The Path of Least Resistance, Chapter Four
Title: The Path of Least Resistance, Chapter Four: The Morning After
Pairing: Hal Gill/Kris Letang
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I don’t own these boys. They do, however, own me. And I firmly believe that Hal does in fact own Kris.
Summary: Kris and Hal explore their dark desires. Takes place in summer of 2008.
Word Count: 3008
Author’s Notes: I’ve got one more complete chapter after this one. That’s not to say it’s over then - just that I’m still filling in blanks on the ones after Chapter Five.
Also, my beta, eggybread, tells me that this chapter is her favorite so far. I thank her most sincerely for the time she has taken with my epic!
It was one of those perfect mornings, when you wake naturally with the sun streaming through your bedroom window. When you roll over at least once to the cooler side of the pillow. When you stretch like a cat beneath the sheets as you… notice that the sun’s in the wrong place and your sheets aren’t this color and you’re definitely not in your own bed.
Kris’s sleep-dulled mind processed all the strange information slowly. No, this wasn’t his bedroom at home. This bed was huge, comfortable, draped lavishly with great lengths of sheer white fabric, and most importantly, occupied by both himself and his teammate Hal.
He’d been handcuffed to that bedpost down there, he’d given only the third blowjob of his life in that spot, and right here on this bed, Hal had taken him with all the power and domination he’d hoped for.
He had to admit, he’d been a little disappointed when Hal dropped the ‘Jason’ character and proceeded as himself. At first, Kris had been afraid that the fantasy was over and Hal no longer wanted him. But Hal soon showed him that he needn’t worry. And while parts of him were sore, it was a good kind of pain - the kind you get after winning in overtime in the playoffs.
Glancing across the bed at the big man blissfully slumbering next to him, Kris realized that he still wanted him - in fact, he wanted Hal more now than he had last night. His fingers yearned to touch his face, to trace the outline of his beard, to pull his head closer as his mouth bent to find Hal’s. But Kris remained still, marveling that a sleeping Hal could look that stunning.
So Kris gazed his fill and allowed his mind to wander, imagining a totally different scenario from the one they’d enacted last night.
The tall police officer calmly snapped the cuffs on the young suspect, who struggled wildly to get free. He’d been so close to getting away with his crime and reaching his hideout, when the beat cop turned the corner and caught him red-handed with the missing money.
“Where’s your accomplice?” the officer demanded as he pulled the criminal to his feet. “I know you’ve got at least one.”
“Fuck you, pig. I ain’t telling you shit. I don’t rat on my friends!”
“Your friends, huh? Friends stick by you, they defend you, they ‘got your back’. You see anyone else here for you?” The officer whirled his prisoner around by the shoulders and stared deep into his eyes. “Kid, there’s no such thing as ‘honor among thieves’. They’d sell you out in a heartbeat.”
“That’s them. That’s not me.”
Hal’s smooth-as-silk voice penetrated Kris’s daydream. “From the look on your face, your thoughts must be good ones. You thinking about last night?”
“Sort of… Actually, this was a new one.”
“A new fantasy?” he murmured. “You don’t slow down, do you?”
Kris looked Hal firmly in the eye. “I waited all my life for this dream to come true. I thought that… I was worried that…” He couldn’t complete his explanation, fearing that his teammate would misinterpret his words.
“Petit, you promised to be honest with me.”
Taking a deep breath, Kris explained, “I was afraid that once I got what I wanted, that it wouldn’t be as good as my dreams.”
“And now?”
“You saw me when you woke up,” snickered Kris. “I wanted more.”
At Kris’s revelation, Hal’s face brightened and he leaned in closer, gently capturing Kris’s slightly-parted lips.
“So tell me - what was this new fantasy?”
Kris grinned. “It was a little different from last night. You were the good guy.”
“You think you’re gonna tie me up, little one?”
“Oh, no, not what I meant! You were a cop, handcuffing your suspect,” explained Kris.
Hal seemed to mull the possibilities. “Did I get to question you more fully?”
“Uh, well, we hadn’t actually gotten that far…”
“Did you want to?”
