A/N: I'm back and I changed the rating… ;) Can I just say THANK YOU for all of the reviews?! I want to shout all of you out for leaving such kind words about this little story. I'm smiling so big as I read all of them! I love all of it and all of you! I'm sending everyone who has left a comment, favorited, or followed this story a huge hug!
P.S. This chapter is long AF!
Two Weeks
Inspired by: Two Weeks by FKA twigs
"Are you sure that's everything, mom?"
"Baby, I'm not so old that I can't remember how to make your grandma's peach cobbler!" Michonne sighed deeply and smiled into the Echo Show sitting on her kitchen counter at her mother Aline who was sitting on the porch of the retirement house her parents bought in Florida with a glass of iced tea and walking her daughter through the family's famous peach cobbler recipe.
"I just want it to be perfect", she explained as she continued chopping peaches. She looked at the time and slightly panicked when she realized she was less than 3 hours away from Rick arriving. Everything she needed for dinner was basically ready to go, but she was still working on dessert and she had to shower and get changed. Suddenly, she was reconsidering her idea to stay in and cook that seemed oh so brilliant at the time.
"You know, your grandma made that peach cobbler to catch your grandpa and it sealed the deal with for me and your daddy too…" Hearing the question in her mother's tone, she just kept chopping peaches and tried to ignore it.
"I know. I've heard those stories my entire life…" Her mother rolled her eyes and sighed deeply.
"You're really going to make me ask about this man you're trying to impress?" Michonne set the knife down and dumped the peaches into a bowl.
"I'm not…" Her words faltered as she remembered that she'd never successfully lied to her mother in her life. "His name is Rick and he's a sergeant in the King County sheriffs office."
"King County? How did you two meet?"
"Glenn's wedding…" Her mother looked up from her crossword puzzle book and raised an eyebrow.
"Last week? And you're already making the seal the deal Peach Cobbler?"
"Mom…" Aline shook her head and took a sip of her tea and Michonne laughed to herself when she realized her mother had literally become that meme.
"I'm just saying you never made peach cobbler for he whose name we dare not speak..and you were going to marry him!"
"He wasn't much for desserts and that was yet another sign I ignored."
"He was a snake good at hiding…but this Rick is different, right?" She considered her mother's question for only a moment before nodding.
"Yeah…he's different." A knowing smile appeared on her mother's face.
"Good. You can tell me all about him when you come down for Memorial Day weekend. We'll have girl time away from your daddy and your brother." She'd nearly forgotten that she was supposed to go to Lighthouse Point to spend the holiday with her family, but it was something she was definitely looking forward to. She hadn't seen them since Christmas and that was almost five months ago.
"That sounds perfect. How are you, mom? Daddy isn't getting on your nerves too much in retirement, is he?" Her father, Isaac, wasn't handling retirement well. Her mother called her at least twice a week complaining about her father and his constant need to be doing something. She really needed to find him a hobby.
"Now he wouldn't be your daddy if he wasn't!" She laughed and looked into the screen. Aline Pierce was still a beautiful woman. Her hair had been in dreadlocks ever since Michonne was a child and now they fell down her back in a gorgeous mixture of grey and black. She'd always wanted to be like her mother and that was the reason she wore her hair in the same style.
"True…well tell him I said hi." Aline waved her hand dismissively and smiled brightly into the camera.
"I will! Now go finish making your dinner! You should wear something yellow. You always look so pretty in yellow!" Michonne nodded at her mother's suggestion and returned her smile.
"I will. I love you mom."
"I love you too and that man of yours is going to take one bite of that peach cobbler before dropping to one knee and asking you to marry him!"
"It's only our third date…" Her mom shook her head knowingly and laughed.
"You're the one who decided to make that peach cobbler! You'll find out! It's better than any love potion out there!"
XX
She smiled and nervously smoothed her hands over the knee length red Ankara skirt she was wearing when she heard his light knock on her front door. He was right on time and she didn't expect any less from him so everything was ready and waiting. She paused in front of the mirror in the hallway and checked her reflection. She'd taken her mother's advice and put on a flowy, sleeveless yellow top with a deep v-neck, and she'd pulled her hair into a high ponytail. She closed her eyes and took a calming breath before moving to answer the door.
