Page 29 of Reese’s Protection

Sometimes, I had to be careful I didn’t take over situations he was perfectly fine in. I wanted to be his knight in shining armor, but I didn’t want to annoy him. Or worse.

We’d gotten home about an hour ago from his most recent therapy appointment. As I’d been driving, I hadn’t been able to stop glancing at him as the setting sun made his brown eyes glow with a strange fire. But then we’d come inside, and I’d had the need to stew in the garage.

Maybe I didn’t like it, somewhere deep down inside, that he needed someone other than me to make him feel better. I rolled my eyes at myself. The last thing I wanted to do was turn into another Jeremy and ruin his life. Every day I worked hard to make sure I was checking that tendency.

“What are they?”

I whirled around with my heart racing. Reese raised his dark eyebrows and smiled. His face was angular, almost too thin in some ways, but he was one of the most beautiful people I’d ever met. He’d lost weight after he’d been injured, but he was starting to fill out again. I always got lost for a few seconds when I first caught a glimpse of him after being away—even if the separation between us was only a door in our home.

Swallowing hard, I glanced down at the cuffs. Why had I made them? I followed the outline of one of the birds. It was the same kind tattooed on Reese’s chest. I smiled.

“Want to find out?” I asked him, a bit embarrassed that my voice had gone husky.

He chuckled and his eyes were bright with interest. I loved that he looked happy. He’d spent a lot of time after he’d been shot looking pensive. The weight of the whole world had settled on him. Recently—when it was clear Jeremy wasn’t only gone but the cops weren’t going to beat down our door to find him—he’d started smiling this way.

Shuffling closer, Reese rested his chin on my arm and stared up at me. I quickly got lost again in his gaze. “Maybe.”

A grunt—like he’d punched me or stroked my cock—slipped out, and his smile warmed, becoming more intimate. Scalding.

With my heart trying to beat clean out of my chest, I held up the wooden cuffs. “So, there are rules for something like this.”

“I hope they aren’t as complicated as Catan.” He made a face.

I rolled my eyes. “The rules for that board game are not complicated.”

“You say potato, I say they are.”

Smirking, I shook my head. “Either way, this is simple. If you don’t enjoy the cuffs or anything about what is happening, anything at all, you tell me right away. I won’t be mad. I won’t be upset. There is no such thing as we’ve gone too far to stop. Just open your mouth and let me know.”

His eyebrows climbed up his forehead, but he nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

“If you hurt or don’t enjoy something, you say red or red light, whichever you prefer. If you’re not sure about something that’s happening, tell me that, too. You say yellow. We’ll talk about it and keep going if you decide you’re fine. If you enjoy what we’re doing, you don’t have to say anything specifically, but if I check in with you and ask about it, you tell me green or green light.”

“Like traffic lights? I’ve heard of that.” His cheeks flushed and he ran a finger around one of the roses carved into the cuffs.

“Where have you heard that?” My face heated. I was admittedly jealous of anyone who’d gotten to teach Reese something naughty.

He tugged on a strand of my hair and tucked it behind my ear. “I read some smutty books from time to time.” The corners of his lips curled. “But mostly they’re the type where a guy just has his dirty way with his boyfriend while he’s tied to the bed. Or held up against a wall. Or bent over a table with zero discussion. You know, normal stuff.” Amusement made his eyes gleam.

I rested my forehead against his. “That’s fantasy.”

“Yeah, well.” He shrugged and chuckled. “My dick likes it. Okay, I want to try this.” He tilted his chin toward me, and I attacked his lips, thrilled to be doing something like this with him. I wasn’t deep into the BDSM lifestyle, even though I made a lot of furniture and toys that ended up in the hands of local community members. But I couldn’t wait to slide the cuffs I’d spent lots of loving care on around the wrists of the man I felt even more for. They would look perfect against his pale skin.

“I know something you’ll love,” I said between our lips. He tasted like cherries, and I couldn’t get enough, so I swiped my tongue into his mouth.

Reese dropped down flat on his feet, pulling away, which allowed me to think. “Okay. Lead the way.” He gestured toward the door that connected the garage to the house.

Electricity skipped across my skin and my body buzzed from my core outward as I took the cuffs with me. Fuck, this would be fun.

Reese grabbed my hand, and I laced our fingers together as we walked inside into the living room and over to the couch, where we’d first slept together. I dropped his hand and raised the cuffs until they were eye level for him.

“You told me once your favorite thing in the whole world is sucking cock.” I undid the straps on the cuffs so that they swung open.

His pleasant laughter filled the living room, and my gut twinged as he rubbed his chest where he’d been shot. I didn’t think he realized he’d done that.

“Yes! Yours, specifically.” He lightly splayed his fingers over my abs, and I wished my T-shirt was already gone so I could have his hands on my bare skin.

“The cuffs will let you focus on that.”