Ember:  A lighted coal, smoldering amid ashes.  Passion, especially between two people in love, is much the same...  It lingers, just under the surface, ready to flare back to life with only the simplest of touches.  Like fire, it is elusive and unpredictable.  Sometimes it smolders for days, erupting into flames without warning, and sometimes it is fed deliberately and carefully tended, crafted to remain a single steady flame or turned loose to rage out of control and consume everything in its path.  It is wild and heady, a thing of beauty... and danger.  And like fire, it never ignites the same way twice.       

"Come on, John.  I want to."

"Donna, sweetheart, you have the flu."

Not quite true--she was just getting over the flu.  She wasn't achy or symptomatic any longer, but she was still sleeping all the time and hardly eating or drinking anything except hot mugs of lemon flavored Thera-flu.  In fact, she'd had one an hour ago, just before she'd showered.  The shower had pretty much sapped all her energy, but the drugs had kicked in and she was feeling pretty good.  Hazy and floaty, but good nonetheless.  Her body felt relaxed and heavy, but she was lightheaded, pleasantly dizzy, and more than a little turned on.

"It's been eight days, baby."  Donna dropped her towel and crawled over to where John was reclining against their headboard, watching the Flames take a beating on ESPN.  He bit back a smile.  She smelled like lemons.  And medicine.  And sexy, naked woman. 

Plucking the remote from his thick fingers, Donna clicked off the sound and tossed it aside.  The flickering light cast pretty patterns across her pale skin.  John smiled.  Without a shred of modesty or self-consciousness, she slid sensuously up his body and curled herself against his side, humming with pleasure at the feel of his warm, hard chest under her cheek.  He was naked under the thin sheet separating them and she could feel the tension in the thick muscles bunched under it.   

Her head might have been spinning, but her hand slipped under the covers and found the bulge at his groin easily enough.  She stroked him with her palm, leisurely and without embarrassment, tickling her fingers into his hair and gently cupping the soft wrinkled pouch that hung beneath.  She felt spinny from the medication.  It made her less inhibited than she usually was.  Without a care in the world, she brought her hand to her face and smelled her fingers, sighing happily at the musky scent clinging to her fingertips.  His cock twitched in response and he stifled a groan at her open enjoyment of his body.    

Normally, she'd have blushed when he caught her eyes, but tonight, she just smiled and slipped her hand back between his legs. "Eight days," she repeated emphatically.  "I know you have to be tired of taking care of yourself by now...  And this was the third morning in a row the boys wanted to know why they couldn't jump in the shower with their dad."  She giggled as she brought his left hand to her mouth and kissed it softly.  The gesture wasn't lost on him.  She knew which hand he used.  And when he used it. 

He caught her slender wrist in his thick fingers and dragged her hand away, pressing it flat over his heart in an attempt to gain back a bit of his wavering control.  "Don't worry about me.  I'm doing just fine."  It sounded defensive, even to his own ears.  "Who do you think I am?  Skank?"  He snorted with dark amusement.  "Contrary to popular opinion, not all men turn into raving animals and think they're going to die if they don't get any for a few days."  His cheeks were a little flushed, both with anger and arousal.

She might be a little out of it, but she'd never thought that about him.  He was as hungry for it as the next man, and he could be a bit of a dark horse in bed as well, but he was also surprisingly tender.  Softer and more gentle than most people would expect, both physically and emotionally.  "John-"

He'd been on edge lately, juggling a couple of problematic cases as well as his responsibilities to the team, and his moods were mercurial.  He cut her off, grinning.  "It isn't that I don't want to, sweetheart.  Hell, it feels like I been walking around with a sack of pucks between my legs the last few days," he paused, "but I can wait until you're feeling better..... you know, not so prone to hibernating at the dinner table. "  His eyes twinkled.  Two nights ago, she'd fallen asleep at the table after having gotten out of bed too soon.  John never cooked like she did.  His idea of a decent meal for the kids was Spaghettios, fruit cocktail and pudding.  She should have left him to it, but instead, she'd cooked them a decent meal and it had wiped her out.  He must have carried her to bed.  She only remembered waking later, curled around his warm bulk.  His hand had been on her breast.      

