Vulnerable [Suncoast Society] (Suncoast Society #29)(24)

He shrugged. “It’s a blessing and a curse. You get to know what implements sound like.”

“Do people use whips and stuff?”

“Yeah, but we don’t let them crack them repeatedly during open play nights. It kills people’s hearing and it’s annoying as shit. We have regular whip night sessions here where they can crack to their heart’s content.”

“Ah.”

“The skill of using a whip isn’t in making it crack. It’s being able to use it on a person exactly the way you want it, where you want it, without harming them.”

“I think I’ll wait a while before I try anything that advanced.”

Jesse smiled. “Smart.”

“Bare-handed is always easiest to start with,” Keith said. “You’ll rarely harm someone with a bare-handed spanking.”

The thought of having Jesse naked and squirming across his lap while spanking him hardened Leo’s cock again.

Only when Jesse met his gaze did he realize he’d been staring, and was glad the lights had been dimmed so the other two men couldn’t spot the way his face had heated.

Jesse cocked his head. “Would you like to watch a few people play before trying something?”

Leo nodded. “Yeah. I think that would be safest.”

“It’s okay to feel overwhelmed,” Keith said. “That’s very common. You see everything in front of you, sometimes nearly exactly out of your fantasies, and it takes a while to process that not only do people actually do this shit, but you can do it, too.”

“And there’s nothing wrong with you for wanting to do it, either,” Jesse assured him.

Leo licked his lips. “It’s kind of creepy that both of you are reading my mind like that.”

The two men smiled. “No mind reading, I assure you,” Keith said. “You are far from the first person to be exactly in your situation, new, learning, and trying to reconcile all of this with how you were raised. Especially in your situation,” he added. “You were raised not to hit women, that violence is wrong, that only bad people hit other people. Right?”

Leo slowly nodded. That had been part of his secret shame for so many years, that he longed to spank Eva, especially during the times when she’d frustrated the crap out of him by dumping all responsibility for the relationship on him.

But sometimes those kinds of fantasies were the only ones that got him over when making love to her.

Jesse leaned in close, those gorgeous, rich brown eyes staring up into his. He reached out and laid a hand over Leo’s. “I’m a masochist. I like—I need this in my life. Even more importantly, I want it. As long as you stop if I say red, and you don’t violate my hard limits, you’ll do fine.”

“See, I’m so new I don’t even understand hard limits. I don’t know what my limits are.”

Keith interjected. “Start by defining a few things you want to do. Because it’s too damn easy, especially in the beginning, to miss listing things you don’t want to do, because you don’t even think of them as things that can be done. Get it?”

“Yeah.”

Jesse hadn’t moved his hand. Leo laid his other one over Jesse’s, enjoying the smile Jesse gave him in return.

“For tonight,” Jesse said, “if you want to, I’m okay with you giving me a bare-handed spanking, or using some implements on me like a paddle or a riding crop. Maybe not a cane, not tonight. Not until you’ve had some practice.”

“I brought the beginner bag,” Keith joked. “Fluffy bunny stuff.”

Jesse stuck his tongue out at the man and Leo wanted to grab him, kiss him, and suck Jesse’s tongue into his own mouth. Wanted to tongue-f*ck him.

His cock ached, painfully hard, at the thought.

Hell, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten this hard for Eva.

Actually, if he was being honest with himself, he’d never gotten this hard for Eva. There were plenty of nights where he’d claimed he was tired when he’d gotten soft pretty fast and had to help her get off in other ways.

“A good Top,” Keith said, “will usually stop long before the bottom wants them to. A skilled Top, especially one who plays with the same partner a lot, gets good at reading body language and learning how to take the bottom right up to the edge before they’d safeword and keeping them at that edge.”

“And I need aftercare if we’re going to play,” Jesse added.

This felt almost as intense as his conversation with Laurel last weekend, where she’d had him spinning in circles. “Aftercare?”

“Cuddling,” Jesse clarified. “Some Tops don’t do aftercare. That’s part of negotiations. I need aftercare. When I’m done with a scene, I want to sit and cuddle for a little while with my Top and just be quiet and process everything.”

Leo’s throat dried up. An excuse to have this man in his arms?

Sure. “I can do that,” he hoarsely said.

Jesse smiled. “I don’t mind being naked when you play with me. As long as you promise not to whack me in the balls.”

Leo cringed. “I promise I won’t. Well, not intentionally.”

“You can even feel me up while we’re playing, if you’d like.”

Keith cleared his throat, but Jesse looked at him. “Tilly doesn’t do that with me because we’re not involved with each other. That’s by mutual decision. I didn’t say he had to feel me up.”