Finding Sanctuary Read online

  “Francesco? Is that you?”

  Theo’s voice echoed all around him in the big open space. Gee. Swell.

  “Hello!” He laughed. It echoed pretty good for him too.

  Theo’s own laughter answered back. “I’m in here. Come sit with me.”

  Francesco followed the sound of Theo’s voice toward one of the lit rooms. He peered through the doorway. Theo was sitting at a big, dark wood desk that reminded him of one he’d seen in an office at the library. He’d stolen a peek one time when he’d thought no one was around, and the librarian had caught him. But she was one of the ladies who had always nice to him and had taught him how to use the Dewey cards and the dictionary. She’d explained that the majestic piece of furniture had belonged to a Georgian, then she’d shown him pictures of what other Georgian things looked like. He’d loved how the desk was strong and square with sharp edges—however, it also had curly, pretty handles. He didn’t understand how two opposites could go together so well, but they did.

  “Hi.” He didn’t enter the room, even though he’d been invited. Shyness filled him, which was so strange. He’d never been shy that he could remember. But seeing Theo sitting behind the desk, so beautiful and relaxed with his jacket off, his shirt unbuttoned at the collar, necktie gone and sleeves rolled up, made his heart thump hard and his stomach flutter.

  Theo cocked his head. “Don’t you want to come sit with me?”

  “Very much, I really do. But…” He glanced down at his filthy clothes. Even if the shirt was almost new, it was still ugly and dirty compared to Theo’s fine things. “I don’t want to wreck anything with how unclean I am. And, I know you said I don’t smell bad, but it’s been a couple days since I used the park fountain.”

  Theo’s eyebrows arched. “I see.” He rose from his desk chair then made his way to the small, forest-green sofa. He sat on it then patted the spot next to him. “If you will do me the honor of talking with me for a while, then you can use the bath after. I believe I even have some Ivory soap available.” Theo winked.

  “Oh my. Okay.” Francesco scurried over then lowered himself with care until his butt had barely touched the sofa. He perched on the edge with his hands folded in his lap and his back straight and hoped he was being proper. He lifted his gaze and spotted Theo intently watching him.

  “You have lovely instincts. Does it make you happy when you please me?”

  “Am I pleasing you right now?” He wanted to be sure before he answered.

  “You are.”

  “Then yes, it does make me happy. Is that what you want to talk about?”

  “To begin with.” Theo eased back against the sofa. “Since I haven’t officially begun training you yet, why don’t you relax with me while we chat?”

  “Are you sure? I’m still worried about your furniture.”

  “I’m sure, come on.” Theo wrapped his fingers around Francesco’s arm and gently guided him farther up on the cushion. “There you go. Comfy?”

  Francesco nodded. His mouth was a little too dry and he couldn’t take a deep breath. He hoped he wasn’t getting sick or something, because his stomach had gotten squishy again, but it wasn’t from eating too much. What he really wanted was to scoot into Theo’s embrace, but he wasn’t sure if that would be okay.

  He sucked in as much air as he could manage to tell Theo how he felt. “You didn’t have to let go of my arm. I’m not grateful. I mean, I am grateful for the sandwich and the nice bed and everything, but that’s not why I want you to hold my arm. It’s like I said. Because of desire.”

  “Thank you for reminding me, Francesco. I have desire for you too.”

  Theo’s expression radiated warmth and peace—calm. Everything about Theo was the opposite of all he’d endured throughout his life. Only the hint of a smile danced on Theo’s lips, but his eyes made Francesco want to get closer to him, made him want to touch Theo and show him how special he was.

  “That’s good. I’d be sad if you didn’t. I’d still pay you back, though, because you deserve it.”

  Theo draped an arm across the back of the couch and lightly tugged on a few of his curls. “Have you ever been told how stunning you are?”

  Francesco widened his eyes. “You mean, dirty talk when fellas are getting friendly?”

  Theo inhaled a deep breath and locked gazes with him. “No. I mean when someone cares about you, is captivated by your beauty and wants nothing more than to be able to hold you in their arms.”

