A/N Welcome back!

No, I didn't abandon this story, I promise. I wrote this chapter four (yes 4!) times until I settled on this version… Folk musicians, who are well known for tuning their instruments between each and every song, will often quip, 'I tune because I care.' Well, my dear readers, while I know I often miss errors here and there, please know that I edit (and rewrite as I see necessary) because I care, not because I want to make you wait a month between postings... I hope this turned out OK.

Disclaimer: No… I don't own Bones. I think we all know what would happen if I did own them because I've said it before… There would be lots of naughtiness and they would certainly not be on Fox… They'd be on HBO.

Heh heh

Booth entered his room and smiled as Brennan's distinctive alto chuckle reached his ears. He paused just inside the door and listened, knowing his presence hadn't yet been detected. His partner was still engaged in a video chat with the lab and from the sounds of it, they were finished discussing the case and now it appeared that Brennan was navigating her way through a landmine-riddled game of Twenty-Sexual-Innuendo-Questions from Angela.

"Ange," Brennan rolled her eyes at her friend's constant habit of snooping. "It was a very nice date. His friends are really fun." She was working hard to avoid answering Angela's main question as to whether or not she and Booth had 'done the deed,' as the artist put it. "And after dinner, we all went to a jazz lounge for drinks."

"Annnnd?"

"And...we danced."

"Bren," Angela deadpanned.

"Oh, yes. We also agreed to visit Jean and Mickey when we go down to see Russ this summer. They invited us to their home for dinner."

Quickly picking up on the fact that Brennan said 'we agreed', Angela smiled. "So you and Booth are going to go visit Russ, hmm?"

"Well, I," the scientist knew she was caught, but feared giving away anything more. "Of course Booth is welcome to come along… I mean, Mickey and Jeannie are his friends, not really mine, even though we got along quite well…" She squared her shoulders. "I don't think it would be polite for me to accept an invitation without Booth being present…"

"Mm-hmm…" Angela raised a disbelieving eyebrow and said nothing more, knowing her socially awkward best friend was a horrible liar and an even less-successful sneak.

"I'm serious, Angela. How do you think Hodgins would like it if you accepted an invitation from one of his friends, but didn't expect him to come along?"

"He probably wouldn't like it at all... He'd want to go along…" She answered simply, still waiting for Brennan's little cup of withheld information to go toppling over, spilling the rest of her closely-protected secret beans.

"Well, then, you should understand that the only suitable response was to accept the invitation for both of us…"

"Hodgins and I are married, Sweetie. You can't use us as a comparison…"

"What?" Brennan's forehead wrinkled. "No, your logic is faulty, you being married has nothing to do with it…"

Sensing his partner was dangerously close to inadvertently revealing a bit too much at this point in their relationship, Booth decided to make his re-entry known. He opened his door again and let it fall closed with a loud click as he called out to her through the open adjoining doors.

"Hey, Bones! I'm back."

Schooling her expression, Brennan flared her eyes at her friend's image on the monitor and spoke through clenched teeth, her voice just loud enough that Angela could hear. "Stop asking too many questions." Then she glanced up to where Booth was just poking his head through. "Hi, Booth." She couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips. "I'm just about done on my call."

"Yeah, ok," he stepped into the room and over towards the head of the bed, where she was sitting lotus style with the laptop directly in front of her. "Hi, Angela." He smiled into the camera and plopped himself down next to his partner, adjusting the pillow to support his back against the headboard. "How's it goin'?"

"Oh, you know," Angela grinned, seeing her best friend's cheeks grow pink once Special Agent Studly entered her room. "Got a real humdinger of a case… It's a good thing we can chat with Bren, poor Clark was at a loss."

Booth nodded and bumped his partner's shoulder with his. "Barely away for two days and they're already floundering, huh, Bones?"

With a familiar crease forming between her brows, Brennan wrinkled her nose. "Booth, the case they're working has nothing to do with fish. Why would you say that?"

"It's just a saying, Bones." He laughed as Angela failed to stifle her own chuckle.

