Sliding his hands around his waist, Darren pulled him closer. "We will when the time is right. We don't need to rush anything, my love. You're doing amazing."
"I do feel pretty amazing," Miles agreed, drinking in his kisses. "You're a very, very good dom-teacher, Sir, can I do anything to reward you?"
"Definitely," Darren purred. "Let's take advantage of the downtime, and I'll show you."
? ? ?
––––––––
A lazy romp and a nap proved just the thing to get re-energized. Miles felt better being able to actually wear the new leather pants he'd had to abandon that morning, confident and capable. It was nice to take orders from Mallorie. Their hostess bustled aroundthe loft space, talking to other guests as they began to trickle in and he and Darren set up the portable suspension rig.
Mal's events always had a good vibe to them. Miles was sure it was why Darren had chosen one as their first outing together, when they'd first started dating. They'd been to a number of others in the years since, both more public and more exclusive, but he always enjoyed coming here the most. He'd only seen a few instances of someone behaving badly, usually because of alcohol, which made him slightly anxious but validated his continued sobriety. When it happened, there were always guests on hand to quietly take control of things to impose a time-out or a gently encouraged exit.
"I thought we'd see a lot more new faces after the street festival," Miles remarked, as the SoHo loft filled up with the regular crowd. "Or gate crashers, at least."
Darren snorted, shaking his head. "Her doorman gets a pretty penny to keep things on lockdown. List only. And it's really difficult to get on Mal's list if you don't have a sponsor. That's generally enough to keep out bad actors; she's really choosy. Honestly, I run every potential new hire by her. Unofficially, of course. If they've got a reputation, chances are she'll know."
"How, though?" He'd seen the woman at other events, of course, but even so. "The scene here is so huge."
"People talk. Ladies talk. The big buff doms might have people lined up, simping for a chance to surrender to them, but don't think for a moment they're in charge of anything but their scene partner," Darren told him with a wink. "The dames rule the social game."
"And you fall somewhere in the middle?" Miles guessed, thinking about how he'd seen Darren interact with people, his female friends especially.
"We," Darren stressed, leaning in to kiss his temple, "get the best of both worlds. Haven't you seen that by now?"
Miles hummed, thinking back. "All the sensitivity and emotional intelligence of woman, but can throw you around like helpless sack of potatoes," he murmured, inadvertently slipping into Sasha's slavic cadence of speech.
Darren laughed, squeezing his ass playfully. "Exactly, my little bearchik."
It was nice to chat and catch up with people, hearing about everyone's experiences at the fair. More than a couple of people Miles wouldn't have expected talked glowingly about the watersports station. He still didn't think it would ever be his cup of tea, but experiencing others' passion for it filled him with unexpected warmth and even a strange bit of pride, considering he had nothing to do with it. Perhaps it was just the experience of being able to listen without judgment and validate that their passion was something to enjoy instead of be ashamed of.
Mal was vibrating with excitement when she finally met them for the suspension. She had a large canvas bag over one arm with what looked like freshly dyed red jute. Reaching up to wrap an arm around Miles's neck, she arched up to kiss his cheek, repeating with Darren. "Thanks for this, guys. It's been ages since I've been able to enjoy a long, slow suspension."
"It's our pleasure, and the least we can do," Darren said as they made their way to the low staging platform where they'd set up the rig.
When they reached it, Mal set the bag down, sinking to her knees and folding into a full kowtow. "Gracious Masters, may I have your permission to get naked?"
Darren chuckled. "You've worked hard today, little rope bunny. You may."
When Mal had become their shibari model for Darren's most recent beginners class, Miles had found it interesting to watch how his husband interacted with her. He was used to Darren's friendly, social fondness at her events, but when approaching her as dominant, he shifted to a calm, focused professionalism on top of his regular self-confidence. It wasn't at all unkind, but it wasn't like the Darren that dominated him, or even how he'd been when they'd first started.
He'd asked Darren about it after their previous event, where they'd tied more practice harnesses on people than Miles could count. Two of the girls who'd gotten full jute harnesses from Darren were clearly extremely affected by the experience. The first had perched on the arm of a chair nearby while he worked on her girlfriend. She tried desperately not to squirm, to follow Darren's soft command to wait. As soon as the other woman was finished, they'd both raced to the piano loft and tumbled onto the ottoman, writing and grinding against each other and the careful knots Darren had positioned to press into their most sensitive places.
"Is it arousing to know you've done... that?" He'd asked, and Darren gave a hum of contemplation.
"Professionally, yes. Very much so. Physically?" he shrugged. "More with a man. Emotionally, I like enabling people to explore new things; I always have. It served me extremely well in my young slutty twink phase." He'd pulled Miles into a kiss. "I don'tmind if you feel differently. We won't always feel the same about things, and that's okay. Just know that I will always be very happy to enable all your fantasies and curiosities, my love."
After over three years with Darren, it was more clear to Miles than ever that, however strangely he was wired, Darren was clearly the key to jumpstarting his libido, among other things. Watching him complete Mal's harness, Miles tried to emulate Darren's cool confidence. Focusing on the calming reassurance of his husband's presence was enough to outweigh his own nervous uncertainties.
He liked Mal very much, even if they hadn't spent much time with her outside of events. It was nice to relax and enjoy her obvious pleasure as he followed Darren's direction, helping Darren connect her chest harness to the rig above them.
"Would you like to go upside-down today, little rope bunny?" Darren asked, and Mal gave a low, eager moan.
"Please, gracious Masters. But - if I may...."
"Of course."
"My ribs have been a bit twingy. But if my Masters were to see fit to tie atakate kote...?"
