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He didn´t have to open his eyes to know dawn was just around the corner. In the year since Vin Tanner had moved into the ranch house, waking at such an early hour had become as much habit as drinking himself into oblivion had been a mere three years ago.There was one major difference, though. Whereas drinking had been a habit born of desperation and despair, the early rising was one resulting strictly from desire. He loved to wake up with Vin´s warm body pressed close to his, to watch as the younger man made the transition from deep slumber to sleepy awareness. Each and every time Chris Larabee saw those wondrous blue eyes open, he felt as though his very soul was being reborn, drawing new life from the man who´d taken up residence in his heart, his bed and his home – in that order.
With a smile of contentment, he opened his eyes to a mass of tangled, brown curls. Gently, he nudged the silky strands aside with his chin and began placing soft kisses on the tender skin at the back of his lover´s neck.
His actions were met with the expected response as Vin stirred with a small sigh and shifted even closer to the solid form at his back.
Chris chuckled softly, his breath stirring the other man´s hair. “Time to get up, pard.” He moved his lips to capture a fleshy earlobe and grinned at the resulting shiver that ran unheeded through the body in his arms.
Vin rolled leisurely to his back, his eyes opening slowly, the full lips turning up in a sleepy smile.
“Think I´m already up,” he breathed on a sigh.
“Is that a fact?” Chris murmured, allowing one hand to make its way under the covers as his lips traced a path along the stubbled, square jaw. He timed his moves perfectly, his fingers closing around his lover´s hardening shaft at the same instant his lips reached the warm, inviting mouth.
Vin moaned quietly, shifting his hips to intensify the sweet contact and wrapping his arms around Chris to pull him closer. Their mouths explored each other, gently at first, as their bodies shed the last remnants of sleep and moved toward the languorous loving that had fast become their favourite way to start the day. It was a time for tenderness, a time to revel in the peace and serenity that so often eluded them in their roles as agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The majority of their days might be filled with life and death decisions, with ruthless adversaries and frustrating paperwork, but this time was theirs and theirs alone. A time reserved for each man to give of himself to the other. Each morning, they exchanged promises of forever and gave each other a small piece of themselves to hold in their hearts throughout the coming day.
And each night, they were just as likely to come together in an all-consuming inferno of passion, each claiming the love offered from the other without reservation and giving back in equal measures, the vigorous athleticism marking the end of their day in stark contrast to the languid slowness with which it had started.
“Mmmm,” Chris murmured, stroking the firm flesh beneath his fingers. “So you are.”
“Would I lie?” Vin chuckled, his hands moving over the hard muscles of his lover´s back as his body responded to the magic fingers.
Chris pulled back slightly, his green eyes narrowing and seeking out the pools of blue that never failed to draw him into their depths. “Let´s find out,” he teased. “Who´s the sexiest man in this room?”
“Easy,” Vin replied, nipping gently at the lips hovering so near his own. “You win, hands down.”
“Liar,” Chris grinned, cupping Vin´s face in his hands and covering the smaller man´s mouth with his own, effectively stifling whatever response might have been forthcoming.
Any intended retort flew from Vin´s mind as his lover´s body moved to blanket his, chest to chest, hip to hip, heart to heart.
“Chris,” Vin gasped as they separated briefly for a much-needed breath.
“Mmm?” Chris breathed, nibbling at the corners of Vin´s mouth.
It was Vin´s turn to take Chris´ face in his hands, gently pulling the blond head up until their eyes were locked on one another. “Make love to me, Chris,” he whispered breathlessly, his drawl deepened by feelings of love and desire.
Staring into those eyes so filled with emotion, there was absolutely nothing Chris wanted more. Slowly, their gazes still held captive by one another, he began to move, undulating his hips and smiling at the brief look of surprise that flashed across his partner´s face.
Vin returned that smile, his hands running the length of the other man´s arms to entwine their fingers. Hands clasped, lips meeting in a tender, yet passionate kiss, they began to move in a perfectly matched rhythm. It was loving and sweet, not the way they usually made love, but allowing for contact along every inch of their bodies. Passion built as their swollen cocks engaged in a sensual dance, pre-cum easing the sweet friction between the throbbing shafts.
“Chris,” Vin gasped, gripping the other man´s hands tighter as he felt himself approaching completion.
In response, Chris increased the rhythm, the groan deep in his throat signaling his own imminent release. “Oh God, Vin,” he breathed, rocking once more against the writhing body below him. Both stilled as though on command, their cocks twitching convulsively as their seed spurted forth and mingled between them.
Vin closed his eyes, his breathing deep. “Wow,” he whispered.
