Tinderbox by Legion
 
One part of Blair's dreaming mind knew that it was asleep and none of what was happening was real. But that part was distant and disconnected; the majority of him was totally enthralled by the very believable, very wonderful things that were being done to him. Restrained from head to foot by an immense, immovable force, he was being loved to within an inch of his life by the knowledgeable, sensitive hands of his Sentinel.

They skated and skimmed over his torso, barely disturbing the hairs there, danced over the tops of his thighs and tickled into the vulnerable crease between them, all of it somehow undisturbed by the weight holding Blair in place. The delicate, almost imperceptible touch had him harder than he'd ever been in his life; achingly hard, demandingly hard, needing only the slightest brush anywhere on his erection to bring him to completion. Fruitlessly he tried to lift his hips, seeking that last caress, but he couldn't move even that much.

Fighting to thrust, to come, he moaned....

And the sound of it jarred him all the way awake, leaving him momentarily disoriented and alarmed. Then he identified the familiar form pressing his back into the mattress as Jim, and the indistinct shapes surrounding him as their bedroom in the loft. Blinking, he tried to see the clock, but the bulk of his lover prevented it. In fact, the softly snoring dead weight on top of him prevented much of anything. His left hand trapped at his side, his right was twined in one of Jim's and lying on the pillow by their heads. Powerful legs rested on either side of Blair's sturdy ones, and the big man even had one ankle hooked over his, pinning his feet in place.

About all Blair could move was his head, and even that was limited by the heavy, sweet weight of Jim's laying in the curve of his neck and shoulder. There were traces of damp there, and Blair realized that Jim must have just finished his shower and come to bed, obviously intending to seduce him awake.

Chuckling as much as he could given his squashed condition, Blair nuzzled his cheek, not surprised when his partner's only reaction was a minute flexing of the hand in his. Two injuries and an officer on personal leave had left Major Crimes chronically short-handed, and Jim had been working 14 -18 hour days, mostly on the back shift. Coinciding as it did with a particularly mad schedule for Blair at Rainier, the two of them had not had enough time together in a week to do more than kiss good-bye/hello, or grab a quick grope.

//No wonder he's trying to wake me early,// Blair thought, squirming to be able to draw a deep breath. But all he managed was to do was to barely rub his erection over Jim's firm stomach, sending a sharp pang of frustrated desire stabbing through his gut. Moaning again, Blair made another attempt to get out from under his lover, achieving the same results.

It was too much for his dream-saturated nerve endings. Male instinct took over and he bucked hard, glorying at how good it felt to be able to let go completely and not worry about hurting his partner. His climax smacked into him unexpectedly, powerfully, and he strained up into Jim's body, the feeling of being confined adding to his pleasure.

When the last bit of his come dribbled out, he relaxed utterly, and the erotic sensation of being restrained turned into a fuzzy, comforted feeling that almost let him slip back into sleep. Then the alarm went off, jerking him back to awareness and allowing guilt to rear its unwanted self in his mind. Without awakening, Jim reached out to slap at the clock and rolled them into a cuddling position that Blair eased out of.

Reaching for the baby wipes they kept on the nightstand, Blair mentally argued with himself over whether or not he had just taken advantage of his partner. Jim had obviously intended to make love with him and had aroused him first. It wasn't his lover's fault he'd fallen asleep before Blair had been able to drag himself into consciousness.

On the other hand, he'd just had a very satisfying orgasm and all his partner gotten out of it was semen all over his belly. And since Blair didn't have the heart to wake the exhausted man, and had either class or office hours until Jim was expected to be back at work, that was all his partner was going to get at least until tomorrow.

Playing with the notion of seeing if he could arouse and bring off Jim without waking him, Blair petted the semi-hard penis as he cleaned his lover up. It stirred lazily, and he smiled at the odd feeling of it stretching in his hand. Glancing quickly at the time, he reluctantly released Jim's dick; it would take longer than he could spare. His first class had a test today; they would love it if he was late and they had a semi-legitimate excuse to take off.

Leaning up to whisper a kiss over the sleeping man's lips, Blair made himself get up and start his day.


"Hey, Chief."

Without looking up from his desk at the station, Blair stretched back into the heat behind him, automatically making sure that they were unwatched. "Hey yourself, lover," he said, sentinel-level.

Hidden fingers massaged the tired muscles in his back, keeping the contact somewhere between loving and practical. "How was your day?" Under cover of the mundane question, Jim said hello much more personally, letting his touch tell his partner how much he'd been missed.

"Man, don't ask." With an effort Blair stifled his urge to purr, and reached back stealthily to wrap his fingers around as much of Jim's calf as he could. "And I have to get back to it as soon as..." He paused, signed the paper with a flourish, and ended, "I finish this report for Simon."

"That's right, you're giving those seminars for the next couple of nights. What time are you going to be finished; maybe we can get together for a late dinner?" Jim asked hopefully.

At last letting himself sit up, Blair tilted his head back onto the firm abdomen, smiling up into his lover's hungry gaze. "It's scheduled to run until 11, but if I did a good job, the Q&A will run over."

"And you have an appointment with your advisor first thing tomorrow," Jim added, disappointment clear in his words.

"Which I still have to get ready for. Maybe you can drop by my office about 1am?" Blair offered hopefully.

Shaking his head, Jim reminded him, "Covering the Lindsey stakeout from midnight til morning shift comes on."

"This just sucks," Blair moaned.

"A vacuum cleaner would be envious," Jim agreed. He leaned over the smaller man, as if he were looking at something on the desk, and pressed his hard-on into Blair's shoulder blade. "I suck better," he murmured.

"Jim!" Despite his frustration, Blair had to laugh. "No messing around at the station. We agreed. You know, security cameras, wrath of Simon, Conner dying to get the goods on us?"

"I'm not the one that needs to be convinced." The sentinel gave another hidden shove to tell his partner exactly who - or what - was putting up a fight.

"Ah, man! No fair." His jeans were suddenly very constricting, and he shifted in his chair, trying to relieve the crunch.

"No worse than what you did to me," Jim countered. "Woke up to the smell of a happy, sated Blair and no time to add my own 'happy' scent to it."

His almost forgotten guilt hit him, and Blair winced. "I am so sorry about that, Jim. But I was dreaming and you were on top of me and it felt so good..."

Jim interrupted Blair by moving around to stand beside him, still poised over the desk as if whatever was on it was what they were talking about. "Chief, in our bed you have my unequivocal permission to do to me whatever your devious mind can come up with, up to and including using me for your personal love toy, okay? No unscheduled guilt trips, here, right?"

