"I think that you and I," Leia said full of slow seduction, spacing out her words to let it sink in, "should have sex before you go. At least once. Preferably, several times. Starting soon…I was thinking today."

"I…uh…" It took Han a minute to catch his racing thoughts, along with his breath. "You'resure, Leia? Once we do this, there's no taking it back. And up until last night, you've been pretty unwavering about what you did and didn't want. I know how you guard yourself; I know what it would require of you to let me in that way right now."

"You're already in; that's just it. It's too late to stop it. I already—" Leia broke off.

She wanted so much just to say it, to finally tell him the undeniable truth: I already love you. Her heart was screaming it. I love you, and nothing can ever take that back, so why fight it? Let's have one another while we still can.

"Han, I already…"

The truth was simple, but the words — such consequential feelings that would leave her so thoroughly exposed — were stuck inside, and she just couldn't tell him. Not now.

In the midst of so much uncertainty about their future, the part of her that Han knew so well, that did vigilantly guard herself against further emotional devastation, would not let her be the one to say it first.

"I am sure," Leia promised. "I loved last night," she imparted, trying another way to explain it, to ease his mind that she wasn't in danger of changing hers. "I loved everything you did to me, everything I did to you," she included, needing him to know the enjoyment was bilateral; it was just as thrilling to her to drive him over the edge, watch him come undone. "I loved the ways you made my body feel — intensity I didn't even know I could feel." Her face glowed, mouth stretching into an unwitting smile of satisfaction just to remember it. "I loved that I could make you feel all that, too. I loved being close to you like that, Han — I loved every second of it. And I want more."

"I do, too, larel. Believe me, I do; you have no idea," Han wryly related. "Just don't want it to be for the wrong reasons. Are you positive you didn't change your mind 'cause you're scared, or feeling desperate, or thinkin' I won't come back to you otherwise?"

"I changed my mind because I want you. I have wanted you for what seems like forever, so really, that's not a change at all."

"You know what I mean, Leia." Han still had persistent misgivings. Because as much as he wanted her, and that was beyond what he could put into words, what he needed even more — what they both needed — was for them to come together in the right way. Just for the sake of having her, he couldn't let her talk her way around what she was really feeling, whatever had precipitated this.

But Leia had other plans. "Come here," she beckoned, shifting to her side to bring them face-to-face. She fit her leg up over his waist, using her thigh to pull his pelvis in firmly against hers. "I can feel how much you want me, too…"

Han made a kind of strangled sound in the back of his throat as she rolled her hips, gliding the crux of herself along his hardness. "'Course I do. That's not the issue."

"There is no issue. It's so clear to me now."

Leia shook her head at herself, outraged at what she could now see was her own inordinate folly. So many chances missed, opportunities forever lost. She couldn't go back and reclaim what she'd squandered, but she could — she must — seize the possibility they had right now.

"And if it sets your mind at ease, I've realized how much I need this. I need to feel as close to you as we can be. I need to experience that with you, Han, even if it's only once."

"'Even if it's only once'?" he repeated, a furrow forming between his brows. Gently but firmly, he set her hips back a distance that would allow him to think more clearly again. "See, that sounds like fear, Leia. Like you do want this right now, but only 'cause you're scared of what's gonna happen next."

"Aren't you? I think we should be," she countered and drew her leg down from around his waist. Rolling onto her back, Leia stared unseeing up at the posh, vaulted ceiling.

She closed her eyes and took in a long, palliative breath. It was tempting to be irritated that Han seemed to doubt she knew her own mind. On the other hand, that wasn't an entirely unwarranted conclusion to make; she did have a longstanding tendency to retreat from anything emotionally complicated and seek refuge in busyness — work, battle, and now, he feared maybe sex.

Strictly to appease him, not because of any concerns on her part, Leia took a moment to collect her thoughts, to genuinely reflect and examine her feelings…And the answer that came to her held the same all-encompassing surety she'd experienced knowing that Hoth was the correct planet for their base, that Luke would survive through his bacta immersion after the wampa attack, and that sleeping with Han now was the right move to make.

