Word Count: 6,615
Date: 10/25/05
Series: Season 1
Rating: M+
Category: Relationship
Pairing/Focus: Lee/Kara
Warnings: Blatant, unquestionable, graphic sex. No plot. Some
fluff. You've been warned.
Summary: Kara's mad, Lee has a bribe, and things get a little…
hot.
Spoilers/Disclaimers: No spoilers, and the only thing belonging
to Ron Moore are the characters and situations… and he wouldn't do this with
them in a million years.
Okay, so it had been a really crappy thing to do. Lee Adama knew that he'd taken advantage of a friendship, but even that knowledge didn't negate the necessity of the action he'd taken.
But it had still been a crappy thing to do.
Still, until Lee saw Kara approaching him from the opposite end of the corridor, he hadn't realized just what a favor he had called in. As she entered the semi-crowded quarters, approaching her locker with a scowl of frightening proportions fixed firmly in place, she sent lesser warriors scurrying for cover.
Lee wanted to run with them.
She was covered - literally - from head to toe with a foul smelling sludge. He could smell the stench from his location nearly twenty feet away. If it was that bad from a distance, he couldn't have imagined how Kara must have dealt with the reality in close quarters.
It wasn't as though he'd had a choice. There simply weren't enough flyers who were comfortable enough with the Cylon technology to be able to effectively work with them. Yes, they were slimy and disgusting, and a day spent inside one of the organisms couldn't be pleasant, but if they didn't find out everything about the craft, then they'd be leaving themselves open to an even greater possibility of future losses to the spacecraft.
They had to know how it worked, and Kara was the best equipped to figure it out.
Lee kept telling himself that as he watched her snatch the door to her locker open and slam around inside to bring out a clean undershirt and panties. She didn't bother with a uniform, and Lee realized that there probably wasn't one. So much had been lost, and so many had to be clothed, that few warriors had more than one change of clothes. Their uniforms had gone out that morning; Lee hadn't thought of that when he'd given the assignment.
She was going to kill him.
Then again, maybe she wouldn't. A long-faded memory surfaced of his father presenting his mother with a box of expensive Caprican chocolates when he'd missed her father's birthday party. A similar experience had occurred when Zak had graduated secondary school and the eldest Adama had shown up two days later with a sad expression and Picon nut clusters. Chocolate might not make all things right, but when it came to the female of the species, it helped.
Lee didn't really understand the whole concept himself. Sure, he liked the candy, but he had seen some of his pilots - all female - literally threaten lives to obtain it. He supposed it must have something to do with the x-chromosome. Men had it, but women had twice as much and it turned what was a simple pleasure into an overwhelming need.
And it just so happened that Lee had a hunk of chocolate hidden in the back of his locker. It had been received in thanks for a favor given, and Lee had taken it more out of obligation than actual desire for the treat. He preferred vanilla. That was just him.
But Kara was a chocolate connoisseur. He'd seen Zak get around her more than once with a box wrapped in a fancy bow. She always asked for fudge on her ice cream, and he didn't think he'd ever seen her eat a piece of white cake; she'd rather do without. In the back of his locker, there just might be a treatment for the terminal guilt Lee was beginning to feel. After all, Kara was more than a good friend; she was his best pilot.
He approached her cautiously, much as he would a wounded animal. His goal was to get past her, to his own locker, and to retrieve the bribe. He didn't make it that far.
It didn't exactly surprise him when she whipped around and slammed her locker door to face him. The fury in her expression was clear, and possibly more than he could talk his way out of. He wondered for a moment if she would be throwing a punch in the near future, and unconsciously shifted himself to a more stable stance just in case.
"You lousy, useless, lazy…"
"Kara," he began. He didn't get any further.
"Just go see if they need anything, my ass," she grumbled. "You knew frakking well that once Tyrol saw me, he'd shove me into that overheated cesspool of a ship."
"You're the only pilot qualified…"
"Don't give me that shit," she told him clearly. "You're CAG, so you can order me to do whatever you frakkin' want!"
"If you'd just give me a minute…"
"I gave you the whole day!" she shouted. "I've been in the belly of that slimy beast for the last twelve hours. I stink, I'm sore, my knee is throbbing, and if you don't disappear I may wind up spending my night in the brig for decking an absolute asshole, superior or not!"
