The $500,000 Kiss

 

Leo waited patiently by the car as Jed emerged from Air Force One, bounded down the steps, and then put on his usual act for the waiting journalists. It was 5.30 in the morning, still dark, and icily cold; Leo adjusted his scarf around his neck to alleviate the chill, never taking his eyes off the President as Jed grinned, joked and gestured for all he was worth, clad only his dress suit, without the covering protection of a coat despite the chill. Jed looked lively and energetic, but Leo wasn’t fooled. He saw the weary lines etched around his friend’s jaw, and the shadows in and around his eyes. The President had just returned from an intense and gruelling visit to China, where it had taken huge reservoirs of patience and diplomacy for him to navigate his way through all the complex issues he’d had to deal with. He’d done an excellent job, and Leo was proud of him, but he was also very pleased to have his lover home again. He could be a patient man too, but Jed had been gone for 10 days and Leo wanted nothing more than to take his cold, weary president in his arms, and warm him up with a long, loving, exploratory kiss. Sadly, Leo doubted that he’d get a chance to do that any time soon.

 

He let the President have five minutes with the press and then motioned to CJ to move it along. Jed would show off in front of an audience all day if allowed to, and there was a huge pile of documents requiring his signature back at the Oval Office, to say nothing of the 101 other issues that had cropped up while he’d been gone. Leo had been perfectly able to keep the show smoothly ticking over in Jed’s absence, but there were several things he had to brief the President on, and it was time to get started.

 

“There will be a full press conference later,” CJ promised the press, as she ushered the President over to his car. Jed made one final joke, and then, with a departing cheery wave at his audience, turned to Leo.

 

“Welcome home, Mr. President,” Leo said, in the soft, almost sensuous tone, that he saved only for Jed. “It’s good to have you back.” He imparted those words with a whole world of meaning and Jed gave a little start, clearly taken aback by the purr in Leo’s voice, and then his face coloured slightly, and he gave Leo one of the smiles he saved only for *him*. It was a crooked little smile, which managed somehow to be both shy and lascivious at one and the same time, and Leo had to bite back a guffaw. They were utterly discreet in the conduct of their relationship, and kept a strict level of decorum in their professional lives; the only hint of the deep reservoir of affection that lay between them was expressed in fond little smiles and glances, in the placement of a hand on a shoulder in passing, and the utterly companionable silence in which they could both sit, side by side, reading through work together, late into the night. It was also expressed, more subtly, in the flaring arguments that only Leo dared to have with the President. Only someone so close could speak so candidly to the President and engage him in such heated debates, and not find themselves out of a job the following day.

 

Leo opened the car door and Jed got inside. Leo followed him, shutting the door behind them both as CJ was travelling in another car.

 

“So…you didn’t sleep on the plane,” Leo commented as the motorcade began gliding back to the White House.

 

“There’s no reason why you’d know that, Leo,” Jed told him, settling back in his seat with a sigh, finally relaxing after the show he’d just put on. “Is someone spying on me?”

 

“Nope. You’ve just got that tired look.”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

“There is a bedroom on the plane,” Leo pointed out.

 

“I know. I had too much to do.” Jed glanced sideways at his friend. “And besides, I hate sleeping on planes as you well know. It’s something to do with the constant humming – and the recycled air. Gives me a headache.”

 

“So – you’re going straight to the Oval.” It wasn’t a question – Leo already knew that was where Jed was headed.

 

“Yeah.” Jed rolled his head from side to side, stretching his neck. He’d miss out on the night’s sleep – as prone to insomnia as the President was, Leo knew this wasn’t something that bothered him that much.

 

“Okay – but you’re gonna be tired all day.” Leo shrugged. “And you didn’t think to wear a coat when you got off Air Force One? I don’t know what the weather was like in China but it’s freezing here.”

 

“That’s strange.” Jed put his head on one side, and listened intently.

 

“What?” Leo asked, glancing around.

