A very brief note: TRUST ME. That is all.

She buried her fingers in his hair and kissed him back. It took a few more kisses before she got near the place she'd been in the "deer stand" but it didn't actually take as long as she'd thought it might. Panic receded and when his hands moved to her jacket she let him pull it off. Practice had made undressing each other, if not perfect, at least not as awkward.

"You don't think this is selfish do you?" she asked as he unhooked her bra and dipped his head to kiss her neck.

"Nah," he answered as he pulled her closer. "Why would it be?"

"I don't know. I just thought…" her sentence trailed off and her head fell back as they both discovered a particularly sensitive place in the hollow of her throat.

"Thought what?"

"I don't know. Stuff. Things. Forget it."

"Okay." His fingers skimmed down her stomach to the button of her fatigues.

Uncharted territory was apparently making him nervous. Or maybe he expected to hear 'pineapple' any minute and just didn't want to get his hopes up. To take the pressure off, she tugged his zipper down. It worked.

He cupped the back of her neck with one hand to pull her in for another kiss as he flicked the button open with his other hand.

"You're good with your hands," she said.

"Hope so," he answered.

He pushed her pants down and she sat down so he could pull them off. She felt herself blush when his eyes moved up her body once she was naked. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth when she crossed her arms over her chest.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothin'. Think ya might be a little nervous though."

"Hey, you're the one that's halfway across the truck."

"Guess ya got me there."

"Damn right."

He pushed her backward and moved over her.

"Aw, just like the first time we met," she said with a grin.

"Not exactly," he said dryly. "Seem to remember ya had more clothes than this."

"To be fair, so did you. Why do you still have pants on?"

"Hell, I don't know."

The situation was remedied a few seconds later and he resumed his position.

"Another thing," he said as if they'd never deviated from the subject. "If I'd have kissed ya back then ya'd have kicked my ass."

"Probably."

"Gotta say I like this better," he admitted just before her lips found his again.

The kiss drew out and deepened until she moaned against his mouth. He pulled back at the sound.

"Pineapple," he said between ragged breaths.

"Pineapple?" she questioned in shock. "Seriously?"

"What? No! Not…I'm not…I thought ya were…never mind."

"Yeah. Consider this the opposite of pineapple. Broccoli?"

"How's broccoli the opposite of pineapple? Never mind about that too. Let's both just quit sayin' pineapple."

"That's probably for the best."

He kissed her again and when she moved against him he actually thanked God for the first time in a long time.

"Bowhunter?"

Not pineapple, not pineapple, not pineapple. "Yeah?"

"Not pineapple. But go slow okay? I…it's been a while."

He nodded. He'd planned to kiss her again but she reached up and cupped his face in her hands. She needed to keep her eyes open. She needed to see him. It was a little fumble-y in the very beginning and that was okay, because it was so different from the last time it had happened. But then as he continued she bit her lip at the feeling of her body stretching to accommodate his. There was a moment of sharp panic.

"Hey," he said. "Ya okay?"

"I don't know." She could feel that her body had gone tense and that stressed her out even more. "I don't—"

"It's all right. I ain't gonna do anything till ya tell me yer okay."

His voice was different too. The accent for one thing, but for another, the tone in it: reassuring, amazed, even though he was trying not to show that part, concerned. There wasn't a trace of deception in his words. If he'd been confident it would have made her feel worse.

"Just give me a minute."

He nodded. She could see how tight the muscles in his arms and shoulders had gotten and she knew how hard it was for him to stay still. But he did, because she'd asked him to. She reached up and wrapped her arms around him.

"Okay. I'm okay."

"Sure?"

"Yes."

He brushed a kiss over her lips before he moved again.

"God damn," she heard him mutter.

"Good or bad?" she couldn't help asking.

"Better'n good," he answered. "What do ya think?"

"I'm not freaking out. So far so good."

The first thrust was too tentative for either of them to get much sensation. The second one was so deep that she couldn't help her whispered, "Ouch" The third showed promise and by the time she'd stopped counting he'd developed a rhythm.

She hadn't honestly expected much; she was after more of the personal growth aspect than sexual pleasure, which she considered an impossible goal. But as he moved over her she began to feel an extension of the desire that bolted through her when he kissed her.

"Huh," she whispered.

"What?" he asked as he stopped moving and pulled back to look at her.

"Nothing."

"Somethin'. Ya can tell me if I'm doin' it wrong."

"You're not. It's actually more right than I thought it was going to be."

"Yeah?"

"I think so."

Daryl thanked God for the second time that night. If he kept getting lucky he might turn into a religious man. He pulled her up and shifted them so that she was straddling him.

"What are you…oh. Wow."

