Cooper
The alarm would go off in just a few minutes, but I was still trying to sneak out from under Sawyer’s arm and escape the bed. I had to be in earlier than usual, but that wasn’t the reason I was inching along, trying not to wake him.
Showers and coffee would be coming shortly, but what I wanted more than anything was to check my email. And I knew from prior experience that playing with my phone in bed would wake him up. Something about the light, however low, got Sawyer’s brain going.
I didn’t want his brain going. I wanted his too-realistic outlook still asleep while I daydreamed about emails and what might be coming. I wasn’t really expecting an email to be waiting for us. When it wasn’t there after dinner, I realized that it might take Jackson a few days to figure out what he wanted, or at the very least, what he wanted to say.
Figuring out that they were interested in something kinky could throw anyone for a loop.
And he was clearly interested.
Just the fact that he’d written back said it loud and clear. And then there was the whole “cute” thing. Our first email made sure that he knew exactly what we were looking for. The only reason he’d continue to contact us was if it interested him on some level.
I hoped it was enough to keep him communicating.
I was almost free of the bed and just trying to carefully pull the covers off when Sawyer’s arms wrapped around me. “The alarm hasn’t even gone off, Coop.”
His exasperated voice was still filled with exhaustion, and I was mentally throwing around curse words. “Shhh, go back to sleep. I just have to use the bathroom.”
“Bullshit.” His arms tightened even more. “You want to check your email.”
Damn it.
“Maybe? It’s something I normally do over coffee, so that would make sense.” I was a terrible liar. “Get a little more rest. I’ll have the coffee ready when you get up.”
Twenty minutes wasn’t much time for him to get real sleep in, but it would give me time to check both email accounts and start the coffee. That had been one of the first things we’d bought for ourselves when we’d finally moved out of the motel.
Sawyer had been incredibly excited to have something better than the crappy stuff that was always available in the lobby, and I’d been grateful for stronger caffeine because he was not a morning person.
“You owe me big time.” He grumbled and rolled onto me, pinning me to the bed. “I want the good coffee you make with the stuff in it.”
He was lucky I was a morning person because that sentence wasn’t terribly descriptive. Thankfully, I knew what “the stuff” was. “Deal.”
“Okay.” He groaned and rolled off, giving me a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll be out in just a minute. And no checking emails until I get there.”
Someone was grumpy this morning. Sleep was only part of it, though. I knew he worried about me being disappointed, but I understood that Jackson was going to need time. He’d let us know when he was ready. I could feel it.
“Don’t be disappointed if he doesn’t email yet.” I leaned in and gave him a kiss as I climbed out. “It’s okay if it takes him a while.”
Sawyer coughed and shook his head, peeking one eye open in the early morning light. “Okay, I’ll try.”
No matter how tough and cool he tried to play, he felt things as strongly as I did. He’d just pushed the emotions away and had been disappointed over so many things for so long, he’d gotten used to hiding it. But he had me to watch over him. I gave him one last kiss on the cheek. “We’re not in a rush. We can give him some time.”
One side of his mouth turned up in a lopsided grin. “You’re right.”
“And Mr. Smart and Sexy is going to make coffee.” I smiled when he barked out a laugh.
“Sexy, huh?”
“That’s what you were saying last night.” By the time we’d crawled into bed the previous evening, I’d recovered from our shower fun and had done my best to make Sawyer feel as good as I had.
I wasn’t the world’s best top, but he’d been crying out in pleasure by the end and had gone off like a rocket, so I thought I’d done a pretty good job. Laughing, I scrambled away as he tried to grab me. With his dark hair going everywhere and the sleepy, needy look starting to fill his eyes, I knew we’d get distracted if I let him catch me.
And as incredible as that sounded, I wasn’t sure he could manage morning sex in only a few minutes. Quickies were great, but in the morning, Sawyer liked to take his time. That would have to wait until we didn’t have work.
