P

USHING

T

HE

E

NVELOPE

,

B

OOK

V:

C

ORDIALLY

I

NVITED

…Joe stepped into the old-fashioned elevator and pressed the

elaborately decorated button for the third floor. A security guard had
let him in through the staff entrance, just as Scott had promised he
would. Now, the guard was keeping a discreet eye on him from the
other side of the department store’s deserted foyer.

Their eyes met. The guard nodded politely to Joe and touched his

uniform cap, as the elevator doors began to slide together. Just before
the gap between the doors disappeared completely, Joe saw the
guard’s face split into a wide grin. Oh, yes. The last of Joe’s doubts
disappeared. The guy certainly knew that he and Scott were there to
hook up with each other.

Whistling tunelessly under his breath as he waited for the elderly

elevator to carry him up to the third floor, Joe once again tried, and
once again failed, to work out what Scott might have planned for them
that night.

10 P.M., Thursday. Harrington’s department store. Go to the
staff entrance at the back of the store. The security guard will
be expecting you. Take the lift up to the third floor.

And that was it.
It wasn’t really much to go on—just enough to have Joe spending

damn near every minute of the three days since he’d received Scott’s
note, playing guessing games with himself…

A

LSO

B

Y

K

IM

D

ARE

Pushing The Envelope, Book I: For The Attention Of

Pushing The Envelope, Book II: RSVP

Pushing The Envelope, Book III: Written Request

Pushing The Envelope, Book IV: Orders Enclosed

PUSHING THE ENVELOPE,

BOOK V:

CORDIALLY INVITED

BY

KIM DARE

A

MBER

Q

UILL

P

RESS

,

LLC

http://www.AmberQuill.com

P

USHING

T

HE

E

NVELOPE

,

B

OOK

V:

C

ORDIALLY

I

NVITED

A

N

A

MBER

Q

UILL

P

RESS

B

OOK

This book is a work of fiction.

All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the

author’s imagination, or have been used fictitiously.

Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales,

or events is entirely coincidental.

Amber Quill Press, LLC

http://www.AmberQuill.com

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or

reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in

writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief

excerpts used for the purposes of review.

Copyright © 2012 by Kim Dare

ISBN 978-1-61124-230-0

Cover Art © 2012 Trace Edward Zaber

PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

To a great many very enjoyable shopping trips

CORDIALLY INVITED

1

CHAPTER 1

Joe stepped into the old-fashioned elevator and pressed the

elaborately decorated button for the third floor. A security guard
had let him in through the staff entrance, just as Scott had
promised he would. Now, the guard was keeping a discreet eye on
him from the other side of the department store’s deserted foyer.

Their eyes met. The guard nodded politely to Joe and touched

his uniform cap, as the elevator doors began to slide together. Just
before the gap between the doors disappeared completely, Joe saw
the guard’s face split into a wide grin. Oh, yes. The last of Joe’s
doubts disappeared. The guy certainly knew that he and Scott were
there to hook up with each other.

Whistling tunelessly under his breath as he waited for the

elderly elevator to carry him up to the third floor, Joe once again

CORDIALLY INVITED

2

tried, and once again failed, to work out what Scott might have
planned for them that night.

10 P.M., Thursday. Harrington’s department store. Go
to the staff entrance at the back of the store. The
security guard will be expecting you. Take the lift up to
the third floor.

And that was it.
It wasn’t really much to go on—just enough to have Joe

spending damn near every minute of the three days since he’d
received Scott’s note, playing guessing games with himself.

A small plaque hung just to the right of the numbered buttons

indicating the various floors and which departments they
contained. Joe made a point of not looking at it. Whatever surprise
Scott had planned for him, Joe didn’t feel inclined to spoil it at the
last moment.

Joe simply smiled to himself as he waited for the elderly

elevator to bring him to his destination. Apparently, being a nice
guy and playing by the rules could actually be quite fun. Who
could have guessed that screwing the same man over and over
again could actually be so interesting?

Finally, a genteel little ding indicated that Joe had reached his

destination. The doors slid open. Joe stepped out into what looked
like some sort of kitchenware department. Raising one eyebrow at
the homely looking fare on offer, he glanced around, trying to
catch a glimpse of his new submissive between the displays of
pots, pans and useless gadgets.

He smiled when he eventually spotted Scott standing in the

adjoining department. The submissive was waiting for him well

CORDIALLY INVITED

3

within sight of the elevators, but his back was toward Joe. Scott
obviously had no idea he had company.

Joe stepped forward, taking care to keep his footfalls as silent

as possible. His attempts to remain undetected worked perfectly.
Scott continued to stare out of the window overlooking the car
park none the wiser to Joe’s presence. Apparently it had never
occurred to him that Joe might park his bike around the other side
of the building.

The thick carpeting muffled Joe’s footsteps as he crept closer

still. He stopped just a few yards away from the other man, not
about to waste the chance to observe Scott while he remained
unaware that he had an audience.

Scott’s clothes were as conservative as ever. Grey trousers, a

pale blue polo shirt and sensible black shoes. Joe smiled as he ran
his eyes down Scott’s back and his gaze settled happily on the
other man’s arse.

He wondered if anyone else knew how beautiful a body was

hidden away behind those unadventurous clothes. Or how kinky
Scott could be, once he started obeying the orders of a man who
knew how to bring out the best in him.

No one at all. Joe’s smile widened into a grin. He was the only

one who knew about that side of Scott—and Joe suddenly realised
that that suited him just fine. He slowly pulled his gaze up to
Scott’s face. Moving one step to his left, Joe was able to see more
of Scott’s expression past the obscuring blond strands that fell
down toward his eyes.

Scott’s bottom lip was suffering the full effect of his nerves. As

Joe watched, a whole row of straight, white teeth nibbled at the
sensitive skin. Scott’s lip thinned out—just as it did when he was
going down on Joe’s cock.

