"No, Jean.  I said, no!"

"Why not?  It's just for fun, nothing *really* serious."

"Nothing serious?  You just propositioned me!  That's sounds pretty damn *serious* to me.  And... Jean, Jeannie stay away from me.  I said, get back!  I mean it!"

"No you don't.  You know you want to.  I've seen the way you look at me.  Just give in, surrender."

"I don't look at you any different than I do anyone else.  You're imagining things."

"I don't think I am.  You've made it obvious from the first day you came here that you're attracted to me.  That you *want* me."

"Oh, God.  I don't.  I really, really *really* don't.  Not that you're not a nice person and all, but on a sexual level?  You do nothing for me.  And anyway, what about Cyke?  You forgetting your marriage vows already?"

"No, I haven't.  Scott is wonderful, very satisfying believe it or not, but you. . . well, you ooze sex appeal.  I've never done this before, and it's not like I'm cheating on him, not really."

Logan walked up the corridor in time to hear that last past, and, intrigued, stepped closer to the half-open door.  He peered in curiously and saw Jean standing on one side of the large bed she shared with Cyke, staring amorously at the person standing across from her.  His eyes followed the focus of her gaze to a chest.  A heaving chest.  With breasts.  Beautifully large, rounded breasts that were the epitome of perfection.  On the other side of the bed, fists clenched, eyes wide and slightly panicky, stood. . . Rogue?

He swallowed a chuckle as the words he'd heard assimilated themselves.  So Jean's bisexual, and coming on to Rogue?  Logan couldn't say he'd ever noticed Jean, in any way of interest, but this?  He never would've pegged her for a bi, though she did have good taste in picking a great person like his best pal to seduce.

From the sound of things, though, it didn't seem Rogue was into that, or willing to experiment - which seemed to be what Jean wanted.  And what the fuck did Jean mean about the sex-appeal thing? he wondered.  Rogue is hardly even female, she's like a guy with breasts and a really great understanding of the female mind.  Maybe that's what Jean likes about her.

He snorted back a laugh at the thought of his buddy trying to fend off the good doctor with the spatula she always carried around with her.  Just in case, she'd told him once.  In case of what? he'd asked.  A cooking emergency?  And she'd glared at him and told him there was more than just one use for a spatula.  Before he could come up with an answer to that, she, in a move he hadn't anticipated, had reached over and whapped him upside the head with said object.  Of course, he'd sworn and cursed her for that - it was his obligation as a friend to pretend to be pissed about the little things - and she'd laughed and shoved the spatula between his teeth, explaining their third use.  Naturally that had led to a discussion about what an inventive person could do with a spatula, and had ended only when the uses were in double digits and taking on a decidedly sexual tone.

A small shriek pulled him from that memory - one that always made him smile - and he refocused on what was happening in the next room.

Obviously Jean had made another pass, because Rogue was running around the bed with Jean hot on her tail - he grinned at that - and she said, somewhat desperately, "Jean, wait.  I don't want this, I am *so* nowhere near the region of wanting this.  And even if I did, I couldn't."

They had stopped now, Logan saw, Jean still ogling Rogue lasciviously and Rogue looking far more panicked than she had before.  "Why not?" Jean challenged.

"Well, um...  I'm with someone and he wouldn't approve - he, he'd see it as infidelity."

"Really.  And just who is this invisible man?"

Jean was obviously not buying that.  Think fast, Rogue, he thought.

There was a pause.

Then, "Logan.  I'm dating Logan.  Have been for a while now."

Outside the door, Logan's eyebrows rose.  Now *that* was news to him.

"Logan?" Jean seemed to be considering that.  And rejecting it.  "If that's so, why haven't I seen you two together in... that way?"

"We're- very private people.  But you remember that day you saw me in the hallway and I was still in my nightgown?"

"Yes, with the bunny slippers," Jean remembered lewdly.  Not a good idea Rogue, Logan thought, reminding her of seeing you wearing the stuff you sleep in.

"Umm... those slippers are, uh, Logan's.  I was coming back from his room."

"Logan owns *those* slippers?"

"Oh yeah, he loves them.  Footie pajamas, too."

Bunny slippers?  Footie pajamas?  His eyes narrowed.  Oh, she was going to pay for that.  With a plan already formulating, he swung the door open.

He strode in, two sets of startled eyes tracking his movements as he walked towards Rogue.

Reaching her, he grabbed her around the waist and said huskily, "I missed you, darling."

Her green eyes widened and she opened her mouth to say something, but he didn't give her a chance.  He closed his lips firmly over hers and thrust his tongue into her mouth.  He made sure Jean knew there was tongue involved, and deliberately pressed Rogue's body against his own, stroking and squeezing her ass with both hands.  Then, her tongue tentatively touched his and the kiss changed, became something more, and he promptly forgot why he'd kissed in the first place, that she was just a pal, and even that Jean was in the room with them.  The world has ceased to exist for him, all that he cared about was the body rocking against his, the tongue sliding in his mouth, his tongue tasting the sweet, faintly citrusy flavour that turned him on more than anything he'd ever experienced before.  Then he realized that it was Rogue, his buddy, that he was holding in his arms, rubbing against the ridge of his arousal, and that aroused him even more.

Reluctantly, he broke off the kiss when he heard Jean clearing her throat.  Loudly.

He lifted his head, but kept his arms around Rogue, who was looking up at him with befuddled green eyes.  Jean glared at them both - angry, Logan thought, that he'd spoiled her plans for Rogue - and marched out of the room, which was strange, as it was *her* room they were in.

Logan, not thinking of Jean a second longer than he had to, looked down at Rogue again.  She was gorgeous, sexy, and definitely a woman.  His plans shifted, changed to accommodate the new slant his friendship was taking.

While previously he had wanted to embarrass her a little, now all he wanted was her.

And when he wanted something as badly as her, he want after it with everything he had.  So, Logan being Logan, he planned.

Firstly, he needed a strategy, a plan that would involve them being close sexually, and very very often.  Of course, vital to the plan was that she think it was all her idea.  He was examining The Plan from every possible angle when she spoke.

"Why, why'd you do that?" she asked, running a hand through her long hair and lowering her eyes his chest.

"Payback," he said simply, and she groaned.

"You heard that?"

"Every last word, darling."

"Well, then you get why I had to do it.  Jean was-"

"I know.  When Jean finds out this was all a lie, she's going to be chasing you harder than ever."

"Oh, God, you're right.  I hadn't even thought about that."

"Hmmm," he said noncommittally.

She turned those beautiful, soft green eyes on him and he almost promised her the world.  Whoa, not yet, he cautioned himself.  Wait for it. . .

"Logan?  Would you mind, um, keeping this little white lie up for a while?  At least in front of Jean?"

Gotcha.  He pretended reluctance.  "I don't know.  I mean, if we act all lovey-dovey around Jean and platonic around everyone else, well she's going to find out."

"You're right.  We'll have to do it in front of everybody."

Baby, he thought, the things I want to do to you don't involve an audience.  Aloud, making it clear he was only doing this because they were friends, he said, "Okay.  You know I wouldn't do this for anyone else, but because it's you. . ."

She wrapped her arms around him, face lit with a brilliant smile of relief.  "Thank you, Logan!  You have no idea how much you're helping me."

And you have no idea how close you are to being tossed on that bed and 'helping' me with *my* problem.

He grinned against her dark head, hazel eyes glowing almost a cat-like amber, and thought, The stage has been set and the players are all in place.  Let the games begin.
 

TBC