Entering Karina's apartment soundlessly, Terry padded through to the master suite after a stop in the kitchen and quietly slipped into her bed, his insides - and parts lower down as well - uncharacteristically warmed by the sight of the Dragon Lady at rest.  It was just before dawn.  He was more than tempted to wake her with a kiss, but they both had less than twenty-four hours to wrap up what they could of their loose ends at work before they skipped out of town on a one way train to Fiji and however tempted he might be, if they were going to pull this off, they needed every spare minute.  And then some.  Yet he hadn't quite been able to keep away, and so he'd stolen in, breakfast in hand.  They had to eat, didn't they?

Despite his plans, he was still a man and there was naked skin on display.  He looked.  She was soft and sensual in repose; her long limbs nestled deep into the warm bed beneath a tangle of dark hair.  Before he woke her he was unable to resist slipping one hand into the fluffy mound of covers to sensually stroke the soft golden skin of her thigh.  A quiet sigh followed as he removed his hand and rolled his eyes, steeling himself for the day ahead even as he felt a pang of regret.  He hadn't been entirely sure until the moment was upon him that he would be able to keep from falling into bed with her despite his plans and their crazy last minute schedule.  A minute ticked by.  And then another.  He blew out softly, pulling his bright chipper shell around him like armor.

He took a warm doughy bagel from the bag he'd left beside the bed and held it under her nose.  "Wakey wakey, sunshine...."

Her eye cracked opened, slowly taking him in.  He looked rumpled, still in his jumper and jeans, unshaven and smiling, eyes glittering with boyish delight. 

She opened her mouth to say something.  He shoved the bagel inside with a giggle, pulling his hand back quickly before she could bite his finger.  "Hey!  Self preservation, babes.  Can you blame me?  Your mouth is lethal.  But you might want to think twice before you try to skin me for a pillow book....  I come bearing gifts."  He giggled again, looking at her thoughtfully while he chewed a bite of his own bagel.  "Well, only one, really.  The only one that matters to you this early though... Coffee."

"In that case, you might yet live...."

He made no effort to avert his eyes as she sat up, her shoulder and most of one breast bare to his gaze as the oversized white shirt she had on hung loosely on her slender frame.  The shirt was one of his.  He felt his blood rise and his resolve begin to slip.  

She was bloody well going to kill him.  Coffee.  Just think about the coffee and not about her...

"Assuming I have worked out that insane piece of futuristic gadgetry in the kitchen that passes for your coffee pot, either I have rung the moon, or espresso is served, madam."  He slapped her bare thigh playfully.  "Now how about pouring us a cup while I grab a shower?"

He didn't wait for a reply, merely hopped up and headed for the shower, stripping off as he went.  

She watched him go, laughing at his audacity.  "It's a good thing I like you, Terry.  I have killed men for less, you know!" she called as she passed by him on the way to the kitchen, making no effort to hide her prurient interest in the flesh he now had on display.

For a moment he watched her watch him.  He tapped his wrist.  "Tick tock, babes....  And the coffee's getting cold...."  Anything to diffuse the moment.  That got her going.  He bent with a laugh and retrieved a bottle of shower gel, pulling a face as he gave it a sniff before picking up another.  She left him to it.  "Christ!  Is there anything in here that doesn't smell fruity?" he groused, finally picking the least offensive of the lot; something with ginger and musk.  He breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the clink of plates and glasses in the kitchen, bracing his hands to the wall of glass blocks as he bent his head and let the water pour over him.  He was a man on the edge, tightly strung for too long. 

