Here is the finale and it's M. I don't think it's a hard M, but may not be appropriate for some folks. You have been warned.

It's been a couple of days since I updated, so before I posted, I read the whole story again. I really wish I had a clue at the beginning how this was going to end. I think it would have read better! So, the argument for having some kind of outline has again been made. Wish the bunnies would listen!

Thank you to all who have reviewed and PM'ed. I love that feedback.

DISCLAIMER: Something Clever, Something Clever, they are not mine!

CHAMELEON – Chapter 10

Auggie felt like he was really breathing for the first time in months, maybe longer. Being open with Annie was as much a gift as her love. For years he had lived with double talk, subterfuge, and outright deception as his companion. It was the harsh reality of this life. As close as Tasha had gotten, he still had to hold the biggest part of himself back.

Now that Annie knew it all, he felt free. It was a sudden rush of oxygen to his soul and it made him a little lightheaded with the freedom. Of course there would always be parts of him, what he had done, that would remain forever locked away. Not because he didn't trust her, but for her own protection. Those small gouges on his soul would never really be healed. Her love would unknowingly soothe them a bit. He had been willing to give her up for her own protection. Keeping her from those harsh truths for her soul's protection was nothing to him.

The biggest part of him, the component that lived this job, was open at last. She too lived with the taskmaster that required so much of them. She too, had been pulled through the fire of sacrifice and pain, physical and emotional. She had come out the other side tougher and softer all at once. For a man who understood better than most the depths of that sacrifice, she was a precious gift.

So, despite the screaming demands of body too long denied this woman, Auggie forced himself to slow down. He wanted nothing more than to rip aside the interfering fabrics and claim her. It was his inner primitive self vying for control. That caveman sought to obey the blood that pounded through his veins. She was here, squirming against him on his lap. His rational self was fast losing this battle.

Then she sighed his name against his neck. He felt the vibrations of it on his skin as much as he heard it. When she followed it up with a whimpering sound, he forced himself to stop. His control was on the razor's edge. If he didn't gather himself for a moment, Annie would find herself with torn clothes getting banged like a steel drum. She deserved better.

They groaned together as he lifted her off his lap. Her twisting weight had been a torture and delight to him. But he was not taking her on a tiny lumpy sofa half dressed like horny teenagers on a babysitting gig. There was a bed there. It wasn't huge, but they could relax and savor this first time together. He had waited this long for her. He wanted it to last, even if that meant reciting binary code and the names of all his great aunts to himself.

Annie almost cried in frustration at the loss of his heat. True to form, Auggie did nothing by halves. His tongue tasted every inch of her lips and mouth. She reveled in the taste and sensation of his mouth. For a long time she had watched it as it laughed, smiled and even just when he talked. It had been one of the perks of silently admiring a blind man. He couldn't see your fascination with his features. As their tongues dueled, it wasn't so much for supremacy like with some men. It was a mutual caress they stroked wetly against the others. When he left her mouth to trail kisses over her face and down to her neck, she mourned the loss of that taste. Until that talented mouth found her neck. He was doing the most exquisite things with his teeth and lips when suddenly, he lifter her off him.

She would have stood if her knees weren't jelly. As it was, she sort of melted down next to him on the sofa. The sudden move reminded her of that strength and muscles hidden beneath those inconvenient clothes. She pulled at his t-shirt trying to remove the offending garment. He allowed it and then stood.

In the flickering candle light his body was a expanse of smooth muscle, dips and defined symmetry. If she had seen this carved in marble, she would have wanted to run her hands across it. But marble never flexed and shifted, making her aware of the strength behind the beauty. He was sleek, the only hair a faint line that started low and pointed south. He stood tall, aware that she was looking.

Holding out his hand, he invited her silently to join him. That half smile hovered around that talented mouth, but it was his eyes that pulled at her. They had always spoken to her. Even blind, they would dance with amusement, soften with kindness and narrow in irritation. He had avoided her so much since he came back that she was still unnerved to see them focus on her. And focus they did. Dark, glittering with lust they compelled her. She would refuse this man nothing.