Chuckling softly, Chris planted feathery kisses on each of his partner´s eyelids. “Always said you had a way with words,” he teased.
“Ain´t no words fer that,” Vin murmured, wrapping his arms around his lover´s back and burying his face in the crook of his neck.
The sound of the alarm brought a simultaneous groan from both men and they sniggered at the shared reaction.
“I´ll start the coffee,” Chris offered with a brief kiss after turning off the intrusive sound. “You go ahead and shower.”
“How´s about we skip the coffee and you join me in the shower,” Vin suggested, blue eyes twinkling.
“Sorry, pard,” Chris murmured, nibbling at his partner´s neck. “Got that meeting with Travis this morning. Can´t afford to be late this time.”
Vin allowed a throaty chuckle as he remembered the last time Chris´d had an early meeting. They had showered together that morning, supposedly to save time, after a brief but passionate bout of lovemaking. Once the steam from the hot water had enveloped them, igniting the fire that always seemed to be smoldering just beneath the surface, time had ceased to mean anything to them. They´d only been ten minutes late, but it was enough to warrant a raised eyebrow of disapproval from the AD.
“Guess he ain´t likely to buy the ‘car trouble´ excuse again, huh?” Vin teased.
“Not likely,” Chris agreed with a smile. “Speaking of cars, you might want to take your own in this morning. Depending on what we come up with for the Bertolli case, I might have to stay late tonight.”
“I could,” Vin mused thoughtfully, “or I could just wait for ya.”
“You could,” Chris countered, mimicking his lover´s drawl, “or you could leave at the usual time and pick up the dry cleaning on your way home.”
“Shoulda known,” Vin teased. “That all ya keep me ‘round for? So´s ya don´t run outta clean shirts?”
“Not by a long shot,” Chris murmured into Vin´s neck as he nuzzled at the soft skin there. “You might have to feed the horses too.”
“Ain´t sure I can handle all the responsibilities of this relationship,” Vin smiled, closing his eyes as his body began to respond once again to his lover´s ministrations. “Errand boy, stable boy… oh, boy…” The last words came out in a breathy moan, Chris´ hand having wriggled its way between their close-pressed bodies to grip the semi-erect shaft of his lover.
Chris was just about to reply when the second alarm sounded, an extra measure they´d decided upon after the ‘car trouble´ incident of a few weeks ago. “Sorry, pard,” he chuckled, giving the hardening flesh in his hand a squeeze while depositing a quick peck on his lover´s lips. “Gotta move.”
Vin sighed as Chris did just that. He watched through half-closed eyes as the other man raised himself from the bed and stretched languidly before grabbing his robe from the chair beside the bathroom door. “You´re a heartless bastard, ya know that, Larabee?” he groused, rolling onto his stomach and burying his face in Chris´ pillow.
“Yeah, I know,” Chris grinned, unable to resist returning to the bed and laying a sharp slap on the upturned ass. “You´re just so hard done by.”
“I´m just so hard, ya mean,” Vin grumbled, trying to hide the smile that would belie the whining tone of his voice. “But don´t worry ‘bout me none. You go ahead and get ready for yer little meeting and don´t pay no mind to the way ya left me. Reckon I can take care´a this myself.”
Chris hadn´t missed that smile or the playful tone in his lover´s voice. He realized Vin wasn´t really complaining, that he fully accepted the demands their jobs put on both of them. Still, he knew Vin was hard and that he was the one responsible. With a wicked grin, he pounced on the bed, ignoring the smaller man´s yelp of surprise and turning him onto his back in one fluid motion. Without giving Vin a chance to comprehend exactly what was happening, he leaned down and engulfed the swollen shaft in his mouth.
“Oh, God,” Vin moaned, his initial surprise turning to all-out ecstasy at the feel of that familiar mouth working him. It didn´t last long. Using lips, teeth and tongue, Chris brought him to full arousal in seconds and used his considerable talents to push him to the edge with very little effort. Hearing the small gasp that signaled his partner´s impending release, he used one hand to fondle the lightly furred balls while the other stroked teasingly across the puckered opening behind.
“Chris!” Vin rasped, fisting his hands in the blonde´s hair and thrusting his hips upward as his seed shot from him in a surprisingly sudden burst.
Chris grinned around the twitching shaft, swallowing every drop his lover offered and milking the pulsing balls for still more. Once he´d taken all the younger man had to give, he let the softened flesh slip from between his lips and moved up to kiss his sated lover´s lips. “What?” he teased. “No ‘Wow´?”
“More like ‘Damn´,” Vin breathed when he was able to find his voice. “Weren´t expectin´ that.”
