Disclaimer: It's been a year; hopefully by now everybody knows CSI: Miami does not belong to me.
Author's Note: Wow; a year simply flies by, doesn't it? I missed two deadlines and had a Douglas Adams moment. I will always send my deepest regards to Mr. Hathaway, b8kworm, and SunMee; your collective support means the world to me. So many new friends have been made this year, however, the triad, in particular, must be named: Marianne, kdeb, and Andrea. Finally, I always intended to do a follow up to Nights Under, so here goes. So many, many thanks to Marianne! You rock my world to infinity. Finally, I love my betas.
Summary: If anything, the moment for turning back was six months ago when he gave her the choice to meet him for dinner. For him, his choice had been made the moment he walked up to Calleigh in the club.
Rating: R
Archive(s): Evidence of Things Unseen, Lonely Road, mine. Anybody else, email me; I like to go visiting.
Pairing(s): Horatio/Calleigh
Spoiler(s): None that I'm aware of.
Must read Nights Under the Full Jazz Moon first.
***** ***** *****Title: Full Moon Promises
Author: Laeta
Email: ladylaeta@yahoo.com
Chapter 6: Charcoal Creations
It was nearly dawn when passions abated long enough for a quieter sort of conversation. They lay on the bed, facing east having already bid farewell to their guardian moon.
Calleigh's newly acquired ring gleamed spiritedly in the breaking dawn light. Her jeweled hand rested over his heart and Horatio lifted it, bringing it to his lips where he bestowed a kiss.
"Do you realize that you're a bullet to my heart, Calleigh?"
"Hmm?"
He turned in the circle of her arms to face her. Tracing the delicate structures that haunted so many of his nights, he smiled. Curling his hand more completely around hers, he brought their joined hands to rest against his chest.
"Every time you see me, every time you talk to me, every time you're with me, I want you to remember that this ring points directly to me.
She focused on the glimmering emerald fashioned in a conical shape, which topped a tiny gold cylinder. Horatio's initial plans had the cylinder upright, but, for ease of manufacturing, it lay on its side. The overall effect was a gem tipped bullet that directed its flight directly to Horatio's heart.
"Horatio -"
"I don't mean to tease you about your interest in ballistics, sweetheart. If it weren't for that, I probably wouldn't have met you. I just wanted to give you a reminder that, although things may seem that you give yourself to me whenever we make love, you have my heart to take care of. It's fragile, you know."
She nodded, not daring to say a word. He was weaving a spell about her senses.
"Try not to break it; you'll end up killing me. I guess that's what I'm trying to say."
"How about we make a deal, right now?" She pushed him slowly onto his back and followed by sliding atop his body. Straddling his chest with her knees, she lifted her hair to settle over one shoulder before reaching towards the bedside table.
Horatio preempted her by reaching himself for the framed sketch sitting in a position of honor there. It was the image that had started it all for Horatio. It had delivered him to Calleigh that memorable night and, now, it called her to itself.
They studied the image together: Horatio in fascination and Calleigh in thoughtful speculation. The flash of her ready-for-anything grin easily took his breath away when she finally elaborated.
"I'll promise to never break your heart and you promise to let me emulate this sketch."
"Calleigh, that's not a fair deal."
"Really? So you don't want to prove to me that reality will beat out any fantasy?"
Horatio blinked a few times in speechless disbelief, and the wicked glint in her eyes swept him into a realm of passion never before felt. As his mind rapidly raced to follow his body to that state, he submitted to Calleigh's deal. They both knew that there was nothing he would ever do to oppose her.
"Close your eyes, Horatio."
The breath following her whispered words became a distant breeze of a newly remembered recollection. A delicate shifting of skin against skin told of secrets hidden by satin curtains and propriety. Scents drifted lazily on air currents; the salt from the ocean and the smell of Calleigh's shampoo intermingled in an enticing dance as they slipped past each other - one on its way indoors, the other in the opposite direction.
"Horatio! Stop squirming."
His eyelids flew open, and Horatio inhaled once and forgot to exhale.
Lying flat on his back, with Calleigh hovered above him, and the fragile dawn lit pale skin. Hair askew just that way and gently waving from the circulating air of the ceiling fan, his mouth dried while each non-essential function of his body shut down - one by one. The only thing left to show that he still lived was the blood pounding at all the visible pulse points throughout his body.
The vision she created was a three-dimensional replica of the charcoal sketch he drew on a whim one very, very late night. It was a fantasy conception of a moment of pure intimacy. He could not reconcile how perfectly she imitated the pose her two-dimensional image struck and held with such precision.
She grinned at him, clearly enjoying the speechless quality of his reaction.
"Breathe, Horatio. Remember to breathe."
Calleigh resuscitated him with a kiss and stole his breath back again with the next slanting of her lips against his. He reversed their positions easily and she savored the desperateness of his kiss.
He tucked his face against her neck and fought away from the primitive beat of his blood. She soothed him, running her hands through his hair and massaging his shoulders.
"Calleigh?" Her name never sounded more breathless to her.
"Yeah."
"Please, don't ever do that to me again."
Enjoying his predicament to no end, she laughed at him. She pushed him away from her body and asked, "What'd I do? You're the one who thought that up."
He shook his head. "No, you did. First, you haunt my dreams with that pose until I get you out by drawing it. And now - I'll never forget the reality."
"So, what is it, Handsome? Reality or fantasy."
"Nothing ever comes close to reality. Sweetheart, you're just perfect that way."
© RK 13.Jan.2004
