Title: Unexpected Love
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Zeke Barnes/Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: CSI: Miami/A Gifted Man
Rating: PG-13
Table: 6, 50ficlets
Prompt: 40, Sex
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Zeke Barnes or Ryan Wolfe, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

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Zeke opened his eyes, blinking for a moment before he managed to orient himself. No wonder the bed felt strange; he wasn't alone in it. He was with Ryan, and the two of them had made love not once, but three times last night before they'd finally fallen asleep.

He shouldn't feel odd at waking up in Ryan's bed; he had been fairly sure from the first time they met that this would happen. The attraction had been far too strong for them not to have ended up in bed at some point; he just hadn't known it would happen this soon.

He definitely had no complaints about the sex; it had been fantastic, just as he'd known it would be. He'd only had to look at Ryan once to know that he would be an incredible lover; there was just something about him that bespoke of not only stamina and inventiveness, but caring as well.

Ryan was everything he'd ever wanted in a lover; he was lucky to have found this man, luckier still to be here in his bed. He couldn't help but wonder if Ryan felt the same about him, though. Once he awoke, what would be going through his mind?

The last thing Zeke wanted was for this to be a one-night stand. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes, letting himself remember all that Ryan had said to him the night before. No, this wasn't a brief fling that would burn out quickly. Ryan had said that he didn't want that.

He didn't want a brief interlude, either. He was too old for that, Zeke told himself firmly. No, he wasn't even thirty yet, but he was still too old to jump from one bed to another -- and that had never been his thing, anyway. He wanted a real relationship, one that would last.

No matter how great the sex was, this would have been only a one-night stand if he hadn't felt such a close connection with Ryan right from the beginning. That was unlike anything he'd ever experienced with anyone else; he didn't usually fall so quickly, or so deeply.

Zeke had always felt that it took time to love someone; he had always thought that relationships started with attraction, and then deepened into more complex feelings after both people had gotten to know each other. That was the way it had always been with him.

But his feelings for Ryan had taken him completely by surprise. He had fallen head over heels in love at first sight -- even though that concept was something that he'd never really let himself believe in before. It had always seemed like something that only happened in fairy tales, or romance novels.

Meeting Ryan had completely changed his attitude about falling in love. He wasn't going to try to delude himself -- this was love, he was sure of it. This wasn't a mere infatuation, and it wasn't a desire that would burn out as quickly as it had begun.

The sex was terrific, but it wasn't the most important part of what he shared with Ryan. The emotions that flowed between them were far more important -- and satisfying -- than the physical part of their relationship. It was the emotions that made the sex so great.

Zeke couldn't help but smile wryly at that thought; he'd always had the tendency to judge whether any of his relationships would last by how good the sex was. But maybe that was only because he'd been afraid to let himself fall, afraid to give his heart as completely as he could give his body.

That hadn't been the case at all with Ryan. He had given his heart even more easily than his body, really. For the first time in his life, he knew what it was to fall in love with his whole heart and soul, to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he'd found the love of his life.

Unexpected love was also a little scary, Zeke thought to himself as he closed his eyes again, sighing softly. It was more than a little frightening to realize that he was so much in love with Ryan that losing him would be like a sucker punch to the gut, one that he would never recover from.

He wasn't going to lose Ryan, Zeke told himself, keeping his inner voice strong and firm. They had only just found each other; he shouldn't be thinking along those lines. They could easily turn out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy if he paid enough attention to them.

He needed to look towards a bright future for the two of them, not start worrying about whether they would stay together or not, especially on their first morning together. And really, he had no reason to think that they couldn't go the distance, not after last night.

The sex had not only been terrific, but it had been addictive. Even now, he couldn't wait for Ryan to wake up, and he hoped that they'd make love again this morning. It didn't matter that he was a little sore from the night before; that could always be taken care of with a hot bath for two.

Zeke smiled at the thought, hoping that Ryan would find that idea just as appealing as he did. And as the other man stirred behind him, he knew that it wouldn't be long before he could ask Ryan how he felt about that -- thought that would have to wait until after they'd enjoyed each other yet again.

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