Liability (Suncoast Society #33)(19)

“About as well as throwing gasoline on a car fire,” Mason said. “Kaboom.” He held his hands up, mimicking the explosion. “And then she gets pissed off and leaves him. Rightfully so. And then he’s like, ‘I don’t understand why that didn’t work out.’”

“Did you ever think about telling him?” Cole asked.

Mason snorted. “No. He’s a very stubborn Dominant. If I told him what I thought, he’d dig his heels in harder and keep screwing things up in his life just to try to prove me wrong. He’s an adult. If he hasn’t figured it out by now, he never will, and it’s not my job as his son to tell him.”

And they were at the crux of why they were there to talk.

“Did you guys have any questions for me about all of…this?” Mason asked.

Before Cole could even decide what to ask first, Kim launched herself into the conversational pool like a cannonball. “What’s forced orgasm play?”

Mason had been starting to take a sip of his water. At her question he started laughing, but apparently choked on it, and started coughing. Which made him laugh more. As he got himself put back together and mopped up the water with his napkin, he smiled.

“What part of ‘take things slow’ did I forget to clarify?”

That made Cole laugh. Especially when his gaze locked with Mason’s for a moment and…something. Maybe he was being stupid, but it felt like something passed between them.

And then Mason’s focus was back on Kim.





Holy. Shitballs. Okay.

Kim’s question had caught Mason a little off-guard. Didn’t help that he was a klutz and temporarily forgot how to swallow—not usually a problem for him in several ways—and made himself look like an idiot in front of Cole.

Them.

Not just Cole.

Dammit, he had to force himself to stop staring at the man’s eyes. If he wasn’t careful, he’d sit there and be crushing on Cole all night.

Kim turned a little more pink in the face. “I saw it on FetLife and we were talking, and he was asking me about stuff I thought I might like.”

“Ah. Okay. Fair enough. It’s pretty much what it sounds like.” He smiled. “Women are lucky in that most guys usually can’t have multiple orgasms. Women are built differently, and there are some sadists who like to make a woman safeword by orgasming her to that point.”

Kim looked a little dubious now. “It doesn’t sound bad.”

“Oh, it’s not bad. I have yet to see a woman who doesn’t enjoy it, but those same women will also tell you don’t think it’s not torture just because it’s fun.”

“Have you done it?”

“I have a Hitachi that’s seen plenty of use in those kinds of scenes.” He tried to keep his focus on her and not Cole. “Like I said, I’ve played with women before.”

“I don’t want my next question to sound wrong,” Kim said, “but…aren’t you gay?”

He shrugged. “It’s still fun. Sadism is sadism. I’m not anti-woman by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve slept with women before. I’m not stupid enough to say I’ll never again in my life ever sleep with another woman, either, because, hello, Landry. Gay man now married to a woman and apparently enjoying a hearty sex life with her and Cris, from the things I’ve witnessed at private parties.”

Mason attempted another sip of water and this time succeeded in not choking himself with it. “Not that that’s violating their privacy by saying it, because he’ll flat-out tell people that when he’s talking to them. But it’s safe to say when it comes to romantic relationship partners, I’m pretty much gay. Won’t take ‘flexible’ off the table, though. When it comes to playing, however, gender is irrelevant to me.

“Now, where it can sometimes matter is the more intimate kind of play I do in private with someone. If I’m in a relationship with them, and we’re somewhere alone, or at a private party where the rules are looser than at Venture, then yes, my play would definitely take a more intimate and sexy turn.”

He had watched Cole’s reaction as Kim talked and noted the man was also paying attention to her. Not in an “I don’t have anything to say” kind of way, but more a, “I don’t want to interrupt her because she’s finally talking” kind of way. Cole actually looked a little amazed to hear her talking.

Mason would keep her talking, then. “Out of curiosity, why did you choose the slave and Master designations for your profiles on FetLife?”

She looked a little confused. “I’m his slave…right?”

Mason smiled. “You can be, if that’s what you want to be.” He gently started drawing her out, explaining the differences, prompting her to ask questions, Cole finally asking a few questions of his own when it was obvious he’d become confused on a point or two.

By the time their food arrived, the delightfully clueless and eager couple had come to the realization, on their own, that they might want to modify their relationship labels. That she considered herself “owned” by Cole, but more a submissive and a pet than an actual slave. When Cole learned what a Master tended to be labeled as, he agreed he was more an Owner and Dominant than a Master.

“I don’t want to piss anyone off,” Cole said as he started cutting his steak.