"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck."

"Did you say something, Dav?"

"No, no. Just…talking to myself."

"About anything in particular?"

Michael's inquiry didn't take me by surprise. He'd been watching me for months now. Surreptitiously. But still…it was enough to make a man jumpy.

"It's…personal." I hoped that would end the conversation, if you could call it that, right there. But of course, it didn't.

Michael raised an eyebrow imperiously, as if to say, You have a personal life? "Is there something *I* could do?" Michael asked me, that lightly-accented voice driving me crazy in so many ways.

Yes, you could do something for me. You could stop watching me, for Christ's sake. "Not really," I lied. It really shouldn't have bothered me to lie to Michael. We lied all the time in Section. All of us. But Michael? Michael raised lying to an artform. He was in a class all by himself. So yeah, it shouldn't have bothered me *at all*.

But it did.

He looked, I dunno, hurt by my refusal to confide in him. Now how the hell did that happen? "Oh, for fuck's sake, Michael, leave me alone, okay?"

Michael nodded and put away his hurt feelings like he did everything else. With grace and aplomb. "As you wish."

He was just turning to go when I called out, "Michael!"

"Yes?" he asked hopefully. I hated to watch that hope die. But I couldn't get my tongue around the next few words. So the moment passed.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"Right."

The next day, Michael did something completely unprecedented. He ate lunch in the cafeteria with the rest of the field ops. I sat in my corner and chewed my food slowly. He wouldn't.

But I should have guessed. It's not like Michael to give up easily. He slid his tray next to mine and said, "Mind if I join you?"

Now what was I going to say to that? Get the fuck away from me? That's not my style. I like living. It's been a real strong incentive for me to keep going up the ladder. Death is so…final.

"Not at all," I managed to say non-committally.

Michael's gray-green eyes studied me without revealing a Goddamn thing. It was like he knew something I didn't know. Of course, that was the way of Section. Michael worked Tactical Oversight. He was a team leader. He even took over for Ops when Ops took an all too rare break from One. So why wouldn't he know something I didn't know?

"Would you like to talk?" he asked as he eased himself into the seat beside me. One hand carefully unbuttoned his jacket.

"About what?" I countered. Two could play that game. I might not be as sharp as Michael, but I could give him a run for his money.

He took a sip of his coffee. "You seem edgy lately."

"Me? Nah. I'm the most easygoing sort around."

"It wasn't a question," Michael said, his voice sternly rebuking me.

"Is this official?" I queried, starting to feel more than a little concerned.

"No…" There was a long pause. Then it happened. Michael actually smiled. "It's personal."

Was this a fuck or be fucked situation? Was it a test? Or was this just Michael's way of giving one of his senior ops a much-needed wake-up call?

"I'm not sure what you mean," I said very slowly, keeping my eyes glued to Michael's face.

Michael seemed amused by my reaction. "What is it you don't understand, Davenport? The meaning of the word 'personal'? Or where you fit into a scenario that has nothing to do with work?"

"I…" I couldn't think of a thing to say. It was as if he was reading my mind, and even *I* didn't know what was in there.

"Would you be more comfortable if we went somewhere else?"

I was positive that my mouth dropped open. So much for subtlety. Michael was obviously proposing…something. "Um…" Michael smiled again. Goddammit! That was fucking distracting.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Wait a minute, Michael. Is this what all that watching me was about?" I hissed between clenched teeth. I was wound so tight, if someone slammed a door, I was liable to break a molar.

He just gave me the proverbial blank stare and stood up, completely ignoring his untouched lunch. "Let's take a walk."

This might not be official. But that sure as hell was an order. My body responded by jerking me to my feet with none of my customary grace.

"This way."

He led.

I followed.

I frowned and peered into the darkness before me. "Where are we? I've never been down here be—"

Without any warning, Michael slammed me against the wall, scaring the crap out of me. He fisted my tight black T-shirt until I thought for sure he was going to pull it right off me. "Do you know what it's like to watch you, day after day, and not be able to do this?"

"You brought me here so you could work me over?"

It was dark, but it wasn't *that* dark. When my eyes adjusted to the lack of light, I could just make out the faint gleam of Michael's straight white teeth. "In a manner of speaking."

"Oh." My brain tried feverishly to make some sort of sense out of Michael's behavior. Then it hit me. "Oh!"

"You want to…?"

He didn't even answer me. He clamped both hands to my cheeks and pulled my head closer. At this point, I had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen, but I couldn't have predicted how it went down.

Michael kissed me. But while my brain was still reeling from shock and my body was trying to assert its right to party, he took full advantage of what must have appeared to be acquiesence. He sucked on my lower lip and I must have gasped because the next thing I knew, his tongue was in my mouth.

This was fucking amazing. Michael was a fully-trained Valentine operative long before he became an invaluable field agent. But he wasn't demonstrating any of his usual finesse with me. This was desperation. This was too fucking real to be anything else.

My shoulder ached where I'd hit the wall, but I didn't care. In fact, I didn't care about anything but the man hellbent on possessing me.

