Page 4 of Eddie (Romance & Revolutions #7)

Eddie

He really wasn’t meant to go so long between orgasms, but there hadn’t been anything I could do about it before.

That was going to change, though.

“Even if you’re bad, I’ll tie you up and make you come, but if you’re naughty I’ll take my time and make it romantic.” That threat had Shelby’s eyes going wide. “Flowers and chocolates kind of romantic, so don’t push your luck.”

“You’re mean.” His dramatic delivery wasn’t worrying. “Fine. I’ll communicate and…and try to follow instructions?”

He seemed to have an Austin understanding about what behaving meant.

“That will work for now.” We’d see how that changed in the future, though. “But I reserve the right to be romantic if it comes down to it.”

Shelby’s natural state was to get into mischief and make poor decisions, so I had to fight with what worked best.

“I know.” Sounding sassy and adorable, he pouted. “But you can punish me later. This time I need to relax.”

I’d never met anyone who couldn’t do that with just jerking off but Shelby couldn’t, and I’d heard him complain about it in enough different ways to believe him. “Deal.”

“I’m so glad you’re real.” Sighing out the words, he inched closer and rested his head on my shoulder. “I’m kind of exhausted and I was starting to worry I’d made you up.”

He’d been worrying too much but now that we’d met in person I could fix some of that.

“I’m going to make sure you get to thoroughly relax before we leave the club today.” An orgasm, a good cuddle, and time to talk to people where he could just be himself would go a long way in getting us to that point. “Then we’re going to have dinner and do date things.”

Whatever those were.

I hadn’t dated in nearly as long as Shelby.

“Okay.” Already sounding lighter, he took my hand and seemed to be ready for us to keep going. “But remember, you’re supposed to have fun too.”

He was going to be stubborn about that, so I nodded as I led us to the changing rooms. “I understand. My first step in declaring today fun is going to be getting you ready and then taking you to the stage at the back.”

I’d already understood that Silas was going to put his foot down about the private scene thing. He was just that much of a worrier when it came down to it and my relationship with Shelby was going to confuse him no matter what.

So I’d simply made sure that it would be ready for us when I’d first shown up and there would be nothing to distract Shelby once I got him into the right headspace.

“You’re really good with planning things and making decisions.” Shelby was the only person I’d met who appreciated that enough. “People expect me to do that too much.”

He reached his limit of decisions and planning at work and really didn’t want to do it once he was left to his own devices.

“You don’t and that’s good but I was worried you wouldn’t understand you had to keep doing that.” The little shake to his voice said he was downplaying that fear. “But you understand.”

“That’s right.” There was no point in beating around the bush since it wasn’t going to upset him. “I understand and I like helping you. I have no intention of stopping and will probably get pushier.”

“That’s nice of you.” Shelby kept moving but it felt like he was ready to wrap himself around me and sink into a scene. “I’ve got a list of things you can take over when you’re ready for more.”

Of course he did. “That’s very helpful, good boy.”

Oh, someone liked that.

The shiver that raced through him hit so hard his legs wobbled and he tightened his grip on me. Before I could ask how he felt, he let out another shaky breath. “Do it again. Please. Say it, I mean.”

Brat.

“Yes, that’s much more polite.” I turned my head and barely brushed my lips under his ear. “You’re my good boy.”

His lids drooped and he looked almost drunk as he melted a little more into me. “I…I didn’t know how much I’d like that.”

“It’s because you know good boys get rewards from their Doms and they get taken care of.” I’d take care of him if he were a brat too, but if he liked being good that would make keeping him healthy and happy a lot easier. “Are you ready to be my good boy and let me tie you up?”

He moaned as another shiver fired through him. “I…I like being tied up.”

“I’m going to make you feel so good. I’m going to wrap the ropes around you and completely suspend you.

Then once I have you restrained and displayed so perfectly, I’m going to make you come.

” It wasn’t a hard skill to learn, so I wasn’t sure why he hadn’t found more guys in general who were into it.

While he was an omega, Shelby didn’t need an alpha and didn’t have a lot of strong feelings about secondary genders in general, but he loved being restrained and needed a Dom. He was not as hard to please as he seemed to think but he had terrible luck when it came to dating.

