"Daryl?"
"Hm?"
"Can I...well can I try something?"
"If you want to learn how to shoot we should try it tomorrow," he supplied
Valerie's blush deepened, her insides warmed. "That's not what I meant."
"Oh," he lowered his crossbow so that it rested on his jean clad thigh. His eyes gleamed with realization.
Stress surged through the young woman, she had waited too long to be alone with him like this, and fought too hard for the opportunity, fought too hard to keep them both alive.
With trepidation her hand ghosted to his cheek. For a moment she feared he would shrink away from her touch or jerk to avoid contact. But no, instead he stiffened watching her with something of curiosity and uncertainty.
But beneath the screaming silence punctuated by their ragged breath a dizzying heat built and climbed between them.
Valerie didn't have time to be embarrassed by her own inexperience or to question her own actions. Something deep and primal arrested her body.
Trembling she leaned towards him, inhaling the musk that wafted from his skin, and kissed his mouth. His unresponsive lips stilled her heart but a moment. Slowly however some movement and pressure rose to greet her own.
With that came his hand in her hair and his tongue grazing her bottom lip. The action sent an explosion through the entirety of her being, over sensitizing her to his touch.
Nothing prepared her for his taste, nearly moaning, she gasped returning to him with a new found vigor and an ache originating deep in her core.
She scrambled into his lap pushing the crossbow to one side, and straddled him, knowing instinctively this gesture would bring her closer to sating her hunger.
His large calloused hands swept over her thighs, kneading their contours. A soft incoherent noise escaped her before she could restrain it. He smiled at her audible encouragement and roved the expanse of her jaw and sternum, delighting in the unique taste
Fueled and emboldened by his pleasure she folded her knees completely, seating herself on his arousal. The groan that issued form him was animalistic and needing, it conjured a new wave of pleasure in Valerie that nearly made her delirious.
Their kisses were panting exchanges of air and tongue, leaving little room for anything else but the driving instinct that had once led to their own creations. All too quickly they found their wandering hands restless, frustrated by the boundaries clothes had set up for them.
Valerie clawed at his shirt rolling her hips against the growing hardness in Daryl's pants.
With the last button freed beneath her fingertips Daryl's shirt fell gloriously open. Greedily she ran her hands across his torso reveling in the toned muscles dusted with chest hair.
At last she could touch his back as well. The thought of the firm musculature completely available to her, made a shiver ripple through her core. Whenever she had seen him laboring on previous occasions she had never been able to draw her eyes away from his back.
Blind with lust she did not see him tremble as he accommodated her efforts to completely free him of his worn plaid shirt. She was too delighted by the hard flesh, sleek with perspiration, to notice Daryl's internal battle with himself.
She did however notice him try to lift them from their seated positions. She had but to barely rise up off him before he reestablished contact by hoisting her up. He gripped her hips possessively, securing her to him, refusing to let such empty space come between them again.
Now given the freedom Valerie did not hesitate in snaking her legs around his hard waist, and kicking off her shoes and letting them fall to the floor behind him. Daryl's breathy groan instantly worried her, but he hardly took notice , pushing her into the awaiting bed and planting a knee on either side of her.
But Valerie could not shake the noise from her mind, that instance where he sounded as if he was in pain.
"Daryl?" she ventured her own voice husky and strained, barely recognizable. She took his face in her hands, struggling to establish eye contact. The man hovered over her seemingly distressed and preoccupied, trying unsuccessfully to cope with whatever tortured him by gathering fistfuls of the bed sheets .
"Daryl please! What's wrong?"
"I have to," he choked, a rare hysteria in his words. In seconds his belt was unbuckled, and his pants gaping. His eyes found hers, that look in his irises, one of such unbridled lust and raw emotion made a fluttering sensation explode between her legs. Her knees buckled.
"I can't wait anymore," he whispered. But that one phrase affected Valerie more than she knew, for when she endeavored to undo her shorts her fingers shook terribly refusing to find purchase, refusing to recognize the plastic button and zipper that kept her closed to him.
Soundlessly his large hands completed the task. He kissed a path down her stomach, the bristle of his face on her skin anchoring her to reality when he hooked his finger in her shorts and panties and dragged the material down.
He kissed the flesh that was hidden to him until now, licking her hip bone slightly, and suckling on the top of her thigh that was dangerously close to...
