Quickly he fetched a small hand towel and spread it on the bed in case Angel orgasmed unexpectedly. The boy was learning every day to control himself better, but he was still young and Kael never punished him for an unexpected come.
Again Kael pressed his forefinger against Angel’s anus and this time pushed slowly inside. Kael withdrew the finger and repeated the action with two fingers. He began to speak using the same neutral tone. “Two fingers go in easily enough. I think I’ll try three.”
Being taller than most men at six feet five inches, Kael’s body parts were proportionate. His hands were big with long, agile fingers. This time he thrust quickly, probing deeply, turning his fingers in a careful circle. “There’s the prostate,” he said, focusing the attention of his fingers on the walnut-size gland. Angel cried out at the sudden intense sensation, then quickly buried his face in the duvet. “Nice and healthy,” Kael continued. “Let me see if I can fit my entire hand inside this arse. It should go in. The anus is nice and loose right now. The buttocks relaxed.”
Gathering his hand into a point, the fingers very close together, his thumb across his palm, Kael began a slow, steady breach. Often when he fisted his boy, he placed his other hand on Angel’s tailbone for comfort and support, but this time he offered nothing. The only contact he had with Angel was his hand very slowly but surely sliding up the boy’s arse in tiny increments.
“Take deep breaths,” he ordered.
Angel drew in a long breath, releasing it slowly. “Daddy?”
“Do not speak.” Kael continued to push his hand deeper inside until it was engulfed up to the wrist. A glance at Angel’s face showed it was pink and bathed in sweat and his cock was rigid. Kael reached between Angel’s thighs to grab the boy’s cock in his fist, squeezing hard. Angel’s body jerked as waves of pleasure swept through it. His panting increased in intensity, but with Kael squeezing his cock, he could not ejaculate. When the moment had passed, Kael released Angel’s cock and fucked him hard with his hand. Within seconds Angel pressed his face into the duvet, crying out as his cum hit the towel.
Enjoying the sight of his boy’s quivering body, Kael remained still before slowly withdrawing his hand. While Angel recovered, Kael peeled off the glove and discarded it. Leaving Angel where he was, he went to the bathroom and hurriedly showered and brushed his teeth. When he returned to the bedroom, Angel had not moved, making Kael smile. No order had been given, and so the boy waited.
“Get into bed.”
Stretching his limbs like a fledgling, Angel crawled to the top of the bed and got in, holding back the duvet for Kael. They were side by side, but Angel did not move into his arms as he did every night. Whatever scene or mood they were playing out had not been broken with Kael’s exit, and Angel looked alert to orders.
“Suck my cock,” Kael said in the same neutral tone, not using Angel’s name or any endearment.
In silence Angel obeyed. Permission to speak had not been granted yet. On his hands and knees, he leaned over Kael’s groin and took his cock into his mouth. Already hard and pulsing with blood, Kael moaned when Angel’s sweet, warm mouth closed around his penis. He watched the blond head bob as the boy sucked, his long hair falling forward, tickling Kael’s belly. Kael did not hold back but allowed his pleasure to engulf him, rushing through his belly and buttocks. Though Angel never lost his rhythm, he managed to turn his face slightly to look at Kael. Their gazes met as Kael let his orgasm grip his body, jerking convulsively for half a minute.
Awash in sensation, he closed his eyes, fully expecting Angel to roll into place next to him. When after several minutes his boy remained precisely in place on his hands and knees, Kael realized just how heavily into the moment Angel was and how much the boy had learned. Angel was self-disciplined, consciously aware while appearing to be in robotic obedience mode. Marveling at him, Kael said softly, “Come here and talk to me, my lovely boy.”
As if a spell had been broken, Angel crawled into his arms, melding into his side. “Daddy? Sir?” He was tentative, still asking permission to speak.
“Talk to me.” Kael wrapped his arm around Angel, holding him close. With his free hand, he stroked his boy’s soft cheek. There was still not a hair on Angel’s face.
“That was one hell of a paddling, Daddy. And a fist fuck to die for.”
“Isn’t a fist fuck better when I strap you into the sling or the torture chair?” Kael asked, knowing how much Angel loved the paraphernalia of the dungeon.
“Oh, that is good, Daddy. You know I love our dungeon. But I wasn’t expecting anything but a kiss and cuddle before sleep, and then you came in and took command.” He released a long, whistling breath. “My legs are still tingling.”
