"Healing"( MF rom )


        The curtains fluttered in the soft breeze.  The air smelt of rain
and wet grass.  Jonathan shifted in his sleep and turned over onto his 
stomach.  One arms groped and found cool sheets, something that puzzled his
sleeping mind and drew it back to consciousness.  After his eyes drifted 
open, he lay still for a moment trying to figure out what had woken him.

        Kat.  He sat up, his eyes adjusting to the darkness as he searched
the room for her.  The curtains ruffled in a particularly strong surge of
wind and he automatically looked over.  Hidden among the white cotton, Kat
sat on the window seat, with one arm out the window, letting the summer 
rain flow over it.

        Jonathan lay back down and regarded her.  The sadness emanating 
from her was palpable.  Again he felt guilty.  He should know how to help 
her but he didn't.  Katerina had withdrawn after the double funeral and he 
couldn't reach her anymore.   A touch of panic ripped through him.  He was
losing her and he was powerless to stop it.  All the success, all the money 
wouldn't help him now..  And then the indomitable part of him awoke.  He 
might have to lose her, but it wouldn't be without a fight.  He threw back 
the covers and went to her.

        "Kat.."

        Her head swung around towards him.  She looked so tired and very
small, wrapped up in her robe.

        "I couldn't sleep.  And it was raining so I had to watch it.."
Jonathan sat opposite her on the seat.

        "You were thinking about your parents.."  She nodded, leaning her
head back against the wall and looking out the window, with a remote look
in her eyes.  Jonathan winced.  He had come to hate that look with a 
passion.  So dead, it had nothing of the woman he loved in it.  He snapped.

        "I've had it!", he growled, reaching forwards and hauling her into
his arms.  The shock in her eyes was laughable in the split second before
she was crushed against his chest.  "I want you back, Kat."  He gave her
a not too gentle shake.  "Now!"  

        She took the wind out of his sails with a single sniffle.  The sob
that came after that floored him.  Shame flooded through him over the way
he was treating her.  The woman had lost both her parents in a single day
for God's sake, he snarled at himself bitterly.  And then there was no more
time for self-recriminations because all hell broke loose on his shoulder.

        She felt like she was coming apart in his arms.  Dry, heaving sobs
that seemed to be ripped out from someplace deep inside her and hurt like 
hell.  Her hands dug into him painfully as she held on, trying to stop the 
horrible sobs.  She could barely breathe and what air managed to get in 
seemed to burn her lungs.  And every time she thought the tempest was 
dying, something seemed to set it off again.  Jonathan hung on to her 
determinedly all through it, rocking her and murmuring endearments into her 
ear until at last the pain of her raw throat brought the storm to a halt.  
Thankfully, he didn't let go then and perhaps in that moment, he became a 
pillar to replace the two that had been knocked out from under her.  Not 
alone anymore..

        The rain pattered down rhythmically, as they huddled together that
way for a while.  At last when she pulled away, she said the last thing
he expected to hear.

        "Make love to me.."

        "What?", he asked cautiously, not believing he had hear right.

        "Please, Jon.  I need to feel again.."

        Jon's mind raced.  Help me, he sent up a silent prayer.  Don't let 
me hurt her..

        His lips settled on her delicately, softly questing.  She lay in 
his arms passively, without even a glimmer of a response.  Jonathan let his 
instincts guide him, kissing her with all the feelings he felt for her, 
hoping that that was enough...  And then suddenly, her arms wound slowly 
around his neck and her lips were answering his.  Hesitantly, as if for the 
first time.  And the curtains flowed around them.
        
        He shifted her into his lap and then stood, with her in his arms.
A moment later, he was lowering her onto the bed and then he was flush 
against her.  Her eyes fluttered shut as his lips found her forehead.  
Softly, he rained butterfly kisses over her face, each delicate and almost 
worshipful.  Then he transferred his attention to one hand, planting a slow 
kiss on its back and later a deep one on the middle of her sensitive palm.  
Tears stung at the back of Katerina's eyes.  The gentleness was so 
wonderful it hurt..

