Hey Jealousy - Part 2

[x-cypher.livejournal.com]

Late at night, Amanda and Doug stagger back from The Global Pub Crawl, and neither of them is really ready to think yet.

WARNING: Very long. Extremely long, in fact. Also, not safe for work. Not one bit. (explicit content)



Amanda's apartment lay quiet and dark, the peace suddenly broken by the rattle of a key, followed by a muffled thump, not unlike someone falling against the door. Then Amanda's voice, giggling drunkenly: "Hold on, Doug, let me get the fucking door open..."

Finally she managed the dexterity required to manipulate keys, and the door swung open, almost dumping Doug, who had been leaning against it, on the floor. Amanda steadied him, not exactly steady on her feet herself, and got them both through the door, kicking it closed behind them. She made a bee-line for the couch, Doug's arm slung across her shoulders, and the pair collapsed onto the soft surface in a tangle of limbs.

"Ow."

"Ow," Doug echoed, laying one arm across his eyes. Even though they hadn't turned the lights on, Doug wasn't very keen on the idea of opening his eyes at the moment. He swallowed down a unsettled burp, as he certainly didn't want to spend the next hour hunched over Amanda's toilet. "Stop the world, please, I want to get off," he murmured a touch pitifully, careful not to move his spinning head.

"I would, only 'm spinning like a top meself..." Amanda had dropped back into the full South London accent, the added drunken slur making it possibly incomprehensible to most people but Doug. "Hold on a sec." Squirming out from under Doug's other arm, she staggered to her feet and towards the kitchen. After some banging noises and the sound of water running, she returned with a large glass of water and a bottle of aspirin, George the werelight weaving erratically around her head where she'd had to summon him in lieu of turning on the lights. The dull red glow of the spell echoed the neon sign of the last bar they'd been in. "Here, take a couple of these, an' drink the water, nice and slow," she instructed, setting glass and pill bottle on the coffee table before flopping bonelessly back onto the couch.

Doug whimpered in protest at the thought of having to move, but he forced himself to sit up and follow Amanda's instructions. "Hi, George," he said blearily as he shook a pair of aspirin out. He shook another pair out and set them on the table. After he swallowed the aspirin down with a long drink of water, he proffered the extra aspirin to Amanda.

George responded to the greeting by describing a wobbly figure of eight around both their heads. "Ugh, makin' me dizzy there, Georgie-boy," Amanda groaned and shut off the spell with a snap of her fingers. With a smile she took the aspirin from Doug, swallowing them with a sip of the water. "Ta, mate, she said, setting the glass back on the table, pointedly in front of Doug. He was going to need it, plus another after that one, at the very least. "Sorry about the tequila. Tends to be my 'get trolleyed in a fucking hurry' drink, and it seemed like we were at the needing to get trolleyed stage of the night."

"Oh, I got trolleyed in a bloody fucking hurry, too right," Doug replied, unconsciously mimicking Amanda's accent. He sighed in a slightly put-upon fashion when she pushed the water glass towards him. "Yes, mum," he said dryly, picking up the glass and drinking it. When he had finished, he leaned backward on the couch and stared at the ceiling. "Why did I think this would be a good idea?" he asked quietly and somewhat rhetorically.

"Because thinking don't come into it," Amanda replied, then dug in her jacket pocket for her cigarettes. She didn't smoke inside much these days, having gotten out of the habit sharing a suite with Marie-Ange, but tonight she wanted one badly. The crappy old lighter took several tries to light, and when it did she leaned back against the couch, blowing smoke upwards in a long plume. Out of deference to Doug, she let the hand holding the cigarette dangle over the arm of the couch, keeping the smoke at a lower level. "When you're hurtin', you don't think, you react. Go out and do whatever seems like the best way t' stop hurtin'," she continued, voice reflective. "Get stoned, get trolleyed, find someone t' sleep with. Doesn't make the problem go away, but it lets you get away from the pain, just for a little while."

Doug snorted self-mockingly. "Yeah, there was a whole," he made a show of looking at his watch, "five minutes or so where I didn't think about Marie-Ange being out on a date with Garrison." It wasn't so much that he disliked the Canadian, though they had gotten off on the wrong foot. It was more the jealousy that, despite Doug's trying to convince himself he didn't have a right to feel it, continued to exist in his heart.

She glanced over at him - it had been the first time she'd heard him say the man's name. "You want me to try an' hex him?" she offered, mostly joking. "Give him spots or somethin'?"

Doug sighed deeply and slumped even farther into the couch, as if all energy had suddenly completely drained out of him. He twitched a hand in negation, and it felt like the most difficult thing to do. "It's not his fault," he said in a defeated tone of voice.

She was oddly relieved - somehow it wouldn't have been Doug to agree, even in jest. Stubbing out her cigarette half-smoked, she slid along the couch to the point where she could slide her arm over his shoulders, the sort of comforting gesture she would have made to Angelo or Marie. Doug was like Marie-Ange, in her mind - not usually the sort she'd hug. But sometimes things changed. "I'm sorry," she said, squeezing his shoulder briefly to emphasise the thought. "I wish I could say something, do something to help fix it, but..." But Marie-Ange was happy, and Doug had apparently missed out, waiting too long. "If there's anything I can do, you'll let me know, yeah? 'Cause I'm not going anywhere, mate."

Doug leaned gratefully into the hug, thankful for the reassuring contact. He rested his head on Amanda's shoulder, content to simply sit there in the dark without having to say anything. A few tears trickled unnoticed down his cheek to soak into Amanda's sweater. After a few minutes he straightened up, drying his eyes, and a quiet noise that was half burp and half hiccup escaped his mouth. He chuckled softly. "Guess I'm up for a forfeit," he said.



She smiled in return, a flash of white teeth in the dim light coming from the street glow outside. "Guess so," she said. She thought for a minute, then said: "Pick." When Doug gave her a confused "what the hell?" look, she elaborated, waving at her CD collection. "Pick something. Music. We need music."

Doug slowly pushed himself off the couch to a standing position. When he was certain he wasn't going to fall back over, he crossed the room to Amanda's CD rack. The city glow coming through the windows was enough for Doug to read by, and he leaned forward to read the spines of the jewel cases. There was the expected punk, but there was also a surprising mix of classical and other types of music. Putting his hand out at random, he plucked out a CD. "Who're these...Bif Naked guys?" he asked, reading the cover.