With a smile, she slid her hand back under the sheet and rubbed him a little more firmly.  He seemed unaware of the fact that he was pushing his hips up at her even as he was telling her he could wait.  She swallowed a smile.  "Well, maybe you can wait.... but I sure as hell can't," she shot back teasingly.

His eyes widened and then narrowed as another thought occurred to him.  "I don't want you to feel like you have to... service me or something."  He stroked her hair gently to take some of the sting out of his words, but she could tell he was uncomfortable.  In his younger days, he'd been with a lot of women who wanted him just because of his spot on the team and he was surprisingly sensitive about needing to know he was wanted for himself.  Not because someone was doing him a favor.  She knew he'd try to make a joke cover his discomfort over being 'serviced' and she smiled when he did.  "I'm not a car, you know."  The corner of his mouth turned up in amusement.  

She knew he was trying to keep things light, but she had other ideas.  Her eyes twinkled as she uncovered him, grasped his erection firmly and pointed it straight up at the ceiling like a gearshift.  "Vroom, vroom."  She giggled and put her head back down on his chest.  The room was spinning.    

"Cute," he chuckled, "but reminding me that lemon crap you drank has you higher than a kite isn't exactly helping your case, sweetheart."  He sucked in a deep, shuddering breath as she abandoned her playful touch and let her fingertips linger on that ultra sensitive spot just under the head before swirling them over the tip to spread the moisture she'd coaxed from him.  He twitched under her fingers and another droplet peeped from the slit.  

Resting her chin on his chest, she met his heavy-lidded gaze.  "I don't think there's anything wrong with us servicing each other... and even if I did, this isn't servicing."  She sighed gently.  "I want to be with you, John.  Now.  I want to feel you inside me.  I miss the closeness."  Her voice had gone all soft and husky.  "I miss you."

There was no doubt in his mind whether he'd be making love to her after that heartfelt admission.  John pulled her up to him and kissed her so tenderly it took her breath away.  He didn't quite know what to say.  Her unexpected words touched him deeply and made his chest feel all warm and tight--in a way that was a little scary, but at the same time, incredibly good.  Like when he first held his naked squalling son.  He finally settled for a simple, "I love you." 

She touched the warm skin over his heart with one small hand.  "I love you too."  

Donna smiled up into his face as he pulled the covers up over them both and then rolled her underneath him.  They'd been together a long time.  He knew her moods like he knew her smiles.  She didn't want extended foreplay.  She wanted to feel him inside her.  His eyes never left hers as he gathered her wetness with his fingers and slicked himself before slowly beginning to push inside.  They both groaned as the head crowned.  She was incredibly tight and he was beyond engorged.  It had been a long time since he had been that hard.  Too long.      

Her fingers momentarily gripped the heavy muscles of his arms and then slowly relaxed as her body began to open to him.  "Oh, God...."  Her eyes fluttered shut as he worked himself inside.

"That's it, sweetheart.  That's it.  Let me in...  Good girl."  She gasped at the exquisite pressure of his invasion and he felt his belly tighten in response to her wordless compliment.  "Just a little more, baby."  It was a tight fit, but he knew she could take all of him.  It was better now after she'd had the boys, but he still had to be careful.   

His jaw tightened as he forced his body to go slow, to give hers time to adjust to his size.  It took a few thrusts to fully seat himself.  John swore and shuddered, dropping his forehead to her shoulder.  "God, you feel good."  She was so slick and hot and tight--he knew he wouldn't last long.  He grit his teeth against the desire to simply let go and fuck himself blind.  He tried to slow his breathing and buried his face against the side of her neck.  It wasn't working.  With each breath, his lungs would fill with the scent he recognized as just her.  It was somehow both comforting and arousing... but right now, it was driving him mad.     