As I just about bounced out of the room excitedly, he was still grumbling and had a death grip on the covers. It was going to take him a few minutes to make his way out of bed, but I didn’t dawdle in the bathroom. No, I was in and out as fast as I could and then hurried to start the coffee.
History had taught me that the smell would get him out of bed faster than almost anything else. He was like a character from one of those old cartoons where the smell of food carried them down the hall. Coffee or bacon would both work perfectly for it.
Unfortunately, there was no bacon, and no time to make it anyway, so coffee all done up with “the stuff,” as he’d put it, would have to do. By the time he came stumbling into the kitchen, still not much more awake than he had been when I’d left him in bed, I had his coffee waiting and my email app ready to open.
I hadn’t even peeked.
The temptation was getting stronger though, so it was a good thing he’d walked in when he did. Sawyer flopped down in his seat and sighed as he inhaled the aroma before taking his first sip of the coffee and chocolate concoction that he loved.
“Can I open it now?” It was like a present sitting there in front of me, and I couldn’t wait to look at it. Never mind the fact that it might be empty—that didn’t matter.
Sawyer shook his head, clearly not understanding my excitement, and nodded. I didn’t take his silence personally. I’d seen him when we had absolutely no coffee in the house, so this was nothing. I was already halfway through my cup, so I pushed it aside and grabbed my phone.
I finally got another laugh out of him when it almost went flying, and I’d barely caught it in time. Swiping my finger across the screen, I tapped on the email app and quickly shifted over to the secondary email account.
“Yes!” Jackpot.
Sawyer stared at me in shock before he finally spoke. “He actually emailed back?”
“Yes.” I couldn’t help grinning.
No matter what it said, he’d answered back.
I couldn’t tell from the preview section if it was what I was hoping to see or not. From the look of it, at least he’d read my email because I could see him talking about being a pet owner. Had he taken it too literally? Trying to subtly take a deep breath and calm down, I clicked on the message.
“Oh!” I’d been afraid he would respond so businesslike that I wouldn’t be able to tell if he was interested or not, but his curiosity was clear. Sawyer watched me, sipping his coffee, refusing to get his hopes up. “Listen to this part. ‘You might find that they are more curious than they would expect when they start getting more information.’ He’s actually curious about the lifestyle!”
“And this part! ‘…but just from what I’ve seen online, it’s a little confusing.’ He’s looking up puppy play online!” I couldn’t believe it. “And he asks a question. That means he wants a reply, right?”
Sawyer seemed to finally get frustrated with my random bits of email thrown at him. He started grumbling and grabbed my phone out of my hand. “Hey! I’m not done.”
“Then you should have read the whole thing out loud to begin with.” As he started reading, still curled around his coffee, Sawyer’s body relaxed, and I could see his mind racing as he read the email. It took so long he had to have read it twice before he gave me the phone back.
“What do you think?” My mind was dancing around in circles, and I couldn’t help but smile. Jackson was curious and still wanted to talk to us. He was even making sure he understood what we were looking for, and that had to be significant.
“I don’t know.” He was looking at the phone like it was a Transformer and would start moving on its own any minute.
“Come on…” I moved my chair around, so he could see the screen again too. “He’s interested in learning more about the lifestyle, and he wanted to clarify how we saw the master in our relationship. I don’t think it’s just a casual question for him. He’s never said anything rude or sexual. He’s curious.”
“But what happens if he doesn’t like what he finds as he starts looking into the lifestyle more?” Sawyer tried to sound calm, but I could hear the undercurrent of emotion.
“I don’t think he would’ve emailed back if what he was seeing scared him off.” I leaned my head against Sawyer’s shoulder. “He seems like he’s thinking this through.”
Sawyer gave a hesitant nod. “And he admits that someone new would have a lot of questions.”
“See, that’s a good thing. I’d be worried if he didn’t understand that part.” Just the fact that he realized there was a lot to learn made me feel better. I didn’t want some cocky master who was just starting to figure out the scene and thought he knew everything. I liked that Sawyer and I had worked our way through it together.
