Page 3 of Binding Their Hearts

“Yes.” As close as the three of them could come to one. Some sign of security, of permanence, to bring them all peace of mind.

Will slid in front of him, cutting off his view of his lovers, and ducked until their eyes sat level. He squinted suspiciously. “I swear to all that’s holy, if you’re pulling some self-sacrificing nonsense and marrying those two off to each other—”

“Most certainly not.” Desire flashed, the image of Jay in a monogrammed collar and cuffs. He’d not shared the tightly held wish, not since its first inkling five years ago, for all that he found collars in general disagreeable, a break in nude perfection. But on Alice and Jay, his prized possessions, his hunger to claim his territory knew few bounds, and those enacted by his will alone. “Like you, I’ve yet to collar anyone myself. I’ve told my pets it was aesthetics, and it is, partly. I needn’t chain their necks to know they are mine. But I have seen how they greedily hoard symbols of my ownership.”

The growing pieces of dark green in their wardrobes, the shade matching his eyes, spoke to their need. Jay often pleaded to wear the jade cock ring. Most days, Alice donned the bra and panty sets he’d given her, carrying his secret claim to her workplace. They showed him in ways large and small how they desired his hand on them even while apart.

“I’ve been selfish in withholding something more permanent.” An error he would rectify before the year was out. A grand proposal would be an excellent start. “Something public in our community.”

Will’s disagreeable hum came with judgmental lips as he straightened.

“Out with it.”

Shrugging, Will splayed one hand in a gesture of peace. “You’ve told me young Jay has recently broken with his family.”

“Some of them, yes.” His sister Natalie had proven a steadfast ally. Alice had set up a group text for herself, her sister, Jay, and Natalie, and it seemed a source of delight. He’d turned down the offer of inclusion so as not to stifle their fun—and to avoid the string of interruptions. Alice kept him informed of the important elements. “We’ve had one silver lining emerge.”

“But he did so largely because he wanted to make public his commitment to you.” Will’s dispassionate, logical delivery couldn’t make the sting any less.

“Yes.” The entire awful weekend and Jay’s subsequent pain rested partly on his shoulders. If Jay hadn’t fallen in love with him—but no, he would have known his family’s displeasure regardless. He’d been their scapegoat far longer than he’d been Henry’s beloved. The break would be better for Jay in the long run; he did thoroughly believe that to be true. Therapy would help Jay move forward. “They were less than appreciative of the knowledge.”

“As my son would say, that sounds like a them problem. But.” Will clasped his shoulder, his fingers tight against Henry’s clavicle and his gaze intent. “Have you considered that you weren’t being selfish so much as waiting until he was ready? Truly free to accept the commitment? So your collaring wouldn’t be another source of friction in his heart, tainted by his doubts and self-loathing?”

Timing. So much of desire and want hinged on it, on knowing when excitement would tip toward frustration or anticipation toward abandonment. He’d held Jay back from a lengthy list of games in the last five years, recognizing the damage that might be done by moving too quickly. He could do no less for this stumbling block. And just as Jay had done much work to pierce his fear of public exposure, Alice had worked to dismantle her own defenses around long-term commitments.

Henry’s sigh carried a low chuckle aloft. “I could have sworn I, not you, was the one with the psychology training.”

Will faux-dusted his lapels. “Clearly I’m naturally gifted.”

An opening he couldn’t pass by, not when he had another project to set in motion. A pledge to fulfill.

“I was hoping you might lend your talents in another area.” Alice, so confident and tender with Jay, deserved more of his time dedicated to exploring her desires as well. “I need to relearn those rope skills you’re fond of demonstrating.”

Chapter two

Alice

Flipping between text message and calendar apps, Alice curled her toes into Jay’s calf in an absent-minded Monday night massage. “Henry, you don’t have a class this Saturday, do you?”

They’d just held one for submissives the morning after the art show in the club’s salon, and Henry usually only taught every other week. But checking never hurt.

“No, not this week.” He sat in the chair across from where they sprawled on the couch, pulling a short length of rope into a knot around his ankle. “Something you have in mind, my dear?”

A bunch of things—conflicting things—perched at the front of her brain.

Tonight was two weeks exactly since she and Henry had rescued Jay from his parents’ farm. He seemed fine, lying on his side, mildly engrossed in some extreme sports show playing quietly on the TV, but his first therapy session was only two days away. No one she knew had been to therapy; her father had flat-out refused “that bullshit quackery” for the last fifteen-plus years since his accident. What if Jay came out of therapy a different person? But wasn’t that the point? She should want that for him, even if it restructured their relationship.

When she shoved those fears aside, Henry’s devotion shuffled to the top of the list. He’d dug the rope out of a drawer in the toybox over the weekend. “Resurrecting old skills,” he’d said when she’d asked. “My girl is desirous of exploring more ways of being bound in my service, is she not?” Desirous, yup, for certain. Last year he would have hidden the practice from her and presented the new game as a fait accompli on one of their contract nights. But now he openly teased her with the soft shurr of the sliding rope and his low, pleased grunts when the rope did his bidding instead of collapsing as he pulled tight.

But neither was the topic the string of text messages had pushed from someday-thinking to get-permission-now.

Stretching from her corner of the couch, she walked her toes up Jay’s legs and gripped the underside of his ass. That man could lie naked on the couch after dinner every night, and she’d never complain. He lifted his head off the far armrest, flashing her a smile, and wriggled closer as she kneaded his smooth, toned muscles. “Would you be up for a morning at the club Saturday anyway? Jay has basketball, and you and I could meet with Leah and Drew.”

“Plans firming up, are they?” A hint of amusement dotted Henry’s cultured baritone.

Leaning forward, she caught the object of his gaze—Jay’s rising erection. She nestled back into the cushions and kept up the pressure with her feet. “Leah is sending me Drew’s conditions—” The phone chimed, and she swept open the notification. “That’ll be them. His conditions for her participation in flogging practice. They could meet us there for some quid pro quo—she’ll be my flogging guinea pig if I give her career advice.”

And if their first session together went well, and Henry approved, Jay could sit in on later sessions and keep getting accustomed to the sights and sounds and scents. Flogging would still be a reward he wanted, no matter what the therapist told him about himself. Right?

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