A/N Posting another chapter. Thanks to all who are reading. A special thanks to those of you dropping me a line in one form or another, it's greatly appreciated!


*9*

"Not fast enough", Nikita panted with a smile as she ducked underneath Michael's arm and danced out of his reach. She brought her arms up in a starting position as she and Michael circled each other on the mat.

His face showed a hint of his trademark half-smile as he advanced upon her slightly, daring her to make a move. This was a good idea, Michael congratulated himself for suggesting they spar for a couple of rounds. Nothing like physical exertion to battle an impending blue funk.

Nikita closed in on him, her eyes gleaming with determination. Tiny beads of sweat pearled on her forehead and between her breasts, making her skin glisten and distracting him thoroughly. Which was probably why his last strike missed its intended target… A drop of sweat rolling over the curve of Nikita's breast and disappearing into her sports bra caught his attention. Michael cursed inwardly and told himself to focus.

She attacked, he parried. A blow stopped in mid-air, a kick evaded and then Michael's leg shot out at the same time as Nikita's fist. He blocked the punch, using her energy behind it to bring her further of balance as his foot hooked behind her ankle, landing Nikita flat on her back on the mat, her breath whooshing out of her.

"Fast enough?", he taunted, reaching out to give her a hand up. Nikita grinned at him and gave a sharp tug on his proffered hand while she swung out a leg and effectively swiped his feet from underneath him landing him next to her with a loud 'oomph'.

"Nope", she smiled triumphantly as she rolled and pecked his lips. Getting up in one smooth motion, Nikita pulled him up after her and quipped, "Either you're losing your touch, or your heart isn't really in it."

He refrained from telling her his heart was more than in it, as were a few other vital parts of his body… Which was part of the problem. He was enjoying their hand to hand combat a lot, but images of the many other ways he could be touching her instead of them taking turns landing flat on the mat as they sparred, kept assaulting him every time they came into full contact and he got a whiff of the unique scent that was Nikita's. That along with the vision she presented - all that smooth, sweat slick skin and pert breasts heaving from exertion combined with that lovely daring smile of hers - sent his mind and body into overdrive and wreaked havoc on his reflexes. Again he told himself to snap out of it.

Michael heard, rather than saw the smile that accompanied her taunt and gathering his wits, turned the tables on her lightning fast. In a smooth but abrupt swing he had her immobilised against his chest. A second move had her mostly naked back connecting with the mat again with him straddling her hips and her hands locked in his above her head.

"Really?", he asked somewhat teasingly as he looked down upon her. He couldn't resist taunting her some more and bent forward to breathe over her lips, "Lesson one: never turn your back..." But he didn't get to finish - the glint in her eyes should have been enough warning, because at that moment she bucked her hips and managed to regain the upper hand, flipping him underneath her in a practiced move. A move he had taught her himself as fate would have it. She interlaced their fingers, pressing the backs of his hands into the mat and with her legs on either side of him, she fitted their hips together with heart-stopping accuracy. Michael's breath left him in a hiss as his body instantly responded to the warmth of hers.

"Lesson number two: don't get cocky." Nikita's breathy voice washed over him, as she repeated his own words from years ago back to him. She raised an eyebrow suggestively and then Michael made her eat her words by flipping them both over again and thrusting his burgeoning arousal against her, rousing the heat in her further. Nikita bit her lip and closed her eyes. Biting back a moan, she instinctively tilted her pelvis to try and increase the friction.

Memories of their sparring sessions in Division clouded Michael's mind and fueled his desire to follow through now on what he had very much wanted but couldn't have back then. This was too good an opportunity to live out a fantasy that had plagued him many a night during her training days, to pass up. Freeing one hand by grasping both of hers in one of his, he trailed a featherlight caress down her arm to the side of a heaving breast and over her bare stomach. "You want to go another round?", he asked rhetorically. His voice a heated whisper against her ear before he traced his tongue along the outer rim.

Nikita moaned and pushed her pelvis against his once more which made Michael smile in pure male satisfaction. Gently biting down on her earlobe he shifted his hips to make room for his questing hand to slip underneath the waistband of her yoga-pants, cupping her through her already soaked underwear. The fact that it wasn't just in his head, that she turned out to be just as affected by their sparring session as he was, pleased him immeasurably and encouraged him to increase the pressure of his hand against her cloth-covered heat. He watched her eyes slowly drift close as she ground herself against his hand.

