Mickey took Laurie back to his place, not wanting her to have to deal with Karl.

That wasn’t his only reason, though. If he was being honest with himself, he was driving her to his place because he wanted her there, for a lot of different things. But one thing in particular.

After that kiss they'd just shared, there was no way he would let her go back home, at least not alone. Only her brother was at her place, and Mickey didn’t want to deal with him, so his own house was the more convenient. He felt like he had to have her like it was physically painful to have her separated from him by the small space in between the car seats. It was stupid, but it was how he felt.

He fought with himself the whole drive back.

This was a bad idea. He knew, and yet he had every intention of going ahead with it. He didn’t want to hold himself back, no matter how much the still rational side of him told him that he had to. This wasn’t just foolish, it was dangerous, for so many reasons.

But with the high from that kiss, the intensity of it still making his blood sing—though, arguably, that could have been the adrenaline still coursing through his body—it was all he could do not to break the speed limit to get back. It wasn’t so long a drive, they hadn't gone all that far, but it felt like way too long as his foot kept inching toward the accelerator.

He glanced over at her. She was sitting stiffly in her seat, arms crossed tightly over her chest, her legs fidgeting almost every second.

For about a second, he thought his heart stopped. There could have been any number of reasons why she was acting that way, but his mind jumped to the worst conclusion. She was regretting the kiss. She might not even want to go back to his place. She probably thought he was just taking her home, they were neighbors after all.

"Laurie?"

She jumped when he called her name, her head snapping in his direction. He could only look at her out of his peripheral vision. He was pretty sure he was sober, and it was a late night in a usually quiet area, but there was no need to court disaster. Also, he didn’t really want to meet her eyes. He didn't want her to notice his reaction if it turned out he was right.

"What is it?" her voice came out hoarsely, and she coughed discreetly.

"Would you like to come home with me?" he asked. It hadn't occurred to him until just then that he'd made the decision on his own. But now that the question was out there, he felt his heart squeeze in his chest, his breath catch in his throat, as he waited for her answer.

"I'd love to," she murmured, voice sounding breathless, turning to look out her window, a light flush on her cheeks.

His anxiety died down, but it only made him more excited. Thankfully, they were already there. He parked the car in his drive, he'd take it into the garage later, and jumped out of his seat. He jogged around to open the door for Laurie, taking her arm to help her out. He led her to the door, then inside his house. The second they stepped inside, he felt like his body lit up.

He was so impatient to get in her pants that he only made a cursory effort to clean up anything that might tip her off about his real job. He waited at the bottom of the stairs, holding out a hand to her so there would be no misunderstanding of his intentions. She hesitated for a moment, but she stepped forward and placed her hand in his.

His breath stuttered in his throat. He tightened his hand around hers as he led her up the stairs to his room. Luckily, he hadn't set anything up in his bedroom, it had all gone in the extra room.

As soon as he had the door closed behind them, he pushed her up against it, plastering his body against hers, and touching his lips to hers again. Laurie practically melted against him, her arms winding around his neck as she returned the kiss, fingers sliding into his hair and tugging lightly, making him moan against her mouth.

He brushed his tongue over her lower lip, his body shivering when her lips parted, and he slid his tongue between them to trace the inside of her mouth, tangling his tongue with hers. His hands mapped her body, starting at her hips and sliding slowly up. He hesitated with his hands on her ribs, wanting to touch her breasts, but slid his hands around her back to bring her closer to him instead. He wanted her to be comfortable, and that meant not going too fast.

His hands slid into her hair, carefully undoing it and letting the thick waves flow between his fingers. He took a careful fistful of her hair, tilting her head just so to get deeper into her mouth. She moaned, her body shivering against his, and he growled as he ravaged her mouth.

There was no way he could go slow, he'd been kidding himself. He pulled away from the kiss, holding her eyes as he undid the buttons of his shirt, then the cuffs. She just stayed still watching him as he stripped, then helped him take his shirt off by pushing it off his shoulders, pressing close against him.

After that, they fell into a frenzy, stripping each other as they stumbled over to the bed. When they were both naked, Mickey caught her around the waist, lifting her onto the bed and directing her to move to the middle. He kneed her thighs apart and knelt above her, pausing to take in his fill.

She was beautiful like this, lying on her back with her hands splayed out by her head, face flushed and lips puffed from kissing. Her chest rising with every pant for breath, nipples peaked, with her thighs opened wide to accommodate him. She was practically laid out for his pleasure, and he couldn’t help but groan.

