothing save the fancy swooping logo.

Perhaps this was a test. Perhaps Andrew would choose a task for Colin based upon which color condom wrapper he selected.

Gonnae no think like that. You’ll go off your head.

Before leaving to “freshen up,” Andrew had given no clue how Colin was to serve him tonight. He’d seemed shocked to have won and said he needed a few minutes to ponder the matter.

The bathroom door handle turned. Colin snatched a blue-wrapped condom, along with the wee bottle of lubricant, then shoved both in his front jeans pocket before setting the condoms’ velvety box on the desk.

Andrew entered, wearing nothing but that storm-gray button-down shirt, the hem of which came to the tops of his tanned, toned thighs. The look was ferociously sexy, like something out of an arty porno.

He stopped a few feet away and looked at Colin with an almost eerie serenity.

“Well?” Colin asked, hating the tremor in his own voice. “Do you know what you want?”

“Yes, I know exactly.” Andrew folded his hands before him. “I want you to tell me what to do.”

Is this a trick? “But…you won the race. It’s your call.”

“It’s true I won. I’ve got the power.” His limbs went soft as he met Colin’s eyes. “And I’m giving it all to you.”

Colin’s pulse throbbed in his throat. “I’ve never done this sort of thing.”

“I’m sure you’re a natural.” Andrew’s posture straightened, and his voice turned businesslike. “Now, a few ground rules for our play. While I’m not averse to pain, I don’t specifically seek it. I quite fancy manhandling, restraint, hair-pulling, biting, et cetera. But no hitting.” He emphasized the last two words. “If you even think of spanking me, I’ll punch your dick inside out.”

Colin blinked. “Got it.”

“Also, we must agree on a safe word, something either of us can say if we’re not comfortable with what’s happening.”

“What’s wrong with ‘no’ or ‘stop’ or ‘gonnae no do that’?”

“Those words can be misinterpreted.” Andrew’s lips twitched. “Sometimes they should be misinterpreted.”

A chill ran across Colin’s shoulders at the implication, and he felt more out of his depth than ever. “So what word, then?”

“Something we both like but don’t associate with sex.” He brightened. “How about ‘foosball’?”

Colin started laughing, and then he couldn’t stop. He laughed so hard, he thought he might choke on his own tongue. This is not happening, he thought. I’m gonnae wake any moment now, in my own wee bed in Drumchapel, with an erection the size of a power drill.

“Colin, what’s wrong?” Andrew asked softly.

Colin’s laughter stopped mid-breath. Had Andrew ever spoken his name before? On that tongue, it seemed a magic word.

He straightened up, running a hand through his hair. “Nothing, I—this is all so new, and I’m worried it’ll get turned about on me. It’s only fair I should be your servant after this, right?”

Andrew’s eyes went sad. “That’s not how this works. If you want it turned about, you ask for it. No one gets bullied into submission. We choose it. We embrace it.”

“But why would you want that?” Colin’s throat grew thick with fear. “Why would anyone want to feel powerless?”

Andrew stepped forward to stand near him at the foot of the bed, which made Colin realize only now that he’d been backing away since the start of the conversation.

“I want it because I want it.” He lifted Colin’s hand, kissed his palm, then rested it against his own cheek. “So I’m asking you. I’m begging you. Please…tell me what to do.”

Colin stared at him, fighting the panic inside. What if I say something daft or do something stupid? What if I hurt him?

He reached forward, sliding his fingers through Andrew’s hair, watching those eyes close at the scrape of nails against scalp. Then his fist clamped on the silky strands, tugging them tight.

“Ah.” Andrew’s lips parted, then curled into a tiny, ecstatic smile. It was all Colin needed.

He yanked Andrew forward into a hard, hungry kiss that made them both moan. Andrew’s body melted into his, soft and supple, pleading to be possessed. Much as Colin wanted to clutch him tight, he wouldn’t give in, not yet. He couldn’t control this man until he could control himself.

He shoved Andrew away and said, “Take off your shirt.”

“As you wish.” Eyes gleaming, he started undoing the buttons—too quickly, as Colin had no time to think of his next order.

“Stop.”

Andrew stopped. Just like that. An electric thrill shot up from Colin’s toes, all the way to the crown of his head.

“Do it slower,” he told Andrew. “And start from the bottom button. In fact, do all the buttons up and start again.”

“Yes, Master.”

Colin winced. “Gonnae no call me that. It’s cheesy.”

“My apologies. What shall I call you?”

Say my name. It slays me when you say my name. “Nothing. If you must speak, then just say yes or no. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” Andrew’s smooth voice held an aching edge that seemed to stroke Colin’s cock from base to tip.

