"Here?""A little lower."
"Here?"
"A little higher."
"Here?"
"Oh God, yes. Right there."
"How's this?"
"A little harder."
"Now?"
"A little faster."
"Now?"
"Just right."
"You ain't got the right color hair to be playing Goldilocks, you know." Vin Tanner snorted at the rude gesture his companion made in response to that remark, but continued to scratch the smooth bronze expanse of skin before him. Well, smooth except for the small, roughly circular, scar on one shoulder blade.
"So how did ya get that scar anyway, Ror'? Seduce some farmer's son and get a load of buckshot for your trouble?"
"No."
Vin frowned at this uncharacteristically terse reply. "I didn't mean to..."
"I know." Rory Selkirk rolled over onto his side so that he and Vin were face to face on the bed.
"You wanna tell me about it?." Vin made the offer hesitantly and then immediately wished he hadn't when Rory just stared at him silently.
"Not much to tell." Rory finally shrugged in reply, dark eyes shuttered and distant.
"Forget I asked." Vin muttered. If Rory wanted to keep secrets, it was fine by him. Just because he'd told Rory all about *his* past, both the good and the bad, didn't mean Rory had to tell Vin everything, too. Wasn't like they were married or anything. Nope.
"Awww hell, Tanner. It's no big thing. Just your typical sad sordid tale of good love gone bad." Rory grinned, but Vin wasn't fooled. He knew Rory better than the other man probably wanted him to. He just didn't know him as well as *he* wanted to.
"Thought you was above all that sort of thing." Vin meant the words to be light. Teasing. They didn't come out that way.
"And what sort of thing would you be referring to, Tanner?" Rory ran a hand up the inside of Vin's thigh. "Certainly not this thing..." He paused, fingers splayed across Vin's hip, thumb lightly skimming along the surface of Vin's rapidly hardening cock. Rory's words were light. Teasing. Bastard.
Vin arched his back, turning his head away so Rory wouldn't see the disappointment in his eyes. So he'd wanted Rory to answer his question. Big fucking deal. In a few more minutes Rory's nimble fingers would work their usual magic and his disappointment would be forgotten, anyway. So it shouldn't matter. It *didn't* matter.
"Wasn't referring to nothin'." Vin moaned, closing his eyes as Rory's lips brushed the side of his neck.
"Yes. You were." With a sigh, Rory sat up, leaning back against the rather disheveled pillows of their bed.
"Dammit, Selkirk." Vin opened his eyes and glared up at his companion.
"Well, you were." Rory raised an eyebrow and ran a finger idly across Vin's lips, his own lips quirked in a faint smile that told Vin nothing.
"Yeah. Expect I was." It was Vin's turn to sigh and sit up in the bed.
"You were referring to that crazy little thing called love, weren't you?"
"Dammit, Selkirk. If you want to play games, I can think of better ones than this."
"I was 16. He was 26. I was in love. He wasn't. I did some dumb things trying to change that. He got tired of it after a while and split, leaving me to clean up the mess. Love got me this scar and a six year stint in this man's damn army. It got him two years of free sex and a good laugh at my expense. End of story." Rory's voice was flat. Just the facts, Ma'am. Just the facts.
"Wouldn't have figured you for the once bitten twice shy type." Vin said, after a moment of silence that lasted an eternity.
"I think of myself more as the been there done that ain't never going back again type."
"Quoting Fleetwood Mac, Ror? How low can you go?"
"Don't start with me, Tanner. Not unless you want me to bring up a certain Gloria Gaynor song that'll get you laughed right off the base."
Vin held up his hands in mock surrender. "Ok. Ok. No need to get nasty."
Both men fell silent, carefully looking anywhere but at each other.
"Never, Ror? Vin finally broke the silence after another moment of eternity had passed.
"Never, Vin." There were too many emotions running through those two words for Vin to identify. He didn't even try. It didn't matter.
"Well I guess it's a good thing I'm just in it for the sex, then, huh?" This time the words came out the way he'd wanted them to. Guess practice did make perfect.
"Couldn't prove it by me with all this talk talk talk. How about showing me some of your good old Texas style walk walk walk?" Practice had already made perfect long before in Rory's case.
"I can do that." Vin pushed Rory further back against the pillows, fingers tangling in his long black hair, leaning over to take his lips in a rough kiss. It was good that Vin knew for certain where matters stood now. Where matters would always stand. He was a sharpshooter. He dealt in facts, not fantasies. There was no profit in wasting resources on an unobtainable target. So he would either have to settle for what he could get or abort the mission altogether. His choice. He ran his hands and eyes down the sleek length of his companion's body. The choice wasn't too difficult. At least not for today. And as for tomorrow?
The hell with tomorrow.
The End
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