Years later…

She walked up to the newly erected marker on the grave of her childhood friend and marveled at its elegant simplicity. But then while Cindi had grown up in a wealthy family, she had always enjoyed what money couldn't buy. She would have made one hell of a lawyer, an advocate for those who couldn't afford to pay one if a car accident in a rainstorm hadn't stripped that dream away from her forever.

Cindi's car had run off the road not long after she had graduated with honors from Harvard School of Law and it had really thrown Sierra through a loop. But she got back on track after taking time off to travel to Europe just to get away from everything for a while.

The funeral had been beautiful, the right combination of both the celebration and memorialization of her life. But a couple of months later, Sierra had stood alone by where the coffin had just been lowered into the ground and backfilled before a new patch of grass had covered it like a blanket.

"Cindi what am I supposed to do?"

She remembered back when they had sat together in the apartment they shared in Boston commons, when they weren't either in classes or at the law library. Cindi had just shaken her head at her after they'd both returned from classes not long after they'd just started their first year there.

"You're supposed to talk with him, tell him what you told me."

Sierra had just sighed.

"Not much to say…the test was negative."

So she had discovered after a couple of weeks wondering if the night she'd spent with him eight weeks earlier in the cabin by the lake had left her pregnant.

"You have a lot to say to him."

Sierra ran her hand through her hair as she often did when unable to make a decision.

"Nothing that won't keep…he's somewhere on the other side of the world trying to stay alive."

Cindi nodded somberly.

"I know, I did hear from Bill," she said, "He's on the frontlines and hasn't heard from Kane lately."

"That's because Kane's somewhere working deep behind some lines. He can't say where."

She had talked to him or emailed him a couple of times since they had gone in their separate directions. She'd been so busy getting ambushed by her studies because law school turned out to be every bit as difficult as she'd been told but she found herself enjoying it. In the midst of all of it of course, she had to take the pregnancy test in between exams in torts and property law.

"You still need to find him and tell him…"

Now years later, Sierra stood beside the grave of one of her closest friends and once again she had a decision to make. Of course she had never told him anything though there had been times she'd been tempted, but the timing had never been right.

Like last week, when Kane had asked her how she felt about his impulsive decision to marry Susan, the one he'd gone out with at Texas State University and broke up before graduation. They'd run into each other again just six months months earlier and had picked up where they left off…enough so that when she had left him to go back to her clothes styling business in Milan, he'd missed her.

After a brief absence, Susan returned soon enough and a few seconds later or so it had seemed, he'd proposed marriage to her and she'd accepted. Sierra and the secretarial pool at Kane's securities firm hadn't seen this one coming quickly enough to start a betting pool before the announcement had already been made.

But when Kane finally asked her about her feelings on his upcoming nuptials, she hadn't much to say about it except to wish him the best.

It had been Shana's idea to throw the bachelorette party. That had surprised her at first because Kane's best administrative assistant had seemed so demure but after thinking about it, Sierra had agreed to help her.

They had rented out a small club which served the best honey barbecued chicken wings and six brands of tequila, the perfect combination to create the right atmosphere for Susan and any friends she might have to get down and party before she'd walk down the aisle. Not that Susan had that many friends, she'd grown up isolated from most of the real world even when she'd attended Cambridge University, and she'd enjoyed her own suite. So Sierra and Shana invited the entire secretarial pool to the party and then hit up a few novelty stores on Melrose and Hollywood Blvd for party favors.

Shana and she had been strolling down the aisle checking out the rather naughty cookie molds.

"Never saw one of these while growing up back in Kansas."

Sierra frowned inspecting one of them shaped like…well it was pretty obvious.

"I think they were banned in Texas."

Shana sighed.

"Do you think Susan's going to enjoy the party," she said, "I wonder if it'll just embarrass. She seems a bit…"

"Prissy? Oh no, I don't think so, you can't be like that with a man like Kane."

Shana turned and looked at her suddenly, an eyebrow rose.

"And you'd know that how?"

