Virgin Territory (3 page)

A loud creak made him jump. He jerked his head around and looked left. “Sorry, guys, but if you’re going to conduct your business in the hall, you’re occasionally going to have to make way for passing traffic.”

Sandy pushed her door open the rest of the way, then strode purposefully down the hall, turning sideways to step between them on her way out of the house.

“Have a nice time,” she said, just before closing the front door behind her. “Remember to stay safe, boys. If you run out, there’s a brand new box of condoms in the bathroom—flavoured ones.”

Danny stared along the hall, refusing to look in Aaron’s direction. It had all been going so well. Now, he felt as nervous and clueless as everyone seemed to think a virgin had to be.

“You could have mentioned you shared the house with someone,” Aaron said. A few moments passed, then he chuckled.

Danny let out the breath he’d held ever since Sandy left. His confidence returning as quickly as it had deserted him, he turned back to Aaron. “Three someone’s actually,” he corrected. “Chris and Tina live here too. The rents around here are bloody crazy.”

Aaron’s amusement vanished. He glanced down the corridor and up the stairs, as if he expected Chris or Tina to jump out at him at any moment. “Your bedroom,” he said. “Now.”

There were times when a man had to put his foot down and show his lover who made the choices. And there were times when a decision was so good that only an idiot would disagree with it.

Danny nodded. “My room.” He led the way up the stairs to the first floor, then up again to the second floor. Turning a corner, he started up the final set of stairs to his attic bedroom.

“Bloody hell. What are you, the princess in the tower?” Aaron muttered. He wasn’t even slightly out of breath.

Danny’s cock jerked behind his fly. Virgin or not, he could still grin at the implications of a lover with so much stamina. Unlocking the door at the top of the stairs, he walked into his room with as much calm confidence as he could scrape together.

Aaron stepped in after him, and looked around at the stark white walls and the few bits of plain black furniture. Apparently, he didn’t have to put any effort into looking like the perfect dominant. “Lock the door.” It sounded suspiciously like an order.

“Afraid I’ll run away, or that you’ll get cold feet?” Danny asked, moving further into the room.

“I don’t do threesomes, and I don’t like interruptions.” His tone had dropped to something like a growl.

Their eyes met. Aaron’s hair was cropped short. Perhaps if the dark blond strands had been longer it might have softened his features and made him look less intimidating. As things were, he appeared harsh and stern, and the embodiment of every one of Danny’s fantasies.

“If it will make you feel more at ease, that’s fine.” In for a penny, in for a pound, Danny tossed his keys across to him. “You have my permission to lock it.”

Aaron caught the small bundle of keys. He glanced down at them, but it only took a second for him to decide his next move. “What the hell.” He pitched the keys back to Danny without putting them anywhere near the door. “It’s your mates who’ll get a shock if they walk in and find me screwing you senseless. Why should I care if you get funny looks from them across the breakfast table tomorrow?”

Danny threw his keys up in the air and caught them again as he played for time and did his damnedest not to look like a nervous kid. Was he an idiot for not just going along with everyone’s assumption that he was a sub? Probably, but he wasn’t about to back down now. “Before we were interrupted, you said something about offering me a deal.”

Aaron moved across the room and sat on the black trunk at the base of Danny’s bed. Apart from two small bedside cabinets and the bed itself, the large storage box was the only free standing bit of furniture in the room. Fitted cupboards ran down each side of the attic making use of the awkwardly shaped edges of the room, but Danny realised now that what he really needed was a chair. Without one, he was left standing like a lemon in the middle of his own bedroom, while Aaron stretched out his long, leather clad legs and acted as if he was the one who’d invited Danny into his space.

“I’ll let you screw me,” Aaron announced. “I’ll even let you tie me up and spank my arse. Who knows, I may even go so far as to pretend I’m a sub while you do all that.”

“The catch is…”

“I’ll do all that in our
second
scene.”

“And in the first?” Danny asked, although he was already sure he knew the answer.

“In the first one, I’m the top and I’m the dom. We play by my rules, you submit to me.”

“And why should I believe that you’ll keep your end of the deal and pay up next time—or that you’ll go on that second date with me for that matter?” Danny asked, his pulse racing so fast he risked wearing out his heart before the end of the night. If there really was a chance to flip the coin and get it to land on both sides in quick succession, it could be the answer to every prayer he’d sent up since Thomas opened his big mouth that first night in the club. He barely dared to hope.

Aaron felt through his pockets as if looking for something. “I want a pen and some paper.” It wasn’t a request; it was a statement of fact.

Danny was too curious not to provide Aaron with anything he wanted. If that was a sign of weakness, so be it. He opened one of the built-in storage cupboards and retrieved both items.

Aaron took them and found an empty page in the pad of paper.

“What’s your surname?”

“Clarke. Why?”

Aaron ignored the question and quickly scrawled something in a heavy, confident hand. Less than a minute after he took the top off the pen, he tore the page from the spiral bound pad and handed it to Danny.

I, Aaron Banks, do solemnly swear to do a second scene with Danny Clarke, in which I will both submit to him, and allow him to top me.

Aaron’s signature occupied the bottom portion of the page.

Danny read it through twice, just to make sure that his eyes weren’t deceiving him. It wasn’t just wishful thinking—Aaron seemed to be serious, but Danny forced himself to remain sceptical.

“Why should this make any difference?” he asked with a nod to the page.

“Because if a dom can’t be trusted to keep his word, news soon gets around. If you showed that note around the club, and other subs found out that I’d welched on a marker I’d given a sub, I’d be lucky if anyone ever did a scene with me again.”

