Again, I don't own them. They own themselves and T. Harris "birthed" them. I had to change the rating to R in account of the explicit sex on this chapter.Thanks to the most generous reviewers Drandmrslecter, DevilsQT, Marcus Aurelius, LoT, Ducki, Guber, Cristina, Steel, Deoceres, RivanKnight, and all the folks who encouraged me to go on.

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

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Exchanges XI

At last

Hannibal shudders as is an electric current had passed thru his body. His eyes, glazed with hunger for her and darkened by the intensity of his emotion, burn into hers as he raises her hand to his mouth, making her skin ripple while he brushes it with his lips.

Still holding her gaze, he goes on slowly nibbling on her arm, tasting her while his tongue travels up; breaking eye contact to continue hungrily over her shoulder and slowly on to her neck , where he lingers deliberately, tugging at her skin with his teeth, hungry, sensual, taking his time, smelling her increasing hunger as he makes his way to her mouth.

She gasps when he fiercely pulls towards him and wraps her arms around his neck pulling herself still closer as she rotates her pelvis; feeling him swollen, she undulates against him, moaning, quivering with ever mounting, unrepressed passion.

He finally reaches her mouth kissing her greedily , his tongue possessive and demanding, exploring and probing hungrily, both their tongues working ravenously as it they could go on to suck each other's soul.

She lowers her arms along his back urgently and pulls his shirt out of his pants, reaching under the shirt with the burning need to feel his flesh.

He wants to lay her down on the bearskin rug a few steps away but even that is too far to let go of her. So he lifts her in his arms, looking into her eyes while his mouth tries to form words that don't quite come out, then, giving up words, his mouth seek hers one more time, voracious now, ravenously matching her own feverish need of him.

The nakedness of her passion, the lust in her eyes excites him further. He tries to pace himself because he knows he is going too wild too soon and wants to slow down and stay in control.

After decades of supreme self control, Dr, Hannibal Lecter feels as if a wall of fire is collapsing and all the emotions, all the feeling bottled up inside him for all the years he'd been wanting her, will now roll in like a blaze of fire that would engulf both, reducing them to ashes.

He lays her carefully onto the fur rug in front of the fireplace, and as he pulls back to take off his shirt, she reaches both arms out to him, curling her fingers, urging him back to her, whispering his name, panting, incoherently seeking him, trying to pull him back on to her while he urgently removes her sweater and bra and bends over to kiss her, his hands on her body, cupping her breasts and lowering his head to her nipples sucking and nibbling, kneading, caressing, and gently biting, exploring her with his hand as he removes her slacks and underwear; stops long enough to remove the rest of his own clothes and goes back to her in a flash, his eyes almost black with lust. They touch and kiss, tasting , feeling one another other, stroking, nibbling…

Her nails dig in his back, hard, scratching; panting, she begs "please, Hannibal, please" thrashing her head from side to side.

He feels himself painfully swollen, but still wants to go on exploring her, reaching with his hand between her legs, his fingers probing and pulsating, rotating inside her, teasing; alternatively withdrawing his fingers and massaging, titillating, until he feels her ready to climax, then he lowers his head between her legs, his tongue darting, his small teeth biting in all the right places until she bursts, screaming his name, lifting her pelvis to meet his mouth , then he finally allows himself to penetrate her, hard and throbbing, such as he is. And plunges into her with deep strokes, while she thrashes, panting, ready to climax again, calling his name as he continues to thrust inside her.

Her passion keeps mounting until she reached the top again and rides the waves of pleasure undulating her body, raising herself higher so as to allow him deeper inside her. He calls her name, "Clarice", reaching the edge of his control. Almost feral now, he lunges at her shoulder biting hard, breaking the skin as she gasps, while he hungrily licks the blood from the broken skin.

He brings his face up again to kiss her, his lips smeared with blood. She tastes her own blood on his lips and reaches peaks she never suspected anyone could reach, while endlessly begging, calling his name gasping, moaning as he continues to thrust inside her, barely able to keep his own legendary control.

Enraptured she yells, "…do…it…again! …..again, Hannibal, pleeaaase".

Her words drive him over the edge and he losses it then, bites her once again hard on the upper arm and she yells "yes…, Hannibal…yessss" and he feels her insides literally sucking him in, while he explodes in colossal ecstasy as she spasmodically envelopes him inside her during her own monumental climax.

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They lay intertwined, exhausted, eyes closed, intermittently kissing whatever part of the other happens to be near their mouth. Leisurely running their hands over each other's body from time to time.

After a while, eyes still closed, he reaches for her hand and finds it, slowly brings it to his lips, and methodically starts kissing her fingers, one at a time, licking around the fingernail and then sucking the fingertip gently before going on to the next finger.

She chuckles at the though of her fingers between the most feared human teeth in the world, her eyes twinkling with mischief behind her closed lids.

She reacommodates herself so that she faces him and their eyes meet. While he kisses one of her finger she reaches with another and touches his check, delighted at the intimacy, amazed at the fact that she can and touch him freely…. "I can't keep my hands off him" she marvels

While Hannibal Lecter, murder of many, intelligent beyond any measurable means known to man, continues to gently suck her fingertips as he contemplates his feelings for this woman that has smitten him for so long. At every turn he discovers new things about her and inside himself, new feelings that marvel him and make him feel lighter, younger, almost reborn.

He lets go of her hand and cups her cheek with his palm. She opens her eyes, looks into his, and finds a new light in there, a bright radiance that dazes her.

"I love you, Clarice", he whispers, letting the last wall fall.

She opens her mouth, but her voice is gone, her eyes fill with tears and she is mute and crying, entirely overwhelmed.

He reads her, as always, and pulls her firmly towards him, purposely holding her against his body with the intensity accumulated throughout the missing years, closes his eyes and inhales, capturing the scent of both their smells blended into one, he sighs then, and relaxing his grip a bit, smoothes her hair with one hand, whipping her tear with his lips.

Finally, she finds her voice. "I love you, Hannibal"

He kisses her again, a long meaningful kiss. Then, breaking apart, gets up and helps her to her feet; picks her up in his arms and holding her naked body against his, makes his way up the stairs, kissing her and nuzzling against her neck, whispering her name.

He places her gently on the huge bed in the master bedroom and covers her with his body, kissing her again and again. She shudders and he asks "are you cold, do you want to get under the blankets".

"No blankets. Just you, Hannibal Lecter" her arms around his neck "all I need is you." She pulls him to her and kisses him tenderly first and then ravenous, voraciously, as if indeed, her whole life depended on his response to her hunger for him.

Hannibal, of course, is more than happy to match her hunger….and add his own dimension to it, as they both continue to build the magnificent structure of their life together.

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Well, there you go. This is the way I see them though. Strong and self confident , yet vulnerable to one another within the intricate nuances of intimacy.

This is not the end of it, NO!….we still have to deal with the dead folks, the promise made to Barney of a meeting and other issues that have to be settled before "we" end up in Argentina.

Comments are much appreciated, especially on this chapter.

Clariz