Title : Drying Off…

Author : Jaggie 107

Disclaimer : JAG characters belong to DPB, CBS and Paramount – and I hope all parties will allow me to have fun for a little while, and replace them all when I'm done. Thank you.

Summary : Harm takes his time helping Mac get dry after her shower.

Spoilers : AU story set around the time of All Ye Faithful, but pure fluff!

Rating : Definitely an 'M'. Feel free to use your imagination!

Thanks to : NettieC, aserene, ColieMackenzie, bluejay65, jtbwriter, TV Angel 711, froggy0319 and iflynavyusa85 for their wonderful reviews and the incentive to continue!

A/N : Some readers asked if there was going to be a sequel, and at first I thought 'no' as TAS had been a 'one off' when I first wrote it, but then the ideas started floating around (as they do!) and now I can't believe how easy this is going to tie in with both 'Taking A Shower' and Harm's fantasy of Mac stepping out of the shower (Retreat Hell/S6)! There is already a mention of Harm's fantasy in TAS, now it's about to come true…

From the end of 'Taking A Shower'…

"Um…what…what happens now?" she asked another question, and was met with Harm's breath on her lips as his mouth came close to her mouth, just before he kissed her.

"You've had your fantasy, Sarah… Now it's my turn…"

Mac closed her eyes as Harm deepened the kiss, and she felt the towel being tugged away from her body. When Harm tossed it behind him she had no idea where it landed. They would find it later, she mused. Much later…

Harm's Apartment

"You're really here?" Harm asked softly, and Mac nodded wordlessly, watching the emotions chase across his face before settling on a heavy-lidded wanting look that sent shivers through her that had absolutely nothing to do with the cooling of her skin after the shower and everything to do with the man in front of her.

Mac tried to speak again, but found Harm's fingers on her lips to silence her as he shook his head. Leaning in he whispered in her ear.

'I'm going to dry you off…every delectable inch of skin on your body…'

Mac's eyes closed as she swallowed.

Harm couldn't help the smug grin that pushed aside the vulnerability. He had been with a number of women, most of whom Mac knew about – Diane, Annie, Jordan, Renee… The images vanished into the far reaches of his mind. Into his past. Now he had someone far more important in his future…

Ah, yes… Sarah

Harm snagged another towel from the rail and opened it up, moving behind Mac. Admonishing that she keep her eyes closed as her lids fluttered, Harm lifted the towel to her head, and as soon as his hands molded the cotton around her hair Mac's head fell back on a sigh.

With gentle, circular motions Harm worked Mac's hair, able to take a much closer note of the pelt-like thickness and the highlights becoming evident as her hair dried off; of the way her dark brows relaxed at his ministrations, and how her lashes fanned out against her high cheekbones. He paid attention to her ears, drying the delicate skin and then nipping at her lobes before soothing with a kiss. Mac sucked a breath in and let a moan out at his actions.

Harm ran the towel down from her hair to her neck, and then put it over his own bare shoulder while he finger-combed Mac's hair out. Once he was satisfied with the task he leaned down and dropped a gentle kiss on her forehead. It made her jump slightly, but he reassured her and she quieted again, waiting for his next move.

Taking hold of the towel once again, Harm ran it down Mac's neck and over her shoulders, gently kneading her shoulder blades and slipping down the outside of her arms as far as her elbows, back up to her neck, and then a further massage down her spine to the base. Along her spine he dropped whisper kisses as he followed the towel down and then rose again. Coming around to the front of her, Harm cautioned her to keep her eyes closed, and Mac obeyed. It was a battle against her senses. Loss of vision heightened those senses of scent and touch and hearing. Speaking wasn't an option. Her voice, she felt, wouldn't co-operate if she tried!

While Harm worked his gentle, slow way around her body, Mac was silently going insane! His own unique masculine scent – that for which she had taken possession of a Navy t-shirt once upon a time – was all around her as he moved. She could hear his murmurs of pleasure as he continued on his task, but as yet her hands were still by her sides so there had been no touching of his skin to appease her growing need.

