Purplerhino's Playground

meme Great Book List

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:34:54 GMT

Stolen from bets_cyn

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed."
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you really love (and strikethrough the ones you hate!).
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare – Have not finished all the sonnets.
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
~~67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy~~ Totally depressing and made me squirm. Subject matter more than writing style.
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Hmmmm... 28 isn't too bad when the average reader manages under 6.

Fic: Under The Veneer II - Very M

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:08:48 GMT

Under The Veneer II

Author: purplerhino
Disclaimer: ::snort:: yeah. Like I own them. I own nothing. Frank L. Baum and Scifi do. I just make them do deliciously wicked things for the amusement of others.

Last night Wyatt Cain had promised DG she could play later. Well it was later, dammit, and she wanted to play. Her fingers itched to reach out and explore her own private playground right next to her.

She rested on one elbow, head in hand as she watched Cain sleep. Like most people, he seemed less worn by the cares of the world in the bliss of dreamless slumber. His face softened, no worry line between his sharply arched brows. Although she did miss his eyes while they were closed in sleep. He had the most amazing eyes.

After a very long night the night before- yesterday they had informed the Royal family that they were engaged. After all, who could refuse such a romantic proposal? ‘And you’re gonna marry me.’

But then hearts and flowers were not Cain’s kind of thing. Not hers either, really.

At the news DG’s mother and sister seemed highly amused and superior about it all. They looked at each other and smirked without batting an eyelash between them. Evidently they had seen it coming even if DG herself had been clueless. Father had been less …enthusiastic. It took DG’s mother to calm him down and lead him away before he did or said anything really stupid.

Last night had been amazing. Morning wake up call had been pretty mind blowing as well. And tonight… she really could get accustomed to this. Once her muscles got used to it. It was easy to get used to Cain’s kissing fixation.

Her Tin Man loved kissing. Chaste brushes, soft and slow. Teasing promises of things to come. Deep, erotic, soul searing kisses meant to devour her senses. After pretty much stating she was gonna marry him the night before, they had spent almost an hour just kissing, necking and nuzzling. Damn, DG was now aware that two mouths could, indeed, make love to one another.

If she’d learned anything during these glorious sessions the night before and earlier tonight it was that Cain was every bit the Alpha Male type. He liked being in charge in bed. Well, more like taking the lead. He certainly enjoyed wringing every ounce of pleasure out of her until she could barely move. But he was the one in control, directing and coaxing. She didn’t much mind as he knew exactly what he was doing.

However, she wanted to lead this dance. She wanted to do to him what he did to her.   She wanted to hear him beg her to end the torment, to watch him writhe under her attentions.

The problem was she wasn’t sure how to start. No, that wasn’t right. She knew just exactly where to start, but there was no definite plan for once she had him precisely where she wanted him. She’d been one disappointing experience shy of a virgin before last night. She was well read, as it were, but she’d never really tried anything. So what to do?   She had never initiated anything. That had to change. She hadn’t been self confident enough to before. But she was one to jump into any new adventure. And my, what an adventure was laying right there beside her now.

She admired his body as he slept. He worked out for nearly an hour with the guard every morning between running five miles and going through a near military training course. And boy did it show. He was a feast for the eyes as well as the senses. And she’d had no clue what was hidden under those clothes until they’d made love the first time.

Now she took in his strong muscles and well-defined chest. Her eyes flowed down to his abdomen, following the happy trail down to his manhood resting in a nest of pale curls. Definitely nothing to be ashamed of in the locker room. His legs were strong as well from running, walking and riding.

How did she get so lucky as to fall in love with this man? Or more importantly, how’d she get so lucky as to have him love her back?

Well she already had plans on how to keep her Tin Man from interfering with her little experiment.

With a wicked little smile she slid open the dresser drawer as silently as possible. Her fingers wrapped around the cold metal waiting inside.

With deliberate, very quiet movements DG managed to click the handcuffs over the wrist Cain had thrown above his head. She had managed to ease his other arm up as she pressed a kiss to his sleeping mouth, taking his soft exhale into her lungs. The moment the second cuff clicked into place his eyes snapped open.

