"You're incorrigible."
"Incurably depraved?" Gray pursed his lips in a mocking kiss and wriggled as sensuously as he
could. "Teach me some manners, then. Show me the error of my ways."
Charles laughed, his face lightening. "How long do I have?"
Drawing Closer - 72
"I don't have anywhere I have to be. All night."
"Fine." Charles stood up and pulled on a robe.
"Uh, Charles..."
"You wanted to know what it would be like." Charles looked serious now. "Waiting is something you'd have to get used to."
"Waiting? Why?" Gray nodded at his erection. "Ready, see? And so are you."
"Call out if you're at all uncomfortable; I'll hear you."
"Charles! You can't just go and--"
"I can." Charles paused in the doorway and looked back at him. "You're going to lie there and think."
"About how I'm going to kick your fucking ass for this?"
"No, Gray. About how you're going to persuade me to fuck you when you're not allowed to
speak after I return and if you do I'll kick
your
ass out of here. You want to play, then fine, we'll play, but you're arguing far too much and you're irritating me."
"I just -- I don't know what to do," Gray whispered, feeling panic twist inside him, taking away his ability to joke. With Charles beside him he could cope with being tied up; alone, he wasn't
sure he wouldn't start to freak and if he did...
"Do what I've told you to do. Lie there. Think. Wait for me to come back." Charles shrugged.
"Don't come."
"Like I could!"
"Oh, you could." Charles smiled thinly. "But you won't enjoy what happens if you do." He walked back into the room and picked up his watch, strapping it onto his wrist. "Fifteen
minutes."
"Charles... please..."
He got a sidelong look. "I think I'd like you to stop talking now, please." The 'please' did
something to Gray, jolting him into a haze of need. "Good."
The door was left ajar and Gray was left alone.
Drawing Closer - 73
***
Charles walked down the stairs slowly, resisting the urge to go back. He was expecting to hear
Gray call to him soon to be released; expecting Gray to leave. Turning his back on him with that
thought in place was difficult. The shimmy and stifled moan of panic Gray had given, looking
stunningly erotic as he pulled at the lengths of twisted silk holding him -- Charles was never going
to be able to wear those ties again, not that he cared -- had almost given him what he wanted.
Almost.
Replaying the memory of Gray's fingers unconsciously caressing the silk even as he tugged and
fought their hold on him, Charles poured himself a glass of water and sat down, sipping at it
slowly, his eyes staring unseeingly at the living room.
The purr and nudge as his cat made his presence known woke him from his thoughts. "Sorry," he
murmured, reaching down and scooping Rudegar up. "Much though I love you, I think I'd rather
you weren't wandering around."
Placating him with a serving of cat treats, he shut Rudegar into the kitchen and glanced at his
watch. Thirteen minutes. It would have felt like thirty to Gray but Charles didn't even consider
cutting the time short. You gave a number -- minutes to wait, strokes from a cane -- and you
stuck to it. Had to.
He couldn't believe how easy it was to fall back into this; how natural it felt. Forcing himself to
remember that Gray didn't have the faintest idea of what to do, and wouldn't want to if he did, he
tried to plan out something mild enough not to leave Gray running out screaming and yet
sufficient to get his message over.
Fifteen minutes.
He turned and walked up the stairs as slowly as he'd come down them, his cock full and hard, his
hands curled loosely, shaking slightly.
That would stop as soon as he saw Gray. His breathing would even out, his voice would be calm,
inflexible. He knew that and it still didn't stop them from trembling now, excitement and
apprehension forcing his body to react.
He pushed open the door and met Gray's eyes.
God.
***
Drawing Closer - 74
freaking. Tied up. Tied
up
, dammit, and so fucking turned on it wasn't funny.
And Charles wanted him to
wait
?
He ran through a litany of curses and felt his calm return. Okay. Tied, yes, but just his hands, and
it wasn't as if it hurt. The silk was smooth and it only got uncomfortable if he pulled... and
twisted... and fought... like that.
