((Continued on from here. Definitely contains material of an adult nature.)) _________________________________________

Liv giggled, keying in the code that would get them into the staff-only corridors, knowing full well that the backstage area was almost completely deserted tonight. All the behind the scenes action was the work of two men and a projector behind the temporary screen on stage when there was a movie to be shown. "Well, you've been wanting an all access pass, haven't you?" she teased Johnny, playing along with him for the benefit of the few ears to hear them. As the door opened, she drew him into the enveloping hush of the backstage darkness, pausing to taste his lips once again, too impatient not to remind herself of his heat before moving on.

And lo and behold, there was light as he snapped his fingers, and a tiny flame appeared, like a makeshift match, to light their way, careful to keep the flame far enough away from Liv that he didn't set her hair on fire. He murmured appreciatively against her lips as she distracted him with her kiss, making a mental note to offer her a bit of the bubbly a little more often. "Where are we going?" he asked curiously as her lips parted his again, and he took a look around at the dimly-lit surroundings.

She made a soft sound of pleasure as his lips left hers, only just aware that he had illuminated the darkness for them. It was rare that Liv let her head take even a few minutes off; this sweet, instinctive want was something no one but Johnny had ever seen. "Where do you want to go?" she murmured, walking backwards to draw him further into the secret depths of the theater. There was an almost voyeuristic quality to the quiet that wrapped about them, discernible as many people sitting quietly to watch as the action of the film began.

"Doesn't matter," Johnny replied, drawn along behind her like a moth to a flame, though he was the one holding onto the flame. "Anywhere we can be alone for a little while." He wasn't sure what exactly was going to take place between them in the darkened backstage rooms and corridors of the theater, but he had a feeling it was going to be a lot more exciting than what was happening on screen in the theater itself.

It seemed as though Liv, for all her reserve and care to be safe and sedate, had a bit of a license for thrills when her inhibitions had been set aside for a while. She could have taken Johnny to any of the private dressing rooms, deep beneath the stage, secure from intrusion; or even to the rehearsal rooms, equally dark and private. But no, she drew him into the wings, to the prompt's niche set back from the curtains, tucked in on three sides, but still open to the sights and sounds of the wings. Grinning, she tucked her fingers into his lapels once again, drawing him close. "Will this do?" was whispered teasingly against his lips.

He let the flame on his fingers go out as she drew him close, and they were enveloped in darkness, the only light that which came from the projector, the only voices besides theirs those that echoed through the theater from the speakers. He lacked the inhibitions and the good sense that kept most people from taking risks in life, bored with safe living. There was a certain excitement involved in taking risks that made him feel alive, even when danger was involved. It was something that most likely scared Liv, and he'd promised more than once to be more careful, but it was no big secret that Johnny was hooked on the adrenalin rush that accompanied his lifestyle. He grinned as she drew him closer, wondering just what she had in mind. "Are you sure?" he asked, as his hands wandered over the soft curve of her waist and hips. Though he was an adrenalin junkie, he knew Liv was not.

Her smile deepened, lips playing against his as she answered him, resting back against the lip of the prompt's table. "Some risks are worth taking," was her soft answer, her fingers slipping down to unbutton his suit jacket and curl her arms about his waist beneath the rich charcoal fabric.

Like dating me, he thought to himself, which was a huge risk for someone like Liv, but one she had thus far weathered well. Her rationality and common sense often balanced out his impulsive and foolhardy nature and vice versa. It had taken a little time, but they seemed to have adjusted and balanced out better than even Johnny had expected. His lips found the side of her neck while her hands worked at his buttons. He was wearing several layers of clothing compared to her, including the uniform beneath it all that was saved him from embarrassment, should he unexpectedly burst into flames.

And impatient as she was, exhilarated by the chance of being caught, Liv was taking her time undoing those buttons, tucking her chin to play kisses of her own against Johnny's neck as he teased at her skin with his heated mouth. She drew his shirt open, tugged out of his pants, trailing her fingers up over the tough fabric of his uniform to find the fastening that would let her peel it away from his chest.

"Liv," he breathed against her neck as her hands found purchase within the confines of his clothing, none of them quite leaving his body, just pushed aside as unimportant. This was not the Liv he was accustomed to, far more like the uninhibited sister that was Lucy than the shy young woman he knew to be Liv, but who was he to argue" Despite this, he knew she was Liv and not Lucy. He'd had them both, and he had learned the subtle differences between them, his heightened senses able to tell the difference in taste and smell and touch. They might have fooled him once, but they most likely would never fool him again.