On the other side of the glass, Karina looked up from the kitchen to see the hazy shape of a man in repose, head bent.  She could see his hands clearly, pressed as they were to the glass; the rest of him shadowy and indistinct.  Setting out the food he'd brought on a tray with their coffees and fruit, she sat back into a deep chair, tucking one foot under her as she ignored the work spread out before her on the table, sipping her espresso as she watched him wash himself.  It was arousing and.... intimate, perhaps even more intimate than her appraisal of his naked body had been only minutes ago.  He was touching himself.  Not lewdly, just familiarly, mechanically as one does; hair, chest, arms, groin, legs....  But she couldn't help but wonder if his hands had lingered, if only slightly?  Was he thinking about all he had to do today... or about her?  Did he want her to watch?

Was she watching him?  The hot spray felt good and yet the idea of her there, perhaps even watching him, made even the most banal of tasks feel different.  He felt completely comfortable in her space, and yet it charged him up in one way even as it relaxed him in another deeper, quieter way.  He liked the way it felt, though he found himself not quite able to name the feeling.  He examined it and finally gave up.  It had been a long time since he had been a part of anything.  Perhaps it was as simple as that.  It felt nice to share his life with someone.

A part of him was protesting, however, not quite satisfied with sharing from afar.  Terry turned the taps cold, shuddering and cursing under his breath as he jumped out and wrapped a towel around himself.  That part of him would have free rein soon enough.  It was a thought that put a spring in his step.  He was shaved and dressed in moments, breezing through to where Karina was ensconced on the couch, surrounded by her work.  Maybe she hadn't been watching?  She was a dark horse, it was hard to tell.

He looked closer, feeling a hot stick of satisfaction as he saw the telltale flush on her skin.  

She smiled as she put her hand on his cheek and felt his cool skin.  A cold shower?  That certainly boded well for things to come.  Her eyebrow rose.  

He caught her hand, pulling it away from his cheek and kissing it.  He smiled into her palm as the delicate scent of warm sleepy woman enveloped him.  Warm, sleepy, aroused woman.  She had definitely been watching him.  The kiss they shared rocked him.  It was full of passion and promise and something else he hadn't quite expected.

She slipped away.  He sat, spreading open the paper with a crisp jerk and reached for the plate of food she had prepared.  A steaming cup of espresso sat beside it.  Two cups, he mused.  Two plates.  Her work, his briefcase.  The details of their lives mixed together.  Two cups side by side.  That said it all, really.

And then he heard the spray of the shower and his eyes flicked up to catch her shadowy lithe shape through the wall of glass.  Hell of a way to start the day.  He could get used to this....

As promised, the following morning Terry fell in the door of Karina's apartment bright and early, clapping his hands together and rubbing them with anticipatory glee as he eyed her up with a smile.  "You ready for this, baby?"

"Three weeks, Thorne.  I'm all yours."  There was real pleasure in her voice.  She was frighteningly happy to see him.  The warm ripple his chest undid him a little, a strange sort of loosening that he had come to associate with her.  It was slightly unsettling, but he was growing to like it.

He looked at the pile of luggage by her apartment door, shaking his head.  "It's Fiji, love.  White sand, hot sun and a man who plans to keep you naked the majority of the time.  You can't possibly need all these bags..." he teased.  It was actually a smaller pile than he had expected though still excessive, but he enjoyed winding her up.  His luggage consisted of a single carryon and his laptop.  He hadn't even brought a tie much less a suit.  His plans were dreamy and might have involved a lot of grand romance, but they sure as hell didn't involve many clothes.  What was wrong with women?

She only laughed.  "Who says they are full of clothes, sunshine?" Her voice was full of sexual promise.  It made him shiver.  It might be clothes... or it might be cases of fragrant unguents, sex toys and lingerie.  Then again, it might be books and yarn.  You could just never tell with her.  It was part of her charm.

He kissed her hello, letting his hands wander playfully and then he pulled away, hefting a bag experimentally.  "Rocks?"

"Wouldn't you like to know..."

"I bloody should, seeing as how it's my back they'll be breaking."  Smiling, Terry fished a bag from the small pile.  "Ah-ah-ah!  Naughty girl."  He wagged his finger in her face.  "This one stays..." he tossed her laptop bag back on her desk.  "Thought we said no work?  This is our chance.  Get away from it all.  Go off the grid.... Just you and me and a whole lot of snogging...."

