Consciousness came slowly to Davis. He had been having the most wonderful dream. He didn't want to wake up. He wanted to stay in the world where Chloe was a warm weight in his arms and his nose was full of the citrus scent of her. Slowly his senses returned and he realized...It wasn't a dream.

Chloe had come to him last night.

She WAS a warm weight in his arms.

She was still sleeping deeply. She looked so small and fragile with her hands curled up under her chin. A slight smile curved her sleeping lips. He wondered if she too was dreaming about last night. He hoped so. He still felt her touch like a tattoo. Her body against his under the covers was a burning brand. He found that he wanted her to feel the same fire he did. He feared that the morning light would break whatever spell had brought her to him last night. That the new day would change her mind. That she would wake and see the night before as a terrible mistake.

He wanted to brand her as his again in the morning light.

One arm was trapped beneath her, but the other was free to work. He pushed the covers off, exposing their skin to the morning air. The sudden coolness caused her to push back unconsciously against his warmth. The sight of her warm pink skin against his own paleness caused an immediate reaction from his body. A slight frown marred her sleeping face and she shifted against him. He gasped. He moved his free hand to her exposed thigh and firmly, but lightly ran his palm up and over her hip. He gently pressed the hip back into him and the frown disappeared from her face. Even sleeping, instinct took over and she began moving against him. He moved his hand up along her side, almost tickling, but not quite. She shivered, but he didn't think it was from the cool air anymore. Her hands uncoiled from beneath her chin and she stretched back against him. The change in position was exactly what Davis was hoping for. His hand began sliding up along her body. She arched back like a bow, pressing into him. A sigh escaped her lips. Her head fell back and he moved his lips to begin kissing and licking her neck. When his lips traveled up to her ear, she began whimpering and shifting her legs against his. When he gently bit her earlobe at the same time, he felt her move against him.

"Davis..." His name escaped her lips on a sigh. He sensed that she was still in that in-between state of awake and asleep. He expected she thought this was just a very intense dream. He found he liked the idea of her dreaming of him. Davis shifted his hips slightly, so the next time she pressed back, their bodies met. She finally awoke completely. Davis watched her face as he joined her. Her expression was beautiful. Surprise. Lust. Pleasure. Just a hint of confusion. In moments, the confusion was gone and she was all pleasure. Soon he felt her body begin clenching as her breathing quickened. She arced back and screamed out her pleasure. He found his own release a moment later.

Davis nuzzled her neck. "Good morning."

Chloe smiled dreamily. "Good morning." She stretched back against him. The move pulling the sheets tight. Davis felt his body react to the sight. Chloe blinked in surprise, before experimentally pressing her hips back. His body came fully alive again, causing her to gasp.

Davis nibbled her earlobe. "Ready for round two?"

Rolling against him and peeping through her lashes, Chloe asked, "You can do that?"

In reply, Davis rolled her partially onto her stomach. Chloe gasped again. "Guess so."

Taking his time, Davis was slow and deep. For long minutes he didn't change the pace, as she began pressing back against him.

Her cries of pleasure became thick. She was gripping a pillow and began biting into it with each movement. He knew she was on a plateau, unable to stop and unable to break.

He wanted her to remember. He wanted her to know she asked it of him. So he waited and continued his tortuously slow, deep motions.

"Davis..." she said in a thick nearly-sobbing voice.

"Yes?" he asked with another slow, deep push. She raised her hips to meet him.

"I-" Her voice caught. She quivered beneath him as her body tried to hold. "Davis-I-" He heard her swallow thickly.

He paused. "Yes, Chloe?"

"Davis, help me. I need-I need-"

"What do you need, Chloe?" He pushed just the slightest bit.

Scrunching her eyes tightly, Chloe bit into the pillow again and moaned.

Davis spoke harshly and softly into her ear. "What do you need, Chloe?"

Her eyes still tight and her teeth clenched around the pillow, Chloe shook her head wordlessly, but her hips pushed back.

His voice harsh and thick, Davis spoke into her ear again. "Tell me, Chloe. What do you need?"

Spitting out the pillow, she gasped out one word. "You."

Biting her earlobe none-too-gently he said harshly, "Why didn't you say so?" Then he let her have what she needed.

Chloe let out a gasp and was shuddering. Her body was still rippling when he found his own release.

Davis was wrapped around her as the waves still rippled from her. She was still having aftershocks for long minutes past her initial explosion.

Chloe hadn't known that was possible. But then, she hadn't known a lot of things were possible until last night.

She shifted slightly, and Davis moved off of her. She flipped over and sprawled across his chest, looking at him. He gave her his half-smile and looked at her intent expression. "Yes?" he asked, sounding cocky.

"What was that?" she asked.

"What was what?" he said, sounding falsely innocent.

She just looked at him intently. His smile faltered and he looked away. When he spoke again, his words were quiet and intense. "That was me trying to make sure you didn't regret this." He gestured to them lying on the bed.

He was nervous.

