Swimming Lessons 2/2

[astrum_presul]

~ & ~

She was limping, albeit just slightly, when she wandered into the kitchen. She was unsurprised to see John; these days he came over unannounced and despite liking her privacy in her relationships, she didn't mind coming home to find him working in the yard, explaining the finer points of a screen pass to Ronon, or sprawled out somewhere. Tonight he was against the counter, sipping a beer that she'd only recently started stocking in the fridge, and pressing the up button on the stereo remote. Classical music aficionado, John Sheppard was not.

"Hey," he greeted, setting the remote, but not the beer, down. She met him somewhat in the middle of the kitchen, grinning into his soft lips when the cold glass of the bottle hit the back of her neck.

"Hey."

She licked her lips, tasting him and the beer and enjoying the former much more. Beer was not usually her drink of choice, but she didn't mind the occasional second-hand experience - and she really did enjoy stealing John's just so he could make her give it back.

"You look tired. Good work-out?"

"Mmm," she nodded. "I'm sore. Laura changed the workout on me. Flexibility, not high-impact stuff."

John kissed the corner of her mouth. "Go soak in the bath for a while. I figured I would start dinner when you got back, but it can wait for a bit."

"You're making dinner?" she asked, incredulous. She could count on one hand the number of times either of them had cooked in each other's presence.

"I am. And it won't give either of us food poisoning this time."

"Well, that's good."

"Go rest," he muttered, swatting at her backside lightly. "And quit mocking my attempts to woo you."

She released him, smiling gratefully once before dropping a quick peck on his nose. She moved stiffly, but made it up to her room and managed to get the water in the tub started before she stretched out diagonally across her bed.

John's mess of crazily spiked hair, followed by the man himself, saved her from dozing off. He smiled quickly at her and disappeared into the bathroom. She heard the water shut off and John re-emerged, wiping his hands on his jeans.

"I figured I should make sure you didn't fall asleep in the tub."

"I hadn't even made it that far," she replied unnecessarily, stretching. John nodded indulgently, moving to lean over her. She chuckled when he bent, kissing her eyelids and cheeks, but studiously ignored her mouth.

"So I noticed. Need some help?"

"Wouldn't mind it, actually."

He nodded, his teeth tugging lightly at her top lip. Together they kicked off her shoes and wiggled her out of her exercise clothes. Once naked, she slapped his grabby hands away and padded toward the tub.

The water was just shy of being too hot, but her lower body was screaming at the injustice of the exertion it had been subjected to, and so she was content to let it go. Sighing blissfully, Elizabeth sank deeper into the bubbles. Baths were things she rarely indulged in, but she was grateful not to be standing for a shower tonight. If she hadn't been so tired, she might have attempted to scheme a massage out of John.

John's warm lips brushed against her shoulder. "Anything you need? Drink? Backrub? Loving grope?"

She sniggered and shook her head. "None of the above, thanks."

John's index finger rubbed up and down her arm, dipping under the water to squeeze her hand and cop a quick feel. When he moved up to her neck, he gave her another kiss on the shoulder, asking, "You sure?"

"My ankles are killing me," she admitted.

"I can help with that."

She let herself get comfortable while he settled on the floor. He grinned, reaching into the water for her foot. Even as mellow as she was, the first press of his fingers was enough to make her jump. He smirked at her reaction. When she started to moan, his grin grew impossibly larger. The fact that he was just on her right foot was rather embarrassing. She was putty by the time he finished with both feet.

"Could you get my calves, too?" she asked, lifting one leg back out of the water. John nodded, letting her foot rest against his chest while his hands worked the tired muscle on her lower leg. She was tingling by the time his ministrations stopped for the second time.

"Anywhere else?"

Elizabeth licked her lips, nodding. "My thighs are actually really sore, too."

John's gentle smile turned into a leer. "I'll be happy to help with those."

