Page 138 of All Tied Up

Neil looked up from his laptop, for probably the dozenth time. He didn’t have deadlines like he’d spent the past decade worrying about, but there was a community bike shop that he’d promised some paperwork to this evening and he wanted to turn it in.

Only he was having a very difficult time concentrating. He watched the light flutter of snow drift out over the ravine, adding to the scene that was already so perfect it could have been on a postcard. Over three months since he’d moved in, and he hadn’t gotten tired of watching it every day.

That wasn’t where his attention was right now, though. His ears were peeled for Jamie’s flirtatious laugh because he was… talking with another guy.

Not Daddy. Not Neil.

A friend from out of town who Jamie and Sebastian had hooked up with a couple years ago and who Jamie still kept in touch with. There were a lot of coy touches and giggles and… the possibility that Jamie, or Jamie and Daddy, or maybe all three of them, might hook up with him again this weekend.

Kris was his name. He’d walked in the door about ten minutes ago, and Jamie had squealed and run from the check-in desk to greet him.

Neil hadn’t decided yet what he thought about all of it. He was mostly just dying to know what Jamie was whispering about.

OK, and maybe insecure because he hadn’t really seen Jamie all day, given all the preparations for the kinky weekend that the lodge was hosting. Already, the Meadowlark was starting to fill with leather-clad and scantily-adorned kinksters instead of the usual skiing and snowboarding guests.

Even Levi and Saul would be coming up for the weekend, a possibility that filled Neil with both excitement and another wave of nerves. He hadn’t seen the two of them anywhere near enough since he’d moved out to the lodge, and he was looking forward to catching up with Levi and maybe getting a bit of advice.

Especially since, well, if he did a public scene, Levi and Saul might be watching him. With any vanilla friends the idea would have been too embarrassing to contemplate. But since Levi regularly overshared about all of the dirty things his Daddy did to him, that embarrassment had crossed over somewhere into a squirmy sort of arousal that he was almost looking forward to.

OK, so he was really looking forward to it. As long as Daddy was taking care of him and Jamie was at his side, the idea of all of those people watching him was… kind of exciting.

Jamie flirting with someone else was more confusing though. Especially when Neil was already worked up about letting his limits be pushed tonight.

Neil finally gave up and turned in his seat. Jamie was as gorgeous as always, in a tiny t-shirt cut so high that you could almost see his nipples and a skirt that fluttered around his full ass. Neil already wanted to touch him, and still sometimes couldn’t quite believe that he was allowed to.

The guy he was talking to was a bit taller, with a skater-punk sort of vibe. Dark eye shadow, features practically lost beneath all the piercings, a tight black shirt with a band name Neil didn’t recognize, and strategically ripped jeans. Basically the opposite of everything that Neil was.

Was this who they’d been scening with before him? So far, he’d seen the lithe, manicured Henri once and this skater boy now. So perhaps they didn’t quite have a type, but they were both certainly a hell of a lot younger. And bolder.

God, Neil was sitting here in his turtleneck and khakis going through somebody’s strategic five-year plan while Jamie was about to take some college student into a backroom for a good time. What the hell was he even doing here?

Just then, Daddy came around the corner with a steaming mug in one hand. He gave Jamie a quick nod and a wink and called out a cheerful greeting to Kris, but kept going until he reached Neil’s table.

“Hey, baby boy. I brought you some hot tea.”

“Thank you, Daddy.” Neil still got a kick out of saying it every time, and he clung to that security now.

Bringing Neil hot beverages throughout the day was just one of the ways that Daddy showed that he was always thinking of him, and Neil needed it today more than ever.

He took a sip, even though it was a little too hot and he wasn’t really thirsty.

“How are you doing, sweetheart?”

“Fine.”

Daddy looked him over, like he was trying to peer inside of him. “Come sit on my lap.”

“Here?” Neil looked around. True, everybody here was kinky, but he’d gotten pretty used to keeping it all behind closed doors and not in the middle of the lobby. Plus, he didn’t need Daddy to hold him right now.

Daddy raised one eyebrow in warning, daring him to disagree.

Neil moved fast, settling sideways across Daddy’s legs and letting those strong arms pull him close. His worries about what anyone else thought had nothing on his desire to be good for Daddy.

And once he was there, everything was so much better. Which of course, Daddy had known. It was probably why he had come over right now, as soon as Kris walked through the door. Neil let himself finally relax, feeling small and adored and a little bit vulnerable.

“There we are baby,” Daddy murmured against his ear. “Want to tell me what you’re thinking?”

“Kris is very, um… young.”