"You play dirty", she gasped.

He smiled against the skin behind her ear, kissing her there. "All's fair in love and war", his voice no more than a gravelly whisper as he curled his fingers against her. Nikita's spine curved into a bow involuntarily, thrusting out her breasts while she tried to free her hands from his. "Tease", she accused breathlessly.

"Not if I follow through", Michael replied, catching her lips in a kiss. Plundering her mouth, he pushed her underwear aside and slid two fingers through her sleek and slippery folds to enter her in one smooth stroke. "Oh god", she moaned, sucking in a deep breath at the sudden but oh so welcome invasion and arching her back again as Michael started to gently stroke his fingers up and down inside her silky warmth, his thumb finding her tiny bundle of nerves unerringly and circling it slowly. She pulled up the leg that wasn't held hostage by his and let it fall open, granting him greater access to her burning flesh.

Michael slanted his lips over the pulse point in her neck and sucked before lightly scraping his teeth over it. Her breath hitched in her throat as he curled his fingers inside of her on a downstroke, making her push herself further into his clever hand. His voice rumbled through her, "Hmm, you're so wet", she groaned as he flicked his thumb a little harder over her bud. As if on cue another gush of moisture soaked his fingers and he smiled again, kissing the skin over her jaw.

"How long have you been like this?" She couldn't answer him beyond a gasp as he stroked over an exceptionally sensitive spot inside of her and Michael didn't really expect her to either. At the same time he couldn't help but tease her some more, nipping her lips, he whispered over them, "I could smell you, you know." She moaned and tried to catch his lips. "Just like before. Spicy and sweet and something very much you." Nikita sucked in a breath at his provocative words and then he was kissing her again. His tongue stroking against hers in the most sensual way, keeping pace with his fingers inside of her.

As their kiss turned into the tasting of lips, Michael picked up the pace of his strokes to her appreciative moan and slowly kissed his way back to her ear. Taunting her a little more he whispered over it, "I love that you want me so much." Nikita whimpered, thrusting her hips in time with his strokes. He kissed her deeply once more and scraped his thumbnail over her bud. Nikita broke their kiss breathing heavily, "Oh yes".

Michael smiled again and licked a path down her neck to her collarbone, tasting and kissing her salty skin, telling her in between kisses, "You have no idea how good it feels to be inside of you." Nikita's breath left her in a shuddering sigh, his words only adding to her desire. "So tight, so warm." He rubbed his thumb against her a little harder as his fingers stroked her faster and the muscles in her legs tightened and twitched in anticipation. "So delicious when you come around me."

Nikita groaned and let out a soft cry of pleasure as his fingers stroked over her most sensitive inner spot again and again, his thumb keeping up a fiery rhythm against her bud. Building the heat in her more and more until he felt the telltale shiver inside of her and told her, "Come Nikita, come now." He closed his mouth over the tender skin of her neck while his fingers and thumb increased its ministrations inside and against her, letting her desire crest and overflow. Her muscles contracted around his fingers tightly as she let out a long, low cry of release. Her fingers instinctively grasped the hand that held them captive, while her leg closed over his other hand, capturing it against her as wave after wave of pleasure rolled over her.

Gently stroking her through her orgasm, Michael released her hands to curl his around her neck while he kissed her softly, treasuring her. Nikita shuddered against him almost violently. Reduced to a quivering mass she lay beneath him, letting him kiss and touch her as he pleased, feeling absolutely adored and too overcome to even lift her arms from their position above her head.

Long minutes passed as Michael let her come down gently, staring at her in wonder. She was utterly lovely like this, glassy eyed and boneless. Swept away by passion, satisfied at his hands, quite literally this time. He felt her tremors die down somewhat, her breathing turning slightly more regular even as her scent still permeated the air around them.

It wasn't enough. He wanted more. He wanted to taste her again. But above all he wanted to fill her with joy again, to keep her from thinking any less than pleasant thoughts. To keep her from thinking period. He wanted to keep her mindless with bliss, for just a little while longer. Because that was exactly what she deserved.

