Nick reads the file for
the fifth time. Gil sits behind his desk,
watching him. Not moving, just watching him.
He can feel the
gaze on his skin, wrapped round him like a
blanket.
"Griss, what?"
Blue eyes flash up to meet
his and are, for a second, blank and surprised.
"What?"
"You were watching
me." Nick shifts in his seat, a little
uncomfortable under that unwavering stare. He's
thought about being watched by Gil,
only it wasn't sitting reading a casefile.
Gil continues to turn the
pen in his fingers and Nick watches his hands; it's
easier than watching his face. Long fingers twist
the pen, gentle, stroking the barrel. Hairs stand
up on the back of his neck.
He drags his eyes back up to Gil's, meets the direct
gaze full on.
"Peanut?" Gil says
and there is a smile at the edge of that fine
mouth.
Nick swallows hard and
says, innocently, "Peanut?" Who put an
electric fence in this office? That humming in the
air? Just
the chiller.
Gil comes to lean on the
edge of the desk and look down at Nick.
"You called me Peanut."
Nick flicks his tongue
over suddenly parched lips, tightens his fingers
on the folder.
"Culpepper ... was
there." The file vanishes from his hands and
there is a soft slap as it lands on the desk. He
can't see anything
but Gil, standing in front of him, legs crossed at the
ankle, palms now resting
on the edge of the desk. His own hands feel
clammy. He wants
to uncross his legs but that would mean bringing his
ankle from his knee,
touching Gil, because he is standing so damn
close. Griss. Not
Gil. Only Gil at home in bed, on his own, in his
mind.
"Peanut?"
"You don't like Peanut?"
he tries for flip and it almost works, only he squeaks a
little on the final syllable. But that was because
Gil
smiled and that always wrecks him. Gets him right
in the....
Silence. Griss
always makes the most of silences. The eternal
patience of the man. He is so good at
waiting.
What is he trying to do
here? Get Nick to admit ... what?
Gil isn't manipulative. He strikes that. Up
till now, Gil has
never been manipulative with him. And to his
suspects, he merely offers
honeyed silence and waits. Which is what he is
doing now. Honeyed.
Peanut. Nick hears his own voice in his mind
saying 'Love ya'.
Hell, he'd whispered it in the dark often enough.
So he'd said it.
Once. Joking. An escape from
Culpepper. Protect your boss
from himself? Nick needs to protect Gil from
Nick. Case he just stops thinking and jumps his
bones one night. The blinds are drawn.
No one can see into the office. Gil had paged him,
asked him to read
the report. Gil brought him here. Why?
Play the game, whatever
his game is. You asked the last question,
let him answer it. Don't break the silence, keep a
little control.
A little dignity. He's trembling just the smallest
amount. Nick
tenses his fingers to hide the movement and knows Gil
sees it because this
man sees everything.
A small smile still edges
at Gil's mouth. Gil's mouth. Do
not think about Gil's mouth. Don't think about
what you thought about
Gil's mouth doing yesterday when you got home.
Nick closes his eyes
against the dizzying wave of images; now his face is
flushed.
He wants the phone to
ring, the bleeper to go. He, who treasures
each second he gets alone with this man, is desperate to
get away.
Gil wins.
"What's wrong with
Peanut?"
"Nothing." Gil
finally speaks. And his hand is touching
Nick's, drawing him out of the chair, inexorably, so
that somehow he ends
up with his feet between Gil''s. How did he do
that? "But...."
A word left hanging. Gil does sentences, Gil says
what he needs to
and then stops. So this is another ploy.
Nick tries to resist
but Gil is still holding his hand. Just
holding. And that damn
humming in the air is just getting louder.
"But?" He grits his
teeth and edges his gaze up to the cleft in
the chin, up past those lips that look like they could
do wild things, up
to meet that soul-searching gaze. Damn Gil and his
'I like people to
work it out for themselves' beliefs. Damn him
always having the answers.
Damn, but he's looking like he could ... like he might
.... And his
hand is curving round Nick's now, pulling him forward
towards those eyes.
