Honeytrap

by Aster Glenn Gray

  “Capitalist nonsense,” Gennady scoffed.

  But he remained lying on his stomach in the welter of sheets as Daniel put on his boxers and headed for the kitchen. Halfway there, Daniel looked back. Gennady’s face brightened into a soft smile when he caught Daniel looking; and Daniel felt a tenderness for him so intense that it was painful, and nearly went back to kiss him again.

  He went on to the kitchen instead, and busied himself making breakfast. He was just spreading the cherry preserves over the freshly toasted bread when Gennady came in, yawning, half dressed in boxers and undershirt. “I told you to stay,” Daniel scolded.

  Gennady came up beside Daniel and leaned his cheek against Daniel’s shoulder. “And get crumbs in the bed?”

  Daniel kissed the top of his head, then shook him off to ferry the toast plates to the table, next to the tin camping mugs of rich dark coffee. “Your timing is perfect,” Daniel allowed. “The coffee ought to be just cool enough to drink.”

  Daniel almost couldn’t eat his own breakfast for the pleasure of watching Gennady: the crunch of the crusty bread between his teeth, his lips stained red with the cherry preserves, the contented-cat narrowness to his eyes as he sipped the good coffee. Gennady leaned back in his chair and gazed out the kitchen window, sipping his coffee as if he had all the time in the world, and Daniel asked, “How long can you stay today?”

  Gennady tilted his head, and smiled, and said, “Oh, a while, I think.”

  Daniel was smiling too. “I’d better wash the dishes.”

  Gennady watched Daniel as he worked the pump handle, his gaze almost like a touch. Without meaning to Daniel stretched, preening, showing off as he dragged the pump handle up and down, as if it were very heavy. He bent over and pumped cool water over his head, and it gushed over his shoulders, trickling down the line of his spine and beading on his chest hair.

  Gennady let out a breath. Daniel turned around to look at him, and leaned back against the counter. “Do I look like a British warrior now?”

  “No,” Gennady said. “Now in the sunlight you look like one of the gilded statues at Petrodvorets.”

  Daniel shouted with laughter, although he could feel himself blushing. “I doubt the statues have chest hair.”

  He was much hairier now than he had been fifteen years ago. Paul had always taken such pleasure in the near-smoothness of Daniel’s chest.

  “It’s pretty,” Gennady told him. Daniel laughed again. “Why are you laughing?”

  “I’ve never heard anyone describe chest hair as pretty before.”

  “What word would you use then?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I’m glad you like it.”

  Gennady looked at Daniel, bright-eyed, his chin lifted as if daring Daniel to kiss him. It would take only two steps to cross the kitchen. But the pleasure of anticipation kept Daniel at the sink, washing the dishes, his blood thrumming under his skin.

  He was pumping the handle, sending gushes of cool water over the dishes, when Gennady’s hands touched his waist.

  Daniel went still. Then he gently released the pump handle. Despite the warm morning Gennady’s hands were cool as they slid over Daniel’s stomach, and Daniel’s skin quivered at the touch. Gennady pulled himself in against Daniel’s back, and rubbed his face against Daniel’s shoulder, and kissed the nape of his neck.

  Daniel turned around, leaning back against the counter so it dug into his ass. He looped his arms around Gennady’s neck and kissed Gennady again. His mouth still tasted sweet from the preserves. “You’re insatiable,” Daniel told him.

  “Hmm? What is this word?”

  That made Daniel laugh.

  “Hmm?” Gennady pressed.

  “Insatiable. It means you can’t get enough,” Daniel said.

  “You are describing yourself, I think,” Gennady scoffed, grinning.

  Daniel didn’t even try to protest. He rolled his hips against Gennady’s. “Just bend me over the counter and fuck me.”

  He meant it to sound light and flirtatious. But it came out with a hint of a growl, clearly a serious request, and Gennady blushed and paled and grew tense. “Okay.”.

  “No, no, or don’t, it’s fine,” Daniel said.

  “No, I want to,” Gennady insisted, flushing again. “I want to,” he said, and he let go of Daniel, “it’s only…” He backed up till he bumped against the table. “I don’t know how to do that.”

  “That’s all?” Daniel was relieved. “Oh, that’s all right. I can talk you through it.”

  “Do you know how to do it?”

