"Nice boots."

She smiled and looked over her shoulder at him. He was standing just behind her, looking delectable, as always. Maria felt her pelvis quiver.

He stooped down and kissed her ear, his tongue running illicitly over her earlobe.

She fought down tremors of eagerness. "Michael, you just can't keep away from me, can you?" there was a definite tremble in her voice that made him press closer into her. She shivered at his closeness, his heat against the chill.

He nodded and whispered roughly, "Lets find some place more secluded."

She would have asked where was more secluded than a campsite in the middle of the woods, but she didn't really care. After so long not touching her, he wanted to feel her again. She would have made it with him on the Space Needle if he'd asked.

They stood up and Michael pulled them away from the fire, and deeper into the woods.

- - - -

"Michael...not here...there could be like, animals watching us..."

Maria trailed off as Michael pressed her into the tree, desperately kissing any skin that was exposed. His breath was hot, and compared to the air around them, created a wonderful contrast.

"Forget that...," he said, pushing his hand through the layers of clothing she wore, to her stomach, where he rubbed her roughly. "Doesn't this feel good?"

His palms were calloused from years of ill-use, but surprisingly delicate. She could imagine his brushstrokes-- how soft they must be on the canvas.

"Yes...god yes. More, Michael."

He grinned and hiked her legs up, so they rested around his hips.

Two words Michael loved hearing from Maria: 'more' and his own name. Preferably together. And preferably breathless.

He worked the buttons of her pants apart and slipped his hand inside. Maria would have giggled, if the situation were different. Of course, how could the situation be different? Michael was sticking his hands in her pants...

Getting off track, she reminded herself.

Suddenly his hands were pulling her panties down. Maria tensed, though she couldn't imagine why. Perhaps it was the cold air that hit her heat like an avalanche. Perhaps it was his cold hands, that prickled the skin of her thighs up into gooseflesh.

"You're hot," he murmured, and she discovered that her eyes were hazy. She forced them to focus.

"I'm freezing," she replied.

A slow grin suffused his face. "It doesn't feel that way to me," he told her, and pressed two fingers into her. Just how she liked it. It had been way too long.

Maria arched back against the tree, gasping for air as his cold fingers probed her. She whimpered.

"God...you're so wet," Michael breathed against her throat. "I missed you so much."

She closed her eyes, gripping his back as her senses took over. She couldn't believe he had said those words. She moaned loudly when he pressed his thumb to her clit, and at the same time kissed her, his tongue mimicking what his hands were doing.

Maria breathed spasmodically against his lips. Her lungs always had difficulty working when he was around her. When he was touching her so deeply like this.

Michael, for his part, was doing his damndest to not just rip her pants off entirely and have at it. She was gloriously warm, and wet, and welcoming. He could have buried himself in her for an eternity, and not cared.

Her fingers tightened on his shoulders, and he felt her breathing stop, her legs stiffening around his waist.

"Maria?" he asked.

"Michael..." she begged, "I need you...in me!"

His head was reeling...how had he gotten so lucky? He had this perfect girl moaning HIS name, wanting him. Tugging her pants further down her shapely legs, he quickly pulled his zipper down and positioned himself, ready to push into her.

Maria gasped as the cold air hit her directly, and he saw her nipples harden, even through her thick clothing.

He gave her a questioning look, and she nodded, almost imperceptibly.

It was a simple move, a quick rocking of the hips, and they were together again, moving in tandem.

She was tight around him, and he loved that. She held him so firm, in every respect. She wouldn't let him go. And all he could do was move deeper.

He held onto her just as tightly as she held him, almost as if they were trying to bury themselves in each other. All the problems that they had and would face fell away, and even though they weren't in the most romantic place in the world...it was wonderful.

And each time, it got better.

Getting closer to the edge, he faintly heard a twig break...but it didn't even register. Her legs tightened around him, and he could feel himself tightening. He always came so quick with her-- she made him crazy; tore through his control. He came hard and fast, groaning and squeezing her hips with his hands.

But she was still there, waiting, holding onto him. Shit. Trust it to be tonight that they didn't manage to pull off the mutual orgasm, when she was pressed against a tree, and he was so desperate for her heat, he came in seconds.

He pushed into her fully, pressing his pelvis into her, grinding the heel of his palm into her cleft, and she gasped, unable to put her feelings into words, only managing to let out garbled moans.

"Come on, baby," he murmured. "Cum for me."

"Oh... Oh, God, yes!" Maria gasped, her hips moving wildly. "Yes, PLEASE!"

Michael felt her tensing, and he pressed a little harder on her clit, to be sure she felt him.

Maria let out a garbled cry, and followed him into climax. She spasmed around him, making him shudder with pleasure.

Once Maria's orgasm subsided, she rested her head on his shoulder. He smelled good. That was the only thought that managed to remain in her mind. Everything else was drowned out by the feel of his body still resting within her own. By the fact that he was hardening again. By the fact that she was already ready for that sweet climax once more.

They caught their breath, and moved to kiss again, obviously wanting even more...

"Uh...I think I should probably go right now..."

Michael craned his head around, eyes frosty. Upon seeing who had stumbled in on them, he could feel Maria hide behind him, her face probably turning red.

"Valenti, what the hell are you doing here?" Michael asked, angry as hell.

Kyle had a perplexed expression on his face, but he stepped back when he saw the anger on Michael's.

"Sorry man...," he said, holding up his hands in a conciliatory gesture. "I just came out here to pee. I'll go."

Michael growled and reached out to him, grabbing a handful of his shirt. He steadied Maria against the tree, which was hard, since everytime he tried to press her back against the bark, she curled forward, burying her face in his neck. He could feel her blush burning into his neck. He hated to admit that even THAT made him horny, but, dammit! It did!

"If you tell anyone..." Michael growled, flexing his fingers on Kyle's shirt.

Kyle held his hands up higher, looking between Michael and Maria.

"Dude, I won't tell anyone if you don't," he said, and Michael detected a distinct glint in the athlete's eyes.

Michael nodded, satisfied, and let him go, but only after giving his shirt one more good tug, to make sure he understood that snitching would be brutally and painfully repaid. Kyle seemed to get the point, and he swallowed hard before nodding to the two of them.

"Later," he said nervously, and scurried off into the underbrush.

Once he was sure he was gone, Michael turned back to Maria, tilting her chin up so he could see her face.

"Oh my God," she muttered. "I have never been that embarassed in my lifetime. PLEASE tell me the century is going to be over soon?"

He smirked.

"What the hell are you smirking at?"

Michael trailed a long finger along her jaw, and Maria's eyes fluttered closed. "You tired, Maria?" he asked.

She opened her eyes slowly, and when she saw the look on his face, smirked along with him.

"Not even."

He grinned even broader, and leaned in, as she wrapped her arms around his neck in a lazy embrace and pulled him closer.

And prying eyes be damned.