"When you said tonight was gonna cost me, I didn't think you meant a quart of ice cream."

I grinned and stuck my spoon in the middle of a fudge swirl. "Hey, this is Cold Rock - don't knock it."

"Believe me, I'm not."

Dan smiled, and I ducked my head coyly. It was nice, the two of us sitting in his hotel room, sharing a carton of ice cream and talking. My eyes flitted about the room while we ate, taking in all the personal touches of Daniel's that were there.

Then I saw *it* - Daniel's guitar.

"Is that yours?" I asked, barely suppressing the urge to jump him.

It was in my hands as soon as the words were out of my mouth. My fingers caressed the old acoustic's strings in a reverent touch.

"Yeah..." he finally said.

"Can you play?" //Idiot. Why would he have it if he couldn't?//

He nodded anyway, and my eyes went bright.

"Play something!" God, this man got better every time I saw him. He took the guitar from me, slipped the strap over his head, and strummed a few chords. Heaven.

"What do you want me to play?"

"Anything." I just wanted to hear him.

His face went sort of blank for a minute as he decided what he wanted to play. Thing was, his face was still blank when he started. I don't think that he knew he was doing it, but I'll remember it for the rest of my life.

It was the haunting familiarity of the tune, and I knew exactly what it was by the fourth bar.

He was playing 'Universe.'

I had to start singing, so I did, soft at first until I could tell he wanted to hear it.

"You know there is a side of your heart you gotta let me know so you can be free, baby. You wanted it so much, and, now that it's over, you don't know what you want..."

I could feel his gaze like the heat of a furnace on my skin. He couldn't take his eyes off me. He had told me that this song was what started everything. After I sang it at the Tavern, he said he'd just *had* to follow me when I left.

The last note came out sweet and soft, I was so lost in the music. I didn't fail to notice, however, that Dan's eyes were getting dark and his skin was flushed. He wanted me.

I looked at him in an honest, inviting way, but he didn't move. He just sat there with the guitar in his lap and tried not to look nervous.

Finally, he said something to break the silence. "What else do you know?" His voice was a bit deeper and rougher than normal.

//Caught you.// "I know you're hiding something." The humour in my tone was lost on him.

He made a confused noise as I shifted closer. "What?"

I leaned in, one hand on either side of him. My mouth next to his ear. "I know what you're hiding behind that guitar."

He let out his breath, and I sat back to pull his guitar strap over his head. I shifted it to the side and confirmed what I had suspected while he was playing. I gave a meaningful look at the obvious hardness in his pants.

The guitar was put aside, out of the way on the floor.

"Why didn't you say something?" I set my fingers to tripping up and down his legs. He still just sat there, not doing a damn thing but watching me with that guilty look in his eyes.

"I didn't want you to feel like you had to do something about it."

//And I'm the bloody Easter bunny.// I started undoing his shirt, loving the little sigh he let out when I kissed *that* spot on his neck.

"That's not why I brought you here tonight."

But that's why I wanted to come here tonight. I ignored him and began unfastening his trousers. His skin was so hot I was starting to think he might burn me. When I slid his cock out of his underwear, he flushed under my gaze.

"But I want to." He shivered when I said it. God, I missed him.

I blinked a bit as tears suddenly sprang to my eyes. This was special, beautiful. With my hands on either side of his face, I leaned in to kiss him, all intentions of gentleness flying out the window as soon as our lips met. I had to have him. *Now.*

Daniel pushed me down onto my back, working at my clothes madly. He finished stripping me before he ripped his own clothes off, but we were just rolling around on the floor. My hands were all over him, and his were all over me, both of us out of our minds with raw need for the other.

He released his death grip on my hip to slide a hand between us.

//Ohgodohgodohgodohgod...//

I was so hard, so ready, but I didn't want him to touch me yet. I pushed his hands away in desperation.

He looked a little confused. "What's wrong?"

"Danny, if you touch me there right now, I'm gonna fuckin explode."

"But I want to touch you so bad." He kissed me again, his tongue deep in my mouth. At that moment, with his hands pulling us so close together, I was tempted to let him touch me any way he wanted, but there was something I wanted even more.

I pulled my mouth away reluctantly. "Wait." I flailed about for my jacket, finally found the pocket I was searching for, and came up with my prize.

Daniel looked terribly afraid for a moment when he saw the condoms and lube I shoved into his hands. "Don't worry, you'll love it," I promised.

I ran one hand down his slick chest to his cock, feeling it throb and twitch under my touch. With the other hand, I tore open the condom packet and carefully began rolling it onto him. His hands clenched on the floor beside me.

I stole another kiss from him, open-mouthed and wet, so hot that it could have been considered a sex act in itself. A secret smile as I told him what I needed. "I want you inside me."

And I was stroking the lube onto him so slowly, tormenting, exploring the inside of his mouth with my tongue again. Finally, finally I was done, and I lay back. Now it was up to him.

He froze above me, looking like a deer caught in headlights. Fear and need warred in his emerald eyes. My eyebrow twitched, involuntarily rising. "What's wrong, babe?"

"I don't want to hurt you."

He was afraid that I would be hurt? It hurt so much more when we weren't together.

"I don't break easy, Dan."

I put my hands on his hips and gently pulled him closer to me. Closer by the slightest increments until I could feel him against my body. I moaned and started to move my hips against his erection, feeling him draw nearer, his tip resting just outside of me.

My eyes locked onto his, desperate desire permeating my gaze. He started to push in, so very slowly, and I was going out of my mind. This was what I had been dreaming about for the endless past seven days. Having him so deep in me that we became one and couldn't tell which one of us was which. I moaned and sucked in a shaky breath.

"Please...please..." I needed him all the way in.

When I pulled him down for a kiss, it pushed him completely inside me. His choked moan was beauty itself. I stopped his next noise by taking his mouth, and his hips started moving. My tongue in his mouth imitated the thrusts of his cock in me, his hands seemingly everywhere at once on my body. He smelled so good, sweat and passion mixing with his D & G.

//Perfect. So good...//

I was bucking against him, meeting every thrust, one hand clenched on his ass, and he started moving faster. We were drenched in sweat and clinging together. I wrenched my mouth away from his to drag in much-needed air. My free hand found its way into Dan's dark blond locks.

I was beginning to feel the strain of delayed release as my own erection rubbed against Dan's stomach. It was painfully hard, throbbing with each tortured beat of my heart, and I almost fainted with relief when he stretched one arm up over my head so he could rest on his elbow. His other hand slid down to wrap around my cock.

//Too much - I'm gonna die...// "Daniel! Ohhh god, Dan..."

His fingers around me, stroking me off with his thrusts, it was all too much. I was writhing on the floor until I just couldn't take any more. He was moving hard and fast, felt so good...

My mind broke into a billion tiny pieces. All I could see was Daniel's face, those green, green eyes; all I could hear was his voice, calling out my name; all I could feel was his body, all around my own.

When I came back down to earth, we were lying there on the floor of his hotel room, just staring at one another, still locked together. After the longest, most wonderful stillness of my life, I kissed him and rolled us to our sides. It was a different kind of kiss than we had shared before. This was more like a melding of souls than a meeting of passions.

By mutual consent, we pulled back slowly, and he was just watching me. I watched him with equal intensity. He reached up and ghosted his fingertips across my cheek, so sweet and careful. I had to close my eyes for a moment, or he would see everything in them.

//I love you, Dan. God, I love you.//

I could feel an odd tension in his body, like he knew what I was thinking, and I just couldn't say it.