She awoke with a languid sigh, her backside pressed against the solid wall of
her lover's body.

With a near feline grace she stretched each limb, bringing her skin into
glorious contact with his heated warmth. It was early, the sun still slumbering
within her own dreams, but already, Catharine was wide awake and wanting. 

The night before had done little but whet her appetite for love. Her swain, the
gentle warrior of her girlish dreams, had kept her up long past the guttering
flames of her lantern. His whispered words of longing and love had kept her
emotions at a fevered pitch for hours, carrying her own awakening desires into
the deep hours of the night.

She could scarcely believe that hours later, when she had time to rest and
dream, that she would awaken, still humming with need of his touch. Lightly,
Catharine closed her eyes, savoring the feel of her skin against the cool press
of the sheets beneath her body and the smooth surfaces of his skin touching her
own.

Her teeth pressed tightly into her bottom lip, its flesh quivering with words
unspoken and ardent whispers to come.

His arm circled her body, a pleasant weight on her side. The heat of his touch
told its own story. Hidden for hours under the soft handwoven blanket that he'd
draped over his body, his arm had escaped its warmth to reach out to her.

The smile that touched her lips was a woman's smile, confident in her skin...
confident with her lover's touch.

His fingers stroked the soft flesh of her belly, each tapered length gently
caressing the milky expanse of skin with infinite care. She didn't have to look
to know that he was awake and enjoying the torture he was exacting on her.

"Buck..." She sighed his name as his hand dipped lower beneath the sheet to
trace the gentle slope where her leg melted into her hip. There was little she
could will herself to do. Little she could offer in resistance when her whole
body cried out for his touch.

Tiny pricks of heat shivered across her skin, enflaming her thoughts and
imagination. There was so much she wanted to experience in his arms... so
little she would not do for his touch.

The gentle press of his lips against her neck released the sigh caught in her
throat. "Oh..."

"Catharine." 

Her eyelids lifted away from her cheek, letting in the light of the encroaching
dawn and the faint reflection in the window glass. Her own body, flushed with
desire, was visible in the pane. 

"Catharine..."

She knew what he asked, it was there in the myriad tones of his voice. He asked
and she gave without question only to revel in the reward. His fingers slipped
deep within her heat, curling within the velvet folds of her body.

Arching into his touch, her muscles closed around him, drawing him deeper into
her sweet warmth.

She crushed the corner of her pillow within her grasping hands. Desperate to
alieviate the pressure he so gently wrought upon her body, Catherine squirmed
against the sheets, needing more contact...  needing him.

The muscles of her body, hidden within those secret folds, clenched tightly
around his fingers, begging for more.

A shift of his hand, a mere fraction of a movement, and her hips rose from the
bed. His palm pressed tightly against the heated core of her body. A tender
stroke against her inner walls and a faint cry escaped her lips as her flesh
gripped him tightly within her depths.

Catherine collapsed against his frame, her breathing labored with laughter as
she was drawn deeper into the circle of his arms. 

His gentle fingers withdrew from her quivering folds and painted a light
meandering trail of shimmering moisture along her skin. The brush of his
knuckles along the underside of her breast sent a wave of shivers through her
body. She bent her head to watch as his hand turned, hovering over the
tightening crest of her nipple, before covering her creamy flesh with his
darkness.

She sucked in a breath of surprise as his fingers pressed against the hardened
peak of her nipple, the calluses of his work-worn hands sending her already
tingling flesh into shivers of desire.

Catharine covered his hand with her own and pressed it tighter against her
breast as her breaths quickened from his caress. 

Leaning into his embrace she felt the sinuous length of his arousal brand its
heat against the curve of her bottom. She felt the bloom of a satisfied smile
color her cheeks as a tortured groan filled the air. "Don't..." He said the word, but there was something in his tone... a warning of burning embers about to burst into flame.

Again, she rubbed against his hardness and felt the satisfying surge of his
body straining against hers.

"Don't..."

"Don't, Buck?" Now was not the time to play innocent, it was much more 
enticing to tempt the beast within. "What would happen if I did?" She had only to move a fraction of an inch before the consequences became clear.

The full length of his burgeoning erection slipped between the curvaceous
mounds of flesh and she heard a ragged gasp burst from his lips. His teeth bit
into her shoulder from behind and she shivered with the sinful delight of it
all. 

The rough texture of his tongue laved over the stinging nip into her flesh,
sending another round of heated flame coursing along her skin. Catharine opened her mouth, determined to end her game with a plea for fulfillment, but she was cut short. 

With one powerful movement he swept her body beneath his, turning her onto her back in the tangled mess of sheets. Pressing her thighs wide open on the bed, she felt the momentary chill of the air against her wet core before the head of his shaft pressed tightly against her folds.  In one long stroke he sheathed himself into her velvety flesh, burying his entire length in her body with a satisfied groan passing between his lips. "So tight... so-" The muscles deep within her body caressed him and let loose the savage power of his passion.

He surged forward, shifting them both along the covers.   His hands braced on
either side of her shoulders fisted into the loosened sheets as his body pulsed
with each deepening stroke.

Catharine's head leaned back over the side edge of the bed, exposing her neck
to his heated gaze. Her lips parted, his ardor was fanned by the tiny mewling
cries that punctuated each thrust of his body. His mouth descended on her,
nipping at the ivory column of her neck with a hunger he had only dreamed
existed before this night. 

She knew she was close, nearly to the edge, dangling over the dangerous
precipice of release. Still, she clung to the bed as if it was a lifeline... a
tiny sliver of her mind desperate to retain control.

Above her, lost in the throes of his hunger, Buck swept his tongue and teeth
across the sensitive flesh of her throat as he drove into her body again and
again, searching for the edge of his own passionate release. 

Catharine felt the short punctuated strokes echo through her body as she
wrapped her arms around his chest and pressed her body against his, worshiping his name against her tongue.

"Buck..." she ground out the name again and again while the depths of passion
spiraled within her, taking her closer to the peak.

His cry, harsh against her ear, heralded his own release as she felt the hot
rush of his life spilling into her body.

Clutching his body to her, the tips of her nails bit into his back as she
ground her body against him, searching for the elusive moment when--

A subtle shift of his stroke and she was lost in a flood of pleasure rushing
through her veins. Her blood fairly pulsed with her own convulsive release.

Moments later, drugged with the sweet aftershocks of desire, she looked up into
her lover's eyes and felt a modicum of modesty color her flesh. He gently
pulled her along with him to the center of the bed and wrapped them both in the
warmth of his blankets and his arms, back from the edge.