Armed with this new insight into herself — the origin of her sudden, frantic need to immediately be with him — Leia opened her eyes again and turned back to Han, ready to face it, own it, explore it.

"You're right that I am scared," she acknowledged. "I'm scared that once you leave, we'll never see each other again. I'm terrified of what's going to happen to you, facing a Hutt alone. But the thing that I'm most afraid of, Han, is time — and wasting it. Time is such a precious commodity, and it's always been relentlessly ticking away in the background; I see that now. I feel it, almost like a tangible entity, all the time that's escaping us. Quickly, so quickly. Until it's too late."

The distress was so apparent in her tone and expression that it brought Han up into a seated position, reaching out to gather her into his arms, hoping to comfort and still these fears that plagued her. Leia melted into his embrace, tucking under his chin and draping herself over his chest. She did seem less troubled when she continued, though her conviction remained the same.

"Time is the menacing threat," she spoke into his clavicle, pressed her mouth against his skin, soothed to feel the steady beat of his heart beneath her lips. "It's not you, not sex, not even feelings — and not, despite what you think, your bounty. It's time. And I've been a fool to risk it. Gods, what was I thinking; what have I been waiting for?" she admonished herself. "We're in the middle of a kriffing war, one that touches every corner of the galaxy. I have to believe the Alliance will win in the end, but the odds are overwhelmingly against both you and I being there to see it. We're two of the Empire's top fugitives; there's no place far enough to run away from that. Even without Jabba the Hutt, either of us could be killed at any time. And if it something dire did happen and we'd never gotten to be together that way…I don't think I could forgive myself, in this life or the next."

Leia pulled back enough to lift her face and study his. "That is why I want us to have sex now. Because 'now' is what we have. It's the same reason the Alliance fights now instead of saying, 'we'll overthrow evil tomorrow'. It's impossible to live within tomorrow. The present is where we have to act. Yes, always consider the future, but it's our present that makes our future. Choices must be made and life must be lived in the now. That's not reckless, it's the only option available to us."

"Yeah, we do have to live in the now," Han fully agreed. "And, honey, that's true with or without the war. Doesn't have to be a Destroyer or stormtrooper to take someone out. Best as I can remember it, I lost my mom to a simple cold."

"Kest…you're right."

Seeing her pale at that further realization, he reached up and tenderly cupped her face in both his hands. "I'm sorry, Sweetheart. I'm not trying to scare you."

Leia shook her head. "No, I know, but you are right, and that's exactly why there can't be any more saving things for the future. All these months — years — I thought I was being prudent, when in actuality, it was just the opposite. Off the top of my head, I can think of at least a dozen times when you or I could have easily died if just one thing had gone differently."

She shivered coming to terms with the fact of all she could have lost, gambled away on the hope that tomorrow there would be some magical guarantee that she wouldn't get hurt — if they could just take down the Empire in this next battle; if they could win the war and the galaxy was free again; if Han would only officially join the Alliance; if he would swear not to ever leave her — when life never came with any such guarantees, before or after Alderaan.

"My behavior wasn't sensible and cautious," Leia at last accepted. "It was perilous — gods, such a misguided and extravagant risk. And it has to stop. From here on out, there's no more waiting, no more holding back. We live and we love now."

Han smiled at her. Not his sexy smirk, which was appealing all on its own, but that heart-stopping gorgeous smile of his when he was authentically happy. It was the far rarer of the two, few had ever been treated to it, and it never failed to make her feel warmed from the inside out. "Well, you ain't gonna hear me argue with that."

"Then kiss me." He guided them back to lying down, leaning in close enough to share the same breath, and all at once, it was almost too good to contain. "Oh, I need you kissing me." Her fingers curled tight at his shoulder, her voice a breathy murmur.

"Sure, Leia," he answered against her lips, teasing, deliciously drawing it out. "'S all I ever wanna do."

