A/N: The first scene is kind of random, but I loved the idea of Scott babysitting Asher, who worries a lot about his dad, so I added that. Plus another cute and hot little Katie and Ned scene to enjoy at the end ;) xx Mariah
She'd later blame it on the three sleepless nights in a row, but night after night of taking a blocked up and feverish five-year-old boy had taken its toll on Katie. They also had an almost two-year-old daughter too. And not only was Katie as exhausted and as miserable as Asher, but she could also feel herself finally surrendering to whatever evil virus had taken hold of this household too.
And usually when struck by flu, Katie turned into the cranky, old demented man who lives at the end of the road, but maybe it's the relief that their son was, at last, getting over the worst of it that had her turning into a sobbing, emotional mess whilst watching the shopping channel at two in the morning, instead.
"Katie? Babe, what's wrong?" Ned got out of bed and walked over to where Katie sat in a chair in the corner of the room. "Is it Ash?"
And even though her husband still sounded half asleep, she could hear the concern lacing the words. But how was she supposed to tell him that some random TV spot advertising these new (and really very cute!) jungle print shirts had brought on an overwhelming sense of guilt, and not come away sounding clinically insane?
"I'm so sorry," she cried, "I'm so sorry!"
"Sorry about what?" and now he could hear the panic and it really didn't help with her guilt, "What's wrong?"
"I think threw it away!" she said distraught, tears streaming down her face. "Or lost it."
And look, she's tired and she's coming down with the flu, okay? She got a pass this time on being overdramatic.
"Threw what away?" He yawned, rubbing his eyes.
"The lion!" she wailed.
"The lion," he muttered, still not quite grasping it, until, "Oh! Asher's stuffed lion! The one he can't sleep without?"
"Yeah," she said, tears still rolling, "I don't remember what I did after Asher puked on it this morning, and I'd forgotten all about where it was until now… do you think he knows?"
"Whaa-at?" and there's possibly a hint of amusement in his voice but he wisely decided to disguise that away with a clearing of his throat, "Of course, not babe. He's asleep isn't he?"
"You think so?" She glanced down at the boy in her arms. He was well past the size of being held in her arms like he was a baby, but Katie held him like that with her arms tucked under his legs and his head resting on her shoulder while she leaned back into the chair. He'd grown a lot in the last month and was just over four feet tall. "What if he hates me for losing it?"
"I don't think Asher could ever hate his mama, babe. You're his favorite person," he whispered, walking closer to her. He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her cheek. "And Katie?"
"Yeah?" She sniffled, running her fingers over his stomach.
"It's two in the morning, how about you switch off the TV and give me Ash." He said, motioning from her to move him into his arms. "I'll go put him in his bed, babe. You take some Tylenol and get in bed, okay?"
She nodded, watching as he laid their son over his shoulder, picking him. "Okay. You're the best."
"I love you too," he told her.
"I love you," she whispered as she pressed a kiss to his cheek and walked past him.
It was two weeks later when all the sickness finally made its way out of the Banks house and Ned knew it was time for a night out with Katie. He was still working when he called his wife, who he knew would either be cooking dinner by now or might eve just be getting home from her mothers.
It was neither. She was watching an animated movie with Asher since Willow was having her first sleepover with grandma Delia alone.
"Oh, right. I forgot about my mom taking Wills tonight," Ned said to her over the phone, "But don't worry too much. Willow will have fun and my mom knows what she's doing."
She spotted the surprised smile on her lips reflecting back in the mirror on the wall and rolled her eyes, "I know. I'm not worried."
She heard him sigh, before admitting, "I was worried Willow wouldn't want to stay the night. You know how picky she can be about where she sleeps. Even I could admit that."
And this, the fact that he can admit such a thing to her was just one of the many reasons she loved her husband.
"I know," she says, "But even though Willow has sleepovers at my parent's before, it's only ever been more than night! There were a few times when it was like three."
"And Willow loves your parents just teensy bit more than my mom. We know that by now," he chuckled on the other end. "Just like I know you already miss her cuddles." She can almost sense the smug 'I know you better than you know yourself, Katie' smile on his lips.
She rolled her eyes, "And I can't miss her even a little?"
"Of course you can, but just try and remember it's our night-" He said on the other end.
"What do mean our night?" She interrupted him, suspicious.