Kris was puzzled by the question. Why wouldn’t he want to repeat the wonder of last night? “Je comprends pas.”
Well, if you want to play out that scene, we wouldn’t be starting out naked in bed.” Hal’s eyes twinkled in amusement. “Besides, I could really use a shower. You can take one after me. Just stay here in bed until I get back-”
“I don’t know… you might just need to make sure I stay put, non?” Kris suggested.
Hal’s face paled and he fell silent. Kris worried that he’d said something wrong, but couldn’t imagine what it might have been.
“Hal?”
“It’s nothing. Just an old memory.” Hal rose to his feet and stood by the bed, gazing without expression down at Kris, seemingly considering his next move. “I’ll tell you what, petit. I find you out of that bed when I get out of the shower, I’ll pack all our stuff myself and we’ll head home.”
Kris couldn’t resist. “My house or yours?”
“I’m serious,” he said as he disappeared into the bathroom.
Well, so much for asking to join him in the shower, thought Kris as he lay back and stretched again. He tried to find the thread of the fantasy he’d been enjoying earlier, but it seemed lost inside his head. All he did know was that he wanted to be the Bad Guy: the criminal, the spy, the fugitive on the run. But after all the running and hiding, he’d be apprehended and held captive by the Good Guy: the action hero, the valiant Mountie, the Licensed to Kill operative.
Kris extended his arms above his head and imagined himself as a character in an old movie, tied and semi-conscious…
“Where… where am I?” Réjean shook his head to clear out some of the bugs. He tried to pull his arms down, but they were tied rather firmly to the headboard above him. Out of the fog of his vision emerged a man. Ah, tabarnac - he’d been caught…
“You’re at my house, but we won’t be here long.” The tall man started throwing some clothes in a duffel bag. “Your cohorts aren’t far and I’m not taking any chances.”
The nimble thief craned his neck to look out of the bedroom window. Before he could open his mouth to call out, though, he found his captor’s hand silencing him.
“Now, Ray, we can’t have you alerting my neighbors.”
He thrashed his head in an effort to dislodge the man’s huge hand, but it was futile.
“Don’t make me gag you…”
“Kris?”
He heard his name echo from the darkness and opened his eyes to find a dripping towel-draped Hal standing over him. “Are you OK?”
Well, now, this was embarrassing… “Just fine. Done with your shower?” he added unnecessarily.
“Uh-huh… Done with your fantasy?” Kris could feel his cheeks burning. “Or was I supposed to join you…?” Then Hal noticed Kris’s position: arms stretched out over his head, wrists crossed. “Don’t move, petit.”
Before he knew it, Hal had a length of cord in hand and was wrapping it around Kris’s wrists, tying them off and attaching them to the headboard. Kris gave a brief struggle to ensure that he was well and truly bound, then watched as his captor straddled his nude body.
“Get off me, pig!” Kris yanked a bit harder at his wrists but never took his eyes off of Hal’s amused grin.
“Oh, it’s ‘pig’, is it? Whatever happened to ‘Master’?”
“You’re not my master,” he responded, wildly exaggerating his own accent. “My name is Réjean Lenoir and I am the greatest jewel thief in the world!”
Hal cocked his head at his young captive. “And that would make me…?”
“Umm… Tom… ahh…”
“Let’s go with just ‘Tom’, OK?”
“Fine, if you want to hide your true identity from the world, Just Tom, I will honor your request.”
“I see. And the fact that you are hardly in a position to honor any request doesn’t bother you?”
Kris struggled again. “I have gotten out of scrapes much worse than this- OH!” Kris yelped as Hal’s teeth began to nip playfully at his neck and shoulders. “What… what are you doing?”
Hal’s mouth traveled from Kris’s shoulder blade to the hollow of his neck. “I’m… making sure…” He traced a line with his tongue down to the center of Kris’s chest. “…you haven’t hidden…” A brief detour to glide his teeth across one very erect nipple. “any stolen property.”
“Wh-wh-where did you think I would put it?”
Hal pulled back and grinned. “How would I know? I’m not the world’s greatest jewel thief.”