And then Han's mouth was on hers, and he was no longer playing.

The lingering, unforgettable minutes that followed were spent in a passionate embrace. Mouths devouring, stoking the fire; caressing hands alternating soft and tender with fervid and voracious. Until the want became so sharp-edged and insistent that Leia could take no more.

She broke away from his mouth to feverishly bid, "Make love to me, Han. Now. Right now." Clutching at his back and waist, she pressed herself tighter to him, needing to feel him on every centim of her skin.

But rather than jumping into action, as she'd always imagined would happen were those words to ever leave her mouth, Han seemed to hesitate.

"Please," Leia added, her need great enough to overcome her pride, not above begging when his body so clearly betrayed that he was right there with her teetering on the edge of control. "This is what I want. You. I want you. I want us," she vowed in an encouraging, alluring whisper he felt like a jolt down his spine.

Leia's assurance — combed with her hands urgently tugging at the waist of his pants, striving to push them down — dissolved Han's caution, stripping away what was left of his restraint. Though he remained somewhat skeptical that she would ultimately want to go through with it when it came right down to it, he resolved to let her feel it out by starting with things they'd already done. He would kiss her, touch her, undress them the rest of the way, go down on her if she would let him, and then see if she was still on board with intercourse after that.

Han began to move over her, and she grasped at him in eager approval. "Yes, on top of me. Get on top of me." The second he was, she spread her legs to welcome him into the cradle of her hips, wrapping them around his waist and using her ankles at the small of his back to push her sex up against his. "Take me this way. I want it this way."

Now that she had consented to it, Leia had become wanton, almost wild with need. While in other circumstances, Han would have appreciated her behavior that was straight out of one of his late-night fantasies, now, he worried it may be confirmation of his concern that she was acting out of desperation.

"Woah, woah, not yet, Sweetheart," he said in an effort to slow her down. He stroked his hands over her legs from her knees up to her thighs and back again to signal this wasn't a rejection; they weren't stopping, merely reducing speed. "Just relax. We can work up to that. Let me get you ready first."

"I am ready," Leia insisted. She took his right hand and slid it between their bodies where she was, indeed, wet through her underwear.

"Wow, you…are." The discovery further stirred Han, inducing him to give in to his desire and permit himself to cup her there.

"Yes, I am," she confirmed, pressing into his touch, reaching down herself and covering his hand with hers to keep it there as she began to rub herself against his palm. "As soon as I opened my mind to the possibility, it was like a dam bursting. I have to have you."

Leia, ardent and unbridled, whispering that exact phrase to him was directly out of a recurrent dream of his, but Han held steadfast to his plan. "Don't have to hurry, though. 'Living in the now' doesn't mean we gotta rush. Let's do this right."

He kissed her exhaustively, his tongue sweeping sensually over hers even as he removed his hand from between her legs. He planned to thoroughly demonstrate there were distinct benefits to being measured and methodical in lovemaking. "I've imagined this a lot, Amant. Got a whole list of things I want to do to you," he told her in that thick rumble he knew turned her on. "Bet you got things you want, too."

Han watched her eyes go hazy with desire, and that was confirmation enough. "I knew it. So let's slow down. There're no deadlines here in this bed. Let's be greedy. Don't be afraid of time, let's take it and make it our own." He dropped his lips to her jawline, nibbling his way up to her ear. "Get to every last one of those things we've always wanted." Tantalizingly skimming his hand down between them, Han enticed, "Let me love you with my fingers first. I know you liked that." He allowed those gifted fingers of his to dance over her lower abdomen and Leia shivered, proving his point.

But the eroticism of Leia, hungry for him and mostly naked in his arms, was swiftly overcoming him. As her chest brushed against his, her taunt nipples rubbing over his skin while her hands did some exploring of their own, flitting beneath the waistline of his pants to fondle and squeeze his bare ass, Han lost the thread of his seduction, going from seducer to seducee.