“Suspend?” When he managed to straighten and turn toward me, excited hope was radiating from him. “Displayed? You…you decided?”

“Yes.” Keeping things simple, I nodded and gave him the shortest answer I thought would work. “I decided.”

Shelby took in another deep breath and let it out slowly. “You won’t let anything bad happen. You’re my helper.”

“That’s right.” I’d cleaned up the problems that happened before I’d met him and then kept bad things from happening after that. “I keep you safe outside and I’ll keep you safe in the club. But there’s also Austin who’s going to be watching and Silas.”

There was no way they could control themselves long enough to stay away.

“They only let safe people in here and I’ve helped them make every call. If I don’t like someone, they don’t get in.” Period. “If they make me nervous, then we watch them but no one here today has ever made me nervous. I made sure of that.”

It was remarkably easy to fuck with someone’s plans enough that they had to rearrange their day.

Oops.

Shelby smiled, understanding what I meant without my having to spell it out. “You’re a really good helper.”

“Thank you, Shelby.” Kissing his cheek, I stepped back just enough to make sure he could see the room.

“But I want you to remember that all the people here are just as interesting as you are in one way or another. They might be a pup or want one. They might want a Daddy or Mommy. They might really like spanking people.”

Reality faded a little from his eyes as he smiled and nodded, understanding what all of those terms meant from the research I’d helped him with. “Everyone is interesting and I…I won’t stand out.”

“Oh, I’m going to make sure every eye is on my boy, but no, you won’t stand out in the way you mean.

” He was chatty, touch starved, and liked to make people happy.

But how he managed to be the most interesting person in the room always confused me because he was so much more normal than most of the people I knew, it was ridiculous.

His smile widened and he gave me a quiet giggle. “For a helper who likes to stay behind the scenes, you like making me stand out.”

“Yes.” I shrugged as he let out another happy sound. “I like showing off my toys, not sharing them. There’s a difference.”

And I was just the one who was going to make Shelby stand out, so it wasn’t about me.

After the scene, if anyone could pick my face out of a lineup, I’d be surprised. Shelby’s pleasure would be the only thing they would remember.

“I’m your toy.” He seemed to think that was cute or adorable in some way based on his grin and the way he was shaking his head, but I got a sweet kiss on the cheek as he cuddled up against me again. “I’m ready to be played with, Sir.”

We were both ready for that and had been for a while.

“Then it’s time to decorate my toy.” And it was time to see what he’d packed in his bag. “I didn’t peek, so I’m very curious about what you have.”

I’d put a hundred dollars’ worth of credit on a site that said they sold costumes for Halloween and con type events, but they had a fascinating range of products that would work for a variety of scenes.

And just the mention of what he’d picked had Shelby giggling and blushing. “Did you really not peek?”

“I told you that I wouldn’t.” That doesn’t mean I wasn’t tempted but I’d followed the rules I’d laid out. “I’ve been very patient.”

And had given him entirely too much privacy since he was able to buy so much coffee.

“I guess in your job you’d need to have a lot of patience.” Shelby paused, peeking over at me. “Is it a job?”

It was a reasonable question but I shrugged. “It depends on what you mean. I have…I have clients that I help fulfill specific tasks. So those I would see as a job. Other projects I have would probably count as a hobby. And then there’s you.”

He was none of those things.

“I’m special?” Swinging our hands, Shelby smiled when I nodded. “Good. Can I say I don’t want you watching anyone else the same way you’ve been watching me?”

“Yes. I think that’s a reasonable limit but it’s not one we have to worry about.” There was no one else like Shelby.

“Really?” Looking even brighter and like he might float away, he nearly tripped over his own feet. “It’s just me?”

“You are unique, Shelby. But yes, I’ve helped random people who were in difficult situations that I didn’t like, but those were one-off situations and nothing like us.” Shelby was special but there were also only so many hours in the day.

“I hadn’t thought about you watching anyone else.” Blushing, Shelby tightened his grip on my hand. “I…I’m glad there isn’t anyone else like us.”

“No one.” Leaning closer, I kissed his cheek and loved the way it made his flush even deeper. “You’re special to me, Shelby. You have been since the beginning even if I didn’t understand why.”

We’d probably needed time for our relationship to deepen, but there’d been something about him since the first time I’d watched him through his computer.