Bell , Book and Candle

By DocPaul

Chapter Seven:  Word Salad…

Michael stumbled down the hall with her as his mouth and hers were engaged in a hungry exploration that was too hurried to wait until they made her room. They did make her room, but just barely. The last thought from both of them for a while was 'At last.' Then all other conscious thought fled, unable to form amid the onslaught of sensations. When their lips first touched, only a brief moment was spared for being gentle before the power of desire took over, turning the kiss into all aggression and passion. They tasted each other, tongues dueling in heated battle, losing themselves in feelings they had yet to name, but which each never wanted to end. The kiss consumed them until they were forced to come up for air.

Slowly their eyes met. Maria felt him. His eyes were alive. His mouth was red from the kiss. She could live forever in that moment, that moment of acknowledgment. Michael. His name was Michael, and she could slowly catalog things about him. Important things. He tasted sweet and spicy. He was intense when he kissed. His entire body moved into making love so that a kiss was more than a meeting of lips, it was breath, tongue, teeth and lots of taste. Maria hadn’t said anything to him. She had kissed him and now was looking into his eyes with all that emotion there between them, not pushing him away, not withdrawing, just acknowledging. What could be better? This was powerful. Intense. Scary. Ecstasy. Painful. Stark and real.

And then they were kissing again.

Kissing... Michael's tongue reached out and traced the fullness of Maria's lips, and a moist tongue flicked out in answer, tracing Michael's lips in turn. Heat rushed between them, melding their bodies together when their tongues touched in passing, then Michael changed the rhythm by gently catching her tongue between his teeth, slowly sucking it inside his mouth. His hands fumbled with the layers of clothing, searching for bare skin, gasping when he finally felt it. The rush of breath filled Maria, her skin blazing under the heated touch, spurring her to reciprocate. She reached up under Michael's shirt with one hand and went on a slow expedition into wonderfully new territory, lightly rubbing along one nipple with the pad of her thumb until it hardened, then slowly scratched at it with her fingernail.

Michael's low moans sent shivers through Maria. Laughing slightly at herself, at him, perhaps at both of them, and the out of control raging that was guiding them, she let him pull her to the floor, just inside her bedroom door. He whispered deep encouragements against her mouth that made her gasp in need.

She pushed Michael flat to the floor, following him, their mouths never stopped moving over each other, as breathing was raging in deep gasps between them. Maria straddled him, pulling his torso up to her as her hands pushed through his long untidy hair. Michael made sounds that echoed in her mouth as his large hands held her firmly in his lap guiding her to move against him, causing Maria to rock there.

Michael moaned louder at the delicious friction on his cock, which compelled him to reach out and caress her silky skin as he tossed her top off, his mouth and teeth finding a throbbing pert nipple, making Maria cry out, barely controlling a moan bordering on a scream as the desire surged through her.

Action, reaction, action, reaction. Michael couldn’t think. This was beyond him…so animalistic how every inch of his body, all the hair along his skin seemed to stand up in response to her touch, to her mouth, as his nostrils flared at her scent, pulling it deep inside him. Responses following so automatically that Michael felt the last vestiges of control slipping away. He moved to press soft kisses on the side of Maria's face, licking gently at the delicate skin of an ear, controlling himself enough to whisper, "Maria, I'm afraid I won't do this right. That I’ll make you panic."

"So far, so good." Maria traced frantic patterns along Michael's back. Her skin almost hurt from a need to meld into his. Her body was raging so out of control, she couldn’t stop writhing against him, brushing herself along his exposed body, whimpering when it wasn’t enough.

Michael grasped Maria's hands, stilling her touches, holding them tightly in clenched fists. "Not just now, Maria," he growled. "I mean this, this whole thing. I don’t want to be something you fear."

Maria bent to kiss the fingers that covered her own. “I can’t promise you that. I’m feeling panicked right now. Panicked that you’re going to stop. Despite that, I can still breathe, and all the breathlessness I have is due to you, so that's a good start. Am I going to have to wear you down with my charm, or have you already succumbed?" She smiled at Michael, turning serious when he didn't smile back. "You want me, right?” Damn, how could he turn this off? Horrifying. Was this how his fiancées felt? In his sights, the intensity of his body, and then suddenly it turns off?