"It's a fascinating case, Booth," the artist interjected. "You wanna hear about-"

"Nope," he reached to the screen, looking at Angela while talking to Bones with an impish smile. "Now, say goodbye."

"What? No, wait..." Brennan shook her head and laughed at his boldness. "You were not even part of this conversation… What makes you think we are done, Booth…?"

Booth looked behind Angela and saw that Clark was already working on his own up on the platform. "You're done," he smirked at Brennan. "See? Clark is busy and Angela is just being nosy. So, say goodbye." He slowly lowered the screen, knowing it would end the call.

Ducking down so she could still see Angela's chuckling image on the screen, Brennan spoke fast, recognizing the heated look in Booth's eyes. "Ange, text me if you need anything else. Tell Clark to email his findings to me and I'll review them before he submits them to the FBI. I'll keep my phone on…"

And by then the call was ended, courtesy of Booth's not-so-subtle insistence. She turned and looked at him with questions in her eyes, quickly receiving an unspoken answer as he leaned towards her and covered her mouth with his. Pushing the laptop carefully out of the way, Brennan let her partner's sure touch coax her onto her back as his kiss grew hungrier.

Booth groaned in appreciation of her compliance and he slid down from his seated position until he was covering her body. His mouth traveled from her mouth to her throat, where he paid special attention, drawing tiny mews and sighs from his partner. Shifting, he slid one of his legs between her thighs, and pressed his knee against her core, instantly feeling her heat radiating through her capris.

When she felt his thick leg pressing against her, Brennan immediately started to move her hips, anticipating what she knew would be a delicious outcome. Tugging at his shirt, she managed to pull it halfway up his back, so her fingers could sweep across the masculine skin it kept hidden from her. He quickly pulled back, however, causing her to pout at the loss of contact.

Booth chuckled and winked when he looked down at her frown. "Relax, baby." He reached behind his neck and grabbed the shirt, pulling it up and over his head before dropping it unceremoniously to the floor. Lowering himself back down to his elbows, he cradled her head and nuzzled against her cheek, shivering at the ghost-like touches her fingers made against his sides. "Christ, Bones, I love the way you smell," he muttered as he closed his lips around her earlobe and suckled.

Brennan smiled. She loved knowing that she had the ability to draw such sentiments from her very strong, very alpha-male agent. The scientist had never cared much for romantic proclamations, but she found that after spending so many years at Booth's side, her rigid beliefs had definitely loosened up. She suspected that since they were now together, she would find herself utterly susceptible to the legendary Booth-charm on an all new level. And secretly, she reveled in the possibilities.

Booth smiled in cocky satisfaction when his partner craned her head to the side, giving him better access to her throat, though she was oblivious to his smugness. When she hummed at the gentle scrape of his teeth, he filed her reaction into the ever-growing Bones-filing-cabinet in the back of his mind, determined to coax the sound from her as often as possible. Her simple acceptance of his dominance was like fuel to an already-smoldering kiln and he growled in primal aggression, pressing his knee even further against her core. The agent would never admit it to Brennan, but the discussion he had with Marcus after the rest of the lunch group had dispersed, in which he warned Marcus to back off in no uncertain terms, had clearly triggered a primal urge to claim her as his. He knew that if he verbalized his inner desires, no matter how deeply rooted they were in his basic male DNA makeup, she could easily kick his ass.

Desperate to feel more of her, Booth sat up once again, resting on his knees. He instantly focused on the tiny pearlescent buttons of Brennan's pale colored blouse and began unfastening them from the bottom. His handsy partner distracted him easily, her own nimble fingers making quick work of the button and zipper of his casual cargo shorts and slipping inside, searching for her prize.

"Ungh," Booth's movements stilled the instant her slim hand made contact through the thin material of his boxer briefs. His head dropped back as he gulped a breath, trying to maintain some control as his partner continued to grind against his knee while running her fingers along the outline of his length. The agent's mind, however, went completely blank as all blood flow headed south.

