The Warmest Winter, Day 16

"Tell me about it," said Veronica, dancing with Nate.

"Speaking of future, Nate," Cassie said, "You hear about what we're gonna do for a living?"

"Yeah, sis," Nate said, "We're moving to Denver and you're gonna be a business. Something like that."

"Think the NYPD can bear to lose you?"

"Yeah. They'll be fine. Besides, family first. Someone's gotta keep Rick in line."

A slow song came on a little later. Mike turned to Jenny. "Would you like this dance?"

"We're not-"

"Come on, let's dance." He took her hand and almost had to yank her up.

Jenny let herself soften into Mike's firm embrace. She could feel her heart pounding, wishing she could tell Mike how she felt about him, wishing it made sense to her. She had only known him for a couple of weeks, but she knew. What scared her even more was the thought that he might not feel the same way. For now, however he felt, Jenny accepted it, closed her eyes, and let him sway her to the music.

Mike leaned down to whisper into her ear, "I think Rick and Cassie made a discrete exit."

Jenny looked up and sure enough, the pair were nowhere to be found.

"Oh, man," said Veronica, "My bedroom's next to hers!"

"We'll spend the night down here. That okay, Vee?" said Nate.

"Spend the night with you? Twist my arm more, why don't you?"

Mike took Jenny's hand, and spoke to the remaining couple, "We don't want to intrude, then. We'll go upstairs now."

Once upstairs in the kitchen, Jenny asked, "Why the sudden urge to leave the basement?"

"Well, if Rick and Cassie are going to be doing what we both know they will, we should get upstairs before it gets noisy."

"So, good night, then?" Jenny asked, nervously.

"Well, no, not yet," said Mike, "Do you want to come up to my room and finish our earlier conversation?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that."

*****

Jenny sat on the edge of Mike's bed, which was just as well. "On edge" is precisely how she felt. Mike pulled up the chair from his private desk and sat down facing her.

"Um, I really don't know where I'm going with this, but I feel like I need to just talk it out, okay?" he asked. Jenny nodded.

"Don't be nervous. It's not bad, it's just... well, I don't know yet. We'll see. But relax, okay?"

Jenny cleared her throat. "Okay." She folded her hands to keep them still.

"You have been just one big surprise after another, you know that? First discovering you in my yard, you scaring the crap out of me when I woke up, you jerking me off while I watched porn... and that was just the first day!" They both laughed.

"And what's been bugging me is how you got so under my skin so easily, and so quickly," Mike said. Jenny heard fascination in his voice, edged with frustration. "And it's not the plots you did with me, Lord knows I'm a schemer. I think what got to me the most was how right you were. And are."

"Um, sorry?" Jenny tried, "I'll try to be wrong next time, maybe?"

"Ha ha," Mike grinned. "Smart ass."

"Beats boredom."

"Ain't it the truth. I guess, with all the history we've somehow managed to have together after just two weeks. Good Lord, is that all it's been? Anyway, I wanted to clear the air completely."

"Mike, I didn't go into using any of my ideas with the intent that they would go as far they did. I just... overcommitted. I wanted to succeed too badly."

"I think I know what you mean," Mike said carefully. "And I think some of my reaction was surprise at the fact that I wanted you to. Succeed, that is. You threw me for a loop, babe."

"I really am sorry-"

"I needed it. That's the truth. You only did what I didn't want you to do, when it was something I needed instead. That's a kind of friendship that's been rare for me."

"That's sort of what I wanted to say earlier," Jenny said. "Because for me, it's not just-"

"Jennifer."

She stopped talking. As much as she disliked interruptions, the way Mike said her name... he was showing her something new. Mike joined her on the edge of the bed, and brought a hand up to her cheek.

"Jennifer Eliska Azevedo." She closed her eyes as he said her full name. "I don't know how, I don't know why, and I certainly don't know how it happened so fast... please, look at me."

Jenny opened her eyes, and met Mike's. She saw fire there, burning hotter as it drew nearer.

"Jenny. I react so strongly to you, because I care about you so damn much. The way I feel... I haven't felt this in a long time." She heard the bittersweet exodus of released pain in his voice. As if hearing it himself, Mike continued, "It's how you've managed to heal me in such a short time. I... I..." The words caught in Michael's throat. Jennifer reached out to him.

"Michael... are you saying you're... in love with me?" Asking that question had been the hardest and most fearful moment of Jenny's life.

