Title: Makes us Stronger
Author: Empress
Email: Empress@thewaysideinn.net
Distribution: Empress' Private Library and The Wayside Inn  All others ask first.
Rating:  NC17 - Thar be sex in this 'un!
Category:  Number 10 in the Behind the Scenes series - sequel to #9 That Which Does Not Kill Us…
Characters:  Hunter/Nan; Kevin Nash; Beverly Chilton (OFC); and Dixie The Wonder Wiener Dog.
Spoilers: Again…none.
Warnings:  Rough language and seriously consensual sex.
Summary:  I suck at summaries!  Ugh!!  Here goes…Hunter and Nan make up then take a nap.  Kevin and Hunter have a discussion.  Dixie tries to eat the neighbor.  And Hunter gets his birthday present.
Author's Notes: Guess what?!  I lied!!!  The Pagan's incident doesn't happen in this chapter!  Come on, guys!  Put the rotten vegetables down!  I'm writing as fast as I can and still keep my day job.  But I'll get to it in the next one - honestly!!  Really!  I swear!
Feedback: Always.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Everything belongs to Vince.  As usual.  But some are mine and I'm keeping those. No money made.  Sue me and you'll probably only end up with some serious lawyer fees, because I don't own anything.  However, I am taking bids on a neurotic 8-year-old cat.  She comes complete with her own litter pan, a bag of litter, a bag of dry food, seven cans of wet food, enough cat hair to make a second cat, and breath bad enough to knock a buzzard off a shit wagon at fifty paces. Gets along well with dogs.  Also, she hates people, preferring to hide from them and has a great talent for throwing  up every Monday morning just before you leave for work. Starting the bidding at 'free'.  Any takers?  One word of warning though, you have to get her past Dixie, the Wonder Wiener dog, who thinks the cat is her pet.

July 20, 2004  9:00 a.m.
Casa de Nash - The Patio - Key Largo, FL 

"I'd suggest you start with trying to find the photographer."  Kevin called from the patio doorway.

Nan lifted her head from Hunter's chest, turning slightly, surprised to see Kevin leaning against the doorframe, the patio door pulled almost closed behind him.  "Deez?  Did we wake you?"

Kevin shook his head.  "Nah.  But she did."  He slid the door open with his foot, and instantaneously a little brown dart of energy came screaming out of the house, launching itself like a missile straight at where Hunter and Nan cuddled on the glider.

"Dixie!  Hey, Sweetpea!"  Nan cried, surprised, but gladly so, to see her there.

Hunter laughed.  "Easy, little girl."

The little brown Dachshund had scrambled up the side of the glider and was currently plowing across their legs, wiggling her way in between them.  She barked, yipped, and generally made enough noise to wake the dead.  Her whole body practically went into convulsions as she displayed her pleasure at being reunited with the two most important humans in her young doggie life. Nan pulled far back enough from Hunter for Dixie to worm her way against his chest and tuck herself up under Nan's chin.  She flipped over onto her back, sticking both front legs up in the air and waved them around like she was miming riding a bicycle.  Only when Hunter rubbed the 'sweet spot' behind her left ear, did the little dog let out a deep, gruff, rumbling sigh of contentment.  Every few nanoseconds, she'd lift her head and slime the bottom of Hunter's chin or the side of Nan's face, with an overly exuberant and wet kiss, while whining in the process.

"I think she missed us," Hunter remarked sardonically, grinning down at the two of them draped across him.

"Yeah," Nan whispered brokenly, fighting back tears.  "Don't ever let me do something so stupid again.  I'm sorry, baby-dog."  She whispered the last to Dixie, rubbing her cheek against Dixie's brindled coat and petting her tummy.

Dixie seemed to hold no ill will, and just laid there, her head thrown back exposing her throat, allowing the two of them to fawn over her.  They'd screwed up big time.  She had lots of treats, and toys, and tummy rubs, and play time, and spoilin' headed her way.  Heck, maybe even a ride or two.  They knew it.  She knew it.  And like any good, self-respecting, spoiled rotten brat, she had every intention of milking it for every drop she could squeeze out of it.

Kevin watched his friends and the little dog for a few minutes.  Finally he cocked his head, and asked, "Do you guys really wanna talk about this now?"

They didn't answer right away.  Hunter looked down, and ran his hand over Nan's head in a light caress.  "Baby?"

Nan hesitated then shook her head, turning her face away from Kevin, burying it behind Dixie's fuzzy body, against Hunter's chest once again.

"Nah, Kev.  I think we've both had enough picking at scabs for a while."  Hunter shared a meaningful glance with his friend, and both of them knew that they'd be discussing soon it anyway…alone.

"S'cool.  Say, mind if I take the ankle-biter there out for a jog?"

Nan lifted her head, and sniffed loudly.  "Sure.  I think she might like that.  She'll need her harness and leash though."

"Incoming," Kevin grinned as he tossed the blue harness to Hunter, who snatched it out of the air and passed it over to Nan. 

She sat up, and with no small amount of wrestling with the four-legged little terror, got her strapped into it.  Kevin strolled over and clipped the leash to the steel loop between her shoulder blades, once Nan had put her on the ground.

"Will she go willingly with me, now that you two are back with her?"

Hunter grinned up at Kevin.  "Watch." 

He then looked back down at Dixie.  She sat perched between his bare feet, her barrel-like chest puffed up and her head thrown back, looking regally down her  long muzzle, showing off every single ounce of Champion show dog blood in her background.  He widened his eyes, grinned really big, slapped both palms on his knees and called to her, "Dixie!"

Her head cocked sideways and her ears picked up as she looked at him.

"Dixie!"  He said even louder and more excited sounding.

She stood up, wagging her tail so hard her whole back end twitched back and forth. 

"Dixie!"  He called for a third time.

Now she was whining and grumbling low in the back of her throat, waiting to see what he wanted.

"Dixie!  Wanna run??"

Immediately the little dog started barking, her front feet popping up off the ground in her excitement over the special word that meant she got to run somewhere, anywhere, hell bent for leather.  She jumped up at Hunter, and plopped both feet on his knees, barking at him.

He laughed, and pointed at Kevin.  "No, Sweetpea.  Not me.  Run with Kev!"

Evidently she knew that word too, because she got down and proceeded to run around in circles until she'd completely tied up the  ankles of the seven-foot tall blonde ex-pro-wrestler.

Nan sat beside Hunter, leaning against his shoulder giggling so hard that her face ached, and she couldn't draw a deep breath, as Kevin wound himself in the opposite direction trying to untangle his legs.  Every time he came close though, Dixie would power-up and run back around the other way.

"What in hell do you feed this dog to give her that much energy?  Plutonium??"

"Hunter, help him."  Nan chastised.

Laughing, Hunter got to his feet, picking up Dixie and tucking her under his arm, her little stumpy legs peddling against the air for all they were worth, and her back end still twitching as if she were hooked up to electrodes.  Still chuckling, he looked at Kevin who was glaring at him.  "Now untangle yourself."

Kevin did as instructed, grumbling the whole time.  Something about no good deed ever going unpunished.  He held out his hands as Hunter passed Dixie to him.  "You coulda told me there was a trick to it."

"What, and miss out on all this free entertainment?"  Hunter smirked at him.

"What free?  Ain't nothin' without a price, buddy boy."  Kevin looked over at Nan.  "You're cooking tonight."

"And what else is new?"  She grinned back at him.

"Uh-huh.  You say that now.  But I want Beef Wellington."  He grinned at her, knowing he'd just named a dish that was both complicated, and time consuming.  And utterly, sinfully delicious.  He expected her to gripe and complain.  She did neither.

Instead, she got up, walked over to where he stood, and just looked up at him for a minute, having to crane her neck to do so.  Then she wrapped both arms around his waist and laid her head against his sternum.  Surprised, he wrapped one arm around her, staring at Hunter with a look that said he half-expected the smaller man to slug the piss out of him for touching his woman. But Hunter shoved his hands into his pockets, and just grinned at up him, as Kevin towered over them both, dumbfounded.

After a moment of standing there, Nan pulled her head back and looked up at her giant-sized friend.  "Thank you."

"For what, sugar?"

"For calling him and telling him where I was.  And don't tell me you didn't, 'cuz I know better."

"Ah," Kevin stammered for a second, looking a little embarrassed.  "Well, I couldn't just let this fence go unmended.  Ya know?"

Nan recognized the odd analogy, and nodded, blinking away the moisture threatening behind her eyes.  "I guess…I guess some fences can be mended after all."

