Part 28 (1/2)

They moved on. ”Kitchen. Huge blank slate. We can do anything we want in here.”

Faith laughed, looking around at the apocalyptic disaster which had once been a kitchen. She didn't need him to walk her through the rest of it again. One bathroom, four bedrooms, an extra room that was long and narrow, like a hallway to nowhere. She was going to say yes to this house. Michael's outlook was so aggressively rosy, which was so new for him, that she just wanted to hug him and give him everything he wanted.

”Where are we going to live while you make this my dream house?”

He looked down at her and grinned. ”Yeah?”

”Yeah. I can see it. We'll make it ours.”

”Excellent!” He grabbed her and lifted her off the ground.

She cupped her hands around his face and kissed him. Before he could turn it into foreplay-no, she would not be f.u.c.king on this dirty floor-she asked, ”So, where?”

He grinned, and blushed lightly-sheepish, not angry. ”Here?”

”Oh, dude. No.”

”It's just June. I could have most of the work done by the end of the summer. Sherlock's mom has one of those old pop-up camper things. He said it just sits on her driveway, so he's sure she'd let it sit out here for a while, free of charge.”

He'd already been planning all this, Faith realized. ”You want me to camp for the whole summer. In the desert. In a construction zone. You know it can get to be a hundred and twenty degrees out here, right?”

”We'll be in town during the day, and it's plenty cool at night. How about if I build your studio first? With AC.”

”Michael...” He was nuts, but she couldn't bring herself to tell him no. He was just so happy, and it looked so good on him.

”Tucker would love it.”

She punched his shoulder. ”Oh, that's so unfair!”

He smiled, utterly without shame. Still holding her aloft, he bounced her a little. ”C'mon. It'll be awesome.”

”What if I'm pregnant?” They'd been trying since she'd had the implant removed. Morning sickness and camping didn't seem like they'd mix.

”If you're pregnant, I'll work double time to get it done as fast as I can. I'll get everybody to help.” He leaned in and brushed her nose with his. ”If you want, we can stop trying for a while.”

She wasn't sure she wanted to do that, but it bore some consideration. ”You are crazy. But I must be crazier. Okay. We'll camp.”

He laughed, loud and wide open, and squeezed her harder. ”G.o.d, I love you!”

”Remember that when I'm a sweaty, miserable b.i.t.c.h.”

”You couldn't be a b.i.t.c.h if you tried.”

Oh yes, she could. But she didn't disabuse him of his optimism, because he was kissing her again, thoroughly, with clear intent. When he went to his knees and laid her down, she didn't object. She hooked her legs around his hips.

The floor wasn't that bad.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

Demon loved waking up like this-morning sun pus.h.i.+ng off the night chill, slowly at first, making the canvas sides of the camper lighten and glow. Before he'd opened his eyes, that glow seeped into his head and made him smile.

The sounds of the desert dwellers beginning their day or ending their night-he liked that, too, and lay every morning still and quiet while the desert had its s.h.i.+ft change.

Faith had been freaked out at first by the cries and yips of coyotes at night, but they never got too close. They'd have to be careful, though, if they ever got the animals he hoped they'd get-like chickens. He'd have to make sure the coop was strong and secure.

At the piercing shriek of a hawk above, getting an early start on the day's hunt, Demon opened his eyes and peered up through the mesh skylight, hoping to see.

”Morning,” Faith's sleepy murmur made his c.o.c.k, already thickened with morning wood, twitch. He s.h.i.+fted his gaze downward, to where she lay next to him, on her side, her hand on his belly.

”Morning. Sleep well?”

”Yeah. It was weird without Tucker here. Was it weird?”

”Yeah, it was.” Tucker was spending the weekend at Bart and Riley's. This weekend was the last push to get the house done enough to live in, and the whole club was coming out to help make it happen. But they'd f.u.c.ked three times last night, as enthusiastically as they'd wanted, after weeks of furtive grapples and stalled attempts while he slept on the other side of the camper. So Demon couldn't quite say he wasn't glad Tucker was having a likely awesome time with his friends.

Remembering their wild night, while he was already rock hard and Faith was lying naked at his side with her hand very low on his belly, Demon groaned. And then he remembered that Tucker was still having a likely awesome time with his friends. Away.

Demon didn't even feel guilty about being glad for that.

Okay, maybe a little.

But then Faith moved closer, right up against his side, and her hand moved lower and curled around the base of his c.o.c.k, and Demon forgot about guilt entirely.

She rose up onto her elbow and loomed over him, and he pulled the cover off and let it drop to the floor. With one crooked arm under his head, so he could see, he put his other hand on her back as she took him into her mouth.

He could watch this now. Not only could he, but he loved it. She'd pause every once in a while and look up at him, smiling, and there was something in that moment of eye contact that he never saw any other time. He'd never figured out what it was, but it made him feel loved, and it was hot as h.e.l.l.

It was all hot as h.e.l.l, and he'd realized not long ago that he'd done something really s.h.i.+tty to her-in his mind, anyway-by even making any kind of connection between what the woman who loved him, the woman who was now his wife, did when she gave him head and any other vaguely similar experience he might ever have had. Those experiences weren't even in the same galaxy as this.

Now, he could simply feel-her lips, her tongue, her breath, her hands, the caress of her hair over his skin. She was gentle and firm, knowing exactly what touch, and when, felt best to him. She took her time, not simply getting him off, but loving him.

”Oh f.u.c.k.” He was close. She hummed appreciatively at his utterance, and he said it again. She liked him to talk. It was getting easier to give her that.

He really was close. His gut ached and clenched, and he bucked his hips. Still taking her time, she eased off of him, leaving him behind with a flick of her tongue over his glans. She knew this, too-he preferred to finish buried deep inside her, with her body all around him. And he liked to hold off as long as he could. Being brought to the brink like this was exactly what he wanted.

She looked up with that sweet, private smile, and he grabbed her and rolled her over, settling between her thighs and drawing a beautiful breast into his mouth. She cried out and arched as he sucked, trapping her nipple, hard and tight with her desire, between his tongue and the roof of his mouth.

”In me,” she breathed. ”Oh, please, Michael, I want you in me.”

Letting go of her breast and taking her mouth instead, he s.h.i.+fted and gave her what she wanted. Demon sank deep into her, and she brought her legs up, crossing her ankles on the small of his back. They moved together, neither frantic nor indolent, but simply in sync, every part of their bodies fitted together perfectly, gliding together, until her need overtook her. She tore her mouth from his with a gasp and began to move out of rhythm with him.

It was among his favorite moments of their s.e.x, when Faith turned inside herself, so overtaken by the demands of her own body that she could focus on nothing else. There was a power in being there with her, helping her achieve what she needed, that he'd felt with only her. Still on the brink himself, he sped up to match her gyrations, driving hard into her until every breath she let go was a grunting cry.

The camper was rocking; he could hear their few dishes rattling in the tiny cupboard. Even in the extremity of their need, Demon could spare a proud smile for that.