Katrina remained silent as she kicked off each of her heels and picked them up with a single hand. She left the kitchen wordlessly, leaving JC in a state of inertia.

 It was almost as though he had just become invisible and she could no longer feel his presence throughout the small apartment. It was either that or she did was doing a pretty good job at pretending he wasn't even there.

A few silent moments had passed by before JC could hear her softly rummaging around from the living room. Silently swearing at himself for even showing up, he quickly but carefully gathered his scattered thoughts before going to find her.

He couldn't leave now. He couldn't suddenly change his mind midflight. The most he could do was pull on his parachute strings and merely hope that Katrina would be patient enough to wait until he landed- In this case, all he could do was move ahead and pray that she was willing to cooperate with him.

As he leaned on the frame under the doorway, he stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and watched as Katrina moved from one place to another, adjusting whatever she felt was out of place.

She went from fluffing the pillows on her couches to the separating the piles magazines on her coffee table to rearranging the picture frames she had on her television stand; Anything to occupy her thoughts and body.

"Do you want to talk about it?" JC asked her gently. The unusual tenderness in his voice startled her a bit.

Slowly setting down the two remotes in her hands on top of her DVD player, Katrina shook her head, her back facing him.

"No."

"I'm... sorry," JC offered, his eyes floating to carpet below him. "I'm sorry you had to go through that tonight."

"I really need to tell Lenny to stop automatically letting you up here," Katrina muttered under her breath, speaking of her doorman.

"Kat..."

She finally turned around. "Why are you here anyways?"

"I told you I wanted to talk to you," he replied.

"And I told you that I had a date tonight. Why would you come over here when you know I'd be busy? I could have brought the guy back here for all you know."

"But you got stood up," JC reminded her coldly.

Katrina glared at him, the red rushing to her face. JC had the upper hand, and all she had was vulnerability. Despite her embarrassment, her feet remained planted firmly on the ground, and JC hadn't moved an inch either.

A steak knife couldn't have cut the tension between the two.

"This is exactly why I told you I didn't want to see you, JC," Katrina told him.

"I just want a chance to talk to you about us," he insisted. "About me, about what I did. I want you to understand-"

"That you invaded my privacy? That you intruded on something that absolutely did not concern you?"

JC frowned. "You're not going to make this easy, are you?"

"My day, JC," Katrina began. "Has been anything but easy, okay? My night on a whole makes me fight the urge to swallow every piece of chocolate and open every jar of ice cream in my fridge. I feel like my week started on a complete shit streak. And to top things off, you show up here for no reason."

JC remained quiet as he continued to stare at her. He always found it a bit funny how his words seemed to leave him in the most crucial of situations.

His songwriter of a mind would have fooled millions to believe that he could think up the perfect thing to say a woman at the exact time whatever it was needed to be said.

Katrina stared back at him, she herself never being one to go home and cry over a man. She hadn't done it since she was twelve. Tonight, one man had already wasted her evening, and JC wasn't far behind from pushing her over the edge.

"I guess I'll just, uh, go," JC mumbled, his eyes never leaving the floor. "I'm sorry I came over."

He had only turned around and taken two steps toward the door before Katrina's voice stopped him.

"Do you know what the worst part of my night was?" she called out to him. "Do you want to know what was the worst thing about realizing that he was never gonna show up?"

JC froze, yet again, fearful of saying the wrong thing that would only make things worse for him. "What?" he asked simply.

Katrina folded her arms. "It was realizing that whatever you thought about him was potentially right. Whatever instinct you probably had about him was probably true. And the fact that I actually thought I probably had a chance with him tonight, and then him not showing up, just made me want to strangle myself." Her voice rose out of frustration toward the end of her rant.

"Don't be mad at yourself for something that I did, Kat," JC told her, keeping his tone contrastingly calm. "And the only reason you didn't have a chance with him is because the dick didn't have a chance with you."