~ % ~

He was better as a boyfriend than he had been as a pool boy, she decided. Yes, it had been nice - very nice - to have someone to lust after and know that he would most likely be doing the same. The thing was, she also liked having that someone be there, and not just so that she could watch his ass while he bent to clean the pool skimmers. That was a plus, though; she was able to admit that. He did have a really nice ass.

Despite her track record, she had snagged a good one; he was intelligent and funny, and although he was something of a slob even with his military background, she had to face it that she was nuts about him. Even now, or maybe especially now, when she came home to find all the water gone from the pool, and John himself on his hands and knees in the drained pool, a paintbrush in his hand and a bucket of paint at his side.

"John, what are you doing? Why is there no water in the pool?"

She blinked, trying not to laugh at him. The charm inherent in his endearing grin won the battle she'd been waging. He looked around, waggling the paintbrush at her.

"I can see that you're painting, John. My question is why?"

"The pool needs to be sealed for the winter. And I figured I'd go ahead and repaint the bottom while I'm down here."

She bit her bottom lip, trying to force back the laughter. Mindful of her pants, she squatted, clasping her hands together and lifting an eyebrow delicately.

"You know, you should have been making up excuses to come over and work on the pool before I stopped signing your pay check."

"This isn't an excuse," he protested. "It needs to be done. And since draining the pool in the heart of the summer was a bad plan, it falls to now."

"Uh huh," she teased, grinning.

"It does!" he insisted, shaking the paintbrush at her for emphasis. "Besides, I had plenty to do as your paid pool boy. I didn't need to make up things."

She nodded, not believing him for a minute.

"You made it easy anyway," he continued.

"And what does that mean?"

She tried glaring at him, but John was sadly becoming immune to her mock indignation. It was unfair, really, since she hadn't yet managed a defense against his 'please can I have another cookie before supper, mom?' face. It was the face that he pulled on her whenever he wanted to get her to stay cuddled on the couch in the den and watch SportsCenter with him, instead of her going to do useful things, like sleep or laundry. Mostly he kept his gift to himself, though apparently he had been teaching Ronon a thing or two about trying it on Teyla. So far, her friend was proving impervious to the John Sheppard repertoire of charms. Damn her.

"I'm just saying I saw through that whole 'John, could you do my back, Teyla's terrible at it?' ploy. Though, the bikini was a welcome touch."

"I suppose insulting Teyla's abilities was a bit over the top, wasn't it?" she admitted, dryly. "And here I was, thinking I was being sneaky."

She stood, brushing her hands on her pants.

John grinned. "Go get changed and I'll let you help paint."

"What an honor."

"Getting hot and sweaty with me is so an honor."

Tossing a look back at him, she muttered, "I'll be back."

She was glad she had thought to bring sunscreen out with her, because she could see the red outline on his shoulders. He was going to hurt tonight, but the least she could do was make the burn less severe. Beckoning him out of the empty pool, she sat down on the chaise lounge and opened up the bottle. He nodded, pulling himself out of the pit that used to be her swimming pool, and meandered over. She had to make a conscious effort to avoid licking her lips. That was why he had been her pool boy, she remembered now. His chest was bare, slightly pink from the sun on top of his golden tan. Her eyes slid over the dusting of hair on his chest, following the thin line down the center to his navel. The line itself disappeared underneath his low-slung pants, though her gaze was impeded slightly by the hint of blue and white striped boxers. She had seen what was hidden inside, but it didn't stop her from wanting to guess some more. John smirked at her, crossing his arms over his chest and drawing her attention back up toward his face.

"I feel so objectified," he teased. "I'm not just a pretty face, Elizabeth. I have feelings, too, you know."

Rolling her eyes, she pointed. "Sit."

John did, grinning obnoxiously. "Do I get to jump you when you're through, too?"

"Be quiet," she ordered, playfully pushing at his cheek until he was looking away from her.

"I think it's only fair."

"I'll consider it."

"Aww, 'Lizabeth," he cajoled. She kissed his neck softly, smoothing the press of her lips with sunscreen. "That's better," he added, satisfied.

