I have countless excuses for why the chapter is late, but I doubt you would want to hear them, so I will spare you. Fact is this chapter was a very hard and long chapter for me to write.
I hope you'll enjoy it though, there's a reason it took a long time to write ;-)
Just a warning, the next chapter is the last one before the sequel, and it will be very short. Which means a quick update, but a short one.
Beta: NemiNightingale
Ashland needed to think. After the awkward dinner with Hannibal she didn't know how to approach Will. Now that she knew so much about him that she probably shouldn't know, she suddenly didn't know how to talk to him. She felt like she needed to tell him about going to Hannibal for information, but she didn't want to jeopardize the easy-going friendship they had so far. So for two weeks, she stayed at home, going over all the different ways she could bring up the topic to Will. Whenever she practiced what she would say, somehow the only sentence she ever managed to stutter out, however cliché it may be, was 'We need to talk'. And no conversation starting with that fated sentence had ever, in the entire history of the earth, ended well. It gave her so many relationship associations that it almost had her wondering whether she was there to talk to Will about her prying into his business or to break up with him.
"No, that sounds stupid," she reasoned, going over yet another casual sentence to fling at Will, to encroach upon the topic she needed to talk to him about. Everything came out so forced, and not at all as casual as she was going for.
Two weeks, and she had come up with diddly squat. Absolutely nothing. Not even a single word. Even the word 'Hi' seemed strange to her, now that she knew much more about Will than he probably wanted her to. What was she supposed to say?
"Hi, I talked to your psychiatrist about your mental health, earl grey please"? "Doctor Lecter says you're cray cray, two sugars, a splash of milk"?
Yeah, so not casual. How do you do casual like that?
Why was this so hard?
Ashland released an annoyed sigh as she threw herself onto the couch. This was going nowhere.
Simmering in silent frustration, she stared at the ceiling in displeasure.
'What am I doing?' she wondered to herself. 'This is just Will, why am I hiding from him?'
And she didn't have an answer. Other than being a bit of a coward about the whole situation, she genuinely didn't know why she was avoiding Will. Was she somehow worried that he would kick her out of his life as soon as he found out she had been snooping?
'Perhaps I am worried of this turning into a break up,' she thought, not liking the idea that perhaps she had grown just a bit more attached to Will Graham than she had initially thought.
"We really need to talk," Ashland mumbled, groaning at what she knew she had to do; with or without a speech prepared.
He was getting worried. Normally Ashland never went more than a week without visiting him (more like 3-4 days, if he were to be completely honest with himself) and it had him on edge. Two weeks is a long time if all you have to keep yourself company are dogs and the FBI crew. Especially the FBI crew had him high-strung, considering the circumstances under which they always met; it wasn't exactly fun and games they were up to.
But Will wouldn't call. He couldn't. That would only prove the point Hannibal had been trying to make. That Will was in love, and that being in love with Ashland was a problem. It couldn't be a problem, so Will dealt with it the only way he could; by ignoring the so-called problem.
So the void unknowingly created by Ashland he filled with Hannibal Lecter.
What Will wasn't expecting was for Ashland to show up, right as said psychiatrist was visiting.
For the second time in a very short amount of time, Ashland pulled up beside Hannibal Lecter's car, groaning at the prospect of having to face both the FBI profiler and the psychiatrist at the same time. This really wasn't turning out to be her day.
Even though she wanted to turn the car around and drive back home to come back another day, Ashland got a hold of herself and turned the key in the ignition, cutting off the engine. Steeling herself for what looked to be a catastrophic meeting, she took a deep breath, grabbed her purse and stepped out of the car to make her way towards the house.
It was pouring outside, a thing that didn't help her dwindling confidence about facing Will, but forced her to rush to Will's door, giving her less time to rethink what she was about to do. She knocked as soon as she was within reach of the door, not wanting to postpone the inevitable, and wanting to get inside as quickly as possible. It was as cold as the first day they met.
Ashland stood there for a hellishly long minute, within which she almost managed to convince herself he wasn't home. She had gone as far as turning around to leave, only to calm herself down and recognize the fact that Hannibal Lecter's car would not be outside of Will's house, if Will wasn't home.
'Unless it's like that time when Hannibal was checking on Will's dogs when Will was away. He could be away, I should probably-' was all Ashland managed to think, before the door creaked open, revealing a startled Will Graham.