With several interesting ideas on just exactly he could use such unrestricted access, Blair willingly let go of any misgivings he had. Nodding, feeling like his head was going to split from his smile, he agreed happily. "Right. And that goes both ways, you know. "

"Good, because the scent of your arousal, your come, gave me the hottest dreams I've had since before we got together. So I decided to give you a little something in return."

"Hey, you already did," Blair confessed, noticeably wiggling this time to draw Jim's attention to what their conversation was doing to him.

"Mmmmmm, perfect. Reach under my sweater, Chief."

Obeying the mysterious order, Blair returned to hunching over the desk, letting his body block anyone's view as his hand scooted inside the cream cable-knit sweater Jim was wearing. The first patch of naked skin made him gasp; the buttery-soft whisper of leather just above it made him shudder. A fast exploration confirmed his guess that it was the leather strap that Jim had tied around Blair's waist the first time they had made love. It had been used many times since then, in many different ways - he beat down the image of Jim gagged with it - and had taken on a sexual charge all of its own because of that.

"Take it off me," Jim whispered, "and put it on yourself. It's warm from my body heat, has my scent on it strongly enough that you should be able to catch at least a whiff."

Quickly Blair found the loose knot holding it in place, whipped it off, and ducked his head as if looking under the desk for a dropped item. Lifting the bunched material to his nose, he inhaled deeply, feeling a little foolish. But he could indeed smell the light, spicy aroma he associated with his lover, and his cock grew ever harder in reaction. "God," he mumbled. Hoping to catch the warmth, too, he hurriedly lifted his shirts with Jim's help, assuming his partner was somehow hiding the action, and tied the leather around his own waist before straightening up.

Pulling Blair's clothes into place for him, Jim managed to get into a few lingering strokes over both the band and the shivering flesh under it. "Try to cut the questions short, my whore," he said, the husky tones of the words doing as much to arouse Blair as the intimacy of the exchange.

Before he could answer, Simon opened his office door, making a beeline for their corner, and Jim casually put some distance between them. "So I'll drop by with the rest of it before I go on stake-out tonight. Your office or the loft?"

"Loft," Blair answered as blandly, proud of being able to match the pose as easily as Jim. Of course, he had a desk to hide his erection. Jim was forced to sit on the corner, one leg still on the floor, to create a concealing shadow over his lap.

"Don't count on it, Sandburg," Simon countermanded, apparently oblivious to the tension between the partners. "Put that report on my desk when you're done; Jim, you're with me. The DA wants to go over your testimony again, right now."

"What does he want me to do; write crib notes on my hand?" Jim complained, standing nevertheless and reaching for his coat.

"Hey, high profile case." Banks shrugged. "If you look good in court, he looks good in court, and the press is nice to him."

"And three years from now we'll be treated to his face on election posters." Catching Blair's eye and sharing a private lusty gleam, Jim gave him a quick, gentle cuff to his upper arm and trailed after his captain.


At 2am Blair finally gave up on seeing his partner, closed his laptop down, and stretched hugely as he wandered toward the bedroom. Even with the relief he'd gotten this morning, his libido had been poking at him all day long, and Jim's brief teasing visit had stoked it to a level of pure annoyance. Working had been a major accomplishment because of the way his thoughts kept wandering, and he knew it wasn't going to get any better tomorrow. And he needed to be sharp when he spoke with his advisor; too much of his life at Rainier rode on that man's good will.

With that in mind, he reached under the bed for their toy bag, intent on only scratching his itch enough to be able to concentrate. Absently he looked through their assortment of dildos, nipple clamps, cock rings and other things, each making him smile reminiscently. There was cinamon oil left over from their last vacation, the chains from the B&B Jim had spirited him away to earlier that year, even some edible body paint they hadn't had the inclination to use yet. Nothing seemed to be what he wanted though, and he put the bag away, leaving out only two of the leather ribbons Jim liked to use.

Tying one around his right thigh, he grinned wickedly, thinking it was the perfect way to let his love know what he'd missed. Again. It took teeth and ingenuity, but he got one tied around his left biceps, then crawled into bed. He fidgeted around a few minutes getting the things he needed in place, and to be in the best position for falling asleep when he was done.

Lights out at last, pillows piled up so he was reclining comfortably, he teased himself with a single fingertip tickling over his chest and sorted through his memories to pick a good one for masturbating. Again nothing quite seemed to suit him, and he discarded the idea and thumbed through his favorite fantasies. Tarzan Jim, maybe?

His sentinel living as a wild panther, untamed by contact with man, prowling the trees of the jungle. Naked except for streaks of dirt that mimicked the shadows of his surroundings, hair long and ragged. Crouched on a low slung branch, half hidden by his very stillness, peering through his lashes at Lord Blair, growling deep in his throat. And he as Lord Blair, scholarly and reclusive, lost in this damned soggy wilderness, looking for his stolen mother.

Tarzan Jim wouldn't know about Sentinels, of course. Sir Richard Burton wouldn't have begun his travels yet. Not that 'wild men' were unknown to the English of that period. In fact, if memory served him, it was quite the fad among con artists at the time, to present a perfectly normal man with a talent for acting as being raised by wolves or camels or, or... What was that other one he'd read about?

Still meandering through his free associations, Blair fell asleep, hand draped loosely over his semi-hard penis. He woke about half way, muzzily, when Jim crept into bed with him, mumbled an 'I love you,' and was back under before Jim finished kissing him hello.

The next morning he floated up out of sleep naturally, enjoying the trip immeasurably. Warm, made cozier by the sound of the nearly perpetual Cascade rain hitting the skylight, he took a minute to simply enjoy where he was. His big lover was spooned up behind him and had slipped an arm under him so that it could be Blair's pillow. Content, he snuggled back to get as close as possible, and discovered that he really didn't have much choice about how much he was going to be able to move.

Whether by accident or design, Jim had wrapped the leather tie on Blair's biceps around his fist, securing his own arm over the smaller man's chest. The other muscled limb was draped over his waist, and the ribbon attached to his thigh similarly treated. He was, in effect, tied to his lover and it sent a delicious shimmy of anticipation over him. Judicious wiggles worked Jim's manhood into the crack of his backside, and Blair sighed happily when he felt the first stirring of arousal in it. His own took interest in the circumstances, and he sighed again, this time savoring the slow rise of passion in himself.

Lazily he looked at the clock. Swore softly. Began to unwind the leather while double checking the time. Swore louder, and forgot about not bothering his partner in favor of getting them untangled from each other as fast as possible. "Sorry, sorry," he murmured as Jim peeled open an eye. "Forgot to set my alarm, and I can't be late for my meeting."