He tried to move and was brought up short by the cuffs.

DG giggled and moved to straddle his waist, naked and brazen, her core pressed just below his navel. She wanted to grind herself against him… but not yet.

“What the hell is this?” He sounded more than annoyed.

“Handcuffs. I’d think a Tin Man would recognize them.” DG smirked and wiggled a little, feeling his abs tighten against her inner thighs… and other places. Mmm… delicious.

“I know what they are. Get them off.” He pulled, even though that would leave bruises.

“Stop that, you’ll hurt yourself. I want you at my mercy, Mr. Cain.” She almost purred the last part but stopped short.

There was really something wrong. He wad gone completely rigid, and not in a good way. His stormy eyes were more grey than blue, a bad sign to begin with even without the glare she was getting.

“DG. Take. The. Cuffs. Off. Now.” He spoke through tightly clenched teeth. He was angry. He wasn’t supposed to be angry. This was supposed to be enjoyable.

She quickly scooped up the key and undid the cuffs.

Cain sat up abruptly, making her slide down a bit into his lap. His hands came up to grip her upper arms and he didn’t look at all happy. He hadn’t found that the least little bit erotic.

“I just wanted to have you all to myself. It was supposed to be fun.” DG realized she shouldn’t believe everything she read.

“I don’t find it fun to be pinned down and helpless. Being held down isn’t the least bit enjoyable for me. I need to be able to reach my gun.” DG’s eyes flickered to the weapon on the nightstand. “What if someone broke in here to kill you? I couldn’t have done a thing.”

Oh shit! The first time she saw him, before even opening the suit, he was being held down and beaten, being made to watch his family beaten. Then there was eight years being ‘held down’ in that damned iron suit.

How could she have been so stupid? So completely thoughtless? Her vision hazed as her throat tightened.

She felt perfectly safe in the palace full of guards and magic wards. But that didn’t change Cain’s compulsive need to protect. She could even understand it, psychologically.

“I’m sorry.” She spoke softly, sincerely. “It’s just that, you’ve been kinda taking the lead, and you seem to be pretty focused on me. I just wanted to do for you. Without you and your wandering hands and mouth distracting me. On the other side… things like this… it’s not all that unusual. I read about it and saw it on TV… entertainment. I wanted to try. I messed up and just didn’t think.”

As she spoke Cain’s face softened and the anger melted from his eyes, turning them from stormy grey back to a pale blue. Instead of holding her arms, his moved to wrap around her.

“DG, this kind of thing isn’t all that uncommon here, either. It’s okay to try different things. Just ask first. Because that particular embellishment… isn’t for me,” he explained. “And we’re gonna have a talk about what kind of entertainment you were watching.”

“As for focusing on you, Darlin', that does for me.’ He looked at her hotly so she couldn’t doubt his sincerity. “Believe me, it does for me. I love seeing your body, watching your skin flush with heat just for me. Those little noises you make, the way you say my name, the feel of you, your every response… they shoot right to my cock.”

DG struggled to keep her brain from melting. Wyatt knew just what his talking like that did to her. Just this side of dirty, and phrased just right. For a man of few words, he certainly knew how to use them in private.

His pulling her in for a kiss just made fighting the brain meltdown even harder. If the way his lips teased and tormented hers were any indication, he already forgave her.

This was one of his slow kisses, building slowly into something heated, powerful, and consuming. Damn , his love of kissing made him quite the expert. His tongue tangling gently with hers, a form of seduction in itself. Having his heated skin, his hard muscles pressed against her just mad it… guh.

DG broke away, pushing slightly on Cain’s shoulders. “Nope. Not getting away. You promised I could play. I’m keeping you to it.”

Persistent was one of her specialties. Her face was right next to the word in the dictionary.

One pale brow rose. “This could be interesting. No cuffs, or anything of the like.” He obviously wanted that perfectly clear.