"Why did you delete that stupid voicemail, Jace?" she asked him, almost exasperated from wonder.

"I don't know," he told her softly. "I don't... I don't know."

"Do you know how mad at I am at you that you did that?" Katrina shook her head, laughing lightly to herself. "Do you know how mad I am at you that you came over here? Do you even know seeing that you just makes everything worse?"

Her last words hit him like a brick.

"What do you want me to say to you, Katrina?" JC demanded, shrugging. "Is there anything that I can do to make all this easier on you because do tell."

She moved over to her couch and took a seat. She quickly let her forehead fall into both her hands, and she began to rub at her hairline and over her temples. "Just leave me alone tonight, Jace."

"Fine," JC murmured, almost to himself. 

"Fine."

He shook his head with a silent sigh as he turned around to make his way out of her apartment. He had made an effort to not slam the door behind him but to instead leave gently.

However, not even fifteen seconds had gone by before JC barged right back in. He hadn't even made it into the elevators.

He rushed back into her living room only to see her in the same distressed position she was in before.

"Let me take you to dinner tonight," JC blurted out.

Katrina's head snapped up, one of her hands still lingering in her loose hair. She looked at JC with a tired and partly pained expression on her face.

"Excuse me?"

"Please," he begged. "Let me take you somewhere- Anywhere."

"Why?"

"Because... You haven't eaten tonight and I need to make it up to you somehow."

"Do you really think that asking to take me out to dinner is going to make up for what's going on?"

"No," he answered honestly. "But I need to start somewhere. The last thing you probably want to do is go out with me tonight-"

"You think?" she muttered, cutting him off.

"But..." he continued. "The least we could do for each other is hear the other out. I won't stay over. I won't call you tomorrow. I won't do anything to bother you. Just come to dinner with me tonight."

She pursed her lips. "And what if I say no?" she challenged.

"I'm already here," JC reminded her. "And I'm not leaving this time."

*****

Katrina sat in silent provocation as she remained restricted by the Mercedes Benz's leather seat belt. Her elbow rested on the inner side of the car door and her head pressed against her curled fist. She simply continued to look out of the dark, tainted windows of the car as JC continued to drive.

Her maintained stolid expression for the past seven minutes was finally beginning to get to him.

"Do you want to put on the radio?" JC asked her, taking his eyes off the road for a split second.

Katrina didn't reply.

"O-kay," JC muttered lowly under his breath. "Is the air conditioning too cold for you?"

There was once again no reply.

JC sighed. "How about we open the sun roof?" he offered. "It's a great night out."

JC could see Katrina roll her eyes from the corner of his eyes.

Annoyed by her lack of conversation, JC turned on his indicator and abruptly pulled over to the side of the road. The force shook Katrina into an upright position.

She looked at him in disbelief, and JC glared at her right back.

"Dammit, Kat!"

"What?"

"You need to talk to me, you know," he told her. "You are going to work with me tonight."

"I hope you know that I don't even want to be here with you right now."

"You're in the damn car, aren't ya? So get used to it and start acting your age. Fuck. The silent treatment doesn't go a long way when you should be acting like a grown woman and I'm sitting right next to you."

Katrina stared at him, doing her best cover up the shame his words had suddenly brought onto her. Her mouth was slightly agape. She wanted to say something, but her mind couldn't find a way to construct a good defence, far less a sentence.

"Quit acting like a brat," JC muttered finally, placing both hands on the wheel and looking forward. "I'm trying. Is that ever going to be enough for you?"

Katrina swallowed the lump in her throat as she turned her head back to the tainted window she had been looking out of just a few seconds before.

"Where are we going?" she asked quietly.

JC leaned back against his seat. "Just pick wherever you want."

Katrina shrugged, still refusing to make eye contact with him.

"Where was Ethan supposed to take you tonight?" JC asked her.

"Nishimura."

He crinkled his eyebrows and thought for a moment. "You hate sushi."