That breath she was holding came out in a rush when she saw Rick standing in the hallway. He was wearing dark jeans and a light grey oxford shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His dark curls were combed back away from his face that he still hadn't shaved at her request, and in his hands he held a colorful bouquet of flowers. There was a hint of nervousness in his expression until his gorgeous eyes locked with hers and he smiled broadly.
"Hi. You look…gorgeous!"
"You're not too bad yourself. Come in!" Returning his smile, she stood to the side allowing him to brush past her as he entered her apartment close enough to smell the crisp, woodsy scent of his cologne. She pushed the door closed behind him and turned to face him. "Are those for me?"
He nodded and extended the flowers toward her.
"I stopped on the way into the city and Carl helped me pick them out. The colors reminded me of the sunset at the wedding last week which of course, reminded me of you." She took the flowers from him and brought him to her nose.
"They're beautiful!" He followed her into the kitchen where she began opening cabinets looking for a vase. It had been a really long time since anyone had brought her flowers. She filled the vase with water and quickly arranged the flowers inside. "Thank you and thank Carl for me too."
"You're welcome." She watched quietly as he surveyed her fully modern kitchen and into the open living area that she'd painstakingly decorated over the years. "This place is nice!"
She looked around her well-loved condo and nodded her agreement. "It's home."
"It's lovely…just like you." His drawl was more pronounced and when she glanced over her shoulder she saw him leaning against the counter with his arms folded over his chest and his eyes trained on her like she was the only thing that interested him.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I was just thinking about that promise I made you."
"Which promise was that?"
"I said I was going to thoroughly kiss you when I saw you and one thing you should know about me, Michonne, is that I am always a man of my word." She smiled as he gently cupped her face in his hands and lowered his lips to brush against hers. As her eyes fluttered closed, Michonne wondered why she'd never realized that a kiss that innocent had the power to set her body on fire. His warm lips were so soft but also so firm against hers and as her eyes fluttered closed, all thoughts unrelated to that moment were lost. Without any direction, her arms moved around him and brought their bodies even closer together. The closeness made his mouth grow more insistent as it worked toward parting her lips, sending wild tremors along her nerves, and accelerating their kiss to a different level of passion.
Michonne knew that by staying in for their date, she was probably nudging their relationship on to the next phase and in that moment, as warmth pooled in her belly, she was completely ok with wherever that date took them.
The sound of glass shattering made them jump apart and Michonne frowned when she saw T'Challa sitting in the exact spot where she had just put the flowers that were now laying amidst the pile of broken glass on the floor. Once the shock wore off, she felt Rick's body shake with laughter. She dropped her forehead against his shoulder and joined him.
"You weren't kidding about him not wanting to share you!" She sighed and shook her head as Rick's slowly released her from their embrace.
"T'Challa! Get down!" The cat only stared indifferently at them both and meowed loudly but as soon as she moved toward him he jumped off the counter and escaped down the hall. She turned around to find Rick already crouching to pick up the flowers from where they'd landed. "I'm sorry about that. He knows he's not allowed on the counter…"
"It's ok. He was just letting me know who's the boss around here", he said as he laid the flowers on the counter. She grabbed the broom and dustpan from the pantry and started sweeping the glass into a pile.
"Still…the flowers were so beautiful."
"They still are. We just have to find another vase and put them in a very…very high place" he joked, taking the broom from her and continuing to sweep up the mess. She laughed and she intended to only glance over at him, but she quickly became lost watching him.
"What?" His voice shook her from her thoughts and she was greeted by a look of amusement on his handsome face. Shaking her head, she went to get some paper towels.
"You certainly know how to work a broom!" He chuckled and swept the last of the glass into the dustpan.
"My mama made sure I got lots of practice." Once he'd gotten all of the glass up, she knelt down to wipe up the water left behind and the kitchen was suddenly as good as new.
"Now that we've taken care of that, what's the plan for tonight?" Rick asked, putting the broom and dustpan back in the pantry and rejoining her at the kitchen island.