"Maria..."

"No, not this time. Humor me, here. Tell me straight out."

"I. Want. You. Maria. You're not a kid. You’re not some shy shrinking violet. I want more from you than any woman I’ve ever met. I'm blindsided by it, and I’ve been trying my damnedest to hide it, but it's true. The idea that you fear me worries me to no end. I can’t take a chance hurting you, because I don’t think I can stop this, or back off later. Now I’m the one too scared to just do something. God, Maria, how could I just walk away after this? You’re letting down your reserves and you're taking a chance on me." His voice cracked and he cleared his throat, letting go of Maria's hands to run one finger along the lips he had so recently kissed. "I'm sorry, you’re going to have to do it all this time. It’s the only way I can really know it's you and not me pushing you. Overwhelming you into something you’ll later regret, as you breathe in a paper bag and curse me to hell."

“I'm overwhelmed by you. By this. By what it means to me personally, and what it can mean.” Maria licked her lips, her eyes darkening as she tasted him on her lips. “I don’t care. I don’t want to stop this.” She leaned into him, whispering hotly in his ear, “I mean to have you, all of you, often, and when there is no more you can give me, I plan to take more.”

Michael gulped at her voice and the words seemed to explode in his groin. Why the hell were his fucking pants still on? He was so uncomfortable in them, barely holding back from bursting out. “Maybe we should go slow.” Michael almost bit out his own tongue. Slow? Hell, his blood was chanting primal war rhythms and he was trying to be honorable? She was an enigma to him. He was acting so out of character that he was practically a stranger to himself, and he didn’t care that they were still strangers to each other.

"Slow?" Maria repeated in a husky gulp. "What do you mean?"

"I mean a little longer and we would have been past the point of no return, Maria, right here on the floor." He looked around for Maria's clothes. Not finding them, he gave up and luxuriated in the soothing feel of her silky skin under his hands. Horrified, he watched his own hands and they seemed not to be his. Revered. They were moving over her like she was something to worship.

"And the problem being...?"

"I told you, I want to do this right. I don't want any confusion. I don't want you to think everything is just about doing this."

"No this?" Maria whispered. He was going to go home? She knew it! He was going to drive her to homicide.

Michael laughed, the sound deep and husky. "Well, maybe this...." Hell he was trying to do the right thing, but he was no saint. And they were kissing again. Michael broke it off, trailing his mouth over her face, memorizing the feel of her. He breathed in her scent, the aroused aroma that permeated her very skin, nuzzling behind her ear, letting silky strands tickle at his nose. It frightened Michael to feel this involved, overwhelmed, immersed in another being. He tried to soak up strength from her presence, clamping down on the feeling that something was just lurking around the corner to snatch her from his life.

He flicked at her earlobe, sending new tremors through the smaller body in his arms, moving suggestively against him. "Maria..." he whispered. She still had on too many clothes.

"Hmmm?"

"About you and me..." his voice trailed off.

Maria stopped where she was sucking on his skin to look him in the eye, her voice serious. "No regrets. I promise. Unless you let me down, then I will be a frustrated woman. and that you will regret!"

Michael laughed. He liked her. She was honest. Almost too honest. "I just feel a little overwhelmed." He cut that off at the look on Maria's face. She smiled wickedly and sat up on him, pushing out her naked torso as she reached up and gathered her hair in a knot. Michael’s eyes became transfixed to her breasts. Did he say they were small? He took another breath. "Damn...."

"Do you always talk this much?” Maria asked in wonder. She would’ve never thought.

Michael swore. No, he did not. A major complaint by those who had been involved with him was his lack of communication. He was more a man of action than words, so why was she proving the exception?

They sat quietly for a minute, enjoying the solid feel of each other.

"So, is this slow enough? How long do we have to wait?" Michael laughed. Brat. He should’ve known she would have no patience.