Once she was done and she stood up to leave, he grabbed her arm loosely, drawing her back down onto the lounger. He cupped her face gently between his paint-speckled hands. As he kissed her forehead, she let her eyes slip shut. Just as his lips brushed hers, she whispered, "We're not working."

"I am, you're just sitting there."

"I didn't think getting into my pants counted as work anymore," she retorted, kissing him back despite her protests. He huffed melodramatically.

"Fine, Doctor Killjoy. Let's work."

He tugged her giggling form out of the chair and over to the poolside. She regarded the empty concrete basin. The bottom looked so much different without the blue tint of the water.

"It looks odd."

"I know." He climbed down the ladder and helped her climb down as well. "I'd just started on that area when you got home. It probably isn't dry yet, so don't go sit down or anything."

"Good call on painting the deep end first."

He shrugged, passing her a paintbrush. "It's why you used to pay me the big bucks."

"If you'd like your old job back, you can have it," she remarked, getting to work. "But you'll never see me naked again."

"Who needs to work?" he shrugged.

She nodded, grinning. "I thought so."

She yelped when something cold, wet, and white swiped across her upper arm. John whistled innocently and she chose not to rise to the bait. The last thing she needed was for them to end up in a paint war.

The paintbrush wormed its way down her other arm. She gritted her teeth, but otherwise ignored him. Sometimes his boyish qualities were less endearing to her than other times.

"How much have you painted, John?"

"Enough to take a recess, Mom," he quipped.

"Show me," she insisted.

"It's white on white, you can't tell," John taunted. She narrowed her eyes at him, but instead of arguing, slung an arm around his shoulders.

"I bet I can," she challenged, knowing she sounded incredibly juvenile. John seemed to bring out that side of her.

"How?" he scoffed, his hand creeping under her shirt.

"There's no dirt on the new paint. Look over there and you'll see," she pointed. John turned, his face smacking straight into her paint-coated brush.

She cackled briefly when he jumped in surprise. Letting him go before he could tickle her in retaliation, she retreated to her side of the pool. As expected, he followed her, swiping ineffectively at the streak of white on his face.

"You," he laughed, pointing at her, "are evil."

She smirked, backing up slightly. She realized her mistake, of course, when her shoulders hit the wall. Lifting her head defiantly, she waited for John's revenge attempt to come. He shook his head once, before taking her chin between his fingers and pressing his mouth to hers.

"I like it," he grinned.

"You would," she shot back, making sure that he wasn't going to dump paint in her hair. Instead, his hands landed on the waistband of her pants while he used his bigger body to keep her pressed against the wall.

Her hands moved into the hair at his temples, making sure that his head couldn't move too far away. She let her pinkies skim up and down the rim of his ears, knowing it would make him squirm. His hands moved up slightly and she arched, pressing closer to him. His kisses left her panting, and the gentle press of his hands on her stomach as he moved up her body left her wanting more than she knew she should get, being that they were outside. Judging by the way that he shifted his hips, it obviously affected him in the same way. A couple more kisses and she would be throwing caution to the wind and getting him naked right there.

John obviously had the same thought, because before he even stopped his assault on her lips, his hands started pushing her shirt up her body. They parted briefly when it became apparent that they would not be able to lift her shirt over her head and still kiss. Immediately after depositing her T-shirt on the ground beside them, his hands were back on her, moving up her stomach and covering her breasts, as if trying to decide the best way to gain access to them.

"You had to put on a sports bra, didn't you?" he muttered, nipping at her mouth.

Elizabeth ran her hand down his back, hooking her fingers in his waistband lightly.

"I wasn't expecting to be undressing out by the pool," she retorted, letting her head fall back so that he could have access to her neck. Growling, he bit lightly at her neck.

"Where's Teyla?"

She lifted an eyebrow. "You're trying to get me naked and you're asking me about Teyla?"

