Lord and Master

Chapter One

“I think you should seriously consider finding a job somewhere else.”

Mark stared at his manager, too taken aback to speak. This was not what he’d expected to hear at his appraisal meeting.

True, the only guarantee he had as an industry-sponsored PhD student was three years of being paid the same salary as a graduate recruit while he worked on a PhD project that was of interest to the company. But it was understood that companies who offered such sponsorship did so because they expected to offer a permanent job at the end of it. It didn’t always happen, but if he wasn’t a good fit, it would have been made clear to him by now. And Sanjay had always been pleased with his work.

Finally he found his voice. “This isn’t because I’m gay, is it?” He’d felt safe with Sanjay, not felt that he had to keep part of himself hidden. Sanjay had never been bothered by it, or at least had never shown that he was. But someone higher up the chain might be.

His manager shook his head. “No, I haven’t been told to ease you out. Senior management realised years ago that they couldn’t afford to restrict themselves to white male graduates.” Sanjay grinned at him, teeth showing white in a brown face. “Six months after I joined I was dragged off to be interrogated by Personnel on how they could better appeal to minority graduates. They were very blunt about it having nothing to do with equal opportunities and everything to do with realising that they were missing out on some of the best graduates because the kids didn’t even bother to apply here.” He shrugged. “It’s taken them a bit longer to come to terms with gays. But as long as you don’t rub people’s noses in it -- and you don’t -- Personnel will tell any bigots complaining about you to get lost.”

“Then why?” Mark trusted Sanjay not to lie to him about this, but why else would Sanjay advise him to look elsewhere? “They’re not cutting back on recruiting. I know they aren’t. There ought to be a vacancy for me after I finish the PhD.”

“No, they aren’t cutting back. This year. Listen --” Sanjay leaned forward and tapped him on the knee with his personnel file. “-- I’ve been asked by an old university chum if I know of anyone suitable for a job he needs to fill. Normally I’d tell him to push off and not poach my people.” Sanjay leaned back again, placing the file on his desk. “I probably wouldn’t even tell you about it, let alone encourage you to apply. At least here you’ll get time to finish writing up your PhD thesis, and I’m not convinced you’ll get that chance with Steven. Not that he wouldn’t think it important, but you’ll be run off your feet learning a new job.”

Even if he’d wanted to leave, which he didn’t, that would have to be a consideration. He’d started writing his thesis, but there was a good three months of work still to be done even if he could work on it full-time, and fitting it in around learning a new job wouldn’t be easy. He’d rather spend six months doing it part-time with Sanjay’s support, and Sanjay knew that. “So you think there’s going to be cutbacks.”

“Maybe. I might just be paranoid. But it’s a cyclical business, and we’re due for a downturn in a year or so. This would be a big change of direction for you, but it’s a good opportunity, and I think you might enjoy it.”

Well, he might as well hear more about it. “All right. What’s the job?”

“Steven started his career just like you and me, one more science graduate working for a big industrial company. But Steven was a very bright boy, and a very lucky one. Now he owns his own small company, and he’s far too busy being a chief executive to do any science himself.” Sanjay grinned. “Which he still bitches about. And he needs a new personal assistant. But he wants a young scientist with excellent project management skills. It’s easier to give someone like you training in the usual PA skills than give a good PA the science background to make technical decisions in his absence.”

Personal assistant. His own prejudices said “glorified typist”, even though he knew a real PA did a lot more than that. It hadn’t been in his career plans at all. But ... this sounded interesting. “It’s certainly a novel way to get management training.”

“Exactly.” Sanjay patted his personnel folder. “There’s a risk you’ll end up categorised forevermore as a PA, that you won’t ever get back to the lab. But it could be a good opportunity as well. You’ll get a lot of experience that will stand you in good stead if you come back here in a couple of years -- which I wouldn’t rule out doing. Oh, and he knows he’ll have to pay someone like you at least as much as you’d earn by staying right where you are.”

He’d have to think about it. But if Sanjay was suggesting this, it was probably worth thinking about. Though, “I’ll need to know more.”

“You’d be a fool if you didn’t.” Sanjay passed him a piece of paper. “Names and website. Do a bit of research when you get home.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me just yet. We’ve got the rest of this appraisal to get through.” Sanjay sighed and picked up the folder again. “Now, where were we?”

“Trying to apply forms intended for factory jobs to the way we work in the research lab.”

Sanjay snorted in disgust. “And Steven thinks I’m a lucky bastard who doesn’t have to deal with paperwork. Well, let me know if you want to deal with his paperwork for a while.”

They turned their attention back to his appraisal, but as they worked through the forms, Mark thought about Sanjay’s suggestion. It would be a major change, but it would be good experience and a chance to make contacts. Definitely worth checking it out.

Chapter Two

Mark glanced at his watch once again. He knew he was on time, but he couldn’t help being nervous. There wasn’t the strain of worrying about a job he desperately wanted, but he was going to be interviewed by the top man himself, not a personnel manager. And the top man was an old university friend of his current boss. The news would follow him home if he screwed this up.

He mentally ran through the facts again. Doctor Steven Frost. Forty-four. A career as a chemical engineer, first as a very small cog in an industrial machine, then as one member of a small consulting firm, then his own business with a novel product that had taken off. A good scientist who’d turned out to have a ruthless business mind and who had seen off the predators who’d made the mistake of assuming that he was an ivory-tower type.

Sanjay had warned him. “He’s a genuinely nice guy. But he’s also tough enough to play with the sharks and win. Don’t underestimate him.”

And then the receptionist called his name and sent him in to meet the man.

One floor up in the lift. Along the corridor, following the directions he’d been given, his footsteps muffled by the thick carpet. Frost’s company leased a sizeable fraction of this floor, but Mark found the right office number without trouble, helped by the way it was standing slightly open in invitation. He knocked and went in.

The door closed smoothly and quietly behind him, obviously carefully maintained to cause as little disturbance to the office occupants as possible. The office itself was large and well furnished, with a stunning view over the city from the floor-to-ceiling window. At the back of the office, near the window, sat the desk -- L-shaped, laid out so that the arm with the computer was on a slant but facing roughly towards the office door, and the other arm had a view out through the window. More doors probably led to other rooms in a suite of offices.

There was only one man in the office. Mark recognised him from a photo Sanjay had shown him, but the photo didn’t do Dr Frost justice. The man was handsome, with the rugged good looks of an action film star, but one who wasn’t embarrassed by the first streaks of silver showing in his thick brown hair.

Just the sort of thing to hit Mark’s buttons -- a good-looking older man who wasn’t ashamed of his age. If he’d seen this man in a gay bar, he’d have made a beeline for him. But this wasn’t a gay bar, and he’d better be thinking with his brain and not his cock for the next hour.

It really didn’t help when Dr Frost got up from the desk, walked over to shake his hand, and said, “Good morning, Mr Paulson. Please come and sit down. Tea or coffee?”

Lovely, lovely voice. Deep and rich, the words crisply articulated without being ostentatious about it. For a brief second Mark couldn’t quite control his reaction. He knew it showed -- there was a faint flicker of something in Dr Frost’s expression.

He nearly panicked, wondering if he’d blown the interview before it had even started. Then he got hold of himself, forced down his fear. Dr Frost hadn’t said anything about it. Was waiting for an answer to the question. “Tea, please.” He was pleased to hear that his own voice was steady. Dr Frost nodded slightly, let go of his hand, and waved at a side table that held a kettle and coffee percolator. “I’ll just put the kettle on.”

Not afraid to make his own tea, then. Mark relaxed slightly at the hint that this wasn’t a man who insisted on formal hierarchy, and then realised that it might be quite intentional.

Dr Frost sat down at the desk. “Let’s get started while the kettle’s boiling. I understand from Sanjay that you applied at his suggestion. Are you actually interested in this job, or are you just obeying orders?”

Well, that was certainly blunt. But he didn’t think an honest answer would harm his chances. “I wouldn’t have thought of applying for a job like this if he hadn’t suggested it to me. But when he told me a bit about it, I could see why he thought it might be a good idea.”

“Go on.”

“It’s not a complete change of career. I don’t want to get out of science, and I wouldn’t normally think about a job as a PA.” He leaned forward a little, eager not to be misunderstood. “But Sanjay said you were looking for a scientist, someone who could be your personal research assistant as much as doing the day-to-day running of your office. I’d be changing from lab-based to office-based research work, and along with it I’d have the opportunity to learn a lot about management techniques.” He sat back again. “Sanjay’s a good manager, and I’ve learnt a lot about handling people from him. And I’m good at project management. But this job would give me broader experience.”

Should he say it, or would it sound like overeager flattery? He decided to risk it. “I don’t know you, Dr Frost. But Sanjay does, and he says you’re a good example to learn from.”

Dr Frost smiled slightly, the skin crinkling a little around his eyes. “Did Sanjay prompt you with the rest of the speech?”

“No. It’s how he convinced me to look at the job, but I wouldn’t have applied if it hadn’t sounded like something I’d be interested in.”

“Well, if that was you speaking, and not just Sanjay’s script, I can see why he thought you might suit me. Because he’s right; that’s exactly what I’m looking for. I need my own research assistant as much as I need an office manager, and it would be useful if they could be the same person.” He smiled again, properly this time. “And call me Steven. If you get the job, I don’t want you calling me Dr Frost all the time, so you might as well start now.”

“Sanjay said you don’t have time to be a scientist any more. Does that mean you don’t even have time to read the journals?”

Steven shook his head. “I can skim them, and I make time to read the ones that are more about recreation and keeping up a general idea of what’s going on in the world, but I really need someone who knows science themselves to do some pre-filtering for me.” The kettle whistled, and Steven glanced at it. “Time for a cup of tea.” He got up and went over to the kettle.

Mark followed him. Even if the man was willing to make tea for a prospective underling, it would be polite not to shout “milk and sugar” across the office. “But the job also involves office management?”

“Yes. There’ll be some secretarial work as well, although not much of it.” Steven tapped the teapot he’d just filled. “Including this, so if you object to playing the secretary, you’d better back out now. But office management is a much better description.”

“So what does the job entail?”

They talked back and forth as they waited for the tea to brew, then took their cups back to the desk. It was a very informal interview, with Steven as much offering him information about the job as asking him questions. But Mark realised that he was being assessed with every question he asked Steven about the job and the business in general, every answer he gave to one of Steven’s questions. Steven was feeding him plenty of information in order to check how well he was assimilating it and using it. They spent a few minutes discussing how to fit in the remaining work on his PhD if he took the job. Steven seemed serious about making sure he did get a chance to finish it, which was a good sign.

He slowly relaxed. The job did sound interesting, and he and his potential new boss seemed to be getting on. After the first twenty minutes, he was reasonably happy that they’d be compatible and that he could do the job. He’d always been well organised, and keeping a project on time and on budget was something he’d proved to be good at in the last three years. This job would largely be a new application of skills he already had.

Steven had apparently decided the same thing. He leaned forward in his chair, propped his chin on his crossed hands, and stared at Mark for a moment.

“You can do the job; that’s obvious. But there will be people who’ll see you as just a secretary, someone they don’t need to take seriously. In fact, I want them to. People are often off their guard in front of someone they’ve mentally dismissed as menial staff. Can you deal with that?”

Mark thought about it carefully. If he couldn’t handle it, there was no point in taking the job. “I think I can. But I won’t know until it actually happens.” He could imagine some of his friends going ballistic the first time they were treated that way. “And it won’t be just assuming that I’ve got an arts degree, if I’ve got a degree at all. I’m going to get stared at because I’m a man doing a ‘woman’s job’.” He shrugged. “But on the other hand, nobody’s going to be patting me on the head and assuming I’m thick, the way they would with a woman.”

“All right. You’ve obviously thought about the likely consequences of taking this job.” Now Steven sat upright, focused totally on him. “I’m not going to press you for an answer today, and I haven’t made a firm decision myself yet. But if I offer you the job, are you likely to take it?”

He hadn’t been certain when he’d walked in here this morning. But now he was. “I’ll need to think about it. And talk it over with Sanjay. But yes, I think I’d probably take it.”

“There’s one other thing to consider. You’re young and pretty, and you’re sitting in a secretary’s chair. It’s not fair to let you take this job without knowing that people will wonder if I hired you for the same reason a straight man would hire a young, pretty woman. There will be people who will assume that if you’re working as my PA, you must be gay.”

Mark sat in stunned silence.

After a moment, Steven said, “I wondered if Sanjay had told you. Is it going to be a problem?”

“No. I don’t go around wearing a pink triangle, but I’m not in the closet.” At least he wouldn’t have to worry about telling Steven that.

It was Steven’s turn to sit in silence. Eventually he said, “I thought there was something ... Then I decided it was wishful thinking. You covered it up fast.” He picked up his phone. “Just sit there a moment, Mark.”

The tones as Steven punched in a phone number sounded familiar. So was the voice that answered. Steven had set the phone to speakerphone mode, so Mark could hear the other end clearly.

“Hello?”

“Sanjay, my dear Indian chum, are you having a bout of cultural homesickness? A little episode of imitating your mother, perchance?”

“Steven?”

“This pretty young gay man you’ve sent me. I thought you’d given up marriage arranging as a hobby.”

There was a laugh at the other end of the phone line. “No, I wasn’t matchmaking. Which is why I didn’t tell you about him, because you would have assumed that I was and not given the lad a fair hearing.”

“You didn’t tell him about me, either.”

“Because he doesn’t know me as well as you do, but he’d still have probably thought I was throwing you two together because you’re both gay. Now, while I certainly think you’d make a very attractive couple, I sent him because I thought the job was a good career opportunity for him. And that you’d suit each other as officemates, even without the gay thing.”

Steven interrupted the flow of burble with, “Incidentally, he’s listening to this conversation.”

“Mark!” Sanjay called. “Forgive me for the surprise, but I didn’t want you turning it down because you thought I had ulterior motives. Has he had a chance to tell you about the job?”

Steven pushed the phone across the desk towards him. He shuffled the chair closer so that he didn’t have to shout. “Yes. You were right; it sounds interesting. I’ll talk it over with you when I get back in.”

“You’re thinking about taking it, then?”

“I haven’t decided for certain, but yes.”

Steven took the phone back. “Happy now?” he said to Sanjay.

“Yes.” Sanjay sounded cheerfully unrepentant.

“I’ll roast you later, when Mark doesn’t have to listen to it. Goodbye, Sanjay.”

There was a rude noise from the phone, then a click. Mark stared at it for a few seconds, then said, “He did mention you were friends at university.”

“And his sense of humour hasn’t improved.” Steven smiled fondly at the phone, then looked at him. “Is this going to be a problem?”

“If it isn’t for you, it isn’t for me.” Not quite true. He’d never worked for someone he fancied, so he’d never had to worry about keeping his mind on business before. But he’d fancied Steven before he’d known that Steven was gay. The main difference it made was not worrying any more about his boss being freaked if he noticed the fancying. “And it could be entertaining.”

Steven’s mouth quirked slightly. “Watching people thinking, ‘Are they?’ you mean? Yes, though remember you’ll get the brunt of it. There are people who wouldn’t dare say anything to me about being a queer who’d think it was safe to take it out on you.” He stood up and walked to the window, leaning on the safety rail and staring out over the cityscape. “I’d certainly find it entertaining to do exactly what half the other important men sitting in one of these plush offices do. Install a pretty little thing out in the front office as a status symbol. Say to the world, ‘See what I can attract with my power and status’.” He turned and looked over his shoulder at Mark. “But if I hire you, it will be for the job I advertised. I need a scientist, not a status display; being able to annoy people who disapprove of me is just an added bonus. I don’t expect any extra services.”

“You know, I don’t think Sanjay would have let me come here if he thought you would.”

That got him a smile. “No, he wouldn’t. I’ve made my decision. The job’s yours if you want it. You were the last candidate to be interviewed, and you were the best.” Steven walked back to the desk and typed something into his computer. “You’ll get the formal offer in a few days. I realise you’ll need time to think about it, but I’d appreciate an answer as soon as possible.”

“Thank you.” Mark resisted the urge to say, “I’ll take the job.” He did have to go home and think about this. If nothing else, he’d need to see if he could afford to take the salary offered. The range Steven had mentioned was more than he was already getting, but he’d have higher living expenses or a much longer commute if he took a job right in the city.

And he knew he needed to think about it well away from Steven. Because with Steven in front of him, he wouldn’t just be thinking about the job. Not after the conversation they’d just had.

Time to leave. He gathered his papers together and slid them into his briefcase. Steven handed him a file. “Basic information about contract conditions, though you’ll get the personalised version in the formal job offer.”

“Thanks.” He shook the hand Steven offered to him. “I’ll give you a decision next week, although it may take longer than that to find out when I’ll be free to start work. With being a sponsored student rather than an employee, it’s probably going to be more complicated than just giving notice.”

Steven nodded. “As long as I have a definite answer on whether you’re taking the job, we can sort out the starting date later. Now, it’s not lunchtime yet, but if you’re staying in town for the day, you’re welcome to use the canteen on the second floor. It’s open to any of the businesses in this building, and their visitors. Ask the receptionist on the way out -- you’ll need to see her anyway about getting your expenses paid.”

“Right.” He stood up and took one last look at the view before he left. “That’s really spectacular.”

Steven glanced at the view and grinned. “I know. There are some compensations for having to become a paper chaser. With any luck I’ll have more time to look at it once you’re up to speed on the job.”

“I thought you believed in nine to five?” That had been one of the attractions of the job. Steven had been firm on the idea that working late every night wasn’t a productive use of time.

“I try to practice what I preach, but I don’t always manage -- and when I do, it’s by working hard between nine and five. Now shoo. You might as well take advantage of the free time before lunch to have a walk around the area and see what it’s like.”

Mark shooed.

Chapter Three

Ten days later he was sitting in his brand new office, still feeling slightly dazed at how fast it had all happened. He’d gone home and thought about it and then talked to Sanjay the next day. And made up his mind, expecting it to take weeks to sort out giving notice and working out what happened to his sponsored-student money.

“I didn’t expect you to be able to start this quickly,” Steven said, perching on the edge of the desk.

“Thank Sanjay. Once I told him that I was definitely taking the job, he went straight to Personnel and wheedled them into calling it ‘leave of absence for management training’. It’s the easiest way of working around giving notice when I’m a sponsored student rather than an employee. I’ve got six months in which I am still officially on their books and can use the facilities there if I need to do any more lab work for the thesis.”

“That’s useful. Though warn me if you’re about to go home to Sanjay for a couple of days. I assume they’re not paying you, though?”

That would have been nice, but unrealistic. “Not while I’m being paid by you. I’ve got the last of my government grant money, but the top-up money from them is suspended.”

Steven nodded. “Then at least if this turns out to be a mistake, they’ll unsuspend it and you’ve still got some money to live on for a few months while you write your thesis.” He shifted slightly. “I hope it won’t be a mistake, but I don’t want you missing out on your PhD because it turns out that it’s impossible to juggle the job and the thesis.”

“Thanks.” It was the one thing that had really bothered him about the job. Steven had made it clear that he wasn’t expected to routinely do overtime, but had also made it clear that it was a full-time job. Could he fit it all in?

Steven stood up. “I’ll let you start finding your way around the files. Pass through any calls to me -- I’ll tell you afterwards whether they were ones to screen in future. It’s the easiest way for you to start learning.” He put his hand on Mark’s shoulder. “Try not to interrupt me if I’m actually in the middle of work, but if you don’t understand something, just ask.”

“Wait until I won’t distract you, but ask. Right.”

“And I usually have a cup of tea somewhere between ten-thirty and eleven, so if you’re making one for yourself ...”

That fitted in with his own habits. “It’ll take a few days before I can remember how you like it.” Then his cock noticed that Steven’s hand was still resting on his shoulder, and presented him with a different interpretation of ‘how you like it’. He was glad that Steven was already turning away from him, moving towards his own office.

He’d get used to it eventually, but this was going to be bloody awkward for a while. He had no idea how to deal with the occasional surge of lust for his boss. Fancying some of the lecturers at uni had been one thing -- that wasn’t a one-on-one situation. He’d been able to sit quietly in the back row and think lewd thoughts whenever he didn’t have to concentrate on the actual lecture. This was very different and not something he was used to. He liked Sanjay a lot, but not that way, and he’d never had much contact with anyone higher up the chain.

Well, at least their little office suite had its own private toilet. It would be embarrassing if Steven caught him having a wank, but nobody else was likely to.

He settled down to study the intricacies of the filing system.

* * * * *

He made tea for them both just before eleven. Steven was too busy reading a report to do anything but tell him, “Milk, no sugar,” when he asked, so he used the tea facilities in his own office.

He had quite a large office to himself, with a connecting door through to Steven’s. It had to be large because it held not just his working space, but a reception/meeting area for the suite, with a two-seater couch and two armchairs where visitors could wait or an informal meeting could be held. There was also a small pantry area, the duplicate of the one in Steven’s office. The only change there for him was addition of the rather nice steam machine for making cappuccino and hot chocolate. He’d been char wallah to Sanjay as well, only there his equipment hadn’t stretched past a rather battered kettle, an even more battered percolator for the coffee, and a secondhand fridge previously used in the lab for storing rolls of film.

He took one mug in to Steven, then took his own mug over to the window in his office to spend a few minutes enjoying the view.

The office was high in the building, giving him a view out over the city. A good view today, with the air clear and the sun shining. Their suite faced one of the other buildings in the complex, but it was off to one side and far enough away that it was part of the view rather than blocking it.

He’d never thought about being in one of these offices. In an office in a university’s city centre buildings, perhaps, but not one of these plush offices meant for businesspeople. Still, here he was, and he might as well make the most of it while he had it. Just in case he ended up running back to the safety of his lab and the comforting anonymity of being a very small cog in a big company.

This complex was its own small city within a city, with shops and restaurants in the streets below. Enough to attract shoppers even at this time of day, small figures walking along the pavement. At lunchtime there would doubtless be more, the office blocks disgorging their workers for a brief midday escape from work.

And work was what he should be doing. He went back to his desk, doing his best to assimilate the mass of information about how the offices were organised.

* * * * *

Mark was engrossed in files when Steven came into his office and said, “Lunchtime.”

“Just need to finish this --”

Steven pulled his hand out of the way and closed the file. “Lunchtime,” he repeated. “If you’ve brought sandwiches, there are a couple of nice places to sit, but I thought I’d take you down to the canteen. I gather you didn’t actually get there after your interview, so you still need to learn where it is. Or there are restaurants outside the building, which would be nice today, but they’re a lot less appealing when you have to walk through bad weather to get to them.”

Mark thought about it for a moment. “Canteen.” Much better to be taken there than to have to go on his own on the first day.

Steven nodded. “It’s actually a cafeteria-style restaurant that serves this building, but it’s nice food, it’s cheap, and you don’t have to get wet to get to it on a rainy day. Come on, then.”

Mark found his wallet and trotted after Steven. The restaurant was down several floors, in a pleasant open area. It was quite large, and quite busy, although they had no trouble finding a table. He noticed several people looking him over -- including a group of women at the table next to theirs.

His guess that Steven had deliberately chosen to sit there was confirmed when one of the women asked, “Is this your new PA, Steven?”

“Yes, though he’s as much my research assistant as my PA. Mark Paulson, BSc, honours in chemical engineering. Mark, that is Maggie, and she’ll doubtless introduce you to the rest of the gaggle. They’re also PAs, mostly from our floor and the one above. Maggie, would you look after him at lunchtime for me for a few days? He’s going to feel a bit lost for a while.”

Maggie examined Mark. “So you did manage to dig up a young scientist to do your running around for you?” she asked Steven. “One of your own?”

“No. I called in a favour from an old university friend. Asked around to see if any of them had a PhD student about to need a job, and was offered Mark.”

“Quite a big favour,” one of the other women muttered, not quite quietly enough. “Offered one with brains and looks. Lucky Steven.”

Maggie glared at the culprit. “Leave the poor boy alone. You’ll embarrass him.”

“Hands off, ladies,” Steven said pleasantly. “It took me a certain amount of trouble to find a young chemical engineer willing to try an admin job, and I don’t want you scaring him back to his lab before he’s had a chance to get used to a new workplace.”

“Don’t worry,” Maggie said. “I’ll make sure he gets at least a week before the piranhas start in on him.” She nodded at Mark, then turned back to her meal.

Mark discreetly looked the group over. Maggie was clearly the leader on grounds of seniority; a good-looking woman, but older than Steven, and several years older than the next oldest of the group. He doubted if any of them were there purely for decorative purposes, but some had undoubtedly been picked partly on looks. As Steven had said, status symbols for powerful men showing off their ability to attract young and beautiful women.

And they were already speculating about whether he served the same function. Well, Steven had warned him. At least it was a relatively gentle introduction to the likely gossip, although he couldn’t help wondering what some of them were going to say once they were safely in the privacy of someone’s office.

The rest of lunch was uneventful, and they went back to Steven’s office for a cup of tea. As Mark put the kettle on, Steven said, “Not bad for your first meeting with the piranhas.”

“Are they really that bad?”

Steven smiled. “No, but they will be curious about you. It’s not just the speculation about why I hired a man. PAs aren’t nearly as biased towards women as secretaries are. But it’s unusual to hire a PA straight out of university with no relevant experience, and yes, I know you were in an industrial job, but what everyone else sees is a university science student.” He handed Mark his mug. “Here. See if you can remember how I like my tea.”

“Medium milk, no sugar, and preferably out of a teapot even if you’ll drink it made with a teabag in a mug.”

“And Maggie’s a decent sort. She’ll stop them from teasing you too much while you’re trying to find your feet.”

“So what do I do if they ask ...”

“If you’re gay? Whatever you like. If I’m gay -- well, they already know that, as you probably realised from Tracy’s comment.” Steven shrugged. “But don’t flat out lie to them, because they’ll be merciless if they catch you at it. And if they ask you if I’m screwing you, feel free to tell them it’s none of their damned business.” Steven put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. “Don’t worry about it. It’s going to take you a little while to get used to a new workplace. I don’t expect you to learn overnight, and that gang can probably help you adjust even if they will want to know more about you than you’ll feel comfortable with.” He let go and dropped a couple of bags into the teapot. “So how did you get on this morning?”

“I’ve got the hang of the internal mail system, at least.” Mark moved away from Steven, using getting the milk out of the fridge as an excuse. Things hadn’t been too bad over lunch, but the brief physical contact was making him think unbusinesslike thoughts again.

“Not bad. You’ve still got half an hour of your lunch break left. Use it to relax. Read a book or a magazine, or go for a walk. Don’t try to get straight back into trying to learn everything on the first day.”

It was an order, not a suggestion. “Yes, sir.” As soon as the tea was poured, he picked up his mug and went back to his own office, where he pretended to read the copy of last week’s New Scientist that lay on the coffee table beside the visitor’s couch.

After ten minutes or so, he even managed to switch off his ideas about better uses for that couch and concentrate on the letters page.

* * * * *

The rest of the week went quite well. He was starting to do useful work by Friday, even if it was only getting a feel for how to screen calls and correspondence so that Steven wasn’t overwhelmed. Maggie called to collect him for lunch, and the piranhas not only gave him until Friday to get used to them, they protected him from other people’s curiosity. They introduced him to anyone who came up to them, but politely deflected any personal questions beyond who he was working for and what his previous experience was.

Their own questioning started fairly gently, by spending the first few lunchtimes grilling him about where he’d been to university and then his previous job as a sponsored student, and they respected it when he said that some things were covered by commercial confidentiality.

Eventually they got onto the subject of how he’d ended up applying for the job.

“So your last boss was a friend of Steven’s. And he thought you’d be suitable when Steven decided he needed a personal assistant with a science background?”

“He suggested I apply.”

Tracy looked him over. “Well, I can see why an old friend of Steven’s might think you’d suit him. You’re certainly one of the more decorative scientists I’ve met.”

“Tracy,” Maggie said sharply.

There was a simple way to stop this. “Sanjay says he suggested it to me because he thought it was a good chance to get some management training. I believe him.”

“So you do know about Steven?” Maggie asked. “We weren’t sure.”

“That he’s gay? He told me at the interview. Because he knew what people would think, and he didn’t want me accepting the job without knowing about it.” He looked Tracy over in return. “It’s a natural enough assumption, to think that someone young and pretty is there for reasons other than their typing speed.”

Tracy had the grace to blush, as one of the others said, “Don’t mind her, Mark; she’s just annoyed at the terrible waste of a rich and handsome man like Steven not being interested in any of us.”

“Don’t tell me you wouldn’t be trying to convert him if he was your boss,” Tracy muttered at her. “It certainly wouldn’t be any hardship with him. He’s nice, as well as good-looking.”

The conversation drifted away into a mildly bitchy but unmalicious dissection of which men in the building were the best-looking. They left Mark out of it without making him feel deliberately excluded. He wasn’t sure whether it was because they assumed he wouldn’t be interested, or just because he wouldn’t know who they were talking about.

Only when he was walking back with Maggie, with nobody else around, did she ask, “Are you gay, Mark?”

From Maggie it felt like a serious question, not gossiping. He didn’t mind telling her. “Yes. But it really doesn’t have anything to do with Steven hiring me. Well, other than I’m not bothered by him being gay.”

“Hmm.” She was quiet for a moment. “Look, don’t take this the wrong way. I’ve seen something too many times. It’s easy for a young, inexperienced girl to fall for the boss, and it’s not a good idea. Even when it’s a decent man like Steven, and even when it’s a boy rather than a girl.” She touched his arm gently. “Though at least you’re not going to be harbouring any fantasies about marrying him.”

He glanced at her. She didn’t look as if she was just winding him up. “Right now I just want to not make a complete mess of this new job. I don’t need to make it any more complicated.”

“Sensible boy.” She patted him on the arm and then went on her way, leaving him standing outside his office door.

He went in and made himself some tea, wanting something to hold, something to focus on. It hadn’t been so bad after all, the first real broaching of the subject. But Maggie had seen straight through him. A week of sharing an office suite with Steven had taught him that it wasn’t just a fleeting attraction to good looks, but genuine desire for the man himself.

A decent man, Maggie had called him. Genuinely nice, but tough enough to play with the sharks, Sanjay had said. What Mark had seen of Steven had confirmed that. Steven was in charge. In this office, in his business, in his life. Lord and master of all he surveyed from this office high in a tower. But he was comfortable with his power, not needing it acknowledged by everyone around him. No insecurity driving him to make sure everyone around him knew who was boss.

And that went straight to Mark’s cock.

He was sure he could control it, but could he hide it well enough to avoid making a fool of himself?

Steven was out at a meeting, wouldn’t be back until later. It was too damned tempting to go through into the other office, sit in Steven’s chair, and imagine sitting in Steven’s lap instead. Or getting down on his knees and sniffing the chair, inhaling the scent from where Steven had been sitting in it. Or running his hands over Steven’s coat where it hung on its hook.

And wouldn’t he look stupid if Steven came back early and caught him? No, best to push away his fantasies for now, save them for tonight. When he could lie in his bed and think about his boss, safe with the whole weekend to get over his lust before having to face him in the flesh again.

Chapter Four

He lasted another two weeks before his control crumbled.

It started innocently enough, with a trip out to the research labs. “I need to meet up with the research team, and you might as well come with me and see the site,” Steven said. “I go by train; from where I live it’s a lot easier than fighting with London traffic.”

Mark didn’t fancy driving in London traffic either. So that put the pair of them on an early morning train, facing each other across a table for four which Steven cheerfully took over by virtue of putting his laptop in front of him and spreading his papers next to him. The carriage was almost empty, so they were left to themselves, nobody else disputing Steven’s possession of the table when there were several others still available.

That left Mark free to watch Steven without wondering who might be watching him. Steven was concentrating on the paperwork for the morning’s meeting, but Mark would have nothing to do at the meeting besides listen, learn, and take notes for Steven. So he watched as Steven went through the papers, checking things between screen and hardcopy, occasionally pausing to scribble a note.

Competent. That was the word for Steven. He knew what he was doing. He was physically attractive, with the good looks and gorgeous voice, but he was clever and competent as well. Very sexy combination, and Mark was glad he’d woken up early enough to have a wank before getting ready to go to work. It meant he could sit here enjoying the view without being in any real danger of embarrassing himself.

After a while Steven glanced up at him, and he hastily switched back to work mode. “Anything I should be doing?”

“Not as long as you had a skim through these yesterday so you know what we’re likely to discuss.” Steven smiled at him. “Looking forward to seeing a lab again?”

“Yes.” He was enjoying the office work. It was interesting, even challenging, and he certainly wasn’t cut off from science work, not when he was spending a lot of time at the library or online, digging out information for a new project Steven had in mind. But he was still occasionally homesick for acid-scarred benches and rumbling pipework.

“We’ll be in a meeting room most of the morning, but I will be inspecting the lab area. I miss it too, sometimes.”

“No regrets?” Mark asked.

“Not many.” Steven leaned back and stretched. “I wanted to be where I am now. I sometimes think I should have been a civil engineer instead. I get a kick out of managing big projects, and an entire company is a big enough project even for me.” He grinned. “And I certainly don’t mind being rich.” Then he crossed his arms and looked straight at Mark. “And I don’t have to pretend anymore.”

“Did you ever?” It was hard to think of this man with his quiet self-confidence being worried about exposure.

“There were times when it was prudent even for someone not in the closet. You’d know about that, I think. It’s not just bigots. Sometimes it’s just easier not dealing with the curiosity, even when it’s sympathetic curiosity.”

“But you’re not a novelty anymore,” Mark guessed.

“Or I’m thicker-skinned these days. I do wonder if that’s part of what Sanjay was up to -- he thought I might be a good role model for a young gay man.” Steven relaxed back into his seat and started gathering up his papers. “He’s an interfering old biddy sometimes, but he’s a good friend, and he cares about people.” He looked a little distant for a moment. “He’s never been jealous of my success -- he’s not ruthless enough to do this job, and he knows it.”

A role model, maybe. There were things he could learn from Steven. But, “I hope he wasn’t hoping I’d learn that from you.”

“No.” Steven closed the laptop, putting it out of the way. “I talked to him after your interview, when he was willing to tell me a bit more. He’s seen your psychometric tests, which he probably shouldn’t have been talking about to me. You’re a natural second-in-command, someone who doesn’t want control but who is willing and able to take it when necessary. You need experience before you can do it well, but the ability’s there.”