 

“I could have sworn I heard my mother’s voice just then. ‘Jed – make sure you get a good night’s sleep. Jed – you’ll catch your death of cold. Jed – don’t eat between meals or you’ll spoil your dinner. Jed…’”

 

“Okay, okay,” Leo interrupted. This wasn’t the first time they’d had this kind of conversation and he knew Jed hated being mothered, but he couldn’t stop himself occasionally doing it anyway. “I’m just saying, that’s all. You wanna freeze to death that’s your call, but it’s like sitting next to a block of ice and you’re making the car cold. And I need you awake all day ’cause of the pile of paperwork you have to get through. I don’t, you know, really care or anything.”

 

“Yeah. Right.” Jed gave a little smile; they both knew that Leo’s fussing was one of the only ways he had right now of expressing his delight that his friend was back home – at least until they could be alone together. “So, anything happen while I was away, Leo?” They’d been in constant phone contact but Leo had kept everything but the most important stuff away from Jed while he’d been gone – which Jed knew all too well.

 

“Nope. You know the place always runs much more smoothly when you’re away.” Leo gave Jed a crooked sideways grin.

 

“Hah! Maybe that’s true, but I think I can confidently state that it’s boring as hell without me,” Jed retorted.

 

“You’re right. There’s no drama, no explosions, no excitable trotting between offices quoting obscure texts at me…”

 

Jed gave a little bark of laughter, clearly having missed the bantering as much as Leo had for these past 10 days.

 

“Ah, you can’t fool me. I know you missed me,” Jed told him, with an affectionate look.

 

Leo gazed back at his friend equally affectionately, feeling that happy, satisfied warmth he got whenever Jed was around. Yes, he had missed him – and right now he wanted to wrap his hand in Jed’s thick hair, pull him close, and welcome him home properly by planting a long, lingering kiss on his lover’s curved, sensuous lips.

 

“You have no idea,” he murmured softly, sadly, knowing his kiss would have to wait.

 

*****

 

“Okay, fire away – Leo won’t tell me anything so I’m relying on you, Josh,” Jed said striding into the Oval Office, with a whole troupe of his staff jogging along behind him.

 

Leo watched, smiling fondly, as his lover took a moment to savour the familiar sights and scents of his office and then sat down in his chair, back behind his imposing desk, with a satisfied little sigh. Josh stepped forward, and cleared his throat nervously.

 

“Oh god,” Jed sighed. “I’m not gonna like this. I can tell. What is it, Josh? Not another secret plan to fight inflation?”

 

“Uh, no. Nothing like that,” Josh said hurriedly.

 

“Well?” Jed waited, eyebrow raised.

 

“It’s the White House Operations budget,” Josh said, and Leo could almost feel his deputy flinching. Jed loved numbers, adored economics, and relished going over any kind of budget with an enthusiasm that was positively inhuman – and not one shared by anyone else in the West Wing.

 

“Hmm?” Jed glared at Josh suspiciously over his spectacles, with the expression of a small child who suspects his favourite toy has just been broken.

 

“It’s just a small problem,” Josh ventured, with only a hint of a squeak in his voice. Jed frowned, and glanced from Josh to Leo, seeking confirmation. Leo gave a non-committal smile and just a hint of a shrug.

 

“What kind of a small problem?” Jed asked, a note of warning in his voice. Leo braced himself.

 

“We’ve kind of, ever so slightly…lost some money.”

 

“You’ve…*lost* some money – from the White House operations budget?” Jed’s tone was now ominous.

 

“No – well, I mean the money’s still there – the budget itself hasn’t changed, obviously,” Josh said hastily, screwing this up as only he could. Leo briefly contemplated taking pity on his hapless deputy and helping him out but then changed his mind. He didn’t want Jed mad at *him*. And besides, right now he was thinking that Jed had a certain magnificence when in one of his moods of justifiable anger. It caused his cheeks to flush and his eyes to flash and…Leo sighed. That kiss was still a long way away.

