Jules sat in his favorite chair flipping through his album. He is sticking close to the front, avoiding the really painful memories from the photos nearer the back. He surprised himself when he picked it up. He hadn’t touched it in over two weeks, but tonight, it called to him. The darkness was tinging the edges of his soul and he was missing Rachel’s calming influence. When she was around the darkness was kept at bay by the light of her gentle kindness and understanding. The encroaching darkness wasn’t severe, but he could feel it trying to creep back into his soul, trying to recapture what it once held dear. That is why he was looking at pictures from earlier in his Army career, before he was promoted to Sergeant…

 

He frowned at the chime of his front door, wondering who would be calling on him so late. He sat the book aside and rose from his chair, picking up his Glock and holding it behind his back as he peeked out through the decoratively frosted front door glass.

 

“Rachel! What are you doing here? Is everything okay?” he asked as he opened the door and stepped aside, silently inviting her to enter, kissing her quickly as she stepped past.

 

“Fine. Were you expecting trouble?” she asked with a pointed look at his weapon as he closed the door behind her.

 

“No… just habit now. Why aren’t you at the bar?”

 

“It’s slow tonight so Will and Angie are handling it.”

 

“And you came to check on me?” He smiled. “That’s sweet, but as you can see, I’m doing okay.”

 

She smiled at him. “That’s good. But that’s not the only reason I came by,” she said as she moved deeper into the room and noticed the open album in his chair. She stopped by his chair and carefully closed his photo album before she returned it to the shelf. She then turned to him. “No bad thoughts tonight, okay?” she said as she caressed his cheek. She loved how he just seemed to relax when she did that, his head tilting just slightly off center and into her hand.

 

“No… no bad thoughts,” he said as he took her hand and held it to his lips.

 

“I saw Will talking to Todd. He wants in doesn’t he?”

 

“Yes. But I can block it if you want. It only takes one dissenting vote.”

 

“I knew he would. No… don’t do that. He would never forgive me. Just don’t let him do anything… stupid… okay?”

 

“I gave you my word, Rachel. He can’t join until gets a bike, then for the next six months he’s just a prospect. That means no intercepts, so he will be safe. Besides, he’s a Marine. They eat bullets for roughage.”

 

“That’s not very funny.”

 

“I know. The rest of the club breaks in the prospects, but I will keep an extra eye on him, okay?”

 

“Thank you Jules,” she said as she looked at the floor.

 

“Would you like to sit down? Can I get you something to drink?”

 

“No… and no.”

 

“You need to go?” he asked.

 

She smiled at the disappointment in his voice. “No. Suggest something else.”

 

He smiled. “Can you stay?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Good… will you do something for me then?”

 

“What?” she asked as she kept her face carefully neutral.

 

He said nothing but tapped his lips with a finger.

 

“I think maybe I can do that,” she said as she moved in for the kiss.

 

As their lips parted she stood still a moment, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the lingering feel of his lips. “I needed that myself,” she said softly as she opened her eyes.

 

“I missed you last night.”

 

“I missed you too.”

 

“You can stay tonight?” he whispered.

 

“Yes.”

 

He smiled. “What will your brother think?”

 

“He will think how nice it is not to have his sister underfoot.”

 

He wanted her… he wanted her desperately… but he wanted more than just sex. He wanted to hold her, to feel her closeness, simply be with her. “Are you ready for bed?” he asked as he kissed her softly once more.

 

“Yes.”

 

He led her to his bedroom. As they stopped, she began to undress. He reached up and took her hands in his own and stilled them. “No… let me,” he commanded softly. “I didn’t know you were coming, so let me brush my teeth and shave first, okay?”

 

She had opened only one additional button before he had stilled her hands, but with three buttons open, she furtively opened her collar to maximize his view as she followed him into the bath. She had a toothbrush here… if he was going to brush, then so was she.

 

Their ablutions complete, they returned to beside his bed. “Now… where were we?” she asked.

 

“I think we were just about here,” he said softly as he drew a finger slowly, softly, down the valley of her breasts.

