Page 54 of Worth the Risk

Landon smiled. “Just like you planned.”

“Almost.” Gregory shrugged, then returned Landon’s smile with a breathy huff.

“Hobbies? I mean, anything besides sexually tormenting men?” Landon finished off his wine with a smirk.

“Remember earlier when I was saying how you submitted so naturally? I take it back.” Gregory reached across the table and flicked Landon’s nipple in reminder of who was in charge.

“Sorry, Sir,” Landon breathed out.

The waitress dropped off their check. Gregory looked at the total and tossed some bills on the table then looked back up to Landon.

“I make candles,” he said.

“What?”

“Candles. I make them.”

Landon’s pupils dilated. “That’s oddly specific to your other extracurriculars.”

“I thought it was purely decorative.”

“That seems a waste.” Landon stared at him across the table and licked his lips suggestively.

“Do you like wax, Landon? You enjoy sensation play?”

“Does it matter?”

“No,” Gregory confirmed.

“Then why are we still here, Sir?”

18

Landon

Landon was unceremoniously shovedthrough Gregory’s front door. Gregory pushed the door closed behind him and worked at the buttons on his shirt.

“The bedroom is the last door on the left.” Gregory tipped his chin toward a hallway. “Go and present yourself. I’ll be there shortly.”

Landon glanced over his shoulder at Gregory then walked down the hallway and pushed open the last door on the left. This was his first look into Gregory’s personal life and he wanted to take advantage of it while he followed orders. He made a loop of the room while he undid his shirt, making note of the dark wood dresser littered with pictures and trinkets. Gregory’s bedroom set matched, Landon noted, one dresser, two side tables and a bed, all in the same decorative carved pattern.

Gregory had an en suite, and Landon poked his head inside while he worked the button on his pants. The bathroom was small, a basic tub and shower combo, dual vanity sink and a toilet. Landon turned back toward the bedroom, toeing off his shoes and socks, then folding his pants and shirt, placing it all in a neat pile beside one of the footboards.

Landon stood in the room, debating the proper presentation. Doms were oddly specific in their preferences about that kind of thing, and it wasn’t a conversation he’d had with Gregory yet. Oddly enough, that was something Landon appreciated about Gregory. One of the things he enjoyed about submission was the whole prospect of relinquishing control. If they had sat down and had a drawn-out conversation about every little thing either of them liked or wanted, that feeling wouldn’t have been there. Landon would have felt like a puppet master, and while he knew his choice was the one that made the entire relationship possible, that wasn’t something he liked to dwell on. He’d told Gregory no hard limits, and that was what he meant—what he’d always mean.

He supposed the same was true for Gregory, who’d pushed him off with the vague order to present himself and no further detail. Landon knew Gregory wanted to see what he would do on his own. What choice he would make now. What risks he would take with his display.

Landon looked at the bed, chuckling at the gray bedding, remembering how he’d jerked off that one night wondering what color it was, and then he looked to the floor. At the foot of the bed, Landon lowered himself to the ground, his knees spread apart, ass resting on his heels. His cock jutted out proudly from between his legs, not tempered in any way by the coolness of the room. Landon rested his hands on his thighs, palms up with his fingers relaxed. He straightened his spine, closed his eyes, and waited.

He had always hated the waiting. In retrospect, he should have told Gregory, and every Dom in-between, that waiting was a hard limit. Landon didn’t need tosettle into submitting. He didn’t need to settle in to anything. He was always on, always ready.

The sound of Gregory clearing his throat drew Landon’s attention. His eyes darted across the floor and found Gregory’s bare feet standing in the doorway.

Finally.

Gregory walked into the room and Landon listened to him move things around on the dresser, then the unmistakable flick of a lighter…twice. Then Gregory was in front of him and his fingers were tangling through Landon’s hair.

“Tug on the clamps.” Gregory’s hand in his hair tightened. “Make it hurt.”