Kevin looked down into her eyes and nodded, knowing they both were no longer talking about just her and Hunter.  "Yeah.  I guess so."

"Am I supposed to understand what you two are talking about?"

"No," both Kevin and Nan answered in unison.

Kevin patted her on the back then stepped away.  Nan stepped backward only to find herself caught up against Hunter's chest as he wrapped his arms around her from behind.  He maneuvered them until they were standing beside Kevin as he moved towards his beach access.  Hunter lowered his chin to rest on Nan's shoulder.

"We'll be out on the beach for, oh, a couple of hours.  Then I'm gonna run into town.  But I'll drop the rug rat here off by the house before I go.  Later."  He set Dixie on the ground.  "Come on, Little Miss Dixie Belle.  Let's go run!"

Dixie was off like a shot, not even looking back.  She headed straight for the beach, her retractable leash stretched out to the absolute limit, with Kevin jogging leisurely behind.

"God, what I wouldn't give for a camera."  Hunter chuckled, watching them go.  "That huge guy and that little fifteen pound dynamo, just tearin' up the beach.  The new scourge of Key Largo."

"Running like her heels are on fire and her ass is catching," Nan agreed, smiling. 

"You know what he just did."

She nodded.  "He's a great friend."

Hunter turned his head into her neck, burrowing deep underneath the hair lying against it until he reached her skin.  Lightly, he trailed his lips up the column of her throat until they reached her earlobe, grazing it with his teeth and whiskers.  "One of the absolute best," he rumbled lowly into her ear, sending shivers up and down her spine.

She moaned low in her throat as her whole body was suddenly awash with the sweet burn of desire.  God, it had been so long.  Her breathing shallowed considerably, and she tipped her head to the left to give him more access.  He didn't disappoint her either, suckling gently on the almost now faded bruise left behind from their last time together. 

Lifting his lips, he growled softly, "Let's go inside before we give the Chiltons a free show."

Nan nodded slowly, her brain fogging over rapidly as the heat from Hunter's body soaked through her skin into her bones.  "She doesn't deserve free.  She's gotta pay like the rest."

Hunter chuckled, always enjoying her twisted sense of humor, and turned her around, looking down in to those gypsy eyes of hers.  They were so dark with passion that he could no longer tell the pupils apart from the irises.  She looked up at him through heavy lidded eyes, and wound her arms around his neck, threading them into the silky soft blond locks of hair trailing down onto his immense shoulders.  Leaning in, she nuzzled into the opening of his collar, breathing in his scent with a little shudder that brought her closer to him, her hips almost cradling his.  Almost, but not quite.  She could feel the hard length of his cock pressing into the soft skin just below her belly button.  She leaned in with her hips, pressing harder against him.  He groaned, leaning his head back, his eyes slowly closing.

"Hunter?"  She whispered pressing light open-mouthed kisses to the hollow of his throat, then moving up to his Adam's Apple, tonguing it gently. 

He swallowed firmly, causing that devilishly persistent tongue of hers to dance across his Adam's apple again.  "Yeah, baby."

His voice was rough, like he'd been gargling with razor blades, and she smiled, moving up scant inches higher.  "We've talked first." She reminded him, tracing the contours of his skin with her lips and tongue. "And I want you.  Hard, and throbbing, inside me.  Now."

Groaning, he stooped slightly, slipped one arm under her knees and the other around her back, lifting her off her feet effortlessly.  Pivoting on his heel, he strode determinedly for the house,  thankful that Kevin left the patio door open when he let Dixie out.  Once across the threshold, he turned, and pushed the door closed with his hip, then set off down the hall.

She proceeded to whisper absolutely the most graphic of descriptions what exactly she wanted from him.  And by the time they reached the guest room where Nan had been staying, Hunter was so hard, aching so badly, that he was positive that he could have split a diamond with the tip of his dick right at that moment.  When she nipped the skin just below his chin, Hunter had reached his breaking point, beads of sweat popping out on his brow.

He set her down on her feet, placing both hands over hers as she moved to lower the zipper between her breasts.  "No.  I'll do it.  Just…wait."

Nodding, she backed up until her calves hit the edge of the bed, watching his face the whole time. At the questioning tilt to her head, he nodded, and she pulled down the coverlet and top sheet on the bed, and sat down.  And watched.

She watched Hunter undress in front of her, the pink tip of her tongue darting out to moisten her bottom lip.  Hunter's hawk-like gaze caught the miniscule movement and his nostrils flared briefly, his eyelids drooping to half-open, and she felt the temperature in the room soar upwards about five degrees.  Her hungry gaze watched Hunter's muscular arms as he dug thick fingers into the hem of his black polo shirt, and tugged upwards. Nan's dark eyes tracked the thin fabric as it slid upward to reveal the large, hairless expanse of Hunter's chest.  Her eyes settled on the arched eyebrow and scorching curve to his full lips as he tossed his hair out of his face once the shirt came off over his head.  Carelessly, he dropped it to the floor.

With a heated glance at her, he thumbed open the button on his black slacks, and lowered the zipper.  He unbuckled his belt, and slid it free from the loops, dangling the belt for a moment.  Hearing a soft gasp, he looked up and found her eyes not on him, but on the black leather belt he held clenched in one broad fist.  Experimentally, he snapped the belt against his leg, grinning wickedly when she jumped slightly. Nan watched him, licking her lips again. He arched a blonde brow at her, his whiskey eyes making sinful promises, and took a moment to imprint the look of pure raw heat on Nan's face as she stared at him with the belt in his hand. 

"See something that interests you, baby?"

At her timid nod, his wicked smile spread further across his face.  She'd surprised him, never once even considering that of her.  He'd have to file that lovely little response away for further exploration later, he decided, and dropped the belt beside his shirt onto the floor.  With a casual slowness that belied his body's hyper-aroused state, he slid out of his slacks and boxers, letting them pool up on the floor with the other discarded garments.  Kicking them away, he stood before her gloriously naked, proud and arrogant.  He tipped his head forward slightly to look at her through his brows, and crooked his index finger at her.

Slowly she rose, and walked towards him, her hands clenched tightly before her, her head lowered, and eyes on the silver-blue carpet beneath her bare feet.  He watched her come slowly towards him, his light brown eyes sweeping over her from head to toe, almost as if he were memorizing how she looked at that very moment. 

Her face was shrouded by that glorious copper mane, as it cascaded over her shoulders and draped over her breasts, reminding him of Lady Godiva, although she still wore her bathing suit.  A suit he'd never seen before.  It was emerald green, cut mouth wateringly high on the hips, yet her modesty was still preserved by the zipper that ran from the scooped neckline down to the navel.  She had it zipped just low enough so that he could easily see the silver 'H' necklace she wore.  He swept his gaze down, lingering on the ample swell of her breasts where they strained against the shimmery green material, then moving on to the dip of her waist and gentle flared curve of her hips.  Hunter smiled as he further enjoyed the sight of those well-shaped legs that he knew from experience rather than by sight, of how strong they were.  His body remembered how tightly they could squeeze around his waist and hips, and tightened in response to the memory.  His gaze passed briefly over the minute scars on her right leg.  But he didn't allow his stare to linger there, not wanting to make her uncomfortable right now. 

Instead, he gently grasped the circular loop at the top of the zipper holding the suit closed, and eased it down.  He relished the buzzing sound it made as he lowered it down its full length, parting just far enough to reveal the swell of each breast, as well as her navel.  Gently pushing back her hair so that it trailed down her back, he eased the tank style straps of the bathing suit from each shoulder, curling his callused palms over her skin, and sliding the straps down each arm.  With the tips of his fingers, he hooked the waist of her suit and dragged it downward until it slid of its own momentum to the floor.  He curled one arm around her naked waist, and lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes.

They were wide, dark, and bottomless, and filled with desire for him.  He pulled her closer to him, and cupped the side of her throat, his palm pressed against her skin.  Then he noticed the small tremors streaming through her body.  He could feel her pulse racing beneath his hand.  She still wanted him.

But something was different, now.  Something about the belt had changed the dynamics between them.  This submissive, demure, fragile woman now shivering under his scrutiny had replaced the brazen wanton who'd said all of those delightfully nasty things to him as he carted her through the house.  Hunter felt something decidedly primitive swell up deep from his psyche.  He could almost hear his own words echoing in his head, swimming through his blood.  You're mine.  And she was.  His.  His to care for.  His to provide for.  His to shelter.  His to protect.  His to love.  His to be loved by. 