"Girl. An' there's just one of her. Really hot bird, too." Amanda slid off the couch and grabbed Doug's water glass, heading back to the kitchen to fill it up. "Chuck it on," she said. "'S just what I wanted. Sure you aren't psychic?"

Doug placed the CD in Amanda's stereo and turned it on low. He certainly wasn't in the mood for anything too loud at the moment. "Nope, guess I just got lucky," he said, actually able to smile when he said it.

That got a laugh from Amanda as the 'random' function kicked in on her stereo and the opening bars of 'We Are The Lucky Ones' came on. Her life was full of small coincidences sometimes. She brought back more water and handed the glass to Doug, before kicking off her shoes. "I love this song," she said with a drunken giggle as she began to sway somewhat unsteadily to the music.

Doug toed his own shoes off and dutifully took a long drink from the glass of water before setting it down and moving gently back and forth. He was more focused on listening to the song, though. It certainly wasn't something he would have expected from Amanda, but the lyrics had a nice message to them.

The movement was all the encouragement Amanda needed. "C'mon," she said with a grin, grabbing his hand and pulling him over to the open space between the couch and the kitchen. "Dance with me."

Doug draped his hands lightly on Amanda's hips as her arms went around his neck. The pair started off only connected by where their hands and arms lay, but as the song ended and another one came on, they wound up closer, Amanda's breasts brushing slightly against Doug's chest as she swayed toward him. Doug bit his lip as a memory from several years ago swam up sharply from his subconscious.

Amanda shook her head and moved around behind his back, every inch of her body dragging along his. Draping her hands over his chest and pressing her chest to his back, she leaned in and nipped playfully at Doug's ear. "I told yer, Ramsey. No thinking. Dance with me like yer want to fuck me."

They weren't the same people they had been two and a half years ago. Doug was more mature and sure of himself. Amanda had also grown and opened herself up more behind the sarcasm she had previously worn as armor. But the memories, the alcohol, and the vague pressure in his groin caused by thinking about the black lacy underwear Amanda had told him she was wearing combined in a wash of confusion that caused Doug to raise one hand to a head that was suddenly spinning again. "Amanda..." he murmured, his voice thick with emotion.

She looked up at him, cheeks slightly flushed and lips parted. The contact, the movement, the alcohol, they'd hit her too, and for once she didn't want to think about what she was doing, didn't want to question the ethics of it, whether it was right or wrong. All she wanted to do was feel. Which was why, in response to Doug's saying of her name, she didn't reply, just leaned in and kissed him, the barest brushing her her lips against his.

Doug eyes fluttered shut at the whisper of Amanda's lips across his. He left them closed for a moment after the kiss, feeling a tingle in his lips in its wake. He opened his eyes and looked down at Amanda, his eyes wide from both the alcohol and the dimness of her apartment. "What happened to 'so not a good idea'?" he asked her huskily.

It was like a shock of cold water in her face. She pulled back a little, biting her lip. "I'm sorry. I just..." she paused, searching for the words through the haze of alcohol. "I just didn't want to think. Just for a little while. I'm sorry. Probably time we crashed. I'll get some blankets for you, if you need to crash here tonight?"

Doug wrapped his arms around Amanda, not letting her escape. He didn't much want to think, either, he'd just been confused by why she had decided to kiss him when she'd told him what a bad idea it was when they'd been in Paris. He gently pressed her head so that it lay on his shoulder. "It's okay," he said quietly. "I don't want to think, either." He rubbed his hand up and down her back, and then, tilting her head up, pressed another kiss to her lips.

The gentleness of the gestures, the sheer... Dougness of them, touched the loneliness that had prompted her to kiss him in a first place. Making a soft noise in the back of her throat, she pressed herself closer to him, returning the kiss with a need she hadn't realised was there.

Six months with a large lack of even casual non-sexual touch came crashing down on Doug in one fell swoop, and he shivered slightly at how good it felt to have Amanda's arms linked around his neck, and her lips against his. He tilted his head to one side and deepened the kiss. He'd been wanting not to think for the whole evening, and he was finally succeeding.

His tongue nudged at her lips and she opened her mouth to him, wondering with the randomness brought on by the good part of two-thirds of a bottle of tequila if he'd ever kissed anyone with a tongue stud before. If not, he was in for a surprise. One hand she moved up the back of his neck to tangle in thick blonde hair, the other smoothed across his shoulder, gently kneading the tight muscle there. The training - both X-Men and the Snow Valley crew - meant he was unexpectedly well-muscled; it was easy to think of Doug as the typical computer nerd and not for the first time Amanda found herself realising she had underestimated him. The way he kissed, for example, was certainly not your typical geek's; he lacked the arrogance, the experience of a Manuel, but there was a strength and a passion there she hadn't realised. It was certainly enough to make her breath come quick and the pit of her stomach to tingle, and she kissed him harder, tongue striving with his in sudden urgency.


Considering he could still count on one hand the number of women he'd kissed in his life, the answer to Amanda's random musing would have been no. The tongue stud was a totally new experience for Doug, and he felt it slide against his own tongue as they kissed. Kissing Amanda was very different from kissing Marie-Ange, for where Marie-Ange was very reserved and seeming to be nervous about what other people might think, Amanda held nothing back from her kissing. There was a vague spice to her that reminded Doug of their nights out for curry, and a hint of something that he supposed was nicotine. And then when Amanda's hand tangled in his hair, Doug abruptly realized that he was probably thinking entirely too much, and gave himself over to the sensations Amanda's kiss and touch elicited.

Her hand slid slowly from his shoulder down his arm, then moved onto his chest, smoothing up his torso. Logical thought was fast receding as she focused on the sensation of his arms around her waist, his mouth and tongue against hers, the warmth of his body pressed against her. Closer, she needed to be closer. She moved her hand down again, this time tugging his shirt out of his waistband and sliding her hand up over smooth, warm skin, and she moved her mouth to kiss and softly bite at his neck.

The urgent need to be closer and touching was a palpable thing in Amanda's body language, and it awoke an answering hunger in Doug. "Touch..." he muttered unsteadily as he leaned back from the kiss to hike Amanda's shirt upward a bit more insistently than she had his. He bit his lips and swallowed a whimper at the warm softness of Amanda's back under his hands.

