Flames Can’t Burn Any Higher
Challenge/Prompt: Love in Llanview’s March Board Smut Challenge
Pairing/TV Show (s): Heather Stevens (Y&R) and Brody Lovett (OLTL)
Rating: NC-17
xoxoxo
A/N: Signed myself up for a challenge, because I LOVE a good challenge! Title of this crossover comes from the song “Didn’t We Love” by Tamara Walker, and it was featured on the soundtrack to the film Coyote Ugly. Oh, and Heather is played by Vail Bloom and she is helping Brody on a case. ENJOY!!
Songs: Didn’t We Love and This Love
Artists: Tamara Walker and Rebecca Lynn Howard
xoxoxo
Quarter moon always makes me think of you
Are you thinking of me too, when you see it shine?
It’s kind of sad but I’m smiling,
Imagine that
‘Cause we were lucky to have had what we had
If only for a time

Heather knew in the moment he swept her up into his arms that it was too late to change her mind, even if she’d wanted to. But she didn’t want to, and that alone thrilled her beyond measure.

How lucky could she be, she thought, that the first man she’d craved intimacy with since that first day who understood so well what she needed, what she had to have to feel safe – the knowledge that she could say no and he would listen?

And that he fired her blood as no other man ever had didn’t hurt, either, she thought with a blush.

“First door,” she whispered against his chest as he started down the hall, forgetting for a moment that he’d been there, the night she’d almost permanently damaged him. He didn’t point out her error to her.

“Good,” was all he said, as if going any farther would mean too long to wait.

She felt it, too, that humming need, heating every inch of her body, making her ache somewhere deep and low, filling her with the certainty that this man, only this man, could ease that ache.

She wondered, in some part of her mind that could still think logically, if she would panic at some point, if she would pull back or, worse, react instinctively as she had the last time he’d kissed her. But he moved with such care, kissing her so thoroughly that her head was spinning before he ever touched her anywhere else. And caressing her breasts so gently, so lovingly, that her knees went weak before he tugged her shirt over her head.

Chorus
Didn’t we set the nights on fire
Did ever a flame burn any higher
Wasn’t it so sweet?
Wasn’t it?
Didn’t we love

By the time he unsnapped her jeans, she wanted nothing more than to be naked with him and to see him naked, and she found herself pulling at his clothes with much more ferocity than he was using. He let her push his shirt off his shoulders but refused to hurry the pace.

“We’ve got all night,” he whispered, cupping and lifting her breasts once more, rubbing his thumbs over nipples already taut and aching for more.

She cried out at the hot pleasure of it and wiggled out of her bra herself. She leaned into him, thinking she’d never felt anything more glorious than the hot, solid wall of his bare chest against her naked breasts. She heard him suck in a swift breath, and his arms came around to her back, pressing her even harder against him.

She put her arms around him in turn. Her fingers touched the jagged scar on his side, and she felt him go still. She kept her hands moving, brushing over the thin lines on his back as she spread her fingers over his skin. She felt the unnaturally smooth hardness of the burn scar beneath her middle fingers, and he seemed to be holding his breath.

“Your scars are beautiful,” she said, turning her head and pressing her lips to the center of his chest.

He let out the held breath in a long sigh that seemed to catch in the middle. She trailed her mouth sideways over heated skin and kissed him again, then again and at last, feeling a bit reckless, she shifted slightly and pressed a kiss to one flat male nipple.

Brody let out a broken groan, so thick with pleasure that she couldn’t stop herself from flicking the tiny nub with her tongue. He groaned again, whispering her name with a needy sound that made her own pulse leap.

It’s okay, sometimes I just get this way
I can’t forget you anyway, I wouldn’t even try
I’d rather fall than never to have flown at all
It was heaven after all, if only for a time

As if by some tacitly agreed-upon signal, they shed their remaining clothes in a hurry. Any thought of panic vanished; all Heather could think of was that he was beautiful. His lean, rangy and thoroughly aroused body seemed the perfect male form to her, and the scars only made him more precious. Someday she would learn the story behind those marks, would learn what ugly part of his life as a SEAL had caused them, but now all she could do was look at him and be glad he was here and, for the moment, hers.

“You’re sure?” he rasped out, giving her yet another chance to change her mind.

