Author's Note: This isn't the end of the road. I promise. I'm keeping this rated-T, though upping it was tempting and I think the story is right on the border. Beware for those of you who don't read M stories. I'm pushing the envelope with the rating. -dkc

Taste – Part II

Sitting at the dining table would usually have felt formal, but dinner that night felt nothing but casual. With Jane at the head of the table and Maura directly to her right, they were able to share their meal and one another without impediment.

"This truly is special," Maura was still in awe of the marinara even as she neared the end of her plate of pasta.

"If you tell Ma, I'll kill you," she joked.

As she finished her glass of wine, the detective offered to refill Maura's glass.

"I think I'll stop there," she shook her head.

Raising an eyebrow, Jane chose not to comment. On any other night she knew that they were both good for three drinks each. Tonight was not any other night, though. The fact that it wasn't going to be any other night had been evident the moment Maura had left for work that morning.

"Would you like dessert?" she asked.

"There's dessert, too?" the look on Maura's face was a cross between true wonder and coy flirtation.

The flirting had been especially heightened throughout dinner. Now was no different.

"Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?" a smirk broke her attempt at deadpan.

Jane playfully gave the doctor a gentle shove to her shoulder. She wasn't quick enough to pull off the move without consequence, however. Maura placed her hand over Jane's before she could get away. Her other hand reached for her friend's elbow and in doing so was able to reel Jane in.

"You think you're funny," the detective said, a smile on her face as much for what Maura said as what was inescapably coming.

"I am," Maura whispered, her face coming very close to Jane's as she spoke.

The slight hum from the detective vibrated against the doctor's lips as they came together.

Kissing each other was an experience both women relished. It was hard to believe that in less than a month they had gone from what was clearly a more-than-platonic kiss to the cheek to a surprising kiss on the lips to this. This was a league of its own; it was as flirtatious a kiss as any conversation they had ever had with their words or their eyes. Rich wine laced playful tongues. When the honey blonde's lip was teasingly tugged on, she needed to be closer. As she gracefully leaned in while scooting her chair with her foot, Jane took the opportunity to grasp the nape of Maura's neck.

It was proving impossible to get the right angle from their seats around the dining table. Glad to not be in a restricting pencil skirt, Maura parted her legs to avoid the table leg and chair and was now as close to being in Jane's lap without actually being, well, in Jane's lap. Their frustration with the arrangement was growing.

A soft moan from Jane's lips was swallowed at the back of Maura's throat. If that sensation were a constant, she would cease to remember to breathe.

It was when the pathologist tried once more to remove the space between them that their kiss was broken. Jane's elbow, still in Maura's grip, knocked over her almost empty wine glass causing quite a mess on the table. They didn't pull away so much as allow their eyes to gradually follow the sound.

"That's going to stain," the words from Jane's mouth grazed Maura's lips and were met by a shrug of her shoulders.

This made Jane chuckle. She reached for the glass, standing it up and using her napkin to dab up some of the liquid. An unfazed or attempt at being unfazed an Maura was an adorable Maura.

"Leave it," the doctor was ambivalent about a spill and this told Jane everything she needed to know about how much Maura wanted her in that moment. It was exhilarating to have this knowledge, if not a touch terrifying. It was beginning to feel like the time she had been on her cousin Marco's motorbike as a kid and the accelerator stuck—they were going full speed and the adrenaline was at an all-time high. They had breaks and yet despite the trace of fear, neither woman had any interest in slowing down.

"I'll clean this up," Jane smiled. "Why don't you go sit down and I'll get us dessert?"

For a moment their eyes held on, a shared look that was full of affection and desire. There wasn't the worry that Jane might run away now and there wasn't a single concern for this moment being their only chance at a higher level of intimacy. There were no doubts. This is where they were destined to go.

A hint of wine was still on Maura's now plump lips and shimmered as she gave Jane a genuinely happy grin.

"Be quick."