  Now Daniel tensed. He had never told Gennady that Paul never let Daniel fuck him, and it embarrassed him that Gennady must have guessed. “Yes,” Daniel said stiffly. “Before I met Elizabeth, I had another lover…”

  “Ah! Your next FBI partner?”

  “Gennady!”

  Gennady laughed. Suddenly the tension fell away, and Daniel laughed too. “You’ll be happy to know,” Daniel told Gennady, “I haven’t slept with any more agents at all.”

  “Yes, good,” Gennady said. “I told you that you should stop. But then,” he said, cocking his head in mock puzzlement, “how did you find this new lover, if the FBI did not assign him to you?”

  Daniel rolled his eyes. “Taylor was a friend of Anna’s,” he said. “A photographer. No, not that kind of photographer,” he said, because Gennady looked worried. “And even if he were, I wouldn’t have let him photograph me. Christ.” He shuddered at the thought of erotic photographs getting back to the FBI. “No, Taylor was a wildlife photographer. And he… Well, we… Anyway, yes, I do know how to top now.”

  Gennady nodded. He started to speak, and stopped, and then he said, “It’s just that what you’ve asked me – I’ve never done it before, and I don’t want to fuck it up, when I was so troublesome last night.”

  “You weren’t – ” Daniel protested.

  “You’re so American,” Gennady scoffed. “Always putting a smiling face on everything, it’s horrible. You brought me up here to fuck, not to be burdened with this story about Arkady, what is that if not trouble?”

  An entire childhood of Midwestern manners training nearly impelled Daniel to finish his interrupted sentence: You weren’t any trouble. He drew in a deep breath instead, and let it out slowly, and said, “Gennady. You’re worth any amount of trouble.”

  He thought for a moment that this was a mistake. Gennady stood frozen, mouth open, eyes unfocused. But then Gennady crossed the space between them, and crushed himself against Daniel’s chest. “And it’s not a burden,” Daniel said, speaking into Gennady’s hair. “I’m glad you told me. It explained a lot of things. Not,” he added hastily, “that you owed me an explanation…”

  “It’s not about owing,” Gennady said. He stepped back to look into Daniel’s face. “That’s so American; everything is debts and spending for you. It’s not about owing, it’s about what is necessary to move forward, like a roadway that comes to a river and you need a bridge or a ferry to cross. And if there is no bridge, no ferry, there’s nowhere left to go.”

  “Yes,” said Daniel. He would have liked to say something else, something even half as eloquent; but then Gennady was kissing him, and Daniel had to kiss him back, and when Gennady pulled back to catch his breath, there seemed to be nothing worth saying except, “Why don’t we go back to bed?”

  “Yes,” said Gennady. He let out a brief laugh, shy and joyful, and he added all in a rush, “And if you still want me to fuck you, if you’re sure I won’t hurt you, I would like to fuck you, I would like at least to try.”

  Daniel was momentarily too dizzy with desire to respond. “Oh, thank God,” he said, and kissed Gennady; and it was only with some difficulty that he removed his hands from Gennady to snag the lube out of the picnic basket.

  Gennady led him back into the living room, and they fell on the tangled sheets. Gennady rolled on top of Daniel, as he had that morning; but this time he did not pin Daniel’s wrists, and Daniel stroked his h
ands over Gennady’s shoulders and his arms, kissing him with long sweet kisses, till Gennady murmured, “Daniil…”

  Daniel paused to admire him: flushed lips, flushed cheeks, those big eyes. He slid a hand under Gennady’s undershirt and stroked the small of his back. Gennady, to Daniel’s delight, shucked his shirt and pulled Daniel close, bare skin to bare skin.

  “I wish,” Daniel gasped, “there was an American version of your name.”

  Gennady kissed along the line of Daniel’s jaw. “You used to call me tovarisch.”

  “That’s not American. And you always complained that I didn’t pronounce it correctly.”

  “Well, so.” Gennady laughed, and Daniel kissed him again, and kept kissing him till Gennady was rocking against him, breathing in ragged little gasps. “Yes, go on,” Gennady prompted. “So I’m going to fuck you, what do I do next?”

  Daniel thrust against Gennady’s thigh. It pressed him right up against Gennady, the heat of Gennady’s erection like a brand through his boxers, and it made Daniel crazy, he wanted to touch it and put his mouth on it and feel it naked against his skin. He sucked in a breath and held it and gasped out, “I’ll take care of the prep work today.”