“Okay.” DG licked her lips and noted Cain’s eyes follow the flick of her tongue. She smirked. “How about just you, cowboy?”

DG took his hands in hers. They were bigger than hers, blunt fingered and marked with scars on the knuckles and calluses on the palms and fingers. Experienced hands, used to hard work, fighting and making her scream his name while shattering again and again into oblivion.

She placed a kiss on each of his palms in turn.

“Lie back and enjoy, Wyatt.” She purred his first name.

He chuckled but lay back down. DG still held his hands and she reached over his head to place them on the headboard, where she had used the cuffs. “Just you, Tin Man. No restraint but your own. You think you can do that? Think you can hold on while I take my time with you?”

“I can try.” His voice had already taken on that deeper rumble and his pupils were dilating and his eyes took in her body as she sat on top of him.

Oh goodie. Compromise was a lovely thing.

DG scooted forward again, rubbing herself against him. It was a tease for both of them.

If what she felt at her rear was any indication she had his interest.

Now here was where she didn't know how to start. She had a whole Wyatt Buffet spread out before her. Well, appetizers would be a good start, and why not Cain's favorite?

Leaning forward she let her pebbled nipples just barely graze her Tin Man's chest. Hers just dancing over his. The hair there adding to the tease for her, tickling in a way that had little to do with laughter. She smiled as he inhaled, trying to bring in more contact.

She had mercy as she leaned down further, pressing her breasts against his muscled chest before moving in to plant a kiss on Wyatt's lips. A soft brush of lips on lips. He started to raise his head to lean into the kiss but she backed away, shaking her head.

“My dance, I lead.” She pressed a kiss to his forehead, then tiny, fluttering ones over his eyelids, along his cheekbones then his stubborn jaw line.

When she pressed her lips to his again she took her time before delicately tracing the seam of his lips with her tongue. Teasing, testing,   He was quick to open to her, but made her come inside. She just stroked the tip of his tongue with her own. A taste for both of them. She had planned on just a quick taste, but he groaned into her mouth. She met his passion with her own, they were devouring one another.

Her hands slipped into his hair and her nails scraped along his scalp, causing another groan.

Reluctantly she pulled back. She felt the heat pool further in her belly as he licked his lips, as if wanting to take in every trace of her kiss.

She reached up to place her hands over his and stroke his arms, down to his shoulders even as she nuzzled under his chin. She felt quite seductive and powerful when Wyatt leaned his head back to give her better access. She chuckled a bit as her tongue swirled over his throat and nipped very gently at his pulse. He was tense from holding on and the tendon connecting his neck to his shoulder stood out. She scraped her teeth over it as the fingers of her left hand stroked the scar on Cain’s bicep. The one he had gotten during the eclipse.

She followed the tendon over his smooth shoulder, tasting the salt of Wyatt’s skin, the taughtness of his muscles. And feeling those muscles tense and flex along his stomach certainly had an effect on her as she straddled him. She pressed her core down a bit more firmly and teased her breasts with the curls on his chest as she pressed them against him as well, rubbing like a cat.

She felt something primal and sensual rise up through her. She felt decadent and desirable.

“You’re quite the tease there, Deeg.” Oooh, the low rumble. She felt it through his chest, all that need and hunger just for her.

“Mmmm… and don’t you just love it. I bet your gonna plan all sorts of ways to pay me back.” She scooted back a bit, until she felt his manhood at full staff against her bottom.

She loved when he talked all seductive and sexual. Just maybe…

“Can you feel how wet I am for you, baby? Down your rather delicious stomach. I bet you do.” She ground herself against him and allowed the moan that rose up in her to escape.

His muscles tightened again. Oh yeah, he liked that. His hands on the headboard were white knuckled. She bet it was taking all he had not to grab her by the waist and guide her. Bossy man. Or maybe he just longed to touch her, to run his hands over her. Now that was a nice thought.

“And I didn’t even have to touch you.” He half smirked.

Arrogant.

