Welcome Home

She gave a start as the front door to her apartment burst open, to reveal a disheveled and rain-damp man, arms laden with grocery and duffel bags. Upon seeing her shocked face and reddening ears, his own ears wiggled up as his face split into a grin.

"Sorry I'm early..." he said, mocking a shamed face as his eyes traveled her length. Spluttering, she tried to reply, but couldn't push coherent words through the bubbly forms of toothpaste and toothbrush. Holding up a finger, she sidestepped into the bathroom with a stern look.

Using this moment of her absence to his advantage, he turned around and dead bolted the door, then ducked into the kitchen to deposit the bags of food and belongings. When he rounded again, he faced a swaddled towel, beneath which was the face he was so happy to see. As he ducked to kiss this beloved face, the grumpy expression on it stopped him short. He dared not breath in the event the owner of this irritable visage was close to true anger.

"I thought I was picking you up at the airport at six. How did you get here, much less with groceries, by four-thirty?" she demanded.

"Well, it's nice to see you too, hon."

At that, her face softened, and, slightly apologetic, she continued.

"Please? I just want to know what's going on."

"Well-" holding his breath was becoming uncomfortable now. "Truth be told I lied," he exhaled quickly and screwed up his face as if expecting some type of explosion.

After a pause of confusion, she asked again, "Wait. Wha-?"

"I wanted to surprise you is all! So I told you my flight was due at six instead of three. That way I could get some food for us and get over here." He repented. Slowly, he reached his arms up and looped them around her back, so that she could still see his face. His heart gave an extra thump as his wrists felt the shape of her waist through the baggy bathrobe she was wearing now. Realizing the change, he voiced his protestation.

"What happened to that cute thing you were wearing when I got in here?"

She blinked a couple times and shook her head as if coming back from some train of thought. "Oh, that? Well..." pink crept up her neck and cheeks again and she averted her eyes. "I didn't know you were going to be here and I was just trying it on in case we –I –you –I dunno," she said in one run-on sentence. "Really, pay it no mind. Er, consider it non-existent." She hoped he would, he knew he couldn't.

"Well where did it go? I know you couldn't have gotten it off that quick," his grin returning, his hands pulled tighter around her waist, inviting. She could feel her skin tingling under the pressure of his tug, and looked back up at him quickly enough that the towel wrapped around her wet hair surrendered to gravity and slumped off onto the floor. They both ignored it. As her eyes met his warm gaze again for the first time in weeks, she felt the pit of her stomach give a yearning ache and her lips felt parched for his kisses. Sensing this same ache, or perhaps already suffering from it, he pulled her close in a real hug, and mumbled into her hair, "I missed you."

After a moment spent contentedly in each other's arms, they loosened their grips.

"I'm glad you're here. Sorry I came off so mad, you just surprised me," she said, searching his eyes to make sure nothing there was hurt. As she searched she again felt the pressing need her body had not let her forget for the past 5 weeks. She let go to comb her fingers back through her hair and roughly twist it all into one cord.

As she did this, his hands wandered up over her shoulders and neck, and then held her hands.

"How are you feeling? You seem a bit warm,"

"I just got out of the shower, so that's...probably why..." his gaze distracted her again, as this time it contained an unchecked and obvious hunger. The grin lingering on his face this whole time now crooked itself to a more mischievous angle, and he suddenly stooped and hooked her knees under one arm, while catching her back with the other. Breathless, speechless, and without complaint, she felt again the shadows of his solid skeleton around her body, and was exceedingly happy.

Reaching the bedroom a few seconds later, he tossed her onto the mattress to shed his coat and shoes. "Now I know that outfit has to be around here somewhere..."

He knelt on the bed next to her and grabbed the tie to her robe. Raising a brow in question, he pulled slowly on the rope. Having had her neck bent to see what he was doing, she grinned in reply and let her head fall in confirmation. Throwing suspense out the window he jerked the tie loose, and flipped open the robe. She was not aware of how he did this, but now he was lying at length on top of her, cupping her shower-warm face in his hands. "I'm so glad to be home," he whispered. "You're not home yet," she said. "All puns intended."

