Page 37 of Measure of the Stars

“They wouldn’t dare,” Delauney said.“They just serve me tea and tell me how lovely I am.”

Wes shuddered dramatically.He tipped Delauney’s chin up with a finger and kissed the side of his neck, biting the delicate skin there.“We need to broaden your horizons, Delauney.”

“I can see that you’re already trying,” Delauney said.He let out a little breathy sound as Wes nipped at his neck again.“Is this the reward you were talking about?Do enlisted sailors tend to make love in orchards here, or is that just you?”

“We aren’t doing that here,” Wes said, even though he very much wanted to.He lifted Delauney’s shirt, lazily moving his hands up Delauney’s padded middle.

“It certainly seems like we are.”Delauney closed his eyes as Wes brushed his fingers over his chest.

“There’s a bar I go to here,” Wes said.“It has a marvelous view of the sea.It also has a special menu upstairs on certain days.Today happens to be one of them.”He kissed Delauney, straddling his lap.“How would you like to be fucked on a table by a crowd of adoring dominants?”

He felt Delauney’s body react before it reached his face, his thighs shifting, hands curling in the grass.“Oh.I think I might like that.You’ll be with me?”

The earnest look in his eyes made heat bloom in Wes’ chest.He leaned down to kiss Delauney again.“Yes, I’ll be with you.”

They kissed slowly in the shade of the orange trees, and Wes realized that he would be quite happy with only this—the heavy oranges swaying overhead, the warmth of Delauney’s body, the strange, easy affection that came so quickly when Delauney smiled.It was gentle, intimate, and entirely unlike anything Wes had experienced before.

The sun was setting when they finally arrived at the inn so Delauney could change into something he wouldn’t mind ruining.He dithered over shirts until Wes picked one for him and had to leave his gold cuff-links behind.While there were rules of conduct at Margot’s Bar, no one kicked up a fuss at a little light pickpocketing.It was best to arrive with nothing at all.

Margot’s was an unobtrusive building, with an open bar on the first floor and a set of stairs along the back of the building.There were already people milling around the upstairs landing when they arrived, eyeing Wes and Delauney with barely-concealed hunger.Margot’s always had far more doms than submissives, which was precisely the way Wes preferred it.He grinned at them as Delauney listened to the rules.One of the doms by the door gestured to a friend, and they whispered softly to each other as Wes and Delauney slipped through the door.

“People can already tell that you’re new to this,” Wes said, speaking into Delauney’s ear.“They’ll descend like wolves during lambing season.”

“I’m not an innocent lamb,” Delauney protested.Wes tried to get to his knees to start undoing his trousers for him, but Delauney made a soft sound of frustration and dropped to his knees, first.Wes caught a group of dominants watching them from a table, eyes bright with interest.

“The submissives are fighting over who kneels first,” one of them said.

A woman with a shaved head and stretched earlobes bared her teeth in a smile.“Cute.”

Wes searched the bar.The upstairs rooms were laid out much the same as the downstairs barroom, but instead of barrels along the wall and trays for wine, there were flogging stands, cushioned benches, and a set of stocks that made Wes’ mouth go dry.There weren’t any submissives in the stocks or by the floggers, or even writhing under dominants in shadowy corners.Wes realized that he and Delauney might be the first submissives to enter that evening.

Delauney untied Wes’ boots for him, his gaze fixed on the floor like a good little noble.Wes lightly stroked his hair, but Delauney only paused without looking up.

“You’re all right?”Wes asked.

“I feel like I’m already slipping under,” Delauney whispered, “so yes.”He removed Wes’ boots for him, pausing to run his hands up Wes’ legs.Wes caught the eye of one of the dominants at the table and unlaced the front of his trousers.The dominant stood, his long, braided hair swinging with his movements.Only his shirt was undone, hanging open to reveal scars along his chest.They seemed too uniform to be an injury, unlike the knot of a scar on his shoulder that was a clear knife wound.He walked up to Wes and Delauney, sliding a hand onto Delauney’s head while he used the other to tip Wes’ chin up.

“I assume you’re together,” he said.Wes nodded shortly, and the dominant tipped Delauney’s head back by his hair.

“Be a good boy and suck your man’s cock for him,” he said.Dominance rumbled in his voice like thunder, making Wes’ cock stiffen.Wes reached for Delauney, stroking the curve of his jaw.He felt Delauney pull his cock out of his trousers as the dominant bit his lower lip, and Wes groaned as Delauney’s soft mouth parted around him.

Wes barely noticed the dominant stripping him of his remaining clothes, too focused on the feel of Delauney’s mouth on his cock.Another dominant stepped behind Delauney and took his head in her hands, moving him along the length of Wes’ cock as the other dominant kissed him senseless.When Wes started to gasp and try to buck into Delauney’s mouth, the dominant holding Delauney pulled him back with a cold smile.

“Not yet, baby,” she said.

“Stop fucking around and put them on the table,” someone called.

The first dominant picked Wes up as though he were a sack of flour, slinging him over his shoulders.Wes caught Delauney’s momentary flash of panic, but another dominant stepped in to pull Delauney to his feet, speaking softly into his ear.Whatever he’d said must have been salacious, because Delauney glanced at Wes and blushed red to his roots.

The dominant carrying Wes dumped him on the table, where a good-natured argument was taking place over how to tie him down.That ended when Delauney approached, his clothes discarded, cock hanging flushed and hard between his thighs as he practically slumped over Wes.Wes half pulled him onto the table, where Delauney kissed him messily, eyes dark with desire.

“I’ve never...”Delauney paused to kiss Wes’ jaw, fumbling as his hands traveled up Wes’ hips and thighs.“Never been under so quickly before.”

“Remember that you’re with me,” Wes said, kissing him back.

“That works,” someone said, and Delauney gasped into Wes’ mouth as a shadow passed over them.“Let’s keep the lovebirds together, eh?”

The world became a blur of movement after that.It felt as though there were dozens of dominants around them, moving them, adjusting them, commenting on the girth of Delauney’s cock and the shape of Wes’ backside.He let himself drift in the chaos, emerging only when he realized that someone was tapping his cheek.The dominant with the shaved head was there, smiling wryly as Wes blinked up at her.