Chapter 37 – Pleasure
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The pleasure of his kiss was exquisite.
The entire experience of him filled her senses, obliterating everything else and creating a rush of passionate pleasure the like of which she had not experienced for a very long time.
There were perhaps many valid reasons why she had felt so drawn to this man and why his kisses now blanketed her thoughts so easily. He was a magnificently handsome man, with a charming smile and a quick playful mind. Yet he was also a warrior from another galaxy, a courageous adventurer who had volunteered to stand at her side to battle terrors he had never faced before. What woman in her right mind would not be attracted to such a man?
She had been well aware of all this for some time of course, yet today, as he had arrived bearing blossoms for her and Ketra, his eyes sparkling with his usual teasing humour, she had seen an unexpected new sadness in him that had pulled sharply at her own regrets. It had been strange how frequently they had met and worked together over the last half of a year, but, in parting today, she knew full well that she may not enjoy his company again, and if she were, it would likely be in a far more public manner.
In the faint sadness she had seen in his expression, she had imagined that perhaps he too might feel the same sense of impending loss. For it was unlikely they would be able to sit alone together again, but today would allow them at least a few hours in isolation to enjoy each other's company.
And sitting beside him today, on her favourite bench, had seemed so much more profound than it should. His handsome presence had seemed to seep into her, tempting her softly to step over the unseen unspoken line between them where new friendship might drift into something more intimate.
As if he had heard her thoughts, he had then leant closer to her, using playful words and a charming handsome smile, but she had understood the invitation, carefully concealed though it had been among the banter and the warmth of their unusual friendship.
She enjoyed him so much, his manner, his words, and his ability to tease her about almost anything, even her Elite status. With him, she felt more herself than at almost any other time. Even when with her family she felt the pressure of her Elite position, but with John, he made things light where normally there was weight and isolation. Today, those qualities had seemed even more valuable to her, easing the burdens of her life into the delightful temptation of him. And in his eyes, she had seen the promise of that passion, of a shared indulgence that he too wished to experience.
They had one day, a few hours only, so why not finally taste what had been lingering between them for so long?
Her natural response, from deep inside her where her feelings were stirring as rapidly as the temptation and glowing arousal, was to say an immediate 'yes' to his offer. Yet, she had made a mistake similar to this before when she had stepped over a line with Kanaan. He had thought their status of lovers would mean she would change for him, that she would wish a family life with him away from the Elite. They had both been to blame for that mistake, his for not truly understanding who and what she was, and hers for having known that and still having stepped over that line from friendship into shared intimacy. She had realised her mistake quickly enough, but he had not taken the break well, and ultimately he had chosen to leave the Sythus to be apart from her. In one swift action, they had destroyed a happy childhood friendship.
John was very different from Kanaan, as was the situation, but she could not help now comparing the same decisions in moving from friends to lovers.
However, the temptation of John was far deeper, driven from the pure womanly part of her that was so often restrained. Not since her youthful first days of love had she felt so physically drawn to a man.
She was not an innocent young lover now though, for she understood consequences. Far more than most.
Only, if they were not to see each other again – what was the harm?
They both desired each other, and it was born from a very real friendship and a shared experience of the battlefield. She wished to enjoy that mixture and to experience all that his smile and lean strong body promised.
So, she had invited him to her quarters, ostensibly so that he could pass his gift to Ketra, but also to create the potential space. To see if this choice was real and if the line really was ready to be crossed.
He had seized the opportunity more decisively than she had expected, having wandered into her bedroom, full of tempting teasing humour, which had quickly heightened the sensual tension between them. As they had talked, he had gradually moved towards her, sensing her invitation as she had his before, until the moment had arrived when he had dipped his head and pressed his lips to hers.
The kiss had been so much more than she had expected. And in that delicate and honest first press of lips, she had sensed how powerful the spell was between them.