Mike's eyes met hers again. "I don't know," he said. "I wish I did. I wish I knew for sure what love felt like." His head dropped, ashamed that he couldn't say, couldn't see...

Jenny's heart started to break. He had come so far, but now, at the moment of truth, he faltered, and she was becoming too torn apart inside to think of what to do. But as much as she now knew she loved Mike, what he did next introduced her to the real him, the core of who he was, and she loved him all the more for it.

Mike took a single deep breath, then held Jenny's face in his hands, keeping her eyes on him. The fire she saw in his eyes had exploded. "I don't know for sure," Mike said again, but confidently this time. "But with you, I'd damn sure like to find out." And then he kissed her.

The fire was not just in his eyes. Mike's lips traced the flames across Jenny's, and she returned in equal measure. That moment, that connection, said everything else that the couple no longer needed to. None of it mattered anymore. None of it.

"I think," said Jenny, when they resurfaced for air, "that I knowexactlyhow you feel."

"Really?" said Mike, "Your throbbing erection is at an awkward angle, too?"

Jenny crawled onto the bed and grabbed a pillow, then smacked him with it.

"Way to ruin the moment, Casanova!"

"There'll be other moments, don't worry."

Jenny suddenly grew silent. Mike got onto the bed next to her, and put a comforting arm around her.

"What is it?"

"Do you really think there'll be other moments?"

"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't there be?"

"The real world, Mike. We've only ever seen each other in this isolated situation. Out in the real world, with real jobs and all the other day-to-day problems life throws at us... we'll be different people out there. What if... what if this doesn't last?" Jenny leaned in and whispered, "I want this to last. I want it so much." Mike held her close.

"It's okay, it's okay. Sssshhh. It's okay," Mike whispered back. "You saw me at my worst during this time. Alone and angry, just a Nowhere Man. And I've seen your vulnerabilities, too. There's always more to learn, and I repeat myself: I'd damn sure like to."

Jenny curled up tighter into the form of his body on the bed. "Good answer."

They lay there together, enjoying the comfort of one another's presence, for some time after. Mike occasionally planted a kiss on Jenny's head, or traced her curves idly with one finger, but they were content, just being in the moment.

Despite the improved sound blocking in the floor, however, the sounds of another moment leaked through from the bedroom below them.

"Holy crap, they must be loud," Mike observed. He knew the specs for the floor.

"Wanna listen?" Jenny said. He recognized the mischief in her eyes. Oh, well. Better he should join in her shenanigans instead of being the target.

"Two glasses from the bathroom," he said, getting off the bed and reaching a hand down to readjust himself.

Mike and Jenny smiled and laughed as they put the cups on the floor, then lay flat to listen.

"That's Rick!" Mike stage-whispered.

"I don't hear Cassie," Jenny said. "Maybe she went back to silent mode?"

"Yeah, and now Rick's getting the hint. I don't hear either one."

"Wait... listen closer."

For about thirty seconds, neither of them spoke.

"Good gravy, is that thebedmaking that racket?" Mike asked.

"Gotta be."

"Wait, I hear them again. They're trying to be quiet, but failing."

Through the cups, Mike and Jenny heard Cassie moaning in orgasm. It went on for quite some time. Jenny was impressed. A sudden break in the sound, then a couple of thumps. Cassie moaned again, and then her moans were stifled by... something. Her moans spiked in volume as they heard Rick begin to gasp for air. Mike and Jenny both understood that Cassie would not require much protein in her breakfast the next day.

They rinsed out the glasses and left them in a sink, sharing half-embarrassed glances at what they had just done together. Jenny walked towards the door.

"Well, they're done," she said, "I should probably-"

Mike spun her around against the door and kissed her again, full force. When he pulled away, he smiled. "Wanna see if we can outdo them?"

"Thought you'd never ask."

Mike attacked the sensitive skin of her neck, while Jenny ran her hands up and down his muscular torso.

"You know," Mike managed, "The doors don't block sound as well."

"Bed," Jenny said, "No arguments."

"Wait, wait," Mike said suddenly when they had gotten to the bed. "I don't want to rush this. Not tonight."

Standing Jenny in the middle of the room, Mike placed his body less than an inch away, teasingly close, behind her.

"I wish you were still wearing that dress," he said, "I would very much like to have taken that off of you."

Jenny sighed. Mike's hands were running all over her, and he planted kisses wherever she had exposed skin. One at the base of her neck sent a shiver down her back.