  “Gee, they sure haven’t.”

  Theo moved closer to him until their bodies were almost touching. He continued to pluck at his curls. “Well, I’m telling you. There’s something magical about you that calls to me, and I hope you might want to explore that together in a relationship. Desire is a part of it, to be sure, but I don’t want it only to be about that. I’ve been alone for a long time and I’ve dreamed of finding a man to share my life with. I don’t know if you’re that man, or if I’m that man for you—but if such a thing seems like a possibility, I’ll share some more personal attributes I’m searching for in a partner.”

  Fantasy was all he’d ever had in his life—even when he’d still lived with his mama. He’d dreamed of finding out what it meant to be wanted in real life, to have a nice job and home, to share it with someone else. And there was Theo, right next to him, telling him that he was magical. “I need to take a bath right now.”

  Theo sputtered out a laugh. “Excuse me?”

  “Because I want to be the best partner ever and learn all about the personal attri…attri…” He frowned. “What you said, but I’d rather do it while you’re holding me and I am pretty filthy even though you’re being very polite about the whole thing.”

  Theo grabbed a handful of Francesco’s curls then tugged him close enough to plant a kiss on his forehead. “You seem self-conscious enough about your state of cleanliness that it might be a distraction to what I want to discuss, so it probably would be best to get you into the tub. But I want you to try and remember that I’m being honest with you at all times—the way we promised each other—so I meant it when I said I was fine with the way you are for now.”

  “I do remember, you’re right. Okay, I’ll try. If you tell me where the bath is, I’ll run in and do it very fast so I can be right back. I know how to wash real quick so I don’t get caught, so I’m good at it.”

  Theo petted his head. “You can take your time, that’s all right. I want you to enjoy it.”

  “But… but I don’t want to wait to be with you. I hate waiting. Waiting means I don’t get what I want.”

  Theo wrinkled his brow as he regarded him. “Why wouldn’t you get what you want?”

  “Because it goes away. People go away. They say, ‘wait here, I’ll be right back’—but they never do. Or ‘wait your turn’, but when I go to get my piece of bread, or a candy or some soup—it’s all gone and I’m told, ‘sorry, someone else got it first’. Waiting is very bad.”

  “I hadn’t thought of it that way. I don’t want you to fret, so why don’t we try this? If it doesn’t bother you that I see you naked in the tub, I’ll sit in there with you, and we can talk. Then, when you’re finished, I’ll wrap you up in a towel and hold you while we talk even more. How does that sound?”

  “That sounds swell! I’ve never been all the way naked with a guy before. Are you going to take your clothes off too?”

  Theo shook his head, but he didn’t seem mad. “Not tonight. One thing at a time while you get settled.”

  “Because you want me to stay here, right? With a relationship?”

  “You can stay here with or without one. No obligation.” Theo’s voice became more intense. “I’ll never toss you out, Francesco. No matter what, I’d make sure you had somewhere safe to stay, plenty to eat and some way to take care of yourself. You don’t have to be afraid anymore.”

  Francesco’s lip trembled and he couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. It had turned out that reality was much better than any of h
is fantasies had ever been.

  Chapter Six

  While Francesco bathed, Theo had lounged on a towel he’d placed on the tiled floor next to the claw foot tub. Francesco had been fascinated by the big thick sponge and hadn’t believed him at first when he’d explained that it was a creature from the ocean. When Theo had inquired as to what he’d used to wash himself when he still lived with his mother, he’d said it was whatever rags they had that weren’t too dirty. Sometimes they’d wash them while they were having their bath to save on time and soap. Theo wasn’t sure how much more of Francesco’s stories he could stand.

  But I’ll listen whenever he needs me to. The first thing in establishing trust for what he hoped would be a relationship with him as Francesco’s Dominant, would be making himself available to Francesco at all times. He couldn’t ‘go away’. Ever.

  So far, he’d kept the conversation light because of how excited and distracted Francesco was by everything. The hot water, the giant tub, the big bar of soap—and of course, the sponge.