"Fuck," Jim said tiredly. But he twisted his wrists until Blair was free. "You can skip your shower, if that's a help; you smell wonderful."

"Thanks." Regardless of his rush, Blair dropped a fast kiss on his lover's mouth, helplessly moaning into it. "Keep that thought for later?" he begged, grabbing clothes to pull on, leaving the ribbons in place out of necessity, but taking off the strap around his waist and giving it to Jim.

"I have court all day. Meet me back here before your seminar tonight?" A bit clumsy with sleep, Jim tied the broad strip around his own waist, fingers lingering over it as if to caress the previous wearer.

"Done." They kissed again, and Blair pulled the comforter up over Jim's naked body before he could be tempted, then literally ran down the stairs because all that did was make him want to uncover his hidden treasure.


With every last bit of will he had, Blair smiled at the very notable Dr. David Wilkins, who had latched onto him after being introduced after the seminar. Though his advisor meant well, and Wilkin's support could help him immeasurably in the anthro department, the old man had simply refused to let him go since. Unwilling to hurt what struck him as a lonely old man's feelings, he had held up his end of the conversation and tried not to peek at his watch too many times.

Having made three or four aborted attempts to steer toward good-byes, he at last resigned himself to missing his partner yet again. Maybe he'd pull an all nighter and be up when Jim got home tomorrow morning. He didn't have to be anywhere until the afternoon; he could sleep through the day with his lover. Brightening at the thought, he dived into the current topic, needing only a second to pick up the thread he'd missed while making his decision.

"Oh, my!" Dr. Wilkin's whispered, sounding half-alarmed, several minutes later. "Who let that Neanderthal in?"

Glancing up to where the old man was staring, lips pursed in disapproval, Blair saw his partner enter the lecture hall. Wondering how earth Wilkins could think the hunk of man coming toward them was anything but perfectly edible, he sent his bestest and brightest smile toward Jim. Dressed in his gray 'court suit', wearing a black shirt and tie with it, Jim's eyes were striking in their contrast with the dark colors. To the inattentive observer, they probably looked like the heart of a glacier; Blair knew it was the heart of a blue-hot flame, and he flushed in answer to the fire.

"Jim, man, what're you doing here?" He waved him over, half-turning to the older man beside him. "He's the detective I work with in Major Crimes, Dr. Wilkins. I have my cell phone turned off; he may need to speak with me about a case or the research I've been doing."

"Ah, yes, the closed society work," Wilkins intoned solemnly. "Very well thought of; more than worth the associations you've had to endure, I'm sure."

"Endure?" Blair asked absently, eyes immovably attached to his lover as he came close enough for introductions. "James Ellison, this is Dr. David Wilkins, an alumnus of Rainier's anthropology department. He headed it until shortly before I came here, and has been very active with us despite his retirement."

"Pleasure to meet you, sir." Jim told the frail-looking man graciously.

"And you, Mr. Ellison. I do hope your presence here is not cause for alarm."

"No, sir. Simply looking after my charge. Sandburg has a tendency to forget to take care of simple matters, like eating regularly." Jim answered politely, giving his lover a gentle pinch where the older anthropologist couldn't see. "I thought if he hadn't had dinner yet, we could go to Maxwell's before I return to duty."

Pinching him back as discreetly, Blair nodded. "Been too busy as usual; sounds good, man."

"The pub around the corner? Yes, yes, I know it well." Wilkins said agreeably. "Excellent home-made soups and thick sandwiches, and a quiet, studious crowd. I've had many a pleasant evening there; it's been an institution at Rainier for many years."

"That's the one, sir," Jim said amiably. "Sandburg introduced me to it back when he first started riding with me."

"If memory serves me, they regularly serve New England clam chowder on Wednesday nights." Dr. Wilkins rubbed too-slender hands together, and looked positively eager. "And tonight is a perfect Wednesday for it: raw, windy and cold. Excellent idea, officer. Shall we?" He led the way toward the door, latching onto Blair's elbow as he did.

"Ah, Dr. Wilkins," Blair started, glancing back over his shoulder a his partner just in time to see Jim's face shut down. Not a good sign. "I believe Detective Ellison planned on simply getting something to go. He has to get back to work shortly, and I have tests to grade."

"Good heavens, how long can it take to sit down and eat properly?" he said with some exasperation and pulling Blair along with more will than strength. "And it's bad for the digestion, as well."

"Well, you know how it is when you're working on your dis, Dr. Wilkins. Coffee and stale sandwiches are par for the course." Still trying to catch his lover's eye, Blair tried to tug away.

"All the more reason. Now, where was I? Oh yes, the Philipson expedition back in '52. There were some places, back then, when you could actually encounter tribes that had never seen white men..."

Half tuning the elderly gentleman out, Blair tried desperately a last time to make Jim meet his gaze... and succeeded. Putting all of his disappointment and longing into it, he tried to tell his partner that this was not the way he wanted to spend their dinner hour either.

Expression softening marginally, Jim nodded his understanding and gave a shrug with his lips. He brought up the rear, obviously using his senses to sweep over Wilkins, as if by doing that he could come up with a reason to ditch their unwanted guest. Whatever he found had the opposite effect; Jim quickly stepped ahead to hold the door and usher them through.

His markedly courteous behavior didn't end there. By the time they had sat down in the pub, Dr. Wilkins had totally reversed any low opinion he had had of police officers. And Blair was wondering if Jim's politeness button had been stuck down. Though the big cop overdid it on occasion - apologizing to a person knocked down in a pursuit, for God's sake - this was extreme even for him.

It wasn't until Jim made it clear that he was picking up the tab and then pressed a full meal on the elderly scholar instead of just soup that Blair realized his lover was in full mother hen mode. Taking his cue from that, he studied Wilkins and saw his hands shake in eagerness when he picked up his fork. The speed at which the salad disappeared confirmed his guess, and Blair made a mental note to come up with an excuse for Wilkins to take any uneaten food home.

Setting aside half his sandwich and seeing Jim do the same, Blair couldn't help reaching under the table to pet his partner's leg, feeling his love for this supposedly hard-nosed detective swell. Jim caught his hand, gave it a quick squeeze, then held it, all while convincing Wilkins he had the detective's undivided attention.

When the other anthropologist excused himself to go to the men's room near the end of the meal, Blair asked, "Jim?"

"Guess a professor's pension doesn't amount to much, huh Sandburg?" Jim said quietly. "He was so hungry I could literally smell it on him, and his heart rate was so high from fear he'd lose the food he was going to coax out of you, I thought he was going to have a heart attack."

