Sold by Sean Michael

run in the afternoon.”
    “You could.” He couldn’t help but think it made more sense for Adam not to run for an hour right after doing two hours of yoga, and he thought it was a huge step to have Adam consider moving the time that he ran at Matt’s suggestion.
    “We’ll see how it goes. Maybe.”
    “Your ability at yoga is very impressive. It’s sexy, you know, all that bendiness.”
    “It’s good for focus. For releasing tension.”
    “It’s also damn good exercise.” He’d been ready to quit long before the second hour.
    “Yes. I try to get no more than twenty hours a week.”
    He stared at Adam, sure he’d heard wrong.
    “Eat your sandwich.”
    “It’s almost done.” He had the last few bites and finished off his coffee.
    “Feel better?”
    “Yeah, I do. I just needed some calories in me.”
    Adam cleared the trash away, then came to help him up. “Come on. Let’s take you home and get you a massage.”
    “Oh, that sounds amazing.” He chuckled, putting his arm around Adam as they walked. “I’m not making a very masterly impression.”
    “You’re fine. I’ll care for you.”
    It was, he thought, a role Adam was very used to. “Thank you.”
    “Anytime, Master.”
    ***
    Adam made Matt lunch, fed the man, then went outside to water and mess around in his garden, get some sun while Matt napped. There were eighteen messages on his phone, and a bunch of texts that he had to answer, too. So after his gardening was done, he plopped down with his calendar and tried to schedule scenes after his mini-vacation.
    Matt came outside while he was doing it, stretching and yawning, and looking adorable all sleep-tousled and somewhat blinky.
    “Feel better?” He texted back Marcus with approval for a show on Dom’s night, scribbled out that space on the calendar.
    “I do.” Matt came and sat next to him, frowning. “I thought we were going to talk about your schedule after a few days of relaxing?”
    “I know. I just needed to get back with some people.” He’d relaxed yesterday.
    “Well, how about letting me help you? I wanted to go over it with you.” Matt pointed to the dates marked off. “You’ve already filled a bunch of days -- do you mark in what kind of scene each one is?”
    He nodded. “C is caning. A is assplay. HC is hard-core. S is service. CBT is cock and ball torture. If they want something specific, I’ll make a note.”
    “I’d really like to see you take a day in between everything but service to recover.”
    “I don’t do service often. I don’t have sex in a scene.” A whole day?
    “You may not have sex, but caning, assplay, hard-core, and cock and ball torture all need recovery time. I want you healthy and whole, lovely.”
    Adam reached out, took Matt’s hand, held on. It felt odd to have Matt worry over him. None of the Doms abused him, none of them. In fact, they were quite generous to him.
    Matt squeezed his hand. “You were not in a great state when you came home from that caning, lovely. And I need to have your schedule, so I know what to expect when you get home.”
    “No. The canings are hard. I... this is very new, Matt. Very new.”
    “I know. For me, too. But my work is well-suited to afternoons and evenings, which means I have the time to care for you after scenes. You no longer have to come home to an empty house.”
    “They’re not mean to me, you know that, right?” He didn’t want to be disloyal.
    “Of course they aren’t. But at the end of the scene, you part ways. That’s not how most subs experience the afterglow of a scene.”
    He nodded. He’d never had a scene with Matt, not really.
    “So I’ll be here when you’re done, and you’ll get the care you’re supposed to get.”
    He met Matt’s eyes. “Do you want to?” How long would Matt be satisfied, caring for a man wearing another man’s stripes?
    “I do. I want to care for you, Adam. I’m your Master, it’s my place.”
    He nodded, smiled, but a part of him knew that