“I think that went well,” Peter said, pushing Drew’s office door halfway shut behind them. “You got everything that we wanted from Tekko and let them think they were getting a good deal.”

“Mmmhmm,” Drew agreed, setting his folders and a paper coffee cup down on his desk. He took off his suit jacket and hung it over the back of his chair, and fished his brand-new cell out of his pants’ pockets. He was dimly aware that Peter kept talking, even as he plopped into his seat to check his texts.

There was a new one from Bas. Working alone isn’t satisfying. Text me when you’re back from your meeting.

And Drew couldn’t help grinning as he replied, Back, and then sat and watched the bubbles dance as Bas replied.

God, this schmoopy, hearts-in-eyes thing was so unlike him. He remembered mocking Cam and Cort relentlessly when Cort had first come to work for Seaver and the pair had been unable to sit through an entire meeting without making eyes at each other over the conference table. He’d prided himself on the fact that his feelings for Bas were virtually undetectable to the casual observer, which was really how relationships ought to be conducted.

And now, here he was, waiting for a reply from his boyfriend — the same boyfriend whose bed he’d crawled out of only a few hours before, sex-drunk and famished, and who’d driven him to work — with all the eagerness of a lovesick wife whose sailor had gone off to sea years before.

It was getting out of hand…but he’d be damned if he’d do anything to stop it.

Sounded ridiculous to say he’d missed Sebastian while he was in an hour-long client meeting — they were hardly co-dependent, generally — but it was the sad and sappy truth. And he was more than half hoping Bas would grab his laptop and move himself into Drew’s office to work this afternoon, just as he had every day that week. Drew was getting pretty addicted to seeing Bas’s blue eyes and broad shoulders every time he looked up from his keyboard.

“Okay, what’s with you?” Peter demanded.

Drew slapped his phone-face down on the desk and cleared his throat. He’d actually forgotten Peter’s presence entirely.

“I’m sorry, were you saying something?”

“I asked you if you wanted me to set any follow-up meetings. With Tekko,” he added, when Drew didn’t respond right away.

“No, I think things are settled. Check in with Paula and make sure she doesn’t need any additional face-time.”

Peter nodded, but his gaze remained fixed on Drew’s face and a slow smile began to dawn at the edges of his mouth. “You’re flirt-texting!” he accused.

“What?”

“You. Are. Flirting. With a man. Over text.” He perched on the edge of the chair facing Drew’s desk and put his chin in his hand. “Don’t bother to deny it.”

Drew raised an eyebrow at this serious over-familiarity… but he was pretty sure he was blushing, which probably killed any air of authority he might have achieved. “I’m not discussing this with you,” he said instead. His relationship with Sebastian was personal, and he wanted to be discreet about it as long as possible.

“That’s fine!” Peter said, throwing both hands up innocently. “I’m just going to assume that Mark is just as hot in person as he was online.” He tossed Drew a wink.

Oh. Oh, no no no.

“I’m not texting with Mark,” Drew said.

“But I thought…”

“Yeah, we had a date. Let’s just say it was an absolute disaster. If he ever tries to contact me again through you, let me know immediately.”

Peter nodded, his brow furrowed. “Yeah. Of course. But if not him, then…”

Bas stuck his head in the partially opened door and knocked on the doorframe. “Hey, counselor?”

Peter and Drew turned to look at him in one synchronized movement, watching as he pushed the door open fully and walked in. Sure enough, he was carrying his laptop under his arm.

“Oh, sorry, Peter,” Bas said. “I just needed a moment of Drew’s time.” He glanced at the phone on Drew’s desk and said archly, “You didn’t answer my text.”

Peter’s eyes flew to Drew’s face, then back to Bas, and grew wide as comprehension dawned.

Drew shook his head and huffed out a laugh. So much for discretion.