Maura had her back against the arm of the couch with one leg up, knee bent and pressed against the back cushion. Between her legs sat Jane, leaning both against the doctor's chest and leg, her other leg parallel to the doctor's, her foot next to Maura's on the floor. She held a single plate of cheesecake that they shared. She held the fork up for both her own and Maura's bites. Her eyes were drawn to each bite that graced her friend's lips. She knew the subtle swipe of a tongue across the bottom lip after each bite was for her benefit.

"It occurs to me that the last time we were on this couch you...got curious with your hands," Maura said as Jane was taking a bite.

Jane took the comment in stride, not mortified as she had once been about what had transpired the night on this couch when she could no longer help herself and slipped a hand beneath Maura's shirt.

"And then I ran out the door like I'd been scalded," she laughed.

"I'm glad we're able to laugh about it now."

Maura pressed a kiss against Jane's temple.

After offering Maura the final bite of dessert, the detective leaned forward to place the plate on the coffee table. When she returned to her spot, arms greedily wrapped around her.

"I wish I'd stayed."

It was unusual for Jane to voice regret. It was bittersweet. They were here now, but neither of them could prevent themselves from wondering what might have happened that night had she stayed.

"Oh, Jane," Maura's voice was calm and forgiving. "Look at me."

When Jane did as she was asked, there was a tear in the doctor's eye. She rolled her eyes as if she could make her emotional reaction disappear with the movement. There was nothing about this woman that didn't come honestly and with beauty.

The rolling of the eyes may have kept Maura from seeing it coming; the kiss was upon her swiftly. It came with purpose, attempting to wash away everything but the happiness both women felt in this moment and the love that had always existed between them in its various forms.

Where wine and cheesecake once resided now stood tinges of flavors unique to each of them. A touch of marinara, the lingering flavor of mint and something that couldn't quite be identified danced on taste buds.

Turning as best she could in the limited space, Jane found a position that allowed her to deepen the kiss. Her hands framed the doctor's face before tangling in tawny hair and clutching the back of her neck. With one leg under her and the other hanging off the couch, Jane took Maura's outside leg and lifted it over her own thigh so they could be as close as possible.

"God…" Maura's moaned when Jane's retracted her tongue and the need for air interfered with the kiss.

"Kissing you is amazing," Jane said each word between pecks. "Even better than I imagined it."

"Oh, really?" her smile revealed teeth that got in the way. "How did you imagine it?"

"I imagined you would be an incredible kisser. Your lips would be soft, perfectly moisturized, of course," Jane smirked. "There would be a subtle sweetness to that gloss or the lipstick you where on a night out. Past those lips would be the subtle flavor of coffee or wine. Something distinctly you."

Their foreheads had come together, Jane holding Maura's rapt attention. Hearing the words tumble from the woman's mouth was a thrill. Everyone wants to know that they've been thought of like this, she was no exception.

"What else did you imagine?" Maura spoke, her eyes opening.

"Maura..." Jane warned.

"I want to know," she assured both of their thrumming hearts that they could go where this was leading, that it was safe and meant to be.

"I imagined me finding the answer to whether or not you'd taste salty at your pulse points."

Despite asking to hear these things, the doctor couldn't resist grasping the back of Jane's neck and kissing her fiercely. The pressure coming through her hands pulled the woman forward and as Jane did so, her bent knee came in contact with the doctor's core. Maura hissed.

"Sorry...I—"

"Do not apologize for that," Maura's voice was thick with arousal, sultrier than Jane had ever heard. If Jane wasn't flushed before, she certainly was now at the implication. "To be honest, you wanting to know about my saltiness made me a bit sensitive and your knee, well, you know."

The detective was now staring into the very hazel eyes that had reflected friendship, comfort, strength and love over the years and was now seeing the wanton desire of a gorgeous woman.

"I want to know what your skin tastes like on my tongue," Jane's voice cracked from both her own arousal and the newness of the level of intimacy.

"Jane..." Maura moaned.

"Let me take you upstairs."

...

Jane and Maura faced each other in the darkness. Their breath came erratically, their hearts pounded in ears, chest and lower. Lost in each other's eyes, there was a conversation happening between them like a well-choreographed dance.

Tilting her head to the side with a daring smirk, Maura spoke: "You'll never know the answer to your question until you touch me...with your lips."

