Page 31 of Roll With The Punches

While it’d been a sort of “joking” rule before, now it was an iron-clad law that neither man was allowed to come without permission.

Then there were the more vanilla things. Such as Monday afternoon at lunch, they were going to meet at the bank and open their joint household account.

And Brandon was going to add both men to Emma’s school records as emergency contacts.

Next week, they’d be going to Ed’s office to sign paperwork, medical powers of attorney, a trust, and other items he was putting together for them.

This was…this wasreal.

Brandon wanted them forlife, and he was ready to prove it.

Stuart had never been happier. He’d damn sure never felt as content as he did now. This felt like he was where he belonged.

Tonight, they were going out to eat at Sigalo’s with everyone before going to the club for their collaring ceremony. When they were ready to leave the house, Brandon handed Stuart his toybag.

“Take that, please. Stow it in the trunk.”

He nervously shouldered it. “Yes, Sir.”

Then Brandon handed his keys to Jeff. “You drive. My car. Stuart in the back seat.”

Jeff opened the passenger door for Brandon and held it while he got in. As Stuart was coming back from stowing the bag, Jeff kissed him, a wide, happy grin on his face before he climbed behind the wheel.

He couldn’t help it—he felt the same way.

Giddy.

Happy.

Free.

* * * *

Jeff struggled not to feel nervous. He didn’t want to let Brandon down. Not that Brandon was putting pressure on him—he was doing that all on his own.

Brandon, for his part, usually acted very laid-back. He wanted their relationship to work, to thrive and grow between the three of them. While in some ways Jeff would have loved a couple of crazy, really strict rules on the kinky side, he got why Brandon was being conservative.

Because being crazy all the time wasn’t possible.

Maybe once Emma left home for college they could add some crazy kinky stuff to the rulebook. For now, they needed to be sustainable protocols.

Brandon did not like setting them up to fail. Went out of his way to avoid that, especially for Stuart.

Another reason Jeff was madly in love with the man.

Stuart would beat himself up needlessly over any perceived fault on his part, thanks to his stupid family of origin. Jeff and Brandon had engaged in several private talks on this matter, on ways to set Stuart up to succeed, to bolster his self-esteem and confidence.

Thatwas how Jeff knew Brandon was the man he was meant to give his heart and submission to for life.

He was completely unlike most other Dominants he’d ever been involved with.

At Sigalo’s, Stuart beat Jeff out of the car to open Brandon’s door for him, the friendly competition not going unnoticed by Brandon. He kissed Stuart, then Jeff.

“Five points to Gryffindor for effort,” he teased.

Another reason Jeff knew this would work for life—Brandon didn’t take himself or what they did so seriously that he forgot to have fun in the process.

They walked in, Jeff getting the door this time and well aware that Stuart was carefully staying exactly where Brandon had told him to walk during their discussions about this.