"Being a teacher isn't the best paying job, no," Blair agreed. "But there's probably some other factors here besides how bad the pension is. I'll ask a few questions in the right places, okay?"

"None of our business, Chief," Jim dismissed verbally, but the fingers under the table held on tightly.

"Can't hurt," Blair argued, stroking the skin under his fingertips soothingly, inching up to caress the vulnerable hollow of Jim's wrist. But instead of warm flesh, he found cold metal. Puzzled, forgetting their conversation, he explored it, trying to identify what he felt.

A hint of a smile flirted with the edges of Jim's lips, and he sat back in his seat. "Find something?"

"Something," Blair agreed. To add to his mystification, Jim loosened his tie and undid his top shirt button. There was a flash of silver there, and suddenly the pieces fell together. "Oh, you slut!" he breathed. "You're wearing chains and a collar."

"You've got on those ribbons, Chief. Thought I'd dress to go with them."

Mouth dry, head dizzy, Blair dug under the bracelet on Jim's wrist, hooking his fingers into it. "Are you trying to get thrown across this table and fucked, right here, right now?"

"Something along those lines." Jim's grin went way past wicked and he added, "Want to pay the bill while he's gone and get out of here?"

Standing hastily, Blair sat down just as fast, throwing a napkin over his lap. "Shit. Too late." He leaned over, getting into his partner's space and hissed, "I'll be waiting up for you. You'll be lucky to get all the way through the door before I rip your clothes off."

Moaning almost inaudibly, Jim pressed their still-joined hands over the massive bulge in his jeans. "Promise?"

Unable to stop himself despite their oncoming guest, Blair massaged along the length of Jim's hard-on, licking his lips. "Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes."

From under half-lowered lids, Jim eyes lit with nearly insane lust. "I'll be ready for you." Then he went blank, straightening in his chair and letting go of Blair's hand with a final pat. "In the meantime, Sandburg, I have to get back to work. You and Dr. Wilkins enjoy the rest of the meal."

"Are you sure you can't stay a bit longer, Detective Ellison?" Wilkins asked as he seated himself.

"I'm afraid not, sir. The officers I'm relieving don't deserve to wait for their supper while I take my time with mine." To all appearances Jim fiddled with his coat and dinner napkin, but then draped their leather strap over Blair's leg under cover of the tablecloth. He rose gracefully, buttoning his suit jacket to hide his condition. "Leave the tip, will you Chief? I'll pay on the way out. You two enjoy yourselves."

"No problem, man, and thanks." Blair said lightly, clutching the band tightly. For Jim only he murmured, "The only thing I'm going to really going to enjoy this evening is burying myself in your ass, my slut."

There was a fractional hesitation in Jim's step as he walked away from the table, but no other sign he'd heard his lover. With incredible will, Blair focused on his dinner guest. "Have you tried the pecan pie here lately? It's great."

The look Wilkins gave him was shrewd and assessing, but he answered genially enough. "Frankly, I prefer the death-by-chocolate cake, myself. At my age, chocolate is about the only vice I can indulge in."

Genuinely smiling at the man, Blair told him. "It's the best one, anyway. Way cheaper than alcohol or drugs, no bookies to worry about, and no fighting over who sleeps on the wet spot."

Spluttering, laughing, Wilkins thumped Blair feebly on the arm. "Well said, Blair. Well said."


Contrary to what he had told Jim, Blair did find the rest of the time in Wilkin's company pleasant. He'd gotten out of the habit of the bull sessions grad students normally indulged in, and found it a refreshing change from cop talk. The respite from what was beginning to feel like terminal horniness was welcome, too.

It wasn't until he let himself back into the loft in the small hours of the morning that the full impact of the perpetual delays hit him. Their home smelled of Jim to Blair, and he was so hungry for any trace of his lover that he stood in the middle of the living room and just tried to feel him. Half hard simply from being there, he schooled himself to stay awake but not do anything about the nagging thing.

Knowing without a doubt that he'd never be able to concentrate on schoolwork, he astonished himself by actually cleaning the loft. It both used up some of his restless energy and passed the time. When he was too tired to go on with that any more, he went upstairs to make a few preparations for making love, then showered thoroughly and washed his hair.

Almost without considering it, he put the strap and ribbons back into place, then, decidedly thinking male one-upmanship thoughts, he dug through the toy bag to get the leather-tasseled nipple clamps that went with them. Seeing them was all he needed for the nubs on his chest to be up enough to use them, and he worried seriously about coming from the sharp pinch/zing of their grip if Jim took too long to get home.

Taking Jim's place by the doors to the balcony, wearing only his robe, he watched the city wake up and waited for his lover. Seeing the truck pull into place, he ran to the door and put his ear against it. Hoping all the neighbors would be asleep, he had every intention of bouncing out into the hall and grabbing Jim to yank him inside, taking clothes off the buff cop as he did.

Hearing the elevator door open, he waited, then did pop out, almost colliding with Joel Taggart. Getting a good look at the drawn, gray face of the captain, Blair took Joel's other side to help Jim get him inside.

"The stakeout pulled in the players we wanted," Jim explained shortly, "but they were less than cooperative with us about coming in quietly. Joel took a good knock to the head. Doc said he there wasn't a concussion, but if he didn't want to spend the night at the hospital, he had to have company."

"I'm really sorry about this, Blair," Joel moaned. "But I hate those places."

"Hey, I'm with you," Blair assured him quickly. "Between the vampires taking all your blood at all hours of the morning and nurses waking you up to give your sleeping pill, you come out in worse shape than you went in."

"I'm going to have to check him on and off for a while," Jim said, guiding the three of them toward Blair's office. "Is the futon clear?"

"No, hang on." Blair darted ahead to make a bed up for Joel, wondering if he was ever going to get laid.

By the time they had taken care of the older detective and gotten him settled into sleep, the two of them were dead on their feet. They trudged upstairs, and Jim stood in front of their bed, staring stupidly at the candles waiting to be lit and the satin sheets. "Ah, babe," he muttered.

"S'kay," Blair mumbled back. Shrugging out of his robe, he tumbled onto the waiting softness and held open his arms. "We're up here now, that's all that matters."

Plopping face first down beside him, Jim dragged him close and gingerly plucked at one of the nipple clamps Blair had all but forgotten. "You must be as worn out as me if you've got these on and aren't shoving me up against a wall."

"You kinda get used to them," Blair said sleepily.

"That a fact, babe." Jim yawned hugely, and cupped the smaller man's balls, working them gently.

"Mmmmmm, that's good," Blair approved, reaching down to reciprocate.

"Mmm, hmmm." Jim snuggled in closer, burying his nose in his partner's hair. "Mmmmm," he repeated himself.

