The Dove & The Strongman

Howard quickly snuck to the door, and took a peek out and noticed Steve and Peggy walking out the door. When it shut behind them, he turned back to Dugan and smiled.

"Well, you're welcome."

He grabbed his jacket from a nearby chair and threw it on.

"Where are you going?" Dugan questioned, standing up.

"I am going to go to the local bar for a drink. Jarvis is coming with me, so you two will have the house all to yourselves. Bye!"

He was out the door quickly, leaving behind a blushing Lyla and a flustered Dugan.

"Timothy?"

Dugan turned to her and saw her shaking hands. He sat down next to her and brushed a finger across her cheek.

'Believe me, dove, I'm just as nervous.'

"We are not doing anything but sitting here and talking, okay dove? I'm not going to force you into anything you're not ready for, okay?"

She covered his hand with her own and smiled.

"I'm just glad to have you here. I'll admit I'm worried about you leaving tomorrow. I don't want you to go and then never come back. I think my heart would break if you didn't."

His chest ached at the quivering tone in her voice, "Come here."

He wrapped her in his arms, tucking her head under his chin. He found in that moment that he was content to just hold her.

That was until her hands gripped his sweater, pressing herself against him tightly. He could feel her fingernails digging into his skin through the fabric. She dug her face into his neck, pressing a kiss to his pulse, and pulling a gasp from his mouth.

"Lyla, what-"

Her lips gently brushed against his neck, her breath teasing the skin as she spoke. "I love you."

Those words struck him like a lightening bolt, setting all his nerve endings on fire and all he could focus on were those three little words.

'I love you.'

He couldn't speak, he could barely think.

'I love you.'

Did she just-

"Timothy?"

His voice was thick with emotion when he replied, "Dove, did you just say what I think you just said? Because I'm not sure I heard you correctly."

She pulled back as her fingers trailed up his throat, tracing the curve of his ears, before twining in his hair.

"I love you, Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader Dugan." She pressed a hand to his chest over his heart, "I didn't realize until tonight at dinner how important you had become to me and how scared I am at the thought of losing you. You're like air and I can't breathe without you. I couldn't let you just leave without telling you how I felt because if you end up not coming back alive...I would have regretted it forever."

He could only look at her with awe.

"I wish for one moment that you could see yourself through my eyes, Lyla, then you would realize just how special you are to me. Just how much I am yours."

"Then since I can't see you, show me."

He groaned, pulling her forward and capturing her lips in a quick, tender kiss before pressing their foreheads together.

"Lyla, dove, I love you too."

She all but melted against him as their lips crashed together.

He was being burned alive, as that same fever from before was back, but this time he didn't push it away, he let it consume him.

He pulled away again to leave a trail of whiskery kisses down her throat.

"God, I love you more than anything."

Her breath hitched as she took gasping breaths.

"I know, sweetheart. It almost feels like too much and not enough all at once, doesn't it?"

One hand tugged at the pins in her hair, letting her hair tumble down to surround her face in a halo of pale gold waves. While the other traced down her arm, lightly grazing the side of her breast. She gasped, quickly licking her lips. He kissed her again, this time deepening the kiss by tracing her lips with his tongue. He could taste caramel and vanilla, and something so distinctly her that he moaned low, that coil of heat winding to almost the snapping point. She answered with a breathy moan of her own.

"Tim, you, oh god, yes."

Her hands were trying to touch everywhere they could. His hair, his face, his neck, his shoulders...until they settled for taking ahold of his shirt collar with a death grip and pulling him towards her.

"Kiss me again. Please..."

He chuckled, low and hot as he nibbled at her lips.

The pain in his low back cleared his head a moment and Dugan realized that they were still in the sitting room on the couch. He shook his head. Not where he wanted to do this. Lyla deserved much better than some couch.

"Do you trust me, dove?"

She nodded.

He made sure to have a snug hold of her before standing up with his arms. She clutched at his shirt at the sudden change in height.

"Tim, what?" Her cheeks were flushed, her hair was wild, and she was breathing heavily.

She was breathtaking like this and his body hummed with male pride at the thought that he was the one to do that.