She had immediately voiced the concern that she suspected he too had considered - that their decision might have substantial consequences in the future, for their 'friendship' might not last between their peoples as it was. He had understood and agreed, and that had been enough for her. He was willing to embrace the moment, as she was, and let the future be what it would be. Any further reservations that might have lingered had then been quickly chased away into the shadows as his mouth had touched against hers once more. The following soft pleasurable kisses had finally loosened the last of her restraints, as she had allowed herself to embrace the now and the undeniable potential between them.
So she had paused their kisses and set the newly drawn line between. Some rules were necessary, and to which he had added one of his own – that they leave their work out if this shared experience. She had willingly agreed to his terms, for today's experience was purely about them, as Teyla and John, and for this time at least, they could set aside all pretence of their peoples and cultures to focus on what was real between them.
Only she had added the one main Elite rule when with a lover, and to which John seemed more than willing to accommodate as he drew her closer to him once more, his mouth lowering to hers.
That exquisite kiss lingered now, scattering her remaining thoughts so that all she could focus upon was the softness of sliding lips and tongues, of gentle sweeping caresses and soft quickly captured breaths. However, deep inside, a stronger demanding need was steadily growing, so with one last slow taste of him, she pulled her lips softly from his and pulled back to look up at him.
"Very well," she whispered as if he had asked her the question, or perhaps she had of herself.
She slid her hands from the front of his chest as she moved backwards away from him. She reached down to her hips, pulled free her weapons and set the blade and stunner down on top of the wooden chest stood at the end of her bed. Looking back towards him, she released the clip at the front of her belt, loosening the holsters from their confining pressure around her.
John's gaze had lowered to her hands, his plump parted lips silent for perhaps the longest time since she had known him. She smiled as she tugged free her belt and set it down alongside her weapons.
Next she reached up to her side and pulled down the small fastener that held her top tight around her middle. The fabric loosened slightly from around her ribs and breasts, and at the same moment, John blinked out of the frozen staring position he had been locked in.
His eyes snapped up to hers, an unmistakeably excited smile now animating his still lips. He stretched out one arm, his hand finding the edge of the open bedroom door without him taking his eyes from her, and he pushed the door shut. Teyla noticed, across the small, darkened lobby outside the door, that Ketra had chosen this moment to peer round the living room's doorway, but the bedroom door closed solidly, enclosing Teyla and John in her bedroom alone together.
Teyla returned her attention to John, seeing his hands working free the buttons of his jacket as he moved towards her.
"Remember that your clothes will need to look presentable for the wedding ceremony later," she reminded him as she indicated the tall stool set to the side of the window onto which he could pile his clothes securely.
"Good point," he replied, recognising the importance of preventing crumpled clothing for the official ceremony later.
Smiling at him, she turned away, moving along the side of her bed. As she walked, she pulled her top up and off her. The cooler air of the room rushed across the sensitive skin of her belly and upper chest, though her bra warmed her aching and equally as sensitive breasts.
Purposefully keeping her back to him as she made her way to the shelf by her bed, she hung her top on a wardrobe door handle and only then turned back towards him, affording him the view of her front.
He had removed his jacket already, revealing his tight black shirt beneath, which she had so enjoyed seeing wetted down on Milioc. Today though she would get to enjoy what was beneath it.
She made sure to wait until his eyes rose up her body to meet her gaze again, before she smiled and bent forward to begin freeing herself from her boots. She knew full well that he had a very good view of her breasts from this angle. She heard him chuckle, and she smiled as she set her boots aside. As she pulled her socks from her feet, she glanced along the length of her bedroom to see him setting his boots aside and the attractive width of his strong bare feet on her carpet.
Left in only her trousers and her bra, she stood upright again, letting her eyes wander up John's body. He was well aware of her perusal she was certain, and as he set about pulling free the time-keeping device and the black band from around his wrists, she enjoyed the twisting lines of his body as he set them on the stool with his jacket.
She met his gaze again as he pulled a long chain up over his head, two small metallic rectangles dangling from it. He smiled at her as he set the chain on the stool as well, and only then did he reach down to the hem of his black shirt.
Her mouth dry, her heartbeat faster than it should be whilst simply standing watching a fully clothed man, she watched him pull up the fabric and suddenly she was presented with the full view of his belly, chest, and shoulders.
