Hiya! Given my difficulties with series 2 of Ashes to Ashes (which have been painfully documented elsewhere), my steadfast editor has stepped in to find the smutty where I cannot. So this week we've switched places - she wrote and I edited. If you're lucky enough to know her, go ahead and say thanks - if you don't she'll be reading the reviews right along with me.

Here's hoping I'm over it by next week. And thanks, ed.

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"No I don't know. Tell me." He'd pressed her on that, God knows why. Pretty bloody sure he did know, actually. Gene leaned back in his chair and traced the contours of her body with his eyes as she took the phone call. He knew alright, but he wanted to study her eyes when she answered. Wanted to know what she'd say, how she'd phrase it. He was damned if he was going to let her wriggle out of this one.

"So?" Alex sat shakily back down. She shook her head and tried to blink away the unsettling voice that still echoed in her ears. She breathed out slowly, the fear subsiding. She wanted to tell him, wanted his help. His protection, even. "Tell me. The silly girly stuff." Was Gene really still harping on about Jackie's throwaway comment? What did he want her to say? She fumbled for the least sexually charged expression she could find.

"She somehow got the impression that you and I were…" She tailed off. Why was this so hard to say? She ran a hand through her hair.

Gene's eyes narrowed. "Shaggin'?"

Alex burst out laughing. "Yes!" She gasped for air, choking a laugh. "That's what she thought. God knows why." It wasn't funny. Gene didn't laugh.

"You soon put her straight on that one then, Bolls?" He pressed his lips together, then reached for his glass and swallowed down the rest of his scotch. Studied the tablecloth. Mac was dead. Everything he thought he knew was wrong. If he could be sure of this one thing it would help.

Of course he wanted to have her from the minute her saw her. Well, not when he thought she was a tart. But soon after. Could've shagged her on more than one occasion, like as not. God, she liked a drink. Used to get this lost look on her face. The easiest thing in the world would have been to have carried her upstairs and slipped her a length. Good thing he was a fucking gentleman. He'd got used to copping a look at her arse, glancing down her top. That was enough.

Alex smiled fondly at him. "Yes. I did." Gene said nothing. He wasn't about to make this easy for her.

It was different for him now. Things had got complicated. For some reason he needed her to like him. When she looked at him in that goofy way, even though she appeared to be giving him the brush off, it did strange things to his insides.

Gene held her gaze. Something unsayable was hanging in the air between them. Alex shifted in her chair – what else did he want her to say? She was suddenly aware that her boot was touching his and slid her foot away. God this was awkward. She had the uncomfortable feeling that he could see straight into her head. As a psychologist, she was well aware that sexual fantasies had little bearing on real life desires. If anything, her sordid little private vignettes in which her Guv took her forcefully from behind over his desk (usually wearing his coat, often his driving gloves) had made her all the more determined not to go there in real life. Such a bad idea.

"It would be stupid, Gene." She said softly, smiling at the table. Actually she wasn't really sure what she thought. He was too close. This was too intimate. She wanted him to say something flip. To break the tension. He didn't.

"Would it, though." It was a statement. Not a question. He thought he knew. Though if he was pressing her down onto the mattress and looking into her eyes as she came he'd know for certain. He moved his boot back against hers. Studied her through half-closed eyes. He could wait as long as it took.

He was doing that thing with his eyes again. It was too much. She felt naked. Swimmy. Someone had pulled the plug on her brain. The entire world seemed to be focused on the three inches of space where his boot was touching hers.

"You need another drink?" His voice in his ears seemed to have dropped a register. His trousers felt tight. He needed to get her upstairs. She shook her head. The candle guttered and went out. Standing, he reached for her hand. His chair fell back against the wall. Wordlessly, she went with him.

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They fell together onto the sofa, still covered with the bedclothes she'd put out for Jackie. Gene was kissing her, his tongue delving deep into her mouth as if he had no need to breathe. He smelled of man and cigarettes. She was already too wet to consider whether this was a good or bad idea. Her hands roamed over his chest, his back. He was so solid, she could feel the last vestiges of her earlier fear being forcefully driven from her body. She could drown in him, wanted to eat him. Alex slid one hand between the buttons of his shirt, tried unsuccessfully to loosen his tie with the other.

"Hang on." He grunted, sitting up to pull it off and undoing most of his buttons at the same time. He felt her two hands slide inside his shirt as he settled back down. She tasted like he couldn't have imagined. For some reason in all his nightly fantasies, when he took her in every way imaginable, he had never thought what she would taste like. His cock was pressing hard against his underpants. He wanted it to touch her skin. Gene felt her hand slide down over the front of his trousers, heard the hitch in her breathing as her fingers explored the straining bulge.

Reaching down with one hand he undid the last of his shirt buttons, his trouser belt and fly swiftly releasing his tented underwear. He was still kissing her. As her hand slid beneath the waistband of his boxers he groaned into her mouth. Thrusting her tongue deep she curled her fingers around his shaft, thick and hot. "Oh God, Gene." She needed it inside her. She rubbed her thumb across the head, feeling the wetness, tracing around the tip with her thumb. "Alex. Get your clothes off." he growled.

Sitting up slightly Alex started to take off her blouse. Gene kissed across her neck and shoulders as she pushed the silky material down her arms. She reached around to unfasten her bra as Gene pushed the straps off her shoulders. His eyes gleamed darkly as he took in the sight of her firm breasts. His long fingers cupping each one he bent down to kiss and suck. Alex caught her fingers in his hair as his hot breath and nibbling teeth made her squirm and buck her hips against his leg. Her breath caught as she looked down and suddenly took in the reality of her DCI, eyes shut, hair falling over his forehead, taking her nipple into his searching mouth. Bloody hell. She shut her eyes.

Gene looked up, panting. "You need to…" He wrestled with her jeans. Wriggling, she slid out of them, kicked her boots onto the floor. White cotton knickers. He would have imagined silk. His cock twitched. Christ he needed her to take them off. Pulling his trousers and pants down to his ankles he sat up and pulled his boots off. Socks too. He wanted to do this properly. Running his gaze down her body he hooked his fingers into her pants and pulled them down. God they were wet. If he didn't know before, he knew now. She wanted him. He slid one finger, two, inside her and felt her press her hips up, groaning. Working his fingers slowly, he took her left breast in his other hand and rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. "Gene…oh God" He looked at her, naked, waiting, gasping. "I need you inside me." Pressing her shoulders to the mattress with both hands, he moved his body between her legs. "Open your eyes." he grunted. It seemed important. He wanted to look as he entered her, to see in her face what was happening to her body. She opened lust-filled eyes as he pushed his cock into her, gasping with eyes wide as she took his full length. He couldn't not move, wanted to make the moment last, had to thrust, he moved his hands off her shoulders, took the weight on his elbows and started to find a rhythm.

His cock filling her completely, his long body pressing against hers, his hair flopping over his face, hot breath on her neck; she was lost in him. Matching his rhythm she moved against him, until his every stroke was ecstasy. Wanting more still she found his mouth with hers. His tongue and his cock now deep inside her, she rode and bucked until the world fell away and she was gone. Feeling her orgasm gripping his shaft, Gene thrust harder, faster, beads of sweat dripping onto her face and neck. She opened her eyes in time to see him come, face twisted as if in pain, lost in his own private world, sweat breaking out all over his back as he collapsed on top of her.

Rolling slowly off her he stretch out an arm underneath her shoulders and looked her in the eye. She held his gaze. Her face felt washed clean with pleasure. Gene chuckled. "Of course you're right, DI Drake. You and me? Ridiculous idea."