John groaned when she purposefully clenched around him, feeding his restless hunger.  He pulled her leg up higher on his hip to open her up a little more and started a slow, deep rhythm.  "Unnnngh.... Fuck!"  He felt like he was turning inside out.  Each steady, inward push forced a grunt of pleasure from him when he was fully buried, but it was the slow grasping drag of slick satiny flesh against over-sensitized skin as he withdrew that made white spots dance before his eyes.  And all the while, her hands never stopped stroking him--his throat, his arms, his back.  Lazily following some whimsical path her disjointed thoughts dreamed up.     

Donna sighed languidly in contentment and John's jaw clenched.  Her breathing told him she wasn't even close and he was only a few strokes away from orgasm.  The instinct to keep going was strong, but he squeezed his eyes shut and forced his hips to still.  

"John?"

"Fuck...."  It was half curse, half groan.  "Give me a minute, sweetheart," he panted against her throat.  "Close.  I'm too close."

Donna smiled.  Her body felt full where they were so intimately joined and his weight felt so good, so solid above her.  She'd wanted to feel him like this tonight because she missed their intimacy, not because her body needed a physical release.  She was too tired and her mind was too hazy, too disjointed and distanced from her body to be craving release the way he was.  She'd gotten what she needed, the closeness, the feeling of shared intimacy with the man she loved and now it was time for him to get what he needed.

"Don't worry about me."  She touched the rigid planes of his back.  "I'm too tired to come."  His eyes snapped open and flew to hers.  "I want it to be good for you though."  She rocked her hips up at him.  "I want to hold you and feel you come...."  She rocked harder, encouraging him to move.

"Donna-"

"C'mon....  Come in me..." she crooned.  

John lost the battle with himself, and his body.  In truth, it really wasn't that much of one to begin with.  He was too close and she felt too good.  He buried his face in her throat and started moving again, thrusting fast and deep.  Donna recognized the rhythm.  It was the one that got him off the best.  Soon it would become erratic as his body took over and he lost himself to that carnal, primal instinct to plant his seed as deep as possible inside his woman's body.

His arrhythmic thrusts reached a fevered pitch and then he slowed and shuddered against her.  For a handful of heartbeats he froze, eyes squeezed shut and tendons straining as his body tightened in advance of his release.  His breath escaped his throat in a harsh exclamation of pleasure as it coursed through him.  He surged forward one last time and came hard, in long sustained pulses that left him gasping hotly against her throat.

With the last of his energy, he rolled them so she was on top and cradled her against his wide, heaving chest.  Neither of them needed any words.  She fell asleep before he'd even softened enough to slip from her body.  Slowly, his breathing evened out and in the flickering light of the TV, he held the woman he loved close to his heart and watched over her as she slept. 

John turned his head just enough to catch Donna's eye.  His expression didn't change but his eyes glittered mischievously.  He'd been good long enough.  There was a lot he'd do for his wife, including flying with her to Ottawa for her cousin's wedding... but it was the sort of formal event he found tedious.  Well, seeing Donna all decked out was certainly no hardship.  He didn't even mind the penguin suit.  He knew he looked good, but he still preferred jeans and skates to bowties and cufflinks.  Still, Donna had barely been able to take her eyes (and hands) off him since he'd put it on.  It was the interminable time spent stuck making small talk around their table at the reception that tried his patience, especially with the soft scent of his wife's arousal filling his head. 

As coolly as if he was asking about the weather, John leaned in close, put his lips to Donna's ear and told her he couldn't wait to get her back upstairs, that he wanted to see her pretty red lips wrapped around his cock.  Color suffused her cheeks and he quickly, sensuously licked her neck with the flat of his tongue and then whispered to her that he'd rather be licking something else. 

Wet heat blossomed between her legs and she shifted uncomfortably in her chair.  It was the last straw for John.  With a wicked grin, he leaned in again and whispered one last thing.  "Sweetheart?  I think it's time you excused yourself.  You look a little flushed."  His eyes blazed green fire at her and he chuckled huskily.  "I'll be up in five."  He stroked the small of her back with his knuckles and smiled as she shivered in anticipation.  "And I want naked when I get there."