Fine. He sucked at being noble anyway. Latching onto a pert breast that was demanding his attention, he smothered a laugh as she continued to taunt him. Her breathless moaning and diatribe became harder to listen to as her hands wandered over and down his body, pulling him harder and more suggestively into her.

"Okay. Just as long as you know that I am ready...." Moving up, she nibbled on Michael's neck. "Willing...." Sucking on the flesh, gently at first, then harder, "....and able." Finally, tonguing the red mark that she had left there. She felt the power of lust flare up inside her again. This rage was so unusual. Her body stirred at the sound of Michael’s sharp intake of breath and subsequent exhales. Too many clothes. She left him to do that thing with his mouth, as she ripped away their remaining clothing. She could feel Michael's cock answer with a stirring of its own, nudging at her from where she sat on his lap, and groaned as she moved against it.

"Maria... don't tease me." Michael's voice rumbled in warning. Hell, he hadn’t prematurely ejaculated since he was a teen.

"Or what?" Sassy. Staring at her puffy red lips made so by his kisses, and seeing a speck of blood from where he had bit her, his body answered for him.

Michael captured her mouth in a bruising kiss. Roughly he bucked his hips, entering her in one thrust, swallowing her reaction as her hands encouraged him, grasping a hip with one hand, and tangling the other in the mass of her hair. By sheer force of will, he tore his mouth away long enough to murmur, "Or, I will tease you back, and make you wait longer."

Shaken, Maria replied between moans as she joined his body in a rhythm, "Okay." Then she smiled sexily. "You win... for the moment. Can we shut up now and just fuck?"