Loyal beta to a powerful alpha. The idea had its attraction, especially with an alpha like Steven, who knew how to be strong without being a bully. Sanjay might well have had romance in the back of his mind, but he had undoubtedly been thinking mostly about their likely compatibility as colleagues when he’d sent Mark to see Steven. “What else did he say?”

“That you’re a bloody good worker he’d be sorry to lose, and I am to appreciate the sacrifice he made in telling you about the job.” Steven turned his attention back to his paperwork, putting it away neatly. But not all his attention. “And I do appreciate it. You’ve done well.”

“Thanks.” He’d been nervous about the mistakes he’d made, whether he’d been too slow to learn things. The reassurance helped.

“Our station’s coming up. Better make sure you’ve got everything.”

The end of the personal conversation. He gathered up his coat and briefcase and followed Steven to the door as the train slowed down.

* * * * *

It was nice to be back in a lab. As they went on the inspection tour, Bob Gordon, the lab manager, looked him over curiously, then launched into an unsubtle examination of what he knew. It was a little out of his own field, but he thought he held his ground well. At one point, Steven said, “You don’t need to interrogate him, you know.”

“It’s all right. It’s good practice for my thesis defence.” That was at least another six months in the future, but it was no bad thing to get in some practice now.

Bob raised an eyebrow. “Have you written it up yet?”

“In the middle of the first draft.”

“Hmph. Don’t let him work you so hard you’ve no time for the thesis. Be a shame to waste three years of hard work. And besides --” He prodded Steven in the belly. “-- you’d just love to introduce him as, ‘My PA, Dr Paulson,’ wouldn’t you?”

“I enjoy status games,” Steven said blandly. “I just play by different rules to the others.”

“And don’t we know it.”

At the end of it, Bob turned to Steven and said, “Well, if you get bored with wasting him on making your tea, he’d fit in very well here.”

Steven laughed. “Hands off. He’s mine. And he’s not just making the tea -- he put together the background material in that file you got yesterday.”

“Not bad at all. You obviously didn’t pick him just for his looks.” Bob looked back at Mark. “Sorry, lad. Shouldn’t talk about you as if you weren’t here.”

“He’s good at being wallpaper, as well,” Steven said.

“I noticed that in the meeting. Very quiet and unobtrusive unless he actually had something to contribute.” Bob grinned savagely. “Why do I get the feeling people are going to get a nasty surprise when they take him for granted?”

“Word will get around eventually. But it’s going to be an interesting few months, watching people make stupid assumptions about him.”

“Oh, I’d like to see that. I may even stir myself up to that great glass block of yours for meetings.”

“Nobody’s actually come right out and asked you yet, have they?” Steven asked Mark. “Though I’ve seen one or two people look as if they would have if I hadn’t been there.”

Only the piranhas, and even that had been fairly indirect. “The girls talked around the subject, but they also grilled me fairly thoroughly on my previous career and obviously decided that I’m not there just to be ornamental.” He grinned in reminiscence. “And they got a bit possessive about me when other people looked as if they might ask.”

“Thought they might.”

“Maggie did ask. In private.”

“Ask what?” Bob said.

“Whether I’m gay.”

“Are you?”

Well, if Bob was bothered by it, he probably wouldn’t be working for Steven. “Yes.”

“Don’t know whether the gossip would be harder to take if you were gay, or if you were straight.” Bob looked at Steven. “And yes, it had reached here. There was a certain amount of idle speculation this morning before the meeting.”

“And now?”

“Pretty bloody obvious why you hired him, and it’s not for his pretty face.” Bob clapped him on the shoulder. “I mean it about the job, lad. If you get fed up with the London office, we could use someone here with decent paper-chasing skills.”

Steven sighed. “Speaking of London, time we got back. I want to go over the notes with you, Mark, if you don’t mind staying late tonight.”

“No problem. It’s Friday tomorrow anyway, so one late night won’t kill me.”

* * * * *

The train back was one with only airline-style seating, no tables, so they ended up sitting side-by-side, talking quietly about the day. Sitting close enough that physical contact was inevitable. He was too busy thinking about the day just gone to pay much attention, but it still gave him a little burst of arousal each time Steven’s arm brushed against his. By now he was used to it, could push it to the background where he could enjoy the memory of it later.

Then they exchanged the quiet train carriage for the noise and crowd of a late afternoon Tube train. At least it was a short trip on a direct service, but when they reached the office, he was glad enough to put the kettle on and then sink into one of the armchairs for a few minutes. He relaxed and enjoyed the view as the kettle boiled. They hadn't bothered to put the lights on as they’d come in. It was a lovely evening, with the sky still mostly bright blue but starting to tinge pink as the day moved towards dusk. At a different time of year it would be full night by this time, but for now it was worth being here after his usual finishing time to watch the changing sky.

“Tired?” Steven asked.

“Yes. Shouldn’t be; it wasn’t that difficult a day even if I had to get up earlier than usual.”

“But you’re still getting used to a new job. Here.” Steven handed him a mug, then sat in the other chair.

Mark sipped gratefully at the tea, appreciating Steven bringing it to him. Straight from the pot, it was still really too hot to drink, but the warmth of the mug comforted his hands. It had been a while since he’d done a lot of writing with a pen rather than a keyboard, but when it came to taking meeting notes at high speed, he could usually read his bad handwriting better than he could his bad typing. “Maybe I should take shorthand lessons. Or learn to touch type as fast as a real secretary could.”

“You were doing well enough. And a lot of meetings don’t have a trained typist as committee secretary, just one of the committee members scribbling as fast as they can. Ready to go over your notes now?”

“Think so.” Mark went over to his desk, set the mug down, and pulled out his notes from the meeting.

Steven sat on the edge of the desk, leaning over to look at the notes.

It put him all too close to Mark.

Too long a day with the early start, too tired to concentrate on just one thing. He’d been half aroused and pushed it away on and off all day, and now Steven was right in front of him. He couldn’t focus on his notes, not when what he wanted to look at was right next to them. He could imagine Steven’s cock, resting plumply inside those terribly respectable trousers. Imagine putting his hand there instead of on his notes, feeling the flesh harden with his touch.

“Mark?”

He looked up at Steven, not trying to hide it anymore. “Sorry. I’m tired, and I’m not being very professional.”

“Oh, hell.” Steven reached out and brushed his cheek. “I’m sorry. I’m old enough to have forgotten just how insistent hormones can be at your age.”

It was the first time either of them had ever acknowledged the attraction. He wasn’t even sure if it was mutual.

And then Steven stood up and put his hand on his fly. “Well, you’re obviously not going to get any work done this evening. Maybe satisfying your curiosity will help.”

“Here?” Oh, yes, in his fantasies he’d thought of going on his knees in front of Steven, but he hadn’t expected to do it for real. He glanced over his shoulder at the big picture window with the panoramic view. The view that went both ways.

“It’s tinted glass, remember. As long as the lights aren’t on in here, anyone looking from a distance can’t see in.”

He wanted to. But it was a stupid idea. It was all very well letting people think things, but if they were caught ...

Steven leaned over and pressed the switch on Mark’s desk that remotely locked the door.

Mark pushed his chair back and slid off to kneel on the floor. Steven reached into his pocket. Pulled out his wallet. Pulled out a condom.

Does he need them that often that he carries them around like that? “God, I hate the taste of those.”

Steven put one hand under his chin, forcing him to look up. “Don’t be stupid, child.” He didn’t look like he was going to budge.

“I’m hardly a child!” Yes, Steven was old enough to be his father, but he was twenty-five, more than old enough to make his own decisions. This wasn’t a good time for Steven to get nervous about the age gap.

“From my perspective you are. Listen. Your generation thinks of AIDS as one more scare story. Mine doesn’t. We didn’t grow up with it always there.”

A chill ran down the back of his neck. He’d had this before, the sudden realisation of a yawning chasm between himself and an older man. Someone talking about music, and him realising that the retro camp from before he was born was someone else’s top ten memory. On vinyl. A DVD of an ancient film that someone had seen on its first run in the cinema. But this was different. This mattered to Steven.

“It’s all right; I’m sensible. I just wish they’d make them taste better.”

Steven smiled a little. “At least the fancy flavoured ones taste better than they did when I was your age. Here.” He handed Mark the condom.

He fumbled with it a little, hands shaking from tiredness and from lust and from just a slight edge of worry even now about being caught at this. By the time he’d got into the foil packet, Steven had his trousers open and his cock out.

Big, but not too big for comfort, just the way Mark had imagined it. Nice and thick, a decent handful for him. He took hold of it in one hand, to steady it and to feel naked flesh against his own for a few brief seconds before he had to cover it again.

Warm, live flesh filling his hand, so much better than a dildo. Skin slipping a little over the hard core beneath. Steven patient with him in spite of that urgent hardness, letting him have his fill of sensation.

He eased the condom onto the tip, then rolled it down to cover the whole shaft. A pity to do so, but Steven was right. It wasn’t worth the risk, for either of them.

And then he could lean forward and close his mouth over the cockhead. Feel Steven push into him a little, filling his mouth but not taking things too fast for him. The condom wasn’t flavoured, but it wasn’t too bad, and he could still smell the scent of warm flesh. He sucked hard, enjoying the way Steven’s cock twitched and the way Steven moaned a little. Oh, an older man might have better self-control, but it didn’t matter too much once you had that cock in your mouth and made him want more.

He had one hand wrapped around the base of Steven’s cock, the rest of it in his mouth. That could have left him with one hand free for himself, but he chose to hold Steven, stroking his thigh, then reaching to cup his balls. Not flesh to flesh, not with clothing still in the way, but still good to hold them.

He knew he was good at this when he chose to be. And he chose to be, wanting to make Steven want him, not do this half out of pity. He knew how to suck, how to slide his mouth around that hard shaft, how to tantalise. And if it was all for Steven and none for him, no matter; he’d still have this to think about when he got home to his own bed. Steven’s hands stroking his head, then the tension as Steven wanted to grab but held off. And then, finally, the surrender to desire as Steven grabbed and shoved and gasped, “Sorry ...” and the sweet feel of a cock throbbing in his mouth.

He held on as Steven came, feeling Steven’s balls tight in his hand. He couldn’t breath -- he was too full of cock -- but it didn’t matter for a few seconds.

And then Steven let go of him, and Mark could pull back and gasp for air and look up at him.

That was what he wanted to see. Steven still panting, staring down at him, naked lust still showing on his face even though he’d only just come.

Then Steven shut his eyes and leaned back on the table for a moment before carefully stripping the condom off and grabbing behind him for a tissue from the box sitting on the desk. He dropped it in the wastebasket, then grabbed Mark and dragged him to his feet.

“Your turn.”

His cock ached; he needed release. If Steven had left him, he’d have taken a minute or two to compose himself and been able to push it away until later. But Steven made him stand up, then kissed him hard, tongue forcing its way in where cock had been only seconds before, Steven still not letting him go. Still overpowering him with sensation.

One arm around his waist, the other reaching down between them. A hand on his trousers, finding the zip. Tight grip on his needy cock, only to disappoint a minute later as Steven let go and stepped back.

“Just a minute. Don’t want you going out looking too crumpled.” Steven fished the hankie out of his breast pocket, the one that was there just for show as part of the suit. Then he tucked it around Mark’s cock and tugged. “That’s better.”

Oh, god, it was. He could feel the cloth against his skin, the fine cotton rough enough to feel good but smooth enough not to hurt.

He’d been wanting Steven all day. He’d just had a mouthful of Steven’s cock. The thought of Steven’s crisp white handkerchief wrapped around his cock, Steven milking him, was almost too much for him. Then Steven kissed him again and tugged hard.

He didn’t have to worry about what Steven thought of him. Didn’t have to worry about making a mess of his clothes. Just had to grab Steven and hold on tight as he came, let Steven hold him up as his legs turned to jelly. It felt as if he would come forever, the pent-up need of three weeks of trying to ignore desire.

He finished coming at last, as Steven stopped kissing him. They clung together for a moment; then he staggered back and collapsed into his chair. Steven slumped onto the desk, not his usual graceful self.

They stared at each other. Then Steven looked down at the handkerchief he still clutched in his hand. “I suppose that’s for the wash tonight.”

“Did we really just ...”

“... do our best to live up to the fevered imaginings of everyone on this floor?” Steven stuffed the hankie in his trouser pocket, then looked up again. “No regrets, I hope?” he asked quietly.

“No.”

“I don’t want to take advantage, Mark. It’s something I’ve despised when I’ve seen other men doing it, and I don’t want to go down that road.”

Mark got to his feet somehow, stood in front of Steven so that he could touch him, laid a hand against his chest. “You’re not. I didn’t do it because I want the job; I did it because I want you. It’s a lot bloody harder for me to fake it than it is for the girls, remember.”

“Do any of them fake it?” Steven asked in a conversational tone. “I’ve occasionally wondered when I’ve had to listen to the bragging in the gents.”

“You are an evil, dirty-minded old man, and besides, I don’t know them well enough for them to tell me that sort of thing.”

“Pity.” Steven grinned, then sobered. “Go home, Mark. We’re certainly not going to get anything else done tonight.” He glanced to one side. “Though I suppose we might as well drink our tea.”

They did just that, though in silence. There was nothing more to say. Then he went into their suite’s private toilet and tidied his clothing. He looked at himself in the mirror, wondering if it showed. I just fucked my boss on the office furniture. But the few minutes to drink his tea had let his body recover. No trembling, no dilated pupils. Not even a guilty look at having finally done what he’d been trying not to think about for weeks. No external marks at all.

But inside was another matter. Oh, it had satisfied his curiosity. But only so far. And it hadn’t quenched the desire.

He collected his coat and bag, said goodbye to Steven, and left him there in the silence of the office.

Chapter Five

His sleep was filled with dreams of Steven, but he felt good when he woke up the next day. Maybe it had been stupid of them to risk the developing professional relationship. Maybe they wouldn’t do it again. But he was glad they had done it.

He didn’t start to feel nervous until he was on his way to the office. What if Steven regretted it? What if other people had realised? What if the cleaners had noticed that the bin by his desk contained more than paper?

But he made it to his own office without getting any strange looks. Nor did he have to face Steven immediately -- the other office was empty. His own desk was tidy, the notes from yesterday stacked neatly to one side, the mugs rinsed and sitting in their usual place in the pantry. He felt a mild stab of guilt at leaving Steven to tidy up last night, even though he’d been told to go home.

He sat down and skimmed through the overnight email as usual. Then he started working on his meeting notes, putting together a coherent account of the meeting. He found his mind drifting for the first few minutes, then managed to concentrate on the job at hand.

His concentration was only broken when Steven walked in. He jumped a little, startled out of his focus on his notes. “Sorry. Didn’t hear you come in.”

“I was late and I came in through my own office, not yours. When I looked in here, you looked busy, so I didn’t want to disturb you. How are you getting on with the notes?”

“Pretty well.” If he kept at it, he might even have it finished by lunchtime.

“I’ll leave you to it, then. I’ll be in my own office if you need to ask about anything.”

No reference to last night. No discussion of why they hadn’t worked on this last night. And no sitting on the desk, reading through the notes with him.

Well, if that was the way Steven wanted to play it, he’d go along with it. Maybe they did need time to think about it.

And in the meantime, he could get on with the daily routine jobs, now that his concentration had been broken. Collect the post from yesterday and today and go through it. Check whatever had arrived in his in-tray while they’d been out yesterday. Make the tea, if it was late enough in the morning. And try not to think about the last mug of tea he’d shared with Steven, the one Steven had finished making for him because he was too tired to do it.

* * * * *

Steven was absorbed in a spreadsheet when Mark took in the post and the morning tea. He was used to getting no more than a grunt in acknowledgement if Steven was busy, but it stung a little today.

He felt better when he took in his finished report on the meeting just before lunch, and Steven said, “Thanks. I had a phone call last night asking for a decision on some of the budget items as soon as possible; it’ll be very useful to have the detailed notes available this afternoon.”

“Is that what you were working on?”

“Still working on. But we could both do with a break for lunch, I think.” Steven pushed back his chair and stood up. “Canteen?”

“Fine by me.” Now or never. “Steven ... Last night ...”

Steven stood utterly still, then said, “We were both tired and off-guard.”

“You think it was a mistake.”

“No. But it could have been.”

Still worrying about taking advantage, no doubt. Mark walked around to sit on the edge of Steven’s desk and look up at him. “I meant what I said about doing it because I wanted to.”

“I pushed you into doing it.”

He’d been reluctant about doing it in the office, in front of the window. Had Steven thought it was more than just shyness about getting caught? “No. You pushed me into doing it somewhere where I wasn’t comfortable doing it. If you’d suggested that I go home with you for the night, I’d have jumped at the chance.” It occurred to him that sitting on the desk, looking up, probably wasn’t a good idea if Steven was worried about abusing his position of authority. It was sending the wrong body language signals. He stood up again, putting them eye-to-eye. “And I was only uncomfortable because I’m not used to the idea that I can be standing in front of a window without being on public display.”

“You don’t mind people thinking that I’m screwing you even when I’m not, but you’d rather they didn’t actually watch me doing it.”

“Pretty much, yes.” That, and it was one thing having people off-balance, wondering about it, and another thing them knowing that he and Steven were having an affair. Especially as he didn’t know himself whether they were. It might be only a one-off. “It’s been fun watching people’s expressions when they walk in and see me sitting at the PA’s desk. It wouldn’t be quite so much fun if they walked in and saw me sprawled across it with my trousers down.” He shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind sprawling across the desk, but I’d want to double check that the doors were locked first.”

“So would I. It’s convenient that these very modern suites have remote locking facilities.”

Something about the way Steven said it ... That was what was bothering him about last night. “I could have unlocked it myself if I’d wanted to. Stop feeling guilty. Maybe we were stupid; but we were stupid.”

“A couple of hours after I was telling Bob that no, of course I wasn’t screwing you.” Steven sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “Let’s go and have lunch.” He turned to pick up his jacket. “And with any luck, nobody will be staring at us. Somehow it doesn’t feel quite so amusing today.”

“It’s not as if we haven’t eaten lunch together before.” It had been about one day in two. “People are getting used to it.”

* * * * *

As luck would have it, that was the day someone finally couldn’t contain his curiosity. They’d just sat down to lunch when someone asked, “Mind if I join you?”

Mark looked up. Fiftyish, good suit, rather podgy, amiable expression. Not someone he knew, though the face was vaguely familiar; presumably someone he’d seen while wandering around the building.

“As long as you don’t want to talk business, David,” Steven said. “We’ve been busy all morning, and this is our break.”

“I heard you took your new PA along to meet the geeks yesterday.” Now the man was openly examining him.

“All right.” Steven put down his knife and fork. “David, this is my new PA, Mark Paulson. Mark, this is David MacDonald, marketing manager for one of our neighbours. He occasionally buys our equipment to sell on at a vast profit to his customers as part of some package deal, so he thinks I have to be nice to him. Even when he calls me a geek.”

“You are a geek,” David said affably. “You’re such a geek you’ve got another geek for your PA.”

“You mean you aren’t going to ask if that’s all he is?”

David grinned at Steven. “No. Because you’re dying for me to do just that.”

Not true this particular day, but it still made Steven smile. “You know me too well.”

“Are you taking bets on how long before someone says it to your face? Apart from me, that is.”

“No.” Steven picked up his knife and fork again. “Now be nice to Mark, and talk to him instead of about him.”

To Mark’s relief, that was what David did. The man had cheered Steven up, but it was still rather too sensitive a topic to keep talking about today. David cheerfully prattled away about the weather, the delays on the Tube that morning, and having to miss Chelsea’s match next week because he’d be away pimping product. He turned out to have a science degree as well, “Though I’m just an overqualified salesman. But it’s useful to know what I’m talking about when I try to persuade someone to spend lots of money.”

“Makes the lies much more convincing,” Steven teased.

“Hush, you. They’re all very fine products, not just yours.” David pushed away his plate. “Anyway, I promised not to talk business, but I would like half an hour of your time next week.”

“Get Mark to check my diary. He’s running the office as well as acting as my research assistant.”

“I’ll drop in later.” David nodded at Mark. “And I promise not to make rude remarks about your taste in office accessories.”

From the way Steven winced, Mark assumed that David was quoting something Steven had said in the past about other people. Bad timing, but David was already getting up to leave the table, and he and Steven had finished their own lunch. There was no need to stay in the canteen, open to scrutiny. “Back to the office for a cup of tea?” he suggested.

“Might as well. I want to get that work finished early this afternoon.”

They went back to their office suite. Steven took his tea and went straight into his office. From the way he was focusing on the work he was doing, it wasn’t just a way of avoiding conversation. Mark left him to it and went to read through Chemistry World. He spent a pleasant fifteen minutes before there was a polite knock on the outer door, and David came in.

“Sorry, know it’s still your lunch break, but I was passing, so I thought I’d drop by.”

“Not a problem. Let me check Steven’s diary.”

Monday and Tuesday were busy, but the rest of the week was still free. “You said you were away until Thursday. Thursday afternoon do you?”

“That’ll be fine.” David paused for a minute. “All right, tell me it’s none of my business, but are you two ...?”

“It’s none of your business.” But he said it with a smile. There seemed to be no malice in David’s curiosity.

“I suppose I deserved that. Have you been getting much nonsense about it?”

“Not really. And he did warn me before I took the job.”

“Good. Well, I’d better go.” David wandered out again, shutting the door behind him.

Interesting. So far the only people to actually broach the subject had been people who were curious but not antagonistic. With any luck that would last for a while yet. Long enough for him and Steven to work out what their relationship actually was.

* * * * *

When Steven finally surfaced, the relationship was almost back to what it had been until yesterday evening.

“Did I hear David earlier?”

“Came in to sort out a time to see you. And to ask me, rather than you, whether we were ...”

“And?” It was almost a casual question, they way it would have been two days earlier.

“Told him in the nicest possible way that it was none of his business. Which he’d already said himself. He didn’t seem to mind. And he’ll be back in on Thursday.”

“Good. Put the kettle on, will you? I could do with a break.”

He’d been waiting past the usual time for their afternoon tea break, reluctant to disturb Steven. “How much more to do?”

“It’s almost finished. I should probably go over it with you so you get a feel for it. But not tonight. I don’t want to interfere with your Friday night plans.”

“We can leave it until Monday.” No taking chances with sudden outbreaks of unprofessional behaviour tonight. Message received and understood. He wasn’t surprised to feel a stab of disappointment.

Idiot. Did you really think he was going to invite you home for the weekend?

No, and for all his bravado this morning about jumping at the chance to do just that, he wasn’t sure he’d like it if Steven suggested it now. Last night, yes, when they’d been caught unawares by desire. But not now. Not after a day of unease with each other.

Besides, he had work to do this weekend. The thesis awaited him.

“What’s wrong?” Steven said, walking up behind him.

“Just thinking that I don’t have any plans to go out. I need to get some work done on my thesis this weekend. No wild partying for me for a few months.” And please don’t stand that close to me.

Steven could have read his thoughts, for he moved away again. “Do you normally go in for wild parties?”

“Not really, no.” It struck him that they knew very little about each other outside work. He didn’t even know whether Steven had a partner; whether last night had been an episode of infidelity.

Probably not. Steven didn’t talk about his private life, but surely he’d have mentioned it by now if he was living with someone, or even in a long-term relationship. And the next-of-kin contact details on file were for his parents and sister. But ...

He checked that the door was shut, then said, “Steven?”

“Mm?”

“I’m not being nosy. But do you have a partner?”

“What?”

It was obvious from his expression that Steven hadn’t expected that question. “It’s one thing to have people thinking I’ll have an office affair. It’s another to have them thinking I’m having one with a married man. Or a man cheating on his partner.”

“Is that what’s been bothering you since last night?”

What had been bothering him was Steven being bothered. They’d probably been making each other worse. “No. It’s only just occurred to me. But it will bother me now I’ve thought of it.”

“There isn’t anyone for me to be cheating on. What brought this on?”

“Mention of wild parties. I realised that for all I know, you spend your weekends in one long orgy in a private club. Or cuddled up in front of the fire with your boyfriend.”

“Chance would be a fine thing.” Steven stared out of the window, not looking at him. “It never occurred to me that you didn’t know.”

“Never even thought about it. Until now, when it’s real.” Now that he was thinking about it, he knew why. “My job interview. You never explicitly said you were single, but you did warn me what people would think. And it didn’t include saying that people would be rushing to tell your boyfriend you were playing around.”

“And you?”

“I wasn’t cheating on anyone either.”

Steven closed his eyes. “At least I don’t have that on my conscience. I just assumed...”

And probably for very similar reasons. Neither of them had talked much about their personal lives, but when a partner hadn’t been mentioned in three weeks of sharing an office, it was a fairly natural assumption that there wasn’t one. “Anyway. I am going to have a quiet, boring weekend with my thesis.” Possibly punctuated by very unboring fantasies, but he really did need to buckle down and get some work done. “Tea?”

Steven took the tea and retreated into his office. He didn’t come out until a few minutes before Mark was due to leave. “Anything new that you haven’t entered into my diary yet?”

“No. It’s all there if you need to access it from home over the weekend.” He’d heard Maggie talking about the old days, when the diary was hardcopy only, then on a computer you couldn’t access from outside. He couldn’t imagine how much work that must have been, trying to keep things synched. “Monday and Tuesday are pretty heavy for meetings; the rest of the week’s still reasonably free.”

“Well, at least I’ve got today’s we-need-it-yesterday done. Time to go home and think about something else.” Steven reached over the desk and turned Mark’s monitor off. “You, too.”

“Is that an order?”

“Yes.”

Steven was smiling slightly, but Mark had no doubt at all that he expected to be obeyed. “Yes, boss.” At least Steven seemed to be back to normal now. Mark started putting things away. Steven wandered back to his own office and came back just as Mark was putting his coat on.

“Another week over,” Steven said. “Are you getting the hang of things now?”

“Yes, thanks.” No mention of the one thing he didn’t know how to handle.

They walked to the door together. There was a minor collision as they both reached for the light switch, and Steven’s hand closed over his. Then Steven pulled away. Mark didn’t look at him, and they walked to the lift in silence.

He might have asked what Steven was planning to do at the weekend, but the lift arrived and was too crowded for conversation. They squeezed in and descended in a crowd of people looking forward to the release from the week’s work. There was no particular thrill to being impersonally pressed close together, not in that crowd of people. When the lift doors finally opened and disgorged them onto the ground floor, they moved apart again, walking together to the Tube station, but not touching. Only as they parted, heading for different platforms, did Steven briefly put a hand on his shoulder. “Good night, Mark.”

By the time he turned around, Steven was gone, lost in the milling crowd.

Chapter Six

Mark made progress on both his problems over the weekend. The thesis was moving along nicely again, if a little slower than it might have been if he hadn’t just changed jobs. He emailed Sanjay with a status report, just to reassure him, and added a paragraph at the end to say that he was enjoying the new job.

And he was enjoying it. The secretarial side of it could get boring, but there wasn’t actually very much of it that he couldn’t treat as project management, the project in question being making sure Steven was where he was supposed to be, at the right time and with the right files. The research assistant side of the job wasn’t so different to what he might have been doing in some of the post-doctoral contracts on offer, only in an industrial rather than an academic context.

The personal side of things was a bit of a tangle, but he couldn’t deny having had a lot of entertainment value out of the way people reacted to Steven hiring him. At least, until it had stopped being a joke they shared and had become real.

So where did he go from here?

He liked the job. He liked Steven as a boss. The professional relationship was a lot more important to him in the long term than a quick fuck, and he wasn’t prepared to throw away the one for the sake of the other. So he’d pushed down the lust every time it had flared up, thinking at first that it was just a response to a handsome man who happened to push his buttons. It wasn’t just the looks and the voice. It was the aura of authority; the unselfconscious holding of power by a man secure enough not to need to make others acknowledge that power. The only evidence he’d seen of Steven deliberately flaunting his power was his appointment of Mark to the job of PA. And even there, Steven had made sure first that he wasn’t an unwitting participant in someone else’s mind game.

So, yes, he’d wanted to fuck Steven from the moment he’d met the man. He knew his own tastes, was unashamed of them. He had a thing for handsome older men, men who were sure of themselves. But he’d known within the week that it was more than simple physical lust, and now he knew that even the lust wasn’t going to go away with a quick fuck or two to satisfy his cock’s desire for a new toy. Steven embodied why those things were a turn-on for him, and he’d value the relationship even without sex.

If there was any chance of having both, then he was going to try for it.

So maybe the thing to do was to tell Steven that if Steven was interested, so was he. Whether Steven was interested was another matter, of course, but at least he could make sure that Steven knew that it wouldn’t be an abuse of power.

He logged in and checked Steven’s diary. Not on a day when they would be busy. And not late on, in the evening when they were preparing to go home; not when it might make one or both of them awkward about what they did next, about whether they should go home together afterwards. But Friday lunchtime -- that would be good. If it all went horribly wrong, at least they’d have the weekend before having to face each other again. And besides, if it did go horribly wrong, at least by then he’d have put in a full month’s work before having to go back to Sanjay with his tail between his legs.

* * * * *

With time to think and a plan made, Mark faced Monday without a qualm. As he walked up to their office building, he looked up at the windows. Steven was right -- the tinted glass might as well be opaque from outside, so long as there were no lights on inside the room behind the window. There was opportunity for embarrassment if ever you forgot about the lights, but they’d never bothered to switch them on when they’d arrived back on Thursday evening. Nobody could know for certain whether they’d ever done anything. So he could cheerfully ignore anyone who gave him odd looks or dropped innuendo into the conversation.

As he rode up in the lift, the man who’d also got in at the ground floor tried to look at him in the mirror without being noticed. Mark turned to look straight at him.

“You’re that chap Frost’s secretary, aren’t you?” the man eventually said.

“PA, actually.”

“You do know he’s queer, don’t you?”

“It has already been mentioned, yes.” He smiled nicely. “The women I eat lunch with occasionally complain about the terrible waste of a good marriage prospect. They seem to think it’s a sin that a good-looking man should be off the market.” He’d been referring to Steven, but as he said it he realised that it was rather ambiguous. Well, it might be interesting to see what he reeled in with that bait.

“Oh.” There was a pause. “It doesn’t bother you?”

“Not as long as he doesn’t assume that I’ll provide services beyond what’s normal for a PA.” He turned back to face the door, but watched in the mirrored surface as the man tried to disentangle that. The lift slowed to a stop and chimed at them just as the man seemed to be coming to a decision. “Ah. My floor.”

Mark went on his way, well pleased with himself. He could still handle nosy questions in spite of the events of Thursday night.

He found Steven already in, busy reading a file. Steven glanced up at him and said, “Morning. Could you get me the rest of the files I might need today?”

He did so and set them on Steven’s desk, one stack for the morning meeting and one for the afternoon. “Do you want me to come to this meeting?”

“No. You hold the fort here. At least with it being in this building I can always call you to come down if necessary.”

As Mark turned to go, Steven said, “How did the thesis writing go?”

“Wrestled another chapter into reasonable shape, I think.” Discussing the weekend was apparently not going to cause trouble. “How was your weekend?”

“A lovely quiet weekend in with a stack of DVDs I haven’t had time to watch for weeks.” Steven looked up at him and smiled. “You really have made a difference, Mark. I know you feel that you’re doing some of it far too slowly while you learn, but having someone who knows what they’re doing chasing all the library research and the like for me has given me back some free time.”

“Thanks.” He went back to his own office, glad to find their professional relationship back to normal. Whether that would last beyond Friday remained to be seen, but at least they hadn’t screwed it up.

* * * * *

He didn’t see much of Steven over the next two days, but he was confident now of his ability to handle the daily routine without backup. Wednesday was quieter, a chance for Steven to catch up on the backlog of non-urgent post and phone calls.

Thursday was more meetings, but short ones in their own office suite. Mark was kept busy playing secretary, mostly with fetching files and making tea. Several people gave him odd looks; most treated him in exactly the way Steven wanted -- only a secretary, with no understanding of any science being discussed in front of him. David MacDonald arrived a little early for his meeting and plonked himself down on Mark’s sofa, watching with amusement as the woman who was meeting with Steven dropped a pile of paper on Mark’s desk and told him to photocopy it. After she went back into Steven’s office, closing the door behind her, David said, “How’s the gender-role reversal going?”

“I am so glad I was polite to the typing pool at the last job.” He stared at the pile of paper in disgust. “I know it’s part of my job for Steven, but it doesn’t mean I’m on general call. Why did she have to be so damned rude about it?”

“Bear with it, lad. At least you’ll know how not to piss off the staff come the time you’ve got one of your own.”

“And at least some people do take me seriously. Thanks, David.”

“You must have had some idea of what you were in for when you took the job.”

“I did. And most of the time I don’t mind. It’s even entertaining a lot of the time. But there are days when it isn’t, and this seems to be one of them.” He got up from behind his desk and dropped the stack of paper into his photocopier’s feed tray. “Make yourself a cup of tea if you want. I’d do it, but I’d better watch this in case the damn thing eats her paperwork.”

But the memory of David’s understanding and sympathy got him through the rest of the day. And he went home knowing that he’d managed to keep the next day clear of meetings.

* * * * *

Mark switched the office lights off when they left for lunch on Friday. He usually did anyway, the habit of years of energy-saving seeing to that. And as he often did, he didn’t switch them back on immediately when they got back. There was no need on a sunny afternoon. Even locking the door behind them was in his usual routine, a way of discouraging casual visitors from disturbing their lunch break.

It all made it easier to calm his nerves while he went about making their tea. He wasn’t committed, not yet. Wouldn’t be until he actually said something to Steven. He could leave it until another day, find some other, better time to get up the nerve to say, “I want you to fuck me.”

When he took the tea through to Steven’s office, he found Steven lounging back in his chair with his feet up on the desk, reading New Scientist. The posture showed off his legs, even in a formal business suit. The magazine was propped up in his lap, drawing attention -- not deliberately so, Mark was sure -- to the fact that Steven dressed to the left.

He set the tea on Steven’s desk and retreated to his own office. Not backing out, no. He knew now what he wanted to do. Wait until near the end of the lunch break, let lunch settle and let them both relax. Then he’d do it. Today.

He timed it perfectly. As Mark went into the office, Steven swung his feet down from the desk, put the magazine down, and looked at his tea mug as if contemplating whether to have another before starting work again. He looked up at Mark. “Putting the kettle on?”