Brennan's mouth curled at one side as her tongue darted out to moisten her lower lip. She and Booth had only been together since the previous evening, but already the scientist knew she was addicted to watching her partner receive the pleasure she was intent on giving to him. She studied him as he unseeingly looked up at the ceiling and clenched his jaw, inhaling through flared nostrils. Her eyes focused on the prominent bob of his adam's apple when he swallowed in response to her fingers as they flexed around his considerable girth as much as she could through the barrier of his underwear.

Regaining a somewhat conscious stream of thought, Booth grunted and grabbed her arm, wrapping his thick fingers around her delicate wrist. He tugged gently, but with determination, extracting her roaming phalanges from the depths of his shorts as his other hand captured its counterpart before she impishly snuck that hand into his pants. Pulling her arms up, he pinned both against the pillow above her head, securing them with his left palm.

Brennan quivered, her body involuntarily reacting to the sheer power she witnessed as her partner loomed above her. Booth's bare chest labored as he tried to control his breathing, and the thick, ropy muscles of his neck were bulging as his eyes swept across her not-yet-exposed torso. She could see his barely contained tension, and while she instinctively knew he was the type to keep that power under close control, she hoped to one day be the one to cause his tightly coiled spring to finally pop. As she watched, her own breathing pattern erratic, she felt his fingers return to their previous task as he finished opening her blouse to his dark, hungry gaze.

Booth couldn't stop the groan from escaping his throat when he saw she was wearing a front-closure bra. The pale pink lace cups were a perfect compliment to her porcelain skin and as his eyes skimmed the scalloped edges of her lingerie and the way it held her breasts in check, his mouth watered with anticipation. She was practically spilling over the lacy material and, while maintaining his hold of her hands against the pillow, he brought his other hand up, brushing the backs of his fingers against her soft skin, tracing the edge of the bra.

With a gentle curl of his lip, his eyes flashed up to her's, meeting her pale blues just as his thumb and forefinger rested against the clip nestled in her cleavage. Silently, watching her reaction, he pinched the closure and let it pop open, the cups now held in place only by the flesh that filled them. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Seeley Booth was reeling in disbelief at what he was actually doing… He was really towering over his partner's prone body… In her bed… Ready to remove the final piece of clothing keeping him from seeing her upper body in all its glory…

And all his senses reminded him that he was not dreaming. The harsh light of day was not threatening to wake him, cruelly dragging him into consciousness from a blissful sleep featuring his beautiful partner… Booth had lost count years ago of how many times he woke, dreamy visions of Brennan drifting through his mind and haunting him throughout the day. It seemed that whenever he'd dreamt of his genius scientist over the larger part of the past decade, his nighttime fantasies would follow him clear through to the following sleep, when, once again, his imagination filled in the blanks and he happily lost himself in her sweet scent and silky softness.

Slowly, Booth released his grip on her wrists and ran his fingers down the underside of one arm as he raised himself up to his knees, still holding her gaze. When his partner emitted a tiny whimper, seemingly involuntarily, he smiled gently and tilted his head, dragging a single fingertip over the inviting swell of her breast until both right and left met in her tempting valley.

Brennan fisted the pillow above her head and gave a tiny nod of permission, recognizing Booth's expression as waiting for her consent. Watching his eyes darken with unspoken desire, she exhaled slowly as he diverted his gaze down to where his hands hovered. The anthropologist could practically feel the sexual power radiating from her partner, his strong jaw ticking as he pinched the silky material between his forefingers and thumbs.

Ramping up his anticipation as much as teasing Brennan, Booth started to peel the soft material away, his slow pace almost painful for both of them. Centimeter by centimeter, more of her creamy skin was revealed to his hungry focus and he groaned. "Jesus, Bones..." His calloused fingers traced the mouthwatering swells of her breasts before his thumbs stretched and swept across her hardening nipples, drawing a quiet gasp from her throat. Dropping to his elbows, he cradled her head, growling against her temple at the sensation of their bare torsos pressing together. "You're so..." He grunted, momentarily incapable of putting his thoughts into words. "Just…" His mouth assaulted her jawline, opting to show her since he couldn't seem to find the words to tell her.

