The date went well, as usual. After the first couple of dates, their initial awkwardness had worn off, and they'd discovered they had quite a few things in common. The only time they still had trouble was when John thought about the dreams. Then he got uncomfortable, and she could sense it. He stayed away from those thoughts as much as he could, but sometimes it wasn't possible. Especially when they ended up back at his apartment--something else he tried to avoid. Most of his dreams seemed to be set there, and as a result there really wasn't a safe room in the whole place.
Of course, Sam insisted on going back there again. Silently cursing his overactive imagination, he steered the car into his parking space and killed the engine. Once they were inside he offered her a drink. Taking care of the drink bought him three minutes before he had to sit down on the couch next to her. "Aren't you having one?" she asked when he sat down empty handed.
"I have to drive you home."
She set her drink on the table and looked at him carefully before saying, "And what if I don't want to go home?"
He blinked. "Where else would you go?"
"Well...I could just...not go at all." As she spoke, she leaned toward him so that by the time the last word was out, she was able to kiss him.
He returned the kiss automatically for a few seconds before pulling back. "I don't know if that's a good idea."
"Why?"
*Because if my imagination scares me now, I don't want to know what's going to happen if you stay?* "Gut feeling?"
"I need a better answer than that."
"I can't give you one," he said as he stood up and walked to the window to stare out at the city lights.
She followed him, placing her hands on his shoulders from behind. "If you're not interested, then what have we been tying ourselves in knots over for the last month?"
"Not interested?" He turned around to face her. "That's not the problem."
"Then what?" Her eyes held his, and he couldn't look away, no matter how hard he tried. *Oh, hell.* He knew when he'd lost. Slowly, deliberately, he put his hands on either side of her head, and then he kissed her, his tongue plunging in and out of her mouth, savoring the taste of her. Needing to taste more, he worked his way across her cheek to her ear, suddenly curious as to how good her earlobe tasted. It was good enough that small nibbles weren't nearly enough.
He ran his tongue along the edge of her ear, inhaling her scent, and making a mental note to ask her what kind of shampoo or perfume she used that made her smell so incredible-- A sudden realization ran through him. Smell? He'd never been able to smell her in his dreams. Or taste her, now that he thought about it. Either he'd finally lost his mind, or--
He held her at arms' length. Her expression went from dazed to confused. "What's wrong?"
"You're really here?"
She wasn't sure if it was a question or a statement, but he waited, so after a moment she nodded. "Is that a bad thing?"
"No." He wanted to say more, but that was the only word he could get out as it hit him that this wasn't a dream. He brushed her hair behind her ear with a hand that wasn't quite steady. "It's just..." he thought for a moment, then smiled as the right words came to him. "I've dreamed about this moment"
"Well, then," she said with an answering smile, "I hope I can live up to the dream."
He shook his head. "You're already better than any dream I ever had." Even to him it sounded corny, but it was the truth, so what the hell. He lowered his head slowly, watching her expression the whole time, and took possession of her mouth, this time with the full knowledge that it was really her.
She shoved his jacket off his shoulders. It fell in a heap at his feet, reminding him for some reason that they were standing in front of a window. "Uh, Sam?" he said in between kisses.
"Mmm?"
"This probably...isn't the...best location." Unbroken sentences were impossible as long as she kept kissing him back like that.
"Oh...where, then?"
He began to lead her to his bedroom, but since they couldn't seem to stop kissing, it was taking too long. Finally he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way. She had managed to discard his tie and get his shirt half unbuttoned by the time he reached the bed and put her back down on her feet. He interrupted her efforts for a second to slide her dress to the floor, then she returned to the task of ridding him of his clothes with an increased urgency.
He had no idea how they ended up on the bed; he just suddenly realized they were there. Some of the urgency left him, replaced by a desire to savor every moment. His hands slowed, and his kisses became deeper and longer. Sam noticed the change and pulled back after a second to look at him. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just wanted to slow down a little."