Sierra felt like she said too much and as Shana looked at her in greater scrutiny, she felt certain. She was sure that Shana and the other secretaries speculated about what kind of relationship she and Kane shared, especially during all those times he'd battle his way past a wall of employees and meet up with Sierra after closing the French Doors behind him. Not that anything had been going on; they held meetings there and researched software on their computers.

Still she could understand why people might wonder about the two of them. But she just folded her arms at Shana.

"I'm not saying…I don't kiss and tell."

Well, that only raised the ante on the speculation that had only increased after Kane had proposed to Susan. She'd already had Melody, Tiffani and Amber walk up to her, pat her on the shoulder and tell her they'd take her out for drinks after the wedding if she needed to get anything off of her chest.

"So what happened with the two of you?"

Sierra continued to look at different sales items in a casual manner.

"Whatever we shared was a long time ago," she said, "in the past before we came to L.A."

Both of Shana' brows shot up this time.

"I knew it…was he hot?"

Sierra paused as the memories begin to fill her head.

"Yeah…but that was years ago. Now he's about to get married to some woman he just reunited with a few months ago.

Shana nodded.

"Yeah he does have that high maintenance woman thing going," she said, "I don't get why he picked her. She's not that pretty and do you notice how she criticizes everything he does?"

Sierra more than noticed it. In fact, more than once she'd wanted to smack Susan when she made one of her sharply honed criticisms of Kane and his career as an investigator. Instead she would just smile at her and change the subject, keeping her feelings to herself.

Still because Kane had always been her best friend, she had agreed to help Shana with the bachelorette party.

Only what happened at the party had shocked even her. Susan had hit the tequila pretty quickly and it had hit her back pretty hard. She had started dancing after the second shot glass and even the hired male stripper hadn't been able to keep up with her.

"Just look at her up there," Shana said, "and where is she putting her hands?"

Sierra just watched as Susan got up on the table, which shifted beneath her weight and the dancer just looked at her as she began to gyrate to the music.

"I've never seen this side of her before," she said, "but then I don't know her well."

Shana sighed.

"Should we rein her in a little bit?"

Sierra just watched Susan and saw that she was having a good time at her own party and shook her head.

"No…let her have her fun," she said, "She hasn't broken any laws yet."

The other employees watched the events while dining on the chicken wings and chips dipped in ranch dressing. Sierra just sat down at one of the tables, her mind elsewhere.

Kane rode in the car with his cousin, Bill to meet Buck at the Bistro for dinner. They had just closed two more investigative cases out just in time for the wedding which would take place in a couple of days. He had finished making most of the arrangements with Sierra 's help, which left him grateful to her given that he knew she wasn't thrilled about his decision to marry Susan.

She hadn't told him that of course but he had known her most of his life so he could read the small signs she'd been giving off that she felt the wedding was a mistake.

"So you are going to have a bachelor party?"

Kane looked over at Bill as they turned onto Sunset Blvd to head back to PCH.

"I don't think so," he said, "Just got to get this paperwork finished up before we head off to Tahiti."

Bill leaned back in his seat.

"Oh come on…you're going to hitch up with a woman you just met and you're not even going to party it up before the wedding?"

Kane turned into the restaurant's parking lot.

"No…I think I'm done with that part of my life," he said, "I'm ready to settle down."

Bill looked like he didn't believe him but Kane felt that he finally felt ready to take this major step in his life.

"I'm serious too…it's time to start thinking about having a family of my own."

The two men got out of the car after Kane parked it to head inside the restaurant to order some of the best pizza in L.A. After settling into a booth, they ordered a pitcher of beer and started in on the garlic bread.

"Nothing wrong with getting serious about one woman and settling down…"

Kane raised his brows.

"What about you, do you ever think about doing that?"

Bill paused for a long moment and Kane knew he had his answer. During the dozen or so years he'd spent recovering from his military service and the traumatic injuries he experienced, he probably had woven a lot of dreams to pass time and to hold onto his sanity. But life had eased up on him a bit and he enjoyed his new stint as a therapist for military veterans.

