A Strong Hand

even I don't think I'd like to prance about in bright yellow leather trousers," Nick grinned. He reached to touch the wine leather cuff. "Perhaps that dark red might be nice."
    Damian brought himself firmly under control. "Well, better get changed. Markie's ready and I have to buckle him in.
    Good thing I own horses, what with all this harness to deal with."
    Nick almost snorted his water through his nose. "It is a bit
    ... horsey, isn't it?"
    207

    A Strong Hand
    by Catt Ford
    "Wait'll you see what I can do with a riding crop, pet,"
    Damian purred, watching Nick's lashes flicker quickly. "Go!
    Get dressed or—"
    "I'm going," Nick said, twitching his backside away from Damian's hand and sticking out his tongue. He wondered pleasurably what Damian would do to pay him for that later.
    Markie sighed again as he came up to Damian and turned around, crossing his hands behind his waist.
    "Bright red?" Damian asked dubiously. "Ashley gave you fire-engine red PVC shorts?"
    "No, Derek, that assistant guy, but he said these are the ones Ashley wanted."
    Damian strapped the blond's wrists behind him and patted him on the shoulder. "Sorry, Markie, but it wouldn't have worked if Ashley was thinking of someone else all the time."
    "I know. It's a bummer but I'm over it." Markie shook his head as though banishing the thoughts of what might have been. "Where do you want me?"
    "Just there," Damian said, guiding him into a pool of light.
    "I'm going back behind the camera and I'm going to ask you to take baby steps forward until the light is right, okay?"
    They got back to business, resuming their roles on opposite sides of the camera.

    * * * *
    The scent of male arousal was on the air by the time Damian released Nick's wrists from behind his back, where they'd been linked together with a silver chain that wrapped around his waist, leading upward to connect to his collar. Nick 208

    A Strong Hand
    by Catt Ford
    knelt in a pool of light against a dark red mottled canvas. The soft box had illuminated his bent head and the angular line of his shoulders, as he knelt, facing away from the camera, his elegant back narrowing to a slim waist. The lush roundness of his buttocks was highlighted by the reflection from the leather pants.
    Damian helped him to his feet and ran his hand down the boy's spine. "Hip okay?"
    "Yeah, thanks," Nick said, sighing with relief as his wrists were freed.
    "Get changed," Damian said casually. Leaning in close, his lips brushing Nick's ear, he breathed an order. "Leave the cuffs on under your shirt, pet."
    "Uh, yes sir," Nick responded stupidly. He felt his blood flow south; his cock started to swell and his brain disengaged.
    Damian smirked as he turned away, knowing just the effect his voice was having on the boy.
    Ashley observed dispassionately, "You really shouldn't do that to him, Damian. We need him alert and ready."
    "Oh, he's ready," Damian said smugly.
    "So, are we going for dinner?" Derek asked brightly, knowing he was interrupting something, but not sure quite what. At this point, he was jealous of Markie, Damian, and Nick, in that order.
    "Down, boy," Ashley said, watching the little quiver that ran through the boy. Keep them off balance; maybe Damian was on to something with his mind games. "Let's get the models sent off and we'll see."
    209

    A Strong Hand
    by Catt Ford
    Derek trailed after him, as if unwilling to trust Ashley alone with the models, and Damian laughed at his sheepdog attitude.
    Nick came to help him shut down the power packs, pulling at his sleeves to hide the cuffs. Damian stopped him, laying his hand over the boy's. "Leave it. I like seeing them on you.
    It makes me think about what you would look like, spread over one of those benches, naked and quivering, while I mark your ass."
    Nick sucked in a sharp breath, dizzy with the picture Damian had just painted for him out of thin air, using just his voice and his wicked imagination.
    "Look at those, pet. I'm going to use every single one on you," Damian said, nodding toward the table where Ashley had laid out a variety of paddles, whips, and crops for the next day. He stroked over Nick's backside and whispered, "I can make the whip sing for you if that's what you desire, pet."
    He watched the effect of his words. "And then when this beautiful little bottom is red and hot, I'll take you, bent over that bench, bound and spread, so hard that you'll feel me inside you the next day. You'll remember to whom you belong whenever you sit