Steven still had his chair pushed back from the desk from having his feet up, leaving room for someone else to sit on the desk on his side. Mark did just that. “I will, but I wanted to talk to you first.”

The lazy Friday lunchtime atmosphere was suddenly gone. Steven was focused on him, obviously aware that this wasn’t a casual conversation. “Go on.”

“The whole ‘are they, aren’t they’ thing.”

“It’s not getting too much for you, is it? I know it’s been annoying at times, but I thought you were coping well.” Steven reached out a hand, then pulled back. “God knows I’ve been enjoying watching it, but I hired you to do a job, and if this is getting in the way, we can discourage it.”

“There are days when it pisses me off, but it’s not too much of a problem that way.” He’d rehearsed different speeches in his mind, but none of them seemed the right thing to say now. “But there’s something I want you to know, even if I don’t care what other people think. The only thing I regret about what happened last week is that we could have fucked up our professional relationship. I didn’t do it because you’re my boss. I did it in spite of you being my boss, and if I hadn’t been trying so bloody hard to keep things on a professional level, I’d have done it a lot sooner. And I want to do it again.”

“Mark ...”

Steven didn’t sound very happy, but it was too late to back out now. Mark sat and waited for his fate.

“I’m twenty years older than you. Do you really expect me to believe ...” Steven trailed off and stared at him.

“That I don’t have an ulterior motive?” That was what was worrying him, what he was trying to make Steven understand. Steven started to speak again, but Mark overrode him with, “Just hear me out, please? I like older men. I’m sure an amateur psychologist could have fun speculating why, but I don’t care. I know that’s what I like, and I’m not going to pretend that I don’t, any more than I’m going to pretend about being gay. I’ve wanted you from the day I walked in here for my interview and shook your hand. You’re older, you’re good-looking, and you’re strong without being a bully. You hit every one of my buttons, and I could have killed Sanjay for not warning me.” He shifted uneasily, aware that this time sitting on the desk put him looking down at Steven rather than up, which wasn’t the sort of body language he wanted to be conveying. But standing up would make it even worse. “I ignored it because I knew I could if I had to, and the job’s more important to me. But the attraction’s real, and people are likely to notice sooner or later. I don’t care what other people think, but I do care what you think.”

Steven sighed. “I remember that. You hid it so fast I thought I’d imagined it. Then when you said you were gay, I knew I hadn’t. But I thought it was just the usual see someone, fancy him for a moment. It wasn’t, was it?”

“I thought I could handle it, or I wouldn’t have taken the job. I was handling it, until the night we came back from that meeting.” The night he’d been too tired to care anymore, and Steven had sat too close to him for him to ignore it. Closer than they were even now.

Steven stood up, moved in close, looked down at him. “And now? You’ve said nothing all week.”

“I can keep it just a professional relationship. But I want you to know that you didn’t take advantage. And that I still want you.” Wanted him badly enough that he was desperate to reach out and grab, to hold and be held.

Then Steven grabbed him. Hands bunched in his shirt, bodily dragging him off the desk to stand in front of Steven, close enough to feel the warmth of Steven’s body. He stared into Steven’s eyes and saw what had never been directed at him before.

Predator.

“I’m not one of those men who gets relief from the pressure of the job by being submissive in the bedroom,” Steven said softly. “If that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll be disappointed.”

“If that’s what you were, I wouldn’t be interested.” Mark was scared now, but he fought it down, as over the last few weeks he’d fought down arousal. He was scared, but he still wanted Steven, and if he let his fear show, Steven would back off.

Then Steven dragged him closer still, close enough to kiss him.

Still holding him by his shirt, but hard pressure on his mouth. He opened up willingly, letting Steven in. Put his arms around Steven, now that he was secure in the knowledge that Steven wouldn’t push him away. Steven let go of his shirt and hugged him in turn.

They were pressed together, Steven’s cock hard against his. He tried to thrust before he even realised what he was doing. Steven pushed him back against the desk and ground their cocks together. He could come from that alone, but it wasn’t what he wanted. He pulled his head back, broke free of the kiss. “I’ll come right now if you keep doing that.”

At least Steven looked amused rather than annoyed. “I knew there was another good reason to keep my hands off you. Young men have no self-control.” He eased off the pressure, moving back just enough to let Mark think again. “What do you want, Mark?”

“I want you up me.”

He could see Steven’s reaction to that, feel the way it turned him on, but what Steven said was, “It’s not the place. I’ve no lube ...”

“I sorted that out in the shower this morning.”

Steven stared at him for a few seconds. “How long have you been planning this conversation?”

“Since the weekend.”

“And my diary is suspiciously clear for the day after a heavy load yesterday, isn’t it?”

“Isn’t that why you hired me? My planning skills?” He brought his hands up to cup Steven’s face. “I didn’t know how you’d react if I got up the courage to tell you any of this. But I didn’t think you’d be too pleased with me if I did it right before you needed to concentrate on work.” Then he let go, waited for judgement.

“You’re quite right there. All right. You’ve convinced me that you want this. I take it you have locked your door?”

“Yes.”

“Get your trousers down.” Steven stepped back, giving them both room to move, and pulled out his wallet. He threw it on the table and ripped open the packet he’d taken from it.

Mark did as he was told, hands fumbling at his belt. He hadn’t thought this through, how awkward it would be. He’d feel absolutely ridiculous stripping off completely, but he didn’t want to end up with his clothes covered in his own come. So he leaned over and grabbed Steven’s handkerchief from the pocket of the jacket that hung over the back of the chair.

“Cheeky little sod!”

“I’m not spending the rest of the afternoon wearing the evidence. I don’t mind people wondering, but there’s a limit. And it’s your desk that’s going to get whatever doesn’t end up on my shirt.” He didn’t mention the condom in his own pocket. That would solve the problem, but he didn’t want to wear it if he didn’t have to.

Steven grinned at him. “All right. You can give me the laundry problem instead.” His voice dropped slightly. “Now turn around and bend over.”

A shiver ran through him. This wasn’t a side of Steven he was used to seeing. He’d told Steven that this was what he wanted and had been taken at his word.

“You’re scared.”

“Yes. But not enough to stop me wanting you.” He turned around and leaned on the table, dropping the hankie under him. Braced against the desk, he stared out of the window and waited.

Hands on his arse, spreading his cheeks. He thought about Steven looking at him, about the way he must look bent over the desk with his trousers down. And then he felt Steven’s cock pushing against him, trying to find a way in. He relaxed, let it happen, gasped a little at a twinge of pain. There’d been no foreplay, and he hadn’t had a man inside him for weeks. But Steven was taking things slowly enough for him to handle it, and he envied that self-control. He wouldn’t have been able to manage it himself.

Deeper and deeper, filling him up. He could hardly believe that he was doing this, standing in an office, looking out across the city, while the man who was master here took possession of him as thoroughly as everything else in the office.

And then Steven was right up against him, voice shaking slightly as he said, “Are you all right?”

“Yes.” He’d been too tight at first, but he was fine now, and all he wanted was for Steven to fuck him, and fuck him hard.

Steven pulled back, gave him one long stroke. Then another, and another. He sighed in contentment and pushed back against the cock filling him. Nothing mattered anymore except what Steven was doing to him -- not the gossip, not the worry about his job, not even the feeling still lurking that he shouldn’t be doing this in front of an uncurtained window, naked to the world.

Steven was slamming into him now, making him gasp in pleasure. Pushing him close to the edge, making it hard to hold back. But he held on, rode Steven’s cock, desperate not to embarrass himself by coming too soon.

Then blessed relief as Steven reached around, grabbed his cock, and said, “All right, you can come now.”

Hand squeezing his cock, and permission to come. He did so, moaning his pleasure as Steven thrust into him one last time and then held still. He’d wanted this so long now, and that first time had only whetted his appetite. Now he had it all. Steven in him, Steven holding him. Knowing that Steven wanted him, that this wasn’t just a pity fuck.

As they finished coming, he collapsed onto the desk, letting it take his weight. He could feel Steven just above him, leaning on the desk rather than him, but still needing support. Could hear his harsh breathing close by.

They stayed like that for a moment; then Steven moved away, pulling out of him.

Steven muttered, “Damn.” Then he felt a hand on his back. “Just a minute. I need to clean up.”

Mark levered himself up onto shaky legs as Steven was heading into the other office. Mark pulled up his trousers and followed in time to see Steven grab a tissue from the box on his desk, use it to strip off the condom, and drop it in the bin. “I’ll get rid of that later.” He looked back at Mark. “Come here.”

Mark did as he was told, trying to get his trousers done up properly. He felt stupid, foolish, but then Steven held him, and it was all right.

“Still no regrets?” Steven asked after a while.

“No. Can we do it again?”

Soft laugh. “Not right now. Wait until next week. And no more screwing with my schedule, understand?”

“Sorry,” he mumbled into Steven’s shoulder. “Just wanted to be sure you wouldn’t be angry with me for distracting you when you needed to be thinking about work.”

“Speaking of which, we should probably make ourselves presentable.” Steven let go of him, and he reluctantly stepped back and tried to get his clothes into some sort of order.

Steven was doing the same. Then he bent and picked the tissue out of the bin and went off to their private toilet.

Well, that probably explained why there hadn’t been any gossip from the cleaners last week. Steven had cleaned up after them, and not just the tea mugs.

A couple of minutes later Steven came back with his clothes tidy and his hair neatly combed. There was no trace of what they’d just been doing. Mark went to do his own tidying. He couldn’t make perfect repairs, not with his shirt showing creases where Steven had grabbed it, but he managed to get himself looking reasonable.

When he came out, he found Steven looking in some disgust at his desk.

“You were right about protecting the desk. I think I need either a bigger hankie or a disposable blotter pad.”

“Sorry.”

“At least you thought about it, which was more than I did.” Steven opened a desk drawer and put away the crumpled hankie. “I can see you’re going to be doing wonders for my laundry.”

“Could be worse. It could have been one of those old-fashioned desks with the wax polish. At least a polyurethane varnish wipes clean.”

“True.” Steven sat down at the desk and started setting out the files he’d been working on that morning. “And you still haven’t made me that tea.”

Back to the usual grind. He might have been able to ensure privacy, but there was still work to be done now they’d had their fun. He sighed and went to put the kettle on.

* * * * *

They were strictly business for the rest of the working day. But as they headed for the door on the way home, Steven put a hand on the door to stop him opening it. Mark turned to look at him, and Steven kissed him. Nothing more than a brief brush of lips against his. A promise, of sorts. Then Steven said, “Go home and get your quota for the week done on that thesis, or Sanjay will have my guts. I don’t think he intended for me to be distracting you.”

“Yes, boss.” So no, it wasn’t going to change anything outside this office. But inside -- well, that was different now.

Chapter Seven

They were busy early in the week, with Steven out at business lunches and Mark in the library much of Monday and Tuesday, and it was Tuesday afternoon before they had some quiet time to themselves. Even then it was only Steven sitting next to him on the sofa and putting an arm around his shoulders when they broke for afternoon tea.

“You’ll have to curb your enthusiasm. I’m too tired after this morning. God, I hate talking to bankers.”

“They can’t all be awful,” Mark said. He was disappointed that it was only going to be a cuddle, but well pleased with having the cuddle as promise for the future.

“No. Some of my best friends are bankers.” Steven sipped at his tea. “Really and truly. When we graduated, there was a major boom in the City, and they were screaming for numerate graduates. Half the maths and physics graduates were being offered big incentives to cross over to accountancy and the like. Some of them are still there.”

Steven certainly had friends in interesting places. “Did you go to them for finance when you started this company?”

“Advice as much as money.” Another flash of that feral look Steven sometimes got when talking about business rather than science. “The advice was more valuable.”

“How to avoid getting screwed?”

Steven ruffled his hair. “You do have a one-track mind, but yes.”

“I wasn’t thinking of that!”

“I know, and I shouldn’t tease. How’s that patent search coming on?” There was a knock on the door, and Steven quickly moved his arm away and shifted along the sofa a little. “Come in.”

Tracy put her head around the door. From the way she looked at them, there was going to be more gossip, but all she said was, “Oh, you are in after all. Maggie wants to know if you two are coming to lunch at all this week.”

He’d been out over lunch as well, so there’d undoubtedly been some curiosity. “I’ll be in, and so will Steven if nothing comes up before then.”

“Oh, good. Neither of you was in, so we were a bit worried, but I’ll tell her you’re all right.” She closed the door again.

“And they probably were partly checking that you weren’t sick with nobody knowing about it,” Steven said. “Have you checked your email since you got back this afternoon?”

“Not yet.” He went to check, and sure enough, there was a note from Maggie. “It does make me wonder if I can do anything without an audience, but I’m glad they care.”

“No, you can’t, and yes, they do. I wonder why they want us at lunch.”

* * * * *

For a second opinion on a male-pinup calendar intended for someone’s engagement present, it turned out. Maggie handed it over to Steven. “What do you think?”

Steven flicked through. “Nice, but you can get better ones in one of the gay shops. Hmm. He’s rather nice.”

Mark took the calendar off Steven. “You’re right.” He tried a few more pages. “Though I like him better.”

Tracy peered over his shoulder. “Like older men, do you?”

The others giggled, and Tracy stammered, “Er, I didn’t mean ...”

“No, you didn’t. Not today, at any rate,” he gently suggested. “And yes, I do.”

The women looked at each other, but said nothing. Instead, Tracy said brightly, “All right, Steven, where would you recommend we go?”

“Depends on exactly what you want, but if you just want something fun, I can think of some places with nice fridge magnets and the like.”

The conversation drifted from there. When they were safely back in the privacy of their office, Steven said, “Well, you are now officially outed.”

“They knew I’m gay. I’m not sure that was even a setup.”

“They’d guessed, but they weren’t absolutely sure. Now they are.” Steven shrugged. “I don’t think it’ll actually make much difference. You’re right; they probably weren’t fishing.”

“Tracy was too bloody embarrassed about the older-men thing for that to have been planned.”

Steven laughed. “You couldn’t see her face. No, she certainly didn’t mean it the way it came out.” He ran a hand down Mark’s chest. “You do like older men, don’t you?”

“Want to run an experiment?”

“We’ve got time for something a bit less hurried today, I think. Lock the door.”

“Already have, on the way in. Don’t want to be caught over my desk by anyone else.”

“Good.” Steven stroked his cock through his trousers. “Though you don’t seem that interested.”

“Want to bet?” He grabbed hold of Steven and kissed him, hard. Steven started laughing when he finally let go.

“All right, you’ve proved your point.” Quick squeeze of his cock. “I think it took all of three seconds for your cock to show an interest.”

“Well, that’s not just you.” He slid a hand between them to check on whether Steven was interested. Half hard, though that was changing fast. “I’m getting somewhere with the job, so I’ve finally got some energy left for other things. And I’m catching up on a backlog.”

Steven seemed to like that idea. “You mean, I’m all you’ve had in the last month?”

“You’ve been working me too hard for me to go out looking for a fuck in the evening.” He let go of Steven’s cock and just hugged him. “Not that I mind too much.”

“Or maybe I haven’t been working you hard enough.” Tight grip on his cock now, Steven’s hand sliding a little along the shaft. Not quite enough, not through his clothing, but enough to make him want more, and right now.

He thrust against Steven, craving the extra pressure on his cock. Clung to him, desperate for release. Too damned fast, he needed it too badly to wait, even though Steven had suggested they take it slowly.

Steven let go of him, trying to push him away. “Hell, you’re not going to last long enough for me to get into you.”

“Steven, please ...”

“Screw it.” Steven wrestled them both around and shoved him against the wall. “I’ll fuck you later. If you can’t get it up twice, it’s your own fault.” Then he leaned hard against him and kissed him.

He was trapped between Steven and the wall, nowhere to go. Steven’s body pressed against him, cock against cock, making him burn with desire. One thrust of Steven’s cock against him, then another. Much more of that, and he wouldn’t be able to hold off.

Which was probably the point. Steven had abandoned the idea of a nice slow mutual fuck and had gone for getting him off as fast as possible. So he abandoned himself to sensation, giving Steven total control. He ran his hands down Steven’s back, enjoying the novel sensation of an expensive suit under his hands while someone had him up against a wall. The lovely texture of fine cloth felt good, though not so good as running his hands through Steven’s hair, feeling the soft waves for the first time.

Then only one thing mattered, and that was the feel of Steven’s hand around his cock again. One fast jerk, and he was gone, too late now to worry about anything. He let Steven and the wall hold him up as he came. It was so damned good to have someone else’s hand on his cock, even through his clothes.

Steven held him until he’d finished, then let go of him, murmuring, “Better go and clean up.”

He knew he should, before his clothes became an irretrievable mess, but had to hold on to Steven for a few seconds longer. “Just hold me a minute.”

Steven pulled back a little, giving him room to move away from the wall, and hugged him for the minute he’d asked for. Then, “Go on, or I will have you over that desk right now.”

He’d come, but Steven hadn’t. Not entirely fair, but it had been Steven’s choice. And he was sure he could get it up again later on this afternoon, if Steven was willing to wait. So he went to do his best to clean his clothes up before he had to settle down to a long, tedious afternoon of trying not to think about what might be waiting for him at the end of the day.

When he’d finished and went back into the office, there was a mug of tea waiting on his desk. He would have taken it over to join Steven on the sofa, but Steven said, “Don’t. I need to concentrate on work this afternoon. And so do you.”

“I’m sorry. Didn’t intend to come that quickly.”

Steven just smiled and shook his head. “We’ll probably have some free time before we go home tonight. I can wait.”

In that case, so could he.

* * * * *

The lunchtime fuck must have done wonders for his ability to concentrate on something other than sex. He was so focused on writing his current research report that he didn’t even notice the time until Steven sat on his desk and said, “Planning to go home tonight?”

“What?” He looked at the time. “Oh.”

“You were busy, so I didn’t want to disturb you. But I also don’t want you going home late when there’s no particular need to get that report done tonight.”

He sat up and stretched, feeling the muscles in his arms unkink. “It’s just ... it works now. I’ve passed the barrier; I know enough about the business now to see how things might fit into a report, without having to think about it.”

“Good.” Steven patted the pile of paper. “I’ve cleared my own desk for the day. Time to finish up.” He stood up and went back into his own office.

Mark thought for a moment, then carefully closed down his own computer, hit the remote door lock, and followed him. Steven was just switching off the lights in his office. Good. They needed the lights off for privacy, because as usual Steven had left the blinds open.

“I’ve still got one job left for this evening.”

“It’s late,” Steven said.

“Not that late. And I got mine at lunchtime. You didn’t.” He went over to Steven and put a hand on his cock. “I think I can get it up again now.”

“You’re greedy, you know.” Casual tone. But Steven’s cock was already hardening.

“Greedy, and feeling a bit guilty.” He brushed his lips over Steven’s. “We don’t have to. But it’s not that late; we’ve time if you want to.” He grinned. “And at least your desk is clear at the moment.”

Steven put a hand up to his face and stroked his cheek. “All right. But we’d better make it quick. Were you busy in the shower this morning as well?”

“Yes. Just in case.” He grabbed hold of Steven’s hand and kissed the palm. “Don’t worry; I’m not messing around with your schedule. Just knew that there might be time today anyway.”

Steven shook his head. “You are leading me into temptation, my boy. But at least I do know you’re having fun.”

“There was rather a lot of evidence this afternoon.” He winced a little at the memory. Well, his suit trousers had been fine, and his underwear could take one more dose.

“Look in my desk drawer. I thought I’d better lay in some supplies. Just in case.”

He did as he was told and found a small stack of crisply pressed hankies tucked away at the back. That in itself sent the blood rushing to his cock. There had to be enough there for more than one for every day of the week. And the thought of Steven solemnly taking them home to wash afterwards ...

He pulled one out and spread it on the desk. Big square of neatly ironed white cloth, ready for him to crumple. Perhaps next time he could wrap it around his cock, relish the feel of cotton against his skin, but for now he enjoyed the simple sight of it. He could get a whole new fetish out of this. He could certainly enjoy the fantasy of Steven folding it up neatly afterwards and carrying it out in his breast pocket as usual.

Steven hugged him from behind, kissed his neck. “What’s amusing you?”

“I think I’d like to see you fold that hankie up afterwards and walk out of here with it in your pocket as usual.”

“You have a vivid imagination.” Another kiss. “Don’t think I’ll risk it, but I like the idea.” One hand down to cup his cock. “You obviously do.”

“Mmm.” He also liked the feel of Steven’s hand on his cock, and Steven’s cock against his arse. But now he could savour the sensation, instead of being desperate for more the way he had been at lunchtime. “Keep doing that.”

Steven slid his hand up and down a little, enough to feel good without pushing him too hard. “Not quite so demented with lust now?”

“No. I’m glad to know I’ll probably grow out of it eventually; fast and hard is fun, but I’d rather not do it all the time.” Then he gasped as Steven squeezed him.

“Nice to know you are still interested, though.” Steven undid his fly and reached inside his trousers. Mark reached for his belt, but Steven said, “No. Just leave it for a minute.”

He wasn’t driven by the urgent need of earlier, so he did as he was told. Steven was indulging himself with a slow exploration, teasing Mark’s cock out of his underwear, rewarding him with the sensation of fingers against his bare cock rather than through the thickness of cloth. Then pulling his cock through his open fly, exposing him to the cool air. Steven’s fingers running the length of his cock now, though not hard enough to give the relief he wanted. He might have thought it was teasing, but Steven said wistfully, “It’s nice to get a chance to actually feel it.”

“We were a bit ‘must fuck now’ the first couple of times, weren’t we?” Not just his fault, either. The first time had been Steven’s suggestion, for all that it had been his own naked desire that had started it.

“Mmm. I’m afraid it’s still going to be fast tonight, but I wanted a little bit of foreplay this time.”

And now Mark was in the mood to enjoy it. He could focus on how good it felt to have the heat of Steven’s body at his back, the tantalising feel of a hard cock resting against him without any urgency. He wanted Steven in him, and soon, but he could delay the moment. This was too good to pass up. He put his arm over Steven’s where it rested around his waist, enjoying the feel of a strong man holding him. “That feels good.”

“But not quite enough, I suspect.” Steven let go of his cock. “You can get those trousers down now.”

As he undid his trousers, Steven stepped back from him a little. He could guess why -- the condom. He could offer to put it on, but that would take longer, and now he was feeling the lust for action again. So he simply pushed down his trousers and bent over the desk, waiting for Steven.

A few seconds to wait, and then he could feel Steven again. One hand on his hip, the other brushing against him as Steven guided his cock in. Slowly, carefully, but tonight was easier than the last time. It wasn’t just that he wasn’t so out of practice -- he could feel a chill slickness. “You packed a lube sachet as well as a condom in your wallet this morning?”

“I thought I’d better be a bit more prepared than I was last time.” Deeper and deeper, opening him up. “Wasn’t ... expecting it ... then.”

Then silence for a moment as Steven pushed all the way in.

They held still for a few seconds before Steven began to fuck him in earnest, thrusting hard. “Hell. Could have done with this earlier.”

“Sorry,” Mark said, feeling a bit guilty.

“It’s all the better for waiting.” Hands gripped his hips now, keeping him in place. “And at least this way I get to fuck you before you come.”

Though with the way Steven was making him feel, it wouldn’t be long even if it was his second go of the day. Cock filling him, moving in him, sending a thrill of pleasure up his spine every time Steven shoved into him. And there was the illicit thrill of the fantasy, of playing with the age-old stereotype. Secretary over the boss’s desk, receptacle for his pleasure. “When I was looking for a job, I never thought I’d be one of the fringe benefits. Never mind enjoy it so much.”

Steven laughed, but didn’t stop his steady rhythm. “I should feel guilty for doing this, but it’s so much bloody fun to stick two fingers up to everyone by sticking my cock up you.”

Shared fantasy, overlapping just enough with reality to give it a bite. There’d be gossip if they walked out of here looking as if they’d just been screwing, but there’d be gossip even if there’d never been anything but the utmost decorum between them. So might as well enjoy the naughtiness along with the way it felt to have Steven’s hands on him, Steven in him. Steven speeding up now, his pace more urgent.

Mark shifted position a little, leaning all of his weight on one arm so that he could hold his cock with the other hand. Nice tight grip, stroking in time with Steven’s thrusts. He might not be able to do it on cue, but it was worth trying. “Do you want me to come?”

“Another three or four ... if you can.”

He could make that; he knew he could. Tight fist around his cock, thinking about how they must look. Utterly decadent, and wasn’t it fun? One stroke, and another, and another, and he was finished, feeling it start deep in his balls. He was coming now and couldn’t stop even if he wanted to. And then Steven thrust into him, triggering it, letting it all loose.

He shoved back, needing Steven deep inside. Clamped down around the cock filling him. Heard Steven gasp and swear. He knew they’d done it, they’d come together, and he revelled in it.

They held still for a moment. Nothing to do but enjoy the way it felt. And then, finally, it was over. It still felt good, but all that desperate need was gone.

Even so, he still felt a small chill of disappointment as Steven withdrew from him. There’d be no lying in bed together afterwards, quietly dreaming in each other’s arms. But at least Steven was eager to hold him for a little while when they’d finished. There was more than a brief sexual moment between them.

He stood up straight and looked down at the desk. The hankie had caught most of it this time. He wiped himself and the desk clean, then pulled up his trousers. By the time he’d done that, Steven was more or less tidy as well.

Steven looked at the hankie and grinned. “It’s a bit too crumpled now, but maybe one day we should try your little fantasy.” He took it and pushed it in his pocket. Then he put his arms around Mark. “All right, I give in. I am obviously destined to be the sort of CEO who screws his secretary on a regular basis. At least until you get bored with it.”

“That could take some time. You’re a better lay than I’ve had in a while, and I’m not just saying that because you’re the boss.”

“But my being the boss gives it that little extra thrill, hmm?”

He sighed happily and cuddled Steven. “It had never occurred to me as a fantasy until you pointed out at the interview what other people would think.”

“I’m starting to see the appeal myself.” Steven kissed him, then looked serious. “But I don’t see it as one of the perks of the job. When you get bored with it, say so. It feels good and it’s flattering, but at the end of the day, it’s not what I value you for. And I don’t want to lose you because you think getting out of the job is the only way to get out of, well, this.”

That could be seen as flattery or insult or both, but he understood what Steven was saying. It was only the reverse side of what he’d said to Steven to try to persuade him that the first time had not been a mistake. The professional relationship mattered to them both, mattered a lot more than a fuck did, however good the fuck was. “I will,” he promised.

Steven looked around the office. “We’d better go; it’s getting late.”

Not late at all by the standards of some people in the building, but he knew Steven’s views on chronic late working. If you routinely worked hours of overtime just to prove your loyalty, there was no slack left when it was really needed. And it was getting on towards dinner time.

He thought briefly of asking if Steven would like to go somewhere for dinner, but pushed it away. There was no business reason to, and they were still playing the game of letting people jump to conclusions on no evidence. This office affair stayed in the office for now.

Chapter Eight

Brief stolen moments, occasional long, leisurely lunch breaks. It was all good to him. He wanted to see Steven outside of work, but didn’t like to suggest it. The closest he got was complaining that doing it up against the office furniture still in their clothes was restricting the positions they could use.

“You mean, it’s easier for the straights because you can get a woman’s skirt out of the way without having to take it right off her?” Steven picked him up and sat him on the edge of the desk, then pushed a knee between his. “My counterparts down the hall could do this and then just pull her knickers to one side for a minute.”

“Wouldn’t quite work for us in this position even with our clothes off, but yes, it’s easier for them. I can’t exactly lie back on the desk and think of England, not unless I actually take my trousers right off.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Steven pushed him back so that he was lying on the desk and leaned over him. “As long as you’re willing to settle for frottage, it still works.”

“Idiot!”

Steven put on an expression of mock hurt. “Is that any way to talk to your boss?”

“Yes, when you’re being an idiot. Now let me up; you’ve got a meeting to go to, and I have to get your files ready.” He regretted the necessity, but the job came before he did. And the meeting was important -- the research managers from several different companies would be trying to thrash out a joint research programme to benefit them all.

“I suppose you’re right.” Steven stood up again and offered him a hand. “I’ll just have to settle for watching them watching you when you bring files in for me.”

Mark scrambled to his feet and tidied his clothes. “You still get an enormous kick out of it, don’t you?”

“God, yes. Payback time.” Steven reached out and straightened his tie for him. “I still haven’t had anyone come right out and ask, you know.”

“Neither have I, apart from David that one time. I think the girls just assume that if I want to tell them, I’ll do it without prodding, and nobody else has dared yet.” Three months now, and he’d had plenty of odd looks, and a fair bit of innuendo, but nothing direct. “So what do you want me to do now if anyone asks?”

“I’d tell them to mind their own bloody business,” Steven said. “With whatever level of politeness you think is justified, including telling them to go to hell. It’s hard for anyone to touch me, but it could cause you problems if you went to another job. It’s not even being gay --”

“-- it’s the not taking me seriously as a scientist if I’m just your bit of fluff.” He could see that being a problem. The thesis was on track, but the game he and Steven were playing could still backfire on him.

“Exactly. Now go and get me those files.”

“At once, Supreme Commander.”

Steven grinned at him. “You know, that’s one of the things I like about having another scientist as my PA. Not having to explain stupid geek in-jokes, even when the TV show is older than the PA is.”

It was part of what he liked about the job -- working for someone he could be friends with even outside the job itself. He liked Steven, liked him a great deal, and never mind the sex.

* * * * *

He ended up going to the meeting as well. It was a minor nuisance when he’d been planning to spend the morning going through the budget forecast and comparing it with actual spending on various projects, but the budget forecast wasn’t urgent, and the person who’d been due to act as meeting secretary had called in sick. Besides, it was a good opportunity to meet senior research people from other companies. Some of the committee members were names he knew from correspondence, but had not yet met in the flesh.

He settled down with his laptop at Steven’s side, making a note of people’s names as Steven discreetly told him who the people he hadn’t met yet were. Two of them were either too polite to stare or hadn’t heard the gossip and took it at face value when Steven introduced him as a research assistant. The one who sat next to him asked him whether he had a degree and then chatted amiably about his PhD work as they waited for everyone else to file in.

The meeting went well. He was the only one with a networked machine, so he juggled taking minutes, feeding files to Steven, and looking things up online when people raised questions. He was too busy to pay much attention to what was going on with anyone who wasn’t actually speaking, but apparently they hadn’t been too busy to pay attention to him. As they left, the man who’d been talking to him before the meeting started said to Steven, “You’ve only had him three months, haven’t you? That was an impressive performance.”

“Remember that his PhD project was in a related field. It’s helped him pick up things fast.” Steven put a possessive hand on his shoulder. “Though his PhD supervisor reminds me every so often what a favour he did me by sending Mark along for an interview.” Then a pat. “Better get back to the office and start turning that into a proper set of minutes, Mark. I’ll be along in a minute.”

He did as he was told and was already well into the job of writing up the minutes when Steven arrived a few minutes later. Steven said, “The meeting may have finished on time, but we’re still likely to be a bit late for lunch -- I need to make a phone call, and I’d rather hang around for a while in case anyone thinks of questions afterwards.”

“You’re expecting some?”

“Expecting one or two people to try to change my mind. I’m against this research proposal of Tony Wallace’s. It’s being put forward as a way of benefiting the entire industry, but in reality it’s a way to blackmail the rest of us to give him money to keep his lab funded when his board’s trying to cut expenditure. I didn’t explicitly brief you because I wasn’t expecting you to be at the meeting, or him to try it on again.”

If Mark remembered correctly, Tony Wallace was the lab manager of a big firm that did a lot of contract R&D for other people. He’d been pushing for a jointly funded project on a subject obviously dear to his heart. “So the problem he wants to test for doesn’t really exist?” He’d rather thought that at the time -- the failure mode the man had been talking about was a known but remote possibility.

“It’s a theoretical possibility, but there has never been a single recorded instance of it happening in real life. In spite of the money they’ve had over the years to look into it, and from selling the testing facilities.” Steven drummed his fingers on the desk. “Of course, he puts that forward as proof that the testing really works. It’s an easy way to blackmail people into paying for still more research to prove that the testing was never necessary in the first place.”

“He’s selling elephant repellent powder, then. ‘But there aren’t any elephants around here.’” An old joke, but one that described a certain type of scam very well.

“‘See, it works!’ Except that it’s obvious in the joke, and not so obvious when it’s the minutiae of practical science. He can present the test to outsiders as a sensible safety precaution which the rest of us are only opposing because it will cost us money.” Steven came round the desk to stand next to him and scrolled through his notes. “Here. I’ll probably edit it afterwards, so don’t worry too much about the wording, but I definitely want that brought out, if as politely as possible.”

They spent a minute or two running through the notes, with Steven pointing out more things he wanted emphasised. They were almost at the end when someone came into Mark’s office without bothering to knock.

Mark looked up. Tony Wallace, as predicted. The way he was looking at them made Mark conscious of the way Steven was standing right next to him, leaning over to look at his monitor; one hand on the desk supporting his weight, the other arm casually draped on the back of Mark’s chair. It didn’t signify anything other than they were comfortable in each other’s personal space, but it was obvious from Wallace’s expression that he’d put a more intimate interpretation on it.

“I want a word with you, Steven, when you can tear yourself away.”

“No, you want a long and detailed argument.” Steven stood up straight and glanced at his watch. “It’ll have to wait for five minutes, I’m afraid; I’ve got some phone calls I need to make first.”

“You’ve got time to talk to him.”

“I’ve got time to run through his notes quickly so he can ask any questions he has before getting on with them. And I need to catch someone before she leaves her office. Five minutes.” Steven turned, walked into his office, and shut the door behind him.

Mark wasn’t sure whether the phone call was real or just a way of making a point. He suspected that Wallace wasn’t sure either. But regardless, it seemed a good idea to offer hospitality. Steven had obviously opted for surface politeness rather than all-out war. “Would you like some tea or coffee while you wait?”

“No, thanks. I don’t intend to wait long enough to be drinking it.”

“Fine. There are journals on the coffee table if you’d like something to read.” He turned back to his meeting notes.

After a couple of minutes, Wallace said, “Do you actually do anything around here besides make the tea and look pretty?”

He glanced up. “Yes.” Such as what I would be doing right now if you weren’t interrupting me, you prick. He turned back to his computer.

“So what do you do?”