Fire danced in her eyes and then it was her lips that found his ear.  "Naked and on my knees for you....  Don't keep me waiting too long."  And with a sinful smile, she was gone. 

"No!  John...  Ooooh please, no!  Stop!"  Donna shrieked and panted with laughter as she squirmed, trying to get out from under his considerable bulk.  He just grinned and tickled harder, rubbing his scratchy-soft cheeks and chin over her soft, tender skin.  "Oooo.... you're such a bully!"  She opened her mouth again and he wagged a finger at her. 

"Don't you say it!"  Green eyes glittered with amusement.  His fingertips teased over her ribs, brushing again and again over her sensitive flesh.  God, he loved playing naked with her.  "Don't you dare!"  It was an old joke. 

She dared.  "Oooo.... it's Johnny Law...."  She hooted the words in her best twangy accent.  Her eyes were wet and shiny with laughter. 

He groaned.  "Now you're gonna get it."  He let more of his weight rest against her, pressing her deeper into the soft down comforter on their bed as he growled and playfully bit her neck, nipping and kissing.  Teasing her with wet flicks of his tongue.  His fingers found all her most ticklish spots.  And he was not merciful.  

"No!  No more!"  She bucked hard under him and tried to grab his wrists, still giggling and squirming all over their bed, in and out of the brilliant winter sunlight. 

He easily avoided her sad attempts to capture his wandering hands. "I dunno, sweetheart...."  His tongue peeked out as he watched her shimmy underneath him.  Her breasts were bouncing as she squirmed and her cheeks were an attractive shade of pink, both from arousal and from their silly play.  "I think a full cavity search may be required here...."  His hand left her breast and crept south. 

She loved feeling his strength this way.  And it felt good to fight him.  To just revel in the physical.  She got wilder.  He did too.  "John!"  Donna wiggled beneath him in mock outrage.

"Donna!"  He trilled in a fair approximation of her falsetto.  A naughty smile turned up one corner of his sensual mouth. 

Still not quite ready to give in, she twisted and heaved under him.  They both groaned as her wet folds ground against his base.  Between them, his erection throbbed and they each felt the trickle of slippery fluid seep from him.  He rubbed himself against the soft, smooth skin of her belly and his eyebrow lifted in surprise when instead of conceding defeat and resuming their impromptu bout of lovemaking, she began to fight him in earnest.  Something dark and wild flared to life in her eyes, waking something equally wild in him.  It rose quickly and his touch became rougher, more forceful, as he responded to her wordless request.

"This what you wanted?"  He growled the words in her ear and pinned her hands as he forced her legs apart and buried himself solidly with one deep thrust.  She gasped, but didn't stop fighting him.  Scorching wet heat enveloped him and he grunted out his pleasure to her.  His body was screaming at him to move, but he had no leverage--not holding her the way he was.  If she wanted it a little rough, he was more than happy to oblige, he just needed to get a better grip on her.    

John shifted, relinquishing her hands, and quickly rested his heavy forearm over her throat before she could stop him.  It wasn't enough to cut off her air, but he put enough force behind it to keep her pinned flat while he worked her.  He wasn't too sure how a bit of playful teasing could descend into this base coupling so quickly, but like her, he found himself swept along by the fierce intensity of their passion.

Her fingers slid into his hair and her nails pricked his scalp.  In answer, he buried his free hand in the dark tangle of her hair and wrapped its heavy length around his fist, pulling hard as they fought themselves and each other for their pleasure. 

A fierce light flickered in her eyes.  "Harder."

It spurred something equally primal in him.  His hand tightened in her hair and he put more pressure on her throat.  Still not enough to scare her or make her feel like she wasn't getting enough air, but certainly enough to make her breath come in raspy pants and make her blood pound loudly in her ears each time he slammed himself home. 

