Chapter 25

Sawyer hadn't been expecting the kiss, but it was there, it was real, and it awakened a hunger he hadn't known was dormant. When Kate pulled away from the soft kiss he just looked at her with the unspoken question in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her mouth still within an inch of his.

Sawyer swallowed and tried to regulate his breathing. "For what?" he asked, still a little breathless.

Kate's eyes dropped to her hand resting on his chest, the fingers playing idley with the fabric of his shirt. "For avoiding you?"

He lifted his head towards her and cupped her cheek in his hand. "It's ok." He kissed her cheek. "It's okay." He kissed her forhead. Then without another word, he pulled her into another soft kiss, trying to make this feeling last. Barely touching his lips to hers, he sucked gently on her bottom lip. Kate made a noise, barely audible, deep in her throat. She leaned into him, putting the full of her upperbody weight on top of him. He wrapped his arms around her, just touching her back with his hands. It had the desired effect, for Kate, feeling the chill touch, pulled away from his hands and more towards his body.

Then he rested his hands on her hips, gently massaging the soft muscles just above the line of her pants. After a moment Kate's hand slowly ran over his chest and tummy, feeling the taught muscles through his shirt. When she found the bottom of his shirt, she pushed her hand underneath, and then ran her hand back up, pulling the shirt with it. When the shirt was stretched tight because the back was still under Sawyer, Kate tugged on it a few times, till he lifted his body enough to free it. She put her other hand under the shirt, which was now half way up his chest, and began kissing the side of his neck, ever pulling the shirt and her lips closer together.

When her hands reached his armpits, Sawyer grabbed the shirt himself and pulled it over his head. With Kate still kissing his neck, he lay his head all the way down and closed his eyes, moaning quietly whenever she reached a tender spot.

Her kisses lowered to his shoulder and her hair fell in ringlets over his chest, tickling the sensative skin.

Then she reached his collar bone, sending chills up his body. And then her lips caressed his pecks. Then his abs. All the time her hands rubbing the skin along the sides of his body where she kissed him. Sawyer let her work, let her take control for the moment, let her do what she wanted or needed to do.

When she finally reached the top of his pants line, she simply stopped kissing him, and deftly unbottoned them. She undid the zipper only an inch, and kissed his body one more time and then moved back up to kiss his lips as if saying, "You're turn."

Sawyer held the kiss for a while, but soon the hunger was too much, and he knew he would not last long with this. So he wrapped his arm around her back and carefully rolled over so that now she was laying on the ground, him slightly on top. Then he kissed her jawline, and then her ear, nibbling a little here and there when the feeling struck him. Kate was silent, her eyes closed, imagining what he would do next. But what he did was unexpected to her.

Instead of taking her shirt off, as he'd always done before, he ran his hands down her sides, over her waist, until they reached her pants. She opened her eyes and looked at him, her breathing becoming ragged little by little, and she watched him.

She watched his hands slide over the the button, and undo it, then undo the zipper. They slid back to her sides and slipped underneath the now-lose jean, and slowly pushed down, his fingers caressing her body as the pants pulled away from her skin. Kate watched all of this with Sawyer still kissing her neck and shoulder tenderly, waiting between each kiss. She lifted her hips and he slipped the jeans down, and then she kicked them off. She realised with a slight shock that he'd managed to take her underwear off with the jeans, and she hadn't even noticed til that moment.

Kate now lay on the ground, naked from the waist down, Sawyer naked from the waist up, leaning over her. He pushed himself up til his arms were straight, and looked at her, searching her eyes for something. Desire. She knew he was looking for the fire. But it was not there. For once Kate was completely without the burning in the pit of her stomach as she looked at him. It had been replaced by something, and sawyer's eyebrows drew together in a worried frown when he recognised what it was.

"Kate," he whispered hoarsely.

She looked at him and knew he could tell. She didn't know why, but sadness filled her. Her emptiness consumed him, and he pulled away from her. Pushing himself up suddenly, he turned until he was sitting next to her, his back all she could see. His gaze went to a place only he could see, replaying over and over in his mind the look in her eyes, the feeling he knew all too well.

He closed his eyes trying to make the images go away, but the movie played in the darkness behind his eyelids as clearly as if it were happening over and over again right in front of him.

He could sense Kate in front of him, knew that she knew, and he opened his eyes. Now it was Kate's eyes searching his. When she saw the sadness in him too she nodded almost inperceptibly.

And as if they'd come to a silent agreement, she moved toward him, until their lips met. The kiss was full of sadness at first. But as it continued, they pulled something from each other and the fire lit.

Both Sawyer's and Kate's hands went to work alost immediately. Both feeling the other as if for the first time, their hands caressed bodies, and Kate moved to sit in his lap, straddling him. She could feel his muscles, tense and ready. She was ready too, and pushed her body down on him, brushing roughly against him. He still had his pants on and groaned at feeling her through the jean material. He had never put the boxers on.

Working as fast as he could, Sawyer pulled on his pants until they were down far enough. Kate made it difficult because she was pushing against him, making access to the top of his pants almost nil. But finally he got them down, then off. And before he could adjust or react, Kate pushed herself down once more, taking him into her.

She gasped and her eyes went wide. Sawyer moaned loudly, the sudden feeling almost too much to handle.

He barely was beginning to recover from the first surprise, when Kate started moving. She still had her shirt on, but quickly flung it off when it got in the way. Her body rubbed against his as she moved up and down. At first slow, then speeding up. Her arms wrapped around Sawyer's neck and her mouth close to his ear, she moaned every time she came down.

Sawyer wasn't sure he'd ever been in a situation like this before. He'd certainly never had such suddenly intense physical pleasure.

Kate was holding Sawyer tightly, using him as leverage, to push farther down onto him. Her breathing came in quick sharp gasps, and the moans continued to come every time she came down on him.

"Sawyer!" It was a quick, whispered word. But her mouth was so close to his ear she might as well have shouted it. "Mmmm. Mmmm. Mmmm." She moved faster and faster. It was all Sawyer could do not to release too soon. "Mmmm. Mmmm. Sawyer!" It was a little louder this time. The way her body tensed, he knew she was there, and finally let go.

The sweet surrender consumed him as the ecstacy raced through his body. Every muscle contracted and shot bolts of awareness to his mind. And the intoxication of ecstasy numbed his thoughts, leaving only feelings. Feelings of her.

The instant after Sawyer came, Kate did too. She dug her fingers into his sides as she threw her head back. Without even realising it she cried out in sheer rapture of the moment, bringing Sawyer and herself back to reality as they slowed to a stop.

Kate pulled her self up to a straight position and looked at Sawyer looking at her. Both were breathing hard, searching each others eyes. But this time, both found what they were looking for and somehow whispered at the exact same moment, "I love you."