Like the Back of My Hand
Chapter 1
He slowly opened his eyes only to find his vision blocked by a somewhat messy head of strawberry blonde hair. He slowly pulled his head back so he could focus better on the woman currently laying half on top of him, her left hand placed tenderly on top of his arc reactor. He continued to watch her as she breathed deeply in her slumber, her exhales slowly moving one strawberry blonde strand of hair to and fro as she breathed. Deep within her slumbers and at peace, she looked half her age. He watched as the muscles in her forearm quivered slightly, standing out under her milk white skin as she moved her hand in small, gentle circles over the arc. He smiled as the morning light was reflected in brilliant flashes from her wedding ring as she continued to move her hand. Her eyes were now moving rapidly under her closed eyelids, her blond eyelashes twitching intermittently, lost in the throes of her dream. All thoughts of going back to sleep vanished quickly from his mind as he continued to look at her, slowly edging the comforter down on her body, exposing her further to his curious gaze.
They had made love numerous times during the night and early into the morning as was expected given that they had married yesterday. The morning light enveloping their bed was soft, growing warmer and brighter as the minutes went by. The last thing he wanted to do right now was to wake his bride up, but his innate curiosity was making it harder by the second to stay still. He carefully eased out from under her, pulling in a pillow as a surrogate chest for her to lie on as he gently turned her fully onto her stomach. She sighed quietly, as he breathed out a breath of relief in succeeding to not wake her from her peaceful repose.
He knew that this morning had already been filled with many 'firsts' for him. And he suddenly realized that another 'first' that he wanted for today was to be the first in their relationship to memorize his spouse's body; absolutely every square inch of it. The engineer in him quickly formulated a plan. His personal survey was going to be methodical, of course, starting first with her backside, and hopefully rolling her over onto her back without waking her so he could observe in detail and commit to memory her more complicated front side. His hands and body had been quick to memorize her body by touch during the night and into the morning hours as they made love, but his eyes ached to feast themselves upon her body during the light of day. Those patterns of freckles on her skin were practically begging him to be deciphered and cataloged.
As the sun continued to rise, warming up the air around them, he slowly pulled the comforter lower on her body exposing both of her shoulders to his view. He knew that with her body type and metabolism, she always had trouble maintaining body heat, and he would not risk chilling her in order to satisfy his own selfish needs this morning. Therefore his plan was to go slow and let the rising temperature of their bedroom compensate for the loss of the comforter as he slowly revealed more of her body to his eager gaze. Within minutes, he had already memorized the pattern of freckles on both shoulders, both surprised and amazed at the symmetry between them. He gently pulled the comforter down lower. Her shoulder blades flexed slightly as she hugged the pillow closer to her in such a way that made him almost give up his visual expedition and once again pull her body in to his. But she quickly settled back down and his eyes once again turned to the task at hand; as he pulled the comforter lower still. The pattern of freckles became less dense as his gaze continued to travel lower down her body. He noticed how her spine curved gently, the muscles in her back clearly visible under her smooth, pale skin as she sighed deeply. Given her fitness regimen, he knew that she took her body's well being quite seriously. Her long, petite torso was both lean and taunt.
As the sun's rays continued filling up their bedroom, he continued his explorations slowly pulling the comforter down past her gorgeous derrière. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of her luscious globes. He was only slightly disappointed at the lack of freckles there, but he quickly decided that the view was wonderful, freckles or not. He had spent the better part of the last 11 years fantasizing about exactly how this part of her anatomy would look, and seeing her perfect bum in the flesh was so much better than any of his fantasies had ever been. He could now see clearly what his hands had felt during their wedding night. He suddenly remembered a saying from his childhood about 'the face that launched a thousand ships'. And as his eyes continue to linger over her perfect pear shaped tush, he knew that that a 'face' couldn't possibly hold a candle to the magnificently shaped cluster of muscles and milk white skin that now lay before him. Against his will, his own ship had definitely starting to launch now, and he quickly shut his eyes trying to tamp down the beginnings of an erection that threatened to derail the completion of his current project. Even though he had done his best to be gentle during their lovemaking, as he opened his eyes again he noticed the beginnings of small bruises on both sides of her buttocks where his fingers had obviously found their hold while in the midst of passion. The thought that he had marred this beautiful creation of fitness and form caused his erection to deflate rapidly. Yes, he would definitely apologize to her.