Michael traced the curves of the just-kissed lips, trying to calm the raging in his body, thinking that he hadn't won. In fact, he had a feeling that he was in way over his head and his cock jumped again as her tight body pulled him in deeper, and it still wasn’t enough. It could never be enough. For the first time in his life, he was on the verge of his own panic attack, but gave it over to the passion, at the thought of drowning in the sea that was Maria DeLuca. So this was why Alex thought sex wasn’t overrated. Who knew?

~~~

"You’re awake." He looked down on her, smiling. He wasn’t wearing his usual scowl and it took a moment for her to recognize him. Oh, a smiling Michael Guerin was lethal! It took her another moment to assess the situation. She was pleased to still feel him joined with her. Stretching luxuriously along his length, her long lean thigh moved along the roughness of his more masculine one.

"Yessssss." She moved her fingers along his skin, enjoying the intimacy of their position but she was warm and comfortable and she didn’t want to move. He didn’t move away either and she found herself snuggling against him, enjoying the feel of his body next to her, in her.

Maria also found herself examining her feelings - was it him she didn’t trust or the way he made her feel? How could a stranger set her off so quickly with just a look? It wasn’t love. It couldn’t be love. Not this quickly, or even anything more basic, but there was a tug here, the beginnings of something that she had always shied away from. Of course she barely knew him, and she could never imagine him as boyfriend material, yet…the attraction was there. And what was he playing at now? Holding her close to him like this, his arms around her neck and waist. Did he feel the same way? Was he telling the truth about not wanting to panic her or was this all a ruse for him? Did he find out who she was? She had been careful, but perhaps not careful enough. Over the years she had lost some of her edge.

"Is it late?" she asked. He glanced at his watch. " Two o’clock . 

"Tess!" she sat up, remembering. "We never shut the door." Maria grimaced. Great, she was going to hear about this, no doubt.

"That’s okay. We never made it to the bed either." Michael looked over his shoulder at the dark room that he barely noticed the first time he rushed in to find her medication. “Tell me there’s a bed.”

"Of course there is." Maria’s voiced was amused. “Want to try it out?” She licked his skin, tasting the salt of his sweat. “I won’t hurt you.”

"Promises." Michael gathered strength and stood up, pulling her with him.

“Get the door.”

Michael found the edge of it with his foot and kicked it closed as Maria winced at the slam. Great, if Tess wasn’t already awake from the previous sound of animals of the wild mating and baying at the moon, she sure as hell was now.

Michael found the bed and toppled them both onto it. He pulled her down again and she went, unresisting. Michael cleared his throat. "I just wanted to say…" he paused and she waited, feeling a curious sense of wondering for what was coming next. "I just wanted to say that we’re in by no means a safe situation." Michael said with a pause. Condoms. Damn, she made him brain dead. “Tell me you're protected.”

“The pill?” Maria asked tentatively. Michael nodded. Damn, they were irresponsible. Twice now. The previous time, Tess interrupted. “The truth or a lie? Should I make you feel better, or what?”

“You’re starting to give me your panic attacks.” Hell, who knew they were contagious?

"Yeah, well I had kind of worked that out." She laughed. “We’re safe. I am heavy into medication lately.” Maria mouthed his chest, sucking a small male nipple in as he moved under where she rested on him.

"And I don’t know what the future will bring." Michael said. Shit. He wasn’t going to propose. He could feel her stiffening. Holding his tongue, he swallowed whatever reassurance he was going to give her. Somehow, he knew that wasn’t what she wanted to hear or need.

"No."

"And I don’t want to assume anything without telling you…that I…" He stopped and she looked up at him.

"It’s alright." She said. "I think I know." Her lips somehow found his without her meaning to. Something inside her snapped as she realized that she was acting on instinct, her heart, her body, her soul guiding her and not her head. Her head was shouting at her to pull back, to stop, not to go any further with this man she did not trust, but for the first time in her life she didn’t listen. No wonder she was panicking. Two parts of her were at war, and his delicious body was the battlefield.

It had started as a warm kiss of affection and need, but as soon as she felt his mouth against hers she found herself wanting more. She opened her lips, and then opened his with her tongue, hearing his sharp intake of breath, feeling the surprise in the hard muscles of his body. It was the sort of kiss that makes your head spin and your knees go weak.

Maria was glad that she was lying down or she was sure that she would have toppled over. Now she was as surprised as he was. How long had she been harboring this need? His hands were gentle, brushing her arms lightly, then not so lightly, moving to touch her everywhere else. He was demanding. His entire body was. She knew what she wanted and was amazed by her boldness as she found even more skin, caressing his body. He moaned and rolled back as she bit his nipples hard, first the left, then the right,  moving her face down to them and running her tongue over them. Underneath her, she could feel the tense excitement in him and the hardness inside her as he thickened again.

"Maria…" he murmured. It was his turn to be on top. He wanted that. To push into her hard. To ride her to completion and watch her come apart under him. “I want to…"

"Ssh." She wanted to see his body, to feel it under her hands, to touch and consume it.

