Elsewhere [boyxboy]

*Chapter Six*

Loki kissed me back just as hard, circling one arm around my waist as he growled and the world tilted. Suddenly I was on my back with him leaning over me, running my hands over his body and kissing him, opening my mouth and moaning quietly when I felt his tongue against mine. He was barely touching me, and my sensitized skin was electrified with need for him; I flipped us over aggressively and pressed my body against his, running my fingers through his hair and causing his torso to arch against mine.

                I ran one hand down across his chest and reached for the hem of his pants, but suddenly his hand was gripping my wrist hard and he was pushing me away from him.

                'No,' he muttered, even as his other hand touched my face softly. 'Not here, not now, and definitely not in a tent, with your boyfriend asleep ten feet away.'

                'Boyfriend?' I asked, my brain still a fog of lust and mostly concentrating on how to get around the obstacle of him stopping me.

                'Tom, or Dom, or whatever his name is,' Loki replied, rolling his eyes.

                'Dominick? He's not my boyfriend, he's just my friend.'

                Loki's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he half-glared at me, before clearly deciding I was telling the truth.

                'Either way, we're not making love in a tent,' he continued, as I ignored him and leaned in to kiss him again, pressing my mouth softly against his for a second before my pulse jumped as I felt his hand circle my throat.

                Loki pushed me away from him and back down onto the sleeping bag without removing his hand, and gazed down at me intensely as my breathing turned ragged.

                'You need to learn to control yourself,' he murmured, as his thumb stroked the skin over my racing pulse. 'I could kill you right now,' he continued, squeezing slightly and doing little more than heightening my excitement, 'and you wouldn't have time to even try to stop me.'

                'Loki, I could order you to drive your sword through your own heart and you'd do it,' I whispered, slowly sliding my hand over his on my throat, before wrenching it away and twisting it painfully. 'But I'd rather we not have a balance of power issue right now.'

                'There's always going to be a balance of power issue with us,' he muttered, flexing his hand when I let go of it and hissing in surprise when I grabbed him by the back of the head and pulled him down so his face was only a few inches away from mine.

                'You always had trouble with accepting that I saw you as an equal,' I hissed, our gazes locked and the heat from our bodies making the situation just the wrong side of uncomfortable. 'Do you think I would bother arguing with you if you were just another courtier, just another soldier? If I didn't respect you as an equal I'd just tell you to do as I wanted, but I never order you to do anything.'

                Loki's eyes narrowed again but he didn't pull away. 'Twenty minutes ago you ordered me into your tent,' he snapped.

                I didn't even bother arguing that I had been trying to help him, that I was worried about him. Instead, I just let go of the back of his head and narrowed my eyes right back at him. 'Fine,' I whispered angrily, conscious of waking up the others if the argument got too loud. 'Leave, if you want to that badly.'

                But Loki didn't leave; instead he slid his fingers through mine and kissed me again, pulling a gasp from between my lips as my body arched towards his and the storm outside mirrored the one going on in the tent.

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When I woke the storm had passed and the sun was shining so brightly that the inside of the tent was excruciatingly hot. Gasping at the dry heat for air, I lunged forward and unzipped the tent, taking deep breaths as I felt the coolness of outside hit the back of my throat. It was only when I turned, smiling, to look for Loki that I realised I was alone.

                Frowning, I crawled out of the tent without even getting fully dressed to see that the others were all seated around the now-dead fire, sleepily tucking into some of the food Loki had managed to get for us at the motel.

                'Late night?' Ana asked amicably as she noticed me, and I started. Had Loki told them? I glanced at him and he shook his head once without even looking at me.

                'Good god man,' Adrian spat, disgusted, as he looked up at me. 'Put on some pants.'

                I wasn't completely naked; I had underwear on, but everyone else was fully dressed and I caught Loki smirking out of the corner of my eye.

                Clearly, we were pretending nothing had happened.

                Taking a moment to be completely pissed off at this fact, I turned towards the stream obscured by several yards of trees and muttered, 'I'm going to wash.'

                I had only managed to get a few feet away when Dom muttered worriedly, 'Shouldn't you go with him? It's your job to protect him, right?' and I scowled as I heard Loki standing up, not stopping to wait for him as I disappeared through the trees.

                'I'd forgotten that you're not a morning person,' Loki commented as he caught up with me by the side of the stream.

                I submerged myself in the clear water, feeling a hint of gratification when his eyes roamed my body lightly.

                'So I'm guessing I'm still your dirty little secret,' I snapped, turning away from him and hearing him laugh like he was genuinely amused.

                'Nota, you know it's safer if nobody knows about us. Can you even imagine what Kinsley would do with information like that?'

                I rounded on him again, scowling. 'You're just trying to see how far you can push me before I snap and order you to do what I want,' I accused him.

                Loki laughed again. 'I would be lying if I said there wasn't an element of truth to that,' he admitted, grinning.

My scowl deepened as I turned away from him again, and seconds later I jumped in surprise as I felt his hands on my shoulders. He pulled me around to face him and ran his thumbs over my face, smoothing out my features gently.

'Being in love with you was difficult before,' he murmured, his eyes roaming over my face and avoiding mine, 'but you're making it pretty difficult now as well.'

'I'm not the one making it difficult,' I whispered back, my heart beating so hard I was sure he'd feel it even through the water.

Loki made a noise of amusement before closing the small distance between us and kissing me softly, his lips plush against mine as I felt his smile.

'Just play the game for a while, okay?' he asked, leaning his forehead against mine.

'Okay,' I agreed, pliable as rubber now that he'd kissed me.

I shook off as much of the excess water as I could before we wandered back to the camp, where we found the others packing up their tents and saddling their horses.

'How did you get all wet?' Adrian demanded of Loki, squinting suspiciously at him.

'Nota had a cramp,' Loki replied without even the slightest pause for thinking. 'He thought he was drowning.'

My jaw dropped in outrage, but there was nothing I could say without incriminating us. Loki smirked at me when the others weren't looking and I narrowed my eyes angrily. If this was how he wanted it, I could play the game too.

'Loki,' I said authoritatively, sitting down on the log by the fire after I'd dressed. 'Pack up my tent, and then saddle my horse. Thanks.'

If he wanted us to act like prince and servant, I could be the brattiest prince he'd ever dealt with.