CORDIALLY INVITED

4

Joe rubbed his growing erection through his jeans. A moment

passed. Scott freed his bottom lip from between his teeth. He
hadn’t bitten down that hard. There was no sign of blood as Scott
took a deep breath and glanced at his watch.

“I’m right on time.”
Scott spun around, big blue eyes opening wide with surprise.
Every instinct Joe possessed told him to step forward and close

the gap between them, to grab hold of Scott and take the
opportunity to remind the other man exactly who he belonged to. It
took every bit of self-control Joe could scrape from the bottom of
his mental barrel to stay where he was.

Scott had to be given time and space, Joe told himself—not for

the first time. Scott had to be permitted to be himself—not just
someone who did whatever a more dominant man told him to do.

Joe folded his arms across his chest. He could do this.
“I didn’t hear you come in,” Scott said.
“I guessed that much.”
Joe let silence fill the room as he waited for Scott to tell him

what was going to happen next, or to come closer, or to…well, to
do pretty much anything, really.

Moments turned into minutes. They might as well have been at

a kid’s birthday party playing musical statues. Scott evidently had
no idea how to make the next move. As their eyes met, it was
equally clear just how much panic was spiralling through the
submissive’s veins. Joe didn’t need to press his fingertips against
Scott’s throat to know how fast his pulse was racing, or to realise
how rapidly he was trying to swallow down his nerves.

Joe dragged his attention away from Scott’s face for a moment.

There was a logo on his shirt. Harrington’s Department Store.
Next to it, was pinned a name tag. Scott.

CORDIALLY INVITED

5

They were playing dress up. Even if Scott’s costume hadn’t

been bought from the back room of a sex shop, the simple fact
Scott had taken such a leap of faith in his direction, rushed straight
to Joe’s cock.

He cast a quick glance over the department they stood in, trying

to guess what Scott hoped they were going to do that night and
what it might tell him about Scott’s kinks.

Cushions, and curtains, and fabrics, oh my…
“I’ve known a few gay guys who really liked their interior

decoration,” Joe said. “But I’d never have guessed that you had a
secret fetish for soft furnishings.”

Scott blushed. He ducked his head, but Joe was just able to

catch sight of the other man’s smile before it disappeared from
view. Gradually, Scott’s shoulders relaxed into a more natural
position. Joe could damn near see the tension pouring out of him.

“No cushion fetish?” Joe checked.
Scott shook his head. “I…I picked up some summer work here

in my first year at university.”

“Doing what?” Joe leaned back against a stand full of matching

throws and cushions as he pictured a version of Scott who was a
few years younger and even less sure of himself than Scott was
now.

“Mostly I just nodded, smiled and pretended I was straight,”

Scott said, with a chuckle.

Joe nodded his understanding, only just resisting the temptation

to walk across the room and wrap his arms around Scott in a
clumsy attempt to offer comfort. “How old were you when you
came out?”

Scott tilted his head to one side, confusion filled his eyes for a

moment, before it quickly cleared. “No, I didn’t mean… I was out

CORDIALLY INVITED

6

before that. I just kind of retreated into the closet for a while when
I worked here…”

As he trailed off, Scott turned his head, looking around at the

big bolts of curtain fabric and shelves full of sample books. Joe
was willing to bet he didn’t really see any of it—not as it was now,
at least.

Joe tensed. “Bigoted boss?” he asked, dragging Scott’s

attention back to him before the submissive could mentally wander
off too far on his own, toward a past Joe had no way of protecting
him from.

Scott blinked, as if he had no idea what Joe was talking about.

Then he shook his head. His half-embarrassed smile came back.

“If you’re a straight man working in the textile department,

people want you to fetch the heavy bolts of fabric or move boxes
around in the store room. But the moment you let on that you’re
gay in a place like this, everyone suddenly thinks you know what
colours go with what, and what a triple-headed pinch is.”

Joe relaxed back again the display stand once more. He raised

one eyebrow at Scott. “Okay—I’ll bite. What is a triple-headed
pinch?”

Scott shrugged. “I’m damned if I know,” he admitted, pushing

his hands into his pockets. “I was studying history, not fashion. It’s
probably something to do with curtains, but it always sounded a bit
kinky to me.”

“No, it can’t be,” Joe said, with complete confidence. “If it was

kinky, I’d know what it was.”

Scott met Joes gaze properly for the first time that day, laughter

shining brightly in his eyes.

Joe grinned back at him until Scott’s expression gradually

turned more serious.

CORDIALLY INVITED

7

Pushing his hands even deeper into his pockets, Scott shuffled

his feet against the ugly brown carpet. “Whenever I wasn’t
working really hard at pretending to be straight, I’d creep over to
one the windows and look down into the car park.”

“Oh, I see. This is all about a displaced car fetish then?” Joe

kept pace with Scott as the other man moved, seemingly without
thinking about it, toward the window.

This time, there was no chuckle offered in response to his

teasing. Joe’s eyes narrowed as he studied Scott more closely.

“All the deliveries used to be made down there.” Scott

whispered the words very softly, as if the store’s owner might race
in and sack him for giving away company secrets at any moment.

Joe nodded, purposefully keeping his own expression just as

serious as Scott’s. “So, what you’re actually trying to tell me is that
you stopped pretending to be straight every now and again, just so
you could ogle the pretty delivery men?”

Scott nodded. The blush tinting his cheeks turned a slightly

darker shade.

Joe stepped forward, pretty sure he finally understood where

this fantasy was heading. “Did you ever actually do anything with
any of the delivery drivers?” he asked, pushing his jealousy aside
as best he could.

Scott shook his head.
Joe moved closer still, pure possessiveness replacing any other

emotion as he finally came within arm’s reach of the submissive.
“But I’ll bet you spent a lot of time thinking about it, didn’t you?”
He let his own voice drop into a more hushed tone, but somehow it
didn’t morph into a whisper—it became far more like a growl.

