- Chapter Forty-Six -

How Much Wood Would A Woodchuck Chuck If He Could Chuck Wood

[Warning: explicit content]

Putting out the stub of his cigarette on the argent sands, Sam studied the deadly serious look on the young woman's face and contemplated what would happen if he were to kiss her.

Would he be able to taste the beer on her breath? Would her lips melt into his like cherry ice cream? Would his tongue still be overwhelmed by the salt of her tears? Would her boldly familiar grip on his arm slacken and lower as he took control and pulled her closer until there was no space between them anymore? Or would she hold tight to him like she never wanted to let go? Desperate to be close, to pick back up where they had left off before, would Daniella be so overcome by the moment that she would just give herself over? Could one kiss now lead to full surrender?

More like he would be greeted by resistance. Although it was nice to dream...

Dells was putting on a rather convincing show of concern over his health, her eyes glittering extra bright now that her vision wasn't being obscured by diamonds. As opposed to undressing the man in her head while she examined the thief in turn, the young woman fussed over a minor bruise. Scrapes, cuts, and bruises all healed - there were always worse fates. Really the last thing she should have been worried about was what was going on below the remainders of her love taps.

Literally speaking, there were even more signs of abuse under his shirt, but so far he'd managed to hide them all from prying eyes. Nathan, Elena, Rafael, they had all probably figured that there was more damage done than to just his head, but so far the one innocent was ignorant as the day she was born. Tsk, "innocent", that was a riot. Done with the drama, the brunette didn't want to think about that day any more than he had to - it wasn't the worst day he'd ever had, but it was far from something he wanted to remember.

For all intents and purposes, Daniella was all on Sam - she had been ever since he'd taken the gig, yet that shouldn't have to mean that it was also his job to shield her from the truth. Contractually speaking, the thief's duty was keep the girl from boo-boos, not kiss away all her owwies and present her with a cookie just for the sake of it. Kid was apparently more mixed up than anyone had realized - kudos for hiding it so well and for so long - but by all rights there wasn't anything anyone could do about pre-existing conditions.

So then why did it feel like he was up to his elbow in dough?

"All you." Fingertips still lingering in a cage over the yellowing mark, he pressed her hand into the side of his cheek. He wasn't entirely sure why he chose to be honest with the young woman, or even why he felt the need to make her embrace what had happened. Above all, the brunette certainly wasn't anticipating the deed to reignite that spark.

Stubble prickling her palm, Daniella tried to open her mouth to speak but found that she couldn't. She wanted to, she really did, but the words just weren't happening. Swallowing hard, while she was mortified to hear the confirmation of one of her fears, the only thing she could think about was the way his fingers were woven through hers. It only would have been right to ask if he was alright, better yet to apologize, and best of all press the issue for more details to fill in the missing pieces of the story, however her mind was drawing a blank.

He's so close to me, and he's actually looking at me again....

Air thicker all of a sudden, almost as if it had began to solidify, somehow there were simultaneously butterflies and a knot forming in her stomach. Are my palms sweating? Because it really feels like they are. Almost feeling like the onset of a panic attack, her nerves were frazzled, yet the fiery buzzing in her veins was different, more like how it felt when she touched herself. How it felt in the tub, when his fingers danced across the entrance and found their way inside.

Except they had been interrupted...

"I..."

Ba-boom, ba-boom.

Kinetic, off-center, and just a little bit sloppy, the almost-blonde indulged her most selfish of impulses and did something she'd been dreaming about for a while. Lips crashing against his in a starved collision that could have destroyed entire planets, she mostly caught him on the lower corner of his mouth. Possibly a tiny bit buzzed and picturing something akin to the romance she renounced mere minutes ago, the end result was more similar to a head-butt than anything else. Bra-fucking-vo.

Opening her eyes half-way through - honestly expecting him to just shove her off and call her a dumb kid out of her depth - Dells had transplanted her slack hold from the side of his face to casually resting against his shoulder. Not fully aware of when or how the shift had happened, her other hand flailed around uselessly at her side. Nothing she'd learned from Mama had been applicable at this juncture, and Jay hadn't taught her nearly enough about kissing to know what to do with the rest of her body. No doubt looking like a cross-eyed fool on strings, the heiress made the mistake of meeting Sam's eye.

Getting lost in the devouring lagoons of the brunette's midnight isles, the air was bogged down from the cloud of smoke that had only just began to dissipate, however she could still smell him. Musk and ash and something else that was entirely his own, it was enough to make anyone's head spin. Pulse racing and not the only thing to run away with her, the heiress dove head-first into the deep waters despite not knowing what she would find.

Lub-dub, lub-dub.

Hands finding their way to her waist, it turned out that the adventurer was quite accommodating once he realized what was happening, acting at once to correct their course. Starting with the embrace, his left hand led the expedition to his spare shoulder; getting the hint, the heiress wrapped both her arms around his neck and drew him in as if she were allowing him passed her defenses. Figuring that she done enough just by instigating the kiss, Sam took control of the lip-lock when they first broke apart for oxygen.

