Still Waters

of hers, then stopped there, because her palm was still pressing against his stomach, holding him away. She touched his mouth with her smiling lips and slid her hand across the smooth plane of his abdomen to find the knot that held his towel together. When she loosened it he made a sound and a reflexive movement. The towel slid to the floor.

Against her mouth he whispered, 'No fair…'

Maddy answered, 'All's fair…'

She caught her breath and held it, standing very still as his free hand slid over her shoulder and down, taking her dress with it. The bodice's stretchy fabric yielded, and Maddy slowly pulled her arm from its sleeve. She felt his cool hand on the heated skin of her rib cage and sucked in air-a tiny, sustaining gasp. Zack's lips touched hers tenderly, reassuringly. His mouth monitored her quick, shallow respirations as his hand followed the neckline of her dress diagonally upward across her body to the other shoulder…and then over it. With slow and gentle pressure he pulled the dress down to her waist, eased it over the swell of her hips, and let it fall, with a rustling sigh, to the floor.

Maddy stood in the puddle of discarded clothing, wearing only the plainest of white nylon panties, touching him only with one palm against his belly. Her head still rested in the support of his hand. Her lips barely brushed his, mingling their warm breaths. Electricity crackled between them; heat and a strange aching pressure filled her body; tremors shook her so that she could barely stand. She spoke his name, and was shocked to hear it emerge as a whimper.

In response, he made a low sound-half hunger, half triumph-and finally brought her mouth to his. Keeping space between their bodies, he claimed her mouth, making it seem almost part of his own. Maddy stood as one drugged, with her hands resting forgotten on his waist, oblivious to everything but the rising flood of sensation in her own body. She'd never felt like this… never imagined it was possible to feel like this. She was drowning… she ached… she wanted… something.

She wanted Zack.

She felt his hands slide up over her ribs, brush the sides of her breasts, then gently cover them. His hands were a comforting warmth, soothing the ache there, at least. She moaned softly and leaned forward. His fingers sought her nipples, circled them with feathering strokes, then rubbed them with more direct, insistent pressure. A bolt of fire shot through her and settled, throbbing, in the lower part of her body. She gasped and tore her mouth from his, arching her head back and gripping his back for support.

Zack made that sound again, that low, primitive growl of need and dominance, and lowered his mouth to her throat. His hands stroked downward, spanning her ribs, her waist, slipping inside her panties to caress the smooth, taut skin of her belly. She moaned again and pushed against his hands, needing him on a level that was purely instinctive. When one hand moved between her thighs to cup the center of that tormenting pressure, she shuddered and cried out, 'Zack-please…'

In answer to her plea he jerked her panties over her hips and caught her buttocks in his hands, pressing her hard against him. She gave a little gasp of shock at the unfamiliar shapes and textures of his body, then wrapped her arms around him and strained closer.

As she clung to him, trembling, Zack lifted his head, said thickly, 'Time to move, babe,' and, in the very best Prince Charming tradition, lifted her into his arms.

Maddy gave a husky gurgle of surprise and pleasure and muttered, 'I knew there was a third choice!'

Zack uttered a groggy and bewildered, 'What?' Maddy whispered, 'Nothing…' and buried her hot face in the curve of his neck.

Zack was every bit as strong as he'd claimed to be. He carried her easily, effortlessly, making her feel both weak and cherished. And when she felt the cool, crisp texture of the sheets against her back, with Zack a real and solid presence above her, she discovered that that could be a devastatingly erotic combination…

She was drugged with desire, her body both heavy and tense with wanting. She was filled with pressure, and at the same time empty. She wanted Zack with an urgency that bordered on madness.

'Maddy, sweetheart…' His hand brushed her forehead, and she nodded, though she didn't know or care what he wanted to tell her. 'Maddy… you're not… Are you protected?'

She shook her head frantically, almost angrily. 'No. But it's all right-I'm all right… right now.' She didn't know whether that was true or not and didn't care. She laced her fingers through his hair and arched her back, silently pleading.

His hand ran down her body, stroking, gentling. She felt the silky caress of damp hair as he lowered his head to her breast, then the rasp of his face on her tender skin. His mouth was a warm, liquid torture.

She shook her head wildly and dug her fingers into his shoulders. She moved her legs and turned her lower body toward him, searching… and still he went on caressing her, his hands leaving trails of fire wherever they touched, following her body's curve over back, bottom, and thighs…

It occurred to her that he was trying to take it easy on her account, and she didn't know how to tell him it wasn't what she wanted. Needed. The pressure and tension in her were intolerable-she was going to explode. Shaking, she cried, 'Zack!-'

He lifted his head and looked down at her, and she whispered, 'Please…'

His hand slipped under her; her arms circled his neck as he lifted her hard against him. It was instinct that made her shift her legs to make a place for him, and he moved at last into the cradle of her body. His mouth found her throat, and he felt the wild cadence of her pulse as he pressed into her.

She tried to stifle the sharp gasp of shock and pain, but she couldn't. That, and her body's resistance, gave her away. Zack's muscles turned to stone beneath her hands. He lifted his head and said raggedly, 'Maddy-dear God-'

'It's all right. Please, Zack.'

'Why in the world didn't you tell me?'

'I didn't know how.' She felt out of breath and vaguely testy. 'It's not the kind of thing you can go around announcing.'

'I should have known… should have guessed. Maddy. how-'

'Zack.' She laughed shakily and felt her stomach bump against his. 'Do you want to lie here and discuss my sexual track record now?'

He touched his forehead to hers, and she felt him begin to shake with silent laughter. 'Ah, Maddy…' he said brokenly. 'Are you sure?'

'Of course I'm sure. Unless you-?'

He silenced her with his mouth, with a deep and tender kiss. 'That answer your question?' he asked thickly when he finally lifted his head. 'It's just that this is a new experience for me.'

'Well, me too,' she said. He began to laugh again.

When their laughter had expired into soft, fitful gusts, Zack cleared his throat and said, 'Let's see… Where were we?'

'Here.' Maddy tipped her chin up and caught his lower lip between her teeth. Her fingers feathered through his hair as she teased his mouth with her tongue.

'Oh, yeah…' Once again his hand stroked downward along the side of her body, then slipped under her thigh and drew it gently outward. She stirred, and moved against him.

'Maddy…' He looked down at her in the darkness. 'Maddy… sweetheart, please let me go slowly. Now that I know, there's no reason I should have to hurt you.'

She nodded, sighed, and let her hands glide over the smooth skin of his back. 'Yes,' he murmured approvingly. 'Relax. Trust me.'

She did trust him. Tension melted. Her body became liquid, molten, pliable. This time he entered her slowly, tenderly, letting her body adjust itself around him. When he began to move, it seemed to her as natural as breathing to move too. The rhythms felt like part of her-like her own heartbeat. He was a part of her.

The rhythms didn't change, but somehow that melted-honey warmth inside her became the aching pressure she'd felt before. And again it seemed intolerable. Things were beyond her control. She thought, in one moment of pure panic, that she really would explode. But Zack-Zack was in control, and she trusted him! She surrendered, then, to the fire and strength in his body, and when she did, something inside her gave way, releasing a whole