At His Throat, a Promise (36 page)

Harte seemed to be having difficulties staying still, because his hips jerked up into every shallow thrust, his hand switching between jerking himself off and gripping the base of his cock to stave off orgasm.

Finally the master lined himself up to Ellis"s hole. Ellis"s body resisted for a deliciously painful second before William forced his way inside. When he was seated and Ellis could do nothing more than
feel
the fullness and burning and completion, William pulled him up by his hair and sank his teeth into Ellis"s shoulder.

“Fuck us both,” William growled.

Gasping, Ellis experimentally pushed forward into Harte. The action pulled him off of William, and he didn"t want that, so he moved backward. The tightness and heat around his cock abated, so he thrust forward again.

In no time, Ellis was the only one moving, between two bodies giving him such pleasure, and he didn"t know how he could ever stand to finish, bear for it to be over.

“Let go of your cock, Harte.”

Whimpering, Harte did as he was told, throwing his hands over his head, which was tossing from side to side as Ellis fucked him up the bed.

William pushed Ellis down against Harte"s body, trapping Harte"s cock between them.

“Oh, fuck, yes!” Harte cried, back arching to get as much as possible from the contact. Ellis continued to pound into him, his 308

AT HIS THROAT, A PROMISE

belly dragging across Harte"s pre-come-slicked cock until Harte let out a wail and both their stomachs became a lot stickier.

Ellis forced himself not to give in to the tightening of Harte"s body around him. He watched Harte"s face, focusing on that until the need to come had passed. Harte looked completely debauched with lipstick staining his face, sweat dampening his hair, eye makeup smudged, and a silly white headband giving the illusion of innocence.

“Such a perfect boy,” William panted against his ear, drawing Ellis up so his back was flush against William"s chest. “Made me proud tonight. Looked so amazing. Didn"t want to share.” Ellis closed his eyes and let himself be fucked, only peripherally thinking about how good Harte felt around him.

The cock sliding into him took over his entire being until there was nothing left. The connection between him and William, and him and Harte, and William and Harte, that was important. It meant something. It wasn"t just a master enjoying his slaves, there was more to it and he could
feel
it. So did Harte.

And so did William. But would he ever admit it?

Maybe it didn"t matter. As Ellis"s orgasm rushed through him, leaving him breathless, speechless, and completely helpless, he discovered he didn"t care if William ever said it. Ellis
knew
. He knew it like he knew Harte"s tight ass felt like heaven, like he knew Nell"s cooking was delicious, like he knew he
didn’t
want to leave. There were some things that couldn"t be denied.

Ellis pulled out of Harte, entranced by the way his come tried to follow him out. He fell forward over Harte"s come-stained and sated body, letting William fuck him as hard as he could without breaking either of them. Or maybe breaking them just a little.

When William finally came, it was anything but silent. Maybe 309

AT HIS THROAT, A PROMISE

there wasn"t any noise, but it wasn"t without sound. Ellis heard it all around him. It was clear. It was there. It could hurt him, but he wouldn"t let it.

They all lay on the bed, panting and wordless, until Harte"s breath caught in a snore, and Ellis snickered.

William moved between his slaves, hauling Harte"s sleeping body against him so Harte"s back pressed up to William"s side.

“Come here,” William said, holding his arm out so Ellis could lie against him. He did so, resting his head on William"s chest.

Ellis listened to the way William"s heart beat for both his slaves.

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“Oh, it"s
so
itchy!”

Ellis groaned at the whining voice. The morning light was dim enough that Harte had absolutely no place in his bed.

“I can"t stand it! It was never this bad before.” A thrashing body on top of his legs made Ellis suspect that sleep was no longer an option.

“Why don"t you go complain to Sir, instead? I didn"t make you shave.”

Harte launched himself at Ellis, straddling him, all the while rubbing his legs over the sheet and his crotch against Ellis"s in a way that was anything but seductive.

“I can"t complain, I
offered
to do it myself! I don"t know why it 311

AT HIS THROAT, A PROMISE

feels like this… ”

Harte yanked up his night sheath and began scratching at his pubic area, but Ellis grabbed his wrist and stopped him.

