Haven

Laura Roslin’s giggle echoed through the leaves and branches of the New Caprican forest when she tripped over a tree root. It was dark out, very little light making it through the canopy to shine on her way to her destination. Well, our destination, she mused when Bill Adama put steadying hands on her waist as she righted herself.

“Be careful,” came his familiar baritone from just over her shoulder. It was seasoned with laughter, which made her giggle again. She couldn’t help it. She was happy, happier than she’d been in years and it wasn’t the result of that fabulous, smokable herb that grew around here. Nope. Her happiness stemmed from several things. One, she felt incredibly alive and carefree for the first time in years. Two, she was with Bill, with whom she felt safe enough to let herself feel carefree and alive. Three, she had something to share with him, something she’d discovered a couple days ago and had kept to herself.

That something was why he was here. She’d summoned him, slipping a note to one of his raptor pilots earlier in the day, beckoning him to pay a visit at his earliest convenience, under the cover of night — frak Baltar and his stupid decree that the admiral of the fleet stay aboard Galactica — so she could share that something with him.

And he’d come, just after nightfall, landing a raptor on the shore of the creek where she wanted to build her cabin. She’d waited for him there, standing just at the treeline, and greeted him with a smile when he emerged. Then she’d led him into the woods, toward her surprise.

He followed obediently, releasing her once she was moving forward again with sure footing. She reached for his hand and he caught her fingers with his. “It’s not much farther,” she told him.

“Still not going to tell me what it is?” he asked.

She grinned as she forged ahead. “Nope, you have to see it for yourself.”

“I should have gotten the emergency kit from the raptor. There’s a flashlight in it,” he commented when she stumbled again.

“We won’t need it when we get to where we’re going,” Laura said, squeezing his hand. “Besides, I don’t want to draw attention to us.”

Bill snorted. “Then you should stop giggling, and we should probably stop talking.”

Laura giggled yet again. “Sound is hard to pin down in the forest, but a light … we might as well go back to the settlement and issue an invitation.”

A light, raspy chuckle blended with the sounds of the nightlife. “What the frak did you find out here?”

Laura shushed him. “Don’t worry, you’ll like it.”

“How much farther?” he asked.

“Not too much.”

Still holding his hand, Laura altered course slightly, leading him toward the lake that the creek emptied into, skirting along the base of the mounts that lined parts of the shore, the foothills of the towering mountain range to the west.

The way grew rockier as they went, damp leaves on rocks making things slipperier until they reached the ridge that graced the base of a bluff. It was gravel from there forward along the pathway to their destination. The ridge was fairly wide where it began, safe enough for them to pass side by side easily — especially now that they’d left the trees behind and had the benefit of starlight — but narrowed a bit as it curved around.

Bill eased behind her as they continued on, mindful of the water that lapped against the stone, just a half-meter down. The gentle sound was a soothing one in the darkness and blended with the rush of a small waterfall in the distance.

“A waterfall?” Bill asked.

“Yes, it’s on the other side. It’s beautiful at sunset.”

“Then why are we out here in the middle of the night?”

“Because the waterfall isn’t what I want to show you.”

He asked no more questions as Laura led them the rest of the way. She stopped just before the ledge became impassable and turned into a dark crevice in the rock facing. Bill tightened his hold on her hand and stopped her from moving further into the inky blackness.

“A cave?”

“Yes, just wait here a moment,” she told him, squeezing his hand in assurance before releasing it. He let her go reluctantly, she noted, probably not wanting her to venture into unknown territory without him, or at least without him taking the lead. That was the soldier in him.

To put him at ease, she moved quickly to where she’d left her lantern earlier, along the right side of the wall, just a few feet in. She turned it on by feel and blinked against the sudden brightness. She looked over her shoulder to see Bill shielding his eyes from the glare.

“Sorry,” she told him then held out her hand. “Come on. It’s this way.”

He took her invitation and followed her through the curving shoulder-wide slit in the rock and into a cavern.

“Frak me.”

It was an exclamation of awe, a feeling that Laura understood well. It’s the one that had come over her when she’d first looked inside. “Amazing, isn’t it?”

Bill didn’t answer, just moved further into the room, his eyes roving from floor to high ceiling, scanning the walls, which gleamed with flecks and thin veins of of silver. It was some sort of mineral or ore, she imagined, but couldn’t be sure. She was not a geologist. Besides, that wasn’t the main attraction for her, beautiful as it was. No, what had enamored her of this warm grotto was the pool of fresh warm water fed by a number of hot springs in the northeastern wall. It wasn’t huge, only about 6 meters across, but it was deep enough to stand in and the basin was relatively smooth, no jagged or sharp edges. It was a natural warm bath and the closest thing to a luxury spa for this planet.

Laura watched Bill take it all in and smiled at him when his intense blue gaze finally returned to her. “How in the hell did you find this?”

She smiled at him. “I was exploring and ended up on the ridge. I followed it around to see the waterfall better and came across the opening in the bluff.”

He frowned slightly. “How did you see anything?”

Laura pointed up, directly over the pool. “There’s a small opening above that lets some sunlight in.”

Bill glanced up, moving closer to the pool. As he did, Laura stepped farther into the cavern and set her lantern on a small boulder. It cast the light wider. She then walked around to the back side of the rock and knelt by the items she’d left earlier — a small, cloth bag with a few provisions and a pair of rolled blankets — nestled against the base of the rock, out of sight.

Watching Bill kneel by the pool and dip a hand into the water, she quietly spread one of the blankets across the floor, between the cave wall and the edge of the water. She’d swept the area earlier with a tree branch just before sunset, clearing the relatively smooth surface of smaller rocks that would hinder comfort, something Laura definitely wanted tonight. She’d taken great pains to make sure they would both have it, though she lamented the lack of a mattress, even the makeshift one from her tent. But lugging that off into the woods would have been too obvious. The stone floor would have to do, unforgiving as it was going to be to their not-so-young bodies.

“I had Cottle run a sample,” she told Bill as he studied the rippling surface. “It’s clean. Contains trace minerals, none counter to human life.”

Bill stood, eyes still on the water. “Did you tell him where you got it?”

“No,” Laura replied with a smile, “He assumed it was from the creek and I didn’t correct him.”

Bill chuckled. “Keeping it a secret?” He turned to look at her, eyes widening as he took in the blankets and the bottle of wine she’d just pulled from the bag.

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to take a hot bath?” She cocked her head and flashed him a teasing smile, eyes widening briefly.

A soft laugh was his response.

Laura shrugged. “I like baths,” she said softly then paused, guilt rising as she considered what she’d just confessed and how it probably sounded. “I’m being selfish with this, aren’t I?”

Bill walked slowly over to her, his gaze gentling and warming into one she was coming to know well, even though he’d only allowed himself to begin showing it to her in the past few months. It always stole her breath and made her heart beat a little erratically. The organ was doing so now, which wasn’t surprising since she hadn’t seen him in nearly two weeks.

Of course, the response would have been just as intense and predictable even if she’d just seen him the day before. The intimate part of their relationship was still new and, despite their ages, they were intensely aware of one another physically, and every other way, when they were together. When they were alone, it was downright intoxicating. Especially now, in this little cave, tucked away in the night, hundreds of meters from the tent settlement. It was affording them true privacy for the first time since … well, since they’d met.