Silence.
"Hello Will," Ashland said after a few seconds, in a hesitant and sheepish voice, clearly conveying her feelings of shame for her absence.
"Ashland," Will stated, confused with her sudden presence after two whole weeks of silence on her part. He was mostly confused by her absence, but after having waited so long he had almost managed to convince himself she wouldn't be back.
"I'm sorry, is this a bad time?" she asked, looking over his shoulder into Will's living room where Hannibal Lecter stood, looking right back at her.
Recovering from his confusion, Will snapped back into reality and realized that it was, indeed, a bad time. He really didn't want Ashland to meet Hannibal; a meeting between the two would provide his psychiatrist with ample material to last him months in the consulting room, and months of talking about Ashland with Hannibal was a thought deeply unappealing to Will.
But seeing as he hadn't seen Ashland for two weeks, something had to be bothering her, and if he turned her away now he wasn't sure when she would be back, if ever.
"Feel free to come in, if you don't mind me having visitors," came Will's slow response as he gestured with his head towards his the man behind him.
A part of him desperately wished she would decline the invitation, yet an increasingly dominant part of him wanted her to stay. He wanted to tell her. Perhaps following Hannibal's advice would do him some good. Surely, telling her how he felt would take some of the pressure away, lightening the load of worries pressing on his already strained psyche.
Perhaps he should tell her.
Unknowing of his dilemma, Ashland was in the same situation. Desperately wanting to stay, and even more desperately feeling the need to go, yet completely unable to do so. Even though this was a conversation she desperately didn't want to be having, least of all with Hannibal Lecter in the house, she knew she wouldn't be able to muster up the courage to come back here, if she didn't tell him now.
So she would stay.
"Of course I don't mind you having guests, Will," Ashland answered, a strained smile twisted on her lips, as she saw Will's shoulders tense at her acceptance of his invitation.
Hesitating for a second, Will stepped away from the doorway, creating an opening for Ashland to enter.
"This is Hannibal Lecter," Will started, gesturing towards Hannibal "He's a... colleague of mine," Will hesitated, deciding not to classify him as his psychiatrist. He wasn't sure Ashland was entirely ready to handle knowing about his… quirks. Coupled with the fact that he was planning on confessing his feelings for her, he felt that it wouldn't be a good idea to drop two bombs at once; She would have enough trouble dealing with one as it was.
'Real trusting of you, Will,' Ashland thought with a hint of bitterness. He was really not making it easy for her. Had he just introduced Hannibal as his psychiatrist, the transition into the troublesome topic would have been much smoother. But nooooo.
"Yes, we are both currently working with the FBI," Hannibal elaborated, holding his hand out in greeting, as if they had yet to be introduced to each other.
'Oh goodie, now he's ready to bend the truth for me. Thanks Hannibal, Will, you two are just set on making this hard for me,' Ashland's inner voice complained. She couldn't decide whether she was grateful to Hannibal for playing pretend, as it would provide her with an excuse not to tell Will about their little meeting, or annoyed with him for making this situation into a massive verbal obstacle course for her.
She was leaning towards the latter.
Extending her hand towards him, she made up her mind.
"Ashland Vodall, nice to meet you," she greeted, following Doctor Lecter's lead.
Obstacle course it was.
"Hannibal Lecter," he returned the greeting, continuing in an echo of their first introduction not too long ago. "Will has told me all about you," he said, withdrawing his hand from hers.
"Hopefully only good things," Ashland joked, looking teasingly over at Will, who seemed to have loosened up his shoulders a bit at their casual conversation.
"Nothing but," Hannibal smiled, picking up on the déjà vu in the situation.
"You've told him about me, Will?" Ashland asked, a teasing voice accompanying the wink she sent him to let him know of the gentle jab she was taking at him.
"Everything would be a gross exaggeration," Will corrected in the closest thing he came to a joking voice around Hannibal Lecter.
"You're too modest, Will. I believe I have sufficient notes for a biography," Hannibal disagreed, a teasing smile that Ashland imagined would disarm most women out there, playing on his thin lips.
And it did disarm her, just not in the way it would most women. She was a bit flattered that Will had talked about her, but the fact that it was about everything and with Hannibal Lecter alarmed her in ways she couldn't entirely interpret.