CORDIALLY INVITED

8

CHAPTER 2

Scott looked over his shoulder. Joe was suddenly a hell of a lot

closer than he’d expected him to be. No man should be able to
move that silently in hulking great army boots.

Scott parted his lips to answer Joe, but his vocal cords seemed

to have completely seized up. Or perhaps they were just suffering
from an acute lack of blood flow. As soon as he’d set eyes on Joe,
Scott’s cock had become the only part of his body that his blood
seemed interested in visiting.

All Scott could do was nod, and even that was a clumsy little

gesture. A string-less puppet could have probably done a better job
at pretending its brain was still above its waist.

Scott turned to face Joe properly, frantically trying to swallow

down his nerves and regain some sort of control over himself

CORDIALLY INVITED

9

before their eyes met again. Joe took another half a step forward.
Now, Scott had to tilt his head back to look up at the taller man.

Well aware that he was already several miles out of his depth,

Scott took a blind step backward, straight into the bin full of
flowery cushions set just to the left of the window.

He gasped and half spun around, but suddenly Joe wasn’t

standing a few feet away, he was right in front of Scott and there
wasn’t an inch of empty air between them. Scott didn’t have room
to turn around and check the cushions weren’t about to attack.
Hell, he barely even had room to breathe.

Scott was trapped—helpless, hard and happier than he had ever

been in his life.

“What did you imagine?” Joe dipped his head as he spoke. The

roughly spoken words caressed Scott’s ear, sending a shiver down
his spine.

“I…” Scott licked his lips. A moment before Joe’s arrival, the

room had been a perfectly acceptable temperature. Now, it was
more like a damn sauna. Lifting one hand, Scott tugged at the neck
of his polo shirt, wondering if Toby, the security guard, was
buggering about with the heating system.

Scott glanced down, but that meant looking at the way Joe’s

larger body pressed against him, at the way Joe’s hands rested on
the storage bin’s rim on either side of him, keeping him exactly
where the other man wanted.

Another shot of adrenaline rushed through Scott’s veins, setting

his heart pounding faster than ever.

It was Joe’s turn to lift one hand then. He tucked a knuckle

under Scott’s chin, giving him no choice but to tilt back his head
and lift his eyes to his lover’s face.

“Did you imagine staying behind for a late delivery, Scott? Did

CORDIALLY INVITED

10

you picture yourself waiting for one of those big, strong delivery
men to turn up and catch you all on your own in the store?”

Scott only blinked, but in the momentary darkness behind his

lids, he saw it all so clearly. Joe was wearing nothing more
interesting than his usual jeans and T-shirt, but it didn’t take a huge
leap of the imagination to put a clipboard with a delivery form that
needed to be signed in his hand. “I…”

Joe’s lips twisted into a smile as he released Scott’s chin. He

ran his hands down the outside of Scott’s arms, until each of his
hands encircled one of Scott’s wrists, bringing every inch of skin
he touched to life.

Scott had never thought of his arms as erogenous zones before,

but he knew then that he’d never think of them as anything else.

“What did you imagine your delivery guy doing to you?” Joe

asked again.

Scott took a deep breath, the scent of their combined arousal

flooded his senses, making it even more impossible for him to
think clearly.

“What shall I do with you, now that I’ve got you here, all on

your own?” Joe rephrased.

That question was so much easier for Scott to answer. The

appropriate response appeared inside his mind without him even
having to redirect even a single drop of blood to his brain.
“Anything you want,” he whispered, still staring at the grip Joe had
on his wrists.

Tomorrow the sun would rise, gravity would still exist, and Joe

should always do whatever he wanted with him. It was one of
those undeniable facts Scott didn’t have to question.

“What do you think I would have wanted to do with you if I’d

been the delivery man who found you here all alone?” Joe pushed,

CORDIALLY INVITED

11

his lips brushing against Scott’s ear as he spoke.

Another shudder ran down Scott’s spine, heading straight to his

cock. His erection throbbed behind the thin uniform trousers that
he’d dug out from the back of his wardrobe earlier that day.

The fabric was so restrictive, it was tempting to believe his

cock had grown by another couple of inches in the last few years.
Scott looked up at Joe. No, it was even easier to believe that
nothing had ever succeeded in making him as hard as Joe could
with just a few whispered words.

“I’m still waiting for an answer,” Joe reminded him. He caught

the lobe of Scott’s ear between his teeth and nipped sharply at the
delicate flesh.

Scott gasped, but he didn’t try to pull away from the little spike

of pain, or the wave of adrenaline that came with it.

“I don’t know,” he blurted out.
Joe lifted his head and stared down at Scott, his disbelief

obvious.

“I can’t remember,” Scott said, his voice now thin and raspy

with pleasure. “I can’t think when you’re…”

Whether he believed him or not, Joe smiled at the admission.

His grip tightened around Scott’s wrists as he pulled him away
from the cushions’ storage box.

Scott didn’t hesitate to follow the unspoken order, once he

actually recognised it as being an instruction to move. Within
seconds Joe had deftly re-arranged Scott’s arms, so they were
pinned behind his back and transferred both of Scott’s wrists into
the grip of one of his huge hands.

Scott stared up at him, wondering if Joe really thought he could

keep his wrists trapped against the small of his back with just one
hand.

CORDIALLY INVITED

12

Joe’s expression was completely serious but, no, Scott realised.

Joe didn’t think he was that weak. As Scott stared into the other
man’s eyes, he was sure that Joe knew that the physical hold he
had on him was now little more than a statement of where he
wanted Scott’s hands to stay.

It was the mental hold Joe had over him that made it truly

impossible for Scott to move his arms. His hands would stay
behind his back until he was given permission to move them. That
knowledge came from deep down, in a part of Scott’s mind he was
still just beginning to explore, but there was no arguing with it.

Joe slid his free hand into Scott’s hair. His fingers wrapped

around the already disordered strands and tilted back Scott’s head,
once more making him look up into his eyes.