Letting her hand follow her heart into his safekeeping, she was pulled up by him. Just before their bodies would have met, he stopped and slid his other hand under her t-shirt, inviting her to remove it. The female to his male wanted him to see her as she had been viewing him. She pulled it and her bra off quickly. His reaction was all a woman wanted. He sucked in his breath suddenly. Her nipples already tensed into buds hardened even more. They demanded attention. He slowly followed the course her shirt had taken, up from her waist to her breasts. She held her breath as he carefully weighed each in his large hands. By the time he had stroked across those tight nubs of sensation she wasn't sure she remembered how to breathe.

Like everything else Auggie did, he was thorough and excelled at making her feel each inch of her skin. Those careful fingers, which for so long had been his eyes, read her body. He smiled a little more at the half gasps she was breathing out. Starting with her lips, he mapped each portion of her neck with his lips. She arched her neck, offering it to him in a way that was timeless. The rational man didn't want to mar that creamy expanse. The primitive shoved him aside and sucked lingering tastes down to her collar bone. Mine, he thought, mark her, so all know she is mine.

He would have been shocked to know how similarly their thoughts ran. Part of her was stroking those wide shoulders, reveling in their solid strength. The other part wanted to plant her brand on him as well. From that first day in the gym when she had pushed against those immovable shoulders, she had wanted to revisit that feeling, without a t-shirt and gloves hindering them.

He pulled back to gift himself with the view. For a man who had fantasized about this woman without knowing her form it was a delight. He had been told of her beauty often. But none of those jerks ever saw her like this. Mine, he thought again. The cave dweller residing within crowed with delight at those little marks on her skin.

"Auggie?"

His name came out as a cross between a sigh and a voiced plea. She was enjoying the view too, but had for a long time. Now she wanted real contact. Her hands came up and cupped his face, stroking it with her thumbs again. Stepping in closer, she kissed him deeply, making sure he understood all that she felt.

She came to him. She was kissing him. She wanted him. This beautiful, smart, charming, sweet miracle wanted him. The runt of a kid brother inside him jumped up and down and cheered. The primitive knocked him on his ass. Her breasts were just teasing the skin on his chest. It was the sensation that roared through his body. Snapping his arms like steel bands around her body, he hauled her into his arms. She melted into him.

His hands came down her ass and along her legs, lifting her up. Their minds and bodies were in sync. She jumped up into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. Trusting him completely to hold her, she held on tight with her arms, legs and lips. The cave man howled with delight. He was carrying his woman back to his cave. Even if the cave was a bed in a CIA owned apartment. For that night, it was his and she was going to be there.

He sat them down on the edge of the bed, with her still wrapped around him. When he sat, her weight shifted onto his hardness barely contained by the soft material of his gym shorts. They both groaned into each other's mouth at the sensation. Even through her jeans, she could feel the steely heat and she wanted more. His next deft move of turning her under him and up onto the bed told her three things. One was that he was very strong to just toss her around like that. Two was that he had done that move before and three, oh hell, he had just stripped off his shorts. Thinking was out the window.

She didn't need to think what to do next. She reached down and slowly slid her hand around his length. She wished there for more light to see its contours completely, because what the shadows were showing was very impressive. Auggie had always had a complete relaxed confidence about him. Now she knew why.

He couldn't resist planting a series of soft kisses on her stomach as he went to remove those offending jeans. Not that she didn't look great in them, but now they were in his way. He smiled at her intake of breath when his tongue teased her skin and darted into her navel. As he peeled the clothing off her lower half, he continued to delight in the wash of sensations. Her skin was soft and smooth and contracted each time he tasted it.

He nibbled and licked the jeans and scrap of fabric off her and stopped for a moment to appreciated the view before him. Her hair was tossed across the pillow and her body all but glowed in the low light. He began to taste up each thigh, stroking the one not being kissed. He could hear those little murmers of appreciation for each caress.

To hell with his brilliant mind, she thought, it was his mouth that was a genius. And his hands were not far behind. Large, and heated, those talented fingers pushed her willing thighs apart. The northward trip was slow and exquisite. She had to keep remembering to both inhale and exhale. Just as Annie was congratulating herself on that accomplishment, his lips and hands met at the apex of those loved thighs.

Auggie all but growled in satisfied reply to her sharply inhaled gasp when he swiped his tongue lazily over her dripping folds. More whimpers and pleadings followed. She was writhing and twisting beneath his mouth. He grabbed her ass in his large hands to keep his target in range and dove in.