He twisted to the side again to fold his shirt on the stool, and the movement played wonderfully across the long lean lines of his toned body. She had seen him bare-chested once before, whilst he had been given his Elite tattoo, but at the time he had been sat turned from her, now she had a full unobstructed view of him.
He began to move towards her, dressed now only in his trousers, which she noticed sat nice and low on his hips.
"Are there any more rules I should know about?" He asked her as he approached, his attention on her, but he was reaching down to his right thigh to pull his gun free from its holster. He glanced down briefly at the weapon to check it was safely secured, and as he reached her, stopping an inch or so away, his strong masculine flat toned chest directly in front of her, and he reached around her. His arm slid against the outside of hers as he reached behind her and set his weapon down on the bedside shelf directly behind her.
His arm felt wonderfully provocative against hers, and he had leant a fraction closer to her, drawing her eyes to the strong lines of his throat and collarbones. She licked her lips as she focused on her answer, whilst subtly drawing in the scent of him.
"Although our medical professionals have both cleared us, it would be best to protect us both nonetheless," she managed to reply levelly despite it being strangely difficult to think and speak clearly, his close heated presence becoming so desperately distracting.
Before she lost all focus, she reached to her left, making sure to brush the edge of her shoulder faintly against his chest as she did so, and pulled open one of the series of small drawers set into the built-in storage. She dug deep inside the drawer that held her medical supplies and pulled out two small packets that would ensure protection. She turned back to him, showing them to him, but he only nodded, seemingly familiar enough with the sheaths. Pleased, she turned and set the sterilised packets down on the shelf, between her time-keeping device and his weapon. She made sure to brush herself against him once again as she turned back, and she was almost certain she had heard him inhale deeply as she looked up at him again. Only a shadow near the angle of his jaw caught her attention.
"You are still wearing your communication device," she reminded him, about to reach up for it, but he moved faster, the long thick length of his forearm grazing against her through the tiny distance between them as he reached up to his ear.
"Oh, yeah, mustn't forget that," he said with a playful casualness.
He pulled the device from around his ear, checked it was turned off, and then, once more, he reached around her, with his other arm this time, to set the radio device on the rapidly filling shelf behind her.
She smiled at him as he teased her with his closeness again, which she suspected was in playful retaliation for her watching him remove his clothes. However, this time he did not lean away from her again, and she gave in to her own temptation to break the stalemate.
She reached up and slid one hand across the light blaze of his chest hair that covered the wide strong space of his chest. Hair tickled her fingers and his warm bare skin beneath teased her fingertips. She considered pressing her lips to him already, but his chin brushed against her cheek and she lifted her mouth to meet his.
This kiss was as slow and as thorough as the ones before, but now, with so much skin teasingly grazing close, and his scent so much stronger around her, she felt the growing change within it.
His hands slid around her waist, his long warm fingers spread wide as he wrapped his hands around her back and pulled her gently towards him. She willingly complied at finally closing the electrified distance between them, and as she pressed her thinly clothed breasts against the solid plane of his chest, she almost whimpered into their kiss.
He opened his mouth further, pushing the kiss deeper and she met the rising arousal equally, entwining her tongue with his as they angled their heads further to enjoy the new depth. The warm support of one of his palms against the back of her head lured her into surrendering further into the luscious deep kiss.
Breathing heavily around the kiss, she ran her hands over his back, following the natural landscape of him down to the low waistband of his trousers. She needed him naked against her for the last of his clothing was too much now, especially as she was very much aware of the colder sharp shape of his belt's buckle digging into her belly. Therefore, she slid her hands gently around the lines of his stomach, feeling the faint twitching response of his muscles under her touch. She smiled into their kiss, and his mouth loosened against hers as she closed her fingers around the buckle. She pulled her body back just enough from his so that she could slide her fingers around the lines of alien designed buckle, seeking out how to open it. The heat emanating off his body across the tiny space between them was intoxicating though, and she had to force her attention away from the tempting sight of the line of his pectorals in order to focus on the belt buckle.