"Nothing," he stuttered, "Absolutely nothing. I think my shift is almost done. By six at the latest."
"Uh huh. Ned?" She took a breath in, looked up at herself in the mirror out of the corner of her, and the smile on her face, though just a little bit nervous (how can she not be? It's her husband! He could have anything planned), she was really just so happy. So so so happy. "Ned?"
And he must somehow sense the change in mood as he replied, "Yeah?"
"I love you, so much," she said.
"Me too, babe. Me too." He breathed.
"Is that dad?" Asher looked up at her, attention fully pulled from the movie as she nodded. "Tell him hi."
It's silent between them for a long moment. Comfortable and completely natural, easy.
She bit her lower lip, doesn't really want to let him go, but knows she must, "Okay, so I should let you go, but Ash says hi."
"Okay," and then, "Oh wait! Katie? Under our bed on your side, I left something there for you this morning." He said, chuckling. "I want you to wear it tonight if you like it."
"Ned!" She gasped. "What? When the heck have you had time to shop?"
"I like to keep my secrets," he was still laughing in "But just open it and text me if you like it. I gotta go. I'm gonna go see if I can convince Scott to babysit."
"Sweet. Ash loves Uncle Scott, right?" She looked down to where their five-year-old sat, her eyes scanning for his reaction.
"Yes! Is he coming over?" The boy asked in delight.
"What if he babysat you tonight?" She asked.
"That would be awesome!" Asher said.
"Dad's gonna ask him, so we'll see." She said, pressing a kiss to his head as she stood up. Now she was excited to go see what kind of dress Ned had picked out for him. "Looks like Scott is a go. Hope he says yes."
"He just turned up, so I really gotta go. See you later." He said and she laughed, and finally hung up, leaving him to face Scott and hopefully earn them some time alone.
"I'm gonna go upstairs for a minute Ash, okay?" She said and headed up the stairs to the master bedroom.
Katie got down on all four limbs, poking her head under the bed to find this mystery box Ned mentioned to her and she doesn't have to look very hard. It's the one not covered in layers of dust.
Pulling it out, she sat on the edge of the bed before opening it up. She's holding her breath and doesn't even realize it. Only letting it go when she sat the dress inside and had to stamp down on the sudden, terrible urge to cry. It was beautiful and a navy blue. She could tell it had a slit up the leg and rolled her eyes. Of course, Ned had picked this out for her and she loved him for it.
But there's more.
Sitting underneath where the dress sat was a folded piece of paper and she recognizes Ned's messy scrawl easy enough. Opening it with shaking hands, she read it;
I know we've both been busy with work and the kids have been sick, but one of the times I went to the pharmacy by the mall I got this for you. Now go and enjoy getting ready. Ash will be fine with the movie alone for a bit. I let him a small bag of candy as a bribe. You deserve it. Love, Ned
Folding the letter back on itself, she pressed it against her chest, takes a deep breath in and grabbed hold of her phone. She typed out a few sentences and pressed send. He knew the rest by now, so it doesn't need saying, but it was a nice little tease for him for later.
I love the dress. Thank you and I'm totally shaving my legs for you.
"You grew a beard since the last time I saw you," was the first thing that little Asher said to Scott.
Katie laughed but reminded the boy to be nice before she went to go check her makeup in the mirror one more time.
But with the way, Scott could almost see Ned stiffening, licking his lips unconsciously as he looked at his wife. His eyes were glued to slit in her dark blue dress, the one that revealed quite a bit of her left leg.
God, he'd seen Katie and Ned pre-sex way too much.
Scott crouched down and gave the kid a smile. "Well," he said, "I don't think I have any mirrors at my house, Asher. How does it look?"
"Hi, Scott! It's good to see you," Asher said, sounding older than he was. "Like that mommy?"
Katie laughed again, coming back over. "Yes, that's how you say hello baby. Good job."
Scott smiled, noticing that the boy obviously must be learning conversational skills and was putting his knowledge to work.
"Well, we better get to the restaurant. We don't want to be late and lose our table," Ned said. "Then the night will be a mess."