"I had about fifty different ideas but it's Sunday and I couldn't stop thinking about how nice it might be to stay in, put on some music, and cook together…", she answered, not understanding why she was so nervous about it. When she'd come up with the idea for them to cook together, it had seemed perfect. She'd grown up watching her mom and dad cook together while listening to old soul music by Stevie Wonder or Marvin Gaye. When she was old enough to understand what "relationship goals" were, her parents laughing, kissing, touching, and dancing while making dinner became that for her.
Despite how many times she'd tried to coax Mike into cooking with her, he'd always declined. Sign from God number 150 that she saw too late or just plain ignored about him and their relationship. So maybe inviting Rick to cook with her was her way of trying to see the sign a little earlier.
"I'm all in but you should know that unless it's something simple or grilled, I'm a terrible cook", he warned but she only laughed at his honesty.
"Don't worry, I got your back." He nodded and grinned at her from across the kitchen.
"What are we making?" She grabbed two aprons from a drawer in her center island and tossed him one he caught with ease.
"My mother's family is from New Orleans so I thought we could make jambalaya…" He didn't give her the chance to finish her thought before he tied the apron around his waist and crossed the kitchen to stand beside her.
"That sounds good…real good. What do you need me to do?" He was doing that thing again where he could just stand in her proximity and send her attraction to him to a fever pitch. She had to clear her throat before answering him.
"…Just get to chopping, sergeant."
As they worked on their respective tasks, they shared stories about their favorite meals as children; his was his mama's fried chicken and she told him all about how her daddy's barbecue ribs were so tender that the meat fell off the bone. A playlist filled with everything from rock to R&B was pouring out of the speakers and the bottle of wine they'd cracked open was lubricating the conversation nicely.
After he chopped all of the peppers and onions, she tasked him with measuring out all the spices and he made sure to brush against her every time he needed something that was near her. When he was done and she was busy browning the vegetables and cooking the andouille, he moved behind her, resting his hands on the curve of her hips and placing tiny kisses on the side of her neck. Needless to say, the cooking wasn't the only reason she was feeling a little overheated.
She asked him to brown the chicken to get a temporary reprieve from his very welcome attentions but watching him try so hard to focus on cooking so he wouldn't mess up their meal made him nearly irresistible. She was drawn to him like a magnet; her arms wrapping around his middle bringing her body flush against his firm back as her chin rested on his shoulder. If he was going to use cooking as an opportunity to get closer, so was she.
His body seemed to relax under her touch and she heard the smile in his voice when he said, "You should really stop distractin' me if you don't want me to burn these…"
She squeezed him a little tighter and smiled into his sleeve. "I'm keeping my eye on you so you don't burn them", she countered, feeling a gentle laugh rumble through his body as he turned the chicken. Allowing his attention to leave the chicken for a moment, his free hand grabbed one of hers and brought it up to his lips.
"Darlin', you can supervise me like this any time…"
XXX
The flirting continued as they enjoyed their creation out on the balcony where they could watch the sunset over dinner. The balcony had been one of the selling points of the townhouse when she bought it. It wrapped around half of the second floor of the house almost like a porch and you could get to it from both the living room and the master bedroom. At one end, she'd set up a seating area with wicker furniture and at the other, she had a round dining table where they sat side by side while they ate, enjoyed a second bottle of wine, laughed, and enjoyed each other's company.
The food had turned out perfectly and Rick was more vocal about his surprise about that fact. "I knew your part would be perfect but I was sure my part was going to screw it all up", he'd clarified after she teased him about questioning her cooking. She assured him he'd done fine and by the time they were done eating jambalaya and cornbread, neither of them had room for the peach cobbler she'd tempted him with all evening.
The wine had also loosened the conversation; letting them go a little deeper than they ever had before.
"Can I ask you something?" He looked up at her over the rim of his wine glass and he raised both eyebrows.
"Anything." She finished off what was left in her glass and took a deep breath.
"Your marriage…", she began, making the playful expression fall from from his features.
