Page 13 of All Tied Up

“Alright, let’s see your phone,” Jamie demanded when their sides were pressed completely together.

Neil unlocked it and handed it over. “I think the Cuffd app is on the next screen,” he said softly. “I haven’t actually opened it.”

“Well, we’ll just fix that up right now.” Jamie flicked over to it, then navigated to the Destination tab, their event, and the list of attendees. The first photo in the line up was the one who’d hurt Neil’s feelings in the parking lot, so Jamie just skipped right over it and pulled up the next one.

“Ohh! Look at this one. He looks like a nice furry Papa bear.” He held the image up for Neil’s inspection. “Is he your type?”

Neil shrugged.

“No? How ’bout this one. Sexy leather Daddy.”

Neil shrugged again.

“Seriously? ’K, try this one. Stern corporate Daddy with the sharp suit?”

Another shrug.

“So, what is your type?”

Neil made a face. “Um, maybe someone more plain, I guess? They’re all out of my league.”

Jamie scowled at him. “Don’t you dare say that. You’re delicious. All of the Daddies will be all over you once they see how sweet you are.”

Neil shook his head. “You don’t even know me. I’m boring. And old. You can see what I look like, and my personality only gets more boring from there.” He clapped a hand over his mouth. “I can’t believe I said that out loud.”

Jamie knew he shouldn’t laugh, but it was just too funny. He rubbed a thumb along Neil’s cheek until he dropped his hand. But Neil’s beard was so enticing that he kept going, enjoying the feel of the bushy hairs brushing against his skin and the way that Neil’s eyes widened at the contact. “If you were boring, you wouldn’t be here. And if you don’t have any cute clothes, believe me, I can find you some.”

“Um… I have some. I mean, I don’t know if they’re cute. But my friend Levi gave me some t-shirts that he said I should wear. I guess he was right. I just don’t want to look foolish.”

“It sounds like Levi knows what he’s doing.”

Neil rolled his eyes, but he did it with a fond smile. “Apparently. He works at Cuffd and he reminds me a lot of you, actually. He’s kind of been my mentor in this whole thing.”

“So this is your first time exploring kink?”

“Yeah,” he said heavily. “Or kind of? My ex was another lawyer, and I think I was attracted to him because he always liked to be in charge. I was kind of glad to let it go on that way, even though he didn’t have much time for me. I mean, to be fair, I didn’t have much time for him either. But he smacked my ass a few times in bed when we first started dating, and I was hooked. I got him to try out some handcuffs and stuff, and for a while I think he was curious, but it never did much for him. Meanwhile, I was begging him to hit me harder and tie me up tighter, and we finally figured out it wasn’t going to work.”

“Did he make you feel bad about it?”

“No?” Yes. “I mean, he wasn’t disgusted by anything I wanted. He just… didn’t really understand it.”

“Is that why you broke up?”

“It was more like… a business decision, I guess? He explained that even though we’d put three years into the relationship, it was a sunk cost, and there wasn’t any reason for us to continue if we weren’t meeting each other’s needs.” Neil stated the case evenly, but he still looked forlorn.

What an asshole, Jamie thought privately. But what he said out loud was, “That sounds difficult.”

“Yeah, it was. But he was right. We weren’t meeting each other’s needs.”

God, did Jamie know that story. But he wasn’t going to think about his own ex right now either.

He changed the subject. “So how did you get into Daddy kink?”

“Um, porn at first. I was trying to figure out what I was into and it just clicked. Then I did some reading online and it just felt… right. I want someone to take care of me, which honestly took me a few years to even admit to myself.”

“Oh, I hear you, sweetie. Daddy takes such good care of me.”

“With lots of spankings, I bet.” Neil finally laughed. He was just gorgeous when he smiled.