“Cut me loose, Just Tom, and I’ll let you search me… more fully.” Kris arched his back in silent invitation.
Hal, however, was not quite so silent. He laughed loud and long, leaning down to cover Kris’s mouth with his own. When he’d stolen both the kiss and Kris’s breath, he arose grinning like an idiot. “You’ll let me? You’re a funny guy, Réjean. Or should I call you Just Ray?”
“Call me anything you like. But let me go. I promise I’ll make your sacrifice worth it.”
The big man’s face turned serious. “My sacrifice? I’ve sacrificed free time, family life, friendships - all in order to bring you to justice. And you think a little money is going to compensate me for all that I’ve given up?”
Kris could match Hal’s improvisation, and indeed found it exciting to build the storyline. “A little money? Non. But I am not offering you a little money.” A thought dawned in Kris’s mind and he chased it. “I think we could make an unbeatable team, you and me.”
“A team?” Hal appeared to consider the possibilities. “Teammates need to trust each other. How could I even begin to trust you?”
“Well, you have me here, at your mercy…” He tugged at his wrists for emphasis and gazed up at Hal suggestively. “It’s your decision. Turn me in and go back to your lonely life, or join me.”
“Well, there is another alternative, you know.”
“Oh?”
“I could keep you right here, tied to the bed.”
Now it was Kris’s turn to laugh. “How long do you think you could keep me here?”
Hal stared at the ceiling. Kris imagined that he was trying to think of a way out of the corner he’d painted himself into.
“You’re right,” Hal said after a moment. “After a few days, you’d likely start to smell…” He sniffed the air dramatically. “I take that back. It wouldn’t take a few days.”
“Well then, as I see it, you have two options. You can trust me and let me loose to take a shower, or you will have to… wash me down yourself, right here…”
Hal grinned and his gaze hungrily traveled down Kris’s outstretched body. “That’s an interesting idea.” He brought his face in close, allowing his lips to barely brush Kris’s, so lightly that Kris thought he was imagining their touch. He leaned forward to deepen the kiss, but Hal kept pulling back, tempting him, driving him crazy.
“You are not in control here, Ray,” whispered Hal into Kris’s ear, nipping playfully at the lobe. Hal knew just how to make his gut leap into his throat and his cock stand at attention. “You can’t even control yourself…”
Kris swallowed his frustration and managed to control one part of himself: his voice. “Let me go. I’ll show you just how well I can control-”
Hal cut off his words with a forceful, dominating kiss, delving deep within his mouth and making Kris forget who he was, what he was doing here, why he’d ever gone along with Hal in the first place. Oh, this was so much more than he’d ever dreamed it would be, and the enormity of his emotion struck a deep chord. He wanted Hal now, wanted him, needed him, ached to hold him - and the ropes that bound his hands were now more than an inconvenience.
At first, Kris tugged vigorously to escape his bonds, but when Hal’s mouth traveled down his chin, down to nuzzle and suck at the pulse points of his neck, Kris’s struggles became more wild, more intense.
“Want you… want you now… détache-moi…” He felt Hal’s hands slide up his arms as he stretched out fully atop Kris’s eager body.
“Oh, no…” murmured Hal without lifting his face from Kris’s neck. “We’re just getting started.” He snickered low and sultry, his beard tickling the soft skin at the edge of Kris’s pecs.
“Hal…” Kris whispered, forgetting the game and its characters, forgetting all but Hal atop him, his long lean body imprisoning him, his fingers intertwining with his own.
He swore he heard a low snicker. “Who’s this ‘Hal’? Your partner-in-crime?”
“He’s someone you resemble, Just Tom. You remind me of him, that’s all.”
“I see…” Hal kissed him once more, slow and leisurely, while his hands worked their magic down Kris’s sides, his hips, down to cup his ass cheeks possessively. “And do I remind you of him when I do this?” he murmured as he gently slid the tip of his finger inside Kris.
Kris groaned. He was hard and ready, wanted more than just Hal’s finger inside him. He ground his ass against Hal’s hand in overt invitation, spreading his legs wider to make sure the message wasn’t lost.
