He rose to his feet, pulling Sam up along with him.  Sam looked bemused by this change in position, but appeared content to let Chris take the initiative.  They stood staring at each other for a long moment, before Chris reached up and traced down the side of Sam’s face with one finger.  It was a gentle touch, having little to do with sex and heat, and it made Sam’s eyes widen for a second.  Chris wanted to linger, to say something but some innate sense that now was not the time kept him quiet.  Sam had not reacted particularly well the last time he’d opened his heart, and the last thing he wanted to do now was spook his partner.  Instead, he let his hands and eyes say what he couldn’t.

He took his time in easing the open shirt off Sam’s shoulders, running his palms lightly down Sam’s chest, enjoying the feel of the crisp hairs under his hands, and then back up over his shoulders.  Finally he slid the shirt down his partner’s arms where it fell to the floor in a whisper of silk.  He held Sam’s gaze for the entire time, only lowering his eyes to look at his friend’s, his soon to be lover’s body once it was bare to his hungry eyes.  He was beautiful – there was no other word for it, all hard muscles and smooth skin, a lean, fit body built for speed and action.  Sam shifted slightly under his stare, a little embarrassed by the open admiration on Chris’ face.  While modesty was not one of Sam’s strong points, he was not used to being admired by a man, least of all his own partner.

Chris grinned at him, aware of his discomfort and a little amused by it.  He’d known Sam for two years, watched him chat up numerous women, and be successful more often than not, and yet he’d never seen any of them get under Sam’s skin, make him nervous or ill at ease.  Yet a little appreciation on his part and Sam seemed to be as tongue tied as a virgin teenager.  It was an odd sensation, knowing that he could affect his cool colleague like that, ruffle that self-control a little.  But he didn’t want Sam nervous, not tonight, not if he had any chance of making this last longer than a night.  Sam didn’t give up control easily, and was unlikely to want to be reminded if it was wrested from him.

He leant closer to press his lips lightly against Sam’s.  After the previous kiss this one was almost chaste in comparison, but held a world of promise.  He pulled back slightly, meeting Sam’s eyes again, and got a small smile.  Reassured he proceeded to worship Sam’s body with his hands and mouth.  He kissed and nibbled his way down Sam’s chin, moving on to nipping at Sam’s neck and shoulder, feeling the shudders running through his lover when he hit a particularly sensitive spot.  Each time he did, he filed it away in his memory, hoping that he would have another chance to put what he learned to use.

He stroked his fingers over old scars and more recent ones.  An old wound in Sam’s left shoulder, a bullet wound by the looks of it, small calibre and no doubt a remnant of his partner’s MI6 days.  Followed his fingers with his mouth, moving down Sam’s arm to a more recent scar, also a bullet wound, a memory of a sniper’s bullet on the island of Nomine Patri.  Chris had been there that time, had bandaged his partner’s arm, wanting then to say something and knowing it was not the time or place.

Back up his partner’s arm and stroking down his chest, his fingers deliberately light and teasing, skirting deliberately around Sam’s nipples and fluttering down towards his groin, before moving back up again.  Down the other arm, again following his fingers with his mouth.  No scars this time, although the fingers of Sam’s right hand showed the calluses that came with the use of weaponry.  He sucked Sam’s index finger into his mouth, meeting his partner’s eyes for the first time since his explorations began as Sam gasped, his pupils dilating at the sensation.

He took pity on him, releasing the digit and placing a gentle kiss on Sam’s palm before returning back up his arm to his chest.  This time he let his mouth have full rein, using his tongue to flick over Sam’s muscles and drawing first one then the other of Sam’s nipples into his mouth to be licked and sucked to hard points.

Sam was panting heavily now, his hands resting on Chris’ head as the American moved downwards, to keep him there or to hold himself up, Chris wasn’t sure.  Chris moved ever downwards, kissing and licking.  He swirled his tongue around his partner’s navel before following the dark line of hair to the top of Sam’s pants, his fingers moving to the top button.  Before he had a chance to investigate further, Sam’s hands were on his arms, pulling him upwards with bruising intensity.  For a second Chris thought he’d gone too far, that his partner had had a sudden change of heart, and then Sam’s lips met his, almost as bruising.  There was nothing tentative about this kiss, as his partner devoured his mouth until Chris could swear he saw stars.  After an eternity, Sam released his mouth and pressed his forehead against the American’s, his eyes closed and breathing heavily.  And then it was his turn to explore, pulling Chris’ shirt over his head so that he could have free rein.