Sinclaire caught her breath when his hand dipped between her legs. He lowered his lips to her neck again, adding to the stimulation, and she got up the courage to rock her hips over him just a little. Before she had time to wonder if it was good or bad, he'd muttered, "Fuck yeah," against her skin so it must have been all right. Experimentally, she moved a bit faster and heard him work to hold back a groan.

She buried her fingers in his hair and pulled him closer for another kiss. Her legs were starting to tremble even though she wasn't working hard.

"Ya all right?"

"Don't stop," she gasped out.

In response he moved faster and she felt the tension gather. Just when she thought she couldn't take more she felt it break into fragments of pleasure that took her breath away.

With a nearly primal growl of frustrated pleasure, he pushed her backward and covered her body with his once more. She'd expected the sensation to end but it only heightened now that he had more freedom to move. His mouth covered hers, catching the sounds she hadn't realized she was making. The flashlight fell over, taking its comforting light into a corner of the truck, but she didn't really notice.

There was finally confidence in his movements, but now that she could answer it with the mental abandonment that came with body-wracking pleasure it didn't bother her. His mouth held hers captive as his body pushed hers beyond what she would have considered standard operating limits. She would have been wrong.

When she tightened her grip on his shoulders she could feel how tense he was. If he was holding off on the same kind of pleasure that he'd given her, then Bowhunter was a saint. She arched up to meet his next movement and felt the arm he'd put underneath her lower back clench tight so she did it again. He moved faster; she was vaguely aware that the top of her head met the back of the seat with every thrust, but it didn't hurt.

For just a second, he went still and then his body slammed deep into hers one last time as he gave another groan against the side of her neck. She felt him shiver as he tightened his grip on her so she wrapped her arms around him again.

It was a few moments before either of them felt up for any additional movement. Finally, he rolled over onto his back and they both lay sprawled out and breathing hard. She wanted to say something eloquent, but there was only one phrase that came to mind.

"God damn!"

He laughed in relief and pulled her against him to cover them both with the blankets. He wasn't cold, but he figured she would be. From the way she snuggled in, he was right.

"You're so warm," she murmured appreciatively.

"I don't see how ya ain't warm after that," he said as he kissed the side of her neck.

"I let you do most of the work," she said defensively. "It's the best way to learn."

"Yeah. Appreciate it, by the way."

"Damn right you do."

"And yer really okay?"

"I think so. It's weird. You know what happened to the last guy who tried to kiss me?"

"What?"

"I jammed my knee in his nuts. And I actually liked him."

"Good God. What'd ya do to the ones ya didn't like?"

"Well, they weren't trying to kiss me."

"Good point I reckon. So...why me?"

"I don't know. I'm comfortable with you. And you have...had...no idea what you're doing."

"Thanks," he said dryly. "So now that I know what I'm doin' yer done with me?"

"Oh I don't know," she said loftily. "It wasn't half bad."

"Shit. Ya liked it and ya might as well admit it."

"Not much gets past you does it?"

"Nope."

"Okay. It was way better than I expected."

"Damn."

"No, not because of you. Because of me."

"Ya gonna tell me what happened to ya?"

"No. I've had my share of talking about it and it didn't help."

"Yeah. But maybe ya been talkin' to the wrong people."

"I doubt it. They were trained professionals. Come on, let's talk about something else."

"Okay," Daryl agreed.

"So, how does it feel?" Sinclaire asked, making her voice serious to hold back the urge to laugh.

"How's what feel?"

"To finally be a man?"

"Suck it."

"I think you've had all the new experiences you can handle for the night."

"So...tomorrow night then? Hell, even in the mornin' would be all right with me."

"I'll see what I can do. Anyway, you can go to sleep now. I won't be pissed off." His voice had gone lower and rougher the longer they talked and he hadn't even put much heat into it when he's said "suck it" so she knew he was tired.

"I'm good," he lied. "Keep talkin'."

"Okay. I'll tell you all my deepest, darkest secrets then. Once when I..." That was all it took. Before she could finish the sentence he was asleep.

She eased back a little bit and put her hands behind her head. Her therapists would be so proud. She was actually pretty proud of herself. Bowhunter certainly had a lot to be proud of. If she hadn't known he was a virgin she wouldn't have believed it...at least not after the first five minutes. At least maybe now Merle would have something to be happy about. If he wasn't still high.

Sinclaire frowned. Why the hell was she even thinking about him right now? She was mad at him. All he'd had to do was come and talk to her and she'd be with him now and not his brother.

"Ew," she whispered when she realized how that had sounded, even in her own head. "That's...ew."

Resolutely, she forced herself to go to sleep. Much like Scarlett O'Hara, she'd deal with it in the morning.

"As God is my witness," she muttered under her breath. "You'll never get high on my watch again."