Salt, Tequila, and Lime
By DocPaul

Rating: NC-17
Spoiler: None.
Disclaimer: No mine, and underage drinking is not cool.
Summary: Maria is sad and decides to go on a journey to feel better, and Michael comes along with her.
Author’s note: This story was supposed to be just a funny drunken story, but it went out of control. I hate that when it happens. This was a turnabout is fair play sort of thing. All the times Maria went with Michael to help him with what he needed, it was time for him to return the favor.

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Liz walked across the courtyard dialing her cell phone for the fourth time that morning. Listing to the phone ring and ring, she looked around and spotted the others. Alex and Isabel were deep in conversation and Alex was making Isabel laugh. Max was sitting there and so was Tess, but they were listening to Alex, too. Michael was missing, as was Maria. They all looked up when Liz threw herself down in an empty chair still listening to the endless ringing.

“Liz what’s up?”

Liz sighs and turns off her phone. “Maria isn’t in school today, and I’ve called her endlessly all morning. I thought maybe she is sick and needs her homework or something. But there is no one answering at her house and she isn’t answering her cell phone.” Liz puts her phone away in her bag. “Has anyone heard from her?” No one had seen her.

“Maybe she went somewhere with Amy today?” Tess suggested helpfully.

“I thought of that, so I called her mom’s shop, and her mom answered the phone. So I hung up real quick.” Liz pondered the missing Maria situation so more. “Has anyone seen Michael today?”

“No, you don’t think that he and Maria took off again on some harebrain quest?” Isabel asked looking at Max, worried about his reaction.

“God, I hope not. Her mother almost had a meltdown last time, and she held me and my phone hostage for six hours.” Liz looked over and noticed Tess looking up and smiling at a Kyle that just arrived.

“Oh, I’ve seen him.” They all looked up at Kyle as he sat down next to Tess and opened up his lunch bag. “Tess what did you make me for lunch today?”

“Kyle, where did you see Michael?”

“First in Spanish class, which, by the way, he slept through. But most recently walking towards us and sneering at all the people around him.” Kyle absentmindedly pointed over towards Michael walking towards them in his usual, get out of my way attitude.

“What?” Michael sat down noticing everyone was staring at him.

“Michael have you seen or talked to Maria today?”

“No. And she stood me up during third hour. She was suppose to meet me in the Eraser Room.”

“Great, now why would she miss that? Something must be wrong.” Isabel rolled her eyes at Liz, and Liz was forced to swallow a laugh as Michael glared at Isabel.

“What do you mean something is wrong? Where’s Maria?” Michael asked looking around at the group of them.

“That’s the point Michael. No one knows. She hasn’t been to school all day and Liz can’t get hold of her on the phone.” Isabel noticed Alex getting up to head for class, so she stood up and gathered her stuff too so he could walk her to her next class.

Michael watched them all slowly gather their stuff and go to their next hour. Standing up Michael tossed his garbage and without a thought took his keys out of his pocket and walked off the school campus to go find Maria.

He broke into the DeLuca house when no one answered the door. Maria’s room was empty and her cell phone was lying on her dressing table. Taking the phone and putting it into his jacket pocket, he took off. After checking every place he could think of Michael finally went to his apartment, to make some phone calls. He should have gone into Maria’s mom’s store, but he was avoiding having a one on one confrontation since the impromptu trip to Arizona.

He could hear the music almost from the moment he entered his apartment building. Looked like one of his neighbors was having a party. It was loud and more than likely was going to get the building manager pissed off. No one could have been more surprised than Michael to realize the music was coming from his apartment.

Finding the door not quite closed he walked in to find his missing third hour make-out partner trashing his apartment. In truth she wasn’t trashing it as much as she had the music blaring and the kitchen island counter was covered in lime wedges, both eaten and fresh. The sharp knife she must have used to cut up the limes was sitting on the counter scaring the hell out of him.

Maria was sitting on a bar chair with about a third emptied bottle of tequila at her arm, and she was singing at the top of her lungs. Closing the door and moving to the stereo, he turned down the volume before his place was raided by the police and they found one very under-aged drinking Maria. She didn’t even notice the lower volume. Her singing was so loud he doubted that she heard anything but herself. He tossed his jacket in his room on the bed.

Michael went over to stand next to the singing Maria. It took a few moments before she realized that he was standing next to her. Looking up she saw him and stopped singing. Smiling really big she leaned up and put her arms around his neck.

“There you’re. I was waiting for you.” Maria leaned in and kissed his neck rather noisily. Michael pushed her back a little when her breath hit him.

“Oh God Maria, did you take a bath in that stuff?” Maria laughed and started to fall off her perch. He caught her, which was surprisingly harder to do than when she was sober. Suddenly it was like all her joints were loose and she had become almost slippery. “Damn, you smell.”

“I don’t smell!” Maria said shrugging his hands off her arm.

He watched in concern as she poured more tequila in a glass, lavishly licked her wrist and added salt. Suddenly she licked the salt off, slammed down another shot of tequila, and grabbed a lime wedge and bit into it. Michael was shocked at the small scream she gave as her hand hit the countertop and she held on.

“Damn that’s smooth.” Then Maria fell over in a coughing fit. Michael barely had time to catch her before she fell. Holding her up under her arms while all her weight became heavy, he finally pushed her back on the seat and trapped her in place by putting his arms on either side of her and holding onto the countertop.

Michael was shocked when he felt her mouth on the back of his neck. She was kissing him hotly and nipping the skin. He could feel his body’s reaction to his toes, and trying to keep from groaning, he pushed her off him. She looked at him and smiled. God she looked so cute all ruffled and unkempt. Reaching down he couldn’t resist kissing her. Plus she owed him; he waited for her most of third hour in that damn Eraser Room. Kissing Maria was always a worthwhile endeavor, but kissing a drunk Maria was a whole new level of sensory fascination. It was like her mouth was more open and softer. And, it tasted like tequila.

“Ugh. Jesus, that stuff taste terrible.” Maria pulled back and looked at Michael.

“Did you just say ‘ugh’ to my kisses?” Maria actually started to pout. Picking up a lime wedge she pelted it at Michael. He barely dodged it when he noticed her hand moving towards the tequila bottle again.

“Oh no you don’t.” Michael moved the bottle out of her reach.

“Hey, bad Spaceboy.” Maria hit Michael on his arm. “Mine. Get your own.”

“So greedy. Maybe you would like to tell me what is going on? Are you trying to drown your problems?”

Maria laughed and turned a little on her seat to face him, bringing her legs up she circled Michael’s waist and locked them behind his back. Moving her hands up his body and moving in she kissed the side of his neck, licking his skin, and then kissing him deeply. Groaning deep in his throat, Michael decided that tequila didn’t taste that bad as his one hand moved to frame her face and deepen the kiss as she sucked on his tongue, and his other went around her waist and pulled her even harder to his groin. And as suddenly as it started, she pushed him off her and was off the bar stool waving her retrieved bottle of tequila singing la-la-la-la, and moving out of his reach. Taking off a shoe she threw it at him when he tried to approach and get the bottle back.

“I am not drowning my sorrows; I’m just taking them for a little swim. You just need to back off.”

She held the bottle and did a little victory dance full body wiggle that stopped Michael in is tracks. That little wiggle was very provocative and stimulating. Maria breathed in deeply and then suddenly gagged. “God, you’re right, I stink. Time to bathe.”

Michael could help but smile at the singsong nature of her voice while she was drunk. It was melodic and almost childish in nature like when she took care of him when he was shot. It was so cute and soft.

Michael couldn’t have moved from the spot if someone offered him a million bucks. Maria did another quick shimmy and her clothes seemed to just shed from her body. There was nothing childish about Maria DeLuca as she stood in front of him. Looking over her should at Michael as she dropped her shirt.

“You coming, Spaceboy?” Michael felt his reaction to that question all the way to his groin.

“Not yet, but getting there.” With a laugh she flung her bra over her head and walked into the bathroom humming under her breath and holding onto her tequila bottle. Michael watched her go into the bathroom helplessly and suddenly a thought occurred to him. “Hey, and brush your teeth!”

The bra flew through the air and hit Michael in the head to fall and drape over his shoulder. Reaching up he took the bra in his hand and swore under his breath. Rubbing a hand across his face he went to the phone. Looking into the bath he watched a very enticing picture of Maria stepping into a bath full of bubbles. It was a far cry from the last time he had a naked woman in his bath. Courtney’s bath was a nasty sludge that had nothing erotic about it. Now Maria DeLuca immersed in bubbles was fast becoming a favorite fantasy, and also a reality.

Michael closed his eyes and kept repeating to himself under his breath that taking advantage of his trashed girlfriend would be a bad thing once she sobered up. Looking in one last time, Michael groaned and leaned up against the wall and called Max’s cell number. He needed help fast before he did something that he wouldn’t regret, but Maria would.

“Hello?”

“Max, Michael. Get yourself over to my place pronto.”

“What’s going on, Michael?”

“I found Maria. If you value your friendship with me, and care even a little about my relationship with Maria, you’ll hightail it here two minutes ago.”

“Is she okay? What’s going on?” Michael peeked back into this bathroom and Maria had sat up in the bath and her entire bare torso was exposed. Gulping hard and trying to clear his throat, Michael couldn’t tear his gaze away from her.

“Yeah, she’s looking very fine, very fine. Look, just get over here before I lose control of the situation.”

“Michael, what do you mean lose control? Michael?”

Michael hung up the phone when Maria held a bath sponge out to him. He went into the bathroom and took the sponge from her, kneeling next to the bath and began to wash her back noticing the bottle on the floor beside the bath. God her skin was flawless, smooth, and soft.

“You have the most gorgeous hide, DeLuca.” Michael was hypnotizing himself with the repetitive motion of washing her.

Finally she leaned back with her hand coming out of the water to stroke his face. “It’s all yours Spaceboy.” She leaned forward and gently licked his lips until he parted them and they kissed gently.

“You’re messing with me.” Maria just laughed at that.

“Get me out?” Michael nodded and turned around to find a towel for her. When he turned back around she had stood up with her arm holding out and the water and bubbles running off her nude body.

“Oh Lord have mercy.” Michael quickly pulled her out of the bath and wrapped her in the towel while she hung onto him, moving close to kiss his neck, face and mouth. “Maria, please honey, you’re making this very hard on me.”

Michael was actually very shocked when her hand moved down his body to cup him hard. Leaning in even closer she kissed him even deeper sucking his tongue hard. “That you’re. That you’re, very, very hard, I mean.”

“Maria.” He groaned closing his eyes and fighting for control. She reached down and grabbed her bottle as he picked her up and took her back into the other room still wrapped in a towel. “Leave the bottle.”

“Nope.” Michael sighed and put down on her previous bar stool, he took the bottle from her hand and placed it back on the counter away from her. “Hey!”

Michael grabbed her face and forced her to look at him. “Tell me what is going on. Please?” Maria looked at him closely. He could feel her looking at his mouth and he swallowed a moan.

“Okay, for one more drink, I’ll tell you.” Maria said as she moved in to lick his lips.

“No. You have had enough. Where did you get this anyway?”

“One last drink and I’ll confess all including the dream I had about you last night.” Maria moved close to him rubbing suggestively against him and whispered in his ear. “How do you feel about me in nothing but a leather thong? Clothing for you is optional.” Michael looked at her for half a second.