When she lowered her arms from where they hugged the pillow above her head, Brennan hummed while reaching around his broad shoulders and pulling him down. Feeling his leg still pressed against the apex of her thighs, the scientist's hips moved, almost of their own volition, desperate for friction, yearning for more.

Turning her head, their mouths met instantly, as if they'd been locked in similar embraces for years rather than mere hours. Their bodies were so innately in tune with one another that their movements were fluid and effortless as they deepened their newfound familiarity. She parted her lips at Booth's not-so-subtle insistence once the tip of his tongue started probing. When she finally tasted him again, the metaphorical butterflies in her abdomen erupted and her fingers intensified their grip on his shoulders, pressing firmly into his muscles and pulling him further into their embrace.

Booth growled, one hand cupping her breast as his other swept down to her thigh, hiking it further up to his waist until she took it upon herself to loop it around his back. Thrusting his hips forward, he pressed his growing erection against his partner's body, ensuring that she understood exactly how desperately he wanted her. When a little, surprised-sounding sigh escaped her throat, Booth smiled into their kiss, swallowing her reaction with cocky pleasure. After only a few moments more, he slid his hands between their bodies, searching blindly for the button of her capris.

As his fingers danced along the waistline of her pants, tickling her gently, Brennan moved her mouth, following the strong line of his jaw until she reached his earlobe, where she nipped playfully. She felt his success when her zipper was lowered immediately after the button popped open and she laughed breathlessly in relief, her warm breath against his wet skin sending shivers through his rigid body.

"Now I know why you were so anxious to end my conversation with Angela…" Her fingers released his shoulders only because he tugged backwards, effortlessly pulling her bottoms down as he moved. Her pale eyes followed his movements and met his arrogant smile with a crooked, knowing grin of her own.

Booth chuckled and feigned shock. "What? You think I had this planned?" He licked his lips and winked playfully. "How was I supposed to know you were gunna jump me?" His thick, calloused forefinger traced the lacy edge of her panties.

Thankful that they could still banter in good humor, she cocked an eyebrow at his mock surprise. "Oh, I jumped you? Is that was this is?" She pointed to her current state of near nudity versus his still mostly clothed status. "It appears to me that it's the other way around…"

"Oh yeah?" His eyes moved from her face and skimmed down to the pale pink undergarment. "Well, then," he hooked his finger into the elastic band and flashed a crooked, challenging smile at her. "If you feel disproportionately underdressed in the current arrangement, I'd suggest you find a way to remedy the situation..." He tugged her panties down, smoothing them over her hips as he met her heated gaze. "But you better hurry, 'cause I'll tell ya what, I'm gonna be busy here in a second…"

Quickly, the reached down, trying to grab the waistband of her partner's shorts, but she was unsuccessful as he maneuvered just far enough way, snickering at her failed efforts. "Booth!" She half laughed, half whined, her exasperation at his evasive tactical abilities evident.

"Mmm," Booth ignored her plea as his wolfish gaze traveled up her legs until he could take in her naked body, spread out before him for his viewing pleasure. He wrapped his hands around her ankles when his eyes finally reached her pale observation and he grunted, feeling an undeniable tug starting at the base of his spine and moving clear through his body.

Booth's predatory expression caused Brennan to shudder, momentarily rendering the loquacious scientist unable to speak. She swallowed thickly, her breath catching in her throat as his calloused hands smoothed up her legs until they palmed her thighs and he nudged them open. His intense, dark chocolate irises held her own and when he loomed above her once again, she found the will to move. Reaching up and cradling his jaw, she pulled his face down to hers, opening her mouth to him before their lips even met. She felt his right hand release her leg and before her brilliant brain could even process his shifting touch, the backs of his knuckles were brushing against her throbbing folds, the mere ghost of a touch forcing yet another whimper from her throat.

Booth swallowed his partner's moan, certain it was the sexiest sound he'd ever heard. Their tongues swept against one another's and he pulled back slowly, trapping her bottom lip between his teeth gently. With a feral growl, the agent wiggled his fingers, spreading the moisture that was teasing him without mercy.