Her palms ran over his firm chest and her fingertips traced the sculpted muscles there. He had wonderfully defined chest. She bet he was in better shape than most guys her age. Her fingernails scraped over his nipples and he hissed, arching up a bit.

“I love to touch you, Wyatt. Your skin is so hot, and I feel goosebumps rise when something’s just right. It feels so good sliding against my own.” She leaned down again. “But I like tasting you just as much. You taste so good, Cain.”

He groaned and his entire body shuddered. “You’re killing me.”

“But what a way to go.” She let her tongue circle one flat, male nipple, feeling it bud, much like her own did. She lapped at it experimentally, and feeling his reaction even as she heard his gasp, she scraped her teeth over it then sucked on his skin.

“God, Deeg. I need to touch you.” Wyatt growled. She loved growly Wyatt.

She pulled back and looked into his face. Tense, but in a good way now. His eyes were so dark with arousal. “Not yet, big boy. I get to have fun, remember. And while this is my own personal Disneyland, I haven’t enjoyed all the rides yet.”

Oh a fire was already started in her, and she stoked it for both of them. She rose up and moved backward, just brushing his erection with her folds before sitting on his thighs. She bent back to work, pressing kisses along his ribs, her tongue traced along the crease of his hip. She knew her hair was tickling him, brushing over his manhood.

Cain was breathing hard now. “Damn right there will be payback, Darlin’. This is cruel and unusual.”

She paused to lay her cheek on his upper thigh, looking at him. He was hard, thick and uncircumcised. She reached out to wrap her hand around him, soft skin over such hardness.

“Fuck. DG.” He hissed and arched off the bed.

“Eventually.” She promised with a smile he couldn’t see.

She could feel his throbbing pulse along the underside, and she let go to trace her fingers along that vein. Wyatt arched up again. Her hand slipped around to cup his sacs, feeling their weight against her fingers and she rose to taste the fluid starting to bead at the tip of him.

It was bitter, a bit thicker than she had expected. She swirled her tongue around him before taking the tip into her mouth and applying suction.

He almost cleared the bed, every muscle straining and she had to move back.

“DG,” his voice was full of warning. But his hands remained holding the headboard. She was pretty sure the wood would have finger indentations.

“Do you want something, Tin Man?” She sat up, looking into his eyes.

“You know what I want.” Clenched teeth. He really was at the end of his rope.

“I can take a guess. I suppose you’ve earned it.” DG murmured.

She rose to her knees and knee walked forward. Taking him in hand once more she guided him where she wanted and slowly sank down onto him. She savored the feeling of fullness slowly moving up inside her.

Wyatt Cain groaned. “I don’t think I can take this.”

Using her knees and thighs she rose again, then let herself down once more.

“You can let go, baby. I’ve had most of my fun.” DG grinned. “Riding the Carousal was always the best part of any fun park.”

Cain let go at once and his hands moved to her waist, but slid up her ribs to cup her breast, teasing them with his palms. He was biting his bottom lip and gasping with each rise and fall of DG’s body. Once he’d gathered himself he looked into her face. “I don’t have a clue what you just said.”

“I’ll explain later.” She was gasping, herself. Oh, she had become so aroused in arousing him. Riding him was torture as she tried to hold back.

He sat up, making her downward thrust shallower. She mewl and pouted, but found that in this position they were of equal height.

“You are gonna pay for every minute of that.” He promised.

“Yay, me.” She grinned.

His hand moved to the back of her head, pulling her in for another deep, hungry kiss as his other hand slipped between them to hasten her along.

They worked together now to reach the same point. Both climbing higher and higher so that it didn’t take long before stars exploded behind DG’s eyes. She felt the waves rippling through her as she clenched, hard, around him.

Wyatt threw his head back as she felt him come along for the ride with her.

Both of them were out of breath, sweaty and just about unable to move. They were pretty much propping one another up as aftershocks rippled through them.

“I don’t think I can move.” DG muttered against Cain’s neck.

“Well, I know that feeling.” Was muttered unto her shoulder.

“So… payback, huh?”