"I was wondering when you were going to ask me…"
"It's just that you're so…wonderful! I can't imagine anyone letting you go." He didn't immediately answer and his silence made her feel bad for even asking. "You don't have to answer…"
"No…it's ok. Lori and I were married too young and once we had Carl, I thought we were this perfect little family…and we were until I found out she'd been cheating on me. She swore it was a mistake and it was over so I tried to make it work for a while…for Carl. Then one day she came to me and said she was leaving me for him."
"I'm so sorry…"
"Don't be. Losing Lori isn't even on the periphery of things I regret about the whole thing. Losing Carl on the other hand…"
"You haven't lost him…" He nodded and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I know. But I don't get to see him everyday either so sometimes it feels like it." Her heart was breaking for him and she understood why he was the lonely guy at the bar the night they met. She reached across the table and squeezed his hand and the gesture pulled a grateful smile to his lips. "So…your turn."
"What?" She should've expected it but she didn't know if she was really ready to talk about it.
"You're a million times more wonderful that I'll ever be, so how is it that you were available for me to ask you out?" She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before sighing. He was right. If he had to share, so did she.
"I was engaged a few years ago. His name was Mike and we'd been together since college. I thought we were meant to be right up until the day he left me standing at the altar all alone." Rick's jaw tightened and so did his grip on her hand.
"He's a coward and a fool." He sounded like he'd be ready and willing to kick Mike's ass for hurting her and she'd never had anyone be that protective of her. It was an entirely new thing and she kinda liked it.
"Yeah, well…since then I just hadn't met anyone that made me want to get back out there, until you." He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed the inside of her wrist.
"Why me?" She shrugged and gave him a short once-over.
"I don't know…maybe it was how honest you seemed when you approached me…maybe it was your pretty blue eyes…" He smiled briefly at her joke but when his eyes met hers again, they were sparkling with hopefulness.
"Either way, I'm so glad you said yes that night." He wasn't the only one who got lucky the night they met and it was taking everything in her not be overwhelmed by the depths of her feelings for him in that moment. She smiled bigger than she thought was possible before leaning over and planting an innocent kiss on his lips.
"I'm so glad you asked me."
XXXX
By the time they moved to the love seat and she was sitting next to Rick with her back pressed against his chest and his arm draped over her chest, Michonne was thinking about how much she didn't want that night to end.
"It's getting late…", he whispered like he'd heard her thoughts and was just as upset about it. Instead of sitting up so he could move, she threaded her fingers through his and squeezed.
"What time is your shift tomorrow?"
"Noon." The fluttering she'd felt in her stomach since the minute she'd invited him into her apartment intensified and she was made hyperaware of the growing feelings she had for him. Michonne had always considered herself a levelheaded person who never leaped before looking or jumped in head first, but this man she'd only known a week had turned all of that on its head. Her overthinking and second-guessing had been silenced by Rick's mere presence in her life and even she knew that was something to hold on to.
She sat up and shifted so that she could see those eyes of his that continuously made her weak. His cheeks were a little red from the wine and his lips curled up in a half grin that demanded that she smile back. She held on to his hand a little tighter and decided to step out on the ledge.
"So…theoretically…you could stay here tonight and leave in the morning to make your shift…" There was a nervous pause as she waited for the real meaning of her proposal to dawn on him. It probably took less than a minute for his eyes to widen and for the corner of his bottom lip to find its way between his teeth, and her heart was beating wildly inside her chest in anticipation of his reaction.
"Well…", he began, "…we did polish off two bottles of wine…" She smiled at the playfulness in his tone and nodded her agreement.
"True and as an officer of the law, it wouldn't be right for you to drive home tonight." He tilted his head to one side and shrugged.
"Sounds like…I should stay put, then…" She felt his eyes following her as she rose from her position next to him only to resettle on his lap with her legs pulled up into the space she'd vacated.
"Sounds like it…", she echoed, gently running her fingers over the scruff on his face. His eyes widened and she could feel the pace of his breathing increase as his hand traced across her knee, dipping under the hem of her skirt. The sensation of his rough fingertips against the sensitive skin there brought a smile to her face. She leaned in closer to him until their lips were nearly touching and her hands moved from his face to the those curls at the back of his neck that she'd never get enough of.
