Bad Behavior (Bad in Baltimore) (17 page)

Kara rose to greet them, and Beach’s manners had him scrambling up after her. As she approached her son and granddaughter, Beach studied the couple in their wake. A petite woman in a purple sleeveless dress—whose similarity to Kara made some of the confusion over Sammie’s paternity clear—was accompanied by a solidly built but shorter-than-Tai-by-several-inches man with light brown skin wearing a golfing shirt and tan slacks. He kept a possessive arm around Sammie’s mother’s waist.

“Gooma, you have to sign my cast next,” Sammie called out to Kara. As the child started wriggling, Tai lowered her as if she were made of glass. “Then we’re going for ice cream and everyone gets to feed it to me.” She held up both plaster-encased forearms.

Poor kid. Beach’s tendency to seek out higher and more interesting places meant that by Sammie’s age he already knew the fun attention from sporting a cast turned to stale inconvenience after three days. Even he’d never needed two at once. Though he was discovering that broken bones healed much more easily under the age of fourteen than they did at thirty-four, medical advances notwithstanding.

After a careful hug, Kara examined Sammie’s casts, Tai hovering over her as if he would lift the kid to safety if she so much as frowned. Beach eased himself away from the group, pulling out his phone again.

“What now?” Gavin sighed without a greeting.

“I need another ride.”

“What the hell, Beach? I just drove you to get your goddamned car.”

Beach wondered if Gavin’s speech patterns would continue to devolve into those of his policeman. “Yes, and I thank you for it. But it’s some distance away at the moment. I’m at the emergency room at Mercy Hospital.”

“Please tell me this is some unfortunate attempt at humor.” There was the Gavin Beach knew. “If the next words involve something stuck up your ass, I’m hanging up.”

There’d been something sharper than teasing to Gavin’s voice. Something that made an unfamiliar shame oil through Beach’s stomach before settling with the greasy weight of deep-fried butter. Which may have had something to do with the indignation giving him a sensation akin to heartburn as he snapped back, “I came along as moral support for a friend.”

“I’m finding it hard to place you and moral in the same sentence. You’re lucky they aren’t monitoring bullshit levels along with alcohol.”

“Does Sergeant Boyfriend have his hand so far up your ass you’re his puppet now? Forget it. I’ll call a cab.”

“Beach, wait. I was teasing.”

“Did I interrupt your boyfriend time?”

“No. I’m working.”

“Well, bless your heart.” Beach wasn’t sure he bought the just-teasing excuse. “On what?”

“The shelter.”

Right. Gavin’s dusty building with the guard tower/solarium on top.

“Did you buy that…” he opted for tact, “…property?”

“That’s what I’m working on. To see if we can get the right kind of permits there. And fuck you too, by the way.”

Beach relaxed. That kind of frustration was probably why Gavin was acting like such a prick. “Sounds like a pain where you wish your boyfriend was. I’ll call a cab and leave you to soldier on.”

“What about the person your alleged morals were supposedly supporting?”

Beach glanced over at the cast-signing party. “It’s complicated.”

“Of course it is. It’s you.”

Which was possibly the most insulting thing Gavin had said to him in twenty years. Beach was utterly laid-back and a complete joy to get along with. It was other people who got all tight-assed about rules and relationships.

Before Beach could lay out some of what Gavin had coming about complications, Mr. Dating a Freaking Cop went on, “Mercy, right? I’ll be there in about fifteen.”

Using a cane made it hard to be unobtrusive. And Beach was leaning on it more than he normally did as his shinbone protested the unusual activity earlier in the evening, but he thought he’d managed to slip away and into the men’s room without Kara’s or Tai’s notice.
Take that, Gavin Montgomery.
Beach was anything but a complication to be solved.

He’d give them a few minutes to roll on to their ice cream destination and then go out to wait for Gavin.

He ducked into the stall when he heard the door open, but the heavy tread and the athletic footwear alerted him before the intruder came to a stop in front of the stall door.