"It's not like that matters now, Jace," Katrina said to him. She took a deep breath and faced forward. "Can we go now?"

JC nodded. "Pick a place."

"Anyplace besides Nishimura."

****

Twenty more minutes of driving had included light conversation, reduced tension and to JC's relief, slight smiles from Katrina. Sure it was possibly because JC got cut off by someone in a Lamborghini on the freeway but it was something to run with.

Her posture hadn't eased, but her expression had gone from ‘tired but fierce' to ‘tired and I-want-this-night-be-over-so-I-can-go-home.'

JC had held the door to the restaurant for her and had even pulled out her chair, though she had warned him not to.

Katrina silently wondered why his womanizing habits and sex crazed personality seemed to always overshadow his gentlemanly behaviour in his relationships.

"Is this place okay?" JC asked, looking down at the gold coloured menu in his hands. "I've been here a couple times. The food's pretty good."

"La Botte Ristorante," she murmured, reading off the name of the restaurant from her own menu. "Fancy."

"It's good food, c'mon," JC smiled. "And we love Italian."

"How did you even manage to get us in here without reservation?"

"The owner's wife is a fan of mine," JC explained. "I met them a couple times when I was here before with Tyler and ended up exchanging digits. Having people know your name has its own perks, you see."

"I can see that," Katrina nodded. "Well, it's nice, I guess."

"So," JC began, closing his menu. He hesitated for a moment before he leaned forward. "Are you ready to talk?"

"No," she murmured as her eyes pretended to scan over the options on the menu. She was sure that she couldn't even pronounce the names of at least ninety percent of the food.

She kept her eyes busy so that she wouldn't have to bother with JC's own eyes on her. Finally, she saw that he had picked up his menu once again.

"Fine," she heard him say. "Your choice. We'll talk after dinner."

Both had remained fairly quiet over the next few minutes until a waiter had come to take their orders. JC had rambled off their choosing with an Italian accent Katrina hadn't even known he had perfected while she sat back and nodded. With their menus no longer in front of them, they patiently leaned against their seats and stared at the untouched bread basket between them.

"Can I be honest with you tonight?" JC asked her, breaking the thick silence.

"That would be refreshing."

JC frowned. "I feel like I'm brushing my teeth with a hammer while I'm sitting here just waiting for one of us to speak up."

Katrina shrugged her shoulders. "That's because neither of us has anything to say that the other already doesn't know."

"I think-"

"I know you're sorry about deleting the voicemail, Jace," Katrina interrupted. "But I can't get over it just like that just because you want me to."

"I understand that."

Katrina sighed. "Can we talk about something else, please? We're already here. I can't ignore you for long."

"Of course," JC piped up. "Uh," he cleared his throat. "How was your day today?"

"Bad. Next question."

JC fought a smile. "Do you want to tell me why it was bad?"

"If this is your way of trying to loosen me up, you're doing horribly."

"Answer me. Can't be that bad."

"Well, I almost got fired today."

JC's eyes bulged. "What?"

Katrina sighed, almost as though she had explained the story fifty times already for the day and didn't want to repeat it again.

"There was a shipment mix up with some cosmetic products at the store," she told him. "Apparently, I was supposed to be the one to order the products on Tuesday, which is impossible because I was supposed to be written down for the week off, and another worker wasn't familiar with what we had to order so she ended up ordering the wrong shit. Everything else just went downhill from there."

"What'd your boss say?" he asked.

"She was mad, obviously, because we just spent a whole lot of money on products that we weren't supposed to stock up on until a couple more months. It wasn't my fault because it's not like I was even there that week, but everyone was pretty sour."

"That sucks," JC said, sympathetically.

"You're telling me. I'm not kidding when I say that my entire day has been bad."

JC was quiet for a few seconds. "I'm just making everything worse for you, aren't I?"

Katrina shifted uncomfortably in her seat. With her eyes focusing on her hands rather than on him, she didn't answer.