As anxious as he was to quell the heat that was building to crisis proportions between them, he knew that when Liv's good senses returned, she was going to be horrified by what he allowed to happen back here. "Baby..." he started as he pulled away from her grasp, his breath hitching as he caught her hands between his. "Let's go somewhere more private."

The sound that escaped her as he drew back was something close to a breathy mew of impatient disappointment, a pout appearing on her soft mouth as she blinked her eyes open, drunk more on the heat and nearness of him than the champagne that had enabled her to take the bull by the horns in the first place. "Johnny," she whined under her breath, indulging in heart over head a moment longer before the first flicker of her usual sense made itself known. Liquid dark eyes looked up at him in the gloom, half-pleading, half-grateful for his restraint where hers had failed. "I don't want to wait anymore," she murmured to him, curling her fingers into his as he held her still. But did Johnny have the strength to insist"

"I know, Liv," he replied with a frown, feeling as frustrated as she was, probably more so, the heat of desire rising between them. "I want you, too, but not here, not where someone might find us. There has to be someplace that's more private around here. Don't you have access to your boss' dressing room?" he asked, tugging her away from the wings, where they chanced not only be seen but heard. He didn't really care as far as his own reputation was concerned, but he was thinking of hers. "We've got two hours to kill. What's a few more minutes?" he asked, taking on the level-headed role that usually belonged to her.

Liv sighed as he drew her from the enveloping, dangerous quiet of the wings. "A waste of time, that's what a few more minutes is," she muttered with comical dismay at her own fevered impatience to revel in the rousing desire so easily kindled between them. "Since when are you worried about being caught?" she added with a teasing quirk of her lips, one bold hand skimming over his backside as she slipped to take the lead once again, drawing him to the steps down into the lower level where the dressing rooms dwelt.

Johnny's gaze drifted to admire the beauty before him, beauty that was not only his to behold but to claim as belonging to him. He'd recognized that body months ago, each soft hill and valley of her form, memorized with eyes and hands and lips, so different from Lucy and yet the same. Softer somehow, more feminine, more fragile, but with a strength and grace all her own. Despite being a twin, there was only one Olivia, and she had claimed his heart completely. He fell to kissing her in return, slowly at first but with growing ardour, his kisses trailing downward, hands following as he peeled the silken layer away from her hips, like unwrapping a Christmas present.

It was impossible to believe that, only a year ago, Liv had been all alone - no sister, no Johnny, nothing but her job to fill her time. Had Johnny come into her life only a year ago, she might not even have noticed him, too caught up in proving to herself that she could be more than simply yet another wanna-be media student. Though it had been a sticky start, a time that could easily have made each of them more isolated than before, the months in which Johnny, Lucy, and Liv had danced around one another had drawn them closer together than they could have imagined.

Caught close against Johnny as he gently drew the delicate gown from her hips, Liv couldn't imagine being anywhere else, with anyone else. "Johnny ..." His name was whispered against his hair as she swayed into him, distracted only for a moment from easing his pants from his own hips.

Lit by an internal fire unlike any human's and fueled by desire, Johnny wasted no more time. The movie wouldn't last forever, and he had things to do before it was done. He stepped out of his pants and kicked them aside, taking far more care with her gown than he was with his own clothing. They were likely to look a rumpled mess by the time they were done, but he didn't really care. Clad in only his uniform, which was more of a nuisance than anything else at the moment, he dropped to his knees to coax the last vestiges of silk and satin from her body and ply her flesh with the heat that radiated from his lips, no intentions of stopping until she cried out his name and begged him for release.

He knew her body, her mind, her soul far better than she could ever have imagined, far better than it seemed she did her own self. When Johnny set out to get something from Liv, he always succeeded, wickedly able to turn her own shy physicality against her, teaching her something new each time they came together. His naturally unnatural heat brought her shimmering into delightful release at his skilled fingertips, her hand clutching tightly at the vanity table as she cried out just as he wanted, her knees buckling with the joy of release. "Oh God, Johnny!"

Little could she know what effect her own release had on him, the sound of his name cried out from her lips, the way her body tensed with every sweet caress of his unnaturally warm lips and hands, knowing her better than she knew herself, knowing just where to touch her and how to make her body sing. Her response only drove his own arousal deeper, his temperature rising to feverish heights, like a thermometer about to burst.

"Oh, Johnny ..." Gasping for breath, she trembled in his grasp, smoothing her fingers through his hair and down over his back, frustrated by the sensation of the uniform suit under her touch and not his wonderfully hot skin. Her hand clenched in the skin-tight material, pulling him up to meet her, to smother him in a deeply tender kiss. "You're overdressed," she murmured against his lips, leaning into his heat lovingly.