“Maybe,” Bill replied. “I can only imagine what would happen to this place if the entire settlement knew about it,” he said then continued, a slow, tender smile emerging on his mouth, “And it’s okay to be a little selfish sometimes, Laura.”

Laura’s eyes moved over his familiar features as he gazed down at her, all warm and understanding, sexy and inviting, tenderly and yet so intensely. She wondered if he knew how attractive he was when he looked at her that way, wondered if he knew how badly he made her want kiss him, touch him, lose herself completely in passion with him.

“Even about this?” she asked.

His answer was by way of a question, one uttered as he reached for the buttons on his uniform jacket, one that deftly answered her wonderings. “How do you feel about company for your bath?”

Laura smiled up at him, her body warming and heart fluttering happily in her chest. She wasn’t sure she’d ever had a lover more attuned to her. “I thought you’d never ask.”

While he chuckled and shed his tunic, tossing it over the boulder, she removed her boots and socks, and set them to the side. Moving onto her knees then, Laura reached for the laces on his boots, undid them, glancing up when she heard the jangle of his dog tags. He had stripped off his tanks, put it with his jacket, and now stood over her, exuding a masculine confidence that was neither conceited nor built on false impressions of his prowess.

No, Bill was just entirely comfortable in his own skin … with her, with them. He made her feel the same way, made her feel desired, secure, bold.

Rising up onto her knees, Laura reached for the buckle of belt. He brushed his fingers across her cheek as she unfastened it and his trousers. She shivered at the touch. It was so gentle, turning sensual when he rubbed his thumb over her lower lip. She glanced up at him as she drew the zipper downward, easing the pressure on his obviously growing desire.

Laura liked that she made him feel that, liked seeing that his eyes had darkened with need and yet still remained tender — it had never been just lustful need with Bill, for either of them. And it wasn’t now, though lust was undeniable at seeing her effect on him as she drew his trousers and boxer briefs down his legs. He was impressive … and all hers.

Leaning in, Laura pressed kisses to his need, soft and slow, thrilling at the feel of his hands sinking into her hair, cradling her head as she moved upward from base. He loved when she paid him this kind of attention, always whispered her name in wonder. She was sure he’d been neglected by his ex-wife, but she didn’t ask and he didn’t say. She just gave and he accepted.

With a final kiss, she looked down and helped him step out of his clothing, pushing his shoes and socks and off when he lifted one foot, then the other.

“Come up here,” he breathed, once he stood completely bared, his desire growing, jutting out from his body.

Laura nodded but took a moment to run her hand along his length in a tender caress. When she lingered, he gently cupped her chin in his palm and tipped her head back, until she was looking up into his eyes. “Come up here,” he repeated, his voice so incredibly soft, his expression loving.

Laura rose, taking the hands he offered, letting him guide her to her feet. Once there, he began divesting her of her dress. It was the red one she’d worn on the groundbreaking day. He had enjoyed unwrapping her from it that first time and he enjoyed it now, his breaths quickening with every part of her he revealed. She watched his eyes take her in, heard him moan her name when he saw she wore nothing beneath.

His hands skated over her breasts, slid up along her neck until he was cradling her face in his palms. His eyes fell shut when he kissed her then, just pressing his lips to hers. Laura trembled head to toe, sighed softly when he eased his arms around her, drew her body against his and kissed her as a lover. It was like being welcomed home after a long absence, how he molded himself to her, fitting them together. How his lips slid over hers with equal parts familiar ease and hunger.

Bill loved kissing and he was exceptionally good at it, never failed to curl Laura’s toes and make her ache in ways both blessed and tormenting. And it was never one-sided. Like everything else he did, he compelled equal participation, made her want to kiss him back, to follow his lead and leave thought behind. Made her long to forget everything but the glide and stroke of lips and tongues.

It took Laura several moments to force her eyes open when he eventually pulled away from her mouth. She found him smiling at her when she did. “Missed you,” he whispered then slid his hands down, across her shoulders and along her arms to capture her hands. He led her to the pool without another word, sat on the side then eased down into the water. He turned to help her once he had sure footing.

Laura wrapped her arms around his neck as he lifted her from the edge and eased her down into the water with him. She hummed at the feel of her body sliding along his.

“Feel good?” he ask, grinning ear to ear.

“You have no idea,” she replied.

He chuckled and surrounded her with his arms. “Oh, I think I might.”

Laura giggled and pressed closer, bringing her hips firmly against his. “Perhaps you do.”

His smile was irrepressible. He hugged her and pressed his cheek to hers. “Relax, I’ve got you,” he encouraged and she did, letting herself trust him to guide her as he walked around the pool. He sometimes walked backwards, sometimes forward, changing the flow of water around her body. It felt good, sensual even — of course, that effect was probably magnified by the feel of his body against hers.

Head bowed, he deposited kisses to her neck and shoulder, switching from side to side, always pausing between to kiss her mouth or brow. She returned each caress of his lips with one of her own, running her hands over his back, up and into his hair.

They were in no hurry and that suited Laura just fine. It was nice to take things easy, to be able to relax and not worry about someone walking in, knocking on a hatch, calling from the other side of canvas or curtain, or someone hearing things best kept private.

Laura touched her lips to his ear, sighed softly. “This is nice.”

“Yes,” he breathed, nibbling at the meeting of her neck and shoulder.

Broad hands slid down to cup her bottom and lift. She wrapped her legs around him instinctively, her head dropping back when his mouth descended to the swells of her breasts, moving inexorably downward to encompass a turgid peak.

“Gods, Bill,” she half gasped, half moaned, feeling the pull of his mouth deep inside. He moved from one of the soft mounds to the other and back again, lavishing her with lips, teeth and tongue, suckling and nibbling, thrashing while she clutched his head to her.

When she eventually drew him back and bent to kiss him, he met her without complaint, opening to her, letting her gently ravish his mouth. He moaned for her, caressed her back, her bottom and her thighs as he moved them through the water.

Laura released his lips when she felt slick, warm stone against her back. She met intense blue eyes through her lashes. “Are you wet for me?”

It was an unnecessary question, as was her need to answer aloud. She was and he knew it as surely as she did. But she answered him anyway. “Yes.”

“Good.” That’s all he said before gripping her hips and easing her down onto him.

Laura’s head fell against the rock behind her. She felt the trickle of the hot springs against her scalp and it felt almost tepid against her desire-heated skin, not that she paid it much mind as her body accommodated her lover. Gods, it felt so good. And he waited, letting her enjoy just being filled, joined with him. He enjoyed it, too. She felt it in the smile that graced his lips as he nuzzled her neck, shushed her softly, making her realize she was humming with each breath.

It was several moments before she managed a coherent sentence. Assuming “Frak me!” was a sentence. She wasn’t sure since all she knew about grammar was tucked way, way in the back of her brain at the moment. Who needs grammar? she thought then giggled when Bill laughed out a rejoinder against her throat.

“I intend to.”

Laura loved the playfulness that often surfaced during intimacy with him. She had no doubt that most people would think him incapable of it — even her for that matter. But it always managed to surface at some point, much to her delight. A playful Bill Adama was a priceless treat, and had been the norm between them in place of the usual awkwardness and timidity that came when beginning a physical relationship.