In answer, and more than a little surprised at her own boldness, she slipped her hand down between them and curled her finger around hot, erect flesh. He jerked sharply and let out a harsh sound, his eyes closing as he clenched his jaw.

“Heather…” It came out as a hiss, between gritted teeth. “What about—“ She moved her hand lower, and his words were choked off. She could sense him fighting to go on coherently. “You…I can’t promise…to stop in time.”

It took her a moment, as she dreamily caressed him, to realize what he was getting at. “It’s all right,” she said. “Wrong time of the month.”

“Not…safest method,” he panted.

“But better than none,” she said, leaning forward to flick her tongue over his other nipple. “And certainly better than stopping.”

Chorus
Didn’t we set the nights on fire
Did ever a flame burn any higher
Wasn’t it so sweet?
Wasn’t it?
Didn’t we love

He growled something low and unintelligible, and the next thing she knew she was down flat on the bed, Brody on top of her, enfolding her. For an instant the old fear flickered, tried to catch. As if sensing it, he rolled quickly to one side, pulling her with him, then over him. His hands slid down to her hips, but gently, as if he were only doing it to balance her, not hold her there.

“Whatever you want,” he said roughly, “however you want, at the pace you want. No more. No faster. And no is still the magic word.”

He was, she realized, giving her control. Utter and complete control. And in that moment she had no doubt at all that if she said no at the last possible second, he would stop. Despite the rigid hardness she could feel pressed between them, he would stop.

And the silent cry of her body at the mere idea of him stopping told her worlds about how far she’d come, how much healing had happened while she’d only thought of getting through each day. And told her how much she wanted this man. She felt a rising urge to straddle him swiftly, to take him inside her to fill this hollow ache as fast as she could. A tiny moan escaped her at the thought of him filling her.

He shifted beneath her, as if the sound had made it impossible for him to stay still. Her legs parted, slipping down on either side of his narrow hips. The movement brought that most intimate part of her tight against him, and with a little shock she felt her own heat, her own wetness; there was no doubt her body was ready.

And she’d never once thought of Ronan herself. If it hadn’t been for Brody being so careful, making it so clear that she was in control, she doubted it would have occurred to her at all. They’d told her it would take time, but that eventually she would be able to disassociate the act done in love from the act done in violence, but she’d had her doubts. So it was with pure joy that she let herself savor her own response and the wonder of it. That response was fired to an even higher pitch by the look of intensity, of urgency on Brody’s face. It was in direct contrast to the taut stillness of his body.

She realized then that his hands had left her hips and were knotted in the coverlet beneath him. She felt a little thrill of feminine power that he was having to fight so hard…and a flash of pure gratitude that he was able to.

Didn’t we have it all back then
Will I feel that way again?

She reached out and touched him, running her hand from the sprinkling of dark blonde hair at the center of his chest down the narrow path over his belly. She stopped below his navel, just before the band of hair broadened again, and felt another thrill at the ripple of clenching muscles she felt beneath her fingers and the low sound he made.

“Heather,” he groaned, “it’s been too long. Don’t put so much faith in my willpower.”

“All right,” she said, her voice so husky it surprised her. “If you stop being so careful.”

He went very still, his eyes searching her face.

“It’s all right,” she promised. “I’m all right.”

It was, it seemed, all he needed to hear. And he took her at her word. He sat up, lifting his knees at the same time to cradle her in the curve of his body. His hands went to her waist, then slid up over her ribs to cup her breasts. Heather leaned forward, pressing herself into his hands, wanting, needing, more. And then Brody lowered his head, capturing one nipple and drawing it into his mouth.

She cried out at the burst of hot, fiery sensation. He repeated the action with her other breast, at the same time slipping a finger between them, probing, until he found the small knot of nerves that made her gasp. He began a slow circular caress. Her back arched involuntarily, and this time she cried out his name.

Chorus
Didn’t we set the nights on fire
Did ever a flame burn any higher
Wasn’t it so sweet?
Wasn’t it?
Didn’t we love

“Please, Brody,” she moaned. “Now.”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

His voice was tight, harsh. And as he reached for her waist, his hands trembled slightly. He lifted her, and she helped him, drawing her knees up under her. She felt the touch of blunt male flesh, probing, and instinctively reached down to guide him.