 

“So – when we say ‘lost’?” Jed raised both his eyebrows and Josh took a scared step back.

 

“Our numbers don’t add up. We seem to have overspent…only I’m sure we didn’t…” Josh shrugged helplessly. “So basically…we’re short.”

 

“I ask again – how much?” Jed demanded.

 

“We’re working on it. There were some allocations that we might have calculated incorrectly…we just need to track down the hole in our numbers and fix it and…”

 

“Josh.” Jed’s voice was cool, calm and utterly deadly. Leo took a deep breath.

 

“Uh…$500,000,” Josh whispered, the squeak returning to his voice. There was a huge, ominous, appalled silence. Leo guessed that everyone was holding their breath right now. It wasn’t that the sum was huge in budgetary terms – it wasn’t, it was peanuts – it was the fact that everyone in the West Wing knew that President Bartlet had an unreasonable fixation with budgets balancing, and got extremely twitchy when they didn’t – especially when it was his own operating budget that was out.

 

“500,000 – as in half a million dollars?” Jed asked, in a voice that boded danger.

 

“Yes.” Josh nodded firmly. “So, it’s not so bad,” he said hurriedly. “I mean – it’s small change to Leo.”

 

The joke failed. Jed’s eyebrows knitted themselves together across his forehead in a foreboding kind of way. Josh quailed – visibly.

 

“Find it, Josh,” Jed ground out. “If I’m not mistaken we’re unveiling the federal budget tomorrow and I will look like a prize idiot if, say, the Wall Street Journal was to catch wind of the fact, on budget day, that I can’t even manage my own operating budget. Everyone knows that I have a Nobel prize in Economics and I balance my cheque book for fun, so I have what therefore amounts to a mystical aura in the financial world, and a reputation to uphold.” He puffed up his chest in a slightly absurd manner to punctuate this point, causing Leo to have to stifle a snort. “Everything adds up, and I mean *everything*,” Jed said firmly, glowering at his rapidly wilting deputy chief of staff. “I want this fixed, Josh – and by tomorrow morning please.”

 

“Uh. Yes, sir.” Josh looked as if he’d rather be swallowed whole by a giant, fire-breathing monster and he made an accident prone exit, stumbling into both a couch and the doorframe on his way out.

 

“Does anyone else have any ‘news’ they wish to share with me?” Jed asked ominously, glaring at them over the top of his glasses, daring them to make things worse.

 

“No, sir!” A resounding chorus replied.

 

“Then leave.” Jed waved his hand and they all turned and made a swift exit from the room. Leo watched them go with a dispassionate eye.

 

“So, you have a mystical aura?” Leo offered cautiously, amused by the comment but uncertain whether Jed was genuinely angry or just mildly exasperated over this latest fiasco.

 

“I do, Leo and I defy anyone to question that,” Jed said firmly. “$500,000…” He shook his head sadly.

 

“Josh had a point – in budgetary terms that’s like losing a fraction of a penny,” Leo pointed out carefully.

 

“I have a reputation at stake here – if the press find out about the poor job we’ve done balancing our own books on the same day that we unveil the federal budget then it’ll be an embarrassment to me,” Jed growled. “And while I’m happy to be embarrassed politically in oh-so-many other areas, this one is sacrosanct! In this one, I’m an acknowledged expert – I’m an economics professor, Leo!”

 

“Well, actually you’re president of the United States, but yes, I understand.” Leo nodded soothingly at his irate friend.

 

“Damn. I go away for a few days and I come back to this.” Jed took off his glasses and threw them on the desk. “Tell me who I can yell at about this, Leo. There has to be someone.”

 

“You can yell at me,” Leo offered.

 

“Oh that’s no fun.” Jed got up and marched over to his sideboard to pour himself a glass of water. “It’s no fun at all yelling at you, as you well know. I want to strike terror into the heart of a hapless minion, Leo! I want to yell at someone who will be really impressed by Presidential yelling.”