His hands on her bare skin were like fire, and whatever remaining caution was thrown to the winds. Pulling back from him slightly, she shrugged off her jacket, the garment landing on the floor in a jingle of metal buckles and studs. Her sweater followed, yanked off over her head in a crackle of static and tossed vaguely in the direction of the couch. Then almost roughly she moved in to kiss him again, hands working at the buttons of his shirt even as she started nudging them both in the direction of her bedroom.

The alcohol combined with Amanda's hands caused Doug to stumble more than once on their way to her room, but they managed to make it there without actually falling over. Their arms tangled up as Doug tried to push her shirt up her torso, and he made a frustrated grunt as they tumbled onto the bed.

The grunt elicited a giggle from Amanda as she squirmed around and straddled him, pinning him to the bed with her weight, his hands moving to her hips. The sensation of his hardness against her, even through their clothes, set off a jolt of desire that made her head swim. She'd gotten half his shirt buttons undone during the stumble to her room - now she undid the rest and bared his chest, leaning forward to lick at his nipple, rubbing it with the tongue stud as she ran her hands over smooth skin and tight muscle. He smelled good, she thought disjointedly, taking a deep breath of him.

Amanda was much more assertive than Marie-Ange in the bedroom, and the feeling of Amanda hovering above him, pressing her groin down against his as she leaned down to lick him, caused Doug to arch even more against the Brit. He leaned up on his elbows just long enough to impatiently skim his shirt down his arms and fling it to the floor. Once that task was complete, he returned to pushing Amanda's shirt upward. He'd been thinking about the lacy underwear ever since she told him what she was wearing, now he wanted to know how reality matched up to his imagining. "Want to see..." he said disjointedly and a bit plaintively.

She laughed again at that, and gave his nipple a quick, gentle bite before sitting up, her hands moving to the buttons of her shirt. "Want the show, huh?" she asked, teasingly, and she began to slowly undo her shirt, undulating her hips slightly as she rubbed against his hardness. When she had all the buttons undone, she paused, giving him a look that was half-arch, half-shy - it had been a long time since anyone had seen her naked, and she certainly wasn't as model-like as the other women of Snow Valley.

It didn't take a mutant power to read what Amanda wanted from him. Doug reached up and slowly parted the shirt, brushing his fingers over her shoulders and arms as he pushed the shirt down and off to reveal a lacy black Victoria's Secret bra. His breath caught in his throat as he gazed intently at her. Sometimes imaginings and fantasies didn't hold a candle to the real thing.

Goosebumps rose on her arms from the soft brush of his hands as she ditched the shirt over the side of the bed. But it was the honest admiration in his gaze that set the blush off, moving from her cheeks and down her neck to tint the pale skin over her collarbones, and she gave him a shy smile, taking his hands in hers and moving them up to her breasts. She'd filled out during the last year, but she was still on the small side, but somehow she didn't think Doug would mind that. She shivered a little as the feel of his hands on her skin, and the blush spread lower.

Amanda's shyness was a bit startling to Doug, as he didn't really imagine her being shy anywhere, much less the bedroom. Still, he supposed after a year without, a little shyness was understandable. He was certainly a bit nervous about things going well after six months of nothing but his hand and a washcloth for release himself.

His hands curled around Amanda's breasts, cupping them through the lacy material. He made a wordlessly approving noise and pulled her down for a slower, more languid kiss. "You look good," he said quietly and with simple honesty.

She melted into the kiss, a small noise escaping her as she stretched her length along him, revelling in the heat of another body against hers. The compliment was all the more meaningful for not being accompanied by a leer, or attached to a remark about her hotness. She'd been told she was sexy often enough, but not many called her pretty. "So do you," she said with a smile, moving against him, the lace of her bra rubbing against his skin. "Good enough to eat, in fact," she added, and reached up to nibble on his ear, breathing softly into it as she did.

Doug whimpered and squirmed a bit under Amanda. Her words were having almost as much of an effect on him as the feeling of her teeth worrying and nipping at his earlobe. He clutched at her shoulders a bit spasmodically and leaned his head to the side to allow her easier access.

She ran her tongue along the edge of his ear, and grinned a little at the reaction. She was determined to make sure he enjoyed this as much as possible, given it had been so long for both of them. Besides, the noises he was making were resonating in her, increasing her enjoyment - there was no artifice, only a certain vulnerability that she found touching. Sliding off him slightly, she began tracing patterns along his chest with her fingers, moving gradually further down with each pass, kissing and nibbling at his ear and neck as she did. "Tell me what you want," she breathed into his ear. "Anything at all." Her hand reached the waistband of his pants she she paused, drawing out the moment before she let her hand drift lower, cupping him through the material.

"Oh god," Doug moaned, his hips thrusting upward toward Amanda's hand. He could still feel the traces where her fingertips had trailed along his chest, and he was almost as drunk on the softness of her skin as he had been on alcohol during their earlier pub crawl. A hundred thoughts and fantasies whirled through his head, but he couldn't concentrate on any of them. If the press of her hand through two layers of fabric was this good, he just hoped he could last enough to make her feel as good.

"You, Amanda," he murmured almost inaudibly. "I just want you."

She kissed him again at that, almost fiercely, pressing herself against him as she stroked the hardness of him through his pants. Her body throbbed with desire - it was all she could do to not pull off the rest of their clothes and shag him senseless, but after so long she wanted it to last, enjoy it while they could. "You've got me," she told him in a throaty whisper, lips still brushing his. Her hand crept up to the waistband of his pants and she unsnapped them, before letting her fingers drift to the zipper and begin tugging it down.

Doug's responsible nature took over for a brief moment, as a sudden thought exploded into his brain. "Amanda," he said in a more serious tone, reaching down to stop the hand that was unzipping his pants. Seeing the confusion on her face, he struggled against the urge to simply let go and feel.

"Protection," he managed to gasp out before Amanda's face could fall in disappointment. "Do you have anything?" he asked huskily.

