Not Safe for Work (29 page)

He ran his thumb along the back of mine. “I want to pay off your kids’ college.”

I blinked. “Come again?”

“Tuition. Books. Housing.” He waved his free hand. “Whatever they need. That way they can focus on their studies without sweating over money, and you don’t have to work yourself into the ground either.”

My pride wanted me to jump up and refuse his offer, but I just stared at him, disbelieving. Not that he was willing to part with some money—God knew it would be a drop in the bucket for him—but that he cared enough about my kids and me to do that.

“I don’t… I have no idea what to say.”

“Just say yes or no,” he whispered. “I haven’t met them, but I know they’re your world, and they’re a huge part of why you’re killing yourself for Mitchell & Forsythe. It’s not a judgment of your ability to take care of them and provide for them. I know damn well you can and will pay their way, whatever it takes. This is a gift from me to you. Because I love you.”

“I love you too, and I…” I shook my head. “My God, Rick. I just can’t believe you’d…”

“Jon.” He kissed me gently. “I don’t just want to make you happy in the bedroom. And I’ve seen how much of a toll it’s taken on you to finance their education. What kind of partner would I be if I stood back and let that keep eating away at you and them when I could do something about it?”

I searched his eyes. “Are you sure about this?”

“Absolutely.”

If it had been anything else—paying off my mortgage, buying me a car, putting a Rolex on my wrist—I’d have balked, but this went so far above any kind of gift he ever could have given me. There was nothing more important to me than my children, and he was willing to give them their education. He was willing to make sure they didn’t graduate college with the heavy burden of student loans.

“Thank you,” I whispered, drawing him in for another kiss. “I don’t think I could ever thank you enough for that.”

“You already have.”

I pressed my lips to his, and then I pulled him even closer.

As we wound each other up again and turned each other on, hands running all over skin and cocks hardening between us, our conversation was never far from my mind. Even as he melted away my ability to form a coherent thought, one last thing remained in my mind, clear as day:

That I’d been the stupidest man alive to let him go for anything, and I was the luckiest man alive to have him back.

Epilogue

A couple of years later.

From the passenger seat, Rick smiled at me. “So how does it feel to be the dad of a college graduate?”

“Pretty amazing.” I grinned as I pulled the car into a parking space. As I put the car in Park, I added, “Kind of old, but amazing.”

He laughed, patting my leg. “Just wait and see how old you feel when you’re walking her down the aisle.”

“I am so not ready for that.”

“You have plenty of time to get ready for it.” He leaned across the console and kissed my cheek. “I mean, three months is enough time, right?”

I tried to glare at him, but we both laughed. I slid my arm around his shoulders and kissed him.

We exchanged glances. Oh, he knew he was in for it tonight. That little smartass comment had earned him a cock cage tomorrow unless he redeemed himself after we got home. Knowing him, he’d try his damnedest. I couldn’t wait.

But that would come later. Assuming either of us had any energy left after Kelsey’s graduation this afternoon, and the celebratory dinner we were about to have with the whole clan.

I shut off the engine, and we headed into the restaurant.

This place didn’t take reservations, and we had a large group since Karen, the kids, and all of their respective partners would be here, so Rick and I had come in early to make sure we got a table. The employees rearranged some tables in the back to make one big one, and the hostess seated us. The whole process hadn’t taken long at all, so we had the table to ourselves for the next twenty minutes or so.

I sat down and set Kelsey’s gifts on the chair beside me.

Rick stayed on his feet. “Budweiser, or see what’s on tap?”

“Budweiser’s fine.” I smiled. “Thanks.”

He smiled back and then headed up to the mostly deserted bar to get us a couple of drinks.

Alone with my thoughts, I sat back and released a long breath. What a day. What a year. And it wasn’t over yet. I wasn’t just the father of a college graduate. In a few months, I’d have a son-in-law. Brooke and her girlfriend were making noise about getting married too, and Karen was already insisting on paying for her wedding just like she was paying for Kelsey’s.

Tyler and his girlfriend hadn’t said a word about weddings—I was pretty sure neither was interested in the whole institution—but they were saving to buy a house together after they graduated. I was thrilled for all of them, but I’d warned them all that I was not to be a grandfather before I turned fifty. With the way Kelsey and her fiancé kept swooning over every baby within a ten-mile radius, I probably wasn’t going to win this one. And even if I wouldn’t admit it out loud, I was pretty okay with that.

It was just hard to believe how much everything was changing. My family was growing up and expanding. My boyfriend and I were, as my daughters were wont to say, stupidly in love. We were living together now. His job ebbed and flowed, and sometimes he worked long days that rivaled the grueling periods at Mitchell & Forsythe, so he’d be home at ten and back to the office at six. But those precious few hours at home were spent in the same bed, even when we were both too exhausted to even think about sex, and when he went to work every day, he wore a slim leather collar beneath his shirt and tie.