Sweet as sugar plum pie and expectedly rough around the edges, there was no taste in the world that could have hid the way she fumbled her way through it. An amateur as his dance partner, Sam won the battle for dominance with ease. Not that he particularly minded the victory or the idea of having to help her practice her form.

Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump.

Very aware of the sound of her own heart in her chest, playing it back she could feel herself leaning in closer from the beginning, increment by gratingly slow increment. Sizing one another up as if waiting for the other to make the first move, the adolescent could feel his searching gaze stripping away layer after layer until she was laid bare.

Body just going with the flow, her fingers threaded through the slight curls of his salted chestnut locks; mind ablaze, the longer she thought about it, the more alarming the idea of being exposed beneath the microscope was. Clamping tight, the knot in her stomach became harder and more pronounced, the beating of delicate wings wilder and considerably more erratic. And yet...

Vulnerability something she was an intimate stranger with, just the idea of having her soul read should have unnerved her enough to stop her in her tracks, and yet it was quite thrilling. Was this the sensation adrenaline junkies chased with such reckless abandon? Because if it was, she could certainly see the appeal.

Or was it only okay with her because she knew Sam? Had it been anyone else with her, Daniella wasn't sure she could have been anywhere near as comfortable, and that included Jay. Whatever all was said up until this point, the brunette had been there by her side when it mattered most, almost without fail.

Sam...

Entire core alight as excitement flooded all other receptors and slowly replaced ration, whatever she was feeling beneath his gaze made her want to see this thing through to the finale.

Running her tongue wetly across his lower lip with a dangling trail of saliva that knew no origin, the dull nails of her index and middle fingers raked the top of his scalp. Jerky action eliciting a low growl of appreciation from her partner that vibrated from the back of his throat, the heiress yielded to her own curiosity. Sam was obviously the more experienced of the two, so she'd had no problem letting him lead the charge, but now she wanted a turn. That is, if he was willing...

Trailing his hands down from her waist to the small of her back, Sam reflected that there were at least a million different things to do or say instead of pillage her temple for the ultimate treasure. In every way that mattered, it was within his power to stop this - if not for the greater good, he could have pumped the breaks out of pure spite. Although as the young woman hadn't been in her right mind at the time, wouldn't it have been worse to hold that against her? He did, but not to the extent that he was going to deprive himself. There'd be plenty of time to talk later.

Grip vanishing lower than what would have been permitted in polite company, as Daniella tested the waters the thief brazenly stroked the fleshy curvature with one hand and then the other. Smirking to himself when the heiress let out what was unmistakably the first moan of the night, he teasingly fondled until changing the pace. Groping zealously he picked his partner up off the ground, finding that her legs were only too eager to wrap around his waist.

Hopefully she would be just as enthusiastic about the half-raised mast growing in his trousers.

Waves slamming into the side of the boat with a fair amount of force, for all the attention the pair were paying to their surroundings, there might as well have been something malevolent lurking beneath the dark tide. Hell, for all they knew there was a seven-foot pirate babe dancing in a self-contained rainstorm of doubloons.

Stars in her eyes far more brilliant than what was dusting the tropical indigo sky, something in Daniella's chest glowed gold and all the other colors that didn't exist. Growing hotter and hotter with each passing second as their bodies got closer and closer together, her flushing cheeks were warmer than if they had been standing on top of the sun itself. Strangely he was warmer still, and for just a moment she understood why insects were drawn into the light, even knowing that it would ultimately kill them.

Missing his lips by a wide margin this time, the young woman played it off by attacking a scratch that was nigh invisible to the naked eye. Covering the skin with tentative butterfly kisses she worked her way back to the bruise, lips light as she could manage on the wound itself. A part of her felt genuinely bad about that even then, but honestly it didn't bother her enough to face the ramifications. Maybe come morning they could hash all that out (and she could beat herself up over all of tonight), but right now, all she needed was Sam.

Bearing down once more on his mouth - again spastically ramming harder than was necessary - her tongue flicked against the bottom of his teeth. Good thing her tongue wasn't pierced, because there just might have been blood... Although, from the way he was returning her energy, the heiress speculated that that wouldn't have been enough to call it a day. I wonder what his limit would be? Admittedly a little grossed out by the aftertaste of his cigarette, it wasn't enough of a deal-breaker for her to pull away. In fact, even in spite of the nastiness, she longed to explore every nook and cranny of her lover's mouth.

Lover.

Even in her head something about that sounded strange, but much like the second-hand nicotine, might just be an acquired taste.

Twitching torturously underneath the confines of his loose-fitting jeans, the erection that had slowly been building in anticipation this entire time was tenting up through his boxers.

She feels it too. Stimulating the blood flow through their clothes, the young minx meticulously moved her hips from side-to-side and began to grind against him. Twisting her core slowly at first, the more speed her pseudo belly-dance picked up, the more erratic and directionless the hip-bucking became. Learning curve inconsistent between the various different acts, he couldn't deny that he wasn't immensely turned on.

