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Chapter Forty-four

One tremendous snore emanates from the family room followed by an equally loud but slightly leaner wheeze from a roommate. Despite all the noise from the dueling snorers, Rick walks quietly down the stairs, stepping gingerly to keep the creaking to a minimum. Bare-chested and barefoot below his black jeans, in deference to the humidity that had come back with a vengeance, he rubs the drowsiness from his eyes as he heads toward the kitchen. At just after two in the morning, the entire house is asleep – except for the woman who shares his bed.

He vaguely remembers her slipping out with a mumble about getting a drink, but that seems like hours ago. In full conscious reality, it may have only been minutes, but now that he's awake he won't be able to fall back to sleep without her beside him. His body is so attuned to hers that unless her heart is beating in a peaceful rhythm and within arm's length, his will not be at rest.

Through the doorway of the large kitchen, the glow of a candle floats soft and inviting. He enters the room to find Erin in her black nylon shorts and a deep burgundy tank top, sitting on the counter holding a glass of water to her forehead as the humid night air wafts way too gently through the open window behind the sink. The light breeze does nothing to cool the room, but creates a symphony of dancing shadows as it stirs the flames of the pillar candles glowing from their perch atop the stove. With her hair piled high on her head in a messy ponytail, he sees her neck glistening with sweat in the muted light.

"Aren't you a little young to be having hot flashes?" he teases, crossing the room to stand at her counter.

"I wish it was just a flash. This night is never ending." She lowers the glass to the counter as he steps between her knees and leans in to press a soft kiss to her lips. "You should be sleeping," she says softly against his mouth.

"So should you."

"Too hot to sleep," she replies, dragging her bare ankles along the black denim of his jeans.

"Why didn't you wake me? I would've come down with you." He squints at her with a semi-serious smirk as the green sheen of jealousy clouds his vision once again. "Or were you waiting for your friend Aaron to meet you here?" Dammit, he can't help himself. "Shit, I just ruined it for you, didn't I?" he teases. Sort of.

"Darn it, you found us out," she answers dryly and then tilts her chin as her fingertips caress his chest. "Yeah, we were passing notes under the Parchesi board," she whispers seductively. "He's going to meet me down here so he can really pounce on me to drive me home."

Though he knows she is just teasing him, he can't fight the tightening in his jaws.

"Oh my, God. You are so jealous!"

Of course he is. "No I'm not."

"Yes you are!" She beams up at him, seemingly proud of her observation. "Look at you!" She tilts her head with a sexy little grin. "You know, you're kind of cute when you're jealous."

"I'm not jealous." Just because I have this insane urge burning inside me to prove myself to you… He doesn't voice that thought, but can't contain the next one, only slightly less unreasonable. "Just because I want to smack the smile off a guy that flirts with my girl-,"

"You ass, he wasn't flirting!"

"He was!" he snaps, and then exhales through his nose, calming himself to keep his voice – and his emotions – in check. "And you were enjoying it," he adds, his tone a bit softer but still bitterly sharp.

"I was enjoying his company because he reminds me of a guy I used to work with! A good friend of mine. He was a great guy and the best nurse at Northside and Aaron is a lot like him."

"So you had a thing for that guy too, huh?" Rick can't help himself, the words are out before he can get a firm grip of sanity on his tongue.

"Oh yeah," she says with a sarcastic lilt. "We used to snuggle up and watch 'The Birdcage' and 'Hairspray' on Netflix."

"And now you want to get all cozy with Aaron."

"No, honey, Aaron is as gay as my friend Greg was."

He inhales to launch the next barb and then splutters with a cough as her words sink in. "What?" He blinks hard and then gapes at her in confusion.

Her palms rest tenderly against his cheeks, stabilizing him with the security of her touch. "Seriously, babe, he'd rather sleep with you than with me."

"No way, Red." He gives her a highly suspicious smirk, but feels a considerable weight ease off of his chest. "What makes you think he's gay?"

"I have excellent gaydar."

"Oh come on. He's not giving off that kind of vibe at all."

"Just because he isn't the stereotypical ultra-feminine swisher with a limp wrist and stiff pinky, doesn't mean he isn't gay."

He gives her another dubious look.

"And…" she grins with a cheerful degree of pride. "He mentioned that he and his 'partner' Jesus had been living in Key West for eight years. If you do the math, X equals gay." She smiles innocently as her thumbs trace the contour of his lips.

"Well, yeah they did say something about being together for a long time. I just thought they were really close, you know?"

"Yes, honey." She chuckles softly. "Extremely close."