My career had, of course, been through its share of upheaval, especially after I’d decided to leave my job. I just couldn’t keep working for those people, even after Rick had put them in their place, so I’d started looking for another job. I’d been right about one thing—no one in town would hire me. It was never blatantly clear why. Maybe they were looking to switch to more modern modeling techniques. Maybe they didn’t want a forty-something modeler when there were twenty-somethings who’d do it for half the price. Maybe they’d heard the truth about why I wanted to leave the firm, and didn’t particularly want someone on the payroll who might jeopardize a valuable contract with his dick. It could have been anything. All I knew was, six months down the line, I’d still been working for the firm and hunting for something better.

It was Marie who’d ultimately helped me find something. She knew someone at the architectural college downtown, and their course program was in dire need of experienced modelers and drafters who
did
know the old-school ways. Three interviews later, I was hired. Though it had taken a while for the dust to settle, I was content with where things were now.

The NSFW crew didn’t last much longer than I did. Teagan had wisely been taking 3D modeling classes for the past year or two, and a rival firm snatched her up after one interview. Bianca and Cal both moved to one of the aerospace companies. Scott and Silent Dave both went part-time and went back to school. In fact, Silent Dave was my TA this semester, and I was working with Scott to get him a job teaching computer-aided drafting.

I missed working with them, but we all made a point to get together at Arturo’s at least twice a month, and Teagan and I still had sushi on a regular basis. In fact, now that Rick and I were living together—I’d moved in a little under a year ago—he frequently had me invite the crew over. He loved cooking for the whole group, and it was good to see everybody. Between them and my kids visiting whenever they were off school, his enormous house didn’t feel so empty anymore, and he’d decided not to downsize after all. Which was great as far as I was concerned. After all that work we’d both put into converting one of the empty rooms into a dungeon, it’d be a shame to have to tear it all out and sanitize it so the house could go on the market. That had been enough of a pain in the ass when I’d put my place up for sale.

Life was good. Hell, life was fantastic. Things were crazy, things were changing faster than I could keep up with them, but I was happy. I liked the way things were, chaos and all.

Footsteps shook me out of my thoughts, and I looked up as Rick came back with a couple of beer bottles in hand. He set one in front of me, then sat across from me with his own. “Doing okay?”

I nodded. “Just…thinking.”

He sipped his beer. “A little overwhelmed?”

“You could say that. Man, I thought it was weird having kids in college. Now they’re starting to
finish
college.” I blew out a breath as I brought my beer up to my lips. “I can’t believe one of my kids is on her way to graduate school. That’s just…” I shook my head. “Hard to fit in my head, I guess.”

“I can imagine.”

We drank in silence for a moment, and as I watched him, nervous excitement swelled in my chest. I glanced at my watch—no one would be here for another fifteen minutes or so. There was time.

I took a deep swallow of beer, and as I set the bottle down, said, “I, um, have a present for you.”

“For me?” He laughed. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know. But…” From the stack of gifts I’d brought for my daughter, I took a small, flat box and slid it across the table. “This is for you.”

He smiled as he pulled it closer. “Is it something appropriate to open in public?”

“I would’ve given it to you at home if it wasn’t.” I nodded toward it. “Go ahead.”

He slid his thumbnail under the edge to cut the tape, and my heart went into overdrive as he carefully lifted the lid. Inside, nestled in tissue paper, was a leather bracelet. It was similar to the collar I’d given him a year ago, but a higher quality leather and a much nicer buckle. Something that would last a long, long time.

“Wow,” he said. “This is really nice.”

“I thought it might be more comfortable at work. Instead of wearing the collar under your tie.”

He met my gaze, eyebrows up.

Yes, Rick.
I smiled.
I noticed all those times you tugged at it and fussed with it.

“Try it on,” I said, my mouth suddenly dry.

As he slowly withdrew it from the box, I held my breath, waiting for his gaze to make it to the gold buckle.

Metal clinked quietly against metal. His eyes flicked downward, right to the buckle, and he froze. My heart stopped.

He looked at me. “Jon, are these…”

“Yes.” I took a deep breath. “They are.”

His fingers slid down the leather, to the buckle, and on to the pair of dangling gold bands. “You’re serious.”

“Completely.” My heart hadn’t pounded like this the day I’d admitted in front of my now-ex-bosses that I was in love with him.

He gently freed the rings from the buckle. “I thought you said you didn’t want to get married.”