JC looked around the room, slowly beginning to feel uneasy by the room of adults with their Colgate white smiles, who continued to enjoy their own knife and fork dinners. Everyone there seemed to have their mood perfectly agree with the elegance of the setting.

Together, Katrina and JC felt like a pair of dying orchids in a garden of roses.

"You wanna get out of here?" JC asked abruptly, and for the first time for that night, saw Katrina's eyes light up.

"But we already ordered," Katrina reminded him.

She watched as JC pulled out his iPhone, ran his thumbs over a few keys, hit ‘Send.' He stuffed the mobile back into his pocket. Advantages of celebrity status, she presumed.

He looked up and smiled at her as he pushed back his chair.

 "Let's get out of here."

******

Katrina looked at JC blankly as he turned off the ignition and unbuckled his seat belt effortlessly. Through the windows, she had seen the familiar setting she knew all too well just across the street.

Over twenty more minutes of driving, and she was still starving. She was still starving and she was suddenly annoyed five times more than she was before. JC could not be serious.

He went to open the door of the driver's seat but Katrina stopped him by pulling on his arm.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Getting out of the car?"

"I have driven around with you in a car for almost an hour, you know I'm tired, you said we were going to go out to dinner, and you bring me back to..." She nodded toward the building to the right of the car. "My apartment?"

"I realized it's better than dining out when you feel the way that you do."

"Joshua," Katrina gritted out. "Are you this fucking inconsiderate?"

JC leaned forward to open the door and let himself out, leaving her still strapped in her seat.

"Find out for yourself," JC told her before slamming the door shut.

Katrina grumbled as she freed herself and made her way out of the car, the cold Los Angeles breeze hitting her cheeks immediately, slightly blowing up the hem of her dress. JC motioned for them to cross the street.

Katrina only hoped he knew how lucky he was that a dump truck wasn't speeding up the road.

JC grinned as he was welcomed by the dark skinned, bald headed man in a green security uniform at the door.

"Hey, man, how are ya?"A high five was exchanged.

Katrina strolled over, crossing the street slowly in her heels with her arms folded.

"Hey, Lenny," she greeted tiredly.

"There're two pizza boxes by my desk inside, Ms. Smart," the fifty something year old man told her with a friendly smile. "They arrived for you a few minutes ago."

Before Katrina could eve open her mouth to inquire, JC had whipped out a crisp, folded in half twenty dollar bill and slapped it into the doorman's palm. "Thanks again, man."

"No problem, JC," he replied, accepting the money.

Katrina had barely gotten out a croak before JC had taken her by the hand and led them through glass doors.

"You ordered pizza over here?" she finally spoke up as JC walked over to a marble desk inside of the quiet lobby of the apartment, disappeared behind it for a moment and came back around holding two cardboard boxes.

She looked at him in confusion as he headed for the elevators.

"I said I would give you dinner, didn't I?"

"You tried to, at least," Katrina snorted. She pressed the number four button inside the lift and watched as the doors slowly closed.

"So, maybe that wasn't the best idea, considering your mood tonight," he admitted. "Nothing some good junk food can't fix."

Katrina rolled her eyes and leaned her head back against the metal before the doors finally reopened onto her floor. No one was in the halls, and for that she was thankful. JC waited quietly and patiently, though she was sure the heat radiating under the box was probably stinging his hands, while Katrina unlocked her door.

Reluctantly letting JC in first, she followed him straight into her kitchen. He set the pizzas down on the kitchen table as she plopped down on a chair and dropped her keys onto the surface. She hadn't bothered to kick off her shoes or wait for JC to hand her a napkin before she opened one of the boxes and indulged.

JC smiled. "Better now?" he asked.

Katrina shrugged, chewing. "Why aren't you eating?" she asked through a mouthful of pineapple and mushrooms.

"I ordered it for you."

"I can't eat two boxes of pizza by myself, smartass." She frowned at her words before glancing up at him. "Sorry," she mumbled.