There was a look of impatience in her eyes. If he had to be honest, he was feeling it too. But even though it had been a while for him, he wouldn’t just take her to take his own pleasure before he took care of hers. Besides, having her beneath him like this gave him a lot of ideas.

He leaned down to kiss her lips again, but he was pulling back too soon, and she groaned her disappointment. But he slid his mouth down her neck, pausing to nibble on her collarbone, then down to her breasts. He cupped one in his palm, grinning to himself when he heard her gasp, taking the nipple between thumb and pointer finger and pinching lightly, rolling the sensitive bud between his fingers. Then he took the other nipple into his mouth, flicking it with the tip of his tongue, then sucking lightly at the same time as he tugged her other nipple. Her back arched as she moaned, her body squirming against his and making him even more impatient.

Mickey slid lower down her body, his hands holding her down by the hips as he kissed down her abdomen. Then his hands moved to the back of her thighs, holding her open for him, as he touched his mouth to where she most wanted him. She cried out, bucking against him, as he ran his tongue up her sex, once, then again, pressing the tip against her clit. He tightened his hands on her thighs to keep her still.

He was barely holding back as it was, pleasuring her before he took his own. He pressed the flat of his tongue against her clit, took her in his mouth and sucked lightly, letting the sound of her moans roll through his body. Then he stiffened his tongue and slid it inside her, thrusting in and out, fucking her with his tongue.

Laurie's body shuddered, her hands gripping onto his hair to keep him pressed against her. Having an idea, he moved one of his hands from her thigh to slide a finger into her, then two, thrusting both in time with his tongue as he used the fingers of his other hand to hold her open for him, rubbing her clit with his thumb. Then he circled his mouth around her clit again, adding a third finger and thrusting in and out as he sucked at her clit.

His free hand slid up her body so he could pluck and roll her nipples between his fingers, holding her body down with his weight so she wouldn’t move around so much with her squirming. Her body shuddered again, hard, then she was convulsing around his fingers, crying out again as her body shuddered in orgasm.

Then he was rising up, fitting his hips between her spread thighs. He rubbed the head of his cock against her sex. He wanted to thrust inside her body, bare, and take her that way. She would feel so much better around him that way, warm and wet, soft, and squeezing him tightly as he moved inside her body. Just thinking about it had his cock twitching.

But it was too risky. He lurched to the side, reaching for his nightstand where he'd left a pack of condoms. He hadn't put them there with the intention of using them, at least not consciously. He ripped open the packet and slid the rubber down his straining erection before positioning at her entrance and sliding inside with one smooth thrust.

He was all out of self-control, thrusting hard and fast once he was in her body, leaning down to kiss her, muffling her moans and cries with his mouth as he circled his arms around her waist, lifting her hips a little so he could reach deeper, grinding his hips hard against hers. His chest rumbled with a growl as he grew closer to his peak. He pulled away from her mouth to nip down her neck, then took her nipple into his mouth and sucked hard.

Her nails dug into his back, her legs gripping hard at his hips, then she was convulsing around him again, her smooth walls squeezing his cock tightly and making him groan. His hips stuttered, thrusting erratically as he came, their bodies rocking together until they were both calmed down.

He slid a little to the side so he wouldn’t crush her. They were both still for a moment, each trying to catch their breath and come down from the orgasm. When his softened cock fell out of her, he reached between them, gripped the condom and pulled it off, tossing it to the floor beside his bed and rolling to his side, keeping his arms around her waist to take her with him so she was pressed against his chest. Laurie snuggled into him happily, and he curled his body around hers protectively.

He had a moment while they were coming down from orgasm to wonder what he was doing. At first, he'd convinced himself that he was just seducing her to keep his in with Karl. It was the rationale he'd used to go along with this. But it occurred to him, that he could have just as easily played the gentleman and taken her home. The result wouldn’t have changed if he'd asked her out on another date. Slowly, the realization was starting to dawn on him, that he was really interested in her. Enough to go against his own self-proclaimed rules.

It was trouble for him since he had to lie to her. Not to mention, no matter what progress he'd made, the case wasn’t anywhere near over. His part was just the gathering of evidence. The real investigation would take months to complete. It would be to the detriment of them both if they got too attached. He would have to lie to her through all of it.

But he barely gave it much thought as he rolled her under him again, continuing their encounter through much of the night, taking his time to map out her body this time. They had sex three more times before dawn when he was finally exhausted. He pulled Laurie against him, curling around her body as he was drawn into sleep.

Laurie was up a little longer, looking at Mickey's face as it relaxed, his eyes fluttering shut. She was used to mediocre sex, the few times she had a partner at all. She was completely blown away by this experience.

They ended up falling asleep in each other's arms.