“Okay, one last one, and I pour it while you talk.” Michael grabbed the bottle and continued to hold it out of her reach. “Talky, talky Missy DeLuca or the bottle disappears down the drain.”

“You’re a mean spirited man, Spaceboy. But lucky for you, I think you’re so sexy, beautiful, and loving.”

“Maria? Talk or I pour.” Michael reached his hand over the sink and held the bottle in a threatening pose. Maria sighed and started plunking at the front of his shirt discretely unbuttoning it as she went.

“Do you ever feel trapped by your life, by the circumstances of your life? Do you ever just get so tired of trying so hard, working so hard to just survive. I work to be perfect, to be what everyone wants me to be, to them, but I don’t spend much time just being me. I think I lost myself somewhere, and I miss my heart.”

Michael poured the drink into her glass with a frown. “What are you talking about? Maria?”

“My mom is leaving me, too. I’m losing her.” Maria licked her wrist and added salt with a sob while Michael watched. “I tried; I really tried hard to be a good kid, a good daughter so she wouldn’t leave me like my dad.”

Michael felt for her. His breath stuck in is throat like a knife. He knew what she was saying. They were two faces of the same coin. She worked hard to do everything correct because she was less than others, and he, in the same situation, took the other road by refusing to try to change himself. It was two different approaches to the same problem, but Michael was finally realizing that the problem wasn’t with them; it was the other people who refused to value them as they were. Looking at her, at her unhappy face with tears in her eyes, she never looked more perfect to him.

Maria quickly licked off the salt, drank the tequila with a visible shake of her body and a small scream she bit on a piece of lime hitting the counter hard. Michael was intrigued by the whole drinking process. He saw it before in the movies. Maria wasn’t looking too happy all the sudden. Telling him everything, like she always did was dragging her down off her happy high.

“How’s she leaving, Maria. I can’t see your mom leaving you.”

“She told me this morning that she is marrying Jim Valenti. I’m too old to be a stepdaughter, stepsister, and stepalien. I don’t want to leave my home, but it’s too small, and she is going to want to move in with Valenti. Why can’t they just date? Get a hotel room or do it in the back of the car like normal people?” Maria hiccupped and lunged for the bottle.

“No, uh huh, we only agreed to only one drink.”

“I thought you would understand, that I could trust you to understand.” Maria looked at him with really sad eyes. “I wish you would just for once be with me, take a trip with me, for me.”

“I can’t drink Maria, but I do understand.”

“Then why not? Is it because Max did it and it made him happy, carefree, and human? And Max has rules against any of you being happy? And we all know that if Max says no then we all have to obey.” Maria moved over his body moving her hands up his chest. “Didn’t you ever want to just know what it felt like to have no worries for just a moment in time, to be free to just feel? Or are you too chicken to feel human, to be free, or is it because you’re afraid to disobey Max?”

Michael looked at her, looked at the bottle, and admitted to himself that he’s been dying to try it, just once. Grabbing another glass, Michael poured them both another drink. Putting the bottle down he passed Maria her drink. “I’m going to do this, not because of Max, but because I’ve always wanted to try it. But mostly, I’m going to drink this one drink because I do owe you and it is only fair that you take me on a trip that you need to go on. So, I’m going to go with you.” Michael handed Maria the saltshaker. “So what do I do?”

Maria laughed and gave him a quick hug. “I thought you’d be a coward about this, too afraid to be out of control, to let it all go, to live a little, to love a little.” Maria opened his shirt and kissed his chest and then nipped his skin. “I find you so exciting and sexy.” Michael’s head went back and his eyes closed as she worked his chest and neck with her mouth.

Maria licked his neck lavishly and added salt. “Observe, first lick the salt.” Which she did, slowly off Michael’s neck. He enjoyed the feel of her tongue on his body. “Then you drink the shot of tequila. I find it is important to scream, because it burns all the way down.” Maria drank the shot and gave a small scream and then she sucked on the lime. Turning her head she spit the lime out across the room laughing. “And then you suck on the lime. Now you try. Are you ready? Can you do it?”

“Yeah, yeah I can do it.” Michael took the saltshaker in his hand and looked at her sitting there only in a towel. Pulling her towel down a little to expose her right breast, he moved in and sucked her into his mouth. Her hand came to rest on the back of his bent head holding him tight and hard up against her. Her eyes closed and she let her head lean back moaning. Finally she moved her head to look at him sucking on her and the sight burned inside better than tequila. He seemed to feel her regard so he lifted his head and made eye contract with her as he added salt to her exposed breast. She reached over and put a lime piece in her mouth.

Not losing eye contact, he licked the salt off her breast, quickly drank the tequila and then moved his mouth to join hers and take the lime from her. Spitting the lime out they kissed again and Michael could feel the liquor fire it’s way to his stomach, but Maria was making the fire go even farther into his groin.

When he finally broke the kiss the first thing he noticed was that the room looked different. It moved, was more colorful, and he felt real good. Actually, he felt pretty damn good and ready to do almost anything. Michael looked at Maria and his eyes softened. God she looked really good too. Moving his chair even closer to hers he pulled her legs around his middle tight and leaned in to kiss her along her neck stopping to whisper in her ear. It was her laughter that made him feel even drunker than he was. He giggled.

“You giggled!”

“Did not!” Michael said giggling again.

Maria grabbed the bottle and poured them both a drink. “Again?”

“Hell yeah.”

“Where can I put salt on you?” Michael took her hand in his and sucked her finger in mouth suggestively and hotly.

“Anywhere you want.”

“Oh, goody.” Laughing Maria pulled him in for more kisses. This was already even more fun with him then it was alone.

After they both drank down their next drink, Maria almost fell off her seat. Michael grabbed her tight to him and putting his arms around her and taking her cute ass in his hands he stood up and carried her to the bedroom door, but not before Maria grabbed the bottle in one hand, holding on with the other, and sucking on Michael’s shoulder. Maria pushed his shirt off his shoulders.

He put her down and she laughed at him and tossed her towel off and went into his bedroom. Michael laughed and started shedding his clothes on the way to the bedroom. “Don’t drink it all, Ria. You promised to share.” He made it into the room to hear chuckling coming out from under a blanket on his bed.

Suddenly she sat up with the blanket falling to her waist and see him standing beside the bed in only his pants. She moved closer to the edge of the bed and rested her head against his stomach rubbing her face against him. His hands came around to pull her close and run his fingers through her hair. He moaned deeply when she placed a large sucking kiss on his stomach enjoying the feel of him, her hands unbuttoning his pants.

“Did I miss you at third period today?” Her fingers moving into his pants making him hold his breath.

“Yes. I waited for you for an entire hour.” Michael said when she licked him on his stomach. His hands clutched her to him.

“Thoughtless of me.” Michael nodded his head in agreement. “I should make amends.” Maria smiled and scooted back lifting the blanket and inviting Michael in.

It was a while later that Michael’s phone started to ring. Michael pushed back the blanket and sat up looking towards the door listening to the ringing with his hair practically standing straight up. Maria’s hand came out the blanket and pulled Michael back down into their little world laughing. A few moments later, Maria’s cell phone in Michael’s jacket pocket started to ring from where it fell off the bed, and Maria sat up looking around.

“Is that my phone?”

Michael pulled her back laughing. “Forget it.”

Kissing him quickly and then leaning across him and hanging off the side of the bed, Maria tried to reach his jacket, but was distracted by the bottle of tequila and Michael hand on her bare ass. “Tequila!”

Michael laughed and grabs the bottle from her and puts it on the bedside. “Oh no you don’t. You don’t need that anymore.”

“Why not?”

“You got me.” Michael whispered in her ear. She looked at him and laughed.

“Okay, but how about just one last drink? I’ll share it with you.” He laughed at her trying to make her eyebrows move up and down, and nodded his head. She grabbed the bottle, took a long swig and then reaching for him she joined their mouths and shared the tequila.

So inviting was her kisses, and so goddamned beautiful was she that Michael could feel her down deep inside of him. Air gummy with the scents of liquor and residual limejuice on her lips, slipped into his lungs as Michael breathed in. It was enough to choke him, but it didn't stop him from tangling his fingers in his lover's hair, from tilting the small siren's face up for the kiss that she'd initiated earlier. It didn't stop him from opening his mouth to her questing tongue and inviting one of those time-stealing Maria kisses that left him soulless and hungry.

Maria didn't disappoint him. She grabbed onto Michael's biceps and kissed back with slow, slurred grace, as if they had all night and part of tomorrow and there was nothing in the universe more important than stroking Michael’s tongue with hers. Michael felt staggered, on edge barely able to catch breath against the onslaught of her on his senses. He steadied himself with his grip on his lover, though there was no way to stop his head from spinning, and it was silly to expect his drunken partner to hold him upright, to keep him sane when he was never able to retain an ounce of his sanity when he kissed Maria.

He sighed into the kiss, overwhelmed by the remnants of tequila and Maria in his mouth. Tongue on his teeth, brushing against the roof of his mouth. Sucking at his lower lip. He moaned softly and returned the pressure. The ardor. He felt the heat of Maria’s body melted to his and the air in the room got a little warmer. The languor in his muscles began to show a little tension. And best of all, the taste of her, the smell of her, changed to something hotter, darker. To something that transformed scent into sensations of sex and love.

They resided under the covers in a mass of arms and limbs, rolling around, kissing and touching, and laughing. Maria grabbed a black marker off Michael’s bedside table at one point and was writing on Michael’s body. Michael kept whispering things into Maria’s ears that made her laugh, and she in turn would blow raspberries on his skin. The two of them would dissolve into laughter tickling each other. Suddenly they would quiet as her hand slowly moved over his skin almost in reverence and he would take her face in his hands and slowly trace the features of her face kissing each of them gently. He never felt so free just to be with her, to touch her and let the rest of the world melt away to where there was nothing but he and she in a world of their own.

Maria pushed him flat on the bed and had his jeans almost completely off while moving her flat palms up and over his muscles pushing them, with a careful, almost comical neatness, baring him to the cool air, laying him out like a banquet. Maria hovered over him, as if trying to decide what to do next, which flavorful bit to sample. Then she ran her palms from Michael's shoulders to his hips. Back in slow motion again, with the deliberation of someone who recognizes how drunk she was.

"Um-m-m. Next time, I think I'll just drink my shots off you." Maria nipped at his throat, teeth sharp but careful. The lazy voice whispered over Michael's skin, tongue following the path of words. "I can put my salt here..." Maria licked at his nipples. "And my lime juice here..." Tongue swirled around his navel. "And my tequila here." The same hot, slick, rough tongue painted a line down his cock, circled him, tried to dip down below her hand, and then started back up again.

Michael arched--chest, belly, hips, in order, always a moment too late to keep up with the teasing tongue. He pushed against the binding weight of the jeans caught around his thighs. Maria's fingers were brushing against his flesh, teasing at the tender flesh beneath, but he couldn't get his hand further down, and Michael desperately wanted it further down. Wanted to open himself up for Maria with all the barriers gone the way Maria had for him. She was moving back up his body twisting her hands in his hair while she suck hotly on his neck, pulling the skin between her teeth and feeling the bruising left by the rush of blood.