As Hal pulled him closer, he whispered, “You know, Ray… this doesn’t change anything. I’m still taking you down…”
“Take me… down…” Kris lost the thread of the game, grasping wildly at the promise of more. Blood pulsed through his ears as his tightened groin demanded his full awareness. His fingers groped helplessly. “Want you… please… let me go…”
From a million miles away, Kris heard Hal’s sonorous voice rolling in French, at once arousing and calming him. “Donne-moi ton parole, petit. Dis-moi que tu resteras ici, avec moi. Promets?”
“Je… je promets…” Kris ground out. He wanted this so badly that he would have promised Hal the moon and the stars to get free.
“Not just saying that, are you?”
Kris smiled at Hal’s mind-reading abilities. He tried, rather unsuccessfully, to relax the quiver in his tone. “Non, maître. Just want to…”
“Hold still.”
Hal reached over Kris’s head and yanked hard on the other end of the rope attached to the headboard, popping its elaborate slipknot free. But his hands were still bound tightly together and Hal started working at the knot at Kris’s wrists.
“Don’t bother,” murmured Kris. He lifted up his arms and draped them over Hal’s head, encircling his neck. “Now who is the prisoner?”
It seemed to Kris that his light-hearted banter ignited a spark within Hal as the big man’s eyes burned down into his own. He kissed Kris roughly, rhythmically, his pulsing lips keeping time with his gently thrusting hips.
Kris could feel the fever pitch rise within, the white-hot core begin to spread its heat throughout his body. He wanted Hal on him, in him.
“Kris… gotta let me up, petit… you’re not ready…”
No! Ready right now! Kris’s mind protested silently. He felt Hal pulling back on his bound wrists, and then sliding out from under Kris’s encircling arms. Once free, Hal leaned back down to softly brush Kris’s lips.
“You’re not ready,” Hal said once more as his head began a downward journey, traveling lower and lower down Kris’s sweat-slick body, licking, nipping, kissing as he went. Kris reached his bound hands down to sink questing fingers into the dark waves of Hal’s hair as the big man continued his tender assault.
The first touch of Hal’s lips to his shaft, though, nearly sent Kris over the edge. As if they were of one mind, Hal’s touch was feather-light and brief, allowing Kris to regain some measure of control.
“Not yet, petit,” Hal said as his fingers tickled at Kris’s opening, sending mini-shocks through Kris’s groin. “Gotta take things slow, just like last night.”
And so Hal once more worked Kris’s body, played it like a violin. His mouth, his fingers, the palms of his huge hands urged on Kris’s passion, allowing it to rise and fall until Kris thought he’d stopped breathing. At its height, he felt one finger, and then two ease deep inside him. His gasp was quickly swallowed by Hal’s dominating kiss.
“Now?” he begged once he could breathe again.
And then it was Now, when he was ready and open and Hal was there and there was no pain, just want and need and fire. Thrusts, faster and harder, some finding a spot within Kris that arced electricity up and down his spine, each one driving him closer and closer to the edge. This time he didn’t try to stop it. He just held on and rode the wave, letting it wash over his trembling body, watching the fireworks explode behind tightly clenched eyelids.
When Kris opened his eyes again, he was alone, wrists still bound, and he could hear the shower water shutting off. Was what happened real? Or had he dreamed it all? Before he could start to nip at the knots, Hal stepped out of the bathroom, once more wet and towel-wrapped.
“Here. Let me,” he murmured, nabbing his razor-knife from the bedside table and slicing the ropes.
“Hal? Did we… I mean, did I imagine…?”
Hal laughed, a warm sound that calmed Kris’s fears. “Why do you think I needed to shower again? If we keep this up, my buddy’s gonna need to take out a second mortgage on this place just to pay the water bill!” He reached out his hand to Kris, pulling him out of the bed and gently steering him toward the bathroom. “Don’t worry - I saved some hot water for you.”
And as he stood drenched in the soothing balm, Kris realized something even more daunting than the idea that he’d dreamed it all.