But Drew was surprised to find he didn’t really care all that much. Alexei’s threat hanging over their heads was enough to put every other problem into perspective, and besides, he and Bas weren’t a temporary thing. Even just six days into this new phase of their relationship, he could say with confidence — a confidence he couldn’t have imagined even a week ago — that this was forever.

Bas was right - he really was evolving into a risk taker all of a sudden.

“Sorry,” Drew told Bas. “Peter and I were just finishing up.”

“Yeah,” Peter jumped to his feet. “We’re all done.” But he was staring at Bas like the man had grown an extra head… or suddenly acquired a gay boyfriend overnight.

The thought was so amusing, Drew had to cover his mouth with his hand to keep from laughing out loud, and Bas narrowed his eyes, like he was missing the joke.

“I’ll just… take my lunch now,” Peter said as he reached the door. “I’ll be gone an hour or so. I could, like, lock the door?”

“Not necessary,” Drew said, not taking his eyes from Bas as he came closer, laying his computer on the desk top.

“Right, okay. Well, I’ll just close it then, and I’ll see you… much later.”

Bas shook his head, still staring at Drew as Peter shut the door. “What was that?”

“That,” Drew said, standing and bracing his hands on the desktop as he leaned toward his boyfriend. “Was my assistant figuring out that you and I are dating.”

Bas leaned in and brushed his lips over Drew’s once before sinking into the kiss with a sound of relief. Drew understood it completely - being together was a lot like puzzle pieces sliding together, satisfying and right. It had always been that way between them, but now they could show it openly.

“Dating?” Bas asked, pulling back so his teasing eyes could meet Drew’s. “Is that what we’re doing?”

“Oh, yeah. Taking it slow. Keeping it casual.” Drew gave him a final peck, pressing a smile to Sebastian’s lips, and then sat back down.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Bas said, taking Peter’s seat and propping his laptop on Drew’s desk. “I was a little worried when you took me to your mom’s two nights ago. Kinda forward to introduce me to your mom this early on.”

Drew pressed his lips together to hide his smile and nodded solemnly. His mother had been introduced to Sebastian when he was in diapers.

“Which part worried you, exactly? Was it the way she jumped up to hug you the minute we arrived? Or the way she made you promise we’d visit her weekly before she let us leave?”

Bas seemed to think about it, his eyes gleaming all the while. “You know, it might have been the way she stared at me the entire time, like I might evaporate if she looked away? Or the way she looked like she might faint from happiness every time you and I touched?” He pantomimed fainting back against the chair, his wrist at his temple.

Drew burst out laughing, because Bas wasn’t lying. His mother had always loved Bas, but she was overjoyed to hear they were together. And Drew couldn’t deny that he was relieved - his mother was a stickler for what she deemed “propriety,” and he’d worried that she might not approve of him falling in love with his sister’s former fiancé.

She’d brushed his worries aside with a wave of her hand.

“I was shocked when he and Amy got engaged,” she told him speaking in hushed tones in the kitchen while he’d helped her prepare coffee. “Thrilled, of course. But shocked. I’d always thought he was for you.” She’d patted his cheek. “And now he is.”

And now he is.

For however long they had left.

Bas gave him a bright smile before focusing on his laptop. Drew turned his phone over, checking the display.

His missed text from Bas flashed up at him. I missed you. I’m coming over there. We can finish up fast and take off early. It’s Friday.

He looked at Bas out of the corner of his eye and bit his lip. They really were moving quickly with their relationship, even for two people who’d known each other their whole lives. He didn’t regret it in any way, but he knew part of that was because neither of them wanted to waste a second, given the uncertainty of the coming weekend and their plan to finally, finally end things with SILA for good.

Things seemed to have quieted down on that front. No new emails had come in from the mysterious Michael Paterkin. No new threats had emerged. It seemed like Alexei was biding his time, as well. Waiting for their high-noon showdown Saturday night.