For the first time in what seemed like forever, their lips met again, and instantly rekindled the blazing bonfire of desire and passion they had each harbored for one another. His hands tightened around her face, tangling in her hair, and she hugged him close with a death grip around his neck. Coming up for air, they grinned, and then bent toward one another again in an attempt to make up for all the kisses time had lost. While to him her mouth seared of mint, she relished the taste of his lips and tongue, and the taste of him.

Moaning with the effort of stopping, he pulled back and looked at her face. Then he leaned back on his knees to look at the rest of her. This resulted in a brow-raised whistle of appreciation.

"Like it?"

"Do I have to say how much?"

He traced the chemise's swirling pattern with a finger, then spread both hand over her hips and up the curves of her sides, which it so neatly hugged.

"Garters too? My heavens..."

He continued his exploration of her curves, but grew less entertained and more irritated at the thin sheet of cloth separating their skins. At this point, her breath was coming faster as she watched him at his work, and she arched her back with a sigh as his hands slid beneath her ribs in search of fastenings to disturb.

When he found the row of hooks keeping the majority of her lingerie on, he pulled her up to a sitting position and promptly went at them. As she sat up, no fool to his goals, she planted her mouth on his once more and reached for his belt buckle. After finishing this, she moved on to his shirt buttons as he snapped her gartered stockings loose. Sliding backward, he stood up and removed his button-down shirt and the T-shirt under it, and then, gripping around her thigh first, pulled off her stockings one at a time.

"Please?" she begged. "You've always been methodical for a man, but this is just torture!"

"Oh, you'll be saying that a lot tonight," he promised, but he couldn't wait much longer either. Now he quickly removed the remnants of her garments, and stood unresisting as she did the same for him.

Turning back the quilt, they slipped in next to each other, eager to be skin to skin once more.

"Oh, I locked the door already, by the way."

"What? You planned all this?" she asked. In answer he pulled her into his arms and started kissing down her neck.

"I should have known..." she said between small gasps.

Her skin burned as his hands roamed over her back, hips, and legs. He had worked down her neck far enough to clamp an eager mouth over her breast, and she let out a sound of pleasure as he continued his salutation to her tits. She gripped his shoulder blades in an attempt to merge their two forms, and hooked one leg up over his hip, making small pleading utterances in the process. He rolled them over so she was on her back and came up to kiss her lips.

He hovered barely outside of her, making both of them quiver with pent-up need. She tilted her hips up in further pleading, and he touched the entrance with a gentle pressure. Both of them froze, and their eyes, after opening, silently egged the other on. He pressed a little harder, the wetness of her arousal aiding his goals. Then with a small nod on her behalf, thrust himself in with one strong flex of his body. They had both moaned on impact, and now and lay panting and ecstatic as they adjusted to the familiar sensations of love.

Moving very slightly to see what kind of response this would provoke, he happily saw her eyes close, hearing her breath go from her, and feeling her push herself closer to him in pleasure. Starting slowly, he worked up a rhythm, kissing her and whispering endearments into her ears, hair, neck, and lips. She kissed him and pulled him into her with each thrust by the two hands that restlessly repositioned themselves along his back between buttocks and shoulders.

At this point, she was writhing closer to him in delight, and he reached the back of her with every burst of pressure, making her voice incoherent sounds of pleasure and pleading. Then she contracted, curling around him and pressing as much of herself as she could against him. She bit his shoulder in an effort not to cry out, and then pressed her mouth to his in burning urgency, whispering encouragements between gasps and kisses. He redoubled his efforts, making her collapse back in shuddering immobility as he sprinted the last few yards to the finish line. As his whole body tensed and his ears roared, she moaned his name and gave her last echoing tremors of gratification.

Slowly she pulled him down, down to the comfort of her flesh, and the satisfied oblivion waiting there. Now he was home.