Beach opened it. “Do you ever get tired of following me into men’s rooms?”

Tai stepped away to let Beach out. “Not so far.”

For an unaccountable reason, Beach couldn’t look Tai in the face and seized on the distraction of some compulsive hand-washing. But he made the water too hot and flinched, jerking his hand back and sending giant gobs of foamy soap flying. He’d been so good at distracting himself he hadn’t noticed the water temp until it was blistering. Now he blinked at his reddened, throbbing hand.

Tai lunged forward and turned on a neighboring faucet. “David. Come here.”

The order soothed more than the cool water Tai shoved Beach’s hand toward. Until he heard Gavin’s voice.
What the hell, Beach? Cut the Southern-belle routine.

“Do we count this as part of a scene? A little pain and punishment?”

Tai released Beach so fast he had to grab on to the sink or risk falling. “What? Where did that come from?”

Beach stared down into the sink at his hands gripping the porcelain rim.

“David. Do you think you deserve to be punished?”

His smartass remark had come after he burned himself. And it had been an accident. He didn’t answer.

“I’ll decide if you need to be punished.”

Yes.
That was what Beach wanted. Everything out of his hands. No need to decide what was worth a risk or reward.

Funny. He’d never considered consequences—the good or the bad—before. So maybe it was no surprise he wanted to turn that burden over to someone else. A simple
Yes, Sir
and he’d be caught up in Tai’s control. In the tingling buzz, the aching rightness of it.

But when Beach’s mouth opened, what came out was “Or if I deserve a dog biscuit or ice cream?” He watched Tai’s reaction in the mirror.

He’d been leaning against the door. Now he straightened but folded his arms across his chest.

“If you think you’ve been treated like a pet or a child, you’re the one with a problem. You’re not comfortable being my submissive, then tell me. I made it clear I wasn’t interested in dragging you into something you pretend you don’t like.”

“And how long has that all been clear to you?” Beach couldn’t stop digging, needed to see that he was worth some of the temper Tai’s mother claimed he had such a problem with. “That bossing around your bedmates was a way to make up for losing your daughter?”

Beach had spent twenty-five years smoothing and cajoling. Nothing harshed a buzz faster than a blast of temper. It was better to be comfortable than right. Now he was throwing dynamite into the bear’s cave and blocking the exit.

He’d wanted a hot explosion. He got a slow, hard freeze.

“Certainly a lot longer than your experiment in curing your poor little rich-boy boredom.” Tai opened the door. “I’m sure your money will get you off, and you can go back to chasing a high the good old-fashioned way. Go on.” He nodded at the door. “I’ll take you back to your oversized toy car.”

As sweet as every piece of praise Tai had fed him was, the disgust was bile sour, burning in the back of Beach’s throat.

“That won’t be necessary,” he drawled. “I’ve arranged to find my own way back. Thank you.”

A quick inhalation gave a lie to the slow arch of Tai’s brow. “Whatever you want.”

Damned if he’d get the last word, if something that had shaken Beach to the soul could be dissolved so easily.

He’d burn it to the ground first. Pouring every bit of disdain he’d learned in a lifetime surrounded by people who knew they were better than everyone else, he gestured with his cane. “After you.” The pause was deliciously bitter. “Sir.”

C
hapter Thirteen

D
avid injected the word with so much sarcasm it rang in Tai’s ears until understanding lit up his brain. He dragged the door shut, sealing them in.

If David had used any other word, Tai would have let him go. Been too stupid, too hopped up on the roller coaster of panic and anger from what had happened with Sammie to see, to hear, what was going on with David.

David took to D/s so readily, it was hard to remember it was all new to him. Everything David had said and done from the moment Tai tracked him here had been a demand for reassurance, a need to know that Tai was still in control.

And Tai wasn’t going to fail him.

He pulled David off balance and then pressed him against the door, using size and weight rather than a grip to keep him there.