Bill had sought intensive therapy for his post-traumatic stress disorder and he'd began slowly to rebuild his life carving out something new from what had been taken from him forever. His therapy had helped him address the demons of his past experiences and to focus on his future. Now he wanted to pass on that benefit to others like him and do some other things as well.

This right now involved serving as his cousin's best man at his wedding. Only Bill hadn't seemed any more excited than Sierra had been when he got the news of the engagement.

Bill fingered his beer glass looking at Kane.

"Are you sure this is what you wanted cuz?"

Kane leaned forward to look directly at the man in front of him.

"Yeah I'm sure…as sure as I've ever been about a woman," he said, "and in a couple of days we're getting married."

Bill nodded as he accepted that bit of information and that Kane indeed knew what he was doing.

At least that's what he told himself.

Sierra looked up at Susan who had spent the past hour or so dancing it up with the hired stripper. But finally a couple shots too many had sent her sinking to the table, which toppled beneath her weight but didn't fall.

"I'm not feeling so good."

Sierra arched her brow at the bride to be.

"I'm not surprised, how many shots did you down anyway?"

Susan's brow furrowed as if she were trying to count them all but her mind felt too fuzzy to get very far. Sierra knew that she'd drunk at least three, maybe four shots rimmed with salt and that's before she had started dancing.

"I'm getting married in a couple of days…"

It came out as a whisper but Sierra still heard it as she watched Shana and the other secretaries remove the fake leis they wore as party favors and start cleaning up the glasses and discarded plates.

"I know Susan. This is the fourth time you've told me in the past hour."

The Irish heiress looked at her and just sighed, rubbing her forehead with one of her hands. It definitely looked like she would have one hell of a hangover in the morning…oh wait it was morning so she was already on her way there.

"I'm…sorry it's just that I'm so excited…"

She didn't look thrilled, she looked as if she were about to hurl so Sierra went to soak a cloth to hand it back to her.

"Thanks," Susan said, "I don't know what came over me. I usually don't…drink…well not this much."

Sierra looked over at Shana who joined them and just shrugged her shoulders.

"It's just a party and you kicked loose a little…well in your case a lot."

Shana smiled.

"The dancer seemed to enjoy what was going on and the generous tip you gave him."

Susan's face flushed and she ran the damp cloth across it.

"It didn't mean anything. I was just having some fun…you know before the wedding."

Sierra looked at Shana again and then back at Susan.

"You're not nervous about it are you?"

Susan snorted.

"Of course not…I'm in love with Kane and he loves me and when we get married, we're going to have a beautiful life together."

"I'm sure you will…and I do know he cares about you."

Susan frowned.

"He doesn't just care; he loves me…more than he's ever loved anyone."

Sierra and Shana didn't know how to respond to that. After all, it wasn't like it had been the first time Kane had gotten engaged. His earlier fiancées had just gone on the sidelines much earlier in the engagement. Susan had escaped that fate with the wedding only several days away.

So Sierra just patted her on the shoulder again.

"I'm sure he does and that this wedding will be everything you hoped."

That seemed to reassure Susan who smiled back and fingered her empty shot glass. Sierra moved it out of her range.

"You've had enough of that," she said, "We need to get you home."

Susan struggled to get up.

"I can do that…I don't need help."

Sierra sighed.

"You can't drive…here I'll call you a cab.…"

Susan nodded but then grabbed one of Sierra 's arms with her hand.

"Wait…why don't we just talk here for a while?"

Sierra shrugged and poured herself a glass of tequila while Shana looked over at Susan.

"Maybe we should get Kane to come get her."

Sierra shook her head.

"No a cab is better…besides he's out having fun with Bill doing only they know what."

Shana smiled.

"It's good that the two of them get to spend time together," she said, "Catch up on what they lost."

Sierra agreed, the months that Kane and Bill had spent rebuilding their relationship, there had been pitfalls along the way but the two cousins had grown so close again, even more so than before Bill had his nervous breakdown.

