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No, caitín, I don’t. And therein lies the problem.
Max’s heart sank as he recognized the opportunity unfolding. What Sean’s request was unwittingly providing him. His out. His ticket to freedom at last—from the one man he’d pay to be chained to. The irony was brutal, but far from surprising. This was life, after all, at its finest.
He pressed his forehead to Sean’s. “Okay. Just this once.” And he couldn’t’ve meant that more literally.
Sean smiled and closed his eyes. “Thank you, Maximus. You won’t regret it.”
But Max already knew that he would.
* *
Sean couldn’t believe it. He seriously couldn’t.
Max had agreed to a spur-of-the-moment session.
He shifted his weight, naked, feet cold atop the dungeon floor, as Max bound his forearms together behind his back.
Hell, from the moment Max joined him on the sidewalk, a lot of things happened that Sean couldn’t believe. Like how Max didn’t immediately order him back into his car, or chew him a new one for smoking. Come to think of it, when Sean deliberately took that drag in his face, Max actually looked more sad than angry. And then, when Sean called him a dick and an asshole? Max had let that shit slide, hadn’t rebuked him at all, as if he’d inwardly felt he deserved it.
Which wasn’t exactly Max-like, but what surprised Sean most, was how Max let him take his wrist and pull him close. Bringing their bodies together as Sean leaned against Tad’s Jeep, Max’s bare chest warming him right through his shirt. It’d been a total wild hair—Max seemed to elicit those a lot—but the way he’d been looking at Sean was just so moving. He couldn’t place the emotion, but it definitely wasn’t anger. Not that Max wasn’t trying to make it seem so, because he totally was. Just like always.
But he wasn’t really mad, Sean understood that now. He was just… well… jagged. Rough and uneven. As if his soul had been abraded by life. Sean still had no idea how, but hoped Max would confide in him. Tell him one day what had happened so Sean could help him. Because he hadn’t just been spouting hot air out on that sidewalk. He truly wanted to be someone Max could lean on.
So, when Max let Sean draw him near, let him pull him close? It gave Sean a fresh shot of hope. Because he was clearly making progress. Hell, not that long ago, Max would’ve chewed him a new one for merely touching him.
Max pulled down the chain strung from a pulley overhead and attached it to the back of Sean’s chest harness. Yes, chest harness. The crisscross kind. Sean had wondered if he’d ever get to wear one. Max pulled the lead taut. Sean could feel it against his spine, holding him to just a few inches of movement.
“You ready to hear my plans, caitín?”
“Yes, Maximus.”
“Eyes down.”
Sean dropped his gaze.
Max reached around and gripped Sean’s nipples. “First, I’m going to punish you,” he murmured in Sean’s ear. “For repeatedly disregarding my rules of engagement.” He rolled Sean’s nubs between his fingers. Sean moaned, dick hardening to full erection. “And then we’ll move on to new training.”
Sean nodded. Max tightened his hold on Sean’s nips. Sean’s jaw went slack, Max’s breath kissing his neck as his touch flooded Sean’s pecs. Flooded them with dark, wicked bliss. And yet, Sean wasn’t lost to the fact that Max’s voice had just thickened—in a way Sean wasn’t familiar with. He’d have to get back to that sometime later, though. Max’s mouth and hands were just too distracting.
Abruptly, Max squeezed hard.
Sean gasped. “Ungh!—Shit!”
Max eased off and continued, burrowing his nose in Sean’s hair. “And then,” he murmured. “When I’m finished… I’ll reward you.”
A subtle little flag got waving in Sean’s brain. Max’s plans tonight weren’t very involved. Like his head wasn’t in it, or—Sean frowned, feeling uneasy—or he didn’t really expect to even finish. But that made no sense. Max always finished. In that regard, he was always very professional.
“Do you agree to these terms?”
“Yes, Maximus.”
“Good. Do you relinquish all control?”
“Yes, Maximus.”
Max palmed Sean’s pecs, gave a firm, slow knead, then let go completely. “Let’s begin.”
And begin they did, starting with his punishment. Something Sean had expected from the start. Hopefully it wouldn’t last long.
Max strode to his drawers and grabbed a few items, then turned and sauntered back. Sean dropped his gaze. His heart picked up speed. He stared at the floor. Here we go.
Max’s boots came into view a second later. “The intention of the penalty I’ve chosen for you tonight is to demonstrate how you’ve become your own worst enemy. How your repeated actions are only hurting yourself.”
He hooked a second chain to the one above Sean’s head. Though Sean’s eyes were down, he could still feel small tugs.
“Give me your left foot.”