She considered his words, eyeing him up and down.  "Okay, sport.  I will if you will...."

That stopped him.  "Rumbled.  Mine's in the car.  How did you know?"

Karina snorted.  "Your laptop is practically surgically attached to you, Terry!  Give me some credit..."  He pulled a face.  She was not wrong.  "Come on, then... I dare you.... You want to fly under the radar?  Then let's really do it right."

He weighed her words.  Three weeks with no email, no laptop and no connection to the world?  He wasn't sure if that was heaven or hell.  Dino would blow a fuse, which was rather tempting even without the added benefits.

He wished he could give her the answer she wanted but reality intruded unpleasantly.  "Let's be real here for a minute.  What I do isn't the sort of thing I can put down and walk away from.  Sorry, baby.  No can do.  Not when innocent lives could potentially hang in the balance."  His wasn't exactly a job you could shelve indefinitely on a whim.  "Too much at stake to risk it..."

"Hey!  I work, too!"

"It is not the same thing."

He thought she would be mad at his high-handed tactics and he was surprised when she laughed instead.  "Lives in the balance?  You have not met the Blackmans, Terry!  However they may well kill each other anyway.... though you can be damned sure that neither one of them is innocent!"  He laughed.  "Okay then... compromise?  Laptops stay but we bring our phones?  We could switch them off... just check them once a day...."  She could not even believe she was considering it.  He was a bad influence. 

Terry couldn't even believe he was considering it.  She was so bad... but so good for him.  It was tempting.  And why shouldn't it be?  Wasn't he entitled to a life, too?  He made a sudden rash decision that was totally unlike him.  It felt good.  So he made another.

"Deal!"

"I'll have my people call your people," she teased.

"Not on that phone you won't."  He held out his hand.  "Hand it over."  He fished his from his pocket and held it out to her.  "There...  I keep yours and you keep mine.  Exchanged and checked once a day.  No contact unless it's a fuckin' emergency.  That fair enough for you, princess?"

Karina looked at the phone he held out to her.  It was an impressively frightening piece of ultra-modern technology.  Well, well.  It appeared his laptop was rather redundant - how like Terry.  He always had a backup plan.  He could probably ring the moon with that baby, mail them a file and photie of himself sipping margaritas on the beach while texting NASA on a scrambled line.  "I will guard it with my life..." she teased.

He was frowning at her pathetically outdated little yellow phone.  "Christ.  You got the better end of that deal!"   

Running her hands down his chest, she walked him backwards until he bumped into the wall and kissed him playfully, shivering at the frisson of desire that juddered through her.  "I'll make it up to you...."

He grinned.  "You better...."

Both legs of the flights were long, but surprisingly pleasant.  Terry was a wonderful travelling companion, if one discounted the period of mourning for his beloved phone.  It made her giggle, a decidedly un-Karina like sound that Terry found especially compelling.  They talked for hours, slept on each other's shoulder, held hands, shared more than a few almost-decent meals in first class... stopped for a bit to fool around during their brief layover in Auckland and had to sprint to catch their connecting flight, hand in hand, grinning like loons.  The deliciously slow foreplay hadn't made the time pass faster, but the promise of what was coming ramped them both up until it hung crackling between them like a palpable thing. 

By the time they touched down in Nadi, they were both splitting out of their skin, past ready to throw off the trappings of civilization and lose themselves in each other.  Their affair was new and tentative, and though they had fooled around quite a bit in the past few weeks, they had yet to fully consummate it, each for their own reasons.

The romantic notion of waiting to raise the tempo appealed to Terry.  They had charged ahead once before and look what that had gotten them?  He liked the idea of waiting until the time was right.  He'd had it planned for weeks now.  A romantic dinner.  Walk along the beach while the sun set.  Secluded bungalow rented on a private beach so they could be as uninhibited as they liked while the rest of the world passed dreamily by.  Seduction and slow tender lovemaking that lasted hours...  