“Oh damn honey, get my jeans off the rest of the way.” Michael was moving his legs around to move the jeans further off so he could kick them free. He couldn’t get his hands past Maria, past her skin. He felt Maria’s leg come up and she used her foot to push his jean further down his legs so his thrashing finally removed them. Finally he was freed of his clothes, so they could really do some damage, when the door to his apartment opened.

“Michael?”

Michael reached over and put his hand over Maria laughing mouth as she mouthed ‘oh no’ and a quick finger to his lips to motion for silence. Leaning in to whispered in her ear not so quietly, “It’s my father! Be very, very quiet.”

Maria giggled and Michael joined her as they both shush each other to be quiet in not so subtle whispers. Maria reached up and stuck her tongue in Michael’s ear and bit the lobe gently. “You’re in so much trouble. There is a naked woman in your bed!”

Michael looked around quickly. “Where?”

And they both dissolved in laughter, just too funny for themselves. Quickly shushing each other, Michael peeked out of the blanket to see Max entering the bedroom. Michael put his hand over Maria’s mouth and she did the same for him. They continued to laugh with their eyes over each other’s hands. They couldn’t stop laughing and the lump under the blanket was shaking.

Max came into the room after stepping over Maria’s clothes and then some of Michael’s. He stopped at the foot of the bed and watched the lump shaking in laughter and the not so subtle shushing with dismay. Finally giving a deep felt sigh as he noticed the more than half empty bottle of tequila on the bedside Max decided it was time to really access the situation.

“Michael? Michael, come out of there. I know you’re there.”

Maria’s sing song voice came out from behind the blanket. “Michael is no here! Go ‘way, come back tomorrow.”

Max rolled his eyes when two voices of huffing came from the blanket as they were cracking themselves up. “Michael!”

Suddenly Michael peeked out of the blanket and started laughing. “Maxwell! Maria is nekid, nek-kid, nekkkkkkk-kid, nekid.”

Max heard Maria’s voice protesting. “Not nekid, naked.” Suddenly Maria began to sing. “So is Mikey, so is Mikey. Michael is nekid. God, you have a gorgeous ass.”

“Ria! Shush, don’t tell Max.” Max just ran his hand over his face, what he really wanted to do was cover his ears. He would probably never recover from today.

Maria’s voice increased in volume and singing quality. “Michael has bed-head, beddddd-head, bed-head. I saw Michael with bed-head.”

“Maria and Michael, out now!” Max groaned when Michael sat up in the bed revealing his bare chest and some real impressive love marks on his chest and neck.

“Okay, but you’ll be sorry, because Maria is nek-kid.”

A small voice came from the blanket. “Am not.”

“Okay, okay. Just wait a minute, both of you, out of the bed, get dressed and meet me in the living room.” Max left the room in a hurry before he saw more than he wanted to. Heading for the phone, he made a call to Isabel and the rest. He wasn’t going to be able to handle this alone.

Max could hear the laughing in the other room, the sound of drawers opening, Michael yelping and Maria’s laughter. He just shook his head and prayed the other would hightail it over here fast. Max realized that he made a mistake earlier when Michael told him to come over as soon as possible; he finished up school for the day first. That was obviously a mistake because Michael lost control. Max moved around the kitchen throwing out the lime wedges, cleaning the glasses, and wiping down the countertop listening to the conversation from the other room.

“I can’t wear those. They are too big!” Maria laughed. “They keep falling off. Where is my underwear? I lost my underwear.” Max stopped what he was doing and looked over the counter on the floor of the living room. Found Maria’s underwear.

“You look real cute in my pants.” Max cringed at the laughter as Maria and Michael both burst out in laughter again. “I’ll hold them up for you. Maybe I’ve a belt around here.”

“I got into Michael’s pants! I got into Michael’s pants.” Max actually groaned and rolled his eyes. Yeah, like that was so obvious. Max could hear and see Maria falling as she and Michael started to come into the living. They fell back into the bedroom and Michael picked her up. “They’re too long!”

“Ria, tell you a secret!” Michael pushed Maria up against the wall holding his pants up on her by fisting the front material together. “You definitely got into my pants.” Leaning over her he nuzzled her neck. Maria moaned and moved her hands up under his t-shirt.

“I got more than just in your pants.” Maria whispered back sucking his tongue, kissing him hotly with nothing short of hot dirty intent. Michael pushed his leg between hers and nailed her up against the wall moving in so close that she couldn’t move without touching him. She leaned into his hard thigh as his hands went around her, inside his loose pants and grabbed her ass hard enjoying the feel of her.

“Michael! Maria! In the living room now!” Max called from the other room.

“How did he know?” Maria whispered so loud it could hardly be a whisper. “Why did you invite him to the party. He’s such a spoilsport.” Max just rolled his eyes again. Like no one in the damn building didn’t know what those two were up to with all the moaning and groaning going on.

Max watched them come in and they were both dressed interestingly. Michael was wearing a pair of jeans obviously years old and about a size too small with a t-shirt that barely met his waistband. Maria was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt of Michael’s that was soft and worn with age tied at her mid-drift. You could almost see her skin color through the threadbare fibers and the areoles of her breast. But the pants were too much, they drowned on Maria and Michael walked behind her holding the pants in place with his arms around her from behind.

“Maria’s skirt is on the floor there.” Max gestured to the pile of clothes on the living room floor.

“My skirt! Look Michael, it’s my leather skirt.” Maria went over to pick up the leather mini. She just let Michael’s pants drop to the ground. Max quickly turned his head, but Michael just kept watching as Maria shimmied back into her leather skirt san underwear. “I love this skirt.”

“Me, too.” Michael said with a heartfelt sigh and was rewarded with a brilliant smile from Maria.

Max just murmured under his breath that he bet Michael loved that skirt. Max watched helplessly as Maria sauntered back over to Michael to hook her arms around his neck and Michael picked her up and kissed her, his hand moving up under his t-shirt as her legs came up to wrap around his middle.

Suddenly, Maria moved away. “Hungry.”

Michael paused. “Me, too.”

Maria reached up and kissed Michael’s lip drawing his bottom lip into her mouth and sucking on it. “Feed me, Spaceboy, I’m hungry.”

Michael took one look at the pouting lips, the flushed face, the bright, dilated eyes and felt the hunger consume him. There were no more doubts, no insecurities, no world outside of the here and now and the desires in him to be with her and only her. He lowered his head and redefined his world with an exploration of her mouth that was more than just a kiss; it was an awakening. The mouth under his was hot and demanding, yet acquiescing giving him the paradox of love. Michael moaned into her mouth, stroked his tongue across the hot wet velvet that was Maria's tongue. Tastes exploded in his mouth, coming and going, overwhelming but not enough. He staggered slightly under the magnitude of his desire, then turned Maria completely into his embrace and claimed what was his by right. It wasn’t about hormones or rampant lust. It was about the freedom to feel her and know that she knew him, wanted him, and loved him.

Michael opened his mouth further, forcing Maria to reciprocate, sucked on her tongue before breaking away from that lush place. He wanted to lay down again with her. Instead he moved her forward until she was sitting on a bar stool and he could move deeper into her. Michael grabbed two handfuls of hair, yanking Maria head back, tilting it up. He took her mouth in a voracious, sucking kiss, drawing Maria’s tongue as far into his own mouth as he could. Michael couldn’t get enough of the taste and feel of her in his body. He felt starved and somehow he knew that only Maria would be able to appease the hunger, sate it, and meet it with her own. She was his equal in every way.

Max watched them fixed to his spot in the kitchen helpless to stop what they were doing and shocked by the display. Michael’s one hand was on the back of Maria’s back grabbing the cloth of the shirt and knotting it in his hand as he plastered his body hard against her front. Max was surprised to realize that he never thought of Michael being able to show this much raw emotion to anyone. Suddenly so much came clear about the other couple’s relationship so much that had been a mystery to the others. Michael let Maria in, maybe not always, but at times he opened those doors and allowed her to see him, see his desires, and a part of his heart that he kept closed and hidden from others. And Maria, her hands were on his body soothing and holding him, touching him with such familiarity that Max was shocked. This wasn’t something new, learned in a couple of hours of drunken groping. This had the intensity of months and months of knowledge, like she knew where to touch him, how to touch him to make him feel safe and loved.

The doorbell pulled Max from his shocked regard. Max went over and opened the door and let the others in. Turning back to the couple he found them no longer kissing, but rather whispering to each other and laughing. Michael took Maria’s hand and rubbed it over his face, leaving her in the seat while he grabbed and bowl, cereal, and milk. The other came into the room cautiously, and Max motioned for them to be quiet. They stood at the door while Michael made cereal and fed Maria a bite. Suddenly, Maria grabbed her throat and felled over sideways on the floor in a dramatic heap making a choking sounds.

“Fruity pebbles, ugh, I want lucky charms.”

Michael looked down at his drunken partner while eating and he smiled at her antic as she started to sing the lucky charms song. He squatted down beside her as she kept singing about green clovers, yellow moons, pink hearts, and gray aliens. He took a bite of cereal and then held a bite out to her. She took the bite and then kept singing. Max and the others watched in interest as the two polished off the cereal and Michael went to make another bowl while Maria rest back on her back looking up at the ceiling humming.

“What is going on?” Before Max could answer Liz, Maria turned over on her stomach and spied her friends.

“Hi! Lizzie, Lizzie did you come for the party?” Liz eyebrow went up as she and the other realized that Maria was drunk off her ass and then they noticed Michael putting away another bowl of cereal.

Michael got down on his knees next to Maria and whispered in her ear hotly while stopping to lick the skin beneath her ear. “Not invited, private party.”

Maria turned and looked at him; sitting up a little she leaned forward and whispered back in his ear. The others watched as Michael whole body tensed up and then suddenly he was pushing Maria back on the floor moving his body down to join with hers as they kissed. Michael joined his hand with one of Maria’s and anchored it over her head against the floor as he rubbed his body along hers, using his other hand to wrap around her center and pull her under his body.

“Michael! Michael let Maria up. We need to talk to you.” Both Michael and Maria looked up to see their audience. Slowly Michael moved off of Maria and got to his feet. Reaching down he offered Maria a hand up. He pulled her over to the sofa and sat down with her on him resting back against him. His hand went under her shirt and rubbed the soft skin of her stomach.

“Okay Max, I think we figured out that they are both totally trashed.” Isabel said as she looked around the room noticing their previous discarded clothes including. “How and why are they in this state?”

“I’ve no idea. So far the best I could do with them is get them out of bed, dressed, and convince them to come in here for yet another make out session.” Max finished washing off the countertop. “I did clean up the kitchen which was littered in lime wedges. Maria and Michael heard Max say lime wedges and they both looked around for their missing tequila bottle.

“Tequila!” Maria was off Michael and through the bedroom door barely beating Michael to the bottle. Max and the others watched them both scramble to the bedroom confused, until sudden Max remembered the bottle that was on the bedside table.

“Oh no!” Max headed for the bedroom too and just made it in time to watch Michael take a swig of the tequila and reach over and kiss Maria sharing it. While they were kissing Max reached over and took the bottle from Michael’s hand and passed it back to Liz.

“Hey, that’s ours!” Maria tried to grab the bottle back.

“Max, you’re a party pooper.”

“Yes, he is. Max is a pooper, poopie Max, Max poopie head.”