But then again, after her dinner with Hannibal, she technically shouldn't be too appalled; that would be the pot calling the kettle black.
Fortunately, Hannibal seemed to know why Ashland was at the cosy farmhouse, and politely excused himself soon after introductions had been concluded, clearly not interested in becoming entangled in the strange and complicated affairs of Will Graham and Ashland Vodall.
Not entirely knowing how to approach the situation yet - thank you very much, Hannibal Lecter - she decided that the best approach would probably be to calm Will down from their conversation with the psychiatrist. He seemed oddly absent, focused on something invisible to her eyes, and what better way to summon his mental presence back to her than their usual banter and a cup of coffee.
Ashland walked into the kitchen followed by Will, who decided to stare out the window, focusing on the rain, which left Ashland to start preparing the coffee.
"So," Ashland started, tasting the words carefully as she put over a medium roast brew, before continuing. "Mr. Lecter seems to have yet to sample your very outstanding Starbucks coffee."
Reacting on the familiarity of the situation, Will snapped back into the world of the living and looked at Ashland as if he had completely forgotten she was there. His eyes shifted, and he blankly took in the brewing coffee.
'Did Ashland put that on?' he wondered, having been in his own world for a bit. He had been trying to figure out how to bring up the topic of 'love' in their conversation, and somehow the sentence 'we need to talk' seemed too banal and overused for this particular type of exchange. Well, it was usually used in breakups, which usually had something to do with love. Of course, if this conversation didn't go as he hoped, their situation could very well be reminiscent of a breakup.
No, 'we need to talk' wasn't an option.
Getting himself together, he replied: "Yes, Hannibal is a bit too…" Will hesitated, as he looked for a word that would fittingly describe Hannibal Lecter. Finding the word he thought matched Hannibal's demeanor, Will continued: "...refined, for Starbucks coffee."
A snort came from Ashland. Everybody she knew enjoyed a good cup of Starbucks coffee. Granted, none of her friends were as 'refined' as Doctor Lecter. No one she had ever known had ever been as refined as Hannibal Lecter's pinky finger, let alone his entire being. That didn't mean you could be too refined though, unless you were the Queen of England or something like that. And Hannibal Lecter sure didn't look like the Queen of England.
"Nobody is ever too refined for Starbucks. Too pretentious, however," she said, innocently raising her eyebrows as she looked away, pretending her comment was a general statement and not a personal jab at Will's psychiatrist.
They both knew better.
Will just raised an eyebrow while trying, and failing, to hide an amused smirk at her antics.
"So Hannibal Lecter is too... pretentious for you?" he asked, now not even bothering to hide his amusement.
"Now, now, I never said that," Ashland corrected, leaning against the counter to point an accusing finger at Will at his assumption. His very correct assumption. Not that he needed to know that.
"So you like Hannibal?" Will asked, with a slight bitter tone to his words, emphasizing the word 'like' for a more than friendly alternative to the meaning of the word, catching Ashland severely off guard.
"Uh, what?" she grunted out, in a very undignified manner.
"Well, the stereotype dark, tall and handsome seems to attract a lot of women," Will added to his previous sentence, elaborating in a very matter-of-fact voice.
"I prefer my men tall, dark and unpretentious, thank you very much," Ashland answered, getting herself together enough to reply in a very posh and pretend dignified manner.
She really needed to work on her pokerface if she were to be around men like Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter. They had a way of causing her to be in a constant state of bewilderment.
"Do you think I'm pretentious?" Will asked quietly, walking casually towards Ashland as she unwillingly let out yet another disbelieving snort at his question.
"Please, Will, you're as unpretentious as they come," she said, waving his question off.
'Will. Pretentious. Those two words don't even belong in the same sentence,' she thought to herself, amused he would even bring it up.
"A breath of fresh air, really," she added, trying to smother the wide smile that was threatening to come out.
"Really?" Will questioned, taking yet a stop closer, overstepping the boundaries of the personal space he was usually very careful to maintain.
"Really," Ashland replied, her voice portraying a slightly flat tone, and her amusement dimming a bit as she noticed how close Will suddenly was. It occurred to her that he was acting very strangely. First he got all jealous boyfriend on her, and now he was asking about her opinion of him, while closing in on her like a predator would on its prey.