"Is this what you want?" he looked up at her, a bemused expression on his face.

"Don’t you?" she whispered. Michael quickly flipped them, so he held her under him.

"Yes. Oh yes." He buried his face in her hair, kissing it over and over again and now his hands grew bold. His fingers insinuated themselves along her skin. She felt her breasts tighten, the nipples hardening as his fingertips found them, brushed them lightly. She kissed him again, closing her eyes, then she tried to wriggle out from under him without breaking contact with his mouth. It was a physical impossibility and he pushed her away, laughing, pulling her arms over her head. Somehow she felt she should be embarrassed by her nakedness but she wasn’t. She pulled her hands free of his hand, and placed them on his head and guided it to her breasts, allowing him to kiss her, wanting his lips to touch her there, his tongue to find her nipples, to suckle. Waiting for her chance, she gave a laugh as she pushed him over again, and regained the top.

She was sitting astride him now, relishing the unexpected eroticism of his head and hair beneath her fingers. She could feel his erection digging against her thigh and wanted to feel him inside her again, knowing she could not stop until she felt him pushing up between her legs. A thought brought her up short and she stopped the little kisses she was showering on his mouth and pulled back.

"What’s wrong?" He drew back from her breasts and looked at her in alarm. "Have you changed your mind?"

"No. But… I don’t suppose you have any condoms on you?" she asked him and he laughed, a short bark of a laugh.

"No, Maria. Funnily enough I don’t. Which seems strange to me, since I’ve been clamoring to get in you since we met, but somehow condoms didn’t top of the list of items that might come in handy. Dumb of me really. A guy should always be prepared." Michael pinched her skin watching her eyes darken with desire at the sting. “I thought you said you were on the pill.”

“I am. It just occurred to me that a man who found a way to get engaged six times is probably very sexually active. Condoms aren’t just for pregnancy, you know.”

“I’m clean.” Michael just realized that he never thought of disease when he thought of her. He was never this careless. Another testament to how out of it he was. “I think you are a witch. One destined to melt my brain.”

She laughed and he laughed as well, his face relaxing and his teeth showing. She stared at him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I don’t think I’ve ever really seen you laugh." She said. "You looked so - unfamiliar."

"You look pretty unfamiliar from this angle as well," he said, staring straight at her breasts which were level with his head. She laughed again.

"What do you want to do? About the condoms I mean..." Michael asked as he tongued a nipple, and then put a thumb on each of her nipples, rubbing lightly, kissing her neck softly.

"Well…seeing as how we already committed the sin, and pretty effectively, we could be dead very soon…I’m willing to take the risk if you are." She couldn’t believe herself. She never took emotional or sexual risks.

He pulled her back down on top of him, his fingers moving down to find the wet warmth he already caused in her. Groaning, he pushed his finger along the edge to tease the swollen nub, already sensitive from previous sex. He liked how she bit her lip and closed her eyes, riding him slowly, as his cock moved deeper in her, slower than last time. Savoring the action.

"So, tell me, what exactly is it about you?" she murmured in his ear. He exploded with laughter, pressing his arms around her naked body, his fingers rubbing her bottom sensuously.

"Special Guerin aphrodisiac. Works every time," he whispered, his fingers finding the moist crevice between her legs and pushing up inside alongside his cock, which was already stretching a tight channel. She moaned. Her mouth nuzzled at his nipples. He was hard and ready for her as he slowly pulled her into a rhythm with him. The burning, throbbing sensation between her thighs told her she was certainly ready for him, ready to follow his lead. She lifted herself up, repositioned herself over him then lowered herself down, guiding him into her, taking him in again. He was big and very hard and she cried out with the pleasure of feeling him inside her, rising up and down on him, her hands pushing on his shoulders, his running over her breasts, his mouth against her nipples, sucking hard, nibbling, kissing. She was so wet already that it wasn’t long before she found herself reaching a climax.

His eyes were half closed with a look of concentration on his face. She almost lost it when he licked his lips. Just watching him could send her over, as wave after wave of delicious orgasm flooded through her body. She gave a series of little whimpering cries, feeling the sweat pour off her forehead and run along the sides of her neck under her blonde hair. Then she felt him explode within her, his cum shooting inside her and trickling warm and sticky down her leg. She held him to her, clutching his head between her breasts as her breathing slowed along with his and they rested there for a long time, relishing the aftermath of this unexpected passion. At last he pulled her down off of him, holding her against him.

Maria was shocked when he rearranged them together into a close cuddle, and he rested his sweaty body next to hers. Sleep. It should’ve washed over her, as a feeling of being sated and sore hit. But it didn’t. She felt insatiable. His skin. She could almost taste it in her mouth like a live tingle, like putting her tongue on a battery. The continuous movement of his hands on her, told her that he was having a hard time coming down as well. When his mouth moved down her body and settled on her, sucking himself from her, Maria tossed her head back and screamed his name.