If Sam’s hands were slightly more hesitant than Chris’ had been Chris couldn’t blame him.  He presumed that this was a new experience for Sam after all.  However, he was pleased to discover that Sam’s hesitancy didn’t last long, although perhaps pleased wasn’t quite the right word, he thought, as the feel of Sam’s lips against a particularly sensitive spot on his collarbone wrenched a gasp out of him.  He could feel Sam’s lips curve up slightly against his skin in a smile as he registered Chris’ reaction before his partner moved on.

Each part of his upper body was catalogued with Sam’s trademark thoroughness, which might have been off-putting in other circumstances.  However, in these circumstances it was all Chris could do to remain standing upright as his level of arousal increased with each feather light touch.  It felt as though Sam’s hands were scorching a path across his body for all they barely seemed to graze his skin.  And where his mouth touched was agony and ecstasy combined.  Ecstasy because it was Sam’s mouth on his skin, and agony because those touches were so brief and he wanted more.

If he’d had any doubt that his partner was psychic they were banished when Sam’s teeth fastened on the juncture of his shoulder and neck and nipped hard.  It was followed by a slow sucking pressure that threatened to drive him to his knees, only Sam’s hands on his hips holding him up.  He dragged his hands up Sam’s back, burying them in his partner’s hair and pulling Sam’s head up.  As his tongue mated once again with Sam’s, Sam’s hands moved round from his hips to his behind, pulling Chris hard against him.  For a long moment they rocked against each other, the hardness at Chris’ groin matched by a similar one at Sam’s, before Chris reluctantly broke their kiss.

He stepped away from Sam, his hands once again moving to the fastenings of Sam’s trousers.  This time Sam didn’t stop him, meeting his eyes calmly.  Chris moved his hands into the top of Sam’s trousers, sliding them down over his hips down to the floor.  There he hit a problem – Sam’s shoes.  For a second he just stared at them, before he raised his head to grin at Sam.  Catching his partner slightly off balance he rose to his feet and pushed Sam in the chest, just hard enough to get his partner sitting down on the edge of the bed, and startling a brief laugh out of the Englishman.  Now he could remove Sam’s shoes and socks and pull his trousers off.

He rose triumphantly to his feet to find Sam still smiling at him.  He couldn’t help it – he had to kiss him again.   It was just as sweet as the last time.  He was leaning in for another kiss when Sam leant forward and placed a kiss on his abdomen just to the left of his navel, rubbing his face lightly across Chris’s stomach.  The feeling of Sam’s stubble against his over-sensitised skin was electric.  Chris was still reeling from that sensation when he realised that his partner was following his lead, and undoing his pants.  Since he’d shed his own footwear, Sam didn’t face the same problems he had, and before long his jeans were pooled beside Sam’s trousers.  What did surprise him was that Sam didn’t stop there, easing his hands inside Chris’ boxer shorts and sliding those down over his slim hips too.  For a long moment Sam just stared at his erection, before reaching up to stroke it, forcing a gasp from Chris as the American found himself thrusting gently into Sam’s grip.

Too soon.  Chris eased himself free of Sam’s fingers, and leant down to kiss his partner again, this time hard and hungrily.  He slid his own hands down Sam’s back and into the top of his underwear, easing it off as Sam raised his hips slightly.  And then he was finally pushing Sam back onto the bed, only taking his lips from Sam’s when Sam wriggled out from underneath him and scooted backwards up the bed.  There was a look of blatant invitation in Sam’s eyes that he couldn’t resist, and he soon joined his partner on the bed, settling his body on top of the Englishman’s and kissing him again.

He explored Sam’s body again with his hands and mouth, concentrating on the areas he’d missed or skirted before, dipping his tongue into Sam’s navel just to feel his partner squirm beneath him.  He kissed the insides of Sam’s knees, nibbled on his ankles and the inside of his thighs and licked along the soft skin at the juncture of his thigh and torso.  By the time he was finished Sam was breathing heavily and sweating slightly, filling the air with his musky scent, lovely in Chris’ opinion.