She twisted under him violently.  "More!  Harder!"  Her back arched sharply, trying to drive him deeper.  Slick with sweat and wet with each other, their bodies slid agonizingly together as they both fought for purchase.  "Ungh... Yesss... Fuck me!"

She was already wincing with each forceful stroke, but he was helpless to deny her demand, and those of his own body as well.  John growled low in his throat and increased the depth and power of his thrusts.  The velvety friction was so intense it made his eyes water.  "Take it."  He all but snarled the words at her through clenched teeth.  "You fucking take it!"  They were both wincing now but they were beyond caring.  Pleasure and pain blurred into ecstasy. 

Head thrown back, Donna panted against John's throat.  "Yes!  More-"  She gasped as he rocked into her with a particularly forceful thrust.  Unconsciously sensing the shift in her lover, her voice changed from demanding to pleading.  "Close.  I'm so close.....  Please, make me come.  Please, baby.  Please....."  Her breath hitched.  "Pleasepleasepleaseplease..."  It fell from her lips like his own personal benediction. 

"God..."  He struggled to hold back, but the sound of her begging for it shredded the last of his control.  He lasted two, maybe three more strokes.  "Unnnnghhh!"  Blind to everything but his own orgasm, he instinctively pushed himself as deep as possible and held himself there as his body pulsed rhythmically with release.  "Unngh, fuck........  fuck........... fuck!"  Eyes squeezed tightly shut, he could only bury his face in her throat and ride it out, cursing huskily with each wet rush of pleasure. 

Donna whimpered in desperation when he stopped moving.  She could feel him pulsing inside her.  His sudden stillness made her acutely aware of just how sore she was, but the small break in his rhythm only heightened her pleasure.  The sound of him, the feel of him coming, combined with her anticipation and the sensory input from her over-sensitized flesh wound her tighter until she was mindless with want.  She was hyperaware of how close she was to the edge, and how little she needed to push her over. 

As if he could read her mind, he lifted his head to meet her eyes.  He wanted to watch her come.  Still shuddering, he pressed hard enough on her throat that she saw stars, and with a growl, he thrust forward sharply, grinding against her roughly.  As sensitive as he was in the moments directly following his own release, the friction was agonizing, but her pleasure spiked, as he knew it would.  Her body clenched around him tightly, rhythmically, and her nails raked his back as she found her own release.  Fuck.  The guys would have something to say about that on Saturday.  Somehow, he couldn't be bothered to care.     

"Oh, God!  Johnnnn...."  Her words became a groan of intense pleasure as she splintered apart beneath him.  She knotted her fists at the small of his back to hold him to her as she rolled her hips against his and shamelessly used his big body to pleasure hers.  His voice joined hers as they rode out the last of it together.    

Spent, they collapsed into a sweaty, tangled heap, sighing with blissful satisfaction.  Donna licked his throat, wanting to have as many of her senses as possible filled with him.  He tasted of salty spent passion and faintly of her perfume.  Her eyes were closed, but she could tell he was smiling.

"You okay, sweetheart?"  He knew he hadn't been gentle.  She hadn't wanted him to, but still, he couldn't help but worry a little.  John untangled his fist from her hair and kissed her gently. 

"Mmm-hmm."  When he started to withdraw, she opened her eyes and tightened her hold on him.  "Go slow... okay?"  She didn't want to lose him from her body so quickly. 

Still watching her flushed, beautiful face, John's eyes softened.  "Sore?"  He saw the start of amusement in her eyes and realized that wasn't why she'd wanted him to go slow.  He smiled, pleased by his wife's reluctance to part from him. 

"A little sore."  She winced as he slowly uncoupled from her.  "Okay, more than a little."  She smiled and blushed into his neck.  It was nothing new.  He liked making her sore, and honestly, it was one of the things she liked the best about his lovemaking.  He didn't treat her like spun glass.  He gave her the full measure of his passion and expected the same of her.  When it was rough, as it had been this time, the ache enhanced both their physical pleasure and the emotional intimacy that followed.        