"Oh." The blush was one of embarrassment this time, that she hadn't thought of it herself. Rolling over (and nearly managing to fall off the bed) she rooted around in the bedside cabinet drawer, trying to find condoms. "I should have... no, that's not it, wait... no, that's not it either..." Finally she pushed herself up and looked inside the drawer. "Fuck. I'm out," she said. "Must've got rid of 'em when they went past the useby date." She bit her lip. "You don't happen to have something, do you?" she asked. Not that they couldn't have fun without, but with how much they'd worked each other up, it was something of an anti-climax.

Doug silently blessed his packrat nature, and the fact that he never threw anything away. He still had part of a box of condoms, which hadn't seen use in six months. He'd considered throwing it away when he'd moved from the mansion to the brownstone, since he hadn't been sure when he might have had need for one. But he'd packed them regardless, and it was a relief that he had.

He stood from the bed and pulled Amanda into the circle of his arms, kissing her softly and tenderly. "I will be right back," he promised her, fishing in his pockets to make sure he still had his keys. Too impatient to find his shirt and put it back on, he ducked out into Amanda's living room, and then left the door slightly ajar, padding quietly and quickly down the hall on socked feet.

Still tingling from that last kiss, Amanda flopped back on the bed and made a sort of pleased, purring sound, stretching out luxuriously. Who'd have thought? Then again, this wasn't about thinking, and if she started down that path, she'd decide it was all a terrible mistake and not let him back in. And with how stirred-up she was, that was so not an option.

Instead, she rolled upright, sliding off the bed (and nearly falling over as the amount she'd had to drink reasserted itself). She was wearing too many clothes, she decided, and stripped off her slacks and socks, and unhooked her bra. Her panties she left on, since the bra had been so eagerly anticipated - she wanted to see what his reaction to black lace bikini briefs was. Her apartment was heated, but the air was chilly as she dived back into bed, pulling the covers over her. Doug would keep her warm when he got back, but in the meantime, no sense cooling off too much.

Now if he'd only get back.

The trip down to his apartment was entirely too long to go without a shirt, and goosebumps raised along Doug's arm and torso. He fumbled his keys for a moment with a soft string of curses before he managed to fit his key in the lock. His apartment was definitely warmer than the hallway, but he didn't linger, striding into his bedroom and practically yanking the drawer out of his bedside table. He simply grabbed the entire box and dashed back down the hall after locking his door again.

"I'm back," he called softly and slightly out of breath when he closed Amanda's front door behind him. Fishing the connected packets out of the box, he belatedly counted. "I brought, um, all six," he said somewhat sheepishly as he moved toward the bedroom. "Not that I necessarily think we'll use all of them, but..." he trailed off as he stopped in the doorway, his eyes taking in every detail of the room. Amanda's bra, laying visibly on top of her shirt where it lay on the floor. Her slacks laying in a pile next to them. Amanda, under the covers with bare shoulders showing.

"Um."

'Um' wasn't exactly what she'd been expecting. Sitting up a little more and letting the covers slip down, she gave him a frankly come-hither smile. "You must be cold. Want me to warm you up?"

The sight of Amanda's bare breasts short-circuited something in Doug's brain. He had a brief flashback to the last time he had seen Amanda's bare breasts, when the love potion caused her to fall deeply in love with him. But this time was different. For one, her skin was smooth and unblemished where the scars had stood in stark relief before, and for another, this was her free choice, not induced by anything or anyone. And that made all the difference. Stepping forward, Doug dropped the condoms negligently on Amanda's night stand before leaning down to kiss her. "Now, then, where were we?"

She threw the covers aside, making space for Doug and incidentally revealing the the rest of her near-naked self. "Somewhere around here?" she suggested, reaching up and running her finger down his chest to his waistband. Hooking her fingers into it, she pulled him onto the bed next to her.

"Ah, I thought so, but I wanted to make sure," Doug replied playfully, stretching languidly as Amanda pulled the covers over him. There was a lot more skin exposed than when he left, so when Amanda nestled up against his chest, Doug's eyes fluttered at how good the sensation of all the soft warm skin felt pressed up against his. He hummed contentedly in the back of his throat before kissing her again, this time a bit more insistently.

His skin was chilled from the hallway dash, and she wrapped herself around him, squeaking a little at the cold buckle of his pants on her warm bare stomach. His mouth was hot and hungry, and she matched his insistence, reaching up to cup the back of his head and pull him down with her as she sank back into the pillows. A small gasp escaped her as his hands started wandering.
Doug's arms cradled her gently as his hands roamed over her back, and he slanted his mouth over hers to kiss her deeply. It had been so long for both of them, but Doug was resolved to do things right and take his time to give them both as much pleasure as possible. He leaned forward to lick and nibble at Amanda's earlobes, then began kissing down the side of her neck as his hands moved from her back to the sides of her torso, brushing against the outsides of her breasts on the downstroke of each caress.

The gentleness was something she'd rarely encountered in her previous experiences. Passion, yes, desire, yes, sex that left bruises and bite marks and stiffness for days later... but Doug was something different altogether, and she liked it. Tilting her head slightly so he could reach more of her neck, she ran her hands down over his back, feeling the planes of his shoulder blades, the muscles working beneath the skin. When she reached his pants, she slid her fingers under the waistband as much as she could, stroking the sensitive skin there. "'S nice..." she murmured, sighing softly and shivering at the feather-light touch of his hands.

Doug's hips arched forward at the brush of Amanda's hands on his lower back. "Very nice," he agreed, slowly moving his hands inward on each pass, intently observing her reactions as they brushed more and more of the outside slope of her breasts. Finally, he cupped one breast in his hand as he leaned on his other elbow, brushing his thumb along the inside curve as he felt her nipple tighten against his palm.

She gasped louder this time, back arching slightly and pressing her breast into his hand more firmly. Of their own accord, her hands moved around to the clasp of his pants again, flicking it open and tugging down his zipper impatiently before moving to tug at them. Not terribly effectively, as it turned out, and a small frown creased the skin between her eyebrows. "You're wearing more clothes 'n me," she complained.

Now that they had the protection issue sorted out, Doug was very much fine with the idea of wearing less clothes. In fact, he was all for it. Rolling off Amanda and onto his side, he pulled the zipper the rest of the way down, then impatiently rolled to his back and pushed his pants down and off. Dropping them off the side of the bed, he rolled back onto his side. "There, now we're even," he quipped. He finally took a moment to look at the frilly lace of Amanda's panties, and all joking flew out of his mind. "I think I like yours a lot better than mine, though," he managed.