“Tell me what you remember,” he ordered.
Scott frowned, trying to summon up details that were hard to

bring to mind. The past wasn’t important. What he’d once dreamt
of doing with other men wasn’t significant.

But, Joe’s orders, they were vital. Scott frowned as he

concentrated, first and foremost, on obeying his lover.

“I remember thinking that whatever he did to me, it would hurt.

But I…I remember being sure I would like it—even though I knew
I should hate it,” Scott managed to whisper. “I…being treated like
that, not having a choice…I like it…”

Scott’s frown deepened, as he struggled to recall the specifics

of a fantasy that had once filled his brain during every break time
and quiet spell in the store for months on end. It was no use.
Daydreams couldn’t compete with the man who was standing
before him.

“If I’d come into this shop back then, everyone would have

known that you were gay by the time I left,” Joe suddenly

CORDIALLY INVITED

13

informed him.

Scott nodded. He was pretty sure that it would have been

obvious to everyone, just by the way he stared at Joe. The other
man wouldn’t even have had to smile in his direction to out him.

“They’d have known you belonged to me, too,” Joe went on.
Scott stared up at the other man knowing only that he loved

hearing those words on Joe’s lips. Whatever anyone else believed
was irrelevant. Belonging to another man… Belonging to Joe…

It was impossible for Scott to keep back a needy little whimper.
Joe’s hand tightened around both his wrists and his hair in

response. “They’d have all seen the way you submit to me,
whether you wanted them to or not.”

“Wh…what would you have done?” Scott whispered, his

desperation suddenly kicking his vocal cords back into life.

“That would have depended on one very important fact,” Joe

said, his lips twisting into a humourless little smile.

“Fact?” Scott echoed.
“Did you have my permission to come to work today or were

you disobeying me when you took this job?”

Scott swallowed. Joe’s voice had hardened again. Unexpected

guilt swarmed through Scott’s mind. His stomach knotted. Every
muscle in his body tensed. “I—”

“No,” Joe cut in, slowly drawing out the word, as if he was

considering the matter very carefully. “You wouldn’t disobey me
like that, would you?”

Scott shook his head vehemently, not caring how hard he

tugged at the hair within Joe’s grip in the process.

“No,” Joe mused again, sliding his fingers from Scott’s hair

and moving them down to rest, almost tenderly, upon Scott’s
cheek.

CORDIALLY INVITED

14

At the same time, Joe tightened his grip on Scott’s wrists with

his other hand, until Scott knew there would be bruises there the
next day. If Joe hadn’t looked so serious, Scott would have grinned
at the possibility of his lover marking him, of being allowed to
wear Joe’s marks beneath his skin for days to come. But Joe’s
usual smile was entirely absent.

“If I’d come into this store and found you back then, it would

have been the first time I set eyes on you.” He seemed to be talking
to himself.

Freed from any obligation to answer, Scott simply stared up at

Joe, relishing their closeness.

“Do you remember the first time we met?” Joe suddenly

demanded.

“In…in the fantasy?” Scott asked.
Joe’s lips quirked into that lopsided smile that always made

Scott desperate to rise up onto his toes and kiss him.

“No, in the real world. Do you remember?” Joe asked again.
Scott nodded. His hands twitched behind his back. Joe

immediately pressed them more firmly against the back of his polo
shirt—keeping them in place.

Scott was well aware that he remembered that particular

evening in perfect detail, but he was equally sure Joe wouldn’t
recall it at all. As easily as that, a more familiar reality returned to
Scott. Without moving a single muscle, he morphed back into the
guy on the edge of the group who no one ever noticed, who—

“It was Valentine’s Day last year,” Joe said, slicing cleanly

through every thought in Scott’s head. “You were the hottest sub
there. I couldn’t stop staring at you, wondering how the hell you
could be there on your own.”

Scott blinked. He’d probably have felt a damn sight less

CORDIALLY INVITED

15

shocked if Joe had suddenly announced he was an alien.

CORDIALLY INVITED

16

CHAPTER 3

“You needn’t look quite so convinced I’m a serial killer,” Joe

said with a chuckle. He idly ran his thumb over Scott’s cheek.
Shocked was one hell of a good look on him. “What could be more
natural than a dom staring at the stunning new sub who just walked
into the club?”

“Are you sure you’re talking about me?” Scott asked.
Joe used his grip on Scott’s wrists to pull him closer, so their

bodies were pressed tightly together from shoulder to knee. “Very
sure.” He was equally confident that Scott could now feel his hard-
on pressing firmly against him through their clothes.

“You were really watching me?” It was impossible to tell if

Scott loved that idea, or if he was too freaked out by the possibility
to feel anything at all.

CORDIALLY INVITED

17

“I really was,” Joe said, somehow managing to hold back

another chuckle.

Scott closed his eyes for a moment, as if fighting for self-

control.

If he was trying to resist the urge to thrust forward and damn

near hump Joe’s leg, he lost that battle within seconds. His breaths
turned ragged as he rubbed their bodies together and beautiful
layers of friction blossomed between their crotches.

A minute passed before, with a frustrated groan, Scott pried his

eyes open and looked up at Joe. It was obvious just how hard it
was for him to make his brain work, but he stubbornly kept trying
until he got there. “You couldn’t have known I was a sub,” he
accused. “You never saw me do anything the least bit kinky.”

Of course he hadn’t. Joe was one hundred percent certain there

had never been anything the least bit kinky in Scott’s life for
anyone to see, and his cock thrived on the knowledge. That side of
Scott belonged to him, no one else.

“I didn’t need a demonstration,” Joe said. “I still knew. The

first time I saw you I wanted to turn you over my knee and spank
you until you came.”

Scott whimpered.
It took all the self-control Joe had to stop himself fulfilling that

particular ambition right there and then, in the middle of the
deserted department store. He cleared his throat. “If I walked into
this shop a few years ago, I’d have known that you were a
submissive then, too.”