Susan tilted her face.

"So if I can't drink, can I at least tell you about what I want for my wedding?"

Shana poured herself another glass.

"It's all been done and taken care of already," she said, "Nothing for you to worry about."

Susan sighed.

"Who's worried? I'm marrying the most wonderful man in the world and our life together Bill be so perfect."

"Kane's a great guy Susan," Sierra said, "I know you'll take care of each other."

Susan then narrowed her eyes over at her.

"And how would you know," she said, "You and he…you've just been friends right?"

Sierra paused not wanting to go down this road with Susan. Not anymore than she'd liked going down it with any of Kane's serious girlfriends.

"Yes…we've just been close friends."

Susan leaned forward to study her more closely.

"And you never slept with him right?"

Sierra hesitated and before she could answer…the other woman just sighed.

"So you have….when was this?"

Sierra bit her lip.

"It's none of your business Susan."

The bride to be crossed her arms, obviously not happy with the revelation.

"I'll be the judge of that…so was it recent?"

Sierra rubbed her forehead with her fingers, easing the tension that had developed. She chose her words carefully.

"No…no it wasn't and it was in the past," she said, "He's with you now where he wants to be."

Susan seemed somewhat placated by that but still looked perturbed.

"I can't believe you did that…how am I supposed to believe it's over between the two of you?"

Sierra looked directly at her.

"It is…not that there was ever anything."

Susan didn't look like she really believed that. But Sierra didn't feel as if there were anything to explain. What she and Kane had shared together was their own business after all. But then Susan just shrugged at her.

"It doesn't matter now does it," she said, "If Kane had any interest in you, he would have shown it a long time ago."

"Okay whatever…listen I'm heading out pretty soon with Shana," Sierra said, "Do you need us to call you a cab?"

Susan pushed her shoulders back.

"I can handle that myself," she said, "Besides I'm not really drunk."

Sierra looked over at Shana and then took a deep breath.

"Yes you are Susan and you don't want to worry Kane about anything happening to you right?"

Susan appeared to think about it.

"Well yes but I can take care of myself," she said, "so I'll call my own cab."

Sierra nodded.

"Okay then, see you later…at the rehearsal."

Susan frowned.

"There's not much to rehearse…not many people in the wedding party."

True, Sierra thought. Kane had opted to have Bill be his best man while she'd been drafted to be the maid of honor for Susan. She'd done it solely for Kane, because he'd been her best friend but she knew she'd be glad when this wedding was done with…except for the fact…no she couldn't think about that…

After all, Kane had made his choice and the least she could do was accept it.

The next day…

"Is it a viable threat Kane?"

Kane looked up at Lt. Troy from where he sat at his desk, with Buck pouring all three of them some Scotch after they had spent the past hour discussing the threatening letter Kane had received from some deranged and faceless individual.

The letter had said that Kane and company had put him behind bars thanks to his security software and now that he was out, there would be hell to pay.

Kane didn't have any idea which of the hundreds of bad men and women his software programs had helped put away these past years had a plan of revenge against him this time. It was easy enough to rule out those who had died until you remembered most of them had relatives.

"I don't know…I have to assume that there might be more than a few people angry enough to come after me on my wedding day right now."

Troy sighed.

"But can you narrow it down to a dozen or so?"

Kane shook his head gazing at his shot glass.

"No…maybe Susan's right about wanting me to quit the securities business."

Both Buck and Troy looked at him sharply just then.

"Quit, would you really do that Kane?"

Troy's voice carried more than a trace of incredibility just at the thought but Buck didn't seem nearly as surprised.

"I don't know…it might not be a bad idea. I don't want my wife or any of our kids being targeted for something that I did."

Troy rubbed his forehead.

"You helped put a lot of bad characters away."

Kane looked up at Troy then knowing it had taken a lot for him to admit that sometimes the police had responded belatedly to concerns raised by Kane about some of the times his security software had raised red flags in investigations.