Spreading his legs invitingly, Blair bumped up a little into the hand holding him. "More?"

Jim snored in his ear, and that was the last thing he remembered until his alarm kicked him out of sleep hours later. Taking a look at the late afternoon sunshine, he gave his sentinel a soft kiss and undid the strap around his waist to tie it around Jim's. Clumsily he clambered out of bed and dressed, deliberately leaving himself adorned.

Heading downstairs, a quick check showed him Taggart was out, too. Following doctor's orders, he shook the other man until Joel grumbled, "Come on, Jim, let me sleep!"

"Hey, you know the drill," Blair said with mock cheeriness. "Wake the patient every few hours to make sure he's coherent. Gotta tell you, Joel, if you're mistaking me for Jim, you might need another trip to the ER."

Giving Blair his opinion of that with a single finger, Taggart rolled back over and was instantly snoring.

Not taking the time to eat, Blair scooped what he would need for his office hours into his pack and headed out. At the threshold of the door he looked up at the tousled head barely showing through the loft railings. "Man, I do not know what sexual deity we pissed off," he told his sleeping lover, "but we are going to have to come up with a serious pacification ritual. Maybe something with glow-in- the-dark condoms and flavored lube."

Mind churning over possibilities - and Jim's reaction to the entire concept - Blair headed for work, a small bounce returning to his steps.


Half way through his office hours, he couldn't take it any longer. He was hardly paying attention to the students who came in to talk to him and totally unable to do more than stare blankly at any book or paper in his hand. Every time his phone rang, his heart triple-timed, hoping it was his lover summoning him; every time he heard footsteps in the hall, his cock leaped to tall attention, believing it was Jim coming for him. His nipples ached from the clamps, begging for Jim's mouth, and the ties on his arm and leg shifted and tickled under his clothes, reminding him of his lover's touch. Even the damn glint of silver on his pen was erotic; it too closely resembled the shine of the collar and bracelets Jim had worn to bed.

When he found himself clenching his ass muscles and grinding into his seat from the memory of the first time he had locked those chains in place, he gave up. Quickly he made a sign to put on the door apologizing for his absence and called the anthro secretary to beg her to have any student who really needed to talk to him to call and arrange a private appointment. Then he was off at a dead run, determined to relieve his overwhelming lust. If he was lucky, Jim might even wake up for some of it.

Driving sensibly only because he couldn't tolerate the idea of being delayed by being pulled over for a ticket, he made it back to the loft in record time regardless. Bursting through the door, not caring if he woke Joel - hell, not caring if Joel sat on the stairs and watched - he raced upstairs and found an empty bed.

"Jim!" he shouted, and darted back downstairs toward the bath. "Damn!" he shouted again at finding it deserted, too. No longer in a hurry, he climbed up toward their bed, grumbling, "Damn, damn, damn, damn."

This time he looked over the area carefully, noticing that the bed was uncharacteristically not made, and that their toy bag was half spilled onto it. There was a used tube of lube on the night stand, and under it was a note.

Chief, one of the men we brought in last night
is turning state's - and he's got something way
bigger than we were hunting for. Simon called
me in early for his questioning and to help with
the arrests we're hoping to make from the info.
Also told me as soon as it was all done, I was off
until Monday.

I will (and the word was underlined and written
over several times to make it bold) be home as
soon as I can. Wait for me.

Jim

PS: Can you tell what's missing from the bag?

Curious, Blair began re-packing it, taking a mental inventory as he did. He counted over the items one by one, hands beginning to shake. The only thing gone was Jim's favorite vibrator, the one he claimed was almost identically shaped like Blair's fully erect cock. And the half-used lube told him precisely where Jim had put that vibrator.

That was too much for Blair. Simply and irrevocably too much. He shoved his hand down into his pants, tugged once and came, the liquid almost burning his hand as it spilled. The shock of it raced up from his heels to the top of his head, threatening to crush his skull with its intensity.

And it was nowhere near enough.

Practically snarling, he snatched up the phone and dialed the precinct, barely able to level out his voice to normal. "Rhonda, it's Blair. Yeah, pretty busy. No, not at all; just haven't been able to get in for more than a few hours here and there. Of course I will - when do you want it? 'Kay... remind me again next time you see me so I'll be sure to get it done.

"Hey Rhonda, Jim and Simon through with that witness yet? No, just trying get organized. They are? Great, on the way to the bust already? Must be big time. No way! Really! Man, Simon is going to be tap dancing on the mayor's pain-in- the-ass requests for the next month at least. Look, I gotta get going here. Thanks for the info; I appreciate it."

Putting the phone down much more gently than he wanted, Blair thought furiously for a minute, then changed clothes. Gathering a few things that he would want later, he left the apartment, heading for the station with one very important stop on the way.

Luckily Jim was in the parking garage, getting out of his truck just as Blair drove in. Leaving his car running, he hopped out and stalked over to his partner. The sentinel's head shot up and turned toward him, nostrils flaring. Good; the big man had a serious clue about his lover's state of mind.

Shoving a key into Jim's hand, Blair growled, "Enough is enough. You get your ass here inside of two hours, or I swear to God I'll ask one of Philip's boys to take care of me."

"Sandburg!!!"

"Ellison!!" he barked back. "Are you honestly going to stand there and tell me you aren't in worse shape?"

Not denying it, Jim tightened his jaw, then ground out, "Three; it would take at least that long if I were the President of the United States."

"Three, then." Blair spun to leave, but Jim caught his arm and hauled him around.

Bending down until his lips nearly touched his partner's ear, he whispered tightly. "And you will wait if it takes longer, because I will kill anyone one who touches you. Got that, Sandburg?"

Knowing that their anger was only part of the mutual frustration eating them both alive, Blair couldn't help the sentinel-quiet and totally furious words that boiled out of him. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. All macho and posturing here, but what's going to happen when you get to the room and find a pretty boy gobbling me up is that you're going to climb on top of us and plug his hole."

Jim grabbed him painfully by the shoulders and gave a hard shake before putting them nose to nose. "Blair, I mean it. Don't make some poor hooker die because you can't wait 20 more minutes."

It was the deathly calm words that penetrated his angry haze, sliding past Blair-the-lover and alerting Blair-the-Guide. Too late he worried what effect the prolonged abstinence and teasing near-misses were having on his Sentinel's senses. On the primal man that always lay so close to the modern cop's veneer. All traces of rage gone, Blair agreed softly. "I'll wait. Always. I promise."

The blue eyes so close to his own mellowed, all emotion save love draining out. "I know, Chief, I know. It was just my hard-on talking."