David didn’t fight, but held his body rigid. “If you get this turned on by industrial tiling and the smell of urinal cakes, it should be easy enough to recreate it at home.” His voice was flat, but the tightness in his eyes and mouth showed it was anger, not fear.

“I’m sorry.”

David tilted his head. “That doesn’t sound very dominant of you. Aren’t you breaking the rules?”

“I already broke them. I brought you here with me because we hadn’t really ended the scene. I shouldn’t have left you like that.”

“I assure you I am able to function without constant supervision. Even if you and the county believe otherwise.” David shifted his foot to press the band against Tai’s ankle.

“And yet there’s still a problem.”

“No. There isn’t. At least there won’t be if you get out of my way. I have a ride waiting. You have a daughter waiting to be fed ice cream.” David didn’t try to move.

“You’re still acting like a brat.”

“If you aren’t enjoying my company, you have only yourself to blame.”

That was true. Tai was to blame. Talking wasn’t what David needed. It wasn’t what either of them needed right now.

“But you’re my brat, aren’t you, David?” Tai put his hand on David’s jaw.

The shiver ran through both of them. An electric arc of connection, the knowledge that this was exactly where they were supposed to be. David’s head dropped back against the door, and Tai accepted the offer of David’s throat, stretched and waiting. Thumb and fingers spread wide, Tai slid his hand over the prickle of jaw to rest at the open V just above David’s larynx. Staring into eyes with only a hint of blue left around the flared pupil, Tai let the weight of his bones do the work, owning, accepting what David offered.

David sucked in a breath, one Tai felt fight its way past his fingers.

“Aren’t you?” he demanded, though the proof was there, blood and air struggling, throbbing under his fingers.

David kept his head tilted up in surrender, his choked whisper vibrating into Tai’s fingers. “Yes, Sir.” His body shuddered. “Bastard.”

Tai brushed his mouth over David’s. “We’ll talk about your behavior later.” As Tai withdrew his hand, David strained to follow it for an instant, then fell back against the door.

David took a deep breath and blew it out with a rush of sound before relaxing into Tai’s body.

Tai wrapped his arms around David’s waist. “Good boy. I’ve got you.” The closer Tai held him, the more tension ebbed away.

“Is this supposed to feel like this? Every time?”

“Tell me what this is.” Tai pressed his forehead to David’s, sharing his breath.

“Like I swallowed a bottle rocket. I should be afraid, but the explosion is too amazing.” He held out a hand as if he expected to see a spray of sparks from his fingertips.

It sounded about right. But Tai wanted to absorb that burst, soak it up and keep them both from coming apart with the strength of it. Tai didn’t know what it was supposed to feel like, but he wanted more. “It can be.”
If you stay mine.

David’s phone emitted a blast of music about party people. Weight still against Tai’s, David took it from his pocket, glanced down and tucked it away.

“Your ride?” Tai asked.

David nodded.

Tai kissed him. He’d meant it to be a quick check-in, to be sure David was ready to leave, but that wasn’t the reason for the second kiss. Or the third. The way he tried to leave a print on David’s mouth he’d feel all day if he had any doubts.

The phone repeated its tune.

“Is it your run-away-from-home-at-thirty-three friend?”

“No. It’s Gavin.” David said the name as if it held a defining label that fit into no other category, catching Tai off balance, trapped between jealousy and want.

David only shifted his weight, but Tai felt the separation pull them much farther than a centimeter apart. “I should get going. I’ve already pissed him off. Though he’s put up with me for twenty years, as he likes to remind me, I probably shouldn’t risk it. He’s the only one who’s managed.”

David smiled, retreating in a way Tai couldn’t follow after. No shaking or bratting or freaking out. Tai had no good reason to keep him there.

“And I’m sure Sammie’s looking for you,” David added.

Tai stepped away. “I would have driven you back.”

