A/N: A little more smut for y'all. There is actual plot coming back next chapter.

And you lurkers out there? It's time to come out from the shadows! Reviews are what keep me writing...

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Alice woke up to a loud booming noise coming from somewhere in the house. She would have been frightened by it if she hadn't immediately recognised it as coming from her Xbox: Duke Nukem doing some nuking.

The bed next to her was empty and when she sat up to check the clock it was just after three am. She fell back into pillow and smiled. He was an insomniac. They had so much in common.

Alice was really glad he'd stayed. She felt far calmer now, now that her body was no longer screaming for fulfilment. Sleeping next to him, having a warm male presence in her bed after so long had been comforting. There was something so intimate, so trusting about sleeping with someone. In some ways it was more intimate than sex, she thought, you were at your most vulnerable asleep and you let someone be there for that.

She rose and put on a silky robe, heading out to the living room.

"Hey," she said quietly, not wanting to startle him. He looked cute, nowhere near his real age, sitting in boxer shorts and t-shirt, his hair sticking up in all directions, leaning forward in concentration.

He looked briefly away from the screen to give her a smile. "Hey. Sorry, it's probably too loud. I couldn't work out how to turn it down."

"It's wired into my Bose. You can have it blaring in every room of the house, if you want."

She sat down on the sofa next to him and checked the screen. He was doing pretty well and from the stage of the game, he must have been playing for a while.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked, rubbing his back. Because it just seemed like the thing to do.

"Nah." He didn't look away from his game. "My leg, sometimes . . . go, go, go, no the OTHER way," he worked frantically at the controls, ". . . sometimes makes it hard to sleep."

Alice turned to lean into him, being careful not to disturb his game playing. She let one hand trail up the inside of his thigh.

"Hey, I'm about to tip the stripper," he complained. "Then I'm going on to the hidden level."

Alice ignored him. She decided to just keep teasing him until real life seemed more appealing than the one on screen. Her hand reached the leg of his boxers and she wriggled her fingertips inside to tickle his balls. Her mouth nibbled on his earlobe.

"Is the game distracting you from your leg?"

"Yes," he said, and she saw him bite his lip as her hand moved further into his boxers.

"And am I distracting you from the game?"

"Yes."

"Good." Alice fell to her knees and pulled the elastic of his boxer shorts down so she could distract him properly. It didn't take long before he tossed the game controller on to the sofa next to him and leaned back. Alice smiled as she heard the sad noises of Duke Nukem's defeat.

"You're a good distraction." He wound his fingers gently through her hair.

She paused her ministrations to look up and speak. "Better than Duke?"

"Hmm, I don't know yet." He pretended to be giving it great consideration.

"Hey, don't forget what I have in my mouth here." She grazed her teeth – gently – across his most delicate skin.

"Better than Duke," he agreed quickly.

Alice continued to work him, alternating between licking him like a popsicle and sucking him into her mouth as deeply as she could. She monitored his reactions, loving learning someone new, finding out what made him draw in his breath, what made him groan her name. She could feel as his excitement intensified, his balls in her hand tightening almost imperceptibly, and knew he was getting close. He put a hand to her cheek to stop her.

"My mom told me it was rude to make a girl swallow on a first date," he said.

Alice pulled away and laughed. "You really do say the most inappropriate things."

"I say plenty of inappropriate things, but I do inappropriate things way better," he said, leering.

"Yeah? Show me." Alice challenged. He was big on talk, she was beginning to realise. So far he'd performed well. Very well. But now that he knew her body a little, she wanted to see exactly what he could do. Would the reality live up to the hype?

"Get up here." He'd lost the teasing tone and his serious, commanding voice sent a fresh flood of moisture to Alice's already tingling groin.

"Yes, sir," she answered, climbing up from the floor on to the sofa next to him. As she did, her silky robe parted and she made no effort to restore her modesty.

He twisted around on the sofa to face her, his eyes immediately going to her almost completely exposed breasts.

"They're stunning," he said, almost to himself. "Lie back," he said to her, all commanding again.

Alice did as he asked, pulling her robe open as she leaned back, resting her head against the arm of the couch. He leaned over, kissing her hipbone, his mouth marking a hot trail up her torso until he reached the underside of her breast. He extended his tongue to lick a slow path to her nipple, circling it before taking it into his mouth and clenching it between his teeth.

"Ah!" Alice couldn't help but cry out at the rough treatment, which he immediately soothed by licking her thoroughly and blowing gently over the tight peak. Alice shivered and felt her nipple pucker into a hard pebble. She couldn't prevent herself from putting her arms around his neck and guiding him to her other breast. He repeated the treatment, using a hand to continue to tease and stroke the other breast, creating so many sensations that Alice didn't know where to focus her concentration.

She closed her eyes and let him worship her, his tongue and lips and fingertips working over her. She sensed that he was just as aroused by it as she was, his unintelligible murmurings definitely sounded like noises of appreciation.

He began to move down her torso again, light butterfly kisses tracing her skin until her reached her mound.

"You taste like sex," he said. He encouraged her to part her legs further and when he kissed her, there, she took in a sharp breath.

"Oh! Don't," Alice said, not even sure what she was saying.

