A boring night on third shift becomes infinitely more interesting when Cody runs into Tony, a man he met at Jake’s BDSM club only a couple of weeks before. Jake had said the man was his cousin, but Cody learns Tony had actually been Jake’s sub for over three years. Already jealous over what he thought was Jake's interest in the man, Cody is devastated by the idea his handsome Dom may have lied to him. Or worse yet, that Jake could be cheating on him, seriously jeopardizing the trust so essential to a D/s relationship. Cody runs, driving aimlessly until he finds a motel where he can crash, lick his wounds and try to figure out what to do. Jake goes after him, using a tracking device on Cody’s phone and realizes he has only one chance to save the love between them. He has to make it good or risk losing his lover and his sub forever.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I wondered what would happen if two people who had been best friends discovered they were in love, but one of them was a Dom. What would that journey look like? Would they be able to make it as a couple? This series chronicles that journey, with both Cody and Jake having to find their way. I decided to serialize their story to show the slow progression of a complicated relationship. This relationship happens to be a D/s coupling, but I think any new love story has potential pitfalls and requires a lot of give and take.
Officer Cody McCall leaned his hips against the counter and sipped his coffee. At nearly three o’clock in the morning, there was no one else in the store except for the weary clerk half asleep behind the cash register and a guy in the back getting ready to mop the floors. This was that weird time of the day when it wasn’t quite morning, but it wasn’t exactly night. When everyone else seemed to be sleeping except for cops and crooks and convenience store clerks. Cody had seen once on TV that three o’clock in the morning was called the devil’s hour, when your demons were supposed to be the most powerful. Or was it just demons in general?
It was hard to think when he got this sleepy. He hadn’t been sleeping well during the day recently—hell, he never slept well during the day, no matter how dark he got the bedroom or how many fans he brought into the room for white noise. Just the day before, as a matter of fact, he’d awakened only a couple of hours after going to bed, feeling twitchy and wired. He had sat up against the headboard, thinking about getting up and playing a video game so he wouldn’t wake Jake up, when he felt a warm hand on his thigh.
“Lie back down here and go to sleep,” Jake had rumbled at him, not even opening his eyes.
“I can’t sleep. Thought maybe I’d get up for a while.”
“No,” Jake said firmly in his best Dom voice. “Lie back down here beside me.”
Huffing out an irritated breath, Cody flopped back down beside him, almost vibrating with tension. He knew better than to disobey Jake when he used that tone of voice, but there was no way Cody could fall back asleep now. Calmly, Jake manhandled him into turning over on his side and then pulled Cody’s ass up into his groin. The feel of Jake’s naked groin against his ass wasn’t at all conducive to making Cody relax, but Jake simply settled Cody against him, wrapped a possessive arm around his waist and whispered, “Now hush,” in Cody’s ear.
Fully expecting to lie there awake, Cody was surprised to find that Jake’s warm body and his even breathing in his ear soon made his body relax almost against his will, and he drifted off into a peaceful sleep that lasted until late afternoon. He kind of hated the fact that Jake was always right.
But no matter how much sleep he’d had the day before, on nights like this, his internal body clock reminded him of his bossy Dom, telling him to get his ass back in bed. Part of his restlessness was due to his new piercing—well, not exactly new, because he’d had his Prince Albert for a little over a month now, but it was still pretty sensitive and the bit of friction he was getting from his tight pants was causing him almost painful stimulation.
The PA had been totally his idea, his way of pleasing Jake and displaying his devotion to him after the trouble they’d had when Jake had taken Cody to his club. Jake had tried to actually talk him out of getting it, saying he might not be ready yet, but Cody was determined. Jake had gone with him and held his hand and had been wonderful in helping with his aftercare. The piercing had taken some getting used to, but he loved it now, and having it move in his underwear was like having Jake play with his dick whenever he walked or shifted positions. The only problem was when Jake wasn’t around, like tonight.
