Chapter Four

Pete's breath hitched as he inhaled. The figure beneath him was breathtaking in the purely literal sense, with soft light brown hair that wasn't too long. Pete took his time, though he could tell his soon-to-be lover was becoming desperate in passionate need. He smiled down into dark blue eyes that peered back at him in longing.

"I just want to touch you for a while," he whispered.

"Mmm …?"

"I know, I know," Pete grinned. "I want you, too. But I need this first. I want to touch your soft skin and bury my fingers in your hair."

"Why?" came a raspy whispered demand.

"Because I never felt like I needed to do that before," he sighed. He knew it sounded trite, but he was always straightforward when people asked him about his actions or feelings. He saw no need to fabricate an illusion for them. "Honestly, you're the first person to ever affect me this way."

"Person," the other echoed with a laugh. "Like you've ever looked at another man before me."

"I may not have noticed any that caught my eye," Pete replied in a serious tone. "But that doesn't mean I'm all that adverse to the idea. You may be a man, but you're the one I want."

"You want?" Brecken asked.

Pete's eyes widened as he realized just who he had pinned beneath his body.

"You really want?" Brecken went on

"If you don't let me touch you, I think I'll spontaneously combust," Pete said between gritted teeth.

Brecken smiled and reached out to him then, pulling him down closer and guided his hand to his cheek. "You can touch me Peter," he smiled. "But only you can touch me."

"I was hoping you'd say that, Moonshadow."

He tangled his fingers into Brecken's hair and leaned in to smell the herbal shampoo the younger man used and to kiss his temple. This felt so right to him. The guy under him had no qualms about letting Pete set the pace and explore his lean, lithe body. And Breck, unlike the women Pete had dated in the past, was firm and strong beneath his body. He knew the man wasn't fragile, but he'd felt like a treasure all the same.

The music from his alarm clock blared out, breaking the enchanting scene into millions of little pieces as the morning intruded on Pete's nightly fantasy world. Damn it all! He'd gotten further this time than ever before! He threw his blanket off and stamped out of bed, irritated with the real world all of a sudden. Well, at least he'd get to see Brecken albeit briefly later on today when he made his weekly deliver. Suddenly the day looked brighter and Pete whistled as he went about getting ready for it.

--

"The Wiccan Rede is one of many Ethics of Reciprocity found in essentially all of the world's religious texts. In Christianity, the Ethic of Reciprocity is sometimes called the Golden Rule. It urges believers to treat other people decently," Brecken stated with a matter-of-fact tone. "I could name a few examples of such but as I'm not exactly teaching you guys the ethics of Christianity, I'd rather not. Suffice it to say, those Ethics of Reciprocity found in non-Wiccan religions concentrate on one's duties to other people. The Wiccan Rede goes a bit further by also prohibiting Wiccans from engaging in actions that hurt themselves." He talked while he continued to hand out booklets to each of his students.

"Most religions teach very specific rules of behavior. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, sorts them into two categories: mortal and venial sins. In contrast, the Wiccan is not given a list of prohibited and compulsory actions. They are forced to consider all of the likely ramifications of each action before deciding whether it meets the standard of the Wiccan Rede. It can only be performed if it is free from harm."

"Moonshadow." A young girl raised her hand shyly, her eyes darting around the room no doubt feeling uncomfortable being the center of attention.

"Yes, Rachel?"

"Could you explain what you mean by compulsory actions? I understand prohibited but …"

Brecken smiled softly at the girl in an attempt to put her more at ease. "Compulsory means 'obligatory' or required, if you will. When I say 'Wiccans are not given a list of prohibited and compulsory actions' I mean that we are not prohibited or obligated to do any certain thing. We must look at everything as a whole and decide for ourselves whether or not it meets the criteria of the Rede." Having explained and received a 'thank you' from his student he moved on.

As these were his first-year students – thus their being in his classroom so early in the day – their topic was the Wiccan Rede and its meaning.

"All right class, I want everyone to read the Rede and then perhaps you guys could discuss amongst yourselves just what you get out of it."

Moving back to his desk he sat behind it and started looking over the reports he had had his Level 2 class do the week before on the use of different deities. He looked up quickly when the door opened – his heart hammering in his ears. It was Wednesday, after all, and every time someone knocked on his door he was expecting Petey.