“Michael, living room now!” Max and the others retreated to the living room and looked at each other when they heard Michael groaning and Maria laughing from the other room. They both slowly emerged from the bedroom with Michael holding Maria in front of him. They both peeked around the corner and found their friends staring at them. They both dissolved in laughter. Michael whispered in Maria’s ear and she giggled even more moving her hands over his crossed on her stomach.

“Okay, enough of this. Would you please tell us what the hell is going on here?” Max was feeling exasperated.

“What? What is going on?” Michael actually looked confused until Maria turned in his arms and whispered in his ear. “Oh, that? I thought that it was pretty obvious. I was kissing Maria.”

“Not that!” Michael looked at Maria with a raised eyebrow since she gave him the wrong answer, and she just shrugged. “What is with the drinking? You know you shouldn’t be drinking, that we can’t drink.”

“He was just keeping me company.” Maria said turning in Michael’s arms and hugging him around the waist.

“Michael, what...” Max had to pause again since Michael was too busy kissing Maria again. “Michael!”

“What? What?” Michael was starting to get real irritated with Max.

“Why are the two of you drinking?”

“Maria was upset. Her mother told her that she’s marrying Sheriff Valenti.” Suddenly the room went still.

“What? My dad is marrying Maria’s mom?” Obviously Kyle hadn’t heard the news. He looked at Tess then back to Maria who was busy kissing Michael’s neck and whispering in his ear again with Michael laughing. Kyle walked over to Max.

“Give me that damn bottle.” He snatched the bottle from Max’s hand and walked into the kitchen looking for a glass, salt and more limes. Looking over at Tess he waved the bottle at her. “You’re not going to make me drink alone, are you?”

Tess looked at Michael and Maria then back at Kyle. Michael had pinned Maria up against the wall again and was kissing her deeply again, ignoring their audience. Putting down her coat she went over and joined Kyle at the counter while he sliced fresh limes.

“How do we do this?” Tess was actually curious.

“Oh come on, not you two, too.” Max looked at Kyle and realized that he wasn’t going to be able to convince Kyle one way or another, but Tess couldn’t drink or she would be equally trashed like Michael. “Look, Kyle, you might want to get drunk, but you know Tess can’t drink. Let’s try to be a little responsible here.”

“You need to back off Max. We aren’t asking for your permission.” Max looked at Tess to try to appeal to her sense or reason.

“Tess. You can’t do this. Even a little amount will affect.” Tess looked at Max and sighed. He was right.

“I know. I’ll just keep Kyle company and make sure he gets home okay.” Tess pointed at the other couple that had made it from the wall to the sofa again. “You have enough problems.”

“Max, maybe we should try to sober them up, maybe some hot coffee?” Isabel looked at Alex for agreement. He shrugged because he really couldn’t see where Michael and Maria were doing that was so bad. He followed Isabel into the kitchen to make some hot beverages while Kyle took his first drink. Alex left Isabel’s side and grabbed a glass for himself and went over and joined Kyle in a drink.

“Alex!” Alex smiled over at Isabel and shrugged.

“It’s just one drink.” Kyle took his glass and clicked it against Alex’s while the rest discussed how they should get Michael and Maria apart and sobered up. Liz grabbed her phone and called Maria’s mom.

“Hi, Ms. DeLuca? It’s Liz. I just wanted to let you know that Maria is with me. I was hoping it would be okay if she spent the night with me? Yeah, she is really upset. I know. I’ll. Okay. Bye.” Liz turned off her phone and looked at Max. “Well that takes care of covering Maria until we can get her sober.”

Maria half heard what Liz was saying to the others, but she was more interested in Michael who was kissing her neck and pulling the t-shirt off one of her shoulders. Leaning forward she whispered to Michael.

“I’m still hungry.”

“More cereal?”

“No, real food. Food that is good with tequila.”

Michael thought for a second. “Senior Chows?”

“Perfect! You’re perfect.” Maria kissed him again and then quickly glanced over at the others discussing them with Kyle and Alex both still drinking. “Max will never let us have any fun.”

“He’s a fun killer.” Said Michael dramatically, almost tragically.

“Yeah! Yeah, Max is the killer of fun. We should dump him.” Maria was getting that singsong sound to her voice again, echoing everything Michael said.

“Yeah.” Michael looked at Maria and then leaned in to whisper in her ear. “How?”

“Leave it to me. I’ll distract and you get the door open for our getaway. Okay?”

“What are you going to do?” Maria just laughed and patted him on the cheek. Getting up she went to stand near the door facing Max and the others. Gesturing for Michael to stand by the door and get ready she called attention to herself.

“Hey, Max!” When Max looked over, Maria pulled up her shirt and flashed him, and while he and the rest was stunned she turned to push a shocked Michael through the door, reaching down and grabbing her shoes and his on the way out. They stumbled through the door laughing and Michael reached down and locked his door with his powers and then he grabbed Maria’s hand and pulled her behind him.

They made it to his bike and he searched for his keys. “We can’t get on that! Driving drunk is bad!”

“I’m not drunk!”

“Are, too!”

“Not!”

Maria moved closer and kissed him and talked into his mouth. “If you tell the truth I’ll tell you something.”

“What?”

“Nope, you have to admit you’re drunk first.”

Michael resisted for a moment and then gave in. “Okay, I’m drunk and we can’t drive. So what were you going to tell me?”

“Spaceboy, I know where there is a Rave tonight.” Maria reached up and put her arm around his neck and kissed him. “So first food, and then party and sex.”

“Let’s go.” Michael pulled Maria behind him wondering if they could change the order of events.

~~~

Senior Chows was busy for a Friday night. The wait was thirty minutes, but Maria was too hungry to wait. Once the hostess was distracted Michael quickly moved his hand over the names to move their name to the top of the list.

The hostess showed them to a table and left them menus. Before she left she took their drink orders. Michael was barely able to stop Maria from ordering a tequila drink, so he ordered them both sodas, and waters with lemon. It was hard to read the menu with Maria half sitting in his lap whispering in his ear while running her hand up his leg.

He parted his legs so she could get better access to him, liking the feel of her hands on him. They were lucky to be given a booth in the back of the dark restaurant. Michael was half watching a small group of patrons playing pool and hustling each other for taps and beer money. Reaching his hand into his pocket, Michael realized that they left his place without money, just as the waitress arrived with their chips, tortillas, salsa and drinks. Looking at Maria, noticing how small she was and doubting that she ate anything that day, Michael ordered a huge amount of food off the menu. When the waitress left Michael leaned down to whisper to Maria.

“DeLuca? You got any money?” Maria snorted at him in laughter.

“Does it look like I’m packing money?”

He looked at her outfit. He knew she was wearing the short, tight leather mini with nothing underneath, and his sleeveless t-shirt, which she had tied up leaving her mid-drift exposed.

“Okay, you have a point. We left without money. My wallet is in my other jeans and your bag is at my place. How are we going to pay for food without money?”

Maria looked around and noticed a dollar in tip on the table next to them. Reaching over she nabbed it. “Here, we will put it back. We just need some scratch. Put this in your pocket.”

“Maria, that is just a dollar.”

“I know, but after you alter it, it will be more.”

“You want me to pay for our dinner with counterfeit money?”

“No. We take the altered money and use it to play pool against them.” Maria pointed over to the crowd. “Once you win, we’ll take the money we win and pay for our meal, and you can alter the dollar back to normal and we’ll drop it back on the table as tip. Simple.”

Michael looked at her in awe at how fast she came up with that plan despite the tequila on board. “You’re the most awesome, beautiful, and smartest creature I’ve ever seen.”

Maria was delighted by his description. Moving close enough to rest in his lap, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. Putting her back to the restaurant, she straddled his body and turned the kiss hotter, more visceral and needy. It was the arrival of the food that finally moved her off of Michael. He decided that these old jeans were far too tight to wear around Maria. She could suck out all the room he had left in them in a matter of a simple kiss.

For the next half hour, they sat in the booth feeding each other morsels of food while kissing. They ate and whispered to each other, laughing and teasing each other. Maria spent most of the time starring at his beautiful lips, and on occasion she would reach over and suck the lower lip into her mouth. His moans were drawing attention from the patrons around them, not that they weren’t already causing a stir.

“Okay, Maria, I’m going to the restroom, and on my way back I’ll stop at the pool table. You stay here.”

“Stay here, right.” She watched him saunter away carefully.

It took a few minutes before he came out of the men’s room. All Maria could think was that she hoped he washed his hands. He stopped and talked to the crowd around the table, and suddenly he pulled a one hundred dollar bill from his pocket and placed it on the side of the table. Maria got up and wandered over to the table while the playing began.

At first Michael was losing, but suddenly he was on a run. Maria noticed how his pool cue barely seemed graze the balls and suddenly the ball would fly across the table banking the shot. Maria was getting nervous that the observers would catch on that Michael was cheating using his powers.

To protect him from discovery, Maria sat up on a semi-high wall and crossed her legs. Michael looked up from his shot and saw his sweetie doing a fair impression of Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. It wasn’t like she hadn’t already fixed him to the spot earlier with the flashing of Max incident, but now she was keeping all the people...male people in the room mesmerized. Sinking the last shot, Michael quickly handed off his cue and grabbed the money off the table.

“Hey, you can’t just leave. Maybe a rematch?” The man who lost to Michael was shocked. It was years since he lost to anyone. Hustling pool was his livelihood.

“Thanks for the offer man, but we were on our way to a party.” Michael went over to the semi-high wall and lifted Maria down. She wrapped her legs around his middle and kissed him passionately.

“You won! My hero!” Slowly her legs unwrapped and she slid down Michael’s front. The group around them just moaned as Michael took her hand and led back to their table. They collected their bill, placed the dollar tip back on the table, and quickly left the restaurant. They needed to catch a cab if they wanted to get to the Rave.

~~~

When Michael and Maria got out of the taxi they could hear the music from the party. It was just a matter of following the noise. Luckily the party was only on the outskirts of town, so if they couldn’t hitch a ride back, they could easily walk it in about ten minutes.

Surprisingly, a sort of bouncer/key-keeper manned the party door collecting both the keys and cover charge. He took one look at Maria and gave her a good up and down. Michael had to admit that Maria in a sleeveless t-shirt tied to the mid-drift, short leather mini san underwear, and her hair wild from numerous make out sessions was worth more than just a passing look. She was a walking advertisement for passionate sex.

“Hey, sweet thing. You shouldn’t be going in there all alone. I’m almost done with my key duty if you need some protection.”

“Back off, Neanderthal boy, she is hardly alone, and I carry all the protection she needs in my wallet.” Finally the young man turned to take in Michael, pondered how tough he really was, and finally decided to back down to his job status.

“You can’t enter without handing over your keys and getting a hand stamp to show you left your keys at the door.”

Maria laughed and leaned in. “We don’t have any keys. We came by taxi, and I’ve no pockets to put my keys in.” He looked down at her outfit and had to agree that she hardly could be carrying keys on her. “He not only doesn’t have any keys, but he is also missing his underwear.”

“They aren’t missing, honey. We just left them on the bedroom floor.” Michael grabbed the stamp from the suddenly quiet young man and stamped both his and Maria’s hand. Throwing the stamp back down on the table next to the large bowl of keys, he leaned menacingly close. “You have a problem with that?”