"…and I haven't tried your grandma's peach cobbler yet…" For a moment, he only stared at her; the blatant affection in his gaze tearing down what was left of the walls she'd built around her heart after Mike had shattered it. It had only taken him a week to completely destroy what had taken her years to build and fortify.
"The cobbler can wait", she whispered before meeting his waiting lips with her own.
The kissing started slow, almost tentative as neither of them wanted to rush things, but the intensity became more difficult to keep at bay. She became s little lightheaded when his tongue slipped between her lips, and her grip on his hair tightened and she held him tighter against her like he was the only thing keeping her tethered to the ground. She could taste the spices from their dinner on his tongue and that added to his own unique flavor.
They stayed that way for a long while; making out on the love seat like a couple of teenagers whose parents were out for the evening and how she loved kissing him! When he finally broke the kiss, his lips were swollen and red but he immediately put them back to work on the side of her neck. She leaned her head back and savored the feeling of his lips on her skin as he made a path from her neck to the deep V of her shirt, and back up the other side.
"We should go inside…" He stopped his ministrations long enough to give her a slight nod and she reluctantly pulled herself off of him. He followed her lead and she took his hand in hers as she led him back into the house. When they got to her bedroom door, closed to keep T'Challa out when she wasn't in there, she opened it and pulled him inside. She pushed the door closed behind them and turned to face him leaning against the door and smiling at him suggestively. His burning gaze struck her like an arrow to the heart.
She'd only taken two steps toward him when they met in a tangle of hands and lips. She tugged his shirt loose from his pants and her fingers busied themselves with undoing the buttons so she could push it off his shoulders letting it fall forgotten to the floor. His sharp intake of breath as she dragged her hands across his firm chest allowing her fingernails to lightly scratch his skin, brought a smile to her face as she followed the path of her hands with her lips.
She kissed her way across his collarbone, up his neck to his chin, finally arriving back at his mouth.
"You have entirely too many clothes on, counselor…" His words rushed out in a hurried whisper and she continued nibbling on his neck.
"You can help me remedy that any time…" He didn't need any more persuading. Before she knew what was happening, her shirt had joined his on the floor and he'd captured her breasts in his large hands, massaging them against the satin of her bra as he worked his mouth against hers. She tightened her hold on his waist and steadily started backing him toward her large four-poster bed.
When the back of his knees hit the edge of the mattress he sat down, his hands moving to her sides and he started kissing a path down her body from just under her breasts to the waistline of her skirt. She decided to help him out by reaching to unzip her skirt, stepping out of it as it slipped off of her hips and landed on the floor. He stopped kissing her and she felt his eyes swept across her body from the lacy black bra she wore to her matching bikini panties.
"What is it?" She smiled nervously, her body flushing from the weight of his scrutiny.
"You. You're…gorgeous."
"You sound like you're just seeing that…" He immediately started shaking his head and he pulled her a little closer, his hands making their way down to the swell of her bottom.
"Nah…I always saw it. I'm just seeing more of you and it's kinda overwhelming…" His large hands rubbed her cheeks appreciatively and she had to rest her hands on his shoulders to steady herself.
"Is that a fact?"
"Oh yeah…so if I die tonight the cause of death should say Michonne being too damn gorgeous."
"Maybe we should slow things down. I can't have you dying on me…" Shaking his head, his hands trailed up her back to the clasp of her bra and unhooked it. He pulled it off of her and dropped it on top of her skirt, leaving her breasts free. His eyes lit up and a playful grin danced on his lips and he looked up at her as his hands moved to cup her breasts.
"Not necessary. At least I'll die a happy man…" Her eyes fluttered closed as his mouth descended on her sensitive, hardened nipple and she threw her head back and wallow in the pleasure he was giving her. His tongue nearly drove her crazy each time it swept across her nipple, drawing little moans of satisfaction from her as he rotated from one to the other. Every place his lips touched was left singed and based on her ragged breathing and the way her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest, she wasn't sure if she was going to survive the night.
It had been so long since she felt anything like what she was feeling and her brain was having a hard time processing it. She'd known this man for only a week and she already couldn't get enough of him.