“Mmm… about that entertainment…”

My life sucketh

Tue, 13 May 2008 18:24:52 GMT

Well, as of Wednesday of last week I am unemployed again.

I did miss time, due to illness (with medical backup and excuses) but the last two days I missed time was due to severe manic episodes. I’m on Xanax three times daily now to keep me from jumping out of my skin. But hey, the gardening is coming along GREAT. Now if the mania would kick in on cleaning.

Seeking employment in this job market sucks. I’m not sure how much help the agency will be sue to my phenomenal streak of shitty luck. I was honest with them from the start about the Bipolar disorder. I haven’t had a BAD episode in a year, and that was depressive.

Of course while manic I have periods of wanting to rip people’s heads off. Don’t worry, I don’t have the upper body strength for that.

So I’m going out of my head here. Not only looking for work but just my family. Maybe I’ll try walking a bit around Lake Scranton. I’m in no shape to go very far.

I really need a social life. Seriously.

Any fellow Tin Man Fans

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 01:57:51 GMT

We were told to Pimp, so I'm Pimping:

tmfictionawards is currently taking votes for the nominated fanfiction. True, I have two pieces nominated, but I also nominated. "Northern Lights" by Fiestyfox and "In Marbled Halls" by Chibi_Kaz are highly recomended reading. If you do not stop in to vote, go back a page to the nomination posts. There are links there to some very well written fic, people.

But the Pimp is a get out the vote campeign, so go, vote...

Meme

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:54:01 GMT

Can’t recall where I saw this Meme. Sorry.

Top ten FICTIONAL men you wouldn’t kick outta bed:

1.) Wyatt Cain (Tinman)

2.) Cpt. Malcolm Reynolds (Firefly/Serenity)

3.) Cpt. Jack Harkness (Torchwood/Doctor Who)

4.) The Ninth Doctor (Doctor Who)

5.) Hurley (Lost) [You read right]

6.) Severus Snape (Harry Potter)

7.) Legolas (LOTR) [That dates back pre-movie]

8.) Haldir (LOTR) [That doesn’t]

9.) Jareth (Labyrinth)

10.)Spike (Buffy/Angel) [Might kill me but It’s be worth it]

Hmmm… by my first three picks… I’d say I have a long, swishy coat fetish…
Hey, if they're fictional, I won't be afraid of 'em...

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:58:26 GMT

Wow! "Learning to Dance" has been nominated for an award at Tinman Fanfiction Awards. I'm thrilled.

I have to admit, I'm a tad suprised "Under the Vaneer" wasn't nominated. I'm particularly proud of that little piece of smut and it's garnered the most responses of any of my fics so far.

But still having been nominated is a big ... wow. Someone likes me. :^)

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:56:37 GMT

22 Icons here
(16) Tinman
(2) Alice in Wonderland
(4) Random

Please cridit purplerhino if you take.
Please comment if you take.

Teasers:

Tinman:

001

002

003

004

005

006

007

008

009

010

011

012

013

014

015

016

Alice In Wonderland:

017

018

Random:

019

020

021

022

Smut Fic Part Two

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 23:00:08 GMT

Part One is HERE.

Title: Under the Veneer (Part Deux)
Author: purplerhino

His body was strong, beautifully muscled. He kept to the same training regimen he insisted the guards follow. The crisp, blond hair on his chest faded to his stomach and took up at is navel, forming a line that led the eye downward. If there had ever been any doubt that he wanted her, there was no room for it now. DG swallowed, her mouth gone dry. This might still hurt and be uncomfortable after all. But he was beautiful.

Wyatt lay down on his side next to her. He kissed her again, his tongue dancing with hers, and there was no doubt who was taking the lead. He broke the kiss to nuzzle under her chin, to lap at the soft skin of her throat, so she had to bare it to him. This was submission at its most basic, primal level. She felt the nip of his teeth and the soothing caress of his tongue. When he stopped, she opened her eyes, unaware she had closed them. She looked up to see him watching her face as one hand cupped her breast, teasing the nipple to a hard point, fluttering desire through her, straight to her core.