 "S'okay."

"You ordered the damn thing," she said, picking off a sweet pepper. "And you're still here. Just have some."

"If you insist," JC surrendered. He pulled out the chair next to her and took a large slice of the pizza out of the open box.

"You're the reason I'm gonna get fat," Katrina mumbled. JC chuckled to himself when he saw some ketchup smear at the side of her lips.

"You're absolutely fine and you know that," he assured her.

"You're also the reason I've had a headache for the past hour."

"I'd rather cause you a headache than a heartache," JC said, simply looking down at the food in his hand. "I'm sorry you had to settle for Pizza Hut instead of Nishimura."

"I hate sushi, remember?"

"So why'd you agree to going there?" he asked.

"I was just willing to go wherever he wanted, to be honest," Katrina said truthfully. "Make a good impression, you know?"

"He should have asked where you wanted to go, that's the problem. Or at least asked what you liked. Better yet, he should have-"

"Not stood me up?"

"We're back to square one, huh?"

"We never really left."

JC nodded, setting the uneaten pizza back down into the box. "Yea, I suppose so."

"I don't find it necessary to bring him up again, alright?"

"Okay," JC agreed. "Whatever you want."

"You haven't eaten anything."

JC got up, slowly rubbing his hands together and patting the front of his jean pockets to ensure he had his belongings. "Keep it, or give it to your neighbours around the building if you want. Eat it for breakfast or something."

"You're leaving now?" she looked up at him, a bit taken aback.

"I kind of should, shouldn't I?"

"I sort of expected you to stick around," Katrina said quietly.

"In all truth, Kat, I only came here to apologize to you, and to check up on you. When I realized your night went sour, I just wanted to make sure you ate and was home okay. You don't need me here anymore, as far as I can tell. You didn't exactly want me around in the first place."

"Stop caring so much."

"You had a rough few days. And I was kind of the shitty friend that started it." JC stuffed his hands into his pocket and rocked back on his heels. "I don't choose to be like this with you, you know."

Katrina swallowed the remainder of her first slice before shrugging her shoulders.

"Thanks for having the heart to care, at least."

"I'll let myself out," he stated, but Katrina's words stopped him again.

"I don't want you to leave, JC," she groaned. "And stop making me feel bad about being mad at you."

"I'm not. And you don't have to be. And I don't want to stay if all we're going to do is bicker or exchange two words to each other when I'm sitting right next to you."

"We're talking now, aren't we?"

JC folded his arms and Katrina folded over the cover of the pizza box.

"You really should eat some more," JC advised her.

"I'm fine."

"You wouldn't be acting this way if you were fine, Katrina!" JC yelled. "Why won't you just admit that you need someone besides your damn cat to help you out sometimes?"

"Because..." she mumbled as she arose from the chair. She began to make her way toward her bedroom with her eyes to the floor. "She's much easier to open up to compared to you or anyone else."

"I'm gonna change," she said solemnly before closing the door to her room.

JC was left out in the kitchen, one arm folded over his chest that supported the other hand that held his thoughts. The appetite that he wasn't even sure he had had was gone and the sick feeling that signalled the start to a migraine began to creep in.

He contemplated for a minute whether or not to really leave or stay. Both seemed to have severe consequences and in his case, he couldn't really win.

"Kat?" he called out, knocking on her door. "Can I come in for a minute?"

When he heard no response, JC took it upon himself to open to unlocked door. His only view was of her in front of her dresser's mirror, wearing black panties and a white vest, tying her hair into a high, messy ponytail.

JC leaned against the doorway. "You could have answered, ya know."

"I was undressing," she said to him obviously. She turned around and settled her hands on her hips. "I expected you to leave."

"Believe me, it was a strong thought," JC responded, closing the door and inching closer into the room. "But I figured you'd just get mad again and we'd have to relive tonight all over again tomorrow."