 

“I’m impressed,” Leo lied.

 

“No you’re not.” Jed waved his hand around expansively. “You just distract me with that thing you do with your eyes.”

 

“Okay. What thing are we talking about exactly?” Leo frowned.

 

“You know. That thing you do with your eyes when I’m in mid-yell. Looking at my lips. Like you want to kiss me. You’re doing it right now!”

 

“Ah. Well, that’s because I *do* want to kiss you right now,” Leo pointed out. “So that would explain it.”

 

“You do?” Jed was brought up short.

 

“You’ve been away for 10 days. I can’t wait to get you alone in the residence, and then I’m gonna kiss you but good,” Leo said, sotto voice.

 

“I don’t think there are going to be any kisses today, Leo,” Jed told him in a low, testy undertone, turning away to hide the very faint hint of a blush that Leo detected rising from his neck to the roots of his thick dark hair. “We have a budget crisis in case you haven’t noticed, and nobody is going to be kissing anybody until it’s sorted out!”

 

“Okay – did you want me to issue a memo to that effect?” Leo raised an amused eyebrow. “If so, I think you need to clarify whether we’re banning all kissing, or whether casual kissing is okay – and what about that air kissing that women always seem to be doing – are we outlawing that as well?”

 

“You know, Leo, China was a very nice country and I’m thinking that maybe I should have stayed there,” Jed said, turning back to his work. “At least people took me seriously there! I had gravitas, and authority, and…and…” He paused in mid-tirade, searching for another word to finish his list.

 

“Hubris?” Leo offered helpfully.

 

Jed gave him a look that would have reduced Josh to a pile of steaming goo on the Oval Office carpet. Leo absorbed it with a placid smile, radiating calm good humour.

 

“Oh – go away and leave me in peace, man!” Jed waved his arm in the air with an air of exaggerated exasperation. “I have a whole pile of things to sign and my hand is already aching at the thought of it.”

 

“Yes, Mr. President,” Leo said, retiring from the Oval Office with a broad grin on his face. Ah. Yes, the place was quieter and ran more smoothly without the President, but for all the drama that working next door to Jed entailed, Leo was very glad to have him back.

 

*****

 

Leo returned to his office and sat down with a contented sigh, before getting down to business. He had a large pile of work of his own – and he wanted to get through it all as quickly as he could so that he’d have some time to spend with Jed in the residence this evening.

 

The day was full of interruptions, most of them from Jed, which Leo bore calmly. Having Jed around made Leo content – he didn’t know how, or why, but Jed was the heart of this place – without him, it just hadn’t been the same. As he worked, Leo daydreamed idly about finally claiming that welcome home kiss from his lover’s lips. He liked the feel of Jed’s solid body under his hands, and he fantasised about pulling Jed close, and running his fingers over his lover’s shirt, slipping them down the back of Jed’s pants, while his mouth plundered Jed’s, his lips devouring that soft, warm sensuous mouth…

 

“Uh, what?” Leo sat up with a start.

 

“You said to tell you if the President was going to the residence?” Margaret stood in the doorway. “Well, he just went.”

 

“Fine. Okay.” Leo sat there for a moment, and then, with what he hoped wasn’t indecent haste, he got to his feet and walked purposefully out of his office. Maybe that kiss would take place sooner than he’d imagined…

 

*****

 

He found Jed standing in his bedroom, towelling his wet hair, clad only in a bathrobe.

 

“I needed a shower,” Jed said by way of explanation. “And a change of clothes.”

 

“Okay…but if you’d wanted some company you should have said.” Leo edged forward, his hands itching to slide that bathrobe off his lover’s shoulders.

 

“You were on the phone, and besides, it’s the middle of the day! Neither of us have time for ‘company’.” Jed grinned.