She giggled and snapped the elastic of his boxers playfully. "I dunno, these are kind of cute," she said, hooking her fingers in the waistband and brushing them across his abdomen. "I like what's in them better, tho'."

"Unh," Doug whimpered, pushing his hips forward and trying to press his erection into Amanda's hand. He wanted to make things last, but at the same time, her touch felt so good that all he wanted was more. He kissed her hard, his hand curling around her other breast. He brushed his thumb against her nipple as he thrust his tongue into her mouth.

Amanda made a deep, groaning noise, arching up into his hands again, tongue tangling with his. Her hand slipped past the waistband of his boxers until she held his erection in her hand, slipping her fingers around it and stroking gently but firmly. The tingle in her groin was a deep ache now, sensation building and begging to be released, but she didn't want things to end too soon. And she wanted to make sure Doug had nothing to regret: she broke off the kiss to slide down his body, kissing and nibbling as she did, using the tongue stud to its fullest. Reaching his groin, she nudged him over onto his back, giving him a wicked grin before sliding off his boxers and sending them to join the rest of their clothes on the floor. His erection sprang free, and she nuzzled him briefly against her cheek and then with her lips.

Amanda's assertiveness was definitely a change of pace for Doug. It wasn't to say that Marie-Ange had been a motionless lump in bed, but Doug had usually been the one to take charge, and Marie-Ange hadn't been all that adventurous. And then all thought of his ex-girlfriend was driven from his head at the feel of Amanda's hands and lips and tongue teasing at his erection. "Amanda, if you keep that up, I'm gonna..." he gasped, eyes slitted from the sheer pleasure of it all.

"'S the idea," she replied, before slipping her lips around him and slowly taking him into mouth, tongue curling around his shaft. Slowly, drawing things out as much as she could, she slid up and down, rubbing at him with the tongue stud.

Doug's hands slammed down to the bed and fisted in the sheets as he barely restrained from jerking his hips into Amanda's mouth. "Oh god," he moaned, his head thrown back. "But I...you..." he stammered. This was definitely not how he'd imagined things going. Not that he was complaining. Complaining would require brain power, and all function had been shifted to his achingly hard erection.

They had all night, and she was good at this. Holding onto his hips, she picked up the pace, taking more of him into her mouth with each pass, sucking and licking at him. His reactions were arousing her - the sheer power of them thrilled her. Look what I can do...

Amanda certainly seemed to know what she was doing, and Doug's protests became weaker and weaker as he simply gave himself over to what she was doing. Marie-Ange had never given Doug oral sex, so this was the first time for him. It was different, and more intense, because there was nothing between him and the warm wetness of Amanda's mouth, whereas he and Marie-Ange had mostly used condoms, despite her being on the pill. The alcohol meant that he hadn't exploded immediately, but the feeling of Amanda taking practically all of him into her mouth was pushing Doug rapidly toward a peak, and he whimpered and moaned. "Please, Amanda..." he begged.

She moved one hand to encircle the base of his erection with her thumb and first two fingers, moving them up and down in time with her mouth. He was close, she could feel the first spasms of his shaft against her mouth, and she renewed her efforts, intent on giving him some release, some degree of comfort, the best way she knew how. C'mon Doug, let it go, mate... she thought, rubbing the tongue stud along the base of his shaft.

"Oh god, Amanda, I...AH!" Doug cried out as the feeling of the tongue stud sent him over the edge, and he arched his back, trying to push his erection even farther into Amanda's mouth. His eyes clamped shut and his breath came in short, sharp pants as his orgasm surged through him. Finally, he slumped back to the bed, a few aftershocks causing his hands to twitch limply. "...gnh..." he said, opening his eyes and looking down at her.

Amanda wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, pressing a sticky kiss to his thigh before scooting back up to lie beside him. "Feel better?" she asked innocently, tucking herself close to him and draping her arm onto his chest. They weren't done yet, she hoped, but he'd really needed that. "'Cause I can try again later. Practice makes perfect and all that."

Doug leaned into Amanda's body and kissed her gently on the lips. He wasn't crazy about tasting himself by giving her a deep kiss with tongue, but she had done that for his benefit, and it seemed only fair to not shy away from her. "If that wasn't perfect, I think perfect would give me a heart attack," he murmured unsteadily. "That was...thank you," he said.

"No heart attacks," she agreed, kissing his shoulder before pushing herself up. "Be back in a sec - time for more water." And it would give her a chance to rinse her mouth - she didn't mind, but she hadn't missed Doug's hesitation. Some guys were funny that way. Padding off into the kitchen in her underwear, she soon came back with the water glass, which she passed to Doug before climbing back into the bed and snuggling down. The alcoholic buzz was wearing off to a more sleepy state. At least the room had stopped spinning. Her lips, when she pressed them to his shoulder again, were slightly chilled from cold water. "You're welcome, by the way. You needed it, and I like doing it."

Doug was still feeling a bit wobbly, but it was more due to the powerful orgasm he'd had than alcohol at that point. Taking a long drink from the glass of water, he set it carefully on the bedside table before turning in a flash and rolling Amanda under him. He kissed her and reached a hand down to pluck at the waistband of her panties. "Now you're wearing more clothes than me," he whispered in her ear before nibbling at the side of her neck.

"Might have to fix that then," she replied, sighing and moving beneath him as he hit one of her tender spots. Being her entire neck. And the fingers teasing at her underwear were tantalisingly close - she squirmed, trying to edge him further down, the sleepiness suddenly evaporated by his take-charge mannerisms.

Amanda had taken charge first, now it was time for Doug to return the favor. But where Amanda had pushed him quickly to orgasm, Doug planned on taking his time to methodically bank her arousal like a slow fire, teasing her until she couldn't take any more.

He started by devoting himself to Amanda's neck, licking and nipping gently with his teeth and listening to her whimpers of reaction. While he did that, he traced the frilly edges of her panties with his fingers, pulling back whenever she tried to push her hips forward to deepen the contact.

If the whimpers and gasps were anything to go by, he was certainly getting somewhere. The light touch of his fingers, so close and yet remaining so far, was driving her crazy and she strained to increase the contact, legs parting. "Doug, you're driving me balmy here," she whimpered, moaning as he bit a little harder at her neck - not enough to leave a mark, just enough to send another jolt of arousal through her.