"I'm more tired than anything else, Joshua," Katrina told him as she pulled down the purple comforter on her bed and fluffed the pillows. She plopped down on the mattress before look up at JC. "And don't even forget that I have to go to work tomorrow. If tomorrow's anything like today, I'm going to shoot myself in the foot by Wednesday."

JC frowned, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "What'd you mean you can't open up to me? I always open up to you."

"I never jeopardize your possible dates but you did that with me."

"Shut up about that, will you?"

She lay flat on her back and folded her arms over her chest.

A few seconds passed by silently before Katrina opened her mouth. "I meant that I'd rather keep certain thoughts to myself rather than tell anyone else."

"But this is me we're talking about," JC reminded her. "You need me sometimes."

Katrina raised her eyebrows in his direction. "You were the one who came to see me after we hadn't spoken for forty eight hours. What does that tell you? You couldn't even stay away from here knowing that I was mad at you."

"So doesn't that tell you something? That I care and that I'm willing to fess up?"

"It tells me that I need you a lot less than you need me. You couldn't keep away for more than a coupla days. You know that, right?"

JC looked down at his hands. "I could have... I just didn't want to. I missed you. And I had to apologize to you."

"I know you're sorry," she said quietly. "But after what happened with him and I tonight, it just makes me that much more mad at you for some reason."

JC rubbed the back of his neck for a moment before letting out a sigh.

"I'll see you soon, SmartieKat," he told her, leaning over to kiss her lightly on the forehead. He remained over her and Katrina finally looked up at him when she realized he wasn't moving.

"What?"

"You really did look great tonight. It was a shame the guy who you wanted to show it off to missed out on it."

"Thanks, Jace," Katrina said sincerely. JC stared down at her for what seemed like an eternity before he finally decided to pull away. He would have been off the bed by then if Katrina hadn't decided to pull him back over her.

"Are you okay?" JC asked her, puzzled.

"No," she shook her head, staring up into his eyes in the same way she had done so many days and nights before. "And I hate it."

JC nodded, leaning down slowly to press his lips to hers. No tongue, no biting, no tangling, just his lips to hers for a mere few seconds before he pulled away. His face was just an inch away from hers.

"I'm sorry everything sucks for you right now," JC whispered to her.

Katrina's only response was to move her hands to the side of his face, just above the neck, to bring their lips to touch once more. The kiss was deeper than the one before and JC had to force himself to pull away when his lungs began to burn.

"I thought you wanted me to leave," JC said, though it did sound more like a question than a statement.

"I do, but, I don't," she admitted indecisively. Her thumbs grazed over his jaw where morning stubble would come to be the next morning.

"Then I really should leave if this isn't right for you. Or me, as a matter of fact."

"Nothing about this night has been right, Jace," Katrina mumbled.

JC used one arm to hold himself over her while the other occupied itself by cupping the side of her face. They were suddenly crossing over from a region where uncomfortable tension and frequent bicker reigned supreme into dangerous territory that had never been threatening to them before.

JC had started asking for tongue which Katrina was happier than expected to give. JC's supporting arm was beginning to sting from the pressure being exerted upon it as Katrina had begun fisting the sides of his shirt to bring him closer to her.

"Kat, you know what we're doing right?" he asked, slightly breathless.

She nodded her head, rolling him onto his back abruptly. JC stared up at her wide eyed.

He smoothed his arms up her bare legs, over her thighs and finally onto her hips that straddled him.

"I know what we're doing," she assured him. "We've done it before."

"Yea but not when we've been like how we are now."

Katrina leaned over him and her hands rested on either side of his face as they pressed into the warm mattress. "I know. But don't we both want this?"

JC wished she hadn't asked him that question. The look in his eyes said that he wanted it. The front area of his jeans said that he wanted it. She knew that of the both of them, he would be the one that wanted it more.

"My only thing is..." his voice trailed off, and Katrina used the pause to rock against him gently.

"What?" she asked as she saw his Adam's apple bob.