 

“We could make time,” Leo suggested, moving stealthily forwards, so that he was now almost within reach…

 

“With a $500,000 hole in our operating budget to be fixed before tomorrow?” Jed said, neatly sidestepping his advances, and walking around Leo on his way to his closet. “I don’t think so, my friend!”

 

“Oh god. You’re really serious about that ‘no kissing until the budget is sorted out’ thing, aren’t you?” Leo sighed.

 

“Where fiscal planning is concerned, I think you’ll find that I’m always serious, Leo,” Jed reprimanded sternly. “Now where the hell is my red tie? Damnit – why can I never find anything? I blame Abbey – she’s the Mistress of the Closet. And that reminds me – where *is* my wife?” Jed looked around the room with a puzzled frown, as if expecting her to emerge from under the bed.

 

“She’s in Manchester, birthing a foal,” Leo supplied helpfully, leaning against the wall, and thinking about how eminently kissable Jed looked with towel dried, still slightly wet hair.

 

“Birthing a foal?” Jed frowned. “She’s a doctor, not a veterinarian!”

 

“Yeah – but it’s snowing up in that wilderness you call home, and all the roads are blocked. She couldn’t get back here if she tried and one of your horses went into labour. The vet couldn’t get up there to help out, so Abbey’s doing the honours.” Leo shrugged.

 

“Delivering a foal?” Jed shook his head. “Tell me, Leo, is it only my life that’s this bizarre?”

 

“Well, my life’s pretty crazy too, although mainly that’s because I have this anally retentive lover who refuses to kiss me until I give him $500,000,” Leo mused.

 

“Well, never let it be said that I’m cheap, Leo!” Jed replied, with a wide grin. He slapped Leo on the arm, grabbed a tie, and threw it on the bed beside the suit and shirt that he had already laid out there. He paused, and hooked his hands through the belt of his robe, gazing at Leo. Leo gazed back, waiting for Jed to remove the robe. Jed cleared his throat, and made no move to disrobe. Leo wondered what it would be like to lick away the droplet of water that was sliding down the side of Jed’s jaw and dripping onto his shoulder. Jed’s skin would be warm under the cool water, and Leo wanted to stride forward and manhandle him out of that robe, while all the time kissing….

 

“I’m sure you’ve got plenty of work to be doing, Leo,” Jed said pointedly, interrupting Leo’s reverie.

 

“You don’t need help dressing?” Leo offered hopefully.

 

“Not since I was 4 years old.” Jed smiled politely.

 

“Okay, okay – but we’ve been sleeping together for 40 years and I’ve seen it all! There’s no need to act the coy virgin,” Leo growled.

 

“Ah – it’s turning you on.” Jed’s smile turned mischievous.

 

“Yes it is! And you damn well know it too!” Leo retorted. “Come on – just one kiss!”

 

Jed shook his head emphatically. “In my experience one kiss always leads to another, Leo, and then something else, and then…well, I have a country to run, and a missing $500,000 to find. I’m a very busy man.”

 

“And I’m a very horny one,” Leo groaned. “It’s been 10 days, Jed!”

 

“I know. You missed me. That’s good.” Jed nodded sagely.

 

“This is for the hubris comment isn’t it?” Leo sighed.

 

“That and the whole running smoothly without me thing.” Jed smiled brightly. “Payback is such a bitch. Goodbye, Leo.”

 

Leo took the hint, and retired gracefully from the room.

 

*****

 

The rest of Leo’s day was spent in a flurry of phone calls and several trips along the hallway to check up on Josh. It was 10 pm by the time he finished, and Jed had already left the office, with a nonchalant wave to Leo on his way out. Leo, trapped on the phone, could only frown sourly in his lover’s direction, and finish up the call as quickly as he could, before finally following Jed up to the residence.