"Moonshadow," Becky gestured for the man to come closer. "I hate to interrupt," she whispered, "but the delivery guy is on his way in, I saw him while I was cleaning the windows."

Brecken blushed. He could see that the girl knew that he had a major crush on the guy. These past few weeks he had made Becky damn near disappear so he could be alone with the man, even if nothing more occurred than a few soft words and an exchange of boxes.

"I – uhm... take care of my class for a moment, will you?" he asked just before he made his way out into the main shop area.

He smiled as he saw Pete approach the door. He had been waiting for this all week.

--

Pete waited by the door patiently with a box in his hands as Brecken approached. This was it, he decided. He was finally going to do something about the building chemistry between them. Pete wasn't bothered by the fact that Breck was a guy anymore. The dreams were too vivid and he was getting them every night. He figured the only way to figure out what was going in his head was to confront the man who was starring in Pete's nightly fantasies. Yeah, this was purely for research purposes. Bah! He didn't believe himself anymore. He could feel that there was more going on inside of him than just a passing infatuation. Brecken was becoming an obsession of sorts. When he was working, he thought of Brecken. When he was home, he thought of Brecken. When he was at the bar, he ignored the women and looked for guys that reminded him of Brecken.

Now … well, now he was going to let the object of his fantasies in on what was happening. With any luck, he would prove that his instinct was correct. Brecken seemed to focus on him, too, when he met up with him every week to deliver his shipments. He couldn't be reading the guy wrong. He didn't know what he'd do if he was but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. Brecken pulled the door open for him, breaking his thoughts.

"You're early today," the shorter man said as he stepped aside and let Pete in. "You usually get here at 12:30."

"Disappointed?" Pete smirked as he set the box down. The backroom door was closed today, so he figured Brecken wanted the boxes outside of it.

"Not at all," the other man beamed.

Oh, that smile … Pete fixated on it for a moment before he went back to the door to get the only other box he'd brought with him. Once he put the second and last box down, he turned back to Brecken and gazed at him like a tiger looked at its prey. The smaller man frowned a bit and looked back warily.

"Wha-what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing." He stalked a bit closer to the object of his dreams. "You look … different today."

He raked Breck's lean body up and down heatedly, causing a shiver of awareness to course down the shorter man's spine as he stood rooted to the spot by the door, which he'd let close behind him.

"Uh, thanks. I guess."

Pete smiled and reached behind Breck, grazing his arm with his fingertips, as he went to pick up the clipboard behind him. "You nervous about something?"

"I don't – um. I mean, no. Should I be?"

"Don't know," Pete shrugged as he pulled a receipt from the clipboard.

He handed it to Breck but didn't let go when the other man took it, letting their fingers collide with each other's.

"Um?" Breck murmured.

"Do I make you nervous?" Pete asked as he chuckled under his breath.

"Sometimes." Breck blushed.

"Sorry about that." But the bigger man looked anything but sorry as his heated gaze raked over Breck again. "Whatever happened to that white robe you were wearing a few weeks ago?"

"Oh … um …"

Pete silenced him when he reached out to touch Breck's light brown hair. "I liked the way you looked in it."

Before Breck could formulate a reply, Pete leaned in and covered his mouth with his own.

--

Brecken hardly complained, encouraging it more than anything else by opening his mouth just a bit for the other man. He could hardly believe this was happening and actually felt the urge to pinch himself to ensure he wasn't daydreaming yet again. But the hard pressure of the other man's lips upon his own proved to him just how real this was. Not to mention the way he felt totally out of whack and yet perfectly in sync.

Placing his hands upon the other man's shoulders he pulled himself closer, kissing back as heatedly as he was receiving. All in all this was turning out to be one hell of a first kiss!

When they were finally forced to pull away, he couldn't help but blush again, but made no move to take his hands from the larger guy, nor put some distance between their bodies. He was a little concerned about Becky ... he would not only be embarrassed were the girl to interrupt but would hate to have such a lovely start ended so soon by such an unwanted intrusion.

"So, I guess this means you like me, huh?" Pete asked, staring at the other man with something akin to awe and possession. He had never felt this way before, not for a girl or any other guy. Never had a kiss ever been so pleasurable as it had just been with Brecken. His Brecken.

"I guess?" the other joked, trying to calm himself down a little bit and slow his racing heart. "I guess I have my answer ..." he murmured to himself, silently thanking the Goddess and God for sending him such a gorgeous man.