"I want to make sure that you don't think I'm taking advantage of you if we do this."

"I know you're not like that with me," she promised. "That's not us. That's not how we work when we're like this."

She tilted downward to capture his bottom lip between her own as JC's arms moved from the hips that he loved were so generous and nearer to the hem of her vest. In one easy pull over the arms, it was flung to the ground.

Katrina leaned back and he rose up into a sitting position. With her legs around him, JC spared no time before he treated his lips to the pair of hardened buds on each of her B-cups.

The slow teasing of his tongue before he took breast into his mouth caused Katrina's hips to twitch against his own and her hands found their way into his short hair to scrape at the back of his neck. Soft, low moans sounded in her throat and JC felt her trying to grind into the bulge in his pants.

With one hand holding her around the waist, he flipped her over onto her back so that he was kneeling between her legs. He unbuttoned the shirt he wore before throwing it to the side. He smiled at her.

"You okay?" he asked.

She nodded with a small smile of her own. "I'm good."

He maintained eye contact with her as he unbuckled the belt of his dark jeans. Katrina rose up and loosened her hair so that the tresses fell past her shoulders. She held JC at the sides as she planted slow kisses just under his chest, over his abdominals and down his happy trail. JC's breathing had become hitched by the time she pulled jeans down over his thighs to reveal the large bulge straining under his boxer briefs.

She looked up at him with a twinkle in her eye before carefully peeling the fabric down only to be greeted by his manhood that stood at attention before her. The thick shaft pressed against his lower stomach and the head was a shade of dark purple that seemed aggravated by want.

"Kat," JC whispered but he had no choice but to just let his head fall back. She began leaving kisses over his pelvic bone before she finally took him into her mouth entirely. One of JC's hands automatically flew into her hair when a suction began.

"Shit," he muttered. She swirled her tongue over the tip before closing over him once more. "You do that so good, Kat, fuck."

She knew just what he liked and JC knew that if she kept it up, he wasn't going to even get his turn. He couldn't handle much longer before he cupped her face so that she released him.

"On your back," was all he told her before he kicked off his final pieces of clothes and crawled over her.

Their tongues danced passionately once more before he moved down to her neck and over that spot that sent chills up her spine and down to her-

"Jace," she sighed. He slowly made his way down her plush body before retreating to that one place he knew like the back of his hand. He kissed at the spots where her legs met her body before finally pulling her final, thin garment down her legs, over her ankles and throwing them behind him. He separated her legs for more granted access before Katrina saw his head disappear between her thighs.

Her eyes fluttered closed in anticipation before she finally felt his mouth on her. One hand gripped at the sheets beside her while one dove into his hair.

As his tongue enclosed over her clit, a gasp of pleasure slipped from Katrina. Her legs begged to be squeezed shut for a release but JC held her strongly from behind the thighs.

Her moans had turned into pants and he knew that he was getting her close. By the way her body was tightening, the way her hands held on to the waves in his hair, one last swirl of the tongue would have been all it took to finish her off but JC pulled back and teased his way back up her body until they were chest to chest again.

Katrina attempted to flip them over once more as she usually did but JC's body weighed down on her heavily. He engaged her mouth with his own while he teased her slit with his shaft. Her short nails scratched at his smooth back and they dug into his skin when JC slid in the tip and rubbed against her once more.

He pulled back to look down at her blissfully flushed, keen expression that wordlessly encouraged him to satisfy them both. Their lips exchanged the taste of each other onto the other's tongue as JC pierced her so slowly it had almost become painful. His width stretched her open with each inch and her heated walls contracted around him.

"Oh my God," Katrina whimpered as JC buried his face into the crook of her neck. He gritted his teeth as he remained in a state of inertia inside of her. He savoured in the feeling of her wet, heat hugging him.

A few seconds had gone by and JC still hadn't moved. Katrina tried to regulate her breathing but to no avail when she felt him hard and pulsing inside of her, setting her body on fire.

