Author's Note : Another patient wait you have endured. I appreciate all the feedback and personal messages of encouragement to keep going and trust me, I am. I left the rating on this story as is, if you think with this chapter, I should raise it, please let me know.
Hopefully, this was worth the wait. Enjoy !
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Chapter 18She pulled into the driveway and saw Horatio's car already at home. No sooner had she exited the car and stretched her legs, than he came out the front door to greet her.
"Calleigh."
She smiled and closed the distance between them. It had only been three days since she had seen him but it felt like a lifetime. He wrapped her in his embrace and then pulled back to welcome her with a kiss. It was brief but welcoming.
"Welcome home."
She smiled again.
"It's good to be back."
The got everything out of the car and into the house in record time. As soon as they were done, Calleigh collapsed on the couch. He got her a glass of ice water and sat down next to her pulling her into his embrace. She sighed and snuggled closer.
"Tired ?"
"Content."
He pulled her hair back from her face and kissed her cheek.
"So, what have you told them team ?"
"Just that you were coming back. I figured we could both tell them the rest. I invited them to the house for the cookout Saturday. They were as shocked as you."
She laughed.
"Well, you have to admit, that it isn't really like you to have a cookout. I mean had anyone ever even been here before you brought me here after the accident."
He thought a moment before replying.
"Just Eric, I guess."
"See. Not really like you."
"Alright, so I have changed. A little."
"I suppose that's my fault."
"It definitely is."
They sat on the couch for a bit more until Horatio insisted she go to bed.
"You need to get some sleep, sweetheart. Your room is all ready for you. Want me to tuck you in ?"
She looked up at him and grinned.
"I think I can find my way."
"I'm going to make sure we locked your car and lock up the house. I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay."
She turned around slightly in his arms before getting up and kissed him passionately for a few minutes. When she got up she looked at him back over her shoulder as she walked to her room down the hall.
He leaned back and sighed. Another long night.
two nights laterAs she stood on the balcony looking at the moon and the ocean, she wondered what he looked like when he slept. She had spent all of her time with him for the last two months and she had been grateful for all he had done but tonight she was restless.
Her first two days here had been consumed with getting everything settled in and finalizing her job at the academy. Now, she was comfortable but at the moment far from content.
Instead, she was standing on this balcony wondering what he looked like when he slept ?
She knew the answer. She had seen him sleeping and over the last several months, they had grown closer and gained a certain level of intimacy, trust and respect. He drove her crazy sometimes with his hovering but she knew deep down he was just doing what he had promised her he would. He was helping her move on and have a life.
She laughed quietly. She wanted to fire a gun. She wanted to go one on one with a suspect and get the best of them. She wanted to engage her students in a battle of skill and make them the best. Her life had taken an unexpected turn and all of the sudden she was here where she had wanted to be years ago. Horatio loved her and she was here with him. She was home.
So, why was she standing on this balcony wondering what he looked like when he slept ?
She looked at the moon and guessed that it was close to 2:00a now. She had woken at 1:00a and got a glass of water before turning off the alarm and walking out to the balcony. She couldn't sleep. For some reason tonight when she closed her eyes, she relived every kiss. And lately his kisses said he wanted more. When he had walked away tonight, she had realized that she wanted more too but she was afraid to take that last step.
They had admitted their love and they had been passionate to the brink of no return on more than one occasion without sealing the deal. But now, those things were becoming routine. They were more resolved. She was standing on this balcony wondering what he looked like when he slept because she now wanted more.
She turned and left the balcony and walked down the hallway. She stopped at his door. It was pulled almost closed, only a few inches were open. He always kept it that way so he could hear her if she woke up in the middle of the night. She smiled at his thoughtfulness.
She lifted her hand to the door then let it fall. She bowed her head, bit her bottom lip and the lifted it again gently pushing so the door opened enough to allow her entrance to his room.
She peeked in to see him lying on his back with the covers hung low around his hips but not low enough for her liking. She walked toward the bed without making a sound and stood beside his sleeping form. He was deep in sleep, his breathing rhythmic and his chest rising and falling peacefully. He had a slight smile on his face as if he were dreaming of something nice, something happy. It was contagious so she smiled too.
She wanted to touch him, really touch him, the way you saw a blind person touch someone's face as if looking at them with their hands. But unlike a blind person, she wanted to memorize every feature and every plane of his entire body. Without thinking she reached down and brushed the hair from his face. Instinctively, he jumped and grabbed her hand pulling her to the bed as she let out a tiny shriek at his actions.
"Horatio….."
He was confused.
"Calleigh ? What are you doing in here ?"
She couldn't believe how nervous she was. She sat upright on the edge of the bed and Horatio readjusted the covers up around his waist leaving his chest and stomach bare. Her hands began their accompaniment.
"I…umm….I couldn't sleep….and….I went to the balcony…and the stars are lovely tonight….and then I was walking down the hall….and your door was slightly open….and I just wanted to check on you too…I guess….and then I wanted to brush the hair off your face….and then you grabbed me…."
Horatio started smiling at the "I guess…" part of her rambling and when she was done he broke into a broad grin.
"I've got it from there."
Calleigh looked very uncomfortable and straightened her robe before she started to get up. He grabbed her arm before she could move.
"Don't go."
He struggled to a sitting position and their faces were inches apart.
"What ? Well, you're obviously…..just fine…so I'll just go back….."
"Don't go. I'm not fine."
The nervousness in her voice subsided and was replaced quickly by concern.
"What's wrong ? Are you sick ?"
"I'm burning up."
She reached up and felt his forehead.
"You don't have a fever ?"
"It's not that kind of fever."
As he bent his head to hers, Calleigh, torn between apprehension and anticipation, took a deep breath.
