Liability

  Mason smiled. “You can be, if that’s what you want to be.” He gently started drawing her out, explaining the differences, prompting her to ask questions, Cole finally asking a few questions of his own when it was obvious he’d become confused on a point or two.

  By the time their food arrived, the delightfully clueless and eager couple had come to the realization, on their own, that they might want to modify their relationship labels. That she considered herself “owned” by Cole, but more a submissive and a pet than an actual slave. When Cole learned what a Master tended to be labeled as, he agreed he was more an Owner and Dominant than a Master.

  “I don’t want to piss anyone off,” Cole said as he started cutting his steak.

  “No, don’t get me wrong,” Mason told him. “You can label yourself anything you want. But I didn’t want the two of you to start getting confused or thinking you ‘had’ to do things a certain way because other people who called themselves those labels did things those ways. You can call yourselves whatever you want and do whatever you want.”

  “What do you consider yourself?” Kim asked him.

  “Right now? I consider myself a Dominant, a Top, and definitely a sadist. How much of one I am depends on who I’m playing with. In the past I’ve been an Owner and a Master with partners both romantic and just for play.”

  Cole seemed to be studying him. “You can own someone you’re not in a relationship with?”

  “If I own them, I’m in a relationship with them. What kind of relationship is the question.” Mason took a bite of his pork chop. “A romantic relationship and a play relationship can be mutually exclusive things. Remember what I said Sunday night about people having play partners outside of their romantic relationships?”

  “Would you consider playing with me?” Kim asked.

  Fortunately, Mason hadn’t been taking a bite of food or a sip of water when she asked that.

  He glanced at Cole, trying to gauge the man’s reaction to her question. Cole almost seemed as eager to hear the answer as she did.

  “I wouldn’t discount it,” Mason said, hedging his bets. “I would definitely be willing to help you and Cole experiment with things to try things out. Demonstrate. But that’s a big difference, I think, between what you’re asking me and the point we’d have to reach together to do that.”

  They both looked confused. Adorably so.

  “In other words,” Mason clarified, “Let’s take things slow and see what happens. I’ve seen guys go from not wanting to do anything to becoming pretty damn good Tops. And if that’s not you, Cole, and you decide okay, she wants to do things, I absolutely would be willing to talk more about it at that time.”

  That seemed to make her happy.

  Even more interestingly, Mason’s answer appeared to relieve Cole, from the way the other man visibly relaxed.

  As if glad to know this wasn’t a burden he’d have to shoulder alone.

  It was nearly two hours later when they left the restaurant. And still they stood outside at their cars for another thirty minutes and talked until Mason glanced at his phone and realized he had three missed texts from Freddie. Still, he used it as an excuse.

  “Not trying to cut you off, but I didn’t realize how late it was and I have an early day tomorrow. See you Saturday at four at Venture?”

  “Absolutely,” Cole said, his gaze boring into Mason’s.

  Mason was glad Cole opted for another hug. He paid close attention to when the other man ended it so he didn’t let it get creepy.

  Although Mason easily could have stood there all night hugging the man. Cole was six one to his own five eleven, and it’d been a long while since he’d been with a guy taller than him.

  Hugging Kim felt easy as well. She was a sweetheart, and he had enjoyed seeing how much more open and talkative she was tonight compared to the munch Sunday night.

  “And, seriously, either of you, feel free to call or text or e-mail or whatever between now and then.”

  “We’re not bugging you, are we?” Kim asked.

  “I’ll tell you if you are,” Mason said, pointing a finger at his face and circling it. “Dominant, remember?” He smiled. “I’m perfectly capable of setting a boundary.”

  After one last good-bye, he got in his car and waited until he saw that Cole had got his car started to pull out of the space and head home.

  Not only had that been a fun evening, it’d been productive.

  Absolutely, he’d probably play with Kim, if they asked. He wouldn’t give them a definitive yes yet, of course, because he wanted to encourage Cole to stretch his wings a little. And he wanted more time to make sure Kim wasn’t…

  Well, crazy.

  The unread text messages awaiting him on his phone from Freddie were plenty enough reminder of that.

  But all things considered…

  Yeah, he’d play with her.

  Part of him kind of hoped Cole discovered an inner submissive during the process, too.

  Because I’d damn sure play with him.

  Chapter Nine

  Thursday morning, Mason was finding it hard to keep his mind on his work. His dinner with Cole and Kim the evening before, and their conversation, kept running through his thoughts, distracting him.

  Sure, he’d played with women before. Plenty of times. Both to help teach someone a technique, or as a demonstration, and as a long-term play partner. He wasn’t really a service Top, though. Yet he suspected he’d be getting to know the couple a lot better over the next weeks and months.

  But he was gay.

  Still…

  He liked both of them as people. Given enough time, he sensed they could easily become good friends, both of them. The kind of people he would gladly associate with not just in the kinky world, but in the vanilla one as well. He could see going out to dinner with them, to the movies, having them over for dinner with other friends, the whole nine yards.

  Barrier one, passed.