And Bas seemed to have become reconciled to it, as well, though Drew knew he was still far from happy with the plan Sean had laid out. He and Bas hadn’t discussed the auction at all since Sunday, which was one of the reasons Drew had avoided telling Bas about the phone call he’d made the day before.

He dropped his chin to his chest, stretching out the tension in his neck. If the situation was reversed, he’d be mightily pissed at Bas for not speaking up, even if Bas’s intentions were as pure as Drew’s own. He sighed.

“Bas, I need to tell you something,” he began.

“Hmm?” Bas looked up from the computer and watched Drew closely. He closed the laptop screen. “What’s up?”

“I called Gary North.”

“For what?” Bas scowled, looking more confused than upset, which was promising.

“Well, you remember our conversation down in your lair the other day? When Cort joked about us knowing someone who would testify against Alexei?” Drew shrugged. “I figured it was worth a shot to ask him.”

Bas nodded slowly. “And?”

“And, it pretty much went exactly the way you thought it would. He refused to even mention the subject to his SILA contacts at first. I told him that our lives were on the line - in fact, I essentially told him everything we knew about Alexei and the plans he had to neutralize us, including the auction Saturday. I even told him I didn’t expect him to volunteer information that was given to him in confidence, just that I’d really appreciate it if he could contact his sources and see if anyone was interested in talking.” He shook his head. “Said he’d think about it.”

Bas looked at him evenly, his fingers drumming on the sides of the chair. But then he lifted one shoulder. “I’m sorry, babe. I know that must have been disappointing.”

Drew blinked. “That’s it?”

“What did you want me to say?”

“Nothing. I don’t know. I mean, last time we met with Gary, you had a fit. And even when I brought up his name Sunday, you didn’t seem to want me to have anything to do with him.”

Bas raised an eyebrow. “So you thought I’d be jealous, and you decided to call him anyway in a sneaky way?”

Ouch. Trapped by his own words. Way to go, counselor.

“It wasn’t sneaky,” he defended himself. “I just didn’t want to spoil our time together because you were jealous. And I also didn’t want to get your hopes up if it didn’t turn out.” He gave Sebastian a rueful grin. “And it didn’t.”

“Drew, I told you that I was making a choice by being with you. I trust you’re doing the same thing. I don’t like the way the guy flirts with you, because I swear to God part of the reason he does it is just to provoke a reaction.”

Drew nodded. He suspected the same thing.

“But Gary can’t touch what we have. And even if I massively disagree with you on something, we can’t hide things from each other.”

“I promise,” Drew said. He stood and walked around the desk to sit on Bas’s lap. “Not again.”

Bas wrapped his arms around Drew’s waist and pulled him to rest against his chest. “Good. And in the interest of being open and honest about all things…”

Drew snickered. “Yeah?”

“I can’t stop thinking about New Year’s Eve.”

Despite burying his face in Bas’s neck, Drew could feel himself blushing. Blushing! Thank God he wouldn’t encounter Peter or anyone else for a while. “Is that right?” he croaked. “Which part?”

“Mmmm. All of it. But especially right at midnight. I hadn’t really understood how hot that position could be, but taking you from behind like that…”

Drew ran his hand up Sebastian’s chest and around his neck, his memory thrown back to that epic night. With the emotional one-two punch of learning Alexei’s scheme and finding the flash drive, all coming right on the heels of them admitting their feelings for one another, the sex they’d shared was like nothing he’d ever dreamed of. Bas had reached for him over and over again, ringing out the old year, and ushering in the new in the most life-affirming and love-affirming way possible. But the time Bas was referring to, when Drew had knelt on the bed with his hands braced on the headboard, and Sebastian had taken him from behind, destroying him slowly and methodically until he’d been a babbling mess… Drew was pretty sure he’d never, never forget that.

“I want to do that,” Bas said. He gripped Drew’s hair and repositioned his head so that he could run his teeth along the side of Drew’s throat.

Drew shivered uncontrollably.

