For Disclaimer et al, please see Chapter 1
Facing her port window, Trip slowly pulled his shirt over his head. T'Pol watched breathlessly as inch by agonizing inch his softly tanned back was revealed to her. Unconsciously she licked her lips as she took a step towards him.
"Have a seat," she whispered, voice husky with her growing desire. Casually he dropped his shirt to the floor.
"Don't you want me to take off my pants?" he asked, the humour he'd intended somehow lost as her eyes trailed down his chest and stomach, stopping abruptly at his waistline where the curves of his groin began and disappeared beneath the cloth, hinting at what lay just beneath the surface.
She frowned slightly when she realized he was removing no further clothes, before realizing that he was not here for that, he was here for her help.
"That won't be necessary," she answered reluctantly, her gaze drawn again to his muscular stomach and the dusting of light brown hairs that she knew travelled oh so temptingly downwards…
Her distraction allowed him to easily enter her personal space, bringing his body within a foot of her own, something she rarely allowed, and only when it was necessary. She found herself desiring to touch him, to feel his warm human body, and when she realized that her hand was hovering just above his skin, she abruptly pulled it back and recoiled towards herself.
Trip nearly growled in frustration as he watched her close herself off to him. With a sigh, he stepped away from her, immediately longing for the heat of her presence, and settled himself cross-legged on the floor.
Closing her eyes, T'Pol tried desperately to reassert control over her emotions, forcing them deep within herself and exuding the mask of calm she had so carefully developed over the years. But she could feel its ineffectiveness, the cracks in the shell of her control, and she knew it was only a matter of time before her tumultuous emotions bubbled through to the surface.
He watched smugly as she struggled to rein in her emotions. He'd only been here a few minutes and she was already nearly out of control. This was going to be easier than he thought.
"Did I come at a bad time?" he asked, a teasing smile curving his lips.
No, never, she thought to herself, but she opened her eyes and regarded him with her usual cool detachment. "Of course not," she replied, and circled around behind him.
Her hands alighted on his skin, and he let loose a gentle moan as her fingers began pressing into his sore muscles and pressure points. Slowly, the tension he'd let build in his body for the last three days was released as T'Pol skilfully played over his body.
Feels so good, his mind babbled, and he leaned his head back against her stomach. Her hands then moved down his throat to his collarbones, pushing her thumbs into the soft spot where they meet in the middle of his chest. He murmured something incomprehensible, his breath brushing across her arms as she leaned over him.
She found this position suddenly intimate, his head pillowed so close between her most intimate places, her fingers seemingly moving of their own accord down his abs and brushing his waistband. He felt her tense above him, her movements ceasing.
"Something wrong?" he asked, voice deep and husky with pleasure. When she didn't respond, Trip gently pulled away and turned to hold her by the shoulders. "T'Pol?"
"I - I don't think I can do this."
She tried to extricate herself from his grasp, but he held her firm. The frown on his face clouded over any good she had done with the neuro-pressure, and she was instantly regretful.
"You're tired," he said, sensing the sag in her energy and the weight in her limbs. "Maybe you need this more than me tonight."
"No," she began, but he was already pulling her into his lap.
"Shhh…I'll go gentle on ya, I promise."
Then his hands were in her hair, touching the pressure points on the back of her skull. A breathy gasp passed her lips before she could suppress it, and she found her body automatically softening in Trip's embrace. She placed her knees on either side of his hips, effectively straddling his waist, and had to press her palms against his chest to keep herself from falling into him.
"Feels better, don't it?" he asked. He didn't need an answer to know that she was enjoying this even more than he was. As her hands slid from his chest to his shoulders and then around his neck, his attention moved from her head to her spine and finally to the wings of her back, which he pulled on, bringing her body flush against his.
She gasped as he crushed her body to his own, all thoughts of relaxation shattering as her body hummed with need. Their temples were pressed softly together, and when she spoke, he felt her jaw moving against his own. "Commander," she spoke, in a last-ditch attempt to break whatever mood they were about to set.
"Not here, darling. Gotta call me somethin' else," he insisted.
As his hands wormed their way underneath her shirt, his hands now stroking the bare skin of her back, all thought processes seemed to shut down in her brain. What's his name? she demanded of herself, but it danced just beyond the grasp of her conscience, skittering through her mind on a broken string.
If he would just stop touching her she could concentrate, bring her emotions under control and…she cried out as she felt his lips make contact with the side of her neck.
In that instant all rational thought was tossed to the side and she pushed him onto his back, her body covering his. The change in position aligned their hips so that she could feel exactly how much she was affecting him as well. She claimed his mouth in a possessive, punishing kiss, and she ground her lower body into his own.
Realizing that he was quickly losing control of the situation, he shoved her off of him. She lay there a moment, stunned by the sudden loss of contact, before he appeared above her.
T'Pol's anger ripped through to the surface. Lashing out, she tried to slap him, smack him at least, but he had anticipated it and grabbed her wrists, pinning them above her head. Her eyes narrowed venomously on him.
"Is that all you wanted," she demanded, "to prove that I would give in to you under enough pressure?"
"This isn't an ego trip, T'Pol. All I want is an assurance from you that if we do this, you won't try to pretend it never happened." He slid his grip from her wrists to her palms and entwined their fingers. "Cuz I am not going through that again with you. All this avoiding, walking on eggshells round each other…"
"That is a human expression," she retorted.
He rolled his eyes. "Will you just shut up a minute? I'm tryin' to talk here. Now, where was I?" After a moment's hesitation, he began placing kisses across her face and down her neck.
"This time," kiss, "we're gonna," lick, "do things," nibble, "my way." And then his mouth descended on her own.
Note: The next chapter is rated NC-17 and you can read it at my site. But if you're under-age or prefer not to read smut (hehe), just keep reading here - I wrote it so that chapter 4 can essentially be skipped. Wasn't that nice of me? ; )