“No. Not at all.” Michael just nodded and pulled Maria snug into his groin and walked her into the party keeping her close to him at all times. “You want something to drink?”

“No. I just want to dance with you. Is that doable?”

“I suck, but why not?”

Closer to the dance floor some of his courage deserted him. What if he messed this up? He didn’t want to lose Maria over this. He was feeling the affects of the tequila receding, but he didn’t want to lose her. 'It's just dancing,' his brain tried to tell him. His heart shushed his brain, denying that. 'No, there's a lot more to it then that. These are feelings that are involved here, emotions. Other things we want, we need. His body spoke up then, screaming loudly, 'Worry about all that later! We want it now--we need it now!' And the hunger surged up again, stronger than ever.

“Maria.”

“Yeah?”

“How ‘bout we stand right here for a few minutes, get used to the music?” Michael gestured to the fringe area they were in. "Watch some of the other couples. I haven't danced like this before.” Or ever.

“Okay. Fine by me.”

They stood with her back to his front, touching in as many places as possible. He could feel her all alone his senses as she moved unconsciously to the beat. He could smell her body, that rich smell that he associated with her only. The scent rushed through him, centering in his groin and him throbbed uncomfortably in the tight confines of the worn denim.

"Maria."

"Yeah?"

"You asked if I'd actually dance with you? I will."

"Yeah?" Even in the murkiness of the room he could see the interest sparked in Maria's eyes; felt more than heard the sudden shift in heartbeat and breathing.

"Yeah." Michael's voice was rough with need. "Let’s go," and get it over with was spoken under his breath.

“Alright! Now don’t worry about how you look or if someone is watching you. Just feel the music in your bones, the fire of the beat in your blood and soul, and if you stay close to me you just need to align your body to mine, follow me.” Maria leaned in and straddled her legs around one of his putting her one hand behind his head and the other on his shoulder. “Just let your body follow mine, and when you’re up to it, if you ever get up to it, I’ll back off and let you give it a try. Think you can do it?”

Michael's face threw a playful hurt expression to Maria. "Hey, you're the one that dragged me out onto the dance floor," he pouted. Secretly he loved this, having her practically riding his leg and plastering herself tight to his front, but his insides were quivering with nervousness. "What am I, a wallflower?" The energy from all the couples around them seemed to be energizing Michael, letting him be bolder than he normally would.

An instant of hesitation seemed like an eternity, until Maria grabbed Michael's hand and pulled him a couple of feet back into the throng of gyrating, sweaty couples. She placed Michael's hands on her hips and began bouncing, letting her hips sway back and forth, noting that they were followed closely by a pair of the warmest brown eyes she had ever seen. Maria urged Michael to loosen up, motioning him with her ever-expressive hands. "Come on! Get into it!" And she watched Michael go from a conservative beat to an all out disco-type bump in a few stanzas of the techno-pop tune. As the two danced, she gave him an approving glance. "Not bad for a two left-footed alien!" she teased, over the music.

Not skipping a beat, Michael threw back, "Keep it up, and I'll send you home with the key keeper!"

The sound of uncontrollable laughter was added to the ever-present music, and the two continued to dance. As Michael became more and more at ease, he threw his arms above his head, swinging them back and forth with the rhythm of the music. A few of these motions, and his t-shirt rode up from his waistband from his pants, revealing his cute tummy to Maria, whose eyes grew at the sight. It was enough to distract her, when she was put off balance by a nearby dancer's arm in the back, almost falling into Michael.

Michael never skipped a beat, as he righted Maria, who was now dancing in his personal space, not that he minded. Maria moved over in front of him, eyes luminous in the dark room, the hunger apparent from the way she kept looking at his mouth. The pair continued to gyrate, Michael positioned Maria’s leg between his, but he wanted to feel more of her. Michael shook his head faintly and turned her, shifting Maria so that they stood back to chest. Michael brought his arms around her waist, his hands to Maria’s sides curling around her already sweaty skin of her stomach, pulling her flush against his larger body and they moved together slowly at first, bodies pressing together in the crush of the crowd. At first Maria thought Michael had enough, and was leading them off the floor, but she was shocked to feel Michael turn her around, and a very hot pelvis grind into her bottom, as she was placed hard into his front.

"You feel good." Michael whispered, licking her ear before sucking the lobe into his mouth. Maria shivered in his arms, not noticing the shocked looks of people who knew them from school watching around them.

"You do too." Maria whispered back.

Michael smiled against Maria's ear when his partner in crime, fun, and life reached back with her hands to grasp his hips, anchoring them together even more. Michael continued to dance and gyrate, his hips grinding into her backside while powerful hands held Maria in place. The beat throbbed heavy, and the two bodies continued in their new position. They held that position for a while, bodies touching, pressing, and swaying gently to the pulsating beat of the music, entranced by the feel of each other’s body.

The music changed then, the beat becoming more insistent, demanding more of them. Michael felt the subtle shift in Maria's body as the smaller woman began pushing back against him, rocking even harder into Michael's pelvis. Their bodies touching, grasping, and pounding against one another, it was like watching a raw, passionate love scene being played out on the floor. Michael groaned as the blood throbbing through him and spiked his temperature. His hands shifted of their own accord, rising, moving up Maria's body; fingers stroking and teasing, feeling the heated flesh beneath the cloth, searching all points, finding her naked breast under his borrowed t-shirt.

One set of fingers found the nub of her breast and he tugged gently, and then not so gently, eliciting a groan from her. The other set of fingers roamed restlessly, touching as much as he could manage, moving down her front until he met the slick skin of her leg. Moving his hand up her leg and past the hem of her leather mini and wrapped his fingers around her leg holding her tight and stoking the soft skin of her inner thigh. And still their hips undulated, setting a gentle bump and grind rhythm. Michael lost himself in the pleasures of sensation; the pleasures of touching Maria like this. The physical ache, the hunger that had threatened for so long, was looming large now, obscuring everything. It increased ten-fold when a slender hand, so much smaller than his, far more sensual grasped one of his hands, the one under her shirt holding her breast and drew it down the front of her to cup her beneath tight leather.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Michael whispered hoarsely in her ear.

"I burn here, deliciously so, for you." Maria whispered back, twisting her head around to see him. As Maria righted herself, still facing away from Michael, she instinctively drew her hand behind Michael's head, turning slightly to catch Michael's face. Her expression was full of questions, as she closed in on Michael's ear. "What is this all about, Spaceboy? I thought you said you couldn't dance. I’m finding your brand of dancing faultless.”

Michael beamed towards his smaller partner. "What can I say? You're a bad influence on me." His eyes looked into Maria's soul with his stare, and he unconsciously licked his lips, finding himself suddenly dry. Maria's hand drew Michael's face closer, but instead of speaking into his ear, she stopped short. Their lips were inches apart, both of them hesitating somewhat. Michael, feeling quite bold with his feelings tonight, cut the distance and took Maria's lips with his own, claiming her mouth.

The taste of Maria overwhelmed Michael slightly, as their mouths opened and tongues explored the new sumptuous cavern. Michael drew his hands around Maria's head, as her hand helped to put his head in the right position. Their bodies, already sweaty from dancing, began to cling to each other tightly, as each of them tried desperately to mold themselves into one. Michael's hands began to roam, finding the narrow hips that he'd held just earlier, and the firm ass underneath the short leather cloth. Maria's hands began with Michael's head, and made their way all around his body. She latched onto the firm chest and back, and decided she never, ever wanted to let go.

As the two continued the deep, penetrating kiss, they suddenly became aware of catcalls and wolf-whistles coming from the crowd around them. They broke off just in time to hear someone yell, "Get a room, you two!" and looked sheepishly into each other’s eyes. Michael looked at his watch. It was 11:05 pm, and looked at Maria. Both of them spoke at the same time.