Very confrontational and unlike Will.
He didn't answer as he took a final step towards her, bringing them within inches of each other. He leaned closer, towering over her.
He was so close that she could feel his breath on her face. She swallowed audibly, her mouth having very suddenly dried out at the unexpected closeness of her friend and the not entirely subtle smell of his aftershave.
'Hmm, old spice.'
"Really?" Will repeated.
His words, rough and a little too loud to be a whisper, were spoken into her ear, his breath teasing her skin, making a deep and previously unknown need blossom in her stomach.
"Really," she breathed out, feeling hot and light-headed as his hair brushed lightly against her cheekbone.
As if being able to read her mind, he turned his face, looking deeply into her darkened eyes and lightly brushed his lips against hers, hesitating in order to test her reaction towards his affection.
She almost reached up to cup his cheek and pull him down for a real kiss, but stopped herself before she could. She hadn't told him about going behind his back to Hannibal. She couldn't do this to him. And she couldn't do this to herself.
She needed to get out of there.
Ashland released a breath she didn't know she had been holding, and turned her face away from Will's, pushing herself away from the counter and storming out of the room with her head down, desperately avoiding getting eye contact with Will as she passed him.
She could hear him call after her, but she ignored it as she hurried through the living room, tore open the door and ran out into the rain, leaving the door to smack after her with a resounding bang.
"Stupid", Will mumbled to himself as he braced himself on his forearms against the door, his forehead touching lightly against the wood in front of him.
He knew he shouldn't have done what he did. Of course she would react like that - it really should have come as no surprise. After all, he was more than 10 years older than her. What could she possibly want with an old man like him? And a broken man at that, too.
And he had more than likely sprung this upon her at the worst possible time. After all, she had been avoiding him for two whole weeks, so she must have had something troubling her that more than likely pertained to him.
He had probably ruined every single chance of friendship the two had had for the future.
A frustrated sigh came from him as he lightly brought his forehead back a few inches, only to smack it lightly against the door again.
"Stupid", he grumbled to himself again, and closed his eyes as if it would somehow take him away to a different place, a place where he didn't have to live with the fact that he had just driven one of his closest friends out the door with an indubitably misplaced display of affection.
He hadn't been able to control himself. He had expected just to tell her how he felt about her, not necessarily show her, but he just couldn't help himself. It was like being a teenager all over again with all of the raging hormones and whatnot, and it didn't sit well with him. It just added to the ever-expanding list of things he apparently had no control over anymore.
He hadn't been standing against the door for more than half a minute, until he was roughly brought out of his self-deprecating moment by a forceful banging on the door. Wincing at the earsplitting noise so close to his ears, he peeled himself off of the door and tried - without success - to look a little less miserable before grasping the door handle and opening the door. He hadn't even had the time to speculate on who would visit so late in the evening, having become used to all sorts of random visits on all hours of the day - and night for that matter - from both Ashland, Hannibal, Alana Bloom and on one occasion even Jack Crawford himself, so when he opened the door and saw the person he least expected to see on his doorstep, he froze.
"Ashland", Will stuttered, taking in her drenched and equally miserably-looking form.
Without a word, she hurriedly strode forward and did what she should have done in the first place: she took his face in her delicate hands, bringing his face - his lips - down to hers.
It took no more than a second for Will to overcome the shock of seeing her again so soon after his faux pas and to come to terms with the fact that she was really here, really kissing him, before he jumped into the kiss with renewed vigor.
Feeling a shiver as he placed a hand on the small of Ashland's back, his otherwise preoccupied mind came to the quick conclusion that the door was still open, and without breaking the kiss, he took a couple of steps back to bring Ashland fully inside, before grasping blindly for the door with his unoccupied hand. Finding the doorknob with closed eyes was no easy task, but he managed to get hold of the door and slam it shut before backing Ashland against it, pressing their bodies closer together.
A slight squeak of surprise was heard from Ashland as her back met the door, and Will took the opportunity to slide his tongue past her lips, successfully dominating the kiss before Ashland had a chance to recover. Feeling Will's hard body so closely pressed against her own, Ashland breathed out deeply into the kiss, a deep, quiet moan surprising the both of them.