How Jane didn't fall to her knees was a mystery.

Never had a shirt been lifted over someone's head with such painstaking care. Each inch the material rose brought exposed skin to be admired, grazed and, yes, kissed.

Jane's mouth found tantalizing skin and she was unleashed. Starting with a particular spot on the collarbone, to the left of the pendant Maura wore around her neck, she kissed gently before swirling her tongue around the spot and then allowing them both the pleasure of soft suction.

"Oh..." came the doctor's whimper.

Simultaneously, she moved to remove Maura's pants, kissing along the tops of perfectly toned shoulders as her fingers toyed with the clasp and then the zipper.

It was obvious what this was doing to Maura, evident from the protrusion at the center of each cup of her bra. While neither woman was quick to rid her of the garment, the barrier that prevented the progression of a tender trail of kisses was frustrating Jane.

"Maur?" Jane's voice betrayed her need.

Smiling to acknowledge the plea, the doctor turned around, swept her hair aside and gestured to the center of her back slightly beneath her shoulder blades. Jane's fingers trembled as they slowly roamed across shoulders, down between the defined blades and to the very gatekeeper of what she knew were undeniably perfect breasts.

She easily released the hook and saw the two sides part. Her fingers dipped under the straps at the shoulders highest points and slid them down Maura's arms. She took a deep breath as the now topless woman turned around.

"God, wow," her voice had become gravel.

Maura didn't give Jane the chance to touch, with hands or otherwise, as she was dead set on removing Jane's shirt. She was far less delicate than Jane had been removing her blouse. She pulled the shirt over wavy, dark chaos and found herself staring at the shadows of dark pink that were peeking through the lace of the detective's bra.

The look they shared was one of pure hunger.

Long, insisting fingers reached out for the waist of Maura's pants. The lack of belt made the undoing of the garment easy—easy to unfasten, though far from easy on her hammering heart. It was when the zipper dipped into the honey blonde's most intimate area that Jane sucked in air, hard. Maura was without panties.

"You know how I feel about—"

"Panty lines," her sentence was finished by the owner of hands that were slowly dragging the pants over the curves of hips and down legs that made lesser beings beg for fulfillment.

"Yes, I know. I've never been on the receiving end of that particular gift before."

"It's a gift, is it?" Maura said to Jane in a self-satisfied tone, her entire front bare and her pants clinging to her shins and bunching on the floor.

Brown eyes couldn't stop themselves from looking lower. She was mesmerized by what had been revealed to her. What she couldn't see due to Maura standing with her legs together was especially enthralling. Her eyes then traveled up, returning to the breasts she had released just before unzipping Maura's pants.

"Do you know how many men have looked at my breasts? Too many for me to never have felt as admired and beautiful as I do right now."

When Jane's eyes met Maura's again, there was a shiny reflection in the hazel that supported the truth in what was said.

"I have looked at you this way since the moment I met you," she spoke.

Jane was quick to press a kiss to Maura's lips followed by her jaw and neck. Maura used her toes to slip her pants over her ankles and away from where they stood. Jane's scarred hands were tangled in blonde hair as she continued her path. She was about to appreciate an exposed collarbone when Maura pulled her by her belt buckle a bit closer and began to undo it. This development had her off balance. She grabbed hold of the shorter woman's shoulders and as she did so, their barely covered chests came into complete, exhilarating contact.

It was Maura's cry that spurred them both on. No time was spared in undressing Jane. Struggling briefly with the button, Maura's needy hands released the fastener and pushed the pants down long, thin legs.

With any other partner, Jane would have been uncomfortable covered in so little and at this point would have forced a little space between them or hurried under a blanket to make herself feel less exposed. But with Maura standing in front of her with slightly less covering her body, it was different. She didn't feel uncomfortable. She didn't feel awkward. She didn't feel exposed.

"Are you ready for your question to be answered once and for all, detective?" the words were voiced in a whisper.

Taking a deep breath, Jane leaned in and her mouth came into contact with that place beneath Maura's ear that had teased her and been the catalyst of many a fantasy.

She was ready.

-finis-