"Well, that's nice," he says and means it sincerely. "Good for them."

"And good for you, huh? Now you don't have to be jealous."

"Yeah, very good for me. I actually like the guy and it would've sucked if I had to give him a nose job."

"Spoken like a true Neanderthal," she says dryly. "My hero."

"Well I'm sorry but I've never felt this way before." He pulls back as his spine stiffens with irritation, more at his own lack of maturity than with anything she has said. "This is brand new territory for me."

"Hey." She slips her hands behind his neck and pulls him closer until their foreheads are touching lightly. "You don't ever have to be jealous. Don't you know that you're the only one for me? How can you not know that, Rick?"

Rubbing his hands along her thighs, he presses his forehead firmly into hers.

"Because I'm an idiot and I forgot what I already knew. I'm sorry, sweetheart." The heat from her skin soaks directly into him while their breath mingles between them, making the humid night air even hotter. "Christ it's hot in here." He pulls back in search of a fresh current.

"I know." Her hand slips away for a moment and then comes back up with the glass of water. "Here, honey."

"Does that help at all?" he asks, taking the cup from her hand and bringing it to his mouth for a sip. When she shakes her head woefully, he dips two fingers into the glass and glides a wet line across her forehead, blowing a cooling breeze against the moisture as she closes her eyes.

"Mmm, now that helps a little," she murmurs as he dips his fingers once again.

Feeling strangely invigorated with the truth about Aaron, he paints another line down the side of her neck, blowing softly and punctuating it with a kiss against the base of her throat when she tilts her head back in pleasurable relief. And then once more, two fingers collect cool water to trickle a trail from her throat to the dip of her cleavage.

Holding the glass between them, he tilts it over her breast, just enough to let a small stream of liquid douse her tank top and the hardening niblet beneath it. Leaning down he covers the wet spot with his mouth, sucking the moisture from the cotton and nipping at the pebbled bud inside it, eliciting a soft mewl from her throat. Lifting his head, he returns his adventurous fingers to the glass and, looking at her lips, opens his mouth slightly as a silent signal for her to do the same. She parts her lips and he inserts the dripping digits between them. She pulls them in and rolls her tongue around the pads and over his short nails, moaning softly as she looks into his eyes with longing for something more.

He feels a cozy pressure squeezing his hips within her knees, and then an even nicer emphasis on his growing erection in the shape of her palm. He fights to contain a heady moan from his diaphragm as he places the glass on the counter with a heavy hand, sloshing the water inside.

Pulling his other hand away from her mouth, he crashes his lips into hers and replaces his fingers with his tongue, plunging between her teeth in an urgent dance of enchantment. He frames her faces between his palms, savoring the tongue that swirls over his with a passion that quickly ignites a flame in his belly. When she pulls back for air after a few fiery moments, he is trembling with need; an intensely possessive need.

He groans into her hair as she unfastens his pants and reaches into his boxer briefs, taking him in her hand and rolling her thumb across the super-sensitive tip. She strokes his length and he finds her mouth once again, searching for her sweetness to absorb the cries of his desire. He loses himself in her taste, in her touch, and in the love that she gives so completely. "Baby, I love you so much."

"I love you," she whispers breathlessly against his mouth as her hand continues to move over him, consistently smooth and delightfully firm. Squeezing and pleasing him, she swallows his moans until his need to be inside of her becomes unbearably potent.

Wrapping his arms around her back, he pulls her to the edge of the counter, forcing her to release him from her amorous grip before her hand can be trapped between them. She brings both hands up to hold his shoulders and he lifts her from the counter, pulling her hard against his chest. Her legs cling to his waist as he turns toward the table in the center of the room. Laying her upon it, he grinds his arousal against the thin nylon covering her center. Her hips move to meet his, answering his demand for more and echoing his voracious need to become one.

He feels her fingers digging into his back as he possesses her mouth once again, hungrily thrusting his tongue inside as he covers her breast with an ardently eager hand. He can't get enough of her. He worships her body thoroughly, massaging her chest, her hip, her ass. His hand moves over her flesh in a frenzy of fervent caresses as he continues to press his groin into hers.

He breaks the kiss with a gasp and a growl, quickly leaning back to reach for the waistband of her shorts. Fingering the hem of her panties as well, he pulls both garments down her long luscious legs and drops them at his feet, immediately forgetting their existence. She lies open before him, beautifully bare and wondrously alluring. Shoving his jeans down to his thighs, he looks at her through starving eyes and lifts his chin with a small hitch to the side. As if she'd heard him speak the words, she sits up and slips off the edge of the table, running a slow hand down the center of his chest before turning to bend over the white formica.