He obviously wasn’t going to get any work done while Tony Wallace was in the office, so he pushed the keyboard away and sat back in his chair. “Whatever needs to be done to keep this office running smoothly. I’m a cross between a research assistant and a PA.”

Wallace came over and leaned on his desk. “Emphasis on the personal, eh?”

There was something about the tone that took it well past the curiosity or polite disapproval he’d encountered so far and right into insulting -- and salacious. “Emphasis on the research, as it happens. That’s why he hired a scientist.”

“And you end up sitting looking decorative in a rich man’s office. Does he just look at you, or do you sacrifice everything for the job?”

He didn’t feel like dancing round the subject, and he thought Wallace was likely to take ‘none of your business’ as a victory. “It wouldn’t be much of a sacrifice if I did. He’s not just rich; he’s the best-looking man in the building.” He looked Tony Wallace up and down. Wallace wasn’t ugly, but he also wasn’t someone you’d look at twice. Not that that was all that interested Mark in a man. “And he’s intelligent, and interesting, and funny when he wants to be.”

“So you are queer. But of course he only hired you because you’re a good scientist. No little extras provided.”

“Oh, he’s a good scientist,” Steven said, and Wallace jumped. “Bob keeps trying to steal him from me.” Steven was leaning on the doorpost between the offices, arms folded. He gave Wallace a cold stare. “I’m free now, so you can stop harassing my PA, thank you.”

“I was just making conversation.”

“Yes, some of the PAs I know talk about your idea of making conversation. I’m surprised you’d try it on Mark, though. I didn’t think he’d be to your taste, pretty though he might be.”

“You --” Then Wallace shut up. “Winding me up won’t work. I’ve got something to discuss with you, Steven. I’m not going to let you distract me.”

Steven got off the doorpost and swept an arm out in invitation. “Step into my office and discuss away.”

Wallace stepped into Steven’s office, and Steven followed, shutting the door behind him. Mark turned back to his computer with a sigh of relief. So he hadn’t just been imagining something unpleasantly salacious about the man’s attitude. He had a feeling that if he’d been female and Steven hadn’t interrupted, the conversation could have got a lot more personal. Not that he thought Wallace was interested in him, but he’d been getting echoes of what was probably Wallace’s usual script.

He decided to ask the piranhas about it later. They’d have any local gossip on the man. And somehow he didn’t think they’d like Wallace either.

* * * * *

Ten minutes later, the connecting door was flung open.

“There’ll be other people who’ll back me up, Steven.” Wallace stalked out into the office.

Steven strode after him. “Not enough, Tony. And I’m committee chair now. One of my staff’s just become the committee secretary, and I think I’ll make it permanent. So I control the minutes.”

“Just because you don’t like me --”

“I don’t like you. But I also don’t like someone trying to screw money out of other companies for a useless project, and that’s why I’m going to quash this proposal.”

Wallace turned placating. “Come on. You scratch my back; I’ll scratch yours. You know how it works.”

“Yes, I know how it works. And you know what I think of those little games, especially when it’s my money. I own this company, remember. And even the committee members who just work for big, faceless companies have their own budgets to protect. For some of them it will be their department budget you rip off. Money they could have otherwise spent on something useful.” Steven was subtly herding Wallace towards the outer door. Mark watched the technique with interest. “The answer’s no, and it’s staying no, so you may as well stop wasting your time and go for one of those long lunches before going back to your office to grope your secretary.”

“And why not?” Wallace snarled. “Hell, if the woman wants to wave her tits at me, why should I say no?”

“Your wife, for one reason.”

Mark didn’t think Steven was faking the disgust. Tony Wallace apparently did.

“Always looking down your nose at us, you bloody queer. You can’t satisfy a woman, so you sneer at those who can. But you’re just the same when you do get your hands on someone who’s to your tastes.” Wallace jabbed a finger at Mark. “Can’t wait to bend him over the desk. Nice to know you’re just like the rest of us, Stevie boy.”

“No, there’s one difference,” Steven said. “If yours waves her tits at you, you’ve no way of knowing whether it’s real. Whether she really wants you, or just the nice presents you buy her on the company expense account. You’ll never, ever be quite certain whether that orgasm’s faked, whether she and her friends giggle together in the ladies’ about how easy you are to fool.” He stepped right up to Wallace and smiled nastily from a distance of six inches. “If mine waves his cock at me, I’ll know exactly what he wants and who he wants it from. And I’ll know for sure whether I’ve been able to give it to him, because the evidence will be all over that desk I’ve bent him over.”

“Bastard!”

“My parents will be celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary next year, so no, I don’t think so.”

Wallace stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him. Or trying to -- the rubber cushioning meant that it didn’t slam very well. Steven watched him go, then said, “Well, that should stir things up a bit.”

“Is he one of the boasters?”

“The bragging I have to listen to in the executives’ gents’? He’s one of the worst. If you believed the hints he drops, you’d think he’d had half the women in his company. And he’s married.”

He thought back to the conversation while Steven had been on the phone. “Does he make a habit of coming on to secretaries?”

“Yes.” Steven looked at him. “He didn’t actually come on to you, did he? I’d have sworn he was completely straight.”

“Not quite. Just ... there was something about the way he was talking about you screwing me that made me feel as if he thinks that’s what anyone in your position does. Secretaries and PAs are fair game.” He pinned down Wallace’s ambivalent attitude. “But he doesn’t want to screw me, so he kept flipping between seeing me as a secretary and as another man.” Not a pleasant experience. He didn’t really want to see any more of the man this morning.

This lunchtime, in fact. He hit the remote lock. “If he comes back, we’ve gone out.”

Steven came over and sat on his desk. “I heard what you said to him about me. It was exactly the right way to get under his skin.”

He’d said it not knowing that Steven was listening to them. “I meant it, you know.”

“It was obvious you did. That was why it pissed him off so much when I needled him about his secretary stringing him along. If I’d suggested she was only screwing him because she was afraid of him, he’d have still seen that as validation of his masculinity. But laughing at him, that’s another matter.” Steven stood up abruptly and strode across to the window. He leaned on the safety rail and stared out at the view. “There are times when I really hate some of those people.”

There’d be no more work for a while, that was obvious. Mark closed down his computer and went across to stand next to Steven, putting an arm around him. He could feel the tension in Steven’s body -- he was hiding it well, but Steven was very, very angry. “He’s not worth it.”

“No, he isn’t. But that phone call I made? It was to Maggie, to check with gossip central whether he was the reason the woman who’s been the committee secretary until now phoned in sick. I shouldn’t have to do that.” Steven clenched his hands on the rail until his knuckles turned white. “Something someone said after you left made me wonder. Maggie isn’t sure, but she thinks it’s likely.”

Now he knew why Steven was so angry, could feel the anger rising in himself as well. He didn’t mind the general assumption that he and Steven were having an affair. Not from people who saw a good working relationship between two gay men and naturally wondered if there was anything more to it. But from a man who indulged in sexually harassing women and assumed Steven was doing the same to Mark, it was a different matter.

Steven went on, “And then he’s got the effrontery to come in here and sneer at you, when I know damn well we’ve never actually done anything in public to warrant it.”

They hadn’t. They’d simply never gone out of their way to deny anything, and that was all the evidence anyone had. Steven had been scrupulous about keeping his hands to himself in front of an audience. Even when he’d been taunting Tony Wallace just now, he hadn’t outright said that they actually were fucking. Just that if they did, Steven would know whether Mark wanted it. “There are times I’m very tempted to hold hands with you walking to and from lunch, just to give them something real to talk about,” Mark said.

“Oh, yes.” Steven looked down at the street below, to where the shoppers went unaware about their business, never looking up. “Or to be able to hold you in front of this window without thinking about whether the lights are on.” And Steven did just that, turning to hold him tight, kiss him roughly.

He could still feel the tension in Steven’s body. He hugged him back, not returning the kiss but not pushing Steven away, either. Then he could feel Steven’s erection. Just the adrenaline, probably, but not for long, not with the way the kiss was becoming more urgent.

Steven abruptly pulled away. “Shit. I’m behaving as badly as he does!”

“No, you’re not.” He stroked Steven’s back. “You don’t assume I’m there for the taking, even though you know I want you.” He looked up, just to check. “And the lights are off. We’ve got time before lunch, and I’d feel better as well.”

“It’s going to be rough,” Steven warned.

“I’ll manage.” He fished in his pocket for a condom and tore open the packet as Steven got his fly undone. With a quick, practiced movement, he rolled the condom down over Steven’s cock, Steven gasping at his touch. Yes, it was going to be rough, because Steven was too wound up to take things slowly. Good thing he was well in practice these days.

Steven slapped a sachet of lube into his hand and let him smooth the gel over Steven’s cock. He could feel his own cock aching with need now, and from the same mix of anger and arousal. A fast fuck to make them both feel better, and then they could go and find somewhere for lunch. He threw the empty sachet on the floor and turned to face the window, then pulled his trousers down and leaned on the rail.

They’d better be right about the window being opaque from outside in this lighting, or he could be done for indecent exposure. But it felt good to stand naked to the world with Steven at his back. Steven, who had the power, and the balls, to hire a young gay man as his PA and let the world think what it liked.

“I want you to fuck me. Now.”

And Steven did. Cock sliding into him, fast but not too fast for him to handle. Then good hard thrusting, filling him deep. It was rough, just as Steven had warned him, but he was in the mood for rough now. He braced himself against the rail and didn’t move as Steven hammered into him.

He wasn’t sure if he could come in time. Wanted to. Wanted to give Steven that reassurance that he loved this, craved it. But then Steven reached around, took hold of his cock with one hand, leaned on the rail with the other. The tight fist worked his cock as Steven drove into his arse, and he knew he could come. He could feel it almost there, not much more now to tip him over the edge.

And Steven gave it to him, with one last thrust and then a muttered, “Need you, Mark.”

His cock answered the last squeeze of Steven’s hand with a matching pulse, and another, and another, spraying come over the window. He was too busy enjoying himself to care about the mess. To care about whether anyone could see them. All he cared about was the feel of his lover inside him, his lover’s arm around him as he came.

Fast and furious, and it was glorious. As Steven finally slipped out of him, Mark turned around to hold him. “Feel better now?”

“Yes.” Steven hugged him hard. “Thanks.”

They cleaned up in silence. He wiped the window clean of the evidence of his pleasure, rather regretting having to do so, but obeying the dictates of common sense. When they and the office were quite respectable once more, he said, “It’s a nice day. Let’s go out to one of the pubs for lunch.”

“Somewhere where nobody will try to talk to us about work. Good idea.”

* * * * *

As they walked back from lunch, he looked up at the building once again. There were dim figures behind some windows; others were blank panes staring out across the city.

“It’s its own little world in there,” Steven said beside him. “A small town unto itself. All those scenes from a soap opera playing out inside, and nobody out here even notices.”

“No brooding.” He poked Steven in the side. “Come on, I’ve got minutes to write up.”

“And I’ve doubtless got something terribly important in my diary that you’ll be nagging me about. Let’s get inside.”

Chapter Nine

There was surprisingly little fallout from the row with Wallace. The piranhas closed in on them at lunch the next day, but Steven had calmed down by then and was happy to indulge their quest for accurate information. So Mark gave them a word-for-word account of the bits that had happened to him or in front of him.

Maggie picked up the significance of the wording he and Steven had used. “And you never even said that you actually are screwing. He just assumed it.”

“Yeah, because he would in Steven’s place,” one of the others said. “He ate lunch in the restaurant yesterday, and he was bitching to anyone who’d listen that you’d tried to cut him out of a deal because he’d questioned whether your relationship was proper. And Brian actually said to him that he had a bad case of projection.”

Maggie said, “Given how much fun you two have had out of winding people up, it didn’t seem likely you’d be offended simply by someone saying something about it.”

Well, normally he wouldn’t, but he’d make an exception for Tony Wallace. “There was just something really sleazy about the way he said it. But the only reason he was in our office was to bug Steven to change his mind about the funding for his project, so it’s a bit cheeky of him to claim that Steven cut the funding during the meeting because of what he said to us afterwards.”

“And who says we’ve been winding people up?” Steven asked.

The women snickered, and Maggie said, “Don’t play the innocent, Steven. You’ve been daring people to say something about it since the day the boy started.”

Steven raised his hands in surrender. “All right. It did occur to me that there might be comment. But I warned Mark before he took the job.” His tone turned serious. “And you know that if we had said anything about it, it would have only fuelled things.”

“Mmm,” another woman said. “Anyway, we’re glad you told Tony where to get off. One of my friends works for someone else that sleazeball visits for meetings, and she hates him. He knows exactly how to say things that would sound silly to get upset over if you complained about it.”

Mark had never understood the degree of networking that went on until he’d come to work for Steven. He’d been a small cog in a large company, and it had all passed above his head. Now he was seeing that at a high level, in much smaller companies, a lot of them did know each other. And so did their staff. “You lot are scary. Do you all have databases in your heads of who does what with which and to whom?”

Tracy smiled at him. “Why do you think Steven dumped you in with us that first week? It was the fastest way for you to get to learn who’s who in this building.”

“And I’m grateful for the help.”

“It’s no trouble,” Maggie said. “Steven knows how to ask nicely.”

He had a much better idea now of why that mattered to them. Too many people didn’t ask nicely. Not all, not even the majority, but enough to make them appreciate Steven. And as they’d said to him over lunch a few weeks back, he and Steven looked at their faces when they were talking to them, not at their breasts.

“Maybe I should just talk to Tony Wallace’s cock the next time he’s in my office, the same way he talks to tits,” he muttered.

The grins he got in return were not so much piranha-like as shark-like.

“That’s done it,” Steven said. “They’ll be suggesting exactly that to anyone who annoys them for the next few weeks.”

“Maybe not,” Maggie said. “But we’ll be thinking it.”

There was a chorus of agreement.

* * * * *

Whether it was that, or just nobody taking Tony Wallace seriously anyway, the end result was no more comments from anyone. Including Wallace himself. The draft minutes went out by email that afternoon in the form Steven wanted, and a majority of the committee accepted them the same day as a true record of the meeting. The novelty of “Steven’s new secretary” had already worn off for most people.

There was one change, but that was between themselves. He tried to keep Friday afternoon clear of meetings and appointments for Steven. It was mostly to ensure that Steven had half a day at the end of the week to clear up any outstanding work, but it had the benefit of giving them at least one lunchtime a week free of interruptions. They didn’t always have sex, but it was nice to have time together.

So that Friday he expected to have more than a cup of tea with Steven after lunch. They’d had a relatively quiet morning, and Steven had been able to eat lunch with him in the canteen. When they got back to the office, Steven picked up the current New Scientist and retreated to his office while Mark made the tea. “I still haven’t had time to look at it yet.”

“You’ve got time to read the letters page while the tea’s brewing. Go on, I’ll bring your tea in.”

When he’d made the tea, he took his own magazine in to sit and read with Steven. No need to hurry this afternoon; there was plenty of time to let lunch settle and drink their tea first.

But by the time he’d finished his tea, he was getting interested in something to keep him going over the weekend. He went over to Steven’s desk, moved the magazine out of the way, and sat down in its place. “We’re not busy this afternoon.”

Steven looked up at him. “Sorry, Mark. I don’t think I can manage.”

There had been occasions before when Steven hadn’t been able to get it up. But they’d usually been when Mark had simply outpaced him, with the advantage of youth. That couldn’t be the case today, not when they hadn’t had sex for a couple of days. Not since that hard and fast release of anger in front of the window, in fact.

“What’s wrong?” Somewhere deep inside, jealousy stirred, an unspoken fear that Steven had found someone else. He knew it was ridiculous; Steven wouldn’t lie to him. But sometime in the last three months it had started to matter to him whether this was just an office fling for Steven.

Steven rubbed a hand over his face. “Didn’t sleep well last night. And I don’t deal well with waking up early.”

It looked true enough. The faint marks of end-of-week tiredness were more pronounced than usual. “Are you all right?”

“I think the business earlier this week was getting to me. It bothered me more than I expected when someone finally did make an issue of it.”

That made sense. “If it had been someone who was just having an affair with a willing woman, it wouldn’t have bothered you. Tony Wallace does because he doesn’t care whether someone’s willing, and you do.” He leaned down and patted Steven’s hand. “However, I am very, very willing.”

Steven laughed and took hold of his hand. “Yes, you are.” Then he let go and put his hands between Mark’s knees, pulling them apart. “I’m sure I can manage something for you, if you can do without my cock.” He pulled his chair forward so that his legs were partway under the desk and Mark was straddling him. “Get your cock out.”

Mark would be more than happy with a hand job. Steven was very good at it. He undid his trousers and pulled his cock out, enjoying the feel of his own hand but anticipating the feel of Steven’s.

He expected Steven to pull out a hankie. Instead he pulled out a condom and tore open the packet.

“The hankie feels nicer, even if doesn’t do such a good job of catching the mess,” Mark objected.

Steven rolled the condom onto him. “The role-playing is fun. But we don’t have to stick absolutely to the roles. And if I’m not sticking my cock into you anyway ...”

Steven leaned over and put his mouth around the head of Mark’s cock.

A shock ran through Mark. He’d sucked Steven’s cock often enough, but never the other way around. Not until now. Steven had never gone on his knees in front of him.

Though Steven wasn’t on his knees now, was he?

Then Steven sucked hard, and suddenly questions about who was on top didn’t matter anymore. All he cared about was how good it felt to have Steven working his cock with hand and mouth. Hand wrapped tightly around the shaft. Hot mouth around the head, tongue pressing hard against him. Steven’s other arm pressed against his thigh where Steven was leaning on the desk for support.

Still not quite believing it, he ran his hands through Steven’s hair. No urge to grab, not yet, even though he was hard and ready. Time to enjoy sensation, the texture of soft hair against his hands while he was able to look down at Steven.

Then Steven let go, sat up a little, and pushed gently at him. “Lean back.”

He did as he was told, leaning back at an angle and putting his hands behind him to support himself. Classic porn pose, really, but there was a practical reason for it besides the “come and get it” message it sent. Steven could and did take more of his cock.

Not just sucking. Licking and kissing; light teasing touches alternating with a hard squeeze from the couple of fingers Steven still had wrapped around the bottom of the shaft. Paying him back for the times he’d done the same to Steven, keeping him on the edge.

He sat back and enjoyed it. No need to worry about whether he’d come too soon, because it didn’t matter today. Not when Steven had said bluntly he didn’t expect to get it up. Couldn’t even try to touch Steven, not in this position. It was all about him, about Steven finding out what he liked, about what made him plead for Steven to do it harder. Tongue finding the most sensitive spot on his cock, then pulling away again until he begged for more.

His back was getting a bit uncomfortable, so he swung his feet up and rested them on the arms of Steven’s chair. That was much more comfortable, although he could just imagine what this would look like to anyone who walked in now. Him sprawled across Steven’s desk, his head flung back, with Steven’s head buried in his crotch. From decadent to completely and utterly debauched.

It just added spice. Not that he needed it, not with the way Steven had taken most of his cock. No fancy tricks now, just hard sucking. Almost there now, he could feel his balls tightening.

Then Steven shifted position, got a hand on his balls. Squeezed gently.

It was enough. He came, whimpering in pleasure. Steven held him in his mouth until he’d quite finished, welcoming warmth surrounding him until the last pulse of his cock died away.

As Steven finally let him go, he collapsed back to lie on the desk. He had no energy now, was content to simply lie there for a moment.

“Better now?” Steven asked.

“Mmm.”

“Let’s get you cleaned up.” Steven stripped the condom off him. “I need to move my chair.”

“Sorry.” He dragged himself upright and swung his feet back down, leaving Steven free to move. He tidied his clothes while Steven disposed of the condom.

Then he was able to hug Steven. “Thanks. That was a bit of a change. Not that I’m complaining, but that prat’s not still getting to you, is he?”

“Not getting to me, as such.” Steven hugged him back and stroked his hair. “But I did realise that we’ve been having so much fun with the fantasy that we’ve never done anything that really broke out of the male boss, female secretary roles.”

“You like being the top, but that doesn’t mean you have to be on top.” Mark knew exactly who’d been in charge the last five minutes, and it hadn’t been him.

But Steven was right about the influence the fantasy had had. Steven was certainly willing to finish him off by hand, but really, what they had done had been more or less what any straight couple might do, with a little adjustment here and there, but no role reversal. This was the first time they’d done something that emphasised that there were two cocks in this relationship. “We really have been role-playing, haven’t we?”

Steven grinned at him. “Well, it’s a lot of fun.” A quick kiss, then, “But it wasn’t just Tony Wallace. It was you grumbling before that about the positions we use. You’ve never complained about it being one-sided, but I thought it was time to try something different.”

“I liked it. I’m not complaining about things being one-sided; I like being your bit of fluff. But I wouldn’t mind doing that again occasionally.”

“Well, it’s a good one for when I’m interested but not quite interested enough.”

He could feel what Steven meant. Steven’s cock was making some sort of effort, but was definitely feeling tired. “You enjoyed doing it?”

“Your response was extremely flattering to my middle-aged ego. It’s nice to know I haven’t lost my touch.” Steven let go of him and stepped back. “Let’s go and sit down.”

The couch might be much too small to use as an impromptu bed, as they’d already realised, but it was certainly nice for sitting on afterwards for a cuddle. He followed Steven through to his own office, and they had their cuddle. Then another cup of tea, and then Steven finally said, “We’d better get some work done this afternoon.”

The obvious reluctance in Steven’s voice did wonders for Mark’s ego. But he got up and went back to his desk. “Slavedriver.”

“And don’t you love it.”

Yes. Yes, he did. A job he loved, working for a man he rather thought he might love. And now he knew why Maggie had warned him, that first week. It was too damned easy to fall for the boss.

Chapter Ten

They did it by the window quite a lot after that. There was something about it that appealed to them both. Not just the thought of doing it and to hell with what anyone else thought. The fantasy of doing it in front of a window was just that, a fantasy, allowed by tinted glass and an office high in the sky where nobody could look in; but the window and its view across the city was a symbol of Steven’s very real wealth and position.

Mark found that his position as Steven’s assistant gave him a lot more influence than most people realised. There was always that tendency to underestimate him, even after the novelty had worn off for most people. A few people took him seriously as a scientist in his own right, of course. The ones who realised that his name on some of the research reports that came out of Steven’s office wasn’t just for show.

Bob Gordon, the lab manager, was one of the people who took him very seriously indeed. Bob had even offered to read his PhD thesis before he submitted it to the examiners, an offer Mark had enthusiastically accepted. Sanjay would read it, of course, but a pair of fresh eyes was always good. Having someone with Bob’s experience look through it would make him feel a lot more confident that he and Sanjay hadn’t missed anything.

So Bob was one of the people he’d always make time for. Even when it involved answering the phone when he was about to leave the office for lunch.

“Mark? The trial’s off for today. The buggers had an unscheduled shutdown, and now they want to make up for lost production time.”

“Damn.” Bob’s team was supposed to be running the early plant trials on some new control equipment for one of their biggest customers. “How long?”

“They say they can let us on late tonight if we don’t mind running it overnight. Fuckers. The pricks know this is urgent and it’s easier for us to just stay than go home and come back later in the week.”

“Will you be all right doing a night shift without warning?” He knew what was likely to happen. The team could be hanging around for hours.

“We’ll be fine. I thought something was up when we arrived, so I sent the lads and lasses back to the hotel and told them to get some kip. But if the stupid buggers have us up all night with nought to show for it, I’ll be sending them an addendum to the bill.” Then a bellowed, “Put that thermocouple wire down, you thieving shite!” Back to a normal tone. “Sorry to shout in your ear, lad.”

He deduced that someone had been foolish enough to try lifting some platinum wire under Bob’s watchful eye. It was a perennial problem on plant trials, where some of the workers thought that “scrap metal” was anything not nailed down. “Do you want a word with Steven, or shall I tell him?”

“You tell him. I’d better go and bang a few heads together.”

Bob hung up, and Mark went into Steven’s office to pass on the news. Steven was fairly philosophical about it. “Would you mind coming in early tomorrow if necessary?”

“You want to start things moving on shipping stuff to the new site if it works out?” One of the other factories had heard about the new equipment and was nagging to get to try it out if it worked.

“They seem a lot keener on it than the site their head office picked for the trial, so the sooner we can move the prototype to them the better.” Steven pulled up the relevant file on his computer. “I wish we could have gone with them first for the plant trials, but I can understand their accountants not wanting to cough up for overseas expenses until we proved that the thing actually works when you take it out of the lab.”

“Well, we can see how things go tomorrow morning.” He’d be interested in this -- it was the first big project to go to plant trials since he’d got sufficiently settled in to pay attention to the details of the work the lab did.

“I don’t normally go for dragging myself in early, but I want to see how this one goes,” Steven said. “Seven-thirty suit you, or is that too early?”

Mark mentally ran through the Tube timetables. “Should be able to manage it. Just don’t expect me to be wide awake in the afternoon.”

* * * * *

He was in first, arriving a little early. It was still dark this early in the morning, but he didn’t bother to put the lights on in the office, preferring to look out of the window at the predawn sky. Not that there was much night sky to speak of in London; the light pollution of the city saw to that. But there was the ever-changing cityscape below, and the buildings that surrounded his, silhouetted against the first pink glow of dawn. There were lights on in some of the offices elsewhere, some left on overnight, others showing movement within the office so lit up, another early bird or perhaps people who routinely came in this early.

There were pedestrians in the street below him, though not as many as there would be in an hour or so, when the trains and buses disgorged the main rush of office workers. A few night workers making their way home, others coming in before the rush. The city never slept, but it was still a little dozy at this hour, not quite fully awake.

He left the view for a moment, turning his back on it to go and check his email for any messages from Bob. One grumpy note to say that they hadn’t been able to start until after midnight; as he closed it, the phone rang.

“Bob?”

“Good, someone’s there. The buggers mucked us around, but we got the run started. Is Steven there?”

“Not yet, but he should be in a minute or two. How’s it going?”

“Slower than expected, but working.” Bob gave him a rapid summary of the night, liberally sprinkled with swear words. “I’ve just grabbed a spare minute, but we’re about to start the final run as soon as I get off the phone. At least an hour, not more than two unless it all goes to hell in the last run. Tell Steven ...” There was a pause. “Tell our lord and master not to bother me for at least an hour.”

“And I won’t even put back the swearing you just edited out.” He knew how readily Bob reverted to the language he’d learned working on the factory floor.

Bob laughed. “Cheeky young sod.” There was a click as he hung up.

Mark set down the phone and walked back to the window. They needn’t have come in early after all; but by the time Bob knew that, he couldn’t have let them know without disturbing them anyway.

Well, at least it meant that he and Steven would have some time together when they didn’t have to be doing anything else. A little bit of time snatched out of the working day, when they could be lovers and not just colleagues. He looked down at the ground below, at the pedestrians hurrying to get inside their warm buildings, and thought of how it would feel to be held safe and warm in Steven’s arms. Only a few minutes now.

An hour before they could expect any news from Bob. An hour when nothing else was scheduled, before the real start of the working day. Time to take things slowly, though he doubted it would be slow. Time to have sex and then watch the sunrise together. They’d never done that before.

There were times when he regretted having got caught up in this. It had been a game between them, the pair of them united in laughing at the world. And then the game had become real, but not real enough. And now he wanted more and didn’t know how to ask for it. There was too much at stake, too much that mattered to both of them.

He had that, at least. He knew he was important to Steven. But Steven had made it clear that he was sufficiently important in other ways that the sex was secondary. Not just the job itself; he was a link with the engineering culture Steven had had to leave behind when he’d moved to this office. Someone to talk to about things other than commerce. They had common interests, a common background, that made them friends in spite of the generation gap. But you could be friends with someone, have regular sex with them, without it being more than just friends. And he’d never seen Steven outside work.

Even so, he had plenty to be grateful for. An interesting, well-paid job that he thoroughly enjoyed. One where he didn’t have to hide what he was. And a lover who was a perfect match for his fantasies.

Fantasies, but no illusions. He didn’t have dreams to break about Steven marrying him, because unlike the straight men, Steven couldn’t marry the pretty young secretary. Not unless the law changed.

They’d both expected the novelty to wear off, but somehow it hadn’t. His cock still hardened at the sight of Steven, the sound of his voice. He loved the feel of Steven’s hands on his body, what Steven could do to him with his cock. It wasn’t just the good looks and the voice, but who Steven was. A man secure in his own power, that peculiar blend of the ruthlessness he wasn’t ashamed of and his refusal to abuse power. A predator with a conscience.

He heard the door open.

“Good morning, Mark.”

He turned away from the window to face Steven. Took in the view inside the office as Steven set his briefcase down on the desk.

Steven asked. “How did the production trial go?”

“They’re running late, but not that late.” The important part; he’d give the details in a minute.

Steven smiled at that. “I thought as much. It never changes.”

“Bob only managed one swear word per sentence, so I think it’s merely annoying rather than a real problem.” Mark had learned to calibrate by Bob’s language. The lab manager had sounded frustrated but not worried. “He said it’ll be at least an hour late, but no more than two if nothing else goes wrong. And don’t disturb him.”

“An hour to kill.” Steven walked over to stand in front of him. “And there isn’t anything urgent to do.”

Mark turned away from Steven, leaned on the railing in front of the window to look down at the street below. “It’s nice, to be here when it’s quiet and peaceful like this.”

Then he felt Steven move in behind him, standing close enough that they were touching, and put his arms around Mark so that Steven too was leaning on the railing. Sexual, but not just sexual. It was as much a shared moment between friends. There was a wistful note in Steven’s voice as he said, “I dreamed of having an office like this, of being able to stand here and say, ‘here I am,’ and now I’ve got it, I don’t have time to appreciate it.”

A quiet moment together, a moment out of time. They stood in silence, looking at the city spread out beneath their feet. In the twilight the floor-to-ceiling glass seemed invisible, giving him the illusion of nothing between him and the drop but the railing and Steven’s arms around him.

It wasn’t just the drop that made him feel a little giddy. It was the thought of standing here in his lover’s arms for all the world to see. He knew the truth, that the tinted glass hid them. But he knew also the deeper truth, that Steven was not ashamed of him, would willingly stand here with him even if the glass were clear. No hiding from the world that he was gay.

One still moment between them, enjoying the view that Steven had fought for and won. Then Steven kissed the back of his neck and pulled him tight against him, Steven’s erect cock resting against his arse.

“Ready?” That musical voice was a little harsher now, rough with desire.

“Always.” It had become part of his daily routine, to make sure that he was clean and lubed so that they could snatch a spare moment without worrying about more than the condom.

Steven put a hand on Mark’s fly, opening it with practised ease. Slipped his hand in to hold Mark’s cock. Just holding it, for now, a caress, a way for Steven to satisfy himself that Mark wanted him.

No doubt about that; he’d been hard and wanting it since before Steven had arrived. Now he leaned back against Steven and moaned in pleasure as Steven played with his cock, stroking it, rubbing a thumb over the tip. Lazy, leisurely foreplay, and it wasn’t enough. What he wanted now was a good, tight grip. “Harder, you bastard!”

“Been thinking about this?”

“For the last ten minutes, since Bob phoned to say they’d be running late.”

“The young have no patience.” He could hear in Steven’s voice that he was smiling. “We’ve an hour.”

“Someone will come in before then.” That was his real regret about being only a personal assistant and not the partner or even openly acknowledged lover. It wasn’t Steven’s ring he wanted, that trophy desired by some of the women he was friends with. No, what he wanted was Steven’s body all to himself, in his bed at night. A place where he didn’t have to share him with anyone else, with the demands of work.

“All right.” Steven shoved his trousers down, exposing his cock to anyone who looked through the window, taking things past what might be possible to do even in front of clear glass and into the realm of sheer defiance. It might have been safe even in front of clear glass, at this height and in this light, but even so there was a thrill to it. He imagined a peeping Tom in the building opposite, scanning their window with binoculars, in the way he sometimes thought about doing himself, and dropping them in surprise.

Then Steven stepped back, and Mark heard the sound of a condom packet being ripped open. Always careful, always self-controlled in some things, even when he was desperate to get his cock inside Mark. Never letting himself be provoked into something he’d regret later.

And then Steven let go of that self-control, taking him fast, slamming into him. As eager for this as Mark was. Had to have been thinking about this as he sat on the early morning train.

And before that? Was this something Steven only thought about in office hours? Or did he ever think about it when he was lying in bed at night?

Then it didn’t matter anymore. All that mattered was the here and now, Steven hammering into him, reaching around to seize his cock in a strong grip. Mark leaned on the railing, supporting them both, letting Steven take them both to the point of no return. Not quite there yet, and he was desperate now.

He squeezed the railing, holding tight, feet firmly grounded while his mind soared into one last fantasy. Open air beyond him, not glass; and when he came, it would shoot out into space, out over the heads of all those people oblivious below. The entire city for his taking, his and Steven’s.

Harder fucking now, Steven not teasing him anymore but giving him what he needed to come. Hand stroking his cock hard, rhythmically squeezing it in time with the thrusting into his body. Twin assaults on his body and senses, Steven’s hand on his cock, Steven’s cock dragging over that sensitive place inside, sending shivers through him. Thrust and squeeze, thrust and squeeze, and then he knew he was on the edge.

A whisper in his ear. “Go on, come over the whole damn city.”

He’d never confessed the fantasy to Steven, and yet Steven knew it. Shared it? The order was enough, and he did as he was told, spraying the city with his semen. Standing safe within the circle of Steven’s arms, high above the city still dozing before a late dawn.

When he’d finished, when he’d garlanded the entire damned city with a pearl necklace, Steven was still thrusting inside him. But only for another stroke or two. As Steven finally stopped deep inside him and shuddered and swore in triumph, Mark stared through the smeared glass at the tiny figures below. They were distorted, not quite real.

But what he had here was real. This office and this view and the man who commanded it. It was his for eight hours a day and a little either side, in whatever corners of time he could snatch from the working day; but it was his and it was real. And on this dark early morning, for a few precious minutes there were no distractions, no reminders of the outside world. Just the view from the window, and the two of them to share it.

Chapter Eleven

Steven let go of his cock and put both arms around his waist. They stood together for a few minutes, silent save for their rapid breathing. Then Steven nuzzled his neck and said, “Sit down for a minute?”

Mark was reluctant to let go of the moment, but at least today they’d have time to hold each other afterwards. As Steven let him loose, he pulled up his trousers, then fetched something to wipe the window. When they’d cleaned up, they went to sit on the couch.