"Yes, dear," he murmured back, his lips radiating the unnatural heat that was as natural to Johnny Storm as breathing. He pulled away from her just long enough to divest himself of the suit that covered him and was like a second skin and that was so rarely not worn while in public, revealing the sculpted muscles that rippled beneath the skin-tight suit, the result of an active lifestyle, along with a male ego the size of the Empire State Building. He grinned stupidly at her, knowing she liked what she saw, and taking a moment to admire the soft curve of flushed skin that adorned her. "Happy now?" he asked, as he closed the distance between them, his heat reaching her before his body.

She actually purred with delighted anticipation as he stood before her, utterly stripped of everything that held him back from her touch. "Oh, hell yes," was her uncharacteristically blunt answer to his confident question as she surged toward him, moaning eagerly at the crash of his burning body to hers, wrapping herself around him with kisses to pepper his lips and throat, close to frenzied with the need to make him moan with her.

He caught her in his arms and steered her toward the dressing table to hoist her off her feet and onto the table, letting her legs slide around his hips as he wasted no time, sheathing himself inside her as his lips found hers, hungry kisses deep enough to take her breath away.

He moved inside her, crashing against her with blazing need, burning with the heat of a firestorm that only she was able to smother. His moans echoed hers, holding nothing back now that he was confident they were really and truly alone.

In that moment of joining, Liv was transported to that special, wondrous place only Johnny had ever taken her to; where only Johnny ever would take her, if she had anything to do with it. She was barely aware of the cool of the table beneath her rear, entirely focused upong the strong, burning body beneath her hands, pressed between her thighs, the feverish taste of his mouth on hers. Each moan he gave, she answered with her own, wilder now he was with her in each moment that passed than she had been when it was only her rising to that inimitable peak of desire.

He held himself off as long as he could, wanting to take her to the pinnacle of desire once more before he let himself join her, before he surrendered himself to the desires of the flesh. His lips plied hers, mouth ravaging hers, as their bodies crashed against each other and came together in unison, taking pleasure from each other in a mortal dance of bodies that was as old as time itself. In that moment, nothing else mattered or existed but them, burning themselves into each other's minds and hearts and souls, their lives tangled together by chance but kept together by love.

As the moment of release loomed, held back by sheer will alone, she pulled herself away from his kiss, staring into his eyes with the full, unguarded force of her heart. Everything she felt for him was clearly visible in those eternal moments - the love and devotion, the trust, the belief, the joy at having him so much a part of her life, all burning as brightly as his flame when he soared through the sky. And finally, for the first time, she let him see the explosion of pleasure that came as he drove her over the cresting peak of desire into abandoned ecstasy, dark eyes wide and open in giving that unexpected, unplanned gift to him in the midst of her delight.

He groaned in protest as she pulled away from him, but unable to stop, driven by desire and the momentum that had set their bodies in motion, he watched her face as her expression changed, pleasure blossoming and growing and setting off the explosion of fireworks that blazed brilliantly deep inside himself. He had to hold himself back so that he didn't go to flame in those moments, fixing his gaze on the dark, loving eyes that met his, seeing his own passion and pleasure mirrored in her. "Liv," he murmured, her name like a solemn prayer against his lips, whispered for her ears alone, shuddering and quaking with pleasure as he filled her with his warm release. For the space of a few brief, brilliant, and utterly astonishing moments, they were truly joined as one body, one heart, one mind.

He smiled impishly, trying to look innocent and failing. "I plead the Fifth." Amendment, that is. The one that allows one not to answer a question on the grounds it might incriminate them. "Turn around," he told her with a circular motion of his hand, so that he could zip her up. If she didn't want to wear her bra and panties, who was he to argue" They'd more than likely just come off again anyway.

"The Fifth what?" his English girlfriend asked with an impish smile of her own, knowing full well what he meant and fully intending to pull the ignorant card to make him confess to this cheeky little habit of his. Turning about, she caught the gown back up to her shoulders, drawing her hair out of the way as she looked back at him, suddenly aware of just how deep that zipper went. "Don't let me forget to lock the door again when we go."

"I won't, Catwoman," he teased, unable to resist brushing a kiss against the side of her neck as he leaned in to re-zip her dress. "Who knew I was dating a reformed cat burglar?" He wondered how many other things he didn't know about her. There was plenty she still didn't know about him, but nothing he thought would make any difference. "Should we leave a calling card behind?" he queried. "Thanks for lending us your room. Love, J and L."

