Solace

But he didn't rush, didn't get ahead of himself despite his burning need to have her just as much. He kissed her for a long time before he finally released her mouth and she was panting for breath as he moved down, kissing her jaw and her throat, tasting her sweat at the place where her pulse thundered against his lips and then lower, across her collarbone and down her shoulder, across the upper slopes of her breasts and then down the valley between. He kissed down across her chest, across the bottom of her ribs and then the line of the middle of her belly down until he found her navel. She lay on her back and stared at him her head raised a little and her eyes open wide, her lips parted as she gasped and panted for breath. He looked up at her and in the instant that their eyes met a stronger connection than ever before was formed and she moaned in anticipation as his mouth kissed lower, across the soft flesh of her lower belly and the soft downy hair that covered her mons. It was just a little trail, all that she had left when she had shaved the day before in preparation for this trip. His breath stirred the soft curls and his lips kissed her mons and then over and across the rise of her hip, down to her upper thigh. Her legs were already spread from being around his waist, but his shoulders pushed them further apart and she watched with wide, unblinking eyes as his mouth moved and a soft, tender kiss was placed on the bared lips of her sex.

He drew a moan from her instantly and she took a shaking breath, falling back among the sheets as the kiss deepened, his tongue caressing her folds and parting her labia to caress her entrance and vestibule. She whimpered as his hands caressed the insides of her thighs, gently touching the warm flesh and sliding toward her apex until his thumbs stopped on either side of his mouth. He applied a little pressure with his hands and spread her open like a flower. She sobbed a little as he feasted on her bare sex. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before. Not a single lover in her past had ever gone down on her and Dan was more than just willing, he was honestly enjoying what he was doing. He had always enjoyed performing oral on his partners and it showed as he settled in comfortably and devoured her. His tongue delved her deep; he lapped at her nectar and explored every part of her body with his tongue. She was writhing and twisting on the bed, her hands pulling at the covers and her back arching as he coaxed deep moans of pleasure from her. Her body temperature sky-rocketed and soon her skin was soaked with sweat and her hair was damp as she sobbed and squirmed.

It felt so good that she couldn't think of anything past that sensation, her already lust-addled mind focused entirely now on where his mouth feasted on her. She felt her pleasure rising, felt the swell of an orgasm and she tried to brace for it, but she was still caught unawares, still surprised when it exploded out from her core. Her back arched painfully far, her thighs shook and she cried out as he didn't relent, his mouth moving to the swollen pearl of her clit and sucking hard, the rough tip of his tongue teasing the little button and dragging her orgasm out for a long time. When it finally left her it was just as suddenly as it had come. One moment there was pleasure, nearly enough to make her black out and then it was ebbing away so suddenly that she was left afloat in a cold void for the absence of sensation. She had just had the most powerful orgasm of her life and he had only used his mouth. What was she going to do if he was that eager and that adept with the rest of his body? She was about to find out the answer to her question, however as she looked to see him standing at the foot of the bed, kicking his shoes off as he unbuckled his belt and as he slid his pants down she stared, watching to see what he would reveal.

To her his cock looked massive, but she later realized that he was little more than average, just seven thick inches. As he knelt on the bed and started kissing his way back up her body again. She was almost panting for breath as he moved up across her hips, then up her belly and her ribs and when he reached her breasts she watched as he ever so delicately covered a nipple with his mouth and suckled for a moment before he went to the other and did the same. After a long time spent kissing and sucking at her breasts, he kissed upward and when he reached her mouth finally she curled her lips in a smile and met him eagerly, her legs lifting to wrap around him once again as he lay atop her. She tasted herself on his lips, but she didn't care, she felt so strongly about him that she accepted everything. She felt the heavy heat of his shaft resting against her slit and she was so hungry to feel him within her that she pressed up, lifting her hips and making little moaning sounds into the kiss in an attempt to get him to take her. She needed him more than she ever had before and if she didn't get what she needed soon she was afraid she would die. It was such an acute feeling that her arousal mixed with dread as she honestly believed it.

If something happened to distract him... the phone ringing, a knock at the door, or the end of the world... then she knew that she would die, that this mixture of need and neglect would kill her right where she was and she wouldn't even be able to utter a sound before the end came. She was so honestly afraid of that that as he released her lips she turned to stare at her cell phone laying on the night stand and she wished fervently that she had turned it off or that it would fall and break. She knew that if Karen called right now to joke around... She left the thought unfinished, for at that moment Dan adjusted and she had a moment where she could feel the tip of his shaft at her entrance before he thrust forward and she cried out as he filled her completely in a single thrust. Her back arched and her hands curled into claws, dragging her nails across his back and shoulders, leaving deep scratches behind that trickled blood in a few places. He didn't notice as he groaned at the feel of her around him, her body so heated that her core was like a furnace. She clenched him with her inner muscles, her already tight passage even tighter with the need in her and she almost drew him in, that first thrust enough that he pressed hard at her cervix with next to no effort. She was sobbing in orgasm as he looked down at her and he knew for sure in that instant what he had been almost positive about for three months.

He loved her.