He realized that he had, in fact, done it all. And still wanted more.
Pairing: Hal Gill/Kris Letang
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I don’t own these boys. They do, however, own me. And I firmly believe that Hal does in fact own Kris.
Summary: Kris and Hal explore their dark desires. Takes place in summer of 2008.
Word Count: 3008
Author’s Notes: I’ve got one more complete chapter after this one. That’s not to say it’s over then - just that I’m still filling in blanks on the ones after Chapter Five.
Also, my beta, eggybread, tells me that this chapter is her favorite so far. I thank her most sincerely for the time she has taken with my epic!
It was one of those perfect mornings, when you wake naturally with the sun streaming through your bedroom window. When you roll over at least once to the cooler side of the pillow. When you stretch like a cat beneath the sheets as you… notice that the sun’s in the wrong place and your sheets aren’t this color and you’re definitely not in your own bed.
Kris’s sleep-dulled mind processed all the strange information slowly. No, this wasn’t his bedroom at home. This bed was huge, comfortable, draped lavishly with great lengths of sheer white fabric, and most importantly, occupied by both himself and his teammate Hal.
He’d been handcuffed to that bedpost down there, he’d given only the third blowjob of his life in that spot, and right here on this bed, Hal had taken him with all the power and domination he’d hoped for.
He had to admit, he’d been a little disappointed when Hal dropped the ‘Jason’ character and proceeded as himself. At first, Kris had been afraid that the fantasy was over and Hal no longer wanted him. But Hal soon showed him that he needn’t worry. And while parts of him were sore, it was a good kind of pain - the kind you get after winning in overtime in the playoffs.
Glancing across the bed at the big man blissfully slumbering next to him, Kris realized that he still wanted him - in fact, he wanted Hal more now than he had last night. His fingers yearned to touch his face, to trace the outline of his beard, to pull his head closer as his mouth bent to find Hal’s. But Kris remained still, marveling that a sleeping Hal could look that stunning.
So Kris gazed his fill and allowed his mind to wander, imagining a totally different scenario from the one they’d enacted last night.
The tall police officer calmly snapped the cuffs on the young suspect, who struggled wildly to get free. He’d been so close to getting away with his crime and reaching his hideout, when the beat cop turned the corner and caught him red-handed with the missing money.
“Where’s your accomplice?” the officer demanded as he pulled the criminal to his feet. “I know you’ve got at least one.”
“Fuck you, pig. I ain’t telling you shit. I don’t rat on my friends!”
“Your friends, huh? Friends stick by you, they defend you, they ‘got your back’. You see anyone else here for you?” The officer whirled his prisoner around by the shoulders and stared deep into his eyes. “Kid, there’s no such thing as ‘honor among thieves’. They’d sell you out in a heartbeat.”
“That’s them. That’s not me.”
Hal’s smooth-as-silk voice penetrated Kris’s daydream. “From the look on your face, your thoughts must be good ones. You thinking about last night?”
“Sort of… Actually, this was a new one.”
“A new fantasy?” he murmured. “You don’t slow down, do you?”
Kris looked Hal firmly in the eye. “I waited all my life for this dream to come true. I thought that… I was worried that…” He couldn’t complete his explanation, fearing that his teammate would misinterpret his words.
“Petit, you promised to be honest with me.”
Taking a deep breath, Kris explained, “I was afraid that once I got what I wanted, that it wouldn’t be as good as my dreams.”
“And now?”
“You saw me when you woke up,” snickered Kris. “I wanted more.”
At Kris’s revelation, Hal’s face brightened and he leaned in closer, gently capturing Kris’s slightly-parted lips.
“So tell me - what was this new fantasy?”
Kris grinned. “It was a little different from last night. You were the good guy.”
“You think you’re gonna tie me up, little one?”
“Oh, no, not what I meant! You were a cop, handcuffing your suspect,” explained Kris.
Hal seemed to mull the possibilities. “Did I get to question you more fully?”
“Uh, well, we hadn’t actually gotten that far…”
“Did you want to?”