“On second thought, say ‘aye’ instead of ‘yes.’ Be a true Scotsman.”

A tiny muscle twitched under Andrew’s eye. Then he simply nodded.

Colin turned away, feeling his own face heat under that icy gaze. If only there were a way to shroud it so he wouldn’t have to watch Andrew watching him. Judging his performance, no doubt.

He saw the sleep kits in their silk bags lying on the desk. Perfect. He pulled out one of the black velvet masks. “I’m gonnae put this on you now.”

Andrew gasped. “Oh yes. I mean—aye.”

Colin fixed the mask on him, then stepped back to regard his work. Free from scrutiny, he let himself stare.

My God, that is the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.

“Don’t move.” He walked to the desk, where someone had left them a bottle of wine chilling in an ice bucket, along with a bottle of whisky.

Colin poured a dram of the latter, hoping it would stop his hands shaking. The room seemed suddenly warm, so he added a pair of ice cubes, though it was probably a crime against this single-malt.

He angled one of the armchairs to face Andrew, then sank into it with a contented sigh. “Continue,” he said, hoping he sounded calm. “Use your left hand only, and put the other one behind your back.”

Without hesitating, Andrew obeyed. His long, slender fingers, with their buffed, manicured nails, trembled a wee bit more with each button. Transfixed, Colin sipped his whisky, willing his own hand to stay steady and not rattle the ice against the glass. His swallows sounded loud in his ears, eclipsing even the bass-drum thump of his pulse.

When Andrew was finished, his open shirt offered a glimpse of a perfectly smooth chest, as well as the most lickable abs Colin had ever seen.

Colin had to clear his throat. “Well done. Now turn around. I don’t want to see your face again until I’m inside you.”

Andrew’s toes curled into the carpet, which Colin took as a good sign. Then he did as he was told.

“Take off your shirt, nice and slow-like, and drop it on the floor.”

Andrew peeled it off, one shoulder at a time, then let it fall behind him, revealing a red jock brief consisting of nothing but a waistband and a strap running beneath each cheek of his utterly exposed arse. Colin let out an unmasterly sigh of admiration.

Andrew tilted his chin down and to the side. “Aye?”

“Aye.” His entire body screamed the word. “Now get on your knees.”

Andrew shivered, then started to drop to the floor.

“Not there. On the—that thing, that furniture thing at the foot of the bed.”

“It’s a bench.”

“Shut up.”

“Sorry.” Andrew obeyed, and then some, bending forward to place his hands on the bed. “Aye?”

No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you to shut up.

“Aye.” Colin got to his feet and walked over, stopping to stand on Andrew’s discarded shirt with his dirty shoes. He took a sip of whisky and pulled an ice cube into his mouth. He set the glass on the bench within reach, then grasped Andrew’s arse with one warm hand and one cold one.

Andrew wriggled with pleasure, muscles clenching under unnaturally smooth skin. Here was a lad who groomed every inch of himself for display, both public and private. By some miracle, he was Colin’s tonight. After that, who cared?

Colin crunched the ice cube as he massaged Andrew’s glutes. “I’m gonnae give you my tongue now.”

Andrew whimpered. “Aye.”

“It’s gonnae be cold. You might not fancy it.”

“I will,” he said, squirming. “I’ll fancy anything you do to me.”

“Shh.” Colin crouched down, bringing his mouth in line with Andrew’s crease, which of course was as smooth and clean as the rest of him. “Be still.”

When Colin’s cold, erect tongue began to stroke his hole, Andrew cried out, nearly a scream. His thighs shuddered, making his arse flex in Colin’s hands.

But he didn’t say foosball.

So Colin kept licking, exploring every contour of Andrew’s entrance until his tongue warmed again. “You like it cold?”

“Aye.” The word was a plea. “I love it. No one’s ever—”

“Shh.” Colin took another leisurely sip of whisky, sliding the other ice cube noisily about his mouth. But when he spit it back into the glass, he set his finger against it, chilling it thoroughly. A wee surprise.

He went back to devouring the space between Andrew’s cheeks, producing a yelp of pleasure with each swipe of his freezing tongue.

Then he replaced his mouth with the ice-cold finger.

“Ah! God…” Andrew bunched the bedspread in his fists as Colin stroked his hole, first tickling, then probing, just a fraction of an inch. The greedy way Andrew’s arse gripped his finger, drawing it in, was all Colin could take.

He straightened up and started undoing his jeans. “I cannae wait no more.”

“No.”

Colin paused, belt unbuckled. Did Andrew mean no as in not yet, or no as in don’t wait?

“Don’t wait.” Andrew pushed back against him. “Please.”

“Wheesht!” He pulled the condom and lube from his pocket. “Mind, you don’t give the orders tonight.” Or any night.