Reaching out, Kael switched out the lamp, dropping them into complete darkness.
“I feel so safe with you, Daddy. I feel like the most protected boy in the world when I’m lying like this with you.”
Kael loved it when Angel said things like that. It made him feel like he was doing his job as a daddy and a role model. But he had noticed that Angel had not brought his blanket, which was usually under the boy’s pillow whether they were at home or away somewhere. “Where’s your blanket, sweetheart?”
“I don’t need that old thing anymore, Daddy.”
“Why’s that? That blanket was always so important to you.”
“I’ve got you now.”
For a moment, Kael remained very still. He didn’t quite know how to take the remark. “I’m a substitute for an old blanket?”
Angel kissed Kael’s neck. “Daddy, don’t you remember when you asked me about my blankie and I told you I kept it when I was in the foster homes because it reminded me of when I had a home and of my mom?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“It made me feel like there was something safe and constant in the world. But you make me feel that way now, Daddy.”
“Oh,” was all Kael could say. That was exactly what he wanted to give his boy, a sense of security and of being loved. Over the last fifteen months with Angel, Kael’s emotions had become easier to access and express, but Angel still regularly caught him off guard, bringing emotions rushing to the surface that clutched at his belly in a scary way. He covered the moment by saying, “And I thought you were saying I was nothing but an old, wet blanket!”
Angel giggled. “Daddy, that dude, Shawn.”
“What about him?” He really didn’t want to talk about Shawn. After their accidental meeting in Piccadilly Circus ten years before, he had thought he would never see the bloke again, and he didn’t want to.
“You know I read your diary that time?” It was when they had first met and Angel was angry with him. Kael had kept it well hidden since then. “You wrote that you had a fling with a guy one summer when you were fourteen. Was that him?”
“Yes,” Kael said, vaguely ashamed to admit that he had fallen for a useless fuck like Shawn, even if he was only a kid at the time.
“He’s a pedo,” Angel said.
“No, it was just me, just that one summer. I was nearly six feet tall by then, bigger and stronger than him. He shouldn’t have done it, but I wasn’t exactly fighting him off. I wanted it. I don’t think he even goes with other men as a rule.”
“Hmmm.” Angel sounded skeptical. “I bet he did it before you, and I bet he’s done it since.”
Growing impatient, Kael said, “What makes you such an expert?”
Nestling in closer, Angel said, “I used to watch
America’s Most Wanted
and true crime shows when I was home alone. You know, all those years I never went to school and my mom and Sven never paid any attention to me. Guys like Shawn always do it again.”
“Do they? That’s enough about Shawn. He’s in the past as far as I’m concerned, and I want him to stay there.”
“Did you put the frighteners on him over Sharon, Daddy? Is that why he left?”
“Yes, I put the frighteners on him.” Kael was always amused when Angel used English expressions. “I want her to find someone decent. Someone who’ll treat her with respect.”
“Yeah, me too. Maybe we could find her a billionaire like my mom got. Do you know who your dad is?” Angel often changed the subject suddenly.
“No idea,” Kael said as if he didn’t care—and he never had, not really. “I’ve got a great mum. She’s enough. Now go to sleep. I’m dragging you out of bed at six o’clock to run to Otterspool Promenade.”
“Daddy!”
“All right, seven then.” He kissed Angel’s forehead. “It’s only about two and a half miles there and the prom is about a mile long.”
“Then we have to come back,” Angel pointed out.
“Less than ten miles, all told. We run that far along the Thames easily.”
“Not after a day of indulgence.” Angel took Kael’s nipple between his lips, resting his leg across his body.
“All the more reason to go for a run. Go to sleep.” But Angel’s soft, steady breathing indicated he was already asleep. Kael kissed his boy on the forehead while his free hand gravitated to the gold heart hanging around his neck.
Chapter Two
Across Stephen Conran’s extensive and beautifully appointed drawing room, Kael watched Angel chatting easily with a small group of young people, the boys dressed as Angel was in dark evening suits with bow ties, the girls in sedate gowns. But Angel’s long, very pale blond hair and beautiful gray eyes set him apart. The shirt he had chosen had a wing-tip collar—or that’s what he said it was called—and he wore a floppy bow tie, making him look just as smart as the others but unique and interesting as well.