I wanted a master who would love us and take care of us, but I wasn’t expecting perfection. There would be a learning curve, and being with our master while he started discovering it would make it even more special.
I liked the idea of us being the first pups he’d play with.
I’d been the first person Sawyer ever loved and the first person he’d let see him vulnerable. Trying the puppy play and opening up to it hadn’t been easy for him. And he’d been my first everything really, so the idea of being our master’s first pups made it seem even more wonderful. Being the first guys he slid tails into. Being the first men he petted and threw the ball for. There were so many firsts I pictured having with our master.
Sawyer looked from me to the phone again. “Do you want to email him back, or should I?”
I couldn’t tell if he was hinting or not, so I started poking at the question. “Would it make you uncomfortable to do it?”
“I don’t think so.” He picked up his mug and took another drink. “But your emails sound more friendly.” He set the cup down and chuckled. “Mine sound like I’m planning out business meetings.”
“I don’t mind emailing him back.” I loved the idea of getting to know him more, and I had a thousand questions running through my head. “How about in the next email, I see if he wants to talk on the phone?”
“In person?” He must have realized how odd that question sounded because he shook his head like he was clearing it and tried again. “I mean…well, I don’t know exactly what I mean, but that just seems like a big jump.”
Did it?
“Eventually, we’re going to have dinner with him or something to move things along. Once we talk to him and figure out if he’s really interested and if there’s any chemistry there. But yeah, in person.” We’d talked about what we wanted to happen when we finally found someone that felt right. Was he not remembering the same conversations I did?
“What if he meets us and changes his mind? Like, it’s all just too much for him.” Sawyer tried to look relaxed as he picked up his coffee, but I knew what was running through his mind. Getting rejected again wasn’t something he was willing to deal with.
“Then I’ll make sure he’s okay with things before we meet. And I really think that we’ll be able to tell the chemistry part when we talk on the phone. I think once he’s more comfortable with what we’re throwing at him, then he’ll be a little more take-charge. This is new to him, so he probably doesn’t want to come across as weird or something.” I wasn’t really sure what he was thinking, but it made sense to me. I wouldn’t want to come across creepy or stalkery when I was trying to get to know a couple of kinky guys.
Ménage…kink…new people in general…yeah, I could see how that would make him cautious.
Sawyer’s concern seemed to only get worse when I said I would figure things out. “But I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I realize this might not work. But I feel okay about it all because if we find one guy who’s interested and is even considering what we’re looking for, then there will be other ones out there. Where there is one potentially kinky dog trainer who likes the idea of dating two sexy guys, then there will be others.”
“There will, huh?” Sawyer laughed.
“Of course.” It would just take time to find him. “We just have to look longer for him.”
Sawyer nodded, but the way his lips quirked up on one side let me know he thought I was crazy. “We’re young and not in a rush.”
I shrugged. “Maybe a little bit of a rush. That big bed I showed you online was awesome.” Then I grinned. “You hog the covers.”
“Hey!” He pulled back enough that I had to sit up. “If anyone steals the covers, it’s you. I’m just defending myself.”
Bullshit. “Very preemptively then.”
“Such snark.” Sawyer wagged a finger at me. “Master wouldn’t like that tone.”
I grinned. “Then he can spank me to make me behave.”
Sawyer did a good job when he played the Dom and put me over his lap, but it wasn’t the same as knowing a real master was thoroughly enjoying making my ass hot and needy. We both knew Sawyer would rather be on the other end too.
It was another way I knew how much he loved me.
“And you for starting it. You teased me first.”
His shocked expression was purely for fun. “You’d tattle on me?”
I nodded enthusiastically. “Of course, because you’d love it.”
Okay, so maybe we’d be a little bit of a handful for Master. I knew we’d be worth it, though. We just had to find him, so we could show him. “Now hurry up and caffeinate. You have to go to work first and I have an email to put together.”
He grinned. “Not going to wait until after work to email him back?”