'And I'll be the only one to do that, if I have my way about it.'

He gave her a gentle kiss. "Do you want this? Lyla, I have to know now because once we are in a bed, I won't be able to stop until I've had you. All of you."

"Yes, God yes."

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Howard made his way into the kitchen, grabbing another jacket and throwing it at Jarvis.

"Sir, what is this for?"

"Put it on. We are going to the bar, Jarvis."

The butler was shocked, "Sir, I can't. I have to clean up."

"You can do that when we get back here, in a few hours time."

"I don't drink, sir."

"Good, then you can drive."

"Might I ask why you have the sudden need to get drunk?"

"Oh, when I just basically gave Dugan and Lyla the house to themselves. To get acquainted."

Jarvis's face went bright red, "Oh...-OH! Umm, ab-about that drink, ?"

"Yeah, come on."

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

As he carried her to the nearest bedroom she was making it increasingly difficult for him to concentrate. Her fingers worked their way over his chest while her lips, 'Good God, those lips', were nibbling on his neck over his pulse. He very nearly dropped her when he felt her tongue on his skin.

"Lyla, sweetheart, slow down. We have the rest of the night, okay?"

She nodded, "It's midnight now, Tim, and I want to learn all of you by the time that sun comes up."

He swallowed hard at the thought of her fingers tracing every line, every plane of his body and he groaned.

Finally he was able to shift her to one arm, while he worked on opening the door with the other.

It wasn't budging.

"Damn door."

She giggled.

He growled at her, "You best be careful, dove, or there'll be consequences for teasing."

She blushed and rubbed her face into his neck again.

'Damn it.' He ended up kicking the door open.

Her voice was shocked, "Did you just kick the door down?"

"Stupid thing was stuck."

Her giggles turned to a moan when he gripped the curve of her rear and pressed her body against the length of himself, letting her feel what she did to him.

"I told you to be careful dove. Laughing at a man when he's liable to tear your clothes off and make love to you against this wall."

His voice made her moan again, loudly.

The noises she was making, and the way she felt pressed against him had Dugan aroused as hell. The way she was sweet one second, then seductive, and then wild as all hell in another was driving him crazy.

He gave her a gentle kiss before laying her down on the covers. She sat up and kicked off her heels, her chest was heaving and all he could do was stare.

"You're driving me crazy, woman."

"Good, just as crazy as you're making me."

He leaned over and slid his hands over her feet and up her calves. She gasped and pushed herself to her knees and then her fingers were on his face again, tracing his lips and up his jaw. Using those fingers as a guide, she pressed her lips against his jaw and then his lips.

Those fingers trailed down his throat and smoothed over his shoulders and down his chest, working themselves under his shirt. Her fingers burned on his bare skin.

He was the one to gasp this time.

Timothy pulled her hands away from him, groaning.

"Lyla."

She didn't answer him, she only took his hands and brought them to the tie at the back of her neck. He swallowed loudly as he pulled the string, unraveling it. He was shaking so much that he fumbled to undo the buttons of her dress, but he paused and took a deep breathe, and was finally able to undo the first eight buttons. Even though she couldn't see what he was doing, she still turned her face down and away from him, her skin flushing a pretty pink.

He gave her a soft smile and hooked a finger under her chin.

"Don't turn away, dove. You don't have anything to be embarrassed about not with me."

She shook her head, "I've never..."

"Its okay, dove." He murmured, pulling her lips to him as his hands slide across the bared expanse of her back. She shrugged the dress off her shoulders and allowed it to fall and pool around her knees. His hands brushed from her cheek down her throat down the middle of her chest, noticing the hitch in her breathing as he did.

She gasped, "Tim..."

He answered by sliding his hands across her ribs just under her breasts, curving around her back and quickly unfastening her bra. He slipped a finger under each strap, rubbing the skin there with his thumb before pulling them down her arms. His breath caught and his heart hammered in his chest at the sight of all that pale skin bared to him.

"My beautiful dove."