She winced again as he shifted them so he could snuggle up against her back.  "Sorry."  His tone was an odd blend of remorse and pure masculine satisfaction.

Donna smiled sleepily into the pillow.  "No you're not."  She could feel his soft snort of amusement against the back of her neck.  "And that's just the way we like it."

She giggled at his affirmative grunt.  He chuckled as he nestled his soft, wet length against her buttocks and rocked the fit snug.  "Nap or shower?"  He licked her shoulder blade and then kissed it softly. 

"I vote nap."  She liked falling asleep with his scent drying on her skin.  Besides, the boys would be back from her mother's this evening, wound up on sugar and bouncing off the walls.  They could both use the rest.       

"Good choice."  He picked the comforter up from the floor and pulled it over their cooling flesh before burying his face in her hair.  Still holding hands and lulled by each other's heartbeats, they exchanged a few more soft words and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Donna wasn't sure if it was the storm howling outside their home or John's heavy body sleepily pressing into hers that had woken her.  His hips were rocking slowly and his erection was poking her in the buttocks.  With a low groan, he easily rolled her onto her stomach and moved on top.  When he spoke, his voice was rough with sleep and arousal.  "Let me, sweetheart.  Let me have you like this."  He had already slipped the head inside her and was starting to push.  "Let me," he repeated, half asleep, half lost in some primal place only found in the twilight between slumber and wakefulness.

She knew he would never ask to use her body like this, solely for his own pleasure, if he was fully aware of what he was saying.  Smiling at the sheer need in his voice, she groaned her consent into the pillow, and shifted her legs apart to admit him.  He grunted as he thrust deep and bit the back of her neck as he began to move.  Both their bodies smelled strongly of the musky scent of sex and her thighs were sticky with the residue of their earlier lovemaking, but their ripe scents only served to inflame the beast rising within him. 

What she really wanted was a few more hours sleep followed by a long, hot shower, but she loved that she could give him this, and that he trusted her enough to be able to take what she offered without reservation.  She also knew they'd do it again later and that next time, he would focus on her pleasure.  Even though she'd intended this time to be just for him, the feel of him possessing her so completely, and with such selfish abandon, made her tingle and throb in response.  She slid a hand under her body and rubbed herself in time to his thrusts until they both came, panting and gasping as they collapsed in a sweaty, satisfied heap.  God, how she loved it when he scored in the Saturday game.  He was always excited.  And she always scored later.            

"Hey, sweetheart," John looked up from where he was eating the dry Cheerios out of the bowl his young daughter had left on the coffee table and smiled at his wife.  He glanced behind the couch to where their child had fallen asleep in the middle of playing the toddler version of hide-and-seek.  She was out like a light, asleep on the carpet with her bottom in the air and her arm around the neck of her favorite stuffed animal.  Their other children were at summer camp.  Donna's insistence.  She believed they needed to be exposed to a world larger than Mystery, Alaska.  John agreed.  But right now, he had other things on his mind.  His guilty smile grew bigger and he wiggled his eyebrows at her in invitation as he patted the cushion beside him.  "The baby's sleeping..." 

"Uh-huh," she smiled back and gave a little shimmy, showing off the figure she'd worked so hard to get back after the birth of their sweet little daughter.  "And you're on babysitting duty....  I've got a date with my sister in-" she checked her watch, "-fourteen minutes."  She jingled her keys softly and giggled when he pulled her into his lap and gave her bottom a playful swat.

"Tease."  He left his hand on her bottom, rubbing lazily and he pressed a soft kiss just above her heart before he lifted his head to nip playfully at her neck. 

She sucked in a deep breath when he slid his hands up under her skirt and cupped her bottom firmly in his warm palms.  Her giggling got louder as he leaned in to kiss her.  "You smell like Cheerios."  Not quite the smell she usually associated with her handsome, rugged husband.  Leather?  Yes.  Beer?  Yes.  The crisp scent of the elements?  Yes.  But Cheerios?  She bit her lip to hold in the laughter. 