It was a humbling thought.  And it carried a wealth of responsibility.  But for some reason, one he just accepted rather than questioned, it wasn't frightening or intimidating at all like he thought it would be.  No, it was…nice…warm…right.

"Hunter, please," her quiet whisper pulled his attention back to the here and now.

"You don't have to beg.  Ever."  He scooped her up in his arms once again, walked the few steps to the bed and laid her gently down on the sheets, covering her with his body.

Nan shuddered as she felt the hairs on his legs, tantalize her sensitive skin. To be such a large, muscularly imposing man, texturally everything about him was silky.  His skin, his beard and mustache, his body hair, what precious little there was of it.  But just under that silk, lay the steel bands of toned muscle that made her feel both fragile and secure at the same time.  And even deeper than the muscle, the boiling lava of his emotions flowed like a river through him.  It was a heady combination, more powerful than any aphrodisiac that she'd ever heard of.  Hunter leaned in towards her face, his chest rubbing over the sensitive tips of her breasts.  She shivered again at the exquisite sensation.  This man was no 'iron fist in a velvet glove.'  No, she thought.  This man…her man…was more like a steel gauntlet swathed in layers of warmed silk.  And the physical sensations were going to drive her insane.  But what a way to go.

He shifted on the mattress maneuvering her to lie on top of him, thinking that he didn't want her to feel trapped beneath him.  She placed a hand on his chest, shaking her head.  "No.  I want…need…to feel you, your weight against mine.  To know…to see you're…really here."

He rolled over to brace himself on his elbows over her, his hair falling around her head, hiding the two of them in a blonde curtain, blocking out everything but the two of them.  Once again, Hunter seemed to understand what she wasn't saying rather than what she was giving voice to. 

He cut through it all to the bottom line.  "You missed me that much?  So that you weren't sure if I were here or not when you thought of me?"

She hesitated briefly before nodding, feeling more vulnerable at that moment than she ever had before in her life.  She lay completely open, exposed to him, defenseless against any blow, emotional or otherwise, that may fall.  Her exposure wasn't just physically.  Had it been, she wouldn't have that disturbing look of trepidation in her eyes when she gazed up at him.

As he lay facing her he looked down into the soft eyes gazing up into his. For a moment he stared in shock. A veil had been lifted, or so it seemed. All of the love she wouldn't voice was shining in her eyes, but there was still a great deal of fear as well. He lifted a slow, trembling hand to touch her cheek with his fingertips. He wanted to say something to reassure her, to promise to cherish and love her, but his words failed him, as always. Silence stretched between them. It was almost uncomfortable to him but just when he thought it would drive him to distraction, she whispered a single phrase.

"I'm yours."

He quietly heaved a relieved sigh and leaned down to brush her lips with his own, not doing anything more than that for a few moments, simply relearning the texture of her  lips. The softness and warmth of them, the shape and feel of them. When they parted, allowing moist warmth to escape, he took the hint and opened his lips, letting his tongue slip through to gently trace the outline before slipping inside to touch her tongue.  He delved deeper, stayed longer, tasted her with great enjoyment and contentment as he gently sucked,  tasting and stroking and apparently pleasing her if the sudden jerks and breathy whimpers were any indication.

And there, within the sweetness of her lips, losing himself in the absolute lushness of her mouth, Hunter had a revelation.  Usually he was in control.  He held the reins of the lives those he protected or battled.  Friend or foe, lover or enemy. It was a duty he'd always assumed with great respect.  But with this woman…he held the flow of her emotions in his strong hands and for perhaps the first time he understood. She let him have her control. Not out of fear.  In defiance of her fears, both named and unnamed, she willingly gave up her control because she trusted him. She trusted him not to hurt her on purpose, even when he alone had the greatest power to.  This he understood.  And the depth of her trust scared him, but made him feel more alive than he ever had in his life.

Gently, more gentle than he'd ever been in his life, he caressed her face. He studied the line of her brow, her jaw. As with most men, he generally saw the physical beauty of a woman first.  But this morning he saw the glow of trust and love that made this one truly beautiful.

She let out a little sigh and turned her lips to his hand. As her lips touched his palm he closed his eyes. The sensation was pleasant sending a jolt through his body. He took a slow breath as he felt the tip of her tongue, slowly, lightly licking down his palm. It wasn't a heavy touch, it tickled in fact, but it was so sensual. Instead of touching her lips, his mouth shifted and trailed lightly along her cheek.  His tongue brushed her ear and then moved delectably slowly down the sensitive column on her neck, so slowly that it was almost painful to him.

He lifted his lips from her skin and blew lightly across the dampness. It caused little goose bumps to cross her skin and she shuddered as a wave of desire washed over her. Pleased, he smiled at the little moan that escaped her lips and then moved quickly down to her shoulder. He wanted her badly, but he wanted her to feel just how much she meant to him as well. How difficult this separation had been for the both of them.

He started again with the gentle, light kisses, this time along her collarbone. The skin was thin here and he could feel her pulse under his tongue. He made sure to graze his chest across hers, feeling it jump. This was so delicious. Barely even sexual but he had her quivering with need. Her head was thrown back, eyes rolled back into her head, panting heavily with her desire.

"God, but you taste so good."  He groaned.

She moaned in response, shifting her legs so he could settle more fully against her.

He paused at the small indentation at the base of her throat, and watched with a pleased expression, at the speed of her pulse throbbing in that shallow divot of flesh.  With the very tip of his tongue, he licked lightly at the soft spot, once, twice, and then a third time, torturing her the same way she liked to torture him.  A soft, strangled sound poured from her, a plea for him to claim the lips that had parted in anticipation.

Hunter sprung with such infinite grace and speed that Nan had no warning.  His hands sunk into her hair, pinning her head between his palms, arching her neck back.  His lips covered hers and he took the breath from her lungs.  She found herself surrendering completely to the ardor in his kiss.  His tongue danced and parried teasingly with hers, for a moment.  Then he stole her senses again, by drawing it further into the wet heat of his mouth, leaving her panting when he pulled away.

He lowered his head once again to leave a trail of fiery kisses, his tongue darting out to brand each spot where they touched.  He eased his way over to her left breast, the nipple taught and rosy, aching for his touch.  The ends of his long hair trailed enticingly down the sides of the creamy white globe, sending Nan's already shredded senses into a tailspin. Hunter's tongue darted out, flicking the over-stimulated bud, sending shock waves tingling through her limbs. It tightened, just as his own did in response. He could feel her hands move, coming to rest one in his hair and one on his naked hip. He bit her nipple, almost playfully. The gasp she let out made him chuckle. After a moment of this new torture, he closed his lips over the rosy crest, drawing it deeply into his mouth.

Nan arched sharply, pushing the mound even deeper into the heat of his mouth.  Hunter reached over and rubbed a callused thumb over the other nipple, sending even more tremors throughout her body.  Then his attention shifted to the other breast, repeating the delicate motions, until Nan lay quivering under him, a thin film of sweat covering her aching body.

He lifted his face and looked into her eyes for a few moments. His hand reached up to caress her hair softly and he licked his lips. She mouthed for him to go on and he smiled. Bending his head, he returned to slowly tasting her, the stiff whiskers from his beard and mustache creating a whole separate set of sensations racing through her. Her head settled back, her eyes rolling shut.

Unconscious of her own body's response to what he was doing, she pressed more fully into him. As he continued to kiss the valley between her breasts, he moved so that he had one of his legs pressed between her own. He could feel the wetness against the skin of his thigh as her hips rocked gently against his leg. She was beginning to purr as continued his ministrations. It was harder than he thought to continue with the tortuously slow pace. He had been fully aroused since even before coming in the house, and now he was bordering on pain. Experimentally, he rocked his hardness against her, testing to see if she were truly ready for him.

She surprised him by arching up into the motion, her fingers clenching and unclenching on his shoulders, her short nails lightly scraping his skin.  "Please, Hunter…please…"

"Patience, baby. Let me love you at my pace."

She relaxed with a slight nod. She could feel a low pressure building at the apex of her thighs as he shifted once again and began that fiery trail down her belly, sliding his own body down the mattress.  He stopped at her navel, to swirl his tongue around it's edges, then continued on down to her fiery curls.

With gentle fingers, he parted her folds, please to see her wet and more than ready for him.  She inhaled sharply as he slid one thick finger deep within her heat, rotating it slowly, then pulling it back out, only to slide in a second one a moment later.  She jerked violently when he slid in a third, rotating them gently, scissoring them open and closed, soothing the ache he was building inside of her, but stoking it at the same time.