"So get upstairs and take care of business so we can take care of business," Blair ordered, lips quirking in an encouraging smile.

The hands holding him went gentle, long fingers kneading caressingly. "Be ready, my whore. I'm not going to be in the mood for foreplay."

Laughing, pulling away reluctantly, Blair said, "Yeah, 3 days worth is enough for me, too."

That surprised a laugh out of his lover, and Jim started away, throwing one last burning glance at his lover as he did.

Much calmer in most ways, Blair drove back to Philip's motel, letting himself into the room he'd specifically requested earlier. At the time, he had had Jim in mind for the special equipment, but looking it over again, he reconsidered that decision. Not only did he think it was unlikely Jim would want to bottom now, but he was beginning to realize he wanted to. Very badly. And in just this way.

Thoughtfully he washed up, paying particular attention to cleanliness and scents. Staying nude after he dried off except for the belly band and nipple clamps, he returned to the bedroom and took out the lube. Readying himself without losing it meant he had to stop mid-preparation twice, each time harshly controlling his breathing. Finally, feeling loose and sopping, he studied the sling laying on the bed waiting for him.

Little more than a huge, reinforced leather X, it had velcro closing straps along each arm, designed to fasten over human limbs stretched out over them. The cross of the X was big enough to hold the torso and head comfortably, and it, too, had restraints attached. There were eyehooks at the end of each arm, with strong leather bands attached to the main hook of a power winch in the ceiling. On the nightstand was a remote that not only served to activate the winch, but was also a panic button, in case something went wrong.

Feeling both stupid and scared, Blair carefully positioned himself in the center of the sling and strapped down his legs and lower half. He debated a second, then had the hoist lift him, grateful that it's motor was relatively quiet and smooth in operating. The slow swaying, swinging motion hit him in the stomach; he glanced down to reassure himself that he wasn't more than a foot or so off the bed.

He lay back, thinking of hammocks, warm breezes and South Seas shores. It worked well enough that he began to enjoy himself, and he half-drowsed for a time. Before he could slip all the way into sleep, he stirred himself and cautiously went back to work.

He put on the simple leather cock ring loosely; it was more for show until Jim decided otherwise. The gag built into the sling was better fastened, but he would still be able to spit it out if he needed. Dithering over the matching blindfold, wanting to see his lover's face when he came in, he finally left it draped over his eyes, leaving a peephole. From there he used his right hand to fasten down his left, from wrist to forearm to elbow to upper arm. Putting on the chest strap was easy, even as tied up as he was, but it took major twisting, causing the entire swing to creak and move dizzily, to get the other arm at least looking as if it were strapped, too.

Panting a little, feeling the dizziness mutate into excitement, he went limp in the harness, hanging onto the remote tightly. It was good, he decided after a minute of flexing and testing his bonds. Scary, like a roller coaster, but thrilling, too. He thumbed the button that would tighten the four arms of the sling and lift him another few feet in the air, until he truly couldn't move and his wide-open ass was at the perfect height for Jim to use.

His cock, which had been only mildly interested in the proceedings up until that point, jutted straight up at that thought, and Blair had to fight not to fidget. Instead he concentrated on his breathing and relaxation techniques. All of him except the one-eyed monster did as he asked and went limp; that area seemed to be prodding at him, asking when the fun was finally going to start.

To help control it, he listened to the small noises of the building around him: people talking, doors opening and shutting, the distant elevator on its repetitive journeys. He paid attention to the small currents of air moving over his naked skin, but found the cool flow of it over his opening too erotic to bear thinking about. Even more erotic was the simple act of waiting for Jim spread out like this.

For each minute that passed his anticipation grew, and each minute that Jim didn't come was both an agony and pleasure. Unable to stop himself, he began to squirm in his bonds, delighting in being unable to so much as toss his head. Small needy whimpers began spilling around the gag; a shocked part of his mind realized that he could come from this, come from waiting to be used by his lover.

By the time he heard footsteps approach and stop at the door, he was poised on the edge of orgasm, staving it off with desperate panting and the unadulterated need for Jim to see him like this first. The sound of the key in the lock was over loud in the room, but still nearly drowned out by the hammering of his heart. For a wild, panicked split-second, he worried if someone was with his partner, if someone else would see him, and the fear was enough to let him be silent and still while the door opened.

Through the small gap in the blindfold he could see Jim's silhouette against the hallway light, but not the big man's face. He heard a gasp, saw him stagger into the frame, then sweep into the room, closing and locking the door unbelievably fast. Moving as if on well-oiled wheels he crossed to the bed, undoing his pants and taking out his enormous cock.

With no more than that, Jim pressed the head against Blair's hole, took him by the hips to hold him steady, and entered in a long, long stroke that threatened to disembowel him in its speed and strength.

Howling, Blair came, thrashing uselessly against the leather binding him.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Jim chanted, and Blair could feel hot cream spurt into him. Another spasm of his own climax hit as Jim withdrew and pounded back in, making it seem as if his lover's come was gushing out through his cock. He screamed, tightening on the huge dick inside him with all he had, and was rewarded with another spurt for both of them.

Then the first raw edge of it passed, and instead of the naked ecstasy of coming, there was the exquisite pleasure of fucking. His rod, his tautly stretched asshole, his filled channel - all rejoiced in the sensations crashing along his nerves.

Jim seemed to love it as much as Blair did; he settled into a steady, violent rhythm of pumping in hard and deep, only to pull out slowly, almost gliding on the abundance of sperm and lube. The rig's swing made it almost effortless for both of them; Jim merely had to guide their motion and keep on his feet.

It let his thrusts go deeper than they ever had before, forcing delighted noises from Blair and small animal grunts from Jim. Alone in the dark, in his head, his only point of contact with his lover being the hands covering his hip bones and the rod inside him, Blair was reduced to nothing but an asshole greedily sucking as much as it could inside. And he loved it, reveled in being reduced to a universe of carnal joy. Trembling began in the pit of his gut, a fine shiver that rapidly turned into a full shudders that echoed the plunges into his body.

Keening low in his throat, he began to mindlessly fight the restraints on him, needing to answer Jim's hammering, to get him in even farther, even harder. The power of his struggle translated itself into shudders, and his whole body suddenly seized, turning into an unbending arc as come fountained out of him. With a triumphant shout, Jim somehow picked up the pace, slamming into the yielding hole with insane strength, his own seed flowing in a raging torrent.

As his come emptied out, he melted, as if it had been all that kept his muscles locked. Inside him, Jim's shaft softened, too, and they slowed, then stopped, leaving only harsh breathing to mark their mad joining. There was a clumsy tug at the remote in his hand, then he was floating down to the bed, Jim covering him with his own body as he did.