“Wouldn´t have been as much fun if you were,” Chris grinned. “Now, you going to let me get out of here and start that coffee?”
Vin smiled. “Go ahead and hit the shower, Cowboy. I´ll have coffee and breakfast waitin´ for ya when yer done.”
Chris raised an eyebrow. “You always want to shower first. What´s the occasion?”
Vin chuckled at the skeptical look clouding the handsome face. “Reckon it must be love.”
Chris´ green eyes softened at the words and he kissed the younger man soundly. “Reckon it must be,” he breathed.
“Now you best get in there,” Vin said, the warmth of his smile evidence of his utter contentment. “I ain´t gonna be responsible if we´re late and Travis tears a strip off´n that purdy hide´a yers.”
True to his word, Vin had breakfast ready by the time Chris had showered and dressed. Most of the conversation from that point revolved around their current case and the unexpected twist it had taken.
The ATF had been trying to nab Emelio Bertolli for some time, suspecting he was responsible for the current flood of cocaine and weapons on the streets of Denver. The DEA had no trouble handing the case off. They had more than enough drug smugglers to deal with and considered the guns to be the more immediate concern. Once the case had landed in Team 7´s collective lap, they´d tackled it with their usual fervor, making more headway in three months than the DEA had in the previous six. Bertolli seemed to have a real knack for slipping out of their hands whenever they seemed to be getting close, but Team 7 wasn´t one to give up. Bertolli´s talent for evasion only served to fuel their determination.
Meantime, the Denver branch of the FBI had been dealing with their own difficult case. Their investigation into the disappearance of three young men had surprisingly led to Bertolli and since the government considered the protection of its citizens at least equally as important as stopping the guns that so often posed a threat to them, the two agencies had been asked to ‘work together on this one´.
Chris didn´t really have a problem with that. Too many people had already lost their lives to the guns and drugs Bertolli had flooded the streets with. Whether the FBI managed to get him for the disappearances, or the ATF for the guns, he´d be off the streets and that was all that really mattered. When Travis had suggested a meeting so that both agencies could exchange information, Chris had thought it a good idea. The only thing that remained to be seen was whether the two brother agencies could work on the same case without causing one another undue difficulty.
“Ya figure Travis wants to make sure you´ll play nice with the Fibbies?” Vin teased, referring to the upcoming meeting.
“Something like that,” Chris replied with a wry smile. The two teams would be getting together later in the day to go over the work they´d done on the case, but Travis had insisted that the two SACs meet first in order to promote what he called a ‘good working relationship´. The Assistant Director hoped any possible personality conflicts could be dealt with one on one before it ended up being seven on five. He knew Team 7 well enough to know they´d follow Larabee´s lead and could only hope Special Agent Johnson garnered the same respect from his own men.
“Well then,” Vin surmised, draining the last of the coffee from his mug, “reckon I´d best hurry up and get showered so´s I can follow ya in.” He rose from the table and tugged at the belt of his robe while offering a sly wink in Chris´ direction. “Less´n ya changed your mind about havin´ more´a that there ‘car trouble´.”
“Not a chance, Tanner,” Chris replied, shaking his head in amusement. “Get your ass in that shower and I´ll clean up out here.”
“Yeah, OK,” Vin relented grudgingly, stooping to deposit a quick kiss on his lover´s lips as he passed by. “But my ass is gonna be a might lonely in there without ya.”
Chris felt the blood pooling in his groin at the seductive tone of the words and had to restrain himself from grabbing for the lithe form of his partner. Instead, he began clearing the table, trying to ignore the sound of his lover´s smug laughter coming from down the hall. Shaking his head, he started loading the dishes into the dishwasher until the sound of the running shower reached his ears and a wicked idea occurred to him. Looking somewhat like the Grinch when he´d first decided to steal Christmas, Chris reached across the sink and turned on the hot water full blast. A sharp yelp from the area of the master bathroom was his reward and he couldn´t resist an evil chuckle of his own. “Bullseye,” he murmured under his breath.
+ + + + + + +
Vin reached the office a good ten minutes after Chris, balancing a box in one hand and a full cup of coffee in the other. After depositing both on his desk and exchanging greetings with his fellow agents, he opened the box and withdrew a chocoholic´s dream of a pastry while encouraging the others in the office to help themselves.
“Good Lord, Mr. Tanner,” Ezra commented on seeing the donuts dripping with chocolate glaze. “Do you not eat before you come in?”
“Maybe there just wasn´t time for food, huh, Junior?” Buck teased, waggling his brows as he helped himself to one of the donuts.