"Booth," she whispered as he pulled further away, her need evident in her heady voice. Booth's strong, masculine lips tugged again with smug satisfaction as he moved down her body, pausing to suck her nipple into his mouth. Brennan's fingers speared into his hair, holding him steady, not wanting him to lose his focus too soon.

"Ahh…" She let her sigh fade into the otherwise silent room, wanting nothing more than to get lost in the amazing sensations being created by her very own knight in shining FBI armor. The scientist's head was spinning (metaphorically, of course) and she entertained no doubts that if she wasn't already laying prone on the bed, the exhilaration coursing through her body would certainly drop her to her knees.

"Mmm," Booth hummed against her body. The feeling of her pebbled peak rolling against his tongue sent his imagination into overdrive as he mused silently about how many times over the course of nearly a decade he'd pictured this very scene happening. His dreams, however, whether they occurred in the bright light of day or late, in the inky darkness of night, paled in comparison to the real-life, flesh-and-bone Temperance Brennan. Everything about his favorite nerd was spectacular, mesmerizing even. His senses were assaulted with all things Brennan… The silkiness of her skin beneath his fingertips, her sweet scent filling his nostrils, the delicious flavor of her body as his tongue smoothed across her breast… And the sounds filling his ears...he couldn't even begin to comprehend the deep, primal level of his instincts that her verbal responses spoke to. Wanting more, he released his suction and placed open kisses down her torso as he moved.

Brennan couldn't concentrate. The wake of Booth's ministrations consumed her entire thought process, not to mention the reactions he was pulling from her compliant body. Ultimately, the anthropologist simply closed her eyes and surrendered to his skillful manipulation of her entire being, no longer concerned with monitoring her thoughts or filtering her words. She let the euphoria of her partner's touch wash over her; shivers, shudders and vibrations wracked her body non-stop until all she could hear was her own blood pumping through her ears, accompanied by the hums and murmurs he mumbled against her heated skin. When she felt the breadth of his shoulders nudge her thighs further apart, she groaned, knowing what he was planning.

Booth was convinced that he was addicted… It's true he already possessed the strong, inherited genetic tendencies towards addiction, thanks to his father, but this addiction was different from any of the others with which he'd ever been plagued. Somewhere in his subconscious, he knew this particular one could be far more dangerous to his health if things between Brennan and himself ever turned to shit. She was his drug, his blackjack table, his bourbon… She was his confidant as well as his self-confidence, his best friend and, along with Parker, the only other indication in his life that he had done something right, somewhere. And in the back of his mind, deep in his gut, he knew that if he lost her, now that he'd had her, he would be left broken beyond repair. The woman beneath his fingers, beneath his mouth, held so much power over him that he should've been scared, but he wasn't… He trusted her completely, blindly, knowing that she would never mislead him or use him; she was in just as deep as he was, and that made him fall even harder.

His mouth came to rest just below her bellybutton and his fingers continued to tease her, skimming her outer folds and dipping down lower, just enough to collect her nectar and spread it. With a gentle kiss to her skin, he raised his dark eyes, watching as her lithe body strained. Her neck was arched and her own hands palmed her bare breasts, the shirt still on, but laying open. Moving his thick fingers as he continued watching her, he parted her soft petals and found the little bundle of nerves that, less than 24 hours before, he could only dream about.

"Bones," he whispered, letting his chin rub against the upper edge of her mound as his forefinger circled her quickly-hardening clit.

"Huu," she breathed, swallowing hard as she anticipated where his hand would move next.

"Baby," one side of his lips curled as his finger slid lower, aiming towards where he knew she wanted it. "Open your eyes. Look at me."

After gulping a deep breath, her eyelid flew open as she raised her head from the pillow to find his gaze.

Booth paused his movements, studying her expression, the pink flush filling her cheeks and the way her pale blues had darkened a couple shades. When she sucked her lower lip between her teeth, her questioning eyes practically begging him, he smiled and pushed his first two fingers against her core, his distal phalanxes just barely entering her heat.

"Beautiful..." His voice was husky, his compliment full of reverence. Their eyes locked as he pressed into her completely and lowered his mouth, his lips instantly suckling against her clitoris.