Feeling pleased with himself and spurred on by the small admission of pleasure on Ashland's part, Will backed away from the door, turned and started slowly maneuvering the two of them past the dogs standing curiously around in the living room, never breaking the open mouthed kisses they were greedily exchanging.
Will managed a couple of steps before he bumped into the corner of an armchair, causing him to withdraw from Ashland for a second before again beginning to lead her backwards towards his bedroom. As soon as they passed through the door Ashland grasped at his shirt, roughly pulling it from his pants and unbuttoning a few buttons to have access to the warm skin underneath.
Will groaned as Ashland managed to slide her hands under the soft fabric of his shirt. He felt her delicate hands traveling upwards, mapping out his upper body with feathery light touches that had his pants tightening and his mouth drying out.
'Hannibal was definitely right,' Will realized. Anyone who could make him feel like this with the mere touch of their hand certainly had some sort of power over him. And he wasn't entirely sure it was a good thing, but at the moment he couldn't bring himself to care. It had been too long, far too long, and he wanted her. He needed her. He needed to possess her, like she had possessed him for far too long now.
His breath was labored as she pushed closer, and he edged his warm hands beneath her grey shirt, lightly massaging her sides as he pushed upwards, bringing the shirt with him.
Goosebumps trailed after his touch, rising on her creamy skin at his loving caresses. His lips left hers, only to kiss his way down her jaw, finding his destination at her delicate neck.
She shivered in his arms, grasping at his shirt as his warm, slick tongue touched down on her heated skin. She didn't stop him as he brought her shirt over her head, leaving her in jeans and her simple black bra; she only set to work on undoing the rest of the buttons on Will's shirt, immediately pushing it off his shoulders as she finished in a desperate need to get closer.
Will's fingers lightly stroked Ashland's back, before they traveled down her spine, ghosting over her bottom to test her reaction. At her slight sigh of approval, his hands took a firmer approach, smoothly stroking the skin above her jeans, before gently bringing his hands down to her clothed derrière, putting just a slight pressure on one side, as his other hand stroked its way up her side, past her breast, sliding up her neck shortly before landing on her cheek.
He tilted her head up towards him, pulling her into him, before planting a gentle kiss on her lips, inviting her to deepen it.
As their kisses went deeper, Will's grip on her behind tightened before it slithered up towards the belt-loop, trailing the skin just above it all the way around to the front, where he slowly unbuttoned her pants.
She breathed in deeply, knowing exactly where this was going, and she found herself not entirely minding this new development. Even though she should probably have walked away right about the moment when Will had kissed her, she knew that she would be lying to herself if she said she didn't want this.
She would tell him about Hannibal later. Or tomorrow.
Deciding to speed things up a bit, Ashland pulled her hands towards Will's, effectively stopping all movement on his side, before he felt her pull down the zipper of her pants.
For a second, Will had been fully convinced she was about to reject him. His gut had clenched in the expectation of rejection for the entirety of a second, before her hands had joined his in removing her jeans. Relief flowed through him as she took a step back, biting her lip as she looked up at him before tugging at the tight material clinging to her legs.
As her legs were freed from the constricting material, Ashland advanced on Will, deciding it was time for them to be at an equal state of undress. This time her hands made short work of the zipper, and she had him stepping out of his pants before he even registered the bold move.
Both now stripped to their underwear, Ashland pushed Will backwards onto the bed, forcing him strongly down on the bed before straddling him, her legs resting beside his thighs on the soft mattress.
"Are you sure?" Will asked through the heavy, eager kisses Ashland was showering down on his awaiting lips. After all, she had already been unsure of this once today, and that had only been a kiss.
Ashland paused for a moment to think. Through the passionate haze she had been in from the moment she had kissed Will, she hadn't really thought much about it. It wasn't a time for thoughts, it was a time for action. But now that he asked, she realized, that no, she wasn't really sure about this. But she also knew, that she would regret it if she said no.
So she didn't.
Instead, in an attempt to hide her reluctance to answer, she relayed the question back at Will.
"Are you?"
Like Ashland had done, Will took a moment - though a much shorter moment - to think.
"Yes," he answered with confidence, running his hand through her hair, resting his hand on the back of her neck while gazing up at her with a look that awakened the butterflies in her stomach and made her heart flutter.