Lee said no more. There wasn't a point. Instead, he stepped carefully around her and to his own locker. He heard hers slam open once more, saw some socks join her underwear, and he reached carefully behind his copy of the ancient scroll to find his stash of sweets.
He removed it slowly, making sure that none of his motions would startle her, and gently closed his locker with the treasure in his hand.
"Kara…" he tried again.
"Frak off."
"I wanted to say thank you," he said simply, and extended his hand.
She twirled like the fighter she was, belying the healing leg and clear fatigue she'd complained of. "And I said I don't…."
He watched as she ground to a halt, looking at the meager offering in his hand. "It's all I've got," he told her simply. "But it's yours. You earned it today."
She took a timid step towards him, looking at the wrapped object. "What is it?" she asked with suspicion.
Realizing belatedly that there was no way she could smell the chocolate over her own rather purulent odor, he lifted the paper from one corner to show her the candy. "Chocolate," he announced proudly, glad that the room was empty. He could just imagine fifteen women converging on him like a pack of starving wolves sensing their first meat in weeks. "It's the real deal."
Kara edged closer, and he resisted the urge to step back. Lords, but she did reek. The longer they kept the Cylon craft, the more offensive the odor seemed to become. Right now, the slimy and decayed material was covering her, clinging to her hair, and even dripping from one hand.
Carefully, he held out the chocolate so that she could see it. Rather than looking, she leaned in to nibble a corner of the candy. He watched her eyes close in ecstasy, a smile gracing her face for the first time he could remember. The last few weeks had been hard on them all, and he regretted that this was the first time it had occurred to him to give her this treat. She'd certainly earned it. On the other hand, giving it to her now might get him out of an awkward situation which risked their friendship, and that was more important to him.
Kara chewed the small piece of chocolate, then reached in for another. He wondered briefly if he'd be stuck standing there to feed her the whole thing when suddenly her arms came up around him and she shocked the hell out of him by kissing him full on the mouth.
Maybe there was something to the flavor of chocolate after all, Lee decided. Barely remaining coherent enough to keep the candy firmly in his hand, he stood there as Kara essentially devoured his mouth, the flavor of the candy filling his senses in the process.
It was not a friendly kiss. He wasn't sure where that thought had come from, but it was there and he couldn't shake it. Had he thought about kissing Kara? Hell, yes. She was attractive, had a fantastic body, and she could match him in any battle whether vipers, wits, or fists. Any man would be insane not to wonder if such a woman would be a worthy partner in other areas as well.
But thinking and feeling were too different things, and right now he was doing far too much of the latter to be doing any of the former. It wasn't until she finally pulled back, her grin still intact, that he was able to form a coherent thought - and take a complete breath.
"Lords, that's amazing," she told him with a wide smile. "You've been holding out on me."
Lee assumed she must be referring to the candy rather than the kiss, because she couldn't possibly be referencing… never mind.
Belatedly, he realized that she was looking at him rather oddly. As much as he'd liked the kiss - and the fodder for future fantasies it had provided him - he didn't want to see them on awkward footing. They needed to work together; they were good friends. He wanted to brush this off casually. Well, truthfully, he wanted to take her down to the deck - slime and all - and take all of her that there was, but realistically their professional relationship and friendship had to take priority over his adolescent urges.
Being the grown-up had always been a pain in the ass.
"Tell ya what," he offered. "This is yours. I'll tuck it into your locker, and then after you get cleaned up you can enjoy it a little more."
She gave a shrug, and then her smile widened. "I'm not the only one who needs to clean up," she told him with a wink.
And the hell of it was that she was right. He didn't know if the hug had been honest gratitude or inadvertent revenge, but either way she'd accomplished both goals. He was as filthy as she was, and he smelled as bad. He shook his head, trying to find the humor in the situation. "Okay," he admitted. "We need a shower."
She shook her head, grabbed her underclothes, and headed for the shower bays. Lee reached into his locker for similar garments and did the same. It didn't occur to him to wait, or to look for an area further away from her. He'd been living in co-ed quarters for so many years that he barely noticed the differences between the sexes anymore, at least not out of the context of a relationship. Yes, he could appreciate a well formed body, but he really didn't dwell on them. Most warriors were well built - Kara wasn't an exception - so it didn't occur to him that grabbing the spigot next to her and reaching for the community bar of soap was a less than stellar idea.