Expecting the searing brand of his mouth, she closed her eyes. His lips barely touched hers. Light as down he brushed her mouth with his, again and again, slowly building in her, a need for his kiss. Adding to the tantalizing touch of his lips, his fingertips drew maddening fine lines down the side of her neck. When the tip of his tongue danced along her lower lip, she moaned with the urgency only this man could arouse in her.
With a small sob she coiled her arms around his neck and at that moment his mouth crushed hers, while his arms, encircling her body, drew her close to him. His kiss was hard, demanding and giving at the same time, and she gave herself up to the sheer joy of it.
Without breaking the kiss, Horatio managed to move to the edge of the bed. And then, he stood. His arms, holding her tightly, drew her up with him. He pulled his lips from hers and whispered affirmations in her ear as he turned her back to him. His hands moving slowly, slid the robe over her shoulders and her arms to her hands, where the smooth silk dropped soundlessly to the floor. She shivered as his fingers trailed back up her arms to the ribbon bows that kept her silk gown in place. His lips teased the sensitive skin behind her ears and her neck. His fingers tugged open the bows and the sheer gown slithered sensually down her body to rest with the matching robe at her feet.
For tormenting moments his hands caressed her shoulders and her throat before he finally turned her slowly to face him. Raw desire shimmered darkly in his piercing blue eyes. Wordlessly he lowered her back to the bed and stretched his long length beside her.
All coherent thought ceased to exist for Calleigh. All she wanted was the feel of his mouth, his hands, and his body. It had been so very, very long and admittedly, she loved him so very, very much.
Horatio's mouth played with hers, teasing her, delighting her. His tongue pierced and explored while his hands caressed and grew bold, exciting her to the edge of endurance. When his lips left hers she threw back her head to give him access to her neck. Making a moist path, his lips moved down the arched column to the hollow at its base where he paused to explore with his tongue, then, moving on, his lips found their next target.
Calleigh gasped, unconsciously arching her back to give him better access to his point of interest.
"Horatio, what are you doing ?"
Calleigh knew full well what he was doing; she could feel the results of his suckling lips through the nerve endings of her entire body, some places more than others.
"You don't know ?"
Horatio teased as he skimmed his tongue across her body from one point to the other before continuing.
"Maybe I'm not doing it right ?"
Before her startled eyes, he pulled away from his task and continued speaking.
"I guess I need a lot more practice."
Then his hands clasped tightly to her rib cage and with his eyes watching her, he lowered his mouth back to the practice field.
It was the most incredibly erotic action Calleigh could imagine, Horatio watching her, while she watched him make love to her body! A purring moan tickled the back of her throat. Calleigh was unaware of the soft moaning sounds she was making deep in her throat until, Horatio, stopped his actions momentarily and laughed softly.
"Ah, perhaps I am doing it right."
Slowly, tantalizingly, he lavished attention on her midsection; stringing moist kisses down to her navel. When he dipped the tip of his tongue into the indentation, Calleigh shuddered and gasped his name aloud.
"Horatio…"
Quickly losing touch with reality, Calleigh tried to roll way from him to gain some control of the situation, but he quickly moved over her with his arms propped up beside her. The realization of his own arousal as he pressed his body in to hers was more exciting still. His hands roamed her body as his mouth captured her lips. The assault on her senses was total. Spearing her tongue into his mouth, she dug her nails into his shoulders, glorying in the moan of pleasure that exploded from his throat as he thrust his hips in reaction.
"God, I've got to get out of these pants."
He heaved himself up and away from her with obvious reluctance. He barely made it out of his sleep pants before Calleigh was calling his name softly, beguilingly. Lowering himself back into her arms, whispering her name back in a voice made rough with urgency, he filled her body with his own.
The tension that had been building in Calleigh coiled tightly, and still more tightly, until, with Horatio's name filling her mind in an endless scream, it snapped, springing her into near oblivion where she was conscious only of the ecstasy shuddering through her and the sound of her own hoarsely cried name beating against her eardrums.
She surfaced from the mind-blowing fog of sensuality to the awareness of the crushing weight of Horatio's collapsed body on hers and the soothing sensation of his hand caressing her hip.
A light sheen of moisture covered her body. She raised a lazily limp hand and smoothed her palm down his equally slick back, her sensitized skin monitoring the responsive shiver that followed its path from shoulder to waist.
Horatio tested the saltiness of her skin with the tip of his tongue as he rasped through uneven breaths.
"God, you are one amazing woman. I feel as though I have been pulled through the wringer and hung out to dry."
Calleigh drug her hand back up his back until it was tangled into his sweat-dampened hair.
"Is that good ?"
Horatio laughed softly.
"Extremely good."
"I'm feeling sort of wrung out myself."
Horatio's laugh pried her heavy eyelids open and Calleigh stared, bemused, into his laughing face. She thought he was handsome when he laughed like that, but then, he was handsome when he didn't laugh like that too. At that moment, she knew she could refuse him nothing. Apparently, possibly, by the dreamy expression on her face, Horatio knew it too.
"Mmmm…have I told you you're beautiful ?"
He nibbled gently along her jaw line.
"Not nearly enough."
She laughed as he nipped her chin in a tender punishment.
"And did I thank you for wringing me out so deliciously ?"
He teased her lips apart with his tongue.
"I think your wringing was more than enough thanks."
He kissed the tip of her nose and rolled to his side relieving her of his weight and pulling her with him in a tight embrace.
"So why did you come into my room again ?"
She smiled.
"I was wondering what you looked like when you slept ?"
Horatio smiled.
"You already know what I look like when I sleep."
She smiled and leaned in for a slow, passionate kiss.
"Mmmmm….not this close up."
She leaned in and kissed him again before turning her back to him and snuggling back into his arms. He kissed the back of her neck and held her close as they drifted off to sleep.
- - to be continued - -