Page 53 of Pretty ’n Peak

“Is that alright?”

“It would be my pleasure.”

“Oh, um, thank you.” He could almost feel Mateo’s grin. “You make me feel safe. And um, would you walk me through the equipment, too? Like you said I should ask Carlos about?”

Austin caressed that small patch of skin again. What would it be like to kiss it?

To kiss that tender place before locking a cuff around it?

Was he ready for this?

He needed more time to decide.

“The point of that exercise was to have you get more comfortable with your Dom, not the equipment.”

“Oh.” Another wealth of emotion squeezed into one syllable. Mateo was disappointed, though he tried not to show it.

Austin tried to figure out how he was feeling. Protective. Caring. For the first time in so long, fluttering with possibility.

There wasn’t a trace of apathy. No sense of being pulled, unwilling, into a scene he didn’t want—a feeling he was only now beginning to recognize for what it had been.

You make me feel safe. Mateo’s words echoed around in his head.

Even if Austin didn’t trust anything else, he knew he could make Mateo feel safe. And more than that, Mateo maybe made him feel safe.

He wasn’t usually a Daddy Dom, but maybe he needed something softer right now. He could make the boy feel treasured. Respected. Desired.

He knew he could.

And if it only lasted for a second evening?

Maybe his full appetite for kink hadn’t returned, but he could do this one scene. Mateo would be his focus. His shining star.

He didn’t need to commit to more than that while his demons still chased him.

Perhaps they could both test out who they were and what they wanted tonight.

“Carlos asked me something else,” Austin said slowly.

“What?” There was no hint of expectation this time. Mateo truly didn’t know.

“He suggested that you’d rather do a scene with me tonight, instead of him. What are your thoughts on that?”

“Really? I mean… is that something you want? I don’t want to push you into it.”

The amount of expression in Mateo’s voice might be one of Austin’s favorite things. Without his vision, he couldn’t often get a read on people, but Mateo’s inflections hid nothing.

Mateo’s words were carefully chosen to make sure that Austin was interested—a consideration that he appreciated more than he could say, right now. But beneath that, he could hear Mateo’s wide-eyed delight.

“You’re not pushing me, believe me.” He knew what that felt like well enough. “And yes, I’d like to do a scene with you tonight.” The words became true as he said them. “Public or private. Whatever you were planning with Carlos, or something else.”

“Can we walk through the, uh, dungeon and see?”

“Absolutely, boy. Do you want to eat first or…”

“Dungeon.”

Austin grinned at the boy’s eagerness.