AN: Thank you for the reviews, folks; I really appreciate them. I won't be able to post the epilogue for this one until about November 1st. My birthday is October 30th, and I am helping out with my daughter's "Spooktacular Ball" today the 29th (It's after midnight for me). Basically, I am as busy as they get the next few days!...As for this chapter...it is a bit kinkier than my normal MG goodness-just a prewarning if you are easily offended by that stuff...

Chapter 3

Warning: Strong Sexual Content (LOL, Spell check changed this once to Strong Sexual Contentment...that works, too!)

Penelope knew she was panting, but she didn't care. There was a certain lack of modesty, a delicious submission that happened every time she entered a bedroom with Derek—or any area that they could use to make love, for that matter. It was all good, as far as she was concerned.

Scratch that...it was all goooood.

"Slide off your panties and lie on the bed," he commanded, releasing her aching breasts and giving her soft guidance. His tone was forceful, but his touch was gentle. That was Derek in a nutshell: a delicious paradox of rough and gentle, sexy and sweet, good and wicked...hot and even hotter.

She slid her soaked panties off, feeling his heated erection brushing against her ass as she bent over to remove them from her ankles. Every part of her tingled with excitement, burned with need for him. She took a step forward, sat down, and began to lay back.

"On your tummy."

Frowning at him, she gave him a silent question.

"Back first...your front gets me into too much trouble," he answered, and then made a flipping movement with his finger in the air. "Over."

Gingerly, she did as he bid. She wanted to feel his body over hers, the brush of his skin against her nipples, the feel of his mouth on hers. She wanted completion, and this wasn't the way to start that.

Using his hands, he pressed her legs open, and a moment later, she felt the bed dip as he knelt between her thighs. With her anticipation drawing tight like a string near breaking, she opened her legs wider and braced herself to feel his weight on her and the slide of him entering her body.

Instead, she felt his large, warm palms on her shoulders. His fingers were so long, his hands so big, he could span the width of her back. He began to knead the flesh there, his rough thumbs brushing over the nubby bones of her spine like a kiss. Circling, squeezing, he worked her flesh until she was moaning and grunting from the feel. She felt him trace his fingertips under her shoulder blades.

"Here's where your invisible wings are, sugar," he whispered, before trailing his fingers downward to her low back.

She groaned as he worked those muscles, his touch earthy and strong, and then feather light as he whisked his hands over her ass. He swirled his palms, causing goose bumps to erupt on her skin, and then cupped and squeezed her soft globes in his hands. She gasped and groaned again in pleasure with the illicit thrill that raced through her when he briefly parted them, before he traced all the way back up her to her shoulders.

He used one hand to move her hair, the other to stroke and massage her tight muscles. Again, the sheer strength in his hands combined with the delicateness of his touch overwhelmed her. She'd seen him be brutal, grasping UnSubs by the throat and throwing them down, and yet his touch with her was nearly reverent.

A moment later, he braced his hands by her upper arms and lowered himself above her. His hot breath scalded her neck, and the heat of his cock resting against her thigh simply added to the intensity of the moment. He placed a soft, wet kiss there on her nape, inching down slowly to kiss between her shoulder blades. He licked softly, nipped the skin playfully with his teeth, before sliding down farther. She moaned, gripping the comforter on her bed in her hands, feeling her skin heating with each touch.

He moved farther down her body, rubbing her lower back, giving it the same treatment, before caressing her with his mouth. He had a magical mouth, a wicked tongue, and she longed to kiss him, hold him close, and caress him, too. But she couldn't in this position. He was in control, and judging from the heat of his questing mouth, he wasn't ready to relinquish that anytime soon.

She felt hot all over, from her toes to the crown of her head, and her body ached with need. She writhed under him, unable to control her feelings or the rising heat and throbbing in her body. She bit her bottom lip, and then cried out as he ran his tongue down her lower back through the cleft of her bottom.

Immediately, she stiffened in shock—good Lord!—but he held her down with his palm in the small of her back. She felt him chuckle against the skin of her bottom. He kissed each cheek, moving his hands to hold her hips, and then motioned for her to to turn over again.

"You..." she said, unable to control the blush that hit her face when she looked at him again. "You are wicked."