Facing Mac, Harm took a silent moment to drink in her beauty, and to appreciate that while dressed – in civilian or military clothing – Mac's figure was fantastic. In the flesh, he decided, she was a work of art. With the moment over, Harm ran the towel up the sides of Mac's body, up to her armpits and as his hands brushed past the edges of her breasts both he and Mac drew in a breath as one, but nothing was said. Taking first one arm, then the other, Harm dried the darker olive toned skin on the outside of her arms, and kissed the delicate lighter skin on the inside of her wrists, eliciting a shiver of anticipation from Mac.

Moving the towel back to her torso, he gently ran the material over the right breast, then underneath, with the same attention paid to the left breast, and then leaned forward to touch the tip of his tongue to each pebble-hard bud. Mac jerked back as if burned, and Harm caught her arms to steady her. He was surprised that still her eyes remained closed. Her military bearing was inherent; a part of her that was inviolate, but it was tempered with the very feminine side of her. It was this femininity that he had expected to react when he had touched her nipples so.

Harm was so close to the edge himself; taking his time like this was as much agony as ecstasy, but he had told Mac he would dry every delectable inch of her, and he was a man of his word… Even if it killed him! Harm grinned; at least he would die happy.

Taking Mac's hips in his hands he lowered himself to his haunches and then to his knees in front of her. Mac drew in another breath, and this time her lashes flickered and her breathing quickened. With both hands he dried first her right leg, rising from her toes to her ankles to her calves, past the delicate skin at the back of her knees – a spot he swore to return to some other time when he heard Mac's breathing hitch once more in response. Up her thighs to the vee at the top of her legs. As he insistently nudged the towel against her, Mac opened her legs to allow him – and his towel – access. Her hands had been resting on his shoulders as he had lifted each foot to dry it thoroughly, and now they remained on his skin, more for the desire to touch than for the necessity of support.

Having dried all the skin he could Harm discarded the towel, and as Mac waited for the unknown he turned his attention to the most private part of her. Still unseeing, Mac knew instinctively that something was about to happen that would blow every previous conception she had about this man out of the proverbial water. As Harm watched Mac's face he ran a finger down the seam of skin between her legs. On a cry of surprise, and pleasure, Mac's eyes shot open and she locked her gaze to Harm's, refusing to let go even when he brought a second finger to the moistness between her legs, and pushed gently against her, sliding inside. Mac's lips quivered and cheeks flushed but she did not lose contact with Harm's eyes. Adding his tactile thumb to rub gently against the nub while his fingers created a rising tide that was close to overflowing, Harm brought Mac to the edge, and over, once more.

At last, Mac found her voice, barely audible as she fought to regain some sense of direction in the storm Harm had created within her.

"Harm…I…I can't stand…my legs…" At the pleading in her tone, Harm got to his feet. Lifting Mac up, he walked into the bedroom with her, laying her down with a reverence that had her lifting her eyes to his face. Neither broke the contact, the heightened emotions between them being almost palpable.

Despite Harm's use of the towel to dry her off, his gentle and protracted ministrations had left Mac wet and wanting, ready for him. There was no need for further foreplay, and with just a look between them Harm came up over Mac, his mouth touching hers, his tongue licking at her lower lip until she met and dueled his with her own, giving him access to a deeper kiss as his erection nudged at her thighs and she parted her legs, joining them in an intimacy that far surpassed their expectations.

They had both, in their own minds, accepted that their first time would be so very different to their previous experiences, but neither had expected the sheer rightness of their union. Harm had no awareness of where he ended and Mac began, just that he was sheathed in her warmth and he wanted nothing more than this feeling of completeness for the rest of his life. Being a part of Mac didn't just mean the intimate contact they shared at that very moment. It was the sensation that they were each a part of the other even when they were not physically together.

Mac bit back a squeal as Harm rolled them, still joined, and she found herself impaled, her knees either side of his hips, her hands supporting her weight against his chest. The movement had given her more of his length inside her, touching deeper than she could ever have imagined. As she began panting against the rocking movement she gave him a knowing, sultry smile. Harm grinned in response, knowing just when she became aware that she was the one doing the rocking, thus pleasuring herself against him. His hands lifted to cup her breasts, rubbing a thumb against each nipple, giving more friction to the already hard nubs as he urged her down to him so that he could taste her once more…

When the sensitivity got too much, and the urge to climax came closer, Mac took them over once more, so that Harm was above her again, and with only a murmur of 'look at me' he watched Mac's eyes darken even more, if that were possible, as he moved a little faster against her, bringing about her climax, and her clenching muscles released him so that he could feel himself filling her with a warmth that brought a satisfied cat-smile to her face.