Steven put an arm around him. “At least nowadays it’s not too much of a disappointment to get here and find that I needn’t have come in early after all.”

“You’re not about to go and start work, are you?”

“No. This is not office hours, and I’m damn well going to enjoy the opportunity to sit here and just be with you.” Steven brushed his free hand over Mark’s face, caressing him. “Though I’d still like a cup of tea.” Slight smile. “I can stay up late with no trouble, but I don’t enjoy getting out of bed early.”

Mark took hold of Steven’s hand and squeezed it for a moment, then got up and put the kettle on. He might have chattered about the reason why they were here this early, but it seemed too much like letting work intrude into a rare moment of peace. Steven seemed to feel the same, for he sat in silence, watching as Mark made two mugs of tea.

He set both mugs down on the table, then sat down next to Steven and hugged him. “Be nice to watch the sunrise from here.”

“Mmm. You’ve never been here early enough, have you? It looks as if it’s a clear day.”

There was light and colour in the sky even now, the dawn well in progress. They wouldn’t be able to see the sun itself from this office, but they could watch as the light of a new day washed over the surrounding buildings and then down into the city. He kicked off his shoes and snuggled up to Steven, enjoying the contact.

“Look,” Steven said, pointing at the building nearby. “There’s the sun now.”

A cloud must have moved away, for the top two floors of the building had just lit up with a pink glow. They watched for a few minutes as the line between night and day crept down the building, the top half bright in sunshine, the bottom half still dull. He’d seen the process in reverse, the sunset at the end of a winter’s day, but this was the first time he’d seen sunrise from here. It was an odd feeling, a moment of intimacy with Steven that seemed quite outside the world of the office, even if that was where they happened to be sitting.

He found the courage to speak. “It’s nice, having time with you that isn’t about work.”

“Just ... being together?” Steven turned away from the view and looked at him. Kissed him. Not the hard, possessive kiss of sex, but a gentle gesture of affection.

Mark was trying to find the words to say what he wanted, what he needed. “I ...”

And then the phone rang, shattering the quiet, starting the day.

Steven’s finger over his lips, sealing them so he could say no more. “Later.” One word as promise.

They hadn’t even had their hour. But he knew they couldn’t ignore the phone, just in case it was Bob. So he watched in miserable silence as Steven let go of him, stood up, walked over to the desk. Watched as the lover vanished and the businessman took over, Steven focusing on the phone conversation.

Then he focused on the conversation as well, the side of it he could hear. He could just make out the tone of Bob’s voice. Angry. And earlier than expected. Mark started pulling his shoes on, knowing that they were working now, regardless of the hour.

“Anybody hurt?” Steven asked.

Brief answer.

“Good. Seal the area; get the video footage before anyone thinks to wipe it. Threaten them with lawyers if you have to.” Steven glanced up at him. “Mark, be ready to clear my diary of anything that’s not urgent.” Attention back to the phone. “Get back and sit on it, Bob. Thanks.”

Steven set the phone down. “There’s been an accident, only Bob doesn’t think it was an accident. Someone’s fucked around with the water supply to the cooling jacket, and there was an explosion. Contained, fortunately. It’ll be one of those fools in the factory, playing around or deliberately sabotaging what they see as people spying for the boss.”

“Shit.” He’d heard about that sort of crap. ‘Pranks’ by people who felt threatened by new technology, fearing that it would lead to redundancies or allow the managers to monitor them more closely and find out who wasn’t pulling their weight. But it was usually little pranks like accidentally-on-purpose kicking equipment off catwalks. “Anyone hurt?”

“Minor cuts, nothing serious. But it could have been if the safety interlocks hadn’t cut in, so Bob wants to rattle a few people’s teeth.” Steven came back to the table, picked up his mug, and drained it. “They got it all shut down safely and the injuries checked before Bob phoned. The irony is that they’d already got all the data they really needed -- and the accident simply proved in a real-world situation that the safety features work. There wouldn’t have been even that much of an incident if it had been a permanent installation rather than a mobile pilot rig with temporary plumbing.”

“It’s still a mandatory reportable accident, though, isn’t it?” He could see this taking up a lot of Bob’s time for the next few weeks, if the government safety inspectors decided to take a closer look at the accident.

“Yes. Bob will phone the HSE once they’ve finished locking down the evidence and checked for any other problems. The HSE probably won’t do anything more than file it in the statistics, but every so often they crawl all over even a minor incident, pour encourager les autres.” Steven looked at the empty mug and set it down by the kettle. “And even if they don’t do anything, I will. I want the bastard responsible in front of an internal disciplinary board. Make another tea; I’ve got phone calls to make.”

He knew that look. Steven was about to go and rattle cages. He refilled the kettle, then went to check the diary for the day. It was mercifully free of anything that couldn’t be put off. He checked the next day as well, just in case Steven decided to go and have a look at the site himself. Then he found the hard copy file for the project and took that and a mug of tea in to Steven.

Steven nodded his thanks, but kept talking. He’d obviously found someone in, even though it wasn’t yet official business hours. Mark left him to it and went back to his own work.

The mood might have been shattered, but it had been there. They’d have another time. For now, there was work to be done.

* * * * *

Steven had been talking to the other company’s own research director. “Their lab has had problems with interference as well, so he’s going to back us all the way on getting this investigated. I’ll let Bob handle it for now. But keep the diary clear today and tomorrow, just in case.” Steven ran his hands through his hair and sighed. “Welcome to the wonderful world of industry.”

“I was warned about things like that when I started working for Sanjay, although I never saw any of it myself.” The minor stuff, the petty theft and irritations, yes, but not putting other people in danger. “It was more the problem of getting people to wear safety gear.”

“Tell me about it. It was worse when I started; there were a lot more of the old guys still around who remembered the good old days and thought that it made you a pansy to wear a pair of safety goggles.” Steven clenched his fist, looked at it. “Fortunately the macho fucker who chose to make an issue of it thought that a pansy couldn’t possibly beat a real man, even one who had a beer belly from the number of pints he sank on Friday nights to prove what a real man he was.”

Steven wasn’t a particularly big man, in height or build, but Mark was well aware that there was hard muscle under the expensive suit. One of the few things he did know about Steven’s private life was that he made time to exercise regularly. If it had been the same twenty years back, he’d have given a nasty surprise to an unfit bully expecting a pushover. “You only had to do it once?”

“Only once, and then be careful where I went alone on site for a few weeks.” Quick grin. “But he wore the bloody goggles after that, at least when I was around.” Steven stood up and stretched. “Well, this isn’t getting any work done. Is there anything I should be doing?

“I have a large stack of post and documents in the ‘not urgent but you need to see it’ category, if you want a little light reading while you wait for Bob to get back to you.”

Steven groaned. “I wish I hadn’t asked. All right, bring it in.”

* * * * *

Bob phoned just before lunch. “We got the bastard on video, though we haven’t told them that yet.”

He could hear the satisfaction in Bob’s voice. “Right. Steven’s on the phone, but ... oh, he’s off.” He put Bob through. That was the sort of news Steven would happily delay lunch for.

And indeed, when Steven came through five minutes later, he was smiling, though it wasn’t a particularly nice smile. Mark took one look and said, “Pub. You’ll scare the girls if you go into the canteen looking like that.”

“I could do with the walk anyway.” Steven glanced out of the window. “It’s still a nice day, even if it’s cold. Walk with me?”

“Now?” They’d sometimes gone for a walk after lunch, but always as a gentle meander on the way back to the office. This sounded like a walk for the sake of a walk.

“I think I need to wind down before I eat.” Pause. “Bob and I go back a long way. The idea of him getting hurt because some fuckwit ...”

Oh. He went over and hugged Steven. “He’s all right. Remember that.”

“I know. And it’s not just him; I wouldn’t be too happy about any of my people getting hurt.” Steven clung to him for a few seconds, then let go. “Bob ... he was the one who followed me around for a few weeks to make sure I wasn’t alone in dark corners. And he’s straight. He could have walked away.”

“Go and get your coat.” He let go of Steven, gave him a gentle push, and then put his own coat on. He hadn’t particularly wanted a walk, but Steven obviously needed one.

They took a brisk walk down to the river. It had to be brisk; there wasn’t much wind, but it was still a cold day. They stood side-by-side, hands stuffed in pockets for warmth, looking out across the water.

After a couple of minutes, he asked, “Feeling better?”

“I could eat now.” Steven turned to look at him. “The whiplash probably didn’t help.”

Sitting in the quiet peace, watching the sunrise, expecting a call in half an hour or so to say that the experiment was done -- and then that news. No, it probably hadn’t helped.

He put his hand on Steven’s arm. No more than that, not out here. “They’re all right. That’s what matters.”

Steven stared at him for a moment, then nodded. He put his hand over Mark’s. “Sorry to drag you out in this cold.”

“You needed it.” Badly enough that neither of them had even put their gloves on. “Have you got your gloves?”

“Yes, mother.” Steven pulled his gloves out of a coat pocket and put them on. “I didn’t realise when I hired you that you being not PA-trained, twenty years younger than me, and male wouldn’t stop you trying to mother me. It’s obviously something old PAs pass by osmosis to young PAs.”

He was busy with his own gloves. “Isn’t it part of what the job is?”

That got him a cynical grin. “Maggie would say so.” Then the more sombre mood descended again. “Though Maggie would also say ...” Steven tailed off, then said, “Now’s not the time. But I haven’t forgotten.”

No. The mood was broken, and they were too upset to be able to piece it back together. But the promise was still there, even if “Later” was now going to be a lot later than either of them had thought this morning.

They talked about other things over lunch, and when they got back to the office, Steven ploughed into a pile of paperwork as if nothing had happened. But he looked tired at the end of the day, and Mark didn’t think that it was just from the early start. “Hot milk and brandy tonight,” he suggested.

“I might just do that.” Steven brushed a hand over his cheek. “Thanks for listening. It helped.”

There hadn’t been much to listen to. Steven had barely said anything at all. But it was probably still more than he might have said to someone else. “I’m glad it did.” No more to say. It wasn’t the time to say the things he wanted to say. Do you care about me as much as you do about Bob? wasn’t a fair thing to ask and wasn’t answerable. He couldn’t compete with twenty years of history; but he didn’t have to. The relationships were different. And whatever Steven might feel about Bob, he wasn’t in love with him and he wasn’t interested in fucking him. There was no competition there, not for the things that mattered to Mark.

Chapter Twelve

On Monday morning they had the usual run through the plan for the week. Some of it had to be changed to fit around the internal enquiry into the accident, but there hadn’t been much disruption in the end. When they finished, Steven said, “I’ve got a meeting to go to in Paris next month. It would be useful to have you there, but I usually make a weekend of it when it’s on a Monday. If I’ve got to fly over on Sunday night anyway, I might as well make the most of it. Would you like to come with me on Friday night?”

He stared at Steven in astonishment.

“No strings attached,” Steven added. “This is a business trip, and you’ll be in your own hotel room. But if I’m going to disrupt your weekend, I can at least compensate by paying for an extra couple of nights in a nice hotel, so you’ve got some free time in Paris.”

“Two rooms?” If this was a way of getting them some time together in a way that let them back off gracefully if it didn’t work, he could understand, but he’d rather share a room with Steven.

“Yes.” Steven scribbled a note on his writing pad. “This is the hotel I usually stay in. Two rooms, Mark. I mean it about this being a business trip.” He shoved the page across to Mark. “And even if I was expecting more than that, I’m not exactly the ideal sleeping partner.”

“You snore?” That could be a good reason to have separate rooms, even if he’d want to try for ones with a connecting door.

“I’m insomniac. If I have a bad night, I’m restless. Anyone sharing a room with me, never mind a bed, doesn’t get any sleep either. So two rooms, even if you wouldn’t mind sharing.”

“When do we go?”

“The meeting’s on the sixteenth. Book the plane seats for the Friday evening and Monday evening; we can leave after work on Friday. Or early Saturday morning, if you can’t get seats on Friday night, but not too early, thank you.”

He was able to book seats for the Friday evening, though he had to book a fairly late flight to give them plenty of time to get to the airport. Plane seats, hotel, a supply of Euro notes, all organised that day, ready for the trip.

* * * * *

The night before the trip finally arrived. Mark dithered over his cabin bag for a while. Steven had said to pack casual clothes for the weekend, but how casual? In the end he settled for jeans and a casual shirt and jumper, plus a pair of shoes suitable for walking around; but he made sure they were all good ones rather than what he wore to slob around the house. He could always change back into his suit in the evening if they went anywhere for dinner that required something more formal.

One thing he made sure to pack was a full packet of condoms and a tube of KY. He wasn’t sure whether they’d get used, after the way Steven had firmly squashed any notion of sharing a room. It had sounded as if there might be another outbreak of worrying about the power differential. But having them there was a way of making a point about what he wanted. Which was to get through the entire packet of twelve and have to go out to buy more.

They’d never finished that interrupted conversation. He’d thought from Steven’s behaviour that Steven also wanted more than just the office affair, but had he misread things? Was it to be two rooms because Steven didn’t want things to become more intimate?

For that matter, had he managed to give Steven the impression that he was happy with friends plus sex and had been talking about the friendship when he’d said it was nice to spend time together? No strings attached, Steven had said. Code for “I don’t expect you to have sex with me outside the office just because you will in the office.”

Well, the weekend was an opportunity to find out. Time together outside work, on neutral territory. Even if Steven had a fit of angst about breaking boundaries in bed, they could have a good time in each other’s company without the sex. When Steven had found out that he’d been to Paris only once, on a school trip, he’d started gleefully planning which sites he was going to drag Mark to.

The idea of being shown around by someone who knew the city better than he did appealed. Especially someone who had been quite blunt about the fact that he had a lot more money and intended to pay for both of them. Mark was happy to pay his own way, but he was glad to be with someone who was considerate of his lower income.

Satisfied that he had everything he needed for a weekend trip, packed into a single cabin bag, he went to bed. With any luck, the next time he went to bed it would be with Steven.

* * * * *

The plane was late. Very late. It turned out that one of the advantages of travelling business class was being able to sit in the business class lounge while they waited. There were snacks and drinks, there were newspapers to read, and above all there was peace and quiet, unlike the bedlam outside. He still fretted.

“So we get up late, and maybe we get up late enough to have to buy breakfast in a cafe instead of eating in the hotel,” Steven said. “This is one of the reasons why I’d rather make a weekend of it. Read your book.”

Steven was less philosophical when they got to the hotel and discovered that their rooms had been resold. “Come on, Claude. You know me. I’m usually on the last plane. And you’re not normally full on a weekend.”

“I’m sorry, Dr Frost,” the concierge said. “But the hotel is very busy this weekend, with it being Valentine’s Day tomorrow, and we could not hold both rooms when you were still not here and we had no word.”

They looked at each other. “Valentine’s Day?” Steven said. “Oh, hell. I never even thought ...”

“Neither did I.” It hadn’t even occurred to him. Judging from Steven’s obvious embarrassment, it hadn’t occurred to him, either. “No wonder the flights were busy even for a Friday night.”

“If we’d realised, we could have phoned from the airport. Bugger.” Steven turned to the concierge. “All right, Claude, what have you got?”

“A twin room. Two single beds, so it was not of much interest to the last-minute romantic couples, but for two businessmen ...” Claude shrugged. “I thought at least there would be beds for you if you did get here. I can phone one of the big hotels; they will still have rooms.”

Mark would have much preferred a double bed, with or without Steven in it, but it was also after midnight London time, and he didn’t fancy trailing around looking for another hotel, even with Claude doing the trailing around for them. “By the time we’ve pratted around, it’ll be another hour at least. I’m fine with it for tonight if you are.”

“I’m likely to be up during the night, after all this,” Steven warned. “You might not get much sleep sharing a room with me.”

“It’ll still be more sleep than I’m likely to get if we have to move hotel at this point.” It wasn’t just an excuse to share a room with Steven. There wasn’t likely to be much fun in two single beds, especially when he was tired enough to not want to do anything but fall into bed and go to sleep.

“All right. But see if you can find us somewhere else for the rest of the weekend, Claude.”

“Of course. Your room keys, messieurs.” Claude handed over a pair of electronic keys.

They made their way up in the lift and found the room. It wasn’t particularly large, but at least with having only overnight bags there was enough room for their luggage. He dumped his bag on the bed nearest the bathroom and found his toothbrush and his contact lens kit. “God, my eyes are tired.”

“Mine, too.” Steven was rummaging in his bag as well. “I just want to sleep.”

He knew that feeling, but as he went into the bathroom, he wondered if it was meant as a warning. When Steven followed him in and set down his own contact lens kit, he said, “Steven, I did book two rooms. And confirmed them this morning.” He didn’t want Steven thinking he’d been mucking around. “This isn’t something I’d fiddle with behind your back, even if I would rather share a room.”

Steven looked surprised, then faintly amused. “And there I was worrying that you’d think I’d slipped Claude something to switch the booking.”

“To two single beds? All the downsides of sharing a room and none of the fun, that sounds like.”

“Well, when you put it that way ...” Steven grinned at him in the mirror, then looked down at his lens kit. “Mark, I meant it about no strings attached. Sharing a room doesn’t change that.”

“And I meant it about I’d rather share a room. Although I was thinking more along the lines of a king-size bed.”

“Are you sure about this?”

He put his arm around Steven. “I promised you I’d tell you if I wanted out of any part of this relationship. And if I wanted to keep it strictly in the office, I’d say so.” He let go of Steven and started taking out his lenses. “But I’ll admit that I’d also rather just go to sleep right now. It’s not all that late, but it’s been a long day.”

Lenses out, glasses on. He didn’t always bother at home, but in a strange room he’d rather wear them. He didn’t want to be tripping over unfamiliar furniture.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen you in glasses,” Steven said.

It wasn’t the first time he’d seen Steven in glasses, but before it had been reading glasses. Now Steven was wearing full frames. “You look different in those glasses.” Mark reached out and touched the bridge of the frame gently. “Though you still look sexy.”

“You do know how to flatter. Do you want the bathroom first?”

“If you don’t mind.” They could both squeeze in to do their contact lenses, but with only one sink, anything else was going to be one person at a time, no matter how comfortable they might be with each other.

“I’ll get my stuff unpacked.”

Steven left him to it, and he staggered through the rest of his nightly ritual. He wasn’t normally this tired even on a Friday night, but the evening sitting in the airport had left him feeling drained. He should want to jump on Steven, but he wanted nothing more than to fall into bed and sleep.

Finished, he went out into the main room. Steven had hung up some clothes and was just throwing his pyjamas on the bed nearest the window. “There’s still room for your stuff in the cupboard.”

“Right.” He hung up his jacket, then set about unpacking. Tomorrow’s clothes hung up to let any wrinkles fall out, pyjamas on the bed. It might be a nice thought to go without, but he didn’t have a dressing gown with him, and he had unfond memories of having to evacuate during fire alarms from his time at university.

He thought about getting his laptop out and checking his email, but reminded himself that he was on holiday for the next two days, even if he was sharing a room with his boss. It was time for bed and sleep.

He’d just started unbuttoning his shirt when Steven came out of the bathroom. Steven glanced at him and then started undressing as well.

Then they looked at each other and paused.

Weird, this. “We’ve been screwing for months, and now we’re shy about getting undressed?”

Steven looked down at himself, then back at Mark. “It occurs to me that I’ve never actually seen you nude.”

Nor he Steven. Each other’s cocks, yes, and Steven had certainly had an eyeful of his arse many a time. But there’d been no glimpse of much less intimate parts of their bodies.

He started unbuttoning again. Slowly, not as a striptease, but because he was still feeling rather odd about the situation. He’d run his hands over Steven’s body so often, knew exactly how it felt, but had no idea what it looked like. Knew that Steven was fit, but didn’t know whether he was tanned under that sober business suit.

Buttons undone on both shirts. Steven examining him frankly as he pulled his shirt off, and he was glad now that he made some effort to keep fit. Then Steven pulled his own shirt off and walked over to the cupboard to hang it up, giving Mark a nice rear view.

Not much tan, at least not enough to be obvious in the dim lighting of the hotel room. But even in this lighting he could see the fit, compact body he knew through touch. As Steven turned back to him he noticed a little chest hair, still dark, though perhaps he’d see some grey in a better light.

Then Steven undid his trousers, stepped out of them, and turned back to the cupboard to hang them up. He still had his underwear on, but that didn’t hide anything Mark hadn’t already seen. There were other attractions on display, ones he hadn’t already seen. “Nice legs.”

“Let’s see yours, then.”

He did as he was told, stripping off the rest of his clothes so that he was completely nude. He took the shirt and trousers over to the cupboard to hang up. Steven stepped back out of his way, but stayed close, looking at him. As he put away his clothes, Steven put a hand on his back. Not trying to arouse, just keeping physical contact.

He was standing naked, with Steven standing behind him and wearing not much more. The first time they’d ever been in a conventional setting for sex. And they were going to go straight to their separate and single beds, and sleep. “This is ridiculous. We finally have a bed to do it in, and we’re too tired.”

“I know. But we’ve got all weekend.” Steven moved away from him, and when Mark turned around, he found him already putting on his pyjamas.

No sex tonight. But a promise for tomorrow. He put his own pyjamas on, climbed into bed, and turned off the bedside light. He was asleep within minutes.

* * * * *

Mark was disorientated for a second or two when he woke up. Wrong bed, wrong lighting in the room, wrong sounds outside. Then he remembered. He was in Paris, with Steven. Not in the same bed as Steven, but that could be fixed fairly easily.

But first, the toilet. He fumbled for his glasses on the bedside table and got out of bed as quietly as possible. Steven was still asleep, as far as he could tell in the light that leaked in around the curtain. Full daylight, so it must be relatively late. If Steven had been restless during the night, he’d been quiet about it.

No waking Steven up, just in case he had been restless and needed the sleep now. The bedside clock showed well after nine, but that was local time, and they’d not got to bed until after one last night. Steven would wake soon enough of his own accord, unless he needed to sleep longer.

When Mark had finished in the bathroom, Steven was still sleeping. He didn’t fancy going back to bed now, but there was something useful he could be doing -- finishing one last bit of unpacking.

He found the packet of condoms and the KY jelly and laid them on the bedside table, then stripped off his pyjamas. At least last night he’d been reassured that the condoms would be welcome, even if neither of them had been in a fit state to use them.

He sat on his own bed and watched Steven for a moment or two. He didn’t often get a chance to do this, and never before when Steven was asleep. There was still the rush of lust, as there always had been from the first day. But there was affection as well, the affection that had grown into something more while he hadn’t been looking.

Then Steven stirred a little, obviously starting to wake up. Mark took off his glasses and set them down on the table. They’d only get in the way for what he planned next.

He pulled back the blankets on Steven’s bed a little way so that he could sit on the edge. With a single bed there wasn’t much room, and as his weight tilted the mattress, Steven blinked and said, “What?”

“We’ve just got time to get dressed and go for breakfast in the hotel.” He pushed the covers back a bit further and felt for the buttons on Steven’s pyjama top. “We may even have time to have sex first, if we’re quick about it.”

“Oh. Mark. Good morning.”

“Sorry. Didn’t think about you not being able to see me without your glasses.” Not that he could see any better, but he’d had the advantage of being awake. Steven must have wondered what was going on for a second or two, waking up to a blurred view of someone he didn’t associate with a morning-after scene.

However, he didn’t seem to be objecting to being unbuttoned, so Mark kept on doing it. “Did you sleep all right?”

“Yes, so don’t keep doing that unless you have serious intent.”

“You can get it up this morning, then?” He checked by touch, his own eyesight not being up to much without his glasses. Yes, Steven’s cock seemed to be awake and happy this morning.

“Mmm. What time is it?”

He went back to his unbuttoning. “About half nine by now, I think.” Almost done on the pyjama top. One last button, and then he was done.

“No time for anything fancy, then. Come here.”

He did as he was told, sliding into the bed and lying on top of Steven since there wasn’t room to lie anywhere else. Much better -- he was close enough to Steven to be able to see his face properly now. “It feels odd, doing it in a bed.”

“It feels odd doing it with no clothes on -- well, not much clothing.” Steven wriggled a bit. “Let me get these off.”

Mark got up to his knees, kneeling astride Steven, and helped him get rid of the pyjama top. Then he moved backed down far enough to pull the trousers down, enough to expose Steven’s cock. Another thing that felt odd -- being on top of Steven like this.

What he wanted now was contact. Not even fucking, just the need to hold and be held. He lay back down on top of Steven, enjoying the feel of bare skin against skin. No cloth between them now, just the heat of Steven against him. Steven’s arms around him, against his bare back. Lying naked in bed together, very different to the game they’d played these last few months.

Different, but very, very good. He kissed Steven, gently at first, then thrusting his tongue into Steven’s mouth as Steven’s grip on him tightened. And then the balance between affection and lust tipped the other way, and what he wanted to do was fuck. He ground his cock against Steven’s, relishing the way it felt to have a hard cock rub against his own. Skin to skin, dragging over each other. He didn’t want to stop even long enough to grab the tube of KY and smear it over their cocks, never mind stop long enough to get a condom on. Just the exquisite pressure of cock on cock was going to be enough, that and the feel of Steven holding him tightly, kissing him frantically.

Steven shifted his grip, clutching at Mark’s arse, trying to pull him down even harder. Thrusting up against him. No foreplay, and he was going to come. For a moment he tried to hold back, tried to be considerate of an older man who was always that little bit slower. But Steven was urging him on, pulling away from the kiss to snarl, “Harder.”

With that he abandoned any thought of being considerate and went for broke. Fast, urgent thrusts against Steven, one, two, three, and he was done, his balls tight and his cock spasming.

Damp warmth between them. And not just his. Steven was coming, too. Mark held still for a moment, until they were both done, then collapsed in a satisfied heap on top of Steven.

It felt good even now, as Steven stroked his back, making contented noises. He enjoyed it for a few minutes, then said, “I suppose we should get up.”

“Mm. I’m going to need breakfast after that.”

Steven let go of him, and he reluctantly rolled off and got to his feet. He peered at the clock. Just time for them both to shower before breakfast, if they were fast. “We can eat in the hotel, if we move now.”

“You get in the shower first.”

A couple of minutes for a quick shower, a couple of seconds for a quick kiss in passing as Steven took his place in the bathroom, and another minute to get dressed. Steven was just as fast, and they made it to breakfast with five minutes to spare.

Chapter Thirteen

Breakfast was a sedate affair. He was too sated to begin with to be interested in any sensual pleasure other than food. But as he followed Steven up the stairs on the way back to their room, he couldn’t help noticing that Steven looked very, very good in jeans and lightweight jumper. Not just the way the jeans hugged his arse, either, although that was certainly worth looking at. The outfit suited his figure, showing it off.

Mark tried to keep an “I’m a respectable businessman” expression on his face until the room door closed behind them. Then he shamelessly grabbed Steven’s arse. “I’ve been wanting to do that all the way up the stairs.”

“What?”

“It’s the jeans. Made me see you in a whole new light.”

“I see. I’m not wearing a large suit-shaped label that says ‘boss’ now.” Steven turned around and looked him up and down. “However, I will remind you who pays your wages for long enough to tell you to turn around.”

Turnabout was fair play. He turned about so that Steven could see the rear view. No grab, but there was a comment of “Very nice.”

“Better take a good look, because I’m about to put my coat on. I bet it’s cold out there.”

“Are you going to bother putting your contact lenses in?”

He thought about it, blinked a couple of times to test. “I think I will. My eyes seem to have recovered from yesterday’s abuse.” Lenses in too long, after the dryness of the air on the plane, had left his eyes feeling pretty horrible last night, but they felt better now. “Though I hope we’re not going to be out until late tonight.”

“I can think of good reasons to have an early night.” Hand on his arse, not a grab but a caress. “And more seriously, we may be able to change hotels, which means having to check in somewhere else this afternoon. We can always take the contacts out then.”

“Right.” Nice to be with someone who would understand if he started moaning about needing to find somewhere to wash his hands so he could take his lenses out. “Suppose we’d better check with the desk about whether they’ve found us rooms somewhere else.” He turned around and put his arms around Steven’s waist. “Are you still going to insist on two rooms?”

“Yes. But I’m going to insist that one of them has a double bed. If we’ve got two rooms, at least I can move and let you sleep.”

“Though I’d rather clean my teeth and get shaved before we go down to reception. Might as well be presentable.”

When he came out of the bathroom, he found Steven holding the packet of twelve. “You were feeling rather ambitious, weren’t you?”

“I was expecting to get in Friday night as well. And we can probably manage at least twice a day while we’re on holiday, even if you are an ancient old man and past it.” He took the pack off Steven and put it in his bag. No point in frightening the chambermaid.

“Less of the old, thank you. I’m middle-aged, not drawing a pension.”

“I’ll remind you of that next time you have a fit of guilt about cradle-snatching.” He ran a finger along Steven’s chin. “Go and shave, boss. Can’t let you go out in public looking like that.”

“And less of the ‘boss’. As you said, we’re on holiday this weekend.” Steven patted Mark’s backside and went to find his razor.

* * * * *

The young woman behind the desk rummaged through a small pile of paper. “Ah, yes. Claude asked me to call him; would you mind waiting a moment, Dr Frost?”

Her English was fluent but much more strongly accented than Claude’s. The voice sounded familiar. “Aren’t you the woman I spoke to yesterday morning when I phoned to confirm the reservations?”

She blushed slightly and nodded. Well, at least he hadn’t done something stupid like phoning the wrong hotel.

They sat down and waited. He looked around at the lobby, taking more notice of it than he had the night before. This was a small, comfortable hotel, the sort where someone like Steven might get to know the staff over the years if he stayed here a lot. The room had been pleasant enough, even though it hadn’t been what they’d booked, and what Claude had said last night suggested that it was one of the poorer rooms in the hotel. He could see why Steven liked the place.

And Claude was certainly helpful. “There will be no problem getting two rooms at one of the big chain hotels, Dr Frost, if you don’t mind moving some distance from here. I put a hold on two at the nearest.”

“I’d rather stay around here. I know what I’m doing.”

Claude nodded. “There is also a suite available at one very close to here. But it is available because it is expensive. It is two bedrooms and a connecting lounge, and charged as three top-grade rooms.”

Steven drummed his fingers on the desk. “Hell with it. I wouldn’t think twice about it if it was a week-long business trip and I wanted somewhere to use as an office. If the accountant bitches, I’ll pay the extra myself. It’s my money in the end, either way.”

“Or if you don’t mind waiting until this afternoon, I may have a cancellation here,” Claude said. “Our two-room suite. There was a phone call this morning asking how late they could cancel the booking for tonight; family illness, and they weren’t sure they could get here. And it is free tomorrow night.”

That sounded a lot more convenient. “If we can take that, we won’t have to run around moving our stuff to another hotel.”

“And we would charge only the rate for the rooms originally booked,” Claude said. “It is not a big difference, but still, it was our fault. Though we did try to phone the mobile numbers you gave.”

“Probably while we were on the plane and had our phones switched off,” Steven said. “All right, Claude. We’ll go with that, as long as you don’t leave it so late we can’t switch to the other place if your suite isn’t free after all. Phone us to let us know what’s going on.”

“If you would pack your cases, we can move them to the new room for you.”

Steven grinned. “So you can let out the room we’re in? All right.” He nodded at Mark. “Come on.”

Back to the room to pack. Mark asked, “What about the laptops?”

“They’ll be all right, as long as they’re in locked bags to stop opportunists. The staff here aren’t a problem, which is one of the reasons I come here.”

One more worry off his mind. He could enjoy the rest of the day.

* * * * *

The Metro was an odd experience, familiar yet different for someone who normally commuted on the Tube. But at least he didn’t have to haul out his rusty schoolboy French to work out how to buy a ticket, not with Steven buying a carnet for them. There were definite advantages to being with someone who’d been here before.

They started with the Eiffel Tower and a ride in the elevator right to the top. The view was spectacular, and he got busy with his camera. Steven stood next to him, not bothering to take photos. “I’ve done it before. Though I suppose it’s time I got a decent digital camera. It would be easier than scanning in all the old stuff if I want it on the computer.”

“Oh, yes. Film. I remember that. Something you did back in the dark ages.” Though his own first camera had been old-fashioned silver iodide.

“The dark ages had dark rooms. They had their good points.”

He looked sideways at Steven. Steven looked lost in memory and indecently smug. “When were you groping someone in a darkroom?”

“University. Learning to develop film was a required unit for some of the science subjects that use photographic records, and available to anyone else in the science faculty who wanted to learn.”

“And groping around in the dark for the equipment was a good excuse for groping someone else’s equipment.”

“Actually, I got groped. One of the advantages of being out was stealth offers from the otherwise shy.” Steven smirked. “And he was rather nice, and I’d never tried because I had no idea that he might be interested.”

He felt a faint flicker of jealousy of that long-ago grope, but found it hard to get worked up over something that had probably happened before he’d been born. He was the one who got to grope Steven now. And that had been a very good, if brief, grope this morning.

They explored the tiny museum at the top, then made their way down to look at the lower floors before finishing off with a walk around the base of the tower. He was fascinated by the giant bolts at the base of the pillars and took a photo of one.

“It’s obvious you’re an engineer,” Steven said.

“What?”

“You’re in the most romantic city in the world, on Valentine’s Day, and you’re making love to a phallic piece of structural engineering. And you’re not even a structural engineer.”

“How could I not be interested in the world’s biggest nuts?” he asked in an innocent tone.

“At the bottom of the world’s biggest cock?” Steven added. “It was, for a while, you know. It was the tallest building in the world when it was built.”

“Think any of the sex shops sell appropriately shaped butt plugs?”

Steven tutted at him. “I was hoping to show you some of the cultural highlights. You can do sex shops at home.”

Not with you, I can’t. Or couldn’t. But he didn’t say it. It was as much his fault as Steven’s. He’d never asked Steven if they could take things outside the office. “Being serious, I’d like to do Pigalle sometime. Or one of the shows. But probably not this weekend.”

“No,” Steven agreed. “The shows will probably be booked out this weekend. But it’s worth going to see one of the pretty girl shows, even if you prefer looking at pretty boys. I got taken to one as a business perk years ago and discovered that they’re fun, at least one of the good ones that’s about a show and not just tits and arse.”

He could understand that. It was about glamour in the tinsel and lights sense, not just the porn sense. “Some other time. Are you going to be coming over again for business?”