“You would?”
“Yes.” Joe left no room for doubt in his voice.
Scott glanced up at him and then quickly away, as if he wasn’t

sure where to look anymore.

CORDIALLY INVITED

18

“If we’d met back then, it would have been back before I

learned the patience to wait and play nicely.” Joe dipped his head
and nipped at Scott’s ear again. “I wouldn’t have waited for you to
be ready to practice your letter writing skills,” he whispered.

Scott arched his back, moulding his body against Joe’s larger

frame, pushing his erection against Joe leg. “What would you have
done?” he murmured.

“Do you want me to tell you?”
Scott nodded.
Joe raised an eyebrow at him. “Really? Where’s the fun in

that?”

Scott instantly withdrew—if not physically then mentally, as

quick to lose confidence as ever.

“Wouldn’t you prefer me to show you?” Joe asked.
He didn’t give Scott another second in which to panic. He spun

him around without granting him the opportunity to reply. Pressing
his crotch against Scott’s arse, Joe let the other man feel just how
much he wanted him.

Scott tried to look over his shoulder, but Joe kept him exactly

where he wanted him, holding him in place with his arms wrapped
tightly around the smaller man’s body. Scott had no choice but to
keep looking forward and stare out over the store where he had
spent so much time fantasising about rough men not taking no for
an answer.

“This would have been your first hint that anyone else was

here—when you felt my body against yours,” Joe told him. He
rocked his hips, rubbing his erection against Scott’s backside
through their clothes. “And you’d have known exactly what I
wanted from you, wouldn’t you?”

Scott merely murmured his approval as Joe slid one hand down

CORDIALLY INVITED

19

his torso and cupped his erection through his nice, sensible
trousers.

Scott wriggled helplessly between Joe’s body and his hand as

he massaged his shaft through the fabric. His movements only
seemed to succeed in making him more and more frustrated.

“Please?” Scott asked. He was so breathless, the word was

barely audible.

Joe chuckled as he pressed a kiss to Scott’s neck, letting his

lover feel the vibrations from his amusement dance against his
skin. “Do you really think I’d let you have anything you want as
easily as that? Perhaps it’s a good thing you didn’t know me back
then.”

“I’d have done anything you wanted,” Scott promised.
“And you’re sure of that, are you?” Joe teased.
Scott nodded. “You’d have still been you.” He sounded so

bloody serious.

Joe might have just been talking dirty, taking dictation straight

from his cock, but Scott was obviously speaking from his heart.
Joe growled his approval, sharing a whole host of new vibrations
with the same patch of Scott’s skin.

It was a bloody good answer. It slipped straight past the part of

Joe that was still trying to keep everything between them light and
flirty, straight to the part of him that understood nothing but his
feral need to possess his lover and own him completely.

Unzipping Scott’s fly, Joe slid his hands past the cheap

material and guided his lover’s erection through the openings of
both his boxers and his trousers. Wrapping his hand around the
shaft, he half jacked Scott’s cock, and half laid claim to each hard
inch of his erection.

Scott froze, every muscle in his body tensing.

CORDIALLY INVITED

20

“I was a petulant little brat seven years ago,” Joe whispered

into Scott’s ear as the smaller man began to tremble against him.
“I’d have deserved to have been shot if I’d made a move on a boy
like you.”

As suddenly as they’d frozen, Scott’s limbs thawed out.

Without any warning, he was twisting away from Joe, trying to
free his hands and pull his cock away from Joe’s stroking fingers at
the same time.

“That’s enough,” Joe said, the words clipped and impatient.
Scott didn’t even seem to hear him. He continued to writhe

against Joe, as if that would somehow help him prove he wasn’t
too sweet for a guy who’d been screwing half the people on the
leather scene.

“You were a virgin,” Joe snapped. He didn’t bother to make it a

question when he was already sure of the answer.

The calmly stated fact seemed to bring Scott back to him. He

fell still, his breathing more irregular than ever. A pretty red hue
rushed to Scott’s cheeks. If he’d had any lingering doubts, it would
have been all the answer Joe could have ever needed.

An impatient sound escaped from the back of Joe’s throat.

There was a very large part of him that wouldn’t have minded
being shot for having that particular pleasure. His hand tightened
its grip around Scott’s cock. “But you’re mine now,” he said.

The statement was three words longer than he’d have bothered

with if he’d stumbled across Scott before he was old enough to
really appreciate him .

Mine.
Scott nodded. “Yes,” he whispered. “Yours.”
Joe looked over his shoulder, scanning their surroundings. He

silently cursed. Why the hell couldn’t Scott have worked in the

CORDIALLY INVITED

21

DIY section? Then they’d have been surrounded by lengths of
chain, and padlocks, and lots of other things that could easily be
kinked up to fit his purposes.

The soft furnishing departments offered him…
Joe squinted at the various racks and shelves within sight.

Ribbon trims? Lace? He was just about to give up and drag Scott
off on a field trip to a part of a store that sold more sensible, more
easily pervertable, things, when he spotted some sort of red rope
thing with a big tassel on the end.

“Keep your hands behind your back.” Dropping Scott’s wrists,

but keeping hold of his cock, Joe led him across to the huge
countertop that occupied the centre of the soft furnishings
department by his erection.

“What are we—”
“Hush.” Joe snatched up one of the tasselled ropes on his way

past their stand.

As he reached the countertop, Joe realised two things. Firstly, it

was too high for Scott to bend over it comfortably, if he wanted to
keep his feet on the floor. Secondly, it would offer Scott’s arse up
at a lovely height for his own cock, if Scott’s feet were left to
dangle helplessly a few inches off the floor.