Her hand rose to caress his cheek as he kissed her neck, nuzzling a kiss of her own to his temple in loving answer to the tender show of affection. "Catwoman, hmm' I suppose you'll be trying to get me into some kind of slinky cat-suit now, just so you can peel it off me somewhere kinky." Yes, this definitely seemed to be Liv's night off. It wasn't often her dry humor made itself known so openly outside their home. "You seriously think I'm going to tempt fate by hinting to my boss that we've been using his dressing room?" she added with a laugh. "I was just going to hope he didn't notice any difference."

He broke into a grin as he imagined her curves poured into a catsuit, as form fitting as his own skin-tight uniform. "Hm, sounds like a plan," he remarked, agreeably, as he tugged the zipper up her back and was rewarded with a kiss, snorting a chuckle at the question regarding her boss' possible reaction to their borrowing his dressing room. "Like him and his wife never do it in here. Ever notice the way they can't take their eyes off each other?" He pulled away, warm fingers brushing the back of her neck before turning to retrieve his uniform and encase himself in its conforming fit once again.

"Oh, please," Liv chuckled softly, rolling her underwear into as small a packet as she could to tuck securely into her clutch bag. "You've never had to stand in a room with them making doe-eyes at each other and try and keep his mind on work. It's almost impossible, especially if you add that blasted dog into the mix as well." Liv didn't mind dogs, as a rule, but Cosmo seemed to delight in knocking her over every time she crossed his path. "Anyway, you don't really want me to be thinking about them screwing around tonight, do you?" Long lashes fluttered as she looked over at him, practising the alluring look Lucy had been teasing her with for weeks.

He smirked, having noticed the knowing fervid glances that had often passed between the other couple, wondering if it was just as obvious to onlookers how he felt about Liv. He laughed when she mentioned the dog. He'd never had the pleasure of owning a pet, and didn't really see himself owning one in the near future. He had enough trouble taking care of himself. "No, I'd rather your mind was on me tonight. I'm selfish like that." He grinned as he tossed the pieces that made up his suit over an arm, having no qualms about walking out into the lobby in his blue suit.

"Darling, my mind is always on you, one way or another," she promised him, her smile softening as she watched him gather together his expensive suit. It probably drove him ever so slightly mad, the way she counted the pennies even with her generous salary, but some habits just couldn't be broken easily. "Are you ready, Mr Storm?"

"Baby, I was born ready," he replied with a grin as he reached for her hand, tossing a glance around the room to make sure it was the same as they'd left it or nearly so, enough that no one would suspect anything was amiss. "You're sure he won't care if we leave?" he asked again, not wanting to get her into any trouble with her boss.

She giggled softly, letting him draw her toward the door. "I doubt he'll even notice we're not here," she guessed, probably quite accurately. "You've seen what he's like at these things. The man is a poster boy for the press' Golden Boy." Raising Johnny's hand to her lips, she circled his knuckle with the tip of her tongue teasingly, pulling open the door with her other hand.

For some reason, that statement brought a brief frown to his lips, and a slight flare of jealousy or envy. It was hard to tell which, as the two emotions were so similar. It wasn't that Johnny wanted to be a movie star or even that he wanted to be fawned on by the press. Back home, he was a hero, but even heroes were scrutinized by the press on occasion. Here, he was nothing but an unemployed stunt driver, despite putting his life on the life several times, and while he didn't do what he did for the recognition, it didn't hurt. Still, he'd made one little girl's night, and maybe that was all that really mattered. He turned quiet as these thoughts rumbled through his head, feeling a little bit lost as to what he was supposed to do next, blinking out of his thoughts when he felt her tongue tease he knuckle and draw him back to the present.

Liv realised her mistake almost before frown touched Johnny's face, glad she was already distracting him as he quieted down. She knew he missed a lot of things about his home, one of which being the recognition for the heroic things he did everyday here in a city full to bursting with heroes all vying for that same attention. She smiled gently to him as they slipped out into the darkened hallway, reaching inside to turn out the light before the door closed quietly behind them. "I'm sorry," she murmured tenderly. "I shouldn't have said that."

He smiled softly down at her, not blaming her for what she'd said. It was true, even back home, but he'd learned that true heroes were usually unsung and didn't ask for recognition or praise. They did what they did for no other reason than it was the right thing to do. He shrugged off her apology and her statement of fact that had stung his pride just a little. "It's okay. It's true. I've got nothing against him. He's worked hard for what he's got and he deserves it." He leaned in and brushed a kiss against her cheek. "Come on. Let's get out of here before someone stops us."

The suggestion that someone might try to stop them was momentarily horrifying to her, as though that could be the worst possible thing she could imagine happening at this moment. "Oh, you're right, we should hurry," she agreed, bending a little to flick the lock with her hair pin before discarding it into a trashcan nearby. "Where did the limo driver say he'd stop?"

