For Karrin

[dresdenforhire]

There's a saying- when the going gets tough the tough get going to the little blonde woman with the cute nose and is even tougher. Not many people say that but it's definitely a saying I use. Well, I don't exactly say it out loud but I definitely think it. I think about Karrin Murphy for a lot of reasons but one of them is definitely help with the tough things. She may not pack a magical wallop but she doesn't need to. Plus she's not afraid to call me on being a dumb ass and that's a very important trait I look for when things are tough. Plus I can fit more gear in the Blue Beetle if she's the other person riding with me.

So that's why I was pulling up outside of her house unannounced late Friday afternoon. I needed help at the last minute for a rather unpleasant job and I knew Karrin Murphy well enough that I knew if she had to she'd cancel plans to help me. Not as any huge favor for me most likely but because she knew I wouldn't ask if it wasn't really important.

Unfolding myself out of the car I made my way up to her front door. I could feel the energy around the place, the magical barrier that all homes had. Of course hers was stronger than most, her grandmother having lived her and it being truly a home.

I stopped short of the door and used my staff to knock. I wasn't sure what types of electronics she might have on her or near the door since I was showing up without warning and I didn't want to fry anything important. I at least try to be courteous about that, especially if I'm going to be asking someone for help.

Comments

[murph]

She couldn't help but laugh, who wouldn't in her shoes? He was all but melting there and then freaking out over a burned marshmallow.

"Oooh someone can't handle the heat." She snickered and grabbed a new marshmallow and traded it for the brickette he was working with. She held her own out closer to the fire and was still suffering little bubbles of humor as she turned the white puffy confection until it turned golden brown.

[dresdenforhire]

"If I had trouble with things that were hot, I wouldn't be with you," I said, full on leaning in to the cheesiness of the line. It was basically what she had dared me to say so I said it full on knowing there would likely be consequences. But what was life without a little danger? Of course maybe the guy who had been a ghost twice shouldn't really as questions like that. Mostly I was sad about the lack of head scratches.

This time I paid more attention to where I was putting my stick though, making sure it was just on the edge of the fire so that it could get a lower, more even heat. I could be patient when I absolutely, positively had to.

[murph]

"You are such a pig." She snorted at him and knocked his shoulder with hers. She'd be happy to provide more of those head scratches later but for the moment this was about them learning to be able to just be together.

She hadn't scorched her first marshmallow so she drew back one almost perfectly golden with just a little char on one side. She made her s'more and grinned like a child as she liked the melted goo off her fingers. "You know how long it's been since I went camping?" Had to be back before dad died. She almost couldn't remember. And training or emergencies didn't count.

[dresdenforhire]

I just smirked at her and bumped her shoulder back. Well if that was all she did when I made a comment like that it wasn't so bad, she called me a pig regularly for any number of things. I liked feeling her shoulder pressing against me though, it was nice to have this closeness between us without any sort of weirdness. I hadn't even realized how long we'd lived with a sort of tension regarding being physically close. I really loved not having that tension and having a sort of warmth there instead. I knew there was still a learning curve but just this little change

"I usually go a few times a year. Mostly for times like this to visit people but compared to what I'm usually doing it's basically a vacation," I said, smiling as I watched her enjoy the s'more. I loved that smile. "Do you have any favorite spots you used to go to?"

[murph]

"Mmhmm." She nodded and started to speak, which was made all the harder by her mouthful of melted marshmallow. She chewed behind her hand and swallowed, and spent another moment with her tongue ensuring that none of that bite was clinging to her teeth.

"It's not really anything formal, but a lot of the guys dad worked with liked to hunt to they had pitched in and got a hunting property. Lots of woods and one of those old stone cabins, with an outhouse." She laughed, she hadn't thought of that in years. But she could almost remember exactly how the wood floor felt on her bare feet and how quickly she learned that it was not a house.

"We mostly camped in tents, but if the weather was bad we'd pack it in and head for the cabin. But I liked the tent more. If we went in the summer sometimes we'd just sleep outside and stare at the stars." She smiled with a fond, far away nostalgia. "Until the mosquitoes showed up."

[dresdenforhire]

"Oh right, you can't cast the mosquito repellant spell," I said before giving her a grin that let her know I was kidding. I was probably going to get punched anyway but that was alright. Technically I could probably cast a mosquito repellant spell but it was easier to just wear bug spray.

"We'll have to do a real camping trip sometime," I said, taking a small bite of my s'more so that I could actually talk without waiting for five minutes after I chewed. Unlike some people. "One where it's not part of a job and just us and we can sleep out under the starts."