"That would be the idea," Doug lifted his mouth from Amanda's shoulder long enough to answer, before going back to his ministrations. He took advantage of her spread legs to trail his fingers lightly over the silky soft skin of her upper thighs, but staying away from where she obviously wanted him to touch. Remembering how she liked it when he touched her flanks, he shifted down to drag his tongue up from the point of her hip almost to her armpit, then leaned across to repeat on the other side.

She twitched at the contact of his fingers and tongue, hips moving jerkily upwards, rational thought rapidly being overwhelmed by sensation and instinct. "Please..." she moaned, not even sure what she was begging for, since part of her never wanted this to end, even as the rest of her cried out for release. Twining the fingers of one hand into his hair, the other clutched at the sheets, bunching them in her fist.

It was probably a bit unfair to tease Amanda this much, considering how long it had been for her, but Doug wanted to make it special and amazing for her. So instead of giving in to her plays, he continued to take things slow, moving his way inch by inch up her stomach with lips and tongue, covering a spot before moving closer and closer to her breasts. His fingers touched lightly on her mound through the panties, but he refused to slide them down farther.

"Fuck... Doug..." Whatever Amanda had been trying to say (none too coherently) was lost at the sensation of his fingers lightly stroking her over her underwear, his lips and tongue on the sensitive skin of her stomach. So close and yet so very not - she cried out a little, fingers tightening slightly in his hair as her legs spread further, begging him to do more, the movement of her hips becoming rhythmical. "Please, I can't..."

"Shhh, yes you can," Doug replied soothingly, his voice muffled slightly against Amanda's torso. "You made me feel so good, now I want to do the same for you." He licked the undersides of her breasts, then the outsides, then the tops, and then the insides, slowly dividing his time between them and spiraling inward until he captured one nipple in his mouth and suckled gently.

She bucked sharply at that, another cry escaping her. It had been so long, and Doug was lavishing attention to her, the same as he did to his programming or decoding, and the gentleness of his touch was driving her even further... Her body arched beneath him, her breath coming in short pants as she writhed, everything in her begging for release now. "I want..." she gasped between moans and whimpers, not even sure what she was saying now. "Fuck, Doug, that's so..."

Doug made an agreeing noise in the back of his throat as he switched to Amanda's other nipple, giving it the same careful attention. Then, after he had left both nipples erect and damp from his mouth, he leaned back a bit and began slowly pulling Amanda's panties down, kissing his way softly down her legs behind them.

The anticipation was killing her. Her panties were wet with just how much she was ready, and the sensation of Doug's lips against the now-smooth skin of her legs was enough to set her whimpering again. Both hands were knotted in the sheets now, aching with the effort of holding herself back, letting him call the shots, and she had a feeling if he even breathed on her, she'd come at this rate.

The panties finally came all the way off, and Doug could feel the slickness rub against his fingers before he dropped them over the side of the bed. He took a moment to drink in Amanda's nude form with his eyes as she squirmed on the bed. Before she could complain, though, he leaned down and breathed gently on her before stretching his tongue out and flicking it along her slit.

Amanda yelped and she jerked as if she'd been electrocuted. The waiting had only intensified her need, and the brief contact was almost enough to push her over the edge then and there. Eyes squeezed tight, she panted slightly as she forced the words out between clenched teeth. "Doug, please, if you stop there I'll die, I swear. Please, I can't handle much more of this." A memory of summoning an incubus that looked like Henry Rollins surfaced, and she was glad that she didn't have that kind of power any more. The way she felt right now, she could have opened a gateway to anywhere.

Doug had no intention of stopping. The point was to give Amanda pleasure, not leave her high and dry. And he had teased her more than enough, it was time to stop teasing. He bent his head back down and dragged his tongue firmly from bottom to top again, brushing it against the nubbin of her clit at the end of the stroke.

She was hyper-sensitive from the earlier teasing, now the sensation threatened to take the top of her head off. Throwing her head back, her hips thrusting uncontrollably, she cried out again, this time louder. Words didn't feature, just noises of pleasure as every muscle seemed to clench, anticipating the release. It wouldn't be long in coming, either - already she could feel herself teetering on the edge, nudged closer with every stroke of Doug's tongue.

Doug suddenly understood why Amanda had enjoyed fellating him earlier, despite not being touched in any way. The knowledge that he could make her cry out like that was a heady thing. Holding her hips so she wouldn't batter his face with her thrusting, he licked and kissed at a faster pace, trying to drive her higher and higher. Come on, Amanda. I want to hear it.

The whole brownstone would have heard her, if soundproofing hadn't been a priority during the renovations - no-one had wanted to be able to hear anyone else. Her cries grew louder and more high-pitched the closer she got, until all at once she was there, her body stiffening and spasming, a wordless scream escaping her. She clutched at the sheets desperately, riding it out, until she came out the other side, completely wrung out. There was a dampness on the pillow and she realised she had tears in her eyes. "Gnharg," she managed to say, still shuddering. Reaching down, she gently pulled Doug's hair, tugging him away from her. "Any more of that and I'll be the one having the heart attack," she joked, a truly silly smile on her face. "I'm starting to think Remy was right with that codename he gave you. That was fucking amazing. Or amazing fucking."

Her cries had been audible even through the press of her thighs against his ears, and Doug grinned, pleased with what he'd done. He'd thought about trying to push her to a second orgasm, but when Amanda pushed his face away, he gently caressed her legs and stomach through the aftershocks instead. He flushed slightly at Amanda's words as he crawled up to lay beside her. "I just wanted to make you feel as good as you made me feel," he demurred.

"You did at that." She was so sensitive there now, it was almost painful - a year had definitely been far too long. But the feeling of his warm body lying beside her, the lazy stroke of his hand over her stomach, his breath in her ear... they combined to accentuate the warm and fuzzy place she currently inhabited. Turning slightly so she could face him, she cupped his chin in her hand and kissed him, long and deep, tasting herself on him. "That was fucking incredible. Thank you. I'd say you have no idea how much I needed this, but, well... you probably do and all."

The quiet press of Amanda's body against his, without any real urgent need behind it, was almost as nice as the orgasm had been. Doug had very much missed casual touch, and the closeness of another warm body in bed with him. He wrapped his arms loosely around Amanda and kissed her gently. "Yeah. Might not have been quite as long for me, but I think we both definitely needed that," he agreed with a smile.

