Rowan thanks her, waiting for Mal before he digs in. He paid for it after all. The least he can do is wait for him. It’s easily more restraint than he’s had to display all night, remembering how good the apple pie was last week.

When Mal returns, Rowan gives him a questioning look, but the other man shrugs it off with a shake of his head.

AS THEY work through their dessert, they make light conversation. When prompted, Rowan tells Mal about all five of his siblings in turn, highlighting their best qualities rather than dragging them to a stranger. In turn, Mal tells him about his job and that he’d gotten his associate’s degree in bookkeeping when he was in his mid-twenties, something he casually mentions no one in his family had done before.

Small things. Normal things. Nothing nearly as heavy as the subjects they’d broached earlier, but still Rowan has to fight to keep the smile off his face.

When they finally part ways in the parking lot of the club half an hour later, Rowan’s jaw and cheeks ache from the effort.

Tonight felt good. Tonight felt like progress in cracking that titanium shell that Mal has around everything that’s not strictly related to physical pleasure. Rowan only hopes that things keep going this well.

Chapter 6: Mistakes and Promises

ROWAN’S NEXT two scenes with Mal go as well as their first two. They use the cuffs both times, Mal jigsawing into near impossible positions that get Rowan’s heart thudding and his dick throbbing. They test out the glass dildo that Mal had shown him before their first scene together, which pales in comparison to the silicone beads they’d used the second time, and a set of clover nipple clamps that make Mal keen the loudest he ever has. Rowan had dutifully filed that particular fact away for later use as soon as Mal nearly came from Rowan tugging on the chain connecting his overly sensitive nipples.

It really is amazing that after only four sessions alone with him, he already feels in tune to Mal’s desires. To his body. His reactions. Like the way his thighs shake when he’s on the verge of coming, or the way he bites his bottom lip when Rowan strokes over the tip of his cock. The way his eyes roll back any time Rowan’s hands ghost over his neck.

He never thought he could be so completely and thoroughly satisfied with a sexual partner. Even in the past with hookups or fuck buddies or the couple of people he’s referred to as his boyfriend, he’s never felt like this. Just… gratified in every way. And sure, he’s never delved this deep into his sexuality before, so there’s obviously an element of newness that explains some of it, but the rest is solely Mal.