Because honestly? That sounded kind of perfect, just the two of us and no one else.

[murph]

"If there was a spell like that I might be more interested in magic." She smacked him in the shoulder. They were lucky that it was late enough in the season now that the little buzzing annoyances were dead or dormant.

"I could be down for that, maybe even something romantic." She cocked her head at him and furrowed her brow. "You do romantic right?" She held the straight face for another few seconds as if she really wondered about that, and then laughed. And stuffed the rest of her s'more in her mouth at once for good measure.

[dresdenforhire]

"I'll see what I can do, maybe I'll get you interested yet," I told her. Now that I thought about it though there was a lot more about magic I would like to show her. A lot of magic was really boring, just stirring pots or doing math, but some of it was a lot of fun. I'd have to make a list of fun magic to show her.

"Oh, I guess you'll have to wait and see if I do romantic," I replied, doing my best to act nonchalant and not like I was planning to make her regret that comment. Of the two of us I was pretty sure I was more of a romantic and I would serenade her outside her house with my guitar and several dozen roses just to prove it. Also to embarrass her but partially to prove it. "Just you wait, there are sides to me you have yet to see, Karrin Murphy."

[murph]

"I don't know, I think one wizard in the couple is enough." She liked her technology and magic would make that a whole lot more difficult. But she would learn more about what he did from his side of things. She was sure there was a lot more to it than she's seen so far. Magic was all about balance, she'd learned that much, which meant there had to be the good, the miraculous, the beautiful to go with the bad.

"Is that something I'm going to regret later?" She knew he wasn't nearly as dumb as he sometimes played...and other times actually seemed to be. Momentary dumb usually was due to his innate need to protect women and other people who couldn't defend themselves. Dumb but noble, and he usually figured things out in the end.

"Yeah? Well, there's a side of you I kind of want to see right now." She prodded the fire with along branch nonchalantly.

[dresdenforhire]

Well, at least she hadn't said that one wizard in a couple was MORE than enough. Also, she called us a couple. I knew that's what we were but hearing her say that? I really liked it. I was probably going to say it about a hundred times in the next few days because I liked the sound of that so much. Karrin Murphy and I were a couple. Besides just making me feel all giddy it also felt right, like when you've been thinking of a tune you can't quite remember and then you hear it on the radio and everything clicks.

"Oh, it definitely is," I reassured her, not even attempting to hide the fact that that question was going to come back to haunt her. I'd find ways to be romantic to her that she would actually enjoy of course but now I was going to embarrass her at least once. Planning for that was going to have to wait though because my mind was switching gears. Karrin had asked a question nonchalantly and she was not the nonchalant type.

"And what side is that?"

[murph]

She didn't hate magic, or that he was a wizard. She knew he'd used magic to do wonderous things, she'd seen him save lives with it as much as she'd seen him destroy things. He wasn't alone in being pleased over the fact that they were a couple now. And to think they might have gotten here earlier had they both not been too stubborn to talk to each other beforehand.



She chuckled yeah she'd be paying for that later she was sure, the only thing more reliable than his ability to dig a hole deeper was his tenaciousness to follow through on his own brand of humor. She had no idea how it would come back to bite her in the ass.

But that was for later, he'd jumped at the bait just like she knew he would. It was an effort not to smile at how easy that had been. "The attentive boyfriend side." Karrin smirked and reached up to draw him down for a kiss, another of those soft sweet kisses, quite literally this time due to a tiny bit of marshmallow on her lower lip.

[dresdenforhire]

I didn’t even have time to respond as she pulled me down for a kiss, the sweet taste of chocolate and marshmallow on her lips. I hummed happily and pulled her onto my lap so that we were at a better height for this sort of thing. My fingers brushed along her cheek as I cupped the back of her head and my mouth travelled down her jaw and to her neck.

“I like how convenient your short hair is,” I told her, delighted at how much of her neck was exposed as I covered it with suckling kisses and nibbles. As I did so my arms slipped under hers and around her, hands moving up her back to rub her shoulders and down to her lower back. I could be a very attentive boyfriend.

[murph]

The lift and sit move took her by surprise. Something about the easy show of his strength was surprisingly effective at stirring her up. The Dresden she'd always thought of was muscular enough to get in and out of fights but she could take him. He wasn't the sort who had bulky muscle and that was easy to take for granted. She'd underestimated him and the added strength of his new workout lifestyle and whatever winter had given him. Whatever it was she created to it more than she ready to deal with.