"Yeah but what's going to happen if one of my children pays the price for that…or Susan?"

Neither man answered right away and Kane sighed again.

"I've already been through this with Sierra and she asked me if I'd give it all up and I couldn't answer back then but now…"

He stopped talking, his mind still not having to make a decision. Buck took a deep breath and just patted his nephew's shoulder, getting up to refresh his drink.

"It's up to you Kane, you've got to decide to do what's best for you and your family but think about it, think long and hard about what you'd be giving up."

Kane had been doing that the past few nights that he'd spent restless as his future wife lay asleep beside him.

Troy stood up to leave.

"Look, we'll station plenty of officers to make sure nothing happens on your wedding day."

Kane shook his head.

"If Susan knows it'll greatly upset her."

"Then we'll put them where they can't be seen," Hoyt said, "but they'll be right there ready to act if anything happens."

Kane just nodded thinking that his wedding was just getting so complicated, which had put a lot of stress on his fiancée. He just hoped it would go off without a hitch.

With only two days to go, what could possibly happen next?

Three days later…

She walked across the threshold into the patio and saw him standing there alone.
Still dressed in his wrinkled tuxedo, his tie askew and his dark hair tousled as if he'd been in a brawl.

A silent testament to what had happened at what some media outlets had proclaimed the wedding that never finished. It had begun as he and his bride to be had made their final preparations separately and ended with a crazed mad man speaking up when the minister had invited anyone to come forward if they objected to the marriage.

Of course, the minister had only raised that issue because it had been part of the ceremonial script. No one actually crashed weddings anymore to break up the bride and the groom but in this case that's what happened according to the police reports written afterward.

Kane had wrestled the guy to the ground after he had grabbed his bride and they had fought for a while most of the rest of the wedding party.

Until the other man produced a badge and proved he was a federal agent and he had a warrant for the bride's arrest. As it turned out, Susan had several other names and about a half dozen passports to various countries. She'd been very busy since Kane and she had been college sweethearts.

The federal agent had been trying to track down a woman named Lila Bryant.

The hundreds of guests then scattered to the far winds, rushing outside to give breathy interviews to any media outlet hanging around.

Sierra of course had remained behind as his best friend helping him through the chaotic hours that followed. His bride to be had not had anyone else to be the maid of honor so he had volunteered Sierra Then Susan…or Lila…or whomever had asked if his best friend could be trusted.

That should have afforded him some clue that the match between him and his bride might not last to the bouquet toss even if the feds hadn't crashed it. But afterward when they had both called it quits while the agents were escorting the handcuffed woman wearing white into a sedan. Sierra had been handed an icepack to nurse her own bruises because she hadn't just stood there and watched the fight but had thrown a punch or two to help Kane.

Now she stood still in her torn peach colored dress which she had hated anyway looking out at him. She picked up a bottle of the champagne that never got poured into flutes for a toast, opened it up with a rowdy pop and went to join him on the patio.
He didn't turn around even though she knew he heard her approach

"Hey, is this only a party for one?"

She heard him sigh.

"No…I'm just spending a few moments before returning to the office to get some work done."

"Kane, you don't have to work today."

He already had a drink in his hand, which looked a lot like Scotch.

"Nothing else to do…I guess we're lucky they're not locking us up to for assaulting an agent."

She put the champagne down on a bench and sat down beside it, looking at him.

"He didn't ID himself before you hit him…"

"I didn't give him much chance."

She took the lid off of the champagne and poured herself a glass, then gestured for him to sit down with her. He looked indecisive for a moment, and then did just that. Close enough so that their shoulders brushed together, as they both sipped their drinks.

"Anyway…I'm sorry about what happened," she said, "but didn't she give off any clues that she was into money laundering?"

He shook his head, sipping his scotch.

"She was gone a lot on business trips," he said, "but then so am I."

Sierra knew that because she had gone with him on many of them, staking out her spot on the comfy Lear Jet with piles of paperwork but Wolfgang Puck pizza they had warming in the galley.