He watched as she relocked the door, feeling suddenly as antsy as she was. If anyone caught him in just his uniform, they were likely to get the third degree. "Is there a back way out?" he asked, assuming there was another exit. Actors didn't generally come and go via the same entryway as theatergoers. "I'll call him once we get outside," he promised, regarding the limo driver, glancing down the hallway to see if there was an Exit sign anywhere close by.

The expression Liv turned on him was half-laughing, half-impressed, with quite a bit of teasing thrown in. "Oh, it said so in the reviews, did it?" she giggled, drawing the door to the limo open to slide inside. She gave a tug to the tie still about his neck to draw him in with her, uncaring if they both ended up sprawled all over the wide seat. "Is Mr Storm thinking of proving that Mr Grey isn't all he's cracked up to be?"

"No," he replied, as he got tugged inside the limo behind her, sprawling onto the seat with a wide grin. "I was thinking about proving that Mr. Storm is just as capable of seducing a woman as Mr. Grey....or Mr. Granger," he added, as an afterthought. "Aren't you all ga-ga over him, like everyone else?" he asked, merely curious, not explaining whether he was referring to Grey or Granger or both.

She snorted with laughter, curling up with him in their sprawl. "No, I'm not," she smiled warmly, caressing his cheek lovingly as she looked into his eyes. "Christian Grey isn't real, and Jonathan Granger is handsome enough ....but he isn't you. You're the only one who makes me go ga-ga, as you so charmingly put it."

"So, I guess the question is do I make you go ga-ga now or wait 'til I get you home?" he asked as he dumped the Armani suit on the seat and tugged the tie from around neck and tossed it, too, aside, turning his cheek into her loving caress, blue eyes bright with amusement and affection.

"Hmm ..." Her own eyes sparkled playfully as she eased her arms around his neck, the sleeves of his jacket bunching to her elbows as she slid closer to him. "I suppose that all depends on whether or not you think I can handle being sent ga-ga all over again," she teased softly, nipping at the tip of his nose. Though still learning her way around the sexual arena, one thing he couldn't fault her on was her stamina. She was almost in as good a state of fitness as he was.

"Oh, I'm sure you can handle it, but I doubt we have enough time." It was a short trip back to the condo from the theater and he didn't want to start anything they wouldn't have time to finish. Once home, they'd have all night to themselves. Johnny smiled as she nipped his nose and drew her close to give her a proper kiss, warm and affectionate.

This was something that Lucy frequently declared she did not understand about her sister's relationship with Johnny, how they could shift so easily from playful to serious to loving to wild. Liv had given up trying to explain it; she wasn't sure she could. Instead, she revelled in the easiness she felt with Johnny, no longer nervous of showing him her thoughts or feelings as they changed her expression. Here and now, she was warm and loved and it showed in the tender glow of her face and form as she cuddled into his arms. "Would it be awfully silly of me just to want to cuddle on the couch for a while?" she asked softly.

While being with Lucy had been a wild ride, it had been mostly physical attraction. The relationship he had with Liv went much deeper, beyond merely sexual attraction. Johnny didn't understand it and couldn't really explain it, but what he felt for Liv was different than anything he'd ever felt with any woman before, and the only word he knew to describe it was love. He smiled as he wrapped his arms around her and drew her close, not expecting or demanding anything from her but to be close. "Why cuddle on the couch when we can cuddle in bed?" he asked, in return, brushing a kiss against her forehead. It had been a long couple of days for her getting everything ready for tonight, and he knew she was tired. It didn't matter to him what they did, so long as they were together.

"I don't want you getting bored," she admitted with a rueful little smile. The past few days had been long, and she had a bad habit of worrying over details that were far beyond her ability to control. Even now, as the alcohol began to wear off, she was thinking of what she needed to do tomorrow, unable to just switch that part of her mind off even for a little while. She didn't mention this line of thought, though; it didn't seem to need saying. Hugged close, she sighed happily, content to stay where she was however long she was allowed to. "You know what I really fancy?" she said, as the idea came to her. "Hot chocolate and toast, Storm-style."

"Bored?" he echoed, doubtfully. "Liv, you never bore me," he reassured her gently. He knew she'd been working her rear off the last few days and was worried she'd work herself into exhaustion, if she wasn't careful, if he didn't make sure she took time to relax. There was an old saying that all work and no play makes life dull, or something like that. Johnny wasn't worried about getting bored; he was worried about Liv working too hard. He smiled as he settled his arms around her waist and held her close while the city sped past outside the windows of the limo. "You and your toast," he remarked idly, remembering her making toast in her apartment the day he realized he was falling in love with her and not her sister.