They checked in at the main complex and then boarded a small boat that would take them to their private beach. Time almost seem to slow to a crawl.  Neither of them noticed the wild beauty around them.  They only had eyes for each other.  Terry still hadn't abandoned his romantic plans, but he found himself breathing in and resorting to prana techniques, working for control every time Karina turned her dark hungry eyes on him.

They stood in an intimate embrace on the steps leading down the path to the boat launch.  Their bags had been delivered but the porter had misplaced the key and had run back to the boat for the spare.  Terry could have easily ducked inside through one of the many open breezy windows, the bungalow was about as far from secure as it could possibly be, but he couldn't be bothered to rouse himself from her arms.  Not even for that.  They stood there wrapped around each other, barely aware of the rest of the world.  Terry's arms were around her neck.  Karina's were around his waist and then they slipped lower, her hands diving into his back pockets were she dug her long fingers into the firm rounded muscles she found there and pulled his body into hers. 

Even in flat sandals she was tall and they fitted together as if they were made for each other.  Terry didn't have to bend or stoop.  His arms tightened round her neck and she pulled him to her even as she stepped into the space between his planted feet and pressed herself against him.  Through her filmy dress, the soft bulge of his groin put a delicious indirect pressure against her pubic bone; she was bare and wet below, her clitoris already peeping out, excited by his touch and the promise of what was to come.  Blood was beginning to pool between his legs; he could feel the warm tingle of arousal and pressed back against her as he smiled down into her eyes and stroked her neck possessively.  It was hardly lewd, but it was a painfully intimate embrace; their body language revealing much to anyone who cared to look.  They kissed and looked like exactly what they were: two lovers about to embark on a sensually erotic adventure of discovery.   

A key appeared.  The boat sped off.  They fell in the door.  Karina was kissing him before he'd thrown the latch home.  He slapped at her hands playfully.  "Naughty girl!  Come here, baby... It's a good job I love naughty girls..."  They swayed together, two distinct forms blending into one. 

"Terry, I swear I will die if you don't touch me..."  She was pulling at his clothes now, jerking his shirt from his pants.  "Don't make me wait!  Don't make me beg...."

A noise rumbled in his chest.  A laugh?  A groan.  She couldn't tell and suspected he couldn't either.  "It's been twenty fucking seconds!  You are the most inquisitive woman I have ever known and you haven't even poked around.  That is not like you.  More to the point- you don't even know where the bed is." He pointed out helpfully. 

"I don't care," she said petulantly, but he didn't miss her throwing her eye around to find it.  

"Will you be serious!"  She was like an octopus.  Worse still, he liked it too much.  It was getting to him.

She stepped out of her sandals, reached for the tie at her neck and pulled.  Her simple sundress pooled soundlessly at her feet.   She was bare beneath.  "I am serious.  If you don't touch me right now, I will die..."

"I had it all planned..." he could see the spread of food on the buffet from where he stood.  Sweet juicy fruit, local delicacies, braised meat on skewers, decadent desserts, wine open and breathing.  "I wanted to do it right this time...romantic dinner... walk on the beach, first...then..." his voice trailed off.

The sway of her hips was hypnotic.  He could not take his eyes off her.  "Wouldn't you rather eat it after?  Wrapped up in the sheets, savoring the meal and feeding each other?  If we eat it now you won't even taste it..." Hooking a finger into his belt loop, she walked backwards leading him to the bed. "You know I'm right... we can walk on the beach after... moonlight is just as romantic as the sunset..." Her legs bumped the back of the bed.  The roar of the sea was drowned out by the roar of her blood in her ears.

