We returned to the chalet, a little after eleven; by then most had returned and we got a warm welcome, with drinks already put down before we’d hung our jackets.
For the first time in three hours there was a distance of more than two feet between Ross and me, as he found a free seat somewhere on the other side of the room, crammed between Joey and Janice.
I downed half of my beer in one go and Eric, who was sitting beside me, raised an eyebrow.

“Slow down, dude… thirsty? You look like you ran a few miles just now.”
I hiccupped and grinned.

More people from the other chalets joined us, quickly filling the living room, dining and bar area; I counted at least thirty people. Then I spotted Joey, following Janice outside and both of them were wearing jackets. When Eric saw me looking at the door, he came over.

“There’s been a development.”
I almost choked in my beer.

“Spill… now!”
He grinned and nodded to a quiet space. I got up and followed him.

“Joey got tired of waiting, apparently,” he whispered.

“Joey?” I echoed. “What do you mean?”

“It happened this afternoon. We were on the slopes and our man Joey tried to show off. He took a little tumble. So we were all going like ‘oh, shit. He’s hurt.’ Dude, you should’ve seen her. She whooshed down that slope so fast, my heads’ still spinning. When we got there, she was yelling at him. So, and listen to this because you’ll be real proud of him, he simply told her to shut it, grabbed her and just went for it, right in front of everybody.”
I started to laugh disbelievingly.

“You're kidding. Wow, so he finally took the plunge, eh? Good for him.”

“Yeah, you couldn’t pry those two apart with a crowbar. It was sickening. Well, cute, but sickening. They were both crying, even.”

He made a disgusted sound. “Uch,” I said, giving Eric a good-natured stump on his arm, “don’t be a dick. Look at it this way; we’re finally freed from his incessant whining about her.”

“I’m not being a dick! It’s true… Jack? Get over here.”
One of the colleagues stepped closer.
“Were the two lovebirds crying or not?”
Jack nodded.

“Oh yeah… slobbering all over the place,” he said.
I pried a little more info out of the two and then Joey joined us as well, looking about as happy as I’ve ever seen someone.

“And there he is; our very own Casanova,” I said, winking at him.
He blushed but his eyes twinkled.
“So you finally did it.”

“Yeah…” he answered, stupidly smiling.

“Well, good for you. When’s the wedding?”
Joey gestured for me to shut up, getting back into his shy shell.

“What wedding?” Ross’s voice suddenly spoke behind me.
He was quickly informed about the latest developments.
“Now, that’s about bloody time, Joey,” he said, raising his glass. “If I heard your name in my office one more time, I would have fired the both of you. Janice has been talking about you for months!”

“She has?” Joey asked, surprised.
Ross nodded.

“Oh yeah, she waited and waited for you to do something. I swear that she drove me nuts about it.”
Joey once again grinned stupidly, his head as red as a tomato.
Then, while the others made some more fun of him, Ross came standing behind me and brought his mouth close to my ear.

“Mmmm… I guess romance was in the air today,” he whispered.
Then he left, leaving me turning red to the same shade as Joey. I managed to hide it and went to the bar to get another drink.

**********

It was about two in the morning when the last people left. By then, the majority staying in our chalet had gone upstairs, including Ross, who’d gone up about an hour before, leaving a few diehards like Eric, Joey, Joe Lopez and me.
I had cut down a little on the speed of renewing my beers and when I finally went up, I was still pretty sober. But when I opened the door, the room was entirely dark.
I slipped inside, closing the door as quietly as I could and tiptoed to the bathroom, where I brushed my teeth and undressed. I dumped my clothes on the sofa in the sitting area and made my way to the bed, slipping under the covers.
Because of the movements I made, Ross stirred a little and he mumbled something.
Then I heard a soft snore but his breathing came steady and regular, so I turned onto my side and closed my eyes.
A few minutes later, I was off to lalaland.

**********

Sometime during the night I half woke and found an arm moving around my middle, and a warm body being pressed against my back. At first I was a bit disoriented and rose up a bit but then a whispered ‘go back to sleep’ sounded close to my ear.
I did exactly that.

