Bonds of Love

he fumbled with thelock, Matt stretched and yawned in his mind. ::You want me toget up and make you something to eat?::
The door opened into darkness; Vic locked it behindhim, then threw the deadbolt. ::No, I’m fine. More tired thanhungry at the moment.::
He kicked off his boots by the door, then unbuckledhis belt. As it slipped from his hands to the floor, Matt pouted inhis mind. ::Rough day?::
Vic admitted, ::Wore me out.::
On his way to the bedroom, he stopped at the masterbath to freshen up. The cold water on his heated face and neck feltso good, Vic stoppered the drain and filled the sink, then plungedhis head into the bracing pool. As he toweled his bare scalp, Mattprobed at his mind. ::You do know I’m waiting, right?::
Vic chuckled, the sound loud to his own ears in theconfines of the bathroom. ::Oh, excuse me, yourHighness.::
A surprised bark of laughter came from theirbedroom.
Vic tugged off his work shirt and the undershirtbeneath it, then pulled down his pants and underwear in one swiftmotion. Leaving the clothes on the bathroom floor, he clicked offthe light and headed into the bedroom they shared. His lamp wasstill on, casting faint light on the bed amid the shadows thathugged the walls. Matt was still curled on his side, but one eyewas open and watching the doorway as Vic entered the room. When Vicstepped into the golden glow from the lamp, his bare skin palearound his numerous black tattoos, Matt let out a randy whistle.Aloud, he joked, “That’s what I’m talking about.”
Skirting the foot of the bed, Vic stopped long enoughto remove his socks and click off his bedside lamp. Then he crawledbeneath the covers and found Matt snuggling up against his side.“Hey there, sexy,” Matt murmured, his voice a whisper between them.One warm fingertip touched Vic’s chin, turning his face towards hislover’s. “Kiss me already, will you?”
Vic complied, but he only got a quick peck beforeMatt sighed. “Why do I always have to ask?” he teased.
“Because you’re too impatient.” Vic tried to getcomfortable, scooting down a bit to get his head on the pillow justright, but it was hard to reposition himself with Matt leaning onhis chest. He didn’t have the heart to ask his lover to sit up fora moment—as it was, his arm was already around Matt’s waist, hishand cupping one round buttock to keep Matt close. Still, he wantedmore room…
With a low growl in the back of his throat, Vicrolled onto Matt, pinning him to the center of the bed. His legsstraddled Matt’s hips, catching their budding erections betweenthem in a sweet press of flesh. “Right here,” Vic commanded,tenting his hands above Matt’s head as if in prayer. His fingersdelved into the cottony black curls as Matt’s arms encircled hiswaist to keep him close. Leaning down, Vic turned Matt’s head toone side and kissed the soft skin behind his ear. Into the folds ofhis lover’s ear, Vic breathed, “This work for you?”
Between them, Matt’s cock stiffened and he moanedwith pleasure. He loved whispers and sighs and the lightest breathblowing on his ears. Once he had tried to explain it to Vic, how itmade him feel, but couldn’t—instead he’d settled for opening theirmental connection while Vic murmured into him, and the hot rushthat had flooded Vic made him swoon. Since then, Vic made a pointof playing with Matt’s ears, licking them, kissing them, breathinginto them, paying as much attention to them as he did his lover’sfeet. Nuzzling behind Matt’s ear again, Vic purred, “Matty?”
The arms around his waist tightened, and Matt gave asmall, contented sigh as he cuddled into Vic. “Perfect.”
* * * *

Chapter 6
Before he even awoke, Matt was aware of Vic besidehim. With muscled arms like steel girders, his lover held Matttight, fisting the sheets at Matt’s stomach to pin him in place.One leg draped heavily over Matt’s hip, trapping him with apleasant weight. Soft snores tickled the back of his neck, andevery so often Vic would mutter and move against him, cuddlingcloser. A myriad of jumbled images tumbled through Matt’s mind,dreams that were only partially his. The connection they sharedduring waking hours widened when they slept, and Vic’s thoughtsspilled easily into Matt’s head to mix with his own. The first timeit had happened, Matt had been terrified—afraid he’d lose himself,he struggled in vain to cut himself off from Vic.
Now after three love-filled years, he relished thelink between them. Their dreaming minds blended together in a unionworlds more intimate than sex; one of the hardest things Matt hadto do was wake before Vic and intricately extract his mind from hislover’s, when every fiber of his being wanted to stay wrappedtogether, an island alone in the sea of the rest of the world.
Matt’s morning began when the clock radio beside thebed clicked on a good twenty minutes before he had to get out ofbed. He kept the radio turned down low, to not disturb Vic. All heneeded was to hear it turn on and he’d begin to wake. With slow,languid movements, he stretched both mind and body—his arms rubbingover Vic’s bunched muscles and, mentally, his thoughts began thetedious process of extracting themselves from his lover’s aswell.
Gently, he gathered up his own thoughts—in his mindthey were black stones shot through with bright malachite, a shadethat matched his green eyes. They lay scattered among deep bluerocks, smooth to the touch and achingly beautiful. These, to Matt,were Vic’s dreams. The same color as his eyes, these stonesradiated a calm, soothing strength that made Matt tingle when hepictured them because that was his lover in a nutshell. He calmedMatt’s world, made it safe, made him safe, and God, howcould he not love a man for that?
Each time he picked up one of Vic’s thoughts, Mattkissed it before setting it back down. It was an intricate process,separating the dark rocks from the blue stones, but Matt took histime and eventually had two neat little piles in his mind. Fullyawake now, he could still hear Vic’s thoughts like distant highwaytraffic, but they no longer embraced his own.
If only it were