Read Online The Gladiator’s Master by Fae Sutherland and Marguerite Labbe - Free Book Online

purpose. Gaidres was no fool and the blatant caressing of his arm and shoulder—Caelius’s smooth hands now brushed down the center of his bare chest—left little doubt about the direction of the man’s thoughts.
    “And the new doctoré? How fares he with the men? Is he as skilled as I was told?”
    “Doctoré is a fine warrior, Dominus. Gratitude for finding such a man to train us.” It seemed that all the whisperings of returning the ludus to former glory, glory for which Gaidres had not been present, were true. Caelius spared no expense in replacing much of that which was broken. That also included some of Gaidres’s fellow gladiators and it filled him with regret.
    “That is good to know and what you say about the men is the same as the medicus’s opinion.”
    Gaidres’s mouth tightened. “If you’ve already spoken with the medicus, why ask my opinion?” Was he thinking to see if Gaidres would lie to protect the others?
    “He knows medicine and men’s bodies, but these are your companions. You know their hearts and spirits. If you think, given time and less duties, they will recover, then they shall have it. If not, we’ll find something that will not tax them. It will be difficult, I suppose, to watch others train and go out and fight. The question is, would it encourage them or just frustrate them?”
    Gaidres shook his head. “I cannot say, Dominus. Every man fights for his own reasons. What one would find bearable another would sooner die than face.” He met Caelius’s eyes. “Only time can answer who among them will bend and who will break.”
    Caelius lifted his brows. “Do you speak of yourself as well, Gaidres?”
    Gaidres’s jaw tightened and he looked away. “I do not break.”
    “No, I do not think you would. I do not seek to break you, Gaidres. Nor even to bend you. I would know you, however.” Caelius paused and Gaidres met his gaze again. “There are no prying ears here, so I will tell you I have thought much about our night together.”
    Gaidres’s breath caught as a flash of memory danced across his mind Dominus on hands and knees, pleading for more, skin gleaming with sweat as Gaidres drove into him. Guilt followed close behind because he had thought about it, as well. In the nights when he lay in his bunk, tossing in the heavy summer air…all he could think of was that the heat of the man before him was greater than any the sun could bring. No matter how he fought to not think such things, it seemed beyond his control. Still, there was comfort in the fact that only green eyes and laughing lips filled his dreams, not Caelius.
    “I am glad you were pleased, Dominus.” Sarcasm dripped from the words. His eyes dropped to Caelius’s lips. He wondered what they would feel like around his cock.
    Their gazes clashed and Caelius’s fingertips brushed over Gaidres’s nipple, sending a shudder of pleasure through him. The man wreaked disturbing havoc on his senses.
    “Come with me back to my rooms.”
    He pressed his lips together, bristling at the order, but pushed aside the urge to refuse. “As you wish, Dominus.”
    Caelius turned, leading the way back to his rooms. “See that we’re not disturbed,” he said to the guards outside his door.
    Gaidres’s cock stirred to hardness inside his subligar, and he glanced behind him to the door and the silent slave who stood just inside and then back at Caelius.
    “Is something wrong?”
    Gaidres shook his head. “No, Dominus. I just…No, Dominus.” In truth, he wondered if Caelius had the good sense to fear him and that was why he kept a slave present. Most likely. Or perhaps he enjoyed an audience.
    Caelius smiled, one hand coming up to loosen the tie at his waist, shrugging out of the robe he wore and letting it puddle on the floor around his feet. “Good.” He lifted a brow with an inviting look. “Come. Take what you want.”
    Gaidres’s eyes closed and for a heartbeat he didn’t respond before he shook his head. “You