**********

When I woke up again it was dark outside but the moonlight was streaming brightly into the room, giving everything a soft-blue sheen. I was lying on my back. Ross was still lying close and when I opened my eyes, I found him looking at me, resting his head in his hand.

“Hi,” he whispered.
I mumbled something unintelligible back and let my head fall back on my pillow. When I opened my eyes again, he was still looking at me, even though his head was now on his pillow.
“What?” I asked.
It was a little unnerving.

“Nothing, I’m just looking at you. Go back to sleep,” he whispered.

I turned onto my side again, my back against him and put my own hand over his, which was still casually draped on my side. I lifted my head to shove the pillow around a bit but for some reason, it didn’t wanna go into the shape I tried to get it into. The longer it took, the more I moved, until he spoke again.

“Stop doing that,” he whispered.
I did for a small while, but then the pillow sprang back into its old form and the whole thing started over again. Then, when I finally got it right, I moved my leg, only to have it replaced by one of his. It pressed heavily on mine so I worked a little to relieve some of that pressure.

“For god sakes; lie still,” he suddenly said aloud, sounding a bit… weird.
Then I sensed the cause of it beginning to press into my lower back; slowly but surely somthing started to press against me.

He softly cleared his throat and moved back a little, probably thinking that I hadn’t noticed it but when I moved, I felt it again and it hadn’t given up any of its hardness. On the contrary, I'd say.

“Mark… please. Lie still,” he whispered. “You’re driving me nuts.”

CHAPTER *10*

I have to admit that my own body reacted as well. And even though I had told him I wouldn’t do it, my body definitely didn’t agree with my mind, which left me torn between going for it or try to ignore it. It wasn’t very easy to ignore it but I opted for it anyway.
Besides, it was fun to make him uncomfortable for a bit.
I moved some more and he softly cursed.

“Damn it Mark… stop it!”
I softly snickered, hiding my face in the pillow.
“Oh, you think this is funny, huh?”

“Well, it kinda is,” I replied, “Are you always this easy to turn on or is this my lucky day.”

“It isn’t mine, that’s for sure,” he replied, sourly. “And yes, I’m very easy to turn on.”

“I’ll make a note of it,” I said, still snickering.
Then, when I felt his warm mouth in my neck, I froze.
“Ross… don’t.”

He slowly moved his hand down my side but I caught it right before his fingers got to the waistband of my shorts. The tips of his fingers were separated mere inches from my own arousal.
His lips were kissing my neck and shoulder and traveled up to the vicinity of my ear. When his tongue began to lick my earlobe, I shuddered involuntarily. His breathing came a little erratic and my own heart rate doubled up.

“I’m so hard,” he whispered, his voice moaning horny.
Sheez, no shit Sherlock.

“I noticed, believe me,” I said, trying to ignore the feelings he was causing and failing miserably. "Stop doing that."
I moved away a little.

“Are you sure?” he asked softly, drawing me back to him. “I’d say you…”
I didn’t even let him finish the sentence. I turned around onto my back and pulled his head towards me, releasing all my desire into one, hot, long kiss.
When I let go of his hand, it immediately went for the center of my heat, palming my swollen evidence. His openmouthed reply to my kiss can only be described as volcanically hot.

“Damn you,” I whispered when we both pulled away to get some air.

His hand had found its way into my shorts during the kiss and his own aroused flesh was pressing hard against my leg. How he’d managed it I don’t know but his underwear was gone now and I pushed mine down, aided by his helping hand.
His other hand cupped the back of my head and now that his passion was released, I couldn’t stop him, even if I had wanted to, which I didn’t.
I found out that night that he was an amazing partner in the bedroom. He was considerate, patient (considering the three years he was a practical saint) and fun to be with. He enjoyed playing, and humor, as much as the actual deed.
There was only one short instance when we were forced to come to our senses. We had come to the point to consummate our desire when he suddenly cursed.

“Damn it… I don’t have any protection…”
I hadn’t thought about that, hadn’t even brought some with me, and I sighed, rolling onto my back again and lying still against him, softly cursing as well.
“I’m sorry,” he said.