He was stripped down to nothing and feeling the lukewarm spray on his back before he realized just where he was and who he was with, and what they had been doing moments before. He hadn't planned it. Shit, he hadn't thought about it at all.
So he did what any gentleman would do in the situation. He didn't stare. In fact, he turned his back to Kara and essentially tried to pretend that it was just following a morning run and their presence side by side in the shower - the entirely vacant shower, except for them - was as normal as putting on his pants in the morning.
Or taking them off.
Ignore it. Yes, he would just ignore it. Unfortunately, certain parts of his anatomy were having more difficulty keeping things in perspective than others. In fact, there were certain… parts…. That were truly standing up and taking notice. He could only hope that with his back to her, Kara wouldn't notice the breach of etiquette.
He thought he just might make it through the shower right up until he felt small, strong hands on his shoulders. Wet hands. Soapy hands. "Kara?"
"Well, I figured that since you're the reason I'm a mess - and I'm the reason you're a mess - we might as well get one another cleaned up." He listened carefully for any uncertainty in her voice. He didn't find it. "Hand me the soap and I'll do your back."
Lee found himself at a crossroad, and an uncertain one at that. Was she just being practical? Was she just being a friend? Was her intent to play around literally or to screw around? Was she just going to set him up in revenge for the lousy job he'd assigned her?
He had a lot of questions, and not a single damned answer. So he did the only thing he really could without slamming any doors specifically. He let her take the lead, and said a quick and silent prayer that she wouldn't do too much damage if she was really out to get him. He wasn't in the most protected of states, and contrary to popular belief he wasn't made of ice. Many parts on his body were particularly warm - at the moment hot - and more than a little vulnerable.
But it was hard to keep his guard up when her hands slipped from the middle of his lower back, up the center, and then out across his shoulders in a butterfly pattern. He leaned forward involuntarily, letting his arms rest on the wall as she changed from a light touch to a firmer pressure.
The value of a good backrub was not something to be underestimated. No matter now careful a man was, it simply wasn't possible to scrub every inch of his own back. Added to the pressure of command, the tension that was a part of his innate personality, and the fact that he hadn't slept more than four hours at a stretch in the last two weeks… well, to say that her hands on his skin felt good was like saying that an end to the war would be nice. It simply didn't touch the feeling.
A groan escaped his lips despite his best efforts.
"Nice, huh?" she said, a smile evident in her voice. "Remember that when it's your turn. I expect some payback."
"You do, huh?" he said, his words a soft sigh. Lords but that felt good. She had changed her circular pattern to a more concentrated pressure on his lower back, kneading the muscles along his spine and moving steadily upwards. He wondered if he should offer to pay her.
"Well, yeah," she told him on a laugh. "It's bad enough that you stuck me in a Cylon stink-machine, but if you think you're going to get out of this without at least scratching my back, you'd better think again."
"Not a problem," he told her. "Lords, like that. Yeah…" He sighed again. "Just a few inches up and… yeah… right there."
She laughed lightly as he felt her fingers dig gently into a knot that had been bothering him for a week. "Predictable."
"Sorry."
"I'm not," she admitted. "The water isn't freezing, you're warm, and in about two minutes I'm gonna expect you to do the same for me. I'm pretty sure it's gonna feel as good as you make it seem."
"I'll do my best," he promised.
"I'll bet."
He wasn't sure exactly what he heard in her voice, but he didn't mind it. And gratefully the massage had relaxed him - all of him - enough that he wasn't in immediate danger of embarrassing himself. "Okay," he finally conceded as her hands began to wander lower, thumbs rubbing either side of his spine just above his buttocks. He didn't want her to undo the relaxation he'd managed to accomplish. "Turn around."
"What, you don't want to do the front?" she asked, but the joking in her voice was clear. It gave him more room for teasing.
"Hey, it's your choice. I gotta say that the front is at least as much fun as the back."
"Really?" she inquired.
"Oh yeah."
He turned then, expecting to find her back exposed to him. It was, but she was also peeking over her shoulder, eyes politely above the waist. She did have some level of tact. "We'll start with the back," she informed him.
"Damn."
