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  Grissom kissed down the length of Ana’s torso, nipping at the indent of her waist and rubbing his cheek against the slight curve of her belly. And under his kisses, Grissom gently pressed Ana back against her bed.

  When Grissom unbuttoned and unzipped Ana’s jeans, she helpfully lifted her hips, allowing Grissom to peel off her jeans and panties in a single smooth movement. Ana sucked in a sharp breath, her legs momentarily flexing against him, but ultimately she stayed where she was.

  Grissom soothingly stroked his hands up and down her quivering thighs. He rubbed his cheek against the inside of one thigh and dropped soft kisses along the inside of the other. Under his hands, Ana slowly began to relax.

  She arched, her hands going behind her back as she squirmed out of her bra, and feeling mischievous, Grissom took advantage of Ana’s distraction to lick a line along her wet slit, his tongue just barely dipping inside of her folds.

  Ana squealed, her body jerking before she fell back on the bed, her bra landing next to her.

  “Grissom!” she complained, all her demands wrapped up in a single word.

  Laughing, he pulled off his underwear, grabbed a condom from the pocket of his discarded pants, and joined Ana on the bed. She watched as he rolled the condom on, her eyes wide and her mouth an adorable little ‘o’.

  When Grissom was done, she squirmed closer to him. She kissed him, her lips curving up in a smile against his when Grissom rolled her onto her back. He propped himself up over her, Ana’s knees jutting up to bracket his hips and her mouth demanding against his.

  Grissom kissed Ana just as fiercely as she kissed him. He licked into her mouth, his tongue sliding against hers, and Ana moaned, breaking their kiss.

  Taking advantage, Grissom pulled back enough to guide himself to Ana’s entrance. Slowly, he pushed into her.

  Under him, Ana moaned throatily. She strained against him, her trim little nails scraped down his back. The slight pain of it sent frissons of pleasure and excitement through him, and Grissom thrust into Ana.

  She was impossibly tight around him but so wet that it was an easy slide, the head of his dick bumping against something before going through it.

  It took Grissom longer than it should have to realize what it was that his cockhead had gone through, but when he did, he went still inside of Ana, stunned. Grissom felt his eyes widen.

  He hadn’t thought – he hadn’t expected that she was still – If he had known, he would have gone slower with her.

  “Ana –” he started, and then yelped when Ana bucked up beneath him. At the sensation of it, Grissom’s hips instinctively jolted forward again, this time burying him balls deep inside of her.

  It was nearly overwhelming. She was just so hot and wet and tight around him, as tight as a fist. Her previously unused muscles fluttered and clenched around his sheathed length. If he was any less experienced, it might have been enough to milk his orgasm from him.

  As it was, Grissom’s back bowed and he pressed his face into the crook of her neck. It wasn’t his first time, but in that moment, Grissom wished that it was.

  So… so perfect…

  Beneath him, Ana was trembling, her eyes clenched shut. She had a death grip on him, her nails no doubt gouging half moon crescents into his skin.

  “Don’t move,” she ordered. “Not an inch.”

  “All right,” he rasped. Grissom nuzzled into the crook of her neck. “I can wait as long as you need.”

  That, at least, was one benefit of experience.

  Holding himself still above her, Grissom kissed Ana’s wet eyelids and her flushed cheeks and her chin.

  “You feel so good, so perfect,” he murmured against the side of her neck. He pressed a soft kiss to her skin. “And you’re so brave.” Another kiss, this time planted on the soft skin behind her ear. “And I’m going to make you feel so good.”

  Under his kisses and soft words, Ana slowly began to relax.

  He shifted then, inadvertently shifting the position of his cock inside of her as he moved the bulk of his weight from one elbow to the other. Under him, Ana squirmed and made a small noise. She looked surprised.

  “Good?” asked Grissom, trying not to smile, and Ana nodded sharply.

  “Do that again!” she ordered, and Grissom couldn’t help but laugh.

  Grissom’s first stroke was short, watching carefully for Ana’s reaction. She didn’t seem to be in pain but…

  “Good?” asked Grissom.