Her hands were suddenly back under his shirt, pushing it up his chest, he relented, pulling back and tugging the shirt over his head. Fingers lightly touched, tracing the dips and planes of his chest. He groaned at the feather light touches on his skin.

He knew he was more physical fit than others due to his days as a circus strongman, but he still felt a bit of male pride when she couldn't stop her fingers from dancing across his flesh.

He moaned when she leaned forward and pressed a kiss over his heart.

She giggled, "You have hair on your chest too..."

He growled, dragging her up against him. "What did I tell you about teasing, dove?"

He could tell now that her blush did in fact cover every inch of her pale body.

He pushed until she was laying back on the covers, hooking his fingers in the skirt of her dress, pulling it over her hips and down her shapely legs.

All she was wearing now was a lacy scrap of fabric, nylons, and a soft smile. He crawled onto the bed over her, brushing her cheek again.

"I'm right here, okay? Just relax."

She moaned, "Tim."

He touched her then, mapping the curves and dips of her body with his hands, drawing another moan from her mouth. When he finally cupped her breasts in his hand, she gasped. He rolled, tugged, and soothed the rosy peaks until she arched up into him. "Tim!"

One hand continued to tease at her breasts as one hand delved to her core, feeling the heat through her damp panties. He stroked his fingers over the lacy fabric, pulling yet another breathless moan from her lips. His fingers slipped under that lace and he groaned at the wetness he felt there. He teased and stroked and played her body until she was shaking and rocking her hips up into his hand.

"I...oh god...I-"

"Let go, dove." He leaned over and captured one rosy peak in his mouth and gently bit down at the same time he flicked the nub at her core and she shattered beneath him clutching at his shoulders and shouting his name. He smirked, continuing to touch her in soft strokes until her breathing evened back out.

He was painfully aware of how aroused he was as her hands trailed down his chest and lightly traced along his belt. He pulled back, grabbing her hands and moving back to her side.

She pouted and it was the sexiest thing he had ever seen.

"Now don't pout, sweetheart. I just don't want to rush this, okay?"

He quickly made work of his belt buckle and zipper. At the sound, Lyla covered her face with a hand.

Timothy grinned, "There's those naughty thoughts again." He finished removing his pants and crawled back between her legs.

She giggled again, but gasped when his hands trailed up her thighs to tug the lace covering her away and toss them onto the floor.

Now there was nothing separating them and he was shaking just as much as her. He didn't want to hurt her, but it was inevitable for her first time.

"Dove, this...this is going to hurt some. "

He kissed her deeply as his hips pressed against hers and he slowly began to enter her. She hissed in pain and he stilled his hips. He brushed hair from her face and planted kisses over her face, nibbling down her neck and back up to trace a tongue just behind her ear. She made a low sound in her throat.

"Better?'

She dug her nails into his shoulders, "Move, damn it."

It sent a jolt of pleasure down his spine at the curse word falling from her lips.

He snapped his hips forward and groaned. The noises she was making now were far from pained. He could only continue to roll his hips into her, lost to the feel of her around him and under him. She arched up into him, lifting her hips to meet each of his thrusts. He grunted, pulling her knees up and wrapping her legs around his waist. The new angle had him hitting a spot within her that ripped a strangled cry from her lips.

He was nearly there and he wasn't going until she did, so one hand reached between their bodies and stroked her with each thrust forward until finally she threw her back and screamed his name.

Feeling her tighten around him, his hips lost their rhythm a few moments later and he moaned, losing himself within her. He slipped from her body and collapsed next to her, both of them gasping for breath.

She turned to him, flinching uncomfortably and pressed herself into his chest. He noticed the flinch and tilted her head back.

"Hurting?"

She nodded.

Timothy extracted himself from her arms and got up from the bed.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to go get you something for the pain and a washcloth to clean you up. Where's the bathroom?"

"This is the left side of the hall, right?"

The open creaked open, "Yes, second door down."

She giggled, "Oh...oh God no."

Dugan only shook his head, "What? What's wrong?"

"This is Jarvis's room!" She dissolved into laughter.

He snorted, "Not anymore it is, dove."

He couldn't help but join in, doubling over with laughter.

Notes