"Right," said Katie, after a moment of wiping something off their son's face. "All the emergency numbers are stuck on the fridge on the blue paper. My parent's and Ned's mom. Ned's phone will be off when we get to the theatre after dinner, but I'll probably keep mine on vibrate just to be safe," she said, rummaging around in her purse to find her car keys. "Asher's bedtime is at eight-thirty sharp, and don't feed him anything too sugary before then or you're going to have a really bad time trying to get him into bed."
"He likes it when you read him a bedtime story and don't forget to do the voices," Ned said, with earnest seriousness.
"Dad never gets the voices right," Asher said, giggling. "Moms are way better."
"Hey!" Ned pulled Asher up into his arms, tickling and tossing him around. "What's that about my voices?"
"Dad put me down!" Asher squealed.
Katie watched them in the mirror, shaking her head with a tell-tale smile. "You're going to mess up your suit, Ned." She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "So, Scott there are leftovers from dinners this week in the fridge. If you get hungry you can eat anything you want up. Asher already ate dinner, so don't give him too many snacks." She added as she came toward where he stood, and that's a kindness Scott was so excited for because she was a great cook and he did not want to order food.
"We probably won't be back till after ten, since it's a long play," Ned said, setting Asher down, who immediately started running around again.
"When was the last time we were out past ten?" Katie asked her husband, and Ned laughed and nudged her side, leaning in comfortably close as he wrapped his arm around her waist.
"Probably before Willow was born," Ned groaned his hand moving a little farther down as he whispered in her ear.
"Ned! How about you go start the car?" She giggled and slid away from him. "He's like that. Sorry. Did I forget anything that you need to know, Scott?"
"It's not like he hasn't done this a million times already, Katie," Ned chuckled as he grabbed his coat and slid it on as he made his way out the door to get the car started.
"Yeah. I know that, Ned." She rolled her eyes and nudged him out the door and closed it behind him. "He can be such a pain sometimes."
"I get it, Katie." He knew she worried about her kids a lot. Ned had mentioned it a time or two during patrols, usually followed by a mention of their first son that died and that's where a lot of her worries come from. And then they usually stopped talking for a while. "So the emergency numbers are on the fridge," Scott recited back to her, "dinner is in the fridge and nothing sugary for Asher, bedtime is at eight-thirty."
She nodded as Asher resurfaced around the corner and groaned. "But it's Friday, mom! Can I stay up a little later?" the boy whined. "Finn's mom lets him stay up till ten on the weekends."
Katie's lips twitched and Scott knew, just by that look that she doesn't like Finn's mom at all. "Finn's mom is," she started, then she paused as if searching for the best way to phrase it to her son. "She is little more lenient than she maybe should be," she said. "Finn sleeps a lot in class, doesn't he?"
"Yeah," the boy sighed, scuffing at the floor with his toe. "I guess, but I don't have class tomorrow."
"But we are going on a trip to the zoo tomorrow, remember? You, Wills, me and dad together all day! You don't wanna fall asleep for that, right?" She asked.
Asher's eyes go wide as the horror of it sunk in. "No, mom! No way," he said, hugging her tightly. "Will you wake me up when you're home?"
"How about he goes to sleep by nine?" Scott suggested, feeling—weirdly left out, somehow. And he shouldn't be. "I'll make sure of it."
"I guess that works. Thanks so much for doing this, Scott," she glanced up at him and then kissed her son's cheek. "And you, be good, okay baby? I'll come to your room when we get back. Promise."
"Okay. I love you," Asher hugged her once more before moving back toward Scott as she opened the door to where Ned stood. "Bye, dad."
"Don't let him watch HBO! He always tries to change the channel," Ned reminded, just before Katie shepherded him out giggling. "Or the new episode of his mom's favorite soap opera, there is a scene in it he should not watch!" He craned his neck in for another second and said, "I love you, Asher!"
"I love you so much, Asher!" Katie added. "Be good for Scott!"
"I love you too!" Asher called. As soon as the door shut, the boy came back into the foyer and grabbed Scott's hand as he led him upstairs. "Can we talk?"
"Uh," said Scott. "Sure."
They were soon in Asher's room, and the kid pulled up a child-sized chair to the table that's been pushed near one of the windows.
"When my mom wants to talk to me, she does this," Asher said.
"You're learning a lot from your mother, Ash," Scott said, taking the more adult-friendly seat. "What did you want to talk about bud?"