A surge of pleasure emboldened her to push him back on the bed to land between her pillows. She was distracted for just a moment by the way his pelvic bone peeked out from under his jeans. Biting her lip, she ran her hands up his legs and over his thighs, stopping to brush her fingertips across his "V" before leaning forward to replace them with her lips. His eyes widened in surprise as she crawled up his body, leaving a trail of kisses, nips, and licks in her wake.
She rolled her eyes up at him catching him looking at her with his mouth hanging open and a far away look in his beautiful eyes. She loved that look and she loved being the reason for that look. As she crawled up his body, she felt the evidence of his arousal through the thick fabric of his jeans and it sent her anticipation of what was to come into overdrive. The man was certainly blessed in more ways than one.
Her lips made it up to his neck and chin, finally landing on his mouth where they fell into another deep kiss. He took that opportunity to slide his hands into the back of her panties and refilling them with handfuls of her bottom. She broke their kiss with a gasp and he used her broken concentration to flip her onto her back and work on covering her with kisses.
"I think you're the one who's overdressed now, sergeant…" She murmured allowing her fingers to deftly work on loosening his belt and unbuttoning his jeans.
"Seems like you're correcting that for me…" He laughed against her neck and his warm breath against her skin stoked the fire burning inside of her.
"Anything for you." She tugged down the zipper and her hand slipped inside his jeans to feel him and he hissed his pleasure at her touch. He was impossibly hard and she wanted him so bad. She pushed his jeans and underwear over his narrow hips but suddenly, he froze and looked up at her sheepishly.
"Can you…grab my wallet out of my back pocket…" The giggle snuck out before she could even think about holding it in.
"You are such a boy scout!" He'd turned a bright shade of scarlet and she thought it was the cutest thing ever. She almost couldn't get how a man so sexy could be so adorable at the same time.
"I promise you I wasn't expecting anything…I told you Shane came over Friday night and he…insisted…" He tried to explain it, but the idea of Shane trying to prepare him for his date by giving him condoms filled her with mirth.
"Shane's a good friend to you but…" The words trailed off as she stretched to open for the top drawer of her nightstand and pulled out a whole box. "Taking advantage of you was part of the plan…" His lips curled into a lopsided grin and he lifted an eyebrow as his head tilted to one side.
"Could you be any more perfect?"
"Could you?" Their lips meet again but slower as he helped her finish removing the rest of his clothes. Their bodies were pressed against each other with only her tiny underwear separating them.
"You should know…it's been a long time for me." His admission was endearing and she could sense his anxiety brewing. She ran her fingers through his hair and smiled up at him.
"Me too. We'll just take our time, ok?" He nodded and the tension fled she lifted her bottom off the bed so he could remove the last thing standing between them. She pulled a condom out of the box and handed it to him; the sound of the foil packet as it tore open giving her goosebumps. Soon, he was back on top of her; his fingers moving down to touch her and explore her depths as he kisses her. It was her turn to grab handfuls of his ass and she accepted the challenge wholeheartedly. Each time she kneaded his firm backside he'd reward her with a guttural moan and a deeper kiss. His fingers were making it harder to think and her body seemed to know what was happening before her brain could process it. She comes violently; shaking beneath him and lifting her hips to meet his rhythm, barely noticing that his fingers had left her and his rock hard length was poised to replace them.
Widening her thighs, her eyes clenched shut and she gasped when she felt him press into her; her body gripping him to the point where it was almost painful. It had been nearly 2 years since she'd been with a man and it all felt brand new.
He drove deeper into her pausing after each long thrust and she wasn't sure if that was for her benefit or his. His breathing was fast and uneven, and she forced her eyes open she saw that his were closed tightly beneath furrowed brows. His face was the portrait of a man walking the tightrope between taking things slow and giving in to his lust for her. She took his face between her hands and his eyes slowly blinked open and the the fire burning inside of them was unlike anything she'd ever seen.
"Let go...", she urged, the wanton desire evident in her voice. She barely had time to brace herself before he took her advice and buried himself fully inside of her. "Rick…god…" Her hands fell away from his face to grip the bedding as he stretched and molded her to fit him. It was difficult to temper the sensations rushing through her body but she did it; wanting nothing more than to experience all of it with him. He was so still above her, revealing to her that he was having the same problem; it was taking every bit of his concentration not to immediately lose himself in her.