“We could lock the door,” he offered.

And yeah, discretion was totally flying out the window if he was considering letting Bas fuck him in the office, but he was already half-hard and he wanted Bas now.

“I have a better idea. Let’s just leave.” He pulled Drew’s hair again, a sensation that Drew had already begun to associate with incredible arousal, and his blue eyes bored into Drew’s. “The first time I feel your cock in my ass, I want us to be at home, in our bed.”

Drew blinked. “My… your… Your ass?” he repeated.

It was a good thing he’d already had the Tekko meeting today, because his mind was obliterated to the point where he might have given away the whole company if he’d had to speak coherently after this.

“You heard me,” Bas said with a nod. He leaned in and whispered, “Your cock. My ass. Now.”

Drew swallowed hard and forced himself to stand, adjusting the front of his pants. “I’ll get my coat.”

Later, he wouldn’t remember the drive home - he had no idea how Bas had been able to keep his Charger on the road, if his pulse had been pounding half as loud as Drew’s. He vaguely recalled spending the entire time gazing at Sebastian’s profile as he drove, occasionally reaching out to run his thumb along the firm line of his jaw, and imagining the fulfillment of a fantasy.

He remembered very clearly the way the two of them had stumbled through the front door of Bas’s place - likely Bas’s choice because his house was simply closer to Seaver Tech than Drew’s - and raced to the bedroom without a word. There had been no careful undressing, no teasing kisses, no tender caresses as each piece of clothing was removed. It was as if they’d both realized that arousal was a powder keg ready to explode between them, and they avoided even looking at each other for too long, lest they spontaneously combust.

When Drew was finally naked, he couldn’t help but reach down and touch himself, stroking firmly as he watched Bas throw his remaining clothing haphazardly on the floor.

Christ, but he was beautiful, in every single way, from his broad shoulders to his hard, jutting cock. But maybe most of all because he was looking at Drew with nothing but love and trust and searing arousal in his eyes.

“I love you,” Drew said, the words torn from him. “So much.”

“I love you, too, McMann.” Bas’s face, which had been tense with arousal, softened as he looked at Drew. He moved across the short distance until they were pressed together, chest to chest, cock to cock. Drew couldn’t help but moan at the sensation. “But please, Drew. Don’t go slow. I’m burning up.”

Drew nodded. He understood the feeling. Still, he took a moment, running his hands up Sebastian’s taut stomach to his chest, and then back down again. He licked his palm and grabbed both their erections in his hand, stroking them together and admiring the way Bas’s eyes rolled back in his head at the sensation. “I’m going to make this good for you,” he promised.

“It couldn’t be any other way,” Bas whispered. Drew stroked again, and Bas gasped, the cords of his neck standing out as he threw his head back. “I’ve been hard since we were in your office. Every pothole in the fucking road was making me rub against my pants. And I swear, Drew, if you don’t get inside me soon, I’m going to come just from this.” He lowered his head and caught Drew’s gaze. “And I don’t want to come this way. Not today.”

“Then get on your knees in the bed,” Drew told him, releasing his hold.

He moved to the nightstand to retrieve the bottle of lube that had been well-used over the past week and rummaged around for a condom.

There was only one left, and he threw it on the bed next to the lube.

He kneeled on the bed behind Bas’s gorgeous ass, and bent to lick a path up his spine.

“Sebastian?” he said. “What do you think about getting tested? So we don’t have to use condoms anymore, I mean.”

Bas turned his head. “I’ve been tested. And I haven’t had sex with anyone at all in a year and a half.”

“You… what?” Drew had known he hadn’t dated anyone serious since the crash, but he’d never suspected this. “Really?”

“Yeah, really.” He smirked. “So, I’m ready to go when you are.”

“I… I’ve been tested. And I’ve never had unprotected sex before.” Drew swallowed. “Is that something you want, though?”