"What?" she giggled softly. "I have simple tastes, that's all." She had a feeling that the pleasure she got from watching silly cartoons and eating toast and jam baffled him sometimes, but then, his habits on Earth had been very different from her own. He had come from a place where his every whim could be catered for; she, from a place where the simplest of things were treats. But they balanced each other out. Slowly he was teaching her that not all frippery was a bad thing, and in return, she taught him that simple did not necessarily mean bad.

Ah, but though he rarely if ever talked about it, his life had not always been that way, and as the old saying goes, money doesn't buy happiness. His childhood had been less than happy, and like Liv, if it hadn't been for his sister, he wasn't sure where he might have ended up. "I think I can arrange to make hot cocoa and toast," he reassured her. It was the least he could do, after all.

"I love you." It was declaration and thank you all in one, a promise to stay loving as long as he needed or wanted her, to be close by until he decided to move on, if ever. Three words that meant so much more than just how she felt in one moment of the day. She smiled, tipping her head to touch a kiss to his cheek. "You're definitely going to spoil me," she added in a low, teasing voice. "I can't think of anyone else who indulges my toast fetish better than you."

He smiled at her words of affection, having no intentions on leaving her or moving on, and if he'd known she had any inkling in her head about him doing so, he'd have done what he could to banish those worries from her mind. They were three words he didn't say often and hadn't said to anyone but her in a very long time. "You deserve spoiling," he told her, the tenderness of her kiss warming his heart. "I can think of a few other fetishes I wouldn't mind indulging in," he teased, though he sensed it was going to be a quiet night from her on out, and that was perfectly fine with him. He didn't need excitement all the time, and strangely, he found he savored the quiet moments alone with her more than anything.

Her laugh was soft, warm, as understated as everything about her often seemed to be. Only two people in the multiverse had ever seen every side of Olivia Broderick and knew what lurked behind the sweet shyness she showed everyone else - her sister and her lover. Just the mere fact that Johnny knew those other parts of her was wonderful in its way; she could not have shown more completely how much she loved him than by letting him into her heart and mind so entirely. And though perhaps sometimes she was too quiet for him, or he was too excitable for her, somehow they made it work, a near perfect example of yin and yang.

Johnny was saved from embarrasment by the bell as the elevator dinged to single that they'd reached their destination on the third floor. The doors swished open and he waited for her to step out before following. There was that thoughtful frown on his face again. "I don't know, Liv. I never thought about it much. I mean, even back home....I could go wherever I wanted, but..." He shrugged. "There wasn't much point in taking a vacation alone."

"You're frowning again," she pointed out softly, her voice rich with playful amusement as she slipped out of the elevator. "There must be somewhere you've thought you might like to go, or something you've never done that you'd like to do' That doesn't involve flying to the moon or anything like that," she added hurriedly, knowing a little more of how his mind worked by now.

"I always wanted to surf, but that's not gonna happen." Not so long as there were large bodies of water involved anyway. Most of the things Johnny wanted to do involved extreme sports, but he had a quiet side, too. "I don't know, Liv." He really didn't. It would require a little more thought. "What did you have in mind?"

"That's the problem, I don't know, either," she laughed, digging into her clutch to ferret out the key to the condo. "Somewhere warm, perhaps, but then ....I'm always warm when you're around." She flashed him a tender smile over her shoulder, unlocking the door to let them both into the condo. "I should probably do a little research into it." Research - a surefire warning that Liv could probably turn arranging a holiday into as much work as her job.

Warm or cold didn't matter much to him, since he rarely felt much change in temperature, though extreme changes in weather did have an effect. He wasn't overly fond of rain or snow or wind, and she had seen the effects too much water could have on him. "I guess it depends on what you want to do. Do you want to sightsee or lay on a beach or go skiing or something?" He followed her to the door, waiting thoughtfully while she got it unlocked, rolling his eyes at the suggestion of research. "Maybe we should hire a travel advisor," he suggested as he followed her inside and dumped off the designer suit on the couch.

"I've never understood the point of hiring someone to tell you where you should go on holiday," she mused thoughtfully, locking the door behind them and tossing her keys and clutch onto the nearest flat surface. His suit jacket followed after the rest of his suit. Leaning against the back of the couch, she hitched up her skirt to begin the task of undoing her shoes to slip them off. "I like the idea of going somewhere in Europe, though. Somewhere in the south of Europe," she added with a soft chuckle. "Not Norway or somewhere like that."

"I'd keep you warm, you know," he reminded her, unable to stop himself from watching as she slipped off her shoes. Good grief, they were just shoes! He had to stifle a shudder as a shiver of desire went through him. "Um..." Yeah, where were they again? Oh, right, Norway. "So, what are we talking" Italy?" He tried to recall what he knew of European geography.

