CLOSE TO YOU
CHAPTER SIX

(Reminder: this entire chapter is rated M)

As soon as she opens the door an hour later, his jaw does, in fact, drop.

"Holy shit," Rick manages after several seconds. He tears his gaze from her chest, where his eyes had stopped.

Kate smirks and squares her shoulders, causing him to glance at her chest again. She'd chosen the dress for this exact reason: it's an extra sexy cocktail dress; the pencil skirt has a slit up the thigh that goes almost up to her hip, and the front is a very low v-cut that covers just enough that nothing will fall out, but shows off plenty.

And it's easy to remove.

"Do I look okay?" she asks, moving aside so he can step in. She shuts the door behind him and turns. "Or is it too fan-oh." She gasps when her back hits the closed door and her wrists are pinned above her head.

Rick's gaze is dark, almost dangerous, and if she didn't already recognize the raw hunger in his eyes, she might be taken aback by his firm grip. But, no, he's just as desperate as she is, which he unnecessarily confirms with the press of his groin into hers.

"Are we alone?" he asks, his voice almost a growl.

The moment she nods, he's on her like she's the first sign of water after weeks in the desert. His mouth captures hers, rough and possessive, and she gives it right back, surges into him, yanks her arms free so she can wrap them around his neck.

He tears his mouth from hers with a grunt, and he licks a trail down her neck, pushes the straps of her dress down her arms. She's not wearing a bra, so once her breasts are free his mouth is on her, teeth scraping, lips fastening around a nipple. He sucks and laves at her breasts until she's gasping and begging for more, her hips rocking against him.

He slides one hand down her side, over her hip and thigh, and slips it under her skirt. When he encounters nothing but wet, bare skin, he freezes and lifts his head.

"You're not-" He shakes his head. "Are you trying to kill me?"

She smirks and steps away from his embrace. "I was going for 'make you so horny you can't see straight,'" she teases, taking his hand and leading him towards her bedroom.

He helps her shimmy the rest of the way out of her dress, leaving it where it lands in the hallway, and when they reach her bedroom door, his shirt and pants are unbuttoned, and his fingers are digging into her hips.

He bends down so his lips are at her ear. "You're lucky I want our first time to be in a bed, or I'd have you bent over the couch, begging for me."

Her eyebrows lift. "Begging for you, huh?" she teases, stepping back and crossing her arms, not surprised in the least when his gaze drops to her chest. She leans forward slightly and stares right into his eyes, challenging him. "I don't beg."

Rick grips her arms and nudges her to sit on the bed before kneeling on the floor. "We'll see about that. Before long, I'll have you begging so loud, the neighbors will hear."

Oh, shit.

Despite the arousal that floods between her legs, when he slides his palms up her legs and pushes her knees apart, making his intention clear, she tenses.

It's only for a moment, and she thinks she recovers quickly, but Rick obviously notices. He stops, his fingers curled around her thighs, squeezes gently as he meets her eyes.

"What's wrong?"

She shakes her head. "Nothing. It's not-" She pauses, then shakes her head again. "It's fine. Keep going."

"Not like this." Rick pushes himself off the floor and joins her at the edge of the mattress. "Do you not like receiving?"

"No, I do." She sighs and sits up. "At least, I think I do." When Rick just twists to face her, she sighs again and rubs her hands down her face. "This is so embarrassing. I used to respond to almost anything during sex," she explains. "Penetration, oral, whatever. But none of the guys I've slept with seemed to enjoy going down on me, and I came just fine without it, so it didn't matter."

"Used to respond?"

She nods. "It changed after I had Reagan. I don't know what exactly changed, but now I need…more. I've only been with a few men since, and it can take time for me to orgasm. I almost never come from penetration alone, and forget about oral. Doesn't happen. My last ex, I dated him for six months. He tried, but I couldn't come from his mouth. I could tell he dreaded trying, so I just stopped asking or expecting it. It just wasn't worth the frustration."