He groaned at the first moment of entry, and Heather held her breath at the slow, sweet invasion. He stretched her exquisitely, reawakening flesh that had not forgotten its true function, to be joined in pleasure, not pain; in gentleness, not violence; in desire, not hatred.

At first she settled down on him inch by inch with languid pleasure. But after a moment it wasn’t enough. She needed more; she wanted all of him, and she enveloped him in one sharp, breath-stealing movement that made them both gasp.

Brody fell back on the bed, his hips lifting slightly, driving himself in to the hilt. Heather opened to him even more, wanting to feel him so deep inside her that she would never be the same. She wanted every trace of the ugliness erased, and she knew Brody would do it.

And suddenly she didn’t want to be in control. Didn’t need to be in control. She knew this was different, that this was what it was supposed to be, and most of all that Brody wouldn’t hurt her.

Isn’t it bittersweet, isn’t it?
Didn’t we love

She was beyond words, but she stretched out on top of him, then slipped to one side and tried as best she could to show him what she wanted even as she lamented the loss of the intimate contact.

Brody lifted his head to look at her, his eyes betraying uncertainty over what signal she was sending. “Heather?”

“Please.”

Every mountain I had to climb
Every river I had to swim
Every desert that I crossed
Brought me one step closer to him
And this incredible love we’re in

It was begging, pleading, and she didn’t care. She only knew she needed him to take the lead now, that it was the only way to vanquish the last of her nightmare memories.

He moved then, rolling onto his side, sliding one leg over her. Then he stopped, as if waiting for some sign of panic from her. Instead, she slid her hands down his back, grasping his hips and urging him over her, parting her legs for him. He responded to her silent request quickly, slipping between her thighs and thrusting back into her swift and hard, as if he’d felt the same loss she had.

“Yes,” she whispered fervently, complete again.

Chorus
It’s unlike anything I ever imagined
And just like I’ve ever dreamed of
This man, this life, this love
This man, this life, this love

Her hands moved again, downward, until she could cup the taut curves of his buttocks, urging him even deeper. With a low growl he began to move then, fast, driving, pumping, until Heather amazed herself once more by arching up to meet him, wanting it harder, faster, and feeling as if her body would turn itself inside out if she didn’t get it.

She heard him groan, saw him bite his lip until she was surprised it didn’t bleed. He probed between them with one hand again, found that hotly aroused spot and caressed it anew as he continued to stroke her clasping flesh with his body.

Heather heard a low, continuous moan and barely recognized as her own. Brody uttered a panting guttural sound at the depth of each stroke. She looked up at him, saw his face drawn tight with need and urgency, and no sign of his own haunting memories. She had a moment to realize that their coming together might be exorcising some ghosts for him, as well, but then sensation began to build unbearably, billowing out in hot, swelling waves.

I thought love was a fairy tale
Waiting on my prince to come
Tried on slippers but nothing fit
Make believe’s no comparison
To the reality of this love[/I]

She felt it seize her, inexorably, powerfully. Her body tightened, as if it wanted to hold him forever. She cried out at the strength of it, arching her hips upward one more time as the feeling swept over her.

Through the haze of pleasure she felt him grab her shoulders as if to brace her, and then he drove into heard and deep once, twice more. Then he shuddered, uttering her name in a harsh cry, grinding his hips against hers, burying himself deep, as if he wanted climb inside her and stay.

Little echoes of sensation rippled through her, and she felt small tremors going through Brody as he collapsed, panting, atop her. For a long moment they lay there in silence, heartbeats gradually slowing, breathing deepening.

Chorus
It’s unlike anything I ever imagined
And just like I’ve ever dreamed of
This man, this life, this love
This man, this life, this love

When Brody finally spoke, it was an oath delivered in low, awed tones that warmed Heather to the core. She held him tight. And suddenly she didn’t want to hear any more, didn’t want to discuss what had happened between them, didn’t want it to be changed somehow by words. She knew all that would come, knew that they would pay for the incredible pleasure they’d had with an unavoidable complicating of their lives, but she didn’t want to face it now.

Chorus
It’s unlike anything I ever imagined
And just like I’ve ever dreamed of
This man, this life, this love
This man, this life, this love

Now she wanted nothing more than to let this lovely, languorous feeling steal over her until sliding into peaceful, dreamless sleep was not only possible but inevitable.

Almost as soon as the thought formed, it was reality, and that coveted, sweet sleep was upon her.

This love