She was one of those women who was so aware of her shorter stature that she had trained herself not to feel the discomfort of wearing high heels every day, but these ones had been particularly high. Letting her shoes drop to the floor, she raised her hands now to her back, searching for the zipper of her gown as she turned toward the bedroom. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "I like the idea of Italy, but I'm not sure I actually want to go there. Is there anywhere you'd like to go?"

He followed after her, if only to help her with the zipper of her dress, which it seemed one would have to practically be a contortionist to get unzipped on their own. Besides, he was admiring the view. He smiled as he considered a reply, but she had already told him she wanted to cuddle on the couch with a cup of hot cocoa and toast and jam. "Some place where no one's ever heard of the Human Torch," he replied, as honestly as he could.

"Not America or England, then," she chuckled softly, pausing at the foot of the bed to look back over her shoulder at him as he took charge of undoing the zipper that was all that stood between him and the pale, bare flesh of her back. "There are plenty of places we could go that are away from the tourist traps." The doe eyes that looked up at him sparkled lightly, open to being persuaded to a different course for the evening if such an idea came to him.

His mind never wandered too far away from bed and what he and Liv could do there when he was alone with her, but he was doing his best to behave for a change. Too warm fingers slid the zipper down the length of her back, desire coiling somewhere below his waist, though he tried to ignore it. "Okay," he replied, dropping back on the bed to watch her as she peeled the dress away from her shoulders, hands behind his head to enjoy the show. "Name a few," he prompted, though his mind was on something else now that had very little to do with a vacation.

She turned away as he dropped back to watch her change, peeling the soft satin away from her skin under his watchful eyes. It had taken a long time, but she was finally comfortable to be bare in front of him without hiding away. "Well, I think there are places in France and Germany that don't run quite so much to reeling tourists in," she said consideringly, almost innocent of the wandering of his mind as she opened the closet to hang the beautiful dress away. "Or perhaps the mountains between France and Spain, I heard the weather is quite good there. Or maybe Greece. Is that a few enough for you?" She glanced his way with a teasing smile, turning side-on to begin the task of freeing her hair from the wonderfully retro ponytail that had stood the test of their evening very well indeed.

"Mmm..." he muttered a reply, not really thinking much about France or Germany or any place other than right here, right now. If she wanted to take a vacation, he was fine with that. It didn't matter where. He'd go wherever she wanted. What matter to him was the here and now - the pounding of pulse in his ears and the aching desire in his loins. But....if she wanted hot toast and cocoa with jam....er....Hot cocoa and toast with jam, that's what she'd get. Damn, she was beautiful. He was clearly distracted, not hearing a damn thing she was saying.

"Mmm?" Liv glanced toward him, one brow rising as she took in the slightly glazed expression on his face. She couldn't help the smile that rose on knowing that she had managed to derail his thoughts entirely simply by going about her usual evening routine. "Have we lost all coherent speech, sweetheart, or are we brewing something fiendishly intelligent to knock my socks off with?" Shaking her hair loose, she turned away again, setting hairpins and alice band down on the windowsill.

"Have I told you lately how gorgeous you are?" Okay, so it wasn't answering her question and it wasn't about a vacation, but it needed to be said. His gaze moved over her admiringly, the dip and swell of curves, the long slender legs that wrapped so snugly around his waist, the soft mane of chestnut hair he so loved to run his fingers through. "Ugh, I need a cold shower!" he declared as he rolled off the bed to his feet, not really having any intentions of taking a cold shower as it would do him little good. It was just a figure of speech.

His breath caught in his throat when he felt her feather-light touch against his ear, his body reacting to her closesness. There was no point in resisting and even less point in pretending. "I want you, Liv," he breathed against her ear, his pulse pounding in his throat. His hands returned to her hips as he steered her out of the doorway back toward the bed. The hell with toast.

"Oh, God, just get on with it, then!" she groaned in answer, finally giving up the innocent act to let her own desire shine through her voice. Her hand swept downward, dragging that zipper all the way as he steered her backward toward the bed, inching back up over the skin now bare to her touch once again. Yet she didn't demand a kiss, nor offer one, somehow shuddering in the grip of an intimacy deeper than that which could be encouraged by a simple kiss.

He laughed, tempted to tease her by not fulfilling her request, but they both knew what they wanted and they wanted the same thing - each other. He steered her backswards toward the bed until her legs bumped against it, his hands leaving her hips to work any buttons open at the front of her shirt.