Just as she discovered how to release the belt, his hands had begun to explore as well, his fingers grazing along the band of her bra, seeking the concealed clip that would free it from her. She smiled at their mutual dealing with alien clothing, but she was ahead, having pulled open the buckle now to loosen the wide belt from around his waist, but there was more to be undone.
She slid her hand down the front of his right thigh to the strap that held his leg holster in place, while his nose and lips slid up her throat to her ear in response. As she ran her hand around the strap, seeking how to loosen it, his fingers discovered the clip of her bra strap, hidden in the inner shadow of one breast. As he fingered the flat clip, working out how to open it, she ran her hand around to his inner thigh, squeezing her hand between his legs to find the end of the holster's strap. She felt his smile against her skin as she tugged the strap open, the sound loud in the sensual quiet. Pleased with her work, she drew her hand back up to his waist, but in doing so, teasingly briefly bushed her hand against his groin, causing his breath to hitch for a second.
Smiling, she reached both hands around his waist pulling his belt from around him entirely and she twisted to the left to hang it up on one of the wardrobe handles. As she did, his fingers, with a quick skilful twist, freed the clip of her bra. The strap wrapped around her back and he helpfully made sure it was quickly freed as she made a little too much work of ensuring his holster belt was were securely set aside. As she looked back up at him, the cups of her bra loosened and she rolled her shoulders enough to help the top straps to fall free and the bra fell from her into his hands. He dropped it instantly aside, his hooded dark eyes fixed on her bare breasts as she ran her hands back up across the wide expanse his chest.
His fingers grazed up her sides, up around the outer swells of her breasts and, achingly slowly, he covered her with his hands. The full heat of his palms surrounded her weight, supporting and lifting enough so that her nipples pressed tightly into the depth of his palms. She closed her eyes at the delicate massage, her arousal rushing up so much higher. She closed her own hands over his, pressing his touch closer, as she opened her eyes and looked up at him with a light-headedness that was surprising but strangely enjoyable.
His mouth descended to hers, and she reached up, sliding her hands around his neck to pull him tighter into the wet faster kiss. His breathing was louder against her and the kisses shorter as his hands stroked her breasts, pulling gradually away until just his fingertips surrounded her nipples. She moaned with delight at the sensation and how his kisses pressed against her cheek to her throat, to her shoulder and then, lowering his head further, his wet hot mouth surrounded her left nipple.
She arched up into the blissful sensation of his tongue sliding around her nipple, stroking, sucking, and teasing. She ran her hands into his hair, gripping tightly for a moment before she ran them back down to his shoulders. She opened her eyes as she ran her hand over the back of his tattooed shoulder. The marking that she designed for him, inked permanently into his skin, was abruptly powerfully erotic. She clenched the flesh of his shoulder, squeezing the marked muscles as he moved his mouth to her other nipple, leaving the other wet and rousingly chilled against the air.
She gasping loudly and happily as he pleasured her, she ran her hands down his upper back, stroking as much of his skin as she could reach stood in this position. She teased her fingers down the long line of his spine, and then back up the arched bunched toned lines alongside it, right up to the back of his neck, squeezing the ropey muscles tensed over her.
He finally broke him mouth from her sensitive aching skin to nuzzle into her cleavage. She stroked her hands round to the sides of his jaw to encourage him back up to her kiss, eager to share more. He straightened and she pressed her mouth to his, the kiss, wet and seductive.
She tightened her hands on him as she turned, drawing him with her so that they were right up against the side of her bed, the mattress pressing against her knee. She parted their lips, licking across his lower lip before she pulled back from him. He watched her with darkened glazed eyes, his hands never leaving her hips, as she knelt up onto the bed, encouraging him with her. He did not require very much encouragement.
She shifted backwards giving him more space on her bed as he knelt onto the mattress with her, his hands grazing back up her sides to her breasts as their mouths met again.