"And you loved it," he retorted back, arching a brow at her, daring her to deny it.

Her blush intensified, and she looked away from his accusing gaze. "Well...still..."

He laughed out loud then...and then she heard the jingle of ice in her cup.

She swallowed hard. "Oh, boy..."

"I think it's time to do that cooling off, baby," he said, unable to keep the smile from his face or his voice. He loved this look about her most of all, a bit frightened, and yet her midnight blue eyes twinkled with mischief and eagerness.

"D..."

"Hush," he whispered, putting his fingertips against her full lips. "Let me play..."

She was lying beneath him, all flushed cheeks, lush curves, pouting nipples. His whole body tightened, and the heat inside of him flared when he felt her mouth move in a kiss of acquiescence. This woman was his perfect match.

Scratch that. This woman was perfection, period.

As he leaned over her, he felt her jolt as he drew the ice cube down the side of her neck. He immediately covered the area with his hot mouth, bringing the temperature of her newly chilled skin back to scalding. He laved her neck with his tongue, drawing the pulse point into his mouth and sucking.

Slowly, he trailed his mouth and his icy fingers to her left nipple, drawing another gasp from her. She bucked against him and squirmed from the shocking coldness.

He held her shoulder down with his other hand. "Do I need to break out the tethers, sweetheart?" he asked, his tone just a shade or two below seriousness.

She gulped again and shook her head.

"Good girl..." he murmured, drawing her freezing nipple into his mouth. He flicked the bead with his tongue and drew more of her breast deeper into his mouth, until she moaned and gasped again. She tasted so sweet, her natural flavor enhanced by her fruity perfume, it drove him insane. He had to force himself to leave that breast to tease, and then suckle the other.

Derek was so turned on, so heated himself, that the ice cube in his fingers was turning quickly to water. He was nowhere near done playing with her, and yet, his control was waning by the second.

Sliding the remainder of the cube downward, he stopped at her heated belly. Once there, he circled around, and then delved his tongue into her navel, licking the bead of water that gathered there. She was no longer wiggling away from the coolness; instead, she arched her hips toward him, pressing against him in a primal motion.

With the cube gone, Derek parted her thighs farther and pressed his cold thumb hard against her clit. Penelope cried out, arching and shuddering against his fingers as an orgasm ripped though her body. He watched her, watched as she shook, watched her nipples draw even tighter, and watched the flow of moisture from her body.

The urge to play and tease hit him; he slid both hands down, parted her, and traced his thumbs around her clit. She shivered in aftershocks, more of her honey wetting his hands. Moving farther down, he replaced his thumbs with his tongue, drawing her sweet and tangy taste into his mouth.

She whimpered as he slid his fingers into her opening. Over and over, he thrust his fingers as he suckled and teased her little nub, not to make her come again, but to rouse her and make her ready, make her want him. She was so tight and felt heavenly, gripping him, little shudders of awareness in her tight inner muscles.

"Oh, God...Please, Derek..." she cried out.

Unable to resist her any longer, he rose above her, bracketing himself on his forearms, and slid home in one long thrust. He held still, counting backwards from fifty to regain his control, trying his damnedest not to blow at the exquisite feeling of his woman beneath him. This was all he ever wanted...all he ever needed...to come home...to be with her.

He shuddered, feeling her hands trace down his low back, cup his ass. He sunk just that much deeper with her eager tug, and his eyes rolled back with the absolute perfection of it.

And then she leaned up and kissed his cheek, audibly rasping against the stubble there.

It was such a sweet thing to do, something of pure love and affection, that it caused Derek's heart to pound harder in his body. It humbled him, it inflamed him, it brought him to his knees...and it made him whole.

He lost all control then. Nothing remained but the driving need to unite with this woman. He stroked inside of her, his hips moving in piston-like fashion, driving into her. He guided her legs around him, telling her wordlessly to hang on tight, to never let go.

Over and over, he drove into her, never wanting this to end. He caught her screams in his mouth, felt her climax, and tasted her as she kissed him in return. Their hips met violently, the bed shook and creaked. Finally, he thrust one last time, jerkily losing his rhythm as he began to come. His climax rippled over him, reaching the finish line, as he emptied himself into her, body and soul.