"Kest, let me love you with my mouth," he entreated, his voice a low, lusty thrumming along her throat that made her grip him harder. She'd likely doubt it, but he'd entertained far more fantasies over the years of his head buried between her legs than the other way around.

"Okay, yes — yes," Leia nodded in fervent endorsement. "That. Let's do that."

Han flashed her a sinful smirk at her keen enthusiasm, then began pressing a trail of blazing open-mouthed kisses down her neck, over to her shoulder, and back around to trace the length of her collarbone with his tongue.

He licked into the hollow of her throat and she trembled. "I'll admit you were right about another thing, Hotshot. You are very good with that mouth of yours."

There was that scoundrel smirk again. "Sweetheart…you have no idea," he promised in a tone heavy with concupiscent intent. His hands cupped her breasts for only a moment before he couldn't wait any longer. Flinging the sheets to the bottom of the bed, he let his lips take over.

Han seemed intent on devouring her, and Leia was all for it. The wet heat of his mouth enveloping her — the silken caress of his tongue, gentle seesaw teasing of his teeth, starved and relentless suction that strummed a delectable cord all the way down to her core as he avidly drew on her pebbled nipple — had to be one of the most amazing feelings in the entire galaxy, second only to his fingers working ribbons of magic inside her. The two in combination last night had been sheer heaven.

Right now, his mouth alone was enough to nearly get her there. "Oh, Han," Leia panted, "if you keep it up, I think — mmm — I think I could come from only that."

He paused long enough to glance up at her with a wicked grin. "Maybe you could, but I'm just getting started. I'm about to give you plenty more motivation."

In a faction of a second, Han had her in his mouth again, his fingers gripping the lace edge of her panties to remove them. Leia was nearly out of her mind with anticipation when he halted briefly, releasing her nipple with a pop. He raised his head, raised his entire body to one side in order to create enough space between them so he could watch as he uncovered her.

Han never even made it that far.

The first thing his eyes caught on was her chest, and he was distracted anew by the exquisite sweetness of her bare breasts, glistening from his mouth; by the way she was rolling her hips, frenziedly seeking contact because he already had her so aroused she was desperate with it. And he couldn't help himself — Han buried his face back in her lush softness.

But he slipped his hand inside her underwear, satisfying them both with touching her now, revealing her later. Leia moaned at the almost unbearably erotic pull of heat and pleasure as he again suckled her, now with the addition of his long fingers simultaneously stroking and parting her folds. Han was teasing her entrance, just beginning to dip inside, when they were interrupted by a loud Wookiee roar and his accompanying harsh pounding on the bedroom door.

Pulled from their libidinous stupor, Leia yelped and reached down to cover herself with the sheet.

"Kriff, Chewie, was that really fuckin' necessary?" Han bellowed in annoyance.

[Yes, it was. Since you refused to respond to my polite knocks], Chewbacca shot back. [I tried to be tactful, but you kept going at each other. Now, stop copulating long enough to listen to me.] Even through the door, the Wookiee could smell it, and although he would ordinarily be all in favor of this much-needed development in their relationship, at the moment, their pressing attention was required elsewhere.

Leia's bolting for the covers had knocked Han's hand out of her underwear but, undeterred, he reached for her again. "Nothing you've gotta say is as vital as this," he called toward the locked door.

Han attempted to go back to kissing Leia, but she shooed him off her. "What is it, Chewie? What's wrong?" Chewbacca had been the height of discretion on the flight here, not only allowing but creating opportunities for her and Han to be alone. She knew he never would have disturbed them now had he not judged it absolutely necessary; he'd been lobbying for this turn of events far too long.

[Aureate has gone missing], Chewie informed her.

"Kest, this is about Threepio?" Han grumbled — nearly whined, Leia would have said — and his neck fell back in frustration. "'Course that kriffin' droid would find a way to interrupt us. Again."

"Shh, be quiet, Han," Leia hushed him. She shifted to sit further up on the mattress; the resultant friction against her sex was somewhere between pleasure and pain. If either of them was going to complain about this disruption, it ought to be her. After all, she hadn't even touched Han yet, but she'd been left on the urgent edge.