“Probably another couple of trips this year, although it won’t always be a Monday or Friday meeting.” Steven turned and looked out at the scenery around them. “Onward?”

The scenery was rather wintery. Time to go indoors. “Shopping. Or the Louvre?” He wasn’t really intending to buy much, but the department stores were tourist attractions in their own right, and one of his memories from that school trip was the stunning glass dome of Galeries Lafayette. He wanted to see it again and see if it was as magical as his memory painted.

“Shopping first. The museums are open on Sundays.”

* * * * *

In the end they did shopping and the Louvre. Claude phoned at lunchtime to let them know that the suite would be available, which freed them from the need to go back and sort out their rooms for the night. By the time they emerged from the Louvre, reluctantly leaving at closing time, it was dark outside. Or as dark as it could be with the assorted street lighting, both practical and decorative.

They walked around for a little while and finally drifted into a restaurant that had a table for two available. The tables for two were in short supply, reminding Mark of what day it was. But old habits died hard. They talked over dinner, and it was the talk of friends rather than business conversation. But it was not the conversation of lovers.

And yet there was something there. The way Steven looked at him said as much as whispered sweet nothings would. And afterwards, when they stood in the street looking at the lights, Steven said quietly, “I didn’t realise what weekend it was when I asked you to come here with me. But I’m glad we’re here today.”

No cuddling, not in public. Not even holding hands. But the spoken acknowledgement was enough for him.

* * * * *

When they got back to the hotel, Claude was ensconced behind the reception desk. He beamed at them. “Your bags are waiting in the suite, messieurs. And there is a bottle of champagne as an apology for the confusion last night.”

“In other words, you’re feeling guilty because the day clerk has confessed that my PA did phone first thing Friday morning to confirm the rooms.” Steven picked up the new keys Claude had pushed across the desk. “It’s all right, Claude. You’ve sorted out enough hotel problems for me over the years.”

“And before you had that fancy credit card that opens all doors, eh?” Claude shrugged. “She did not leave a note for me, but she is new. She is very sorry.”

“Never mind. As long as we’ve got a suite now.” Steven glanced at the keys. “Top floor?”

“Good view,” Claude said. “And there is always the elevator.”

Mark was tired enough from the day’s walking to not need any more exercise, and Steven agreed. They rode up in the lift and went looking for the suite. It turned out to be two connecting rooms, both larger than the one they’d been in last night. There was a king-size bed in one room, and a double bed and sofa in the other. Mark sat on the king-size bed and bounced. “Very nice.”

“And probably more expensive than Claude was letting on. But it’s their fault we didn’t get the rooms you booked, so I’ll be happy to take it at the same price.” Steven pulled off his jumper and threw it onto one of the chairs. “Might as well unpack.”

“Is there a reason both lots of bags are in here?” Presumably Claude knew that Steven was gay. The conversation at the desk suggested a long acquaintance.

“Probably just that it was easier to drop them both in the same room.” Steven inspected the ice bucket sitting on the table. “That, on the other hand, will be in here because Claude would assume I’d take this bed whether I’m sharing it with you or not.” He pulled out the bottle. “Want some?”

Mark wasn’t much of a drinker, but the idea of sitting on the sofa drinking champagne with Steven appealed. “Why not?”

“We didn’t drink much at dinner. I don’t think a glass or two of this will make that big bed a waste of time tonight.” Steven put the champagne back in the bucket. “Let’s unpack first. And I want to get my lenses out. Then we can relax.”

Mark took his bags through to the other room. It wasn’t just the habit of leaving no public evidence of the relationship; it was the feeling that if they had two bathrooms, they might as well make use of them rather than having to work around each other. The suite bathrooms were bigger than the one they’d had last night, with twin sinks, but there was still only one shower in each. He put away his clothes and took out his lenses, and by the time he’d finished, Steven had brought the champagne through.

“Put some music on,” Steven suggested, nodding at the laptop he’d set up on the table.

He did so, picking a playlist that would be pleasant background music. He pulled off his own jumper and kicked off his shoes. Then he joined Steven on the sofa, taking the glass of champagne Steven offered him. They cuddled up together, and Steven put an arm around his shoulders. “Enjoy today?”

“Yes. It’s different, seeing it as an adult.” He’d seen too much, done too much, today to be able to take it all in. Already it was a little bit blurred. But he’d had a wonderful time. “It was great, even with the rotten weather. Thanks for taking me round.”

“It’s fun to see it fresh again, with someone who hasn’t seen it all before.”

They talked about the things they’d seen, and sipped champagne. It felt marvellous to be able to sit like this, not worrying about whether anyone was going to come in, not thinking about the clock ticking. They could be together for as long as they liked this evening, just being together. And at the end of the evening was the promise of the big bed in the other room.

Eventually they finished the glass of champagne, and Steven got up and poured them another. When they’d finished that, Mark set the glasses down on the side table. As he settled back onto the sofa, Steven kissed him and murmured, “We could always try this foreplay thing.”

He was relaxed and happy, and he’d already had one go today, so he was more than willing to take things slowly. He started with a slow kiss, lightly brushing his lips over Steven’s, then pressing a little harder, hands exploring Steven’s chest, enjoying the texture of the shirt he had on. It was different to the usual workday fare, a soft, casual shirt in silk rather than the crisp cotton of a business shirt. It moulded itself to Steven’s body, so that Mark could feel the springiness of chest hair, the exact shape of a nipple.

Steven was doing the same to him, one arm around him, but with the other hand conducting a slow exploration of his body and the way it felt in unfamiliar clothing. There was an occasional dip below the waistline, but no grab for his cock, just a hand smoothing over his hip or arse. Slow and steady was the mood for tonight.

His cock was hard and ready, but not demanding attention. This was good in its own right, the slow, subtle arousal of stroking and kissing. When Steven started kissing along his jawline, he happily tilted his head back to let Steven kiss his neck. Kisses all along the soft, tender skin, working down. Steven unbuttoned the top button of his shirt, exposing the base of his neck, and sucked gently. Not enough to leave a mark, but enough to feel good. Then another button, and a little further down, and another, and kisses towards his shoulder.

He was busy himself with Steven’s shirt, undoing the top buttons so that he could get his hand inside, stroke bare skin. Another button, and he could lay his hand flat against Steven’s chest, feel the texture of hair. More buttons on both sides, and he was able to roll Steven’s nipple between his fingers, just as Steven pushed his shirt back over his shoulder to kiss bare flesh.

Finally all the buttons were undone. They let go of each other and sat upright. Jeans and shirt hanging loose and open -- Steven looked very different now. And delicious. Mark reached out and pushed Steven’s shirt back over his shoulders. “Get that off.”

Steven pulled his own shirt off -- and then Mark’s. It didn’t surprise Mark. Steven’s natural inclination to dominance had been hovering in the background for the last few minutes, even if they’d shed the role-playing for this one day. It certainly didn’t bother him. He co-operated as Steven pulled him free from the last clutches of the shirt; then he sat back and openly admired the view.

Steven looked damned good in jeans and no shirt. Fit and muscular, though no bodybuilder. That suited his own tastes nicely. A light sprinkling of chest hair, just starting to turn grey, and that suited his tastes very nicely as well.

He was being admired in turn. “You don’t look quite so butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-your-mouth now,” Steven said with a grin.

“Pardon?”

“You do have a way of sitting very primly behind that desk of yours that suggests that you know perfectly well what sex is but don’t want to think about it.” Steven ran the back of a finger over his cheek. “It’s not just the pretty face that’s been screwing with people’s perceptions.”

He was well aware that his pretty-boy looks had played into people’s stereotypes about secretaries, but this was new. “It wasn’t deliberate. I’m not that into role-playing.”

Steven took hold of his hand, lifted it, and kissed it. “I knew it was just nervousness about learning a new job, but other people saw it differently. If they could see you now, they’d think again. This version I could see down at the disco trolling for a night’s entertainment.” The unashamed lust in his expression made it clear that Steven liked the idea.

“Some other time.” He leaned forward slightly, put his hand over the bulge in Steven’s jeans. “I’ve already got my entertainment for the night.” His mood shifted. He didn’t want to hear any more about what other people thought about the two of them, and he was ready to take control for a little while. He twisted his other hand free of Steven’s, pushed Steven back against the back of the sofa, and moved to kneel over him. One hand back to Steven’s cock, gripping it through a layer of denim. “Mine.”

Steven looked up at him. “Yours. What are you going to do with it?”

“I’m sure I can think of something.” For now, just enjoy the feel of hard flesh under his hand. He leaned down and kissed Steven. Not the way he had before, or the way Steven had kissed him, but blatantly taking possession, shoving his tongue into Steven’s mouth. Shoving the heel of his hand against Steven’s cock, pressing almost to the point of hurting him. Almost, but not quite -- though Steven gasped in shock. Quietly, because Mark’s mouth covered his. Mark still heard the faint whimper, and then the moan when he rubbed his hand hard along the length of Steven’s cock. He did it again, and then he let go of Steven’s mouth and sat back so he could pull Steven’s fly open. He fumbled the button a little because he was looking at Steven’s face and not lower down. They locked eyes as he flipped up the pull tag on the zip and opened the zip by simply taking the two flaps of cloth and pulling them apart. “We are not in the office now.” He reached in and pulled Steven’s cock free. Not roughly, but making it quite clear that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. “If you want to be on top, that’s all right with me, but leave the bloody suit in the cupboard tonight.”

Steven stared up at him. “We’ve got a bed. I want to use it.” Hands on Mark’s waist now, intimate but not overtly sexual. “You’re not the only one tired of doing it on the office furniture still in our clothes.”

“Time to move?”

“Yes.” Steven pushed him, gently.

He got to his feet, offered Steven a hand up from the sofa. The jeans were tight enough that they didn’t fall down when Steven stood up, even with the fly gaping. Mark took a moment to put his arms around Steven, kiss him firmly, and shove one hand down the back of Steven’s jeans for a fast grope. Then he let go and went to get the condoms and KY from where he’d left them on the bedside table. “Your bed or mine?”

“Our bed, and the big one.” Steven hugged him from behind, kissed him under his ear. Something he often did, before or after sex, but tonight was different. Tonight the heat of Steven’s body wasn’t filtered through a shirt. Tonight was his bare chest pressed against Mark’s bare back. No costumes, no role-playing. No walking away afterwards.

Our bed. The bed they would sleep in together.

The thought made his cock pulse with desire. He knew Steven might get up and leave during the night, but only if he woke and couldn’t sleep. They could fuck, and then hold each other afterwards without thinking about getting dressed and going back to work. They could make love.

“Mark?”

“Let’s go.”

They went through into the other room. Steven had turned off the main light as he’d left the room earlier, leaving only the low, intimate lighting of the bedside lamps. Mark set down the things he was carrying and pulled the covers back on the bed. The very big bed with a large supply of pillows, enough for any acrobatic positions they cared to try. “It certainly opens up new possibilities. What do you want to do?”

Steven pulled at his shoulder and turned him around to face him. “Something very boring. Good old missionary position.” Steven held his face between his hands, kissed him gently. “Because I want to be able to see your face when I’m inside you, even if it’s just this once.”

They’d done it face to face often enough. The times Steven had simply pushed him against the wall and ground their cocks together. The times he’d done the same to Steven. The mutual wanks. But never, ever when Steven had had his cock up him. That had always been from behind. It simply hadn’t been practical any other way.

But things were different tonight. He’d have wanted it anyway; it was one of the things he disliked about only ever fucking in the office. But hearing Steven say out loud that he missed it ... “I want it, too.”

Steven nodded and let go of him. Took hold of Mark’s jeans instead, undoing his fly, pushing them down, and then getting down on his knees to finish pulling them down around Mark’s ankles, holding them steady so that Mark could step out of them.

Free of his jeans, Mark sat on the bed, grabbed a pillow, and lay back with his knees up and spread. Steven picked up the KY and warmed some in his hand. Then he kneeled by the bed and slipped one wet finger into Mark.

It was easy enough to take one finger. It wasn’t much of a thickness compared with a cock. But the emotional shock was another matter. It wasn’t just the first time they’d done this face-to-face; it was the first time Steven had done this. It mattered, somehow.

Two fingers now, and it wasn’t just the fingers up him, but Steven trailing kisses along his inner thigh. Steven had very much meant it when he’d said he wanted foreplay. He seemed to be making up for lost opportunities now. This wasn’t making sure Mark was ready, but part of the sex itself.

Fingers exploring him, pressing on his prostate, Steven experimenting to see exactly what was needed to make Mark’s mind explode in pleasure. He wanted to come very badly now, but he also wanted to do it with Steven inside him, with Steven’s weight on him. “I want your cock. Now.”

He could see the shift in Steven’s emotions as he said it -- careful attention to detail blurring into intense arousal. But still Steven was careful, pulling out from him, standing up to wipe his hand dry with a tissue from the box by the bed. Mark sat up and grabbed the box of condoms as Steven finally peeled out of his jeans. He had one ready and waiting to roll onto Steven’s cock when Steven stood nude before him.

He’d done this often before, so his fingers shouldn’t be trembling as he rolled the condom down to cover Steven’s cock. But this wasn’t quite like any other time, and he fumbled for a second. Then it was on, and they were ready. He took the KY and smoothed a little onto Steven, just to be certain. He wanted nothing to spoil tonight.

One last bit of undressing, as they both took off their glasses and laid them on the bedside table out of harm’s way. Then he lay back on the bed and held out his arms. Steven settled into place on top of him, not making any attempt to thrust into him just yet. They held each other for a moment. His balls ached for release, but his mind was more interested in the way Steven was looking at him. The moment wouldn’t last, but for now it was all he needed.

Steven kissed him, and the shift in position, the slip of cock on cock, set him off. He pulled his legs up to give Steven access and, as Steven moved to kiss his neck again, said, “Fuck me.”

And Steven did, sliding into him with practised ease. It felt different this way round, the angles unfamiliar, things not quite the same. But it felt good all the same, very good indeed, and that was without the added pleasure of being able to see Steven’s face. Watch the way his expression changed as he pulled back and then thrust hard, all the way in.

Deep, hard fucking. No hand on his cock tonight, but instead the pressure of Steven’s body trapping it against him, pressing it against him each time Steven thrust into him. Tonight he could hold Steven in his arms, clutch at his back, grab at his arse as Steven pounded into him. Fine cotton sheets under him rather than a hard desk. And above all, Steven watching him, utterly intent on him. There was nothing in the world for either of them but each other.

They’d been working towards this for hours. A day spent together with nothing to do but enjoy each other’s company. A discreet but candlelit dinner. Walking the streets afterwards, wending their way back to champagne on the sofa. He was aroused and ready, and he had everything that mattered to him. “I’m going to come,” he whispered.

Steven nodded slightly. Pulled back. Gave him one last thrust. It was enough. He came, blessed relief for his balls and cock.

To have Steven in his arms and in his body as he came was wonderful. To see Steven’s face as he came in turn was even better. Even if it’s just this once, Steven had said. No, it wasn’t going to be just this once. This time he was going to ask for what he really wanted.

Chapter Fourteen

Steven slipped out of him with a sigh and rolled off him. There was silence for a moment; then Steven said, “I’ll just get something to wipe us down.” Quick kiss, and then Steven had left him.

But not for long. This time there would be a long, slow cuddle without having to get dressed first. He was certain of that. He heard the tap run in the bathroom, and then a minute later Steven was with him again, wiping his belly with a facecloth rinsed in warm water. “That’s better,” Steven said. “I don’t like sleeping in the wet spot, and I don’t suppose you do.”

“No.” He lay still as Steven wiped him clean and then rubbed him dry with a towel. This was definitely something he could get used to.

Steven tossed the towel on the floor, pulled the covers up over him, and then got in beside him. He slid over to make room for Steven, who moved up close and slid an arm under his neck. An invitation for him to use Steven’s shoulder as a pillow, which he immediately accepted, turning on his side so that he could hold Steven. He put a possessive arm across Steven’s chest, enjoying the feel of Steven’s arm around his shoulders, holding him tight.

They lay in silence for a few minutes, no sound in the room save for quiet breathing. He savoured the way it felt to be able to simply lie together afterwards. No pressure, no rush.

Finally he said, “I want to do this again. And not just on business trips.”

He felt Steven’s grip tighten. “If we take it outside the office, it stops being a game.”

“It stopped being a game for me a while back.”

“Mark, right now you’ve got plausible deniability. People wonder, but they don’t know. You could walk away from this and tell anyone who asks that no, of course there was nothing between us. I’ve no business letting you risk your future.”

Why was this worrying him so much? Steven hadn’t seen it as a serious problem before, and the people who mattered knew he was more than just eye candy. “Does it really make that much difference now? My thesis is in, and my viva should be within a few weeks. Sanjay and Bob both say the work’s good; there should be no problem with getting my PhD. I could understand being discreet until it’s official, but after that ...”

“Even after that there could be problems, and it doesn’t help that you got the job with me because Sanjay’s a friend of mine. It’s not even anything to do with being gay,” Steven said. “A company wants to hire a big man in the field, and he says up front he’ll only move if they give his girlfriend a job as well; not a problem. You just advertise it as ‘this position has a preferred candidate’. But if he advertises an open position in his group which it later becomes obvious was always intended for his girlfriend -- people will be very pissed off, even if they think the woman is good enough to have got the job on her own merits. Because people will have wasted time and effort on trying for a job that was never available.”

Mark could understand that. You might put in the effort to try for a job even if there was a preferred candidate, but you’d want to know first if there was any real chance of getting the job. “So if people think that you were always going to hire me ...”

“They could be seriously annoyed about the waste of other people’s time. And it won’t matter that you are obviously good enough to have got the job on merit.”

He’d thought about the possibility that people wouldn’t take him seriously as a scientist because they thought he was a male bimbo hired to decorate the office. He hadn’t thought about the possibility that people could respect his ability as a scientist and still think he’d been hired to decorate the office. “Oh.”

“Getting through, am I?” Steven put a hand under his chin, gently urging him to move so that they were looking at each other. “I should have talked to you about this before now.” Thumb brushing over his mouth. “But when we started this, I honestly didn’t realise it could be a problem. I thought you’d have a few weeks of fun and get it out of your system, and then we’d go back to being just good friends.”

“Satisfy my curiosity and my hormones and move on?” Not so unreasonable a thing for Steven to think. He hadn’t expected it to last this long himself. Or that it would become this important to him. “And in the meantime you have a bit of fun as well.” He shouldn’t sound so bitter, as if Steven had taken advantage. He’d had enough trouble persuading Steven that the first time hadn’t been a mistake. “Friends with benefits.”

“Yes. Except you didn’t get bored with it, and neither did I.” Steven ran a hand down his chest and sighed. “After a while I wanted more, but I thought, wait until after your PhD is certain before trying to take things further. Then at least if you felt pressured, you’d be in a better position to find a job somewhere else. And then I realised that there might be a problem even after you got your PhD; but even talking about it would have meant saying that this is more than just convenient sex, and I didn’t know if it was for you. It was easier to keep my mouth shut for a little while and see whether you wanted more, without encouraging you. And to make sure we didn’t hand anyone proof before we did get round to talking about it.”

“So that if I did walk away ... But I don’t want to walk away. From the job or from you. This isn’t just a fling for me anymore.” He’d never asked. But now he had to. “Is it for you?”

“No.”

At least he knew now. “Then is it really a problem? I’m not planning on leaving.”

“I don’t know if it’s really a problem even if you do leave -- and don’t assume that you won’t.”

As he started to protest, Steven put a hand over his mouth, silencing him. “No. Listen to me, Mark. There’s a twenty-year age gap. We only know each other through work. There will be a lot of people saying that you’re only interested in my money. That’s a lot of pressure on a relationship, however much we might both want it.”

Steven let go of him. Too much to think about. Steven saying that he wanted more than just a friendly fuck, but putting into words some of Mark’s own fears. He seized on one of them. “You don’t think I’m only interested in your money, do you?”

“I think you find my position of power an enormous turn-on, and you aren’t in the least bit interested in the money itself.” Steven grinned at him, which was a relief after the recent conversation. “If I was a playboy living off a trust fund, you wouldn’t be interested, would you?”

“A fuck for the night, yes.” But that wasn’t what Steven was talking about. “Give it a week or so and I’d get bored. You’re not bothered about the CEO fetish?”

“I was amused by someone who was so open about having a kink for older men. And amused and flattered and mildly surprised to realise that I was the trigger for the specific fantasy about fucking the boss on the office furniture. But you weren’t particularly reticent about the fact that it was just a fantasy. No, I’m not bothered.”

The warm, fuzzy glow after good sex was gone now. It didn’t matter. They were finally talking about whether that fuzzy glow had more to it than just sex. Mark sat up, leaning back against the headboard. “So now what? Are you telling me there’s no point, it’s not worth trying?”

Steven sat up as well. “No. I’m telling you that I want you to think carefully about this before doing anything irrevocable. There is a risk that if we come out in the open, people will be thinking nepotism. The possibility didn’t occur to me until recently, because I’d never even met you before the day of your interview; but it only takes one spiteful person to start a rumour.”

This had been provoked by something specific. “Someone’s made a catty remark, haven’t they?”

“Not exactly catty, and I’ll let Sanjay tell you the details. But it seems displeasure has been expressed by Human Resources that their token gay has left, and there were questions about Sanjay’s motives in telling you about the job.”

“My god.” He certainly hadn’t expected that. “You know, when Sanjay first suggested a new job, I thought he’d been told to ease me out because I’m gay.” Sanjay hadn’t said anything to him about it the last time they’d talked on the phone. “Is this new?”

“Yes. I think someone realised that your thesis had been submitted, and there was still no sign of you coming back.” Steven put an arm around him. “Quite apart from all this -- I am not an easy person to live with.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. “That’s the sort of thing people say when they’re leading up to ‘I think we should stop seeing each other’.” Or when they only wanted a part-time relationship, with no inconvenient living together.

Steven hugged him hard. “Not this time. Think about it, Mark. You see me eight hours a day, five days a week, when I’m on my best behaviour. What you get outside office hours isn’t necessarily the same. I have a chronic medical problem, and while I try not to let the effects spill over onto other people, there are times when I am a very unpleasant person.”

“You wanted separate rooms.” Not just for the insomnia. A place to retreat, so that they weren’t forced to be together if Steven wasn’t well. “Does this affect me?” A flicker of fear went through his mind. Steven had always been so insistent on condoms ...

“Only in that I can be a thoroughly nasty bastard sometimes, and whoever’s around me then needs a thick skin. I just got an unlucky roll of the genetic dice, and sometimes I take out the pain on other people.”

“You never mentioned this before.”

“It wasn’t any of your business. It didn’t affect you in any way, and I don’t need any suggestion out there that I’m not one hundred percent fit and healthy. What you don’t know, you can’t tell, even inadvertently. But if you want to take this outside the office, and not just on business trips, you need to know what you’re taking on. Before you do anything that might put your career at risk.”

Mark hunched up with his arms around his knees, thinking. Too much to assimilate at once. Steven wanted him, but was warning him off. There was more than just the risk of people not taking him seriously, and with the outside stresses on the relationship, he might come away with nothing to show for it if they did make this more than an office affair.

Not telling him about a medical problem until now -- reasonable enough, so long as it didn’t affect him personally. He’d want more details later, but he was willing to take Steven’s reassurance that it didn’t, at least for now. As Steven had said, what he didn’t know he couldn’t let slip by accident.

Steven was silent, giving him time to think. He thought about what Steven had said tonight, and earlier. He’d been right when he’d wondered whether Steven was unsure if he wanted only friends with sex.

He knew when it had changed for Steven, when Steven had stopped being content to let things drift until after Mark had his PhD safely in his hand. “The day we watched the sunrise -- you were tempted to ask me if I wanted more.”

Steven shifted on the bed. “And then the phone rang.” Silence for a moment. “I’d already been thinking about asking you to come with me to Paris for the weekend. Not with anything in mind other than sightseeing’s more fun in company and I thought you’d probably enjoy it. But we had a conversation to finish, and it seemed like the ideal opportunity. No pressure, no interruptions, and a chance to spend time together that had nothing to do with work.”

“When did you hear from Sanjay?”

“About a week ago. And that suddenly made it a lot more important to talk about where we were taking this. If nothing else, they want you back, but they won’t wait forever. But I put it off. The trip was already booked; it was easier to wait and see what happened this weekend.” Steven’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I can be a coward sometimes.”

“When were you going to tell me?”

“Tomorrow afternoon. Enough time before to relax together. Enough time afterwards to talk and decide what to do.”

But he’d got there first, telling Steven at last what he truly wanted. Did he still want it, knowing what he knew now? Want it badly enough to deal with all the obstacles and risks?

Yes.

He sat up straight and put out his hand to take hold of Steven’s. “You’re right. We don’t know whether we can deal with each other out of office hours. So we start dating like normal people do. We go out for dinner in the evening; we go to see a film together. We see whether it can work. And as far as everyone else is concerned, we went on a business trip, we ended up in the same room because the hotel fucked up, and we thought ‘What the hell, everyone thinks we are anyway, we might as well’, and we liked it and carried on when we got back.”

Steven squeezed his hand. “You don’t need to decide yet.”

“I’ll sleep on it. But I don’t think I’ll change my mind.” If they’d had this conversation a month in, he might have backed out. But it had been just sex with friends then. It wasn’t just that anymore. Steven was who he wanted to be with. “Now what?”

“There’s probably still half a glass each of champagne left in that bottle. We do our best to get drunk on one glass of champagne between us, we listen to some more music, and we try to forget this conversation until tomorrow.”

That seemed like a good plan to him. He let go of Steven’s hand and got out of bed. “Better get some pyjamas on.”

He grabbed his glasses, went through into what he had expected to be his room, and found his own pyjamas. He only bothered with the trousers. They were quite enough for modesty in case of emergency. The bottle produced enough champagne to be worth drinking. By the time he’d poured it, Steven had come in, also wearing his pyjama trousers. Steven went over to the laptop. “Have you got any DVDs with you?”

“No. But there are some downloads from BBC radio. How about I’m Sorry, I Haven’t A Clue?” A nice cheerful comedy show might be the thing they needed now.

“Half an hour of silliness.” Steven looked pleased. “Just right before going to bed.”

They curled up on the sofa together. “First date?” Steven asked as Mark cuddled up to him.

“Sounds good to me.”

Half an hour of light comedy and half a glass of champagne turned out to be a good sedative. When they went back to bed, Mark was asleep within minutes.

Chapter Fifteen

Mark woke to daylight and a warm body at his back. Steven was pressed against him, one arm draped loosely around his waist. Still asleep, from the sound of his breathing.

Last night had been a bit of a bombshell. But it was worth it, to wake up like this. No, he wasn’t going to back out. It might not work, but he was going to give it a damned good go first.

I love you.

Falling in love with the boss. Maggie had warned him. But at least it was mutual. Steven hadn’t said the words, but they’d been there.

He lay quietly for two or three minutes. Then Steven moved slightly, muttering to himself. Waking up?

He turned over to face Steven. Steven was blinking sleepily. He focused on Mark’s face and smiled.

Oh, yes, it was worth trying to make it work. He’d like a few more mornings of waking up like this. He kissed Steven, just a greeting at first, then more seriously. Steven tightened his grip, pulling them hard against each other. Waking erections bumped together, and lust burned through him. Time to fuck.

He thrust his tongue hard into Steven’s mouth, taking possession, taking control. One hand clutched at the back of Steven’s head, holding him in place. Fingers spread, feeling soft hair flow between them. Steven relaxed into it, let him have control. But only for a moment, before pushing Mark onto his back and returning the kiss with equal ferocity. Then the same as last night, a trail of kisses along his neck. But not quite like last night, for that had been slow seduction and this was fierce, fast passion, devouring him. He lay back and let Steven have his way for a few moments, enjoying the weight pressing him down, the urgency of Steven’s desire as Steven stroked and kissed a trail down his chest.

Steven got to his hands and knees, looking around blindly, and then scrambled off him and groped for the condoms on the bedside table. Mark sat up and kicked his pyjamas off, kneeled behind Steven, and dragged at Steven’s pyjama trousers to pull them off, startled by the novelty of kneeling behind a bare-arsed Steven. A cascade of thoughts -- how would it feel to shove his cock up there, then the nagging of his conscience about condoms first, and finally the realisation that he’d just thought about having Steven’s arse. And then Steven turned round, triumphantly clutching the packet.

One condom was handed to him. Steven tipped another into his own hand and ripped the foil open. Rolled the condom down over Mark’s cock without bothering to make it foreplay, and shoved him flat on his back. Went right back to trying to kiss every last square inch of Mark’s chest.

If Steven had gone straight for his cock, Mark would have been able to do nothing but lie there. As it was, he had just enough functioning brain cells to be able to open the condom he still held. He pushed Steven off him, grabbed his cock, and rolled on the condom. Lay down next to Steven so that they could suck each other.

Mouth full of cock while his own cock was surrounded. Something else he’d missed about doing it in a bed. And the king-size bed was even better, plenty of room. He reached one arm around Steven so that he could take hold of Steven’s balls from behind. Cradled them in his hand, gently squeezing them while he was still sane enough to have some control. Sucked and licked at Steven’s cock, enjoying the feel of his mouth being filled while Steven did the same to him, arousal building ever higher.

He’d only taken half the length so far, but Steven shoved abruptly, giving him more. He sucked hard -- and Steven rolled them over, rolling him onto his back and lying on top of him. Fucking his mouth hard, taking control. He swallowed frantically, trying to breath. Much more of this and he’d be in trouble. But then Steven came, cock pulsing. A few seconds, and then Steven rolled off him, letting him breathe. And leaving his cock desperate with need.

What the fuck? Since when did Steven come first? But Steven was lying on his back, mouth open, panting for breath. Trying to reach for Mark’s cock, but his co-ordination was obviously gone.

So Mark rolled on top of him and shoved his cock into Steven’s mouth. Turnabout was fair play, and he needed release now.

One good thrust, and then Steven grabbed at his arse and sucked on his cock. Enough sensation to do it, and he was coming into Steven’s mouth. Two mornings running he’d been on top, even if it had been taking it in turns this morning, and that thought was very sweet.

But Steven had had the decency to get off fast and let him breathe. He did the same, finding the strength to roll off before he’d quite finished coming. He lay next to Steven, putting out a hand to keep contact as the last few twitches of his cock faded away.

After a moment Steven shuffled around so that they were lying the same way and held his hand. “Sorry. Needed it.”

It was the first thing either of them had said since waking up. “That was an interesting experience. You’re not usually that fast off the mark.”

“I was dreaming,” Steven said. “I woke up, and you were still there.”

That explained a lot. “It was fun. One more thing we can do now we’ve got a bed.”

“Mmm. And a nice big bed, too.” Steven eased himself up onto one elbow and looked down at him. “Better than yesterday.”

“Though we probably still need to get moving if we want breakfast.” There was a clock radio by the bed, but he couldn’t see it from this distance without his glasses. He’d have to move closer to it, and he didn’t feel like moving yet.

Steven leaned across him, peering at the clock. “No great rush, it isn’t even nine o’clock yet. I think.”

“Then come here.” He wanted a cuddle.

Steven gave him the required cuddle; then they staggered out of bed and into the bathroom to strip the condoms off. “I’ll go and have a shower in the other room. We’ve got two bathrooms; we might as well use them.”

When he got out of the shower, Steven was already dressed and standing by the other bed, looking at it thoughtfully. “I suppose we could make some effort to make it look as if someone slept in it.”

“Don’t bother.”

“Last chance, Mark.”

He walked up behind Steven and hugged him. “I’ve made my decision. Let’s go and get breakfast.”

* * * * *

They spent the morning sightseeing. It was a cold day, but with a warm coat and good company, Mark didn’t mind. Steven bundled him into one of the river cruise boats as soon as they passed one of the berths, and that took them out of the weather for a while. They had lunch in a cafe afterwards, then went on to the museum of the day.

He was mentally reeling by the time they emerged. There was just too much to see and do, even with trying to cover only one or two sites. Steven put an arm around him as they stood outside the building. “Cultural overload?”

“It’s wonderful, but there’s just too much of it to take in.” He huddled up to Steven, enjoying the comfort of being held. A few people glanced at them, though nobody said anything. It was an odd feeling, to finally be openly a couple. “God, it’s getting cold now it’s dark.”

“Let’s go and have dinner.”

It was easier to find a table for two this evening. The conversation wasn’t much changed from the night before. Habit seemed to count for a lot more than a new phase in their relationship. The only real difference was the possessive arm Steven put around him as they went out into the night afterwards.

Claude was on duty when they got back to the hotel. When they went over to check for any messages, Claude said quietly, “I would have held a room with a double bed the first night if I had known.”

Steven said, “We didn’t know, Claude.”

Claude broke into a big smile. “Ah, Paris on Valentine’s Day. Perhaps the mix-up was a good thing after all. The champagne was good?”

“The champagne was very good, and very appropriate, thank you,” Steven said. “But I’d still have preferred two rooms on the first night, in case I went wandering.”

Claude nodded. “The old trouble, eh? But you do not wander so much these days.”

“I’ve got better at sleeping in strange beds. And besides, the beds here aren’t strange anymore.”

A very long acquaintance, from the sound of it. “Is that why you prefer to stay here?” Mark asked.

“One of the reasons,” Steven said. “I sleep better here than I would in a strange hotel. A few years ago I was over a lot for meetings. I spent a few nights talking to Claude until I was tired enough to sleep.”

Claude grinned. “Talking, and a brandy.” He turned to Mark. “I found him walking up and down the stairs after everyone had gone to bed. He was too restless to sleep. So I made him sit down here with me so that he did not disturb the other guests.”

“It improved my French and Claude’s English.” Steven put a hand on Mark’s shoulder. “Come on. We’d better go and look over the files for the meeting tomorrow.”

“Holiday’s over.”

“Exactly.”

Well, he couldn’t complain. This was a business trip, if one that involved a brief holiday first. Time to get his mind back on work.

* * * * *

They spent most of the evening working. But afterwards they sat on the sofa and listened to another recording from Radio 4. Then it was time for bed. This time they made sure first that they had the things they might need within easy reach. As they got into the big bed and held each other, Mark said, “I could get used to this.”

“There’ll be another meeting in a couple of months. We can book this suite again. It’s useful to have that table to work at.” Steven stroked his hair. “We haven’t made much of a dent in that packet yet, and we might not have time tomorrow morning.”