"Isn't that supposed to be my line?" she asked with a laugh.
He smiled. "Sorry."
"Don't be. Sounds like a great idea to me," she said as she pulled him back down into a kiss. He ran his hands up and down her body, touching her everywhere he could and marveling at how much more incredible her skin felt in reality. Everything about her was better than anything his imagination had been able to come up with.
Soon his hands weren't enough. He left her mouth to explore her neck with his lips, then his tongue. He found a particularly sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder--something else his dreams had never told him. He couldn't help but smile when he caught a small piece of skin in that area between his teeth and his lower lip and she nearly jumped off the bed. She settled back down, but he could feel her heart still racing as he ran his hand over her breasts and down to her stomach, then back again.
Wondering what other interesting secrets she was hiding, he worked his way down her collar bone and found another sensitive spot on the outside of her shoulder. Enjoying himself immensely, he moved slowly down her chest until he reached the tip of her breast, which was ten times more sensitive than either of the other spots he'd discovered. He teased her nipple, circling it slowly with his tongue, then stopping suddenly to suck on it for a few short seconds before returning to the slow torture of his tongue.
She decided she'd had enough of his torture. Without warning, she rolled him sideways so that he was on his back and she was on top of him. "My turn."
He smiled. That sounded like it could be fun. She leaned down and touched her lips to his, briefly at first, then in a longer kiss. Her breasts, still wet from his recent attentions, tickled his chest, sending a shiver down his spine clear into his toes. "Cold?" she asked, teasing him. He tried to pull her back into a kiss, but she evaded his attempt and moved her lips to his neck. She made her way leisurely down to his stomach, managing to tickle and arouse him even more at the same time, then traveled back up to his chest to return some of his earlier torment.
When he was well and truly dazed, she returned her lips to his, only to surprise him seconds later by pulling away from him and sitting up. Before he could figure out what she was doing, she had lifted her hips and lowered herself onto him, robbing him of any ability to think at all. She began to move in a slow, maddening rhythm, and it was several seconds before he accustomed himself to the feel of her surrounding him and at least a minute before he regained enough of his faculties to move. He sat all the way up to kiss her, wanting to feel every part of her at once.
Out of nowhere, something she said to him once came to his mind. He laughed into her mouth before turning her sideways, causing her to fall on the bed and allowing him to move over her. He pulled his lips away long enough to whisper in her ear. "I like to be on top, remember?"
She was silent for a second, then she laughed until he took possession of her mouth once again. He increased their rhythm, determined to make sure that this was as good for her as it was for him. Only when he finally felt her begin to tremble did he let himself join her.
They lay there for a long time before either of them spoke. Sam was the first to break the silence. "Why'd we wait so long to do that?"
"Because we had no idea it would be that good?" John replied from somewhere near her ear.
"Oh. Oh, yeah. That could be it. Quite a shame really. Think of all the time we've wasted." She began to giggle, causing him to make the effort to raise his head and look at her.
"Are you okay?"
Her smile grew even wider as she tried to control the giggles. "I’m great. I'm fine. I'm...." She couldn't finish for the laughter.
"Care to let me in on the joke?" Unable to speak, she held up her foot, still encased in a three-inch high-heeled shoe. It was a while before either of them could stop laughing.
Finally, the laughter subsided and she managed to take off the shoes so they could crawl under the blankets. They lay in silence again, just holding each other, until Sam craned her neck to look at the clock. "I suppose I should go home," she said. "Chloe has school in the morning."
"No, stay," he murmured into her hair. "Please. I'll set the alarm. You'll get home in plenty of time to get her ready."
"Okay." She snuggled closer to him. "I wasn't that hot on the idea of getting up and going home to begin with."
He smiled. "Did you have to say 'hot'?" he asked, as he began to nibble on her neck again. It was a long time before they slept.
The alarm went off at 5:30. Sam switched it off quickly and got dressed, careful not to wake John. When she was ready to leave, she knelt down beside the bed and kissed him awake. "Morning," she said with a smile as he opened his eyes.