“Had breakfast,” Vin replied, ignoring the innuendo in Buck´s taunt. Everyone on the team was aware of the relationship between Chris and Vin and all had been and continued to be, quite supportive of it. Buck, however, still found it amusing to tease them after all this time and Vin had gotten to the point where he rarely even paid it heed anymore.
“More like Chris won´t allow them Godawful things in the house,” Nathan guessed, even while taking his own donut from the box and handing one to Josiah.
Vin waved a hand in ridicule of the notion. “Says they ain´t the proper way to start the day.” Taking another bite, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes in pure enjoyment. “But, lemme tell ya, there ain´t nothing like a double-dipped, chocolate-glazed double-fudge to start this man´s day.”
“Amen to that, brother,” Josiah added, savoring the tasty treat almost as much as Vin.
“See?” Vin chuckled. “J´siah knows a good thing when he sees it.”
“And Chris don´t?” Buck teased, obviously referring to more than just Chris´ taste in breakfast food.
“Chris don´t what?” Larabee asked, hearing only the last part of the conversation as he headed through the bullpen towards his office.
“Know a good thing when you see it,” Buck supplied. “I think that´s what you were saying, wasn´t it, Vin?” He shook his head in mock sadness. “Gotta do something about that self-esteem of yours, Junior.”
Chris glanced at the sharpshooter, then leaned over to look in the box. “Double-dipped, chocolate-glazed, double-fudge?”
Vin sat straighter in his chair, meeting the leader´s gaze. “Uh huh,” he answered, fully expecting the usual lecture about eating right and taking care of one´s body.
Chris started to shake his head in disapproval, but shrugged instead. “What the Hell,” he murmured, reaching into the box and taking one for himself before continuing on to his office.
“Reckon Chris knows a good thing when he sees it after all, huh, Buck?” Vin said with a wink at the ladies´ man.
Buck hadn´t come up with a suitable reply by the time Chris was back, file folders clutched in one hand while he licked chocolate from the fingers of the other. “Damnit, Vin,” he complained mildly, “couldn´t you, for once, pick up something a little less messy for the office?”
“Allow me, Mr. Larabee,” Ezra offered, tossing a small foil packet to his boss.
Chris caught the object easily and looked down at the wet-nap in his hand. “Why am I not surprised?” he sighed. Putting the file folders down on the corner of Vin´s desk, he opened the package and proceeded to wipe the sticky residue from his fingers.
“How´s it goin´ up there?” Vin asked, referring to the meeting two floors up.
“As well as could be expected, I suppose,” Chris shrugged, tossing the used wipe into the wastebasket beside Vin´s desk. “A few things Johnson wants to go over before the teams get together this afternoon.”
“He gonna be trouble?” Buck asked just as JD entered the bullpen.
“Is who gonna be trouble?” JD asked before veering off toward Vin´s desk.
“I swear that boy has a built-in radar when it comes to junk food,” Buck stated, shaking his head in wonder.
“You´re one to talk about built-in radar, Buck,” JD shot back before turning to Chris. “Who´s gonna be trouble?”
“Nobody, yet, JD,” Chris assured him. “I´m meeting with Special Agent Johnson in Travis´ office. Just came down to get a few files.” With that, he picked the folders up and headed once more for the door. Before leaving, he turned to the rest of his team. “And just so you´ll know, I gave Travis my word that we´d work nicely with our ‘brother agents´. Don´t make a liar out of me.”
“Hell, Ez, you might wanna take a few days off in that case,” Vin teased.
“Mr. Tanner,” Ezra replied with his usual nonchalance, “I assure you, I am quite capable of acting in a professional manner for the duration of our association with these…” He shot a quick glance at Chris. “…brother agents.”
Buck and Vin snickered, knowing full well that, had Chris not been standing there, Ezra would have referred to them in less polite terms.
“That´s what I thought,” Chris replied with only a hint of sarcasm. “See if you boys can´t get some work done while I´m gone, hmm?”
Once he was out of hearing range, Ezra continued as though he´d never paused in his statement. “Providing, of course, that these Neanderthals in the guise of our brother agents do the same.”
Buck laughed out loud while Vin grinned and shook his head. They all knew there was no love lost between Ezra and the branch of the government he formally worked for. While no one was certain of all the details, they knew their friend had left that position feeling betrayed and more than a little bitter. As was Team 7´s way, they each put their full support behind their undercover agent, knowing without a doubt that they´d be willing to go up against Johnson and his team - even the whole FBI - if push came to shove. Thankfully, outside of a little normal ‘sibling´ rivalry, they hadn´t come up against any real problems in dealing with the other agency to date.
Of course, to date, they´d never had to join forces against one Emelio Bertolli.