Discipline

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Deviations: Discipline

TOP SHELF

An imprint of Torquere Press Publishers

Copyright 2006 © by Chris Owen and Jodi Payne

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"Your young man called me again," Mrs. Miller said with a broad smile as she walked into Tobias' office at the farm house. "Is he as polite to you as he is to me?"

Tobias looked up from his desk and tried not to smirk. One did not smirk at Mrs. Miller; at eighty-three years of age, his housekeeper was still a formidable force. "Usually, yes," he conceded. "He does, of course, have his moments."

Her smile grew. "I bet he does. So, is his cooking as good as my sweetie pie's?"

Tobias put down his pen and closed the file he was working on. "It is," he said. "Noah is a wonderful cook, thankyou. His friend Allison has taught him technique, and he tells me that you've given him wonderful advice, not to mention a pile of recipes." He smiled as she sat down in the easy chair. "He tries very hard." He couldn't resist mentioning the point; she'd invited it, comparing Noah to Phantom, Tobias'

former lover and forever Mrs. Miller's "sweetie-pie." Of course, she’d claimed Noah as her "darling," so it was a pretty even playing field, all told.

She nodded and sat back with a sigh. "You're very lucky, Doctor," she said, keeping to her habit of using Tobias' title. She swore she’d worked just as hard on his veterinary degree as he had, and she would use the title over his name in celebration. Tobias didn't mind. "Having someone learn to cook just to please you is a great gift."

"I know," he said simply. He'd occasionally wondered just how much Mrs. Miller knew about his relationships; in his more honest moments, he allowed that she likely knew the important parts, if not the actual details. That she seemed not to mind the nature of his tastes didn't make it any easier to contemplate.

She could hardly be oblivious, he knew. There were the stables behind the house that he never permitted anyone to enter and the lovers who cleaned and cooked and did chores; it was hardly subtle.

She looked around the office and sighed contentedly. "It's good to be home, you know."

Tobias smiled. "I have often found that my two favorite parts of travel were the day of arrival there and the day of arrival home. Tell me you enjoyed the trip, though. You're breaking my heart," he teased.

"It was--"

"Astounding," a voice said from the door and Tobias turned to smile at Robert, Mrs. Miller's son.

"Very," Mrs. Miller agreed. She looked up and nodded her head. "Astounding is exactly right."

Tobias gestured to a chair, inviting Robert to join them. He had no issue at all with Robert simply walking into the house; the two men had known each other almost all of Tobias' life, and the house was practically a second home to Robert since Mrs. Miller had moved in after Mr. Miller had passed away.

But for some reason, Robert had always hesitated to go into the office without Tobias' leave. The kitchen and living room were fair game, though.

"So you had a good time?" Tobias asked as Robert settled in the chair. "I'm glad."

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"It was a great trip," Robert said. "A great gift. Thankyou, Tobias."

Tobias inclined his head. "It was the least I could do; I wasn't about to send her to Italy alone -- she'd have adopted the country and caused an international incident without you there to keep her in line," he teased.

Mrs. Miller snorted, but Robert laughed. "Too true. As it was we had to send her to bed a few times --

do you have any idea how much walking she wanted to do?"

Grinning, Tobias nodded. "I thought you'd lost a few pounds."

Robert laughed. "Right. You're looking fitter, too. Is Noah slipping you low fat milk in your coffee?"

"Just getting lots of exercise," Tobias said with a wink.

"That's it," Mrs. Miller said, standing up. She was clearly trying not to laugh and working on looking disgusted. "No respect for an old lady; you two should be ashamed of yourselves."

Tobias and Robert grinned at each other. "You should have seen Mom and a certain man who was in the same hotel."

Tobias raised an eyebrow. "Do tell."

"You'll do no such thing, Robert," Mrs. Miller said, pointing to her son. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have things to do for Noah in the kitchen; he was asking about desserts. Lord knows why; you don't deserve any." With that, she turned on her heel and left the room.

Robert was still grinning. "She had a great time, Tobias; it was really the best gift you could have given her."

"She deserved it," Tobias said easily. "It was the least I could do, really. She's taken care of me for so long, I wanted to do something nice for her -- for you all."

Robert waved it off. "Family. Been far too long to pretend otherwise. You and I might not be as close as brothers, but that's pretty much just down to me being ten years older."

"Twelve," Tobias said with a wink. "Or are you getting younger as I get older?"

"Smart ass," Robert said standing up. "And let's just keep pretending that sending Mom to Italy for three weeks didn't let you and Noah have some extended peace here."

"Yes, let's pretend that," Tobias said, grinning.

"I like him," Robert said suddenly. "Well, I like what I know, anyway. Mom was worried about you being alone after Phantom, you know."

"Everyone was," Tobias said, also standing. He followed Robert out and added, "Bunch of worrywarts."

Robert nodded and headed to the kitchen. "You know it."

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"I do indeed."

"Just have to live with it, I guess."

"I know that, too. Wouldn't have it any other way, really."

Robert laughed and nodded, and Tobias found himself smiling. All was right in his world.