 

He found his friend in his bedroom once more, this time changing out of the suit and into a pair of jeans and a sweater. Leo paused for a moment to consider whether his lover looked more sexy in a suit or casual attire. Casual clothes took 10 years off him and Leo DID like the way those jeans hugged his lover’s fine ass. Of course, as President Jed always looked very smart, very sexy, very in charge…but it was nice to see him in jeans, his hair slightly ruffled, his sweater revealing just a hint of collarbone – fine collarbones, made for kissing, Leo thought to himself; covered in a layer of golden skin, and very tempting. Once the kissing was over with, they were also very nice to lick…

 

“Any time you wanted to say anything, Leo, I’ll be right here,” Jed said, breaking into his reverie. “Or if you wanted to continue viewing me as a sex object, that’s fine too.”

 

“Hah – you may not be cheap but you’re sure as hell a slut,” Leo grinned, locking the door behind him and moving stealthily into the room. Jed raised an eyebrow at the locked door manoeuvre.

 

“You’re very confident for a man $500,000 down, Leo,” he commented, as picked up his belt. “I thought I made it very clear on several occasions today that there would be no kissing until the budget issue is resolved, and as I haven’t yet had a call from Josh, I’m assuming it hasn’t, therefore…”

 

“Oh just shut up will you?” Leo said.

 

“Is that any way to talk to your President?” Jed asked, in a tone of feigned astonishment.

 

“Trust me, it’s only the fact that you *are* my President that’s preventing me from throwing you over my knee and administering a sound spanking to your sorry, quibbling, teasing ass right now!” Leo replied.

 

“I don’t think my ass actually quibbles or teases, and I’m fairly sure it’s not sorry about anything but whatever.” Jed grinned. “I love it when you’re horny, Leo. You become all over-heated and freakishly intent on getting into my pants.”

 

“It’s not freakish to want to get into your pants and besides, what I want, all I’ve wanted all day, is one, single, goddamn kiss!”

 

“Are you saying you’d turn down an offer to rummage in my pants? I’m hurt.” Jed affected an unconvincing pout. “But as for the kiss – I’ve already told you, Leo. That’s not going to happen.”

 

“No? And suppose I was to give you *this*, Mr. Blackmail?” Leo swept his arm from behind his back and flourished a piece of paper in Jed’s face.

 

Jed took it with a look of delight. “The missing $500,000?” He said eagerly. “Josh found it?”

 

Leo snorted. “Josh? Hell no! *He* didn’t have the incentive of hot kisses and the prospect of getting into the presidential pants to inspire him. *I* tracked the damn thing down. Took me all afternoon but it’s worth it, ’cause now…” He paused and gave his lover a lascivious grin. “I get to claim my prize.”

 

“It’s not a prize, Leo,” Jed said, “It’s just a kiss.”

 

“Not just any kiss,” Leo said, gliding closer to his lover, never taking his eyes off Jed’s lips. “It’s a $500,000 kiss, Jed – and since I went to so much trouble to earn it, I want to make sure I really get my money’s worth.”

 

“Okay. That’s fair. How do you want me?” Jed assumed a pose in the middle of the room, his face sticking out at an angle, his lips pursed.

 

“Well not like that. That’s freaking me out.” Leo took a step back to lean against the closet and consider the matter. “I don’t want to waste it – it has to be good. You’ve been gone 10 days and there’s been absolutely no kissing during your absence, and now, what with this kiss being so expensive and all, I want to really make sure it’s right.”

 

“In your own time then. Don’t mind me. You just stand there and think about it,” Jed said, and he began threading his belt through the loops on his jeans.

 

“No point doing that when I’m going to be undressing you in a minute,” Leo pointed out.

 

“You only paid for a kiss, Leo. I charge extra for undressing,” Jed said, with a cheeky grin.

 

“Hmmm – and how much for sex then?” Leo enquired with a raised eyebrow.

 

“I’m not sure you could afford me,” Jed replied. “I mean, I know you’re a very wealthy man, Leo, but I’m the President of the United States so I figure I come with a pretty healthy price tag.” He gave another little grin and ground his hips around in what might have been meant as a seductive move but just made Leo snort.

