The Gift of Strength Read Online M.A. Innes

Categories Genre: BDSM, Erotic, M-M Romance Tags Authors:
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Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
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Amanda’s nod made it easier to stay on track and out of the romance section. “That sounds great. I’ll keep an eye out for anything that would work. Oh, there are some new cookbooks coming out soon. They’re not my biggest sellers but I’ll see if anything might work for the theme.”

We talked for another minute about ideas and plans for the rest of the evening. I thought I was in the clear but as I started to walk away because the books were fucking heavy, she sighed dramatically. “You’re not even going to give me a hint, are you?”

She was persistent, I’d give her that.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” That was true since I wasn’t sure if she was talking about my new friendship with Bex or if it was about my ridiculous rambling when she’d walked up.

But since I wasn’t going to help her out with either, I looked down at the books. “These are going to kill me. If I’d known there would be a quiz, I’d have brought the cart.”

She actually looked guilty, so I could only guess that she’d forgotten what I’d been doing to begin with. “Sorry.”

“No problem.” The interrogation wasn’t unexpected but I took the excuse to walk away without feeling guilty. “I’ll get some ideas together for the window and show you early next week.”

Then I took the smart way out and quickly walked away.

Part of me thought I was a coward but there was a bigger voice that was Bex’s doing that said I was a smart sub and I didn’t have to talk to anyone I didn’t want to. And right now, I didn’t want to talk to anyone because I wasn’t sure what I’d say.

We were going on our third date…or maybe second because we were debating the status of that first night…but either way, I couldn’t exactly call him a boyfriend yet. Explaining he was my Master was out of the question because then everyone in the fucking store would ask what that meant to me, and I wasn’t sure I could answer it.

The only things I really knew were that I liked Bex, I liked having a Master because he made me feel safe and confident, and I was really freaked out about what was going to happen after dinner.

My gear had arrived.

Nope. I wasn’t going to think about it.

I had an hour left of my shift and I would not spend it hard and confused. I’d do that while we were on our date…eating the steak and mac and cheese I’d been thinking about since Master had picked out a nice steak house for our date.

The fact that he’d casually reminded me that neither of us had to work tomorrow was also something I’d been obsessing over. It could’ve meant everything or nothing. If he’d said it out loud, I would’ve had a better chance of figuring out what he wanted out of a response, but we’d been texting.

I hated texting.

Once I wasn’t a wuss and was ready for the rules and structure of our relationship discussion, I was going to make sure he understood no fucking with me over text. He could do that in person where I knew if squirming was okay or not.

Ugh.

“Shit.” Wrong place.

Had I shelved all of them wrong?

Fuck.

Paying better attention to what I was doing, I fixed my mistakes and tried to keep my mind on work. That wasn’t easy, though. I kept seeing books about embracing one's inner child and exploring what made people happy.

Well, I didn’t have an inner child. I had a pup who was curious and wanted pets.

And it seemed like what made me happy was being given praise and structure.

Bex, both in his Master role and when he was just being Bex, seemed to think that was all perfectly reasonable, and I had to admit some of his acceptance was starting to rub off on me.

Not enough to actually answer Amanda’s slightly nosy questions but I’d actually rolled my eyes yesterday instead of trying to play dumb. So that was either progress or she was wearing me down. I really couldn’t tell, but Master liked praising me, so I was going to take it as being brave and let him tell me I was a good boy.

Because that was fucking hot.

Shit.

Made myself hard again.

God, it was going to be a long afternoon.

****

He was there.

“You look sexy, pet.” Leaning in my doorway, Bex looked every inch a Master as his gaze slowly wandered down my body. “I don’t think I’ve seen those pants yet, and I have to say I approve.”

He wasn’t feeling very subtle tonight at all.

I approved but I could feel my face heating up because I’d worn them deliberately. I just hadn’t expected him to actually say anything about them. The tight black pants hugged every bulge and made my ass look great but they were very…obvious, so I hardly ever wore them.


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