Stepping directly behind her, he caresses her hips as she spreads her feet apart. "Are you ready for me, sweetheart?" He dips a hand between her thighs and she moans at his touch, the sound muffled by the wrist that her cheek is resting upon.

"God yes."

He leans over to place a kiss at the base of her spine, just below the hem of her tank top. She arches her back with a quickening breath as he works his fingers deep inside and then gently over the tuft of nerves at her clit. She is still groaning against her wrist when he quickly removes his hand and buries his erection deep within her. Engulfed to the hilt, he holds himself still for a few precious moments, caressing her back lovingly before gripping her hips to begin thrusting in and out, sleek and steady. He starts slow, fighting the urge to pour himself with complete abandon. Moving his hips in a leisurely fashion, his gyrations are gentle but his body is tense, rigid with yearning as he savors their connection. "You feel so damn good."

"Mmm…"

He feels a slight tug on his balls and then her hand is cupping them gently. "Christ, that feels good." Another light pull on his nuts and his control is completely shattered. Clutching her hips, he pumps feverishly into her, driving harder and harder as if he had something to prove. With every thrust, he is reminding her… You. Are. Mine.

Her palm presses softly against his sac as her fingertips rub across a sensitive spot just behind it. His belly quivers and his cock twitches, inching dangerously close to detonating. He grinds to a halt. Holding himself balls-deep within her, he lets the upsurge subside. "Hang on, honey."

"Rick," she sighs softly, breathing heavily beneath him, quietly moaning her love for him as she continues to stroke him gently.

"I'm not gonna last much longer." Leaning flush against her back, he rests his forearm on the table at her shoulder, surrounding her with his body, both inside and out. She lifts her head and pulls his fist beneath her chin. He feels the warmth of her mouth against the back of his wrist as he reaches his other arm around her hip, slipping his hand to their junction and brushing her own inquisitive fingers out of the way. He presses his lips to her nape as he teases the slick tissue knotted at the top of her opening. The small sting of incisors bites into his captured wrist, his arm rumbling beneath a muffled moan as her ass shimmies slightly against his crotch. "Oh, yeah." His finger circles the tender pleat, around and around. "There it is. That's the spot, isn't it, baby?" She answers with a healthy groan, her face buried within the arc of his arm. "I love you, honey," he breathes against her hair as his fingertip continues to fondle.

She lifts her head slightly. "I love you." Her whole body seems to tremble within his hands as she tucks her chin down again, resting her forehead against his forearm. "God, I love you." The muffled words bypass his ears and resonate straight to his heart.

"I love you. So much, baby." He scrapes his teeth gently along the side of her neck, restraining the impulse to clamp down. Closing his lips against the animalistic urge, he presses a hard kiss to her shoulder instead. "I want to feel you come now. Come for me, sweetheart." He strokes her faster and feels the tightening of her walls around him as her body quakes through a powerful orgasm.

"Oh God!" Her hand reaches back and clings onto his hip, digging her nails into his skin almost painfully so.

"That's it, honey." His erection swells inside her, begging for his own release. "Fuck, you feel so good." Pushing off of the table, he stands up quickly, upsetting her for just a moment with the removal of his hands. But the somewhat whiny groan turns into a heartfelt moan when he grips her hips and plunges into her shuddering heat again and again.

He hears a few muttered words of encouragement, sworn through gritted teeth, as he pumps his hips faster and faster, increasing the rhythm as well as the pressure as he drives into her core, the soft sounds of flesh meeting flesh echoing in the candlelight. "Oh, baby. Oh, Rick. Oh, yeah."

He pours his heart into every thrust until his balls draw up with the sweetest relief. Squeezing her hips fervently, he pulls her body tightly against him as he spills his love inside her with an earth-shattering orgasm that he feels from his heart to his soul.

As he floats down from the heavens and his erection begins to soften inside her, he collapses on top of her, lying flush against her back once again. He curls his arms beneath her, holding her dear as their shadows pulsate on the walls in the flickering candlelight, both of them panting for much needed air. He rests his sweaty cheek against her perspiring shoulder blade and feels her inhale and exhale deeply beneath him.

"Honey?"

"Yeah, baby?" he answers thickly, trying to catch the breath she took away.

"I'm still hot."

"I guess that wasn't the best way to cool you off, huh?" He feels a chuckle roll through her as their sweat mingles in the heat of a southern summer night, their faithful hearts connected as intrinsically as their hot-blooded bodies.