As she ran her fingers through his hair, he leaned back and looked at her. “Hi,” she said nonsensically, not even bothering to rein in her smile. She wanted him to know how good he made her feel.

“Comfortable?” The query was a murmur. She nodded in reply, slipped her fingers around to feather through his mustache and to tease his lips. She hummed low when he sucked the slender digits slowly into his mouth.

From sensually playful to blatantly erotic in the blink of an eye … gods, he was dangerous. Sexy and dangerous and irresistible. He did not fear what he wanted or felt, which made her fearless in turn.

“Frak me, Bill,” she breathed throatily, her smile falling away as want, thick and powerful, seized her, mercilessly.

He did, suckling then biting at her fingers as his hips retreated and advanced in a slow, deep rhythm. One hand held her hip, the other came up to cradle a cheek. His thumb pressed against her mouth and she opened to him, letting him finger her teeth and tongue as her breath quickened exponentially.

He pushed her fingers from his mouth and whispered to her as he frakked her, saying her name, prodding her with explicit questions about what he was doing to her, what she wanted. She couldn’t answer, words impossible to form as he rubbed her tongue with the pad of his thumb. All she could do was moan and hum, move her hips in counter to his, digging her heels into his behind as he pushed quicker, harder and deeper.

The rock was hard, unforgiving against her back and behind. She would have bruises, but she didn’t care. The slide of him inside her, the collision of his hips made incredibly fluid by the water that surrounded them were all that mattered. She closed her eyes and turned her head to the side as he buried his face in her neck. His thumb continued to work her mouth as he buried himself repeatedly in her depths. He kissed her throat hard, bit at her shoulder, groaning and moaning unintelligibly between gasps of her name.

She cleaved to him, hands holding his head firmly to her as he braced his other hand against the wall and frakked her harder still, drawing sharp gasps from her on each invasion. Pleasure overwhelmed her and she arched against him and bit his thumb. But he didn’t stop — it was good … so frakking good! — until he was jetting inside her, body molding to hers as he shuddered. The quakes shaking him, shook her. The rhythm of their breaths merged and Laura cried out as she came again.

“Oh my gods … Bill,” Laura sighed when her mind finally decided to rejoin her body.

She stroked her hands over her lover, as he, too, calmed. She kissed his cheek, then his brow, then his mouth. He pursed his lips gently in response, and she lingered in a kiss that belied the stark passion they had claimed them. When she started to pull her mouth away, he followed, kissing her again, and again, and again. Soft, sweet kisses, that made her heart flutter in ways it never had for anyone else. Not Richard. Not her first crush. Not her first boyfriend or lover. It was delicate and yet so powerful, making her mind tilt into a dizzying swirl of sensation that raced through her skull and then suffused her flesh until she was tingling inside and out. Gods, the man could kiss — and frak, and anything else he set his mind and heart to.

Whenever he kissed her like that all she wanted to do was open her mind and heart and legs for him. If she didn’t trust him so completely, that impulse would have scared her witless and she would have ended things before they’d begun. But she did trust him and she wanted him, this with him. She craved it.

“You all right?” he whispered, his breath caressing her lips.

She nodded, her eyes seeking out his. “You?”

“Yes.” With his answer, an almost-shy smile curled a corner of his mouth. There was something incredibly adorable about that boyish expression on his man’s face. She touched it with her fingers, skimming them across his weathered cheek, down to tease the edge of his smile.

“How long can you stay?”

“I told Helo I wouldn’t be back til morning.”

Laura smiled in acknowledgement but worried that he was meters away from the raptor and its communications equipment. If he should be needed…  “What’s the plan if you’re needed?”

“He’ll contact Saul. He knows where I am … or the general vicinity of where to find me.”

“Good,” Laura replied, glad he’d planned ahead on that front. She hadn’t really thought about anything other than showing him her find and sharing it with him — the luxury of being a private citizen again.

“Are you hungry?” she asked, remembering what else she wanted to share with him.

His smile turned almost lascivious. He leaned into her ear and murmured deeply, “Are you making a request?”

Laura giggled, kissed his temple. In addition to kissing and frakking, Bill enjoyed other things, much to her delight. “Mmm, later,” she laughed softly. “At the moment, I was speaking of a more conventional meal.”

He laughed. “What have you got?”

“There’s the wine,” she replied, “and a bit of bread and some cheese that Tori managed to find somewhere … and, no, I didn’t ask and don’t want to know … and a couple of ration packets. It’s not fancy but–”

He cut her off with a kiss, murmured, “Sounds perfect.”

Laura giggled against his lips, “Hardly, but it will do.”

There was one more kiss then he eased her away from the wall and walked them back over to where they’d enter the pool. Once there, his hands settled at her waist and lifted her off him. Her eyes drifted shut and she sighed as he slipped from her, leaving her empty. She swayed when she was standing on her own feet again, but he remained close, a hand cupping her cheek.

“Give me your eyes,” he rasped gently.

She did, heart skipping a beat when she saw how he was looking at her. Open and unguarded, she saw truth in that cobalt gaze, felt it in the gentle caress of his thumb against her cheekbone. It was potent and she could not look away from it, even when he gripped her waist with both hands and lifted her to the side of the pool.

“Bill,” she whispered when he eased her legs wide, hooked them over his shoulders, and buried his face between her thighs to kiss and lick and suckle her into oblivion. She fell back onto the blanket, not caring that she was getting it wet. It was impossible to care about anything other than Bill and what he was doing to her. She looked down her body and watched him, his expression almost prayerful as he lathed her, reminding her of the first, second, third … every time he’d treated her to this intimate loving.

Diligent and doting, he easily coaxed her to give him what her body had so often begrudged Richard and even her own knowledgeable hands in recent years, thanks to waning attraction and the onset of menopause … and cancer. It was wonderful. She covered his hands, which had claimed her breasts, lay back and basked in the sensual tide, its rhythmic advance and ebb of warmth and sensation, until it crested and rippled outward to the top of her head and tips of her fingers and toes.

When Laura next opened her eyes, she saw Bill beside her, reclined on an elbow and watching her, an expression of pure satisfaction and unabashed wonder on his face. “You are so beautiful when you do that,” he said softly.

Laura felt herself blush, but she didn’t look away from his adoring gaze … yes, it was most definitely adoring, as was his touch when he brushed a lock of hair from her cheek, tucking it behind her ear. “Thank you,” she replied, her voice soft and airy.

A light stirring of air, cool air coming from the entrance to the cave, swept across her, making her shiver.

He bent and whispered a kiss across her brow. “Cold?”

“A little. Temperature must be dropping,” Laura nodded gently then sat up with his help, moved back on the blanket. He got to his feet while she retrieved her bag and pulled out the food she’d brought, hunger also making itself known. She sat it beside her then reached for the wine. As she began opening it, she watched Bill yank on his uniform trousers then tug on his boots, sans socks. He slipped on his uniform tunic then handed her his tanks.

“I’m going to get some kindling,” he told her. “With that vent in the roof, we should be able to build a small fire to take the chill out of the air.”

“Wait, I’ll go with you,” Laura told him as her body reminded her of another necessity. When he looked as though he might make a chivalrous protest, she added, “Nature calls.”

He smiled. “You’ll need more than my tanks then.”