"Don't? Don't what?" he asked. "Don't do this?" His mouth opened and he pressed into her, his hot tongue breathing fire from her clit to her womb and throughout her body. He teased her expertly, his lips and tongue tormenting and playing, exploring her folds, threatening to drown her in pure pleasure. When he fastened his lips around her clit and began gently sucking, Alice groaned loudly and pushed her hips into him.

"Oh God," she said, all other words having deserted her. Her ex hadn't been into oral, either giving or receiving, and it had been a long time since someone had given her such a thorough seeing to. Alice gave brief thought to imprisoning this man, keeping him locked in her bedroom, under her command, making him do this to her whenever she ordered. And it sounded like a pretty good idea, especially when he pushed two fingers inside her and began slowly fucking her with them, his rhythm matching the flicks of his tongue.

"Don't come," he mumbled against her.

"What?" Alice was barely coherent.

He lifted his head and slipped his fingers from her. Alice moaned, distraught at the abrupt halt. "No," she complained. "Where'd you go?"

House sat up and reached over her head to grab two of the carefully coordinated sofa pillows, throwing them on the floor next to where they were lying. "Take off your robe and kneel on the floor again," he said.

Alice thought about objecting, about ordering him to go back to doing exactly what he had been doing. But so far, he'd proven himself a match for the hyperbole. Maybe, she thought, she should keep following the white rabbit's directions, just to find out to which particular wonderland he'd take her.

"Like this?" Alice shrugged off her robe and knelt down as he'd instructed, facing the sofa. She was looking out through the French doors and could see a little mist of steam coming out from under the cover of the hot tub. A random thought about her unpaid electricity bill flittered across her mind but before it could take hold she felt him kneel behind her, his body pressed against her back, his mouth leaning in to kiss her neck, his hands reaching around to cup her breasts.

His fingertips pinched her nipples savagely and he used them to pull her body forward, down into the sofa in front of her. Alice had no idea what he intended to do until he released one of her breasts and she felt his hand probing between her legs. His fingers were quickly replaced by his hard, straining cock and he slowly began working his way inside her.

Alice wanted to push back, to impale herself on him, but his fingers still held her nipple painfully tightly and she knew he wouldn't let go. She was forced to wait, to let him thrust inside her an inch at a time, until she thought she was going to go insane from the suspense.

"Please," she begged, although she wasn't quite sure what she was begging for; for him to release her throbbing nipple or hold it tighter still, for him to move harder and faster, or to continue to do exactly what he was doing.

When he was finally buried to the hilt he leaned forward and sucked her earlobe into his mouth. His hot breath in her ear and his hot cock inside her made Alice feel completely invaded, totally taken over, her body overrun by another's.

"You're so hot and tight," he whispered. He still hadn't moved, just remained still, buried deep, his body now weighing her down into the soft cushions of the sofa. He began to roll her nipple between his fingers, easing off the pressure slightly, while his other hand stroked her hip and ass.

Alice figured this was his revenge for her earlier impetuousness. This was his way of making her realise that although she'd used him for her pleasure before, this time he was calling the shots. And she was surprised by how overwhelmingly erotic that idea was.

"Move, please, I need you to . . . " Alice moaned. She felt the involuntary spasm of her internal muscles clenching around him as a physical emphasis to her words.

He took in a sharp breath and leaned back, releasing his weight over her. He let her nipple go and it immediately throbbed with a bizarre sensation that wasn't quite pain and wasn't quite pleasure. Alice couldn't help the strangled, faint noise she made deep in her throat, a noise that sounded like nothing so much as a puppy's whimper.

"Like this?" he asked, pulling out of her until only the tip of him was still inside, then sliding back in to sheathe himself fully.

Alice groaned.

He moved slowly in and out for long moments, but Alice was gratified when he began to pick up the pace, the heat and friction becoming too much for him to resist, despite his best intentions.

Alice curved her back, pushing into him, sliding back to meet his thrusts. She cried out; her arch made him sink that much further inside her, and as he did, he rubbed against her g-spot, sending waves of pleasure throughout her pelvis.

He pressed both his hands into her back, one close to her neck, holding her down, the other in the small of her spine, forcing her to stay almost uncomfortably arched. His weight pressed through his hands, pushing her down into the sofa seat, and Alice figured he was probably using her for balance as much as holding her in place. He continued to thrust, rhythmic and forceful, spearing her body with accuracy, skill and a fervour that bordered on mania.

"Alice," he said, his voice a low growl. "Are you gonna come?"

Alice was holding her breath, the surge of sensations drowning her brain to the point that she needed to make a conscious effort to remember to breathe. She'd never come without direct stimulation on her clit. But this time she knew it was different.

"Yes," she whispered. And as if she'd given herself permission as soon as the word left her mouth, she felt her body begin to contract, the waves of pleasure making her jerk against his restraint; sounds that were almost sobs ripped from her throat.

He continued to thrust through her orgasm, his rhythm intensifying, his force increasing. Just as Alice was beginning to feel her waves subside she felt him freeze inside her, felt his hot fluid shoot into her, felt the final thrusts of his orgasm, the twitch of his cock as it surrendered to his pleasure.

He collapsed on top of her, both of them gasping, each completely spent.

In the background, jangly noises from the Xbox tried to call their attention to the stranded video game. Neither of them noticed.