Twenty One

A/N: Venturing into M-ville with this chapter. Forgive the delay. Real life keeps getting in the way.

Samantha was drowning in the melting heat this man inspired in her without half trying. It suddenly seemed like it had been so long since they had been this close, so long since they had felt this free and easy together. Too long. As she let herself go, let herself free to float and feel and be, she felt the reverence and care and love that were there in his kiss, there in his touch, and treasured all of them for what they were. Just as she treasured this man, so much. He was everything, always had been, and always would be.

She kissed him back with what she hoped was everything she was feeling, wanting for once to show him everything that was in her heart for him, never wanting him to doubt it for a second. This perfect kiss spun out for infinitely long moments, binding them together like they'd never been apart, threading both of their souls together for long, magic moments to last forever.

She kissed him back fiercely, allowing her own need for him to bubble to the surface. She greedily took him up on this opportunity to touch him, sliding her hands over his face and into his hair, over his shoulders and down his ribs and up his back. It wasn't long before it wasn't enough. Their ubiquitous passion bubbled over, searing them both, carrying them both from healing and reassurance to crash headlong into desire.

"Bedroom. Now," she growled into his mouth, dinner and everything else forgotten, unable to wait a second longer. He flashed his most deadly grin and pulled her with him to their room, still kissing her hungrily, holding onto her as firmly as he could manage.

Standing in front of their bed, they broke away, gasping for air, and then he was nipping at her neck hungrily as she threw back her head to give him access, her hands smoothing down his shoulders and his back to pull his hips more fully into hers, grinding against him and letting him know in no uncertain terms this was what she wanted—he was what she wanted. He growled when his mouth reached her clavicle and her offending shirt got in his way—his fingers were not up to all those buttons, but he wanted her naked, right now.

Samantha laughed breathlessly, reaching between them to give him what he wanted, unbuttoning each button as quickly as she could, knowing it wasn't fast enough for him as he slid his open mouth down to cover each newly-exposed inch of skin. God, his mouth was making her crazy and she didn't want to wait anymore—she wanted him inside her now.

Her unbuttoned shirt fell open and she gasped, her own fingers fumbling with her bra as his mouth slid lower until his tongue was sliding over her stomach, and she was amazed that she was so close now even so quickly. It had been forever. "Jack, please," she ground out, knowing he loved that tone in her voice, breathless and needy. Emboldened, spurred on by her urgency, thrilled by it, he pushed her gently back until the backs of her knees hit the bed and she fell across it. She looked up at him, her eyes wild, and he knelt over her, nipping at her stomach.

"I want these off," he growled, tugging at the waistband of her jeans with his teeth, and she moaned at the command in his tone and bucked her hips up into him. Her hands went to the button, popping it open desperately, sliding down her zipper and the sound was loud in the room. She slid her jeans and panties down her hips and his mouth was right there, nipping at her inner thighs, licking across her skin and grinning as her low mewling sounds became loud startled cries as he licked into her soaked heated flesh. God, he had been waiting for this all day. All week. Longer. And he was done waiting.

"Oh, God, Jack! Jack!" she yelled as the rough, random passes of his tongue became more focused, until she flew apart, screaming his name.

He wanted to do that again, so he did, until she was screaming his name again, reduced to a quivering mass of need, her hips thrusting as desperately as the wanton, uncontrollable sounds that burst from her lips. She couldn't make herself make sense right now, having no way to communicate what she wanted, but it didn't matter, because he knew. He needed it just as much as she did: to be inside of her right now.

His own clothing frustrated him, and Samantha reached up to work the buttons clumsily and slide his shirt off his shoulders, licking up his chest ravenously, biting into his skin in her need for him. She moaned again as he thrust against her, still encased in denim, its roughness against her sensitive skin making her writhe under him. The urgency to free him overtook her as her hands slid down his chest to unbutton and unzip his jeans, pushing them over his hips and down his legs haphazardly, desperately. He pushed her back again roughly, his eyes flashing with his need for her, his mouth finding hers and taking her in a deep, hard kiss as he stepped out of his jeans and arched over her, sliding deep with no resistance in one long, smooth thrust.

Both of them cried out at the contact, and she didn't even have a moment to adjust before he was thrusting deeply into her, his mouth on her neck now, sinking his teeth into her skin while he took her desperately. Samantha arched tightly into him, needing every inch of him against her. God, it had been so long. She used her hands to urge him on, her legs wrapped tightly around his waist, her heels digging into his back. "YES!" she all-but-screamed. "More, Jack, more, please!" Later he would think it was the please that undid him, her desperate, demanding plea that shot him over the edge, his hips pistoning wildly as he shattered with a loud bark of her name, as she came apart beneath him moaning his name. The most beautiful thing he'd ever heard.

He collapsed onto her, having no idea how he'd managed to hold himself over her with the strength of just one arm and not really caring, feeling her arms and legs holding him tightly, desperately in place, not wanting him to move away from her for an instant, and he knew the feeling. He wanted to be this close to her too. Forever.

He nuzzled against her neck again as he breathed in her scent and relished the feeling of her body so tight against his, unable to resist leaving a long line of hot, open-mouthed kisses against the long line of her throat, the way she bared it to him now a precious testament to her trust in him. "You're still mine," he growled there, and she turned her head quickly to find his eyes.

"Always," she told him softly, her tone brooking no argument, everything she felt for him shining in her eyes.

And what she saw there in his just set her off again. As long as she lived, she would never get enough of this man and the way he made her feel.

Instantly the languid calm they had been enjoying ignited. He had staked his claim, and now she needed to stake her own. Normally she would have given them both time to recover, but right now she knew they needed this more. They needed to get back what they both had thought was almost lost.

TBC...