  Ana nodded. “It felt… nice.”

  He could do better than nice.

  Grissom kept his rhythm steady, and Ana soon picked it up. Her arms came up around his shoulders, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. It shifted the length of his cock inside of her again, the new angle making Ana moan and arch up against him.

  “More like that!” she demanded.

  Huffing a laugh, Grissom did as his lady commanded, speeding up his strokes until Ana was a writhing mess beneath him. By then, her sweaty face was flushed nearly pink, tendrils of her black hair sticking to her temples. He was gasping and groaning too, though, and a familiar tightness was building at the base of his spine and in his belly.

  Ana came with a high, keening cry – the cry of a bird – and clutched him to her. Around his dick, her pussy was twitching magnificently, milking his pleasure from him. With a cry, Grissom came, his orgasm hitting him like a bolt of lightning.

  The force of his orgasm emptied Grissom, leaving him achingly hollow. It was only for a heartbeat, though. Then contentment poured into him, filling him to overflowing like a pitcher standing forgotten beneath a running faucet. With the contentment came something else, something that settled at the bottom of that achingly empty place inside of Grissom. It nestled into place as if it belonged there, as if there was an indent in his soul that had been waiting for that exact moment to find him.

  Afterwards, Grissom slumped against Ana. He was exhausted, and she was so warm. She was exactly where he ought to be.

  It was several moments before he summoned the willpower to roll off of her, and when he did, it felt… odd. Nothing physically bound them together, but Grissom still had the strangest feeling as he pulled away from her, almost as if his movement had nonetheless pulled tight between them a fine gossamer thread.

  As he moved away from her, Ana made a small, unhappy noise. She rolled onto her side so that she was facing him, and even though he wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his arms and hold her close, Grissom merely kissed Ana on the forehead before he heaved himself out of the bed to go dispose of the evidence.

  When he returned, there was still space for him in the bed. Taking it as an invitation, Grissom rejoined Ana, pulling her close. She snuggled against him, her cheek against his chest and her arm over his side. It felt good, right even, to have her there, that spider silk fine string of emotion lying lax and satiated between them.

  Unable to help himself, Grissom asked nervously, “Was it… what you’d hope it would be?”

  Was it good for you?

  Against his chest, Ana nodded her head.

  “It was worth waiting for,” she said, voice slightly muffled, and the tension evaporated from his chest. She had at least enjoyed it.

  He was still going to go slower with her next time.

  “Was it – Did you enjoy it too?” she asked, her voice small, and Grissom’s chest tightened again, this time with an echo of what it must have cost her to ask that. Her cheek was suddenly very hot against his chest.

  “Very, very much,” said Grissom, meaning it. More than he ever had with anyone else, though he would never say that out loud. No one wanted to hear about a lover’s previous lovers, even if the comparison was favorable.

  “You were perfect,” he added, hoping to make her smile. Then, his chest still tight for her, Grissom gently tipped her head up for a kiss.

  “It was perfect for me,” he murmured against her lips, and Ana finally smiled.

  It was only some time later, as they were dro
wsing in each other’s arms, that Grissom realized that it was raining again.

  Chapter 11 – Ana

  Ana woke slowly to the scent and sizzle of bacon.

  She hadn’t had any bacon in her refrigerator, just leftovers.

  He must have gone out to buy some, thought Ana, and then woke up more as she realized how disappointed she would have been to wake up alone and seemingly jilted. Just thinking about it – waking up alone in her bed and abandoned, instead of alone but with the mouthwatering promise of bacon – sent the ghost of an unearned grief through Ana’s heart.

  But that didn’t happen, Ana reminded herself, as she blinked her eyes open.

  Rolling onto her side, Ana looked across the room to her small kitchenette where Grissom was standing in front of the stove. His back was to her, and the island hid him from thee waist down, but what Ana could see of his back was deliciously bare… and also scratched.

  Ana definitely didn’t remember doing that. Looking at the marks now, she felt guilty. She hoped that they didn’t hurt.

