Danny's Dragon

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

The breath of life moves through a deathless valley of mysterious motherhood which conceives and bears the universal seed, the seeming of a world never to end, breath for men to draw from as they will: And the more they take of it, the more remains. – Lao Tzu

“Do you live here by yourself?” Dave asked.

Danny had led him up the stairs inside his building and was turning the key in the lock. “Yes. My eldest sister, Karen, lives out in Winchester now with her husband. She had a baby recently and my parents moved in with them to help her. My other sister, Fei, lives in San Francisco with her husband.” He opened the door and stepped inside to flick on a light. “Come in. I’ll take your coat.”

Dave stepped into the apartment, immediately struck by the spare yet elegant furnishings. The soft light cast a glow on the hardwood floors and the simple wooden tables and black cushions of a futon. The place looked like the inside of a Japanese house. He’d seen enough samurai flicks in his life to recognize the style. “Very nice place,” he said as he handed his coat to Danny.

“Thank you. When my parents moved out, I did some redecorating. It was cluttered. I like it simple, like this.” A tiny smile curved his lips, and his eyes almost took on a mischievous glint. “They’re not thrilled about the Japanese style, of course, but I’ve always liked it.”

Dave chuckled. “I like simplicity myself.” The place definitely reflected the man: understated and elegant.

He watched Danny hang their coats in a small closet. Danny then removed his shoes, and Dave copied him, realizing that he did so to keep the highly polished floor clean and shiny.

Danny stood in front of him, looking shy again. “Would you like tea or something?”

“Only if you’re having some too. I don’t want you to go to any trouble.”

Danny smiled. “It’s no trouble. Make yourself comfortable, I’ll be back in a minute.”

Dave nodded. What he really wanted to do was pull Danny into his arms and kiss him, but he didn’t want to frighten him away by coming at him too soon. He’d already done that the night before, and even though Danny had certainly seemed to enjoy it, Dave didn’t want him to think that s*x was the only thing he wanted. “Okay, thanks.”

He watched Danny disappear into the kitchen, then wandered around the room, looking at several photographs on a shelf above the fireplace. He recognized Meg with Danny in what appeared to be a prom picture. They were both younger, obviously, and Danny had been awkward and gawky. Amazing the physical transformation he’d undergone. He understood now why Danny had been so surprised at Dave’s praise for his looks. Danny probably still saw himself as that nerdy kid. Now Danny was hot, but his lack of confidence was kind of sweet.

Dave smiled and studied the other photographs. More of Meg with an old man he assumed was the grandfather who’d passed away. Only one of the photos was of a group of people that appeared to be Danny’s own family. Danny bore a really strong resemblance to his father. His two sisters were pretty, as was his mother, though she wasn’t smiling in the photograph, and the hard set of her eyes and jaw made Dave think she didn’t seem like the sweetest person in the world. If the collection of photographs was anything to go by, Dave got the strong sense that Danny was much closer with Meg and her grandfather than with his own family.

After a few minutes, Dave heard the whistle of a kettle, followed by the sound of it dying down as it was lifted off the burner. He passed by the doorway to the kitchen and observed Danny. The second he did, however, that melting feeling heated his insides again, spreading into his groin, which tightened in demand. Danny moved with fluid grace. He’d never thought someone could be so masculine and so graceful at the same time. He was struck with the same fascination that had gripped him watching the way Danny handled chopsticks at dinner and spoke in Chinese to the waiter.

The light glinted off Danny’s glossy hair, making Dave’s fingers itch to touch it. As another erection gripped him, he moved away before it tented the front of his jeans. Damn! He had it bad for this guy.

Back in the living room, he decided not to sit down. Sitting there with nothing to do would let his mind wander to all the things he wanted to do... to and with Danny. He wandered around the room, looking at wide strips of parchment with Chinese ideograms done in calligraphy that hung in several places on the bare white walls.

Reaching a corner of the room that appeared to be a dining room area without a table and chairs, he stopped, staring in amazement at the walls. Covering nearly every inch of white were more of the Chinese ideograms in delicate brushstrokes, only they weren’t on pieces of parchment. They were painted directly onto the walls. On the floor in the corner were a small can of paint and several brushes sitting in a glass. He stood back and continued to stare at the characters, none of which, of course, he understood. The skill of the painting, however, was obviously artistic, even to his untrained eye.

“You found my painting.”

Dave turned at the quiet sound of Danny’s voice and saw Danny standing in the doorway from the kitchen, looking embarrassed again.

“You did all this?” He pointed to the walls, incredulous.

Danny nodded and bowed his head. “Yes. And all the parchments too.”

Dave turned to face him, wanting to go over to him and embrace him. He remained in place, jamming his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “Yeah, I saw those. They’re amazing and beautiful. No wonder you said it’s hard to explain.”

He glanced again at the brush strokes, then back at Danny. “What does it all mean?”

Danny stepped into the room, crossing over to him. “It’s the entire Tao Te Ching, the ‘Way of Life’ as told by Lao Tzu.”

Dave nodded. “You told me about that yesterday. The wisdom he gave before leaving China.” Last night in the car. He would never forget those glorious moments.

“There are eighty-one poems in all. Many people write them out as a meditation.” Danny pointed to the top corner of one wall. “That’s the first one. Then the rest are in order all the way to the end.”

Dave looked to where he pointed. “You mean one or two characters embody a whole poem?”

“Yes. Hard to believe, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “What does the first one say?”

“It says, ‘Existence is beyond the power of words to define. Terms may be used but are none of them absolute. In the beginning of heaven and earth there were no words, words came out of the womb of matter. And whether a man dispassionately sees to the core of life or passionately sees its surface, the core and the surface are essentially the same, words making them seem different. Only to express appearance. If name be needed, wonder names them both. From wonder into wonder, existence opens.’”