Leia cleared her throat, putting those thoughts and sensations from her mind as she addressed Chewbacca. "What do you mean Threepio has gone missing? You're saying you can't find him on the Falcon?"

[Little Princess, I have not seen him since we first disembarked the ship.]

Her initial instinct upon hearing that information was to reject it out of hand. Threepio hadn't been with them, so he must have stayed with the ship. "Wasn't he with you last night? I assumed he'd stayed on the Falcon."

[And I thought he had stayed in the suite with you. To be honest, I was too busy overseeing repairs and making sure we weren't being swindled to think much at all about Aureate or his whereabouts. Until the two of you didn't answer your comms this morning], Chewbacca explained. [I became concerned enough to seek you out — and as soon as I entered the suite, it was clear what you were doing. I knew then that Aureate was not here, or he wouldn't have given you the space or peace to do it.]

"Look, Chewie," Han stepped in before the Wookiee scandalized Leia, when here he was still hoping to reclaim the mood. "Threepio's probably just making a nuisance of himself with Lando's men, thinkin' he knows best how to do their jobs. You know how he gets. Probably followed one of the guys to get a part or something 'cause he thought he knew where to get a better one. Just look around the landing pad a bit and I'm sure you'll find him. Now, you go do that…and leave us to this." His eyes glided over Leia's soft curves before rising to catch hers in a smoldering look of barely banked desire. "I was about to show the princess how stimulating I can be…"

Though he'd used the voice that always pleasantly tripped down her spine, Leia still protested. "Han!"

But Chewie beat her to an admonishment. [Try using your larger head, Cub. I cannot just leave. It is dangerous enough to have been away for this long when the ship is filled with beings I do not trust. Someone has to stay there and oversee things, while someone else hunts down Aureate. There's no telling what he could get up to unsupervised.]

"It's worse than that, I'm afraid," Leia murmured thoughtfully. After checking to ensure the sheet securely covered her nakedness, she instructed Han, "Go let Chewie in. It's silly to keep talking through the door."

With a sigh, Han slowly made his way across the bedroom, walking awkwardly under the strain of an insistent, highly conspicuous erection.

"Thank you for coming to check on us," she greeted as soon as the Wookiee was visible. "We owe you an apology, Chewie. It was very careless of us to leave our comms in the other room."

Leia spoke with all the poise, authority, and composure as if she were addressing the Senate floor rather than propped in bed wearing just a sheet and flimsi-thin panties, less than a minute out from moaning in abandon while his hand worked her beneath the shimmersilk. Such a juxtaposition would have stunned Han had he not known Leia for so long.

"When you couldn't reach us, you must have feared for our safety," she continued with perfect, regal empathy, pointedly disregarding their indecorous states. "I certainly would have, had it been the other way around. I'm also glad you told us about Threepio."

"I'm not," Han couldn't resist resentfully putting in.

"Hush," Leia shushed him as he returned to sit beside her hip and grabbed a pillow off the bed to place over his lap, lest he be subjected to his copilot's ribbing comments. "It isn't at all like Threepio to wander off," she went back to speaking to Chewie, since Han was clearly going to be of no help. "That's what has me worried."

"Not like Threepio? Really?" Han scoffed. "He's always got his nose in everyone's business. You think in a situation and place like this he's just gonna quietly stand by?"

"All right, maybe it is like him," she acknowledged. "But not to stay away all night. Surely, he would have either returned to the Falcon or come to us."

"Not if he doesn't know where we are. Do you remember him ever being with us when Lando brought us here?" Han challenged.

Leia racked her brain trying to recall. "No, I…I guess I don't." She felt bad for Threepio that he'd been everyone's afterthought and blamed herself a bit for being so unduly preoccupied with her own concerns — for their safety, with the beautiful city, and most of all, with Han.