Mike tugged her shirt free, then stepped back to pull it over her head. She raised her arms to help, and then it was off. Mike let it drop to the floor, then turned Jenny around, holding her tightly.

"Mmm, tiger stripes," he said with a Cheshire grin, "I approve."

Jenny smiled, then relieved Mike of his shirt in a similar fashion. She pulled wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into another liplock. She felt her soft chest press against his rock-solid one. Jenny explored Mike's physique, every muscle, every line, and Mike traced her curves likewise.

"More," Mike whispered. They wanted this to be quiet, private, for each other only. He sank down onto his heels, and slowly pulled out Jenny's belt, tossing gently aside. Then, one by one, he unbuttoned her jeans. Guiding her with his hands, he brought her backside into full view. Then eased the denim over her hips, revealing the panties that, with what fabric it could, matched her top. As Mike finished getting her out of her jeans, he caressed her legs and spent a little time appreciating her well-toned posterior with his lips. When he stood again, he wrapped his arms around her waist and swayed her, dancing to the music only the two of them could hear.

Jenny went with the flow, drinking in the surplus of expression from Mike. However, she had a plethora of emotions and desires to release, as well. She decided to start with the raging hard-on that Mike had nestled comfortably into her backside as they swayed.

Turning, Jenny offered Mike another kiss before lowering herself to her knees. In the process, she nudged her jeans out of the way. Once she had unbuttoned Mike's fly, the zipper nearly came down of its own accord, the pressure under Mike's waistband was so high. She let his jeans drop, and he stepped out of them. Jenny then lifted Mike's boxers over his erect member, then let them drop, too.

She remembered how hard Mike would get, which was completely. She could see every ridge, every contour, and if that wasn't enough of a turn-on, she knew that she had caused every inch of it. Nothing had ever made her feel as sexy as that.

Mike had to put his hands behind his back to restrain himself. This was not to be rushed. Jenny first kissed him, up and down, then used her tongue to excite the kiss further. When she did take him into her mouth, she first went only as far as the head, utilizing what felt like every kissing technique she knew. Mike found it difficult to keep from getting too stimulated too quickly. Jenny wasgood.

She was also a tiny bit cruel. Mike sighed and relaxed, finally able to enjoy her ministrations with a slower build-up. That is when she took him more fully into her mouth. Mike clenched his abs at the sudden pleasure, bending over with the sensation.

Here is where Jenny's real self-expression began. Jenny unleashed a roller coaster onto him, one he thought of later as the Tongue Twister. It sent him left, right, up, down, around and around, thrilled him every second. Then she went for the gusto. Slowing to a torturous pace, Jenny slid Mike in all the way to the hilt, then almost completely out again. Mike gasped for air, and could only take a few more, which he did. Then he placed his hands on Jenny's shoulders. She got the message, and stopped.

Jenny kissed him again, then leaned in close next his ear, and softly purred. The sound went straight to Mike's libido and cranked it up to eleven. With a single motion, Mike scooped up Jenny and laid her down on the bed. He crawled up after her as she lay there, panting and smiling with excitement.

She sat up and Mike knelt before her. Sharing a kiss, they ran their hands across one another's bodies again. They couldn't get enough, and Mike still wanted more. Reaching behind Jenny, he unclasped her bra, then pulled it away. Jenny laid back onto her elbows and lifted her chin, shaking her hair out of the way. An open invitation.

Mike took a second to realize the incomparable beauty before him. Her long, silky legs were stretched under him, and her hips curved in to an athletically trim waistline. And her full, round, soft, smooth breasts were free and clear, her nipples high in the air. Sexy did not begin to describe it, in his mind.

He left a trail of smoldering embers where his lips touched her body. Her lips, down her neck, down to between her breasts.

It was now Jenny's turn to gasp. Mike had remembered everything. Every last detail, everything she liked, where, when, how. It took extraordinary effort of will to keep from crying out, even more to let him continue instead of making him take her.

Then Jenny felt Mike's fingertips slide in under her waistband. She lifted her hips, and Mike stripped her of the last of her clothing, and now they were both fully naked on the bed. The scent of Jenny's arousal filled the room. Seizing the opportunity, Mike took Jenny's leg, and emblazoned his kisses slowly up the inside, all the way from ankle to her inner thigh. Jenny trembled with anticipation, which was well-rewarded.