Her passion filled moan was music to his ears, and the sound he'd been waiting for.  Keeping up the exquisite sensations, he parted her folds further to uncover her clitoris, now a deep glistening red under this attention.  Nan arched sharply again, shuddering breaths escaping in low moans from her, as his tongue lapped at the bud in an agonizingly slow rhythm.  She felt the crest of her climax rising as he suckled lightly on the tender nub.  She buried her hands in his hair, holding his head in place.

In an explosion of sensation, the fire of passion he'd patiently stoked broke over her, and she came apart.  She just burst inside, a swell of sensation that had sneaked up on her, dragging a breathless moan from her lips.  A moan that sounded just like a sob and his name combined, "Hunter!" 

Feeling her muscles clench and spasm around his fingers, he lifted his head, slowly drawing his fingers out of her.  Hunter propped himself up on an elbow, his smile telling her how much he enjoyed the sight of her, naked and spread beneath him as he watched her come back to earth.  A sight he never tired of, knowing he was the one that had launched her into outer space in the first place. 

As she struggled to catch her breath, she took in the satisfaction on his face, the dark, heavy-lidded eyes, the ruggedly handsome planes of his face that had softened around the edges, taking almost ten years off his age.  She lay panting beneath him, her skin flushed, her breasts tight, her sex pulsing with the remnants of that wild explosion.  And he knew it.

He pulled up, the glistening tip of his cock poised at her entrance.  He lifted her legs to bend at the knees, then wrapped them around his waist, craving the pressure he knew they'd create there.  Hunter braced one fist on either side of her, and with an aching tenderness, slid his full length into her. 

For a moment, he didn't move, but simply stared down at her, his burning whisky eyes glazed with desire.  "Baby, I…God, but you're beautiful."

He leaned in to claim her lips once again.  He pulled back on a breathtaking stroke that brought him almost clear out, before driving back inside her wet heat with a low groan.  As the strength of his thrusts increased, Nan locked her ankles over his rotating hips.  She could feel the tension and strain in the muscles in his back, and she gripped her fingers into them, glorying in his power. 

"Oh Hunter, that's good."  She slid her hands over the slabs of iron muscle in his buttocks, urging him to go even deeper, arching her hips to meet each powerful thrust.

Hunter braced himself on one elbow and slid his free hand beneath her bottom, lifting her upward just a tad, pressing her against his pistoning hips, creating friction exactly where she needed it.  His every stoke fed the fire building again inside her, and he timed his thrusts to match hers.  Rolled his hips to catch the pleasure point that dragged each breath from her lungs.  Kissed the sound of her moans from her lips, even as his thighs started to tremble from the exertion.  Her head was thrown back, her eyes clenched tightly closed, and she was moaning his name over and over again.   Then she added something new to their dance.

She stiffened, clenched down with her internal muscles, and whispered, "More.  More."

"Fuck, baby!"  Hunter groaned, but he picked up his pace.

"Mmmmm-hmmmm.  Oh, yeah…ah, Christ, that feels good….faster…."

He didn't think he'd ever seen anything more beautiful in his life than this woman in the throws of the passion that he stirred in her.  It did wonderful things to his libido.  Inconceivably making him even harder.  Muscles straining, sweat gleaming on his skin, heart pounding hard enough to crack a rib, Hunter closed his eyes, ducked his head, and rode the out the wave as it began to gather between his legs.  His thrusts sped up, and deepened.  Nan arched one last time, lifting her legs even higher up above his waist, and the angle changed.

"Oh, Jesus," Hunter groaned as he thrust so deep within her that he could feel her hipbones grind against him, adding a sweet pain to the potent mix. 

"God, Hunter…yes, yes…right there, harder…harder…" she panted, encouraging the rougher ride than they had started out on.  She drew her hands away from the cheeks of his ass to the thick slabs of muscle across his shoulders, digging in with her short nails, upping the ante.

Now he was slamming into her at full force, withdrawing from her almost completely, only to crash back fully not seconds later.  Just when he thought it would be too much, Hunter emitted a loud moan, that matched Nan's own, and he exploded, dragging her screaming his name right over the edge with him.

Still buried inside of her, he collapsed on her, pressing her deep into the soft mattress.  Breathing so heavily that he had sparklies in the corners of his vision, he wrapped his arms underneath her pulling her sweat slicked body tightly against his own. After a moment, he pulled back to loom over her again, his fingers caressing her face, as he kissed the corners of her eyes, the tip of her nose, then back down to claim her lips once again.  Finally, he slid from her warmth, to roll over on his back, pulling her with him, cradling her on his chest. With one tired hand, he groped for the sheet, finding its edge and pulling it up over the both of them.

Leaning up, she opened her eyes and looked into his. She brought a slow, trembling hand to his face and touched his cheek, then up to his forehead, barely tracing the deep scars there. For a brief moment, he though she was going to say something.  Something he'd not heard her say since that first time he'd kissed her.  Something he'd not heard since before they'd officially become a couple.  She'd told him once.  She'd never said it again.  And she didn't this time either.

But her eyes did.  He saw it clearly in those dark gypsy eyes of hers just before she pressed her lips against his in a gentle kiss, and then pulled away to lay back down, resting her head directly over his heart.  Where she belonged, he thought briefly, as her arm stole around his waist.  He ran his hand idly across the smooth skin of her back, pausing to press a gentle kiss to her forehead, sighing as he listened to her breathing even out, and eventually as she dropped into sleep.

It occurred to him, as he lay there, that they mirrored the exact same position right then as they had that very first night they'd shared a bed, back in Birmingham.  He smiled to himself.  They often slept that way.  That, or curled together like spoons in a drawer, with his arms wrapped around her from behind, her bottom cradled in the curve of his hips.

He almost said it.  He'd come so close.  Closer than he ever had before.  But again, the words died on his lips.  He was beginning to believe that he'd never be able to say those words again. 

~<>~

The house was quiet when she came back inside.  Looking around, she didn't catch site of anyone, but she knew they were there somewhere.  Careful to make no noise, she plodded quietly into the den, still not seeing anyone.  Turning the corner, she walked silently down the hallway, the silver-blue carpet cushioning her steps, and paused at the open bedroom door.  Looking inside she saw him lying still in the big bed, his only movement being the even rise and fall of his chest as he slept.

She was tired, too, after all of that morning's exertions.  A nap sounded good. Stealing into the room, she walked around to his side of the bed and gently eased herself onto the mattress, settling in beside him, laying her head down on the pillow next to his.  She rolled over onto her back as he shifted slightly beside her.  Closing her eyes, she breathed out deeply, a slight curve to her mouth as she felt a kiss being pressed against her head from the other side, away from him.  Turning slightly, she returned the favor, and then lay back, her heart lighter than in almost a month.  Her pack was together again.  God was in His heaven and all was right with Dixie's world.  She gladly returned Morpheus' embrace when he came for her.

~<>~ 

It was almost three in the afternoon when Hunter eased from the bed, leaving both a sleeping Nan and Dixie behind. Quietly, he slipped into the bathroom and closed the door.  Reaching beyond the frosted glass, he turned on the water to adjust the temperature before stepping under the spray for a much-needed shower. 

Allowing his mind to wander, he washed two days worth of travel fatigue, and sweat from his body, reveling in the moist heat of the water as it sank into his tired muscles.  Reaching up, he adjusted the spray to a body pounding massage and groaned, dropping his head forward, watching the water run in rivulets down his skin and dripping off the ends of his hair. 

He smiled thinking of the sight of Nan curled up in the white expanse of the queen-size bed, her faithful companion beside her, snoring louder than anyone would think possible out of a small dog. Grinning, he realized he really must have been out of it not to notice the little dog climbing into bed with them.  Not that he minded.  Hell, Dixie had slept with Nan much longer than he had.  She was about seven years old, he thought, knowing Nan had gotten her a year or two before he met her.

It did amaze him when he really thought about it, though, that he even could stand the little rag mop dog.  And a rag mop she was, being a longhaired Dachshund, with a tail that looked a lot like a pennant waving behind her.  It wasn't that he didn't like little dogs, because he did.  He liked dogs period.  But their first meeting hadn't been on the most auspicious of occasions, and he was still smarting that Steph wouldn't let him have Lucy.  He frowned.  His now ex-wife had been totally amenable about the equitable distribution of their marital property.  So agreeable in fact that he shouldn't have been surprised when she balked over letting him have the one thing that he actually gave a damn about.  His bulldog Lucy.  But she had dangled her over his head like a carrot on a string.  But, in the end, it hadn't mattered anyway.  