  But as guilty as she felt, Ana couldn’t help but notice how strong and muscular Grissom’s back was. Even with all the scratches, he looked so good… and she probably had bed hair and morning breath and who knew what else.

  I wonder if I could sneak into the bathroom without him noticing…

  Ana didn’t keep changes of clothes in there, but she could at least comb her hair, brush her teeth, spray on some perfume, and maybe slap on a little makeup. Then she could pretend that she always woke up looking and smelling like that. It was worth a try.

  Slithering out of bed, Ana scooped up her bra and a twist of fabrics that seemed to contain yesterday’s shirt. Then, her heart pounding in her throat, she crept towards the bathroom.

  Ana was maybe five steps from her goal when Grissom said casually, “Breakfast in five.”

  Startled, Ana jumped and squeaked. She scurried into the bathroom. From the safety of that enclosed space, she called back, “I’ll be ready.”

  What followed was the quickest pit stop of her life. Ana used the facilities, washed her hands, and scraped all of her hair up into a messy bun. She skipped the makeup, brushed her teeth, and pulled on her bra.

  The twist of fabric ended up being her t-shirt and his plaid shirt tangled together. Her t-shirt only came down to her hips, but his plaid shirt came down past the tops of her thighs. And she hadn’t thought to grab any underwear during her inelegant retreat to the bathroom…

  Ana pulled on Grissom’s plaid shirt. As she buttoned it, Ana promised herself that the next time she washed it she was actually going to return it to him. Her five minutes up, Ana tumbled out of the bathroom calling, “I’m ready!”

  From his place at the kitchen counter, Grissom laughed at her.

  Nearby, two places had been set, complete with cups and silverware. Heaped on the plates were bacon and scrambled eggs.

  Ana hadn’t had any eggs in her apartment earlier either.

  “Mmmm, breakfast,” said Ana brightly. “With bacon! You’re a hero!”

  Grissom laughed again. “Say that again when I make you bacon and eggs for lunch. They’re not just the two things that I know how to make best, they’re the only two things that I can make at all. But no matter how you like your eggs, I can make them that way.”

  Smiling, Ana moved to join him. “You must like to eat eggs!”

  “I do. They’re quick, easy, and delicious.”

  “They’re not easy for me,” said Ana cheerfully. But then, she didn’t particularly like eggs, so she hadn’t invested much time in learning to cook them. Ana pushed herself up onto her stool, using it as an excuse to balance herself on one of his strong, pajama clad thighs.

  “Well, what’s your favorite style of egg? I’ll make it for you.”

  “I don’t have one. I’ve only ever had them scrambled,” said Ana, and Grissom’s face lit up with his grin. Ana didn’t know it then, but those were famous last words.

  From then on, at least once or twice a week, Grissom would take Ana out on some fabulous date and then spend the night at her place. Occasionally, they just stayed in together. And the morning after, he always made her eggs and either bacon or sausage.

  In short order, Ana discovered that she didn’t particularly care for scrambled eggs or eggs over easy or poached eggs. Nor was she particularly fond of any of the minute-egg families. She did, however, care a great deal bacon. And sausage. And Grissom was pretty amazing too.

  She maybe even loved him, not that she had gotten around to telling him that. Before she did that, she wanted to know if he was her guy.

  Ana wondered if there was a way to ask Grissom about that without sending him running for the hills. She didn’t need a marriage proposal, just some sign that Grissom was as gone on her as she was on him.

  Ana was worrying at the problem of how to phrase her question, when she emerged from the bathroom on a cloud of floral scents to find Grissom lounging on her bed. He was flipped through another one of her old sketchbooks. He must have dug it out of the library of sketchbooks that lived at the bottom of the hanging compartment of her armoire.

  Ana had been walking in on him doing that more and more often lately. It was silly, but Ana half thought that the reason he kept coming around to her place, rather than ever taking her back to his, was so that he could check her progress on her current work and continue looking through her sketchbooks.

