Joe stared down at Scott. Fair play, Scott was obviously doing his damnedest not to look too horrified at the prospect of a public performance. However, he was a bloody awful actor. Hard core exhibitionism wasn’t his thing. Joe was sure it never would be. The offer was a desperate attempt to please, nothing more.
“One day, I might take you up on that.” Joe let himself imagine it for a few seconds. He couldn’t deny the exhibitionist in him would thrive on it. But no. That wasn’t something for them. Scott would probably always want a solid barrier between them and any audience, and Joe wasn’t going to push him on that score.
Scott made no comment. He just stared up at Joe, waiting for an order.
Happily, Joe had plenty to give him.
“I’m going to show you around. You’re going to pretend that we’ve just met. As far as anyone will know, we’re strangers. Understand?”
Scott frowned slightly, but he didn’t question the commands.
“If anyone asks, you and I just met,” Joe repeated.
Scott nodded, although he didn’t look entirely happy. Joe wasn’t about to change his plans just because Scott had no idea why he wanted them to play the part of strangers, but he couldn’t leave Scott looking so dejected either.
This time, he didn’t just brush their lips together. He caught hold of Scott and pulled him forward so their naked bodies were pressed tightly together.
It was less a kiss and more a statement of ownership. Once he caught up with events, Scott was more than happy to give, but Joe still didn’t ask; he took.
Scott leaned up into the kiss and moulded himself against Joe’s body. Joe had never known Scott to launch himself into a kiss with such energy. A less confident dom might have been intimidated, thinking that Scott was trying to take control, but Joe loved it. If he had thought it was a display of confidence rather than a plea for reassurance, it would have been perfect.
When Joe pulled back, they were both breathless. No one had joined them in the locker room, but Joe knew a herd of marauding elephants could have trampled through and he wouldn’t have noticed. It was more luck than judgement that no one knew they were together. He’d have to be more careful.
Hiding their relationship as they walked through the sauna wasn’t going to be easy; but it was going to be worth it, Joe reminded himself. Still, Scott was a man who dealt much better with statements of fact than he did with hints and nudges. It never hurt to make the facts clear to him.
“Just because no one else is allowed to know you belong to me, that doesn’t mean you’re allowed to forget that I’m your master.”
Master.
Scott mouthed the word rather than attempted to say it out loud. It seemed more because he was in awe, than because he was trying to avoid stuttering.
“Didn’t you know that I’m you master?” Joe teased. “That you’re my sub?” Joe didn’t push him to offer a verbal answer. He stepped back, tossed Scott’s towel to him and smacked him once, very firmly, on the bare arse as he stepped past him and picked up his own towel.
Scott let out a high, startled noise and leapt forward when the smack connected.
Joe grinned as he wrapped his towel around his waist. Both of them were tenting the fabric in front of them as he led Scott out of the locker room and into the main part of the sauna, but that wasn’t a problem. There wasn’t a single patron who wouldn’t see a noticeable erection as a very positive thing.
With his towel wrapped casually around his waist, Joe was content to allow the end he’d tucked in, to keep it in place. As Scott stepped forward, Joe noticed that he was the only one who felt that relaxed. Scott’s grip on his towel was white-knuckled.
“Everything’s fine,” Joe reminded him, in a hushed tone. “Just because we’re playing a different game, that doesn’t mean you’ll be out of my sight for a second.”
Scott smiled up at him. He seemed reassured. That was something Joe was still getting used to. No other man had ever raised such a protective urge in him. He’d never spent so much time and energy making sure another man was as confident and as happy as he could possibly be. Who would have thought it could feel so good?
Warmth enveloped them as they stepped through another doorway. It wasn’t a sauna room, but there weren’t many areas of the building that weren’t kept at a high temperature.
The business owners weren’t idiots. They knew men weren’t going to walk around damn near naked in frigid temperatures. Everything was bigger at higher temperatures; including the company profits.
Joe led the way down a corridor. About a third of the way along it, one wall turned transparent.
“It’s a one-way mirror,” Joe said, bringing them to a stop and turning to look through the glass at the men showering behind it. Six men were under the spray. “They have no idea that we are here,” Joe said. “Of course, they’d probably only enjoy themselves more if they knew.”
Three of the men weren’t even pretending that their groping had anything to do with massaging shower gel into each other’s bodies. The man getting most of the attention was older than the others and even though it was impossible to hear what he was saying from outside in the corridor, it was clear that he was in charge and he could have any of the other occupants of the shower on their knees or grabbing their ankles with a word.
Unable to feign interest in the live porn about to take place in front of him, Joe turned to Scott, eager to see his reaction. His blush was beautiful and, just as Joe had expected, a wall between him and the show made him far more relaxed.
Joe smiled. As sweet as it was to watch Scott’s embarrassment climb, it wasn’t actually the aim tonight. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Come on, Scottie. Lots more to see.”
He led Scott into the sauna’s bar room. It was designed to look like a normal coffee shop at first glance. It was only on closer inspection that it became clear that the low sofas were sized large enough to comfortably hold a three-way, and that the huge TV screens hanging high on the walls played gay porn rather than the more PG-rated team sports often displayed in other pubs and bars.