"Well it doesn't matter," she reasoned, "It's all on her for breaking the law and for stringing you along."

He looked down at his glass and she thought how incredibly well packaged he was for a man. Ruggedly handsome from his years spent in construction, his hands lined with scars but strong like the rest of him. He filled out suits with his muscular frame and having seen him swimming laps in his Speedo, she knew he had nothing to worry about in that department.

But more than that, Kane was the best buddy a person could ever know. The two of them had been through so much together building their security firm and seeing each other through personal tragedies and relationship breakups through hours spent over wine at their favorite eateries or out on his boat sailing across an endless ocean.

He'd make it through this broken wedding day as well because she'd be right there beside him as he had always been for her.

Still looking at him right now, she found herself idling wondering as she often did what it'd be like to be more than his friend…remembering back to that night by the lake years ago.

When she'd discovered what it'd be like to be his lover too.

Because she did love him, she knew that but like now, when she saw how gorgeous he looked even after his wedding day crashed and burned, she felt herself wanting to comfort him in a new way. Her fingers itched to touch him, would his muscles twitch beneath them, would his skin feel hot?

Like it had that one night?

No, she couldn't think like that and he needed a friend right now. He turned around to look at her.

"Thanks…"

She shrugged.

"Look no problem, I'll be inside if you want to talk about it some more but I swear if you try to go to the office, I'm going to show you some more of my tackling skills."

His mouth curved into a smile despite the circumstances.

"I might take you up on that."

She just shook her head and chuckled at him, before leaving him to head inside the suite. They'd been staying at a resort with the other members of the wedding party and some of the guests.

Inside, she went to take some leftover pizza out of the frig to heat it up in the microwave in the kitchenette. She then grabbed a plate and slid the slices onto it and took it over to the living area to eat.

God, she hated it that the man she loved had his heart broken but she knew he'd work his way through it. She'd help him until he got back on his feet and started hitting the social scene again. And when that happened, another little bit of her own heart would break again.

But what were friends for anyway but to support each other in life, even if it meant putting aside some of their own feelings? Still she wondered what it'd be like if he ever looked at her…that way that made her heart sizzle until she realized it was at someone else. One day, she told herself she'd mix it up and maybe then, he'd realize that he'd been looking in the wrong places.

"Hey…"

She looked up suddenly and there he was, standing there, with his empty glass in hand.

"Hey you, you feeling better now?"

He nodded and sat down beside her.

"I never really loved her," he said, "I stood out there and it hit me only after everything that happened.

She tilted her face.

"Better that you know I guess," She said, "than wind up married to someone you don't love and a felon to boot."

He smiled at her then and then reached out to stroke her face, the way he often did which just left her wanting.

"Thanks Sierra."

"For what, I'm your friend Kane and I always will be no matter what."

After all, that's the way it had always been between them since they were kids. She reached over and handed him a slice of pizza which he accepted.

They ate quietly, together as the light in the suite began to dim with the setting of the sun.

After a while, they walked into the kitchenette where they rinsed the glasses and plate in the tiny sink. They didn't have any plans for leaving the resort but decided to leave it open.

She had just finished the drying when she felt his hands on her shoulders, massaging them, which she loved. He had a gift for cajoling the tension out of her by his touch so she leaned against him without thinking, as her muscles began to relax.

"You have any plans for tonight?"

She thought about it.

"Not really, maybe watch a movie what about you?

Then suddenly he turned her around to face him, putting his arms around her waist and pulling her closer.

"Kane…?"

He brushed his mouth against hers before she could finish, and her words evaporated, as he deepened his kiss, exploring her lips sending all kinds of delicious sensations through her body, far away from her mouth. His kiss came from somewhere deep inside of him, as if had been waiting, the realization hit her like a rush.

When he released her, her mouth still tasting him, he stroked her mouth with a finger and she felt her breath hitch.

"What was that?"

He arched a brow, a smile hinting on the mouth that had just pleasured her.