Han sensed Leia's guilt, and that hadn't been his intention. He set his hand on her leg and squeezed comfortingly. "Sweetheart, I'm not saying that's anyone's fault. And I don't think anything bad happened to him, either. Something probably just distracted him, he ambled off on one of his tangents, and lost track of where we went. With a settlement this size? It'd be easy to get lost, not be able to find his way back to the Falcon, and by the time he came looking, we were gone. It's as simple as that. For all we know, he's livin' it up in one of the casinos. If he's lucky, he's off getting laid."

Han threw her a wink and Leia did laugh at that, regaled despite herself, which had been his intention this time.

"Han, you know very well Threepio is not a sex droid."

Han visibly grimaced. "I shudder at the thought."

"He doesn't even have the necessary parts," Leia pointed out in amusement, and she continued to smile so Han considered his joke successful. "And besides, droids don't have sex for their own pleasure but to pleasure other beings. Therefore, he wouldn't be 'getting lucky', regardless."

"Yeah, okay, but the point is nothing's happened to him."

[Aureate's appearance is too similar to other droids to be identifiable, that much I can say], Chewie put in.

"Meaning you don't think there's any danger of someone seeing him and identifying us," Leia surmised. "But that doesn't rule out something less concerning."

Chewbacca nodded. [Exactly. There are thieves everywhere.]

"Up on this level?" Han contested doubtfully. "This place is lux, Chewie. What would a low-end droid flipper be doing around here?"

[You should know better than anyone, Cub, that criminal elements take their chances where and when they see them.]

"C'mon, Chewie. Out of all the other non-alarmist, perfectly reasonable explanations, you really think that's what happened?" Han argued, remaining fully skeptical. "'Sides," he added with a smirk, "if anyone tried to nab Threepio, they'd be regrettin' it about a second later — and they'd ditch him in under a minute. Some things aren't worth the credits. Nah, I'm sure he's wandering around somewhere, either trying to find us or just busy having the time of his meddling life."

"You may be right," Leia relented; rationally, the odds were in Han's favor. "But we still have to try to find him."

"Do we, though?"

"Of course we do," she scolded, though she knew Han was kidding. "Now what's it going to be? Will you go out looking, or do I?

"You can't go trapsing all around Cloud City," he protested. "Someone will recognize you."

She gave him a look that said, well then, what's your plan?

"Alright, this is what we'll do," Han announced. "I'll go back to keep an eye on the Falcon and make sure Lando's people are treatin' her right. Chewie, you go look for Threepio. And, Sweetheart, you stay here and use the comlink, ask around if anyone's turned in an unattended protocol droid."

Chewbacca accepted that plan with the stipulation that he would go back to the Falcon immediately and only look for the droid once Han had arrived, adamant that the ship not be left unguarded for any significant length of time.

[Which means, Cub, there isn't time for you to finish mating, if that's what is in your mind. I'll give you a suitable amount of time to get dressed, and no more. If you're still not there, I will come looking for you — and my persistence surpasses even that of Aureate], he threatened.

Once Chewie had gone, Leia's shoulders loosened and she relaxed back against the headboard. While she wasn't embarrassed to be 'caught' by their friend, she also hadn't been exactly at ease to receive him in those circumstances, wearing nothing but a sheet and still throbbing with arousal.

Chewie was like family and had, over the years, witnessed Leia in several private states that virtually no one else had been privy to — whether from tending to an injury; being present during one of her nightmares or their aftermath; or simply seeing her padding about the Falcon makeup free, barefoot, and in pajamas. She was perfectly comfortable with that level of familiarity between them in the same way a being would be around their father or brother.

It was an entirely different thing, however, when in the context of such a blatantly sexual scenario. Though she may have put on the flawless guise of composure, it had taken an immense effort for her to make the shift of mind and body from about to be intimate with Han to having a casual conversation with Chewbacca in the room.

She glanced over at Han, and though he'd always seemed incapable of awkwardness in sexual situations, he too hadn't yet moved.

