On This Day Read Free

skin as he’d worked then tossed the towel into the hamper.
    Tayton still stood in that same spot in the middle of the room, his arms now folded across his chest, obviously, waiting for Denny to tell him what he thought should happen next.
    There was only one answer to that silent query.
    “Whatever you want, sir.”
    Tayton stepped forward, until their naked bodies were almost touching. “Are you telling me that you haven’t planned anything past this point?”
    Denny glanced up at him. “There are massage oils laid out in the bedroom, sir,” he admitted.
    Tayton nodded, just once.
    Permission to follow through with the next stage of his plan granted, Denny led Tayton out into the bedroom.
    The oils were all neatly lined up on the chest of drawers. Denny already had one in his hands by the time Tayton spoke again.
    “If you intend to snuff out the candles at any point, you’d best do it now,” he warned. “Because you’re not leaving the bed once we get comfortable in it.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Denny hurried around the room, holding his hand behind each flame he extinguished to ensure he didn’t get any wax on his master’s fine furniture.
    “There’s one other thing you’ve forgotten to do today,” Tayton mentioned, almost casually.
    Denny froze as he tried to work out how he had failed. “Sir?”
    “What are we celebrating the anniversary of?” Tayton prompted.
    Relief rushed through Denny. He smiled slightly as he blew out another candle. “It’s not a date you would remember, sir.”
    “Oh?”
    Denny did his best to remain calm on the outside, even while he mentally cursed himself. He’d known that making too much of a fuss was a bad idea. He’d bloody well known he was playing with the kind of fire that had nothing to do with candles. “It wasn’t really your anniversary, sir.”
    Denny risked a glance in Tayton’s direction. There was a slight frown around the older man’s eyes. Denny watched it deepen as if Tayton had suddenly realized something important and it wasn’t at all to his tastes.
    “If I’ve been celebrating another man’s anniversary with you, Denny…” he began.
    Denny shook his head and turned to face Tayton, but he was entirely unable to bring himself to cross the room and approach the other man without an invitation. “I wouldn’t do that, sir.”
    “A year ago this weekend, I was on a business trip to London,” Tayton began.
    “No, sir. This was two years ago,” Denny blurted out.
    Tayton’s frown didn’t ease. His shoulders tensed as the expression in his eyes turned colder than Denny had ever seen. “Two years ago, we hadn’t even met. Would you like to try another lie? Perhaps one that is more believable this time?”
    Denny swallowed rapidly. His stomach turned over at the accusation. His head spun.
    “Well?” his master prompted.
    Denny took a deep breath, but the action failed to make the right words appear in his head. Even angry shouts would have been preferable to that cold, emotionless tone.
    “Denny?”
    His master was still on the other side of the room, but he might as well have been miles away.
    “Two years ago today, you met up with some friends in a leather bar in the city—it was called The Falcon.”
    Tayton nodded curtly. “That sounds about right.”
    “You spent the whole evening there with three other dominants. I can’t remember their names, but I think you must have known them for a long time because you were all really relaxed. You didn’t play that evening, sir. You were just catching up with guys you hadn’t seen for a long time.”
    “Your point being?” Tayton asked, his impatience clear in every syllable.
    Denny stared down at the bottle of massage oil still in his hands. “Two years ago today, I fell in love with you, sir.” Somehow, Denny managed to find the strength to look up and meet the other man’s eyes across the room.
    His master just stared at him for a long time. Denny held his breath, waiting for the