Aunt Josette gasped like he’d just admitted to being Frankenstein’s monster. “Of course! A house like this! It’s the only responsible thing to do. No library, my word. We’re notthosesorts of people.” She giggled and drained most of her wine.
“I was keeping that for later,” I said, and tried to sit tall, but it was hard under the withering glares I received from both of them.
Max stood, and Aunt Josephine laughed as he was off like a shot up the stairs. She followed after him, neither one seeming to care that the food was cooling. I sighed and marched off to my doom. She led Max along the hallway past the playroom. She had to have peeked in there by now, though we’d never discussed it. Max flushed so hard as he walked by the closed door that I thought he might pass out from that much of his blood being close to his skin. He stared at her while she giggled at the end of the hallway.
“There’s nothing here,” he said and crossed his arms.
She pushed on a dark wood wall panel to their right. It creaked outward, and Max yelped in outrage as a staircase was revealed. Aunt Josette yanked open the hidden door and went up the stairs ahead of us.
He turned to me to hiss, “You hid the library but not the playroom?”
I shrugged. “I only read one book at a time. I could need countless toys before the night is over, and I want them near the bed.” I went for an innocent smile.
His mouth fell open. I gestured toward the stairs, and he shook his head as he went up, not bothering to try to hide his grin. When he hit the landing, he moaned. The room was probably fifteen feet across and a perfect circle, with windows at each direction—north, south, east, west. I loved this turret, but it was just too damned cold during the winter. The circular wall had built-in rosewood bookcases, and he walked to the nearest stuffed-full shelf and ran his fingers over the spines.
He’d barely looked when he said, “None of them are in any order.”
“No,” I replied simply.
Aunt Josette sat down in an armchair near the northern window and smiled at the view outside, settling in.
He bit his lip and walked around the room. I could practically see him ripping the books from the shelves and mentally rearranging them as he went.
“You’re not going to want to skip tonight to do this, are you?”
Max’s gaze was hot when he turned to me, and I was shocked by the intensity of his expression. “No. Nothing could make me give up tonight.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Though I will take care of this. Don’t worry.”
Soft snores had us both turning toward Aunt Josette, and I laughed. We let her sleep for a few minutes, and I dragged Max over to the east window that looked off toward a field. We couldn’t see our neighbor on the other side because of a dip in the land, and it reminded me of an English moor when I was being fanciful. Max leaned back against my chest and lifted my hands to rest them on his stomach. I held him close and we watched snow begin to dance down from gray clouds, probably some of the last of the season.
Eventually, after a few chaste kisses turned steamy, we forced ourselves apart and woke Aunt Josette. She stayed and finished dinner, but soon afterward she declared she was “exhausted” and demanded I drive her home. Max followed me in her car to drop her off, and then we came back and got ready to go out for the night.
I took my time showering for the second time and then choosing clothes. I wanted to make sure whatever I wore would have Max firmly thinking of me as his Daddy and Dom. In the end I didn’t get exceptionally fancy, choosing a pair of red leather pants and a harness to match. I put a white button-down shirt overtop with the intention of stripping it off as soon as I got to Triple X.
Max sat on my bed watching me. He gnawed his bottom lip nervously, and I couldn’t stop cutting looks his way. He had on a pair of black leather pants I could only assume he’d gone out to buy to surprise me. And they were delicious. They molded to his long thighs and made me want to get them off him—now. He wore a plain red T-shirt to top the outfit off, and all I could think about as I watched him stretch out and rest his hands behind him on the bed was the way he’d fucked me this morning. I stared too long at the pouch of leather between his legs, and it plumped. Satisfied, I went back to what I’d been doing.
“I have something for you,” I said and secured the last button on my shirt.
“What is it, Daddy?” he asked and tilted his head to the side. I went to my dresser and opened the top drawer, swallowing hard at the black velvet jewelry case nestled beside my socks. I brought the box back to Max, not really sure what he would have to say about the gift, though I was absolutely certain I wanted him to have it. I tried to be hopeful he would want to keep it as I passed him the box.
He sat up straight and opened the lid with a gasp. My heart stood still until he grinned and flipped the lid fully open. He set the box on his leg and lifted out a silver choker. The metal was about an inch wide, around the same size as a collar, only classier. I held out my hand. For a moment he frowned, but then gave the choker to me. I slipped the cool metal around his throat and was happy to see that it was a perfect, secure fit. I notched one side of the necklace into the other, clicking together the latch at his nape. He seemed stunned as I stood back to admire my handiwork.
“Oh, Daddy.” He ran his fingers around his neck, and I could barely stand to watch his gentle exploration of the present, which had taken me forever to pick out one afternoon when I was supposed to be running errands for Vane. Apropos of nothing, he stood and then walked out of the room. At first I was alarmed, but I found him grinning at himself in the bathroom mirror. He twisted one way and then another. The metal caught the light and glowed.
“You bought this for me, Daddy?”
“Especially for you, baby boy.” I came up behind him and circled my arms around his waist. He leaned against me. “Are you going to be Daddy’s good boy tonight at the club?” I asked against his ear, and he shivered in my arms.
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Let’s go, then.”
On my way downstairs, I stopped at the playroom and went to the closet. I moved things around until I unearthed a square white leather pillow large enough for a man to sit on and brought it with us. Max gave me funny looks over that pillow the whole way to the club, which had me laughing on the inside, but if he hadn’t worked out why we—or rather,he—needed it yet, I wasn’t going to tell him.
The parking lot was nearly full when we arrived, and it became clear right away what a huge favor Vic had done us, and how much he must like Max to reserve a room for us all night during such a busy time. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I liked Max a lot, more thanliked, but Vic must care more about him than cash, and I hadn’t expected that. Jealousy took me by surprise. I wasn’t in a position to look this particular gift horse in the mouth if it made my boy happy, and that was slightly galling.
“Let’s leave our coats in here,” I said, stripping out of mine, and then removed my shirt in spite of the cold, so I wouldn’t have to go searching for clothing we’d tossed somewhere later. He eyed me up like I was crazy, but he also stripped to his waist.
“It’s only forty degrees outside.” His pout was adorable. I loved the way his choker gleamed against his skin in the dim light reaching us from the flashy neon of Triple X’s sign.
