Closing the door behind her, Rogue wound her way back through the dimmed hall to the large central community room which she now found darkened and silent. No one was around. She let the quiet of this place sink in, her own breath the only sound in the stillness. She pulled the tie from her hair, shaking it out to fall over her shoulders freely at last. Need tugging at every fiber of her being, she forced herself into more patience and crossed the space to stride up the winding staircase and test the hatch door at the top. Locked. And even though it must be close to midday, this subterranean haven lent to her pervasive, jetlagged sense that it must really be very late evening.
At last there were no more reasons to hold back; no requirement for propriety. Storm and Majik must have already taken off. The kids were safely tucked away in bed. That left just one thing.
Rogue floated back down the stairway and took a decisive path through another hallway offshoot, coming eventually to a prestigious looking door. Heart already thudding with anticipation, she slipped into the room more silently than the girl she used to be ever could have and leaned back against the door to close it softly. Her fingertips pressed against the finely polished wood, every ounce of her feeling spring-loaded. She found Remy facing away from the entrance when she crept in, but his momentary pause in motion told her he was keenly aware of her presence. He didn't turn to her immediately though, instead nonchalantly keeping on about the task at hand.
"So …" he began in his playful NOLA lilt, "lemme guess …" Remy snapped his fingers around the wick of a small votive, managing to spark it ablaze with the sudden microburst of kinetic energy. "You wanna talk, eh?"
No doubt there was plenty on her mind.
He turned around to face her ever so slowly and deliberately, setting the candle on a nearby mantle to join several others. The room was awash with their candlelight and nothing more. Remy's eyes shone in among the other little fires as their light danced off the many planes and angles of his bare torso.
"Not even a little." she murmured low and husky, her hand already on the knob to activate the lock. Intentions laid flat out, she waited for him to make his move.
Remy's mouth curled into a wolfish grin, eyes flared up fully crimson now and honed in on his woman as he stalked over to her.
With each reunion, he never knew the Rogue he was going to get. More often than not, it was a world-weary Rogue bereft of emotion and energy after seeing so much bad out there. When that Rogue came home he would spend hours, sometimes days, coaxing her back into their happy little microcosm. That usually meant covering her in kisses and tender touches, whispering all the sweet nothings she needed to hear, and just plain talking it all out. There was no denying he cherished those long hours of breathing life back into her and the idyllic, soul-melding kind of lovemaking that followed.
But THIS Rogue … with her untamed eyes and a body poised with all the intensity of a starving wild thing … well … THIS was a Rogue he never tired of either. She was still the girl who wanted to grab life by the horns. That might shoot off to the top of the stratosphere at full-tilt, only to bottom out and plummet back to Earth whooping and laughing all the while. And fuck if he was ever going to miss out on that kind of ride.
He moved in on her suddenly with his impossibly fast reflexes, both lifting her up in his arms and pinning her hard against the door with a satisfying thunk, to passionately claim her mouth.
Remy had always known once unleashed from the fear of her powers, Rogue would be a woman to match him and then some. And he hadn't been wrong there.
Her hands were already twisted tightly into his hair, tilting his head back smartly as her tongue caressed his and her knee wrapped snug around his hip to draw him even tighter against her. Her powers keeping her aloft, his hands were free to roam.
He used the opportunity to pull the tie to her halter dress which sent it cascading down to her hips and exposed more porcelain skin for him to devour. His teeth grazed along her jugular and collar bone in a trail of wet, ravenous kisses. With another few careless flicks of his wrist, he loosed and flung away her bra and his lips fell greedily to her breasts. Rogue's head slammed back against the door in a rapturous moan, yanking his hair sharply again as her back arched and extracting a pained hiss from him. This woman was all pent up and then some.
"An' here I thought I was missin' you more, neh? All dese days at the beach on my lonesome … havin' ta be on my best behavior … practically been a saint, chére." he teased in a whisper, fingers smoothing her skirt all the way up her thigh, and digging into her toned flesh.
"Poor baby," she crooned deviously. Her knee unwound from his hip, allowing her dress to fall fully to the ground and she pressed in closer again, hands snaking seductively down his chest then sliding along his hips to ever-so-slowly slip his shorts off. "Least ya didn't have ta spend 24/7 with Thor and his 8-pack for the last few months. Let me tell you, that man doesn't believe in wearin' a shirt." She propped her eyebrow at him and gave her most mischievous smirk as her hands moved down to fully command his attention.
His breath hitched a second, grunting, and then he indulged in her soft, encouraging hands for several long, slow breaths.