John growled playfully and pinched her bottom hard, chuckling into her hair as he stole his kiss and then nuzzled her neck.  "And you smell like baby powder," he paused and pulled back to meet her gaze, "and me."

The fire in his eyes kicked up a notch.  They'd been fooling around earlier and she'd asked him to show off for her.  His blood heated at the memory.  Blissfully free of inhibitions, he'd straddled her hips and knelt above her as he stroked himself to an intense orgasm, watching with heavy lidded eyes as his come splattered on her belly.  God, he loved how free she was with him.  However, holding her against him now, he was a little surprised she still smelled faintly of his most intimate scent. 

His eyebrow rose.  "No shower?"  He growled the words low and deep.  She knew damn well what smelling that particular scent on her skin did to him. 

She shook her head.  "No time."  The baby's crying had ended their morning loveplay abruptly and like most mothers, once her child was awake, her time was no longer her own.  "Besides, you know I love smelling like you."  She blushed as she said it, but didn't look away.  It had taken a few years, but she was pretty uninhibited with him now, in word as well as deed.   

His eyes flashed wickedly and his fingers teased along the edge of her panties.  "You know, I still owe you one for this morning."  Their daughter's untimely interruption had robbed him of his chance to make sure she found the same release he had.

"John-"

"Shhh..." he grabbed her wrist and turned it so he could look at her watch.  "We've still got... eleven minutes."  He flashed her a predatory smile.  It was all the warning she got.

She squeaked in surprise as he flipped her onto her back so fast she bounced against the thick couch cushions and he quickly pinned her under him before she could even manage a coherent protest.  His hands were back under her skirt a second later, stripping her pretty lace panties down her smooth legs.  He balled them up in his large fist, held them to his face and breathed in her scent, never once taking his eyes from hers.

"God, you smell good....."  

With a wicked leer, he unapologetically tucked them in the back pocket of his jeans.  "I'm keeping these," he growled.  With a quick glance over the back of the couch to make sure his daughter was still sleeping soundly in the scant foot of space between the back of the couch and the wall, he slid a little further down her body and nipped the inside of her left knee as he pushed her skirt up.  His breath was warm against her and she shivered as he stimulated her sensitive skin with his beard.  "Open for me, sweetheart," he whispered against the inside of her right knee, teasing her with wet swirls of his tongue. 

He made a masculine noise of approval deep in his throat as she spread her legs for him.  Her scent enveloped him and his mouth watered as he caught her behind the knees and opened her wider, looking his fill.  God, she was beautiful, so sweet and pink and soft. 

"John, please..."  She whispered softly, shifting restlessly under him.  She gasped when she felt his breath stir the curls guarding her most intimate flesh. 

Knowing he had only a few minutes, John wasted no time.  Still holding her eyes, he wet two thick fingers in his mouth and slowly slipped them inside her as his lips descended.  But he didn't give her what she wanted.  Not at first.  She always came harder, faster, if he made her work for it a little.  He stroked her with his fingers, purposefully keeping the steady rhythm just a little too slow and the wet flicks of his tongue just a shade too light.  She heaved under him and he used his free hand to put pressure on her belly to keep her still when she wanted to move. 

Breathing hard, Donna bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out.  Her hands fisted in her skirt and then unclenched only to fist again, this time in his hair, as she unconsciously guided him to increase her pleasure.  He growled against her flesh and lifted his head momentarily, smiling at the way her hips chased his mouth.  "So good, baby.  You taste so fuckin' good...."  Her head thrashed back and forth and her breath came in ragged pants.  "That's it, sweetheart....  That's it....  C'mon.  I want to feel you come on my fingers."  He growled the last of his words against her center and covered her with his mouth, finally giving her what she so desperately craved.

He felt her swell against his tongue and he suckled hard as she began to shake under him.  Another hard, deep thrust with his fingers followed by a firm suck and she was there.  She stiffened and shuddered hard as she rode his mouth and fingers to an intense orgasm, keening low and deep in her throat.  No words-just a low, breathless sound of unbearable pleasure.