"Morning."
"I have to go. Chloe will be up soon."
He sat up. "Hang on, I'll take you home."
"It's okay, I can take a cab."
"No. I'll take you." His tone didn't allow for an argument, so she waited while he threw on jeans and a sweater and grabbed his keys. He drove her the few miles to her house, and kissed her soundly before she got out of the car. Then he went back home, glad not to have to go back to sleep in case the dreams that had come again the night before--despite what had happened--decided to make yet another appearance. He did, however, lay on the bed for about five minutes and inhale the scent of her before he headed off to the bathroom to take a shower.
It was nearly impossible to go sit next to Sam in the Command Center the next morning and act like nothing had happened, but he did. He only hoped no one noticed how carefully he avoided looking at her. That he could smell her sitting beside him was difficult enough; if he'd had to look at her there might have been an incident.
When the meeting was over, she disappeared into her office, and he tried to push the memories of the night before out of his head and concentrate on work. He managed to lose himself in case files until lunch, when he couldn't resist any longer. He stopped by Sam's office, but she wasn't there. One of Grace's lab assistants told him he'd seen Sam leave for lunch with Grace, so he walked to lunch alone.
When he returned, there was a white envelope on his desk, with only his first name written on the front, in Sam's handwriting. He looked around as he opened it, not wanting anyone to figure out who the note was from. The envelope contained his keys, and a single, folded note card. Inside the card were the words "Dinner, 8:00, your place. Don't be early." It wasn't signed, but there was no mistaking Sam's handwriting on the inside any more than there had been on the envelope.
Frowning, he looked at his keys, which had been in his desk when he left. The key to his apartment was missing. Great. He certainly couldn't be early without his key. He tried to be even mildly irritated, but he couldn't, so he just sat back in his chair with a smile and looked forward to the evening to come.
He felt like an idiot, standing outside his own apartment, waiting to be let inside. But without his keys, he had no choice but to wait. He hoped none of his neighbors came home and saw him knocking on his own door.
At 8:03 she let him in. She was standing behind the door, so he couldn't see her until he was inside. As she closed the door behind her, he turned around and got his first look at her, then he nearly fell over. She was wearing a full-length red velvet gown. "How do I look?" she asked innocently, spinning around to show off the back of the dress, or what there was of it, anyway. Her whole back was exposed, and the skirt was slit up the middle. He caught a glimpse of leg through the long slit as she turned.
"Like a dream come true," he answered, more truthfully than she realized. He couldn't believe she'd actually shown up in a red velvet dress. He didn't care what she said about her profiling abilities--she had to be psychic. This was just too much of a coincidence. Unless.... He pinched himself. It hurt. So this wasn't a dream. "What's the occasion?"
"Does there need to be one?" she asked as she walked toward him. He shook his head and watched her silently as she stopped only inches away. "It's just dinner, actually. I just felt like dressing up."
*Right.* "So what's for dinner then?" Not that he cared; food was the last thing on his mind, and besides, the way this evening was going, he was almost scared to ask about desert.
She told him everything on the menu, but he didn't hear a word. He was too busy staring at her and trying to get over the shock of seeing her in that dress. It was even better than the one she'd been wearing in his dreams, and all through dinner he could barely take his eyes off of it.
Not that that was such a bad thing, since if he stopped looking at the dress, he would look at her hair, or her eyes, or her lips, or even those dangly earrings. Why did she insist on wearing those? She probably knew they drove him crazy. That was it. She was trying to drive him insane. And it was working very well.
He hadn't noticed the rest of dinner, but he noticed desert. Some kind of chocolate cake with hot fudge poured over it. It was the first time a desert had actually sent a jolt of desire through him. He covered his reaction as fast as he could, and shot a quick glance at Sam to see if she'd noticed, but she seemed totally oblivious to the sudden effect chocolate was having on him.
