Daniel and I were all over each other as Lynne dragged us back to Dan's dressing room. We laughed the whole way there, ignoring her death threats and attempts to pry us apart. Both of us were happy, too overjoyed to be together again to care that anyone else existed in the universe. Lynne finally managed to get us tucked away in the dressing room, but instead of railing at us for our behaviour, she just sighed and told Dan to go back to the hotel. She said it was best if I were kept a mystery for now.

//Yeah. Right.// I suppose she knew that if we did any interviews now, the reporters would have to be complete morons to miss what was going on between me and Daniel.

//How could anyone *not* see it? It's like staring into the sun - look too long and the brightness starts to hurt.//

She had a taxicab come pick us up, and we made out the whole way back. It was quite lovely; I couldn't believe how much I had missed this. When we got to the hotel, I realized it, but Daniel didn't. His hands were up my shirt, his mouth on mine, as the cabbie made a show of clearing his throat to get our attention. I bit my lip as Dan froze in embarrassment. It wouldn't do to laugh at a time like this.

He turned an interesting shade of red, shoved the fare into the man's hand, and hauled me out of the cab. He was adorable, all flustered and awkward about it. I wasn't worried about the situation because there was no way that the driver could recognize us yet. He was sure to get a bit of a surprise in tomorrow's papers.

Daniel took my hand and dragged me into the hotel lobby to the lifts. I was still relaxed and rather aroused, and my eyes burned into him as we took the lift to his room. He avoided looking at me for the most part, but he finally glanced up when he pulled the key from his pocket, nearly dropping it when our eyes met. I knew what he was seeing.

A thousand questions played counterpoint to the desire flashing in my eyes.

//Questions can wait. I want to be with him now.//

He seemed at a loss as to what he should do. It was odd that he had had no trouble with all of this before, but now that things had come clean, he was acting like a nervous teenager about to lose his virginity. Have I mentioned how adorable he was? If he was going to be so skittish about it, I would let him take it at his own pace. No need in making him any more uncomfortable.

He finally fumbled the door open and let us inside, then I was standing quietly and watching him watch me. Neither of us made a move to do anything. Just stood there like strangers, staring. //You have to make the first move, Daniel.//

"You want a drink or something?" He seized the first opportunity he could find and clung to it like a lifeline. I rolled my eyes as he opened the refrigerator hid behind the door.

//Guess I'll have to make the first move, after all.//

I edged up to him and pressed my body along his, my arms going around his waist and my hands on his firm chest.

"I'm not thirsty..."

My lips brushed against his shoulder, soft and slow, giving him the chance to tell me to slow down. I don't think that's what he had in mind at all.

Daniel leaned back against me, his hands moving back and sliding over my hips, pulling me tight against him in the chill of the refrigerated air. I kissed his cheek softly as he turned his head, then watched his eyes close briefly. When he opened them again, I was caught in liquid emerald. He turned to face me, our eyes locked and our bodies unconsciously pressing close.

We stood there for the longest time, just staring, just being. I finally noticed that Daniel's bare arms were covered in goosebumps.

The urge to touch was impossible to resist. I rubbed one hand down his arm, wondering at the texture. Funny how you never notice things like that about anyone until you're in love. I wrapped my fingers around his wrist and lifted his hand to my lips to place a gentle kiss to his palm. My eyes drifted shut as I rested my face in his hand, his fingers sliding into my hair.

//I never want to let go...//

He pulled me toward him until our lips met. God, I was addicted to his taste. He was rough, wild, kissing me with a fierce passion, hands all over any part of me he could reach. I loved it. Unfortunately, he pulled away much too soon. My brow knitted in confusion.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He knew I didn't believe him. I waited for him to explain. "I just... I don't want to be another transaction to you."

"Is that what you think this is? I fuck you, you sign me. Fame in exchange for sex?" I was bloody furious that the notion had even crossed his mind, and I knew he could tell. He looked rather ashamed of himself.

//Well, he ought to be. Why in the world would he think that?//

"No. I don't think that's what this is. I mean, I hope it isn't...but if it was..." He paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to say it. "I don't want you to be here if you don't want to be. Either way you're getting signed, and you're going to be huge. You belong on that stage, Darren, you're made for it. But I don't want you selling yourself anymore, especially not to me."

Oh, bloody hell. For a smart man, he could be incredibly stupid sometimes.

"Don't you think if I was playing you, Dan, that I would've done a better job of it?" I smiled a bit as he laughed in relief, and I shook my head in wonder of his obtuse conclusion. "You were never just another transaction to me, Daniel."

From the moment I had seen him coming toward me at the Plaza, I had known that he was different. I'm usually not wrong about people, and I was on the mark with Daniel. He was different from anyone I had ever known, so wonderful. How had I ever gotten so lucky?

My fingers guided Daniel's head toward mine again, urging him into another kiss. I teased him a bit, barely brushing my lips against his, before deepening the kiss. His body quivered as his arms went around my body, and his hands trailed up my legs, my arse, my back. They slid under my shirt, warm and firm against my skin.

Still standing in the fridge door, we were plastered together, trying to get closer still. I let one hand roam down his back to settle on his firm arse, the other hand feathering across his chest to stroke his nipples. It wasn't enough.

I pulled away, panting. Daniel's eyes were unfocussed and dilated to a mere rim of green around the huge pupils, his hair tousled, his skin flushed. //Beautiful.//

"There a bed in this place?"