“Aye,” Andrew whispered.

Colin pushed his jeans and briefs down to his ankles, not bothering to step out of them or even remove his shoes. Then he slipped on the condom, which truly did feel different—smoother and softer, with a grip that was pure secure.

Rich people have everything better. Even condoms.

He forced himself to focus on the hotness in front of him, not the opulence around him. Not the sheets with a higher thread count than his family’s weekly income, not the bed’s elegant carved-wood headboard, not the gilded mirror to his right.

Actually, that last thing might be good to keep in mind.

With a generous dose of lubricant—also the most amazing sort he’d ever felt—Colin was ready. He probed Andrew with one slick finger, then two, until Andrew’s moans pitched with impatience.

“Do you want it now?” Colin asked.

“Aye.”

“Sorry, cannae hear you.”

“Aye!” Andrew arched his back and neck, tilting up his beautiful masked face.

Colin slid between those luscious round cheeks, dragging his head fore and aft of Andrew’s hole, then giving it steady pressure until it invited him in, smooth and eager.

“Yes,” Andrew whispered. “Oh yes.”

Colin didn’t correct this vocabulary mistake, as his own words were all stolen by the warm silk of Andrew’s body. He squeezed his eyes shut—partly to savor the feel of their connection, but mostly to block its overpowering sight. Even so, the moments-fresh image of his cock gliding into Andrew threatened to make Colin explode here and now. How humiliating that would be.

When Colin was certain of his self-control, he eased forward, searching for the usual place of resistance where he’d need to halt, then wait for signs to go deeper.

The place wasn’t there. Before he knew it, he was completely inside Andrew. “How’d you do that?” he asked. “How’d you take all of me at once?” He ran his hand over Andrew’s waist. “It doesnae hurt?”

“Not with someone I really want.” He angled his hips and moved back, enveloping the last few millimeters. “Not with someone I trust.”

Colin held him still, his heart pounding with more than desire. “Why do you trust me?”

Andrew angled his head to the side. “Shouldn’t I?”

“You’re not afraid of me?”

The corner of Andrew’s mouth tilted up. “I didn’t say that.”

He felt a surge of rage. What had he ever done to make Andrew fear him? Even the control he wielded now was but a sham. Andrew could afford to play this game, because in real life, the power was all his.

Colin reached forward and grasped Andrew’s hair. “Don’t look at me. I said I didnae want to see your face.”

“You said you didn’t want to see it until you were inside me. Now you are.”

“Shut up.” He shoved Andrew’s face down onto the mattress.

“Aye.” Andrew clutched at the ornate bedspread, elbows splayed.

“I’m gonnae fuck you now, and I’ll do it any way I want.”

“Aye.”

“Fast, slow, hard, easy.” He let go of Andrew’s hair and took his hips in both hands. “I’m gonnae fuck you and you’re gonnae love it.”

“Aye.” His entire body quivered, sending shockwaves through Colin’s prick.

He eased in and out of Andrew as slowly as he could stand, savoring each exquisite inch. Andrew moaned through bitten lips, clearly tormented by Colin’s restraint.

“Good lad.” Colin pulled almost all the way out, then took his cock in hand and worked the tip around and around Andrew’s silky, accommodating hole. Finally he paused, waiting, waiting, waiting for Andrew’s whimper.

When it came, Colin rammed into him, sinking himself to the hilt.

“Yes!” Andrew cried. “God, yes!”

Colin thrust faster and faster, adjusting his stance—as much as he could, considering his ankles were bound by his jeans—to find the perfect angle. Andrew’s moans turned to screams, mixed with laughter.

A motion in the corner of Colin’s eye caught his attention. The mirror.

“Look.” With his left arm, he lifted Andrew up against his chest. With the other hand, Colin ripped off the mask, then seized Andrew’s chin, forcing him to look at the mirror. “Remember this, okay? Never forget how I had you. How much you loved it.”

Andrew’s heavy-lidded eyes were glazed with ecstasy. “I won’t. Not ever.” He gave a languid smile. “What’s your name again?”

Colin froze, his hand around Andrew’s neck. He was afraid to move, afraid of what this rage would drive him to do. So he simply pressed his mouth to Andrew’s ear and whispered, “I’ve got a theory about you.”

Andrew truly wanted to be a good submissive. He longed for the absolute liberation of giving himself over to another’s will.

Yet something inside him always rebelled. He inevitably ruined it, usually breaking the spell with a cutting joke. Often his lovers were cowed into handing over a portion of control, which was the last thing he was supposed to want.

Judging by Colin’s stranglehold, this time was different.