  He knew it wasn’t like he was now intimately familiar with them and they might not still turn out to be douchey in some way, but usually he was a pretty good judge of people.

  Just like the fact that he hadn’t followed his initial instincts to keep Freddie at arm’s length had come back to bite him in the ass.

  Thank goodness for the mute function on his phone, because after basically ignoring Freddie’s texts last night and responding with a simple good-night text of his own, he’d awakened that morning to ten texts from the man, vacillating between sweet and borderline psychotic.

  I guess if I was a true sadist I could fucking block him and be done with it.

  But just because he was a sadist didn’t mean he wanted to be a dick. The last thing he wanted to be was a dick. Even with damn Freddie. His father was a dick, and he was not his father. Refused to be like the man.

  Kim and Cole were different. He definitely felt…something for the couple. Intellectually, for sure. People he enjoyed talking with, the kind of people he knew he could get lost for hours with in conversation.

  Hell, they’d done exactly that at dinner, their topics veering from kinky issues to vanilla ones and back again effortlessly.

  They were both nice people. Okay, make that barrier one, and being people he could be vanilla friends with barrier number two.

  As far as other concerns—they both had jobs, their own places, vehicles. He didn’t give a crap if they were rich or poor, but they seemed to have their shit together.

  He sat back in his chair and stared at his monitor. Yep, another red flag he’d ignored with Freddie. Freddie most definitely did not have his shit together, fiscally or emotionally.

  Why had I let him talk me into a relationship?

  Oh, yeah. He was cute and available and I was a lonely fucking idiot who ignored warning signs and moved too fast because Freddie wanted to move at warp speed.

  As soon as he’d realized Freddie definitely wasn’t a submissive or a masochist, he should have never taken things to the next level, s
hould have chilled everything down and friend-zoned him. Not even for fuck buddies, as clingy as the man had turned out to be. Although Freddie had put on a good mask in the early days and didn’t let his crazy show, at first.

  Mason had wondered after Saturday night’s conversation with Freddie if that was really the end of it. The texts he’d awakened to that morning didn’t bode well for that. There’d been a time a few months earlier, once he’d told Freddie he was moving, where Freddie had pulled a snit like this. Mason had pretty much told him there was the door, which had turned Freddie’s attitude around one hundred and eighty degrees real quick.

  Which helped Mason put the brakes on something else. Even thinking about Kim in terms of being play partners was moving things along way too fast. Lots of ground to cover before that point, especially since she didn’t even know what she’d like.

  Cart before the horse. Waaaay before the horse. Cole didn’t even know what he’d be comfortable doing or watching them do together. Mason knew he’d have to go slow, start simply, and hopefully with things that Cole himself could get into. Mason would stay away from any orgasm play with her for now, unless it was teaching Cole how to do it.

  Lots of talking and communication.

  No, that didn’t mean he’d avoid any and all pitfalls with the couple, but it was a start. They were both curious, had open minds, and Cole wasn’t reluctantly doing this. He was being honest and open that he wasn’t sure what he’d be able to do, but that he did want to try to work out whatever accommodations they could so that Kim could get what she needed. Or at least to give her the ability to figure out what she needed.

  More important still? Cole was willing to admit that he might be able to learn and grow and enjoy this, but wouldn’t hesitate to back out if he couldn’t and still support her trying to do what she needed to do.

  Mason could tell how much they loved each other. Only an idiot could miss that.

  Now if I could just find a guy like that for me, things would be spiffy.

  * * * *

  It was nearly lunch time when Mason’s phone buzzed with a text from Cole, thanking him again for the night before, but he also saw one there from Freddie that he hadn’t seen earlier.

  How RU?

  Mason stared at the text. There was a fine line between being an asshole and being firm, and he still didn’t want to be one more dick in a long line of dicks in Freddie’s life, staring with Freddie’s own family.

  Yes, Freddie didn’t just have issues, he had subscriptions. And no, he knew he wasn’t the cause of Freddie’s issues, and it didn’t mean he had to let Freddie walk all over him. He didn’t want to cut all ties with the man if they could still be friends.

  He could still be friends. He didn’t know if that was something in Freddie’s emotional DNA, however.

  He waited until he was ready to leave to text Freddie back.

  Heading for lunch.

  The reply came almost immediately, as if Freddie had been sitting on his phone and awaiting Mason’s reply.

  Which, of course, he probably had.

  Where U goin?

  To eat with coworkers. Have to go. Driving.

  Freddie knew he did not text and drive, so hopefully that would buy him an easy out.

  He’d felt sorry for Freddie, who initially made a great impression. It was hard to see how damaged the guy was, at first.

  Until he got his hooks into you and tenaciously clung to you and didn’t want to let go.

  Like a fucking sandspur. The harder you tried to get rid of him, the more tenaciously he clung to you.

  That got really old, really fast.

  Another reason to go slow with Cole and Kim.

  Mason didn’t want to start getting emotionally invested in a relationship with them just to come to a similar realization as he had with Freddie.

  Going slow was never a bad thing. If anything, it would build up the anticipation for all of them and allow them the chance to avoid any missteps.