His fingers changed their soothing rhythm inside her and his thumb connected with her still overly sensitive bud in a teasing caress, flaring up her desire for him in a heartbeat. Not quite having regained the power of speech, Nikita let out a mewling sound as her whole body came alive with need once again.

Michael pushed himself up on one hand, stroking through her trembling warmth one last time before pulling his fingers out of her and stroking her tender folds goodbye for now as he removed his hand from her completely. She let out a gasp at the loss and he touched his lips to hers in a kiss meant more to comfort than to stir.

Too much clothes. He wanted to see all of her again, have free access to every part of her. Without much ceremony he divested her of her workout clothes and underwear, happy they'd foregone shoes for their little sparring session. He took off his own shirt just as quickly, leaving on his pants for the moment and then he was on her again, skin to skin, her puckered nipples poking into his chest as he settled between her legs.

Nikita's hands came up to tangle in his hair as he touched his lips to hers again, plundering her mouth and trailing his hands down, grazing the sides of her breasts in a slow butterfly light caress. He felt a shiver run through her and his mouth left hers to kiss down her throat. Reaching the dip between her collarbones he licked his way down to the valley of her breasts, once again tasting the salty tang of clean sweat on her skin. Nikita inhaled sharply as one of his hands came up to knead one breast, teasing the nipple into almost painful tightness before his fingers closed over it and pinched slightly. She whimpered as the sensation echoed deep in her belly, an answering pang radiating outwards, making the folds of her sex ache with the desire to be touched anew.

Michael's mouth closed over her other nipple and she moaned again. Her legs spreading a little wider of their own accord, the fabric of his sweatpants lightly chafing her damp thighs when she moved them. He smiled against her as his lips and tongue lavished attention first to one breast and then to the other, his hands tracing further down to grasp her now wriggling hips as she sought relief. Trailing his tongue down her rigid abdomen he dipped it into her navel, kissing it deeply before traveling further down, halting just above the apex of her thighs.

With her scent filling his nostrils once more and her harsh breathing the only sound in the room, he lifted one of her legs to drape it over his shoulder. Blowing warm air over her dark pink folds, he pushed the other leg up and bent it outwards, spreading her before him. One of her hands left his hair to trail down to his cheek, fingers outlining his upper lip. He caught them in his mouth, sucking their tips for a moment, coaxing a strangled moan from her throat, before grasping her hand in his and twining their fingers.

Resting their joined digits next to her raised leg on the mat she squeezed his a little and then the vision before him proved too much to resist and he dipped his head to her heated flesh, tracing her luscious folds with his tongue before sucking her bud between his lips. Nikita made that mewling sound again as she tilted her pelvis at him, her hips bucking even though his free hand on her smooth thigh tried holding her down. It was too much and not enough at the same time.

Her voice having left her, all she could do was feel and gasp for air as he took her higher and higher. Not able to think straight anymore, Nikita shed the last of her inhibitions. He felt so good. Her fingers tightened in his hair almost painfully as she held his mouth to her sex in a wordless demand for more.

Michael couldn't contain a moan of his own at her wantonness. His body taut with desire, the hard hot flesh between his legs throbbing for attention. Attention he consciously denied it, as he wanted this to be all about Nikita. The incredibly strong and independent woman that had captured his heart a long time ago. An innately sensual being he had the joy of turning into a lascivious nymph underneath his hands and mouth as he loved her with everything in him.

Michael kissed her more heatedly, his tongue swirling around her bud before trailing down and penetrating her deeply, licking a very pleasurable spot inside her silken walls. Nikita arched off the mat at the overwhelming sensation, gasping brokenly as his tongue stroked through her throbbing flesh. Her heel dug into his back as her hand squeezed his harder and her nails scoured his scalp. Another strangled gasp escaped her.

Yes, Michael thought to himself as he licked and laved, tasting her spicy sweetness, devouring her - this was exactly what he wanted, how he wanted her, out of her mind with lust and centered wholly on the feelings he provoked in her and nothing else. He would never get enough of this, never get enough of her.

As far as Michael was concerned, Nikita's desire reached its peak all too soon. He felt her muscles flutter against his tongue, her flesh quivering against his lips, her legs stiffening as she gasped again. A choked, "Oh", was the only sound she made as he intensified his intimate kiss for just a second before she tumbled over the edge and into bliss.