Bas sat back on his heels and twisted, cupping Drew’s face in both his hands. “If you haven’t figured it out, Andrew, there’s nothing I don’t want with you. I want everything.” He leaned in to bite Drew’s bottom lip firmly, and Drew’s cock jumped.

Bas chuckled. He grabbed the condom from the bed and tossed it like a Frisbee so it landed on the dresser. “Come on,” he said, turning around and bracing himself once again.

Drew didn’t require any further convincing or discussion. He quickly dribbled lube over his fingers and Bas’s hole, teasing him and stretching him. They’d played that way several times in the past week, but they’d never moved beyond… until now.

“Oh, fuck,” Bas groaned, as Drew eased a finger inside him. “More. Please, more!”

But Drew would never hurt him, even if he demanded it. With measured thrusts that took every bit of his control, Drew worked him, with one finger and then two and three, until Bas was moaning, panting, begging for Drew’s cock.

It was surreal, and Drew wondered if it would ever be something he took for granted, having Sebastian want him in this way. After fifteen long years of wanting him with hopeless passion, he really doubted it.

He eased his fingers out and slicked more lube on his aching cock as a wildfire burst of lust and anticipation snaked its way down his spine. Forever. That was how long he’d wanted this. And now it was finally his.

He nudged the head of his cock against Sebastian’s ass and pushed slowly forward.

Bas’s hiss of pain broke through the clouds of arousal that blanketed his mind. “Are you okay?”

But Bas’s voice, when it came, was groggy not with pain but with desire. “Very okay,” he said. “Oh my God, Drew.”

Drew knew the feeling. There should have been nothing new for him in this experience - he was no virgin, and the feeling of sinking into tight heat should have been familiar. But it wasn’t. This was Sebastian, Sebastian bare without a condom, and so everything was brand new.

He set a fast rhythm, because he simply couldn’t help it, couldn’t give a thought to drawing out the experience when Bas was pushing against him, thrusting back eagerly even as Drew thrust forward. The knowledge that there was nothing between them, that soon his cum would fill Bas’s hole… it was overwhelming and perfect.

He pushed Bas’s shoulders down so his chest was against the mattress, his ass in the air, and leaned over him, seeking Bas’s mouth for a kiss. Bas turned his head, his eyes wide open and totally lost, and Drew pressed their lips together, hard and messy, thrusting his tongue in time to his hips.

Bas’s orgasm seemed to take him by surprise, and he cried out into Drew’s mouth as he came, untouched, all over the sheet beneath them.

Oh, fuck.

If there was a better sensation in all the world than Bas’s tight hole clenching as Drew fucked him through orgasm, Drew couldn’t imagine it… and was confident his brain couldn’t survive it. As it was, he had to squeeze his eyes tightly shut and dig his fingers into Sebastian’s shoulders as the overload of sensation made his rhythm falter.

He pounded Bas harder, faster, with Bas spurring him on the whole way, widening his bent knees, lifting his ass higher, his breath pushing out in staccato moans with every thrust of Drew’s hips. They were the same creature - two people merged temporarily into one being greater than either of them could be together, feeding off each other’s pleasure.

Drew shouted his release - a hoarse cry so loud the neighbors could have heard it, and he kinda hoped they did - as he came inside of Bas. He looked down, as he gave a few final thrusts, and saw his cum leak out of Sebastian’s hole. Claiming Bas, owning him. Because Bas had let him.

Holy, holy shit.

He grabbed Sebastian’s hand from the bed and brought it back, pushing it against the place where they were joined. He not only heard Bas gasp, he felt it from the inside. Bas turned his head until his eyes met Drew’s.

“I love you,” he said fiercely, his voice still wrecked and breathless, his eyes practically glowing with love and satisfaction.

Drew closed his eyes and committed that vision to memory. When the end of days came, no matter how soon or distant from now that time might be, and the most important moments of his life began to flash before his eyes, he knew with absolute certainty that this moment would make the highlight reel.