  He would hate to lose Kim and Cole as friends, if they were destined to be at least that.

  If events led to a chance to play, to unleash his inner Dominant and sadistic side for a change, he’d gladly do that, too. He had no problem going home and rubbing one or two out after building up a good head of Toppy energy. He was the kind of Dominant who could separate and compartmentalize the two sides of himself in that way. It was admittedly a lot nicer when the partner he was playing with was also a sexual partner he could then vent his sexual tension with, but it wasn’t a requirement for him for play.

  Especially with a woman.

  Because, duh. Gay man. He’d been with women before sexually before finally admitting and realizing he was gay and accepting it. He’d even enjoyed his experiences with women, but realized that while he might still be homoflexible for the right woman, he was definitely more gay than bi.

  At least Cole wouldn’t have to worry about that, then. Mason could understand where having a gay man play with his girlfriend would definitely be one of those reassuring things to put a het man’s mind at ease.

  Although Mason wouldn’t deny he’d likely be using frequent fantasies of Cole while rubbing out his own orgasms. Man had a nice, tight ass, gorgeous blue eyes, and from what he could tell a decent body.

  If Cole ever decided he wanted to take a walk on the bi side, Mason would be hard-pressed to come up with any reasons not to help him make that happen.

  Hmm.

  Okay, so there was a really nice fantasy he’d keep to himself, and one he might make use of as soon as that night after getting home.

  Revving his engine up by topping Kim, and letting off steam sexually with Cole.

  Oooh, yeah.

  Wouldn’t ever happen, of course, but oooh, his hand and cock didn’t care about statistical probability when it came to wank fodder.

  Thank goodness for that.

  * * * *

  By the time Mason finally returned home that night, he felt exhausted. He’d spent the afternoon dodging several more texts from Freddie. He’d finally put him off by saying he was in the middle of a crisis at work…

  And then he’d had a crisis at work.

  As if making it come true.

  Dammit.

  No, it wasn’t Freddie’s fault, but it sure was coincidental.

  Maybe the Universe is trying to tell me something?

  One of the departments had made a software patch upgrade off-schedule without warning him first, and it’d borked three different processes, spilling over into user-side site issues that had all hands scrambling to get it up and running again.

  And now it was after ten o’clock, Mason hadn’t even eaten dinner yet, and he was so fucking glad to be back in Sarasota where he could find halfway decent food at that time of night and grab take-out.

  He settled on his couch with his personal laptop and his Chinese food and turned to a music channel on the cable TV. Classic jazz tonight, something to soothe his nerves.

  He had an e-mail from Cole. He’d seen it come in earlier that afternoon on his phone, but he’d been so busy that he couldn’t do anything about it. Plus Mason wanted to be able to type his reply and not just bang something out on the phone.

  Thanks again for last night. We really enjoyed talking with you, and appreciate you taking the time to go over things with us. We’re both looking forward to Saturday, and had some really productive talks when we got home last night. Can you recommend any good sites on BDSM with realistic information and articles and stuff?

  Mason smiled. Why, yes, he could. He had them bookmarked. He copied off the list and hit reply, pasting them into the e-mail before typing in his reply at the top.

  Remember when reading anything that it’s just that particular person’s opinion. You don’t “have” to do anything, other than safety issues. Don’t let anyone define what you guys want to do but you two.

  And I am very happy to answer your questions. It’s good to see you taking the time to research and learn an
d not jump in without knowing anything.

  He sent it and then turned his computer off before he ended up time-sucked into browsing.

  As he used chopsticks to eat his chicken lo mein right out of the carton, Mason took a deep breath and forced himself not to look at his phone.

  The Freddie issue would have to be dealt with sooner or later.

  Preferably sooner.

  He just…didn’t have the brain power or energy for it right then.

  And he damn sure didn’t want to text Freddie and get sucked into another round of texts with him, alternately getting aggravated and feeling like a dick.

  He’d much rather sit back and relax and think about how nice his chat the night before had been with Kim and Cole.

  Looking forward to Saturday.

  Damn, he was really looking forward to Saturday.

  It was their eagerness, their enthusiasm. He was able to see BDSM through a newbie’s eyes again.

  Remember why he’d been attracted to the lifestyle in the first place.

  Mason always had fantasies growing up, but before he realized that not only was being gay okay, but so was being kinky, he’d had to settle for fantasies that he didn’t understand and had felt guilty for in the beginning.

  Of course, it was in college when he really got it. And the Internet helped him out there.

  As he sorted out his sexuality, he dipped a toe into the gay leather culture. He realized that wasn’t exactly for him, but definitely on the right track as his train of thought.

  That all led to…here. Forty-four, single, kinky, and already crushing on a straight guy he barely knew whose girlfriend might eventually, one day, possibly end up being his play partner.

  Sigh.

  He stared into the carton of noodles.

  They held no answers other than a pitifully obvious metaphor to how mixed up his life felt right then in some ways.

  He had a…type. He didn’t want to date outside his type, because, duh, Freddie happened.

  Cole was definitely his type.

  And Cole was straight with a girlfriend. And not apparently submissive.