Well, Ray	Well, Ray… "Well, Ray…" Ben looked across at his partner
and licked his bottom lip rather nervously. Ray seemed very preoccupied
since they'd reached Chicago. "Would you… ah, would you care for some
coffee?"
 
 Ray looked at him, his face inscrutable. "Sure. Why not?"
 
 It wasn't exactly the whole-hearted response Ben had hoped for, but it
was better than nothing he supposed. They got out of the Riv and walked in
silence into his apartment building and up the stairway. Ben began to wish
that they'd stayed in the cabin. But with another storm brewing, it had
been too risky. Their food stocks had been getting low, and might not have
lasted out another storm-induced incarceration.
 
 Once inside the apartment, Ray moved to the kitchen counter. "I'll get
the coffee while you unpack."
 
 Ben hesitated. Was this just a kind offer, or was Ray making some sort of
statement that their holiday was now over, and that what had occurred
during that holiday was to be forgotten? The question of what Ray wanted
now had been nagging at him all the way back from Canada, and he was no
nearer an answer now than he had ever been.
 
 "All right, Ray. Thank you." It didn't take long to unpack, far less time
than it would take Ray, a perfectionist in these matters, to make the
coffee. Ben made a desperate decision and plunged into his closet.
 
 When he emerged again, Ray was just pouring the coffee. He glanced across
at Ben and froze, his jaw dropping. There was a long silence while Ray
carefully placed the coffee pot on the counter. Ben shivered. The
apartment was unheated, of course, and he was naked; but that wasn't why
he was shivering.
 
 Ray finally let go of the coffee pot and turned towards him. One step,
and his hands rose to tug at his sweater. By the fourth step his sweater
and undershirt were tossed unceremoniously aside. He kicked off his
Italian leather shoes. The next few steps were hopped, rather unsteadily,
as he pulled off first one sock and then the other.
 
 That put him in arm's reach, and Ben grabbed him, pulled him around and
pressed him back against the wall, holding him in place with his own body.
Ray's skin seared him. Ray mouth welcomed him with unspeakable delights.
 
 He thought he heard a popping noise when their lips finally parted. Ray
sagged a little. "Oh God, Benny, I was so scared you wouldn't…"
 
 Ben halted his own rather incoherent speech to interrupt Ray's. "You
were? I was afraid…" They stared at each other in bemusement.
 
 "Why didn't you say something?" They both spoke at the same time.
 
 Ray grabbed his ears and pulled him closer. "Oh Hell, why waste time
talking?" 
 
 It seemed like an entirely reasonable question to Ben, but he didn't
bother to try to answer it. Instead he applied himself to pleasuring his
lover in the ways he'd learned Ray loved the best. Of course, that didn't
mean he couldn't enjoy himself too. He buried his face in the fine,
slightly coarse hair on Ray's chest and breathed in his scent, before
turning his attention to Ray's beautifully sensitive nipples. 
 
 A shudder conveyed Ray's appreciation, and Ben sucked a little harder,
arousal spurring him to greater urgency. Instead of lingering as he might
have done at another time, Ben made his way hastily down Ray's chest until
he reached the top of his lover's jeans. He paused a moment, his chest
tight with excitement, then dropped to his knees.
 
 Somehow, he didn't think that Ray was any less excited. Not if that bulge
in his jeans was any indication. Ben unfastened the jeans with trembling
fingers and dragged them and Ray's shorts down to his knees in one quick
movement. He stared, entranced, at Ray's cock, hovering fully erect in
front of his face.
 
 So beautiful. Ben moaned softly and touched it with one reverent
fingertip. It twitched and Ben felt his heart leap. He could spend hours
just looking at it, but Ray's voice, demanding to know if he was actually
going to do anything, distracted him. He kissed the wet, swollen cockhead
gently. It always seemed so bare and vulnerable to him.
 
 He kissed it again. He sucked it. He even, greatly daring, nibbled at the
ridge of tissue that defined the sensitive tip. He ran his tongue over it
and took it back into the protection of his mouth. Ray moaned his
appreciation and made tiny thrusting movements.
 
 It was always difficult to release Ray's cock from his mouth. If only it
didn't look so naked. But release it, he did. And then he stood, taking
Ray into his arms for a long kiss. That's when the idea occurred to him.
 
 "Ray?" The word barely made it out of his mouth. He swallowed and started
again. "Ray? Close your eyes, Ray."
 
 Ray groaned. "What are you going to do now, Benny?" But he closed his
eyes obediently, with a sigh.
 
 It was going to be a little tricky, but Ben thought he could do it. He
looked down at his own cock, every bit as aroused as Ray's. It should
work. Carefully, he drew the foreskin back and swayed a little closer to
Ray. Then he took Ray's cock in his hand, unable to resist giving it a
little extra caress.
 
 "Now, keep your eyes closed, Ray." He waited for Ray's nod, then pressed
his cockhead against Ray's. They were both slippery with pre-ejaculate,
but that was probably just as well. Slowly he drew the foreskin forward
again, stretching it a little so that it covered the tip of Ray's cock
too. 
 
 "God, Benny! What are you doing?"
 
 "Shh. Keep still, Ray." He managed to draw it a little further over Ray's
cockhead, almost to the ridge. It was a strange sight, but one that made
his heart contract painfully and his groin ache with need. He wouldn't be
able to do this for very long, he realised. "You can look now, Ray."
 