"Well, duh she's super smart, but I want to talk about my dad," the boy said, clambering onto his chair. He was short as hell and only the tops of his shoulders and his head visible over the table, and his shoes kick against the wood. "You work with my dad. You protect him, right?"
That's a twist in the heart that he didn't totally expect. Was Asher worried that his dad was going to die?
"Yeah, that's my job as his partner. To protect him from the bad guys," he said. "He does the same for me."
"I remember when he was shot, in the leg. I heard you say it was your fault, but my mommy says that isn't true," said the kid, sipping from a juice box.
Oh. Asher had been three, maybe four when the bank heist happened. Of course, the boy remembered it.
"It kind of was my fault," Scott said, thinking of the best way to tell him this. "I made a mistake and your dad got hurt."
"Is that going to happen again?" He asked and took a sip of his juice box.
"I'm going to try my best to make sure it never does," Scott said.
"Just promise me something, okay?" He said.
"Okay," Scott said. "What?"
"When my dad got hurt, my mommy cried a lot. She was so scared," the boy said. "And then the car accident happened and mommy got hurt really bad. She was really sad at first like she is on my big brother's birthday, but she doesn't cry so much anymore. So my dad can't get hurt again, okay?" He tilts his head to the side and crossed his arms over his chest.
God. That was a lot of information to put on a guy, and Scott swallowed, then sighed. Hell, why not. "I promise I'm not going to let you dad get hurt again," he said.
Asher stuck his pinkie out, and right, he's five years old. "Pinkie swear it," he said, with utmost seriousness. The same kind he'd seen Ned throw at him.
This was the most ridiculous thing that's ever happened to Scott, but he likes the kid and stuck his pinkie out and linked it with Asher's anyway. "I pinky promise that I won't let your dad get hurt again," he said.
"Good," the boy cheered, less serious now. He hopped off and said, "Mommy always has three kinds of ice cream in the fridge. Can I please have some?"
The play ended around eleven, a little later than expected for Katie and Ned, but it was good for them to have a night out together. As adults without their children. They walked together, hand in hand, toward the car.
"I'm proud that you didn't fall asleep until the last twenty minutes," she laughed, nudging his side.
"Oh, you saw that?" He sighed, itching behind his ear.
"Yeah, that Jake character's monologue did get really long," she said, tapping her hand on his arm. "But I'm just really happy you wanted to go in the first place."
"Of course I would go to the play with you. You've been talking about it for over a week," he said, pressing a kiss to her cheek as he leaned forward to open the passenger door.
"So you were listening all those times I was talking about the play," she hummed happily, sliding past him and into her seat. "We should probably get home."
"I think we might be out past curfew, but good thing I'm police." He shrugged, leaning up against the car.
Katie laughed and leaned up toward him, sealing her lips to his as her arms wound around his body, pulling him down toward her. Even after all their time together, married nearly ten years now, she never got tired of the feeling of him against her.
Ned slid his fingers through her hair, as he deepened the kiss, slanting his lips over hers, again and again, his leg sliding between hers as he leaned into the car. She sighed into his mouth, her hand curling around the back of his neck to play in the soft curls at the nape of his neck.
She loved his hair, the way it felt sliding against her fingers. It was so much softer than her own. His lips left hers and kissed a path down to where her shoulder joined her neck, lingering on the leaping pulse point.
"We should definitely getting going," he whispered.
"Yeah. It's getting pretty late," she whispered, breathing heavily as he moved back. "Scott's probably worried."
He shrugged. "I shot him a text. Don't worry," he said, winking, and making his way around to the driver's side. "We still have a little bit of night left."
"Oh, yeah?" She laughed, leaning over to grab his tie lightly.
"Definitely," he grinned.
She pulled him closer, kissing him again, but it turned out kissing wasn't what she'd had in mind. Her fingers fiddled with the button on his pants and then pulled down the zipper. Her hands slipped inside and he was already hard when she grasped him.
"Why am I not surprised?" She giggled and claimed his lips again. "But we should wait until we get home... so I can see if I'm ovulating."
"Okay, but then I'm gonna have to ask you to take your hand out of my pants." He chuckled, his cheeks red as he looked over at her.
Asher was fast asleep (thank god) when Katie and Ned came home a little after midnight, and Scott had just started to fall asleep on the couch when the front door started to make noise, startling him awake.