“I know.” The surety in David’s voice echoed the trust he offered when he put his throat in Tai’s hand.

Tai took a deep breath. “I can smell us fucking on your skin. And I want it again. Want—”

Another eruption from David’s phone saved Tai from going too far while dazed by hunger.

I want to mark you up. Leave the bruises on your skin that prove you’re mine. So you know you’re mine.

Those were the kinds of things that freaked people out. Had freaked Tai out too until he got to understand things better. It would send David running, especially with his limits around impact play.

David looked up from his phone. “I should—”

“Come with me.” Tai was careful not to use his Dom voice, kept it soft and husky.

“For ice cream?” David raised his brows.

“If you want.” Tai had no problem introducing David to Gina and Sammie. And as far as Josh was concerned, he could suck it.

“I don’t know. Ice cream is a good exercise for limbering up the tongue, but I have to keep my sublimations in check.” David patted his waist.

The exaggeratedly coy protest wreaked havoc with Tai’s resolve not to turn the invitation into a power play. “Okay. I’ll take you back, and I’ll use your throat until you need ice cream for it.”

David’s eyes widened, but his tone still teased. “What kind of man would I be to come between a father and daughter? Weren’t you just telling me to learn to be patient?”

Tai’s text alert chimed, and while he was busy checking it, David eased away, tugging at the door. Tai pressed it shut with his hand as he read the text aloud. “She fell asleep three blocks away from the hospital.”

“Poor kid.”

“She’s pretty tough. But she’s upset about not being able to swim.” That had been the only thing to make her lip quiver when they were in the ER. A piece of his heart chipped away every time she looked at him with the conviction that Daddy Tai could fix anything and he had to tell her he couldn’t.

“Ugh. Wet casts are no one’s friend,” David said with authority.

“The voice of experience?” The introduction of a six-year-old, even if only by conversation, made it impossible to keep other things in focus. Tai stepped back from the door as David opened it.

“Far too much of it. You played sports, what about you?”

“Two fingers and my nose and bruises that lasted all season.”

“Sounds colorful.”

“It was.”

A convertible glided toward them as soon as they stepped outside. Matte black, smooth shape, like something out of a Bond movie. One rim probably cost more than Tai’s rent for the next two years. And the driver… If David could model for Abercrombie, this guy could be on the
GQ
cover.

Tai’s hand automatically came to rest on the small of David’s back as he approached the car. They hadn’t decided—well, David hadn’t decided—where he was headed.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” David went up to the driver’s side.

“No problem. I live to keep hauling your ass out of trouble.” Gavin took a long look at Tai, who felt the urge to bare his teeth and growl.

David leaned on the driver’s door. “See, I knew I brought meaning to your life. So when I called, I thought Tai was going to be tied—held—up longer. But—”

“Things got less complicated?” Gavin suggested through a thin smile.

“Exactly.”

“Meaning you’re going to get laid, and I drove here for no reason.”

“And everyone thinks Chip’s the smart Montgomery.”

Gavin stared at Tai again.

“Just think,” David continued, “you can get to Sergeant Boyfriend that much sooner.”

“Beach,” Gavin began in a low voice, but whatever he was going to try to say he abandoned in favor of finishing with, “you’re lucky you’re such an asshole you make me look good by comparison.”

“Come on. When have you ever known me to turn down a good time?”

Gavin shook his head. “Never. Especially if it’s wearing pants. Or a skirt. And for all I know, a clown costume.”

Tai’s ears throbbed then flushed with a steady heat. He knew the dig was for him more than David, but couldn’t figure out exactly what Gavin was aiming for. Tai brought his fingers up to graze the back of David’s neck.

The result was sweet. David straightened, body shifting under that touch. His energy turned toward Tai, away from Gavin.

“Ooo, baby. Those red noses. Big and shiny, pushing forward. Mmmm. I get a boner every time.” David slapped a hand on the top of the doorframe. “Say hi to your—to Jamie.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow.” It sounded more like a threat than a promise, but David only waved as Gavin drove away.