"Kate," Rick breathes, one hand coming up to brush her hair behind her shoulder. He bends down, presses a kiss to her bare skin. "Your pleasure is always worth it," he murmurs. "Those selfish assholes didn't deserve you." He places a soft kiss on her neck, smiling against her skin when her head involuntarily tilts to the side. "I don't deserve you either, but I'd like to try to earn my place in your bed."

Kate sighs when his mouth continues its path up her neck, where he dusts his lips against the sensitive skin beneath her ear, then nips her earlobe. "I probably won't come," she manages. Her legs drift open when his hand slides to the inside of her thigh. "You'll get impatient."

He shakes his head. "That wouldn't be on me. But I won't," he insists when she tenses again. "If I can't make you come this way, I'm still going to make sure you feel damn good."

Her eyes roam his face, searching for any hesitation, any doubt, but all she sees is stubborn determination. She leans back on her elbows and lifts her hips, the slow movement of his fingers along her skin stoking the embers of her arousal.

He's just watching her, his hand inches from where she wants it, and she realizes that he's waiting for her to respond. She tries to remember what he said last, but she can't think, all of her brainpower currently sitting between her legs.

"Kate?"

His fingers move higher, his eyes darkening when they encounter the arousal on her upper thigh.

"What?" she gasps, her hips lifting into his touch.

He chuckles, a low, desperate noise coming from deep in his chest. "Can I taste you?" When she nods, her vision glazing over with anticipation, he shakes his head. "Use your words, Kate. I want to hear you say it."

"God, yes."

"Scoot back." He stands, his gaze dark and full of longing, his hands curled into fists at his side.

Her knees drop to the bed, baring herself to him, and his tongue darts out to wet his lips. He climbs onto the bed, crawling until he's hovering over her, and he cards his fingers through her hair, brushes his mouth against hers before sliding back down her body, his lips and tongue blazing a trail across every inch of skin he touches.

He settles between her legs, pressing on the insides of her thighs when she tries to close them. "Open," he commands in a near-inaudible growl. He glances up at her, and when she meets his eyes, her entire body flushes.

God, he looks like he's been looking forward to this for weeks, like she's a Christmas present he's been dying to open.

"Try to relax. Ready?"

She nods, and he lowers his head.

Any expectation that she'd have the mental capacity to compare Rick to her previous partners flies out the window as soon as his mouth touches her.

He starts slow, almost methodical, teasing and tasting as if cataloging her reaction to every swipe of his tongue.

And he probably is, she realizes when his tongue flicks her clit and she whimpers. He pauses, and she feels him smile against her and flick his tongue again. She gasps, her hands gripping the sheet at her side, her head falling back as he releases her clit to drag his tongue back through her folds.

His fingers grip the insides of her thighs, holding her open for him, and even as he explores and works at her, she can feel her blood rushing, her orgasm approaching. Eventually he fastens his lips around her clit and sucks, and she arches, her hips lifting from the bed as she buries her fingers in his hair and rolls against his mouth.

He chuckles, and the vibrations send shockwaves through her core, sends her hurtling over the edge. One thick finger slips inside her as she spasms, and he curls it, stroking her inner walls, drawing out her climax. A second finger joins the first, and she cries out his name, her entire body trembling as the dam bursts again, and she comes and comes until she collapses to the bed in a sweaty, satisfied heap.

By the time the stars clear from her vision, she realizes he's still between her legs, pressing open-mouthed kisses to her core as if he's savoring her. She feels his tongue drag along her, and he moans, grips her ass with both hands and holds her to him as she begins to lose herself in his touch once again.

She cards her fingers through his hair and lightly scratches his scalp before she's too far gone, gives him a lazy smile when he eventually looks up, releasing her clit with an obscene slurping noise.

He crawls up to hover over her, dragging the back of his hand across his mouth and chin as he does, and he dips his head to kiss her neck. "You're fucking amazing," he murmurs.

She flushes and tugs his mouth to hers, surging up into him when their tongues meet. She loops her arms around his waist, manages to use what little strength she has to flip him to his back. He sits up as she shoves his shirt off his shoulders, and he throws it off the bed as she tackles his pants next.