She giggled. “Yes.” Reaching for her dress, she tugged the top around her then grabbed the skirt, shimmied it on after getting to her feet. She then slipped her feet into her boots, much as Bill had done with his own.

Together then, they moved out of the cave and back along the ridge. It was definitely cooler out than it had been when they arrived, which probably meant the temperature would probably continue to drop for a while longer. Luckily, though, there didn’t appear to be a cloud in the sky, which afforded them the benefit of starlight for the firewood search.

Standing right next to Bill, she saw him squinting into the mostly dark night, scouring the forest floor for their quarry. She knew he’d spotted something that interested when he moved forward. “Don’t go too far,” he told her as he bent and picked up what looked like might be a branch. She couldn’t be sure, though. The light was very faint and her eyes weren’t yet adjusted. “Not sure I can find you out here,” he told her.

“Not even in this red dress?” she laughed and heard his chuckle.

“Maybe,” he replied and continued moving along. She heard more than saw what he was doing.

“I’ll be over here,” she said then slipped off behind the dark shape of a bush. “And I’ll keep talking.”

He didn’t reply, but she imagined he was grinning in light of his earlier assertion that they should be quiet if she didn’t want someone to find her hideaway. She listened to the sounds his feet made as she took care of business, lamented, “Gods, I miss plumbing.”

His soft, raspy laugh was audible even over the crunch of leaves and twigs underfoot, even the sounds she was making. “City girl,” he teased.

With mock offense, she countered, “I’ll have you know I was a Caprica Wilderness Girl. I had more than a dozen merit badges. Could even start a fire with nothing more than a couple of flint rocks and some moss.”

“We may put that skill to the test, Ms. Wilderness Girl. I don’t have any matches or a lighter,” he told her.

Laura laughed and rearranged her clothing as she stepped out from behind the bush. “Good thing I do then,” she smiled, remembering her lighter and a recreational cigarette hiding out in the bottom of her bag. Okay, they weren’t hiding out. She’d packed them.

Eyes better adjusted to the darkness, Laura could see that Bill had made a small pile of dead tree limbs and branches near the path. Now he stood in front of a stand of tall water grass, which grew in tufts here and there along the shore of the lake and her creek. She wondered what he was doing then heard. Nature called for him, too, apparently. Giving him the privacy he’d given her, she looked around for some more firewood, gathered up a few more branches and added them to his find.

“We’ll need some rocks, too,” he told her as he rejoined her. “Why don’t you take those back and I’ll be right behind you?”

“You’ll be able to find your way?”

He went still. She looked over at him, saw mild annoyance in his gaze. “Soldier. Right. Sorry,” she muttered by way of apology then gathered up about half the firewood and headed to the cave. “I’ll come back for the rest.”

She felt his eyes on her as she went, and heard his laugh as she rounded the curve. When she returned a few moments later, he was nowhere to be seen, but she heard rustling not far away. “Bill?” she uttered into the starlit shadows, pitching her voice to carry.

“Yeah, here,” he replied. She watched him come out of the darkness bearing an armload of the water grass. She raised her eyebrows at him, earning an explanation, “Bedding.” One word and it was music to her ears. “Cold as it is, there shouldn’t be any pestilence, but I’ll shake it out to be sure.”

Laura smiled at him, eyes widening and shrinking in an expression of amused mischief. “See, this is why I promoted you to admiral.”

He snorted. “It’s self preservation, Madam President. Need something between that stone floor and this old body.” He passed her and headed up the path to the cave. She gathered the rest of the wood and followed. He set his burden outside the cave and shook it out while she took the wood inside with the other. She came back out and looked along the edge of the bluff, found a few larger size rocks and took them inside to create a fire ring, positioning it to allow the best ventilation out the natural skylight. It took a few trips but she soon had a nice circle to contain the embers and flame, and a small bundle of dry lichen to serve as kindling.

When Bill came inside with the bundle of hopefully bug-less grass, she threw him a smile as she passed by him, lighter in hand, waving it at him. He shook his head, grinning as he took the grass over to where the blanket was. He stripped up the material then layered the grass across an area wide enough for them to sleep, closely. Laura watched him cover it with the blanket, tucking the edges around, then unroll the other blanket and lay it across the foot.

“How’d you cut it?” she asked out of curiosity as she began lighting the fire.

“A piece of slate with a sharp edge,” he replied. “It wasn’t as tough as I’d expected.”

Laura bent down, holding her hair back as she blew on the small flame that had taken on the kindling. It caught up nicely, making her smile. She gave it a couple more moments, making sure it wasn’t going to go out then made her way back over to where Bill was. He had finished with the bed and was now sitting, his back leaned against the wall, his legs stretched out in front of him, ankles crossed. He’d kicked off his boots and was watching her.

Toeing off her boots, Laura then sat beside him, facing him, legs curled to the side. She handed him the wine to open and unwrapped the cheese and bread, dividing it.

“Cups?” he asked, pulling the cork free.

“Nope.”

“Mmmm,” was his reply before he took a swig from the bottle. He handed to her as she handed him a piece of bread and cheese. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Laura took a drink of the wine then dug into her own food.

They ate quietly and Laura watched Bill watch her. His expression fluctuated from contemplative to inscrutable, he looked everywhere but her eyes. She wondered what he was thinking then had her answer when he reached for the haphazard knot she’d tied in the waist of her dress and fingered it free. The fabric fell open and he helped it along, moving it to frame her breasts. He stared for a few moments, heat gathering in his eyes, then ran a thumb around each of her nipples. Her sudden, soft intake of breath was clearly audible in the cavern. His eyes snapped up to her face and just as quickly looked away. His hand withdrew from her and he sat back against the wall again. The action confused her and she blurted out the only thing she could think would cause him to react like that.

“She didn’t let you do things like that.”

It wasn’t a question, and he didn’t answer it, at least not verbally. She watched him wince slightly, as if it pained him to think of the mother of his children. Laura immediately regretted her words. That had been thoughtless. She knew he was sensitive about his failed marriage, carried a great deal of guilt about it. It was something they didn’t talk about, or past lovers, all of whom were destroyed in the attack on the Colonies. Besides being painful, life had taken on an immediacy since and living in the moment and looking forward had become their way of life. Looking back, for the most part, was a waste of time better spent in the here and now with the people who remained.

Sitting the wine bottle out of harm’s way, Laura eased her top off and tossed it toward the boulder where his tanks had been abandoned earlier. That brought his attention back to her, blue eyes intent and aswirl with emotion. She smiled at him and raised her eyebrows in invitation and challenge, watched a smile slowly find its way to his gaze, then his mouth in response.

He reached for her, holding out both hands. “Come here, woman.”

She went, moving to kneel between his legs as he parted them, bending his knees. Releasing her fingers as she settled on her haunches, he reached not for her breasts, but her face, drawing her into a kiss beyond decadent, that had her struggling to stay conscious. And then he was blazing a trail down her neck, hands finding hers again, drawing the up, up and placing them against the cave wall. Laura’s fingers dug at the rock when, without preamble, he swallowed up a breast in the heat of his mouth.