"Home."

~~~

Michael rushed into the convenient store with Maria hot on his heels. He scanned the aisles while Maria hit the refrigerators for cold beverages and grabbed some munchies. When she finally found Michael he was selecting a box of condoms. The cashier behind the counter was watching them closely. Maria came up beside Michael and read the packaging. Making a clicking noise in her throat, she took the box of condoms from him and put them back. Reaching over she found a box that said extra large and had more in the box. Taking them down, she handed Michael the correct box and headed for the counter after kissing him quickly. Looking down and reading the box, Michael smiled and followed her to the counter.

What in the world had happened? When he'd got home earlier all he'd had in mind was to find Maria, find out what was wrong and fix it, and then a quick make out session for the night, to relieve the tension. Instead he ran into his sweetie and a bottle of tequila and ended up having one of the most intense sexual encounters he'd ever experienced in his life, and from all indications that it was nothing compared to where they were heading. Of course, it couldn't be because a certain blonde was the object of his desires, was it?

This opened a whole new can of worms though. He knew from past experience that it was hard to alter the level of involvement with Maria without things changing significantly. And he wasn't sure if he was ready for those things to change yet. Maria didn't seem to need or want intense declarations of love, so maybe it was best not to worry about it for now, but what worried him most was that he wanted to give them to her and suddenly she seemed to have other agendas, namely getting into his pants.

He hesitated though as they walked into the apartment, not ready to end the evening, the magical, heady sensations that had wrapped themselves around him, cocooned him in sensuality.

"Sleep with me tonight?" he asked finally, not sure what he was trying to say or even what he was asking since they already mutually agreed to sleep together. But he wanted more, for sure. "Only if you want to," he added quickly, when he saw Maria hesitate.

"Sure, Michael," she said, an unreadable expression in her beautiful eyes. “I thought it was already understood?”

Then the expression changed to a provocative one and Michael felt the desire surge up in him, his hunger renewed. "Do you know what you're doing?" he growled in a low voice, moving instinctively towards Maria.

"Yeah," came the somewhat breathless reply. "I want you, Michael. I want you against me; moving inside me, tasting me, touching me...It feels like my blood is burning, I need you so badly."

Michael locked strong hands on to her shoulders, fingers digging into the soft skin under the fabric of his top. "Be sure, Maria. 'Cause if I start again I may not be able to stop."

She gave a breathless laugh. "Who says I want you to? This isn’t tequila talking. I haven’t had a drink in about six hours, so unless you’re still impaired?” Michael shook his head no; having cleared the alcohol by the time they reached the Rave. “Michael, I need to have you. You're like a drug to me and I need a fix. I didn't plan on this. But now that I've got it, I want more."

"Just so we're on the same level here."

"We are, unless you keep talking. Who knew you would finally want to talk when I want to do other things." Maria raised his arms and looped them around Michael's neck, and pulled his head down to her. "Shut up and kiss me." She breathed against Michael's lips.

It was hot, sweet, heady, better than the first time, because now he knew how good it could be, that it wouldn’t be the last. Michael's mind, the tiny part that remained coherent throughout, marveled at how good Maria tasted; the textures and scents and flavors that combined to flow over and around and through him like some expensive cognac. The satiny texture of Maria's tongue in his mouth as he sucked it, then rubbed his own against it, was like a piece of his own personal heaven or the closest he would ever get to heaven, so smooth, so hot, like liquid fire. He could still faintly taste the tequila they'd shared earlier in the evening and ran his tongue around the entire inside of Maria's mouth, savoring the flavors of Maria and tequila mixed together.

He groaned when Maria pulled away from him, chest heaving with emotion. Another groan followed as Maria began placing tiny nips, little pinches with her teeth down the sensitive skin of his throat, fingers trailing up and down the sides of his neck, caressing the ultra-sensitive skin there.

"God, Maria," he growled when a hot, sucking kiss covered the first stinging place. He raised his own arms, lifted the hem of Maria's shirt and skimmed his hands upward, feeling the soft texture of her skin there. His fingers continued their search until he found two nipples; both already peaked with excitement. He circled that nipple gently with a forefinger, felt the resultant quiver run through Maria's body. A hard pinch to the other nipple and both hardened completely, twin peaks begging for his touch. Maria groaned at the sensations, her lips breaking from their caresses.

"Jesus, Michael...oh, yeah, kiss me there." She moaned then as Michael took advantage of her distraction and pulled the shirt over Maria's head.

Michael pulled back slightly, finally getting to survey what he'd been touching and tasting all evening. Maria's body was perfection so much slighter in build than his, but sturdy, with long thin lean muscles. Two rosy-brown nipples hard and tight, beckoning to him, his own nipples hardened as he gazed at Maria and his breath caught in his chest as he skimmed that gaze down further, taking in the look of Maria in only her leather mini; his own breath catching in his throat.

With a groan of pure lust he dropped to his knees in front of Maria, rubbing his cheek over her flat stomach, breathing in the heady scent. Maria caught his head and held it captive as Michael traced the outline of her belly button with his tongue, shuddering with the need to taste it for real; he dipped his tongue in causing her to giggle. He undid the button at Maria's waistband, his hands shaking with his sudden hunger. He removed her body from her leather prison and Michael went down on her like a man starving. He heard Maria's gasp above him, but was unable to focus on anything but the tastes exploding across his tongue as he sucked and licked, tasting her as deeply as he could, her hands that had been holding his head now clutched at it; pressing him closer to the heat. Maria began thrusting into his mouth, tentatively at first, then picking up speed and force when she saw that Michael not only could handle it that way, but also wanted it.

She moaned quietly, muttering. "Michael devour me, take me in and make me come, suck me, suck me, suck me. Oh! Oh, yeah. Oh god, Michael, you're so good. Oh, god, I'm …Michael! I-I'm...oh my god!" He could hear her screaming his name.

Michael opened up, taking even more of Maria as her mumblings and warnings picked up intensity. He felt the orgasm begin deep in her body as he was pulled up against Maria's body and the straining nub of nerve endings in his mouth hardened further against his tongue. Hot, creamy fluid erupted into his mouth, flowed down the back of his throat. He drank in every drop, and then gently sucked until Maria was dry. He licked her softly enjoying the small sounds she was making in her throat, her softness all around him. Before releasing her he felt her slump over him, and then surging to his feet, he picked her up to carry her to the bedroom with her half over his shoulder. He could feel her kissing his back.

“Bed?” Michael asked wanting to still give her a way out.

“Anywhere, just don’t leave me, don’t stop loving me.”

Michael liked the husky sound to her voice, as if screaming had tired her vocal chords. “Not likely.”

"Undress me." He said roughly, voice hoarse from longing. Maria turned around from where he put her on the bed. In mere seconds she was already pushing the tight pants past his hips, pushing the shirt up over his chest.

Michael stared, momentarily transfixed by the sight of those gorgeous hands unveiling him to her sight. He could smell his own scent still clinging to Maria from before, mixed with Maria's scents. It only served to heighten the intense hunger he felt rushing through his veins. He moved onto the bed to take Maria in his arms, his body seeking for the entrance to her hot body.

“Condoms.” Maria reached around Michael to the bag on the tableside and struggled to get one out.

"Do you want me?" he asked in a rough voice. Taking the box from her and extracting one condom, Michael ripped open the package offering the condom to Maria.

"You know I do," Maria moaned, pushing back against him. Taking the condom, she concentrated on smoothing it on him, pausing when he moaned in her ear.

"Tell me. I want hear you say it." Michael leaned down to breath the hot words into Maria's ear.

"Oh, god, Michael, I want and love you. Now take me, throw me on the bed and make love to me until I scream!" Maria's voice was low and raspy, rough with need.

"Jesus, Maria..." Michael groaned as the words washed over him. "Easy, take it slower." He pushed Maria over the bed, he move up beside her moving his hand over her body, feeling and touching her. Spreading her as he did so, coming to rest between her legs. One thrust and he slid inside, feeling the smooth channel shift around him, stretching to accommodate him.

"Ah, oh, yeah," Maria wiggled back against him, working him deeper inside. "God...oh, you feel so good."

"So do you. Am I hurting you?" Michael breathed, pulling Maria back up, into his chest holding him tight. "I'm never going to be through with you. Feel me moving inside you? I want you, want to feel your hot body tight around mine, feel you clenching me, calling my name. Say my name, Maria! Say it!"

"Michael. Oh God, when the hell did you get so chatty?" Maria moaned, nearly sobbing as Michael moved slowly in and out of her. His body throbbed everywhere, all points pulsing in time with the erection that hardened again and again. “Good, this is so very good.”

Michael could feel the blood surging through her; heard the pounding pulse. The muscles in the tight passage began flexing around him, clenching and relaxing, spurring him on. He gently bit Maria's neck, teeth caressing the soft skin before moving on to suck and nip at the earlobe decorated by two delicate rings. His fingers sought out the nipples that had captured his attention earlier, moving restlessly over them, pinching and rubbing; stimulating and soothing.

The air around them was redolent with the scents and sounds of sex; heavy grunts and groans, low moans. Michael's senses spun around him as he tried to absorb it all, the hot, hungry body that he was buried in; the desperate, needy sounds that filled his ears; the salty, the scent of her and his semen that surrounded them.

He lowered one hand from Maria's breast to the small nub of nerve endings, stroked one finger up and down before lingering just inside her where he could feel where his body was joined to hers. He brought the finger to his mouth and sucked, savoring the erotic taste. Maria grasped his hand and pulled the finger to her own mouth, sucking where Michael's mouth had just been, pulling the lingering taste of herself and Michael into her own mouth.

Michael felt himself surge within Maria as he watched his finger swallowed by Maria's mouth in the same manner his cock was swallowed by her body. He pinched at the nipple he tasted, tugging slightly. Maria's body tensed around him, stiffening.

"Michael! Oh, god, MICHAEL! Yes, yes, yes, yes, YESSSSSS!!!!!" She screamed as her orgasm spilled over, spattering him, catching him in the wake.

Michael pushed Maria forward again, pounding into the still-straining body, riding the tidal wave of sensation. Maria's body continued to convulse around him, drawing him in. His balls tightened up and he lost it as his own orgasm push him over, panting as he thrust over and over, trying to draw it out.

"Maria, oh my god, Maria!"

They sank to the bed all around each other in a flurry of arms and legs, Michael pulling Maria with him as his strength gave out. He held her against his front, cradled in his arms, as he softened and slipped out of Maria's body.

"God, Maria." He whispered into the curls. What the hell had just happened? Thirty minutes ago he'd been asking Maria if he'd stay the night with him. Now his body was pulsating in reaction as the wave of his orgasm kept flowing over him non-stop pulsating his muscles. He felt like every molecule of his body had come apart, joined with hers and then coalesced into a new entity uniquely them.

"I know, Michael," Maria responding, cuddling back against his chest. "Wild, isn't it?"

"Wild doesn't even begin to cover it." Michael shifted Maria in his arms until they were more or less facing each other, and then covered the lush mouth with his own. He tasted and explored gently, feeling the need to reconnect after this last bit of intimacy. Maria responded, her own tongue caressing Michael’s tongue gently, the kiss a soft, sensual one. They drew apart, staring at one another, speechless once again.

"Go to bed?" Michael asked hoarsely, not entirely certain he was still making sense.

"Still want me to stay with you?"

"Yes. Forever." It was a short answer, brief, but to the point. Maria smiled at him, and then pushed upward. Michael caught a brief glance of the shadowy crease between her breasts and shuddered as a bolt of pure need ripped through him again. 'What the hell is this?' he asked himself. He felt himself stirring slightly, but didn't harden. 'Well, at least one part of me knows when it's had enough. Wonder what Maria's reaction would be if I pounced again?' It was almost like he, they, he corrected himself, because Maria had been just as frantic as he'd been like they were in a frenzy of some sort. Needing to have each other. He shook his head and reached for tissues at the bedside to dispose of the used condom.

"Michael, I, this feels kind of strange." Maria pushed herself up in his bed, looking down at him, those incredible eyes luminous in the near darkness of the room with the lights from the other room illuminating the room.

"I know it does, Maria. But I need you, need you here, beside me. You don't have to, if you don't want to."

"No, it's not that. I'm just, I wasn't, damn. What am I trying to say?" She stared at him, a tiny glint of humor within.

"I don’t know.” Michael pulled the cover up over them and held the covers up so she could scurry closer. “Why don't you get in, and we can try and figure it out in the morning? I'm beat."

"Sure." Maria slipped under the covers, and then lay there, staring at the ceiling.

Michael was lying next to her; his fingers curled around one of her hands. He flipped onto his side, traced one finger down Maria's cheek before pulling away. "Can I hold you for the rest of my life?"

"That is what’s bothering me." Maria sounded subdued. She rolled more onto her side, sighing a little as Michael drew up close to her. “How am I going to leave you tomorrow? How am I going to just go home tomorrow and not have you near, not be able to touch you? I feel…I need. Oh god.” Maria gave up trying to explain it.

Michael held her so close in his arms refusing to let her go, understand what she was saying. After all they did today, as close as he felt to her, his heart was protesting the thought of letting her go, even if it was only across town to her mother’s home. She belonged with him now. His mate was soft in his arms, pliant, and willing. It would take so little to start the burning in their blood again. Michael pushed the thought away, wondering what was happening between them, where they were going. All he knew was that wherever this led to, they were going together. He wrapped his arms tightly around Maria, allowing the heat and sounds of heartbeat and breathing to relax his body and lull him into sleep.

~~~

Liz and Max were the first to the CrashDown. They had split up to search Roswell for Michael and Maria. Liz and Max had tracked them as far as the Rave, but by the time they had arrived the couple had already left. Liz was moving around the diner trying to stay busy, trying to ignore the very thing that was bothering her.

She looked up as Kyle and Tess walked in laughing, followed closely by Isabel and Alex. They all seemed in good spirits. Liz quickly got drinks for all of them and joined them at a table.

“Any luck?” The group collectively shook their head no. They basically wandered Roswell mere steps behind Michael and Maria. But other people who saw them were more than happy to tell tales about the couple.

“Isabel and I tracked them to Senior Chows. According to the waitress serving them, they ordered most of the menu, ate a ton of food, made out in the back booth with a gusto drawing a lot of attention to themselves, and engaged in a pool match with some regulars for beer money.” Alex grabbed a drink for him and Isabel, passing her the Tabasco. “Michael won the pool match and they paid their bill and split.”

“Any reports of unusual happenings? Did anyone see Michael use his powers?”

“No, but the waitress told me that if he and Maria ever breakup to give him her phone number.” Isabel snickered under her breath. “I guess the, umm, degree of involvement was really inspiring to the casual observer.”

“How did they pay for dinner and the pool game? Michael and Maria barely had clothes on when they left, no money or identification?”