"Then so am I," she responded in a voice portraying much more assurance than she had. Her mind had been made up at the flash of affection in his eyes. She would not turn her back on him like this. Again.
Everything after that happened in a bit of a blur for Ashland. Spurred on by her words, Will suddenly decided it was time for him to take control over the situation, and Ashland found herself flipped onto the bed in a flurry of extremities.
In a matter of minutes, all clothes had been abandoned, strewn over the entire expanse of the room, and a heavily breathing Ashland lay underneath Will who was pushed up on his arms to hover above her.
Slowing down for a second, Will took in her body, his eyes observing every inch of skin exposed to him, mapping her out with his eyes as she had previously done to him with her hands. Drinking in the sight of her bare and anticipating body beneath him, he slowly leaned down, feeling the beat of her heart quickening while burying his face in her neck, breathing in deeply and kissing her skin.
Her petite hands touched down on his upper arms before creating a trail of soft brushes up towards his shoulders, caressing his neck as he trailed his nose down her neck, towards her collarbone, resting his forehead between her breasts for a short while before turning his attention to her left one. His nose gently caressed her areola, and Ashland squirmed in anticipation beneath him, as his hot breath hit her tightening nipples.
Deciding not to tease her further, Will dragged his tongue slowly over her perked bud, while shifting his weight to free one hand to keep the lonely breast company.
A slow and sinful moan escaped Ashland, who tightened her grip on Will's neck for a second, before settling one hand on Will's shoulder and the other in the sheets for a better grip.
He shifted his attentions to the other breast, yet again shifting his weight to be able to explore both swollen peaks.
The sound of Ashland's labored breathing pushed Will further, and he found himself trailing kisses downwards, passing between her breasts and dipping his tongue into her bellybutton. His tongue trailed further downwards, lavishing one of her hipbones in heavy kisses and licks in a promise of what he would do to her.
She whined as he moved on, teasing her at the edge of his goal, sweetly dragging his nose up her inner thigh, nuzzling her at the apex of her thigh before burying his head between her legs.
Every sound she made drove him crazy, as he circled her sweet, swelled nub with his tongue. He knew she was ready for him, but knew he would regret it, if he didn't take the chance to thoroughly worship all of her, making her feel every single thing he was feeling for her.
He had her panting within minutes, and only stopped his touches as Ashland pushed him away. She needed him, now. And she probably had for a while.
Will rested his forearms on each side of Ashland's head, ducking down to look intensely into her eyes. She smiled slightly, granting him permission for exploring what had been building between them since their kiss, and leaned up to plant a light kiss on his lips.
She was ready.
He returned the smile with a slight upwards quirk of the lips, before tugging Ashland's legs around his waist. Positioning himself, he pushed slowly against her, reveling in the feeling of her. He felt her all around him as they joined; in his head, beneath him, around him, in him. It was something he couldn't explain, but there, buried deep inside Ashland was where he felt whole.
She was tense as Will filled her. She shifted slightly to adjust to the feeling of him inside her, enjoying the foreign pleasure of having Will so close, permeating every part of her being.
Unaware that she had closed her eyes, she released the breath she had been holding and opened her eyes, signaling to Will he could move again.
Their pace started out slow and intimate. Despite the passion between the two, Will had no need for this to end soon. It had been a while for him, so he knew he needed to take his time with her, making sure she felt every touch, every movement of their joined hips as strongly as he did. He didn't want to finish before having thoroughly loved every inch of her body.
His pace soon built, creating further friction between them, drawing pleasured mewls and sighs from Ashland's throat.
He pushed closer to her, tighter and further up against the wall by the head of his bed, forcing Ashland into a position that inspired an idea in her.
She quickly pushed against him to shift positions, the surprise forcing him onto his back, while she hovered over him, taking over the dominant position. She grinned at the startled expression on his face, and took a hold of him, making his startled expression shift into a strained one as he focused on keeping himself from finishing right then and there in her hand. She was so warm against him, in a firm and dominant way that fired something up inside him he had not encountered before.
She stroked him firmly a few times, enjoying this power she had over him. She was in complete control of his pleasure.
She wanted to pleasure him like he had done to her, but Ashland could feel he was close, and the mere thought of her hot mouth on him would more than likely do it for him. And Ashland wasn't by far done with him yet. Touching would have to do for now.