"I just want to know who's going to walk in on us this time," he answered, fingering the strap of her bra.

"I think she's spending the weekend with Ronon," Elizabeth said, distracted by the pattern his tongue was doodling on the underside of her chin. "It's just us."

"Good."

He stripped her of her bra before she could even form a protest. Not that she wanted to, given the delicious things he bent down to do to her. He started by pressing light feathering kisses across her chest and down her belly, stopping at her belly button. He used his tongue on the return trip, and she couldn't help but giggle.

"I feel like you're giving me a bath," she laughed, running a hand through his hair. The stiff, gelled strands tickled her palm. Instead of answering, he wrapped his lips around her left nipple. His hand covered her other breast, kneading and tugging her sensitive flesh. He released her nipple with a pop, and the cooling flow of the air over her wet skin caused the tingle that she had been fighting to spread down into her belly. Grinning and encouraged by her moan, he turned his attention to her other breast.

Abruptly, he abandoned her breasts, rising to cup the back of her head and kiss her mouth with his usual teasing vigor. Her hands spread across his back, moving to his chest and dipping into the waistband in the front of his pants. Without looking, she undid the button of his pants and eased the zipper down across the bulge in his boxers. She leered and John gasped when her fingers wormed into his boxers and brushed along his length. His skin was silky smooth, hot, and hard against her fingers. Elizabeth's tongue darted out to lick John's top lip and she broke away from him, sliding her torso down his body and pulling his garments down his legs. He stepped one foot out of his pants, but kept them pooled around one ankle. It still looked vaguely silly, though at least this way he wouldn't go falling to the ground after being caught up in his pants.

"Why, John Sheppard. I think someone is happy to see me."

"Any day of the week," he quipped, reaching a hand out onto the side for balance. He needed it when she wrapped a hand around the base of his erection and his knees wobbled. She didn't give him a chance to make any further comments, instead moving her hand up and down his length and darting her tongue out, lapping gently but firmly at the head of his penis. John groaned, muttering something that resembled her name. Taking that as encouragement, she took a breath and slid her lips down his length.

Eventually, she could tell from his ragged breath that he did not need to be teased anymore. Giving his erection a squeeze and a final kiss, she rose, lightly flicking her tongue against his flat nipples. John palmed her cheeks, drawing her face into his for a tender kiss. His hands left her face and moved back down her body, massaging her breasts lightly before heading for her shorts. His longer arms came in handy as he drew her pants and underwear down her legs far enough for gravity to take them the rest of the way down. His hands traced the curve of her hips and moved to her inner thighs, sliding up to trace the outer lips of her sex. She knew she was ready, and now he did, too. Nevertheless, his thumb and index finger sought her clit, pressing lightly and making her toes curl. He looped an arm around her waist to keep her steady. She let him be the one to hold her up while his fingers made her weak and his mouth deprived her of oxygen. She came, gasping his name and clinging harder to his shoulders as his fingers continued their in-out slide inside her. John kissed her neck lightly, flicking his thumb against her clit once more.

He waited until the shockwaves had subsided before he removed his fingers from her body. She watched as he lifted his hand and brought it to his mouth, licking his fingers and grinning naughtily.

"Good job, Flyboy," she murmured, her hands falling down his back to grope his ass. "But are we going to stand here naked all evening, or can we have sex?"

She kicked her pants out from around her ankles and grinned, lifting one leg and throwing it over his hip. It was less subtle than she meant for it to be, but it got the point across. John smirked, kissing her neck and gripping her hips. Every time he tried to line their bodies up, she shifted, teasing them both by rubbing against him, distracting him from his mission.

Eventually he was able to distract her, taking her lips between his teeth while his hand reached between them. She inhaled sharply as he entered her, sliding into her without hesitation. He was big, not huge, but that was all right because she needed time, regardless, to let her body adjust. He still managed to bump her cervix when they had the right angle going. While this angle was not perfect, when he began to move in slow, measured thrusts and shockwaves spread through her, she knew it would work out fine.

