Fox released Axel’s jacket and slipped his hands under it. His fingers spread across the soft cotton shirt which clung to hard muscle below like latex poured onto a mold.

Just touching Axel was enough to make him want more. The hard, unyielding muscle was an unspoken promise. It said all kinds of things, and it said them straight to Fox’s straining cock.

He groaned as he hardened against Axel’s own solid dick. Both of them hidden behind fabric, both knowing what was just out of reach. Both yearning for more.

Fox shivered in anticipation and slid his hands toward Axel’s tie and unfastened it. He took his time, and once the knot was loose he pulled it free with a soft, silken shhh and dropped it aside. He broke free from the kiss as he began to unfasten Axel’s shirt, and wriggled down to run his tongue over the skin that he exposed.

With each button, another inch of flesh was revealed, and Fox lapped and sucked and kissed, worshipping his way down Axel’s chest.

Axel’s breath came quickly. His hands fell from Fox as Fox moved away from his grasp and they landed on the sheets, grasping at them, bunching into fists. “God,” he whimpered. “How do you do it?”

Fox laughed gently as he pulled the shirt hem free from Axel’s pants. “Do what?” He nosed at Axel’s belly button, then ran his tongue along the hair below it.

Axel arched his back and took a shaky breath. “You know what.”

“Drive you wild?” Fox smoothed his hands back up over Axel’s beautifully defined abdominals, using his wrists to shove the shirt open wide.

“Yeah. That.” Axel stared up at him with a look which Fox could only describe as wonder. “Every time.”

“I can’t help it.” Fox gave a fake sigh as he writhed back up Axel’s body. “It’s just me, I guess.”

He let his hands cup Axel’s pecs, then ran his fingertips in slow circles around the dark outsides of his nipples.

Axel threw his head back and moaned. “There is nothing ‘just’ about you, Fox.”

Fox leaned in and hovered his mouth over one nipple so that his breath was warm against the hardening flesh. “Is that ‘just’ as in merely, or ‘just’ as in fair?”

“Yes,” Axel muttered.

Fox let out a throaty chuckle and took the nub into his mouth.

Axel made an explosive sound, like a lungful of air had escaped and stolen with it whatever he had been about to say.

Fox didn’t rush. There wasn’t anything in the whole wide world that could make him do anything but take his time with Axel’s body. Wild horses couldn’t tear him away now.

He took his sweet time in sucking on the nipple between his lips as his fingers softly squeezed the other, and then, once Axel’s moans were just the right amount of delirious, Fox swapped over.

Axel’s skin trembled. Gooseflesh rose and sprinkled across his pectorals. Sweat began to lightly lay a sheen over his ink, which made it darker, fresher-looking.

Fox traced his way down Axel’s chest, leaving his nipples unattended and moving on to lavish attention on his abdomen. The muscles there were like foothills, and as Fox smoothed his hands over them on their way to Axel’s belt, he felt them shiver and dip under his touch.

He paused at the belt and looked to Axel.

Axel raised his head and met his gaze.

“You ready for this?”

Axel’s gaze grew desperate. “I figure I’m so ready that if you don’t get on with it I’m just gonna have to take matters into my own hands.”

“Promises, promises!”

Fox unfastened the belt, and went straight for the buttons and zipper. There was being a tease, then being a total asshole, and he wasn’t going to ruin Axel’s time by being the second one. He pushed material aside and perched on Axel’s knees so that he could drag pants and briefs down. It took some wriggling with Axel’s weight pinning them down, but Fox wasn’t a quitter.

They both gasped as one as Axel’s cock sprang free, gesturing up between them like it had walked in fashionably late because it knew it would command the room when it finally arrived.

It wasn’t wrong.

Fox placed kisses along its length, starting at the base and working his way to the very tip before crossing over to kiss down on the other side. Each time his lips touched it, it jumped, but he didn’t hold it still. He waited for it to bounce back and then kissed it again.

It was rock hard. If he held it in both hands the entire head would still stand free. The thought of it filling him made him flush with anticipation, and every second’s delay was driving him wild.

“God damn,” he croaked. “I need you inside me.”

Axel sat slowly, and reached for Fox’s shoulders as soon as he was close enough to grab them. His bare chest pressed to Fox’s shirt, and like a pea through a hundred mattresses, Fox was acutely aware of Axel’s nipples digging through the cotton and against his skin.

Once Axel’s lips were against his, Axel spoke, his voice low and barely constrained. “Then you better get your clothes off.”

Fox swallowed a whimper, and he eased himself off Axel’s knees to stand. Axel let go of his shoulders, and Fox shucked off his jacket, then fought with his shirt and—in the end—only got through the first three buttons before he gave up entirely and yanked it off over his head. He threw it aside while kicking off shoes, and fumbled with his fly.

It wasn’t a striptease. It was barely even a strip. Fox was out of his suit in what had to be a world record time, and hopped from one foot to the other while he fought with his socks.

But then he was done.

Axel was taking it more slowly. He’d even gone to the trouble of hanging his clothes and holster over the back of a chair, and now—as Fox watched—he laid his socks over his pants and stepped away from it all.

“Fuck,” Fox croaked. “You’re magnificent.”

“Yep,” Axel said. No smirk, no smile. Only a playful light in his eyes as he came closer.

Fox’s heart raced.

Was Axel ready for this?

Was Fox ready?

“The, um.” He coughed to clear his throat, then gestured toward a drawer. “Top drawer,” he added.

“Huh?”

Fox slipped past him and let his hand trail over Axel’s ass as he went. He pulled open the drawer and dug out some lube from behind his neatly-rolled socks. Then he offered it to Axel without a word.

“Oh!” Axel finally smiled, sheepish as he took the bottle. “Right. I guess that makes sense.”

“Be gentle with me,” Fox breathed as he fluttered his eyelashes up at Axel. “It’s your first time.”

Axel stepped closer, and this time when their bodies touched it less like desperation and more like destiny. “You let me know what you need from me, and you’ll get it, I swear.”

Fox nodded and placed his hands on Axel’s waist. “Just go slow, okay? To start with. It takes a little time, but then everything will be okay and you can go to town.”

“Got it.” Axel dipped in to kiss him.

Fox melted against his lips as strong arms closed around his body and the pressure of their cocks slipping together made his knees buckle. Everything was about to get so very, very real, and the weight of it settled around him like a warm comforter.

He’d wanted this for years. Needed it for just as long. Ever since Axel had saved his life he knew, deep down, that this was where he belonged, and he’d never admitted it to himself. But they were here now. Together. This was the start of forever, and he yearned to see where life would take them from here.

Right now, though, they had a lot of lost time to make up for, so he eased back toward the bed and drew Axel with him.

As they wriggled up the mattress together, Axel’s body closed in around him, and Fox finally found peace.