"Orgasm therapy. Wonder if we could get Sofia to start prescribing that?" Amanda chuckled, a soft, contented noise, and she nestled in closer, wrapping her free arm around his waist, fingers idly drawing patterns on his back. Runes, mostly, as she tended to do even now her magic had changed so much - protection and safety and happiness.

The gentle touch of Amanda's fingers on his back made Doug squirm a little bit, but in a pleasant way. Maybe it was because he felt so close to her at that moment, but he was so hyper-aware of her touch that his power instinctively translated one of the runes she was idly tracing. "I'm already plenty happy," he told her gently, brushing his hand along her back in reply. "No need to resort to magic for that."

"Hmm? Oh." Amanda flushed a little, and made her hand lie flat. "Didn't even know I was doing it. Wouldn't work any way - power's too different these days." She sounded regretful. "Old habit - you know how some people doodle? I rune. You should see my notepads during meetings. All that scribbling? So not me taking notes."

Doug grinned in reply. "I work sudoku puzzles," he said in an exaggerated stage whisper, as if imparting a deep secret. The flat brush of her hand on his back felt nice, and he nuzzled closer to her neck, inhaling their mingled scents and sighing contentedly.

"Those number puzzles? Gah." She snorted a little, remembering him tutoring her in math and the number of worksheets that she'd ripped to shreds out of frustration. Doug's breath on her neck was awakening a pleasant tingle in her stomach, and she reached up with her foot to run her toes along his calf. "Give me a decent jigsaw any day."

Still extremely aware of Amanda's body language, Doug could tell when her soft touch on his back turned from soothing to slowly returning passion, and the brush of her foot against his calf began to slowly arouse him again. He leaned up to gently kiss her, no hurry, no urgency since they had both been sated, simply exploring her mouth with the same thoroughness that he had explored her body.

Her eyes fluttered shut at the kiss, the softness of the movement making her lips tingle. That was the big difference here, Doug's gentleness. It touched the loneliness in her, and she quietly moaned in her throat, her tongue flickering across his lips. Her stroking of his back grew firmer as she let her fingers dig into the muscle a little more. "Mmm."

"Mmm is right," Doug agreed after the kiss finally broke. The firm digging of Amanda's fingers banished any tension that might have remained there, and he slumped against her with a happy whimper, reveling in the softness of her breasts against his chest and the way one of her legs had thrown slightly over his to pull him closer. "You have, oh, forever to stop doing that," he murmured.

"Forever, huh?" She moved against him, ostensibly to reach further along his back, but not having any problems with the fact she was now touching every inch of him. "Maybe I should offer my services as the office massage person, yeah?" she joked, nuzzling under his jaw and kissing her way to his earlobe.

"Mmm. I wouldn't object as long as I get first dibs," Doug allowed with a chuckle. He shivered slightly as Amanda found a particularly sensitive spot behind his earlobe and nuzzled it, and his arms curled a little tighter around her back to hold her closer.

She grinned at the reaction, and took his earlobe gently between her teeth, biting softly before following it up with a kiss. "First dibs, hmm? I think we can manage that, provided there's something you can do to make it even..." Her fingers smoothed the taut muscle between his shoulder blades, the action of her massage meaning her breasts were rubbing against his chest and... other areas were meeting.

Doug's body was well aware of what parts of Amanda's body were pressed against his, and the beginnings of another erection began to shift against her upper leg. One of his hands slid down to cup her rear end and pull her lower body into contact with his. "Mmm. I'm sure I can think of something," he said a bit distractedly.

The movement meant his half-erection slid between her legs, and she shivered. Yep, still sensitive. She left off worrying at his ear to kiss her way back along his jawline to his mouth, tugging softly at his bottom lip with her teeth. "Maybe you could build up a tab now?" she suggested, teasing. "One night of having lots of sex, in return for first dibs for a month?" She let her fingers slide up his neck and into his hair again, running her hand through it, and followed up her words with another kiss, this one a bit less teasing, letting her tongue twine lazily with his.

"Sounds like a deal to me," Doug replied when the kiss broke. "God, give me strength," he quipped as he brought one hand brushing up her flank to cover a breast with his palm.

She sighed, closing her eyes and moving against him slowly. "Don't think God's got much to do with it," she said, opening them again and giving him a wicked look as she rubbed herself against his erection.

"I could make a bad joke about religious experiences, but I think there are better things to be doing right now," Doug said with a whimper, shifting his hips forward against Amanda's. "If it's not God, then somebody better give me strength." He leaned in and kissed her hard.

The kiss caught her by surprise and she returned it with rising passion, both of them beginning to move against each other rhythmically, hands stroking and rubbing. "You saying you can't keep up with me?" she replied breathlessly, when they paused for air, Doug's mouth moving to her throat as she tilted her chin up. "Fit young bloke like you?"

"From the glint in your eye, I'm wondering," Doug said just as breathlessly. "But I'll try and keep up as long as I can," he promised. His hands roamed up and down Amanda's torso, unable to stay in one place for long as he simply enjoyed the feel of her soft skin under his palms and fingers.

She laughed at that, low and throaty. "I promise not to break you," she said, before rolling them both over so she wound up on top of him. From the hardness of him, he was more than up for the task. Bending her head to his throat, blonde hair falling over both of them, she ran her tongue up to his jawline, expertly applying the tongue stud. "Much," she added as an afterthought to her earlier statement, grinning mischievously.

"Um, yes please?" Doug asked nervously. The upside to Amanda being on top of him like this was that he could easily use both of his hands to touch and caress her entire body, and he took full advantage of it, running his hands all the way from her hair, down her back, over her rear end, and down her legs, then reversed and ran them back up.

Arching not unlike a cat at the sensation of his hands running along her whole body, she moved upright so she was straddling him. She ran her hands down his chest, feather-light, pausing as she got to his groin before flipping her hands over and going back the other way, the backs of her fingers in contact this time. "Don't you trust me?" she asked, with another of those slow, Cheshire Cat-like smiles.

The mischievous grin on Amanda's face made Doug just a little bit nervous, but not in a bad way. "Yes, I trust you," he told her seriously. He shifted a bit under her to try and bring his lower body in more contact with hers. Also, it was hard to stay still with what her touch did to him.

