Hand-to-Hand Combat (warning - adult content)

Rudy's wasn't the sort of place Lee had ever imagined taking a girlfriend on a date. Not that Amanda was his Girlfriend with a capital "G". They'd never discussed titles or making their relationship official in any traditional way. For the past six months, they had been seeing each other outside of work: sometimes at his place, sometimes at hers, and occasionally somewhere in between. They weren't attempting to hide their relationship from anyone, but neither were they publicizing it. He didn't really see the point. The only two people whose opinions mattered knew exactly where they stood with one another. They were intimate, as frequently as their work and her family life allowed. They were exclusive. They had keys to each other's cars and residences on their respective key rings. She kept a toothbrush, a few pairs of clean underwear and a box of tampons at his apartment. The box of tampons had startled him when he opened his bathroom vanity cabinet one morning to find it there. Lee was thirty-six years old, and he'd never before had a stash of feminine sanitary products in his home. As far as he was concerned, that said all there was to say about the nature of his relationship with Amanda.

If the past six months, or three and half years if he was being honest, had taught him anything, it was never to make assumptions about Amanda. She seemed to delight in crushing them under her tiny round heel. Where he had expected her to be slightly smothering and cautious in a relationship, she was actually at ease with his need for time alone and adventurous, especially in bed. Just because she was dainty didn't mean she was delicate. She astonished him every day with her mental and physical toughness.

Right now, for example, she was giving Rudy a good pounding on his focus mitts, while a number of the regulars looked on. They'd been coming to Rudy's for a few months, since Amanda had asked him how she could improve her upper body strength and hand-to-hand combat skills. At first Lee had sparred with her, but she finally admitted that she held back with him as her sparring partner, so now if he came with her, he worked on the weight machines while Rudy put her through her paces. He could already see her improving, both in technique, and in the increased definition of her deltoid and trapezius muscles.

As he rested after a set of bench presses, he watched her proudly as she worked on her roundhouse kick. He noticed he wasn't her only admirer. Three men were standing beside the ring ropes, speaking in loud voices. Goaded on by his buddies, the biggest goon started to taunt Amanda as she took a breather.

"You're much too pretty to punch, sweatheart. Come over here and let me show you how a real man grapples with a woman."

Lee clenched his jaw and stood up.

"You sure can kick. I can think of lots of things to do with a lady who can spread her legs like that."

Pushed beyond his tolerance, Lee started to stalk towards the ring, ready to defend Amanda's honour with his fists. She glanced his way and shook her head slightly, telling him she could handle it, so he stopped where he was, ready to intervene at a moment's notice.

Walking slowly over to the ropes, Amanda crooked her index finger at her would-be admirer, encouraging him to lean in. Once he was bent over, she spoke softly to him. Lee couldn't hear what she said, but he could see the goon's reaction. He blanched and his head shot up, one hand instinctively cupping his groin. He and his buddies quickly found something else to do.

Climbing through the ropes, she smiled at Lee.

"You all finished?"

"Yeah, just finished my last set. Why don't we clean up at my place, and then see what's playing at the local rep cinema?"

"You going to help me wash my hair?" she flirted.

"Count on it." He draped his arm easily over her shoulder, casting one last glance at her heckler to make sure he knew she was leaving with the real man who had brought her.

"What did you say to that guy?" he asked, curious, as they walked outside.

"Oh, nothing much. I was just explaining the various practical uses of a standard issue lockpick set, and how one could be used to enlarge the hole he could stuff his pigeon into."

He barked out a laugh as he opened the passenger door of his car for her to get in.

Lying naked on his back, Lee stroked himself with his left hand while he teased and pleasured her with his right. Looking down at his nimble fingers, she confessed "That's very impressive."

"One of the unsung benefits of being ambidextrous."

"A man of many, many talents." she sighed, rocking against his hand.

They were both warm and damp from his shower, cocooned in the half-light of his bedroom, all thoughts of B films driven from their minds by their need for each other.

Aroused to the point of distraction, he tried to roll her onto her back, but she resisted him.

"No, stay like that. Just lift up your shoulders a bit."

She gathered the pillows that had scattered as they fell into bed, stacking them under his shoulders so that he was half reclining against them. He tried to grab her hips and guide her over him, but she slipped away again, turning her back to him instead and throwing a leg over his hips.

Reverse cowboy? Amanda King, you live to delight me, he thought as he admired the planes of her back. Now where was a full length mirror when you really needed one?

Guiding him into her, she leaned as far back as she could, her head near his shoulder, but all her weight supported on the arms she had braced on either side of his torso.

"Bend your knees a bit." she directed huskily.

The brilliance of her strategy was immediately apparent. His bent knees and the fact that he wasn't supporting her weight gave him ample leverage, and her pelvis was cradled perfectly in his lap, bringing him incredibly deep inside. Meanwhile, his hands were free to roam from her thighs up into her hair and back again. He timed his thrusts to the rhythm of her sighs and quiet moans, twisting and then soothing her sensitive nipples, dragging his fingernails up and down the curves of her waist.

"God, Lee. So good."

"Good? I was trying for a higher grade." he chuckled, amazed at her endurance as the muscles of her arms began to tremble.

"Try harder." she gasped.

"Harder?" he bent his knees further, bucking his hips.

Her only response was non-verbal, and he sensed she was almost there. Whispering erotic shorthand in her ear, he lowered his left hand and pushed down against her pubic bone, knowing she wouldn't come without some kind of manual stimulation. The pressure brought her in contact with his erection and she shouted out her appreciation. He changed the angle of his thrusts ever so slightly as he began to lose himself, hoping to bring her with him, and was rewarded by her primal cry. She arched her back like a nocked bow, shuddering uncontrollably as his movements slowed and then halted. He held her twitching body secure in his arms, gentling her as she came back down. His knees cracked as he extended his legs, and he slipped out of her, followed by a hot rush of fluid. He fought to contain his reaction as she slid to the mattress beside him and rested her head over his pounding heart.

"We should probably talk about that." she finally brought up in a throaty whisper.

"Yeah. I don't know what came over me. I've never forgotten before."

"You don't know who came over you, do you?" she teased and his hand tapped her ass in retaliation.

"As I remember it, we were both pretty culpable, Lee." she continued in a more serious vein.

"I'm on the pill." "I have a clean bill of health from Dr. Geoffreys." they said at the same time.

"You first." he offered.

"Well, I just wanted you to know that I'm on the pill. I have been for the past three months, since just after Iowa. So there's very little chance I could get pregnant." she explained.

"And I need you to know that when I went in for my annual physical back in March, I had Dr. Geoffreys run a full set of tests. To make certain I wasn't … I didn't have …" he didn't know how to finish his sentence without opening a whole can of worms about his sex life before Amanda, but she took pity on him.

"I wish I'd been a fly on the wall for THAT conversation. Not only did you actually show up for your annual physical, but you requested additional testing. Dr. Geoffreys' must have thought you were delirious." she laughed.

"Well, he thinks I'm something, alright."

"So, we're okay? No need to panic about any Baby Spies." she confirmed.

He hummed, shifting his body to curl behind her and stroking her bare arm and shoulder contemplatively.

She thought he was dozing, and was about to head to the bathroom to clean up, when his voice surprised her.

"You know what we should do?"

"Hmm?"

"Take the boys out to see a movie tomorrow night."