Joe grinned.
Snatching a cushion off a shelf to his left, Joe tossed it on the

edge of the countertop. It only took him a few seconds to tug both
Scott’s trousers and his boxers down until they bunched around his
knees. Joe lifted Scott easily off his feet and bent him over his new
makeshift bondage bench. Scott’s chest lay against the countertop,
his crotch was pressed into the cushion, his legs were hanging over
the edge and, most importantly of all, his bare arse was offered up
for Joe’s personal pleasure.

CORDIALLY INVITED

22

A startled little yelp had been Scott’s only contribution during

the proceedings. Even when Joe walked away, Scott remained
speechless, his hands still behind his back.

Striding around to the other side of the counter, Joe discovered

a row of hooks where scissors, along with a few other things he
didn’t recognise, hung.

Knocking aside a huge pair of shears, which looked far more

intimidating than half the things he’d seen in all his years haunting
the local BDSM clubs, Joe secured one end of his newly acquired
tassel to a big silver hook.

“Perfect,” he muttered to himself. Who needed a DIY section?

Looking up, Joe met Scott’s eyes. He had everything he needed
right in front of him. “Give me your hands.”

CORDIALLY INVITED

23

CHAPTER 4

Scott slowly took his hands from behind his back and offered

them to Joe across the polished countertop. He watched,
completely unable to comprehend what was going on, as Joe deftly
secured his hands to a hook with a fancy curtain tieback.

Scott frowned. He was reasonably sure the tassel wouldn’t hold

him down if he made any sort of serious attempt to free himself.
Joe’s work on the knot pulled Scott’s whole body an inch closer to
the opposite side of the counter. His bare cock rubbed against the
cushion beneath him. Cool air caressed Scott arse. He knew then
that he could very happily spend the rest of his life in that exact
spot without ever wanting to be free.

“Now I really can do whatever I want with you,” Joe said.

“Can’t I?”

CORDIALLY INVITED

24

Scott nodded mutely, still staring at his bound hands, helplessly

wondering what else Joe might decide to tie him up with in the
future. In that moment, Scott’s world stopped being a place that
contained innocent everyday things and, in a completely different
mental category, kinky things designed to be used in erotic little
games.

The line in the sand disappeared, scuffed out of existence by

Joe’s heavy military boots. A hundred kinky things followed in the
dominant’s wake, seeping into the rest of Scott’s world until there
was nowhere he could hide from them.

Scott only managed to tear his gaze from the tieback when Joe

took a step away from him. That was wrong. Scott opened his
mouth to protest, but no words came out. He might as well have
been gagged.

Relief rushed through Scott, sweeping away his panic, as Joe

failed to stride out of the room and leave him there, exposed and
helpless. Scott didn’t need to say a word in order for the other man
to turn and walk around the counter until he stood directly behind
him, barely an inch from his bare backside.

“Joe?” Scott finally managed to rasp, as the silence stretched

out.

Joe made no comment. He just slid his fingertips down

between Scott’s cheeks to tease his hole.

Lightning sparked through Scott’s body. His legs jerked. His

shoes kicked against the side of the counter as Scott desperately
tried to gain enough leverage to press his arse back against Joe’s
fingers.

It didn’t do him any good. The side of the counter was just as

smooth as the top surface. All Scott managed to do was rub his
cock more firmly against the cushion stuffed beneath his hips,

CORDIALLY INVITED

25

grinding his crotch into the rough, tapestry surface.

Scott was stuck there, able to do nothing other than accept

whatever Joe chose to give him. He silently rattled through every
curse he knew. He couldn’t even spread his legs in invitation
because his damn trousers were bunched up around his knees.

Joe hummed an unidentifiable little tune under his breath as he

pushed the back of Scott’s shirt up, exposing another few inches of
his skin. A shiver danced along Scott’s spine, more at just how
vulnerable he felt than because of anything so irrelevant as mere
temperature, and more at how much that sense of vulnerability
appealed to him than either.

“Joe?”
“Yeah?”
Scott peered over his shoulder just in time to see the other man

take a little tube of lube out of the back pocket of his jeans and
squeeze some of the liquid onto his fingers.

The next moment, Joe’s fingers disappeared from Scott’s field

of vision. Scott held his breath, mentally reciting every prayer he
could remember. Someone was listening. All his fervent
supplications were answered as Joe’s fingers slid between his
buttocks once more.

The lube was warm after being carried around in Joe’s pocket.

It was slicker than ever as Joe circled Scott’s hole with his
fingertips, teasing him without even trying to enter him.

Even while he knew it was impossible, Scott struggled to

spread his legs. Moaning his frustration, he dropped his head
toward the countertop as Joe’s fingers finally slid inside him, very,
very slowly. Scott only remembered how to breathe properly once
the digits were buried so deeply inside him, he could feel Joe’s
knuckles pressing against the cleft between his arse cheeks.

CORDIALLY INVITED

26

A moment passed by as Scott crammed as much air as possible

into his lungs, not sure how long his ability to breathe would last
this time. Joe crooked the digits, immediately finding Scott’s
prostate.

Scott’s legs jerked. He damn near put his foot through the side

of the counter as pleasure rushed through his body and failed to
find any other outlet. Pain shot through his toes, but it couldn’t
compete with the pure bliss Joe rubbed into his prostate.

“If you stay still for me, I might give you permission to come.”
Permission. Might. Those words registered in Scott’s mind,

even if nothing else did.

Joe controlled his ability to orgasm now. Scott couldn’t be

certain that he’d get the permission he desperately needed.
“Please?”

“Maybe,” Joe said.
Maybe?
Scott whimpered, instinctively pulling at the tassel restraining

his hands. The tieback was far stronger than it looked. All Scott
succeeded in doing, was tightening the knots around his wrists.

He groaned as the rope chaffed against his skin. The sensation

went straight to his cock. There might as well have been another
length of rope running beneath his torso to wrap around his shaft
and ball sac.

Each tug against the tieback seemed to pull Scott’s balls up

closer to his body, making him all the more frantic to come. Joe’s
fingers only worked their way deeper inside him in response.