~~~

The ringing of a phone found them tangled in the bedding. Michael swore as he tried to find a way out among the tangle of sheets and limbs.

“What the hell is that?”

“A phone,” said Maria in helpful suggestion as she bit his ass. Michael yelped when the phone rang again.

“That’s my cell!”

They both sat up on the bed, and in a flurry of arms and legs, both toppled over out of the bed in a loud thump and muffled laughter. Scurrying around on the floor, they wrestled each other for a pile of Michael’s clothes looking for his phone.

“Got it!” Maria said placing it behind her back.

“Gimme!”

“Uh uh. Pay a forfeit. Finder’s keepers.”

Michael grabbed her and kissed her loudly along her neck. “Okay, what do you want, my little witch?”

“Hmm....” Maria seemed to be thinking about it. Whispering a suggestion in his ear, Michael stifled a groan and bit her neck hard, soothing the bite with his tongue as he took his ringing phone from her. “Deal. As soon as I take this call.” Maria smiled and laid back on the floor watching him. It was late. Actually, it was real early. Five in the morning early.

“Yeah,” Michael growled in the phone unhappy with the interruption. He went quiet as he listened, and slowly peeled himself off Maria, sitting up fully. Maria sat up too as a frown graced her beautiful face. Her hand came to rest comfortingly on his thigh as he barked in his phone, asking questions and making unkind comments. Hanging up, he quickly got to his feet, and picked her up. Depositing her on the bed, he trapped her between his arms and leaning down, he rested his forehead to hers.

“I’ve gotta go.”

Maria’s hand ran up his chest to rest on his face. “What’s wrong?”

“My silent alarm went off at my house. The cops apprehended a burglar.” Michael kissed her quickly, then again slowly. “I’ve gotta go. Damn.”

Maria sat up with him. “I’ll go with you.”

Michael shook his head. “No. I want you to try to get some sleep.” Michael glanced at the bedside clock. “Your shop opens at nine, right?” Maria nodded. “That barely gives you four hours of sleep.”

“When are you going to sleep?” Damn. He was going to be tired.

Michael laughed. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll take care of this. Go home, see the damage, take a shower and go to work.” Michael leaned down and whispered in her ear. “I wasn’t planning on sleep tonight anyway.”

Maria giggled. “Oh! The best laid plans of…”

“Mice and men. Yeah I know. They often go awry.” Michael frowned at the clock. He needed to leave. “I’ll call…”

“Me. Yeah, I heard that before. Make a better promise. Come by after you check out your place, and I’ll cook you breakfast.”

“Really?” Michael kissed her again, with lots of tongue. “Is that breakfast, or is it breakfast?”

Maria giggled again, settling back in the bedding with a wicked gleam to her eyes. “Both, if you’re really, really good.”

Michael gave a small shout of amusement as he stood up gathering his clothing. Kissing her one last time, he ran his hand down her naked body, finding it harder to leave then he imagined it would be. “I am good. Make me blueberry pancakes?”

“Blueberry it is. With warm maple syrup.” Michael kissed her again and left her place smiling. He kept smiling until he got to the police station.

~~~

“I’m Michael Guerin. I was called about a break-in at my home tonight.” Michael had to wait as the Desk Sergeant checked the arrest reports. He waited until the detective covering the case came to find him. Morning patrols were coming on duty. Michael was finally feeling the tiredness of the evening.

“Mr. Guerin?”

“Yes.” Standing, Michael shook the man’s hand.

“I’m Detective Burns, would you please follow me.”

Michael sat back as Detective Burns gave him the report of events leading up to a uniform patrol car entering his place. “You said they apprehended the perpetrator?”

“Yes.” Burns looked through his notes. “We left a unit patrolling your area in case you came home. We tried to find you.”

“I was sleeping over at my fiancée’s house.” Michael said without thought. Oh shit! That was a total Freudian slip. He had to quit that shit before he slipped up in front of Maria. One night with her, and he had every intention of proposing to her, the panic stricken loon. It was a matter of finding a way to slip under her wire and convincing her to take a chance on him. Michael frowned. He was going too fast. Way too fast. Fuck that. This time, he wasn’t going to screw it up.

Frowning, Michael stared at the Detective confused. “How’d you get my private cell number?”

Burns put down the file. “Well, that’s the strange thing. The perpetrator had it. He insisted that we call you. Said it was all a big mistake and that he knows you.”

Michael closed his eyes, swearing. Great. He had been pulled away from the greatest night of sex in his life for this? “Just tell me. What’s his name?”

“Kyle Valenti. Do you know him?”

Michael swore. “Yeah, he’s my brother.”