He managed to eat the cake without looking at her--the combination would have been too much. When they were both finished, he sat back and waited for her to tell him what was next on the agenda.
Instead of telling him, she stood up and came around the table beside him, holding out her hand. "Dance with me?"
"I don't hear any music." That wasn't entirely true, but since he wasn't sure if what he was hearing was music or just his ears ringing at this point, he thought better of mentioning it.
"Trust me." She led him over to the center of the room, picking up the remote to his stereo player on the way and starting a CD. He didn't recognize the music right away, so it couldn't be one of his. She put down the remote and pulled him to her. He followed her lead as she began a slow, swaying step, turning a little as they moved. He relaxed slightly, closing his eyes and savoring the smell of her hair.
A line from the song penetrated the fog in his brain. "In the dark of night, those small hours, I drift away when I'm with you...In the dark of night, those faces they haunt me, but I wish you were so close to me." The words reminded him again of his dreams, and he began to wonder at the coincidences.
Sam lifted her head from his shoulder to look in his eyes for a moment. He forgot all about the dreams and concentrated on the reality, leaning down to give her a burning kiss. Their dancing slowed until they were standing still, kissing in the middle of his living room. He contemplated the distance to his room, then wondered how she felt about the couch.
She made the decision for him, leading him to the couch and giving him a gentle shove so he would sit down. The teasing smile on her lips had him worried, or maybe it was just anxiety at what he would find under the dress when she finished lowering the zipper and it came off. He was almost expecting it at this point, but it still surprised him to see her wearing a black lace bra, black lace panties, and even a garter belt. It left him speechless, both because of his dreams and because she looked a million times better in that outfit than he'd ever dreamed--literally.
She sat down on his lap, facing him, her legs straddling his, and shoved his coat off. His tie was next, then she went to work on the buttons of his shirt. It was only then that he was able to think enough to move. He reached behind her and removed her bra, tossing it aside without ever moving his eyes from hers. His hands reached up to cup her breasts, calling a momentary halt to the removal of his shirt as she closed her eyes and savored the sweet friction his palms were creating.
He moved forward, his lips headed for her neck, but she pushed him back against the couch and determinedly did away with his shirt. She ran her hands up the length of his chest slowly, leaning to kiss him before moving her hands to his belt buckle. She had to stand up to pull his pants and jockey shorts off all at once, stopping long enough to remove the obstacles of his shoes and socks, but then she sat back down, sliding forward until their bodies were pressed against each other.
She was kissing him again, and rocking against him slightly, which was driving him absolutely crazy. He tugged at her garter belt, eager to remove the last barrier between them, but it was still several moments before she moved so he could rid her of the last of her lingerie. She stood quickly while he helped her shove the garments to the floor, then she returned to his lap. She paused to kiss him thoroughly, then leaned forward to whisper in his ear as she positioned herself above him. "By the way, has anyone ever told you you talk in your sleep? Very informative."
Before he could even react as he realized what she was saying, she slid herself down onto him, and he forgot to breathe. All he could do was hold her as she set an urgent pace, and feel every sensation involved. Everything else disappeared as he felt the waves of pleasure begin to course through her body, triggering his own release.
They collapsed sideways onto the couch, neither one able to speak. John managed to pull a blanket onto them, but that was the extent of his ability to move for several minutes. Finally, he kissed her forehead and looked down at her face, only to see that she was sound asleep. He thought back to her words just before, telling him he talked in his sleep, and he had to laugh quietly. So he'd been talking during his dreams the night before? And she had managed to make his dreams come true less than twenty-four hours later.
He looked down at her again, brushing her hair off her face. She had no idea she'd made a dream come true that he'd never even known he had. "I love you," he whispered, knowing that it was best she couldn't hear him. She probably wasn't ready to hear the words yet, and even if she was, they should be spoken over candlelight. But for now, it was enough that he knew it. He snuggled closer to her and finally succumbed to the sleep that had been tugging at him. They stayed that way on the couch the rest of the long, dreamless night.
The End