Dave stared at him. “You know all of them, just like that?”

Danny nodded, bowing his head in that modest way again. “Yes. I learned them with Master Chen, Meg’s grandfather.”

“What do you do once you’ve painted all of them?”

Danny smiled. “I paint over the walls and start again.”

Dave shook his head. “Amazing.” He fell silent and studied Danny’s face again. “You’ve got a lot going on in you, don’t you?”

Danny gazed up at him, and Dave wondered if Danny realized the effect his eyes had on him. “Not any more than you do.”

A tingle of warmth travelled through Dave’s chest. Not the answer he’d expected. Then again, nothing with Danny was what he expected. Like this feeling of being... understood. Deeply. Like no one else in his life ever had, not even his mom. “I don’t think so. I’m just a cop. There’s nothing complex about that.” He winced inwardly at his own lie. His life had been anything but simple. But how could he tell Danny that? He wanted the man to like him. If Danny knew about his life, about the past, about how he’d failed John....

“I don’t see you that way,” Danny said gently. “You’re being unfair to yourself.”

The heat in his chest moved up his neck into his cheeks. It had been forever since he’d blushed. “Well, I suppose. How do you see me, if I may ask?” He couldn’t help the sudden, overwhelming curiosity to know what Danny thought.

Danny’s eyes softened. “I see that you’ve suffered a lot and that you’re basically kind.”

The heat in his cheeks increased several degrees. For the first time in a long time, he didn’t know what to do. If Danny had been anyone else, they would have already been in bed, devouring each other, not talking about their inner lives. “I never thought of myself as kind. But I appreciate that you feel that way.”

Danny gazed at him a moment longer before a gentle smile curved his lips. He reached up and touched Dave’s cheeks, his fingertips brushing the skin gently. The touch was electrifying, sending heat tingling through Dave’s entire body. How a touch could be so sensuous and comforting all at once, he couldn’t begin to know.

“You can rest here,” Danny said.

Dave stared at him. The words seemed to move in the air between them, soft, caressing, like Danny’s smile. “Thank you,” he managed to say. His voice was nearly a whisper, catching in his throat, trapped by the sudden swirl of emotions. How the hell did Danny do it? How did he speak to Dave’s heart, to the things he felt privately, unspoken even in therapy, as if Danny could see straight inside him, to his soul? He sighed, reminded of the feeling that had plagued him for the last three years. Soul-weariness was the only description he’d ever had for it. “I could use a rest.”

Danny nodded. “I know.”

Dave continued to gaze at Danny’s full soft lips, at the dark hints of moustache above them. Like the night before, Dave couldn’t wait any longer. He had to taste him again.

He reached up, slipping his fingers into Danny’s hair. The sleekness of it against the pads of his fingertips sent another thrill of heat down his arm. The nearly overwhelming impulse to crush his mouth down onto Danny’s rose up, but he didn’t act on it. He couldn’t. Something made him cautious with Danny, respectful in approaching him. He didn’t want to scare him away, yet he also wanted to... appreciate him. He leaned in, moving his face closer. Danny’s clean scent filled his nostrils. He could hear the even rise and fall of Danny’s breath. The quiet, gentle sound was oddly comforting.

Danny’s hands still rested on his cheeks, and he brushed his thumbs back and forth across Dave’s skin. He lifted his face closer to Dave’s, making it clear he wanted to be kissed.

Dave’s moved his fingers deeper into Danny’s hair, savoring the smoothness, cradling his head. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips to Danny’s. A tiny sigh escaped his throat from the contact.

Danny’s lips parted slightly, and he tentatively licked across the seam of Dave’s lips. He seemed to be exploring the feel and taste of him.

Dave let him in, meeting him with the tip of his tongue. The moist heat of their mouths melted together, and Dave pulled Danny closer, relishing in the taste of Danny’s lips and tongue, appreciating the way Danny’s scent heated him deep inside. He let his other hand caress Danny’s back over his sweater, longing to feel Danny’s bare skin and lean muscles against his fingertips and palm.

Danny’s slid his hands down Dave’s cheeks, down the sides of his throat and coming to rest on his chest. His kiss was still gentle, yet Dave heard Danny’s breath rasping more heavily and felt his back rising and falling deeply under his hands. His tongue stroked Dave’s in rising hunger, and he pressed his hands more firmly on Dave’s chest.

Gently, Dave pulled away from their kiss and looked at Danny’s face. Danny’s golden skin was flushed a darker shade, and his eyes smoldered. His already full lips were slightly swollen from the kisses.

Dave’s heart and body surged with joy at the physical evidence that Danny wanted this as much as he did. But that same sense of caution and respect stayed with him. He knew Danny was inexperienced, and he wanted to make it good for him. “I don’t want to push you, you know.” His arousal made speech difficult.

A tiny smile tugged at Danny’s lips. “I know. You’re not pushing me.”

Dave continued to gaze at him, a simple act he was finding very pleasurable. He’d told Danny before that Danny was handsome enough to be a model or a movie actor, and he’d meant it with his whole being. His hands remained splayed on Danny’s back, caressing him in small circles. His erection swelled uncomfortably against his long underwear bottoms, and he wanted nothing more than to release it and stretch the length of his naked body against Danny’s. He just wasn’t sure how to take the next step that would bring them there.

Fortunately, and to his surprise, he didn’t have to figure it out. In the next moment, Danny took his hand and started leading him toward the back of the apartment.

Dave’s stomach and heart flipped at the same time. Damn, he felt like the luckiest guy on Earth.

Then he remembered that Danny had been making tea when he came out and found Dave looking at his paintings. Dave grinned as they went through the doorway of a bedroom.

Screw the tea. The tea could wait. All night, if his good fortune held out.