His kiss was now more of a possessive male, his own need more on the surface, and as they pressed flush against one another, she felt the harder press of his erection against her. She imagined he was growing more uncomfortable, and the thought was barely across her thoughts when he pushed his body further against hers, reaching one long muscular arm down onto the mattress as he encouraged her backwards. She tensed immediately, feeling his weight beginning to come down over her, so she twisted them, holding tightly to one of his shoulders as she pushed against the other. He recognised immediately and corrected their descent so that they landed on the mattress on their sides.
"Sorry," he apologised breathlessly, but she was happy that he recalled the rule that she would not lie under him. She reached for his jaw, as she slid her upper leg over his hip, pulling him tightly to her once more. He met her kiss, but he pulled back after a second and, for a moment, she feared he had changed his mind over agreeing to the rule. Some men read too much into it, feeling it made them submissive, but John was simply dipping his head, his mouth falling to her throat, then lower to her collarbone, sliding down to her breast. She clasped her hands in his hair in respect to his talented tongue once again sweeping around her nipple.
She moaned in delight as he licked over the peak, and he pulled back to make room for his hand caressing down her stomach, heading straight for the closed front of her trousers. He fingers found the line of tiny clasps that held the trousers tight around her, and he pulled further up from her with a smile as he wrestled again with her clothing design. She rolled onto her back to make it easier for him to see the closings and so that she could enjoy watching him frowning down at her clothing.
"You've got some tricky clothes," he told her with a teasing grin as he knelt up, understanding that he needed to slide some of his fingers under the waistband to be able to free the clasps from the front. The feel of the back of his fingers squeezed in against the skin of her lower belly was highly arousing, and she could tell that he knew it. He freed the top tiny clasp and began to work his way down the line, gradually parting her trousers from her.
"You seem to be handling them well," she assured him, hearing the wanton tone in her own voice. She was not sure she had heard herself talk like this before.
"You sure it's not some Elite test?" He joked. "You're only worthy if you can unwrap the present," he added with a victorious glint in his eyes as he reached further into her trousers than was necessary to free the lowest clasps.
"Perhaps it should be a test," she considered, wriggling slightly against his knuckles brushing over her mound as he freed the last clasp. "If it were, you have passed," she assured him with a smile.
"You're not unwrapped yet," he told her and her breath caught at the sensual promise in his soft voice. The clasps freed, he pulled on her waistband and began the final stage of 'unwrapping'.
She wriggled and lifted her backside off the mattress to assist him as he unpeeled the trousers from her hips and then down her thighs. He bent down over her and pressed a nuzzling kiss to her lower belly, then to the top of one thigh. She bit her lower lip as she watched his mouth descend again to above her knee, before he knelt up again and pulled her trousers off her feet in a flourish. However, he quickly reached back up her legs, reaching for the last layer, the thin tight underwear that were not all that attractive she suspected, but they was functional. He didn't seem to care either way as he slid his fingertips under the straps at her hips and gently pulled the last of her clothing down off her hips and down her thighs.
The sexual tension rocked higher in that slow reveal. His attention seemed fixated on that simple task and she watched his face as the air slid over her entire body. He sat on his heels and gently tugged her underwear off her feet and then, with a victorious grin, he threw that last scrap of her clothing aside.
She laughed at how pleased he was at having divested her of her 'wrapping', and for a second, she was struck by the fact that it had been a very long time since she had laughed during lovemaking.
"So this is where they end," John said, pulling her awareness back to him and his hand sliding up her left thigh, up to the front of her left hip where the line of her tattoos ended. At least for the time being. There would no doubt be more, if she survived long enough to claim another Wraith Queen's life and marking.
She lifted her head from the mattress enough to look down herself to the last entries of her markings, which disappeared under John's caressing palm. The last marking was still relatively new, and the skin felt somehow more sensitive with John's attention on it.
"How many do you have?" He asked her with the curiosity that she was used to regarding her markings.