They came in laughing and shared a quick kiss before Katie sat on the stairs, kicking her heels off and then making her way upstairs. Ned shut the door and grabbed her heels off the stairs as Scott came over, into the entryway.
"I'm gonna make a pot of coffee, want a cup before you head out?" Ned asked.
Scott nodded. "It's midnight, why do you want coffee?"
He chuckled and made his way into the kitchen. "The play was a little boring, but I want to be awake for when I go upstairs. Katie and I are still trying for another baby." Ned put on a pot of coffee, the memory of the night slipping out of his head as he talked to Scott now.
"Ahh, the husbandly duties," Scott laughed, leaning up against the counter.
"Yes. So how as tonight with Ash?" He asked.
"Asher was fine," Scott said, nodding. "He went to sleep pretty quickly around nine. I dunno how after the story I read. It was terrible."
"Right... I bet it wasn't that bad," he laughed. Then he paused and asked, "How do you like your coffee again?" Ned grabbed two mugs from the cabinet as the coffee finished and poured it out into them, pushing it towards Scott.
Scott took a drink and made a face, and went to the fridge to fetch some milk, picking up some sugar along the way. He watched as Scott turned his black coffee a golden brown and stirred in three teaspoons of sugar. Then he added in a fourth because now he remembered Scott never liked black coffee all that much. Tolerated it at work, certainly, but he'd rather not drink it completely black.
Scott looked up at Ned, who's watching him now. "What?"
"Nothing," he chuckled. He smiles a little, and took a sip of his coffee, made a face, and said, "I can't believe I forgot you drink your coffee with so much sugar you could rot your teeth."
"My teeth are fine," said Scott. He rose his mug like it's a wine glass he can toast with. "This is pretty good coffee. I just need to put a little more sugar in there for my liking."
"Yeah, I like it plain," Ned said, and they clinked their mugs together before taking a sip. He bumped Scott's shoulder companionably. Something eased in his stomach, and he relaxed, hunching over his mug and taking a few sips
"Think we should put on another cup, for Katie?" Scott asked.
"Sure. I'll bring it up to her," he said. "When it's this late she likes it iced with milk and sugar."
"I bet that's good," said Scott.
Ned came upstairs not long after, peeking in on a sleeping Asher and then going into his and Katie's room. His wife was laying in bed, dressed in a comfortable white nightgown that he was very familiar with. He was familiar with every nightgown Katie owned.
"Hey," Katie glanced up from the book she'd picked up while he was downstairs. It was one of the ones on the reading list for her students. She looked to be almost done with it as she slid her pen and bookmark into the book and set it down. "What did Scott say? Was the night good?"
"Yeah. Scott said Asher was good and our boy went to bed smoothly." He said, undoing his tie and hanging up his suit jacket.
"Sounds like they both had a good time. Asher was out like a light when I went in to check on him." She said, smiling and moving to lay down in bed while she watched him undress.
"Like what you see?" He grinned, taking his time to unbutton his shirt and untucked it from his pants.
"I did marry you," she nodded, smirking as she moved across the bed to pull him closer to her. She grasped him by his pants, kneeling in front of him now as she pulled his belt loose and from his suit pants. "Your rock hard muscles were definitely a bonus, but not the main reason I married you."
"How touching," he smiled. "Your ass is such a bonus." He grasped her breasts through her nightgown next. "These too."
"Mm, oh yeah?" She laid back on the bed, waiting as she watched her husband get rid of his pants and then lean down against her. "Hi."
"Hi," he smiled before he laid on his side next to her. His erection pressed into her thigh, and she reached for him once more.
But Ned was just as good as she was at instigating a distraction, and when his fingers dipped under the hem of her nightgown and grasped greedily at the base of her breast, she relinquished control.
"I want this off," he murmured.
She agrees, lifting first her upper body, and then her hips so that he can remove the dress. Now they match, him with his boxers and her with her panties, it made her laugh how often they found themselves like this in their marriage.
They had done just this after their first date, kissing and caressing and exploring each other. Before he had touched her through the fabric of her panties, asking her what felt good. But it hadn't been enough, and she watched his eyes widen as she grabbed his hand and thrust it beneath her underwear. She had come within minutes.