Feeling like she had tortured him enough, she raised herself on her knees, sinking down on him, moaning in sync with Will at the new position that was bringing them both a new type of bliss.
They thrust against each other, Ashland rising and falling on him in a steady rhythm that gradually increased in intensity and strength as the minutes passed.
It didn't take long before Will started to feel the tightening signaling the end of line for him, and he couldn't help himself as he pressed harder up against her, thrusting slightly deeper than before, as he felt her tighten around him.
He groaned as her very vocal expression of their joined pleasure reverberated through the room. Her legs tightened at his thighs, as the sound of her had him growing harder inside her, and he found more and more difficult to hold back.
In his very dazed state of mind, he almost didn't notice when Ashland was trying to catch his attention by holding one hand to his cheek and the other tightly clutching his shoulder.
As he opened his eyes to see find out what she wanted - desperately hoping she wasn't going to tell him to stop, because he knew he would be able to - he locked eyes with her and found the most enchanting sight he had ever had the pleasure of laying his eyes on.
The Ashland he observed over him looked flushed, dazed and absolutely disheveled, and in her tousled state, she moaned out a single word that sent his stomach tightening and his heart soaring.
"Please."
Shoving all hesitance to the back of his mind, he granted her wish and picked up the pace, pushing her down on him hard, losing any and all inhibitions along the way.
Every touch had her dizzy with affection, and every thrilling push had her losing her breath.
It wasn't long before their united efforts bore fruits and Ashland felt the build up inside her, pushing her further and further towards the edge.
Will could feel her getting closer, and he knew he was almost there.
A deep, resounding moan passed Ashland's lips as her entire body stiffened, her eyes shut, and her fingers grasped Will's back in their desperation to have an outlet for the bliss running through her body. The sound prompted a similar reaction on Will, and he could feel himself swelling before all muscles in his body tightened, pushing against Ashland a few last times, before climaxing with a throaty groan.
With labored breaths, Will rested his forehead against Ashland's breast, as they both reveled in the sensations of post-orgasmic bliss buzzing through them. Suddenly feeling exhausted, Will leaned up to give Ashland a short, but loving kiss before rolling them both to the side, Ashland following him to rest her head on his chest.
She basked in the thrums that still hummed inside her body every now and then, listening to Will's heartbeat gradually slow down as he fell asleep, joining him only a few minutes later.
'Oh my god, what did I do.'
She had gone to Will's place in the afternoon, with every intention of talking about her dinner with Doctor Lecter, which she had very much expected to end in tears and with her being thrown out, and ended up sleeping with the guy instead. Without having told him about her dinner with Doctor Lecter.
'How did I even manage that?' Ashland questioned herself miserably, as she woke up a couple of hours later, the post-coital haze having evaporated from her mind. Will was still asleep, no doubt completely exhausted from all the very emotional sex they had been having, yet Ashland knew she would find no more rest.
This was not supposed to happen.
Sure, when Will had asked her if she was sure about it, she had said she was sure, and in her defense, she had been pretty sure at the time. Not entirely, but pretty sure.
Now, she wasn't so sure. At all.
Making a decision that would most likely end whatever relationship she had with Will, she dragged herself out of the bed, being careful not to tug at the sheets or touch Will in any way as she looked for her clothing. Unlucky as she was, she managed to find everything but her panties that she assumed Will was now lying on, so with a resigned sigh, she pulled her jeans on, cringing at the feel of the fabric on her bare skin.
'Hannibal Lecter is going to crucify me for this,' she thought, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket as she walked out of the house while making a call she should probably have made a long time ago.
"Bess? Hi sweetie, I'm sorry to just call you like this, I'm sure you're in the middle of dinner. No, I'm not okay. Listen, do you have room for me on your couch for the next couple of days?"
The door slid open to reveal the intimidating man she was planning to visit. It was probably a bad idea considering the fact that he was Wills psychiatrist, but she really needed his guidance. No matter how intimidated she was by him, and how intense a person he was, she had resigned herself to the fact that she needed to talk to someone, and the only one she really knew around here who wasn't the source of her current problems, was the man standing right in front of her. With his sleeves rolled up. Wearing an apron.
'Woops.'
"I'm sorry, was I interrupting? I can come back another time"
"Not at all Miss Vodall, you came just in time for dinner."