Fearless Leader (Juxtapose City) by Tricia Owens Page A

Worse, a subordinate. Black knew better and he'd resisted, he truly had. When the team was being put together by Dickerson Black had noted the lingering look Jake had given him upon their first introduction to each other. He'd known to be wary.
    After three months and double as many missions successfully completed, Black had thought he'd made his disinterest clear to the other man. Jake, however, seemed to see only what he wanted to. Despite Black's efforts to avoid being alone with the man Jake had cornered him one night in the workout room that spanned the back of JC2's housing. The memory, five months old, still made Black angry...
    In the mirrors that lined the far wall he watched the door open from the Dugout side. With dread, he knew who it would be even before the familiar light-brown hair poked itself inside. Black kept his face expressionless as Jake regarded him in the reflection.
    "What are you up to, Black?"
    "What does it look like?"
    Undeterred by the frosty reply, Jake stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He was dressed like Black in navy shorts and a gray T-shirt, standard-issue from the Department. He had a towel slung around his neck and gripped it with both hands as he watched Black do his bicep curls.
    "You've got nice definition going on there."
    Black eyed him in the mirror. "That sounded like the opening of a gay porn flick."
    Jake cocked his head, smiling enigmatically. "Did it? I wouldn't know."
    He studied Black in the mirror, waiting for a response, a heated denial. Black didn't waste his breath with either. He pretended that Jake wasn't there and finished his set in silence. Maybe if he ignored the other man he would get the hint and go away. He put away the weights and started to reach for new ones. No such luck.
    "You need a spotter? Surely you want to do heavier sets?"
    Black hesitated, hating that he hesitated. He didn't want Jake to affect him. He couldn't, not while being the other man's commanding officer. "Sure," he said crisply. He wasn't about to let Jake intimidate him.
    Jake grinned and moved to the bench. "How much you want?"
    Black told him and waited while the other man added the weights to the bar. He was nervous and didn't want to be. Chiding himself for feeling as though he were being stalked he carefully lay back on the bench and accepted the bar onto his palms. He'd started with a lower weight than usual, unconcerned with impressing Jake with how much he could bench and more concerned with being able to control himself.
    He didn't look up at the other man, focusing his eyes on the ceiling tiles and not on the golden gaze that he could feel moving over his face and down his body. Damn it, this was a bad idea.
    "That's it, keep it up," Jake urged in a low voice. "You're lookin' good. Just two more -- you got it."
    Black hid a scowl. He'd never noticed how sexual the simple words of encouragement could be if you were in that frame of mind. Careful to avoid any accidental contact with Jake he slid off the bench to switch places with the other man. He added more weight as he was instructed. Staring fixedly at the metal bar, he lowered it into Jake's waiting hands.
    Jake was pumping a lot. His breath came out in controlled, explosive bursts. Black tried not to notice how the veins popped out beneath the golden skin of Jake's biceps and forearms, how the muscles stretched rope-like beneath his thin T-shirt. Unlike Jake, Black didn't say a word while the man completed his set. He didn't want anything he said to be construed as the wrong kind of encouragement.
    After Black had helped guide the bar back into its rests, Jake sat up, panting slightly. His skin had reddened somewhat with exertion.
    "Whew! That's good!" Jake exclaimed, feeling his chest muscles through his T-shirt. "Got a nice burn starting." He squeezed himself slightly, his thumb grazing over an erect nipple. Black kept his eyes on the ground as they traded places but again, he felt the golden gaze moving over