On This Day Read Free Page A

other man’s verdict. Eventually, Tayton clicked his fingers, calling Denny across to him.
    Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Tayton dropped a pillow on the floor at his feet. Denny knelt on it, glad that he wouldn’t have to worry about his legs giving way beneath him anymore. His knees had barely touched the soft cotton before Tayton reached out and tangled his fingers in his hair, pulling him closer to rest his head against his leg.
    The mere fact that Tayton permitted him to have that sort of contact with him allowed Denny to remember how to breathe. His master wasn’t as angry with him as he’d feared he might be. Denny hadn’t screwed up so badly he couldn’t be forgiven. “I’m sorry for all the fuss, sir. I just…”
    “If you try to apologize for any part of it again, you’ll find yourself turned over my knee—and it won’t be for the sort of spanking you enjoy receiving or that I enjoy administering.”
    A tug on Denny’s hair demanded he look up and meet Tayton’s eyes. Denny had never seen his master appear quite so serious.
    “I won’t have you apologizing for falling in love with me or for celebrating that fact.”

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Three
     
     
    Denny was so shocked, he couldn’t think of a single thing to say. At best, he’d hoped his master would tolerate his soppiness. The possibility that Tayton would actually approve of it had never even occurred to him.
    “It’s a far bigger milestone than some of the others we’ve celebrated together,” Tayton observed.
    Denny tried to look down, but Tayton’s grip on his hair tightened, refusing him permission to do that.
    “Is there something else you want to tell me about all these anniversaries we keep celebrating?”
    Denny nibbled at his bottom lip as he tried to work out the least wrong answer.
    “Lies by omission are still lies, pet.” Their eyes met. “But if you tell me the whole truth right now, you won’t be punished for anything you failed to mention before today.”
    Denny closed his eyes for a moment. Tayton deserved the truth. It was little enough for him to ask for after everything he’d given Denny over the last two years.
    “The first few months after I fell in love with you, sir, the ones before you let me belong to you…” Denny whispered, only to find it impossible to go on.
    “They weren’t pleasant,” Tayton filled in for him.
    Denny nodded, more for the joy of feeling Tayton’s hand maintaining its tight hold on his hair than anything else. “You didn’t even know I was alive, and there were so many other submissives you could have picked. So, I…I promised myself I would always be grateful for anything I could have with you, sir.” Opening his eyes, he looked up at Tayton and forced himself to meet the older man’s gaze. “I never expected you to actually offer me a collar, but I can’t stop being grateful for all the little things just because I have the big things now. That would be wrong.”
    Tayton said nothing.
    “I know it’s silly, sir. And I do try not to get on your nerves with—”
    “That’s enough.”
    Denny immediately fell quiet. Even his heart silenced its beating.
    “Have I ever told you that I dislike your celebrations?”
    Denny shook his head.
    “They’re not silly; they’re beautiful,” Tayton said. He might have been about to add something else, but he cleared his throat instead, obviously uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was taking.
    Needing to say something, anything, to relieve Tayton’s embarrassment, Denny said the first thing that came into his head. “May I know what you would have chosen to do tonight if you didn’t come home to a celebration, sir?”
    While one of Tayton’s hands remained in Denny’s hair, the other moved to his face. His thumb traced a line across Denny’s bottom lip. Suddenly, all of Tayton’s attention was on Denny’s mouth.
    No words were necessary then. Denny knew what Tayton wanted. He smiled