Remembering how good she had been at servicing his cock, in hindsight he couldn't figure out of he was more jealous or amused by the irony. Now that he had a better grasp on the extent of where the heiress stood, he wondered dimly in the background of his subconscious how she could have gotten with such a selfish bastard. Not that he was always exactly prince charming himself...

"Hm, Dells..."

Maybe it was just because he was the one calling the shots, but it hadn't been a problem to let the girl map her way around the uncharted territory. At first. Unrefined as the vast majority of her movements were, they were eager. However, he soon realized that it wasn't enough: he needed more of the woman, and he needed it now.

"Don't stop." Plea a breathy murmur, the girl seemed surprised that she had managed to get anything out.

Why would I? He wanted to ask, but instead the ex-con brought his mouth crashing down over the last source of fresh water in the rippling sands of the Sahara.

Vaguely aware that she was being carried off somewhere a little less public, it occurred to the young woman that theoretically anyone could have stumbled across them at the right (or wrong) angle. Making it as far as the office, frankly getting caught was soon the last thing on either of their minds. Road to the house cutting a hair close to where they had stopped to get really aggressive in their hockey game, all they were consumed with was one another. Every touch, every look.

By the time she caught on that her feet were once more on the sand and that her back was pressing against the final step up to the patio, the man was already on top of her. Lips ravenous, she was too distracted to even consider how uncomfortable her position was going to get, let alone complain about not making it that extra few inches to a level surface.

Ah, shit!

Unless she was packing rubbers in a place that a normal person wouldn't even think to look, Sam realized that the condoms were back in their hotel room. Nathan probably had some extras stashed away where Cassie couldn't accidentally find them, however the house was so far away... Well if the heiress hadn't given him anything from the last time, it was highly improbable that he would catch anything now. As for the other end of that spectrum, the only thing she would get from him was an 'o' face (or two or three). I should probably mention that.

SHOULD. Frankly lucky that it had even occurred to him at all, this was some of the best dry humping he'd done since high school, and if he was careful it shouldn't have been much of a problem.

Getting a little ahead of himself when they were still fully clothed, apparently they were on the same page. "I don't care." Embarrassed and trying her damnedest to not meet his eye, it looked like she had been about to say something else - something along the lines of it being something to think about next time? - however she shook her pyrite tresses.

Well-read and encouraged by her father to learn whenever possible, Daniella had been about to say 'carpe diem', but the phrase was so beaten over the head it was probably the ancestor of the dead horse. And besides, who spoke old school Latin for foreplay?

Consequence a word that no longer meant anything, all thought was checked at the door once their activity evolved passed the PG mark. PG-13, what the fuck ever.

Beginning on the jawline and working his way down the exposed expanse, when Sam brought his lips to Daniella's throat he paused. As it stood now, the only thing that remained was a twinge of annoyance that Daniella had been in Rafael's arms the last time they were on the beach together. Well technically she was being restrained in Nathan's, but it wasn't too much of a stretch to say that the nurse had his paws all over the heiress. His heiress.

Not this time, the brunette traced as much of her collarbone as he could through the cut in her top, the deliberate motion bringing a small gasp of delight. Blushing a glorious shade of red that would have been at home in her mother's closet, the young woman twisted around to shy away. Clasping her chin in his hand to make her look him in the eye, the thief pressed his lips against hers once more.

Soft and short, he moved back to her neck and set about marking his claim. A nibble here and a peck on the far curve just behind the ear, the first nip was gentle enough to give her a taste of what to expect. No plans for the future beyond getting her pants off, the vampiric choker was getting rougher in its creation. Even if it was just for tonight, just for that moment, Dells was his and his alone.

Agreeing with that unspoken sentiment, the heiress gingerly tapped the last of bites and pressed against it, as if to make sure it would stand out. Right, crazy was in her blood. "Sam..." Mumble-moaning his name, with that one syllable she was both begging for him and consenting to something that she might not fully understand the repercussions to.

"I need you." Desire hanging heavy in each letter and dripping off like rain, Daniella maybe wouldn't have been a full one hundred percent sure about the decision under different circumstances, however she was sure enough. Kissing him once more - deeper and more recklessly than before - she grabbed his wrist and dragged it to rest on her leg, just above the knee.

Decent enough a guy, the historian gave her one last chance to change her mind, "Are you sure about this Dells?"

Glad for the apricot midi, the young woman hiked the coarse pleats of her skirt up and guided his hand over the tan medical wraps that would ideally keep them from a repeat of what happened last time. Maybe it would clear her head for a short time and maybe it wouldn't - all she knew was that they had come too far now to stop again. "I need this."

Thigh slick to the touch in places, he shook his head in mock disappointment as his hand vanished beneath the folds of fabric, "Didn't anyone ever tell you was rude to get started without your partner?"