“Hell, no. I don’t have that kind of willpower. I’d die.” And I’d be so excited and distracted that I’d mix up orders all day long. Nope, I wasn’t going to set myself up for failure.
Sawyer was laughing so hard he gave up trying to drink his coffee. Pushing back from the table, he stood up and bent over to give me a kiss. “I’m going to finish getting ready then find breakfast. Have fun emailing Jackson.”
“I will.” My smile was so big it hurt my cheeks. He’d emailed us back. I was going to hold on to that thought all day long. No matter what happened, he was interested enough and curious enough to put himself out there.
My coffee looked too cold to drink, so I stood up and followed him out of the kitchen. “Did we leave the computer on the couch?”
My parents hadn’t let me take my computer, but I had my phone, so we hadn’t been completely cut off. But when they’d turned that off, it’d certainly felt like we were isolated from everything. Now we had unlimited internet and smartphones and I was going to college soon. Some people took those things for granted, but I was always going to see them as proof of our hard work.
We could do anything we set our minds to.
“I think so.” He turned and glanced down at the phone in my hand. “You know you can email him back on that.”
“Smartass.” The keyboard was too small to type out a long letter, and I wasn’t planning on cutting it short. I had questions, and I wanted to tell him more about us because he had to be curious.
Sawyer wiggled his ass and dropped his pants to moon me as he went into the bathroom. I was still laughing when he shut the door to keep the heat in and started the water. Booting up the computer, I couldn’t help but wonder what Jackson would think of us. Would we end up being too silly for him?
“No, we’d keep him young. Masters need someone to make them laugh.” As I finally signed in to our email account, I glanced over at the clock. I had a few minutes, but not long enough to dawdle, so as soon as I hit the reply button, I started to type. He wouldn’t want planned out and perfect; he’d want to see the real me, anyway.
Hi, Jackson!
I have to confess I was glad you emailed us back. I know it’s something different than what you’re used to, and I was excited to see that you’ve been looking puppy play up online. What do you think of it so far? Sawyer was a little hesitant and confused when I first showed it to him, so I get that it’s hard to understand.
Yes, Sawyer and I are looking for a master to be a third in our relationship. I don’t think it’s oversharing to tell you that we’re both bottoms and looking for a top as well as a master (Sawyer’s going to complain and tell me that’s oversharing lol but he won’t see this until later, so that’s okay). I have to confess that we looked up your business online. Was that you on the site? It made it look like it was you, so I hope I’m not telling one of your employees that he’s cute but well, you’re cute. Sawyer thinks so too.
I was curious about the types of guys you usually date (Sawyer probably is too, but he didn’t say anything specifically). Have you ever dated two guys at the same time? Are you a take things slow kind of guy or do you like to move faster? Would dating two guys bother you? If you haven’t guessed, I have lots of questions. Would you like to chat on the phone sometime (I’m hinting that sometime means soon lol just in case you couldn’t tell)?
I haven’t dated much. Sawyer and I got together just after high school, and we’ve been a family ever since. Does it bother you that we’re younger? Not jailbait, though. Sawyer says I look young and made us take the picture a dozen times until I looked old enough that it wouldn’t freak someone out. Got to head to work, but hopefully we’ll talk soon.
Bye!
Cooper
Hitting the send button, I didn’t even read it through or second-guess how I came across. I didn’t hide things from Sawyer or censor myself, and I wasn’t going to pretend to be anything I wasn’t for someone we were getting to know.
Shutting the computer, I took a deep breath and looked at the clock. Time to grab food and start to get ready for the day. The water had just turned off. I knew if I hurried, I’d have enough time to make eggs for Sawyer. So I climbed off the couch, trying not to think about Jackson.
Keeping him out of my mind all day was going to be hard, though. Waiting to see what he said in his reply would make me crazy. But I couldn’t spend all day worrying.
He was either going to love us for who we were, or it wasn’t meant to be. I just had to keep reminding myself of that.