"Chonne...you feel...so good…too good…" His voice was like molasses and she loved the way his shortening of her name sounded on his lips. He kissed her desperately as he slowly started to move; his thrusts long and slow as his hands directed her legs to wrap around him. She eagerly complied and started rolling her hips and meeting him thrust for thrust. He braced himself on his forearms which gave him the leverage he needed to gradually increase their pace. The room was filled with their heavy breathing, gasps, and moans while the headboard's staccato against the wall provided the rhythm.
She wrapped her arms around his torso and held on, her fingernails digging into his back as he kept pushing her body into the mattress while pushing her soul higher and higher toward another peak. Their bodies were slick with sweat and sliding against each other in a delicious and torturous friction that threatened to send them both over the edge.
His face was buried in the pillow next to her and she heard his deep moans, low curses, and her name being whispered like a litany. His voice, roughened by his desire for her, added to the continuing assault on her senses and she could feel herself inching toward her climax.
"Rick…ah…Rick…I'm…" The rest was lost in another heated kiss that swallowed her frenzied words. There was no use in trying to talk. She was well past the point of forming complete sentences, and she moved her hands to cup his face as he kissed her.
After a moment, he pulled her hands away from his face and threaded their fingers together above their heads, his lips focused on the junction of her neck and her shoulder as he continued driving into her. The stubble on his cheeks scratched against the sensitive skin of her neck but she loved it, and she silently thanked him for listening when she'd asked him not to shave.
"Chonne…" His voice was tight and he wasn't going to be able to hold on much longer. She tightened her legs around him and squeezed his fingers to let him know it was ok and he didn't need to worry. The first waves were already hitting her and she pushed her head back into the pillow and arched her back off the bed. The world exploded in a kaleidoscope of color as she was overcome by wave after wave of unyielding rapture. She almost didn't recognize her own voice as she shouted his name into the night.
After a few more shallow thrusts he came, releasing a satisfied groan as she felt his body stiffen before going completely limp against her with his face pressed into her neck. They lay there, trying to steady their breathing and give their pounding hearts time to recover. She wrestled her fingers away from his and ran them through his hair which was damp with sweat.
Shifting his weight off of her a bit, he lifted his head and his wide eyes fixed on hers and she found herself drowning in his bottomless pools of shimmering blue. They were filled with an emotion she couldn't quite name but it was pulling her in and it refused to let her go. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul and his was laid bare before her.
His mouth opened but no words came out and after a second, he chuckled to himself before covering her lips with a lazy kiss.
"Everything…", he whispered as the kiss ended. "That was…everything." She felt the smile stretch across her face and the heat of her blush raced across her body.
"Yeah…it was everything", she sighed, bathing in the remnants of euphoria that were just starting to fade.
"I should go take care of…this…"
She nodded and pointed to a door across the room from where they came in. "The bathroom is over there."
Slowly, he removed himself from her to sit on the edge of the bed before standing up. She rolled onto her side, biting her lip at the view she had of his well-toned backside as he padded across the bedroom. The definition he had back there was unbelievable. It was almost like the man was sculpted out of marble.
"You're packed and you're stacked…especially in the back…" He looked back at her and the smirk on his face turned her smile into a full blown laugh. "…I wanna thank your mother for a butt like that…"
He continued into the bathroom and the door was almost shut behind him when his voice rang out…"Just so you know…fries come with this shake!" She closed her eyes and laughed even louder so she was sure he'd hear her as one thought played at the forefront of her mind.
God, I love him…
XXXXX
When she walked back into the bedroom wearing only his shirt and carrying a bowl filled with warm peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream, she found him sitting in his grey boxer briefs with his back against the headboard. He grinned when he saw her and it was infectious.
"There you are…and damn my shirt looks better on you than it ever did on me!" She did a little twirl so he could see the whole picture, remembering that he'd still been in the bathroom when the craving for something sweet hit her. After wrapping herself in his shirt because she loved how it smelled like him, she'd made her way into the kitchen where T'Challa silently judged her as she warmed up the cobbler.