Kris was puzzled by the question. Why wouldn’t he want to repeat the wonder of last night? “Je comprends pas.”
Well, if you want to play out that scene, we wouldn’t be starting out naked in bed.” Hal’s eyes twinkled in amusement. “Besides, I could really use a shower. You can take one after me. Just stay here in bed until I get back-”
“I don’t know… you might just need to make sure I stay put, non?” Kris suggested.
Hal’s face paled and he fell silent. Kris worried that he’d said something wrong, but couldn’t imagine what it might have been.
“Hal?”
“It’s nothing. Just an old memory.” Hal rose to his feet and stood by the bed, gazing without expression down at Kris, seemingly considering his next move. “I’ll tell you what, petit. I find you out of that bed when I get out of the shower, I’ll pack all our stuff myself and we’ll head home.”
Kris couldn’t resist. “My house or yours?”
“I’m serious,” he said as he disappeared into the bathroom.
Well, so much for asking to join him in the shower, thought Kris as he lay back and stretched again. He tried to find the thread of the fantasy he’d been enjoying earlier, but it seemed lost inside his head. All he did know was that he wanted to be the Bad Guy: the criminal, the spy, the fugitive on the run. But after all the running and hiding, he’d be apprehended and held captive by the Good Guy: the action hero, the valiant Mountie, the Licensed to Kill operative.
Kris extended his arms above his head and imagined himself as a character in an old movie, tied and semi-conscious…
“Where… where am I?” Réjean shook his head to clear out some of the bugs. He tried to pull his arms down, but they were tied rather firmly to the headboard above him. Out of the fog of his vision emerged a man. Ah, tabarnac - he’d been caught…
“You’re at my house, but we won’t be here long.” The tall man started throwing some clothes in a duffel bag. “Your cohorts aren’t far and I’m not taking any chances.”
The nimble thief craned his neck to look out of the bedroom window. Before he could open his mouth to call out, though, he found his captor’s hand silencing him.
“Now, Ray, we can’t have you alerting my neighbors.”
He thrashed his head in an effort to dislodge the man’s huge hand, but it was futile.
“Don’t make me gag you…”
“Kris?”
He heard his name echo from the darkness and opened his eyes to find a dripping towel-draped Hal standing over him. “Are you OK?”
Well, now, this was embarrassing… “Just fine. Done with your shower?” he added unnecessarily.
“Uh-huh… Done with your fantasy?” Kris could feel his cheeks burning. “Or was I supposed to join you…?” Then Hal noticed Kris’s position: arms stretched out over his head, wrists crossed. “Don’t move, petit.”
Before he knew it, Hal had a length of cord in hand and was wrapping it around Kris’s wrists, tying them off and attaching them to the headboard. Kris gave a brief struggle to ensure that he was well and truly bound, then watched as his captor straddled his nude body.
“Get off me, pig!” Kris yanked a bit harder at his wrists but never took his eyes off of Hal’s amused grin.
“Oh, it’s ‘pig’, is it? Whatever happened to ‘Master’?”
“You’re not my master,” he responded, wildly exaggerating his own accent. “My name is Réjean Lenoir and I am the greatest jewel thief in the world!”
Hal cocked his head at his young captive. “And that would make me…?”
“Umm… Tom… ahh…”
“Let’s go with just ‘Tom’, OK?”
“Fine, if you want to hide your true identity from the world, Just Tom, I will honor your request.”
“I see. And the fact that you are hardly in a position to honor any request doesn’t bother you?”
Kris struggled again. “I have gotten out of scrapes much worse than this- OH!” Kris yelped as Hal’s teeth began to nip playfully at his neck and shoulders. “What… what are you doing?”
Hal’s mouth traveled from Kris’s shoulder blade to the hollow of his neck. “I’m… making sure…” He traced a line with his tongue down to the center of Kris’s chest. “…you haven’t hidden…” A brief detour to glide his teeth across one very erect nipple. “any stolen property.”
“Wh-wh-where did you think I would put it?”
Hal pulled back and grinned. “How would I know? I’m not the world’s greatest jewel thief.”
