"Let me try distracting you again. That picture of a cat at the gallery; tell me I'm missing
something that makes it work?"
"I'd like to be able to, but I can't," Gray replied as they began to walk again. "It's a piece of crap."
"I missed the crap, but were there bits of kitty litter glued onto it?"
"Yeah. Just be glad it wasn't used."
"I am," Charles told him. "Profoundly."
By the time they reached Gray's apartment, they'd fallen silent again, a silence broken only with
the grate of a key in a lock and the click of a closing door.
"Gray--"
"Don't." Gray shook his head and then hooked his fingers into the front of Charles' shirt, tugging him further inside the apartment. "Don't ask me if I'm sure, don't remind me that we're practically strangers, don't warn me that this doesn't mean anything -- just don't."
"I wasn't going to say any of that."
Gray's eyes glittered. "Liar."
"Maybe some of it," Charles said reluctantly. "I don't want this to be a no-strings fuck, Gray; I like you too much to use you like that, but--"
Drawing Closer - 39
"Want to be used." Gray moved closer and pushed his hands under Charles' jacket, easing it off him to fall, forgotten, to the floor. "Hard and often."
"Okay, that sounds ... tempting." The words were emerging with difficulty because Gray's
fingers were busy undoing the buttons on Charles' shirt and each light, fleeting touch was slowly
robbing him of his ability to form coherent sentences. "But I still need to know--"
"Charles? Shut up." Gray's voice was as frayed as Charles'. "Please? If you don't want to do this, turn around and get the hell out, but if you're staying, stop
talking
." He bent his head and mouthed roughly, desperately, at Charles' shoulder, pushing back his shirt and biting down hard.
"Oh, God, stop talking...."
Charles gave a guttural groan, less at the small flare of pain and more at the intense, dizzying
wave of arousal it sparked. Gray laughed, the sound choked off as Charles' hands slid into his
hair, pushing Gray's head back so that he could kiss him, a hard, messy clash of lips and teeth
that ended with them both staring at each other in the darkness of the hall, illuminated only by a
lamp burning on a table in the main room.
"Do you still want me to watch you come?" Charles said in a harsh whisper. "Right here, before we even get to your bedroom?"
Gray's eyes widened and he swallowed hard. "Might take the edge off."
"That's not why I want you to do it," Charles answered, "but, yes, I imagine it will." He ran his finger from the hollow of Gray's throat to his navel, skimming the navy silk shirt Gray had worn
on Alise's orders. "Take this off?"
Slowly, without looking away, Gray obeyed him, revealing tanned skin and smooth muscles.
Charles smiled appreciatively. "You're--" He hesitated, lost for words for once.
Gray grinned impishly. "Hot as hell?"
Charles had to grin back. "Definitely." He pushed him back against the wall, his hand going to the leather belt threaded through Gray's black jeans. "Let me cool you down a little..."
Without giving either of them time to think about it too much, Charles eased down the zip and
pushed Gray's jeans and shorts down just enough to allow him to wrap his hand around the thick
jut of Gray's cock. It quivered and jerked against his palm and Charles bit his lip, leaning in to
kiss Gray again, their tongues meeting, tasting, testing. Without breaking the kiss, Charles took
Gray's hand and guided it to Gray's cock before stepping back and leaning against the opposite
wall of the narrow hallway.
"Do it," he said quietly. "Show me."
Drawing Closer - 40
Gray blinked at him, his fingers already tight around his cock and then relaxed. "What will you be
watching, Charles?" He made it a challenge, not a question. "My dick? Or my face?"
Charles shrugged, not hiding his arousal. "Don't know. Either. Both." His gaze dropped to the
slick slide of Gray's erection through his clenched fingers. "Oh, you look good," he murmured.
"Good enough to eat?" Gray panted, his head thrown back and his teeth gritted. "So not gonna be able to last long--"
"I'm looking forward to it." Charles' cock was throbbing insistently but he was in control just enough to stay very still, giving it no stimulation, not even the soft brush of fabric as he shifted
position.
Gray's face was contorting with pleasure, his breath coming in short, fast gasps. "Tell me what
you'll do to me."