He pulled her other leg around his waist, thrusting deeper at the new angle. Elizabeth gasped, pushing on his shoulders and using them as her leverage to sink down on his up-stroke. Her newfound movement caused him to lurch, and she landed against the rough concrete ledge.

"Sorry," he grunted, moving his hands to protect her back from further scrapes. She nodded, pulling his face back to hers and giving him a sloppy kiss.

"It's okay. I barely felt it."

"Just watch the context you're saying that in," he warned, snapping his hips back into hers. She groaned, letting her head fall back against his hands.

"I can definitely feel that," she gasped, rubbing her thigh against his hip and tightening her legs around his waist. John nodded in distracted satisfaction; his focus was on making her crazy and he was succeeding.

She ached, tingled, and throbbed in the most delicious way. With each drive inside her, John's breath grew more and more ragged. He was close, she knew. She also knew that he would do his best to make sure she would be ready, too. His hips kept their staccato rhythm, even as his hand slid between them, caressing the apex of their joining lightly. At the first gentle, insistent tug his fingers made on her clit, Elizabeth cried out. John chuckled, his face contorting into a self-satisfied grin that he buried against her neck. With every pass of his fingers corresponding to a plunge of his hips, she felt her release build.

Elizabeth gripped his shoulders, turning her face into his. Although her breath came in short pants, she was able to supply herself enough air to practically devour his mouth. She knew her kisses were sloppy, but he responded with the same enthusiasm he always did, regardless. He pressed his thumb against her clit, causing her to cry out and his mouth to slide away from her own and across her cheek.

He pressed harder and she exploded, digging her nails into the back of his neck as he swallowed her shout in a slow, wet kiss. Less than two-and-a-half pumps of his hips later and he followed her over the edge, panting her name against her moist lips.

Somehow, he was able to remain upright, although he was leaning her against the pool wall a little heavier than before. His breath was hot on her neck and a little bit uncomfortable, but she couldn't form the words to tell him to move. Her hands loosened their grip, and she winced when she ran her palm across his sweaty neck. He would have marks from her nails. She'd just have to kiss and make it better later. Right now, she needed to concentrate on getting her brain to cooperate and let her stir.

She slowly untangled her legs, dropping one, and then the other to the ground. The movement caused him to slip out of her and she sighed gently at the loss. John's hands slid up her arms, smoothing her skin and holding her cheeks. They shared a few soft, gentle kisses before he pulled away. He reached for her hand, squeezing her sweaty fingers tightly.

Elizabeth stepped into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body to his. They stood naked in her empty pool, simply holding one another. She had never been one to take a chance in her relationships, and yet with John it was all chance. Outdoor sex had never been in her vocabulary before the day John had pulled her behind the shed and left her woozy and unable to walk properly for some hours afterwards. John brought out a more adventurous side to her, one she really enjoyed. She hoped that some part of her was rubbing off on him as well.

After some time, she sighed, kissing his cheek and dropping her arms. She bent, reaching for her discarded pants. They dressed in relative silence. Amidst her search for her top, John reached over and ran gentle fingers across her shoulder blades.

"Your back is all scraped up," he said, dropping a gentle kiss on her skin.

"It's okay, your neck has been clawed," she returned, tilting her head back and accepting a kiss. "Sorry about that, by the way," she added, smiling.

"I'll live." he replied, shrugging. "I'm used to your animal ways by now."

She pushed at his shoulder playfully. "Are you going to finish the pool tonight?"

"Probably not, why?"

She reached for his hand, grinning wickedly. "I've got other plans for you."

End

Many, many, many thanks to my fabulous beta, trinity1986 for not simply looking at this and laughing at me.

As always, ginormous thanks to featherjean and spacefiend for their continuing support, and their happy whispers of "Porn" as encouragement.

Yes, as you have probably guessed, this is the first smut that I have written and posted. Please be gentle with me. (No pun intended.)