Tobias cursed as he came across yet another torn up intersection. Traffic was a mess all through the downtown core, and his frustration level was rising with every one-way street he had to navigate. He was going in a circle, he just knew it, and Lincoln Avenue was always just out of reach.

The trouble, he decided, wasn't so much the damn construction as the sheer idiocy of the drivers who simply wouldn't get out of his way and let him get home. "It's not even close to rush hour," he muttered, talking out loud in uncharacteristic frustration and trying to ease around yet another truck offloading dirt or equipment or something. He hit the gas and then the brakes as a woman in a PT Cruiser cut him off and gave him the finger.

"And you would think," he added, "that with all this crap going on... I could at least lose this fucking erection." An incredibly persistent one at that, one that had been with him to varying degrees since he'd woken up from a morning dream about Noah and new leather wrist cuffs that had complex and intriguing chains dangling from them. He'd been hard off and on since then, and his body was definitely settling on full hardness at the moment.

He took another breath and looked around at the traffic as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his irritation growing. "But no. Not today. Today, I'm cursed with an iron dick, a schedule that's opened up, a submissive at work, and endless traffic. God damn it!" He slammed his hand down on the steering wheel and a miracle happened: the road in front of his car emptied.

So he hit the gas and took off, heading for home. The sudden siren and flashing lights in his rearview mirror made him glance down at the speedometer in dismay. "Ah, shit." With a sigh he pulled over and undid his seatbelt.

A chest in uniform appeared at the driver's side window. A knuckle tapped on the glass, and Tobias rolled down the window, stifling another sigh. The cop had one hand on his gun. As if Tobias could make a bid for freedom in this traffic.

"License and registration, please," a voice requested in an official tone, and Tobias dutifully reached for the glove compartment. "Wait a minute." The cop rested an arm on the door and ducked to see better into the car. "Do you have any idea how fast you were going, sir?"

"Jesus Christ," Tobias groaned, his head falling back on the seat. "Yes. Too fast. Would you like to know why, Noah?"

"That's 'Officer Dolan,' sir, and, yes. Yes, I would." Noah grinned widely.

Tobias rolled his eyes. "Well, you see, Officer Dolan, I have a smart-mouthed lover whom I can't get out
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of my head." He pointed to his lap. "I was in rather a rush to call him. Or at least think about him in private."

"Tsk. That's no excuse to break the law." Noah was having fun with this, damn him. Tobias frowned as he heard a car door slam.

"Everything all right, Dolan?" came a woman's voice.

"Oh, uh..." Noah gave Tobias a wicked grin. "Actually, you know, I think this guy might be drunk, Carol. He's definitely disorderly." Noah stepped back from the car.

"Right. Out of the car, sir," Carol ordered.

Tobias stared at Noah. "You are in so much trouble," he hissed. He opened the door slowly and got out of the car, unfolding himself carefully and willing his erection to go away. Sadly, it seemed to like the excitement of seeing Noah at work and the promise of all the spankings his boy was building up. He wished for a longer coat.

"Hands on the roof of the car, legs spread," she continued with the orders. "License and registration?"

Tobias looked at his hands and sighed. "My registration is in the glove compartment. My license is in my wallet, which is in my back pocket. Shall I get it for you, or shall I place my hands on the roof as you requested?"

"On the roof. Dolan?"

"I got it." Noah tugged Tobias' wallet out of his pocket and pulled out his license, then ducked into the car and got his registration. He handed both to Carol, leaving the wallet on the roof.

"I'll run these, you got him?"

"I've got my eye on him," Noah said with a grin, and Carol disappeared into the car. "I really just wanted an excuse to touch you," Noah breathed in Tobias' ear as he patted him down.

"Do you have any concept of what your weekend has just become?" Tobias demanded.

"Some," Noah answered with a nod. "But I know you have a sense of humor, and this isn't your time after all. It's mine."

"I don't..." Tobias stopped dead, unable to actually utter the words "don’t humiliate you," because...

well. "Noah," he tried again. "This isn't funny. I just wanted to get home. I'll pay the damn fine, all right?"

Noah laughed. "Oh, please. I'm not going to fine you, sir."

"Noah!" Carol snorted at him as she got out of the car. "You little shit. He's your lover!" She hurried over and landed a solid punch in Noah's arm.

"Ow! He is," Noah admitted, stepping away from Tobias. "Dr. Tobias Vincent, meet my partner, Carol Thompson. Carol, Tobias."

Tobias let go of the roof of his car and offered his hand. "Officer Thompson. It's a pleasure." He even
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managed to make it sound mostly sincere, he thought.

Carol shook her head. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too. Noah's told me a lot about you. You're a vet?"

Tobias nodded and turned his body as discreetly as he could. It seemed that even small talk wasn't going to kill this hard-on. "Yes. Large animal, so I'm usually out of the city. Today was clinics, though, so I got to actually face the monster that is city construction."

"Ugh, it's a mess, isn't it?" She looked at Noah. "I can't believe you."

"It was a joke!" Noah protested.

"Best way out of here is to take this to Fifth and head west a few blocks," Carol told Tobias, ignoring Noah.

"Thankyou," he said, trying not to sound like an utter bore. He really had to get out of there, and soon.

He glanced at his watch and then at Noah. "Are you off at four?"