“Darlin’, I have to know if you’ve done this before.” His hand left her breast to glide down and rest on her stomach, just above her navel his fingers splayed there.

DG swallowed, pressing up to his hand. Even that simple touch left her aching. “Once.”

His eyes took on another look, that possessive look that indicated Jimmy Calahan may be a dead man if he didn’t live on the Other Side.

“It was less than stellar.” She admitted. He might not know what ‘stellar’ meant, but he got the gist of it.

Wyatt leaned in, his lips brushing her ear as he spoke in that low, husky voice full of complete confidence. “Sweetheart, it isn’t gonna be a question of if I’m gonna make you come, but how hard and how many times.”

DG whimpered.

She saw him smirk, noting too well how his words affected her.

He bent over her, swirling his tongue around her breast, finally taking her nipple into the heat of his mouth, drawing on her, feeding off her desire as she lost herself in raw sensation once more. DG found herself clasping him to her, arching up against his mouth, offering more, offering anything and everything.

His hands once more traced her body as he moved to lavish attention on her other breast. His hot, rough fingers enflamed her skin, leaving a throbbing need in their wake. Then his mouth was everywhere, lips and tongue knowing her form even more intimately than she did. Each place he lay his mouth was teased with hot lips and tongue, only to let the lingering wetness grow rapidly cool when he moved on. She was left gasping, wanting, needing to the point it was almost painful.

Yet every time she tried to stroke, trace, touch Wyatt he stilled her hands and shook his head.

“Darlin’, don’t think I don’t want you to. But you have me so hot right now, if you do anything more, this is gonna be real short.”

He returned to his ministrations and she arched off the bed with a gasping cry when she felt one finger pressed into her. Oh shit, she was not going to live through this. His finger moved slowly, in and out as he pressed a kiss to her navel. Another finger joined the first and both curled inside her, searching for and finding a place that actually stole her breath, she could not breathe as the bolt of pleasure jolted from that place, through her body, promising so much more. His thumb came into play, stroking her with each press of his fingers. DG heard incoherent sounds coming from her own mouth. Wyatt’s teeth nipped along her ribs as his fingers worked within her. Pumping within her and firmly pressing up to that spot.

DG held on to his shoulders, her nails biting into his skin, drawing blood in some places and eliciting a low growl from Wyatt. She fought for purchase in the sea of passion overwhelming her. He was all she had to cling to. Her head turned from side to side on the pillow and her breath was coming in short little gasps. The wave broke over her, washing her away as an orgasm the likes of which she’d never known seized her. But his stroking fingers and clever thumb didn’t allow her to come down. He coaxed her body to prolong that peak as she cried his name and God’s and for the moment they were completely interchangeable.

He finally had mercy, just before the drawn out pleasure and his ministrations became painful.

She opened her eyes, once more unaware she had closed them, to see Wyatt stretched out on his side beside her and propped up on one elbow. He was watching her, had watched her as he’d wrung that pleasure from her.

“Beautiful.” The word fell from his lips with soft reverence. His hand and fingers leaving her bereft, aching so acutely she cried from it.

DG wasn’t sure she could move after that, wasn’t sure she wanted to.

Then she watched him bring his hand to his lips and he sucked her juices from his fingers, his eyes never leaving hers. Only a small line of silver rimmed his pupils in the dark sensuality of his gaze.

Okay, in her dreams, nothing like any of that had ever happened. She would never, in a million years, have guessed that the man who blushed so easily was hiding this look under the brim of his hat. That he’d become so unrestrained and dominant as a lover. Or how erotic she found it.

She had to look away from the single-minded intensity of his scrutiny.

She felt him shift, and his weight press down on her.

“DG, look at me.” Wyatt’s voice was rough with desire. Desire for her.

She felt herself responding to the feel of his weight, the way the hair of his chest abraded her already sensitized nipples making her ache again. His earlier words came back to taunt her. Could he really do that to her again?