Not like she'd dated weak guys, hell Jared had been thickly muscled and thrown her over his shoulder more than a few times on their Hawaiian trip. She had laughed but not felt aroused by that display, so why now did she squirm for Harry?

He wasn't helping when he moved to her neck. "Dear God, yes."Karen tipped her head back, to the side, whichever way gave him more access to her throat. His hands felt wonderfully strong and solid on her. She wanted to feel more of them.

"Should have done this a long time ago." She almost whimpered, her hands carding through his hair taking fistfuls in a strong grip and soft pull.

[dresdenforhire]

I couldn't reply right away because she had broken my brain. She wasn't even really doing much but hearing her enthusiasm for what I was doing and the tug on my hair just broke me. I groaned and bit down where her neck and shoulder met, making sure that if I marked her she'd be able to cover it up. We hadn't had the "can I leave visible marks" talk yet so I wanted to play it safe. But boy did I want to leave marks where others could see and REALLY wanted her to leave them.

I made an obscene sound as I squirmed under her, fingers kneading her muscles even as they made their way lower so that I could slide them under her shirt. I trembled just a bit as my rough hands made contact with the smooth skin of her muscular back. I could feel Winter pushing at me hard to just shove Karrin down and take what I want and part of me wanted that as well but I wasn't going to let that loose just yet.

"Fuck we should have," I said, my voice suprisingly low and just barely a whisper as I moved my mouth back to her lips and kissed her deeply again.

[murph]

She hissed when he bit her, a sound that was part and surprise part longing. As far as his brain might take it in there was at least a green light on that level of mark, it was indeed a conversation they would need to have at some point. Her input to it might surprise him.

And then his hands were on her skin and they were cool, not like icy from a cold night but cool in the way it felt to walk into a room of air conditioning after being in the hot sun. Immediately her mind went to wondering how those hands would feel on other, more heated parts of her body. Which was why his kiss and comment were greeted with a low groan. "Then we've got time to make up for."

Karrin shifted, extending her legs behind him before locking them around his waist in a strong grip. She kissed back as she did everything, fiercely, and with all of her. Her chest pressed to his, her hips rocked to bring them together even with layers of denim between them. Her grip in his hair sharpened and she pulled him to her hard enough that it showed she had no plans on letting him go any time soon.

[dresdenforhire]

I couldn’t even say a word of agreement because we were missing again and my whole world was the feel of our bodies together. Her lips seemed almost searing against mine and I gave a deep groan as she rocked against me. I was so hard I was sure that if she wasn’t careful I was going to come before my pants even came off.

Gripping that divine backside of hers to keep her steady I stood up. She was surprisingly light, even though I didn’t think she’d be all that heavy, I guess I had just never carried a person around all that much while on Winter. It made me wonder what else all this strength would be good for besides the obvious.

“Tent?” I asked, gasping for breath just a bit as I felt my heart hammer in my chest. I gripped her ass a bit tighter, for safety and all, and took a few steps toward the tent.

[murph]

He hefted her like she was nothing and there was something sexy about it and the fact that he made a move to get them somewhere that they could explore more of what they'd started.

She clung to him and when he mentioned the tent she nodded. "Now." She said, not quite a command but it was more than simple agreement. Karrin did love the feel of his grip on her and flexed a bit to make it a little more interesting for him too.

She didn't look behind them, just trusted him to get them inside and set her down. She couldn't wait to get in and start taking their clothes off, especially his. Not that she hadn't dressed enough of his wounds to see most of him before but this is a whole new context.

[dresdenforhire]

She was ruining me. The tone of her voice when telling me "now" and the way she flexed her ass? I was so ruined. So ruined and I couldn't wait to get my mouth between her legs or have her grind on my face just as badly as I wanted to be in her. I fiddled with the zipper of the tent, growling a bit in frustration as I struggled to get it while holding Karrin and being distracted by her everything.

Once I got it open we practically fell in as I rolled so that I was on my back and she was on top of me. My hips arched up as I tried to get some friction on my aching cock, needing some sort of relief even though that only made me ache more.

"We have way too many clothes on."

[murph]

Karrin swung her legs down when he moved to drop into the tent and her body turned with him so she was straddling him. To avoid clunking heads and chipping teeth she'd leaned back and out of the kiss before he'd moved much so it left her seated atop him with her hands planted on his abdomen.

"Definitely too many clothes." But it didn't seem that she was in any hurt to work on her own as her hands went immediately to his belt. Deft fingers unfastening it and his pants in a few seconds before she drew her fingers, nails down, along his skin.

