Rico:

The bad guys, they hate Sonny and me.  At six am on what was supposed to be the second day of our hard-earned vacation, we were woken by the phone.  I've always been convinced that the invention of mobile phones was a bad thing, and I was right.

Sonny answered it, keeping his cool as if I wasn't stretched out behind him, turning to press along the length of his body.

"Sure, Marty," I heard after a minute of silence, "we'll be back on the mainland in an hour."

I waited until he'd hung up before moaning my frustration. 

Sonny turned over, wrapping one muscled leg over mine, snuggling close.

"Lucky's back in town looking to deal some high grade.  Castillo wants us on the case."  He settled his lips on my throat, kissing a lazy path down to my collarbone.  "He apologised about the vacation.  And the gym."

I couldn't help but smile.  James Matthew Luckard was someone we'd had hooked several times and had wriggled out of everything we'd tried to pin on him.  One of Sonny's life ambitions was to bring him down hard and make sure he'd stayed down.

Didn't mean I wanted to abandon our own personal paradise.  "It absolutely definitely has to be today, right?" I grouched, stroking his hair as his mouth settled over one nipple.  Whatever he muttered in reply, I never heard it.


Sonny:

You live with someone, work with them closely enough, you start to get this odd, sixth sense about them.

With Rico, that sense is honed to perfection.

On the boat, that weekend, I watched him as if seeing him for the first time.  I guess in a way, I was.  I remember my father telling me that once you've slept with someone, everything changes between you.  He was wrong.  Not everything changes, but some things sure do.

What amazed me was how natural we were.  To be his lover felt just an extension of what we already had.  To be aware of him, of his every move and every word, seemed like simply adding to the chemistry between us that made us the best damn partnership this side of the state line.

The connection that had always been there was stronger.

Our only worry was that others would see it.  Most importantly, the Lieutenant.  Neither of us had a clue how he'd react if he found out, and I reckon I know Castillo better than anyone in the squad.  Think Rico reckons it too.  Sometimes, I get an inkling that my partner's jealous of our boss.

Nothing to worry about there, Rico.  I can promise you that, Partner.

What my sixth sense was telling me, that weekend on the St Vitus Dance, was that the stuff we still hadn't really talked about, the stuff that was a natural part of any gay relationship, might turn out to be important after all.

The problem was that we'd both decided to be straight, and we'd decided it somewhere deep in our heads and hearts so very long ago, that to change now was gonna take a lot of time.  Ask any straight guy if he might be even slightly gay and most of them would punch your lights out before giving you a truthful answer.

Me included.

But ask them if the idea of loving their best friend repulsed them, and you'd get some thinking going on, even if they still punched you.

Years back, when Orgell came out of the closet, I made it into such a big deal I couldn't see passed it.  Maybe it was because of what had happened between Evan and me, not that that had been anything to shout about.  If, when Mike had told us, I'd turned around and simply asked, "So?" would it have changed anything?  Would Evan have kicked back too?  Had he been wound up because I was?  Would Mike still be alive today?

I knew the answer to that.  It was 'yes', and that's the truth that had torn me up inside when Evan had appeared back on the scene.

Rico was there for me then just as he's been there for me each and every time I've needed him since.

With Rico, everything came naturally.  Opening up to him, telling him things I'd barely even told myself.  Putting my arm around his shoulders, hugging him to me when one of us needed to feel that there was always one person in the world we could trust.  I even remember the first time I called him 'Partner', and the sudden softness in his eyes when he smiled at me.

I'll admit, when I first touched him as a lover rather than a friend I was as nervous as hell.  Stroking a guy's chest or thighs, touching his dick, that's a million miles from patting his arm or squeezing his shoulder, or even clasping his hand.  But it was exciting, and erotic.  Believe me, erotic is something that's been lacking in my sex life since Katie died.

In fact, I think before Rico, the last time 'erotic' had even entered my head was that night during the dating agency case when that woman surprised me with a dildo and I almost shot her thinking it was a loaded weapon!

With Rico, everything was exciting.  He's the embodiment of 'erotic'.  All that dark skin, those incredible eyes, that talented mouth....  Having another cock involved, when it comes down to it, it makes life a lot simpler.  I know what to do with a dick, I've had one my whole life.  I know where and how to touch it, know what's good and what's not, and while every guy's different, it was easy to learn what Rico likes and what he doesn't.

