Tyger, Tyger...

His mind was racing, not an unusual thing. She was in the next room, definitely an unusual thing.

On the rare occasion he needed to relieve tension, she was there for him. No superfluous talking, no extra clinging, no hope for a future. She was a believer, he was a skeptic and yet they shared a connection that very few people would have understood... on the surface. If anyone took the time to look, they would have understood.

Very few people looked.

He was considered an icon, she was considered the rookie. His mind was an asset, hers was attached to a face that was too pretty to be of any use to anyone. To her, he was more than his mind. To him, she was more than her face.

Tonight, he needed her.

The knock on her door was efficient and she knew who it was without the use of the peephole. With a murderer on the loose, she probably should have taken more precautions, but she knew who it was. It had been one of those days. It was one of those cases.

He didn't speak, he simply slipped a hand into her hair at the back of her neck and yanked her into a bruising kiss. She responded immediately, her tongue wrestling with his for dominance, a fight she didn't expect to win.

Other nights, he let her play at running the show, but tonight was all about release and she knew he had one goal.

As her back hit the wall, she gave a small grunt, raising one leg to hook on his waist. Opening the zipper on his trousers was second nature to her and she pushed them down far enough for his cock to spring free. She, of course, wasn't wearing panties... she hadn't been all day. It was a secret between them, something he'd known simply by looking at the way she'd walked.

His first thrust was punishing, and she gasped into the kiss, then pushed back with her hips. It was about him tonight, though she had no doubt that his efforts would bring her off, too. Against the wall was one of his favorites. The wall, the couch, bent over the coffee table... there was very little they hadn't done. Her entire apartment had been marked in one way or the other... except her bed.

It was far too intimate, for both of them.

Her mind was brought back to the present when his mouth dropped to the spot above her breast. She knew it would leave a mark, something easily covered with her clothing and gone in a day, but for now, he needed to mark something, anything, to prove he existed. Soon, sometime soon, he would cease to exist and they knew it.

He came with a harsh sound that echoed in her ear and she bit her lip to stifle her own noises even as her muscles clamped down around him. They stayed that way, pressed against the wall, for over a minute, before he pulled back.

As always, he fixed her, this time pulling down her nightshirt and smoothing it appropriately, before he tucked himself away. She smoothed his vest, gave him a quick kiss and watched as he walked out the door.

This time, she made sure the chain was on the door before going to bed.