Not Safe for Work(111)
My career had, of course, been through its share of upheaval, especially after I’d decided to leave my job. I just couldn’t keep working for those people, even after Rick had put them in their place, so I’d started looking for another job. I’d been right about one thing—no one in town would hire me. It was never blatantly clear why. Maybe they were looking to switch to more modern modeling techniques. Maybe they didn’t want a forty-something modeler when there were twenty-somethings who’d do it for half the price. Maybe they’d heard the truth about why I wanted to leave the firm, and didn’t particularly want someone on the payroll who might jeopardize a valuable contract with his dick. It could have been anything. All I knew was, six months down the line, I’d still been working for the firm and hunting for something better.
It was Marie who’d ultimately helped me find something. She knew someone at the architectural college downtown, and their course program was in dire need of experienced modelers and drafters who did know the old-school ways. Three interviews later, I was hired. Though it had taken a while for the dust to settle, I was content with where things were now.
The NSFW crew didn’t last much longer than I did. Teagan had wisely been taking 3D modeling classes for the past year or two, and a rival firm snatched her up after one interview. Bianca and Cal both moved to one of the aerospace companies. Scott and Silent Dave both went part-time and went back to school. In fact, Silent Dave was my TA this semester, and I was working with Scott to get him a job teaching computer-aided drafting.
I missed working with them, but we all made a point to get together at Arturo’s at least twice a month, and Teagan and I still had sushi on a regular basis. In fact, now that Rick and I were living together—I’d moved in a little under a year ago—he frequently had me invite the crew over. He loved cooking for the whole group, and it was good to see everybody. Between them and my kids visiting whenever they were off school, his enormous house didn’t feel so empty anymore, and he’d decided not to downsize after all. Which was great as far as I was concerned. After all that work we’d both put into converting one of the empty rooms into a dungeon, it’d be a shame to have to tear it all out and sanitize it so the house could go on the market. That had been enough of a pain in the ass when I’d put my place up for sale.
Life was good. Hell, life was fantastic. Things were crazy, things were changing faster than I could keep up with them, but I was happy. I liked the way things were, chaos and all.
Footsteps shook me out of my thoughts, and I looked up as Rick came back with a couple of beer bottles in hand. He set one in front of me, then sat across from me with his own. “Doing okay?”
I nodded. “Just…thinking.”
He sipped his beer. “A little overwhelmed?”
“You could say that. Man, I thought it was weird having kids in college. Now they’re starting to finish college.” I blew out a breath as I brought my beer up to my lips. “I can’t believe one of my kids is on her way to graduate school. That’s just…” I shook my head. “Hard to fit in my head, I guess.”
“I can imagine.”
We drank in silence for a moment, and as I watched him, nervous excitement swelled in my chest. I glanced at my watch—no one would be here for another fifteen minutes or so. There was time.
I took a deep swallow of beer, and as I set the bottle down, said, “I, um, have a present for you.”
“For me?” He laughed. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know. But…” From the stack of gifts I’d brought for my daughter, I took a small, flat box and slid it across the table. “This is for you.”
He smiled as he pulled it closer. “Is it something appropriate to open in public?”
“I would’ve given it to you at home if it wasn’t.” I nodded toward it. “Go ahead.”
He slid his thumbnail under the edge to cut the tape, and my heart went into overdrive as he carefully lifted the lid. Inside, nestled in tissue paper, was a leather bracelet. It was similar to the collar I’d given him a year ago, but a higher quality leather and a much nicer buckle. Something that would last a long, long time.
“Wow,” he said. “This is really nice.”
“I thought it might be more comfortable at work. Instead of wearing the collar under your tie.”
He met my gaze, eyebrows up.
Yes, Rick. I smiled. I noticed all those times you tugged at it and fussed with it.
“Try it on,” I said, my mouth suddenly dry.
As he slowly withdrew it from the box, I held my breath, waiting for his gaze to make it to the gold buckle.
Metal clinked quietly against metal. His eyes flicked downward, right to the buckle, and he froze. My heart stopped.
He looked at me. “Jon, are these…”
“Yes.” I took a deep breath. “They are.”
His fingers slid down the leather, to the buckle, and on to the pair of dangling gold bands. “You’re serious.”
“Completely.” My heart hadn’t pounded like this the day I’d admitted in front of my now-ex-bosses that I was in love with him.
He gently freed the rings from the buckle. “I thought you said you didn’t want to get married.”
I nodded, moistening my dry lips. “Yeah, I did. But that was before I knew what it was like to be with you.” I took his hand, closing his fingers around what would hopefully be our wedding rings. “Look, I’ve bought four engagement rings in my life. Three of them felt exactly the same way. Like I might as well, now’s as good a time as any, so why the hell not? This time…” I struggled to find the words. After a moment, I slid my other hand under his, only distantly aware of just how public our affection was just then. “Rick, you’re everything I’ve ever wanted in a submissive, and you’re also everything I’ve ever wanted in a partner. I’ve had some strong connections with people before, and I’ve been in love before, but with you…” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “I can’t even describe it. All I can say is that I’ve never felt like this for anyone. And I want to make it permanent.”