Touching, stroking, jerking off, all that was easy.  I'd done that before with other guys and it was really no big deal.  With Rico, obviously, there are always the added dimensions of what we feel for one another, of knowing somewhere within me that there isn't going to be another guy in my life now.  But it was still easy.  And it's still a real buzz to go to work the next day and know, every time I look at him, what he's like when he comes, the sounds he makes, the way he doesn't stop moving until he's given up everything he has.

It was the other stuff that we had problems with.  I'd never sucked a guy off even in my dreams, never mind anything more than that.  I know what it was like when women did it to me and I know I love it.  I knew how it would feel if we could get over whatever was stopping us and just get on with it. 

*

"Will you stop!"

He chuckled, covering his mouth with his hand, his eyes dancing in the glow of the neon lights.  God, I love it when he does that.

He'd been eyeing me up all night, like he was hungry and I was dinner.  We hadn't been near each other in three days, hadn't had the chance thanks to Lucky, and it was making me as nuts as it was making him.  But I loved to tease him, couldn't help myself, even if it teased me too.

He giggled, and I giggled back.  My heart soared.  If we could get this over with and go back to his place or to the boat.... 

I was smiling as I grabbed the phone when it rang.


Rico:

I watched him as he picked up the car phone and listened to the voice on the other end of the line.  After a few seconds, he dropped his forehead to the steering wheel and moaned. 

Closing my eyes, I let my fall back to the headrest.  This was the third night in a row that we'd spent sitting in the car waiting for Lucky to make an appearance, and for the third time he'd stood us up.

"This is getting embarrassing," I muttered after Sonny had hung up.  Lucky wanted to deal, but getting him to commit to a quantity, a time or a place was turning out to be impossible.  "Another wasted night."

Sonny didn't comment.  He was looking around us, out into the darkness of the deserted warehouse district.

"What?  Someone out there?"  I doubted it, not with the weather as violent as it was that night.  The storms had been ravishing the city for most of the day, and the rain was slamming down on the roof of the Ferrari as we spoke.

"Nah, man," he was grinning as he spoke.  "We're all alone out here."


Sonny:

There was no point in wasting the night.  I'd been thinking about this and Lucky had given me the opportunity.

Reaching over, I found his zipper and pulled it down, taking out his already hard dick.  At the same time, before he could utter a word of protest, I leaned down and started to suck on him.

His reaction was worth every instinct I'd had to fight to do it.  He yelled my name into the confines of the car, his hands going to my head, although once there he obviously wasn't sure whether to stop me or urge me to take him to completion.

Nothing was going to stop me.  It was easier than I'd imagined it would be, as long as I didn't try to swallow all of him.  He was big, and that thought prompted another.  What would he feel like inside me?

I stopped myself from freaking at the idea and concentrated on sucking him, as much of him as I could manage.  If Rico noticed the interruption in service, he didn't say a word.  Nothing coherent at least.  His hands rested in my hair, fingers combing through it as his arousal neared climax.  I could tell he wanted to start thrusting, wanted to fuck my mouth so bad it was killing him to stay still.  But he just sat there, letting me blow his mind as well as his dick.

A few seconds later, he started to say my name like a mantra.

I love the sound of my name spoken in the low, sexy tone he gets when he's intent on making me feel like a god.  That alone pushed me to push him.  I nibbled on his foreskin, sucked hard on him, trapping him half way down my throat.

He tensed for a single moment and thrust upwards once.  And came hard.

The rush was more than anything I'd experienced getting him off using my hand.  I swallowed everything he gave me, and licked him clean.  The power that act had given me over him amazed me.  And excited me.

"Rico."  I sat up, and he grabbed me, hands clutching the back of my head, pulling my mouth to his.  He kissed me greedily, like he was searching for the taste of himself in my mouth.

"Oh, God... Sonny..." he breathed the words and kissed me again.

I was impossibly hard, but on top of that I wanted more than just to jerk off along with him.  "Let's go back to the boat," I murmured to him, my face pressed against his, both of us breathing like Vader on a bad day.

I felt him nod, but for a moment I couldn't move.  Something deep had happened between us, more than just me sucking his dick.  When I shifted back into my own seat, I saw him zip himself from the corner of my eye.  Reaching for the keys, I gunned the engine and tooled the Ferrari out of the deserted darkness, heading for the marina.