  “The water’s cooling off.”

  Francesco regarded him with wide eyes. Theo had been impressed by the zealous scrubbing he’d done on himself. He could tell it was from Francesco’s desire to please. The thought had made him hard as steel, like so many other small moments with Francesco had—particularly when he’d reiterated how much he wanted them to be together too. However, he was determined to control himself until Francesco was more at ease in his new circumstances.

  “Do you want me to add more hot water so you can stay in longer?”

  “Nah, but thanks. My fingers are getting all wrinkly, and I don’t want to get sick.”

  Theo was afraid to ask. “Why would you think that?”

  “That’s what Mama always said. She said you don’t want to stay in the water too long because your skin will go wrinkly which means all the juices are being sucked out of you into the water and if you stay in too long, you’ll lose all your juices and die.”

  Theo let out an exasperated sigh. “Dearest heavens. Francesco, I’m not sure where your mother got that idea from, or why she would say such a thing, but it’s not correct. You won’t die, love. I promise.”

  Francesco stared at him for a moment then faced forward again. “Oh.” He lifted the big, brown sponge out of the water and squeezed it hard, watching as the liquid gushed back into the tub. He’d been doing it over and over ever since he’d climbed in. “I guess I’m pretty stupid, huh? But I’ll be better. I’ll try not to disappoint you.”

  Theo folded one arm over the lip of the tub then propped his chin on it. He reached over with his free hand to caress Francesco’s cheek. “Not even the tiniest bit stupid. I’ll be reminding you a lot about things I either want, or don’t want you to do—like we were discussing as you washed up. So remember it’s about you getting practice pleasing me, not about disappointing me or do anything bad or wrong.”

  Francesco rubbed his face against Theo’s palm like a cat. Theo could already tell what a marvelous sensualist he would be.

  “I do remember you saying that, you’re right.”

  “And this is going to be one of those times. I told you earlier that I don’t want you to say anything bad about yourself. Do you recall that?”

  Francesco’s mouth formed an ‘O’. “I remember that too, but I forgot.”

  Theo chuckled. “That’s excellent.”

  “Swell. But can I get out anyway? I’m very, very clean, so now you can hold me.”

  “That’s sounds like a wonderful plan.”

  Theo gripped the edge of the tub and pushed his body up to a standing position. He gave Francesco a hand, since it was a bit of a stretch for him to hoist his way out of the elevated bathtub. Theo didn’t remark on Francesco’s half-erect state, but he took it as a good sign. Even though he’d been embarrassed for a moment about Theo’s perception of his intelligence, he’d bounced right back.

  Theo wrapped a fluffy white towel around Francesco’s shoulders and observed as he screwed his eyes shut with a big grin and snuggled into the soft fabric. Francesco glanced up at him.

  “If you want, you can hold me now. I’m not only clean, I smell real good too.”

  Theo leaned down and took a sniff of Francesco’s neck. You have no idea. “You certainly do. Come on, we’ll go back down to the study, finish our chat then get some dinner. Are you hungry again?”

  “I was so sick to my stomach I didn’t think I’d ever eat another bite of food after that hamburger sandwich and those fried potatoes, but I could eat a horse.” Francesco was already bouncing away, but he peered over his shoulder. “Do people really eat horses? That’s terrible if they do. I’d never eat a horse even though people say that all the time. I don’t think it’s right, do you? I think it’s awful.”

  I’ll be a busy man, training this one. Theo grinned to himself. What a wonderful gift. “Never. Absolutely terrible.”

  Theo reached the study several seconds after Francesco did. He walked past him with a measured pace then sat on the love seat. Francesco bounded toward him then plopped onto the sofa and immediately cuddled up to his side. Theo couldn’t stop himself from wrapping his arm around Francesco and tugging him even closer. Francesco rubbed his nose in Theo’s shirt.

  “I love the way you smell. I know I smell good now too, but it could never be as nice as you, no sir, you’re better than anyone.”

  Hmm. “Thank you, love. How would you feel about addressing me as ‘Sir’ all the time?”