The slow but inexorable build in their lovemaking made every moment delicious in Jenny's mind. And that meant that Mike's oral skills went to new heights. Snaking his tongue into her folds, he ran the tip up and down slowly, making Jenny's controlled breathing suddenly quite ragged. Then he grazed the clitoris, barely touching, just circling the edge, with occasional flick of the tongue to keep things lively.

Mike touched his tongue to Jenny's entrance, and she went rigid. Her eyes went wide, and her body shook. It was a peak, but Jenny hadn't climaxed. Nevertheless, it was still more intense than some of her other orgasms.

"I don't know if we should go this slow," Jenny said, "We build it up too much, I may pass out during the best part. And don't want to!"

Mike looked up, his eyes sparkling. "Mmm. You would like the earth-shattering kaboom?"

Jenny grinned. "Rock my world, big guy."

Mike raised himself over her, then came down to kiss her again. Luckily she didn't mind her own taste, something she had found out that first night, the first time she'd masturbated thinking of the godlike body now preparing to make her his. My, how times change, she thought.

"Does milady have a choice of position?" Jenny kissed him passionately for that question. She'd never been asked before, not one-on-one. Maybe the taking could wait just a little longer.

"Me on top."

"Oh, good, my favorite." Mike laid down, getting into position. Jenny blinked at the mood shift.

"What's gotten into you so suddenly?"

"You, silly. I know, ironic, right? But it occurs to me, I'm not just intensely attracted to you, I also like havingfunwith you. Besides, it is my favorite with you."

Jenny rolled over and straddled her lover. "You know what else?" she said. She then guided Mike with one hand, then eased back onto him. Her arousal made the passage smooth, and before long she rested comfortably on Mike's hips. It took a few moments for them both to regain their breath.

"What else?" Mike said , eventually.

"You talk too much, that's what."

Hand on her thighs, Jenny began to rock Mike's bed and world.

"Slow ride..." Mike sang softly to her tempo. "Take it easy..." When Jenny joined him on the repeat, without disturbing her rhythm or making the moment too silly, Mike knew. No more doubts, no more questions.

Jenny was smiling, her face lit up with the joy of the moment. Better than any dream Mike ever had. He reached a hand up and put it behind her head. That got her attention.

"I just realized something," Mike whispered, so softly Jenny leaned down to hear what he said next.

"What?" she asked.

"I love you, Jennifer."

Jenny's hips stopped, mid-glide. She stared at him.

"Jenny?" Mike asked. "Jenny, you alright?"

Jenny sprang back to life, engulfing Mike's mouth with hers. Their tongues tangoed feverishly, until she finally released him. Then she met his eyes again.

"I love you, too, Michael. Doesn't matter how we got here. What matters is we're here."

Jenny happily resumed her rhythm on top of Mike, with just a bit more bounce now.

"So, why's this your favorite?" she asked.

"Well, for starters, I can lay down and take a break while you do all the work," said Mike. "That's a plus." Jenny stuck her tongue out at him.

"Secondly, that also helps me last longer, which is great for both of us. And my hands are free to do whatever I want." Mike demonstrated as he listed each location. "I can caress these sexy legs of yours, I can grab some of that fine ass. I can enhance your other experience" -he slipped a thumb onto her clit, making her gasp- "and best of all, I get to see and caress these ripe, juicy, breasts. Seriously, yum." Mike licked his lips. "Best of all, I can see your face. You truly are a magnificent and beautiful woman." He gave Jenny a look that confirmed he meant every word. God, how she wanted this man more and more.

Jenny picked up her pace, exhilarated by the feel of his still-solid cock inside her. Mike had to stop her, so they could change positions.

"Ooh, babe," Mike said appreciatively. He and Jenny were laying next to each other on the bed, catching their breath and occasionally making out. "You've got me so wound up, I think our next one's gonna be the last. And shouldn't you have had, like, three by now?"

"I think I'm saving up," Jenny said. "Looking forward to seeing if I'm right. You ready?"

"Absolutely. Hands and knees."

Once behind her, Mike entered, then guided them both down onto the bed. Jenny's legs served to wrap her even more tightly around him. He began to slowly thrust his hips forward, luxuriating in her tight, hot pussy.

Jenny held back a squeal of delight, this being another of her favorites. The combination of penetration, angle, and intimacy would definitely make this a powerful experience. She held herself up on her elbows, allowing Mike to put an arm under her chest for support. With his free hand, he reminded her of everything he liked. Her hair, her chest, her hips, her ass, her waist... there was no part of her that he caressed less than the rest.