Danny looked from the piece of paper, to Aaron and back again.

“A dom lives and dies by his reputation, kiddo, and subs talk. They compare notes on the guys they play with. They let the newbies know if a guy likes to indulge in breath play on the first date, or if he invites guys to unplanned water sport events. It’s not just gossip, there’s a reason for it. No man wants to find out he’s gone home with a psycho when he’s already gagged, with his hands tied to the bed posts.”

Even while Danny held it in his hands, the piece of paper became something far more than it had first appeared to be.

“If someone says his safe word, I stop. If someone calls my bluff, I follow through. And if I give someone my word, I honour it.” Aaron’s voice was deep and serious as he leant forward and enunciated each word with obvious care, determined there would be no misunderstandings.

For the first time in his life, Danny knew he faced a man who would
never
go back on his word. He lifted his gaze from the note. The first thing he saw was Aaron’s leather gear, but it no longer looked like a fashion statement or a sensible biker precaution. To Aaron, it obviously came with a code of conduct attached, a standard that had to be met. It had never looked more erotic, and Danny had never been more in awe.

“It’s a deal.” He lifted his gaze further and met Aaron’s eyes. There was no doubting the other man’s sincerity. Aaron obviously believed his reputation meant he had far more to lose than a virgin could ever have lost.

Danny had to look away as he put the pen and paper to one side, but he quickly turned to face Aaron again. His heart now raced so fast, he doubted he’d live long enough to lose anything.

“Come here,” Aaron ordered. It was a command, and Danny had no doubt Aaron intended it to be obeyed. Their roles were set now; there was no going back.

Danny expected his hackles to rise the way it had every other time a dom had approached him in the club. Instead, a frisson of excitement ran down his spine. Nothing had changed, and everything had changed. He was just as capable of telling Aaron to go to hell as he had been a second earlier, and he was just as able to back that up with a strong right hook if that’s what was needed. But now, he knew he wouldn’t do either.

He’d given his word to follow rather than lead, to obey instead of command, to top rather than bottom, not because he was a virgin, but because…because in that moment, it seemed somehow…right.

Danny swallowed rapidly and tried not to look nervous. Aaron remained on the blanket box, his feet flat on the carpet, his legs casually spread. He showed no interest in crossing the room and fetching Danny. No, it was up to Danny to go to Aaron—to prove he had the balls to follow through on his own promise.

The moment the situation translated itself into those terms, it was easy. Danny stepped forward. He didn’t stop moving until he stood between Aaron’s well-polished boots.

“Do you have any restraints, or am I going to improvise?” Aaron asked.

Danny immediately registered two facts. One—there was no question about
if
he’d be tied up, just about what equipment would be used. And, two—Aaron would undoubtedly prove to be great at improvising if he needed to do that.

Hell, it was almost worth denying all knowledge of his toy collection, just to see what Aaron would do.
Almost
.

“You’re sitting on them.”

Aaron stood up. Danny was in his way, but Aaron made no allowances for that. He kept moving, rising from his seat until one of them had to step back or fall over.

Danny grinned as he yielded the floor. He bowed low with the flourish he’d perfected during numerous curtain calls on the local amateur dramatic scene.

Aaron raised an eyebrow. “No need to call me your majesty, kiddo. Sir will be fine.”

He’d starred in
Oh! What a Lovely War
as well as
Macbeth
. Danny ripped off a salute crisp enough to make a warrant officer weep with joy and stood to attention. “Yes, sir.”

Aaron’s lips twitched. “Much better.” He noticed the lock on the trunk and held out a hand. “Keys.”

Danny surrendered them, this time without any theatrics.

Aaron opened the chest and crouched down to rifle through the contents with the air of a true bondage enthusiast. “Not a bad selection.”

“Thanks,
sir
.” An unexpected shot of excitement rushed to his cock the first time he used the honorific in earnest. It wasn’t exactly the first time he’d wondered if it might be fun to submit to another guy—but he hadn’t let the thought enter his head since everyone in the club started assuming it was the only kind of fun he was allowed to have. It felt strange. There was something erotically forbidden about it. The fact that he was the only one who’d forbidden himself from subbing was beside the point.

Aaron tossed two sets of leather cuffs on the bed—the ones that had cost Danny an entire month’s worth of overtime. Aaron closed the chest and sat down again, cool and confident as ever. Apparently Danny was the only one whose palms sweated at the first sight of the cuffs.

“Take off your clothes.”

Just like a locker room. Nothing to stress about. You’ve been naked in front of men before. No big deal.

Not one word of Danny’s mental pep talk made him feel the least bit more confident. This was a huge deal, and it would lead to things he’d never done in any changing room—things which would definitely be frowned on in every gym he’d ever visited.

He took a deep breath, pulled himself together as best he could and reached up to take off his jacket.

“Do it slowly.”

Danny’s hands froze. He met Aaron’s gaze. Both his stress levels and his need to come shot through the roof.

“Yes, sir.” Danny tried to sound light-hearted but he knew he didn’t succeed.

He did his best to move fluidly and gradually as he pushed one side of his leather jacket off his shoulder.

Aaron said nothing; he just sat there, staring.

The jacket wasn’t too bad. It was easy to take off and losing it didn’t reveal much. Receiving no correction for the way he’d removed the first item, Danny pulled his T-shirt up and over his head at the same kind of pace at which he often saw people doing tai chi in the park when he went for his morning run.

A five-mile jog would have been much easier than this. It wouldn’t have had him so out of breath either. Moving slowly made him acutely aware of each part of his body. Each new inch of skin that became visible tingled under Aaron’s intense glare, as if aware it now belonged to another man.