Spreading her hands over his chest, she leaned forward and licked at his bellybutton, deliberately letting her breasts brush against his erection as she slid a little further down his legs. "Good," she said, looking up at him, her own expression serious. "'Cause I'd never hurt you. You're my mate, yeah?" Then she grinned again and pressed a kiss to his stomach below his navel, and another, moving slowly downward. "Besides, can't waste that trip back to your room now, can we?"

The brush of the soft skin of Amanda's breasts around his erection caused Doug to moan and squirm under her body. Her words registered on him, but it was hard to put together a coherent response. "Um, yes? Or no? Whatever means you don't stop," he whimpered.

With a chuckle, she dipped her head lower, running her tongue along his length and feeling him jump. "Better pass me one of those rubbers, then," she told him. "'Cause I wasn't planning on stopping. Not until we fuck each other senseless, any way." She punctuated her words with another lick, teasing at the head of his erection with her lips.

Doug nearly fumbled the string of condoms as he tried to grab them off the bedside table. He clenched them in his hand and hissed as Amanda's mouth did very distracting things. He managed to tear one of the packages loose from the other, then extended it in a quivering hand down to Amanda.

She took it with another slow smile and gave his erection one last long lick before sitting up and ripping it open. "I'd do this with my mouth, but they taste bloody awful," she said, wrinkling her nose a little before expertly rolling the condom onto him, prolonging the movement so it became another caress, closing her fingers around him. Strange, but for once she was glad of her... colourful past. It meant she could make Doug's head explode, at the least.

Condom in place, she moved upwards, brushing her body along his until she reached his mouth, where she kissed him long and hard. She could feel his hardness against her, each quiver and jerk sending an answering jolt through her groin. "I want you," she murmured into his ear, her breath coming fast. "I want you to fuck me, Doug."

It was like Amanda's words were wired straight down to Doug's groin. She was unselfconscious, and said what she felt and what she wanted. Doug couldn't imagine Marie-Ange saying hardly any of the things Amanda said.

He blushed a bit at Amanda telling him to fuck her, but it was very much what he wanted, too, so he rolled her over and kissed her hard before positioning himself between her legs. His eyes softened for a moment as he looked down at her body splayed beneath him, but then he took his erection in hand and pushed into her, biting his lip at how good it felt after so long, even with the condom between them.

She gasped as he entered her, hips rising to meet his. "God, that feels so good," she managed, mouth on his neck as she wrapped her arms around his back, starting to rock beneath him.

Even with their earlier play having taken the immediacy out of things, Doug moaned in agreement and rocked his hips in time with Amanda's, settling into an easy rhythm. His arms curled beneath her shoulders as he supported himself on his elbows, hips moving forward to meet hers as she arched up against him.

Each thrust set off a new burst of sensation, and she moaned and sighed beneath him, breath coming in short pants as she was nudged closer to climax. She dug her fingers into his back, dragging her short-bitten nails along his skin, urging him to go faster, harder.

Doug obliged, his power telling him at the back of his head just how fast to move from all the little cues Amanda's body was giving him. He pressed more of his weight against her, kissing her briefly. He was getting close to the edge as well, and his moans mingled with hers. "Amanda..."

"'S okay..." It was more than okay, actually, but she wasn't really capable of more speech than that, her whimpers becoming short cries. "Please... Oh, god, Doug..." She strained against him, matching his pace and then increasing it. She'd needed this so very badly...

Doug wrapped one arm under Amanda's back and pulled her torso closer, while his other hand clutched at her rear end, pulling her hips up to his. He could feel the beginning twinges of another powerful orgasm boiling up inside him, and his thrusts became less smooth as he pushed them both towards release. "Amanda, please..." he babbled in reply, his whole body almost quivering against her.

"Yes. Fuck, yes..." She clung to him, pulling him further into her, light dancing on the edges of her vision as she came close to climax. Lifting her head, she bit and sucked at his shoulder, not the playful nips of earlier but hard enough to leave a mark.

Doug yelped in pain mixed with pleasure, as the bite on his shoulder pushed him over the peak. His back arched like a bow, and he took a few even longer, harder thrusts into Amanda before crying out, caught in the grip of his orgasm.

Those last thrusts brought her to the edge, and she writhed against him. A couple more, even as he was climaxing, and she was there, crying out as she stiffened, clutching him to her, her legs wrapped around his waist. Wrapped in the throes of her orgasm, she rocked against him, drawing it out until it passed and she lay beneath him, panting, muscles quivering. "Bloody hell," she managed at last, sounding wrung out but satisfied. "Talk about giving a girl what she wants, Doug."

Doug slumped bonelessly against Amanda, just as completely spent. "I'm sorry, Doug's not here at the moment, if you'd like to leave a message..." he murmured when he was finally able to talk again.

She laughed, and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Looks like I broke you after all..." she said, letting go of him with her legs but continuing to hold him close, hands stroking his back soothingly. She felt warm and happy and utterly exhausted. With a faint yawn, she rubbed her cheek against his ear. "Think you've earned a break, tho'."

"Hooray," Doug cheered weakly. As much as he wanted to stay wrapped up in Amanda, he pressed a quick kiss to her lips and extricated himself carefully. "Be right back," he said, making a vague wave at the condom and walking a trifle unsteadily to the bathroom.

It certainly beat dropping them on the floor to be found the next day in bare feet... Amanda took advantage of Doug's absence to grope around vaguely for the covers, pulling the duvet back onto the bed and wrapping herself in it. By the time Doug came back, she was already half-asleep, curled into a ball on one side of the bed.

After taking care of cleanup, Doug briefly gave some thought to putting his boxers back on to sleep in, but decided against it. He carefully crawled under the covers behind Amanda, wrapping one arm around her waist and pressing his chest to her back. "I think I've missed this most," he admitted sleepily.

"Me too," she said, almost to softly to be heard. She banished the twinge of regret at the memory, taking hold of Doug's hand to tuck his arm around her more securely and nestling into the warm curve of his body. Her body still throbbed faintly with aftershocks, and she made a small, kittenish, contented noise as she closed her eyes. Sleep took her almost immediately, but she still retained her grip on Doug's hand.