  “Shouldn’t I learn how to do it?”

  “Next time,” Daniel said, and ground against Gennady, so Gennady could feel exactly why Daniel didn’t have the patience right now.

  It had been a long time since Daniel did this, but his muscle memory unlocked as he slid his slick fingers inside himself. He clenched around his fingers, the feeling deliciously, shockingly good; and the goodness redoubled when he found the sweet spot inside him, and he closed his eyes and stroked himself and shivered with pleasure, aware even with his eyes closed of Gennady’s watching him.

  “It feels good?” said Gennady. He sounded surprised, as if he really hadn’t expected that, and Daniel understood suddenly that Gennady had hesitated to fuck him partly because he did not expect Daniel to enjoy it.

  “Did you think I asked you to fuck me over the sink because I’m a glutton for punishment?” Daniel asked.

  “Well, I know from the past, you are a very generous lover…”

  “Not to the point of self-sacrifice,” Daniel told him. He crooked his fingers again, right where it felt good, and gasped, “Christ, you don’t know how much I’ve wanted you to fuck me. This morning, God, when you put your hands on my ass, I wanted you to just push right up inside me. Even the first time we made love, do you remember…”

  “So long ago?”

  “Yes. God, I wish I’d asked,” said Daniel. They had both been in their twenties then, Gennady could have fucked him all night.

  “No, no, perhaps it’s good you didn’t. I would have been too shy.”

  Daniel wrapped his free hand around the nape of Gennady’s neck and pulled him down to kiss, hot and open-mouthed and dirty. He broke the kiss to murmur, “Your shorts, Gennady,” and obediently Gennady took them off; and Daniel looked at his cock and moaned. “Christ, I want to put my mouth on it,” he said, which made Gennady laugh, a little shocked perhaps, but delighted too. “I’m much better than I was last time,” Daniel confided, and Gennady laughed some more.

  “I thought you were very good,” Gennady told him.

  “Well, I’m even better, then,” Daniel retorted, and went on, the kind of dirty talk that he could never manage when he wasn’t turned on out of his mind. “I just want to take you in my mouth and suck you wet and dirty and let you fuck me just like that,” he said, “just my spit on your cock, I’ve been fucked like that before, but…” And here he moaned again, with frustration as well as desire, “I think that’d be tough for your first time. I should go easy on you. I’m sort of reverse-deflowering you…”

  “Deflowering,” said Gennady, as if he knew just from the sound of it that this was a silly and old-fashioned word, and they both laughed. “All right, all right, make it easy for me. What should I do?”

  “Slick your cock up,” Daniel said, and tossed the lube to him. “I want to see you touch yourself.”

  Gennady fumbled the catch. He blushed, and Daniel remembered suddenly what he had said the night before, he just looked. “On second thought,” Daniel said. He tackled Gennady playfully, and Gennady was laughing again, wriggling underneath him, “God, at least let me get my hands on you, I’m dying over here.”

  He couldn’t resist kissing Gennady’s cock, just at the tip, and then he had to nose at his balls, too. Then he planted a kiss at the base of Gennady’s cock, just where it rose from his rough pubic hair, and licked up right along it and took the head of Gennady’s cock in his mouth, loving it with his tongue, while Gennady’s hips rose in little infinitesimal thrusts and his breath burst out in gasps; and then Gennady’s hands were on Daniel’s cheeks and he was gasping, “Daniel, Daniel,” and pulling him off.

  Daniel was breathing too hard to speak. At last he gasped out, “What?”

  Gennady’s chest was heaving. “If you want me to fuck you,” he managed, “you had better let me do that first.”

  At the moment all Daniel really wanted to do was put his mouth back on Gennady’s cock and suck him till his jaw ached. He rested his head against Gennady’s thigh and panted. “I told you my blowjobs had gotten better,” Daniel said, so smug that Gennady swatted him.

  “Yes, yes, you are very wonderful,” Gennady said, and Daniel laughed and pulled himself up alongside Gennady so they lay nose to nose. He fumbled through the sheets for the lube. It was cool on his hand, and normally Daniel would have rubbed his hands together to warm it up before he put it on Gennady’s cock, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to cool Gennady off a little just then; and Gennady stretched and sighed as Daniel stroked his cock.