He was above her and she was all too aware of him: thick and heavy and ready for her. He was, she had to admit, a little intimidating. She felt him poised, ready, right there as her body strained towards him even as a part of her brain warned that this was going to hurt.

Oh, yes. No doubt about it, he could drive her to that peak again. She was helpless to resist him, had no real will to.

“Wyatt.” She was pleading and felt no shame in it.

As if his name were some sort of signal, she felt him thrust into her, hard and deep. She cried out from the suddenness of it, from the feeling of complete fullness, stretching her, pushing her limits, yet somehow still making her want more. The expected pain hadn’t come. Somehow, he just barely fit, as if they were made perfectly for each other.

He clasped her face in his hands and made her eyes meet his.

“Look at me, sweetheart. I want you to know exactly who’s inside you. I want you to say my name again.” His words were spoken through clenched teeth. “God, DG, you’re so tight, hot. Do you have any idea how I feel while I take you like this?

Those words only added to the increasing yearning, that desperate need taking her over once more. Take her—that was exactly what he was doing.

“Oh God. Wyatt.” She couldn’t tear her gaze away if she tried now.

And he was moving: a sure, steady pace, filling her and making her ache for his absence again and again.

She watched him, looked into his eyes so all she knew was Wyatt. Not Cain, not her Tin Man, not her bodyguard or shadow. Wyatt, the man. The man who loved her, and whom she loved right back. This hidden Wyatt, so passionate and intense it was on the verge of frightening even though she never stopped feeling safe. He was all male in a way she never understood before.

And, oh God she was going to die from this. She clutched at his shoulders, trying to brace herself as her body found the rhythm of his. He was relentless, thrusting harder, deeper, a piston driving into her as he lost himself in primitive need. She could only wrap her arms and legs around him and try to keep up as his body drove deeply, fiercely into hers. Every thrust he made slid against her oversensitive bundle of nerves, pushing her mercilessly towards the edge once more.

Her eyes broke from hers as he came in to kiss her hard, almost bruising. His tongue demanded entrance and she had no desire to fight him. His taste was in her mouth, his body was in hers: she was surrounded by him, infused with him. She breathed him. The kiss broke away from her and his mouth was sealed over her shoulder. He bit down, hard, marking her, claiming her as his and his alone for all the world to see.

Then she was splintering into a million pieces as wave after wave of erotic bliss washed through her, dragging her clenching and screaming his name.

Wyatt’s hands grasped her hips, and she knew there would be marks there as he continued to drive into her. Then he let out a hoarse shout of her name. She could feel him spilling into her in hot bursts as she wrung his release from him.

Wyatt seemed as shaky as she felt as he lifted himself up to his elbows and looked down at her, his body weighty on her, but comforting, spent but still buried inside her.

So that was what all the fuss was about. Oh yeah, she could get to like this very much!

“Well…” Words were slowly returning to DG now as she licked her lips, her voice sounding odd to her own ears. “This wasn’t how I imagined today would go.”

His smile was brilliant and his chuckle pushed through her body. “Me neither. I figured at least another week before you caught on.”

He shifted off her and she whimpered at the loss of him as he pulled her against him, not willing to let her go yet.

“You’re bossy.” She mumbled against his chest. “And you bit me. Like a damn vampire.”

“Yep, and… yep.” Not in the least bit contrite. His fingers danced over the bruise on her shoulder. His mark. “No doubts and no hiding.”

“No hiding.” She agreed.

She was his now, even if she were to attempt to argue the fact. But she decided he was hers right back. Let’s see who gets nippy next time, buster. Oh… did cops in the O.Z. have handcuffs? She’d have to show him he couldn’t always be in charge.

“And you’re going to marry me.” His voice cut through her already active imaginings. “I mean it. I don’t do things half way.” He stated as if it were already decided.

“See. Bossy.” Oh, she was already sore. But it was a good sore. The kind you don’t mind feeling again. She felt their combined wetness slick between her thighs and she didn’t mind.

“That wasn’t a ‘no’.” He pointed out.

“Jerk.”

-FIN