Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

neck to the hollow above his ass, and Jacob shivered in response.
    Daniel's voice said dryly in his ear, "Well, I think we're queer all right."
    Jacob choked. "You weren't sure?"
    "I knew about me. You could have just had too many months at sea."
    "Dummy." Jacob kissed his ear, the only bit he could reach without moving a muscle.
    "So you're okay?
    "Not the word I would have used." Jacob shifted, becoming aware of stickiness, and a bruise on his ass, and the way his dick was pressed against a hard hip-bone. And yet it was blissful form of discomfort. It marked him, past the point of no return. "We should clean up."
    "Right." Daniel didn't move a muscle.
    After a long pause, since it was obviously going to be up to him, Jacob edged sideways, past the reluctant barrier of Daniel's thigh, and rolled over to sit up on the bed.
    Daniel looked at him, splayed out in naked abandon. The lamplight caught the glisten of fluids on pale skin above his dark curls. The tan of his face and arms faded to light olive in all the critical places. Jacob couldn't pull his eyes away. Even Daniel's cock, softened and smaller against the groove of his thigh, was perfect.
    "They said private baths. Do you think they meant it?" Daniel asked.
    "I'll go look."
    It was good to get up and walk across the faded carpet, rough under his bare feet. To go into the little bathroom, which had no bath but did include a tiny shower. Jacob closed the door for a moment and leaned across the sink, looking at himself in the mirror. Who are you now? His lips were redder and fuller than he had ever seen them, his cheeks were flushed as if sandpapered, his eyes looked back at him, large and dark, and a little dazed. Who are you?
    Daniel stared at the closed bathroom door. The air on his sweat-damp skin began to feel chilled. He hesitated for a moment, not wanting to dirty the sheets, and then thought, hell, they're used to spunk on the sheets, I'm sure. He pulled the covers up over his body.
    He wished Jacob had left the door open. Or stuck his head out and said, "Just gonna take a piss." Or done anything but disappear into silence.
    Daniel was comfortable with who he was. Well most of the time. Sex with Jacob, even this fumbling frantic press of bodies they had found together, had been his goal for weeks now. Months. Hell, he'd practically worn out his right hand thinking about it. And it had been incredible. He'd come harder than ever before in his life. And then holding Jacob afterward, listening to Jacob's breathing slow down, feeling the pounding of his heart ease against Daniel's own chest– that had been heaven.
    He was scared out of his mind that it hadn't been the same for Jacob. Maybe for all Jacob's eagerness it had been too much too soon. Maybe Daniel should have waited. Or maybe he should have dropped to his knees right at the beginning and figured out how to blow the man. Given him something familiar, something not so far from sex with a girl.
    He slid his hand up and down his own thigh, feeling the roughness of his own curly hair, the hard shape of muscle. It had been exactly right for him, to have a body so much like his own top him, press him down into the bed and drive him over. No girl's soft perfumed curves had ever made him as hard as the slightest brush of Jacob's hairy leg against his own. So what would he do if Jacob wanted to walk away?
    The sun was probably down outside. The light coming past the curtains had faded. The lamp on the little bedside stand threw shadows on the wall. There was a rip in the shade. The odd curved shape it cast was like a seagull, or maybe a cormorant, broad wings spread. He was still debating the point when the bathroom door opened.
    "There's a shower," Jacob said.
    "Do you want first turn?" Daniel asked carefully.
    "I thought we might save water, squeeze in together?" Jacob blushed and looked down.
    Daniel's laugh was more carefree than he could remember in months. "We could try." He threw back the covers and rolled out of bed.
    They did try, and had to give it up as impossible. Daniel stood outside the stall, half of him dripping wet, as Jacob hurriedly soaped and rinsed. When Jacob came out and tried to step aside, Daniel grabbed his arm and pulled him in for a kiss. He licked the water droplets off Jacob's upper lip and then handed him a threadbare towel. "Hold that thought. The first hotel we find with a decent shower, we'll do this again."
    He stepped under the meager trickle of water and washed