Hunter's face hardened, the memory of losing his pet still stinging a bit, even after two years.  But he pushed those thoughts away before he could lose himself in them, tracking his mind back to the little brown bundle of energy, and wet kisses, and enough love in her little heart to light up Anchorage in the dead of winter.  She'd been very helpful in getting him over Lucy's death.  Yeah, he loved that little dog to distraction.  Just like he did her 'mother.'  He just wished he could tell her that.

He turned off the water and stepped onto the bathmat, dropping a towel over his head as he draped another around his hips, knotting it.   He chuckled to himself as he toweled the excess water out of his hair.  And there was no doubt that Nan was her 'mother,' either.  It never failed to amuse him as he watched her pack up Dixie's things in that red back pack, clucking over every item, every toy, bottle of medicine, can of food, whatever, that went inside it's depths.  He'd heard Mom, thinking of Nan's mother,  call it a diaper bag once and he agreed. 

Hunter hung the damp towel over the shower door, turning back around, surprised to see his toiletry kit on the back of the toilet tank.  He grinned.  Kevin must have brought it in before he came outside that morning.  He was that kind of a thoughtful guy.  Although if you ever called him on it, he'd deny it, then pound the crap out of you.

Smiling, he unzipped it and ran his comb through his hair, slicking it back off his face.  Dropping the comb back inside, he fished out his toothbrush, a neon green and orange monstrosity that Nan had presented to him not a month after she'd moved in with him, after he'd managed to leave behind the sixth one, in two weeks of travel time, in his hotel room.

He'd balked at it's horrible coloring.  He said it looked like something straight off of Cartoon Network, and insisted that Triple H, The Game, The Cerebral Assassin did not use a radioactive lime green and neon orange toothbrush with little purple monster faces all over it.  She countered that he would so use it, if it bothered him nearly as much as he said it did when he'd discovered people selling what they claimed to be his old ones on Ebay.  This one he'd be sure to never leave behind to let the Internet junkies to get a hold of it.

She also swore he'd be able to locate this one in the dark.  And she'd been right too, he thought as he squeezed the toothpaste on to the bristles.  The damn thing glowed even in the daylight, so he never missed it when making his 'final sweep' when preparing to check out.  It was nice having someone care enough about him to do little things like that, he thought, as he bared his teeth in the mirror to start brushing them with the hideous toothbrush.  Nan was big on nurturing.  Her friends, her family, himself, even her dog.  Especially him and her dog.  She took better care of him than anyone else ever had or had even tried to as far back as he could remember, with the exception, of his father.  He smiled, around the bristles.  Hell, she took better care of Dixie than most real mothers did of their own children. 

The grin wavered for a moment.  Better than his own mother had of him.  Still, he couldn't help but wonder, considering how she was with her dog, how she'd be when they had kids.

That thought stopped him dead in his tracks.  Where the hell had that come from?? 

~<>~ 

"It lives," Kevin called with a smirk on his face from the table as Hunter wandered into the kitchen a little while later.

"Barely."  Hunter retorted as he lifted his fists into the air and leaned backward, similar to when he did the same thing in the ring.  But this time, instead of spewing water, he yawned, and cracked his spine, sounding like a whole role of bubble-wrap being popped at once as the vertebrae snapped back into place.

"Damn, man.  You sound worse than I do.  And I sound like a bowl of Rice Krispies every morning." Kevin commented, as Hunter stuck his head in the fridge, coming out with an individually sized bottle of orange juice, keeping the refrigerator door open with his foot.

Hunter nodded, cracked the seal on the plastic bottle and drained it, tossing the plastic into the trash, before fishing out a bottle of water this time, allowing the door to close on its own.  "Yeah," he said as he crossed the kitchen to sit down at the table across from Kevin.  "But I'm still doing this three to four nights a week.  Sometimes more.  You're not."

"She asleep?"

"Uh-huh," he mumbled with a smug smile.  "Wore her out."

Kevin rolled his eyes.  "Spare me the sordid details, 'kay?  Some images I just don't need in my head."

"Puss." Hunter laughed, having no intention of telling him anything.

"Better a puss than an asshole.  As thousands of screaming fans tell you regularly, from what I can see."  He watched as Hunter shifted his shoulders, stretching out tightening muscles.  "Having trouble getting out of bed in the mornings yet?"

"Yeah.  Sometimes."  He shrugged.  "She helps sometimes. Rub downs, that sort of thing."

"I'm sure she does.  You're a lucky man."

"I know."

"Do you?"

"Yeah.  I do.  I just…lose sight of it sometimes."

Kevin nodded slowly.  "Don't.  You'll regret it.  You almost did this time."

"Yeah," Hunter sighed deeply.  "I see that."

"Good."  Kevin watched as Hunter rubbed absently at his knee.  "It's just gonna get worse, ya know.  Harder."

Hunter took a deep swallow of his water and nodded.  "I know.  But it's the price you pay to do what you love.  Is that why you got out?  The pain?"

"Partly," Kevin admitted, then pointed a finger at him.  "But don't count me out just yet, buddy boy.  I'm not through with the business.  I just took some time out to pursue other venues while letting some serious injuries heal properly."

Hunter smirked at him, having heard this before from him.  "Yeah, yeah, keep talkin' big man.  But we both know I can still kick your ass any day of the week and twice on Sundays."

"Ya think so, do ya?"

"I know so."

"Do tell, Runt."

"I'm younger, stronger, and still in my prime,"  Hunter grinned at his friend, ignoring the detested nickname from when they first became friends.  Back then, Shawn, Scott, Nash and he had been as thick as thieves.  They all called him 'Hunt' most of the time.  But one time, Nash had shifted it to 'Runt,' accidentally, or so he claimed, but still finding it funny as hell.  And sadly, with Nash at least, it stuck.

Kevin glowered at him, then brightened.  "That may be.  But I'm bigger, taller, prettier.  And I have better hair."

Hunter laughed, chunking the bottle cap at him.  "Damn, but it's good to see you, man."

"Yeah,"  Kevin grinned.  "Just wish it were under better circumstances."

Hunter nodded, his laughter and smile fading.  "So.  Talk to me."

Kevin unfolded his arms from the tabletop where they'd been resting since Hunter's arrival in the kitchen.  Hunter immediately recognized the brown envelope as Kevin slid it  across the table at him.

"Goddamn it, Nash.  I don't ever wanna see these again."  He shoved the envelope away.  "Matter of fact, I'm gonna burn the fuckin' things."

"Not yet.  Listen Runt, given your highly emotional state at the time you found these," he said with no small amount of sarcasm.  "You probably weren't in the clearest frame of mind to really look at 'em.  Now you are.  So look.  Really look."

Hunter hesitated, glowering darkly at Kevin, his whisky colored eyes glittering dangerously. 

"Runt, don't make me make you," Kevin said softly, but with bite in his tone.

With a low growl and rumble in his chest, Hunter snatched up the envelope, and paused. Something on the front caught his eye.  Lifting it closer he inspected the front, which he'd failed to do almost a month ago.

"Sonofabitch," he murmured, then looked up at Kevin.  "Did you see this?"

Kevin nodded slowly, a hard look in his eyes.

"Goddamn, but I'm an putz.  I can't believe I missed this."

"You were under emotional stress.  It turns the best of us into morons.  Even me."  Kevin shrugged, a sarcastic grin curving his lips.

Hunter rolled his eyes at him, then tapped the postmark and date on the envelope.  "You know what this means, don't you?"

"Yeah."  Kevin nodded.  "It means that even though the pictures were taken two and a half years ago, they weren't sent to her parents until right before Wrestle Mania this year."

"Okay…but I meant the postmark.  Where they were sent from."

"I know exactly what it means."  Kevin declared.  "It means your list of suspects just got a whole lot smaller."

Hunter looked down at the postmark again.  "Stamford, Connecticut.  You mean Steph."

"What other suspects do you have who'd wanna blow the ever-lovin' shit out of Nee's life?  Steph was my first guess, yeah.  But I'm not above ruling out Vince, Shane or even Linda."

"I don't know."  Hunter mused aloud.  "All of us have to go to The Tower every so often.  Anyone could have mailed it from there.  That, and you're assuming it's someone within the WWE.  Could just as easily not be, ya know.  I mean, we've all had our share of insane stalkers.  Remember the death threat that was left in my dressing room a couple of years ago?  That guy got right past security."