 

She shivered at his touch, the delicate draw of his finger along her skin sending a crackling pleasure through her. She reached for his shirt but he caught her hands again.

 

“No…” he whispered as he slowly stepped behind her.

 

His hands glided over her, sliding down to her lower stomach. As she felt his breath on her neck he pulled her into him, holding her comfortably tight, as his lips began a measured exploration of her neck. As his lips caressed her skin, she wanted to squirm in pleasure and not move, lest she interrupt the delicious pleasures emanating from his touch.

 

He breathed deep as his lips slowly danced along her neck, her scent, the light fragrance of apples and baby powder a heady bouquet. He kissed up her neck, pausing under her ear, his lips and tongue busy in the spot he knew she liked so well. He brought his hands slowly up and began to work her buttons, the darkness that had attempted to reclaim his soul disappearing like smoke in a wind.

 

I can’t stand it anymore! she thought as his hands slowly untucked her shirt so that he could softly caress her stomach and breasts. She had to move, his touch making her want to twitch as if his fingertips were electrified, each touch causing a tingle of pleasure to rocket through her. She reached down and behind her, wanting to caress him, but he pressed his hips more firmly into her ass and prevented her touch. With an almost inaudible whimper of desire, she pushed back into him, the feel of his hardness against her ass raising her heat even more.

 

Jules pulled Rachel’s shirt slowly over her shoulders, kissing the skin as it was revealed. Tonight he wanted to show her how important she was becoming to him, how just her presence soothed and pleased him. As her shirt fell away, he began kissing down her arm.

 

With each touch of his lips to the back of her arm, she twitched, each movement accompanied by a soft gasping grunt. He’s driving me crazy! Just when she didn’t think she could stand it another moment, he began to slowly turn her, his lips never far or long removed from her skin. He eased her back to the bed, steering her to sit on the edge and then to lie back with gently pressure between her breasts with his lips. As he kissed under her chin and down her chest, she reached first for his shirt, then his pants, but each time he gently blocked her hands. He continued to kiss down her body, pausing to stroke her nipples to near painful erectness with his tongue, before moving on. As his lips approached her most intimate area, she began to move, unable to stay still, well aware of what he has done to her in the past with his lips and tongue. As he slowly removed her pants, his lips followed, each touch a flare of pleasure, his breath warm and erotic as it kissed her skin.

 

“Jules…” she whispered as his lips caressed the inside of her thigh. She was completely undressed, and set on knife edge, and he was still fully clothed, having asked for nothing. He was spooling her up for another mind rending orgasm, the type of release that left her gasping and weak. As his lips and tongue touched her, she shuddered as she twisted her hands in his hair and pulled him in tighter. Her orgasm was near—she could feel it—and she feared its power as she coveted its cleansing wave.

 

As Rachel drew him in, Jules began to probe with greater effort as he squirmed his tongue into her secret places and pinched and pulled with his lips. He looked up from his position in the floor, watching her, his breathing becoming harder, the feral pleasure on her face exciting him like no woman before her.

 

Her orgasm was taking her and she burned in its power. She looked to Jules as her mouth opened in a silent scream of pleasure, and their eyes locked. In that briefest instant in time as they stared into each other’s eyes, she saw something in his… need and wanting… but also joy… and she was lost. Her orgasm hit her with the power of a tidal wave, sweeping her away as she shuddered and grunted, her body no longer hers to control.

 

Rachel twisted so violently in her orgasmic convulsions that he let her go, afraid of hurting her if he were to try to hold her in place. She rolled to her stomach and made two slow shuddering crawls before collapsing into a heap in the center of the bed.

 

As her will once again took control of her body, she wanted to cry… from the power of her orgasm… but also from the depth of feeling she had seen in Jules’s eyes. She had never had anyone look at her like that, and it had affected her deeply. She rolled to her side and beckoned for him, needing to feel his embrace. He came and she clung to him, holding him as she tried to reel in her emotions.

 

“Are you okay?” he asked with concern as she held to him like a lifeline, her gasps sounding uncomfortably like crying. “What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”

 

“No,” she gasped as she began to come down from her orgasmic high. “No… I… uh…” she said and then stalled, unable to put into words what she saw and how it had touched her.

