Closing his eyes, Viggo leaned back against the headboard and enjoyed the worship.
* * *
“How are you feeling?” Viggo asked an hour later after they had all showered and gotten dressed for the day. They were on the balcony, sitting around the unlit fire pit under the awning and eating freshly baked pastries and drinking reheated coffee.
Mouth full of a Danish pastry, Sebastian pointed at himself with a questioning expression. Viggo nodded. Chewing quickly and swallowing, Sebastian answered, “I’m good, thanks. How are you?”
Viggo huffed, happy that Sebastian didn’t seem to have any trauma from having to use his safeword but not quite willing to let it go.
“More than that, please. Things got a little out of hand last night. How are you feeling about that?”
Sebastian took another bite of his Danish, chewing and looking thoughtful. “I’m not as sore as I expected,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee. “And I feel a little silly for being all dramatic, but also relieved, I guess?”
“Relieved?”
Sebastian swallowed, looking between him and Bjorn. “I mean… yeah. I needed a break, and you just accepted that.”
“Were you worried we wouldn’t?” Bjorn asked, brow wrinkled in a deep frown.
Sebastian shook his head. “No, but now that I’ve safeworded and seen how you react, I know what to expect, you know?”
“I do.” Viggo hadn’t thought of it that way, but he understood Sebastian’s point.
“And while I’m very happy that you take safewording so seriously, we didn’t have to stop all the way.” Before Viggo or Bjorn could object, he added, “I was thinking we could use the stoplight system. Red for stop and yellow for slow down, and green for the all clear.”
He licked his lips, waiting for Viggo and Bjorn to react to his suggestion.
“We can do that,” Viggo said. It was a bit more formal than his casual suggestion ofback off, but it had the benefit of being very clear. “Red for stop and yellow for slow down.”
Sebastian grinned, pleased.
* * *
They continued eating and sipping coffee, talking about nothing until Sebastian looked at his phone with a wince and announced he should be heading home. It was nearly noon, the morning having passed in a blur, and Viggo was disappointed to see him go.
His wolf, rather than be disappointed, was angry. Sebastian leaving when Viggo didn’t want him to go was intolerable, and it didn’t see why they couldn’t pin him to the ground and bite him until he understood that his role was to obey.
Viggo ignored his wolf’s violent instincts, plastering an understanding smile on his face.
“We’ll walk you to your car,” he said, standing up and gathering the empty coffee cups and pastry wrappers into the brown bag from the bakery, crumpling it up and tossing it into the trashcan in the kitchen on their way out of the apartment.
“When do you want to meet up again?” Bjorn asked when they were in the elevator, riding down to the lobby.
“Whenever is good for you,” Sebastian said, looking at the floor and trying to sound nonchalant.
“Every day is good for us,” Viggo said, reaching out and wrapping his hand around the back of Sebastian’s neck. He leaned in, looming just a little. “And until you’re ready to move in with us, you have an open invitation to join us for breakfast, lunch or dinner whenever you want. So, unless you want to come back for dinner tonight, when do you want our next date to be?”
Sebastian bit his lip, looking conflicted. “Tomorrow?”
Viggo didn’t try to hold back his grin. “Tomorrow it is. You can come to the apartment around six and we can have dinner and watch a movie.”
Sebastian laughed, biting the corner of his lip. “Netflix and chill?”
Viggo’s grin turned devious. “If that’s what you want?”
Sebastian sucked his lip between his teeth, his breaths suddenly coming a little faster.
“I… maybe?”