Chloe felt something loosen inside her. Her fears from last night drifting away. She had been half-afraid that her lack of experience hadn't been enough for him. He clearly had more experience that her, but that hadn't been it at all.

Seeing her expression soften, Davis pushed a bit of hair out of her eyes. "So now what?"

Chloe blinked. Looking up at the clock, she let out a startled cry. Leaping from the bed, she frantically began rushing around trying to locate her clothes. "I'm late for work!"

Flipping the covers aside, Davis got up from the bed more slowly. Chloe stopped for a moment and admired him in the morning sun. Dear God... It seemed almost impossible, but In the light of day he was even more beautiful than by last night's lamplight. The soft daylight outlined his muscles and caressed his beautiful proportions. She blinked in surprise to see he was almost ready again. Was that normal?

No time for that now. She shook her head and continued to hunt down her clothing as Davis pulled on a pair of lounge pants. Finally dressed, Chloe moved towards the door, Davis following behind. She suddenly felt shy and thought he might too. What next? hung in the air.

They spoke at the same time.

"Davis, I-"
"Lunch!"

Chloe blinked. "Lunch?"

Looking shy, Davis toed the carpet. "Yeah. We never got to do that...before."

Chloe suddenly remembered the cafe lunch where she had left him alone. It was right after proving him innocent of the horrible killings. She had been scared of what she felt growing between them and needed distance.

She wasn't scared now.

She smiled. "Lunch sounds good."

Davis was feeling a weird sense of déjà vu. He was sitting outside the cafe waiting to see if Chloe would show. He was in his uniform, though it wasn't his dress one this time. He had to go to work after lunch.

Like a ray of sunshine, she appeared from around the corner and joined him. She was wearing a blue skirt and a lighter blue top. She must have changed and showered at Isis. He smiled slightly, thinking he preferred how she had looked earlier with her hair sleep mussed and her eyes glowing with sensual pleasure. She paused catching the look in his eyes. Then hitching her purse more firmly on her shoulder, she moved and joined him at the table.

He smiled. "Glad you could make it."

She smiled back. "Yeah, it's been a while," she teased.

"Feels like it." He let her see his heated eyes again.

She paused, trapped by his gaze.

The spell was broken by the waiter arriving to take their drink order.

They both ordered ice tea and the waiter left them with menus.

Opening hers, Chloe said lightly, "So what is good here?"

"I can't stop thinking about you."

"Is that one of the specials?" she asked, peering at the menu.

Davis was silent.

Chloe slowly lowered her menu and met his eyes. She gasped at the molten look. Heat pooled in her and she swallowed a sudden thickness in her throat.

Now she knew. She knew what the look meant now. She thought she had before, but she had been blind. Until last night, she had no idea what passion really was or what it meant for her. It wasn't a clumsy, sort-of-nice feeling. It wasn't a warmth that fell short and left her empty.

It was a scorching blaze that exploded out. It was a consuming inferno that left you replete but hungry for more.

It was what she saw in Davis' eyes and she couldn't deny it, because now she knew.

"Yes," she whispered.

Davis grabbed her hand and pulled her through the busy cafe toward the back. When one of the staff asked if they were alright, he replied in a voice that sounded surprisingly authoritative, "My girlfriend is having a panic attack. Need to get her somewhere quiet." He found and pulled her into the tiny bathroom, closing the door behind them and turning the lock.

Then they were on each other. Hungry, open mouths. Hands grasping and pulling everywhere. His. Hers. Theirs.

She was glad her extra clothes from Isis included a skirt when Davis began working at her clothes. She worked his zipper and a belt open.

He lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. She felt the bathroom door at her back. She grasped his shoulders and gripped him for all she was worth.

"Yes, yes!" she panted in his ear, feeling the pressure building fast. Had it only been a few hours?

She exploded after only a few minutes of hard, fast lovemaking against the door. Davis swallowed her cries with a hard, sloppy kiss. She felt him shudder and pulse almost immediately after her. They collapsed onto the floor against the door.

After a few moments, Davis got up and offered a hand to Chloe. She accepted it gratefully as her legs were still feeling rubbery.

They righted their clothes and Davis asked with a sparkle in his eye, "Hungry?"

She smiled back. "Yes."

Chloe nearly choked on her iced tea when the cafe owner asked if she was alright after her "panic attack."

With a concerned look he said, "We heard you out here. Sounded like quite a fit."

Looking intently at the menu, Davis said, "Yes, it was, but luckily I had her medication with me."

Chloe felt her cheeks flame, and hoped the owner just chalked it up to embarrassment over her "fit." Davis being in his EMT uniform helped sell it as a "medical crisis."

"I'll have the salmon," he told the man. Then Davis looked at her with laughing eyes. "What will you have?"

She smiled at him in a way that was more a baring of teeth. "Same for me." Her smile promised she would get him later.

Author's Note: Ok! Finally back to the main story next chapter. Chapter 73 coming up! If you want to see the original NC-17 version it is on my LiveJournal account on my profile.