"Well den ... lemme assist in taking dat awful image right out your pretty lil' head … and remind you just 'xactly what you been missin'." he managed to drawl out thickly.
He pushed her hands back and pinned her to the door again, his own fingers now dipping down between her thighs and crackling with kinetic energy. A shiver went through her, erupting in a throaty "oh God …"
"Gonna nail you right here to dis goddamn door, chére." he promised with a lust-drunk whisper in her ear before kissing her again ... lips, neck, breasts … and letting his fingers do the rest of the talking. She was panting hard now.
Impatient, wanting inside her hours … hell, days ... ago, he grasped her panties to stir up the molecules until they sizzled and dissolved into nothingness right off her skin, leaving a momentary singe and coaxing an alarmed yelp from her.
"Damn it, Remy! That was my favorite pair!"
"Et alors? I'll buy you new ones. Somethin' dat isn't green, eh?" He joked, already pushing apart her knees to make good on his intentions.
"Oh … is that how it is now?" Something rueful flashed across her face … a sudden recollection … and she artfully shoved him backward with a single palm to send him flying across the room and onto the bed. Well, this seemed familiar.
In other circumstances he might have dodged away via some graceful evasive maneuver, but needing no escape, he remained still as Rogue followed close behind to come perch upon his waist. She straddled his torso with her ample thighs and leaned over him to pin down his wrists, auburn and cream curls falling over his face. It was a distinctive and poignant inverse of how their reunion on the beach had gone earlier in the day.
"Really seems you forgot some manners while Ah was away." she chastened playfully. "What are we gonna do about that?"
He relaxed beneath her, amused. She was stronger. He might be quicker, but any time he had the upper hand was mostly because she allowed it … wanted it even. But if she needed to take charge for a bit, he was more than happy to let it play out.
"Now, mon coeur … best take care." He bantered along, eyes still ablaze with lust. "The King won't thank us for breakin' his fancy bed."
"You pleadin' for mercy then, Cajun?" she toyed, grinding warm and wet against him until he groaned with frustration.
"Not hardly." he managed to murmur, still grinning in defiance.
"Sounds like a challenge." she smiled wickedly and pushed down harder against his wrists. "Now … you keep your hands right here, shugah. Don't move a muscle ... and don't even think about coming 'less Ah say so."
She let go of his wrists, bringing her lips back to his for a few more fierce kisses before nipping his bottom lip just a tad as she quit to work her way down and down his body. She let her nails dig in just a little here, giving him a small nibble there as she went and sucking a bit harder than was strictly called for - whatever it took to elicit a twitch or a moan from him and make his hands clench up in fists with whirring kinetic energy. She took her time, wanting to make his torment as delicious as possible. When she had at last kissed all the way down, he was achingly hard. Even her first gentle lick nearly made him lift off the mattress, clenching his teeth in a stifled "fuuuccckkkk …".
She grasped his thighs to pin him down. "Keep still now, ya hear? 'less you're ready ta say uncle?" she goaded further and ran her tongue slowly up the length of him.
"You really are de devil, woman … ya know dat?" he managed to hum out, looking down his body at her with an expression somewhere between deep admiration and abject consternation.
"Sounds like a no." she smirked and went down on him fully … kissing … licking … sucking …
His eyes rolled back closed and his body tensed, fighting to keep his hands in place, willing himself not to let go as she worked him over and over and he felt himself building and building. Fuchsia pinpricks of his kinetic energy threatened to escape as well, buzzing under the surface of his skin …
"Rogue …" he gasped.
But still he held out, nails digging into his palms, panting and heaving as she settled into a rhythm that had him seeing stars in all the right ways … he couldn't hold back much longer, pride or no. He was going to lose it and care not a bit.
"Anna …" he pleaded for her release.
Her hands still on his thighs, he felt the tug of her powers … the brief, sharp pinch taking his breath for a moment … as she stole some of his energy. It was just enough to take the edge off him, yet managed to inflame her desire even more with all the melded imagery, sounds, and tastes of them stolen from his mind and of everything he was thinking of doing to her now.
She climbed back up his body breathing harder herself now, her irises rimmed with a glint of magenta, and sank down to kiss him more gently with lips tasting of him.
"Seem ta have … learned ya lesson …" she managed to puff out in a smug grin. "Now … where were we?"