“Do you want to damage yourself?” he said. Living with Harte was a trial at times, and this was one of them. The slave had no concept of suffering in silence and was a firm proponent of misery loves company. “Go into my bathroom and get the lotion in the green bottle.”

“You can"t put that on me! I put some freesia lotion on my sac and I had to shower for thirty minutes to make the pain go away!”

“Shut up and get it. This stuff won"t hurt you.” It was a soothing, unscented lotion for taking the itch away from healing cuts that had scabbed over. William had given it to him after catching him digging his nails into the skin around the cut on his foot. It worked wonders, and Ellis could use some of it himself. His legs and underarms were fine, but there was definitely an uncomfortable itch where his pubic hair had been removed.

Harte climbed off the bed and waddled to the bathroom. He rooted around for far too long, but eventually came back with the bottle in hand.

“Can you put it on me?” he asked with a saccharine smile.

“You just want me to feel you up, you little slut.”

“What"s wrong with that? I love your hands on me.” Ellis opened the bottle and poured some into his hand. Harte unceremoniously ripped off his sheath and threw it aside, lying on his back, naked and spread-eagled.

“You"re so desperate,” Ellis remarked. “It"s hard to believe—” He cut himself off before giving voice to his thought.

But there was no way Harte would let that go. “Believe what?”

“Nothing, I just… ”

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“Why are you so afraid to say what you really think? I don"t have any authority over you. You don"t need to be scared of me.”

“I"m not scared that you"ll hurt me, Harte. The other way around.”

“Just say it. It"s harder than that to hurt me.” Ellis sighed. Deciding the lotion was warm enough, he smoothed it onto Harte"s leg and began to rub it in. “That"s just it.

It"s just really amazing that, after what you"ve been through, you still… want sex.”

For once, Harte didn"t laugh it off. “That"s like saying that if you ate a certain kind of food and got sick that you"d never eat anything again. Just because it hurt you once doesn"t mean it always will. The only thing you can do is try not to eat that bad kind of food again.”

Leaning over to kiss the inside of Harte"s lotion-free thigh, Ellis thought about that. There was no denying that Harte was a survivor. Could he be the same? Granted, he was facing the opposite situation: finding himself in a perfect household with a master and fellow slave he cared about and having to leave for a new, unknown situation. Could he give his new master a chance?

Could his new position compare? Did he really believe he deserved to be that happy? When he"d first been told that he was destined for servitude, he"d never thought that his master would care about him in any way. It was supposed to be just like school—you don"t fall for your teachers, and they certainly don"t fall for you.

Looking at Harte, Ellis knew there were exceptions to every rule. Unfortunately for Ellis, he wasn"t an exception.

“I think you"re amazing,” Ellis said as he finished up with the lotion on Harte"s legs.

“I think
you’re
amazing,” Harte rejoined in an exaggerated 313

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voice. “Now do my sac and dick, because I"m dying here.”

“I don"t think your dick needs the lotion,” Ellis said, shaking his head. “Open your legs.”

Harte did, and Ellis straddled one, dropping a dollop of the cold lotion onto Harte"s shaved and slightly irritated groin.

“Fucker!” Harte cried, kicking at Ellis. “Just for that, you have to kiss it better.”

Grinning, Ellis leaned down and swiped his tongue across Harte"s slowly filling cock. Harte groaned and spread himself wider.

“All better,” Ellis quipped. He applied the lotion with clinical efficiency, but that didn"t seem to matter to Harte, who was squirming in minutes.

“You"re not very nice.” Harte harrumphed when Ellis moved up to put lotion on his underarms as well.

“Would I do this for you if I wasn"t?”

“Yeah. You"re enjoying my body without giving me something in return. That"s very mean, Ellis.”

“You"re kidding me, right?” Ellis was incredulous. “I"m not the one getting off on a potion to soothe razor burn.”

“Yeah, yeah, Harte"s
so
perverted, Harte"s
so
horny.” He pouted. “You"re just as bad as I am!”

“I don"t think so,” Ellis said in a formal voice. “I"m the picture of restraint and propriety.”

Harte"s eyes narrowed and he leapt up and pinned Ellis on his back. “How about I
restrain
you
proprietarily
and you can tell me how innocent you are, hmm?”