They both laughed together at that, and he took a moment to lather his hands and start on her back. She was muscular, yes, as he'd known she would be. But there was a resilience to her flesh that his own didn't possess. It was something about the femininity that she couldn't hide - not here - that made him want to touch, to enjoy the sensation. It wasn't that Lee had any doubts about whether or not he liked touching women, but the fact of the matter was that it had been so damned long since he'd taken time to do so that he'd essentially forgotten. Or maybe he'd wanted to forget, because managing without this was pure hell.
Kara gave a soft sound, something between a sigh and a squeak, when he moved his hands too far inward and brushed the sides of her breasts. He started to apologize, and then decided that it would be dishonest to the point of disrespect. He wasn't sorry; not a bit. She felt amazing. There wasn't an inch of fat anywhere, not a single place on her body that wasn't toned and firm, and yet the softness of her skin was exponentially more shocking on her breasts. He liked to touch; he wanted to touch. If he had his choice, he'd turn her around and touch every place on her that there was to touch.
As though reading his mind, Kara turned in his hands to face him. His hands stilled immediately, his mind freezing. Had it been anyone else, the question wouldn't have even been asked, but this was Kara. It wasn't that she'd been involved with his brother, or even that his father saw her as a daughter, but rather that she was Lee's best friend. He didn't want to lose that due to pure lust, and that was exactly what had jolted through him as her breast had nestled perfectly into his palm.
"Don't stop now," she told him, her voice just a little lower.
He didn't, but he did take a deep breath to steady himself. "I'll only ask once," he told her carefully. "But I need to ask."
"No," she said as she moved closer. "You don't."
"Kara…"
"Shut up," she said softly, thankfully leaving out the cliched "kiss me" that usually followed the command. "I'll bet you can still taste chocolate." Her tongue made a short trip across her lower lip as though to emphasize the fact.
And that was that. Lee leaned forward, pressed Kara's body against the cool wall of the shower, and when she gasped at the cold he covered her mouth with his own.
She was right. He tasted chocolate. He also tasted something softer, saltier, and definitely feminine. It didn't take any more than that to put him in over his head.
Abstinence. What a horrible word. Granted, they'd been fighting a war and the physical needs of their bodies were often neglected out of necessity, but needs were still there. And Lee needed. He couldn't remember ever needing quite this much.
Turning his mind off wasn't the easiest thing he'd ever done. He was a thinker - an over-thinker according to some - and in this as with everything else his mind wanted to take it apart piece by piece. Somewhere within him, he found the strength to ignore the nagging voice that whispered "why" and "don't" and the ever-popular "you'll regret this." He just didn't care. The water was cool, Kara's body was warm, and for the first time in a long time he was willing to forget everything from the devastation of mankind to the mantle of command. Kara wasn't a friend, and she wasn't a sister, and at the moment she wasn't even a subordinate. Kara was a willing body, and for the moment that was all he cared about.
He stayed with her lips for a long time, mostly because every time he tried to drift she would capture his tongue with her teeth and bite down just hard enough to let him know that she wasn't quite finished. Eventually, she seemed to get enough, and he was able to move from lips to jaw, and then down her neck. He kissed and nibbled and licked, enjoying the tang of her soap and the occasional bubble of remaining shampoo that drifted into his path. When he reached the indentation of her collarbone, he drank greedily of the pooled water, nuzzling and biting and just enjoying.
Kara wasn't being particularly still, for which he was grateful. Her constant motion was one thing that let him know they were on the same page. As much as he needed this, he could never take it if she didn't offer it freely. But she was withholding nothing. She had initiated the play, and she was as engaged as he was. Her hands had left his sides, where they had remained during most of their kiss. She had inched her way closer to him, whether to get away from the shower wall or to get closer to him, he just couldn't be sure. Either way, the movement put her in contact with him from chest to groin, and the sensation took his breath away.
She did love to play. Her hands had spent a little time tickling along his sides, at least enough to have him smiling through the kiss before she nipped at him gently with her teeth. Then they had begun a trek across his back and down, tracing the path she'd massaged earlier and noting all the areas that had brought him the most pleasure. She was a persistent woman. Finally, when he still didn't raise his lips from her neck, she slid her hands further down to grasp his buttocks in a squeeze that was more than a little firm, yet sliding and slippery and altogether unnerving. Perhaps what concerned him most was that he didn't mind it. Lee had never enjoyed being openly groped by his partners; it wasn't bothering him at the moment, and that bothered him most of all.
