Page 87 of Burn this City

From the trembling in Jack’s thighs, his sighs and suppressed moans, he could what he liked. He unleashed his bag of tricks, squeezing Jack’s balls, adding pressure to the point behind the balls, rubbing and massaging it, while opening his throat to take all of him. Despite the video Jack had watched proving that Sal could more than cope with a little roughness, Jack never pushed, never simply grabbed him and fucked his throat. They’d have to know each other sexually a lot better before Jack felt that confident, but Sal was okay with that too. As long as his partners enjoyed themselves, he was okay with pretty much anything.

Similarly, Jack lacked the experience of other lovers—he wasn’t trying to control this or break it off when he got close. He was mostly focused on the pleasure and on not losing his balance, while Sal moved more harshly, determined to push Jack over the edge. He used one hand to steady Jack, but the other kept working him, adding friction to the suction. Jack came with a choked sound, grabbed the hand that had been steadying him and squeezed it, while Sal slowed down and drew out Jack’s orgasm while swallowing the final drops. He pulled back and they were both breathing heavily, Sal to get oxygen, Jack to recover.

“That’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

“I now feel inadequate,” Jack said in a low, awed tone.

“I’ll let you practice as much as you want.” Still on his knees, Sal pulled Jack’s trousers and boxers down to his ankles, then helped Jack out of his polished black leather shoes, and then the rest of his clothes. He then sat back on his haunches to study his lover’s body. From the athletic toned muscles that he’d forged with his unrelenting, almost punishing, gym routine, to the fur on his chest and that beautiful cock, the strong jaw line to his kind, intelligent eyes, Jack Barsanti was goddamned perfection. He still couldn’t wrap his head around the idea that Jack had never been touched by anybody, had forbidden himself the pleasure, locked himself away in those most fundamental ways.

“What are you thinking?” Jack asked.

“How lucky I am.” A slight frown formed on Jack’s forehead, so he added, “Not because of your history, or any of this. But that I’ve found you and you trust me.”

“If you’d come to the negotiation table back then …”

Sal laughed. “That would have been a fucking disaster.”

“Probably. I wouldn’t have been able to let my guard down. Not like this. Now … I’m glad I’m alive, and that’s new too.”

“Good. Because I know I’d lose any race to the airport. I should have slashed your fucking tires.”

“You touch my car and I’ll end you. And I won’t need Spadaro for that.”

Sal laughed but sobered quickly and placed a hand against the side of Jack’s face, again struck by the soft expression in the man’s clear blue eyes. “I didn’t think I could have … this again.” This sweet gentle pain of being so close to another soul, of wanting, so badly, to share everything, good days and bad, and life and health, and secrets. To give himself over completely. “And I don’t think a part of me will ever be completely over Catia’s death, but that’s all right too.”

“I …” Jack swallowed, but ploughed on. “Every time you speak of her, it’s straight from your soul. I love that. I love how strongly you feel.”

Fuck, talk about a killing blow. Sal smiled and blinked his eyes clear. His first impulse was to reach for the ropes, considering Jack was already naked, and he couldn’t wait to see the patterns he could draw on the man’s skin. He ran a hand down from Jack’s collarbones to his solar plexus. “Rope?”

“Yes.” Just like that, a calm openness without reservation. If Jack ever did this with anybody else, Sal would definitely brief him beforehand to make sure he was in safe hands, and teach him what to look out for when it came to a rigger, but he also didn’t feel like interrupting the building tension between them with a lecture. He was happy to shoulder the burden, and, besides, while he definitely planned to quite literally turn Jack’s world upside down with some advanced suspension shibari, for the moment he’d stick to the basics.

“Bedroom.”

Jack followed him into the large room. The thick carpet swallowed their steps, but Sal was more intrigued by the four-poster bed. And indeed, considering the posters were solid wood and nicely carved, they gave him options. He opened his toy bag and took out the rope he’d selected for Jack—sky blue, almost electric blue.

Jack looked at the rope and lifted an eyebrow. “For my eyes?”

“Seemed like your color.” He loosened the coil of rope and met Jack’s gaze. “Any requests?”

“You’re way too dressed.”

“You’re absolutely right.”

“What do you normally wear when you do this?”

“Sometimes boots and leather pants. A t-shirt. Sometimes no t-shirt or boots. Sometimes, being barefoot is better when I need some extra grounding. I’m more dressed when it’s going to be less sexual.”

“Then definitely lose some clothes.” Jack grinned.

Damn, seemed he’d been rushing things. Normally, he liked to set the scene for the other person, which included presentation. One thing Sal had learned was to use fake candles because they flickered so authentically as to be indistinguishable from real flames. When asked, he told his lovers, “I want to focus on you, not on the other fire hazard.”

Fragrances were another aspect of it. He would spend some time walking around and sniffing flowers, sheets, and ropers to make sure that everything was just so. At the same time, he'd learned to be subtle. He used leather, wood, tobacco when he was tying up a man, ylang ylang, rose or musk when he was tying up a woman. Sometimes, playmates were assigned a specific scent. Sal’s had been the deep, warm, sweet and bitter smell of dark chocolate, and the rigger who’d taught him would also rub cocoa butter into his rope marks, further marking him as hers.

Sal took a step backward and undressed. He enjoyed how Jack watched him, attentive and appreciative, gaze flickering between his half-hard cock and his face.

Sal pulled the leather pants from the toy bag and put them on. He turned his body just so that Jack could see that he was getting harder, and adjusted himself before closing the belt.

“Better?” He strode up to Jack, picked up the rope on the way and placed a length of rope around his neck to pull him in for a kiss.

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