Gods, he took his time, suckled hard, hands locked under her arms, holding her up, keeping her close and preventing her from drawing away … as if she’d want to! She gasped, hummed, moaned, alternated leaning her head against the stone and throwing it back. She bit her bottom lip as pleasure shot from point to point to point of her anatomy, sweeping through her like a raging river. It was so sudden and intense, it startled her. It shouldn’t have, but it did. And then his sensual assault eased, slowed, became a tender loving as he moved to her other breast, leaving the first wet, swollen and aching — along with another part of her body.

“Bill,” she whispered on a labored breath, one hand dropping to cradle his head. The cool, soft glide of his hair between her fingers added another sensation to her world, had her mewling his name again, repeatedly.

The feel of his hands moving over her sides and back, stroking and soothing, stealing away the breathtaking sharpness of her desire and easing it to an encompassing, steady thrum. She basked in it, moved into the suctioning of his mouth, pressed into his hands as her body danced to his tune. He moaned around her flesh, thick fingers sliding down, down over the line of her spine, pushing beneath the waist of her skirt and cupped her behind. He lifted her up onto her knees and released her breast.

Turning then, he slowly laid her back on their makeshift bed with care. She watched him through half-lidded eyes as he eased her skirt down and off, then stripped off his jacket. His trousers followed.

With a hum of approval, Laura opened herself to him as he moved over her, pausing first between her spread thighs to run his hands over her legs, then to thumb the warmth between before taking himself in hand and poise himself to enter her. Laura reached down and covered his hand with her own, caressed him as she met his gaze, whispered, “Let me.” He did, bowing to kiss her softly, capturing her moan in his mouth when he slid deep.

“Laura,” he breathed, his lips barely parting from hers then returning. It was the sort of kiss that branded a soul. Soft and sensual, it spoke of emotion much deeper than lust and threatened to overwhelm when it came with a caress to her face and the leisurely undulation of bodies.

Laura bowed under him, bringing her chest to his as he laid his palm full against her cheek and held her so gently while his thumb played across her temple.

“Laura,” he whispered again, and again, against her mouth, into her, making her heated insides fill with the imagined flutter of butterfly wings.

Gods, if there was one thing Bill Adama did better than command a battlestar and frak, it was make love.

Later, Laura would reflect on the improbability that a man in no way classically handsome, whose face was a map of scarred and weathered terrain and whose body was stocky, broad and thickening around the middle, would be the most beautiful and sexy lover she’d ever known.

Yes, those thoughts were for later because now, just now, she was dissolving under him, losing all cohesion as a singular creature. She held to him, trying to get impossibly closer, wanting to be impossibly closer, inside him, a part of him as he moved over her, his body riding hers in a smooth glide.

The softness of his kiss, the ease of his steady advance and retreat belied the intensity of what he made her feel and the emotions that poured off him. She did not dare look into those eyes and yet she couldn’t stop herself because there was no place else to look when she lifted her lids and found those startlingly blue eyes on her, filled with…

Emotion lodged in her throat, creating a lump, making it almost impossible to breathe. Above her, Bill stilled then shushed her gently, pressing a kiss to her forehead and running a soothing hand down her side, caressing her flank and hip.

“Easy,” he breathed, touching his lips to her temple as he cupped her bottom in his broad hand. He lifted her into his resumed strokes, soothing her with an easy cadence while nuzzling her neck.

The sound of his breaths in the hollow of her throat, the little grunts and moans, the whispered “yeses” and “goods” and “beautifuls” … Laura’s ears devoured the sounds and syllables as if she were starving. And perhaps she was. Bill fed something in her that she hadn’t known was even hungry. He fed it now with each touch and movement, each sound. He satiated her on a level that no other lover ever had, on a level she hadn’t known was possible.

There was peace amidst the desperation and intensity of passion, a connection that sat at the heart of the storm. Everything swirled around it, but it held fast, an anchor, a mooring for their hearts and souls while their minds surrendered to the demands of flesh.

This wasn’t heedless frakking. This wasn’t like the furtive liaisons she’d had with Richard Adar. Nor was it a bumbling one-night stand meant to slake physical needs. This was a different beast entirely, an elegant and powerful one that reeled Laura in, every part of her and did not let go. She was captured, a prisoner who found freedom in the arms of her fellow inmate and a home in their jail.

Turning her head, Laura kissed his neck, whispered his name and curled her fingers into his hair. “Don’t stop,” she pleaded, her lips touching his ear. “Please.”

He didn’t, wouldn’t, she knew. Not until her needs were met. Not until he made her cry out for him with more than just physical want. He knew how to draw it from her, those feelings she kept so tightly controlled. She had no control with him when they were like this. She was his. He possessed her completely when he joined his body to hers and brought her to the brink of mindlessness. He broke her control over herself with such ease. All he had to do was kiss her and whisper to her, touch her with that trademark gentleness and she surrendered all restraint.

She had none now, emotion and sensation shattering any foolish notions her mind have entertained on the matter. She was alive, like a raw nerve, every move, every sound, every touch setting crackles of pleasure skittering across her skin and permeating tissue down, down to the marrow of her bones.

His arms were around her, one hand palming her head, the other still holding her bottom, angling her so he could touch her as deeply as possible. Laura panted into the juncture of his neck and shoulder, eyes squeezed shut as her heart pounded like a drum in her chest.

Faster, deeper still, he moved in her, her hips a perfect cradle for his. They fit well, so well, in every way. Her pussy was made for him. His cock for her. Her breasts designed to lay perfectly against his chest, the lines of her body to align with his. Their minds. Their hearts. Their souls. Each connection was perfect — even when it wasn’t — and none more perfect than when they reached the pinnacle of pleasure as one.

It was such a rare, beautiful thing that it filled Laura with more than physical sensation. The pure joy of it fractured her. She cried out with the breaking, clung to her shuddering lover aware only of his weight over her, his pulsing heat inside her and the lurching of her heart as it tried to exit her chest and merge with his.

It was some time before she could open her eyes and when she did, she found him hovering close a smile of pure sweetness on his face. It made her smile, slip a hand around to touch the curve of his mouth with her fingertips.

For all his stubbornness and pride, that gruff exterior and overwhelming intensity, at his core, Bill Adama was perhaps the sweetest soul Laura had ever met. It pleased her to no end that he wasn’t afraid to let her see that part of him.

“Thank you,” she whispered, meeting his gaze.

His eyes sparkled like sapphires in the firelight as a silent chuckle shook his frame. “Thank you.” With that, he kissed her lips gently, then her brow. When he moved to lay beside her, Laura sighed, missing his weight and presence inside her, even softening. He gathered her close in compensation.

They lay together quietly for a while, Laura on her back and Bill on his side beside her. She stared at the dancing flames of the campfire, idly caressing his arm while he dozed in and out of the sleep of the sexually sated. She smiled, hearing him mumble in the fugue. She made out only one word, her name, the rest was unintelligible as he settled, chin on the curve of her shoulder. She smiled knowing that the forty-some-odd-thousand people camped not a mile away would be shocked to know that their fierce, often stoic defender liked to cuddle. Frankly, Laura loved it.

Turning her head, she let her eyes rake over his familiar features, loving how they softened in sleep. The burden of the fleet was far away for him at the moment and he was just a man sleeping next to a woman, a lover … her lover.