Tonight, he doesn't hesitate especially not after eleven years of experience. Ned's fingers were on her bare skin, wandering teasingly against her, and it felt better than ever. She's getting used to the sensations that were coursing through her body when his hand slipped further. When he slipped a solitary finger inside her, she gasped.
"Thumb. Use your thumb." She reminded him.
He did, and the instant surge in intensity made her hips buck. Dimly, she heard his gasping laughter somewhere near her ear. He pumped his fingers in and out her in shallow thrusts, all the while tracing circles with his thumb the way that she loved.
"Fuck," she whimpered as the pleasure built. "Fuck baby, right there."
He froze for just a moment, and she felt him raising his head from beside even before she can register his piercing gaze.
"Don't stop." She wanted to sound commanding, but it came out more like a plea. "Oh, Ned."
His mouth curled slowly into a wide grin. "Say it again."
"Don't stop. Please," she added for good measure, squeezing her eyes closed.
He shook his head, still grinning. "Not that."
Oh. It was the swearing.
They'd tried to cut it out of their vocab, a lot since they'd had kids. But it always slipped out here and there.
"Ned?" She whispered.
"Hmm?" His hand was moving slowly against her, not nearly what she needed or wanted.
"I want your fingers inside me –" she emphasized her next words with rhythmic undulations of her hips, "– fucking me."
His teasing smile disappeared then, only to be replaced by hunger that must surely match hers. He had no words for her now, and his response was to curl his fingers inside her and rub his thumb against her in frantic circles. It's the best reaction that she could hope for.
When her body began to tighten around him, he leaned up to whisper in her ear, "Say it again."
But she can't concentrate on that right now. And then her husband curled his fingers once more – and let her fly. The first wave that hit her was a relief, followed by the intense pleasure that she had come to associate with nights and moonlight with Ned. When her lungs finally took in the fresh air, she remembered his request.
"Fuck, Ned," she breathed.
His fingers slipped out, but he kept his palm resting lightly over her still throbbing groin. He watched her as she tried to regulate her breathing, though she noted the way his own chest heaved unevenly.
"You like it when I curse," she said with a shy smile, which even she recognized was ridiculous, given that he had had his fingers inside her only moments ago.
"I like that I make you curse," he said, his grin returning. "Nothing makes you curse… I'm the one who slips, not you." His fingers moved to trace lazy circles around her nipple, and another ripple of pleasure began its slow, tortuous journey through her. "And to know that I'm the one making you –"
"Rude? Impure? Ill-mannered?" she proposed.
He snickered. "I was going to say…lose control." He licked his lips. "I like it when you let go of everything, for just a little while."
"Well, that is true," she conceded, but only for a moment before she shoved him unceremoniously onto his back. "But I thought you were good at this," she breathed against his mouth.
Ned shifted a little beneath her, and she could feel the dampness of sweat building between their hips. It's a close night; so airless and warm that her hair stuck to her back and her whole body seemed to swell with restless, heated air. He swallowed, and she followed the wave of contracting muscles that pressed out from under the skin in his throat.
"At what?" he said, and his hands stilled as though he's suddenly anxious.
She felt him soften a little against her and rotated her hips slowly, fixing the problem and drawing a sharp gasp from him.
"Not this," she confirmed, and sat up astride his hips, breathless. "Never this, I just mean…getting someone on their back. You were the state champion in high school."
"This is a little different to…ah, to a wrestling match." He groaned.
Katie smiled and grabbed his wrists, pinning them either side of his head. He looked up at her as though she'd just offered him the world on a silver plate, and the moonlight shone in his eyes.
She leaned down and pressed a biting kiss at the center of his chest. It bloomed red under her teeth, and she sucked the pain away. He gasped and bucked his hips a little, brushing against her that she'd definitely not forgotten about during the dry spell while she wasn't ovulating.
"I'm not pregnant yet," she reminded him, her voice low. "You don't have to be careful."
Katie held still again and straightened her back again so she can observe him.
"I know," he muttered, eyes getting entirely too attached to her breasts. "I…I've missed you. This. Us like this. It's not fun taking cold showers every morning." She swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded, smiling at him. "We're going to make another baby, Katie. It's going to happen," he breathed gently.
Her hold on his wrists tightened, and she sat the strong outline of his veins spring up from underneath his skin. A large, waxy scar on his upper arm stretched across the heavy muscle there.