"Thank you…and I told you through the door that I'd be right back."
"I know…you were just gone a long time…now I see why!" She shrugged and lifted a spoonful of cobbler to her lips.
"First of all, you should know that I'm always hungry after sex…" His skin turned a pretty shade of pink and he nodded like he was committing that tidbit to the most secure place in his memory banks. "…and all that talk of fries and shakes made me even hungrier!" She sat on the bed in front of him, folding her legs like a pretzel with the bowl resting between them.
"Is that the infamous peach cobbler?" She caught him looking into her bowl so she slowly twirled the spoon around in the bowl and scooped up another bite.
"Yep." She slid the spoon between her lips making sure to moan a little as she savored the taste.
"Tell me the story." She remembered that she'd teased the story of her family's peach cobbler recipe over dinner but she'd hadn't given the details.
Smiling, she dropped the spoon into the bowl and sighed. "It's not really a story, it's just that both my grandmother and my mother claim that this peach cobbler is the reason they caught their husbands."
He smiled and shook his head. "You didn't need any aphrodisiac to catch me…"
With a playful eye roll, she joked, "I obviously knew that you were a sure thing so I didn't make it because of the stories."
"Why did you make it?" Raising an eyebrow at him, she filled the spoon with cobbler.
"Because it's amazing! Here…" She lifted the spoon to his lips and he eagerly accepted it. She watched as his eyes fluttered closed and he savored the flavor on his tongue.
"You're right, it's amazing! And if I wasn't a sure thing, that would've definitely done me in!"
"Yeah?"
"Most definitely…that bowl is for both of us right?" She grinned and fed him another bite.
"You're the only person I'd share it with."
They finished off the bowl of cobbler while talking and laughing about nothing and she was glad that the change in their intimacy didn't seem to affect the way they were together.
As they finished the last of their dessert, she noticed a small drop of cobbler sauce on his chin and she leaned forward and licked it off. His eyes became fixed on her lips and when they finally met hers again, they'd darkened to a much deeper shade of blue.
"You had cobbler on your chin…"
"Thank you for taking care of that for me", he pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and she was suddenly feeling much warmer than she had been only seconds earlier.
"It was my pleasure…" He wrestled the bowl out of her hands and she noticed his cocky grin a little too late to avoid having cobbler sauce accidentally on purpose spilled on her thigh. His head immediately dipped down to lick it off with a slow sweep of his tongue and what really sent her heart racing was the way he rolled his eyes up to give her the most adorably innocent look he could manage.
"You had some on your thigh", laughing lowly she shook her head at him.
"I can't imagine how that happened…", she quipped.
"Me either…" he mused as he took the spoon and dragged it across her skin tantalizingly close to the apex of her thighs. "Oh look…there's more." She shivered shamelessly as he thoroughly retrieved that bit with his tongue as well. He was still grinning when he placed the bowl on the nightstand and used his hands to unfold her legs so he could move between them.
"I should check to see if I missed any. We don't want to get cobbler all over the sheets…" Gently, he pushed her back onto the bed, slid his hands underneath her and lifted her up slightly before lowering his head to continue his search.
"Find anything…ah!" Her eyes clenched shut and she rolled her head back in rapture as his mouth expertly worked her over and soon she was pulling mindlessly at his silky curls and wondering how she'd gotten so lucky to find this man. Still, from the edges of her consciousness, she heard his voice breathy and deep.
"Yeah. I hit the jackpot…"
XXXXXX
A/N: So there you go. There is one more chapter from Rick's POV…because we NEED to know how our boy is handling these…developments… before we have a bit of a time jump. :)
That FKA twigs song is straight fire! If you haven't heard it you should give it a listen. I'm going to post a Spotify playlist for this story in my Tumblr (link in bio).
Confession time…I don't consider myself very good at exposition. I'm better at dialogue. So writing love scenes is REALLY tough for me. I was seriously going to do a fade to black but when I started writing, this came out, I hope it was ok. :)
Because of all that, I had to change the rating. But from the description of T on this site, I think I was pushing it anyway.
Please review!