"Good point.  But hell, it has to be someone on the inside."

"Why do you say that?"

"Runt, think  about it."  Kevin started ticking points off on his fingers.  "First, the pictures were sent two years later and to Nee's parent's house.  If it were a fan, they'd send 'em to whatever address they had for Al, Edge or Shawn.  Not Nee.  Second, how'd they know to send 'em to Nee's parents' place rather than to your house?  You told me yourself that even though most of 'em know you're a couple, that not everyone knows you're living together.  But Nee's been around the business since she was a little girl, and just about everyone knows where she's originally from.  Anyone who's talent anyway.  Third, whoever took those pictures knew a sex act wasn't going down because they were there.  Yet they shot them from angles intentionally designed to give that exact impression.  And last but not least, given the date in question and what she told me happened on that date, there's no way you can convince me that these pictures were pure coincidence.  Nope.  It had to be someone who was either at the arena that night, or who knew about it."

Kevin leaned back and laced his fingers behind his head.  "No way, my friend.  Someone on the inside set this one up.  And that brings up another interesting point."

"And what's that, Sherlock?"

"Who's the target?  Nee?  Her parents?  Or…..you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah.  Think, Brain.  These were sent just before Wrestle Mania, yet you didn't see them until about a month ago.  And what happened when you did?  Blasted you out of your frame didn't it?"

Hunter nodded slowly, the light beginning to come on.  "Yeah…completely.  I've not been able to focus for a while because of it."

Kevin tapped his index finger against the end of his nose and pointed at Hunter.  "Bingo.  So, that alone poses the question as to whether or not you were the intended target all along.  And Runt, I gotta tell ya.  If you're the intended target?  Then everybody's got a motive.  Everybody."

Hunter didn't say anything for a moment, sitting still and absorbing what his friend had said.

"There's one thing I don't get."

"Just one thing?" Hunter murmured incredulously, feeling like there was a lot  he still couldn't wrap his brain around.

"Yeah.  Why her parents address?"

He shook his head slowly.  "I have no idea."

Finally he turned the envelope upside down, spilling the photos back into his hands again. They'd not changed.  They were still as graphic and as gut wrenching for him as they had been before.  But now, he looked at them differently, remembering that he'd promised to join her at the club later.  And he never had.  He'd honored Al's request, and stayed away.  Truthfully, he'd never even considered going once Steph had made her announcement and he'd made the decision to stay with her.  Now, though, he wished he'd gone.  Maybe he could have prevented this.  But there was really no point dwelling on 'maybes.'  What was done was done, and all they could do was learn from it and move on.

As he slowly flipped through the pictures, it was almost like scales had fallen from his eyes, allowing him to see what he'd missed before.  None of the poses were sexual if he really looked.  On first glance, yeah, maybe.  But not really. 

Instead of looking at the whole picture, he broke them down into individual body placements.  Where the guys stood in relation to her.  How close they were to her.  Where their hands were and finally, the looks on their faces.  He could see no lust or lasciviousness on any of them.  Moreover, they all looked frightened, worried and extremely angry.  The one that made him the most angry, the one that lit his fuse every time, he pulled out of the stack and examined, trying not to let his own personal feelings of the man get in the way.  Shawn was bent over her, his hands underneath her - but not where he'd originally thought.  His biceps were flexed, his face tight with anger, and concern.  His legs were braced with knees bent rather than locked.

He wasn't getting ready to screw her brains out. Goddamnit, he was picking her up.

"These were staged," he whispered.  "Expertly staged.  Sonofabitch.  She was set up.  We were set up!"

"Yup.  So are they involved or not?"  Kevin asked.

"The guys or Nan?"

Kevin fixed him with a disgusted glare.  "You tell me, dimwit."

The insult didn't register as Hunter flipped through the shots again.  "I don't think so.  The looks on their faces don't lie in these.  No, I'd say that someone just happened to be in the right place with a camera at the right time.  You're right, though.  Too pretty damn convenient if you ask me."

"What about Nee?"

Hunter shook his head, tossing the photos back onto the table, but keeping his eyes trained on them.  "Nan's not involved other than her presence.  You can tell by her face that she's completely dead to the world in these.  Besides, she said she was drunk and passed out."

"Oh, she was more than drunk."

Hunter looked up.  "What are you talking about?"

Kevin got up and moved over to the kitchen sink, and leisurely poured himself a cup of coffee from the warming pot.  Nicely out of arm range, he turned back to his friend still sitting at the table.  "I decided that waiting for you two was gonna cost me more gray hairs than I can afford right now.  So I made a couple of calls."

"What's this got to do with the price of tea in China?"

"Patience, grasshopper," Kevin chastised as he sipped his coffee.  "I called Edge and Al.  Decided to skip Shawn on this one.  No way in hell do I want you two in my house at the same time.  My homeowners won't cover it.  Couldn't get Al.  But I got Edge and Karen.  Guess where they are?"

"Down here?"  Hunter asked, perplexed.

"In Miami, yeah."

"What'd you tell him?"

"The truth.  Where Nee is.  Where you are.  And why you're both here."

"What'd he have to say?"  Part of Hunter wanted to know, and part of him really didn't.

"That he and Karen will be here Friday night.  Time to get this all out on the table."

Hunter's brows knitted.  "He didn't say more than that?"

"Yeah, he did.  He knows about the photos now.  Evidently he didn't before.  And if you think about it, Einstein, Nan didn't either."

Hunter nodded.  "Yeah, once I calmed down a little, I kinda figured that out."

"All by yourself?  My, my, you are growing up aren't you?"

"Fuck you, Nash."

Kevin winked at him.  "You're not my type, Runt.  Now Jericho…he has possibilities."  He teased, enjoying and missing the easy banter they always shared on the road.

"Skip the perverted humor, Mr. Sarcasm, and tell me what else he said," Hunter ordered, but unable to prevent the grin playing at the corners of his mouth.

Kevin leaned back against the counter, crossing his long legs at the ankles, one bare foot over the other.  "Now, I don't know any more than I'm about to tell you, so keep it in mind when you freak out, that I can't answer your questions."

"I won't freak out."

"Yes you will."

"Nash," Hunter rumbled warningly.

"He said she was more than drunk.  She'd been drugged."

The explosion didn't take as long as Kevin had expected it would.  Before he even got the second 'd' in 'drugged' out of his mouth, Hunter shot up out of his chair so fast, and with such force, that it skittered backwards and slammed into the wall behind him.  Immediately, they could hear Dixie start barking in the back of the house.

"Drugged?!  What the fuck?!" Hunter bellowed, his enraged roar reverberating throughout the house.  "Who…how…"

"Very good….you're only missing what, when, where, and sometimes why," Kevin intoned dryly as he took another sip of his coffee, listening to Dixie's barking and snarling get louder as she came closer.  He knew Nan wouldn't be far behind either.

 He stopped suddenly and fixed malevolently glowing eyes on Kevin.  "You have no idea, do you."

It was more of a statement of fact than a question, really, but Kevin decided to treat it as the latter.  He shook his head.  "Nope.  You'll just have to wait until Friday when Edge and Karen get here."

With another bellow of impotent rage, both of Hunter's fists came crashing down on Kevin's table top with enough strength that he was positive he heard the wood crack. 

Dixie's snarls and growls reached a ferocious level as she rounded the corner at top speed, skidding and sliding across the linoleum as she lost her traction coming off the carpet.  The little dog's momentum carried her sliding across the kitchen floor and bumping her up against the refrigerator.  But she didn't let that stop her. 

Almost instantly she was back up with her feet under her, running for all she was worth, but not getting anywhere due again, to her lack of traction.  After about the third pass, her feet caught and she was off and running back towards Hunter again, backing up against him.  Her were hackles raised, her lips pulled back into a vicious snarl, revealing those wicked looking canines, as she growled and snapped at whatever or whomever may have caused the noise or was threatening the leader of her pack.  She even swept her head from side to side, looking and scenting for the imminent danger.

"Oh, that's rich."  Kevin smirked.  "The Game being protected by a fifteen pound wiener dog.  Goddamn, where's my camera?"  He went to take a step forward, but stopped immediately when Dixie's gaze zeroed in on him.  She lowered her head, her shoulders set and took two steps towards him. 

Evidently she'd decided he was the threat to the pack leader.  She may have been little, but those dogs were bred for hundreds of years in their native Germany to hunt and kill badgers, one of the most ferocious fighters in the wild.  And looking at the feral look in her eyes, the protective set to her muscular little physique, he had no doubt that she'd do him serious damage before he could get her off him.

