Gigi Sinclair

"You're getting a little bald spot there, Daniel."

"What?" I glanced over my shoulder at Jack, who was peering at the back of my head like he was about to start grooming it for ticks.

"Right there." He reached out and poked me. "You might want to think about plugs."

"OK, Mr. Grecian Formula."

The elevator doors slid open and Lou Ferretti came in.

"Jack. Daniel." He smiled and stood on the other side of the car.

"Where you headed, Lou?" Jack asked.

"Twenty-eight."

Jack reached past me, brushing against my sleeve as he pushed the button.

"Good mission?" Lou asked, as the three of us stared at the descending numbers.

"We didn't get shot at any more than usual," Jack replied. "And Daniel found some naked pictures to look at."

"A success all around, then."

Especially for Jack. I was surprised he'd actually noticed what I was doing, which was, in fact, cataloguing a collection of pictograms far more detailed than anything we'd ever seen. He'd spent all of his time with the young, attractive and decidedly interested daughter of the local regent. I'd expected him to come away from the mission with a pair of breeding yaks and six prime heifers, not counting the regent's daughter herself.

"You said it, Lou." Jack smirked, and I clenched my fists around my binder.

We rode in silence for another floor. When we arrived, the doors didn't open. Instead, the lights dimmed, then disappeared, and the elevator car was plunged into darkness.

"Damn." Jack's voice sounded closer than it had a moment earlier.

"Not again," Lou's voice, on the other hand, sounded farther away. "They had trouble with this while you were away. I thought Siler fixed it."

"Better give him a call, then." A strong hand slid over my shoulder and down my arm. Then it disappeared, and I heard Jack fumbling with the emergency phone. "Yeah, Domino's? We need a large pizza delivered to the elevator currently stuck somewhere around level twenty-eight. You like olives, Lou?"

"I'd prefer anchovies."

"Damn Italians." A pause, then Jack said, "Thanks, Siler," and I heard a click as the phone was replaced. "Ten minutes, fellas."

"Great." I sighed. I heard movement, and I assumed Lou was sitting on the floor.

"Claustrophobic, Daniel?" Jack asked.

"Hardly." I'd spent half my life in tombs and other enclosed spaces, as Jack knew very well. "But I have things to do."

"So do I," Jack replied, as an arm slid around my waist. I tried to push it away, but it gripped harder, pulling me tightly against Jack's chest.

"Jack," I tried to sound as neutral as possible as his hand began to work on my buttons.

"Yes, Daniel?" Jack sounded just as innocent.

Lou was right there, two feet away from us. Jack couldn't have forgotten that, and I had no intention of playing along with his perverted little games. I stepped hard on his foot, but he didn't even flinch. Damn steel-toed boots.

"What are you doing?" I asked, proud of how calm I sounded.

"When? This weekend?" A warm, wet mouth descended on the side of my neck, and I firmly forbade my body from reacting to this in any kind of encouraging manner. It ignored me and arched back towards Jack, which Jack took as approval.

"I got Avalanche tickets," Lou chimed in. "My brother's coming in from New York."

"He a Rangers fan?" Jack's long fingers slid into my open fly and skimmed over the waistband of my shorts.

"Islanders."

Jack snorted into my hair. "Are you kidding me?"

"Nope," Lou replied. "There has to be one, Jack."

Remembering Teal'c's meditation advice, I struggled to keep my breathing regular as Jack's hand slipped past the waistband and his mouth returned to my neck.

"How'd you see their chances this year?" Lou asked, and Jack lifted his mouth from my neck.

"The Islanders? No chance."

"The Avalanche."

"I don't know," Jack replied. I debated jamming my elbow into Jack's stomach, but his hand closed gently around my cock, and I was too preoccupied with trying not to pant to remember I hated him. "They've got a solid offence, but unless they get something happening with the defence, they won't make it past the first round of the playoffs."

Lou grunted in agreement. "Where's Patrick Roy when you need him, huh?"

Jack chuckled against my ear, and the hand picked up speed.

"Retired, like I should be. Then I could do this whenever I wanted." Jack's hand squeezed, and, just like that, I was hard enough to bore through granite.

"What?" Lou asked, innocently. "Get stuck in elevators?"

"Talk about hockey," Jack replied, silently kissing my cheek to let me know that wasn't at all what he meant.

Just when I thought I couldn't hold it in any longer, there was a humming noise. Jack yanked my pants up, fastened one of the buttons, and pulled my shirt down over the unmistakable bulge a fraction of a second before the lights came back on.

Lou stood up. "About time." The elevator shuddered a little, then deigned to open its doors. "We must do this again sometime," he quipped as he got off the elevator.

"Yeah, no kidding," Jack replied.

As soon as the doors slid shut behind him, I turned to Jack. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

He smirked. "If you don't know that by now, Daniel, I've got some serious problems."

"Are you insane? You spend a week flirting with Princess MacBoobs—"

"Mahk'byun," Jack corrected, grinning.

"Then you come back here and assault me in front of Ferretti."

"Assault you?" Jack repeated. "I didn't see you complaining."

I opened my mouth to reply, but the doors opened on our floor. I pushed past a couple of airmen and headed for my office, Jack following behind.

"Daniel, come on."

"No. It's deranged. You're deranged." I sat down at my computer. "Go away."

"I turned her down." Jack replied, like that was supposed to be a big deal.

"Good for you."

"Her father wanted me to marry her," Jack went on. "Offered me a good price and everything."

"Yes, I'm sure he was very keen to unload some livestock at the same time as his daughter."

"Actually, he offered us exclusive mining rights to all that naquadriah."

"What?" I looked up sharply.

"Don't tell Carter."

"What did you say to him?"

Jack shrugged casually, but I could see he was enjoying this. "I told him I was already married."

"So you lied to a king, and we didn't get the naquadriah. A successful mission all around."

"I didn't lie, Daniel." Jack looked at me evenly. "I am married."

"Oh? I don't recall you mentioning that."

"For God's sake, you dick, I'm trying to be romantic."

"Molesting me in the elevator was very romantic," I snapped, even as my stomach flipped.

"Daniel." He put his hand on my shoulder. I didn't move away. "In my heart, I am married. You know that. I'm not about to give it up for some skinny woman with big…deposits."

I didn't say anything. I didn't have to. Jack understood me anyway.

"And you can't tell me that elevator thing wasn't hot." Well, maybe he didn't entirely understand me. "I'm so glad you didn't blow. That would have been something to explain to Ferretti."

"At least one of us has some self-control," I informed him, as haughtily as possible. Which wasn't very, considering that my waning erection had perked right up again at Jack's emotional—for him—declaration.

"Oh yeah?" Jack's grin returned, and he leaned forward. "Feel like testing some of that self-control in the store room?"

"No."

He shrugged. "Suit yourself, but I'm going to pick up some pencils. Some nice, thick, juicy pencils."

"I don't think we have any of those," I called as he left, although my voice was a little shakier than I would have liked.

Jack didn't say anything. I looked at my mission report, glanced over at the printer, and remembered that my ink cartridge was at the half-empty mark. No sense in taking senseless chances, I thought as I got up. And no sense in doing my fly up, either. After all, the Air Force paid us for both our innovation and our efficiency, and this qualified as both.

Really, I thought as Jack pushed a surplus chair up against the door and pulled me down behind a stack of binders, I should get him a medal. Or a box of obscenely shaped chocolates and a few moderately priced sex toys. Either one worked for me.