Charles was staring at his face now, loving the way it reflected Gray's emotions so nakedly, more
aroused by that level of trust than by what Gray was doing.
"When you've come--"
"Not... long... now."
"I'm going to fuck you, Gray, what do you think I'm going to do?" Charles kept his voice cool
through an effort of will. "I'm going to take you into your bedroom, with your hand and stomach
still wet with come, and I'm going to strip you bare and taste your skin until you're hard again,
because I'm not fucking you until you are."
Gray slid down the wall, his hand speeding up, sharp, pained sounds coming out of his mouth,
Charles' name amongst them.
"God, I will be," he said thickly. "Count on it. Oh, fuck,
Charles
--"
He arched and came, still working his cock as his climax hit, the jetting, jerky spill of come
spattering across his stomach. Charles groaned, as lost in the moment as Gray was, their physical
separation irrelevant. He pushed away from the wall and fell to his knees beside Gray, cupping
his face in one hand and stroking his thumb over Gray's mouth. Gray stared up at him and then,
very deliberately ran his wet hand over Charles' bare chest, pushing aside his open shirt.
The cool stickiness felt odd but the fierce lap of Gray's tongue across the glistening skin felt
perfect.
Charles stood up and held out his hand.
Drawing Closer - 41
"This way," Gray murmured, not releasing Charles' hand after he'd got to his feet and leading him into his bedroom.
Charles blinked as Gray flicked on a lamp and glanced around. "Big bed," he commented, his
voice unsteady.
"All the better to be fucked in." Gray flashed him a smile that was too sweet to be wolfish. His hand slid out of Charles' grip and he turned to fumble in the small night table, tossing lube and
condoms onto the bed. "Okay?"
Charles nodded and said briefly, "Lose the clothes, Gray. I want to see you."
"Thought you were going to do that." Gray fell onto the bed, sprawled out on his back, his cock, half-hard still -- or again -- and his eyes narrowed. "You want me naked, then just take off my
clothes, Charles. I'm not going to stop you."
"I'd forgotten how much you
don't
forget." Charles rolled his eyes, the memory of half-a-dozen debates very clear for a moment before the sight of Gray, one hand tucked behind his neck, the
other scratching lazily at his ribs wiped everything but him from Charles' thoughts. "If you
insist..."
Choosing speed over a more romantic approach, he pulled off Gray's boots and socks, kneeling
down and tossing each item aside as it left Gray's body. Gray's feet were well-shaped and as
tanned as the rest of him, the skin of the soles supple and tough. Curious, Charles drew his
fingernail along the high arch of one foot and smiled as Gray shuddered, his toes curling sharply.
"I'm sorry." He did it again. "Does that tickle?"
"Charles..." Gray warned.
Charles propped his arms on the bed and smiled at him. "Odd," he confided. "I'm in less of a rush somehow."
"Why?" Gray sounded aggrieved and was close to pouting, which Charles didn't mind him doing
at all. "Don't like what you see?"
There was enough insecurity in his voice to have Charles penitent at once. He took hold of the
waistband of Gray's jeans and pulled them down a little further, running the back of his fingers
over the smooth skin of Gray's stomach; tracing the narrow stripe of dark hair dividing it and
finding the hollows at his hips. "I like it very much." Gray sucked in a sharp breath. "I'm just not inclined to rush."
"I want you to rush."
Drawing Closer - 42
Oh, yes, he was looking deliciously petulant now. Charles smothered a grin and gave Gray's cock
a teasingly light lick, tasting salt and musk and come and sternly quelling the flare of arousal that
leaped up high and bright in response.
"Take them off," Gray said urgently, squirming higher on the bed.
Charles relented enough to kneel back and peel the jeans off him, revealing strong, long legs that
fell apart as soon as they were able. After discarding his own clothes without rushing or lingering,
with Gray's eyes watching him, frankly eager, he moved onto the bed and knelt beside Gray,
looking him over without touching him.
"Knew you'd look like this," Gray said finally, ending his own visual examination. "Used to drive me crazy imagining it, waiting for you to bend over for something, or stretch out so that I could
see the shape of you under those clothes you wear."