God, he had to stop doing that. He wasn't sure why he was when he didn't really want to get
free. Free meant Charles would come back and give him that scornful look, the one Gray had
sometimes wanted to see in class just because there was something so fucking satisfying about
wiping it off Charles' face with a really clever question or answer. He had to work for it, but that
smile of approval used to wash over him, warm and sweet, leaving him basking.
Worth the sting of scorn to get that smile.
So he wanted to be like this. Wanted to be tied -- and there was that word again. His thoughts
kept snagging on it, returning to it and worrying at it. And every time he did, his cock throbbed.
There was no point in trying to deny it; he was getting off on this and Charles could go and fuck
himself with his refusal to accept that this was doing something for Gray.
All that he'd learned was still too fresh for him to deal with. Charles with a past -- Charles with a
fucked-up, kinky as hell past that involved clubs and collars and rich, older lovers and -- Gray
swallowed, fighting back incredulity and jealousy and reminding himself that the guy was dead.
He forced himself to focus on the fact that he was close to losing Charles and that he had to play
this just right--
Except he couldn't play. Charles would know if he was faking it and really, Charles had a point; if
this didn't get Gray off, there wasn't much point in hanging around. Gray knew enough to know
that there was no way he and Charles were ever going to be just friends. Too much going on when
they looked at each other, let alone touched.
He raised his head a little. Still hard. Right. Wasn't all that long since he'd come, panting and
grunting and writhing away as Charles fucked him hard and fast. Didn't seem to matter. His cock
was flushed and the tip was shining, glossed over. So ready, just from this, and Charles wasn't
going to walk in and get him off, now was he? No, he was going to sit and watch him and make
him beg--
Throb.
Fuck.
Drawing Closer - 75
Gray stared up at the ceiling, waiting, empty of everything that wasn't waiting, slipping, as the
moments trickled by, into a dreamy state of expectancy, listening for the sound of Charles'
footsteps.
It never occurred to him to call out, and when Charles pushed open the door he spread his legs
wider and relaxed, still waiting, Charles' final order gagging him so effectively that he felt the
weight of it resting against his parted lips.
***
set of specific physical details; it was simply an expression of readiness.
Gray. Ready and waiting and willing. From where he stood at the door, Charles could see the
swell of Gray's lip where he'd bitten it and the sheen of sweat over his tanned skin.
"You look stunning," he told him honestly, making no attempt to hide his pleasure.
He expected one of Gray's flip comments but Gray turned to him, hips lifting in what was less an
invitation than a plea.
Touch me
.
Oh, yes, he'd want that after being left alone, even if the time had been ridiculously short really.
Charles kept his robe on, thinking absently that he should have got dressed again, just to maintain
a distance between them, but went over to sit on the bed beside Gray.
"So good," he murmured, bending over to kiss Gray's lips, feeling a stab of desire as Gray's
tongue flickered out desperately, trying to entice him to draw out the kiss. "So obedient. So
unlike you."
Gray came close to speaking, a flash of something -- frustration? Anger? -- sparking in his eyes,
before he closed his mouth firmly.
Charles chuckled. "I wasn't trying to trick you into disobeying me, I promise. I'll let you talk
again soon; I want to hear you. But for now..." He drew his fingers down Gray's inner arm, wrist
to elbow, feeling the shiver running over the taut skin. "Oh, you can use your mouth for
something else. First, though..."
He was taking a chance here, he knew. Gray was still very much an unknown quantity when it
came to his limits, although Charles had seen nothing yet that made him think the other man had
many inhibitions. Reaching into the nightstand drawer, he took out a sleeping mask, a souvenir of
his last flight, shoved out of sight when he'd been groggy with jetlag, and all but forgotten until
Drawing Closer - 76
now. Letting it dangle from his hand, he raised his eyebrows, waiting patiently for Gray's
cautious nod of agreement.
