Chasing Fire

tight by hours of brutal effort.
    He moaned as she worked her way to his shoulders.
    He fixed his teeth at the side of her neck, pressed his own fingers in a line down her spine, then up again until he found points of pain and pleasure at the base of her neck.
    “Let me take care of this.” She poured shampoo in her palm, rubbed her hands together lightly as she watched him, then slid her fingers through his hair. While she rubbed, massaged, he filled his hands with her shower gel. The shower filled with the scent of ripe peaches as he glided circles, slow circles, over her breasts, her belly.
    Lather foamed and dripped, frothing fragrantly between their bodies as he trailed a hand down, his fingers teasing, just teasing when he cupped her.
    Her head fell back, and a low sound of pleasure hummed in her throat. Watching her absorb sensation, he gave her a little more, a little more until her hips, her breath picked up the rhythm.
    Not yet, he thought, not yet, and made her groan when he turned her to face the wet wall.
    “Gull, Jesus—”
    “I need to wash your back. Love your back.” At the small of it, a tattoo of a red dragon breathed gold flame. He ran his lathered hands over her, followed them with his lips. “Your skin’s like milk.”
    He indulged himself with the subtle curve of the back of her neck, exposed and vulnerable to his teeth and tongue, and when her arm hooked back to press him closer, he glided his hands around, filled them with her breasts.
    So firm, so full.
    He spun her around, replaced his hands with his mouth.
    Not what she’d expected or prepared for. Never what she expected, she thought as her body quivered. The angry man who’d shoved her against the door should have stormed her. Instead he seduced. She didn’t know if she could bear it.
    With steam billowing like smoke, he trailed that mouth down her body, until every muscle trembled, until anticipation and sensation squeezed to a pulsing ache inside her.
    Then he used his mouth on her until the hot flood of release swamped her.
    When she was weak, in that shivering instant where body and mind surrendered, he plunged inside her.
    No seduction now, no slow hands or teasing mouth. He gripped her hips and let himself take, and take, and take. Need raged through him, incited by the harsh sound of wet flesh slapping wet flesh, the pounding beat of the water, the wild thrust of her hips as she gave herself over to what they fueled in each other.
    The chains of control shattered; madness broke free.
    Through the haze of steam and passion he watched her eyes go blind. Still he drove her, himself, greedy for more until pleasure ripped through him and emptied him out.
    She let her head drop on his shoulder until she could get her breath back. Might be a while, she realized, as she was currently panting like an old woman.
    “Need a minute.”
    She made some sound of agreement to the statement.
    “If we try to move now, we’re both going to end up going down and drowning—after we fracture our skulls.”
    “We’re lucky we didn’t do that already.”
    “Probably. But we’d die clean and satisfied. I’m going to turn off the water. It’s going cold.”
    She’d have to take his word for it. Her body still pumped enough heat to melt an ice floe. She managed her first full breath when he brushed his lips over her hair. She simply didn’t know how to react to sweetness—after.
    “Got your legs under you?” he asked her.
    “Steady as a rock.” Hopefully.
    He let her go to reach out and grab towels. “It’s a sacrifice to give you anything to cover up that body with.” Before she could take it, he wrapped it around her, laid a warm, lingering kiss on her lips.
    “Problem?” he asked her.
    “No. Why?”
    He trailed a fingertip between her eyebrows. “You’re frowning.”
    “My face is reflecting the mood of my stomach, which is wondering why it’s still empty.” Which was true enough. “I’m starving.” She relaxed again, smiled again. “Between the jump and the shower bonus, I’m out.”
    “Right there with you. Let’s go eat.”
    She started to move past him to the bedroom, turned. “I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. You’ve got skills.”
    “I also work well horizontally.”
    Her laugh rolled out as she pulled out a T-shirt and jeans. “I think you’re going to have to prove it.”
    “Now or after food?”
    She shook her head as she pulled on clothes. “After, definitely. I’m in the mood