Free Another way by Anna Martin Page A

it on his bedside table.
    Master held me tighter than normal, his arms wrapped around my chest and his leg hitched over mine. He kissed my skin over and over, my neck and shoulder and back and ear. I drifted for a while, knowing I was so safe, so loved.
    “I have a confession to make,” the man behind me said, and I knew he, too, was transitioning back to his normal self. Will, rather than Master.
    “Okay.”
    “I brought you down here just so I could hold you like this.”
    I chuckled softly. “I don’t mind. I said I wanted more time like this when we signed again.”
    “That’s true,” he mused, then kissed me again.
    We stayed very still, very quiet, just listening to the sounds of each other’s breathing and heartbeats, and the distant sounds of Shannon moving through the house. Late afternoon had melted into early evening, and I could feel my stomach starting to rumble, needing some sustenance soon. For a while, though, it was nice to just snooze and be held.
    “Will! Jesse! Food!” Shannon yelled up the stairs, breaking our sleepy reverie.
    I mumbled something and felt Will’s arms tighten around me again.
    “Hungry,” he sighed.
    “Me too.”
    “I want you naked, though.” Will pouted.
    “Okay,” I said. I had gotten pretty used to my own nudity over the years.
    Will laughed. “I’ll resist the temptation to make that an order, if only for Shannon’s sake.”
    We both dressed from his closet, since my clothes were still in the playroom. I secretly loved it when he passed me his things to put on; it was like, to a lesser extent, wearing his collar. It was belonging to him again.
    “Come on,” he said, rolling his eyes and smiling as he caught me smelling the shoulder of his sweatshirt. I took his offered hand, suddenly hungry now that I could smell the pizza.
    “You took your time,” Shannon scolded as we settled back around the kitchen table again. This time I took a seat, though.
    “Sorry,” Will said with a smirk. “You can’t blame a guy, though.”
    Shannon huffed but smiled as she opened her box. “So, how was that for you guys?” she asked around a mouthful of pizza.
    “It was strange…,” Will started. “I felt like I was lecturing or doing a demonstration for an audience, but there was only Jesse, and I’m usually very focused on him when we’re in a scene.”
    “You should do demonstrations, you’re very good,” I said as I licked cheese from my fingers.
    “Oh, he does!” Shannon exclaimed. “He’s awesome.”
    “I didn’t know that,” I said. It took me a moment to process the information. I ended up frowning.
    “I don’t have sex in public, Jesse,” Will said softly. “Our relationship is exclusive, but I have a large part to play in our wider community. That does involve demos from time to time.”
    “That’s okay,” I said quickly. “I just didn’t know.”
    “How come you never come to munches or anything?” Shannon asked.
    “It’s complicated,” I said. “I’m in a vanilla relationship, I have a girlfriend, so I’ve always stayed away from the scene out of respect for her.”
    “Oh.” Shannon looked confused. “I thought you two were, together together.”
    “No,” Will said, essentially ending that part of the conversation.
    “I think I would like to be on the receiving end of that sort of stimulation one day,” I said, bringing the topic back to what we were supposed to be discussing.
    “You’re not into heavy pain play, though,” Will said, rocking back on his chair. “I think you’d like the lighter stuff, a lot, but I wouldn’t use the flogger on you, no way.”
    “How does it feel?” I asked Shannon.
    “Intense,” she said, nodding. “I’ve never experienced that before. It was awesome, but that was some pretty intense pain right there. And I mean, I can take a lot.”
    “Did you like it?” Will asked. Shannon nodded. “Good. So, changing the topic, what’s this I’ve heard on the grapevine about you and