We settled face to face, Will still sitting with one arm propped on his raised knee, me with my legs crossed.  He took my hand and squeezed it.  A smile flirted with the corners of his mouth.

“Trust me, kid.  New ground rule number one.  No dates, lunches, dinners, or drinking with anyone of the opposite sex unless it’s strictly business.”
           
At first, I pretended to think about it, then nodded.  “That sounds fair.  Is there a limit on how much I can drink at a business lunch or dinner meeting?”  Poop.  Did that make me sound like a wino?
           
“Your call.  I trust your judgment.  Rule two.  No flirting, kissing, necking, touching, sleeping, or sex, et cetera, with anyone else.  No exceptions.”
           
“No argument there.  What else?”
           
He grinned at me and looked thoughtful.  “Let’s see.  Rule three.  Anything I tell you about any active cases is strictly confidential.  And you have to develop your acting skills to the point where you don’t give anything away unintentionally.”
           
Putting this serious matter in third position surprised me.  “Goes without saying, but a rule is fine by me.  Only tell me what I need to know.  If I think I need more, I’ll explain why.  All right?”
           
He nodded.  “Works for me.  Rule four.  We both stick within our allotted cell phone minutes and pay our own phone bills.  If one of us says it’s time to hang up, the other does so without debate.”

Moaning a little for effect, I protested half-heartedly.  “You realize, that means we can’t fight over the phone.”

He grinned.  “Let’s save our confrontations for face to face combat.  More exciting.  And then there’s always make-up sex afterward.”

I can live with that.  “Good point.  Can you think of anything else?”  When he didn’t say anything else, I added playfully, “We can always reopen the negotiations at a later date if something comes up.”

“There is one more thing.  We have to see each other two or three times a month, every other week at minimum.”
           
Dismayed, I sucked in air, fearing this might be a commitment I couldn’t make.  Unless I flat out turned down assignments, I exercised only limited control over my schedule.  “Oh, Will, I don’t know if I can promise.  So many of my tours last longer than fourteen days.”
           
The muscle in his neck twitched and the planes of his face hardened.  He drew in a breath between clenched teeth.  “It’s critical for me, Tiger.”
           
“Make or break?”
           
“I’m afraid so.  Surely, you can take a night off during your tours.  Most of the time we’re not too many hours apart by plane, and I have access to military transport.”
I grimaced at the thought of the past few days.  “You know what happens when we try to get together when we’re both on the job.  This trip is a perfect example.”
           
“Hmm.  I guess we’ll have to work on that.” 
After thinking about it, I gave in and agreed most of the time it would be possible.  “But there has to be some leeway – for both of us – for extraordinary circumstances.”

“Agreed.  Now, if it were up to Mr. Johnson here, we’d have to see each other at least two or three times a day, but I convinced him we could manage with a less intense schedule … if necessary.”

“You’re cute when you talk dirty.  And how do our jobs fit into this?  Does work always come first, or us?”

That appeared to be something he hadn’t thought about.  “Don’t know.  We’ll have to play it by ear for a while.”

We sealed our agreement with a long kiss with lots of tongue, touching, rolling around, grunting, and sweat.  Later, as we cuddled in each other’s arms, the afterglow pumped up my courage.

“When are you going to teach me the other half-of-it?  The part I don’t know?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

He pulled me to the edge of the bed and draped my legs over the side.  Then he dropped to his knees on the floor in front of me and nudged my thighs apart.

“I know this one already.”