Kept Man: Firsts and Forever Stories

“I don’t understand why you’ve had such bad luck with men,” I said, as we both sat down on the couch. “You’re a great guy, Micah.”

He sighed and tucked his right foot under him. I wondered if he was consciously hiding his ankle monitor. “Past boyfriends have called me childish, overly emotional, needy, clingy, immature, irresponsible—you get the idea. Give it time. I’ll get on your nerves, too.”

“But those aren’t actually negatives.” He shot me a skeptical look, and I told him, “I’m serious. I’d take all those things over rudeness, cruelty, or arrogance.”

“You’re talking about some of your past clients, aren’t you?” When I nodded, he said, “I’m sorry you had to put up with that.”

“It was nothing I couldn’t handle.” I hadn’t intended to make this about me, so I tried for a clumsy subject change. “Anyway, you and I are going to have a lot of fun breaking in this furniture, not to mention all those sex toys you just bought.”

“I have to be honest, I’m not sure how to work the bench. I just know it adjusts somehow.”

I said, “I’ll show you,” and got up and crossed the room to it. The sturdy device had a wooden base, a padded top, and a drawer for lube and condoms. I peeled off the plastic cover as I said, “The height can be dialed up and down, so you can fuck me while you’re standing in a comfortable position.” I set aside the plastic, then adjusted four padded supports and locked them in place. “One option would be for me to lie on my stomach and kneel on these fold-outs, while resting my forearms on the two smaller supports. There are other ways to adjust it, but that’s the most common position. There are also spots to attach restraints, if you want to tie me down while you’re fucking me.” I opened the drawer and found two sets of leather cuffs. “Here they are. You spared no expense, this is a top-of-the-line piece of equipment.”

Micah was standing behind me, and he whispered, “Fuck.” I turned to look at him just as he adjusted a bulge in his jeans. But then he muttered, “Well, I guess that’s it for the tour. Like I said, it’s a work in progress. Thanks for showing me how to adjust the table.” With that, he left the room.

What the hell? I’d expected him to fuck me right then and there, since that had clearly turned him on. So, why had he bolted?

I found him in the kitchen, unpacking his new rice cooker. When he didn’t say anything, I said, “I guess I’ll go up to my room and unpack.”

“Good idea. I’m going to place another grocery order, because I want to try out some recipes from my new cookbooks. It’ll be a few hours, but I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”

As I retreated up the back staircase, I told myself not to make too much of this. So, he hadn’t wanted to fuck right then. It’d probably happen that night, or at the very least, the next day. But it’d definitely happen soon.

Chapter 5

A week and a half later, I glanced at Ash over the top of my laminated breakfast menu and said, “I don’t understand why Micah hasn’t fucked me yet.”

My friend raised a brow. “Have you asked him?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s not how this works. He’s my client, not my boyfriend. If he doesn’t want to have sex, that’s his call.”

He set aside his menu and took a sip of coffee before saying, “But you want him to fuck you. Am I right? Do you have the hots for this guy, Jasper?”

Before I could answer, our waitress returned and took our order, then whisked away our menus. We were in an old-fashioned and fairly rundown diner, which reminded me a lot of the place my mom used to work, right down to the red vinyl booths and worn linoleum tabletops.

“It doesn’t matter how I feel about him,” I said, once we were alone again. “It just seems odd. He keeps getting turned on around me, and he knows I’m always going to say yes if he asks me to fuck, because that’s what he’s paying me for. But whenever he starts to get aroused, he either ignores it or leaves the room. What the hell is that about?”

“Maybe he has a fear of intimacy.”

“It didn’t seem like it on the Fourth of July. Within a couple hours of meeting me, he gave me a hand job before jerking himself off. That doesn’t seem like a man with intimacy issues.”

“But you told me he wasn’t paying you at that point, right?” When I nodded, Ash said, “Maybe that’s the part he’s having trouble with, the fact that money is changing hands. It might make sex weird for him.”