And he's going. He's going to let himself be drawn
in.
Because Gil's palm is
against his neck now, fingers exerting gentle
pressure.
"But ... I preferred the
rest of the sentence." Nick's brain is
still floundering round the meaning of that when Gil's
mouth finds his and
he stops thinking of anything except warm lips against
his and it's Gil.
And he's opening his mouth to an insistent tongue and
it's Gil who is kissing
him. And he's kissing him back. And his
hands are on those shoulders,
he has his fingers in Gil's hair and Gil preferred being
told that he loved
him to being called Peanut. And the one kiss
becomes several kisses
and now Gil's hand is on his ass, and he's cradled
against his hips and he's
gasping for air and trying to kiss him at the same time
and his heart is
slamming fit to bust against his rib cage.
Everything he�s ever
thought about Gil�s mouth and its wickedness was
right. And his hands, they�re burning him like
he�s already naked.
Because that�s where this is going. These aren�t
�let�s just kiss for
a while� kisses that Gil is giving him. These are
serious �want, need,
bed, now� kind of kisses. Open-mouthed, hot like
he can�t believe,
their tongues entwining, dancing. Gil fucking his
mouth with his tongue.
Nick�s clinging to him now, barely able to stand.
And Gil � ultra-controlled
Gil � has one hand on his ass making sure their
erections rub together through far-too-fucking-many
layers of fabric and he�s trying to pull Nick closer,
taste more of him. Fingers find
the hem of his T-shirt and then, oh fuck then Gil really
is touching his
bare flesh and this is ten thousand times better than
his imagination could
offer, warm fingers skating over his ribs, fingernails
scraping the length
of his spine so that Nick arches and opens his mouth to
gasp and Gil kisses
him harder, deeper.
Gil has got his T-shirt
far enough up so his fingers can find his nipple and
Nick�s eyes are shut, he knows he�s whimpering and
arching back, pressing their cocks together because that
feels so good, so good and when Gil�s tongue draws a
warm circle round his right nipple and then his mouth
closes on the sensitive flesh he almost screams with
pleasure. And his eyes fly open
and he�s not looking at a bedroom ceiling, he�s looking
at the ceiling of
Gil�s office. And somewhere in his mind a tiny
voice whispers �not
here.� And then Gil moans �Nicky� and he almost
loses control.
In some other universe, a
man says something in the corridor.
Gil�s eyes meet his, the blue almost overwhelmed by the
pupils. Nick
touches his face with shaking fingers and says a word
that might be �Home�
but he�s not sure. Gil, chest rising with rapid
breaths, Gil, holding
the two of them together. Gil not letting go of
him, reluctantly tugging
his top down, fingers still curved against his rib cage
under the fabric.
Gil not wanting to let him go.
�Hey Peanut,� he manages
and the flash in Gil�s eyes reduces him to
breathlessness once more.
They�re halfway to the
door, Gil�s hand still on Nick�s flesh, holding
him as close as he can and still be able to walk.
�My car?� Nick says.
�Mine.� One more
kiss on his jawbone. �Tell me.� Gil
has him against the door now, the blinds rattling.
�What, Peanut?� He
wants to see that look in his eyes again, that
fire.
�Tell me to my
face.� Gil�s palm is curved on his neck, eyes
holding
his now, fierce and blazing.
Nick knows. He can
tease for a while if he wishes. Open
the door and walk down the corridor, wait in the car
park. But this
is Gil and he isn�t in the mood for teasing. Not
right now. Maybe
later, at home, in bed, Nick can play the devil.
But not now.
�I love you.� He is
looking Gil in the eyes as he says the words, quietly,
honestly. �Peanut.�
The intensity of the blue
eyes nearly burns him right up there and then. He
reaches out to drag Gil in for a kiss that will end up
with them fucking on the office floor if he has anything
to do with it.
Gil has the door
open. �Soon.� His mouth is touching Nick�s
ear for one brief moment. And then he is heading
down the corridor.
Nick hangs back for a
moment and knows that later he will seek his
revenge.
|