Rated NC-17
I can still hear the shower running as I debate whether or not to open the bathroom door.
My finger isn't stinging anymore, but it's still bleeding.
It'll only take a second, I tell myself. Danny won't even know you're there.
So, before I can chicken out, I turn the doorknob and slip in.
The bathroom is so filled with steam that I can barely see.
I steal one quick glance at the dark shower curtain and a dark kind of heat spills through me.
BUt I shake my head and make my way to the bathroom counter, fumbling with the drawer that has the Band-Aids in it.
My hand quickly closes around the box of Band-Aids, but the tube of Neosporin eludes me.
Inwardly cursing, I pull the drawer out a little more and reach way into the back.
Victory! My fingers find the Neosporin and I quickly yank it out of the drawer.
Careful not to close the drawer too hard, so as not to alert Danny to my presence, I rise and go to exit the bathroom.
And both the box of Band-Aids and the Neosporin go clattering out of my hands.
The shower abruptly shuts off and I close my eyes and bite my lip.
Please, don't let him open that curtain, please...
Danny sticks his head out.
"Michelle?"
"Um, hi, I was just...ahem...I was just getting a...a Band-Aid..."
His dark eyes narrow. "Why?"
"I...I cut myself," I say lamely, holding out my bleeding thumb.
Danny's arm snakes out and grabs a towel from the nearby rack.
When he opens the curtain, it's firmly tied around his waist and I offer a silent thanks heavenward.
"Let me see," he says as he holds up my injured thumb.
The steam from the shower is still spiralling around us and I feel a little faint, both from the heat pressing on me from the outside and the heat threatening to consume me from the inside.
Danny opens up the Neosporin I dropped and applies a little to my thumb before slapping a Band-Aid over the shallow cut.
"There you go," he says and we just stand there silent for a moment.
"It seems like you're always patching me up," I joke weakly and want to kick myself the minute the words leave my mouth.
His eyes immediately darken and drift to the pale scar on my arm.
"So it scarred after all," he says softly, running a finger over the mark.
I tremble a little. "Yes," I say huskily. "But it's not that noticeable."
Danny continues to stare at my arm. "That night, I finally knew what it was like to want to kill someone. The minute I saw your blood...I don't know if I ever really wanted to kill Nino before that."
"Danny-"
"Shhh..."
The he kisses me.
I moan as his tongue takes immediate possession of my mouth and dig my fingers so hard into his shoulders, he winces.
As he did the night of Andrew's nightmare, he backs me up so that my back is pressed against the wall.
His hand slides down my leg until his fingers rest lightly behind my knee.
Then, he pulls my leg up slowly at his side, bringing me up closer against him so that I can feel how much he watns me through the thin material of the towel.
"Do you remember," he gasp when he at last tears his lips from mine, "that night...in the motel..." His lips and tongue begin to travel down my neck, "I made love to you in that tiny little shower. Do you rememeber?"
I nod,wonderful shudders going through me at the memory. "Yes...yes..."
"I never wanted anyone like I wanted you that night. Like I want you now."
"Danny, please..."
Deftly, he unhooks the top of my dark red bikini and lowers his lips to my nipples.
A glad cry of welcome escapes my lips and I hug his damp head closer to me as he suckles first one breast, then the other.
He falls to his knees, kissing my stomach and his hands grab the sides of my bikini bottom, working it down my hips and then my legs.
My head thumps slightly against the wall and I catch our murky reflections in the steam covered mirror.
Dimly, I wonder if the steam is left over from the shower or if it's our own creation.
I lift my feet, first one, then the other, and step out of my bathing suit.
Danny continues to kiss my stomach, his tongue dipping into my navel, making me moan and tug at his hair.
HIs fingers move into the thatch of curls at the apex of my thighs and I feel him part the folds there.
And then his tongue is on me.
I don't have the strength to do anything but gasp as his tongue acquaints itself with that spot his fingers and body know so well.
Without ever slowing his delicious ministrations, Danny lifts one of my legs so that it dangles over his shoulder.
I lean back heavily against the wall so that it's now supporting me completely.
I open my eyes and watch him, feeling like a fire has begun a wild and voracious path through me.
But even as I long to completely surrender to the urgings of my body, something in me insists that something is wrong.
Even as I think this, Danny applies more pressure with his lips and his teeth delicately scrape against that sensitive flesh.
A broken sob a pleasure escapes me and my head falls forward, my hair nearly brushing his shoulders.
And then I know what's wrong.
I reach down and grab his shoulders, trying to pull him to his feet.
He raises eyes hazy with passion to me. "What is it, baby?"
"Look at me," I plead. "I need to see your eyes."
Danny rises to his feet and cups my face in his hands.
"I'm looking at you, Michelle," he says gruffly.
I cover his hands with my own and look into those eyes that have fascinated me since the first day I saw him.
The coldness, the reserve...it's still there. Warmed and softened considerably, but there nonetheless.
And I realize I don't care.
I bring my lips to his, tasting myself there, and we kiss again, desperately, frantically, each trying to cling to some intangible thing that has always been beyond our reach.
My hand closes over the knotted towel and I go to pull at it.
"Danny? Michelle?"
Our heads snap up as we hear Ray's voice.
"Dammit," Danny breathes softly. The, louder, "Uh...just a second,Ray!"
Suddenly, that place of nothing but sensation and passion evaporates and we're just two embarrassed people trying to find our clothes.
I slip my bikini back on, wincing at the feeling off cold, wet material on my fever-hot skin.
I exit the bathroom first and hear Danny start the shower again.
"There you are," Ray says, obviously relieved.
"I..I was just..."
Ray holds up a hand to cut me off, his face serious. "It doesn't matter."
"What's wrong?" I ask, suddenly feeling alarmed.
"It's Andrew."