 Ray's eyes opened, and dropped immediately to look down between their
bodies. His breath was drawn in sharply. He didn't seem to be upset. Ben
leaned towards him and kissed his cheek. "This is what it feels like,
Ray."
 
 He began to move his foreskin, sliding it carefully back and forth across
Ray's cockhead. Ray moaned deliriously, leaning back against the wall as
though it was his only means of remaining upright. They stood in complete
silence, apart from their strained breathing, as Ben continued. Ray
slipped an arm around Ben's waist and turned his head to press their
cheeks closer together. His breath flowed softly over Ben's cheek.
 
 Eventually the sensations grew too strong for both of them. Ben began to
shake. "Ray… I can't… I have to…" Reluctantly, Ben drew away and their
cocks sprang free. 
 
 Ray was clutching at the wall. He sagged at the knees a little. "Benny?
Oh God… I'm gonna die… if you don't do something right now, I'm gonna
die…"
 
 Somehow Ben doubted that, but he wasn't prepared to take a chance on it.
Summoning all his self-control, he managed to sweep an astonished Ray off
his feet and carry him to the bed. That way, he could carry out CPR if it
became necessary.
 
 It wasn't. Ray lifted his head and croaked out an unintelligible query,
but he was obviously recovering satisfactorily. Reassured on that point,
Ben dropped onto the bed, facing the opposite direction from Ray and
buried his face in Ray's decidedly sweaty groin.
 
 Now he could do what he most wanted, which was to lavish all the love and
attention on it that Ray's cock deserved. The sight of it, hard and eager,
as it was now, or soft and vulnerable in its nest of dark curls when Ray
was sleeping, never failed to arouse a kind of helpless tenderness in him.
It was as long and slender and elegant as Ray himself. As rich in texture
and taste. As complex in its many moods and its unique beauty.
 
 He caressed it lightly with the flat of his tongue, moving with
deliberate lack of haste from base to tip. He followed the gnarled looking
veins around the circumference of the shaft, tracing the outline of them
with the tip of his tongue. Lifting the hard length of it in his hand, Ben
began a careful stimulation, using just the tips of his fingers and thumb
to slide the slightly loose skin over the hard muscle beneath in short,
rapid strokes. Then he took the cockhead into his mouth again at last.
 
 Soon, Ray's moans reached a crescendo and Ben had to surrender the cock
unwillingly. He tightened his grip around it and pumped it hard. Ray's
body surged up into his grasp, his belly contracting with a sharp intake
of breath. Then the thick, pearly stream of ejaculate jetted fiercely from
the swollen slit, spattering them both with its heat and Ray collapsed
into a limp and apparently lifeless heap.
 
 That didn't bother Ben at all. He was free now to return to his own
particular idolatry. He cupped the heavy, gradually softening cock in his
hand and continued to caress it with his tongue, carefully avoiding the
cockhead, which would be far too sensitive now. A soft moan signalled the
start of Ray's recovery.
 
 When Ray's head lifted off the pillow, Ben smiled at him. "Well, Ray? Did
you like having a foreskin?"
 
 "Oh yeah… you can do that again, anytime, Benny."
 
 Now that was definitely a pleasing thought. He smiled again, his heart
and cock pounding to the same sweet, powerful rhythm. 
 
 Ray let his head drop back, and turn towards Ben's thigh. He swore softly
under his breath. "Benny, why didn't you tell me you hadn't come?"
 
 "Well, you were, uh, a bit distracted, Ray. It's all right… though I
would appreciate…" He didn't have to finish the sentence. His cock was
taken firmly in hand and sucked with enthusiasm. 
 
 It didn't stop there, although Ben was so close to the edge, he was
hardly aware of what Ray was doing. Until he felt his foreskin being
carefully retracted so Ray could suck cautiously at his cockhead. Someone
was making whimpering noises. Then his foreskin was released, and Ray's
tongue probed delicately beneath it. Ray really was getting quite good at
this, Ben thought, and then the world dissolved around him. 
 
 *
 
 He was lying in a messy tangle of sheets, arms and legs, quite unlike his
normally well ordered sleeping arrangements. Not that it really mattered.
He certainly wouldn't forgo the pleasures of sleeping, and making love,
with Ray just for the sake of tidiness. That would be ridiculous.
 
 It was amazing what a man could learn about making love with another man,
using no more than a bit of common sense and a lot of enthusiasm and
practice. Ben smiled at the memories of all that they'd discovered
together; and all the enticing possibilities that danced seductively in
his thoughts.
 
 Beside him Ray stirred and yawned noisily. He turned his head and gave
his lover a long wake up kiss. And then another, just to be sure.
 
 Ray smiled complacently at him. "So, Benny, I guess this means you're OK
with us still being lovers in Chicago?"
 
 "Very much so, Ray." Just to emphasise the point, he slid his hand over
Ray's bare flank and caressed it affectionately. Ray had such elegant
buttocks, and it was just beginning to occur to him that there might be
equal delights to be found in Ray's, um, rear elevation too...
 
 "Mmm…" Ray stretched and rubbed against him like a long, lean cat. "Guess
it doesn't get any better than this, huh, Benny?" 
 
 For a moment he was disconcerted, having just thought of something new
that he very much wanted to try. But then he relaxed again. Ray was sure
to like this… He smiled brilliantly at his lover. "Well, Ray…" back