Panic and pleasure swept over her in torrents when Daryl tossed the denim and underwear aside, cupped her leg to hold it in place and with his lips wandered up her inner thigh.
She meant to say his name but produced only whimpers, in desperation her hands began to contradict themselves-pushing him away one second and then guiding him towards the peak her legs with one hand in his hair in the next moment.
Daryl, irritated by these interfering gestures, gripped her thighs and slid her towards him, diminishing the effort it would have taken him to get where he wanted.
Before she could react his lips were there. She cried out when his tongue probed and flicked over the most sensitive spot she possessed. Damn him, she was melting, she didn't know how to deal with such pleasure, her body didn't know how to. That is why Valerie couldn't control how she quivered and writhed beneath him. Her hands tangled in his hair, relishing in the way he could made her feel.
Warmth pooled deep in her stomach, accumulating in dangerous proportions and when she was sure she could bear it no longer. He pulled away. Smiling, he licked his lips and wiped away the remaining moisture with his thumb. Frustration of the most severe kind took residence in her chest as she strained to prop herself up on her elbows. She had been so close to the most pleasurable moment of her life.
A second later a moment of silent observation was stolen. Valerie realized with panic her vulnerable position and the obvious bulge of his member lying in wait. She was bare to him; the most naked another human being had ever seen her. She shifted beneath him, not sure if she was filled with gratitude at the fact she still wore her snug shirt and bra or disappointed she hadn't removed the clothing.
Daryl as if sensing her uncertainty and doubt took her chin and kissed her. Had someone asked Valerie how different kisses could be prior to this she would have said they were either lustful or tentative with no medium in between. But this kiss shattered that ignorant notion.
This was controlled and oozed comfort that only Daryl could provide her with. Slowly her limbs curled around him cocooning him and welcoming his touch. Warmth and tranquility quelled her hectic emotions replacing them with the trust and steadiness that she craved.
Pleasure coursed through her again sending concentrated signals to the spot between her legs.
In that moment Valerie knew she wanted to complete what she had initiated -to make love to him and it would be just that- not fucking nor screwing around but the full passionate exploration of his body and offering her own up for the same treatment.
More so that kiss, that simple gesture had shown her despite his roughness earlier that he was a sensitive lover he would respect her, and see to her needs.
To show Daryl and herself she no longer held regret or reluctance Valerie gave him a swift kiss before pulling her shirt over her head. He observed with rapt attention as she unhooked her bra and slid the garment off and down her shoulders. The focus he paid her did wonderful things to her insides.
Gingerly he set the discarded articles to one side.
The look in his eyes was one of hesitancy and restraint. Valerie knew that if she gave the word the man would not touch her, in fact if she said so he would stop; pick up his crossbow, his shirt and leave the room with his hurt dignity, not bearing to bring himself to look back at her, at what could have been. Then everything would be like it was before, tense and unfulfilling and she would forever look at him and wish she had carried out the act.
The very thought hurt with profound severity and to remedy this she slid her hands in his hair bringing their faces together but keeping their lips apart. The mere distance ached.
"I want this Daryl," she heard herself say, "I want you here and now and I will want you like this in this way for however long I have left in this world."
Valerie knew those words, that confession, that outpour of her heart had done something to him, broken some barrier and lowered defenses he had built around himself and which he had kept erected for a long time. It created something lasting and sacred between them, a bond that was stronger than death. A promise that was sincere and so deeply rooted they would never think to deviate from it or to injure it for fear of destroying this precious affection they maintained for each other. This love, that was a rarity before the apocalypse had then become ethereal after the global tragedy . What were the chances she would find the love of her life after such things had occurred? And yet she had.
His lips were on her traveling down her sternum and lingering on the area between her naked breasts where her heartbeat could easily be felt, pounding beneath flesh and bone. He muttered words against her skin- none of which she caught but was sure held love and promises he had never told or swore to anyone. This was Daryl Dixon at his most raw, in a moment of tender intimacy.
Valerie had never known more than she had in that moment that she loved the man and always would.
One of his hands rounded a plump, generous breast, that caused her to breathe heavily as he tested its weight and sensitivity by groping softly and rubbing the pad o his thumb over the tip. With a groan she arched into his touch pressing her mound into his hand. His mouth found the peak of her other breast and expertly gave it various nips and swirls of his tongue.