 

“What? Did I do something wrong?” he asked as pulled out of her embrace so he could look into her face.

 

She read the concern in his eyes. “No, love… you did everything just right,” she said and touched his face as she smiled, the emotional turmoil of her orgasm receding. She blew out a long relaxing exhalation. “You just… sometimes… make me come so fucking hard that I get all worn out,” she said, not wanting to try to explain the feelings that had suddenly risen up within her. Now that her equilibrium had returned that sudden, intense, feeling of… if not love, then something very like it… she had for him had receded. But she could still feel it, and it warmed her in ways her loins could not.

 

Jules couldn’t help but snicker. “But that’s a good thing, right?”

 

She pushed him over onto his back and moved to sit astride of him. “Oh yes… a very good thing,” she said as she began to unbutton his shirt. “But now it’s my turn,” she said as she began to kiss down the growing opening in his shirt.

 

As her lips danced down his torso, Jules’s breath began to speed up again. Rachel was a lover of unprecedented skill—unpredictable, adventurous and athletic—and over the past three weeks she had taken him places he had never been before. When she began unfastening his pants she looked into his eyes and smiled in that way she has that offered silent promise of great pleasure… and he couldn’t contain his soft groan of desire.

 

Hearing Jules groan as she opened his pants made her smile. He was all the lover she could ask for… gentle when she wanted it… and fiery when she didn’t. She drew his pants down just enough to reach inside and pull his manhood out. As she held him proudly erect, his cock pulsing softly in her hand, she began to kiss him, slathering her tongue around the head, teasing him with anticipation. He was ready… she could sense it in the tightness of his muscles as she plunged him deep into her mouth.

 

His sudden plunge into the warm wetness of her mouth was as swift as it was unexpected, causing his back to arch as his hips thrust up of their own accord and he issued a deep barking groan. She accepted the lunge as she buried her nose in his hair, holding him deep as he struggled for control.

 

“Fuck…” he growled deep in his throat moments before she pulled back.

 

“Someone is twitchy tonight,” she whispered as he popped out of her mouth and his hips returned to the bed.

 

Before he could answer she slid him between her lips again, dragging her teeth ever so lightly along his length until she hit her limit. She opened her mouth a bit wider and concentrated on relaxing her gag reflex as she took his last little bit into her mouth. As his hands went to the back of her head, holding her down, but not so tightly she couldn’t back off, she worked him, fighting her own body for control. Feeling her control slipping, she backed off, pushing up against his grip, his growls and hisses of desire making her blood run hot.

 

She backed off and began to stroke him with her hand, hard and fast, then stopped and tugged at his pants. Jules raised his hips and helped her slide his pants down. She had him so worked up he could almost feel his pulse in his cock. She slid down, pulling his pants with her and dropping them in the floor. After removing his pants, she moved as if to take him into her mouth again, but he had other ideas. As she moved up, he took her by her shoulders and pulled her farther up then twisted his hips, tumbling her off him and onto the bed. She struggled briefly, not wanting to give up her play, but she had set his blood to roaring. Holding her on side, Jules swung a leg over her, placing a foot on the bed in front of her bent legs, and used his weight to pin her to the bed. When she stopped struggling, he entered her with a gasp of pleasure.

 

Rachel smiled as Jules took charge of their lovemaking. She didn’t mind and had only struggled to wind him up even more and make him wild. She was in the mood for a good hard pounding tonight… and Jules appeared ready to give it to her. As he entered her, he bent over and kissed the side of her neck as he began to thrust, gently at first, making sure she was ready to accept him, but then harder, driving into her with slow hard thrusts that made her breasts slosh and move. She reached behind her and pulled his lips harder into her neck as she began to gasp and groan in pleasure with each thrust.

 

Even though they had just gotten started, he could feel his orgasm trying to form. She had set him alight with her aggressive fellatio and he was going to have to work hard to last long enough to finish her. As his orgasm began to swell, he paused in his thrusts, changing positions to give himself a moment to cool his ardor.