Her fingers trailed along the rounded shape of him, back up to his spine, and then down the center line which was so very sensitive. He caught his breath more than once as she slid her fingers around in unpredictable patterns, sometimes moving down to his legs, and more than once coming back up to touch him where he was the most sensitive. When her hands finally moved primarily to the front, holding his length gently as she carefully scraped short nails along the sack beneath it, he bit down hard enough to leave a mark on her skin. She jumped, but she didn't argue.
Still, it was enough to force him to raise his head. He looked down at her expression, which was at once intent and playful, and he realized that he didn't need to think. Instead, he needed to give her the same kind of pleasure that she was giving him, and he needed to do it well.
He resumed his place at her neck, licking away the sting he'd left with his bite - although it would likely bruise by tomorrow - and then began moving downwards. The disadvantage was that it moved him out of range of her hands, but he found untold benefits as well. He moved from the top of her chest, lower, and brushed his lips along the softest skin possible.
Kara was muscular, and she'd never been a glamour girl, but her close fitting uniforms and restraining bras hid more than he would have really considered. Her breasts were larger than he'd expected, although not huge. They were taught, and round, and if it had been any other woman he just might have thought the word "perky". There was nothing perky about Kara, but the rapid intake of breath she gave when he latched on to a nipple and sucked with a fair amount of force was pretty damned close.
If Kara had moaned and groaned in pleasure at having her back rubbed, it was nothing to the reaction he got as he nibbled and sucked at her breasts, dragging his teeth over one nipple while he gently squeezed the other. Her back slammed the wall of the shower again, but she didn't seem to care. Her hands were firmly grasping his short hair, pressing his face into her chest, and even if he had wanted to move he would have found it difficult.
He wanted nothing of the sort.
Responsive was an understatement. Kara moved and moaned with each of his ministrations. She wiggled and sighed and even giggled once as he rubbed his face between her breasts with a playful smile. She was enjoying herself, and that made it a lot easier for him to do the same.
When he'd finally sated his initial curiosity with her chest - he wasn't finished, but he was wanting to travel some more unknown territory - he moved downward once more. Her hands remained in his hair as he flicked his tongue into her navel and he grinned as she shied away for just a moment. It seemed that he'd found another ticklish spot, and he filed the information away for future reference. He moved down from there to her lower belly, lapped at the skin with his tongue, just enjoying the smoothness of her skin and the freedom to do this. His hands wrapped around her bottom, squeezing gently and rubbing her in the same way she had rubbed him. She responded with the same involuntary intensity.
Finally, he could take the wait no longer. He eased his mouth down one leg, leaving open-mouthed kisses in his wake and wondering what she would do when he made his next move. He wasn't disappointed.
He moved his mouth up the inside of one thigh, his tongue making tiny circles on the firm and yet soft skin, before he finally reached his goal.
Unlike when he had latched tightly onto a breast - as much to see what she would do as for the pure greedy pleasure of doing it - this time he eased himself into position carefully, gently, and so naturally that he wondered if she was even going to notice what skin his tongue was currently tracing.
He needn't have wondered. Just as he made his second circle around the tender flesh, she let out the breath she'd been holding on what sounded like a whimper. And then she did the unthinkable.
"Lee, stop," she begged, pulling back slightly.
It took him a moment to focus, to change gears. "Huh?" he asked dumbly.
"Stop," she repeated. "I can't… I mean…" Her voice trailed off as she tried to catch her breath.
Embarrassment flooded into him along with something very near anger. She'd been right with him; he'd been sure of it. He couldn't believe that she'd be so much a prude as to…
"I can't stand up," she whispered, and he finally understood the significance of her tightened grip on his shoulders. His mind hadn't even registered that they had moved there from his hair.
Her knee. He felt like an idiot for not thinking of it. She'd been working all day, and the flooring of the shower had no give to it. She was probably in as much pain from her knee as she was pleasure from…
Without thinking any further, he moved gently up her body, putting his arms around her and giving her some support without actually telling her that he was doing so. He didn't have to; she knew just what he was doing. Once he'd given her a moment to rest - and his own body a moment to recover - he turned off the shower spray and walked her to the side of the room to grab her a towel. He wrapped her in the large sheet of material before tossing one around his own neck, and he made a quick survey of the adjoining quarters.
