To be fair im sure him saying the secret is just kinda teasing and he knows if Lyle says the safe word hes serious ab it wanting to stop
Yeah, I think so too. Based on how the characters' relationship has been so far, I'm giving the author the benefit of the doubt and don't think they meant to write this as noncon. I guess they just didn't want to disturb the flow with more serious talk repeating an already establishedsafe word etc, which make sense in fiction it's not as crucial to get this exactly right as in real life.
It's just that so many bl stories handle the topic so terribly, that i personally find it interesting to discuss/analyze specific examples whether good or bad :)
as a dom myself the "consent" feels kinda questionable, like i would prefer my partner to either be into/enjoying it or clearly stating they don't consent to something like this,
if they don't reject, i would assume they want this as much as i do and NOT that they are too uncomfortable to say no 'cause they don't wanna tell me something so intimitate and therefore feel like they have to endure whatever
also, telling him if he wants to stop he needs to tell him "the secret" instead of "just use the safe word" is kinda hmmm...