Scott bit down on his bottom lip in a last ditch attempt to stop

himself cursing Joe out loud.

“No.”
Scott blinked open his eyes. He hadn’t said a word—he was

CORDIALLY INVITED

27

sure of that. The disapproval in Joe’s tone had to come from
somewhere else, but Scott had no idea what he could have done to
make the dominant so displeased with him.

“Don’t try to keep quiet,” Joe ordered. “I want to hear you.” He

crooked his fingers again, rubbing the tips ever more firmly against
Scott’s prostate.

Scott arched against the table top as a sound halfway between a

moan and a scream was torn from his throat at Joe’s command.

He’d thought the noise might please Joe in some way, but it

made Joe take his fingers away instead.

“No! Don’t!” Scott pleaded, unable to form anything that

resembled a complete sentence. “Need.”

Joe’s fingers belonged inside him. Joe couldn’t take them

away. But the other man took no notice of his protests. Gathering
up every scrap of energy he could find inside him, Scott lifted his
head and looked over his shoulder.

No. He’d been wrong. Joe’s fingers didn’t belong inside him.

The digits were designed for exactly what Joe was doing with
them. Fingers were supposed to be used for pushing Joe’s clothing
aside and for rolling a condom down his shaft. All at once, that
was obvious.

Slicking the latex with extra lube, Joe stepped forward and

positioned the tip of his cock against Scott’s hole. His hands came
to rest on Scott’s hips, holding him still, providing himself with a
nice stationary target to thrust into.

Scott’s trousers still kept his knees trapped together. His legs

trembled as he strained against the fabric, but every single bloody
seam held true. All he could do was lie there and wait impatiently
for Joe to thrust forward and bury himself inside his arse with one
hard thrust.

CORDIALLY INVITED

28

Scott’s lips parted. Words began to tumble out. He had no idea

what he said. Begging, cursing, for all he knew he could have been
speaking in tongues. But still, the rough thrust never came.

Joe leaned forward, pressing the tip of his cock against Scott’s

hole very gently. Even when his glans had breached the tight ring
of muscle, Joe didn’t rush. He continued to slowly feed his shaft
into Scott’s body inch by wonderful inch. He stretched him and
filled him so gradually that it seemed to Scott that Joe’s cock was
never ending. And each moment that passed only made Scott crave
each little bit of his lover’s cock even more.

Scott bit down on his bottom lip, before quickly correcting

himself and releasing the abused skin from between his teeth. He
didn’t have permission to keep his moans and groans to himself.

“Please?” he gasped.
Joe stroked his hands up Scott’s sides, from where they’d held

his hips steady, to rest over his ribs on either side of his torso. Scott
arched into Joe’s palms. At the same time, he clenched around
Joe’s cock, relishing where each part of the other man’s body
touched him.

Joe’s hands were glorious, so was his crotch, pressed tightly

against Scott’s buttocks.

Long seconds ticked passed. The room was so quiet, Scott

could hear the clock on the wall counting the moments out.
Eventually, Joe swayed back, his cock gradually sliding out from
Scott’s hole. Scott held his breath. A lifetime seemed to pass
before Joe ploughed back into him.

Again, then again. Joe’s hips finally began to move a little

faster on each stoke, until he was thrusting into Scott in earnest.
His hands slid back down and clutched at Scott’s hips, holding him
secure as he pounded into him.

CORDIALLY INVITED

29

The cushion beneath Scott’s groin stopped his hip bones

getting battered against the counter’s edge, but the textured fabric
also rubbed against Scott’s cock in time with each of Joe’s thrusts.
Scott felt his pre-cum leaking from the tip and soaking into the
cushion cover, but he was as helpless to stop that as he was
anything else.

Joe had stolen any power Scott might once have had away from

him. Like a masked thief creeping into an empty house in the dead
of night, Joe took away both Scott’s control and his desire for
control.

Even Scott’s ability to think seemed to have been scooped up

and locked away in Joe’s black bag full of stolen goods.

Scott whimpered in time with Joe’s thrusts as the power of

speech was once more removed from his possession. His fists
clenched and unclenched, tugging against their bondage, not trying
to get out of it but still unable to remain entirely motionless.

Out of the blue, Joe took something from his hoard of stolen

booty and tossed it back to Scott.

“Permission granted,” he ground out.
As he spoke, Joe’s grip tightened, his fingers digging into

Scott’s flesh as he forced Scott to tilt up his hips, and thrust into
Scott’s arse harder than ever. The tiny change in angle made all the
difference.

Scott’s whimpers morphed into a scream. If he’d been able to

think clearly, he might have worried that the security guard he’d
convinced to let them in would rush up to the third floor, sure that
someone was being murdered.

As it was, Scott was unable to worry about anything. While Joe

continued to thrust deep inside him, forcing more and more
pleasure into his prostate, while his own cum was spilling across

CORDIALLY INVITED

30

the cushion beneath him, Scott was completely incapable of doing
anything but descend through the spiral of bliss his orgasm threw
him into.

As he clenched his internal muscles around Joe’s cock, Scott

felt the other man’s rhythm falter. Joe came just a moment after
him. He yelled out, too, a harsh, triumphant sound that wrapped
around Scott’s bound body and gave him permission to sink even
deeper into his pleasure.

Joe bent forward as his hips finally fell still, his chest settling

against Scott’s back. His weight pressed down on Scott, crushing
him against the countertop.

With his forehead resting on the smooth, cream surface, Scott

smiled to himself. He’d made Joe come. Right then, he rocked!

“Scott?”
Sleepy with satisfaction, Scott slowly blinked open his eyes.

The room was still as it had been when he closed his eyes, it hadn’t
even changed that much from when he’d worked there.

This season’s colours might vary a little from those that came

before, but it was still the same place. He was the only thing that
had changed. He was what made it look like a completely different
place.

