A/N: Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews!

After All

Chapter 10

After all the stops and starts…We keep coming back to these two hearts…

Sara wasn't afraid to sleep; she just wanted to make up for lost time. She reached for an apple on the bedside table and took two bites, thinking as she chewed. There was so much to do—she'd left a house and car in Vegas. A full refrigerator. Plants that needed water. Not that she regretted leaving—she knew she had done the right thing; probably the most impulsive thing she had ever done. In minutes, she had made the decision to change her life; to go for love.

She rolled over and checked the little clock by the bed. Almost certain they had slept for two hours, she wiggled and cuddled against the warm sleeping man beside her.

They had spent the afternoon doing necessary things—like shopping for food and briefly meeting his neighbor, an elderly woman who had known Betty, and a quick walk back to the boat to retrieve perishable food and laundry. Then they had put clean linens on the bed at the house and promptly jumped between the sheets.

A quickie, they agreed, before eating dinner. It had lasted longer than a quick romp and left both physically hungry for food and emotionally hungry for more intimacy. Both laughed about a long stretch without sex. It was the first time either had really laughed since she'd appeared on the dock in San Diego. Their laughter carried through the meal; a quick preparation of pasta and sauce with added mushrooms and a fresh baguette.

The bathroom was hers for a long time as she took a steaming shower in a tub which she was certain was original to the house. When she stepped into the bedroom, she caught Grissom, wrapped in a towel, hair damp, changing sheets again.

She was surprised because she had not noticed another shower.

"Outside—beside the deck—another shower." Seeing her face, he laughed. "It's well hidden—and I don't run inside bare-ass!"

After that, and after he folded the fresh sheet back, it did not take long for both to be in bed. A spacious bed, comfortable, clean, surrounded on two sides by tall windows with blinds that covered the bottom section but opened up to the night sky caused Sara to blink away tears. She felt she was floating on a cloud.

She had been greedy; her mouth roamed his body, licking a taunt nipple, sucking hard enough to leave a mark on his neck. Her hands played across his abdomen, cradled his butt, and gently squeezed his balls until he groaned. When her lips and tongue took his erect penis, he gasped quickly as his knees jerked and legs quivered.

"Sara, please—I can't take this—not tonight," his words pleaded as he tugged her up. Rolling so he was on top, he smiled. "As much pleasure as you can give, I want us to be this way—I want to be inside you, feel you, watch as you explode with passion."

Smiling, remembering her astounding and breathtaking climax, she placed the tip of her tongue against his ear and flicked it several times. He twitched. She did it again, faster, and got a response.

She watched as his gold-tipped eyelashes fluttered open; clearly, she could see his pupil, dark against the blue.

His reaction was to turn to her, doing a wiggle as their hips met, before saying, "You still don't sleep, do you?"

"We've slept enough," she said with a giggle. "Let's have sex."

He laughed. "I may have a little catch in my get-along."

Sara felt the solid shaft touching her lower belly. "Doesn't feel like there's a catch in what's down there."

Another chuckle. Kissing her first, he said, "You are going to be the death of me—I'm—not—accustomed to—all this…" His words were cut off by Sara's mouth as she kissed him.

Pulling away, Grissom said, "Where's the apple? You taste like an apple!"

She reached for the apple and let him take one bite, replacing it on the table. She watched him chew as he watched her; their eyes sparkling as they silently and alluringly communicated desire.

When she kissed him, it was to taste and explore him beginning with his mouth, moving to nibble his ear, and then his throat. It was not long before he shifted, rolling her to her back so she was beneath him.

"You are like a drug to me," he growled. One hand moved down her leg, stroking the inside of her thigh. "What have you been thinking?"

Surprised by the question, Sara smiled. "We've spent most of our time together dealing with death, killers, a few mad men—our share of mad women—and I'm ready to do something different. I'd like to be with you on that boat you've got."

His hand continued stroking her leg, lightly, as he watched her face. "I love you, Sara Sidle. You really would move here—this house isn't like the one in Vegas."

"I like this house very much."

He kissed her, a kiss that promised the future. He seemed to know exactly where to touch her, his fingertips discovering sensitive places until she groaned.

Breathing escalated as his mouth found hers again with a slow, melting intimacy that sent a shiver through Sara's body. Long strokes of his palm moved from her thigh to the apex of her legs; fingers threaded into her curls.

His hungry, soul stealing kisses were enough to cause weakness in a lesser woman, but Sara responded with blazing strength. Her hands in his hair kept their lips locked until she gasped for oxygen and he moved to her chin and then her neck as she breathed deeply.

Moving his mouth lightly against her skin, coasting up one breast, into the valley and onto the next, he opened his mouth and used his tongue to circle the nipple. Provoking an unbearable sensitivity, Sara's hips lifted as passion flamed from her toes to her brain.

His strong, slightly-roughened fingers were against her stroking her tender skin, finding her swollen bud, parting her folds and fondling her with delicate, tantalizing purpose—as if he were playing with petals of a half-open rose.

A soft groan and a slight shift in position put Sara in place to feel his swollen erection, hard and hot against her thigh. She made another shift, moving her legs to hug his thighs. In an instant, his fingertips were causing her to rock upward and with each rise of her hips, she felt his hardness pressing deeper. And then he was fully inside her, moving with explicit thrusts to sink into her body.

Their gazes held as Grissom moved in a careful rhythm. He whispered, "I've missed you every day," before kissing her with such compassion that tears suddenly flooded Sara's eyes. Passion rose and tears disappeared as she lifted with his strokes. Her head fell back as a hot flush flooded her body.

She knew she groaned as her orgasm exploded in a surge of waves, yet she was completely aware of the hands gripping her bottom, of his sex throbbing inside her, of her name whispered over and over as his own climax reached its peak.

Later, they finished the apple and moved to the deck to watch the sun rise in its glorious pink and yellow, orange and red, before becoming a white brightness that seemed spotlight their space on earth.

And they talked—of Vegas and the house, about the work he had been doing and they would continue to do.

"Let's get married—first," Grissom suggested. "Let's fly to Vegas—invite our old friends to—to meet us for an official ceremony." He saw her frown and the slight twist of her mouth. "Not a wedding but a—a party. You know they would love it."

Sara yielded. She had left in a hurry, leaving the lab short-handed. Nodding, she said, "A party—I'd go for that. Everyone would come." She laughed, saying, "Just to see if it's true—that we really did get married—again."

A/N: We appreciate hearing from you-thank you for your encouragement! More to come...