“I wondered because you’re right-handed, but you rarely use that hand.”
Mike didn’t know how to express that he purposely kept his right hand out of sight as much as possible so that people didn’t notice the glove and ask him about it. But Aiden continued on without waiting for a response.
“This leather is really soft,” he said as he reached out to brush his fingers over the back of Mike’s hand.
Mike dropped his eyes down to where Aiden’s long, elegant fingers with neatly manicured nails polished a pearlescent gray were sliding over his gloved hand. “Yes. I chose a high-quality glove since I wear it often.”
Aiden traced idle patterns over the brown leather—the polish color shifting with the light.
“I bet it would feel great against my skin.”
Heat pooled low in his belly at the mental picture that arose from Aiden’s words—his gloved hand sliding over the smooth perfection of Aiden’s body. He looked up from watching Aiden’s fingers dance over his hand. “Aiden.”
Aiden lazily raised his long, soot-dark lashes to look at him.
“Yeah?”
“I...” Mike stalled out, having no idea what he’d planned to say once he looked into those pretty golden eyes. They’d sparkled at him in that exact same way when they’d been on the couch kissing.
“Is something wrong?”
Mike’s answer was a simple shake of his head, as he was slightly lost in the warm place that was memories of his intimacy with Aiden.
“Good.”
Aiden laced their fingers together, stroking his thumb back and forth over Mike’s palm. He sucked in a breath at the touch, his nostrils flaring. But he didn’t pull away. Aiden brought their linked hands close to his face to brush his lips over Mike’s leather covered fingertips
A slow smile curled Aiden’s lush, pink lips.
“You think you can sit across from me in a tight white Henley giving me compliments about my dancing and I won’t want to make out with you?”
Even though a low-thrum of arousal hummed beneath his skin, Mike smiled at Aiden’s teasing. “I wasn’t trying to entice you.”
“But you did. So, let’s go.”
Aiden stood and Mike followed, his chair scratching across the floor when he pushed back from the table. Once they were both up, Aiden adjusted their hands so that they stayed linked as they walked to the living room. Mike was so busy watching the sensual roll of the slim hips in front of him that he forgot to be bothered by someone holding on to his damaged hand. Aiden stopped and faced Mike when they reached the couch.
“Get down here,” he said, crooking a finger.
Mike bent until they were on eye level with each other. He stared into those tiger’s eyes for several breathless seconds before Aiden leaned in and kissed him. Their lips met and clung in a soft exploration that made Mike’s heart beat double time. They didn’t touch anywhere except for their lips and linked hands, but the connection to Aiden and the pleasure of their kiss tingled all over his body. With his eyes closed, the delicate sounds of their kiss were magnified, their low moans, their soft, slightly rushed breaths. Mike was about to wrap his arms around Aiden and bring him closer to deepen the kiss when Aiden pulled back and gave him a slight push to stand straight again.
“It’s time for me to teach you a few things,” he said once they separated.
“About dominance and submission?”
“Yes. First, safe words. You’ll have one every time we scene or have sex that isn’t vanilla. We’ll start off with the red, yellow, green system. If I check in with you and you feel good and want to keep going, say green. If you’re feeling off in anyway and you need a moment to catch your breath it’s yellow. And if you’re hurting or bothered physically or mentally in any way and you want an immediate halt call for red. I’ll stop, no questions asked and help you however you need. And you don’t have to wait for me to check in with you to ask for red or yellow. Does all that make sense?”
Mike had no trouble understanding Aiden’s clear and to the point explanation. “Yes,” he answered.
“Good. You can change to a personal safeword later on if you want to. But for right now I don’t want you to have to worry about remembering it.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
A smile curved Aiden’s lips and sparkled in his eyes. “You’re so polite. I am going to take such good care of you.”
Mike didn’t know why his saying thank you pleased Aiden so much, but he loved the smile he gained from it.
“We’re going to keep it low-key tonight. I want to give you a reward for sharing your story with me. What can I do to make you feel good right now?”