“Cut me loose, Just Tom, and I’ll let you search me… more fully.” Kris arched his back in silent invitation.
Hal, however, was not quite so silent. He laughed loud and long, leaning down to cover Kris’s mouth with his own. When he’d stolen both the kiss and Kris’s breath, he arose grinning like an idiot. “You’ll let me? You’re a funny guy, Réjean. Or should I call you Just Ray?”
“Call me anything you like. But let me go. I promise I’ll make your sacrifice worth it.”
The big man’s face turned serious. “My sacrifice? I’ve sacrificed free time, family life, friendships - all in order to bring you to justice. And you think a little money is going to compensate me for all that I’ve given up?”
Kris could match Hal’s improvisation, and indeed found it exciting to build the storyline. “A little money? Non. But I am not offering you a little money.” A thought dawned in Kris’s mind and he chased it. “I think we could make an unbeatable team, you and me.”
“A team?” Hal appeared to consider the possibilities. “Teammates need to trust each other. How could I even begin to trust you?”
“Well, you have me here, at your mercy…” He tugged at his wrists for emphasis and gazed up at Hal suggestively. “It’s your decision. Turn me in and go back to your lonely life, or join me.”
“Well, there is another alternative, you know.”
“Oh?”
“I could keep you right here, tied to the bed.”
Now it was Kris’s turn to laugh. “How long do you think you could keep me here?”
Hal stared at the ceiling. Kris imagined that he was trying to think of a way out of the corner he’d painted himself into.
“You’re right,” Hal said after a moment. “After a few days, you’d likely start to smell…” He sniffed the air dramatically. “I take that back. It wouldn’t take a few days.”
“Well then, as I see it, you have two options. You can trust me and let me loose to take a shower, or you will have to… wash me down yourself, right here…”
Hal grinned and his gaze hungrily traveled down Kris’s outstretched body. “That’s an interesting idea.” He brought his face in close, allowing his lips to barely brush Kris’s, so lightly that Kris thought he was imagining their touch. He leaned forward to deepen the kiss, but Hal kept pulling back, tempting him, driving him crazy.
“You are not in control here, Ray,” whispered Hal into Kris’s ear, nipping playfully at the lobe. Hal knew just how to make his gut leap into his throat and his cock stand at attention. “You can’t even control yourself…”
Kris swallowed his frustration and managed to control one part of himself: his voice. “Let me go. I’ll show you just how well I can control-”
Hal cut off his words with a forceful, dominating kiss, delving deep within his mouth and making Kris forget who he was, what he was doing here, why he’d ever gone along with Hal in the first place. Oh, this was so much more than he’d ever dreamed it would be, and the enormity of his emotion struck a deep chord. He wanted Hal now, wanted him, needed him, ached to hold him - and the ropes that bound his hands were now more than an inconvenience.
At first, Kris tugged vigorously to escape his bonds, but when Hal’s mouth traveled down his chin, down to nuzzle and suck at the pulse points of his neck, Kris’s struggles became more wild, more intense.
“Want you… want you now… détache-moi…” He felt Hal’s hands slide up his arms as he stretched out fully atop Kris’s eager body.
“Oh, no…” murmured Hal without lifting his face from Kris’s neck. “We’re just getting started.” He snickered low and sultry, his beard tickling the soft skin at the edge of Kris’s pecs.
“Hal…” Kris whispered, forgetting the game and its characters, forgetting all but Hal atop him, his long lean body imprisoning him, his fingers intertwining with his own.
He swore he heard a low snicker. “Who’s this ‘Hal’? Your partner-in-crime?”
“He’s someone you resemble, Just Tom. You remind me of him, that’s all.”
“I see…” Hal kissed him once more, slow and leisurely, while his hands worked their magic down Kris’s sides, his hips, down to cup his ass cheeks possessively. “And do I remind you of him when I do this?” he murmured as he gently slid the tip of his finger inside Kris.
Kris groaned. He was hard and ready, wanted more than just Hal’s finger inside him. He ground his ass against Hal’s hand in overt invitation, spreading his legs wider to make sure the message wasn’t lost.