“Actually Max, I think that was the purpose of the pool game, to win the scratch to cover dinner.”

“Yeah, Tess and I picked them up at the Rave.”

Alex nodded. “We tracked them there too.”

“So did Liz and I. The stories were interesting. Michael dancing.” Max couldn’t stop from shaking his head in disbelief.”

“That isn’t the story Tess and I heard. It was more like full out sex on the dance floor, with what someone described as a totally erotic bump and grind.”

“Kyle’s friend, Cole said that when it was suggested that they get a room, they were out of there in two minutes flat. So we tracked them as far as a convenient store.”

Max looked at Kyle and Tess giving each other amused looks. “Convenient store?”

Kyle actually laughed. “Yeah, and they are so convenient for necessary items so late at night.” He watched Max’s eyebrow go up asking him to continue. “Condoms. They stopped and bought condoms.”

“Extra large condoms, a big box.” Tess chirped in helpfully. The group remained quiet discretely looking at each other trying not to laugh at the overly dark look on Max’s face. Liz just seemed distracted.

“You know what Max, I would love to stay and help you run down Michael and Maria, but it sounds like they have bunked down for the night. So, I think I’ll make sure Alex gets home since he was drinking earlier.” Isabel tried to keep a straight face in front of Max.

Tess caught the cue and returned it full force. “Same here. Kyle had a few drinks and he can’t afford to be caught by Jim right now of he is going to get permission to go on the football tour games. So if you don’t need us anymore?” They all waited patiently for Max to come to the same conclusion that they already had. That wherever Michael and Maria were, whatever they were doing wasn’t something any of them wanted to walk in on.

“Sure, go ahead and take off. I’ll just swing by Michael’s apartment on my way home to check to see if he went back there and everything is locked up.”

It didn’t take long after that before the four of Tess, Kyle, Isabel, and Alex were out of their seats and leaving the CrashDown without a goodnight.

Once outside they all started to laugh so hard. Kyle looked over at Tess and tilted his head towards Isabel and Alex. “So, you two are calling it a night, huh?”

Isabel looked down and then discretely at Alex. They both looked up at Tess and Kyle and smiled. The four said it at the same time. “Rave!”

Laughing they started to get into a car and head back to the party when Tess stopped and looked back at the CrashDown. “Should we, you know, invite Liz and Max to come along?”

They all looked at each other and said together. “Naw.” Michael and Maria may have been wasted, but they had it right. Max and Liz were the killers of fun.

~~~

Liz watched the others leave, and went to clear the table. “I’ll help you do that, Liz.”

“That’s okay, I got it.” Max left her to it feeling defeated. Since they took off to find Michael and Maria, Liz was being really quiet. He didn’t know what was wrong, but it was something.

“Can we talk?” Liz looked at him and finally nodded, sitting down. “You seem distant today. Did I do something wrong?”

“No.” She whispered while plucking at the wrinkle in the tablecloth. “Actually, yes, yes you did.”

“Am I allowed to know what I did?” Liz did another deep sigh and tried to get herself under control.

“It’s this whole Maria and Michael thing, and how Michael was when he was drunk.”

“You know that we react to alcohol intensely.”

“I know that. I’ve a reason to know that.” Liz avoided looking at Max. “What I’m trying to come to terms with is that you, drunk are romantic, but Michael drunk is both romantic and passionate. I’ve to think that when drunk you act without inhibition, that you follow your true inclination. I’m almost jealous if not envious that not only does Maria inspire Michael romantically, but she drives him into a passionate frenzy.”

“I don’t understand. What are you saying exactly?”

Liz put her hands over her face and breathes in deeply. “Why didn’t I inspire you to take off my clothes, to wrestle around in the nude under a blanket, to have a hot passionate make out scene in one of Roswell’s restaurant, to engage in dance floor sex, and why didn’t we need to buy condoms?”

“Liz, I…”

“I kept telling myself that the difference was and is that what we have is love, true love, a love that is eternal and abiding, and Michael and Maria are just hormonal teenagers out of control. But I’m lying to myself, because I know what Maria feels for Michael is deep, very deep. And today? Today, I saw him take a drink he knew would affect him adversely because he did want her to be alone wallowing in misery. I watched him touch her, kiss her, hold her, and basically look at her like she was the difference between feast and famine. I never knew that Michael Guerin was capable of touching anything so gently, with such tenderness. I just never understood that he loved her too, but today, it was like my blinders were ripped away.”

“Liz, what they have is intense. I know. I see it, too. But please don’t think that I don’t feel passion for you.”

Liz got up and gathered her stuff. “I just need to think this through.” Liz started to walk away. “Just pull the door shut behind you.”

“Liz.” Max watched Liz walk through to the back room.

Getting up he left the CrashDown and went to Michael’s apartment. Letting himself into the apartment the first thing he noticed was more Michael and Maria clothes. They were obviously home. Walking to the bedroom door, he cautiously looked in. There they were intertwined around each other with their mid-drifts barely covered by a blanket. Maria’s naked back was to him as her front was pressed firmly against Michael’s chest with his hand on her back. Their other hands were clasped on his chest. Looking at how happy they appeared, how at peace in each other’s arms he felt what Liz must have felt. For the first time in his life, he found himself envying Michael Guerin.

Closing the door gently and looking at the clock, it was already 2 am. Lying on Michael’s sofa and covering up with a blanket Max fell into a deep tired sleep, his dreams of him and Liz were hardly peaceful.

~~~

Lying in bed at 4:30 in the morning, woken by a strange dream that wouldn't go away, Michael groaned out loud with that particular memory. That had been the first, and so far, only, time he'd turned over for Maria, follow her on a journey, granted drunken journey thereby equalizing their relationship. The dream was still haunting him. They were at a crossroad, looking down two paths, and somehow he knew that one choice would give him Maria, and the other he would have to journey alone.

A soft exhalation interrupted his thoughts and he shifted his gaze to see Maria rolling over to face him, green eyes vibrant even with the mist of sleep over them. "What’s wrong? Michael?"

Michael dropped a kiss on Maria's head. "Shhhh, go back to sleep. I didn't mean to wake you..."

Maria shook her head slightly. "No really, Michael. Something has to be wrong to wake you in the middle of the night." She squinted at the clock. "What time is it, anyway?"

"Just after 4:30."

"What is it? Regrets?"

"Yeah. Sure, regrets. Are you insane? It would take too much to make me regret this. You know, cancel that. There is no way in a million years, hundreds of light years or galaxies that could make me regret this." Michael sighed and Maria moved deeper into his arms, lips nuzzling at his collarbone. He arched into the touch, ran his hands up and down the smooth skin of Maria's back, holding her close. "Ah, god, you feel so good, Maria. I love how you make me feel."

"Ditto" was the muttered reply as a warm tongue stroked across his skin.

Michael scooted down and rolled them over, pinning Maria beneath him, his lips already searching for hers. A warm mouth opened willingly for him, a soft, satiny tongue greeted him. He could still taste their combined pleasure from earlier with hints of semen, salt, sweat, and a musk that must have come from him. The tastes rolled into each other until Michael couldn't tell where one stopped and the next started. He rested his weight on his elbows and tangled his fingers deep into the incredible sensuousness of Maria's curls, the silky strands tickling at his fingertips. Her head was firmly cupped in his hands; Michael drew away from the kiss and began a gentle worship of Maria's face.

He heard the low gasp as he started sprinkling random kisses across Maria's face; first on her nose, moving to an eyelid, tracing down a cheekbone. He tasted with his lips and tongue, creating a mental map, following it to find the next spot of sweetness. A tongue brushed softly across eyelashes elicited a soft moan, as did the lips that nuzzled at her ear.

Michael catalogued each sound, taste, texture, his mind transferring the raw data into a crystal-clear image of Maria. He traced around kiss-swollen lips with the tip of his tongue, then licked a path across Maria's jaw, noting the softness and texture that skin and how it changed the further he went down Maria's throat. He was fascinated by the smoothness of the skin around neck muscles, and the hollow created on the throat. Maria groaned as he licked the hollow, and then suckled it.

His own body was responding to the breathy moans, whispers and quiet pleas; he was hard and throbbing against his partner, his body demanding release. Michael growled as Maria arched against him, brushing their bodies together.

"Want you." She breathed into his ear, the warm, moist breath tickling his skin.

"I want you too, Maria. I want to know that you're mine when you come, when I’m in you, when you call my name. I want you, body and soul."

"I can’t give you what is already yours, Michael," Maria whispered breathlessly.

It was a magical spell they were weaving around themselves, combining heat and friction, and coupling it with the emotions that were laid out in the open, if yet unnamed, because that little word of love seemed too small to encompass all that they felt. Vulnerable from his dream and lulled by the quiet dark of early morning, Michael felt an ache building inside him that had nothing to do with the physical needs of his body. He buried his face in Maria's neck, sucking hard, biting down, and needing to mark her in some way, to show ownership and bind them together. Maria's arms encircled him, pulling them tightly together, nearly sobbing from the mix of pleasure and pain that Michael's mouth and teeth were creating. As he drew back Michael could feel the heat emanating from the mark he'd left on Maria's neck. The blood had risen to the surface of the skin, causing a bright, stinging blush there. He licked it gently, hearing Maria's quiet moan.

"Mine," he stated again, before delving back into Maria's mouth, his ears picking up the quiet breathless agreement before the rest of the response was muffled by his kiss.

He shifted so he was partially straddling her, removing some of his weight. His hands began a gentle exploration of the rest of the supple body beneath him, stroking gently down the throat and neck, moving on to shoulders and arms. He covered a nipple with one hand, felt the heat rising as it contracted beneath his touch, forming into a tight little bud. Maria groaned at the touch. Michael wasn't doing anything, just holding the palm of his hand over her.

"What's wrong?" Michael left Maria's mouth, his own quirking with a slight smile as his partner wiggled beneath him. The smile turned to a groan of his own as the sensual movement stimulated his already over-sensitive response.

"Touch me." She begged in a husky voice. "Do something, anything, don't just stay there like that."

"You mean like this?" Michael plucked lightly at the tender bud, feeling Maria's groan reverberate through her own body. "Or this?" he rolled the nipple between his fingers, felt it tighten even more. Maria moaned her agreement. "Or maybe this?" Michael breathed against the heated bit of flesh, his tongue darting out to flick across the hard little point. Maria arched toward him, drawing his head down.

"Yeah." She panted, "like that, you bastard, god, please stop teasing."

He covered Maria's breast with his mouth, sucking both nipple and areola fiercely. Maria arched upward again, groaning, her fingers brushing through Michael's hair as she searched for something to grab on to. Michael released her, running his tongue rapidly across the swollen bud, and then kissing a path across to the other nipple where he had left a mark earlier. This nipple was already stiff from excitement, the soft tissue engorged. Michael ran his tongue across it gently, knowing Maria was much more sensitive here. He felt her quiver as he suckled tenderly, tongue circling both the nipple and the sensitive flesh.