Pulling the comforter down farther, he marveled at the sheer elegance and biological engineering that were her legs. Even though he had been secretly admiring her legs for years, this was the first real close up view of the backs of her thighs and knees for him. He observed that there were a few scatterings of freckles running down the backs of each thigh. She shifted slightly in her sleep and he couldn't help but become fascinated at the flexing of her hamstrings under her tight skin. He then noticed a faint thin scar at the top of the back of her left thigh, apparently long healed. The muscles under the scar were less pronounced, indicative of the cut being a deep one. He felt his heart clinch at the thought of his woman injured and bloodied.
One last gentle pull at the comforter and her calves and feet came into full view of his questing eyes. No doubt her extraordinary calf muscle development was due in part to those sexy high heels she wore so often. His eyes closed involuntarily at the memory of removing her high heels from her feet last night and massaging each foot thoroughly as her low moans found their way from deep inside his soul mate to his ears. He realized at the time that he would do anything for her in order to hear those sexy sounds again. And, as he recalled their continued lovemaking, he was pretty sure that he already had, and more than just a few times too. There was one interesting set of freckles on her right calf muscle and another small scar on the outside of her left ankle. But other than those two discoveries, her lower legs and feet were free of any other marks. They were in short: perfect. The memory of her legs as they wrapped around his waist during last night and earlier this morning quickly sent a shiver up his spine. He quickly regained control of his libido so he could turn her over without waking her.
He tenderly covered her body with his own, eliciting soft moans from her, but her sleep otherwise undisturbed. He realized then just how exhausted she must be in order to continue to sleep with the light of day rapidly increasing inside their bedroom. After all, she was a morning person by nature. He smiled to himself, suddenly proud to be the reason for her deep slumbers this morning. He placed his right hand tenderly on her right hip and slowly began to turn her over onto her back.
"Shhh" he whispered in a low soft voice "I need you to roll over, OK?" he whispered into hair as he continued to turn her body over.
"Ohhh…kay." She whispered back drowsily, her eyes remaining closed.
As she came to rest on her back, he covered her body again with his own, placing his head lovingly against the side of her neck between her head and her shoulder. His right hand tenderly rubbed soothing circles on her left hip as he waited for her to fall back into a deep sleep.
A warm breeze drifted into the window of their bedroom as the day continued to warm, the sun drifting higher into the cloudless morning sky. After a few minutes, he was satisfied that she was now firmly back once again in dreamland. He slowly leaned up on his left arm pulling himself away from her body and looked down on his wife. Her long hair lay fanned out on the pillow, a few strands of her strawberry blond curls framing her relaxed, radiant face. He remembered back to the middle of the night, when they had agreed to an impromptu communal shower. She had used an herbal facial scrub to wash her face clean of make-up. Even through the lustful haze that followed the actual cleansing part of their shower, he remembered being struck then with the radiant glow of her freshly scrubbed face. He recalled with a shiver her wet head slowly moving down on his body, trailing open mouthed kisses until she reached her destination as she proceeded to give him what he considered was the best fellatio he had ever had in his life. He had been amazed at her skill, passion, and the fact that she had swallowed every drop of his seed. And of course he had returned the favor with equal passion once he recovered enough to carry her out of the shower and into their bed. That particular memory caused a low moan to escape his lips and he had to take a deep breath to calm down in order to return to his task.
As he looked down onto her face, he noticed that she had just a light smattering of freckles on her forehead and chin. But the freckle pattern across her nose and cheeks was so dense that it reminded him of the star pattern found through the center of the Milky Way galaxy. He smiled to himself at this comparison. He remembered reading somewhere that freckles were often thought of as 'God's tattoos', and since he had already considered her his personal heaven on earth, it was only fitting that her freckles would only add to her divinity.
He looked down at her long, elegant neck on which curiously few freckles were to be found. There were, however, numerous light, mouth shaped bruises all along her neck along with small patches of beard burn. He winced at the sight and vowed again to be gentler with her the next time.
His eyes drifted lower to the tops of her shoulders. There he found an amazing number of freckles, concentrated towards the ends of each of her clavicles. He noticed how the muscles in her shoulder stood out prominently against her collar bones. He again marveled at the strength of her body as he turned his eyes towards her right arm. His gaze quickly blazed a path down the beautifully toned, long, slender arm, ending up at her petite, life saving hand. A few freckles could be seen along the skin covering the outside of her bicep, along with a few on her forearm. His inspection of her left arm produced similar results as her right but with the extra bonus of him once again being thrilled to see her wedding ring as it stood out against her slightly pinked ring finger. He couldn't help the possessive thrill that ran through his body at the sight.