“My theory is…” Colin slid in and out of him twice, with agonizing slowness, before continuing. “I think you telt me the truth when you said you weren’t bullied at school. I think I know why you weren’t bullied.”

Andrew tried to shake his head, but Colin was holding him fast. Everything in him wanted to shout Foosball!—not to protect his body, but to defend his soul. Colin had found his way inside all of it, exploring and illuminating every dark, secret corner. Knowing him like no one before.

It was terrifying, and Andrew craved it.

“You weren’t bullied,” Colin said, “because you were the bully. You put yourself on top early on, and naebody dared take you down.” He cupped Andrew’s erection through his briefs. “Am I right?”

“No. I never—”

“Tell me the truth.” Colin’s hands clamped harder on Andrew’s cock and jaw. “Your arse goes all tight when you lie, did you know that?”

My bum is a polygraph? Andrew would have laughed if it weren’t true. “Aye,” he choked out. “I did it. What you said.”

“That’s better.” Colin rocked his hips to worm his way deeper inside. Spirals of pleasure unfurled through Andrew’s body. This was so fucked up, and so, so, so good. “Are you sorry?”

“Aye.”

“Liar!” Colin let go and pulled out, leaving a sudden void within Andrew. “I think you tell yourself you did what you had to do.”

Andrew pressed back, desperate to be filled. “You’re right. Please…” He would have confessed to any crime or sin to get Colin inside him again.

“Be good this time.” Colin grasped his hips and entered him. Immediately he set into the hard, fast rhythm that Andrew needed. Thank God. Thank God, thank God, thank God. “Tell the truth. Tell me!”

“I did it. I hurt people.” Clutching the bedcovers in his fists, Andrew gasped out the words Colin’s cock was forcing from him. “I had to. I’m not sorry.”

“And no one gave you what you deserved. Not until now.”

Andrew hung his head, shutting his eyes against the truth.

“No. You’ll watch us.” Colin pulled him up and seized his chin again, this time prying open Andrew’s mouth with his fingers. Then he twisted his grip to make him look at the mirror. “See the wee monster you are. See me fucking you, ya wee monster.”

As Andrew stared at the brutal reflection, at his helpless, nearly naked body arched against Colin’s black shirt, at the way Colin’s rage jutted his jaw and curled his lips, he felt something deep in his soul take flight.

Andrew’s vision blurred with tears of terror and joy. This is what surrender feels like.

His lips closed on Colin’s fingers. He sucked and tongued, feeling Colin grow even harder until he was a steel rod, reaching up, tearing Andrew apart, body and soul.

“Does this make it okay?” Colin wrapped both arms around Andrew’s torso and lifted him off the bench. “You let me do this to you and we’re even now? It makes us equal?” Colin’s voice pulsed with pain. “We’ll never be equals, your sort and mine, not outside this room. You’ll see to it, won’t you?”

Helpless in Colin’s grasp, Andrew couldn’t answer. Pressure built inside as the silk of his jock brief shifted against his cock, as Colin filled him from behind, using him, abusing him, taking every tight, wet inch he needed.

“Answer me.” Colin pounded harder, jackhammering now. “Answer me!”

“I can’t, I’m coming!” Andrew felt the surge fill his underwear, coating him with warmth and wetness.

“Fuck. God, I can feel it. Fuck!” Colin’s arms went viper-tight around him, cutting off Andrew’s breath and sending his delirium higher and higher until it seemed his eyes would burst. This is what it’s like to die of pleasure. Oh yes, bring it on.

Groaning, Colin ground into him, hips rolling and pitching. In the mirror, Andrew watched their bodies jerk and spasm as one.

With shuddering breath, Colin finally loosened his grip enough to set Andrew down on the bench. Andrew gulped the air that had been denied him, his head swimming and limbs buzzing. He expected to be shoved away now, discarded with disgust.

But Colin stayed, holding him, forehead pressed to the back of his shoulder even as he slowly withdrew from Andrew’s body. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t have said those things.”

“No worries,” Andrew said, trying to convince himself as much as Colin. “All part of the game.”

“It wasn’t.” Colin’s voice quaked. “It was more than that.”

“Even so.” Andrew wiped his eyes, then shifted away, turning to sit on the foot of the bed. “Considering our history and our—well, our differences—you and I were destined for a hate fuck sooner or later.” He drew his toes up the outside of Colin’s thigh. “At least now it’s out of the way.”

Colin stared at him, face mottled with exertion and emotion. “You don’t want me to leave?”

Leave? What was wrong with this lad that he expected rejection at every turn?

Andrew steeled his face to keep the wave of sympathy from reaching his eyes. “The night’s young yet.” He jerked his chin the way he did when he expected to be obeyed. “Now take off your clothes and come to bed.”