 

He was already beginning to sweat, the slickness of his skin making their joining that much more erotic. She could feel her orgasm trying to form and she strained for it, calling the cleansing fire to her, but suddenly he paused and pulled out. Before she could protest, he rolled her to stomach and pulled her hips up as he moved in, positioning his feet outside her legs as he crouched low and entered her again.

 

“Oh god…” she gasped as she fell to her elbows. She knew what was coming. This was the position he often used when he pounded the shit out of her, and she tingled in excitement. “Yes… yes…” she whispered as he entered her again, her heat rising even higher. This is what she wanted, what she needed…

 

He bent over her, kissing her back and neck as he began to thrust, slow and gentle at first, trying to reel in the sensations flooding through him. As his need began to overwhelm him, he began to drive into her harder, faster, and then harder still. He began to growl as his orgasm tried to form again, but he pushed back against it, small shivers running through him as he fought his body for control.

 

She could feel his sweat dripping on her back as he pressed her into the bed as he drove into her hard and fast. She wanted to scream in pleasure and joy, shout to the world how he made her feel. As her mouth opened in another silent scream, she let her arms collapse, changing the angle of his thrust. The sudden change caused a stutter in his thrusts, but then his hands were on her shoulders, holding her hard into the bed as he began to slam into her harder and faster still. She pushed against her release, wanting the pleasure to last… but she was no match for the approaching orgasm and it began to take her.

 

Jules shook his head violently in denial, sweat spraying from his hair, as his orgasm tried to take him once more. He was losing his battle with his body when he felt Rachel shudder as she began to mewl. She clamped tight around him as her climax took her and though he fought against it with all his might, his orgasm overwhelmed his control and he grunted once, hard and deep, and fell over her back as he came, moving slowly as he twisted in pleasure.

 

They shuddered together a moment, each caught in the peak of pleasure, before relaxing with a soft sigh, their breaths coming in hard fast pants. He pulled out of her, his legs shrieking in protest from the demands he had placed on them as he settled onto her, kissing her lovingly, before rolling to the bed so she didn’t have to support his weight.

 

As he rolled off of her he scooped her into his arms and pulled her in tight, holding her close. He offer his lips, lips she willingly accepted, the kiss so slow, deep and erotic that she could feel that tenuous connection she had felt earlier strengthen and grow more substantial. Will had asked her if she loved Jules… and now she knew. Now she knew that she was beginning to fall for him. She could feel the tears form in her eyes as she moved from his side to lie across his chest, needing to touch as much of him as possible.

 

“You okay?” he asked as her face twisted in some unreadable emotion.

 

“Yes,” she sighed as she put her head on his shoulder. “So very much better than okay. I missed you last night.”

 

“I missed you too,” he said softly and his arms encircled her and he held her comfortably tight as his hands became busy with slow caresses.

 

A deep sigh escaped her as he held her snug and warm, his lips never still, kissing her face in soft, slow, touches, the kisses of a lover, not just a sex partner. She smiled as his lips touched her again, and she nodded her head softly in silent approval. She had been with him long enough to begin to recognize his moods, and she could tell that something was on his mind.

 

“You okay?” she whispered.

 

“Yes…” he replied, wondering how she knew… how she knew that he was thinking about Will and his talk with Todd. It is almost certain that Todd would offer Will membership, if he hadn’t already, and he worried. The friction with Todd and the confrontation over the kids still loomed large in his mind… and he hoped introducing Will to Todd isn’t something he would later regret.

 

Nothing else was said as they lay together, Rachel still, comfortable, and content at a very deep level as Jules softly caressed her back. Finally with a sigh, she slipped off his chest and turned to her side, snuggling in close. He rolled over and took her into his arms, his knees tucked in behind hers in a comfortable spoon, until sleep took her.

 

As his eyes began to grow heavy with sleep, he kissed her on her shoulder. “I won’t let anything happen to you… or Will,” he promised, his whisper so softly spoken she probably wouldn’t have heard it even has she been awake. He breathed deep and pulled her a little more tightly to him as the darkness of sleep began to take him.