  Francesco tilted his chin up to regard Theo. “That would please you?”

  “More than you know.”

  “Gee, then I should. So, you want me to call you ‘Sir’, but not ‘Theo’?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “Okay.” Francesco went back to sniffing him.

  Theo petted Francesco’s damp curls. “Wouldn’t you like to know why I want you to call me that?”

  Francesco peered up at him again. “Sure. Why do you?”

  “Because I’m the type of man who wants to be the Dominant in a relationship with my partner. Calling me ‘Sir’ will help remind you who is in charge. It’s also out of respect.”

  Francesco narrowed his eyes and Theo waited for him to react with fear or anger at such a suggestion.

  “Do you have a dictionary? I saw all the books you have in that other room. I understood the word respect, and I feel that way about you already, but I don’t know the other one.”

  “That’s my library, and yes, I do. Why?”

  Francesco gasped. “You have your own library? No wonder your house is so big! Do people come here to read your books or borrow them? Do you have adventure stories? Those are my favorite, but I’m trying to make myself read harder books to learn more, but I need the dictionary to check what the words mean because I don’t always know. A nice lady at the Central Library showed me how. So if you write down that word you said about what kind of man you are, I’ll look it up, but I’m sure it’s okay that you are even before I check. I just wanna make sure I’m not confused and do the wrong thing.”

  “I…” Theo ran everything Francesco that had tumbled out of Francesco’s mouth through his mind, not entirely sure he’d even gotten it all. “Well. Let’s start with the words. Yes, I’ll write down any words you want to look up, and you can go into the library whenever you’d like to read or use the dictionary. And I don’t have other people over, those are my private books and a large portion of them are volumes relating to law. I have a few books you might enjoy, but we can purchase others you wish to have to add to the collection.”

  “I’ll have to wait until I make some dough before I can purchase anything, but that all sounds good.”

  “You don’t need to make any money. Part of staying with me and allowing me to be your Dominant is for me to take care of you. I’ll be responsible for all your care, including buying you things you either need or want. I won’t buy you everything just because it catches your eye, but books would be a wonde
rful thing for you to have.”

  Francesco gazed up at him in wonder. “I don’t want anything but you. I ain’t never had much anyway, so I don’t miss it. But books would be wonderful, if it pleases you.”

  Theo squeezed Francesco to him. “It would please me very much.”

  “Okay.”

  “Mmm. Let’s move on to the next thing. That was quite a bit of blathering you did before, but I’d prefer we call it something else. I don’t like the way that word sounds because I think you view it as a harsh criticism against you, so I won’t use it.”

  Francesco had drawn his eyebrows together and he seemed pained. “I know, I’m sorry. The blathering is real, real bad.”

  “Nothing about you is bad, love.” He squeezed Francesco again. “Not one thing. But let’s choose another word we can use for that. Does ‘blurting’ sound too much like ‘blathering’ to you?”

  Theo appreciated how Francesco always seemed to seriously consider everything he asked of him. It reinforced his opinion that not only was Francesco smart, but that he’d have a boy who would interact with him, not merely be a mindless slave. Some Dominants enjoyed that, but he didn’t care for it at all. He might be strict as a Master, but he wanted the satisfaction of knowing that his submissive understood and yearned to be mastered.

  “You know, I think you’re right. ‘Blathering’ is a pretty lousy word. But ‘blurting’ is okay. I know some of the letters are the same, but it does feel different.”

  “Wonderful. We’re making progress toward a relationship. Learning what works for each other.”

  “Gosh, that’s swell. What else should we do?”

  “Let’s discuss our new situation a bit more, then eat. I’ll confess that until we’re together for a while, I imagine I’ll be worried all the time over whether you’re hungry.”

  “That’s okay, Sir. Today has been the best day of my life, even without dinner.”

  “Oh, Francesco.” He slid his fingers into Francesco’s hair—the compulsion to crush him against his body, to hold him forever so he would always be safe no matter what—was almost too much to bear. “You’re my sweet pet. Would you let me call you that?”