Scott frowned slightly. Joe had said something to him, but he

couldn’t remember what. “Pardon?”

“I said, do you have your wallet with you?” Joe repeated.
Scott tried to pull enough brain cells together to work that out

on his own. He failed. “Why?”

“I think we might need to buy the cushion you’re lying on.”
Brain activity failed to make itself known inside Scott’s head.
“I doubt anyone else will want to buy it,” Joe pointed out.

“Since it’s got your cum all over it and everything.”

CORDIALLY INVITED

31

Everything finally clicked into place inside Scott’s head. Heat

rushed to his cheeks as Joe straightened up and began to sort out
his own clothes.

Scott tried to follow the other man’s lead. It was only when the

rope pulled around his wrists that he remembered he was still
bound and what that meant.

Joe grinned as Scott looked over his shoulder and their eyes

met.

“Are you going to…?” Scott hinted, nodding toward the

tieback.

“I don’t know,” Joe said. “I rather like the way you look where

you are. Maybe I’ll leave you there.”

Scott felt his blush deepen. Now that his brain was coming

back online, he couldn’t help but look over his shoulder toward the
elevator, half terrified that someone might walk into the deserted
building at any moment.

His own fly already neatly fastened, Joe stroked his fingertips

over Scott’s exposed arse. “Really bloody stunning,” he whispered,
apparently to himself. One finger slid between Scott’s legs and
stroked the back of his balls.

Scott helplessly arched his back as Joe teased the neatly

trimmed hairs that covered his balls’ sac. It was impossible for him
to get hard again, but that didn’t stop his brain sending signals to
his cock and ordering his shaft to try.

Already uncomfortably sticky against the cushion, Scott’s cock

began to ache with increased blood flow, too.

Finally, Joe seemed to get bored with that particular brand of

teasing. He took his hand from between Scott legs and walked
around the counter. He stopped directly in front of the hook where
he’d tied Scott’s hands, but he didn’t rush to free him.

CORDIALLY INVITED

32

Instead, Joe took a piece of paper and an envelope out of the

back pocket of his jeans.

Leaning on the counter next to Scott’s restrained wrists, Joe

wrote out a note in seconds. It was sealed in the envelope and
hidden from view before Scott managed to decipher one upside
down word of Joe’s scrawl.

It was only then that Joe turned his attention to Scott’s wrists.

As he released each limb, he made a point of checking that the
bound skin hadn’t been damaged during its time in bondage. Scott
automatically studied the same strip of skin. There wasn’t a mark
on him.

He was fine. The same couldn’t be said for the tieback.
“We’d best buy this as another souvenir,” Joe said, with an

easy grin. “A man can never have too many…” His eyes narrowed
as he studied it. His expression remained completely blank.

“Curtain tiebacks,” Scott finished for him.
Joe nodded, apparently willing to take his word for it. He let go

of Scott’s wrists. “You’re allowed to get up.”

He made no effort to help Scott, he just leaned against the

counter alongside him and watched Scott wriggle his way off the
countertop and squirm back into his boxers. His stomach and his
cock were both tacky with the residue of his cum, but there was
nowhere for him to clean up. All he could do was try to straighten
out his trousers and shirt so they hid the worst of his
embarrassment.

Scott picked up the cushion that had fallen to the floor when he

clamboured off the counter. Joe had been right about them needing
to buy it.

“Does the security guard know what we’re doing up here?” Joe

asked, as Scott dutifully left some money and a, not entire

CORDIALLY INVITED

33

accurate, explanatory note next to the till before sliding his
purchases to a carrier bag.

“I think he probably guessed the moment I asked him to let us

in after closing,” Scott said. “But he won’t tell anyone. I covered
for him lots of times when I worked here.”

“Are you going to blush when we walk past him on the way

out?”

A touch of colour rose to Scott’s cheeks at the idea.

“Probably,” he admitted.

Joe grinned as he pushed himself away from the counter and

headed toward the elevator.

“But it was worth it,” Scott blurted out.
Joe glanced over his shoulder. “What?”
“It was worth a bit of embarrassment,” Scott repeated.
Joe smiled and held out an arm toward Scott. “Come on.”
Scott stepped forward.
Joe slid his arm around his waist and pulled him close as they

resumed their journey toward the lifts. “You can hide your face in
my shoulder if you get too embarrassed,” he offered.

As they rode down in the elevator, Scott felt an envelope being

pushed into the back pocket of his trousers as discreetly as
possible. Smiling, he leaned into Joe’s side a little more
confidently. To hell with embarrassment, the knowledge they’d be
going on another date was worth damn near anything!

K

IM

D

ARE

Kim Dare is a twenty-eight-year-old, full-time writer from Wales
(UK).

First published in December 2008, Kim has since released over
fifty BDSM erotic romances. That means that well over one
hundred characters have chattered away inside her head during that
time—and that’s not even taking into account the fact that there are
over three times that number of people clamouring in the wings for
a chance to tell their stories. It’s no wonder she loses track of
what’s happening in the “real” world at times…

While Kim’s stories range over male/male, male/female and all
kinds of ménage relationships and have included vampires, time
travellers, shapeshifters and fairytale retellings, they all have three
things in common—kink, love and a happy ending.

For more information about Kim, please visit her website:

http://www.kimdare.com

* * *

Don’t miss Pushing The Envelope, Book VI: For His Eyes Only

available at AmberAllure.com!

Exhibitionism and voyeurism are all well and good, but there are
some things for which a man needs his privacy. There are some

sights that aren’t intended for anyone but an individual
submissive’s dominant.

Joe’s wanted to do something special since the first time he saw
Scott naked, bound and waiting for him. He’s been thinking about
it for weeks and, for better or worse, Scott has no idea what Joe
has planned.

And Joe has no intention of voicing his intentions until he has Scott
tied down, blindfolded, and at his mercy. But what will Scott have
to say when he finally discovers Joe’s scheme? Could it be his safe
word?

A

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