Author's Note: This was supposed to be the last chapter, but it sort of became entirely side-tracked by smut… oops… (#sorrynotsorry)
Oh, dear lord baby jesus.
Chris wasn't certain at all that he hadn't just died and gone to heaven. Merri's slender limbs were wrapped about him, holding his sweat-slicked body flush to hers, her sweet heat still gripping him tight, pliable muscles convulsing about his softening flesh, milking him dry, leaving him in a blissful stupor of utter satisfaction.
More than satisfaction. Pure contentment. Joy. Happiness. Serenity. Peace.
God, the woman could drive him to distraction, frustratingly so. Sometimes, she got his blood so riled up... And not always in a positive, affectionate sort of way. They had disagreements, arguments. But he supposed the fact that he admittedly hated her every once in a while was the reason that loving her was so damned wonderful. The contrast heightened the connection he felt with her. It was so much sweeter to have her cuddling against his side, humming happily as she nuzzled his neck, after her giving him the cold shoulder at work because he'd disagreed with some logically-arrived upon hunch (but it was still a hunch in his book) she'd had. His arousal was that much more poignant when she jumped him in an amorous mood, lust and love filling her eyes, after those same pretty brown eyes of hers had been shooting daggers at him earlier in the day.
Initially, Meredith Brody came across as reserved, cool, collected, level-headed. But he'd discovered the secret truth to her heart. She was an immensely passionate person. And he loved every inch of her, mind, body and soul.
Whatever he'd done to deserve her love, must have been in a previous life. Because he couldn't recall doing a damn thing to merit even a moment of feeling like this, of being with such a beautiful and intriguingly, arousingly complex woman.
"Um, Chris?
"Mm...?" He rubbed the tip of his nose against her neck, breathing in the scent of her, which at the moment consisted heavily of perspiration and sex, underlined with her shampoo and soap, the perfume-y 'fresh breeze' laundry detergent of the now soiled sheets tangled about their sweaty bodies.
"I do like snuggling with you afterward..." There was laughter in Merri's voice, the giddy, affectionate, melodic kind that always instantly warmed his heart. Not that it could get any warmer at the moment. "But maybe you could, um..."
Chris groaned with the effort of pushing his heavy, boneless-feeling body up off from his lover. He had collapsed upon her... had a tendency to do so whenever they finished with him on top. Couldn't help it really. Merri took everything he had, and he willingly gave it. It left him in a state that could almost be called 'out of body' only that it was being aware of every buzzing nerve in his flesh, every humming synapse in his head, that sent him there. And all because of her. Her touch. Her body. Her eyes. Her kiss. Her love.
"How long...?" he asked as he pulled out of her, his voice husky and low, doubtlessly wrecked from noises he didn't remember making. He was actually a little hard... again? There was no way he hadn't completely spent himself when she'd dug her fingernails into his ass, her body taking him so deeply and squeezing him so tightly as she climaxed with his name on her lips... So he must've been out a while... Merri laughed again, as he flopped onto his back and she cuddled into his side, throwing a leg over him and running her lovely slender fingers down his chest and stomach.
"Probably a good ten minutes. Maybe more," she said, her soft fingertips (well, except for her well-calloused trigger finger) roaming southward. It had to be longer than that for his body to already be responding to her with some considerable interest.
"Ya get a li'l too much amusement outta how ya wreck me, don't ya?" He put a knuckle under her chin, raising her face so that he could steal a kiss. She tasted -oh, god, yes- sweet with a pleasantly bitter tang, like a dry wine.
"The truth?" Her fingers wrapped about him, stroking him gently, in no rush to get him hard or inside of her, just an absent sort of affectionate touching.
"I think I can handle it," he said, sighing as a fresh sensation of pleasure was draped over him like a cozy blanket. Merri sure as hell knew how to build a slow-burning fire, just as well as setting off a flash-burn. She was pressing her lips to his chest in small, slow kisses, lazily working her way around his right nipple which had puckered, the surrounding skin turning to gooseflesh over her teasing, her hand tenderly fondling his balls.
"I fucking love it," she whispered, her voice taking on a gravelly edge that made the heat blossom and flare in his groin. "I love that you don't hold anything back. Ever. That you give me so much of yourself that there's literally nothing left."
"That's a pretty way of puttin' it. Most would prob'bly jus' say I get what I want an' then pass out on ya."
She laughed again, a gentle bubbling sound, like a babbling brook. Yup, she certainly was in a good mood tonight.
"Well, that would be unfair of me to say, considering I get what I want, too."
"Glad ta hear it," he said running his hand down the elegant slope of her back until he was cupping her round, perfect -absolutely perfect, not too firm, not too soft- ass. He urged her a little and she complied, shifting to lie almost entirely on top of him, giving him better access to her gorgeous body. He kissed her neck as he traced her curves. Women were beautiful creatures, soft lines that flowed into one another, graceful and appealing. And Meredith Brody... He just couldn't get enough of her. Drinking her in with his eyes. Memorizing her with his fingertips. Making her sigh or moan. Or say his name in that tone of voice, with such vulnerable, unguarded desperation.
"You. Are. So. Dang. Beautiful," he said, capturing her face in his hands and staring into the deep, warm depths of her eyes, which were inarguably the first on a long list of beautiful attributes she possessed. "I love ya."
She'd propped herself up, her palms flat on his chest as she stared down into him. And it was the seriousness that had replaced the playfulness in her expression that took his breath away.
"I love you, Chris." She leaned down and kissed him. And maybe he'd just had her entwined with him, as close as they could physically get, but he found himself wanting, needing her again. It was exhilarating and terrifying to realize that he couldn't remember a life without needing her, couldn't imagine ever existing without wanting her, loving her.