With a soft sigh, Laura glided her hand gliding along the breadth of his arm, fingers spanning from wrist to elbow, then up over his biceps to his shoulder. There was an element of possessiveness in the touch, the word “mine” coming to mind as she craned her neck and pressed a kiss to his brow. It startled her because she’d never felt that before with a lover, and it did not spring from neediness, jealousy, or a desire to control, but rather knowing that she did not share him with another, that she would never have to because he wasn’t that kind of man — and neither would he.

Nudging under his nose, Laura touched her lips to his. He stirred, pursing his lips to return her kiss. She smiled at him when his eyes slitted open. She kissed him again, her hand caressing his face. With a soft smack, their lips parted. She whispered, “I’ll be back.”

His soft “mmm” followed her as she eased from his embrace and scooted to the edge of the blanket. She felt his eyes on her as she slipped her feet over the side of the pool. She glanced back over her shoulder, eyed her naked lover appreciatively then turned and hopped over the edge and into the water.

The fluid warmth wrapped around her like a soft glove. She felt Bill’s eyes on her as she moved toward the center of the pool. She allowed herself a sly glance over at him then ducked under the surface long enough to wet her hair then pushed the mass of it back with her hands. The raising of her arms lifted her breasts high enough to have water lapping leisurely at her still-sensitive nipples. She hummed softly at the sensation and heard an approving grunt from the man nearby.

She turned to face him boldly, kept her arms elevated as she twisted her hair up and held it atop her head. “Like what you see?” she asked softly.

“Yes.” It was a soft whisper. So incredibly soft and yet it seemed to roar across the few feet between them, reaching inside Laura and doing things… Gods, but he aroused her so easily.

“Want to see more?” She asked the question before she realized the words were in her mind.

In answer, he raised on an elbow, murmured, his voice smooth and silky with that underlying layer of gravel, “Show me.”

Laura did, arching her back in a wanton display that showed off her breasts entirely. His hawk’s gaze devoured the image of her without hesitation. She could see the appreciation in his eyes, the rise of lust. It made her feel beautiful to have him look at her like that, made her feel incredibly sexy. It felt good. She liked that he saw her that way, that he wanted her, wanted to look at her. That he took the time to do so. She loved the way his darkening eyes followed the movements of her hands as she slid them down along her neck to her breasts. Liked how they watched her fingers toy with her nipples.

When she slipped one hand lower, beneath the water, he moved, came to sit on the side of the pool so he could watch as she touched herself. She wasn’t sure how much he could see and it didn’t really matter. Just the fact he wanted to see was enough, more than enough to make her slick with need.

After several minutes, her eyes darted to his lap, wondering what effect she was having on him. He was inspired, quite impressively considering that he’d already found satisfaction twice this evening. She knew he might not achieve it again … but that didn’t mean she couldn’t make him feel good.

Very good, she thought as she made her way over to him, placing her hands on his knees as she stepped up onto the small ledge at the base of the pool wall. She could tell from the look on his face that he knew what she intended to do. His eyes grew tender and flooded with gratitude. The brush of his fingers across her cheek spoke to more than she knew he would ever voice, and the way his hand cupped the back of her head and drew her to his lap…

“Yes,” he rasped when her lips made contact with his need. So, so slowly, she kissed him, working her way from base to tip and back again, nuzzling between soft, wet kisses, gentle flicks of tongue. He petted her as she tended him, his fingers sliding through her hair, touching her face and shoulders, sliding over her back.

He liked this, very much, but he never asked it of her, which made her want to do it all the more. She liked how he gave her free reign to do whatever she wanted, liked how he touched her the entire time, tenderly then firmer when his desire ratcheted. She loved the sounds he made, the way he said her name…

“Laura,” he moaned as she took him into her mouth.

Gods, just the feel and taste of him in conjunction with that throaty rasp of her name made her…

Laura had always found this act a powerful one. She’d always enjoyed the giving of pleasure and the power and control it gave her as a lover, but with Bill … it had become something else entirely. She found herself hungry for him, nigh upon starving to feel him in her mouth, to taste him and make him feel as adored as he made her feel. She wanted him this way, with an intensity that overshadowed her want of any other past lover.

She hummed and moaned around his hot, smooth flesh, wanting him to know how much she wanted, that she was enjoying the slide of him in and out of her mouth. He wasn’t rock hard but she didn’t care. He was in her and that’s all that mattered. She sucked him, kissed him, licked and nibbled. She nuzzled her face into his groin, caressing him with warm breaths before swallowing him up again.

Eagerly, she worked him with mouth and hand, kneading and stroking while her ears gobbled up the moans and gasps that spilled from his lips. His hands sank fully into her hair, held her, tightening more with each passing moment until, with a long, low groan of her name, he found a measure of completion.

Laura accepted his body’s offering with a hum of happiness, stayed with him as he went soft, only releasing him when he drew her off him. She looked up at him, her heart skipping a beat when she saw a pair of tears sliding down his face. He practically glowed with happiness.

Laura smiled up at him, reaching one hand to touch his cheek as the other still cradled him below. As he turned his head and kissed her palm, she bowed and kissed his inner thigh. She eased slowly back then, hands sliding over his muscled thighs.

“Get in,” she commanded.

He did, moving to her and wrapping her in his arms. He was kissing her then, lips moving over hers in a series of breathy caresses. Laura sighed into his mouth, trembled when he eased a hand between them, thick fingers skimming over a breast, the plane of her belly to delve in the warmth between her thighs. He rubbed her slowly, gently, his kisses mimicking the delicate loving of his fingers.

Laura dissolved under both, opened her legs to his touch, opened her mouth to his tongue, let him coax her closer and closer to a gentle release of her own. He let go of her mouth when it arrived, caught her head as it fell back with a breathy moan of his name, pleasure flowing through her flesh in a slow, pulsing wave.

“So frakking beautiful.”

Laura smiled hearing Bill’s whisper of wonder, feeling every bit of the emotion she heard in his voice. Opening her eyes, she looked at him. He gathered her in his arms and showered kisses over her face, along her neck to her shoulder. Laura threaded her fingers into his hair, held to him as he rested his head on her shoulder and hugged her tighter still. His hoarse murmur of her name made her heart tremble. There was much emotion in it, more than he would probably ever confess in so many words, and she felt her own feelings swell in response. With a gentle kiss to his ear and a whisper of his name, she acknowledged them both.

It was some time before they exited the pool and they spent a good deal of it just walking back and forth, enjoying the glide of water over skin, being close. The latter wasn’t something they were allowed all that often and not something they spent long indulging because they never knew when someone would interrupt. But here, in this cave, secreted away from everyone and everything, it was possible and because it was possible … anything was possible between them. They’d already proven that several times over and Laura wanted to do so again. It was ludicrous for people their age but, frak, she wanted him. In her. Moving, not moving, she didn’t care. She just wanted him inside her.

A moan at the thought barely contained, Laura slipped her hand between their bodies and palmed him. “Bill?” she murmured, her eyes seeking out his, “Do you think you can…?”

Gods, love him!, she thought, watching a smile light his eyes. And then he spoke and she inwardly shouted his praises to the deities. “Can’t promise, but I’ll do my best.”

As she sat astride him on their makeshift bed, firelight illuminating them, he did just that, bold, broad hands mapping every inch of her damp skin. He glided them around curves, stroked planes, rounded the rises of her body with appalling skill and devastating faithfulness. He sought out her depths with talented fingers, tasted her with lips and tongue, devoured her with his eyes. It was wholly erotic.