I nodded, moistening my dry lips. “Yeah, I did. But that was before I knew what it was like to be with you.” I took his hand, closing his fingers around what would hopefully be our wedding rings. “Look, I’ve bought four engagement rings in my life. Three of them felt exactly the same way. Like I might as well, now’s as good a time as any, so why the hell not? This time…” I struggled to find the words. After a moment, I slid my other hand under his, only distantly aware of just how public our affection was just then. “Rick, you’re everything I’ve ever wanted in a submissive, and you’re also everything I’ve ever wanted in a partner. I’ve had some strong connections with people before, and I’ve been in love before, but with you…” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “I can’t even describe it. All I can say is that I’ve never felt like this for anyone. And I want to make it permanent.”

Rick put his other hand over the top of ours and squeezed gently. His eyes were fixed on our hands, his lips taut and unreadable.

“Rick,” I whispered. “I love you. Will you marry me?”

“Shouldn’t…” He gulped. I held my breath, waiting for him to finish the thought that creased his forehead. And then he cleared his throat, and his eyes flicked up and met mine with a mischievous, bratty sparkle in them. “Shouldn’t you be down on one knee?”

I arched an eyebrow. “I was planning on putting
you
down on
both
knees later, but I—”

“That works, that works.” Slowly, he smiled, and the brattiness faded in favor of something much more sincere. “And absolutely, yes, I will.”

The rush of relief made me laugh, and I squeezed his hands. “God, I love you.”

“I love you too.” He grinned. “Did you really think I’d say no?”

“I—” I brought one of his hands up and kissed his fingers. “Let’s just say I was hoping a lot harder for a yes than I was the last few times.”

He laughed. As he turned his hand over, we both looked down at the two rings. “So, do we wait to put these on until we get married? Or, what?”

“We’ve made our own rules from the beginning.” I picked up one of the bands from his palm. “Kind of seems like we could do the same now.”

He picked up the other, holding it between his thumb and forefinger and turning it so it caught the light. “What do you think we should do?”

I studied the rings for a moment. “It took me forty-five years to find you, and another two to work up the courage to ask.” I looked in his eyes. “I don’t think I want to wait to put these on.”

“I don’t either.” He reached for the ring in my hand but hesitated. “May I?”

I nodded. He picked it up, steadied my hand and carefully slid the gold band onto my third finger. The cool metal made my skin prickle. It wasn’t my first wedding ring, but for the first time, I felt like this would be my last one.

I took the other ring, and as I held his left hand, I paused. My throat tightened. “We’re really doing this, aren’t we? I mean, this part is just rings, but…”

His fingers curled around mine. “It’s not just rings.”

Our eyes met. He swallowed. So did I.

He swiped at his eye with his free hand. “How soon should we make it official?”

I sniffed sharply and pushed back the lump that was suddenly rising in my throat. “As soon as possible.”

“Yeah. I agree.”

We held each other’s gazes and both smiled despite the sting in my eyes and the faint shine in his. Without another word, I pushed the ring onto his finger.

“Perfect fit,” he whispered.

“Are you surprised?”

“Not in the least.”

“And I’m not joking about putting you on your knees later.” I ran my thumb alongside his hand. “It’s going to be a long night.”

He moistened his lips. “I can’t wait.”

“Neither can I.” I looked down at the rings on our hands. They really were a perfect fit. I’d guessed his size based on mine—his hands were just slightly bigger than mine—but it wasn’t just the way they fit. Seeing his hands and mine with matching bands, wearing a ring with all the implications that came with it—for the first time in my life, it didn’t give me a sense of “what the hell did I just get myself into?” Instead, it was more like “how in the world did I wait this long?”

He exhaled. “I suddenly have the urge to clear my schedule and meet you down at the courthouse.”

I laughed. “Yeah. I think we deserve a little more than the justice of the peace, though. It’d be nice to have some family there.”

“Good point.”

“We’ll figure it out. This”—I squeezed his hand—“is the important part.”

“I agree. We—” He glanced toward the front of the restaurant and did a double take as he sat straighter. “Oh hey. Looks like everyone else is here.”

I turned as my family poured in through the door. Kelsey had shed the black gown but still wore her cap and tassel as she and her fiancé crossed the restaurant, hand in hand. Behind them, the twins and their girlfriends, and my ex-wife and her boyfriend.

We both stood.

I hugged my daughter. “Congratulations again, Kelsey. I could not be prouder.”

“Thanks, Dad.” She let me go and then turned to Rick and hugged him. “Thank you again. For everything.”

“You’re welcome. Congratulations—you’ve earned this.”

As she let him go, she said, “I really do appreciate your help. It took a lot of pressure off my mom and dad.”

“You’re—”

“What the hell is that?” She grabbed his wrist and held up his hand. “What—” Her head snapped toward me, then back to Rick, then back to me again. “Were you wearing this at commencement, or did you guys run off and elope or something?”

I laughed. “No, he wasn’t wearing it before. But this is your day. We—”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatevs.” She eyed me. “So what’s the deal? Are you guys getting married?” She cocked her head. “Do you have one?”