Daniel’s gaze flicks over to his phone, to where he’s recording their meeting.

“That’s for my notes. Do you want me to turn it off?”

“I didn’t say that,” he responds and looks away.

Liam wants to turn it off, but the truth is that Daniel is General Burrows’ son and he can make Liam’s life a nightmare if he wants to. And if this goes south then maybe he needs a record for his own protection. It’s a little too soon to put that much faith in Daniel.

“Alright.” Liam touches Daniel’s thigh, pale and muscular, and that one small touch has Daniel grinding his ass back into the bed, opening his legs for more. “Diamond?” Liam asks, and Daniel stares at him blankly.

“Put the soles of your feet together, legs open. It makes a diamond shape. Don’t do it if it isn’t comfortable.”

Daniel does it, free hand lifting to rest on his pec, squeezing it absently as he waits.

“Sensitive nipples?” Liam asks.

Daniel flinches, yanking his hand away from himself. The flush of shame is mottled, a harsh contrast to the pretty blush Liam got before. “No! That was an accident! I had an itch,” he says, then looks away, blinking rapidly.

He won’t call Daniel out on the lie, not yet. But it’s interesting and arousing to think that the boy might be so starved for pleasure that he’ll touch himself without realizing.

“Do you like positions, sweetheart?”

“I don’t think so,” he breathes.

Liam touches the inside of his thigh, where his mounting gland is. It’s hot and hard. Small. Abnormally small. “How slick do you get? If you’re making yourself feel good, do you get really wet?”

“No,” he says, no inflection either way. Careful. Once again, his gaze cuts to Liam’s phone. “I don’t do that, at all.”

Hell.

“Is it good or bad if you get wet?”

“I don’t get wet,” Daniel hisses, sounding angry.

“Alright. We can return to that later.” Liam touches the little gland with just a brush of his thumb. There’s no reaction. He certainly doesn’t come. The gland should be an erogenous zone.

“How does that feel?”

“It doesn’t feel like much.” Daniel’s calm when he says it, which makes Liam think he’s sincere.

“Okay. Let’s do the thermometer,” Liam says easily, and holds it up. “You’ve seen one of these before?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll tell you what it does, anyway, because you’re awake now. It takes your temperature, measures the blood in your oxygen, measures inflammation, and can pick up the traces of hormones that your body secretes through its skin. It’s a good way to tell if a submissive or Dominant is struggling.”

Daniel frowns.