He chuckles at the desperation in her touch, but his laughter turns into a groan when she finally slips her hand inside his boxers and curls her fingers around his length. His hips buck into her touch, and he flips them back over, thrusts his cock into her hand.

She shoves his pants past his hips, and he stands just long enough to finish undressing. He retrieves his wallet from his pocket, rummages around for a moment before extracting a couple condoms.

"I forgot to buy a box," he admits, his cheeks flushing, "so we'll have to make do with two."

She raises a curious brow. "You carry two condoms in your wallet?"

"No, I only had two left, so I put them in my wallet." He sets them on the nightstand and rejoins her in bed. "There's a difference."

She chuckles and nudges him to the side, reaches for the drawer, and pulls out a full box. "Lucky for you, I did go shopping." When he points at the condom size with a raised brow, she shrugs. "I'm a good guesser."

He grins and opens the box. "Well, now I want to see how many we can get through in one night." He tears open a packet and quickly rolls it on, settles his hips between hers in a practiced move. "Any predictions?"

Kate reaches down and grips his cock, rolling her hips under his, coating him with her arousal before tilting so he nudges her entrance. "Yeah, I predict I'll be pissed if you don't get this thing inside me."

She gasps when he does just that, entering her fully in one hard thrust. Her fingers dig into his back, and he freezes, his arms trembling as he holds himself up. "Shit," she breathes.

He drops his forehead to hers, and he shifts to his elbows. "Fuck," he groans. His mouth touches hers, little more than a meeting of their lips and tongues as he withdraws, pauses with just the head of his cock inside her, and thrusts inside again.

"Yes," she gasps, squeezing, encouraging him to move. He's slow at first, but almost immediately her hips lift into his, and he quickens his pace, the bed rocking, each thrust harder than before.

One hand props himself up, keeping him from crushing her, and his other slides down her side until he's gripping her thigh, holding it around his waist. His hips begin to falter, but she's close, so close, so she works a hand between them and presses a finger against her clit.

He shakes his head and lets go of her thigh, bats her hand away, replaces her finger with his. He draws her arousal over her, the slickness aiding both their movements and his touch, and after just a few more thrusts she cries out, her heels digging into his ass as the stars burst behind her eyes once again.

He follows her with a shout, as his hips jerk with uncontrollable spasms. His fingers slow against her, until finally she's too swollen, too sensitive, and she has to push his hand away.

He slips out of her and collapses at her side, his chest heaving. After a few moments he slides off the bed and disappears in the direction of the bathroom, returns just a minute later with a damp washcloth.

Kate's never had a lover take control of clean up, and she can only watch as he does, points to the hamper when he finishes. By the time he returns to bed, she has just enough energy to pull back the covers so they can slide underneath. Without a word, but in a perfectly comfortable silence, she curls up at his side and drifts off to sleep.

She feels eyes on her when she wakes.

She has no idea what time it is, only that it's still dark, but there's enough moonlight slicing through her window that she can see him watching her.

His lips curl in a smile when their eyes meet. "Hi," he rumbles in a gravelly voice.

She has to clear her throat before she can speak. "Hi. What time is it?"

Rick glances over her shoulder to the clock on her nightstand. "Just after eleven."

Kate groans and rolls onto her back, stretches her arms above her head. "We've been asleep, what, a couple hours?"

Rick chuckles. "Well, after you begged me to let you come for the third time - or was it the fourth? - and you fell asleep, it was almost ten."

Kate flushes at his words. After he'd successfully given her what was possibly her longest orgasm to date - and first one from her partner's mouth in a very long time, if ever - and finished off that round with an extremely satisfying fuck, they'd dozed for a few minutes before waking up almost simultaneously for the next round.

She'd been on top that time, her hands in his hair and his mouth on her breasts, almost a mirror image of the previous week's activity on his couch. Except this time they were naked and joined, and not interrupted by a small, sick child.

She much prefers tonight's version of the event.