"Jace," she whimpered, pressing her forehead to his shoulder. She attempted to buck up her hips but JC kept them pinned.

"Just feel me Kat," he whispered into her ear. Katrina almost immediately arched her back off the bed and she drew back her legs. When it had boiled down to the point where he thought Katrina's nails were going to rip the skin off his shoulders, he pulled out and thrust into her to set a slow rhythm.

He was being gentler than usual but she couldn't even function to form a sentence of protest when on his fifth thrust, he managed to roughly hit the spot only a select few men had ever been able to reach.

JC nibbled at her neck as Katrina's moans had turned into soft cries that became higher and louder as her body continued to tremble under him.

"Right there, JC," she managed to get out, her legs suddenly becoming wrapped around him. "Fuck, Jace, yesss."

His thrusts remained slow, but they had gotten rougher and his own hands were clenching at the sheets, the pillows, her breasts, her waist, the back of her legs- anywhere to get him to hold off on his release.

He lifted himself a bit to look into her eyes, the beads of sweat on his forehead glistening over her. His jaw was a bit dropped as Katrina bit down on her bottom lip. JC had finally quickened his thrusts and she couldn't help but just surrender to the feel of his body moving in and out of her, relishing in the way every thrust made her release seem so close.

JC paid attention to every crevice of her body that his lips could get to before he took her to where she was about to be. Her neck, her breasts, her lips, everywhere before Katrina crossed her ankles at her back and let out panicked gasps.

"JC," she quivered. Just one thrust later, tiny volcanoes of white hot ecstasy had erupted under every inch in her body from the fireworks behind her eyes to the nails of her curled toes.

JC clenched his jaw as he felt her orgasm squeeze his him mercilessly but he waited until her shaking had eased before he pulled out and came just under her navel.

"Fuck," he panted, Katrina holding him close as he shot his load over her lower abdominals. His eyes were squeezed shut but he finally reopened them as he tried to catch a breath.

He looked down at her, breathing hard on unstable arms.

"Amazi-" he started but Katrina swallowed his words.

"Damn," she whispered, when they finally pulled away. JC rolled over to the side and grabbed the comforter to cover their naked bodies before collapsing back against the pillows.

"You okay?" he asked her, as she stared up at her ceiling. Both their chests continued to rise and deflate rapidly. Katrina smiled, nodding quickly.

"I'm great," she said. "You?"

"Same," he agreed.

They lay beside each other in silence for the next few minutes before JC got up and pulled his jeans on.

"Where're you going?" Katrina asked tiredly, rising on her elbows.

JC smiled. "I need some water."

"What time is it?" she yawned, running a hand through her air.

"Uh, a little before eleven," JC told her, checking the watch on his wrist.

"I have work in the morning," he heard her grumble before she fell back onto the mattress.

He made his way out of the room and into the kitchen, his body still sensitive from orgasm. He poured himself a tall glass of water from the mug in her fridge and downed it in three large gulps.

He took a seat at her kitchen table before taking a moment to silently pride himself but more so appreciate the fact that he had arguable just had some of the most passionate sex he had ever had in months. It wasn't their typical loud, flexible, hip crushing sex session they were so used to engaging in.

This time, surprisingly to JC's pleasure, was slower, hotter and far more fanatical. He took a couple minutes to treat himself to the slice of pizza he had refused earlier before returning to the room.

"Hey, Kat, do you want a slice of-" he stopped himself short when he noticed her eyes closed, and her breathing regular. JC smiled softly to himself as he strolled further into the room and brought the comforter up some more to completely cover her.

He gathered his clothes from the floor and held them in his arms before going over to the light switch and flicking it downward. He went over to Katrina's side of the bed, careful not to make any sudden noise and he looked at her once more as she remained in a completely contrasting mood than she had been in when he had first arrived.

 Lightly pressing his lips to her forehead, JC whispered a goodnight to her before he left the apartment. "See you later, SmartieKat."