“It’s okay,” I whispered.
I caressed his hair and stared back into those eyes, which seemed like pools of smoldering black in the dark. I felt my heart slow down as he softly brushed my nose with his.
“We can… you know…if you want. I’ve been tested. I’m okay…”
I heard him hold his breath.

“Are you sure?” he whispered, kissing my neck. “It’s no problem for me if you don’t want to.”

“Have you been tested?” I asked.
He whispered that he was.

It wasn’t the brightest idea of mine, doing it without protection, and to those readers who are wondering; no, I had never done that before.
It is dangerous, stupid and downright idiocy. It is a matter of trust, and I trusted him as much as he trusted me. A trust based on five days so like I said; not very bright.
But, as I also said, it was pure heaven and sometimes, your...'mind' takes over in times like this. He took it slow, to let me adjust to him, comforting me when it almost became too much. It had been a while for me too, and he was one of those in the male population blessed with a sizeable donation from the powers that be.
The release came unexpected for me, coursing through my body, stimulated by his increasing rhythm and I cried out loud when it poured from me. Ross gasped as I contracted rapidly around him.

“Already?” he whispered, slowing down.
He kept moving as my orgasm swept through me, softly whispering that he enjoyed the feeling of being with me.

It was the best sex I’ve had for a long time. Ross was even able to draw out his own release for another few minutes. Then he growled deep in his throat, a lusty sound that, to me, sounded as a compliment. He let go and three years of pent up lust poured into me, collapsing on top of me when it subsided and then moving beside me, holding me close against him.

The arm around me tightened and we stayed in the same position for a few minutes, until our breathing went back to normal.
His hand softly caressed up and down my hip and I sighed deeply, closing my eyes. For someone who basically hadn’t done a thing, I felt remarkably tired but it was a good tired.
I took Ross’s hand and pulled it up to my chest, curling up in a fetus position against him. His lips pressed on my shoulder but neither of us felt the need to say something and that’s how we fell asleep.

**********

When I woke up again, the clock was pointing at a little to eight. I rolled my head to the right and found myself all alone. I could still see the dent where Ross’s head had been, though, and I grinned lazily, reminded of the previous night. I even went so far as to smell his pillow; how Alice Faye can I get!
I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and got up, feeling a bit sore. I guess that yesterday’s fun on the slope, and later the fun in bed, was giving me a bit of a hard time.

I got into the bathroom for a quick shower and then dressed into a clean pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. That’s when I noticed that something was off. Nowhere could I see the presence of Ross in the room; all his clothes were gone from the closets and his backpack was also gone. A trip back to the bathroom also told me his toiletries had been cleared out.
I frowned and finished dressing, then went down to only find Joey already up.

“Hey dude, you’re early. Help me prep breakfast, okay? I still suck at those damn pancakes.”

“Did you see Ross this morning?” I asked, ignoring his request.
He shook his head but narrowed his eyes at me.

“No, haven’t seen him since last night, why?”

“Nothing,” I answered quickly.
Joey set a mug on the table a bit too hard and I looked up.

“Don’t take me for a fool, Norcross. I heard you guys last night. I woke up around 4am… were you guys fighting or something?”
I felt positively embarrassed and avoided his questioning look, shaking my head. But Joey didn’t give up that easy.
“Tell me what happened.”

“I said nothing, alright!” I spat, causing him to hold up his hand in defense.

“What’s going on, man?” he insisted, “You’re definitely off your rocker. Tell me.”
I sighed. I knew Joey enough to know that he wouldn’t let it go until I told him something.

“Believe me; you really don’t wanna know,” I said, shaking my head.
But he picked up another mug, filled it with coffee and sat down on a barstool.

“Try me.”
I shook my head again.
“Come on, it can’t be that bad. Tell me.”

“You keep your mouth shut…”
He put his hand on his heart.

“Cross my heart, hope to die.”

“Okay… how’s having sex with the boss rank? Pretty bad, huh?” I said.