Empty. Apparently those who had went running when she'd come back from the deck had passed the word that she was best left alone for the moment. He was grateful for small favors.
He kept one arm around her as he walked her to her bunk, wondering just how much pain she must be in if she was allowing him to do so. He sat her down there, took a brief moment to dry himself off, and then looked down at her.
If he had been blushing when she'd told him to stop, then it was nothing to the color in her face now. She was blood red, her face turned away, and he could have sworn that he saw a tear in the corner of her eye.
"Hey?" he asked softly.
She shook her head.
"I'm sorry," he said gently. "It didn't even occur to me that your knee might be giving you trouble."
She shook her head again, and all doubt he'd had regarding her emotional state was removed as he watched the tear make its silent path down the side of her face, disappearing into the shell of her ear.
"You okay?" he asked, knowing how stupid the question was under the circumstances.
"I'm just mad," she ground out. "I finally got you where I wanted you, and I couldn't even stand up long enough to enjoy it."
He grinned at that. Lords, she hated any form of weakness. "And here I thought that I'd just turned your legs to rubber."
That at least got a smile out of her. "Maybe you did, but either way we lost our place."
He shook his head at that. "Nope," he challenged her. "We found a better one."
With that, he reached around and pulled the curtain before them, enclosing them within the presumed privacy of her bed. The action cast the space into shadows. "Damn," she complained. "There went my view."
He laughed slightly, shaking his head. "Not much to view between the cold water and the look on your face. Are you feeling better now."
"I'm fine," she told him as her hand trailed from his collar bone to his chest, making a circle around a flat male nipple. "How about you?"
"Better by the second," he admitted.
"Sorry for the interruption."
"Nothing to apologize for. In all honesty, it was probably better to get out of the common shower anyway."
"It's not like they haven't seen us shower before," she said with a feigned innocence.
"We'd finished the shower," he reminded her. "I had other things on my mind."
"I noticed. But the question is, do you remember where you left off."
"I've got a good idea," he told her as his fingertips trailed up the inside of her thigh, following the path his lips had traveled minutes earlier. The shudder that went through her was reassuring, and the enclosed space around them was quickly warming.
They wouldn't be disturbed. One unspoken rule in quarters was that closed curtains stayed that way. There were few areas of privacy on the Galactica, and those that existed were guarded intensely. Unless the Cylons were literally coming up their landing pods, no one would dare bother the CAG on his few hours off. To make matters even safer, he wasn't even in his own bed, but in Kara's. He didn't know a single person who was brave enough - or stupid enough - to bother Kara Thrace after the day she'd spent on the deck. No, Lee wasn't worried about interruptions.
But he did miss seeing her, and he had to admit that there was a certain spontaneity that they had lost during the transition.
Then Kara wrapped her hand around him and squeezed, and the time for rational thought was gone. "Oh, that's good," he muttered as his fingers completed their journey and tangled with soft, damp curls.
"Mmm," she agreed as her hips shifted towards him.
"I can't even remember the last time I did this," he muttered, nuzzling into her neck as he rose slightly above her to get a better angle, to touch more of her.
"About five minutes ago," she reminded him, and then spoiled the serious tone by giggling when he began to wrap one arm around her hips and pull her into a more accessible position.
"Brat."
"Well, yeah," she said, as though the fact should never be questioned.
"You'll pay," he informed her.
"Promise?"
He gave a chuckle, and then proceeded to exact his price. He'd already pulled her down so that her head was on the bed and her back flat. Now he used one arm to press a thigh away from him and he resumed the action he'd been attempting when she'd stopped him in the shower. Her reaction was the same as it had initially been, with a gasp and the involuntary pressure of her body against his face. He grinned at that, glad that she was enjoying, and then he got down to business.
It didn't take long before she was writhing beneath him, wiggling and reaching and trying to get a handhold on anything within range. Unfortunately, getting her this worked up had its effect on him as well, and he found himself becoming painfully impatient. With each motion of her body, he lost a little more control, and that made him very uncomfortable.