His eyes quickly focused on her chest as if heeding a siren's call. Even though his hands and mouth had memorized her breasts during their lovemaking in the darkness, seeing them for the first time in the light of day was indeed a long awaited pleasure for him. He discovered a clustering of freckles on the smooth skin covering her sternum, the freckles becoming less dense as his gaze traveled to each of her breasts in turn. The areola of each breast was a deep cinnamon in color with a perfect pink nipple in the center of each one. He remembered back to last night's lovemaking sessions and how her breasts had molded against his chest framing his arc reactor perfectly, as if their bodies had somehow been made for each other. He couldn't help but notice the small bruises and evidence of beard burn on the smooth skin surrounding the areola of each breast. Definitely more apologies were now required. He made the decision then and there that he would start shaving in the evenings too.
As his eyes continued their travels south, he was able to make out a faint line of freckles ending at her innie belly button. On either side of this line was a set of abs any woman would give her eye teeth to have. Not too muscular, just sleek, strong, and very, very sexy. He remembered his tongue mapping out this particular part of her anatomy several times during the night. Her small innie belly button had captured his attention during the night too, and he could see small patches of beard burn surrounding it. He tried to take some solace in the fact that the beard burn on this area of her body appeared to be minimal.
Residing less than six inches below her belly button was his manna from heaven. Framed in dark auburn curls with red highlights was the reason he was having a hard time controlling his libido at the moment. He knew that he would never, as long as he lived, forget the taste of her honeyed pot, as well as the smell of her aroused body. It was like being suffocated in vanilla and honeysuckle with the tang of salt mixed in. He shivered involuntarily as he closed his eyes; flashbacks from last night as he brought her to orgasm with his mouth almost overpowering him. After a few seconds of forced control, he was again able to proceed with his morning's project.
After he finally forced his eyes away from her center, he found himself looking over each supple and strong thigh in turn. Again his mind returned to the powerful feel of these same strong thighs wrapped forcefully around his waist, pulling him deeper into her wet heat. He shook his head slightly and focused again on his task. To his surprise, only a few freckles were found on either thigh. However, as he gazed dropped lower to her knees, he was surprised to find clusters of light freckles just at the top of each of her knees. The stockings she usually wore obscured these freckles from casual view, and the possessive part of him suddenly wanted to keep those freckles hidden from every other man but him forever. Damned right he was possessive. He had been possessive of her long before Afghanistan, but it took that cave and Yinsen's words to realize the reason behind why he hated sharing her with anything or anybody: He was in love with her and had been for years but had been too blinded by his own ego to even recognize or acknowledge the fact. He smiled as he remembered back to their wedding ceremony yesterday and the absolute joy that he had felt when she had said 'I do.' At that moment he knew for a fact that he was the happiest and the luckiest man on the planet because the love of his life had just agreed to spend the rest of his life with him.
"Care to explain, Mr. Stark?" she asked softly as she began to stretch languidly on the bed directly below him.
He met her amused gaze but only after his eyes had lustfully tracked all of the movements of her body as she stretched. He knew that his hand had obviously been found in that proverbial cookie jar, but he didn't care. "I am not entirely sure what you are talking about, Mrs. Stark." He deadpanned, attempting to distract her by leaning his body over hers and kissing her lightly on the lips.
"I wake up to find you looking at my knees as if you want to devour them." She explained with an amused twinkle in her eyes.
"Yeah" he began leaning down to brush their noses together tenderly, then pulling back to look down on her lovingly. "your knees were just the last of many parts of your body I want to devour." He waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively. "My project has now officially been completed and I am happy to report that I am the first one in our relationship to memorize every square inch of your body by touch, taste, and sight."
She chuckled softly. "So you think you are the first one, huh?" she countered "For the last year and a half I have seen you naked more times than even I can remember as I searched your unconscious body for injuries. I have counted, categorized, and treated each and every bruise, cut, and scrape that you have gotten, as well as sewing up more gashes than I want to remember."
He ducked his head down in defeat. She was right and he knew it. She reached up with her right hand and tilted his bearded chin back up so their eyes once again met. Her eyes suddenly sparkled with mischief. "However, there is one part of your anatomy that I haven't totally memorized by sight yet." Her left hand reached down to cup him gently in her hand. "But I plan on doing that while you are wide awake so you can watch me." She looked at him with half-lidded eyes as his own eyes widened in both surprise and anticipation.