He groaned.  "Your mouth should be classified as a dangerous weapon, baby..." he murmured, wavering.  He knew she was right.  He could feel the last bit of hesitancy slipping away.  He was going to capitulate any moment now, and God help her when he did.

"WMD, that's me," she laughed but her heart wasn't truly in it.  He had caught her up in his spell and she was sinking fast.

"WTD, more like..." he uttered inanely while they necked like hormone driven teenagers.  It was exactly how he felt.  And he wasn't half wrong... her mouth was a Weapon of Terrence's Destruction, in more ways than one. 

"I want you so much..." She touched her small high breasts, offering herself to him plainly, rolling the hard dark buds of her nipples to entice him, her head falling back and her dark hair spilling sensuously around her lithe body.  Watching her touch herself aroused him more than if she'd jerked him.  "Fuck me, Terry... I can't stand it..." 

He lost it, ripping his clothes off and falling on her, carrying them both down to the soft bed below.  She looked bloody gorgeous, an ocean of dusky skin on the pristine white duvet.  Dark and light, soft and hard, rough and smooth... together they were a heaving sea of contradictions.  He kissed up her body.  She fell back, bumping her head on the headboard.  He laughed, grabbing her by the ankle to drag her back down to him.  Pillows flew as he feasted on her.  He touched her everywhere, running his big hands down her slender body, cupping the small soft mounds of her breasts, skimming down her sides, digging into her hips, rubbing back up to hold her down while the flat of his tongue skated up the long length of her tattoo before nuzzling her breast. 

She mewed softly, a needy sound, wanting more from him.  "Terry, please...." She was desperate.

With a roar he flipped her over onto her stomach, her face buried down in the fluffy soft mounds of bedding as he hauled her hips up roughly, dropping a kiss on her neck and spine before his mouth moved lower.  He bit the soft supple cheeks in his face and then kissed into the slit between them from behind, easily holding her struggling body against his mouth.  His tongue flickered round her nub.  He feasted on her sweet cream, reveling in the undeniable proof of her desire.  She wanted him.  It was heady stuff; he felt powerful.  Humbled, too.  She was so lovely.  Touching her, feeling her wanting him so wildly was like a dream.

"Terry!" she called to him again and again, crying his name and frantically running her hands over her body.... desperate for the feel of him inside her, on top of her, pressing her down, down.... 

He flipped her again, dragging her to him and opening her legs up and out.  This wasn't how he'd envisioned it, but he couldn't deny that it felt right.  He wanted her this way.  He always wanted her this way.  He had from the beginning. 

Her hands grabbed his thick arms, an anchor in the tempest.  He knocked her thighs apart.  She didn't stop him.  Instead, she egged him on.  "Inside... please... fuck me!  Terry... want you so much... I'm dying..."

Carried away by the momentum of her words and the resulting surge of blood, he fell headlong into the storm rising between them without a second thought.  Swiping the wide head of his cock through her thick cream, he shoved in hard and felt her flinch under him.  He had forgotten how small she was inside.  It always took her a few moments to adjust to his girth.  Shit.  Shit!   He froze.

"No!"  Her eyes were on his face.  "Don't stop..."

He grit his teeth with the effort not to move.  "I'll hurt you..."

"I don't care!"  He sank a fraction deeper.  They both groaned.

"I don't want to hurt you..." his forehead dropped to her breastbone as he struggled for control.  This was too close to some of his darker fantasies, the ones he would never really entertain, the ones where wanted to give her pleasure even as some small dark part of him wanted to punish her for what she'd done to him.

"I want you to."  Dark and light, their eyes met, each searching for their own answers.  She cradled his face in her hands.  "So good... feels so good...." It had nothing to do with pain and everything to do with the exquisitely raw pleasure of finding their way back to one another again.  Satisfied with whatever he saw in her gaze and felt in the touch of her palms against his rough jaw, he nodded once.