The room was packed with men in tuxedos and black ties and women in designer ball gowns. White-coated waiters sailed by holding aloft trays crowded with tall glasses of champagne. A string quartet played classical music in an adjoining room. The place reeked of money and class as much as it reeked of expensive perfume and oysters on ice. Upper-class accents stretched their vowels all around him.
“Angel looks happy.” Conran came up beside him in the crowded room. “That’s my niece and nephew he’s chatting with. The other two are the children of the new Labour member for Lambeth. I don’t really like the woman, but I couldn’t leave her out.” Glancing to his right, Kael looked down into Conran’s eyes, his best feature despite their paleness. Conran took the empty glass from Kael’s hand and waved over a waiter. Before Kael could pick up another glass, Conran picked one up and handed it to him. A gesture of submission?
“Angel’s always happy. Why wouldn’t he be?” Kael never said thank you to Conran. It had been months since he had allowed the other man into his dungeon, and it would not be long before Conran asked again.
“Is he doing well in school?”
Kael’s gaze gravitated naturally back to his boy. He smiled automatically at a sudden burst of laughter from Angel. He loved to see his boy enjoying himself. Their fourteen-year age gap sometimes made him wonder if Angel found him boring, so Kael encouraged him to spend time with people his own age. Briefly Angel met his gaze before turning back to his companions. “Of course he is. He’ll get his A levels, no problem.”
“He’s a lovely boy, but he would have ended up on the streets if not for you, even with his mother being married to that French billionaire.”
The very thought made all of Kael’s protective instincts scream. Without guidance Angel would probably have done what most emotionally lost and neglected teenagers do: made very bad choices. “He hasn’t heard from her since early last year, which is probably for the best.”
“Have you chosen a university for him yet?”
“He’s going to Cambridge like I did,” Kael said decisively. “But we’re supposed to apply to three. I’ll put Cambridge as his first choice.”
“He can come straight into the service if you change your mind,” Conran said quietly. “The training you’ve already given him and the experiences he had in Bosnia last year and France earlier this year put him ahead of the pack. Another year or two and he’ll be very good.”
“He’s only just turned nineteen. I was twenty-two when your headhunter came after me. But I was a ruthless bastard from the day I was born. Angel’s not like that. He still thinks you only send me after
bad dudes
.” Kael imitated Angel’s American accent when he said that.
“You don’t want him jaded like you and me?” Conran asked.
“If he didn’t get jaded from his life in foster care and then living with his gunrunner stepfather, perhaps nothing can make him jaded.”
In a whisper so quiet a normal man would not have heard him, Conran said, “I don’t suppose I could visit you soon, just for an hour or two?”
Even though he didn’t move a facial muscle, Kael was grinning inside. “Why would you want to do that? For tea and a chat?”
A long, almost weary sigh escaped Conran’s pursed lips. “You know what I want,” he whispered.
“And you know I have enough on you to blackmail you for the rest of your life, Stephen.”
“Yes, of course I know,” Conran said.
“You can’t resist me, can you?” Slinging his arm around Conran’s shoulder, Kael crushed the smaller man to his side. “I’ll see what I can do,” he said as if promising a young child a longed-for treat.
Squirming, Conran hissed, “Get off, for God sake. Why can you never be discreet?”
Kael laughed, squeezing him for another second before letting him go. “I am the soul of discretion. How else could I do my job?”
“Yes, well, I wish you’d be as discreet about other things too. Come along to my office. I want to talk to you about something.”
Glancing out into the hall at the grandfather clock, Kael said, “It’s almost midnight.”
“This won’t take long.”
Kael followed him into the relative quiet of the hall and along to Conran’s study. Inside he put his champagne glass on the desk and helped himself to a whisky from the bottle on the bookshelf. “Do you think I’m too old for Angel?” It must have been all the champagne, because he never exposed himself emotionally. He wasn’t even sure what he wanted Conran to say.
“Good grief! Is the man who rules the world actually having fears that his lover’s heart may be divided?”
That was definitely not what he wanted to hear. Kael finished his whisky in one swallow, put down his glass, and grabbed Conran by his expensive lapels, slamming him against the wall. He shoved his knee between Conran’s thighs and felt the man’s instant erection. “You little wanker!” Kael said into his face. Just for fun, he ground his knee in harder, making Conran orgasm in loud panting gasps.