She felt that growl all the way up her body. Between those vibrations and his command of her lower half, she was finding coherent thought impossible. The man's talents had no limits. She tried to push herself closer to that mouth, but he was fully in command. When she felt his fingers slowly slide up into her core, she decided that maybe he did know best.

Annie thought she was just softly repeating his name, like a mantra. What Auggie heard was her chanting "Auuugggeee, Oh my God, more Auuugggee" in increasingly frantic tones. Never to keep a lady hanging, he obliged and sent her over the edge. Once he soothed and kissed her through her panting release, he nibbled and kissed his way back up to her mouth.

Eyesight was a gift, he thought. Her skin was glowing damply and her face was curved in beatific smile. It would have been wonderful just to feel, taste and hear that moment. To see the aftermath across her face and body, was worth any deal he had to make.

He gently brushed the blond strands back from her face and smiled down at her. At that moment, their bodies were perfectly aligned and she could feel the power in his length. Even with that first shattering orgasm, she craved his body in hers. Hooking a leg around his thighs, she invited him closer. He responded by pushing up on his hands on either side of her face. He wanted to see her face the first time they were joined.

"Annie?" The husky question vibrated along any place their bodies touched. She shivered in response. Reaching between them she lovingly stroked his length. His groans were music to her ears. When she finally lined them up and he slid home, they both groaned.

Rational Auggie tried to go slowly and feel every sensation. But the sounds she made and her heels locked around his back urging him on spoke to the primitive. That Auggie took over once he felt her tighten and ripple around him again.

Their bodies took over and spoke to each other all the things their minds had not allowed for so long. The basic man and woman inside had always felt this connection and rejoiced that their rational selves finally caught up.

Annie had never felt this complete sense of connection with any man. She had lovers in the past who had satisfied her body. Some had even touched her heart a little. Those were pond ripples as to this tidal wave. Every part of her opened and trusted him completely. There wasn't the sense that she needed to hold back at all. For a woman who had called the world her home, she now knew it meant this man. Auggie had been her rock and touchstone. Now he was her home too.

He found places inside her that no man had ever touched. Not only was he larger, but he clearly knew exactly what to do with that gift, she thought. Oh. My! Again? Again.

Auggie could feel her coming apart on him again. The primitive roared his joy and release as well. He had faced death theoretically and practically several times. Now, he thought, if he died at this moment in his arms, his life would be complete. Annie completed all those voids in his life. He rolled to one side, pulling her into his arms.

Just then the lights flared to life. He looked down and saw this woman who now owned his heart. She beamed at him. He was sure the smile on his face was no less wide and considerably more prideful.

"I'm going to blow out the candles before we burn the place down."

"I'm kind of surprised we didn't with all the heat we just generated." She giggled a little.

He got up and ran through the small room, blowing out candles and flipping off lights that had come on.

"Where's your phone charger? Let's get ourselves set and then I can come back to bed."

A naked Auggie, taking care of her was a sight to inspire and delight. She didn't want to leave the bed, but he was right. They got themselves set up for the morning and raced back to the bed. She draped herself across his chest, her hands lightly stroking the smooth muscled expanse. He wrapped his arms around her, noting how well she fit. Their legs tangled together comfortably. She smiled at how well they did that. It was usually awkward the first time you snuggled, if you did, after sex. They were like two pieces of a puzzle that just clicked. She might have known, they clicked from the beginning.

He planted a kiss onto the top of her head. She was the perfect fit here. She was the perfect fit in all aspects of his life, he mused.

"Annie? I love you."

She looked up and him a gave him another of those big sunny smiles. Kissing him briefly, she looked him right in the eyes and said, "I love you, super-Agent Auggie."

It was her way of letting him know she accepted and loved all the men he had been and all he was now.

A man couldn't ask for more than that.

Not too over the edge on the M I hope? I love reading it, but never know how to balance writing it. This is the end. No epilogue.

Fanfic has not been sending out alerts, so I will let you know that I did finally put an epilogue on SOUVENIR.

Working on the next one, but would love to be inspired by some more writing?

Remember to feed the bunnies!