His cock was hard already, eager for Steven. But they’d had one frantic fuck already today. “Take things a bit more slowly than this morning?”

“Sounds good.” Another stroke of Steven’s hand against him, this time continuing down his back. “Put the condoms on now, though.”

Ready for anything they might want to do. He rolled over, grabbed two condoms from the packet, and handed one to Steven. They put them on, then went back to kissing and stroking each other. Warm flesh under his hands -- warm, naked flesh. There’d be more of this from now on, not just the half-clothed fuck over a desk or against a wall. But he still wanted to take advantage of it now. He pushed Steven onto his back and then straddled him, stroking up and down the length of Steven’s chest. “God, it’s good to have you naked.”

“And we were so shy on Friday night.”

“Says something about how restricted we’ve been, doesn’t it?”

Steven grinned up at him. “Oh, I don’t know. It got quite creative at times.” Hand on Mark’s cock. “But it’s nice to have a bed at last.”

Oh, yes. He put his hand over Steven’s where it was wrapped around his cock, and squeezed. That felt very good indeed, but he didn’t want to get to the main event just yet. A little of what Steven had been doing to him this morning might be nice. So he shifted position, lying down on top of Steven and nibbling and kissing the tender hollow at the base of his neck. Steven seemed content to take things slowly, sighing, and stroking Mark’s hair and shoulders.

Onward, over Steven’s chest and down towards his nipples. Quick kiss on one, and then sucking at the other for a minute or two. Then further down, deliberately pressing against Steven’s cock as he moved, dragging his body against it. Slowly, deliberately, making Steven wait. He was lying between Steven’s legs now, ready to go for his cock. He looked up. “Want me to do you first, or shall we sixty-nine again?”

“I want you in me.”

What?

Shocked, he struggled to his knees. “Did I just hear you correctly?”

“Yes.” Steven gave him a lazy smile. “I’m not in the mood very often, so make the most of it.”

Well, that certainly made a change. Obviously they weren’t quite back to normal workday mindset yet. He grabbed for the KY before Steven could change his mind. A little in his hand, to warm it first. Doing it well would probably improve his chances of doing it again.

He applied it carefully, watching Steven’s face for any sign of discomfort. Steven was tense for a moment, then slowly relaxed, letting him in. He pressed deeper with his finger, searching for the right spot. Then he felt it and saw in Steven’s face that he had it right. As he stroked gently, Steven sighed in pleasure.

So, a little of that to get Steven well relaxed. With someone else he might have tried sucking cock at the same time, but he didn’t want to risk missing a sign he should back off. Or a sign that he was doing well.

He was doing well, going by Steven’s expression. “All right?” he asked after a moment or two.

“Yes, go on.”

He withdrew just as carefully and put more lube on himself, making sure he was slick and wet. Then he grabbed a facecloth to wipe his hands, before grabbing one of the plump pillows the bed was well provided with. “Here, let’s get this under your hips.”

“Provision for someone a bit less athletic than you?”

“Nothing to do with age -- I like a bit of support myself sometimes.” He pushed the pillow under Steven. Then he got into position himself as Steven pulled his legs right up. One long pause, a last chance for Steven to change his mind, and a chance for himself to savour the moment. Then he pushed into Steven, relishing the tightness around his cock. Tight heat gripping him, so different from what he’d had before with Steven. He hadn’t missed it until now, but he knew he’d complain if Steven didn’t offer this again.

No going back now to the way they’d been. It had been enormous fun, and it would be in future, but it was no longer enough. Now he needed something real to go with the fantasy. He slid in, as deep as he could get, and held still for a moment. Then he pulled back and thrust in again. Still watching Steven, and very glad now that this was the second time today. He could think of more than just how good it felt to shove his cock in, though it took all the self-control he had. Could watch and make sure that Steven was enjoying this too.

Then Steven started to gasp in pleasure and clutched at his back. Now he could fuck with abandon. Out, and in again, faster each time. Building them both up to that peak of pleasure. Steven was moaning now, incoherent pleading. He could feel it himself, almost there, not quite.

“God, you’re tight.” Tight, but not so tight that he was hurting Steven, not with the careful foreplay. “Want to fuck you forever.” He pulled out and slammed in again as fast as he could.

Steven gasped and flung his head back, his fingers biting into Mark’s shoulders. He clamped down tight around Mark, rhythmically squeezing around his cock in the beat of orgasm.

Too long since he’d been in someone’s arse. He couldn’t hold back, not with that squeezing, and he didn’t have to now that Steven was satisfied. He felt it start deep in his balls, then the full rush of coming. Coming deep inside Steven for the first time.

He couldn’t hold himself up any longer and collapsed onto Steven. Enjoyed the way Steven hugged him tightly, not letting go. Then his cock was slipping out, but it didn’t matter anymore. He had all he wanted.

They lay like that for a few minutes. Then Steven said, “Your turn to clean up.” He sounded as if he was smiling.

Mark reluctantly raised himself up just enough to be able to look Steven in the face. “Yes, boss.” Then he kissed Steven, just as Steven started to grin at him.

Just a quick kiss. Then he took his turn at cleaning up, disposing of the condoms. Everything clean and tidy at last, he went back to his place in the bed, lying behind Steven with an arm around his waist.

One thing was sure. Steven would be sleeping soundly for a few hours. At least they’d be well-rested for the meeting in the morning, which was, after all, the whole point of coming over early.

Chapter Sixteen

They didn’t have time to make love in the morning, but Mark wasn’t terribly disappointed. It had been a very good weekend, and not just for the sex. He knew where the relationship was going now, and there would be other weekends. And besides, he’d had a good time for the reason Steven had originally offered -- a chance to play the tourist in Steven’s company.

And the meeting went well, although he was exhausted by the time they got to the airport for the flight home. He sank back into the seat, grateful for the chance to close his eyes and doze for a while. There was a good deal more decorum than the last time he’d gone to sleep, but Steven was still beside him, sitting in the next seat. Dozing as well, when Mark looked half an hour later.

They finally went their separate ways, home to their own beds. Before they parted, Mark said, “Thanks. For everything.”

Steven put a hand on his cheek. “You, too.” Then he turned and walked away.

Time to go home and sleep alone again.

* * * * *

The first test came at lunch the next day. They were a little earlier than usual, their body clocks still on Paris time. The piranhas arrived just as they were finishing, and promptly sat down with them.

“How was the trip to Paris?” Kate asked.

Steven raised an eyebrow. “I don’t remember telling anyone we were going to Paris.”

“You told some of the other people who work for you, and they told us when we looked for you at lunchtime yesterday.” Giggle. “Did you go for the whole weekend?”

Steven looked at Maggie. “Have you been telling the younglings about my travel habits?”

“I just said you were sensible and usually made a weekend of it instead of killing yourself being a macho hero and flying over on the ungodly-o’clock-in-the-morning flight,” Maggie said. “I didn’t actually think about which weekend it was, until one of them pointed it out. They had a certain amount of fun talking about it.”

“What’s this ‘we’?” Tracy asked. “You did take Mark with you, then?”

“Of course.”

“All weekend?”

Steven looked at him across the table. “Shall we?”

As good a time as any. He shrugged. “All weekend. Steven asked if I’d like to go over a couple of days early, since my weekend was going to be disrupted anyway. And before anyone asks, I booked separate rooms for us.”

“But did you sleep in separate rooms?”

“As it turned out, no.” He paused, waited for the snickering to die down. “Because our plane was late and the hotel thought we weren’t coming, so they released our rooms to people coming in at the last minute asking for a room. If the night clerk hadn’t known Steven, we wouldn’t have had a room at all, but he saved us one just in case.”

“It hadn’t actually occurred to either of us what day Saturday was and that the hotels would be full as a result,” Steven added. “Mark phoned in the morning to confirm the rooms, but the girl on the desk was new and didn’t pass the message on.”

The piranhas were completely absorbed in the story now, looking back and forth between Mark and Steven. Kate said, “So you were just forced to share a bed.”

He shook his head and grinned at her. “Actually, it was two single beds. As Claude said, the romantic couples weren’t terribly interested in a room with two single beds.”

Apparently he sounded as if he was telling the truth, because they all looked disappointed. It probably helped that he was telling the truth.

Steven waited for a few seconds, then added, utterly deadpan, “But of course we knew that nobody would believe that we’d shared a room and not done anything, so we decided we might as well.”

There was utter silence for a few seconds, and then Tracy squealed, “You didn’t!” loudly enough for other people sitting nearby to turn to look at them.

Mark grinned at her. “We did. Though you wouldn’t believe what I had to do to convince him that no, I didn’t mind sharing a room with him.”

Steven smiled at him across the table. “I might not have been too pleased with Claude when he told us we had to share a room, but I’m not complaining about the end result.”

Maggie looked at him, then Steven. “You really got there and found you’d been given a room to share?” She shook her head in disbelief.

“Really and truly,” Steven said. “It was bloody embarrassing, in fact. I was worried Mark would think I’d tipped Claude off to arrange it. Except it turned out he was terrified I’d think he’d booked one room on purpose. And then we decided to hell with it. It was after midnight London time, we’d had a hell of a wait in the airport, and we were too tired to go looking for another hotel.”

Kate leaned sideways and stroked Steven’s arm. “It’s so romantic! But two single beds?”

“If it had been a double bed, I would have insisted on going somewhere else, and you wouldn’t have been listening to this story today. I had no intention of imposing on my PA in that way, even if we have been having fun annoying everyone for the last few months. But there is a happy ending to this story.” Steven patted her hand. “The next morning we were no longer too tired to care about anything but a good night’s sleep. And that afternoon Claude managed to free up one of the suites, in which he placed a bottle of champagne by way of apology for the mix-up. A suite with a king-size bed in one of the rooms. And that is all the detail you’re going to get, so don’t ask for the pornographic details.”

“Spoilsport,” someone muttered.

“Some Valentine’s Day,” Maggie said quietly.

“Best Valentine’s Day I’ve had in years,” Steven said and then added equally quietly, “And no, I didn’t plan it that way.” He nodded to Mark. “Let’s go and have our tea.”

“You can’t just leave it there!” Tracy wailed as they stood up. “What happens next?”

“We don’t know,” Steven said, taking hold of his hand. “We’ll have to see how it goes. Paris isn’t here.” Then he let go of Mark and put his hand on Tracy’s shoulder. “So no teasing Mark for a daily status report, miss. I don’t want him deciding it’s too much like hard work.”

She pouted at Steven. “You’re no fun.”

“Yes, I’m old and past it. And I want my tea. Come on, Mark.”

He followed Steven, but put in a parting shot. “Don’t believe him when he says he’s past it.” He left to the sound of giggles.

* * * * *

They’d just finished tea and he was tidying up when Maggie arrived. She went straight for the jugular. “Very nicely played, Steven. But when did you start screwing him?”

Steven winced and said, “Soon enough to feel thoroughly guilty about it afterwards.”

Well, if Steven was being honest about it with Maggie ... “Guilty enough that I had to work at getting him to do it again.”

“Steven.”

The way Maggie said it made Mark feel as if he were back at school again, being told off after having done something naughty -- and it wasn’t even directed at him. It must have had the same effect on Steven, for he retreated into the corner of the couch with his arms crossed. “I tried, Maggie. I know how inappropriate it was, believe me. But there was an evening after a long day when we were both too tired to keep the attraction stuffed in a sealed box; and how was I supposed to resist that looking at me with big, pleading puppy dog eyes?”

She glanced at Mark and sighed. “I know. But you’re old enough to have learnt not to think with your dick, even if he isn’t. So what happened this weekend?”

Steven looked straight at her. “The honest truth is that it really did happen the way we said. And I really would have gone somewhere else and slept decorously in my own room if it wouldn’t have meant another hour of pratting around when we were already dead tired.”

“Oh, I believe you. But something happened, didn’t it? You might have misled them about it being the first time, but something changed for you two over the weekend. It was the first time in some way.”

Steven nodded. “First time we’ve ever spent time with each other outside the office. Not just the sex -- spending time with each other.”

They spent eight hours a day five days a week with each other, but Maggie knew what Steven was saying. “Different environment, and a chance to get to know each other the same way you would have if you’d met each other somewhere other than work.”

Steven looked over at him. “What was it you said? ‘Leave the bloody suit in the cupboard for tonight’?”

“That night, and a few more nights, I hope.”

Maggie finally sat down, sitting on the sofa next to Steven. “I’ll have a cup of tea, Mark, if there’s any left in the pot. Steven, I can see why you two might come out in the open if you’ve decided to make this more than just sex, but why are you lying to people about when you started?”

“Several reasons, none of which I particularly want to discuss.” Steven finally relaxed a little, uncrossing his arms -- but staring down at his hands where they lay folded in his lap. “But I think this way gives us a better chance at making it work outside the office. Because it is different now, and I don’t want to talk about how and why with anyone who feels like gossiping.”

Maggie reached out and put her hand on Steven’s. “I’m not just gossiping, Steven.”

“I wouldn’t have told you if I thought you were. Did they buy it?”

“Yes.” Maggie stroked Steven’s hand. “They haven’t known you as long as I have.”

Again that sense of being cut off from Steven by the sheer difference in age. There was absolutely no sexual tension between Steven and Maggie, but there was an intimacy born of long friendship. He might have felt jealous if he hadn’t been secure that Steven loved him.

He handed Maggie her tea and then sat on the arm of the sofa. Steven put an arm around him. Maggie looked at them and asked, “So what are you going to do?”

“Take things slowly,” Steven said and looked up at Mark. “Go out for dinner tomorrow night?”

“Just remember we’ve got to go to Glasgow on Friday for the post-mortem on the accident.” That one was a there-and-back the same day. “We’re going to be eating a lot of restaurant food this week.” A mild hint at eating dinner at someone’s house, mild enough for Steven to ignore it if he was still uncomfortable about getting that intimate that quickly.

“Go out for dinner, but somewhere we can get seated and eat quickly, then.” Steven stroked his waist. “It’s going to be takeaway or freezer meals for me this week; I don’t think I can face cooking. Next week maybe, when we’re not doing so much running around.”

That was a valid point. “There’ll be somewhere round here we can go after work.”

Maggie drained her cup and set it down. “I’d better be going. I hope you two manage to make this work.”

“So do I,” Steven said. “For one thing, I’ll probably be out a PA as well as a boyfriend if we don’t.”

“It’s your own fault.” Maggie stood up. “I’ll see myself out.”

After she’d gone, Mark took her place on the sofa. “Think we’re going to get a lot of teasing?”

“I’m sure of it.” Steven pulled him close and kissed him. “But I don’t care.”

He slid his hand across Steven’s chest. “She hasn’t managed to put you off sex, has she?”

Steven grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “A little bit. But it’s mostly that we’ve got work to catch up, and it was a long day yesterday.” Another kiss. “Didn’t you get enough at the weekend?”

“Yes, but that was the weekend, and this is Tuesday.” He settled against Steven, resting his head on Steven’s shoulder for a moment. “All right. I’m tired, too.”

“Tomorrow. Besides, they’ll be finding excuses to come in here all afternoon. And that’s before the news spreads to the rest of my faithful employees.”

“Urgh.” There were enough other people in the London offices to make it a full day fending off the curious. “Have you confessed to Bob yet?”

“No. I’d better do that now, in fact.” Steven let go of him and stood up. “I should talk to him about Friday anyway.”

It was still lunchtime, but Mark went over to his desk to start the afternoon work. He had a feeling that he might not get much uninterrupted time for the rest of the day.

Chapter Seventeen

The day in Glasgow went well, although Mark did have to deal with Bob dragging him off to a quiet corner for a private chat about his intentions. “Is this a long-term thing, my lad?”

“I hope so.”

“Good. Because I wouldn’t like to see Steven hurt. Or you, for that matter.”

“We’re taking it slowly, Bob. We know what sort of crap we’re going to have to deal with.”

Bob gave him a long look. “Hmm. I suspect you don’t know all of it yet. Never mind. At least you don’t seem to be too starry-eyed about it.”

“The age gap, the assumptions people will make about what I’m after ...”

“Yes, I suppose you’ve been getting a sneak preview of it for the last few months, haven’t you?” Bob looked past him. “Well, good luck to the pair of you.”

Steven must have come up behind him. “Back to the party?”

“Afraid so,” Steven said. “But at least it looks as if we’ll get this wrapped up today.”

* * * * *

They did, though there was a lot of shouting towards the end. They finally escaped back to the airport, only to find another delay and a full plane.

“Well, it’s not Valentine’s Day this weekend.”

“No, it’s just Friday night,” Steven said. “Everyone’s trying to get somewhere else for the weekend.”

More delays at the other end, with the plane being late enough to have lost its slot at the scheduled gate. It wasn’t all that late when they emerged into the terminal, but he knew he’d be tired by the time he’d fought his way through the public transport system. The train into town should be all right, but after that ... “God, I’m not looking forward to getting home. And it’s Friday night; the drunks will be out.”

There was a pause. Then Steven said, “Come home with me. We’ll get a taxi from the train station.”

He thought about asking, Are you sure? After all, Steven had been so wary of meeting anywhere outside work that wasn’t neutral ground. But it might suggest that he was hesitant, and they didn’t need another round of that. “Thanks.”

They had one bit of luck for the day’s transport, finding a train ready to go but with two seats together. They sat in companionable silence, giving him time to think about the coming night.

They might well be too tired for sex by the time they got in. But it would be good to sleep with Steven again. Sleep with him and wake up to another day of being able to spend some time together that wasn’t about work. Staying the whole weekend wasn’t a practical option even if Steven was comfortable with the idea, which wasn’t a given. He’d need to go home for clean clothes at some point. But he could see this being a lazy Saturday morning with Steven before he had to deal with it. Something to look forward to.

* * * * *

The taxi was lucky with the traffic and the lights, and it wasn’t even that much past Mark’s usual bedtime by the time they were standing outside the door to Steven’s flat. Both a literal and a metaphorical step across the threshold, this. He looked around in interest as Steven led the way into the flat.

The living room was large and comfortably furnished, in a manner that suggested that Steven was willing to pay a lot for comfort, but not interested in showing off. The most obvious thing about the furniture was the sheer number of bookcases. This was the home of a bookworm who bought a lot of books and refused to part with them. Not unlike a lot of Mark’s friends, in fact. Just with a twenty-year head start on the library. “What are you going to do when you run out of bookcases?”

“Start doing a full library layout in the spare room. Visitors can just sleep in the office instead.” Steven set his briefcase down on the coffee table. “Would you like a drink before bed?”

He thought about it. “At this point I think some hot milk would be nice. I’m too tired to enjoy anything alcoholic.”

“I know the feeling. I’ll make some for both of us. Hot chocolate?”

“Sounds good.” He put down his own briefcase and followed Steven into the kitchen. It would be worth knowing where to find things if he was awake first in the morning. “Where do you keep your tea and coffee?”

“At this time of night? Oh. For the morning. Tea’s in there.” Steven pointed out a canister sitting by the kettle. “If you want coffee, there’s some instant coffee in the cupboard above, and a percolator in the bottom cupboard. I don’t do coffee in the morning.”

Or all that often during the rest of the day, if the percolator was in the cupboard while the tea canister was on the bench top. He knew that already, but he hadn’t known whether Steven had coffee at breakfast or on the weekends. Now he did. One of a myriad of little things to learn about each other outside the office.

The flat was comfortably warm, and he took his jacket off, leaving it on one of the armchairs. Steven did the same, and they sat on the sofa together to drink their chocolate. They chatted for a few minutes about the day, and then Steven said, “I’m not sure I’m up to it tonight.”

“That’s all right. I’m tired, too.” He stroked Steven’s arm. “See how it goes when we get to bed. If it doesn’t happen, there’s always the morning. Just as long as we don’t make a habit of going to bed on Friday nights too tired to do anything but sleep.”

Steven smiled at that. “At least it’s a double bed tonight.”

Queen-size bed, as it turned out. Big enough to sleep two very comfortably. As Mark was getting undressed, Steven rummaged in the cupboard and tossed him a dressing gown. “Here, my spare one should fit you.”

They were close enough in height and build that something like a dressing gown should fit. He tried it on and found that it did. “Thanks.” He wore it into the bathroom, where he found a spare toothbrush in the cupboard, just where Steven had said. Steven hadn’t mentioned the lube, but he found that, too, and used it. Just in case.

Back to the bedroom, and the big, comfortable bed. He’d got the pillow on his side flattened to his satisfaction by the time Steven came back and got in with him. Warm body at his back, arm tucked around him, no particular pressure to perform tonight. Just pleasant companionship. He relaxed into it. “Thanks, Steven. I didn’t fancy the Underground tonight.”

“No. It’s been a long day. I’m still hearing the sound of a plane engine.”

A long day, and something of a stressful one. The man responsible for the accident had tried to lie even when confronted with the video evidence and had then made the mistake of trying to blame the lab team. But his own management had done most of the shouting; Steven had just sat there in quiet fury. “Never mind. It’s done now.”

“I don’t want to think about it, or I’ll never get to sleep.” Steven nuzzled the back of his neck. “I can think of better things to do.”

“Oh, you think you might be up to it after all now you’ve actually got a naked man in your bed?”

“As long as you don’t mind it being just a quickie.” Steven slid his hand down to cover Mark’s cock. “Hmm. Tired but will make a valiant effort, I think. Just like mine.”

“You’re not taking this seriously.”

“No.”

But he could feel Steven’s cock hardening against his backside. His own cock was hard now, responding to the feel of a familiar and welcome hand. He’d thought he was too tired, but that was rapidly changing. “Quick one now to get us off to sleep, then we can do the long and leisurely thing tomorrow. And I found your lube.”

“So all I have to do is grab a condom ... Stay there.” Steven let go of him and rolled away.

There was the sound of a drawer being opened. Muttered swearing suggestive of a man without glasses failing to find something by touch, then a triumphant, “Got it.” Just enough time for Steven to put it on, and then he was cuddling Mark again. Just an arm around his chest at first, and then stroking him, moving down to investigate whether his cock was hard enough.

Yes. A quickie was exactly what he wanted now. Get off fast and go to sleep in Steven’s arms. “Let’s do it.”

Steven shifted a little, and Mark felt Steven’s cock bumping against him. He wriggled, trying to get lined up without Steven having to let go of him. Not quite right, and then it was, Steven’s cock sliding smoothly into him.

Not face to face tonight, but still intimate. Naked bodies pressed tightly together. No real foreplay save the simple pleasure of each other’s company for half an hour, unwinding before bed, but that was all the foreplay he needed tonight. Steven’s hand on his cock and Steven moving inside him were all he’d need to come.

It was slow at first, the slight awkwardness of a new position. Then they found the knack of it, exactly how to move together so that Steven could give him a good long stroke. He could have used a tighter grip on his cock, but he’d settle for what he had.

Then the fire started to burn in him, making him want it hard and fast. He grabbed for his cock himself, pushing Steven’s hand out of the way. Steven didn’t try to fight him, but moved to hold his hip steady and gave him a hard thrust. Just what he needed now, and he jerked hard on his cock. No little refinements, but that was all right. All he wanted now was a tight fist around his own cock and someone else’s cock up him. Half a dozen quick strokes and he was there, his cock jerking in his fist.

Steven grabbed at his shoulder, fingers digging into him. “God, I love the way you squeeze me when you come.”

He couldn’t say anything. He was too busy coming. But he heard it. Filed it away. Came a little harder. And then he was done, the last few drops out. He relaxed and waited as Steven shoved frantically, straining for that last bit of sensation he needed to come. One last thrust and then Steven held still, whimpering in pleasure.

Finally Steven relaxed, loosening his grip on Mark’s shoulder.

“I’m going to have bruises in the morning.”

“Sorry.” Brief caress. “Didn’t think.”

“It’s all right. Think I’ll sleep soundly after that.”

“Mmm.” Steven moved away from him, was obviously getting rid of the condom. Then he moved back and put his arm around Mark. “Here.”

A cloth to wipe himself down with. Steven must have brought it with him when he’d finished in the bathroom. Mark used it, then tossed it on the floor. He’d deal with tidying up in the morning. For now he wanted to sleep.

* * * * *

He was woken up by a rather unpleasant dream in which he was reliving the flight home, only in bad weather. It turned out that he was not on a bumpy flight, but in a bed with someone who was tossing and turning. “Steven.”

“Sorry.”

Steven was still for a few moments, then turned over again just as Mark was drifting off to sleep. Not just a change in position, but a disturbed thrashing, as of someone who couldn’t keep still even though he wanted to.

Mark turned over and looked at Steven in the dim light coming in through the curtains. Steven was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling. “Is this why you were so against the idea of sharing the hotel room?”

“Yes.” Steven turned to look at him. “Go back to sleep. I’ll go out to the living room.” There was a pause; then Steven added, “I’ll probably be in a foul mood in the morning. Don’t take it personally.”

“I’ll sleep in the spare room. Or on the sofa if you haven’t got a bed made up.” It wasn’t fair to throw Steven out of his own bed.

“No. I won’t be able to sleep for a while anyway. I might as well get up and read something.” Steven groped for his hand, squeezed it. “Sorry. Didn’t want you to have to deal with this the first time you stayed here.” Then Steven slipped out of bed, found his dressing gown, and went out, shutting the door behind him.

A thin line of light appeared under the door. Not enough to disturb him, so he turned over and went back to sleep.

* * * * *

The other side of the bed was still empty when he woke up. Empty and cold. Steven must have stayed in the living room for the rest of the night. Mark wasn’t even sure what time it had been when he’d left. Fairly late, he hoped.

He found the dressing gown Steven had lent him, and went for a pee. Then he went looking for Steven, and breakfast. He tried the living room first, rather than blunder around the flat trying the unfamiliar doors. Steven was sitting hunched up in the chair by the window, with the curtains pulled wide open. The morning light showed his features clearly -- tired and drawn, as if the nightmare had pursued him even after he’d woken up. And he looked drawn in himself, huddling into his dressing gown as if he felt cold, even though the flat felt warm enough to Mark.

“Didn’t you sleep at all?”

“Well, I certainly wasn’t going to get much sleep on the sofa!” Steven snarled.

Mark recoiled in shock. He’d offered to move and let Steven have the bed. And now Steven was angry with him? Not just angry, but vicious in a way he’d never seen before. He’d seen Steven angry, angry and sometimes deliberately attacking someone, going for their weak spot. But always Steven had been angry with good reason, not this unprovoked anger, and not simply hitting out at someone.

Don’t take it personally.

This was what Steven had been worried about. It still hurt to have Steven talk to him like that, but it helped to know that it wasn’t anything he’d done. Whatever was going on, Steven was lashing out at him simply because he happened to be there. And it was connected with the bad night’s sleep. “Go back to bed, Steven.”

Steven stared at him in disgust. “Fat lot of good that will do.”

It was pointless talking to him. Better to get out and leave him to it. But not without something to eat first. He wasn’t facing the Tube on an empty stomach. Steven owed him tea and toast at least, even if he had to eat it by himself. But as he walked to the kitchen, he felt the cold grip him in spite of the warm flat. Steven had warned him off, and now he knew why. A little of it, at least. Should he have heeded the warning?

Chapter Eighteen

He put the kettle on. Enough water for two, as much force of habit as anything. And then he thought he might as well make tea for Steven. It couldn’t make him much worse, and if he’d been up half the night, the caffeine might help him.

Two mugs of tea, the way he always made it for them at work. He took both of them through and wordlessly offered one to Steven.

Steven looked up at him. “Sorry.”

Well, that was a start. “Do you want me to go?”

“No.” Steven took the mug from him, then turned away and looked out of the window. “Don’t talk to me.”

He thought that was a warning rather than a rejection. So he sat down next to Steven, ready to get up again if he was snapped at. Steven didn’t react, so Mark put his arm around him. He could feel the tension in Steven’s body, but there was still no reaction. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally Steven relaxed a little and sipped at his tea, though he continued to stare out of the window.

Mark drank his own tea. When Steven pushed the empty mug at him without turning round and without a word, he simply took it and said quietly, “I’ll make some more.”

Steven said, “It’s getting brighter. Give me another half an hour in the daylight. I might be more civil then.”

And things finally fell into place.

He thought it over as he walked to the kitchen. It had been in front of him all along, if he’d known to look for it. Steven never, ever closed the blinds in the office. Had his desk close to the window, facing the natural light. Didn’t like getting up early. Sometimes got jet-lagged even on a one-hour difference in time zones. Avoided changes in his daily routine if he could, and suffered insomnia if he couldn’t. And thought that some time in bright daylight would improve his mood.

When he took the second mug of tea back in, he took the risk and said, “You’re a daylight-sensitive depressive, aren’t you?”

Steven gave him a feral smile and said, “Half right.” But he took the tea and didn’t snap. So Mark sat down beside him again. May be half an hour and another mug of tea would be enough, and he’d get back something resembling the man he knew.

By the time they’d finished the second mug of tea, Steven was still silent but had uncurled from his hunched-up ball.

“Toast?” Mark suggested.

“Please.”

He went into the kitchen to make it. It took him a little while to find everything, but he was disinclined to go back in to ask Steven where things were. Something gave him the feeling that the formless anger was still there, that Steven’s self-control was hard-won and brittle and could break with the slightest provocation, no matter how irrational it was.

Steven walked in behind him just as he was putting the bread in the toaster, and very lightly stroked his back. A wordless apology. Mark focused on what he was doing, making sure everything was in its place; then he turned round to find Steven looking solemnly at him.

“Any better?” he asked.

Steven nodded. “Getting easier to control it.”

“We eat something, and then we get dressed and go for a walk so you can be outside for a bit.”

“Talk to me about something?”

A distraction. Something for Steven to focus on instead of whatever was chewing at his mind. So Mark talked. About the new menu in the canteen at work. About wanting to go through Steven’s books and see whether there were any he wanted to borrow. About whether the planned new series of Doctor Who would really get off the ground. About whether they should go to a science fiction con together, sometime. And as he talked, Steven gradually responded. Grasping at a lifeline at first, and then more easily. By the time they’d eaten and got dressed, he seemed almost normal again. But still Mark kept away from talking about what he suspected had set this off. Yesterday.

They walked briskly but aimlessly for a while, talking idly about nothing much. He was cheered when Steven took hold of his hand.

“Is the daylight helping?”

“That and the exercise.”

He remembered another day when he’d kept Steven company as he’d walked off tension and anger. The day of the accident, when Steven had had good cause for anger, but had retained an icy control. But had needed to go for a walk afterwards, and a fast one, to burn it off before he could face eating. Trying to stop a slide into this condition, undoubtedly. “Enough yet?”

“I think so. It’s too cold to stay out for long, but it’s helped.”

“You’ll have to lead us back. I don’t know my way around here.” He knew Steven’s address, of course, but had no feel for where it was.

“Oh. Sorry.” Steven looked around, getting his bearings, and then set off, still at a brisk pace. And still holding Mark’s hand.

When they got back to the flat, Mark asked, “Do you want something more to eat now?” He’d had enough to be able to face the trip home on the Tube, but he didn’t think that he’d need to worry about that now. And he wouldn’t mind having a better breakfast than what he’d been able to get Steven to eat earlier.

“Yes. Think I’ll have some shredded wheat with hot milk. Nice and comforting.” Steven led the way into the kitchen. “There’s other cereal if you want. But if you want bacon and eggs, you’ll have to cook it yourself. I couldn’t face it.”

“Cereal will be fine.”

They ate their second breakfast, and then he made yet another round of tea. They sat on the sofa, and this time when he put his arm around Steven, he got a response, Steven holding him in turn. And a quiet, “Thank you for not leaving me.”

“Is it always that bad?”

“Even worse sometimes. But not usually that bad. I’m still unstable, Mark. This might not be the end of it today.”

“Would going back to bed help? You didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Steven shook his head. “I’m still too wound up. Maybe this afternoon.”

Not a good time to ask Steven to talk about this. So back to talking about anything that would help to distract him. “Got any good DVDs? Or something on the TiVo?”

Steven finally smiled at him. “I’ve been reliving my youth. Want to see what was the hot entertainment when I was six?”

“Go on, then.”

He was treated to an hour of an extraordinary mix of old TV shows. They were all very short -- five, ten, fifteen minutes. Some he’d seen before, on one of their many repeats; others were new to him. At the end of it Steven said, “Enough for now.”

“One more Wombles episode?”

“Funny to think that we both saw some of the same things when we were small, in spite of the age difference.”

“If it’s good enough, it’ll be repeated somewhere. Again and again and again.”

“Mmm. Anyway, are you up to going out again?” Steven asked. “I get a Saturday paper delivered, but there’s only one.”

“Well, I can always start raiding your bookshelf, but if you want a walk ...” He’d prefer not to go out again -- he’d felt a bit conspicuous walking around in the tracksuit he’d borrowed from Steven. There were undoubtedly morning joggers out and about around here, but the tracksuit didn’t seem quite right when he was wearing it under a heavy coat. But if Steven needed the walk, he’d go with him.

“Leave it until after lunch, I think.”

They left that and other things until after lunch. Steven’s mood improved noticeably as the day wore on. As it got on to late afternoon, Mark decided that it was time to talk.

“Are you up to telling me what happened this morning?” He thought about what Steven had said. “And what was that about being half right?”

“I wasn’t depressed. It was -- is, for that matter -- the other half of the cycle.”

Oh.

He thought about that for a moment. “But you seem perfectly normal most of the time.”

“I am perfectly normal most of the time. Well, fairly normal. Just slightly bigger mood swings than most people. It’s a spectrum, Mark, and someone on the mild end can go for years or decades without obvious symptoms. Someone like me never gets obviously manic. Just irrationally bad-tempered from time to time, a bit prone to impulsive behaviour and spending sprees.”

“And insomnia, and stuff like that.”

“Yes.”

He had a much better idea now of why Steven had never told him anything about this until it had become important to settle where the relationship was going. And why Steven had withheld the details when he’d finally spoken about it. “But I suppose it could cause you problems business-wise if it got out, even if it doesn’t really affect you badly.”

Steven nodded. “People hear the word bipolar and think about the really flamboyant symptoms. Truth be told, there are probably a lot of mild cases in boardrooms. It’s just that most of them are either undiagnosed or in the closet. They’re seen as people with high energy levels who just need to recharge their batteries every so often.” Steven sat back and put his feet up on the coffee table, folding his arms. “And even the ones who behave badly -- well, it’s usually the sort of bad behaviour that’s seen as perfectly acceptable if you’re that high up the pecking order. Shouting at underlings. Taking risks. If the risk-taking pays off, you’re an asset. And I’m not being sarcastic.”

