If It Flies (Market Garden, #3)

Nick set his shoulders back. He pointed at the floor in front of his boots. “On your knees.”


Spencer hesitated, like he had that first time.

Communication? Or launching immediately into the most intense exchange they could have? He took the step and knelt, though he wished he didn’t have these thoughts whirring in his head, the conviction that they’d resolved nothing and were only plastering over the break.

Nevertheless, kneeling at Nick’s feet felt good. It felt right.

And—oh. Nick’s hand on his hair. That he knew. That made sense. That was perfect. He pushed his head lightly into Nick’s hand. Nick rewarded him by trailing his fingers over Spencer’s hair.

It also meant that Spencer wasn’t supposed to speak, just feel, just respond, just answer questions if they came.

Nick’s hand slid down to Spencer’s shoulder. He crouched next to him. His face seemed oddly open, and he came even closer, and the kiss was deliberate and tender, and even more intense than last time because they were both calm, the tension wasn’t blinding them, they were both sober and aware and under control. This felt more like a promise than 115

a mistake. Spencer reached up on impulse, but hesitated, not sure if he was allowed to put his hands on Nick.

But Nick was kissing him. He could.

So he grabbed Nick by the shoulders and pulled him closer, still, he hoped, respectfully, but he needed to touch him now, and if that meant he’d get the snot beaten out of him, that was worth it.

Nick grinned into—but didn’t completely break—the kiss. “You’re being naughty.”

An electric charge zinged immediately into Spencer’s balls and tightened them with nervousness and anticipation.

“Sorry,” Spencer murmured. “Couldn’t help myself.”

“I’ll keep tabs on your punishment.” Nick drew back and touched his temple with a finger, likely already adding up how often he’d hit Spencer, but Spencer really didn’t care at this point. As far as their scene was involved, any excuse to get beaten worked for him.

Nick traced the side of Spencer’s face with a fingernail.

“I’m keeping this one . . . simple. I need to find my feet with what I want to do with you.”

“Rather than what I pay you for?”

“Has to do with that, sure. But really, I just want to make it special. For you. And me.” Nick smiled, eyes alight with that wicked ability to unnerve Spencer. “Blow your mind in a different way.”

“I’m game. Whatever you want. I’ll get where you need me to be, if you help me.”

Nick touched Spencer’s face again, trailed his lips with a thumb, which tickled, but probably was meant to remind him of the kiss they’d shared.

Spencer couldn’t wait to know what the sex and kink would feel like when it was real—well, more real than it had 116

been. Nick had got off on what they’d done, no doubt, and often, but that had been at least partly a performance, he assumed.

What would the real Nick be like? The one who cared about him. The man for whom he was special and not just a meal ticket.

Granted, he knew very little about Nick. His personality.

His . . . did he even know what Nick really liked in BDSM?

Probably. Nick hadn’t just been lucky-guessing. It was doubtful that he did this for a living but preferred missionary-with-the-lights-out at home. He certainly didn’t lie back and think of England on the job . . . What had he said? Had been approached in clubs and kinda got into it. Sometimes they offered him money, he’d said, so he’d gathered experience and gone ful -time. Turned a hobby into a career.

“Haven’t done this in a while. Cared about somebody.

It’s weird.” Nick kissed him again, short but tender, and then pulled back. “I think I’ll like it, though. You. Me.”

“Well, you already have me on my knees,” Spencer joked.

“I do. But what happens next?”

Spencer swallowed. “You tell me.”

Nick’s lips pulled into a grin, and he trailed his fingers down the side of Spencer’s face. “Always the sub, aren’t you?”

“That’s what you want. Isn’t it?”

“Absolutely. And I knew from the beginning you were a sub.” Nick curved his hand around the back of Spencer’s neck and leaned in for another kiss. Just before their lips met, he added, “Just never realised you’d become my sub.”

When Nick broke away again, Spencer licked his lips and said, “But I’ve been your sub from the beginning. That was the whole point.”

117

Nick shook his head slowly. “No. You were my client. I was your . . .” He gestured sharply, like he couldn’t find the word.