Without hesitation, Remy wrapped his corded arms about her hips to haul her up toward his chest even as he curled himself upright into a kneeling position with an inhuman amount of strength and athleticism. He wanted her here and now, no more games. Face to face, breathing each other's breath, the almost tangible crackle of electricity between them ... their eyes locked. Her powers held her slightly aloft in his embrace, but he pulled her down onto his lap in one smooth motion to thrust inside of her at last in an overwhelming rush of heat.
Rogue countersank into him, wrapping her legs around his waist, hands on his sculpted shoulders, even as he gripped her pelvis and began to rock with her. She shut her eyes, throwing her head back with an exhale of ecstasy, letting the moment take her in and take her back. Back to all those times before, back to the beginning, returning to a place where neither was here to dominate or to submit, but to merge ... to dissolve into each other as much as any two people ever could.
She ground back against him, synching up her rhythm with his, clutching his shoulders with voracity and nuzzling her face into his neck, breaths coming faster and sharper now. Remy molded into to her as well, intoxicated on the scent and the feel of her, his powers surged along the surface of his body with a humming vibration as he drove still deeper. Rogue's body grew taut, holding her breath as her mind began to swim amidst the heady rush of impending climax and her control on her powers began to slip. Remy felt the pull of her absorption begin, painful but transcendent as his life energy began to bleed away and into her.
He gripped her upper left arm hard; hard enough to pull her back from the edge and into focus again. "Not yet …" he ground out breathlessly through gritted teeth. "Wait for me, chére."
He picked up the pace, rolling his hips into her more forcefully and digging his fingertips into her hips.
"Remy …" she moaned into his ear, now the one begging for release.
He played her along the edge several moments more, both of them panting and glistening with sweat, as his own anticipation mounted and mounted and he was once again teetering on the brink as well.
He abruptly pulled back the tempo, bowing his head against Rogue's, damp bangs pressed together in concentration. Gambit made one, … then another, … then a final powerful last drive, clutching Rogue as his body went rigid amid the blinding surge of orgasm and he called out something incomprehensible, throaty and primal. Rogue surrendered her last grasp on control of her powers even as she clung to Remy, absorbing his outpouring of kinetic energy and euphoria. Her senses were immediately overwhelmed with the input, pushing her over the edge. She cried out with rapturous bliss as his release compounded upon and liberated hers. Gradually she made herself push back against the absorbance, until it began to reverse … until it hurt.
They collapsed into a wordless heap. Rogue regained her awareness first, finding herself laid out on top of Remy. His eyes were closed and he was very still. She panicked just a moment, until she felt his shallow breath against her cheek. Just unconscious. She waited, watching him with worry. She smoothed her soft palm along his stubbled cheek and raking his bangs back away from his forehead even as snippets of their lovemaking were still ebbing around the corners of her mind, letting her relive the whole session over and over again from his point of view as well as her own. But a strong exhale and his blinking, dark eyes announced her husband's returning to consciousness.
It still scared her sometimes. She was always worried about accidentally taking it too far, but Remy wasn't. He trusted her implicitly, far more than she trusted herself. But the thrill and the rush it gave them both was downright addictive. It was something neither of them had ever had with anyone else - being fully, authentically themselves on the most intimate of levels. Ever since his immunity to her powers had started to fade, Remy had encouraged her to put aside the power inhibitor bracelet more and more and to push the limits on her control. The only way to do that was with a fully willing and trusting partner like him.
Being able to reverse her absorption and push some of her own life force back into somebody else was something they'd discovered by accident when she was struggling to stop one time. She could feel herself taking too much from him and in a panic pushed it away. It had taken everything for her to let go of her fear as it happened, to feel herself bleeding out and not immediately shy away from the intense discomfort. It was the closest thing she had to understanding how her powers must feel to somebody else. But if it meant his safety and having this level of closeness with him, she could do it.
Remy had tasted enough of her mind in his own by now to understand all of her mixed up feelings on the matter. But neither of them wanted to stop.
Remy blinked up at her searchingly. His irises were more golden yellow than red right now and Rogue's eyes were also swapped slightly into dark gray sclera as their consciousness's briefly intermingled. Remy wrapped his arms around her, rolling them sideways, though still joined. They held each other for a long while, letting all the memories and thoughts settle out and fade back while they exchanged small caresses and the warmth of shared body heat. Sometimes they would talk now, but not today. Words seemed inadequate compared to the meeting of mind and body. They had been too long apart and neither was quite satiated yet. Gentle touches lingered longer, giving way to heavier strokes and then more kisses. Remy turned her back over again and rediscovered her mouth once more. He let up just long enough to whisper, "Time for some payback." with a devious glint to his now normally colored eyes as he started kissing down her body.