"An artist's eye?" Charles said, half-skeptically. "I just find it causes fewer problems if I don't dress to attract."
"Don't want your students coming onto you?" Gray asked, nodding seriously. "Yeah, I can see how that'd be a pain in the ass."
Charles straddled him, moving fast enough to startle Gray and pinning his hands to the mattress.
"Sometimes." He shivered as his cock, wet-tipped and hard, met Gray's skin as he leaned forward to kiss him. "Sometimes they're persistent and aggravating."
"Yeah? Anyone I know?"
"And sometimes," Charles said, ignoring him. "They're distracting, tempting, and I spend longer than I should having entirely inappropriate and sadly unoriginal fantasies about fucking them
over desks."
"You'd better not be talking about Anne Sinclair. Even if she was your star student." Gray flexed his hands, held in a grip that was tight enough that Charles could feel Gray's wrist bones shift,
almost feel the pulse beating.
Charles frowned. "No, she wasn't." He dipped his head to kiss Gray's throat. "Or no more so than you at any rate. And don't be ridiculous. I was talking about--"
"Charles..."
"Oh, it was you," Charles whispered against his mouth. "You know it was you. Happy now?"
"Getting there. Let go of me?"
Drawing Closer - 43
Charles released his grip without moving his hands away. "Why?"
"Want to touch you."
A vague feeling that he shouldn't be pushing Gray this far, this fast, struck him. "Gray -- am I --
tonight, I mean -- Oh, bloody hell. Stop me if this is more than you want."
Gray shook his head. "You're really something, you know that?" He wrapped his arms around
Charles, pulling him down so that Charles could feel them touching, body to body, with Gray's
heartbeat close enough to feel against his skin. "There isn't anything you could do that's going to freak me out."
"Oh, God. Gray, you really don't know that. Not for sure. Don't trust me so easily."
"Why?" Gray's hands came to rest on Charles' backside, fingers spread, exploring curves and
planes methodically, mapping him out, Charles thought, feeling his skin wake and tingle. "You
think I mind you getting off on stuff? I don't. Maybe I won't like all of it, maybe I will. Either
way, you'll know how I feel, I promise you that."
The fingers of one hand dug in and Charles moaned as a questing, curious finger ran down the
crease of his arse as far as Gray could reach, scratching lightly at sensitive, sensitized skin. "You going to let me fuck you?" Gray asked.
Charles nodded. "If you like."
"Cool." Gray's hands moved away, stroking up the sides of Charles' back and then returning to
where Charles had held them, high over Gray's head, the shadows spilling from his curved palms.
"Not tonight."
"No," Charles agreed, dragging a fingertip across the fragile, thin skin of Gray's inner wrist. "Not tonight."
"Do it? Fast?" Gray begged. "I just -- I want this over. First times suck. I want to get to the part where we've already fucked, and it's cool and we can relax."
Surprised, Charles stared at him. "You don't feel relaxed?"
Gray groaned. "No, of course I don't! I've been thinking about this for months and I'm scared I'm
going to fuck it up, because that I'm good at." He frowned. "If it doesn't matter, if it's just a fuck, well, there's no pressure and I'm fine. Better than fine."
"I'm sure Luke and Sarah would give you glowing references," Charles said dryly.
Gray flushed, dark eyelashes lowering. "I shouldn't have mentioned them, should I? I was just
Drawing Closer - 44
trying to--"
"I know what you were trying to do." Charles bent down and brushed his mouth over Gray's and
then kissed him hard, making it as possessive as he felt. Gray's response was immediate and
eager; although he kept his hands where they were, his legs wrapped around Charles, holding
them together.
"Please..."
Charles pulled away, kneeling again. "If that's what you want."
"Want
you
," Gray said intensely.
"Turn over."
Gray rolled to his stomach but didn't, somewhat to Charles' surprise, go to his hands and knees.
There was no way that he was going to rush this as much as Gray wanted, though, so he didn't
comment, just drew his hand slowly down Gray's back, remembering how he'd touched it before.
"The scratches are gone." Gray's voice was muffled by the pillow. He twisted his head around