"Michael…"

"What?" Michael sounded hoarse, his voice made ragged by the intensity of his emotions.

He must have thought I was going to stop him. I could have, you know. I don't know why I didn't. Maybe I'm just a lazy son-of-a-bitch who likes things easy and I was taking the path of least resistance.

Or maybe…just maybe…I really liked it.

"I've never…"

I know it was dark. But I could swear that I saw Michael's nostrils flare. It could have been my imagination. God knows I was thinking a mile a minute, running on nothing but nerves. He liked the fact that my ass was virgin territory.

What was really scary was I did, too.

"What if someone comes?"

"The only one who's going to come down here is you."

That might have passed for humor in another man, but Michael was anything but amused. His grip on my arms was hard enough to leave bruises, and now that I'd seen him this way, I wondered if that was his original intention.

I wanted some more of those kisses. I'm a greedy son-of-a-bitch when I'm aroused, and even though I didn't know how to ask, I had a feeling that I was going to get exactly what I deserved.

Michael's hand slid slowly down the front of my body, stopping only when he reached my belt. A sharp tug loosened it before Michael began to pull it from around my waist. I could only watch, mesmerized, as he dangled the long supple leather over the hardest part of me. If my dick could speak, it would have said, "Please."

He looked deep into my eyes as the leather belt sawed back and forth between my legs. I was dangerously close to coming and he hadn't even laid a hand on me yet. Suddenly the silence in the corridor was almost overwhelming. The belt dropped to the floor with a slap that vibrated through my groin. Michael's fingers expertly unzipped my pants. The black mission pants slipped to the floor unnoticed.

Michael ran his knuckles over the head of my cock and I think I must have whimpered. "You always go commando?"

I shook my head. I had no idea why I'd left my underwear in my quarters. I wasn't in that much of a hurry when I got dressed. I suppose a shrink could make something out of that. Maybe even say that I sensed something was going to happen.

He cupped my balls gently with one hand while the other explored the crack of my ass. I slumped against the wall, thanking it for holding me up, because there was no fucking way I could stand anymore. My legs felt weak, like they were filled with water, and it was a good thing something was supporting me or I would have gone down.

Michael rubbed his cheek against mine and I thought, God, I've never had anyone do that to me before. It was erotic and affectionate all at the same time. The latter was something I never would have associated with Michael. I knew what he was capable of-in the field. But this was different.

As if he knew that my lips were craving the taste of him, he started to kiss me again. All the while his hands were kneading and massaging my ass. My dick felt left out and without thinking, I pushed my body into the space between his legs. Fuck. He was harder than I was and he was still completely dressed.

I groaned loudly as Michael licked my lips, teasing, teasing and refusing to let my tongue slip inside his mouth. I had more than half a day's growth of beard, but Michael lapped at my face like it was some kind of exotic treat. "Not yet…not yet," he murmured when I tried to hump his leg.

"Jesus, Michael, you're killing me here."

I felt the loss of his body heat first. He stepped back with a suddenness that stunned me and pulled open his own pants. "Turn around," he commanded.

I managed to brace myself against the wall. The wall is my friend. Nice wall. Thanks for being there.

My ass felt cool. Then something even cooler made its way down the curve of my butt. A slick finger wet with lube. Oh, no, that was never going to fit in there. I changed my mind. I started to push off the wall, only to find Michael right behind me. "Sssh, don't worry. I'll make it good for you."

"But-"

When his finger entered me, I could feel my erection wilt. The effect was instantaneous. I wasn't entirely convinced that this wasn't going to be totally one-sided. Fun for Michael. Deep, unrelenting pain for me.

A second finger probed my entrance. I couldn't help but flinch. I wasn't unwilling, but I didn't know what I was supposed to be feeling and what I was feeling wasn't good.

All at once, Michael's other hand began stroking my cock. That was better. Almost…nice. My dick perked up and started to take a renewed interest in the proceedings. I leaned on my elbows and accidentally pushed back on the fingers that were invading me. Only this time, instead of pain, I felt something else.

He'd hit my prostate. "Oh, yeah, do that again," I growled.

No one had ever touched me like this. I had a feeling that no one ever would again.

Michael removed his fingers and replaced them with the blunt end of something that felt entirely too large to go there. Before I could protest, however, he was in. I felt an intense burning sensation, but it faded away as he remained still and waited for me to adjust. I could feel his breath on the back of my neck now. We were almost one person.

He began to move and I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. He wrapped an arm around my neck and pulled himself deeper. I tilted my head back and he licked the nape of my neck. We were fucking in earnest now. I couldn't tell where I began and he left off.

I panted more and more heavily. His fingers coaxed a drop of pre-come from the tip of my dick and I knew it was going to happen. Here and now. All of a sudden he stopped dead. Then I felt it. The hot wet trickle of semen flooding my ass.

"Oh, God," I choked out as I came. His fingers were slick with my come, but they caressed me as I softened. It was a good thing it was dark. I was sure I had decorated the wall in a manner unbecoming an operative.

But it didn't matter. None of it mattered but the fact that Michael had fucked me.

And he was still in my ass.

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