To his delight, Jim left most of his weight on him as he tried to catch his breath, only keeping enough on his left elbow and leg to let Blair do the same. He didn't say anything, and Blair was obscurely glad. There wasn't really anything he needed to hear from the big man anyway, right now, and it enhanced the embrace of the dark around him.

Reflexively he squeezed internally, giving the dick inside him a special hug and it throbbed once in response. It was such wild feeling, he did it again, and this time his lover moaned softly as his cock pulsed in answer. Very gently Jim began to barely slide in and out, his softness no hindrance because of his size.

Surprised, but very willing, Blair did his part to encourage him, clenching and relaxing his ass in time to the careful loving. Jim's tool began to grow, slowly pushing at and stretching the passage it worked in, making both of them sigh in renewed pleasure. It was by far the strangest - and most intimate - sensation Blair had ever experienced.

Before long Jim's inherent need to touch came into play, and his free hand drifted over the bonds holding Blair to the lax sling. Keeping up his slow thrusts even while rolling from one position to another to reach them all, he tightened some straps and loosened others as his fingertips told him was required. Blair liked that, too, finding each adjustment to be another stab of the desire re- awakening inside him. The soaked cock ring was tossed aside, and the nipple clamps were tightened, making him moan and try to offer the buds up for Jim's mouth.

The blindfold was saved for last, and Jim peeled that up enough for them to stare into each other's eyes. "Sometimes," he confessed quietly, "I can't get enough of you." Sweeping the tangled locks scattered over the bed into one handful and hanging onto them, he sped up his hips slightly, nearly completely erect again. "Heaven would be fucking and sucking with you endlessly, never worrying about losing a hard-on or getting sore or needing more lube."

Moaning his agreement, Blair uselessly tried to open wider, and Jim must have felt the strain of it through his touch because he increased his pace. "Tonight," Jim promised, "I'm going to get us both as close to heaven as possible. All you have to do is lie there and enjoy the trip."

Whimpering, Blair subsided and closed his eyes, mutely asking for the blindfold to be replaced. With a tiny kiss to each lid, Jim did so, then pulled away the gag to ravish Blair's mouth in nearly bruising kisses. When he was temporarily sated with that taste, Jim replaced the leather and went onto sample any other place he could reach without giving up on their fucking

"Love being in you, whore. That hot tunnel of yours clings like another layer of skin on my cock," Jim mumbled. "But love having you in me, too." He reached between them to stroke Blair's reviving erection. "God - you fit me so perfectly." Gradually he slowed, then stopped to ease himself out completely.

Blair protested with a growl, jerking as much as he could to get his point across. "Can't stand being empty, sweet bitch hole?" Jim laughed, the tenderness in his tone fitting oddly with his actual words. "Hang on; I can fix that."

He sat up, knees to either side, and there was a rapid flurry of cloth rustling, telling Blair his partner was undressing. The feel of denim dragged briefly over his leg confirmed it; the next texture there was the pure satin of Jim's bare flesh. Listening intently, trying to translate the tiny noises into useful information, he picked up on a muffled buzz that he'd been subliminally aware of for sometime. It grew louder, becoming clearly identifiable as the hum of a vibrator. Belatedly Blair remembered the one missing from home, and what he'd decided Jim must have done with it.

Hitting him hard, the knowledge made him shout wordlessly through the gag, new hunger clawing its way through him. "Oh, yeah," Jim purred, guessing the cause behind his lover's sudden spasm. "Wore it from the time I woke up; turned it on in the elevator. Whore, you are going to love this." The dildo slipped in easily, and the tremors from it made Blair's hole grip it brutally.

That as much as the vibrations set him off, and he lurched, shouting again. Though the mass of the sling was enough to keep his arms and legs in place, it wasn't enough to hold Blair down by itself, and unintentionally he nearly dislodged Jim from his seat on him. Chuckling, Jim dropped down to pin him until the first shockwave passed.

"Easy, lover, easy," Jim soothed. "Better fix that." He moved away, and the harness under Blair shifted, then became taut. Visualizing the hooks at the corner of the bedframe, he knew that the other man was securing it that way, restoring the cocoon of restraints to immobilize him.

Sighing his gratitude, he accepted his bonds and the remote pressed into his hand, waiting passively for his partner's next move. Again sound was his guide: Jim went into the bathroom, used it, then ran the water. Turning it off after a few minutes, he came back in, then warned, "Warm washcloth." With tender sweeps, he cleaned away the abundance of semen coating Blair's belly and trickling down his crack. It was calming, even tranquilizing to absorb the devotion, though his erection didn't fade an iota. How could it, when every few seconds his prostate took another jolt from the intermittent pulse of the dildo.

When that was done, Jim licked at the gag covering Blair's mouth, then sighed. "Leather is the perfect spice for you, Chief. Have I ever told you that?" He licked again, this time at an ear, nibbled on it, and started a journey of nearly random bites and kisses that covered every exposed part of Blair but the tower rearing up from his crotch and the pinched buds on his chest. All Blair could do was make begging noises deep in his chest and hope that Jim would take pity and use him soon.

Reduced to nothing but microscopic writhing and raging lust, feeling his next orgasm like an aura at the edge of his consciousness, Blair keened throatily when Jim's mouth finally descended down the length of his cock. Swallowing around the head to milk it, Jim kept him from finishing by pulling carefully on his balls, causing just enough discomfort that the urge passed.

Far too soon, Jim lifted his head, but compensated by wrapping a lubed hand around Blair's steely shaft and pumping. Beyond screams or even whimpers, the only reaction Blair could give him was a quaking in his body that shook the entire bed. Then even the pumping stopped, and the room became unearthly quiet and still. Too wrapped in pure sensuality to concentrate, Blair waited for his lover's desire, hips jerking upwards as much as possible in mute mimicry of what he craved, and at the hidden pounding in his hole.

Wondering what Jim saw at this second, whether it was as arousing to him to look as if was for Blair to be seen, he felt the first wave of his finish begin to burn at the base of his spine. At that moment the mattress dipped with Jim's weight; knees nudging at his sides. It was a small distraction, but enough that he could push away his coming, instinctively trying to wait for his partner. The base of his cock was gripped powerfully, making it even easier to stave off the impending climax.

The shaft was handled again, this time in an achingly familiar way, but before Blair's sex-muddled mind could decipher it, Jim sat on the rigid pole, taking it all the way into him in a single, smooth rush. Helplessly Blair shot again, a single groan exploding out of him with his seed. The darkness under the mask lit up with a whiteout of bliss, and it faded gradually, leaving him trembling in aftermath.