John continued to lap at her as she came down, unable to resist the intoxicating taste as the sweet honey he'd coaxed forth trickled from her.  He loved pleasuring her this way, but in a different way than he did when they made love.  This way, he was detached enough to pay attention to the most minute details as she lost herself to the ecstasy his touch ignited in her.  When he was deep inside her, feeling the same intense feelings she was, he was too consumed by how good she felt around him to notice much of anything else.

Her fingers slipped from his hair and he lifted his head to look up at her from between her legs.  She was flushed and smiling.  And she looked very young.  Like the sweet shy girl he'd once dated long ago.  He wondered if there would ever be a time he looked at her and didn't see that beautiful young girl staring back at him.  Withdrawing his fingers from her slowly, he caressed her belly and hips with both hands as he dropped a tender kiss to the inside of her thigh. 

"Wow."  Her slow, breathy exclamation made him chuckle against her skin.  

"I aim to please...."  He gave the silky skin of her thigh another kiss and then a firm suck, holding her hips down with his hands for the brief second she squirmed under his assault and then he lifted his head and gave her belly a single tender kiss.  He finally sat up and smoothed his thumb over the mark he'd left on her thigh before he pulled her skirt back down and helped her stand.  She was a little shaky on her feet and the smile still hadn't left her face.

John was uncomfortably hard and he winced as he sat back, immediately adjusting himself in the unforgiving denim.  "Christ," he muttered under his breath.

Donna's brows drew together.  "You okay?"  

"I'll live," he growled in mock ferocity before a wide grin broke over his features.  "It isn't anything that won't keep until you get home."  He met her gaze and stroked himself with the flat of his palm; a promise of things to come later.

Her eyes twinkled.  "In that case, can I have my panties back?"  She checked her watch.  "I'm supposed to meet Renee next door in about two minutes."  It was a girls' afternoon out.  A small group of them intended to drive into Fairbanks for some shopping in the big city.   

He raised an eyebrow at her.  "Nope.  Told you, they're mine."  With a smug smile, he patted the pocket he'd tucked them in and then dug out his wallet from the other.  Still smiling, he pulled out several bills and held them out to her.  "I'm guessing you and the hen patrol are gonna hit the mall sometime while you're out?"  He waited for her nod.  "Buy yourself some more then, sweetheart.  I'm keeping these."

Donna giggled.  "Yeah?  Victoria's Secret or Fredrick's?"

John fished out a few more bills and handed them to her.  "Both.  Get something nice from that ritzy place," he paused and cocked his head as he studied her, "something green."  His eyes glittered.  "You look hot as fuck in green, baby."  He reached behind his back and dug her forgotten keys out from the cushions, holding them out to her as his smile became more wicked.  "And something black and slutty from that other place."  His voice dropped.  "Wear that one home."

"Ohhh.... sounds like someone wants to play arresting Officer."  

He folded his arms and gave her his stern voice, accompanied by the look he knew left her wet and wanting.  "That is not your concern.  You just be a good girl and do what I say, huh?"  His eyes crackled green fire at her.  Donna could tell he was enjoying the dominant role he was playing with her now just as much as she was.  It was a lovely taste of things to come.  "You are a good girl, aren't you?"  He growled playfully.   

"Only as good as you want me to be," she purred back, shivering in anticipation as she tucked the money in her purse with a soft thank you.

He grinned dangerously.  "You just remember to wear the black one home, girl, and leave the rest to me." 

She laughed lightly and turned to go.  "I love it when you go all grizzly on me."   

He caught her hand and met her eyes, dropping the playfully dominant persona as easily as he'd donned it.  "And I love you, Donna."  He touched his chest just over his heart.  "With everything I have in me." 

And so, the fire is once again banked.  Roaring flames are reduced to glowing embers, smoldering just under the surface, waiting only for a lover's touch to breathe them back to life.