Teaching Foster's Cowboy (Different Hearts, #5)

by Izaia Winter

“I don’t know. Ask him? I mean, have you tried talking to him like a reasonable adult.” Yeah, like that was going to happen. “Okay, besides that?”

His dream date probably included dinner at a nice restaurant and a romantic kiss goodnight, while mine included predicament bondage and a TENS unit.

“There’s also more—” His blue-green eyes met mine, his words coming to an immediate halt as he stared at me. “Huh,” he whispered as his smile turned a little wild.

“Then sit and be a good boy for me.” I could feel the trembling in his body as I released him, my fingers lingering on his neck as I slid my hand away.

“Did you know dopamine is also connected to the reward centers of the brain? It’s why praise is such a big turn on for submissives, but I’m sure you’re well aware of that. Tell me, Elias, do you like it when I call you my good boy?”

I wanted nothing more than to cross the stage and claim his lips in a kiss that made it clear he was mine and mine alone. I wanted to bite him, mark him, and show the whole world he was off-limits. Foster’s, I wanted to stamp across his forehead, do not touch.

“You were thinking about the pain you were feeling instead of how it made you feel. You were thinking about your own pleasure when you should have been thinking about mine,” I whispered. “You should have been thinking about how proud I would be after we’d finished and how I would reward you for being such a good boy for me. All those lovely chemicals I talked about won’t help you eroticize the pain unless you are thinking the right thoughts.”

“What… what do you want to do with me?” His voice was dazed as if it was finally dawning on him that I wasn’t going to let him just slip through my fingers. “Everything,” I said simply.

“I understand. I told you to take your time,” I reminded him as I stroked a finger along the back of his hand as I pulled away. “I can’t punish you for that.” The ‘I’ll punish you for other things’ went unsaid, but I knew we both heard it by the quiet moan low in Elias’s throat

Looking at my phone, I entered and headed straight toward the kitchen, making good on my promise to feed him. I hoped to feed him other things, but a hearty sandwich would suffice if he turned down my other offer.

“Some words of advice,” I said, dipping my cock inside, rubbing my head against his tongue just because it felt good. “Control your breathing, and when I come down your throat, swallow every drop.”

“Do you like chocolate?” he asked. “Yes,” I answered slowly, not seeing the trick in his question, and there had to be a trick. “It’s quick, and it hits the spot, but it doesn’t last very long, now does it? And it’s easy too. It’s not like a soufflé where you have to work for it. Humiliation is my chocolate. It hits the spot just right when you find the perfect pressure point to dig at, but it’s so easy to go too far. Now, most people know when to stop—and I do—I just don’t want to, so it’s a hard limit. I don’t want to break my toys when I’m done playing with them. Teasing is as far as I’m willing to take it.”

“Where do we go from here?” I asked. “Would you like to play with me?” he countered.

I wasn’t Elias the Bartender or Elias the Coworker and Friend. When I was with him, I was his, and that was enough for both of us.

“Gold isn’t a kink,” Foster replied. His fingers lingered on the band as he stroked it lovingly. “Gold means you’re mine. It means don’t touch.

“But I will grant you this, while I may hurt you, I’ll never harm you.”

With Foster in charge, I could just be. The quiet was an addictive feeling, and I wanted it back.

“Do you know how hard it is to actually punish a masochist?” he asked against my arm as he settled down. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” I replied calmly as I fell asleep.

My bed was my sanctuary. One that I very rarely allowed anyone to enter, never mind sleep with me.

“I want to fuck you like this,” I said when he continued to lay there. “I want to fuck your ass while I play with the lines I put on it.”

“I’m going to make you come in my hand, and then I’m going to rub it all over my cock and fuck you with it. Would you like that, baby?”

There was that word again: mine. I wanted to shout it from the rooftop, buy billboards around town. Let everyone know. Instead, I placed a kiss on the delicate skin below Elias’s ear and whispered it to the one person who mattered, “Mine.”

A person had to have power in order to hand it over to someone else. There wasn’t any satisfaction to be found in beating someone who was already down.

Every time a flash of light glinted off its surface, I felt a little thrill in my heart. I knew that just like a collar, the band was a public display of Foster’s ownership. I knew this because I could see it in Foster’s eyes every time the gold caught his attention.

“It means don’t touch,” drawled an intimately familiar voice from the door behind Marcus’s desk. “It means this one is mine.” Foster smirked as he leaned against the doorjamb and crossed his arms. He looked me up and down with satisfaction then turned to the man standing next to him. “Do you think we should put up a sign?”

“What do you think?” “That you don’t have a medical degree.” Foster laughed and clapped his hands. “I won’t need one for what I’m going to do to you. Take a seat.”

“I dreamed of you like this,” he whispered, his hand continuing its soothing motion. “I never thought I’d get you here, though.” “And… and what are you going to do now that I am?” I asked in a whisper. His face was pure wickedness. “I’m going to have fun.”

Overcome by his words and needing him to stop before I lost it, I fisted my hands in his hair and pulled him down into my kiss. Wrapping a leg around his hip, I pushed against him until he rolled onto his back, bringing me with him. In no mood for foreplay, I braced my hands on his chest and rocked back, rubbing against the cock trapped under me. I wanted to fuck. Hard and fast and dirty.

“Love is an act, not a feeling. Love is effort and time. It’s caring and acceptance and allowing them to be. It’s a decision. It’s saying, ‘I will love this person the best way I know how because to do otherwise would hurt them.’ Love is something you do. Don’t bother with all those stupid lists. Choose to love instead.”

“Penny for your thoughts?” I looked up to find Carson squeezing into the booth opposite me. “Oh, I don’t think they’re worth that much.” “Good,” he said as he lifted a hand to catch the attention of a passing waiter. “I won’t pay you then.”