Nearly hyperventilating Valerie abandoned all coherent thought when her insides coiled tightly for the second time. One thing was certain Daryl was good with his mouth. With lustful insanity she tried to bring him closer and create more areas where their skin deliciously met. Mad with ecstasy she felt as though she could never get close enough.
The emptiness she felt became agonizing in the very least . With something of lunacy and desire Valerie accepted she was going slowly and lusciously insane. Gradually and painfully she was going to die because she couldn't rid herself of this vacancy, she could not fill this internal instinctual void herself.
Feverishly Daryl's hands went to his pants and a hasty shove of fabrics freed his arousal.
He was huge, bigger than she could have ever imagined. Valerie would bet money he was larger than the average male, he certainly looked like he was. As he reached over and retrieved a condom from the nightstand and worked it over his length Valerie wondered how this was going to play out. Right now it seemed physically impossible; if it worked it would be an anatomical miracle worthy of written records.
With a strangled exhale he poised himself at her entrance. At first it seemed nothing happened, she was too small for him. But then the pain assaulted her spreading through her body in fierce protest at the foreign intrusive entity.
To his credit Daryl did everything he could think of to lessen her pain, he showered her with feather light kisses some of which she found the strength to return, he was pushing slowly and letting her adjust to him, and he did not complain as she dug her nails into his shoulders.
In the following moments Valerie tried several things to release the pain she felt in different forms. She bit her lip until she tasted iron, she made fists that dove her nails into her palms, and at another time she even reached beside herself and tore the bedding in a freak display of brawn. But none of these worked. They all left her seeking new methods of coping.
At one point she wasn't sure when she surrendered and clung to him with what force she could muster. Her limbs velvety and pleading drew strength from Daryl's manly form in slight repeated movements of rubbing her skin against his.
Suddenly he completely filled her. Daryl gave her a moment to notice the fact and to prepare herself before he gave a small experimental swing of his hips. Valerie had expected another onslaught of pain but instead found a sensation entirely novel to her, not bad just new. A little moan of appreciation escaped her, enough to make Daryl work into a rhythm of regular thrusts.
Then everything changed, her nerves dulled and her body began to sing and explode. She greeted his thrusts with a movement of her own that quickly brought him over the edge and had him burrowing deeper into her. Promptly she began to burn then she was on fire. But Daryl was far from done.
Mindlessly she ran her hands over his muscled core as it worked tirelessly to bring them both pleasure. Then her hands gripped his hips following his long strokes. A wicked idea possessed her. When Daryl swung his hips she squeezed the slabs of skin under her hands and pulled him deeper into her.
The feeling was beyond anything she felt before and had her senses blurred by euphoria. Something similar must have occurred to him because he was growing more sporadic and each of his thrusts was a purposeful plunge into her.
In that instance her hands roved him, feeling every inch of him she could reach. Her lungs drunk and expelled air at swift internvals.
The tremors of orgasm descended on Valerie bringing her to a momentary high that made everything else in her life seem inferior. Daryl quickly followed and collapsed on her, panting from exertion and pinning her to the bed with his weight.
Valerie waded through the paradise they had worked to create and sorted her limbs from his and brought her thighs beneath his with a little difficulty.
The first signs of sunrise slanted in through the window and played off Daryl's sweat sheened back. He pulled up and met her gaze, his eyes a lucid blue that danced on the precipice of an emotion she couldn't identify.
"You've ruined me," he chuckled and bent to kiss her jaw lazily.
"Oh really?" she said, Valerie who had been smiling since her orgasm grinned wider, "How is that?"
"Because I will want this every day for the rest of my damn life,"
A light giggle tore from her throat as she brought them face to face for another kiss.
"We will see Daryl Dixon," she said knowing full and well she would need to sate her hunger for him several times after this.
He pulled away raising a brow, "Do you need convincing?"
Her heart leapt in response slamming blood against the base of her throat.
"Maybe"
His kisses became more insistent and passionate and for the second time she lost herself in him and in the love she had for him.
Better yet she knew long after this was over and they were lured from the sheets by the calls of life what they had was a lasting thing, a piece of joy she would keep and cherish in the hellish reality that shattered the world around them.