She couldn’t keep her hands off him either, found herself cataloging his reactions to touches and kisses, flicks of tongue, nips of teeth, and the suckling of lips. He was a treasure trove of sounds and erogenous zones. Ones she’d have never guessed. His biceps. A slow kiss there and he would arch under her, hips pushing up to hers. A lick along the scar that bisected his chest and he would groan long and deep. And if she nipped at his hipbone, he would swear, harshly, and his cock would twitch. That proved most effective to their goal.

When he was ready, Laura mounted him with a throaty “thank you,” certain she sounded utterly pathetic. He didn’t seem to mind, though. Just put his hands on her hips and pulled her down completely onto him. That was nice. Really nice. Perfect, actually, she thought, wiggling her hips to make sure she had all of him. She sighed happily then and opened her eyes to look at her lover. He was looking at her, rather smugly, which was fine with her. He’d earned the right to look as smug as he wanted.

“Gods, you feel good,” she told him, grinning.

Rather smugly fell to the wayside as utterly self-satisfied made an appearance. She liked the look on him and he’d earned the right to that as well. More than earned it … and the frakking she had in mind.

Leaning forward, Laura placed her hands at either side of his body, near his shoulders. Her hair swung forward, a damp, wavy curtain that shrouded their faces, making the moment suddenly seem even more intimate to her. Her smile fell away as her eyes held his in the shadows. Her respiration increased and her heart enthusiastically thudded behind her ribs. Her mind — it gave her words…

“Do you want to hear a fantasy?” she heard herself saying in a voice so breathy she almost didn’t recognize it as her own.

A thick finger twisted into a damp, curling strand as his other hand came up to cradle her jaw. “Tell me,” he rasped, self-satisfaction and smugness long gone. There was only sincerity now and that intoxicating tenderness.

Closing her eyes, Laura tilted her head back just slightly and raised her hips. As she slid back down, she murmured, “Have you ever considered…,” he moaned and she raised again, “… the strategic height…” down, slowly, “… Of the DRADIS console…” up once more then down quickly, punctuating with, “… for me to bend over?”

“Frak!” His growling curse drew her eyes to him. His neck was taut, corded. His face was a mask of unmitigated and unapologetic lust. His next words were harsh, vehemently so, but there was no malice. “Are you trying to kill me?”

Laura shook her head, lowered until her face hovered just above his. “No, Bill,” she replied softly, lifting her hips yet again. She paused, kissed him softly, then took him back in as she pulled her lips from his, very slowly, moaning, “I just want to feel you cum for me.”

“Laura!” he rasped sharply, his hips jerking up to meet hers, pushing him deep.

She gasped in response, pressed her brow to his with an adamant “Yes!”

He kissed her hard, his hands tangling in her hair as he grasped her head in his palms. She struggled for breath as he bit at her bottom lip then plowed his tongue into the recesses of her mouth. Earlier, it had been passionate and gentle. This was heat, scorching, purifying heat. It burned away thought, leaving only feeling, sensation, and urgent need.

Without warning, he rolled them and yanked her legs up high against his sides, his teeth scoring the length of her neck as he seated himself as deeply as possible. She sank her nails into his arms, bit at his shoulder, and dug her heels into his lower back as she bowed under him, taut and ready to be stridently frakked. He whispered hoarsely in her ear a confession, “I want to frak you just like that in my CIC, Laura.” He pressed closer, his stubble scraping her sensitive skin, when he added, his voice thickening with purpose, “And I don’t care who frakking sees.”

Those words… uttered by that voice… the truth in them…

Laura came, without warning, her body quaking so hard her teeth clacked together. And it didn’t stop as he rocked into her to find his own release. Hard, determined, needy, he took his pleasure as hers played out around him, frakked her sated body until his own surrendered. It didn’t take long and she moaned at feeling it, at hearing his strangled cry of satisfaction as he filled her.

When he collapsed atop her, she wrapped her arms around him. Tears slipped from her eyes but she paid them no heed as she concentrated on breathing and holding onto her lover’s trembling form. That was all she could manage. She had no strength or will power to do anything else, so it was no surprise really that sleep took her, took them both, and held them ’til the early morning hours. Well, Laura at least.

Bill was first to rise, which wasn’t new, but waking to see him kneeling by an open campfire was. She admired him through her lashes, her eyes tracing the strong lines of his powerful thigh and the toned curve of his flank and behind. His back was bowed as he stoked the kindling to a blaze, accenting the shift of muscles beneath his freckled skin.

He had been, Laura imagined, quite the specimen in his younger years because he was a testament to raw masculinity now. Yes, he was heavier around the middle than he probably had been even just a few years ago. Yes, his muscle tone was beginning to surrender to the aging process. Yes, his hair was more salt than pepper these days. But there was no denying he was all man. Every inch of him, virile human male, still capable of curling a woman’s toes and making her scream in ecstasy, when he was so inclined, and when his body cooperated. So far, it had been generous, more than, just as her own had been. It was an amazing thing being that on edge for someone and not just the act. She hadn’t felt it in ages and it was a nice thing to feel again. It was even nicer since that someone was a man she trusted more than any other, whom she considered a friend — her only friend, really.

Watching him stare at the flames, she wondered what her friend and lover was thinking. Seeing the quirking at the corner of his mouth, she figured it didn’t have anything to do with the fleet or business. Vanity would have her believe it was thoughts of her that prompted the expression. Vanity was probably right in its assessment, but she at least pretended there might be another reason when she said his name softly.

When his eyes fell on her she had her answer. They were alight with that gentleness she’d come to adore seeing in the cobalt seas. When he looked at her like that, she was seeing Bill, just Bill. The admiral was nowhere near, duty and responsibility far away. He was just a man at the moment, his heart open and vulnerable, his feelings unabashedly on display for her to see, if she wanted to see them. She did and she saw and she held her hand out to him.

He came and sat cross-legged beside her, his smile easy, turning only mildly embarrassed when a knee popped as he lowered himself to the blanket. She laid her hand on the protesting joint and rubbed it gently with her palm. There was something incredibly intimate in knowing that that particular knee almost always popped when he sat or knelt.

He said nothing as she caressed him, but she didn’t really expect him to. Bill was often quiet and words, she’d found, were often unnecessary between them. They just seemed to know what the other was thinking or wanted or needed, most of the time.

Shifting, Laura pressed a kiss to his kneecap, glanced up at him to see him watching her, his expression tenderly intent, and curious. Smiling, Laura kissed the spot again then gently fingered a small scar just to the inside of the joint. It was faded, telling her that whatever had caused it had happened a long time ago. She suspected it had once been a larger mark, too, because the texture of the skin around the part that remained visible felt different. She ran her thumb across it as she scooted forward and rested her head on his knee.

“Bike accident?” she wagered a guess. He had been a boy and most every boy she’d ever taught had at least one scar on a knee from a riding spill. It seemed to be a prerequisite of their youth.

A gentle hand came to rest on her head, fingers sliding through her touseled hair. “No, not quite that far back.” There was a hint of humor in his voice. “Happened when I bailed out of my viper during the first Cylon war,” he explained. “I parachuted through a skylight, caught some glass shards in my knee. Didn’t realize it until later.”