Once, Kara had teased him by telling him that he'd probably need a logistical manual to have sex, and that if he missed a step he'd likely go back to the beginning and consult with the instructions before continuing the process. Granted, she'd been ticked because he'd been harassing her about an incident that had happened at the academy - trying to talk her into having at least some sense of professional decorum rather than open sex in the quad in broad daylight - but he'd taken the words to heart. He was controlled and careful, and he did things in a certain order. Whether he was feeling the delay or not, every element of his being told him that she should come first. He'd never neglected his partner. Never.
But control was something that was rapidly leaving the equation. Then when Kara slid her hand from where it was grasping his length to the tightly held sack below, any effort at keeping himself in check was worthless.
"Kara," he muttered. "I can't… I've got to…"
"Then go ahead," she said with a laugh.
And he did. Shifting her thighs apart, he moved his body upwards and entered her in one smooth thrust, his only thought that he had to be inside her, and then only that he had to go deeper.
The rhythm he set was rapid without being punishing, although he didn't think she would have minded if he'd been slamming her into the floor. Her wet heat seemed to pull him in, grab hold, and then squeeze even tighter as he attempted to retreat. Within moments he was wetter than he'd been in the shower, his body shaking from the exertion, and he was gasping for breath.
He might have been embarrassed about the state if Kara hadn't been in similar a similar situation. Her breath rattled and gasped, her hands clutched frantically at his butt, and she seemed to be straining just as hard to get close to him as he was to get nearer to her.
She caught him off guard when she went over the edge, her body clamping down almost painfully on his own and her scream being muffled only by her teeth biting his chest. It was enough to change his sense of urgency to absolute immediacy. His only thought was to get deeper, to push further, to climb inside her if he possibly could.
And then he was there, his body coming apart in a release of pressure so great that it was almost painful. He tried to hold on for one more second, to enjoy the sensation of her body around him - enveloping him - but he was too far gone. He managed not to cry out, but it was a near thing. Months of frustration and tension were released in a single moment, and the act left him limp and drained.
It took a moment for him to register the palms against his chest as something more than the petting she'd been doing while he'd pleasured her. Groggily he realized that his entire weight was resting on her, and he wasn't a light man.
"Sorry," he muttered as he shifted to the side.
"Forgiven," she returned, sounding as tired as he did.
He knew he should move. He really planned to, but it was all he could do to think. "I need to go," he said, the words slurred. Why did he need to go? What was he supposed to be doing? Go where?
"Just go to sleep," she told him gruffly. "If you go crawling out of my bed with no clothes on, I'll get ribbed for the next six months, and you didn't have the good sense to grab our clothes before we left the shower."
"Oh," he said, not exactly agreeing, but not able to process her words enough to argue. "Sorry," he added. It seemed appropriate.
"Night, Lee," she told him, and he could have sworn that her voice was shaking.
"Mmm," he agreed, snuggling up to her warmth. He took the opportunity to glance up at her expression, but it was veiled by the shadows her curtain threw on her face. It was too bad, he decided. He kind of wanted to know what she was thinking, wanted to get one last look before he went out. He had no illusions that she would be here when he awoke. He didn't have any great hopes of this event repeating itself. He heard her mumble, but the words weren't clear. "What?"
"As good as chocolate," she muttered, snuggling against him and planting a kiss in the center of his chest.
The word sparked a thought. "The chocolate," he wondered aloud. "What happened to it? You didn't finish it."
"Nope," she admitted. "Stuck the rest in your locker while you were grabbing clothes. Next time you want a repeat, you'll know right where to find it."
That brought him nearly awake. "You mean, you can be bought?"
"For the right price."
He laughed openly. "At least now I know how to get around you."
"Well, I gotta tell you, the person who said that chocolate was better than sex couldn't have been doing it right."
"How about me?" he asked, only half-way insecure in the question. He only took her half-seriously, so he tried to believe that the answer didn't matter.
"As good as," she told him with another wiggle against him. "But that's because chocolate's pretty rare. You, on the other hand, have plenty of time to practice."
"I do?" he asked, thinking this might be an invitation.
"Mmm," she agreed. "Just be sure you bring the chocolate with you."
He used one finger to lift her chin and nip at her lips. He could almost swear that he could still taste the candy. He couldn't, of course. That would be impossible. But he thought he did just the same. "You've got a deal," he agreed.
And then - in the shadows - the lovers slept. They would deal with the chocolate in the morning.