"You know where it is."

I caught his hand in mine and led him to the bedroom. He watched me toe off my shoes and climb onto the bed, lying back with indolent ease. And he was still watching. I squelched my slight amusement and let him stare for a moment. Smiling slightly, I summoned him to me with a finger.

He dropped down to the mattress and stalked up my body, hovering over me before ravaging my mouth once more.

I needed to feel him against me, and I pulled him down so that his body was completely covering mine, not even a millimeter of space between us. I nearly whimpered when he left me. He tugged my shirt off, and we were suddenly ripping at one another's clothing. Shirts, pants, socks were tossed into heaven knows where, until we wore only our underwear.

His disappeared as rapidly as the rest of his clothes under my eager hands, but he wasn't so quick with mine. He stroked my aching cock through my black briefs. I sucked on his tongue encouragingly. It was killer torture, but what a way to go.

//Oh shit...oh god...oh fuck.// My thought process was completely short-circuited.

"Danny, please..." I finally managed.

He didn't stop, and I was fast getting to the point where any more would be agony. The noises I made went unnoticed, not that I would have cared if I had noticed, and Daniel continued the sweet torment. Something had to give. I must have done something right at last, because just then he looked me in the eye and slid his fingers into the waist of my briefs.

//Oh, thank god.//

As soon as he touched me, my eyes rolled back and my head dropped onto the pillow. Daniel's name escaped my lips like a prayer. His mouth moved to my neck while his hand worked to push me over the edge. I felt his hips move rhythmically against me, his cock grinding against my leg. My world had narrowed down to the two of us, heat against heat, passions met and matched in that rare way that feels like nothing short of a miracle.

He moved across my throat, down my chest, to my sensitive nipples. Damn, but he was amazing.

I slid my fingers into his soft blond hair and pulled him closer, urging him to continue. He traced the fine muscles of my torso and stomach with his lips, his breath hot and damp against my skin, down until his mouth was almost in the same place as his hands. I whimpered helplessly, the sound drawing out into a vibrato moan when he pulled my underwear off. Dim realization of his intentions wriggled its way into my hazy senses.

"Dan, no... you don't have t-OHHHHHHHHH..."

God, I'd missed this. Daniel had an astonishingly talented mouth. He coaxed broken phrases from me: pleas for more, promises of devotion, wordless sounds.

When I felt him about to change his pace, I pulled lightly on his hair until he looked up at me. It was hard to make myself stop him, but I met his questioning gaze with staunch resolution. As nice as it would be to let him just go back to what he was doing, I wanted him inside me even more. I fought to draw in enough air to explain.

"Wait...I want..."

Unsure of how to ask, I pushed him onto his back and straddled his hips so that our erections were pressed against one another. I rocked against him, listening to his strained moans as he bucked up to meet my motions. His hands gripped my hips almost painfully hard, but it was all translated into pleasure at that point. When I ground into him, he made a sound that was nearly a growl.

He pulled me closer and returned to sucking on my neck. He followed the tendons in my neck up, then along my jaw to my mouth for a deep kiss. We stayed like that for a long moment until we realized that we needed one another too badly. I wrenched my mouth from his and launched myself at the side of the bed where my clothes had landed. I was searching in my pocket when Daniel slipped over next to me, his hands on my ass.

I found the condoms and lube, and Dan pressed himself along my back when I straightened up. I could feel his cock against me, his lips on my neck, and he deftly removed the condom from my suddenly weak hands. He unwrapped it and ran his hands down my ribs.

A tremor passed through my spine, and I moved forward a bit so he could put the condom on. Color me shocked when he pulled me to him and rolled it onto me, instead.

"Dan..."

"Shhh...I want you inside me."

I moaned shakily at his husky whisper. //Sweet merciful heaven. Did he really just say that?//

I turned around in his arms so we were face to face and heard the catch in his breath when our erections brushed again.

I wanted to, oh I wanted to, but he had never done this before. "It'll hurt," I warned.

"I don't care."

I swallowed hard as I weighed the consequences in my head. I didn't want to hurt him, never that, but we both wanted to share that intimacy. All right. I latched onto his mouth once more, surreptitiously coating my fingers with lubricant as his tongue explored my mouth. Slowly, gently, I slipped my fingers into his body to prepare him. It wasn't long beforel he grew used to the sensation and began pushing into it.

Knowing he was ready, I guided him to his stomach and covered him with my own body.

"You sure?"

"Do it, Darren, please..."

I knew it would hurt, and I entered him as slowly as I could. He was so tight; it was difficult to restrain myself. But I focused on him, murmured soothing nothings into his ear until his muscles were taut with a different kind of tension, one born of pleasure. Then we were moving together, my hand on his cock, his body surrounding me, both of us feeding the other's passion with our own.

His muscles contracted around me, and he cried my name as he came. My breathing was laboured, but I sucked in a ragged breath to call out his name, as well. I couldn't remember anything ever feeling so good. If heaven were anything close to this, I could see why so many people were eager to get there.

I got rid of the condom and returned to Daniel's warm embrace. We were flushed and sweaty, trying to return our heartrates to normal. How did I get so lucky?

"Are you okay?" I finally asked, gently running my fingers over his back.

"I'm better than okay," he said sleepily.

And for the first time in my life, I was, too.