As Hal pulled him closer, he whispered, “You know, Ray… this doesn’t change anything. I’m still taking you down…”
“Take me… down…” Kris lost the thread of the game, grasping wildly at the promise of more. Blood pulsed through his ears as his tightened groin demanded his full awareness. His fingers groped helplessly. “Want you… please… let me go…”
From a million miles away, Kris heard Hal’s sonorous voice rolling in French, at once arousing and calming him. “Donne-moi ton parole, petit. Dis-moi que tu resteras ici, avec moi. Promets?”
“Je… je promets…” Kris ground out. He wanted this so badly that he would have promised Hal the moon and the stars to get free.
“Not just saying that, are you?”
Kris smiled at Hal’s mind-reading abilities. He tried, rather unsuccessfully, to relax the quiver in his tone. “Non, maître. Just want to…”
“Hold still.”
Hal reached over Kris’s head and yanked hard on the other end of the rope attached to the headboard, popping its elaborate slipknot free. But his hands were still bound tightly together and Hal started working at the knot at Kris’s wrists.
“Don’t bother,” murmured Kris. He lifted up his arms and draped them over Hal’s head, encircling his neck. “Now who is the prisoner?”
It seemed to Kris that his light-hearted banter ignited a spark within Hal as the big man’s eyes burned down into his own. He kissed Kris roughly, rhythmically, his pulsing lips keeping time with his gently thrusting hips.
Kris could feel the fever pitch rise within, the white-hot core begin to spread its heat throughout his body. He wanted Hal on him, in him.
“Kris… gotta let me up, petit… you’re not ready…”
No! Ready right now! Kris’s mind protested silently. He felt Hal pulling back on his bound wrists, and then sliding out from under Kris’s encircling arms. Once free, Hal leaned back down to softly brush Kris’s lips.
“You’re not ready,” Hal said once more as his head began a downward journey, traveling lower and lower down Kris’s sweat-slick body, licking, nipping, kissing as he went. Kris reached his bound hands down to sink questing fingers into the dark waves of Hal’s hair as the big man continued his tender assault.
The first touch of Hal’s lips to his shaft, though, nearly sent Kris over the edge. As if they were of one mind, Hal’s touch was feather-light and brief, allowing Kris to regain some measure of control.
“Not yet, petit,” Hal said as his fingers tickled at Kris’s opening, sending mini-shocks through Kris’s groin. “Gotta take things slow, just like last night.”
And so Hal once more worked Kris’s body, played it like a violin. His mouth, his fingers, the palms of his huge hands urged on Kris’s passion, allowing it to rise and fall until Kris thought he’d stopped breathing. At its height, he felt one finger, and then two ease deep inside him. His gasp was quickly swallowed by Hal’s dominating kiss.
“Now?” he begged once he could breathe again.
And then it was Now, when he was ready and open and Hal was there and there was no pain, just want and need and fire. Thrusts, faster and harder, some finding a spot within Kris that arced electricity up and down his spine, each one driving him closer and closer to the edge. This time he didn’t try to stop it. He just held on and rode the wave, letting it wash over his trembling body, watching the fireworks explode behind tightly clenched eyelids.
When Kris opened his eyes again, he was alone, wrists still bound, and he could hear the shower water shutting off. Was what happened real? Or had he dreamed it all? Before he could start to nip at the knots, Hal stepped out of the bathroom, once more wet and towel-wrapped.
“Here. Let me,” he murmured, nabbing his razor-knife from the bedside table and slicing the ropes.
“Hal? Did we… I mean, did I imagine…?”
Hal laughed, a warm sound that calmed Kris’s fears. “Why do you think I needed to shower again? If we keep this up, my buddy’s gonna need to take out a second mortgage on this place just to pay the water bill!” He reached out his hand to Kris, pulling him out of the bed and gently steering him toward the bathroom. “Don’t worry - I saved some hot water for you.”
And as he stood drenched in the soothing balm, Kris realized something even more daunting than the idea that he’d dreamed it all.
He realized that he had, in fact, done it all. And still wanted more.