Brennan's head fell back into the soft pillow as she gasped breathlessly. Rolling her hips, she encouraged more contact from her partner. "Oh, god, Booth…"

The agent made love to his partner with his mouth, his pace languorous and his attention undivided. Bringing Brennan to the edge before easing her back down, only to ramp her up again, Booth continued to tease her on a seemingly unending loop of peaks and valleys.

After what felt like hours, though it was, in reality, less than thirty-five minutes, Brennan felt like her body was on fire. Scorching heat blazed trails that started at her core and worked its way outward, radiating through her extremities until she didn't think she could stand it any longer.

"Booth," she whimpered with unapologetic need. "Please…". Her fingernails clawed at the bedspread, threatening to shred it with pent-up angst.

He grinned against her, completely in love with everything about his partner. Turning his hand, his fingers pressed upward, immediately finding her g-spot and increasing the pressure against it as he continued to tongue her. It took mere seconds for her muscles to start fluttering, the tell-tale signal that she was about to spiral out of control courtesy of what he'd done. In the back of his mind, that arrogant alpha-male personality that she was always criticizing was giving a little fist pump that he was able to render his talkative, squinty partner into a whimpering pile of goo, begging him for release. He sucked hard, nipping gently with his teeth and found his mouth suddenly flooded with her sweet juice as she exploded.

Brennan felt herself careen out of control, her body reacting by pure instinct to the intimate manipulations of her talented partner. She was unable to control her verbal responses, regardless of the fact that she was undoubtedly loud. She gasped, inhaled sharply and squealed in a very, very un-Brennan-like manner. In her sexual experience, the scientist had often been a vocal lover in that she had no qualms about directing a man to do what she wanted in order to reach that desired plateau. But she had quickly ascertained that she had to give very little direction to Booth… It was as if he knew her body as well as she did. Even during that first orgasm, which he'd practically ripped from her body while pinning her against the wall of his hotel room, she found that he seemed to know instinctively how to touch her, how to kiss her, and hell, even how to talk to her, to bring her to that ultimate level.

It was both terrifying and exhilarating to the independent anthropologist to experience such intimate knowledge in a sexual partner so soon after exploring the possibilities of a relationship. The night before, however, when they'd officially obliterated that blasted line that had been keeping them apart for years, she knew her unquestioning trust in him was firmly set in evidential proof, and she felt free in a way that she'd never experienced in any of her previous casual relationships. In those dark hours when he entered her for the first time, his powerful body looming above her, Booth had dropped to his elbows and cradled her head lovingly, pulling her face into his neck as her lips searched for satiation against his skin. He had whispered breathlessly against her ear, words unlike any she'd ever received. They were the promises that fairy tales were made of; vows of devotion and confessions of love. When she felt him moving inside of her for the first time, it was as if they'd been making love for years. There was no awkwardness between them as was so often the case with new lovers.

And as she lay sprawled out on the bedspread, while he selflessly pleased her, Brennan knew that she would never again view the activity of coitus in the same indifferent and clinical ways she once did. After having completed a frustratingly long period of self-imposed abstinence, during which her only pleasures came at her own fingertips as her imagination spun wild fantasies of what her partner would feel like or taste like, the scientist could finally admit to herself, that she would never invite another man to her bed.

As he eased her down from her climax, gently stroking and kissing her, his eyes drank in everything about her - the way her body moved when she came, the pretty pink flush that spread from her chest up her neck until it tinged her cheeks, and the way her eyelids fluttered as she tried to catch her breath. When she settled, a gentle sigh puffing from between her lips, he withdrew his fingers slowly and pushed up to his elbows so he could look up at her.

"Mmm," she hummed with a lazy smile as she raised her head from the pillow, arching an eyebrow at her partner.

Crawling up her body, Booth felt like a predator moving in on his prey, and oh, what lovely prey she was, he thought. When her cool hands reached up and cupped his jaw, he settled over her body, resting on his forearms as their eyes locked.