“See?” Ellis said, laughing. “Pervert.”

* * *

AT HIS THROAT, A PROMISE

“I went through all the claims for you, Ellis, and I"ve discarded the ones that I didn"t think were fitting or appropriate. Some of those include claims made by women, men with a large number of slaves, men with no background in prosecuting law, men who have had any complaints filed against them regarding their slaves, and men whose tastes I don"t think would coincide with yours.”

“There were that many offers?” Ellis asked, shocked. He"d only met about seven masters who had made claims at the Cohens"

Costume Gala. The way William was talking, many more had made claims without even formally meeting Ellis.

“All told, there were about thirty claims. After the initial cut, there were twelve. After the second cut, for which I took personality and sexual needs into account, there were six. I"d like you to look at what I have written for them and choose three.

Those are the three with whom you"ll meet.” Ellis walked around William"s desk and stood beside the master. There were six sheets of paper on the desk. Each had a name and information under the headings: Personal, Professional, and Sexual. They also had a photo clipped to the top right corner of the page. Ellis saw immediately that the older man with the female slave was among them, and to Ellis"s horror, Jack Archer.

“Sir, I don"t think—”

“I know he made you uncomfortable, but he"s not always like that. He"s actually a sweet boy, if a little overeager. I spoke to him on the phone this morning, and he apologised for his behaviour. He said he was very affected by you and went about making an impression the wrong way.”

Ellis read the information under Sexual for Jack. There was that word, “switch,” again. “Sir, what do you mean by this?” He pointed to the word.

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Looking over, William nodded. “We haven"t had the opportunity to play many games, but given what I know about your personality and your sexual preferences, I feel safe in asserting that you could be both dominant and submissive. That"s more than just topping and bottoming. Do you understand what I mean?”

“I think so,” Ellis said, drawing the words out as he thought.

He remembered thinking about tying Harte up and fucking him hard, and he also recalled the thrill of seeing William on his knees before him, removing his stockings. At the same time, he"d enjoyed being tied up himself, and he liked the way the master told him what to do. “It means I can go back and forth.”

“That"s right. That"s what Jack is like as well, and servitude with him would really open up your horizons and allow you to explore your desires in a way that you couldn"t do with a purely dominant or submissive partner.”

Actually, Ellis rather liked the way things worked with William and Harte. He got to “switch” a lot with them, and he didn"t really think one person could play both roles for him, nor did he like the expectation that he would have to as well.

Except with Harte, Ellis didn"t really like the thought of dominating. Especially with a person like Jack Archer. He wouldn"t feel safe in that position; he"d feel like Jack would hold whatever he did against him when it was Jack"s “turn.” Not saying anything, Ellis moved on to the next file. If William thought there was more to Jack than Ellis could see, he wouldn"t dismiss him out of hand.

Marcus Smythe, the older gentleman with the female slave.

Ellis sent imploring eyes to William. Harte had been correct when he"d said Ellis didn"t want a girl. He didn"t like them, didn"t understand them, and didn"t feel any sort of sexual draw toward 316

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them.

“I know,” William said without Ellis even having to speak.

“But as far as connections go, he is unparalleled. We have to think of your best interests and figure out your priorities. Professional advancement should be more important than sexual compatibility.

However, if you can"t… perform with his slave, that might anger him. Do you think you"d be able to?”

Thinking back to kissing Katelyn, Ellis knew that if he
had
to, he"d be able to. “Yes, I do, Sir.”
I’ll just pretend she’s Harte.

“Good. Now, these next three work with me at the firm.

Goreson is an interesting case because he doesn"t have sex with his slaves. Fellatio only, and even that, very rarely. He"s more interested in the education of his slaves, which is always very important. I wasn"t sure how much value you placed on a sexual relationship, but other than that, he"s an ideal candidate.” Goreson looked anything but ideal. He was unattractive to an extreme degree with an almost cruel twist to his lips, but his credentials were impressive, and he was a good option if none of the other candidates appealed to him. Ellis didn"t exactly look forward to three years of no sex, especially after being so spoiled with William and Harte, but it wasn"t the worst sacrifice.