"Right now, we're just doing this," she breathed. "And I'm not really convinced that you were ever a good wrestler."
He wrenched his wrists from her hands and moved them to her lower back, tipping her forward until her breasts were close enough to press his face against, then his mouth, teeth, and tongue. She steadied herself and tried to stay unyielding and strong, despite the moan she let out of her mouth. She liked this control, but something in her enjoyed the feeling of Ned coiled like a spring, waiting.
He eased her down until he could kiss her, and a warm, rough hand smoothed down the front of her body, slick from sweat, and came to rest on her stomach. At first, she thought her husband was lost in tender thoughts about pregnancy, but then there's an almighty push, and his strong arm beneath her as the world turned on its hinges and her back was pressed against their cool sheets.
His mouth found her neck, and her legs come up around him.
"The wrestler's back," she giggled against the top of his head fondly.
"This isn't really a tactic I ever used in a match," he laughed against her collarbone. "Only you."
Her heel ran down the smooth, sweaty skin of his leg, and she smiled. "Good," she whispered.
His hand slipped down between them and she felt him ease inside of her as his boxers were rid of. It had been hard at first, getting used to the feel of him inside her after so long shying away from this intimacy. It seemed necessary at the time, but now she can't remember why.
"I could pin you again if I wanted to," she gasped out as his thrusts grew strong and deep.
"Oh, I know you could." He chuckled and moved to hold both of her wrists above her head. He rose his eyebrows speculatively. "You can give it a try if you want."
She tried for a coy smile, but he swallowed it with a kiss. The change in angle suddenly hit somewhere unwanted, and she groaned. "That's not good," she complained.
"Sorry," he muttered, and shifted, trying to make her feel good again.
"I was better on top." She whispered in his ear.
"So be on top," he retorted with a sly smile and pulled all the way out, stilling. She knew that he's giving her an advantage, with his weight pushed up on his arms and ready to topple.
"Are you letting me win?" she asked indignantly.
"Only you could turn sex into a competition." He smirked as he kneeled between her legs, and for a moment she held her breath, sure that he's about to thrust into her. But he held still, fingers lightly caressing her knees. She squirmed a little, ticklish, and tried to shift her hips up so that he's in line with her. "You don't want an easy match," he said quietly, "so pin me from here."
She sat up on her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Don't go easy on me," she breathed against his ear.
"Wouldn't dream of it, babe." He said.
She pushed against his shoulders with all her might, and he faltered, but regains his balance easily, grinning all the way. She tried to concentrate her body weight, but he's still too strong and heavy, and when his erection brushed between her legs, she wished she'd let him go easy on her.
Katie takes a different approach and wrapped a firm hand around his erection. He steadied himself with a hand on the front of their bed behind him, and she made her move, shoving him down. He finally yielded underneath her, and she climbed atop of him before he could regain the upper hand.
"I win," she announced proudly.
"So you do," he said contentedly and lifted and lowered her over him.
"Does that mean," she groaned, "that I'm the better wrestler?"
She rode him slowly and watched him throw his head back against the mattress. His hands fisted the sheets, and a light sheen of sweat bloomed around the bruise on his chest that she brought to the surface earlier.
"You're certainly special," he agreed.
"Better than you?" she coaxed, squeezing down on him.
He clenched his teeth and hissed. His hands went to her hips, and he encouraged her to ride harder, deeper, quicker. She could feel the beginnings of her undoing collecting at the base of her stomach.
"Better than Ned Banks, hero cop of Grandview?" she grinned.
Ned's smile hardened a little, and a twinkle flew into his eyes. She stilled and he sat up, kissing her gently. His hands moved to her backside, and she moaned into his mouth. "You're forgetting-" All of a sudden, she's on her back again, her legs spread wide at his urging hands, and he's kneeling between her legs. He tilted his hips and she cried out at the feel of him, so deep inside her. "I did have the single most arrests last year. I don't just yield."
He thrusts, hard. She gripped the sheets beneath her, utterly lost. His hand moved from her knee to thumb gently at the collection of nerves above where they're joined, and she can't cry out anymore; it stuck in her throat. Katie came hard, a few moments later, silently but with his name approaching her lips.
He followed soon after, and his breath came in harsh gasps. When he eased down into her arms a few moments later, she held him and rubbed her hands over his back.