Laura craned her head and kissed the spot again. What he’d described sounded painful. “Adrenaline?” she asked.

“Something like that,” he replied, brushing her hair back to expose her neck to his fingers. He stroked back and forth lightly, making her tremble. “I bled into my flight suit. Doc had a fit when he pulled off the boot.”

Laura winced. “Hmmm. Bet it hurt then.”

Bill chuckled. “Yes. But it was mainly superficial,” he confessed, then teased, “Just messed up my good looks.”

Giggling, Laura countered, “More like gave you a nice scar to show off to the girls.”

A thumb traced the line of her cheekbone and his voice softened. “One girl seems to find it fascinating.”

“Mmm, she does,” Laura agreed, curling her hand and arm around his thigh as she kissed the spot again, lingered. When she finally moved on, it was to the unscarred skin of his thigh. It was warmer than his knee and lightly dusted with black curls. She blew a soft breath across them, watched them rise, then trailed soft kisses up to his hip, using her arm around him to leverage her upper body forward, angled across his lap. His hands followed her progress, but did not aid it. He let her do as she pleased, surrendered to her exploration of his body. And explore, she did, fingers and lips seeking out other marks, those she knew the history of and those she did not. He explained each that she didn’t without her uttering a word. Some stories made her giggle. Some made her hum. One made her want to cry.

When she found that one, he went completely still. It was a small thing, a little round mark on his chest, almost invisible to the naked eye, unlike the bullet wounds and surgical scar. It was high on the right side, near the collarbone and she found it by accident, a slight raising of the flesh that her lips just happened to move across.

“Cigarette burn,” he rasped. The tone of his voice, the sudden stillness of his body and hands told her that this scar was more painful than the others. It wasn’t a war wound or a mishap of childhood or the result of a reckless stunt. It was personal. She knew before he even said who had inflicted it. “Carolanne. One drunken night.”

Reverently, Laura kissed it again, gently, wishing she could take away the deeper pain that had accompanied the injury. He trembled at the touch of her lips and some tension left him. Then, unexpectedly, he eased a hand to the back of her head, cradled her at the spot. She took the hint and brushed her mouth over the scar again and again, eventually closing over it in a soft, slow kiss. He whispered her name like a prayer then pulled her back and claimed her mouth with his, hands moving to guide her fully into his lap.

“I need you,” he rasped into her mouth, the words saturated with desire and something more.

Responding to both, Laura reached between them, took him in hand, lowered herself onto his hardness. He moaned into her, kissed her deeper, holding her face in his hands as he made deliberate love to her mouth, stealing her breath, her very will to breathe.

Then he was murmuring to her, against her lips and cheeks, her neck and ears. “Ride me, Laura. Ride me. Let me feel you.”

“Yes,” she panted and did as he asked, working him in and out of her, slowly, concentrating on the feel of him, letting him feel her. It was good, so good, the sensation of him filling her, again and again. She drew his head back from her neck and looked into his eyes, letting him see her excitement, her understanding, her…

“Yes,” he whispered, a smile bursting into full bloom amidst his scowl of need. Joy radiated off him. “Yes, just like that,” he breathed, his hands returning to her face. “Make love to me, Laura.”

Something came undone in Laura with that plea. So soft, so earnest, it reached inside her and opened a part of her she always kept carefully walled off — or at least tried to — and what was behind it spilled forth in a flurry of kisses, caresses and the fervent movement of hips. She made love to Bill Adama as he watched her, assisted her with strong hands on her waist. She gave him what he needed more than anything at that moment and was rewarded with a shout of her name that echoed in the small chamber and trails of tears sliding from those beautiful blue eyes. He wept openly without shame and she wept with him when his release secured her own.

They didn’t talk about it afterward. They rarely talked of their intimacies because, frankly, they spoke for themselves and it seemed almost disrespectful to distill them to verbal conversation. Instead, after, they generally just kissed and slept, and that’s what they did now, snuggling under the blanket to sleep a few more hours before Bill had to return to Galactica and she the settlement.

Petulantly, Laura didn’t want either of them to go. She wanted, quite unrealistically, for them to stay here in this cave for the rest of their days. Frak the cylons and the fleet. Just stay here, live off the land, take care of one another, talk and laugh and make love. The only concession she wanted to make to the outside world was bringing his library down for them to enjoy. That and a mattress, she amended when she woke with a blade of the water grass, which had served them well most of the night, poking her in the side.

Laura pushed the blade away and sighed, partially in relief and partially in resignation. Sunlight was starting to shine in from the opening above the pool.

“Thinking about running away?”

Laura didn’t even bother to deny it. She just nodded and ran her hand over her lover’s arm as he pulled her back against him in a hug. He kissed her shoulder, whispered, “Me, too.” His confession made her smile. Wouldn’t it just shock everyone if she and Bill just disappeared and left them to all fend for themselves? The temptation was greater than it probably should have been. It was difficult to ignore, but they did — remembering who they were and what threats loomed to them and their people — and rose in short order to dress.

As Bill made sure the fire was well and truly out, Laura shook out the blankets and repacked her bag. They exited the cave together and made their way back to the creek shore where Bill’s raptor waited.

Before stepping out into the clearing, Bill leaned in and kissed her gently, his fingers pushing a wind-swept strand of her hair back behind her ear as his eyes searched hers. She trembled inside and out under that gentle but intense scrutiny, closed the distance between them for another kiss. This one lingered, was soft and very sensual, ending with a delicate touching of tongues.

“Wow,” she whispered as he pulled away. She was slow in opening her eyes to see the smile she knew her exclamation had caused, wanting to savor that wild fluttering in the pit of her belly and give her toes a moment to unfurl in her boots. Gods, the man could kiss, and, judging by the rapidity and pitch of his breaths and the flush on his cheeks, apparently so could she. She waggled her eyebrows playfully and he chuckled as he handed her her bag.

“You’re incorrigible,” he said softly,.

“This is not news,” she countered, smiling at him even as the bittersweetness of saying goodbye encroached.

“No.” It was a gentle utterance, so much more than one word. “Going to keep it secret?” he asked, nodding in the direction of the cave.

“I don’t know.” It was an honest answer. She really didn’t know if she was going to tell anyone or not. She thought she might at least tell Cottle, but she really didn’t want to. It was selfish but she couldn’t help it.

“Be selfish,” Bill said, as if hearing her thoughts, offering her clemency from her own sense of fairness. His gaze was intent on hers, even as he offered her a more practical reason, one they’d discussed earlier. She adored him for both. “It’ll be destroyed otherwise. So be selfish on this one.”

Laura nodded, laid a hand on his chest. “Will you come back soon?”

He covered her hand with his, pressed it close, his thumb brushing the back of her hand, flashed her an easy smile. “As soon as I can.”

He walked away then, heading toward his raptor. She watched him go, her admiral, her lover and friend. As he stepped up on the wing of the craft, she called out to him. He looked at her and her heart filled with more things than she would have thought possible. She could have shouted any one of them and made him smile, but the one she chose — “Bring a mattress!” — earned her the brightest of grins and the deepest of laughs. They were priceless treasures that she would cherish until she saw him again.

Read the sequel: Haven II