"Take off the shirt." She kept her splayed hands moving over his skin, a drag of nails for the moment but she had enough strength that they could bite if she wanted.

[dresdenforhire]

I sucked in a breath when she told me to take off my shirt. Seeing her straddling me with the way she looked at me, her eyes a mix of desire and caring, was perfect. This was all I ever wanted in a relationship, someone that cared for me deeply and wanted to top me. Okay, maybe not ALL but that was high on the list. Or maybe, maybe it was just because it was her, because she was so perfect for me? Hell's Bells, right then I didn't care I just wanted her.

Hissing in pleasure at the feel of her nails on my skin I nodded at the command. I wasn't sure if she wanted me to call her a specific name or reply out loud, I wasn't sure of the rules, but I willingly obeyed and unbuttoned my flannel shirt and shrugged out of it. I could see the rise and fall of my chest and I was sure my heart was beating hard enough that she could hear it.

[murph]

He had been working out, damn. Treating someone's wounds was a lot different than getting to look at them in a sexually charged moment and she was taking her time to drink him in. His shoulders had always been fairly broad but now he'd filled out to match them. He wasn't bulky muscle but lean and strong obvious muscle. And it was very appealing.

Karrin was in charge of the pace and she'd decided she wanted to play with her food a bit before the main course, so she leaned down planting a hand on either side of his shoulders to let her nuzzle along his neck all hot breath and scrapes of teeth. Her words murmured into his skin. "Do you have any idea what I am going to do to you? What I'm going to make you do for me?" A sharp nip of her teeth with the last and she was moving again.

Her hips ground down over his in a figure eight, just keeping pressure on him. Her mouth made way to his nipple, tongue flicking across it before her teeth latched on with a snapping bite that lasted long enough to sting before freeing it and more sweeps of her tongue rolled over it.

[dresdenforhire]

Stars and Stones she was going to break me. That wasn’t hyperbole, I was realizing that Karrin Murphy was fully planning on breaking me with pleasure. I had seen what she was like when she was zeroed in on something and the singular focus she had was beyond impressive.

She was going to break me and I was going to beg her to do it, I could tell. Just feeling her touch me, her voice low as she asked her question had me grinning.

“Well not now that you say it like that,” I groaned, rocking my hips up. Had I ever been this hard before, needed release more? If I had I couldn’t recall it at the moment.

Before I could give another smart remark, and really it was going to be quite brilliant, her teeth came together on my nipple and my back arched high off the ground. I cried out her name in pleasure as my body shook a bit.

[murph]

Dear God this was going to be good. Harry had risen up so hard that he'd raised her with him. That was so damned hot, she was already imagining him between her thighs and all the wonderful things he could do what that power and strength.

Karrin moved further down along his body, teeth worrying his flesh along his sternum, his abdomen, the cut of his hip. Dow until her hands could hook into his pants and draw them down. She wanted to see him naked under her hands.

It would be glorious to see him bucking and heaving, but that was all in due time. Right now she wanted to see him and then she wanted him to see her. It took work, wriggling him out of jeans and boots until he just had underwear and socks on. And neither was hiding much.

"God, there is just so much of you isn't there."

[dresdenforhire]

It was blissful agony to have her strip me, mouth working along my skin. I wanted her to mark me, to claim me. Part of that was probably in defiance of Winter that wanted the opposite of that, a way for me to know that those feelings were all kind, but also because I just fucking loved it.

She had stripped me down to my boxers but that wasn’t really hiding anything, my cock making a tent of the fabric. I’d been in various stages of arousal since our kiss in the car but now it was a full on “raging hard on” situation.

“I do take up a lot of the tent,” I admitted even as I watched her closely. She seemed to be enjoying her view and I couldn’t help but squirm under her. Having Karrin look at me like that, not just with desire but caring as well? This was amazing.

Glancing down at my chest I frowned just a bit. “You didn’t leave any marks...”

[murph]

Karrin stopped, and she went serious for a moment. All sensuality put on hold while she leaned forward, her hand touching his cheek lightly. "We never talked about if that was something you were ok with, and I don't want to do something that you're not ok with." She kissed him but it was barely a brush of her lips over his, in as much contrast to her previous actions as was possible.

"So, if I want to mark what is mine with teeth and nails do you want me to?" The statement was oddly seeking permission and yet still holding that dominance over him at the same time. She withheld all contact other than her hand on his cheek until they resolved this very important question.