He held on longer that time, had slowed down and teased her after her orgasm until she was begging for more, and he flipped her onto her knees, made her come again before draping over her back and giving in to his own desire.

Despite her eyes burning with fatigue, she reaches for him, pulls him down to her. As soon as their mouths meet, something inside her snaps, and she needs more, needs him, needs everything.

She nudges him onto his back, ignores his whine of protest when she breaks their kiss. She has other plans.

She finds him with her hand, already half-erect despite the recent and vigorous activity, and with just a few sure tugs, he's hot and hard in her palm. She slides down his body, much like he had earlier that night, trailing her mouth along his skin, committing every inch of him to memory.

When she drags her mouth down the trail of hair below his belly button, he tenses.

She freezes, looks up at him to see his face pinched, as if in pain. "You okay?" she asks.

"Yes."

"Liar." She kneels next to him, rests her hands on her thighs. "Talk to me."

He sighs and sits up. "I obviously enjoy it, and I come just fine," he explains, "but like how your previous partners treated going down on you like a chore?" He doesn't wait for her nod to continue. "That's how my partners have seemed with me. They almost always go down on me only after I do it to them."

Kate nods in understanding. "Like a quid pro quo. You do me, I'll do you."

"Exactly. I want you to do it because you want to, not because it's reciprocation for earlier."

Kate can't help but smile at his consideration, even though right now she wants to look up every single one of his former sexual partners and arrest them for their selfishness.

"At the risk of causing déjà vu," she says, straddling his legs once again, "those assholes didn't deserve you."

His lips quirk at her repeat of his earlier words.

She curls her fingers around the base of his cock, pumping a few times, and swipes her thumb across the tip, spreading the pearl of liquid, using it to aid her strokes. His head falls back with a groan, and she grins.

"I, for one, enjoy it very much. And I will never, ever do it if I'm not wholeheartedly into it."

Rick curses when her lips cover the head, and she gently sucks for the briefest moment before releasing him. She takes her time, as he had, learning his tells. The way his cock twitches when she licks his length, or the jerk of his hips when she sucks and strokes in tandem. But her favorite part, she quickly learns, is when she takes him fully in her mouth, her tongue dragging along his underside, and he tangles his fingers in her hair, holds her to him as he explodes on her tongue with a shout.

She licks her lips as she sits up, and although her core is throbbing with need after pleasuring him, she doesn't want him to feel obligated, and she'd never ask him to return the favor. So she just lays down, lets him drape his arm around her shoulders and hold her close.

"That was amazing," he murmurs, his lips against the top of her head.

She smiles and wraps her arm around his waist, wills her arousal to calm down so she can go back to sleep.

"What about you?"

His question takes her by surprise, and she looks up at him, sees him staring at her. "What do you mean?" she asks.

He tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. "You're turned on, aren't you?" He smirks and shifts to his side to face her. "Getting me off makes you get off, doesn't it?"

Kate turns to face him and matches his smirk. "Of course it does. I told you, I enjoy it."

"So I should-"

"No, Rick, it's fine. We're not turning this into an oral sex trade-off." When his face brightens, she rolls her eyes. "And you need time to recover, so we'll rest a bit."

He slides his hand down her side, slips it between her legs. He glances down when his fingers glide through her arousal, and her hips roll at his touch.

"It's not a trade-off," he insists, his voice low. "Relax, Kate. Let me do this."

Two fingers slip inside her, and she sighs, giving into his touch. She's slick enough that a third finger joins easily, and she rolls against his hand, gasps when his thumb presses against her clit. Her leg wraps around his, and she tenses as he speeds his strokes, shifts so the heel of his palm rubs her, driving her up, up, up.

His other arm is tight around her back, holding her to him, and she turns her head, presses her face into his chest as she gasps with pleasure. Finally she breaks, pleasure rolling through her like waves on the shore, and she groans with her release, his broad chest muffling the sound.

"Beautiful," she hears Rick whisper, his breath ruffling her hair.

And she falls asleep for the third time that night with his fingers still inside her, and words of affection whispered into her skin.