After lusting after her body for the past 40 minutes, it only took him only a few seconds to harden completely in her hand. He squeezed his eyes closed tightly as he tried to gather his thoughts and ignore his now throbbing member. He wanted to do right by her and that included proper apologies. "Please don't be too mad at me when you see the bruises and beard burn I put all over your body. I am sorry about that. The last thing in the world I ever want to do to you is hurt you and you know that. But I just lose all control when I make love to you."
She released her grasp on him and smiled up at him warmly. "I think I'll just take that loss of control on your part as a compliment. But I do believe that we're pretty even here." She said tracing his neck with her fingertips and grazing over some rather prominent passion marks. "I'm afraid that I gave you some fairly spectacular hickies on your neck and chest, as well as some very impressive fingernail marks on your back and that sexy ass of yours while in the throes of passion myself, Mr. Stark."
That would explain the intermittent tweaks of discomfort on his back and backside since he woke up all right. He smiled broadly at her, suddenly proud to bear the scars of her passion for him, and then he leaned down to kiss her passionately. Her arms pulled him on top of her and he quickly braced himself up on his elbows and knees, keeping the majority of his weight off of her. "I guess we're even then, Mrs. Stark." He whispered.
He could now smell her arousal as his erection brushed up against her center. He pulled back slightly and looked down at her hesitating. "Let me know if you are too sore, Pep."
She looked up and him and brushed his stubble covered cheek with her fingertips tenderly. "I'm just a little sore," she admitted "how about you?"
"Yeah" he began reaching down to brush his lips against her neck softly. "I'm a little sore too, so if you don't want to…"
In response she pulled him into her again for yet another passionate kiss as she replied quickly. "Of course I want to."
As they continued kissing, he slowly pushed into her, giving her time to adjust to him again and hoping like hell that he wasn't hurting her. She was so wet and slick that he immediately forgot just how sore he really was. He found the pressure surrounding his shaft was both soothing and stimulating at the same time. He sped up his thrusts as he felt her body move even closer to his and felt her hands grab onto his backside as she pulled him even deeper into her body. His breaths quickly transformed into pants as he moved his head down to rest next to her neck on their pillow and he began to kiss her neck tenderly doing his best not to bruise or burn her with his beard.
"Look at me, Tony." she called out to him, her own breath clipped and labored.
He raised his head up and looked down at her, smiling at the look of love and passion on her face.
"I…. Love…. You." She managed to get out between breaths, as she leaned up and claimed his lips in a searing kiss.
He poured every bit of passion and love into that kiss and pushed her head back onto their pillow, his lips still attached to hers, their tongues becoming entwined. He suddenly felt her whole body tense in anticipation of her climax. After the kiss, he leaned his head back from her in time to see her ocean blue eyes darken with passion as they snapped open. Her eyes quickly searched and found his own eyes, and a deep guttural moan passed her lips as her orgasm overtook her, causing her to shake uncontrollably. The look on her face was like nothing he had ever seen before, and it thrilled him to realize that he would be the only man to ever see that look on her face ever again for the rest of his life. He quickly reached his arms around her shoulders in an effort to support and comfort her. As the tremors in her body started to subside, he felt the beginnings of his own orgasm start to take control of his body. Feeling her arms and hands move to his back as she started to rub soothing circles into his skin, he moved to rest his head along side hers on their pillow, trying his best to gain strength for his last thrusts before he orgasmed.
"Come for me, Tony." She whispered huskily into his ear as her strong arms pulled his hips into hers, grinding their pubic bones together.
He forced his head to rise up, his eyes capturing hers once again, and he felt his spine tingle and his body began to spasm as he began to surge into her in hot spurts.
"Love you so much!" he moaned as she smiled at the look of ecstasy on his face. He then closed his eyes tightly as his body started to jerk uncontrollably with each spurt. After he finished emptying himself into her, his body suddenly felt like it had turned to lead and sleep quickly threatened to overtake him. His last coherent thought was that this was how he wanted to go to sleep for the rest of his life; sated to the bone and in the arms of the love of his life.
He barely managed to pull out of her just before his limp body came to rest; his head nestled on their pillow just above her right shoulder, his right arm draped over her stomach, right hand resting on her left hip, and his right leg draped over both of her legs.