"Dixie.  Stand down," Hunter ordered firmly, in a low tone.  Her growling stopped and she lowered her hackles, even though she did have to woof once or twice more at the big man.  "Sit."

Obediently she sat down between Hunter's feet, her wary eyes trained on Kevin, never wavering. 

Hunter leaned down and picked her up, patting her on the head.  "Good dog.  Good girl."  He praised her, rubbing her head and scratching behind her ears, causing her eyes to roll back in her skull. 

And that simply, the threat was gone.  Dixie twirled in Hunter's grip, rolling over to belly up, her tongue lolling out of the side of her mouth.  Hunter chuckled at her and set her on her feet.  "Go see Kev."

She immediately ran over to Kevin and stood up on her hind legs, bracing one foot on his shin, yipping happily at him.  He looked down at her.  "So now you think I'm okay, huh?  Even after knowing me longer than you've known him.  I see how it is.  My seat has been usurped."  But he leaned down and patted her on the head anyway.

As he stood up, he caught a motion in the hallway, just past Hunter and only had the chance to nod his head in that direction.  Hunter immediately swept the pictures off the tabletop, and slid them back into the envelope.  Then he half turned towards the hallway, but threw the envelope across the room, Frisbee style, listening as Kevin snatched itout of the air, and dropped them into a drawer he'd opened when he first nodded at Hunter.  Nonchalantly, he closed the drawer, and lifted his coffee mug to his mouth.

Nan turned the corner into the kitchen, knuckling sleep out of her eyes, and yawning.  Hunter smiled, seeing her wearing one of his powder blue dress shirts.  The sleeves were rolled up about eight times, and it was knotted up under her breasts, the tails dangling down past her hips, with a pair of cut-off jean shorts, stopping just shy of being Daisy Dukes.  Her hair lay loose down her back, moving around her like it had a life of its own, reaching out to snag, caress or entangle in whatever was close by.  Her feet were bare, except for the constant presence of her favorite 'Street Walker Red' nail polish on her toes. 

Once again Hunter's gaze was drawn to the scars on her right leg. Scars that ran down her right knee, calf, around her ankle, and the top of her right foot.  A childhood accident, she'd told him, that left her dealing with at least four surgeries before she was thirteen years old.  But they'd faded now to almost completely white, only seen if you really looked for them.  Except for the ones on the top of her foot.  Those hadn't healed right, leaving the skin discolored, but not very badly.  Actually, it looked a lot like a large patch of freckles.  And he knew that the surgeries on her ankle hadn't been as successful as the others.  Sometimes it 'clicked' when she walked, mostly when it was bothering her due to the weather or overuse.

She stopped dead seeing Hunter standing up at the table, in those pale blue shorts she liked so much, and nothing else.  Then she turned to spot Kevin leaning up against the counter, drinking coffee, and Dixie waiting for something at his bare feet.  Kevin wasn't much better, clothed only in black cotton workout shorts, letting that mass of blonde hair lay round his face and shoulders.

"Foul!  No fair!"  She grumbled.  "I'd like to register a complaint or at least have a warning label on the doorway when I'm expected to enter the kitchen with two half-dressed good-looking guys standing in it.  Not fair to my hormones."

Hunter chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her up against him, hugging her to him as she laid her cheek on his chest, sighing deeply.  "Sleep good, baby?"

She nodded, rubbing against his skin.  "Mmmm-hmm.  Until that earthquake a few minutes ago.  What happened?  I thought Dixie was gonna smother me to death as she crawled across my face to get in here."

"Oh, I…uh…stumbled, and uhm…sorta fell into the chair.  But it slid away from me and into the wall." 

Nan pulled back and looked up at him, narrowing her eyes.  Then she turned that gaze on the overturned chair and the bowed tabletop.  "And I suppose you then sort of fell backwards onto the table, right?  Oh, come on Hunter.  Why don't you just tell me you got pissed at something Deez said and decided to redecorate his breakfast nook for him.  I mean really.  If you're gonna lie to me, at least make it a good one."

Kevin promptly choked on his coffee, and turned away, fixing his gaze out the window over his sink, staring out across the yard and to the ocean beyond.  He frowned when he saw someone walking around out there.  "Oh, great."

"What's up, Deez?"  Nan asked, looking past him out into the yard towards where the private pier and dock that they shared with the neighboring lot lay.  She pursed her lips and ground her teeth together, a sound which Hunter easily heard. 

"What is it, baby?"

"Your admirer is back."

Kevin turned to look at them.  "I take it you've met the Black Widow of Key Largo."

"Beverly Chilton.  Yeah.  We've met her."  Hunter nodded, a hard look in his eyes.

"Black widow?"  Nan asked.  "I thought she was married."

"She is…has been too.  Seven different times."

"How many did she outlive?"

"Rumor says all of them,"  Kevin watched as the woman in question continued to wander through his yard, towards the stairs leading down to the beach and dock, every so often casting surreptitious glances back over her shoulder towards his house.  "But you know how rumors are."

"Uh-huh," Hunter nodded.  "Containing just enough truth to make 'em interesting."

"Nee…" Kevin said, seeing where Beverly was headed.

"Yeah.  I see it."

"What?" Hunter asked.

Nan favored him with a blinding smile.  "Feel like celebrating your birthday a little early, Hunter?"

"I don't follow."

She threaded her fingers through his and tugged on his hand.  "Just come with me and you will.  Deez?  Can you wrangle Dixie?  She'll just whine at the door if we don't take her with us."

Kevin grinned, as he pulled open the drawer beside him, retrieving something small that he kept palmed.  "No problem."

Within minutes, all of them were striding across the lawn, Hunter on Nan's right and Kevin on her left, with Dixie leading the way, to the fullest extension that her leash would allow.  Neither of them had bothered to put on their shirts, or shoes, but both had taken the time to grab their sunglasses, Hunter even retrieving Nan's for her. Beverly was headed across Kevin's lawn, down to the beach access that led to the dock which Nan knew for a fact did not share her property, but the vacant Marsden house.

Pasting a falsely bright smile on her face, Nan threw her hand into the air and called out her.  "Hello again, Beverly!  How are you!"

Beverly  pulled up short, a guilty look flashing across her face quickly before she squashed it, turning to them with a saccharine smile.  "Oh, hi there, uhm…Nan, isn't it?  And Hunter.  Nice to see you again Kevin."

"Beverly,"  Kevin nodded at her, looking around.  "Where's Jack?"

"Oh."  Beverly looked around, distracted, obviously trying not to look at him.  "He's at home doing something with his father, I suppose."  She waived a negligent hand.

Nan felt Hunter bristle by her side.  She turned to look up at him, surprised to see him wearing 'the Game' face.  His fists were clenched by his thighs and he was breathing heavily through flared nostrils.  She raised her hand to trail it lightly down the side of his face, enjoying the tickling sensation of his whiskers against her palm.  Pulling his gaze from the harridan in front of him, he looked down at Nan, and captured her fingers in his, threading his own through them.  He raised her hand and kissed the back of it, his eyes locked with hers, before lowering it back down.

"Shame."  Kevin murmured, ignoring the tender by-play between his friends.  "I was hoping he could go with us."

"Go?  You're going somewhere?"  Beverly asked, now finally looking up at the incredibly tall man.

"Deez," Nan spoke with a warning in her voice. 

But Beverly wasn't paying any attention.  She'd spotted Dixie who was sitting quietly between Kevin and Nan.  "Oh what a cute little dog!"  She cooed.  She looked up at Kevin.  "Does your dog bite?"

"No," Kevin responded with a lazy smile.

Nan had a split second to realize what was about to happen as Beverly leaned down to pet Dixie.  "Beverly, no!"  She pushed against Beverly's shoulder, causing the other woman to stumbled back a pace, just as Dixie lunged for her, snarling, teeth bared, eyes rolling backwards in her head.

Beverly regained her footing, her face white, except for two red blossoms in her cheeks. She looked up at Kevin with wide eyes.  "I thought you said your dog didn't bite!"

"It's not my dog." Nan whispered, low enough that Beverly didn't hear, but Hunter did.

"She's not my dog."  Kevin grinned even wider, and jerked his head in Nan's direction, as he took up all of the slack in Dixie's leash so she couldn't lunge again.  But that didn't stop her snarling and barking at the woman. "She's hers."

Beverly's eyes narrowed and she whirled on Nan,  "You did that on purpose, you bitch!"  She took a step forward.