  Grissom had started at the very beginning, when she still hadn’t been very good at holding a pencil, never mind sketching, and began working his way forward in time to her newer sketchbooks. Right now, he was flipping through her landscape years.

  “You don’t have to do that,” said Ana, stopping near the bed.

  “I want to,” said Grissom with a brief smile up at her. “I really like your art. It’s so… bright.”

  Ana squinted at the piece that he currently had the book open to. It was upside down, and she still hadn’t been very good when she had done it, but…

  “I think that was meant to be a nightscape,” said Ana.

  “The emotions, if not the exact time of day,” said Grissom, unbothered. “I can see your heart in your work, Ana, and it is brilliant, bright, and hopeful.” He smiled suddenly. It lit up his normally serious face. “But maybe I’m biased? I am your number one fan, after all.”

  “You are?” asked Ana, feeling surprised, embarrassed, but most of all stunned. No one had ever said that to her before. It hadn’t even occurred to her that she could have a number one fan.

  “I am,” he said firmly. Neither his voice nor his gaze wavered.

  How could she not fall in love with such a man?

  It was impossible.

  More and more often, Ana found bits of Grissom in her world. She noticed his favorite shade of grey in a stray cat’s fur and brought home his favorite blueberry scones on nights that she knew that she was going to see him. She wore his plaid shirt to bed, because she loved the way that he looked at her when she wore it. And she spent countless hours sketching him.

  While he watched his smithing show, Ana watched him. As she watched him, her pencil moved over a page of her sketchbook, capturing Grissom’s relaxed body language and interested expression. If she was awake while he was asleep, she sketched his mussed hair, lax face, and peaked nipples. All those hours spent studying and sketching various naked models in various studios over the years bore fruit in the smooth lines and carefully smeared shadows of Grissom in repose.

  Ana didn’t know how she would feel later if he wasn’t her boyfriend – or if he ever saw how many pages she had dedicated to trying to capture him in two dimensions – but for now, he was what she most wanted to sketch.

  Alone in her apartment, Ana was reorganizing her electronics, when she pulled her laptop out of its drawer and discovered the fellowship paperwork beneath it.

  The last time that she had found it, she hadn’t been able to bring herself to fill it out. Looking at it now, though, i
t didn’t seem so bad. The first page, at least, seemed simple enough. Putting aside her laptop, Ana fished the paperwork out of her drawer.

  Completely filling it out took longer than Ana had expected it to, and there were some tricky bits. Every time that Ana was tempted to give up, she would remember Grissom declaring himself her number one fan. He had said it several times since that first time – sometimes serious, sometimes smiling, and occasionally with a kiss – so Ana had a lot of memories to call upon.

  If Grissom could believe in her, maybe she could try to believe in herself too.

  It was a relief to get her paperwork finished and mailed in. It was a surprise to discover that she wanted to try for another one. It would be silly to put all of her eggs in one basket.

  This is all Grissom’s fault, thought Ana, as she printed out the second set of paperwork.

  She found that she really didn’t mind it at all.

  Chapter 12 – Grissom

  Everyone knew that lone dragons didn’t have fated mates, but more and more often, Grissom found himself wishing that they did.

  Now was one of those moments.

  Ana wearing that gray dress again, the one drove him wild. She extended one leg to him, modeling one of her scuffed sneakers.

  “Look!” said Ana brightly. “Sneakers again!”

  “Excellent!” agreed Grissom, smiling. There would be no limping or blisters on his dates with her. “Are you ready?”

  Ana nodded. When she smiled up at him, her stormy eyes shining, Grissom’s heart leaped in his chest. He wanted her to always smile at him like that.

  How could he love her so much if they weren’t meant to be?

  He took her to dinner and dancing that night. Afterwards, he spent the night in her cramped apartment and went to work the next morning in the change of clothes that had somehow found its way into her closet.

  He was in a very good mood.

  But then, Grissom was always in a good mood after an evening with Ana.

  His partner, Derek da Luz, mostly managed to put up with him, but there was one thing that he absolutely couldn’t stand.