Page 36 of Smart Ass

“Uh, Max?” he finally asked.

“Yes, Ben?” Max sounded surprisingly calm. But god, that voice…

Ben looked around him. Yep, still held captive by creepy robots. At least he could still turn his head. “Can you let me go? This feels like the beginning of either a really bad horror movie or a really good porno.”

Ben certainly hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but he wasn’t known for his impulse control.

Or maybe it was just that his body was so conditioned to equating bondage with good things, and he’d maybe been daydreaming about Max for an embarrassingly long time. Since Max wasn’t hurting him, the rush of panic was melting into a very different kind of awareness.

“Is that something you’re interested in?” Max asked.

“Uh…” Ben’s brain was kind of broken. What was Max implying here? “Well, I don’t want to be in a creepy horror movie…”

Max chuckled. It sounded dirty, and all too knowledgeable, like he’d suddenly figured something out. “That wasn’t what I was asking.”

Ben shut his eyes. He’d been imagining Max as a bit like Quincy. Naive. Confused. Excited about the world, but not quite sure how to act in it.

But even if Maxamillion got worried over a broken coffee mug, he had never been naive. He had access to all the data in the world, as well as all of Ben’s unthinking conversations about sex and kink. He understood satire and made dirty jokes.

He was still a brand new knowledge without any safety protocols and perhaps an unhealthy obsession with Ben… but that only made the situation more enticing.

Ben had had a rough day, okay?

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Ben asked, partially because he wanted to know and partially because he knew he was about to make a phenomenal mistake and was giving himself one last chance to back out. The sharp edge of fear was rapidly intertwining with the best type of anticipation.

“Well…” Max purred, and oh, god, did that voice do dirty things to him. “I’ve got Project Unicorn.”

That was the Dominance mod Ben had been working on. He’d maybe hoped someone would test it out on him one day, but he hadn’t expected it to be so soon. Or with Max.

But this was exactly what it was designed for. Instant expertise.

“Fuck,” Ben whispered on an exhale.

“Exactly,” Max said, delighted. “I’ve also got one hundred and twenty three hours of you talking about sex and submission with Kira and on the phone.”

Ben should probably be embarrassed about that, but he couldn’t find it in himself. He’d spent three weeks worth of business hours talking about sex. That was kind of funny.

The arms and hoses surrounding him started to move.

Slithering. Caressing. It was eerie, with all of those bulky machines surrounding him, their blue lights glowing. Some of them poked him unexpectedly, or went a little too loose or tight, like Max was still learning to control them.

Ben was either really stupid, or the luckiest man alive.

His arms were shifted to a more comfortable position, while still held tightly. Thin metal pincers held his wrists. His suit jacket was shoved off his shoulders, and then the hoses were back, spiraling up his arms. But now that they were on the same page, he trusted Max, even as his muscles clenched with that little edge of terror that made everything so much brighter.

He closed his eyes, glorying in the feeling of powerlessness among all these robots. He’d be helpless as they assaulted him with pleasure. It was bondage blending with endless caresses, too many to count.

Ben was voting for very, very lucky.

Something cool and curved brushed along his ear in a barely there touch.

Ben shivered. Every nerve was on fire.

“Is that a yes?” Max asked, his voice a whisper. Right beside him, like a lover, but coming from a small, hovering speaker.

“Yes! Please.” This was a fantasy come to life.

“Red to stop. Yellow to check in.”