But Hunter had had enough.  He removed his sunglasses, perching them on the top of his head.  He stepped in front of Nan, his 'Game' face firmly back in place, his voice low and ice cold.  "You put one hand on her, and there won't be enough left of you to feed to the gulls." 

Her eyes widened, and she stammered, "Y-y-you…you…can't threaten me!"

Hunter stepped forward again, careful not to touch her, but close enough that she either had to lean backwards to see him, or step back.  She leaned back.  "That wasn't a threat.  That was a promise."

Nan gently laid the palm of her hand on the small of Hunter's back, running it lightly up and down the line of his spine, feeling the tense muscles beneath his skin begin to relax.  But he didn't back down.  And she didn't try and ask him to.

Beverly looked over at Kevin.  "You're just going to stand there and let him threaten me?"

"Yes, Beverly, I am."  He shrugged at her disbelieving look.  "I've asked you repeatedly not to come over here.  To leave me in peace.  I've informed your husband of your middle of the night and early morning visits and it doesn't do any good.  And apparently neither does threatening you with trespassing or calling the police.  So I figure, what the hell. Hunter here has a tendency to handle things his own way.  And you just might listen to him."

Hunter towered over her, puffing up like a bantam rooster.  Even though Nan couldn't see his face, she was pretty certain what the look on it was.  That icy cold stare that plainly stated he could kill you at any time if he so chose.  He wouldn't, she knew that.  But Beverly didn't.

"Do us all a favor and just leave," Kevin groaned as the silence stretched  between the four of them.

The way Kevin's property sloped upwards on one end, it had one level beach access and another at the property line where it connected to the Marsden place.  That access point dropped off considerably and they had to use a staircase  to get down to the beach.  From where they were standing, if they looked to their left they could see the flat access that was even with Kevin's pool.  But looking both straight ahead and to the right, towards the Marsden property, they couldn't see the beach at all, only the railings of the staircase.

At length, Beverly must have decided she liked breathing more than whatever else she'd been out there doing.  Without a backward glance she high-tailed it across the grass back towards the beach access, not slowing to walk down the wooden steps that lead to the lower end of the beach.  Rather, she ran down them, even skipping steps, to the point where Nan worried she was going to fall ass over teakettle down the long stairs.  But she didn't.  They saw her a few minutes later as she ran up the beach back towards her own house.

"Good riddance," Nan breathed. 

"I just hope it takes this time.  Shame, really.  Jack's a good kid.  And a lot of fun too."

"Deez, I'm sorry if this is gonna keep you from seeing him"

Kevin turned and looked at her with sad eyes.  "It won't.  She doesn't give a damn about him, what he's doing or who he's with most of the time.  Only when it makes her look good does she even remember she has a son.  Or a daughter.  You saw it.  She doesn't even know where he is now."

"Jesus.  He's so little, too," Nan whispered.  Then her face hardened, and she snarled.  "God!  I fuckin' hate people!"

"You know, I just might buy that place to piss that woman off."  He turned back to Nan with an evil twinkle in his eye.  "You want a vacation house, baby?"

A wicked smile curved her lips, "I just might.  I very well just might."

"Oh, hell.  Come on, Morticia.  Gomez," Kevin chuckled, then looked down at Dixie.  "You too, Cousin It."  He headed once again towards the stairs leading down to the beach.

Hunter placed his hand in the small of Nan's back, and guided her along, following Kevin.  "I'm serious."

"I figured you were.  But let's talk about that later."

Hunter nodded, and looked out over the ocean as they reach the top of the stairs.  He paused for a moment, drinking in the miles and miles of ocean that stretched out in three different directions before him.  As far as the eye could see in front, and to the left and right.  Down on the beach was a long pier and two boathouses, a couple boats in the water, near the houses and the side docks.  He hadn't thought the water was deep enough for the boats that were out there, but then again, he hadn't realized there was such a sharp drop off on this side of Kevin's house either.

Keeping an eye on the steps beneath his feet as he descended to the beach, he also kept sharp watch on Nan, having heard that ankle of hers start clicking the moment she took her first step down the stairs.  But they all reached the bottom unscathed. 

Kevin headed straight for the pier and Hunter's curiosity got the better of him.  "Hey Kev.  How deep is the water around this end?"

"It's a gradual decline like most areas are, until about half-way down the pier.  Then it has a sheer drop-off about fifty feet deep.  And it has a killer undertow.  So don't swim around the pylons.  You wanna swim, take it farther up the beach."

Hunter nodded and fell silent again as they continued to walk down the beach and up onto the pier.  He counted two smaller boats, dingy types, roped to the dock on one side.  And on the other…

"Holy mother of God.  Now that's a thing of beauty,"  Hunter breathed as they drew closer to the side of the dock that bore the name 'Nash' on the side of the boathouse.

Kevin shared a grin with Nan.  "You think so?"

"Oh, God, yes."  Hunter nodded, his eyes never leaving the vision before him.  They drew up along side her the way she was docked.  She was a vision in white and gold, over thirty feet long, with what was easily and eleven-foot beam, all clean lines and gently sloping curves.  She had a deep golden colored bimini top with boot, side curtains and a matching golden racing stripe down the side.

Hunter skewered Kevin in place with a challenging gaze.  "You fuckin' bastard.  Why didn't you tell me you got a boat!"

His grin so wide that it was almost splitting his face, Kevin glanced at Nan who nodded just barely.  "It ain't mine."

"What do you mean it ain't yours?  It's docked at your boat house."

"Come with me."  Nan, whose right hand was still wrapped in Hunter's tugged him farther down the pier, towards the stern, or back of the boat,  holding her left hand out behind her, where he couldn't see it, waggling her fingers.  Kevin placed something in her palm, and she immediately curled her fingers around it.

She stopped when they were even with the stern, and pointed at the lettering on the back of the boat.  "It's not Kevin's."

Hunter read the boat's name.  Twice.  Then blinked and read it again.  In big, bold golden letters was clearly painted for all to see, "Hunter's Gold."  He turned slowly, his eyes wide, a slight smile curving his lips, and just stared at her, only to see her dangling a key in front of him.

"You?"  He took the key from her, but not quite paying attention to what he was doing.

She nodded, her eyes bright.

"That's a 2004 Bayliner 305 Cruiser."

Nan shook her head, but grinning from ear to ear.  "Nope.  It's a 2005."

"But the 2005 models aren't even out yet."

She shrugged.  "I have some contacts in the business.  I called in a couple of favors.  No big deal."

Kevin looked over at her like she'd lost her mind, knowing it certainly was  a big deal, and also knowing who she probably had to contact to call in those favors.  But a narrowing of the eyes from her was enough to make him keep his silence.

"Holy fuck."  Hunter put both hands to the side of his head, looking back at the boat, like he was expecting it to vanish at any second.  He looked back at her, his expression more open and awed than she'd ever seen before.  And for a split second, she thought she could see the little boy behind the man.  But it disappeared as quickly as it came.  "You bought me a boat.  Fuck that.  You bought me a Bayliner 305 Cruiser that I told you only once about over two years ago."

"Happy Birthday, Hunter."  She shrugged.  "A week early."

He just stared down at her, not quite believing what he was being given.  It wasn't that he couldn't afford getting the boat himself.  He could.  Easily.  So easily in fact that he doubted she even knew just how easily.  He'd told her once, once, that when he turned thirty-five, he was going to get the boat he'd wanted ever since he knew what boats were for, and the joy of controlling one.  It was a personal milestone for him. She'd listened to him.  And she'd remembered.  Even more,  she'd taken it upon herself to do it for him, right down to the gold stripe, the right color of the canvas bimini top, and even the name on the back. 

Nan looked up in to his eyes, wondering what was going on behind them.  Then before she could blink, his hands were fisted in her hair, his mouth covering hers, stealing her breath from her lungs.  She yielded, gladly taking all of him, locking her arms around his strong neck, burying her fingers in the blond hair lying loose on his shoulders.  His mouth teased and taunted hers, dipping into a deep kiss, drawing her tongue into his mouth, only to release her to test the softness of her lips by continually drawing them against to his, nibbling and sucking on her bottom lip.   His kisses dominated, yet utterly seduced her senses.  His lips demanding a response from hers, but  coaxed those breathy sighs and kittenish mewlings from her throat.

"Oh for the love of God."  Kevin groaned.  "Give her  a tonsillectomy later and let's go already!"

Hunter released her lips with a soft kiss, scraping his beard over her chin, teasing her, knowing it would make her shudder.  It did.  Without turnin