He rolled off of her to his right, roped his left arm around her waist and pulled her back against him.
"I think you're in trouble here, Stabler."
"How's that?"
"I'm pretty sure I'm gonna wanna do that again."
He chuckled. "I was married for 27 years, Liv. You have any idea how long it's been since I've done this twice in the same night?"
"Can't hack it?"
"Oh I'll hack it. I just need a minute. Or 20," he said. "Besides making you wait will only make you want it more."
"I don't think I could."
"Could what?"
"Want it more."
They were quiet a few minutes, linking hands in front of her and playfully toying with their intertwined fingers. It was a comfortable silence.
"It's been a crazy day to say the least," Elliott said.
"I liked the night part," she softly retorted.
"If you had told me this morning that tonight I would be here, I'd have driven you straight to Bellevue myself."
She laughed.
"It's so good to see you smile," he told her. "I mean, you're so gorgeous, but when you smile ..."
"I'm glad you came back."
"I'm glad you didn't kick me out."
"So why did she call you anyway? Still checking up on you?"
"Not really," he explained. "She has a standing appointment on Thursday mornings, so it's my day to get Eli to school. She just still feels the need to remind me. That's just Kathy."
"When did you move out?"
"Does it matter?"
"Since you're not answering me it must."
"You remember a while back, the last time we worked with that prick Porter?"
She was stunned. "You mean you moved out that long ago?"
"No but something happened during that case to convince me I needed to make my move."
"Which was?"
"That fucker pissed me off," he spoke louder now. "The way you looked at him pissed me off."
"Elliott ..." But she couldn't get a word in edge-wise.
"I know I had no right to be jealous but I was. It was too much fun pushing his buttons. But when I realized why I was pushing them, I knew I was just going through the motions at home."
"Nothing ever happened between Porter and me. I never slept with him."
"But you could have. I had no rights to you."
"I could have, yes. But I didn't want to," she paused and weighed whether to continue. "There hasn't been anyone since Moss."
Elliot was shocked. Pleased, but shocked.
"Why not?"
"Just let it go please. I'm exactly where I want to be. It took a while to get here, but I'm here."
There wasn't much more that needed to be said about that.
"So you know I have to get Eli early right?" he reminded her. "So if I'm gone when you wake up, that's all it is."
"Who said you could stay that long?" she ribbed him.
"I'm willing to earn my keep," he said, grinding against her rear end.
"Mmmmmm."
He kissed her shoulder and slid his left hand down to stroke her softly. She parted her thighs to allow one of his in between hers, essentially opening herself to him.
He gripped himself and guided his head to her entrance. She moaned and reached back to grasp his hip as he slipped inside. He held her close and made love to her from behind. Even though she could not see his face it was somehow more intimate than the first time.
It was slow and long. He could reach around and touch her. She could feel all of him behind her. When his fingertips joined his cock in a coordinated effort to please her, she trembled in his arms. And when he released inside her for the second time in an hour, she was spent.
The exhaustion she'd felt when she walked out of work that evening flooded over her again. But it was different this time. She felt no need to fight it or overcome it.