“Sorry.” David turned to Tai. “He’s usually less of a prick. It’s not like I haven’t done the same for him.”

“Gone out of your way to be blown off?”

“Exactly.”

But in the car, David retreated again, off somewhere in his head. Tai replayed the conversation with Gavin, and his hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Do you have sex with women?”

“Yes.”

Always looking for a good time and the fuck with anyone else. Gavin had been offering Tai a warning.
Today it’s you, tomorrow it’s…who knows.

“What about clowns?” His question didn’t come out as light as he’d meant it to.

“No. Not really my thing. Is it yours? I didn’t see it on the checklist.” David abandoned the bantering tone. “I haven’t had sex with anyone else since we started this thing. Is that what you want to know?”

What Tai wanted—needed—to know right now was whether
this thing
was like any other in a long line of fascinations for David.

When Tai didn’t answer, David went on, “I realize that as…” he let out a long breath, “…your submissive, it isn’t my business to set rules for you. But I want to tell you I wouldn’t expect you to only confine yourself to me. I mean, to have me as your only submissive.”

“What if I wanted that from you?”

“You want me to tell you not to be with other people?”

“No.”

“Oh.” The word was clipped. Sharp. “Well, you’re the only Dominant I know.”

Tai summed it up. “In other words, you want to keep your options open.”

Silence poured into the space between them like morning fog off the harbor.

Tai backed the car into a spot a few houses down from his door and was reaching for the ignition when David said, “I want this. It isn’t anything I ever spent time thinking of before, so excuse me if I screw it up sometimes.” More softly he added, “Or a lot. If you remember, I told you one of the things I like best is when you take away the responsibility of having to make choices.”

Tai turned off the car. With the summer heat still pulsing around them, this conversation would be over soon one way or another. Neither of them could stay in the car long. “I can’t order you not to fuck around.”

“Why not? You can order me to make an appointment. I’m not saying— I don’t mind that you do.”

Tai pressed himself back against the seat. “I think you should want to not fuck around.”

“I don’t know that I do.” David put his hand over Tai’s shoulder. Was that the first time he’d initiated a touch? “What I do know is that I want things with you, want you to do things with me, to me, I don’t even have the words for. And I don’t want that with anyone else. I like…submitting to you.” There was less of a hesitation on the word this time. “If that means only having sex with you, then I can do that. Hell, I’m hoping you keep me too worn out for anything else.”

Tai opened his door. “Before that, I’m going to have to take Jez out. Do you want to stay in my apartment?”

David climbed out and tried a couple of steps. “My leg feels pretty good right now. Mind if I walk with you?” David’s phone went off with a generic ringtone. The uncharacteristic blandness was a brief warning for the tension that came into his face. “I have to take this.” He turned away before pulling the phone from his pocket. “Dad?”

Tai wrestled with a desire to stay and find out the cause of that sudden tight jaw, but David’s back and the way he had dropped his voice to almost a murmur made it clear he wanted privacy. Tai left him to it and went upstairs, taking a quick sweep of the apartment after greeting Jez, then leash in hand, peered through the blinds at the front of the apartment to see David still on the sidewalk, shoulders hunched, unmoving. Keeping Jez to her usual routine, Tai walked her to the door and had her sit to get her focused. And to get himself focused.

It should be as easy to control the environment out there as the one in here, but as he knew from training Jez, things never went that smoothly. One moment when his attention shifted and she felt it. One phone call from outside and then another and then it was back to the endless push and pull.

He went down the stairs first, Jez following as she’d been trained, sitting again at the front door as Tai clipped the leash to her collar.

David’s conversation was over by the time they approached, the phone gone. David crouched as he always did to greet Jez face-to-face, but she sensed the absence of something in him as Tai did, her tail stub twitching in concern rather than wriggling with joy. After a minute she looked back at him, as if in accusation.