Safely back aboard the ship, Andros tossed his helmet across the equipment room before storming out into the hall towards his room. Shaking out her matted, sweat-soaked locks, Ashley near-mimicked his actions and followed him from the room, leaving behind their mildly befuddled but mostly amused team in her wake.
"This should be interesting," Cassie muttered under her breath, eliciting chortles from Carlos and TJ as they began degearing.
.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.
"Don't walk away from me, you cocksure bastard!" Ashley raged, catching up to Andros outside the dormitories. "What in the hell gives you the right?!"
"To save your careless ass?!" he fired back, throwing open the door to his room as he started to peel his outer suit down his arms. "Everything!"
Thwarting his attempt to shut the door in her face, Ashley insinuated herself into the room and slammed the door closed behind her. "Careless?! Ha!" she barked.
"Yes, careless!" Andros fired back, turning to face her as he pulled off his gloves. "You made a reckless decision that could have endangered you or your team!"
"Oh, forgive me, high and mighty, all-knowing leader! But here on Earth, our women aren't helpless damsels in distress in need of rescuing!" she asserted, sarcasm lacing her words.
"Damnit, Ashley, I'm perfectly aware of that!" He threw the gauntlets forcefully onto the desk before presenting her with his back.
"Then what the fuck, Andros?!" Ashley peeled off her own gloves and slammed them next to his. "I don't see you pulling shit like that for anyone else on the team!"
Andros spun around and stalked towards her, forcing her to look up to maintain eye contact as they came breast-to-chest. "Anyone else isn't you!" he declared, moments before silencing any protest she would have made by crashing his lips into hers.
She returned his furious passion, briefly anchoring him to her with her hands clutched in the fabric of the skin-tight red shirt he wore under his battle suit, before thrusting him away at arms length. "You don't get to make that decision, Andros!" she chided, frustration battling with endearment and passion in her eyes. "That's not how a team works! That's not how a leader should work!"
Anger rapidly dissipating from his stance, Andros clutched his girlfriend's hands in his, bowing his head and resting his brow against hers as he pulled her frame against him. "I know that. I know that, Ash," he whispered. "But my god, if I lost you..."
Heart in her throat, Ashley tugged her hands from his grasp, sliding her palms across his roughened jawline and into the long hair at the nape of his neck. She couldn't find words to answer him, so she didn't try, instead raising onto her toes to plant a soft kiss against his lips.
Groaning at her tenderness, Andros lifted her hard against him, escalating their kiss as he plundered her mouth with his tongue, backing her into sitting on the desk and wrapping her legs around his waist. "Can't... lose you..." he exhaled between kisses, pressing her breasts against his chest while trying to tug her outer suit off her torso.
Fueled by the heat of their team's recent battle, Ashley aided his attempts to undress her, struggling to remove his own undershirt while maintaining their lip-lock. "This... off..." she demanded, tugging at the hem of his shirt, even as his own hands found bare flesh after pulling down her battle suit and sliding his hands under her pale yellow chemise.
Divesting himself of the offending garment, Andros made quick work of kicking off his boots and removing the rest of his suit, leaving him clad only in a pair of form-fitting UnderArmour shorts. "Your turn," he grinned wickedly, nearly tearing the chemise from her body. Placing one arm under her knees and the other at her back, he lifted her into his embrace, kissing her in a fury as he stumbled to his bed and lay her out on the covers. "I need to feel you against me," he pleaded, cupping her lace-covered breasts in his palms.
More than willing to oblige, Ashley toed off her boots and kicked them to the floor. Raising her hips off the bed, she let Andros slide her suit the rest of the way down her body before he tossed it across the floor.
Andros sat back to drink in her perfect form, nearly bared to his hungry gaze. He didn't know what he'd done to deserve such a treasure, but he wasn't about to question it now. Leaning over, he began kissing his way up one lean leg. When he reached her mismatched hipsters, he went back and treated her other leg to the same attention, nipping at her hips when he returned.
"You're a tease, Red Ranger," she accused playfully, arching from the bed once again to allow him to pull her panties off her body.
"You love it, Yellow, don't even try to deny it," he retorted, reaching behind her and deftly unhooking her bra before tossing it haphazardly behind him.
"I never said... oh!" she started to reply, but he latched his lips around one aching tip and suckled hard. She tangled her fingers in his brown and blonde locks, holding him to her as he alternated between tormenting first one breast, then the other.
Andros grinned around one perfect bud, giving it one last nip before descending his kisses across her stomach and lower still, letting his breath whisper across the top of her core. Her resulting mewl of pleasured anticipation nearly put him at the edge of his restraint, his own arousal pressing insistently against his shorts. But he had no intention of finding his own satisfaction until he'd made Ashley absolutely melt beneath him. Without warning, he buried his tongue in her heat, flicking across the engorged bud and eliciting a drawn out cry from the beauty in his bed. Again and again he tasted her, adoring the sounds she made as her passion spiralled higher and higher, her hands alternating between clutching his hair, her breasts, the bedsheets. He gazed up to watch the pleasure dance across her beautiful face, never letting up his tender assault. Her eyes met his, glazed over and wide, and he knew she was nearly there. Thrusting two fingers into her heat, he curled against her sheath and put one long, hard suction against her clit. In the next instant she shattered, crying out his name over and over, pleading with him to stop the torment, to never stop, to stay with her for always. When her spasming slowed, he kissed his way back up her body, pressing a soul-searing kiss to her pouty lips even as he rolled his hips against hers, aching to be free of the fabric separating his skin from hers.
Ashley needed no further persuasion than the feel of his heavy erection against her sensitive core. Pushing his shorts down, she helped Andros free himself from their confines before kicking the garment to the end of the bed. Guiding him to her dripping center, she cried out in sweet agony as he sheathed himself to the hilt in a single thrust.
"Oh god, Ash, you feel like heaven!" he groaned, keeping still as he held himself over her, using his forearms to keep the majority of his weight from her. "God, so good..."
"So help me, Andros, if you don't start moving, I'll laser blast you into next century!" Ashley knew she sounded desperate, but she didn't care; she felt desperate. For his touch, for his kiss, for the deep, shuddering ecstacy only he could provide.
Andros grinned at her impatience, for it near matched his own. Knowing she always acclimated to him quickly, he began a strong, rapid succession of thrusts into her tight core. They both cried out their pleasure as Ashley lifted her hips to meet his each time he returned to her. He kissed her fervently, pouring his emotions into the act as if he'd never have the chance to again. Their lovemaking often began with the "bloodlust" caused by their battles, but Andros knew it always morphed into so much more for both of them. This woman was his everything. He'd lost so much in life when KO-35 had been decimated. The thought of losing the woman in his arms terrified him. He held her closer as he plunged into her, forcing them both higher and higher towards completion. Once, twice, again and again, until he felt her start to contract around him.
"Andros... god... yes..." she cried breathlessly, clutching his shoulders, digging her nails into his skin. "Almost..." Once more and he felt her explode around him, pulling him over the precipace with her as he surged into her, groaning her name as he gave her everything he had to give.
In the quieting aftermath, he rolled to his side, taking Ashley with him as he remained sheathed in her trembling heat. He pressed a long kiss to her forehead and breathed in her scent as he cradled her head against him. "I love you, you know," he pledged softly.
"I know," she smiled, relishing in his typical post-coital adoration. "I love you too."
.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.
As silence once again reigned in the nearby common room, TJ glanced up from his book. "Do you think we should tell them about the lack of sound insulation?" he pondered.
Cassie scoffed. "Do you really wanna be the one to start that conversation?"