"Watch us, then... Watch us!" he commanded, unable to rip his gaze from the crude imagine of her slender body pierced on his cock, stretching to accommodate his considerable girth.  Neither could look away from where they were joined.  He sunk in deep, enjoying her gasp and driven on by her unfettered enthusiastic response.  "Jesus! Hoh... fuck...missed this... missed you so much..."

Her body arched under his, forcing him deeper still.  They both shuddered, she at the sharp burning stretch, he at the unbearable tightness gripping his throbbing cock.  No man had ever made her feel the way he did, had ever stretched her so obscenely- or so tenderly.  "Don't stop... don't stop...don't stop..." he didn't.  It became a litany.

It did hurt, but only in the best kind of way.  A breaking.  She moaned, unable to do anything but cling to him as he thrust powerfully between her thighs, kissing her until her head spun, until she couldn't breathe and they both drew apart, gasping.  His head dropped and he buried his face in her neck, the strong muscles of his back and thighs rippling as he surged into her again and again. 

She gasped and clutched at him, her body arching under his as her orgasm rose and crested.  Even deep inside his own pleasure, Terry was aware it was a powerful one for her.  He could feel the strong rhythmic contractions squeezing him intimately and he smiled into her shoulder.  What man doesn't like to know he can give his woman such pleasure?  It reaffirmed his virility, and in one abstract sense, his primacy over her.  He liked it; even if he had the feeling it was also somehow wrong.  It also just plain felt good.  Sinfully, decadently, white-lights-dancing-before-his-blackening-vision kind of good.  She shuddered against him afterwards, still clutching at his shoulders and moaning softly as he continued to thrust.  Her head was thrown back and her eyes were shut, a soft grimace of ecstasy touching her exotic features.  He had given her that.  He threw back his own head, a deep rumbling growl of pure masculine satisfaction burning in his throat.   

His arm was under her back, his hand gripping her shoulder for leverage.  The other swept down from her hip to catch the back of her knee, opening her up to receive him more deeply.  Hitching her leg up his thigh, he pounded harder, nearly there himself but aware on some level that she appeared to be close enough to the edge that he might be able to make her come once more before the inevitable tide of fire rose up and burned away the last threads of his tenuous control, swallowing him up in the same inferno that had just scorched her. 

Karina was trembling now, fluttering around his girth, her toes curled as she moaned in his ear.  Had she come?  If she had, it wasn't as intense as before, but that sweet irresistible heat was too close now.  The smooth cadence of his thrusts faltered and became erratic as deliberate movement lost ground and finally gave way to the instinctual male need to fuck and come, to chase his orgasm to its inevitable conclusion and spill himself inside his woman. 

"...stop....Stop!" she gasped, scoring his back with her nails but it was much too late.  The pleasure already had him in its fiery grip and the sting of her nails only pushed him farther into the flames.

"Can't," he panted out, growling a rough apology against her throat.  "....fuck... hoh fuck..." and then coherent speech was beyond him as he grunted, his body sweaty with the effort of his exertions as he hitched and juddered deeply into her, shivering as the hot streams of ejaculate sprayed from him to bathe them both in slick wet heat.

He collapsed with a groan, taking a few long moments for himself as he recovered; breathing in the warm scent of her skin with a sigh before he raised his head.   She was looking at him, her dark eyes wide and unfocused.

"God, Terry.....you trying to kill me?"

"Sorry, love... couldn't help m'self.... it felt too good...."  He moved a little inside her and the sensation made him feel like his skin was twitching all over as random nerves fired with residual pleasure.  He had the urge to rub himself all over her.  He kissed her, stroking her leg sensuously and sighing as he slid in a bit deeper when she shifted under him.  Had she come?  He wasn't sure.  Either way, he could still give her what she needed.  The thought of bringing her off again with his mouth, like this, wet with the mingled remnants of their spent passion suddenly appealed to him.  "You come again, babes?"

He slipped a hand between them to rub her nub and she knocked his hand away with a giggle.  "Yes....  No.....  I don't know."