She did not consciously keep note of the number anymore, though she could easily count them up in her mind if she so chose. She knew each marking by heart and could easily discern where one sliding, angled marking separately from the next in the long line that wrapped around her. Though the markings were a testament to the Elite, and humanity's, victory against the Wraith, they were still also a reminder of the violence of her life. Each marking was a brutal battle she had lived through and each a violent death, sometimes not just of the Queen and her hive, but of fellow Elite and friends she had seen killed. She wore the markings to be the Elite she was, but also to honour those who had fallen to the Wraith. However, she did not need to be reminded of the exact number, which was why she had the tattoos inked into her skin and then she moved on.
She looked down the length of her naked body to the latest marking, across which John's fingertips now stroked. It sat just inside her hipbone, a hands' breath from her womanhood, which right now felt the most vital of landmarks.
"I do not keep count," she told him, and she heard the defensiveness in her voice, which she regretted considering the situation with John. Especially as he seemed quite fascinated with the markings on her skin. However, there was one marking that made her smile.
"This one," she said reaching down to her own hip to touch the second oldest marking, "This is the Queen that we killed together." She traced the outline of the relevant tattoo among the interlinked designs. "Oneakka insisted that I take a marking as well."
John's fingers slid up to hers on the tattoo. "The one on Mada," he said quietly.
"Yes," she replied her attention turning to his shoulder behind which his own marking was out of view.
She reached up towards him and slid her hand over his shoulder. He had dipped his shoulder slightly allowing her to see part of his tattoo and she ran her fingers over its wing-like outline. She had never thought of markings as being erotic before, but now she knew she would forever recall this one particular design on his back in a very different light. If she and John were never to see one another again, they would still carry a piece of the other in that shared battle. In their shared markings.
"It suits you, John," she told him honestly.
His gaze met hers, the eye contact direct and open, and she suspected he might also be dwelling on that recalled mission together and its significance for them now. Usually on thinking of that fight, she had always felt the haunting echo of Iketani' blade in her back, but now, looking up at him, she only remembered the vulnerable safety she had felt in his arms, held protectively against his chest as he had pulled her to safety. She knew that from now onwards, all she would choose to remember of that mission to Mada was the feel of his protection and care.
John broke their silent drawn eye contact first, his gaze falling to the Mada marking near her hip.
"Mine's not as nice as yours," he told her as he leant down and pressed a kiss to the tattoo that linked them.
She smiled at the gesture, only then his mouth nuzzled lower, his nose, lips and breath following the line to the freshest of markings inwards of her hip. She heard her own loud intake of breath as he licked over the final point of last tattoo, his hands on her thighs. Her knees parted of their own accord as she grasped his shoulder, her eyes on his mouth pressing further down her belly.
His mouth lifted from her skin as he shifted his body further down the mattress, dislodging her hand from his shoulder as he moved, his hand sliding down her left thigh. His hand was a gentle encouraging weight to part her legs further, and she felt the approaching warmth of his breath a moment before touch of his mouth against her most intimate of flesh.
She gasped loudly at the kiss, her eyes squeezing shut as her body arched of its own accord, her head dropping back, too heavy to support. His mouth and fingers were majestically arousing, pouring fire onto the burning intensity that had been contained somewhat by their conversation, but now once again raged free.
She parted her legs further around him, surrendering entirely to the pleasure and the driving peak of potential ecstasy that his intimate touch was driving her to. She was aware of her loud gasps and moans, but they seemed distant when all she could focus on was the overwhelming pleasure of his mouth, his kiss, his tongue.
The wave of rushing pleasure was growing, rising and rushing onwards towards the cresting point.
His hands were on her hips now, holding her to him as well as giving her the pressure to rub herself against him with the rhythm of the pleasure, of his tongue, of her heartbeat racing. Racing towards the peak, the blissful intense promise, which she willingly let him push her towards.
Her orgasm struck her in a sudden roaring wave, tearing hot passion spreading intense pleasure throughout her body, sparkling across every nerve ending, and blanking her awareness of the universe for a long infinitely sharp rushing moment.
Then, pouring swelling sweet warmth and relaxation soothed through her like the softest of pillows filling her in a caress of pleasured peace.
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TBC