        "I love you.", he whispered and she nearly broke down and cried.  
The draining loneliness she had been living with for weeks receded slowly
but surely.  She drew in a gasping breath to answer him.  "Jonathan, I 
love you too.  I always have.."  A wave of pure relief washed over him.  He
didn't know what he would have done if she hadn't answered him..  He kissed
her like he had never kissed anyone in his life, and for the first time in 
a long time, she responded for real..

        Oh God, she loved his touch.  Gentle yet knowing.  He knew exactly
what she loved now.  Now his hands glided over her skin, caressing here, 
nipping there.  Her nipples between his fingers practically glowed with 
sensation.  Then his lips replaced them, his tongue rasping against the 
delicate tissue through her thin robe.  Kat moaned softly, arching her back 
to release the tightness in her torso.  Slow, he moved so slow.  The room 
blurred a little, as blood rushed from her head to everywhere else.  The 
sound of the rain intensified as the night took on a dreamlike quality.  As 
if from far away, he drew her robe to her waist and flicked her other 
nipple with his tongue.  The sharp jolt brought her back to reality.  Her 
mind refocused.

        Katerina drew Jonathan back up to her.  She needed to be kissed, 
she needed to be loved.  And he did.  He didn't leave again for a while.  
Her robe wound up as an cream puddle on the carpet.  Her panties followed, 
together with his briefs.  His dark tan twined with her pale skin as the 
dim light from outside cast silver highlights over their flowing bodies.  

        He started moving over her, using the slide of his skin on hers
to arouse and tantalize.  She responded, whispering the endearments she now
felt free to say.  He was here, he was alive and she was so glad he was
here.  Alive..  Thank God, she felt alive again!  Her hands roamed greedily
over his body, rediscovering every muscle, every sinew with her fingertips.
When was the last time that she told him that he was beautiful?  

        He smiled when she told him that.  No matter how many times she 
said it, he never really believed it..  And somehow that endeared him even 
more to her.  He whispered that the first time he saw her, he had nearly 
dropped his wineglass.   She smiled radiantly and said that she had 
noticed...  

        He slid down her body slowly, tasting every inch of her.  The light
fragrance of her soap, the innate flavor of her body exotic in the extreme.
When his tongue traced the line of her thigh, she shivered, longing for the
feel of him inside her.  She told him so..  I can't wait tonight darling, 
please.
 
        He moved her on her side and slipped behind her.  He snuggled up 
against her, his chest to her back and lifted up one of her legs to prop it 
on his hip.  His hand moved in between her thighs and found her clitoris.  
He started to rub it delicately in circles, exactly the way she loved it..  
Kat made a sound deep in her throat and half-twisted to bury her face in 
her pillow.  And then he guided his cock to the wetness waiting for him...

        Kat arched against him with a silent moan as the blunt tip of his 
cock spread apart her inner lips and forced its way into her wet vagina.  
Slowly, ever so slowly he pushed.  Closing her eyes, she could feel every 
muscle inside stretch, feel every millimeter of his skin rub against her 
sensitive entrance.  The motion of his fingers on her clit as well as the
pressure inside her worked up a tight, throbbing tension and a strange kind 
of madness that came from the very slowness of the whole thing.  A strong 
longing to push up at him and an equal desire to be made to wait for her 
pleasure..  

        She bit her lip as her inner muscles started tensing up.  She 
heard him moan with pleasure because of the increased tightness but she 
didn't open her eyes.  She had already felt the faint throbbing that 
heralded the arrival of her orgasm.  He felt it too because he thrust in 
all the way in a surge of power.  Kat thrust her hips back up at him with a 
strangled cry as the tension snapped within her.  One satisfying grind, 
another and another and then she was tossing her head, moaning.  Another 
strong thrust and her climax intensified, flowing into another one.  Her 
inner muscles clenched and throbbed around his shift shaft, until his body 
was jerking and he was groaning her name as he buried himself even more 
deeply inside her..