She'd begun kissing his jaw, his throat, and continued to blaze a trail of heat down his chest and stomach, delving her tongue into his navel and making him laugh and tug at her hair to get her to stop. She giggled. Another trait he'd never expected to discover. Merri Brody, giggling. And then he was squirming as she briefly tickled his sides, and then she was -oh, fuck! Big Al's Sweet Fat Ass!
He felt the tremor vibrate through him as Merri laughed around her mouthful of his flesh, and then the cold air replacing her warmth as her lips released him with a wet 'pop'.
"Did you just invoke your college mascot while I was...?" She trailed off into more laughter.
"Mebbe," he said, a blush of embarrassment replacing the flush of arousal heating his face and neck as he realized he'd said that aloud.
She pushed herself back up his body so that she was lying on top of him with her forearms resting on his chest, studying his face with an amused grin curving her pretty lips, which were shimmering with moisture from the use she'd just put them to... begun to put them to, until he'd disrupted her amazing attentions with his stupid mouth.
"You are so weird, sometimes," she said, big brown eyes staring into him, sparkling along with the now full-blown smile she was sporting. "I love it."
She kissed him soundly on the mouth, and there was a salty edge to her bittersweet flavor, which he knew was from his own body. He groaned as she plunged her tongue past his lips, to embrace and thrust against his own, the neatly trimmed thatch of curls between her thighs rubbing against his now fully erect flesh. She pulled away, settling to straddle his legs one more, wearing a new smile, of the mischievous, lascivious variety.
"Now, where was I?"
She leaned down, her sure grasp finding him, her -oh, fuck, yes- warm, wet mouth engulfing him once more. And then he lost all coherency. It wasn't until she was cuddling up to his side, licking her lips and then nuzzling his throat that his brain could string two words together, let alone send them to his mouth.
"Ya didn't hafta go an' prove it," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, stroking her bicep as she snuggled tighter against his side.
"Prove what?" she asked, that self-satisfied tone to her voice that she couldn't hide from him.
"Prove that ya love wreckin' me."
"Well, if you didn't make it so fun..."
"Just ya wait, ya little succubus." He let his fingers wander down her naked back, caressing the full, round curve of her ass, and then slipping beneath to the slick, soft flesh between her thighs. "When I recover enough, I'm gonna lick ya and drink ya so deep that you'll be beggin' me ta fill that place I've sucked dry."
He felt her literally become wetter, shuddering and squirming against his touch.
"You'd like that, wouldn't ya, Merri?"
She whimpered, obviously resisting the urge to moan or beg. But she would beg, plead with him to use his mouth on her. And then he'd make her scream his name in mindless ecstasy. He stroked her wet, needy flesh as he cupped her breast with his free hand, gently raising the large mound of flesh as he bent his head to pull her nipple into his mouth, first teasing her with his tongue and then using his teeth before he sucked unrelentingly hard at the stiff bud of flesh. Her back arched, her body thrusting against his side as she moaned.
He released her now very pink, puckered nipple, shifting slightly to kiss her, thrust his tongue into her mouth and tease her in all the ways he knew she liked. From her stupefied reaction -and the moaning- he knew she was contemplating having his eager tongue applied to other parts of her, parts he currently was slowly stroking with his fingers. He abruptly stopped, pulled away from her and settled flat on his back, reclining languidly amongst the tangled bed sheets.
Merri growled in frustration as he grinned. If she wanted to play hard to get, she'd mistakenly used up her leverage when she'd given him that spectacular blow job, leaving him utterly sated. She would have to admit that she wanted him to use his sinful mouth on her, because she couldn't use his own arousal against him, make him perform without giving him what he wanted. And he wanted her to admit that he could wreck her just as well as she did him, that she wanted him to.
Crawling on top of him, she sunk down so that her large, round breasts laid heavy on his chest, her stiff nipples poking into his skin. She knew he loved when she laid on top of him like this, every inch of her chest, belly, pelvis and legs pressed flush to his, so much skin to skin contact, and allowing him to run his hands down her back, to fondle her heart-shaped ass. He resisted, and she sighed forlornly.
"What do you want, Chris?"
"I want ya to tell me what you want."
"You know what I want."
He chuckled. It could be frustrating at times. But it was also what was so fucking fun about their relationship. Games. They couldn't help but play with one another, turning perhaps some things that shouldn't be into a battle of wills. But it wasn't always like that. They often made love without words, willingly surrendering to one another, all open and unreserved. And it was wonderful. But he imagined always having soft, tender sex could get boring. Merri and him... he didn't see them getting bored anytime soon.
She huffed, pushed herself up, glaring down at him.
"Fine, you perverted control freak-"
He gave her a look that threatened withholding entirely if she weren't careful. A message she obviously received, for she placed on a playful mock smile. He knew the anger beneath it was all an act, too. Part of the game they were playing.
"-perverted control freak whom I love," she said with false sweetness. "I want you to fuck me with your tongue, which I suspect just might be forked."
He laughed, and she joined him as he grabbed her, flipped her onto her back and began kissing his way down her belly. After some little time and much exuberant attention on his part, she did scream his name in mindless ecstasy. And Chris licked the taste of her off his lips, humming happily to himself as he gathered her limp, trembling, whimpering form against his body, knowing he could wreck her completely with his affection.
A/N: One more chapter… although I'm feeling a little plot bunny hopping around the recesses of my brain, and it's one concerning a trope that I've never really written before (Cherri seems to do that to me, make me consider writing plots/genres/themes/styles I've never tried or actively avoided).