Her own laugh was ever so slightly breathless as she bumped the bed, tipping her head back to watch his hands on the buttons of his own shirt, to watch her hands peel away the snug fit of blue fabric from his torso with a tender grin, enjoying the playfulness that mingled with rousing desire. "You should just give me this shirt," she suggested with a soft moan as the buttons fell open entirely, rising onto her toes to nip teasingly at his lips. "I wear it more than you do."

"Possession is nine-tenths of the law. Back home anyway," he teased, not really caring if she took possession of his shirt, though it was his favorite. Blue like his eyes. "You just like it because it smells like me," he said as he finished unfastening the last button and drew the shirt open to admire the view.

"Guilty as charged," was breathed softly between them as she shivered in the passing wake of gentle fabric against the curves he knew so intimately and so well. She'd been wearing this shirt of his that first morning they'd shared together, always conjuring up the tenderness he had shown her in that first foray into one kind of maturity, but in truth, she wouldn't want to take it away from him. He looked pretty damned sexy in it himself, after all. Her hands slid beneath his suit, easing it down his arms until the fabric settled at his hips, leaving his torso bare to her roaming fingertips. "You possess me," she murmured, looking up at him from beneath thick lashes. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Brows lifted as he looked down at her, a little surprised at her choice of words. "I don't want to possess you, Liv. I just want to love you." And with that said, he peeled the blue checkered shirt away from her shoulders, hands sliding down her arms to slip it from her body. He touched her even as she touched him, rekindling the flame of love and desire between them once more, thought it had never really gone completely out.

"You mean you don't want nine tenths of me to belong to you under law?" she asked sweetly, shuddering once again in the tingling wake of his gentle hands over her skin as the shirt fell, forgotten, to her feet. Slowly her own hands slipped downward, tucking into his suit, drawing it down over his hips and thighs as she lowered to her knees, soft eyes never leaving his.

"Well, yeah, but..." He broke off, looking thoroughly confused. Was she teasing him again or what? Did she really want him to possess her" Should he ask her to marry him' No, not yet. Not until he had a steady job and....And what? And could provide for her" She already had a job and one that paid well. He blinked out of his thoughts as she drew the suit away and lowered to her knees, his heart thumping in his chest in eager and excited anticipation. "Liv?" he asked, as he caught her gaze, wondering what she was doing.

Biting her lip, she looked up at him with those liquid eyes for a long moment, visibly gathering in her courage to speak up as her hands laid with gentle sweetness over his hips. "It's about time I learned how to do this, don't you think?" she asked tentatively, wondering if his uncertain reaction was built on excitement or disgust.

His uncertain reaction was built mostly on surprise. He knew how shy she was, how hard it had been for her just to tell him she liked him, but that had been months ago. She'd changed since then, become more open with him, more intimate, more daring. Tonight seemed proof of that. It wasn't just the champagne. He was almost trembling with desire at the prospect of her touching him in such a very intimate way, but he didn't want her to do anything she wasn't ready to do or didn't want to do just to please him. The look he gave her said more than words, soft and tender and infinitely patient. "You don't have to, honey. It doesn't matter."

"I want to." Three words whispered softly up to him as her fingers curled gently to the prominance of his arousal so close to her lips, her breath brushing against the sensitive flesh in the moments before she touched her cheek to him thoughtfully. She had a vague idea of what to do, but knowing and doing were two very different things. Johnny's patience was going to be challenged if he let her explore tonight.

"Oh, God," he muttered under his breath as her fingers wound their way around his already aroused length, as unnaturally warm as the rest of him, and despite his internal heat, he shuddered involuntarily at her touch. His eyelids fell closed as he savored the tenderness of her touch, allowing her to do with him as she wished, at least for the moment, so long as it was what she wanted. He'd always been infinitely patient with her, never demanding, only taking her as far as she seemed willing to go, until tonight. Tonight it seemed they'd crossed some kind of threshold with each other, trusting each other and opening up to each other more than ever before.

She was slow and gentle, but startlingly thorough, applying herself to learning this new skill under his guidance with all the focus she employed to complete tasks every day. First with hands, then with lips and tongue, Liv teased and coaxed every last groan and shudder from her lover, her dark eyes always on his, watching and waiting for any sign that he wanted her to stop.

There was no sign from him that he wanted her to stop, only signs of encouragement. If his groans and shudders were any indication, it seemed she was doing just fine for her first time. Slow and gentle seemed the way to go, slowly coaxing his arousal deeper, heightening his desire until he was teetering on the edge of release. One hand found her hair, fingers weaving their way through the silken strands while she taught herself this new skill without any help from him. "Oh, God, Liv," he moaned again, muscles tense with agonized pleasure awaiting his ultimate release.