A distant sensation called him back to his lover; Jim was wrapping a cock ring around his nuts and shaft to keep him from softening. The noise Blair made at the thought that they weren't finished yet was both pathetic and hopeful. By now he didn't honestly think he could get off again, despite the lingering thrum from the dildo, but he had every intention of at least trying, for Jim's sake.

Startlingly, Jim flipped off the blindfold. Fortunately - or maybe purposefully, given Jim's habit of taking care of him no matter what - the room was dim, but not so dim that he couldn't clearly see the man poised over him. When Jim was sure he had his attention, he grinned ferally and sank back down on Blair's cock, sighing when his backside met hairy thighs.

With his own lust temporarily sated, Blair could passively admire the sight before him. Jim was kneeling straight up, head thrown back in ecstasy. One hand was jacking the massive hard-on rearing up from his lap, the other smoothed broad paths over the world-class chest, occasionally stopping to twist and twirl the dark nubs on it. He sat perfectly still except for that - that, and the internal flexing of the channel surrounding Blair's cock.

There was something about that pattern of massage that he should notice, Blair decided dazedly. He marshaled his resources, paid close attention to the beat on his dick - and finally figured out that it was the same as the random pulse in his own ass. His sentinel must have his sense of touch tweaked up enough to feel the vibrations in his own body, as well.

It was a tantalizing thought, an arousing one, and a thread of new pleasure snaked into him. He watched more closely, taking in the darts of pink as Jim wet his lips, the veins standing out in his arms and neck, the quivers in the strong thighs, even the vague motion as his lover's nuts filled and tightened up against his body. "Fucking beautiful," he mumbled through the gag, and Jim cracked open an eye, obviously understanding him regardless.

"Goes straight through me, Blair," he said. "The damn thing might as well still be filling me, but it's not, it's in you, still hot from my hole, now wet with my juice. I'm in you and you're in me and we're doing each other, doing it right..." His voice trailed off, dreamy and sensual, eyes closed again. "I could fucking do this forever."

//Not likely, babe,// Blair thought regretfully, feeling the tunnel around him throb like a heartbeat. //Though I wish.//

A second later Jim roared, his cream bubbling out in slow motion waves. But instead of stopping, he finally began riding, raising up and sinking back down in an unhurried but powerful tempo. The thread of arousal twisted sharply all through Blair, sending out splinters of want that collected in his groin, making him groan.

"Yah," he grunted clearly despite the obstacle in his mouth. "Do it! Do it!"

Moaning his agreement, Jim twisted on the rod impaling him, changing the penetration enough to send it over his hidden hot spot with each stroke. Tossing his head, torturing both his nipples with vicious pinches, the big man took his pleasure without touching his own cock, making it good, but making it last, too. "Good," Jim whimpered softly, "Good, Blair. Good."

//Oh, yeah! God-damned wonderful, babe,// Blair crooned silently. He added what he could to the delicious ride, grinding up as much as possible each time Jim sank down. Impossibly his own body was working toward completion as well, making its own demands for more. He muttered that, the word clear to Jim's hearing, and his lover acted by transferring one hand to the clamp attached to Blair's chest.

One tug, and Blair nearly fainted from the intense spike of pleasure from the abused tit. Unable to make a sound, every tiny bit of oxygen needed, he convulsed in the straps holding him, pleading in that way for Jim to do it again. His lover obliged him, pulling on both tassels in time to his strokes down.

Blair lost it, conscious mind annihilated in the repeated blasts of feeling, and he fought the bonds on him with bestial imperative. Had to get free, had to mate, had to empty himself in the hungry recess of his lover. His struggle only resulted in Jim dropping onto him like a jackhammer, putting his full weight into driving Blair's cock into himself.

It wasn't humanly possible for them to maintain such power for more than a few strokes, but a few was all they needed. They finished together, Jim trickling out a few drops of come, shouting Blair's name over and over. Blair's release was completely dry, all the more intense for it, and he felt every quiver of all the way up his spine.

Jim collapsed on him even as Blair went totally boneless, dragging in inadequate puffs of much-needed air in through his nose. A second later Jim scrabbled at the gag, getting it far enough away for his lover to be able to frantically pant. It was all either of them did for a long time, each drifting on the simple feel of being with the other.

Finally Jim roused groggily, tugging at the velcro on the straps to release his partner. Blair tried to help, but his watery muscles made him more of a hindrance, so he satisfied himself with petting the big man while he was freed. "Thing was easier to get into than out of," he grumbled, half smiling as Jim frowned in exasperation at a last stubborn strip. "More fun, too."

"Next time, have to try it face down, babe," Jim said. "Since you seem to get off on the anticipation. Gives me the option of either hole, too."

"Next time? Jim, my nads are so drained, sperm is going to be on back order for a month!"

Laughing, Jim gave up on the recaltrant binding and snuggled back down onto Blair. "Only a month? You're going to have to give this old man more time to recharge, I think, Chief. Like maybe a year."

"A year! James Joseph Ellison, going without for two weeks nearly sent me - and you - right into the rubber rooms! No way, man. Absofuckinglutely no way! I'd end up screwing a hole in the wall." Blair mock groused.

Surprisingly Jim sobered, leaning up on one elbow to look down into his lover's face. "I never meant to let it go that long - or to be a prick tease. You know that, right, babe?"

Softening inside, Blair nuzzled at him, wrapping both arms around the broad back now that he was free to do so. "It was fun, in a crazy kind of way. But we definitely let it go on too long. I'm sorry for that stupid crack in the garage; I was hard-on-talking, too."

He thought a second, then decided it way past time to get clear on this particular point. "Jim, I told you from the first I can't stand the idea of anyone else touching you. Hell, I've never made a secret of how possessive I am. I should have told you that because I expect you to be faithful, I have been. It has always been a given, for me."

"I guess," Jim admitted slowly, "I was taking it for a given, too. Both ways. It really was just frustration talking, babe."

Sighing contentedly, Blair wiggled a bit until he was comfortable, encouraging Jim to do the same. "And exhaustion. We've got the room til noon tomorrow, and neither one of us has to be anywhere before that."

"Want to sleep in, get up, go out to breakfast, and come back here and try that face down thing?" Jim murmured.

"Sounds good," Blair answered, already nearly asleep. Just as he was ready to drop the rest of the way, Jim's words suddenly clicked into place and his eyes popped open. Regarding the dear head on the pillow next to him, he asked incredulously. "You want to make love again? So soon?! I thought you said it would take a year for your to recover."

"Time flies when you're having fun, babe."

The End