Thinking her actions would spur on his, Leia unclasped her hands from her lap and announced, "I suppose I'll go take a shower before making any calls…Though I do feel useless just sitting here."

"It's not 'just sitting'," Han argued, scooting closer to her on the bed. "Askin' around at places he might've turned up could give us an important lead. At the very least it'll save us a lot of time and trouble by knowing where not to look. Cloud City's big; it would take days — maybe even weeks — to search every nook and cranny blindly. And much as I'd love to, I know you won't let us leave until we've found him."

"Yes, I suppose you're right," she allowed.

Han leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "I always am," he said around a grin, then kissed her jaw. "You know…" Another, more lingering, kiss followed for her lips. "…I could use a shower, too." He slid his mouth down to lay a string of nibbling kisses along her neck. "Gotta be presentable." Then he nuzzled at her throat. "We could take one together," he suggested, burrowing his face over to the soft, sensitive skin where her neck met her shoulder. "Would be quicker," he tempted, sucking at the receptive area.

"Han," she reasoned, though her reason was swiftly wavering under the heat of his mouth and his wandering hand that had found its way to her upper thigh, "if we got into the shower together, we both know it would take much longer getting out…"

He lifted his head to give her a mock-pouty frown.

"Nerfherder," Leia laughed, and he grinned too, letting her know he actually took her refusal in stride. But should a part of his disappointment be genuine on any level, she wanted to reassure him. "This isn't the end of this, I promise you. I'm not going to change my mind: we will continue this later."

Han ran his hand up to her waist, his thumb idly stroking. "I'm up for whatever you are, Sweetheart," he told her evenly.

"Before we get to the fleet," she reiterated, "before we say goodbye. As soon as we can." Something in his expression made her think he had his doubts. "I mean it, Han."

"I'm with you either way, Princess," Han promised back.

"I know you are." She leaned forward to whisper seductively against his lips, "That makes me want you all the more."

He kissed her, unable and unwilling to refrain any longer. His tongue teased lightly at hers a moment before drawing back, and Leia melted against the pillow with a contented sigh.

"We'll find Threepio, get the hyperdrive patched up, and then we'll make love back on the Falcon, the way we both want. Tonight," she emphasized, adding in a low, inviting murmur, "Assuming we can wait that long."

"I—?" Han started to reply but stopped himself. His mouth was still open, ruminating, before he closed it, seeming to think better of what he'd been about to say. "Never mind."

"What?" she queried, wary now of another unfortunate development. "What is it? Just ask me."

"Can I…" His gaze drifted down to her chest before bouncing back up to her eyes, a half-smile dancing on his lips, at his charming best. "Can I have one last look at the good stuff?"

Leia chortled — she didn't know what she was expecting, but it wasn't that — and pulled the sheet down to her waist, baring her breasts to him. She watched his eyes glaze with renewed desire as he took in every centim of her, riveted.

She felt her own arousal reignite under his appreciative gaze and Leia smiled, taking both his hands in hers. "More than that." She brought his captured hands up to cup her breasts. "You can have one last feel."

"Mmm." The reverberation of his soft growl stirred Leia, but his breathing picked back up right along with hers as he gently squeezed and fondled her, brushing his thumbs over her newly erect nipples. "One last taste?" he proposed.

"Of which part of me?" she countered.

"Don't tempt me, Sweetheart," Han rumbled low and full of intent. "Once I got my mouth on you, 'm not gonna stop. I could lick your kahin all day…"

From context, Leia surmised he'd used the Olys word for her genitalia. She couldn't explain why, but goddess, that turned her on — both the language and the promise behind in. She pushed the sheet down to her hips and toyed with the waistband of her underwear, suggestively taunting. "Then I suppose it's a very good thing I kept these on."

"Good thing for Goldenrod, anyway," Han muttered.

Grinning, Leia looped her arms around Han's neck, pulling him down against her. "Come here. You can have a sample of the less good stuff."

"Nah, I was wrong, every part of you is good stuff," he whispered, besotted, before kissing her fiercely.