There was no more denying it, no doubts or fears, no second thoughts or wondering. He was in love with this woman and he wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his life with her. He wanted to buy a house, raise a family, and mow the lawn and shop for baby blankets. He wanted her, and he wanted her for the rest of his life. If he couldn't spend his life with her, then life wasn't worth living. And when Bobbi looked up into his eyes she felt the exact same way, she wanted to feel life swell within her, wanted to hold a baby with his eyes and she wanted to walk down the aisle at a church to where he was waiting, she wanted to see him down on one knee and she wanted to grow old with him. She smiled into his eyes then and they kissed tenderly, joined as closely as they had ever been before, more intimate and comfortable with one another than they had ever been with anyone else. Their kiss finally broke and he rose up a little, looking down at her there on the bed as her hands caressed his neck and face. He smiled a bit and kissed her palm before he looked back to her again.

"I love you." He said softly and he saw that the words hit her like a blow. He felt suddenly a little afraid, feeling that he had gone a little too far until she smiled, a tear escaping her eye to roll down her cheek.

"And I love you." She said very softly and they kissed again.

They lingered just like that for a long time, unmoving and content. She cooled a little as they lost all track of time and place, as they seemed to meld into one another and the world fell away. There was no need for movement, for as they were was better than any sex either of them had ever experienced. It was a perfect union, a perfect harmony between the pair of them and their love cemented as they just lay there with each other and kissed tenderly. When he finally shifted and his length slid through her core she moaned very softly, very gently but with a sound that nearly finished him right then and there. She was so sexy and so eager that he was already close when he had been pleasuring her with his mouth but now he was fighting for every second that he could possibly last. He took a deep breath and moved a little more, drawing back half way then pushing back into her again with a slow, shallow stroke. Bobbi moaned and writhed under him, her lips parting and everything she did made him more and more attracted to her, made him want her a little more than he already did, made him that much closer to losing what little tenuous control that he had. It was hard and he fought for it as he moved through her again, his teeth gritted and his hands braced on the bed as he stroked through her, fighting the pleasure, fighting the release. He knew that sex was about more than just the little bit at the end that said he was done. His climax was, to him, the least part of sex and he didn't care if he ever finished. The pure act felt better to him than any climax he had ever had in his life and he moved through her with deliberate slowness and fought to get himself under control.

After several long minutes when he battled with himself, his will pitted against his flesh, he felt the urge to climax recede and vanish and he relaxed a little. He moved through her slowly still, just short strokes of a few inches that stimulated them both. But as he grew more confident that he could control himself he went a little faster, a little longer in his strokes and the response from her was wonderful. Her mouth opened and a moan escaped her that threatened to send him right back to that struggle. But he stomped down on his urges and thrust his own release to the back of his mind ruthlessly. He moved a little faster, a little deeper and a little harder with each thrust and she focused on him, her eyes unblinking as her body, so hot that he could feel it radiating off of her, moved with him. They were both sweating freely by now and the duvet was a tangled mess around them.

She pulled at the covers and her legs slipped down around his legs until he reached back and grasped one and pulled it up, resting the back of her knee on his shoulder as he thrust. She stared at him, her mouth open wide and her eyes filled with awe and shock as he straddled her other leg and the new angle allowed him to strike deeper and stroke across different parts of her core. It was a unique sensation and she moaned and sobbed as an orgasm rose up in her body and she squirmed and writhed as it got closer and closer. When it finally broke over her she arched her back, twisting onto her side on the bed and she felt a hand grasp her breast hard as he kept moving through her. She pulled at his wrist and clawed at the covers until she could lie on her back and look up at him. The hunger and release in her eyes, the love and need were all too much for him and as she was riding through her own orgasm he was suddenly unable to fight his own pleasure and he groaned as he spent into her body. The flood of his climax was so sudden and unexpected that there was no way to stop it, no way to deny it and no chance to pull out of her. They were both too aroused to think about condoms or birth control and at that moment they didn't care. They both felt the most intense and powerful pleasure of their lives and the mutual release was so complete that they didn't even care if there were consequences.

As they came down together she reached up and drew him into a kiss. He released her leg and she lay flat on her back as they kissed for a long time. He slowly softened and when he slipped from her body, followed by a flood of their mixed fluids, she whimpered at the loss, feeling suddenly hollow and cold. She had felt complete while they were together and now that they weren't anymore she felt bereft and alone. But he kissed that away and she held onto him as they slowly drifted to sleep.

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NOW

It had been a good weekend. They barely left the room after that first night and he was sure that the staff hated them for the mess they had left behind. But they were so eager and hungry for one another that they ordered food in and just stayed in the bed. He snorted a bit when he thought of that. They hadn't even thought of condoms, he sure that they were safe, she confident in her birth control pills. It was no wonder she had gotten pregnant. She had gone to meet his family for Canadian thanksgiving and had gotten on with his parents very well. She was accepted into the family and he knew on that visit that he wanted to marry her. But it was the trip down into New York to visit her family that cemented it for them both.

As he stood by his car and stared out across the green lawn he didn't see the other car stop a few hundred feet away, the driver inside staring at him with wide eyes, tears rolling down her face.

