Free Ricochet by Xanthe Walter Page B

to sweet-talk you
    into bed."
    "I'm not like you, Rick. I don't think I'd enjoy
    playing the field."
    "You're young - have some fun!"
    "See, to me, that isn't fun." Matt bristled. "I
    want to connect with someone, Rick! To find a
    dom I can really trust and relax with and not…"
    "Not?" Rick raised an eyebrow.
    "Not have to count with." Matt's pale skin
    flushed an endearing shade of pink. "I wish I could
    switch off my brain and not have to count
    everything all the time."
    "It was worse with Emily, wasn't it?" Rick
    said. "I could tell. She made you nervous and when
    you're nervous the OCD is worse. Also, you yell at
    me more on set." He winked.
    Matt laughed. "Well, you do deserve to be
    yelled at a lot of the time."
    "I know. What can I say? I'm trouble - and
    today that caught up with me, big time." Rick
    glanced over his shoulder ruefully.
    "I'm an OCD freak who can't keep a dom, and
    you're an idiot who can't keep out of trouble." Matt
    grinned and held up his glass of wine. "What's left
    to do but celebrate?"
    Rick laughed and clinked his glass against
    Matt's. "You're right. At least we can be screw-ups
    together!"
    He finished his pizza and lay back down with
    a sigh, yelping as his sore ass made itself felt.
    "Do you want me to put something on that?"
    Matt asked, getting up. "Where do you keep the
    ointment?"
    "What ointment?"
    "Whatever you use on your subs after
    discipline?" Matt raised an eyebrow.
    Rick felt irritated, even though it wasn't
    Matt's fault. "I wouldn't know. I've never
    disciplined a sub in my life."
    "What?" Matt folded his arms over his chest,
    looking perplexed. "Seriously, Rick?"
    "Seriously. Who the hell am I to discipline
    anyone for anything? I'm the biggest screw up there
    is!"
    "But have you never done a really hard
    spanking session with a sub because they enjoyed
    it?"
    "No, because I wouldn't enjoy it; it's not my
    thing," Rick said firmly.
    "Really? What is?"
    "Hah - that's between me and my subs!" Rick
    grinned up at him.
    "So you hate spanking?"
    "No!" Rick was outraged. "I love spanking -
    that's the point! That's why I'd hate to swing a strap
    around and do a really hard-core discipline scene.
    For me, spanking is… well, it's beautiful!" He
    smiled as he remembered spanking that sub he'd
    picked up last night. "It's an act of intimacy,
    affection and sensuality - I adore pulling a sub
    over my knee and building up a spanking like
    playing a piano or painting a picture. Just to whale
    down with some implement for the sake of it, even
    if the sub gets off on it - that really isn't my scene
    at all. It's not me, or how I like to play."
    Matt gave a little whistle. "Wow - that's
    almost poetic, Rick. Just when I think I've got you
    figured out, you go and surprise me. I've never met
    a dom like you before, although half the time I'm
    not convinced you are a dom."
    "Well, I am," Rick said flatly. "Just not that
    kind of dom. Look, spanking is a really personal
    thing for me, Matt. It's special, and a really big
    deal. I hated being down at the Justice Hall not
    because I took licks but because I had to watch
    other people taking them - especially subs. It was
    like watching something that's incredibly important
    to me being trampled into the dust. It set my teeth
    on edge."
    Matt sat back down on the sofa again. "You
    actually mean that? It really did upset you?" He
    sounded surprised, and Rick realized that Matt had
    never seen this side of him; then again, he never
    usually let anyone see this side of him.
    "Yes. Not being punished myself - that wasn't
    a problem - but watching and listening to it
    happening to others, especially subs; that was a
    kind of torture for me."
    "You've spent a lot of time in Justice Halls,
    haven't you?" Matt said quietly, looking at him.
    Rick shrugged. "Some," he muttered.
    "So why do you get yourself into so much
    trouble?" Matt asked. "I mean, first there was
    today at work, then this evening."
    "I don't do it on purpose." Rick took another
    sip