"A kiss…"

She just tilted her head looking at him reproachfully, while still in his embrace.

"I know that but why?"

He sighed, stroking her back with his hands, sliding the silky fabric of her dress against her skin. She closed her eyes, because she wanted those hands on her bare skin but…

Then he kissed her again, more powerfully this time and she felt the nudge of his tongue against her lips until they parted allowing him to slide right in. She nearly jumped as he stroked the inside of her mouth, and she felt heat building and wetness too between her thighs.
She should really tell him not to do this, that he was just reacting to his busted wedding but somehow she just kissed him back instead. God, it felt so intense more than she ever dreamed, more than should be allowed.

His hands slid down the back of her dress and began nudging it up her thighs, which made her break away and look at him. Her heart pounding in her ears as he slid her dress all the way up. He then pressed his body against her lacy panties and damn, she felt him there.

He felt damn hard.

But he just looked at her, his hands still clenching her dress and kissed her again. This time, she pressed against him, anything to get closer to what she wanted. It felt so nice and yet…

It also felt too damn naughty.

"I think we should take this to the other room," he said softly.

She swallowed, knowing what room he meant, the bedroom.

"What about…?"

But then he swept her off of her feet and carried her there anyway.

The bedroom was simply furnished consisting mainly of a bed, and dimly lit as he set her down on the floor and started unzipping her dress, until it fell on the floor. She stood there with her peach covered pushup bra and panties, looking at him and then nodding.
She asked the unimaginable question to him.

"Do you have anything?"

"No I…"

"Relax Kane; every hotel suite probably has samples…check the drawer."

She watched him fumble a bit through the drawer, quickly until he returned, carrying a foil package in his fingers. She looked at it and then it hit her, what they were about to do.

An act that would change everything….but she was ready for that, she thought unsnapping her bra, allowing her creamy breasts to spill out, the rosy tips already hardened even before he began touching them.

That felt amazing and that it was his hands but she felt impatient, wanting everything and no wait to get it

"I need you…"

She leaned back into the bed, wearing just the panties and feeling the Kaneress against her. He looked at her a moment as he too casually thought started to unbutton his own rumpled shirt after tossing the tie aside.

His pants followed, much more quickly, and his briefs too, and she admired the body she had always wanted to touch since the time that she did. She wanted to taste every inch that she touched but that would have to wait until later.

He followed her on the bed, after she opened her thighs to hold him against her, and she felt his fingers graze her damp panties before he pulled them down.

She pulled him closer, kissing his mouth and felt him press against her, already slick and taking care to be gentle. Not that she needed that, and she sucked her breath in as he thrust his engorged penis inside of her pussy, which hugged it. She felt the sting of his penetration but his kisses heated her up as she opened up to him. He slid some fingers down where they had joined and started fondling her sweetest spot.

Sliding her hands down his side, putting them on his hips she whispered words against his skin…and he responded.

She whispered softly to him to let himself go and she'd follow.

Her hands clutched at him as he pumped into her, filling her up sublimely before a slow retreat and then…the delicious friction pushed her further, faster.

Until, she felt the tightness inside of her stretch, and stretch until finally it broke sending shards of pleasure through her body.

She cried out and a moment later, he sank against her, his body as wet as hers. They remained intertwined as they returned to earth.

Silence lingered comfortably between them.

"Wow," was all she said.

"Yeah…definitely," he responded, kissing her again, delicately and devoted.

She sighed, as she separated herself to look at him.

"I don't know what got into me."

"I did, and in oh, about a half hour, I'm going to do it again."

"Why…?"

"Because I've wanted this for so long."

Every response she had left her head, there wasn't much to say after all except the obvious now that the walls had been stripped between them, leaving them bare. So she kept it simple.

"Me too…"

"Only next time, we'll hit more of the highlights okay?"

She nodded and he drew her closer to him again, and she'd think about what they'd done later, but for now she chose to enjoy the moment that two friends had crossed over the line to become lovers.