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FIVE YEARS EARLIER

They drove through the rolling woodlands of upstate New York to the comfortable strains of Gordon Lightfoot. There was snow on the ground and they were warm in the car, but Dan could tell that Bobbi was distracted. It was the last week of November and they had the road largely to themselves, and usually when they drove anywhere Bobbi liked to chat and talk, but on this trip she was silent, staring out the window at the trees and the snow. He was a bit concerned, because he had never seen her so still, so contemplative before. She was smart, he knew that, but to see her this lost in thought was a little concerning to him. They had taken a long detour, not being in any real hurry, and the side trek through Quebec had been scenic and relaxing and then they had stayed overnight in Montreal, made slow, sweet love in their hotel room and he had awakened in the middle of the night to hear her softly weeping. He had consoled her but she hadn't spoken on what was troubling her. He let her have her privacy, knowing that she would share when she was ready.

They stopped for lunch at a little restaurant in a tiny community in the high pines and spent some time walking along the little streets and looking in the shops at the antiques and collectibles that were on sale and they settled at a little kiosk by a wood fire pit for hot tea. Bobbi held her cup without drinking and after a long time she looked up at him. He could tell that she was about to say something important so he gave her his full attention, ready to be supportive and helpful, thinking he was prepared for anything. But she still floored him.

"Listen, Dan..." She started and he waited, giving her time to form up her thoughts, seeing the troubled look on her face. "I know that I've been pretty withdrawn the last few days, not the kind of person you met, really."

"I'll take you however I can get you." He said with a soft smile and she smiled back, but he could see that she was close to tears.

"Dan, I'm pregnant." She said, and he dropped his cup. He had been expecting her to have a trip she had to go on, to need some time to herself, for her to have any of a thousand things to say. But she had said the one thing he wasn't expecting. She watched him for a moment and he could see how afraid she was, how close to tears and he stepped forward and hugged her tight.

She clung to him and buried her face in his parka to sob. Her small frame was rocked by the sobs. He soothed her and when she was ready they moved to a nearby café to sit in a quiet booth together. Her eyes were red and puffy and he could see her hands shaking so bad they couldn't even hold a tissue.

"I wasn't sure at first, I mean; it's not something you want to talk about unless you are one hundred percent sure." She said and he took her hands in his to stop her shaking. "I haven't told anyone yet, not even Karen. I wanted you to be the first to know."

He saw just how afraid she was as she finally looked into his eyes. She was terrified that this would split them apart, that he would be gone when she woke up tomorrow and leave her stranded with a child and no support. He had to put that to rest immediately.

"I'm not going anywhere, Bobbi." He said with a reassuring squeeze of her hands. "I'll be there for you, ready to support you, ready to help however you need." He said and she smiled, the hurt and fear still in her eyes, but now there was hope and reassurance too.

"Aren't you going to ask if I'm sure it's yours?" She asked and he shook his head.

"I trust you." It was all he had to say, all he needed to say and she smiled and lifted his hands to kiss his fingers, her tears cool on his skin. "I mean, we were always careful to use condoms and you're on birth control." He said and she laughed a little as she grabbed a napkin off of the table to blow her nose.

"The first time, that whole weekend really, we didn't." She said.

"But it was just that one time." He said and she snorted with laughter, covering her mouth with her hand as she was wont to do when she was really amused.

"More like just those six times." She corrected and he smiled and blushed a bit. They had been all over each other that weekend. "But however many times, we must have done it right, because I'm almost two months along. The doctor says the baby is healthy and developing normally. And you're the only lover I have." She said and he nodded.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere." He said again and she smiled in thanks. "But I don't believe in getting married just for a child, Bobbi." At this she nodded in understanding.

"Me either. I want to spend my life with you, but we aren't ready to get married yet. It's only been five months, and I want us to see each other for a little longer before we even discuss that." She said in a soft voice and he nodded.

They spent some time sitting in that little café and discussing things, dates and names and schedules. He was going to make time to go to every doctor's appointment with her, he was going to spend as much time with her as he possibly could and they decided to move in together. Karen had a boyfriend she was thinking of moving to live with, and Bobbi had started to dislike her current landlord. So they made plans to look for a new place when they got back to Toronto, a place they could live in together. He held her for a while and they decided to get a room at a local hotel rather than drive the rest of the way into Albany that night. They made love in the small bed and lay in their afterglow together, tangled under the sheets for warmth in the darkness, he with a hand on her still flat tummy and feeling what he thought was the tiny life growing within her. When he kissed the back of her neck she curled her lips in a smile and closed her eyes, her small hands pressed over his larger one, her fears banished. And while she was still anxious and uncertain, she knew that she wasn't alone.

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NOW

Bobbi's parents had been less than thrilled that her boyfriend of five months had gotten her pregnant. But they soon saw just how much Dan cared for her and how much she clearly loved him and by the end of their visit they had accepted their relationship. It would be a while before they were friends but it was the first step along that road. When Aria was born seven months later Bobbi's father had a cigar for him and when Dan asked him for his permission to ask Bobbi to marry him, her father had given his blessing happily.