He looked up, snorting.  "Well either you did or you didn't.  It's not exactly rocket science, now is it, counselor?"  His playful giggle rang out making her grin.  He slipped out of her and they both winced, aching but already missing the feeling of being joined so intimately. 

"I think it was still the first one."  

His eyebrows went up.  "What?  What are you talking about?  That was five minutes ago, at least..."

"I know that!"

"I felt it..." he added smugly, "... felt those tight little walls of yours gripping round me..." he gave his genitals a squeeze for emphasis.  "Jesus, I love that...feeling you..."

"I mean I think it was still the same one as before."  

His eyebrows went up but he said nothing.  

"Thought you were really trying to kill me there at the end.  Not sure how much more of that I could take.  It went on and on and on.... I couldn't even breathe..."

"Are you trying to tell me you had an orgasm that lasted five minutes?"

"No.  I'm trying to tell you that you gave me an orgasm that lasted five minutes.  At least I think you did.  I think that's what it was.  I don't really know.  It's never happened to me before."

"No shit?"

"Lovely.  You are so charming."  She punched him playfully in the arm.  "I suppose you're going to be completely insufferable now."

He was.  But he merely smiled smugly, rolling over like a big lazy lion as he smoothed the flat of his palm down the line of black ink marking the golden skin of her ribcage.  His hand came to settle on her hip and he squeezed gently.  "Tell me about it, then... what was it like?"

"Different."  She closed her eyes, trying to put the amazing sensation into words.  The sight of his hand on her body was distracting.  "Not as intense as it was at first.  I felt that, too.  Squeezing down so hard on you," she muttered, eyes flicking away demurely.  "I'd have been dead had something that intense lasted so long!"  He was enchanted by the color suffusing her cheeks.  "So strong at first, but then instead of falling away, the pleasure sort of leveled out and spread all over.  Not just here," she cupped the wet pouty mound of her sex softly, "but everywhere.  I don't know why... I just wanted you so much.... like I have never wanted anything in my life.  That was amazing!  My face tingled.  Nipples, too.  Chest.  Arms... this buzzing under my skin....  Felt my legs shaking.  It just kept on going... I thought I might pass out!  Full body orgasm... if there is there such a thing.  How did you do that?"

He shrugged.  "No bloody idea, but I'm game to try again..."

She blobbed him with the pillow and shrieked as he pulled her down and tucked her next to him, throwing the light sheet over them both.  "Have you been holding out on me all this time?  Are you some sort of Tantric sex guru?"

He was familiar with the principle in theory but the thought of applying it hadn't even crossed his mind.  "You fucking joking?  That wasn't finesse... that was just a bloke rooting his best girl.  My brain's been disengaged since the second you slipped your hands in my back pockets, grabbed my arse and squeezed, baby..."

"You are hopeless!" but she was smiling when she said it.

"Reckon I am...." He spooned up behind her, nudging his knee between her legs to make a space for his hand as he settled his arm over her and slipped it between her legs to cup her mons.  "I love your cunt," he said plainly as he kissed the back of her neck, making no effort to modulate his voice.  He was not embarrassed by the feeling, or by sharing it.  "S'bloody gorgeous."  He liked the blush creeping over her skin, too.  "And I think she rather fancies me as well...."

"Terry!  What has gotten into you?"  This new Terry was taking some getting used to.  They had always been incendiary together... but they'd never had this.  Emotional intimacy had always been difficult for her, but tonight, with him, it felt easier-better-than it ever had before.  Even if it still scared the daylights out of her.  They had had plenty of sex, but very little pillow talk and they had never lain together afterwards, open and easy with each other.   

His laughter wasn't a giggle this time, but a low rumble.  "Probably the same thing that's gotten into you-"   

She reached behind her, grabbed the sticky droop of his genitals and gave them a light shake.  "A Jumbo trunk's worth of Oz?"