He wasn't used to needing to do that...
Fitting the mask over Gray's head, Charles gave into temptation a little, taking longer than he had
to, just to enjoy the feel of Gray's hair against his hands, thick and soft. Gray's breath quickened
as the black, padded mask blocked off his sight and Charles let the back of his hand rest for an
instant against Gray's cheek.
Charles sat back, careful now not to touch Gray, and let his gaze wander. Spoiled for choice... He
bent over to bite, fairly hard, at the point of Gray's hipbone, sucking at the bitten skin until
Gray's gasp of shock and pain mellowed to a moan.
"That's it," he encouraged him, stroking the reddened patch of skin with his fingertip. "Make all the noise you like. Just no words."
He kept moving, finding places where Gray's response to being touched verged on extreme, once
drawing something very close to 'Fuck' out of him when Charles flicked his nail hard against
Gray's nipple, already wet and bruised from Charles' mouth. He let that one slide, not out of
mercy -- it hadn't hurt him
that
much -- but because the anguished, low howl had made him grin.
Gray was so very open in his reactions and Charles was enjoying that more than he'd expected.
When he'd got to the point that Gray was moaning continually, an 'ah' of pained arousal emerging
with each exhalation, his cock the only part of him left untouched, Charles shrugged out of the
robe and straddled Gray's chest, high up. Settling down so that most of his weight was on his
knees, Charles slid his finger under the edge of the mask, lifting it slightly. "Want to see?" he asked.
There was a moment's hesitation and he frowned, waiting. Gray made an indeterminate sound, an
'mmm' that seemed to be a question. Charles tried to work it out and gave up, going with a guess.
"You want me to decide?"
That got him a nod.
"Off, then."
The mask peeled away from flushed, damp skin -- he'd been crying? Charles fingered the mask
and couldn't tell. Either way, the blue eyes blinking up at him were dry now, eyes expressive
enough that Charles had no difficulty in interpreting the furious appeal in them.
"Still not allowed to talk or come." Normally not a reminder he'd have had to make...
Drawing Closer - 77
Gray's head jerked irritably against the pillow and Charles smiled, taking hold of his own cock
and guiding the tip along the tightly closed seam of Gray's mouth, watching the lips soften and
open and feeling the hot flick of Gray's tongue.
He groaned himself. Couldn't help it. He was about to slide his cock a little deeper -- just a little -
- when Gray twisted his head away, his lips flattening and his hands clenching into fists.
"Gray?" Charles took hold of Gray's face firmly, curling his fingers around his jaw. "Want me to stop?" Gray's headshake was immediate but he made a soft, desperate sound, shifting on the bed.
Charles slid off him and kneeled beside him on the bed. "Tell me."
Words, frantic and fast, spilled out. "Going to come, God, going to--"
"No, you're not." Charles kept his voice calm.
He got an exasperated glare shot at him. "Am," Gray insisted. "Fuck, so close..."
Charles glanced down and decided that Gray was probably right. His balls were tight and his cock
was quivering with every breath, smacking back against a flat stomach and leaving a slick smear
behind.
"Stop talking."
Gray opened his mouth, looking wildly indignant, and snapped it shut when Charles gave him a
pointed look, but the distraction had helped. He lay still, chest heaving, and waited.
"One minute," Charles told him. "Stay absolutely quiet for one minute and I'll see to you."
He waited until Gray had settled into a tortured, tense silence and then pushed his finger slowly
inside Gray's mouth, past teeth and tongue, getting it wet. The whimper that escaped Gray was
probably involuntary, but Charles shook his head sadly, withdrew his finger and drew a line
down Gray's stomach, ending an inch away from the dark, glossed head of Gray's cock.
Time to push.
"Almost there, Gray, and then I'll let you come. I'll
make
you come. But not yet. Come before I say and I'll punish you. My hand on your backside, hard, hurting you, until you're--"