“Why didn’t you tell me last weekend?”

“Because it’s hard to talk about it.” Steven put out a hand and touched his arm. “I’m sorry you saw it this morning before I managed to tell you.”

He ran through his guess as to what had happened. “Yesterday upset you, you didn’t sleep well, it set this off, and you didn’t have a chance to get it under control the way you normally would.”

“Exactly.”

“But I haven’t noticed you being particularly impulsive.”

“I’ve spent most of my adult life trying to control my impulses. Not acting on them until I’ve thought about them, maybe asked my friends for a second opinion. I don’t always succeed. You, for example.”

He thought back to that first time and the way Steven had been afterwards. The sudden impulsive suggestion. The guilt at pushing him, even though he’d been a willing enough partner once Steven had reassured him they couldn’t be seen. “Is that why I had to work so hard at persuading you that I wanted to do it again?”

“Yes. I don’t trust my own judgement on some things. And it would have been far too easy to put pressure on you without even meaning to. I’m a lot older than you. I’m your boss. I have authority in your eyes, and I could do it to you without you even thinking of it as pressure.”

“Oh, Steven.” Mark hugged him hard. Steven hadn’t controlled that first impulse and had spent the months since unwilling to risk repeating his mistake, even though it had turned out well. “You were a bit too good at trying not to put pressure on me. I was never sure whether you were interested in something more, even after I started to be.”

“Better that than the opposite mistake.” Steven hugged him back. “But then we had last weekend. And it might have been the romance of Paris and Valentine’s Day putting a glamour on things for you, but it wouldn’t have had much effect if there hadn’t been something there in the first place.”

“No.” It had merely given him the courage to speak up and ask for what he had long since wanted. “It was romantic, and glamorous; but most of all it was just a chance to talk about things away from the office.”

“So now what?” Steven asked.

“Any more surprises for me?”

Steven shook his head.

This morning had been unpleasant, but he’d coped with it. And it hadn’t come as a complete surprise. Steven had warned him about it, if not in great detail. More importantly, Steven had tried hard to control his temper, and even at his worst he’d only responded to Mark speaking to him, and he hadn’t tried to follow when Mark left the room. This wasn’t going to be an excuse for abusive behaviour down the line.

He could handle this. “We keep on spending time with each other outside work, see how things go. Maybe it won’t work, but I don’t think this is going to be the reason why.”

“Thanks.” Steven rested his head on Mark’s shoulder. “I’ll be all right now, if you want to go home.”

“No. I’ll stay tonight. Though I’ll have to go home and get some clothes tomorrow.” He looked at the window. It was getting dark now. “Why don’t you go to bed for an hour? Then we can order a pizza for dinner.”

“Sounds good. I’ll get myself a hot water bottle.” Steven got up and went out to the bathroom. He came back with a bottle, filled it, and went to the bedroom.

Left to himself, Mark picked out a book and settled down to read. He had no intention of leaving. Steven was far too important to him now to be able to give him up.

Chapter Nineteen

An hour or so later he went in to see how Steven was doing and found him fast asleep. Difficult to tell in the dim light coming in from the corridor, but he looked less strained now. Mark watched him for a minute, careful not to disturb him.

No, it didn’t change his feelings for Steven. This was still the same man, in control of himself and his world. Steven dealt with his illness as if it was just one more obstacle he had to handle. He didn’t let it get in his way, but worked around it. Just like every other annoyance in his life.

Mark went out and quietly shut the door behind him. It might be a good idea to wake Steven up soon, so that he didn’t end up not being able to sleep later tonight. But getting some food in first might be good. He went out to the kitchen and checked the fridge for the local takeaway menus. One had the phone number highlighted, and when he phoned it, they asked if he’d like the usual order. Right first time.

He added his own choice to the order, put two plates in the oven to heat, and settled back down with a book. When the doorbell rang, he realised he might have a problem. He didn’t know how to remotely operate the front door to the flats. But Steven came out of his room and did it for him. “Have you got enough cash?”

“Should do.”

“Hang on. I’ll get some.”

“Put some clothes on, or you’ll scare the delivery boy.”

By the time the delivery boy found the right flat, Steven was respectably clad in a dressing gown and had got his wallet out. Steven paid for the pizzas, and then they sat down on the sofa.

“You got my usual order, then?”

“Seemed safest. How are you now?”

“Feeling a lot better.”

“Good.” Mark slid a slice of pizza onto his plate. “So what will we do this evening?”

Steven grabbed a slice himself. “I don’t feel like going out. Pizza and a DVD if there’s nothing decent on TV tonight.”

That sounded like a good option to him. It had been far too long since he’d simply sat on the sofa with a friend and a takeaway and blobbed out in front of a good film. Even longer since doing it with a boyfriend. “Rental, or something from your collection?”

“How about a Bond film?” Steven suggested. “Mindless violence, sexy tech, comedy, and pretty actors.”

Bonding over a Bond. “I like.”

Steven wiped his hands clean of grease, then went over to the DVD collection and picked one out. They watched the opening teaser as they ate the pizza. Both of them had seen the film often enough to enjoy making snarky remarks rather than wanting to just sit and watch it.

“Enjoying yourself?” Steven asked after he’d made appreciative noises about how nice Bond looked in a suit.

“You know how much I like older men.”

“Yes,” Steven said, sounding very smug. He hit the pause button on the remote and kissed Mark. “For later.” Then he set the DVD running again.

Quite an improvement on the morning. Mark had high hopes for the rest of the evening.

* * * * *

After the film had finished, they cleared up the remains of dinner.

“Not the most exciting date, I’m afraid,” Steven said.

“I see enough of you in restaurants at lunchtime. Takeaway pizza and a DVD is still a novelty.” He gave Steven a quick kiss. “Even tidying up the pizza boxes can be romantic in the right circumstances.”

Steven set the dishes down on the table and put his arms around Mark’s waist. “I know. Look, I’m not pushing you to move in. But do you want to bring some clothes and a razor over to leave here so that you can come home with me on a Friday night without having to plan it?”

From never having seen Steven’s home to being invited to make himself at home, in one weekend. One week, perhaps. It was the weekend in Paris that had done this, that had given them the chance to talk honestly about what they both wanted from the relationship, what obstacles they might face. “That’s a good idea. And maybe it’s time I started taking advantage of the dress-down Friday policy.”

Steven grinned at him. “So you don’t get stuck wearing your suit or carrying it if you leave here before Monday morning?”

“I can think of times I might want to stay on Friday night even if I can’t stay all weekend.” Such as when he was expecting one of his family to visit.

“Yes, if it’s the Sunday I’ve got to go and do my parental visiting duties, you might not want to stay in the flat on your own.”

“Funny, I was just thinking that I wouldn’t be available all weekend when it’s family visit week.”

“There’s a lot of it about. Do you think we could get them to synchronise visiting hours?” Steven turned solemn. “You’re out to your family, aren’t you? That was the impression I had from what you’ve said.”

“Yes, though that doesn’t stop my mother hoping it’s just a phase and I’ll meet a nice girl and settle down. So telling them I’ve got a boyfriend wouldn’t be an issue -- but they’d be hurt if I skipped out on a visit to see a boyfriend.”

“Nice to hear you call me that.”

He ran his hand down Steven’s chest. “Nice to be able to say it.”

“Now, now, we’ve got at least an hour until bedtime.”

“So how about another video and that drink you offered me last night?”

They spent the next hour cuddled up on the sofa with a couple of Doctor Who episodes on the TV and a bottle of malt whisky on the coffee table. When Steven started humming the theme tune at the end of the first episode, Mark said, “You are such a geek.”

“I thought that was why you liked me. Apart from my cock, of course.”

“I liked you even before I met your cock.” He slid his hand inside Steven’s dressing gown. “Though I like your cock a lot as well.”

“Mmm. Nice. But we’ve time for another episode.”

He certainly wasn’t desperate for a fuck, and he was enjoying the cuddling in front of the TV. So he left Steven’s cock alone for the next twenty-five minutes. As the end credits rolled, he leaned over and kissed Steven. With intent this time.

Steven kissed him back. Slid a hand up under the borrowed tee-shirt and jumper. Groped for his cock with the other hand.

Making out on the sofa like a couple of teenagers, and he was loving it.

But he’d prefer the bed. “We’ve done it on a sofa before. What haven’t we tried on a bed yet?”

“I’m sure we can think of something.” Steven let go of him, stood up, and held out his hand. “Come on.”

He took hold of Steven’s hand and let himself be pulled up. Held hands with Steven as they went to the bedroom. Steven threw off the dressing gown, then grabbed him and pulled at the jumper. “Let’s get this off.”

He let himself be undressed, then helped Steven pull back the duvet. Steven went to get a damp cloth while Mark tidied up the pillows. He made sure that he was still bending over the bed when Steven came back in.

“Is that a hint?”

“Of course.”

“Get a condom on and get on the bed. I feel like sucking you first.”

He did as he was told. But today it didn’t feel like the office fantasy of being told what to do by the boss, and not just because they weren’t in the office. He lay back against a couple of pillows and stroked his cock as he watched Steven put his own condom on. Watched Steven watching him. Spread his legs wide as Steven climbed onto the bed.

Steven lay down between his legs and took hold of his cock. Took a good long lick up one side and down the other. It didn’t feel quite as good as it might have without the condom, but it was still more than enough to please. He lay back and relaxed, enjoying the feel of Steven’s mouth on his cock. Steven was bloody good at this. Tonight he seemed to be going for teasing rather than pushing Mark to the edge. A nibble here, a quick suck there. Taking a moment to kiss his balls. Something to get them both nicely aroused before the main event.

A trail of kisses down his inner thigh, and then back to sucking his cock. Sucking hard now, half the length. And then finally backing off, sitting up. “Pass the lube.”

He grabbed the tube and tossed it to Steven. “You are one of the best at sucking cock I’ve ever met.”

“Only one of the best?”

“I’m not able to give an objective judgement on the first man who sucked me. He was very, very good, and it was my first time. You can probably thank him for my taste for older men.”

“Who was he?”

He was interested to see a flicker of jealousy. So he wasn’t the only one having to deal with the fact that his lover had a past. “One of the mature students at university. Took me home after a party one night and showed me what I’d been missing.”

Steven warmed some lube in his hand. “Did you chase lecturers after that?”

“Not in my own faculty; I’m not stupid. But I had friends doing arts degrees, and there were some rather nice lecturers over there that I met at parties.” He gasped as Steven slid a couple of fingers into him. “I even managed to bag two of them.”

“Not at the same time, I hope.” Steven twisted his fingers round, making it hard to think for a second or two.

When he got his mind back, Mark said, “No, though I’ll admit only because it didn’t occur to me to try.” He grinned at Steven. “It’s interesting being read pornography in the original Latin.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for a decent translation with me. And not now.” Steven pulled his fingers out and moved to kneel beside Mark. “Turn over.”

He rolled over, lying face down with his head pillowed on his crossed arms and his legs spread invitingly. Steven settled into place on top of him, stroked his shoulders, and kissed the back of his neck. “This is the other thing I missed about not having a bed. Being able to hold you properly, even when I’m fucking you from behind.”

He knew exactly what Steven meant. Bare skin pressed against the length of his back, Steven holding his shoulders, not to hold him in place but just to touch him. “Being bent over a desk is fun, but I didn’t realise how much I missed this.”

“Mmm.” Steven let go of him and shifted a little to hold his own cock and guide it into place.

Blunt flesh resting against the entrance to his body. His own cock primed and ready to go. He wanted Steven now. He pushed back, lifting his hips a little, and Steven slid inside him.

Both of Steven’s hands gripping his shoulders now, Steven nuzzling at him. Cock deep inside him. Steven’s weight pushing him into the mattress with each thrust. His cock dragging against the sheet. He should have thought to pull the condom off, but it didn’t matter now. All that mattered was the feel of Steven on him, in him.

If he’d had a hand on his cock, he’d have come. But he didn’t want to just yet, wanted to wait for Steven. So he went with Steven’s pace, until the thrusting got more urgent, more frantic. And then Steven gasped into his ear, “Go on.” Slammed hard into him. He couldn’t hold himself back and didn’t want to. He came, not caring about anything now except finishing.

A minute, or several minutes, later, he said, “Did we manage to come together?”

“Mmm.”

A few minutes after that, he suggested, “Would you like to get off me now?”

“Sorry.” Steven rolled off him.

“I didn’t mind. It’s just that I’d like to get rid of the condom.” He sat up to deal with it.

Steven sighed. “I know what you mean.” He sat up as well.

They tidied up and got ready to sleep. Back to bed, where Steven cuddled up behind him and put an arm around him. A moment’s silence, and then Steven said, very quietly, “Love you.”

He wasn’t sure if it was meant to be heard, or if Steven was expecting a reply even if it was. He settled for squeezing Steven’s hand. They were still snuggled together when he fell asleep.

Chapter Twenty

Once again the other side of the bed was empty when Mark woke. For a moment he was afraid, but when he felt the sheet it was still warm. No nocturnal wandering, then; merely an early wakening.

As he sat up, the door opened. Steven said, “Ah, you’re awake. I’ve made tea.”

“Thanks. How are you this morning?”

Steven set a mug down on the bedside cabinet on Mark’s side of the bed. “Slept through the night, and I seem to be all right.” He went round to his own side of the bed, set down his tea, and got in. “Woke up about ten minutes ago and thought I’d put the kettle on.”

Mark wasn’t desperate for sex, but that didn’t stop him wanting a hug. He slid on top of Steven and kissed him. “Thanks for the tea.”

“I thought I owed you one after yesterday morning.” Steven put his arms around Mark. “Actually, I owe you quite a lot after yesterday.”

“At least you warned me. If I’d had to deal with that out of the blue, I might not have taken it quite so calmly.”

“Are you going home today?”

He’d rather not, but there were practical considerations. “I really ought to. It’s not just getting some clean clothes for work tomorrow. I should check the post and my answering machine. But I could probably come over for all next weekend, if I know ahead of time.”

“I’d like that.” Steven stroked his back, a light touch that seemed to be more about wanting the contact than about arousal. “Maybe if the weather’s good we could do some of the tourist stuff you never do in your home town.”

Mark thought about that. They’d had a good time playing tourist in Paris. Some of it was just being able to go around with someone else -- it was more fun when you had someone to discuss things with while you were looking at them. Doing the same thing in London could be fun. “I think I like that idea.”

Since neither of them seemed to be all that interested in sex, he got off Steven and reached for his tea. That was another nice thing about having someone to do things with -- taking turns to make the tea in the morning. “I suppose we should get up and have breakfast soon.”

“I keep thinking that now I’ve got you here, I should be making the most of it. But I’m not feeling all that interested in sex.”

“We’ve had a lot this week. I’m not feeling shorted.” Mark leaned back against the headboard, enjoying the still-novel experience of being in bed with Steven. “And I’m enjoying having you all to myself. No phone calls, nobody barging into the office ...”

“Don’t bet on no phone calls. Though I’ve discouraged people from phoning me on business at the weekend. It goes to the answering machine, and if I don’t think it’s urgent, it doesn’t get answered until Monday morning.”

“Oh, well. Almost no phone calls. Breakfast?”

“Sounds good.”

* * * * *

They’d finished breakfast and got dressed before the phone rang. Steven let the answering machine take the call, but went to the phone as soon as the person on the other end starting speaking. It was Sanjay, saying, “Pick up the phone, you silly bugger.”

“Hello, Sanjay. I might have really not been here, you know.”

Mark couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation, but eventually Steven said, “Because he’s here, and he hasn’t had a chance to look at his email since Thursday.” He held out the phone. “Sanjay wants a word.”

Mark took the phone, wondering what sort of reaction he was going to get. He hadn’t spoken to Sanjay since before he and Steven had gone public. “Hello, Sanjay.”

“Mark! Are you staying with Steven?”

“I thought he’d told you --”

“Yes, yes, but he didn’t say that you were staying with him now.”

“It’s only for a couple of nights. I haven’t moved in.” He thought he’d better get that straight before Sanjay jumped to conclusions. “We got back very late on Friday from a meeting in Scotland, and Steven suggested I go home with him since his place was closer. I take it you’ve been looking for me?”

“I’ll be in London next Friday. I thought it would be a good chance to talk to you about your oral exam. And other things as well, but that’s the important one. I could take you and Steven out to dinner, perhaps?”

“Fine with me. Better ask Steven what he wants to do.” He handed the phone back.

Steven apparently liked that idea. He and Sanjay chatted a little longer, then hung up. “If you didn’t catch that, seven o’clock on Friday. Better put a note in the diary to make sure it stays clear -- it’s borderline on being a business meeting anyway, since we’ll be talking about your PhD.”

Mark got his laptop out for the first time since they’d flown back from Glasgow, and logged in. Mission accomplished, he took a quick look at the email.

Steven stood behind him and looked over his shoulder. “Leave it. It’s Sunday.”

“You really take your weekends seriously, don’t you?”

“I don’t mind working weekends when there’s a good reason to, but I won’t let people encroach on them as part of a dick-size war on who works the longest hours. I need to be able to switch off at least one day a week, and I don’t like other people being pressured into giving up their weekends either.”

Yes, Steven would understand the value of having a day free of the pressures of work. “Setting a good example?”

“Exactly.” Steven put his hands on Mark’s shoulders. “I can think of better things to be doing with our time.”

So could he. And not even sex. Time to be doing some of them.

* * * * *

He finally left in the late afternoon. He was reluctant to leave, but there were things he should be doing at home. And he’d be seeing Steven in the morning anyway.

As they stood on the doorstep, Steven said, “You haven’t thought better of this, then?”

“No. I still want you, and I still want more than just an office affair.”

“Mark, I’ll understand if you want out now you’ve seen what you’re going to be dealing with. And sometimes it will be worse than yesterday, and it’s going to be worse more often as I get older. You didn’t sign on for this. It was supposed to be a bit of fun, and you got tangled up in something more before you knew what you were taking on.” Steven laid his hand against Mark’s cheek. “If you’d known then what you know now ...”

Steven deserved an honest answer. “If I’d known when we started, maybe I wouldn’t have started.” But he hadn’t known, and he didn’t regret it. “You didn’t tell me, because it was only supposed to be a bit of fun, and by the time it was obvious to both of us that it was more than that ...” He shrugged. “Too late now. How does it go? ‘For richer, for poorer, for better or worse, in sickness and in health.’ That’s what a relationship is about, and if something happened to you now, I wouldn’t leave. So why would I leave because I’ve found out about something you’ve mostly got under control anyway?” He picked up the suit carrier Steven had lent him and turned to go. Leaving, yes, but only for a little while.

Steven had offered to walk with him to the station, but he’d refused. When he reached the corner and looked back, Steven was still watching him. He waved and then headed for home.

* * * * *

Another Monday morning, another day at the office. Not quite like previous Mondays, though they went through their usual morning routine. Post, email, phone calls. A meeting for Steven, a couple of hours of literature search for Mark. But now and then Mark thought about the weekend. Thought about next weekend.

They would have to take things slowly. It might still all fall apart. But he’d made a commitment to Steven, and he didn’t regret it. As Steven came back in from the meeting, Mark looked at him and thought, Mine.

Steven stopped in front of his desk. “Anything new?”

“Nothing urgent. On the completely frivolous side, Tracy has sent me some new porn. I think it’s supposed to be a suggestion.” He brought up the email and swung his monitor around so Steven could see it.

Steven looked at it, laughed, and said, “Better remind her over lunch that she could get into trouble if her boss catches her sending that.” He grinned at Mark. “And also tell her that I do not need any suggestions as to what to do with you.”

“We’ve still got quite a few ideas of our own to work through first.” Besides, he wasn’t sure if his office chair would actually survive the experience. “Aren’t you coming to lunch?”

“I might be late. I’ve got phone calls to make.” Steven walked around to his side of the desk. “Though I might have something on account.”

“Just in case you’re too busy after lunch?” He stood up and kissed Steven. It was supposed to be a quick kiss on the lips, but Steven grabbed him and turned it into something more, holding him tight, tongue thrusting into his mouth.

They’d been fucking for months, but Steven doing this to him still turned him on instantly. He grabbed Steven back, returned the kiss, and hoped that it would be a long, long time before the novelty wore off.

Then Steven let go, looked past him, and said, “Sorry.”

The noise he’d heard a second or two earlier finally registered. Someone had come in. He turned around and found the woman from the building’s postal room staring at them. Girl, really -- he wasn’t sure exactly how old she was, but it couldn’t be more than eighteen. She was blushing.

“Err ... sorry to interrupt, but there’s a parcel to be signed for.”

“It’s all right, lass; it’s our fault, not yours,” Steven said gently. “Bring it over.” He stepped back from Mark.

She brought the package over to the desk, and Steven signed her clipboard. “Anything else?”

“Just the usual second post. It’s on the trolley. I’ll go and get it.” She fled, clutching her clipboard.

They looked at each other. Steven was trying not to laugh, which only made it more difficult for Mark not to. Then Steven said, “I’d better go and make those phone calls,” and went to his own office.

The postwoman came back in with the rest of the post and set it on Mark’s desk. She looked at the connecting door between the offices, then at him. “Is he as good at it as it looked?”

“Yes.”

“You lucky bastard. He’s gorgeous.”

He could feel himself grinning. “He is.” And he’s mine. “Sorry we embarrassed you.”

“It’s all right.” She gave him a shy smile. “It was hot. Just ... I didn’t expect it.”

“I’ll try to keep it to lunch hours in future.” He riffled through the stack of mail. “Oh, god. More junk mail.”

“At least you don’t have to sort it and carry it round the building.” She turned and walked towards the door. As she left she said, “But there are compensations to the job.”

Something gave him the feeling that he’d just become the day’s prime piece of gossip.

* * * * *

Nobody said anything at lunch, but he did get a cryptic email from Tracy late on in the afternoon. It said only, “Pity she didn’t have a camera.”

He sent a one-word reply. “Pervert.” But it was nice to have that sort of cheerful acceptance.

Chapter Twenty-One

Mark had a phone call from Sanjay that evening.

“You’re not with Steven?”

“No. We’re still taking things slowly for now.”

“Slowly? He has confessed exactly how long this has been going on.” Sanjay sounded amused. “And after the things he said to me about minding my own damn business and not trying to pimp for him.”

“Come on, Sanjay, it wasn’t exactly difficult to think you might have been matchmaking.”

“Do you want him, Mark? I mean, want him, warts and all? You said nothing to me about this, even though it has been going on for months. I am pleased for you both, but only if you both want the same thing.”

“God, yes.” It was such a blessed relief to be able to talk to someone who would take it seriously. “I know he’s a lot older than me, Sanjay, and there are other problems, but I love him. I want to be with him. And not just for a few months.”

“If you can handle one of his temper tantrums when you don’t even know what’s going on, you’ve obviously got some idea of whether you want him that badly.”

Of course, Sanjay had to be one of the people who knew about Steven. They’d shared a room at university. “He was talking to you again after I left, wasn’t he?”

“Yes. He thought he’d better warn me that you might have words with me about not warning you.” Sanjay sighed. “And ask me whether he was doing the right thing. If you love him, then he is.”

“Just as long as he believes you. He’s a stubborn bastard.”

“You’re not angry I didn’t tell you?”

“No.” He couldn’t blame Sanjay for not telling him, not when Steven did a very good job of keeping it out of his business life. “If we’d kept things in the office, it would never have been an issue.”

“Mark, you realise that he’s probably going to get worse with time? That’s the normal pattern.”

“He told me.”

“You’re not scared, then?”

“Oh, I’m scared, Sanjay.” It came pouring out, now that he had someone he could safely talk to. “I’m scared he’ll talk himself out of this because he thinks it’s the right thing to do. Even yesterday he was telling me he’d understand if I wanted out.”

“And you love him very much, and you’d rather he let you make your own mind up about whether he’s bad for you.”

That was exactly it. “Yes.”

“Well, I promise that I will slap the silly bugger if he tries to use me as an excuse to be silly on Friday.” There was a pause. “And I know he’s not easy to deal with when he’s in that state. Well done, and thank you. I think that’s all for now. See you on Friday.”

“Night, Sanjay.”

* * * * *

It was good to see Sanjay. And not just because Sanjay was one of the few straight men he knew who would cheerfully hug him in greeting.

“Mark, my boy! You look well.” Sanjay turned to Steven and hugged him. “Steven. It’s good to see you.”

“Likewise. I wish you’d come to town more often.”

“I’m a busy man as well, you know.” Sanjay sat down and waved them to their own seats. “And I have to visit my mother regularly. She wants to see you, Steven. You have not been to see her for too long.”

“I know. Give her my apologies.” He turned to Mark. “Sanjay’s mother was very good to me when we were at university.”

The waiter interrupted them with menus, and they turned their attention to ordering. Once he’d gone, Sanjay started discussing the timetable for Mark’s PhD exam. He finished with, “And of course, there is the question of whether you are coming back to work for your sponsoring company.”

Mark reached for Steven’s hand. “Sanjay, does it look as if I am?”

Sanjay grinned at him. “No. But you should tell them yourself. Though it would be nice if you made it clear that this started after you began working for Steven. Ah, food.”

After the plates had been placed in front of them and the waiter had withdrawn, Sanjay said to Steven, “You really will have to go and see Mummy soon. She’ll be delighted to see you settled at last.”

“Your mother is an incorrigible matchmaker.”

“Of course. And I must say that she found me a very nice girl.”

“God, how long is it now?” Steven asked. “Twenty years you’ve been together, almost.”

“Arranged marriage?” Mark asked. He’d known that Sanjay was very happily married, but not much more than that.

Steven shook his head. “More like the Hindu dating agency. A whole lot of mummies with long lists of suitable young people to introduce to each other, in the hope that they would like each other. I was one of their few failures.”

“Mummy started measuring him up for her white friends’ daughters the moment she met him,” Sanjay said. “With no subtlety whatsoever. I was mortified. And I had to tell her that there was no point.”

“And without batting an eyelid, she switched to her list of eligible young gay men whose mummies had come to terms with them being gay and instead were busy being worried that they were meeting the wrong sort of person when they went out clubbing. As a nice, respectable middle-class engineering student, I went straight on the list of prospects.” Steven smiled at Sanjay. “I might not have found the right man, but your mother certainly made my time at university a lot happier.”

That told him right there an awful lot about why Sanjay had never been bothered by having a gay PhD student working for him. And why Steven had reacted the way he had on finding out that Mark was gay. “Did you have matchmaking in mind when you sent me to Steven for an interview?”

“Not that sort of matchmaking. Only that I knew Steven was lonely and needed someone he could talk to about the things that interested him.” Sanjay waved a fork at them. “Though I am very pleased it has worked out the way it has. So why have you not moved in with him yet?”

“It’s a bit soon,” Steven said.

“Soon? You have been having an affair for months. Long enough to decide that it’s real. Long enough that you have told him about ...” Sanjay shut up. After a moment, he went on. “You asked me last week if I thought you were taking things too fast. I said no. I still say no. Why are you trying to push him away when he loves you?”

“Because I’ve got nothing to offer him!”

Sanjay set down his knife and fork and leaned his chin on his folded hands. His voice was cold as he said, “Steven. You are rich. You are handsome. Many would think those enough in themselves. And you are a decent man, a good man. Except for your occasional wallowing in self-pity, of course. And you say you have nothing to offer?”

“I’m also hell to live with sometimes, and it’s only going to get worse as I get older. You know that. And he’ll have no right to a say in my treatment if ever I get bad enough that I need someone else to make the decision for me. The money won’t do him much good, because he has no legal right to it. No legal protection at all if he moves in with me. Because I can’t marry him!”

There was silence for a moment.

Mark would have said, It doesn’t matter, but held his tongue. Because clearly it did matter to Steven.

For richer, for poorer. Steven had taken it as a declaration. And Mark had meant it as one, if not quite that literally.

And then Sanjay said, “But you will be able to soon. Haven’t you two been paying attention to the news?”

“What?” Steven snapped.

“The civil partnership legislation.”

“Oh, that.” Steven sat back in his seat with his arms crossed and glared at Sanjay. “The Blair government waving around something to get the gay vote. Make a noise, then conveniently forget to do it.”

“It was in the Queen’s Speech. It’s going through in this term of parliament.”

“And what are the chances of it actually going through when it comes to the vote in the Lords? Slim to none.”

“Is that you or the disease talking?” Sanjay asked quietly.

Steven was silent; then he leaned on the table with his shoulders hunched in. “I don’t know.”

“Even the Tories have given their broad support to it now. It might take a year or two for everything to happen, but it will happen, Steven. And it’s not as if you would be rushing into things anyway, so what does a year or two matter?” Sanjay reached across the table to lay his hand over Steven’s. “My dear old friend, don’t push away a good thing because you are scared it will be snatched away from you if you try to take it.”

Steven smiled at Sanjay. “You always were good at kicking my backside.”

“Good. We will now discuss this excellent food you are allowing to go cold.”

And they did. Sanjay simply talked right over Steven every time Steven started showing signs of brooding. And Steven let him. Eventually Sanjay said, “You see, he can be managed.”

“You do have the advantage of being one of my oldest friends,” Steven pointed out.

“But you will listen to the people you value. Most of the time. Are we having coffee?”

Mark decided against it. Too late at night, and he wanted some sleep. “You should skip it too, Steven.”

“Is that my boyfriend or my PA speaking?”

“Both.”

“Then I’m outvoted. I think we’ll be getting home, unless you want coffee, Sanjay.”

“No. You two are spending the weekend together?”

“I’ve even brought a weekend bag with me.”

“Good.” Sanjay looked positively smug. “I will tell Mummy that I have achieved what she could not.”

“All right,” Steven said, “Let’s get the bill before you really start gloating.”

They got the bill, and then they picked up their coats and Mark’s bag. He and Steven waved goodbye to Sanjay, then headed for Steven’s flat.

Steven was quiet all the way home. Mark left him to it. It had been a long evening, and they were both tired. When they got in, he dropped his bag by the sofa and said, “I’ll put my stuff away in the morning. Shall I make some hot chocolate?”

“Yes, please. And I’ve cleared some space in the cupboard for you.”

Well, that was certainly a good sign. He went out to the kitchen to make the drinks.

Before he’d finished, Steven came in. “Mark ...”

“Mmm?”

“If this bill goes through -- will you marry me?”

He froze in place, too astonished to speak.

“Mark?”

“I ...” He should have seen this coming. Somehow he hadn’t. Or at least hadn’t expected it now. He’d not had time to get used to the idea. That it was real; that he was going to have to tell his parents about Steven.

“Too soon.” Steven started to turn away. “I’m sorry.”

“No.” Don’t give him time to get scared he’s done the wrong thing again. “It’s not that. I’ve just realised that I’m far more scared of telling my parents that I’m marrying someone twenty years older than me than I am of telling them I’m marrying another man.” He grabbed hold of Steven. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

Steven held him tight. “We’ve got time to think about it. We still don’t even know if we can manage living together. But I needed to know that you want to try.”

“God, yes.” He held on tight as if he’d never let go. “I love you. Of course I want to try.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Two years later

Claude greeted them with cries of joy. “Dr Frost! Dr Paulson! It’s good to see you. And congratulations.”

Steven took the offered hand and shook it. “It’s good to see you, too, Claude.”

“Thanks, Claude. No mix-up on the room this time, I hope.”

“Definitely not. But still a bottle of champagne. A little better than the usual honeymoon package, on the house. You will sign the visitor’s book for the honeymoon suite, of course.”

“Of course.” Mark took the book Claude pushed across the desk, and signed his name, then passed the book to Steven. For a moment both their left hands lay on the book. He still wasn’t used to the sight of the matching rings.

Claude said, “I was surprised you waited. The first weddings were two months ago. But then, Valentine’s Day ...”

Steven said, “Valentine’s Day is special to us, Claude. If you hadn’t kept us that room two years ago ...”

Mark put his arm around Steven’s waist. “We’d have still got there. It would have just taken a little longer, that’s all.”

“I know.” Steven signed the book, then turned and kissed him. “Come on.”

They headed up to the room. It was the same suite they’d stayed in every time they’d come over on business in the last two years. But this time was special. This wasn’t a quick weekend break with a meeting before or after, but a whole week for themselves. Not quite two years to the day since they’d first slept together in this room, but close enough. Married Saturday morning, reception Saturday afternoon, and honeymoon starting Saturday night.

There was a champagne bucket on the bedside table. The bedclothes were folded back neatly, with what turned out to be a small box of truffles on each pillow. Steven picked one up and laughed. “You old romantic, Claude.”

“I did book the honeymoon package. Besides, he’s fond of you.”

“Honeymoon,” Steven said. “It’s a nice word.” He put down the truffles and put his arms around Mark’s waist. “You’re overdressed for someone on honeymoon.”

“So are you.” He gave Steven a quick kiss.

Steven shifted his grip, moving one hand behind Mark’s head and holding him in place for a much deeper kiss.

Mark’s cock sprang to full attention, and he abandoned any hope of getting the unpacking done first. Bastard can still do it to me every time.

A long kiss, clutching at each other. Then Steven pushed against him so that he stepped back and fell backwards onto the bed. Steven fell on top of him, laughing now.

“Idiot.” But he certainly wasn’t going to tell Steven to get off. And then they were kissing again, with Steven’s weight pressing their cocks together. He was holding on to Steven’s back; Steven was holding his face between both hands, smothering him with kisses. Both of them frantically thrusting against each other. This wasn’t how he’d imagined his wedding night, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t going to stop now.

And then he knew he’d be stopping soon, because he was about to come. He’d had all bloody day as foreplay; now all it needed was Steven holding him and Steven’s cock against his. “Steven ...”

“I know.”

One more hard thrust against him, and he was done. The first time he came as a married man. Steven was coming too, clinging to him, panting for breath.

They held each other for a long time afterwards. Finally Mark said, “Somehow it seems appropriate that we didn’t bother to get undressed first.”

“Just like the first few dozen times, hmm? Maybe I should have had you up against the wall, just for old times’ sake.”

“You can fuck me up against the wall tomorrow. Or any time you like. I love you, Dr Frost.”

“Good. Because I love you, Dr Paulson.”

The first time as married men had been a lot quicker than they’d anticipated. But there was plenty of time to do it again slowly. They had a lifetime’s worth of loving yet to come.