He swatted her with a laugh and tucked her even closer, his hand still cupping her pubis.  "Fanny still sore?" he murmured, nuzzling her ear.

"Yes."  He didn't miss the fact that she answered that with a megawatt smile as if he'd asked her if she'd won the lottery.  "But at least you didn't ask if you'd hurt me.  Apparently you can teach an old dog new tricks..."

"Never too old to learn... just so easily distracted."  He snorted in amusement.  "Besides, I don't have to ask.  I know I did.... I can always tell with you," but before she could admonish him for swallowing the blame yet again for something that she had begged him to do, he added, "...but you asked me to..." he was silent a moment and then, "...maybe a part of me even wanted to before you asked.  I don't know... why would you want that?   Why would I?"

"It wasn't like that, Terry!"  She snuggled deeper into his embrace.  "There is good hurt and bad hurt.  This is the good kind......" she was silent a long moment.   "...I know the difference."  Her words were quiet but unflinching.  They still made him flinch.  This emotional intimacy was growing on her.  A whole conversation of subtext happened in the silence of that moment.

"You'd tell me if it wasn't?" he finally asked.

"I wouldn't have to," she fired back.

So, she was learning to trust him, even if it was by small degrees.  "I can accept that," he offered finally.

"Good."

That time he did giggle.  "Jesus.  Do you always have to have the last word?"

"I am a lawyer and a woman.  Do you really have to ask?"

He just grunted, cupping his hand more tightly between her legs as he leaned in and kissed the back of her shoulder, closing his eyes and rubbing his rough face on her skin like a big cat.  His fingers began to move and drift, running lightly through her small silky patch of pubic hair before teasing through the slick swollen folds of her wet engorged labia. 

Karina shuddered lightly at the intimate touch.  

"Sensitive?" he murmured, still stroking lightly.

She nodded, wondering what he was up to.  His big body was relaxed and loose, not coiled with tension for round two.  What did he have in mind?   

"So wet.  I like feeling myself on you."  He gently spread the rose pink whorls of her sex with this thick fingers.  "Bear down," he whispered throatily into her hair.  "....push me out...  I want to feel it..."  She did and he smiled as he felt an embarrassingly copious trickle flow from her to wet his fingers.  It had been a long time for him.  Experiencing the undeniable proof of his virility so openly charged him up.  "Good girl...." 

Ducking his head bashfully, he rolled her to her back, leaning on his side over her while he massaged the pungent musky remnants of their lovemaking into the golden skin of her belly and hips, taking care to anoint her tattoo as well.  Christ, that got to him.  She did not protest.   Instead she watched his face.  His eyes were averted; he seemed shy but not in the least hesitant.  Hands down, he was the most sensual lover she had ever had.  She did not deserve such a man and couldn't escape the feeling that she was living on borrowed time.  No matter.  She intended to grab up as much as she could before he saw the light.  He kissed her mouth softly when he was finished and twined their fingers together, the scent of their lovemaking strong in the air. 

"Leave it, hey?  We can shower later.... I want me all over you tonight...."  His bright sea green eyes flicked up to catch hers.  He wasn't hiding any more.

She nodded and they shared a deep lingering kiss.  She smiled, her hands running lightly over the red scratches she had left behind on his body in her desperation to be as close to him as possible.  So he wanted to mark her, did he?  She could understand that.  And who would have ever believe she would actually welcome such an act?  And yet she had... with open arms, and possibly even an open heart. 

The aching intimacy of the moment passed, and Karina found herself smiling up at him, laughter and warmth in their eyes where a moment before it had been something much deeper.

"I suppose I should be glad you didn't pee on my leg, hmm?"

He sniggered.  "Well, don't be too disappointed.  I did mention a shower later..."

Their mingled laughter floated into the night, drifting away while the new lovers finally slept, the tempest spent, peacefully lulled by their intimate embrace and the low dull roar of the sea.