Disclaimer and Stuff: This started off as my birthday present to myself, because it's been three months since I last wrote a PWP and I thought it was about time I wrote one for my two favorite characters. It's dedicated to everyone who's been wanting some headboard rattling on the show ever since... well, probably the beginning. Hope this is enough to suit you until it happens for real. <wg> Thanks to Carin for the beta. This happens right after "A Matter of Time." NC-17 for explicit m/f sex. As usual, Nick Wolfe and Amanda belong to TPTB. Comments much appreciated!!

One Perfect Moment

by Raine Wynd

Where was he? Nick tried to define it, but definition remained just out of reach, leaving him feeling unsure. He was caught in the mists between reality and dreams, between life and death, somewhere where nothing mattered but the serenity he felt. He felt no pain, only this incredible security of knowing he loved and was loved in return. He could drift here forever, content to dream....

Amanda was smiling at him, that charming, impish smile she knew all too well how to wield. She was wearing nothing but a flimsy, gauzelike gown that hinted at her soft curves as much as it revealed. She took his hand, and abruptly, Nick realized he was naked. He started for a moment, then reassured himself it was only a dream, nothing to worry about. In any case, it wasn't like she hadn't seen his body naked before.

His lips curved in appreciation of the situation, and he took a moment to wonder if his fantasy was going to come true. He'd wanted so much to make love to her, especially since they'd shared a bubble bath together, and he'd seen how the wet dress she'd worn had clearly outlined her form. His pulse quickened in anticipation.

Her touch sent tingles of excitement up his arm and he soon found he couldn't hide his body's reaction to her nearness. Suddenly, he desperately needed more of her than just her hand. He tried to throttle the dizzying current racing through him, to somehow take control of his body's responses to her, but she seemed to anticipate his hesitation. She pressed her body close to him, shaking her head, and he shuddered at the nearness of her.

She then led him to a big brass bed adorned in red satin sheets and placed a gentle kiss on his lips as she pushed him down on his back. His heart ached at the sweetness, remembering how she'd kissed him right before she'd sensed that other Immortal. His common sense told him that she was dead, but he didn't want to lose this feeling, this heady, rapturous sensation of being so loved, so wanted, so much at peace. If this was real, then he'd gladly stay with her in this ethereal world forever, just as long as she kissed him again, held him close again.

She stepped away for an agonizingly long moment to slip off her dress. His arms felt bereft without her near, and he didn't recognize the deep yearning she inspired. Oh, it was desire, all right, but never this sixty-foot sheer drop down into a pool of water. His heart jolted and his pulse pounded as she lay down atop him, brushing her clever fingers across his jawbone to tilt his head her way for a slow, devastating kiss. He was drowning, submerged far below the surface, drowning in the sheer beauty of her kiss.

His thoughts spun, his senses short-circuited by the waves of passion Amanda poured over him. He clung to her as his anchor, lost in the tide. He groaned at the simple pleasure of her warm flesh against his. His skin tingled when she touched him. He'd never expected to feel this, and he gave her a quivering, tentative touch.

She curled into the curve of his body, clearly enjoying the feel of him against her as their legs intertwined. He could feel the crush of her breasts against the hardness of his chest, and deepened their kiss. She moaned deep in her throat, the low vibration nearly swallowed by his ardent response.

Soon, his hands found the supple curve of her back, and followed the path of her spine down to her buttocks before exploring the soft lines of her waist, her hips. She trembled under his touch and retaliated by sliding her hands between them to brush his nipples. His breath caught as her hands roamed lower and her mouth slid from his to trail a wet path down his chin, his neck, across his chest. Her tongue latched onto a nipple and sucked greedily as her hands roamed lower to graze tantalizingly close to the proof of his rising desire.

"Amanda," he groaned.

She glanced up at him and smiled. She then moved up his body again to meet his mouth in a long clash of tongues and heady desire. Her lips left his to nibble at his earlobe, breathe a whisper of air in his ear. He trembled as some part of his brain chose that moment to remind him she was a woman with centuries of practice at seduction. He was glad he was lying down, certain that if he'd been standing, his knees would be weak. She was relentless at her slow, shivery exploration of his chin, his jawline, his neck, before drawing his face to hers in a renewed embrace.

Lost in the sensual haze she was creating with just her kisses, he had barely enough sense to register a half-whimpered protest before he felt her mouth elsewhere. She was devouring him inch by inch, lick by lick. He closed his eyes as the roaring in his ears increased and his breathing grew heavier, then struggled to keep them open long enough to savor the sight of Amanda kneeling over him. He reached for her head, wanting to press her closer, but she deftly stopped his hands before he could do so.

She didn't give him much chance to feel disappointed, though. Shivers of delight raced through him as her knowing mouth and tongue created an erotic rhythm around his hard shaft. His breath came in short, heavy gasps as his mind fragmented as her hands and lips continued to bring him closer and closer to ecstasy.

"Amanda, please," he moaned.

Her response was to take him deeper into her throat. Somehow, she kept her gaze fastened on his as a tremor inside him heated his groin. Her mouth was hot and wet on his engorged length as her hands caressed his balls. He drowned yet again in the dark depths of her eyes as the real world spun and careened on its axis.

Just when he thought he was going to explode, she rose up, and grin like a satisfied cat before she impaled herself on him. He gasped as the intimate contact was made and she tucked her curves neatly into his own contours. She rocked her hips against his, and instinctively, he reached for her. His hands brushed her nipples, the rosy tips firming instantly under his touch, before sliding down to grasp her buttocks as her back arched with each successive thrust. She was so tight around him, so intoxicatingly warm as together they found the tempo that bound their bodies as one, soaring ever higher until the peak of delight was reached.

Time no longer mattered. For one perfect moment, he was aware of everything and nothing, his entire being focused solely on the exquisite pleasure flooding through his body, singeing his nerve endings as if he'd lit a match and let it burn too close to his fingertips. With vivid clarity, he could hear his breathing loud in his ears, smell the sweet musk of their passion, feel Amanda's body as she urged him still closer. Incredibly, he felt like he couldn't get enough of her, like he couldn't give enough to her, like he had been given an incredible gift. Wanting to share, wanting to express the feeling, and too incoherent to form the words, he reached between them to touch the center of her pleasure. He felt her shudder as a moan of ecstasy slipped through her lips and she moved against his hand, taking him even deeper. Then, like a boat caught in a waterfall tumbling over a sheer cliff, he fell from the peak, screaming Amanda's name.

Sometime later, he surfaced, feeling her warm form next to him, an arm draped in wordless comfort over his cooling body. A smile on his lips, he slept.

== Finis ==