He took pity on his partner, finally turning his attention to Sam’s rampant cock.  His partner was uncircumcised, something Chris had never come across and it fascinated him.  Like most American males of a certain age Chris was circumcised and his other two male lovers had been as well.  He let his curiosity have full rein, stroking Sam’s member lovingly, and sliding the foreskin back slightly to let his tongue slide over the head.  Sam bucked under him with a strangled cry and that encouraged Chris to continue.

He paid as much attention to Sam’s erection as he had to the rest of his partner’s body, alternatively licking, nuzzling and sucking until Sam was almost writhing beneath him, moaning softly.  He cupped Sam’s balls in his hand, rolling them gently in his palm and listening to Sam’s gasps as he did so.  When he felt that Sam was close to climax, he released him, moving up his body to capture his mouth again.  He wanted more than Sam coming in his mouth.

Sam rocked beneath him, running his hands up and down his back, and then his partner was rolling the pair of them over and landed on top of him, taking charge.  If Chris had thought him beautiful before, it couldn’t compare with the sight of his partner flushed and aroused, pinning him to the bed, his eyes bright with desire and his hair tousled and hanging into his face.  Something of that must have shown in his face, because Sam grinned wickedly at him and kissed him hard.

Payback was a bitch, Chris thought as Sam explored his body with the same thoroughness as he had Sam’s.  In fact Sam showed only the briefest of hesitations before taking him into his mouth much as he had for Sam.  He’d always suspected that Sam would be a good lover, since none of his girlfriends appeared dissatisfied, but it would appear that he was a generous one as well, willing to give Chris pleasure in whatever way Chris desired.  Of course it was too soon to suggest what he really wanted, so Chris contented himself with grabbing his partner and dragging him up to kiss him again, tasting his own pre-cum on Sam’s lips.

He rolled them over again so that he was on top, having delayed his climax too long.  Sam gasped again when he felt Chris’ erection rubbing hard and hot against his own.  Chris pinned him against the bed, thrusting urgently against him and continuing to plunder his mouth, only releasing his lips when Sam surged up against him with a cry and came, his eyes wide.  Chris held him as the aftershocks of his orgasm shook his body, before commencing the slow thrusting that had him, too, close to the edge.

He was so close as he stared down into Sam’s still glazed eyes, needing just a little more to drive him over the edge.  Sam instinctively gave him that ‘more’, sliding his hand between their semen and sweat slick bodies and grasping him firmly, allowing Chris to thrust into his fist.  It was enough.  Chris finally came, his eyes closing and his body tensing as his seed flowed over Sam’s hand, before collapsing against Sam’s body.

They lay there, twined together with Chris’ leg thrown over Sam’s, Chris placing mindless little kisses on Sam’s chest and Sam stroking his back until their breathing calmed and their heart rates slowed.  Finally Chris couldn’t keep silent anymore.

“Is this a one night stand?” he asked without looking up at his partner, not daring to in case there was pity in his eyes, for all that Sam didn’t give ‘pity fucks’.

There was a short pause before Sam replied, his voice carefully neutral.  “Do you want it to be?”

“No,” he whispered.

“Then it’s not.”

Could it really be that easy? he wondered.  Ask and ye shall receive?  Sam shifted uncomfortably beneath him.  “Sorry,” he murmured.  “Am I heavy?”

“No,” answered Sam, “but I really need that shower now.”  Chris shifted slightly, becoming aware of the cooling stickiness between them and the lingering smell of sweat in the air.

“Yeah,” he said a little smugly.  “You do.”   That earned him a swat on the backside before Sam eased out from under him and headed towards the small bathroom.  “Sam…” he called after him.  Sam paused in the bathroom and looked back at him quizzically.  “I meant what I said, the other night.”

A short pause and then Sam gave him a slight smile.  “So did I,” he replied, before turning and heading into the bathroom, leaving Chris alone with his own thoughts.

What it Sam had said?  Something about caring more for Chris than he did for any other person.  Was it enough?

It was going to have to be.