Wow, when you let go, Rabb…

Mac's jumbled thoughts coalesced into one overriding certainty. This wasn't just making love. It was joining souls…his and hers. Harm and Sarah. In his arms, like this, it was Sarah the woman who was as much a part of him as he was of her. In her present state of euphoria, Mac didn't notice that Harm had fallen silent.

Later…

They were side by side, naked, no false modesty in the aftermath of the magic they had shared.

Laid on his back, Harm stared hard at the ceiling as he tried to formulate a sentence without making an ass out of himself. Without ruining the incredible intimacy they had shared. It was more than just sharing though. It was being two halves of the same whole, but he'd taken without asking, and now he didn't know if was too high a price to pay for wanting her.

His snort of derisive laughter brought Mac's head around to look at him, puzzlement on her face, unsure of his reaction.

"Harm?"

"I took without asking, Sarah…" he began, but Mac interrupted.

"I wanted this…" she murmured, and a smile tilted his lips. Raising up on her elbow, Mac looked down at Harm. Only one thought came to mind; that she'd never seen such vulnerability in him before, not like this. True, he'd broken a little when they had found out the fate of his father, but this was different. This was a lowering of defenses between them, allowing real emotions to show. Harm ran his thumb along Mac's lower lip, dragging the skin slightly as the nail moved between the seam of her lips. He felt a responsive twitch in his groin as Mac moaned at the invasion. Ignoring the heat that was building again he shook his head slightly.

"I did something tonight that I don't…I haven't done before..." Turbulent ocean eyes sought her brown eyes, darkened by desire. Mac lifted a hand to touch the skin of his chest, over his heart.

"If I hadn't wanted you, we wouldn't be here now," she told him softly, "…and it would have been such a shame to waste this…" Harm groaned. This was the same hand now at his groin, her palm rubbing against the skin of his erection, dragging upwards as his thumb had done against her lip.

Sweet torture…

"So, you had a fantasy about me in your shower, huh?" Mac murmured, still leaning over Harm.

"More than one," he answered, and caught her as she fell on him when he dislodged her elbow. Without giving Mac time to respond Harm kissed her, hard, rolling her over so that she was beneath him. Lifting his head his usual cocky smile was back in place. He knew. He knew she loved him. Now he just had to tell her. Show her that he loved her too…

"Really?"

"Really," Harm echoed. "My first fantasy of you stepping out of my shower was interrupted at an inopportune moment…"

"Someone called, huh?" Mac grinned, catching her bottom lip between her teeth and then as Harm rubbed gently at a nipple she let out a soft sigh, relaxing again.

"You could say that, but not the way you probably mean… It was, um, me… I called your name…"

"Well…that's okay… I mean, if you were fantasizing about me, to call my name is…okay, right?"

Harm gave a rueful grin as he shook his head, and Mac knew immediately.

"You weren't alone," she muttered from behind her hand, a look of surprise on her face. Not just surprise, Harm noted; there was still an insecurity there, which he was determined to erase.

"Renee," he admitted, pulling gently at the hand Mac held to her face. "I'd had that knock on the head in the Admiral's office, and you appeared out of my shower, dressed only in a towel, and I said the immortal words 'Mac, what're you doing here?' and Renee went ballistic."

Mac had to laugh. Given their current state of nakedness and closeness and rising desire, it wasn't the most opportune time to give in to howling laughter, but as soon as she started she couldn't stop, and neither could Harm. It cleared the air. It left them open to their feelings. She knew she loved him, just as she knew now that he loved her. Maybe someday he'd tell her…

'I love you, Sarah Mackenzie…'

Mac gasped, the laughter dying away as the tears remained on her face. Through them she could see the seriousness of Harm's expression, and as she focused on him he smiled, and repeated the words, punctuating each one with a kiss.

"I. Love. You."

Each succeeding kiss deeper than the first, until they were once again in the world meant only for them.

THE END

(I have to stop now. My hands are sweaty, my heart is still racing, and my doctor wouldn't be too impressed with my blood pressure. If you have half as much reaction reading this, then you might want to visit a doctor yourselves!)

Now, that's a whole new story idea! Doctor Harm!

Bye…for now!