His fingers continued their tactile exploration, brushing across the tight muscles of Maria's abdomen, stroking the soft skin and feel of her stomach muscles moving under his touch. He picked up on the subtle difference in texture between the skin on Maria's breast and the skin that lied beneath her navel, and the change in heat and diffusion of that heat the lower he stroked. He moved his hand even lower feeling the heat from her core, the difference in the skin and another slickness created by her passion. The skin stretched over the swollen nub of pulsing nerve endings was hot and silky, thinner than anywhere else, and so much more sensitive. He could feel the blood flowing under his fingers, pulse pounding as Maria arched into his hand. He stroked letting her voice guide him, his thumb rubbing tenderly over the area and dipping into the wetness.

"Michael?" It was more of a whimper than anything else, a husky, raw sound.

"Yeah?"

"You're killing me. I want to touch you." Maria licked her lips and watched him with half-crossed eyes. “Like you’re touching me.”

"Who's stopping you?" His tongue was tracing the path his fingers had just taken and the words were spoken against sensitive skin. Maria writhed under him, breath coming in short, sharp pants as Michael dipped his tongue into her belly button.

"God...I can't...p-please...oh, yeah!"

The tongue that had circled Maria's navel moved on, following the path of his hands to take the pulsating nub of nerve endings into his mouth, using his tongue almost like a weapon. He licked his way around the area, and following his own fingers, probing her, filling her. Maria moaned incoherently, head thrashing back and forth as Michael pulled back slightly, just enough to breathe hot, moist air over the nub before drawing it into his mouth. He looked up to see Maria with her head thrown back, fingers scrabbling at the sheets. A deep breath and he opened his mouth, taking more of her, as much as he wanted, as he needed. Maria screamed and thrust upward, while her hands left the sheets and found his head holding his hard against her as she drove herself deeper into his waiting mouth, coming in hard pulses.

The hot fluid flooded Michael's mouth and he drank it in greedily, swallowing several times to get it all. This was the pure essence of Maria, salty, sweet, bitter, and something that he craved like a junkie needing his next fix. Maria's moans as his mouth continued to caressed the sensitive organ were like music to him and his own body twitched again, and was clambering for release. It was only going to take one touch before he'd lose it. Trying to best block her noises as best as he could, he struggled for control.

He sucked and licked the soft area of her inner thigh and removed his fingers from her body. Moving his hands slowly up her body to take her breast again. Maria's heartbeat picked up speed, attesting to her rising arousal. She used her hands on his head to direct the rest of him home, to bring his mouth to her for a long sensuous kiss that tasted of her.

Maria was boneless beneath him. She roused a bit shivering under the gentle stroking as Michael smoothed his hands down the long back kneading and caressing. "Please."

"What do you want?"

"You." Maria moaned as her hand moved down his body to find him hard and waiting.

"I'll be right back." Michael leaned down and kissed her hard getting up to leave the room.

“Michael, spaceboy, come back. You can’t walk around like that.” Laughing he leaned back down and kissed her again before leaving the room quickly to grab two bottles of water out of the refrigerator. She was right walking around this arouse was difficult, but after a year of practice walking around aroused by Maria, he was getting it down. On his way back to his room he looked at his sofa and his eyebrow rose in interest.

“Here, drink some water. It will help you not feel so hung over in the morning.”

“What do you know about hangovers?” He just lifted an eyebrow and looked at her. Oh yeah, Hank. Sometimes you forgot all about Hank and what Michael lived through because of him.

“Just drink.” Michael went to stretch out again next to her side after making sure his door was shut tightly. “By the way, we might want to be quieter. It seems our personal watchdog, Max is sleeping on the sofa.”

“No! He slept through, um, you know before?” Maria actually had the chagrin to look embarrassed.

“You mean the ‘oh god Michael, you bastard, you’re killing me, take me harder’ scream or the …” Maria quickly put her hand over his mouth and glared at him.

“Shush, private instructions are for your ears only, and a gentleman never repeats a lady’s instructions.” Maria drank some more water and then leaned across him to place it on the bedside sliding her skin sensuously against his. “I plainly remember you screaming a few times, should we recount?”

Michael smiled and laughed gently in her ear. “Private thoughts, for your ears only, let’s not spoil them by recounting, but I’m willing to let you make me scream again.”

Maria smiled at that and then suddenly looked at the closed bedroom door. “What about Max? You’re hardly a quiet screamer.”

“Max is asleep, and we will be very, very quiet.” Maria couldn’t help, but laugh at that.

“Right.” Maria giggled as he moved his mouth down her body to leave a kiss just above her breast. He pressed his hard aroused body up against her. She turned slightly and pulled him in closer between her legs so he could push harder and more on target. Maria pushed back against him and Michael watched as her hungry body swallowed him.

"God...you feel so good." he groaned as he sheathed himself completely.

Maria moaned a wordless reply and pushed up against him. Michael stroked himself faster in and out, feeling his body hanging on the edge. It wasn't going to take much. Maria's body tightened around him and he opened his eyes, holding himself off of her to bring his hands to her waist, his thumbs stroking the skin of her stomach watching the muscles rippling under smooth skin as her strokes moved with him. He moved his hands up her body to cup her breast for a moment, her torso coming of the bed, and finally to move his hands along her arms to join his hands to her.

“No, Michael, I want to touch you.”

"No, later. I want you to do that to me after this. If you touch me now I’ll be all over."

"Oh, god." Maria shuddered under him and he felt the internal muscles in the hot passage tighten once again.

"Damn, Maria...god."

She arched up to bite his shoulder. "Let it go, Michael. Come in me. Come on, babe."

"Yes." Michael grabbed Maria's hips in both hands and began slamming into her, with her hands finally released she moved them to his hips and pushing back to meet each hard thrust with equal measure.

"Michael...do it!"

"Yes!...YES!!!!" He thrust in hard with each syllable, holding himself deep inside with the last one, waves of pleasure rising over him and swirling around him. He found released with a loud scream of Maria’s name, satisfied whimpers escaping him as Maria continued to tighten and relax her muscles, milking him. “Damn.” With that he laid boneless and heavy on top of her.

Max in the other room, woken from his sleep just groaned and grabbed a pillow to put over his head to drown out the sounds. This night was never going to end.

Michael withdrew and lay back on the bed, body still twitching from small aftershocks. Maria moved over him, mouth openly kissing him, tongue searching, hand soothing. He felt fingers probing him and he had to close his eyes and groan. His body was too sensitive as the waves of his orgasm continued to take the assault. Maria’s mouth was mating his mouth while her hands were wrecking his control at the same time, arousing and readying him. By the time that hot mouth had left his and moved down to cover his nipples, his was beginning to stir again.

“Oh yeah, that was real quiet. I’m sure Max slept through that!” Maria laughed.

"You’re going to be the death of me, aren’t you?" he groaned when a wet tongue slid across a sensitive nipple. "I want to feel you all over me."

“Do you mind?” Maria asked indicating where her hand was searching him out.

"Go ahead. I promised you could touch me later." He encouraged, pushing upward. "I'm not going to do much. I think I already spent all I had."

“Would you just lay back and let me work? You’re so damn chatty.” Maria bit his nipple watching his torso arch under her mouth as he groan and his hands tightened on her. So she tightened her hand on him.

His body loved the sensations and he was even hard, but he'd be very surprised if he managed to come. He enjoyed her hand stroking him, moving faster to keep Maria's rhythm. "Come on, baby. Give it to me harder, Maria, harder! Come on!" He thrust up into her hand as it tightened, drawing him in. He heard the sudden shift in respiration and heart rate, felt the sudden rush of fluids through his body. He filled and hardened imperceptibly, then spasmed. The familiar feeling moved over him as his body tightened and he filled her hand more stiffly. He thrust upward against her hand once, twice, and several small spurts of liquid flowed over her hand.

Michael lay back on the pillow, panting, his body still spasmodically arching upward. Maria withdrew her hand and fell to the side with a small moan, curling into him, as he took her hand and sucked her fingers into his mouth. He winced slightly as he shifted, moving his arm to gather the smaller body closer, sighing in contentment.

A quiet chuckle caught him as he was just about dozing off. "You screamed again. I think you should let me make you scream again in the morning, maybe if I use my mouth."

"It is morning, Maria." Michael couldn’t help it. The thought of Maria and her mouth on his flesh was inspiring him again.

"Later, morning. When we wake up again." Maria stroked his body gently, soothing instead of arousing.

"What day is it, anyway?" He sighed again as Maria draped an arm over his chest, cuddling full against him.

"You mean today? This morning? Saturday."

"So we don't have to get up for school."

"No, we don't," Maria began. "Michael, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. But we need to talk."

"About this or the dream? Can you tell me about the dream?"

"Not right now," Michael paused to yawn. Their nocturnal activities were catching up to him and he could barely keep his eyes open. "Later, though. Definitely. Maybe, after work tonight you could camp out here?"

"I'd like that," Maria said slowly. "I …"

"It's okay, Maria. Nothing has change. But we do need to talk about it."

"Right." Maria hesitated. “I thought a lot has changed.”

“No, not really. I loved you this morning and I still love you. That isn’t going to change ever, regardless of what we do to each other physically.”

Michael felt Maria relax against him but knew from her breathing that she was still awake. He turned slightly, tilted her head back. Green eyes gazed up at him, wide, trusting. Amazing how it only took a look from this woman to turn him to jelly inside, or to make him hot enough to spontaneously combust.

"Trust me," he murmured, stroking his thumb across the full lower lip. He looked at Maria a moment longer then lowered his head and covered that delectable mouth with his own. “I just know that what I feel for you, I never felt before, not in this life and definitely not in my last. There is no way I could forget feeling this way.” Michael kissed her again pulling her lip slowly into his mouth, sucking gently.

It was a gentle kiss, not meant to arouse, but rather to comfort, to soothe. He explored Maria's mouth slowly, tenderly, trying to convey all his feelings to his mate, partner in life. He wasn't uncertain any longer--he needed her...he loved her. Now he just needed to figure out how to keep from messing it up. He had messed up other things in his life, but not this; it was too important.

He drew back from her and placed soft kisses on each closed eyelid, then on her forehead. "Go to sleep, Maria. We'll talk tomorrow, but everything will be all right." Smiling to himself as his eyes closed, it occurred to him that he wouldn’t be dreaming that dream again. He had chosen the right path, the one where he walked with Maria.

Maria relaxed fully into his embrace and they stroked each other softly, easing back into sleep.

~~~

The next morning Michael woke first. He was surprised at his lack of a hangover. Looking down at the beautiful head of Maria DeLuca resting on top of him he smiled. Yesterday was a large sensory blur, but he remembered all the important parts, especially from the dancing on. The alcohol had burned off just before they hit the Rave, but enough remained to make the dancing experience a little easier to do.

Looking down at his body with one Maria DeLuca attachment he took inventory. It appeared that he came out of his first drunken bout unscathed, but with a few marks and bites on his body. Suddenly he noticed writing on his chest by his left nipple almost covered by Maria’s resting hand. Moving her hand he read the writing. It said Maria. Looking closely he noticed more Marias on his body all written in black marker. Looking at Maria he noticed that she was awake and watching him.

“You wrote on my body.”

“Yep.”

“Maria. You wrote Maria all over my body.”

“Yep.”

“You going to tell me why?”

“Mine.” Maria said nonchalantly.

Michael smiled at the answer remembering the marks of ownership he put on body last night. Gesturing lower and at his groin where he spied yet another Maria. “And this?”

“Mine, too.” To prove her point, she reached down and took him into her mouth.

“Okay, yours.” Michael agreed hoarsely.

The End