 

“Do that again and *you’ll* have to pay *me* to sleep with you,” he commented. “Now shut up will you – I’m thinking about this kiss.”

 

He closed his eyes and did just that. Did he want to kiss Jed on the bed, he wondered? That would be nice, and a good prelude to sex – but maybe it was going too fast. Maybe they wanted to kiss (a lot) and then hang out and eat before having sex. Maybe it would be nicer to push Jed onto the couch and kneel beside him, hold him down, and kiss him passionately for a very long time…except that he wasn’t sure his knees would be able to cope with that. Maybe if they were both sitting on the couch…then he could grab Jed’s hair in his hand, pull his friend close, and finally get to press his lips on his lover’s sensuous mouth. Jed would open up under him as he always did, and Leo could go in and explore aggressively with his tongue, while his hands brought Jed even closer. One of them could slide lower into the back of those jeans and fondle Jed’s buttocks, while the other…

 

“Mmmmph…!” Leo gave a start of surprise as he was cannoned into, pushed forcibly against the wall, and his mouth was plundered by a familiar set of lips. He groaned, and opened up feebly as Jed took his head in those big hands of his, holding him still, and proceeded to subject him to one of the longest, deepest, most passionate kisses of his life. Jed’s tongue was skilful in its probing – not so aggressive as to be painfully intrusive, but just enough to be arousing, and his lips worked Leo’s for several long seconds. Leo surrendered, his hands coming to rest on Jed’s butt just so that he could stay upright as his lover claimed him, body and soul. Damn but he had missed this! He had missed his best friend’s familiar taste and scent, and the way Jed was just the right height to really kiss properly. He had missed the feel of those heavy hands on his body and face, and the way Jed felt against him, his body pressed close against his chest. Leo groaned, and melted against Jed, allowing his lover to set the pace, his senses filled everywhere with Jed. It might only have been 10 days but it felt so good to have Jed back. Just when Leo felt sure he couldn’t hold his breath any longer, Jed released him with a satisfied smack of his lips. Leo hung against the wall, feebly, panting, while Jed stepped back with a look of triumph in his eyes.

 

“I…that was…I…it was…I was supposed…” Leo stammered, pathetically, all his blood seeming to have rushed south. “*I* was going to kiss *you*!” He managed to force out at last. Jed grinned, and patted his lover’s thigh affectionately.

 

“You think you were the only one who missed anyone while I was away?” Jed said softly, his eyes studying Leo’s lips with definite intent. Leo smiled back.

 

“Well, they do say that absence makes the heart grow fonder,” he murmured, pulling Jed back in close and holding him. “Damn but it’s good to have you back.”

 

“It’s good to be back, Leo,” Jed replied, his lips nuzzling the side of Leo’s face. “Now, if you have another $500,000 we could do that again.”

 

Leo laughed out loud. “You’re right. I don’t think I can afford you,” he lamented, his fingers tangling affectionately in Jed’s hair, while he slid his other hand down the back of Jed’s jeans and caressed one buttock.

 

“Was it worth it?” Jed asked, those enticing lips of his seeming far too close and alluring for Leo to resist.

 

“Oh yeah,” Leo muttered. “It was worth every last dollar, and, you know, since I found out about you having this whole mystical aura thing that just made it even more mind blowing.” He grinned broadly.

 

“You’re a very lucky man, Leo,” Jed replied, refusing to rise to the bait. Leo nodded.

 

“Yes I am,” he said softly. “Welcome home, Jed.”

 

Leo’s lips found Jed’s again, and he went in for another long, passionate kiss – and this one, and the several others that followed it, were all free. And Leo couldn’t say for sure, but he was fairly certain, by the look on Jed’s well kissed face and his lover’s swollen lips, that the President of the United States was *really* glad to be home.

 

 

 

 

 

Index