  “How do you want me?” Daniel murmured. “Ass up, head down? On my back?” Gennady’s eyes widened, and Daniel added, “Ass up is classic.” He would’ve preferred to be on his back, mostly so he could watch Gennady fuck him, but, well. Later maybe. “Why don’t we try that?”

  “Yes, all right.” Gennady kissed Daniel swiftly, and Daniel kissed him back, just enough to sweeten him up; and then he rolled over onto his hands and knees, his knees spread apart to give Gennady access. “Oh…” Gennady said, and then Daniel felt Gennady’s hands on his hips, the touch so light that Daniel nearly moaned with frustration.

  “Just take hold and fuck me, Gennady, Jesus.”

  “Just like that?”

  Daniel would certainly have taken more time to prep if their positions were reversed, stroked Gennady’s stomach and his sides and the insides of his thighs; and the image got him even hotter, so he was rocking his hips and Gennady wasn’t even inside him yet, though he could feel the heat of Gennady’s cock touching his buttocks. “Gennady,” he begged.

  “Will it fit?” Gennady asked.

  “Yes,” Daniel snapped. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

  Gennady laughed. His hands tightened on Daniel’s hips, more businesslike, and he pushed inside, not as fast as Daniel might have liked, but steady, hot, that exquisite stretch, close enough to pain that Daniel was chewing his lips.

  Daniel’s first moan was partly for show: he wanted Gennady to feel good about what he was doing, not to worry about any clumsiness, because he was a little clumsy, at first. Gennady laughed, his laughter breathless, almost soundless, mostly a vibration between their two bodies.

  “Rock your hips,” Daniel told him, and rocked his hips to show Gennady how it was done. He stopped mostly because he did not want to make Gennady come too fast. He wanted Gennady inside him forever, Gennady’s hands sliding up and down his thighs, Gennady’s lips dotting kisses on the backs of his shoulders. “You feel so good inside me,” Daniel said, and Gennady made a little choked noise, and Daniel flushed all though his body. He clenched down around GEnnady, and moaned at the rush of heat as Gennady came.

  He kept Gennady inside him after, and stroked his own cock almost lazily. Eventually Gennady pulled out, and Daniel rolled over so they lay fa
ce to face. Gennady lay all flushed and damp with sweat, Daniel leaned forward and kissed his mouth. “You have a nice time?” he murmured.

  “Yes,” said Gennady. He touched Daniel’s cheek. “You?”

  “Yes,” said Daniel, and crowded a little closer, so Gennady could feel his still-hard cock. Gennady’s hand dropped, as it were almost by accident, so his fingers brushed Daniel’s cock; and he wrapped his hand around it, and caught Daniel’s mouth against his lips, his kiss sleepy and sloppy and sweet, and Daniel was so lost in his kisses that it was almost a surprise when he came.

  Gennady put his hands on Daniel’s face afterward, very lightly, cradling his cheeks. Daniel kissed Gennady’s temple. “Same time next week?” Daniel asked, half-teasing.

  Gennady smiled and shook his head. “It would be a bad idea to come here so often. A Soviet and an American agent meeting so often in private, what could they be doing?”

  “I guess so,” Daniel sighed.

  He felt that this should bother him; but he felt too good to be bothered by anything right then. He smiled at Gennady, and Gennady smiled back at him. Daniel closed his eyes and spread his limbs and let the breeze through the window cool his heated body; and all felt right with the world.

  Chapter 4

  Gennady’s life seemed to divide into two after that.

  Outwardly, nothing was going well. Work was dull; his colleagues were dull. He would have given a lot for a Sergeyich in the office.

  But Sergeyich was long gone. He had disappeared in 1960, defected presumably, and his defection had accomplished what nothing else would have done: Sergeyich had been in Arkady’s office, defected on Arkady’s watch, and so Arkady had been demoted.

  The news from home was mostly bad. Gennady’s cousin Oksana wrote that Grandfather was ill, Aunt Lilya was ill, Oksana’s husband Alyosha was going on bender after bender because his mother was ill as well… Oh, but one bright spot: Oksana’s daughter Dasha had joined the Young Pioneers, and she looked cute as a button with her little red scarf.