Brennan pulled his face down to meet hers and they kissed gently. She was very much aware that Booth desperately needed release as well, but she wanted just a moment to savor the aftermath of the mind-blowing orgasm he had just given her. She opened her mouth to his, tasting herself on his lips, and spanned her fingers wide across his shoulders, internally marvelling at the play of his muscles flexing just below the surface.

"Booth," she smiled as he brushed his nose against hers playfully.

"Hmm?" He shifted until his tongue flicked her earlobe and he nuzzled against her temple, inhaling her sweet perfume.

"Make love to me?" Her voice was soft, the alto timbre smooth.

"For the rest of our lives, Baby…" He pressed a kiss to her neck and concentrated on the ticklish sensation of her hands sweeping down his sides until she reached the waistband of his open shorts. Pushing up, he looked down at her and reached back, aiding in her attempt to extricate himself from the unwelcome clothing. In a momentary flash of clarity, he wondered if his declaration might scare her, so he added an escape route for her. "For as long as you'll let me..."

She searched his eyes once she could feel his body, finally naked and snugged between her parted thighs. Her pale eyes studied his handsomely chiseled features, memorizing once again, every perfectly-masculine angle of his face. With a single finger, she traced his lower lip, following the movement with her luminescent gaze until he pressed a soft kiss against that finger. Brennan felt her lips curl in response to his extreme tenderness. Deep down, she knew that her partner possessed enough strength and power to dominate her easily, but the gentle and doting way he took care of her caused an emotion to swell in her chest that she no longer wanted to keep inside.

Smiling brilliantly, she met his molten chocolates. "Don't ever doubt how much I want you, Booth." She accepted his kiss, opening her lips to his wordless request.

As their passion grew, hands wandered and bodies thrummed. Booth shifted his hips and lined himself up, reaching one hand down between their bodies to ensure she was ready for him. When he fisted himself and swiped against her core, finding her absolutely prepared, he rolled his pelvis until his erection pressed into her fully. Hissing sharply, a quiet, guttural grunt erupted from his chest as he settled into an easy rhythm. One hand found hers and he intertwined their fingers, pulling her arm up over her head and pressing it against the pillow as they moved together.

It took mere minutes before Brennan felt her body responding in the ancient, most primal way possible. The angle her partner was pistoning in and out was perfect for pushing her over a second ledge and she stretched her legs around his narrow hips, locking her ankles across his lower back.

"Booth…" She breathed, her fingers tightening against his as her other hand clawed at his back.

"C'mon, Bones." Booth wanted to hold out until she came again, this time while he was buried deep inside of her. "Let go, Temperance. I've got you..." He bit her shoulder lightly, soothing the sting with his tongue, trying to distract himself just long enough.

Knowing that her body was quickly succumbing to Booth's expert manipulations, she tightened her pelvic floor muscles. She yearned to give him as much friction as possible, offering her partner as much pleasure as he was giving her. As her body betrayed her attempts to stave off the inevitable spiral, she started panting, rolling her hips against his in perfect rhythm.

"Come with me, Booth…" Her plea was soft but her message crystal clear. "I want to feel you, Booth…"

When he picked up the pace, pushing himself to meet her request, the telltale tug at the base of his spine indicated he was just about there...

One final, unprompted declaration pushed him just hard enough, and soon her orgasm triggered his own and he was emptying himself into her body as blinding light flashed behind his eyes.

Brennan felt tears of emotion stinging the backs of her eyes until they leaked out from the corners without permission. Accepting them simply as manifestations of her feelings, the perpetually poised scientist finally let go, giving the man in her arms the one thing she innately knew he desired, without a lead-in or prompt.

"I love you, Booth…"

A/N Postscript

So, I hope this final version was satisfactory for you all…. Please let me know!

I want to say THANK YOU for all your support and for humoring JazzyMuse when she was ornery and took that side trip over to my Ramblings story collection. Sometimes I just have to write whatever comes to me, even when I want to keep on course with this happy little fic… I appreciate your feedback & all the new follows!

And for those of you just finding my older pieces, please take a moment and review when you read a chapter, let me know what you think. Writing is a very organic, living process, changing all the time and feedback is invaluable to amateur writers like myself.

peace and love, my friends,

~jazzy