Chapter Text
"What's your hurry, woman?" Daryl asked. "You got a hot date or somethin?"
Connie threw her head back onto the pillow blowing a raspberry and flopping onto her shoulders to lift her hands. "It's not that important. Can we just—" she looked up to make sure he could read the next sign, "—fuck, already?"
Daryl ignored her. She was cute when she was all wound up. He grabbed the bottle next to the bed and squeezed two precious pumps of lube over his index and middle finger before sliding them back inside her. He was going to find this damn thing tonight if it killed him.
She might if he didn't get down to business. He grinned. She knew what she wanted. He liked that in a woman. Hell he liked everything about this woman. His woman.
He tapped her hipbone with his free hand to get her attention. She was going to have to read his lips. Hard to sign two fingers deep in her. "If you want me to stop…"
He pumped gently, twice, the way he knew she liked. A little sigh left her, and her hips eased open the slightest bit. When she met his eyes again, hers were hazy and a little crossed. Good.
"Fine." She dragged a pillow under her shoulders, so she was propped up enough to watch him. That was their thing, that always been their thing. Eye contact, facial expression. There would be no mysteries about what the other one wanted, or liked, was or wasn’t enjoying. Not on his watch. Or hers.
Back to the task at hand. The book he'd found had been detailed, but there was no substitute for experience. Everybody was different, after all.
She even felt different on his hands than his dick. The subtle texture of her walls, the little dips and valleys inside. She loved it when he put his mouth to work with his fingers, so he flattened his other hand on the dark curls over her mound and used his thumb to nudge open her lower lips, exposing the glistening pink nub of her clit.
It was already swollen and slick. He slipped his tongue around it, nudging and circling until her hips flexed and her walls tightened around his hand.
The book said it was easier to find when she was already turned on, so he was on the right track.
A low sighing rumble left her, and her inner thigh muscles trembled. Her whole body was full of signs, a language all its own.
Instead of using his fingertips he flipped his hand over and brushed her with his knuckles, back and forth, side to side, deeper, shallower. She twitched and sighed a bunch, but when he made contact with something firm and just a bit spongy inside her, she shivered with a little gasp, then went perfectly still.
He stopped everything, meeting her eyes.
Hers were wide on his. She nodded once, he did it again. Now he could tell what he was feeling for--a little notch in the walls, firmer than the skin around it, and his hand was suddenly slick with her. Wasn’t going to need lube anymore, that was for sure.
She let out a warbly little moan, a helpless noise that might have been a plea. Her fingertips curled together, moving toward her opposite palm in a sign he recognized well. "More."
Sweet Jesus, she was hot when she was dangling on the edge. He wanted to make this go on forever, no matter how hard his cock throbbed in his shorts and how tight his balls felt. He'd survived for months like that every time she was around. Stretching this moment out wouldn't cost him much. He worked that spot, then moved away again, sucking marks on the inside of her thighs, using his fingers around her clit instead of his tongue, lapping her up.
When she grabbed his hair and gave it a tug, he knew it was time. Next would be his ears. Then those strong thighs would clench around his head, and he had better deliver. Or not and let her take it from him. That was fun too.
Another time, maybe.
Now he knew where it was, he couldn't lose it, working his fingers like he was rolling a coin across his knuckles. The book was right, it was way more comfortable that way than that stupid curling thing, and his knuckles weren't as rough as his fingertips anyway. They might have been too intense on all that softness.
Her thighs shook, hips jerking, belly curling, and her mouth opened. Her gaze locked on his, both arrow sharp and unfocused. It was so good feeling her come around him he almost blew his load in his shorts.
When her fingers settled over his hand he slowed. He flopped up onto his side next to her, letting her kiss him like the last drop of water in the desert had pearled on his tongue.
He would’ve taken this up years ago if he'd known it could be this good. He knew it wasn't always this way. Everything before had been hurried joining, sloppy with booze and a broken race to some destination that felt cold and unsatisfying when it was all over.
This was special. She was special.
When she let him up for air, he grinned and wiped his mouth with the back of one hand. "Want another one?"
One hand flapped wildly over her eyes and her grin was as unguarded and pure as her expression—disbelief, pleasure, joy. Yeah, she needed another one of those. A lot of them. She looked up at him, brows drawing together. "Are your fingers tired?"
He fisted his dick in his shorts. "Who said anything about using my hands?"
Daryl looked up at the bang of the porch door. He was gonna have to fix that damn thing. Loosen the spring or something. Sounded like a gunshot, sent adrenaline cracking through him. That couldn't be good for his heart. He was always yelling at the kids not to let it slam.
Connie couldn't tell, so he didn't bother her with it. Dog's tail thumped on the porch in greeting.
Daryl finished rolling a cigarette, tucked it back in the pouch and slipped it into his vest. He dropped his heels to the next step, spreading his knees.
Connie slid into the space between his thighs, handing off a steaming mug as she settled, leaning back into his knee with her own coffee so she could see his face.
Coffee was a rare and precious find these days. Most of the whole beans he’d come on had spoiled, but instant held up pretty well, even after this long after the world got flushed. He'd gotten her a jar for her birthday. A couple of months ago on a run, he and Aaron had chanced on a couple of dozen bags of sugar, sealed in plastic. Most had gone to the mess hall. But maybe one had been lost in their pantry on the way. Finders keepers. She meted both out carefully, a half a cup for herself here or there. He knew the feeling. Tobacco was getting harder to come by. But they'd enjoy both while they lasted.
He mostly satisfied himself with a sip of hers, though she insisted he was always welcome to his own.
Two full cups between them today. He knew by the smell that hers was loaded with sugar and a splash of cream. This was a damn party. "We celebrating somethin?"
Her eyebrows wagged suggestively. She lifted her mug and he met it with his. The first sip burned the shit out of his tongue. Scalding and bitter, just the way he liked it.
Folks were beginning to appear in the street, walking by on the way to jobs and chores, more than one friendly wave aimed their direction. Mostly for her. He'd been sitting on this porch every morning for years and almost nobody dared more than a fleeting glance. Her coming back from the dead had been the sign everybody needed. If Alexandria had a flag or currency, they'd probably put her on it.
Everyone loved Connie. He didn't bother with jealousy. She had enough love to go around, and what she saved for him was special. Theirs. The weight of her, steady and solid against his leg and the inside of his hip grounded him on days he wanted to crawl out of his skin from life inside these walls. And when he couldn't take it anymore she was the first to head out with him.
He actually smiled and lifted his chin at a couple of folks from the hunting party heading out.
Of course she saw him do it, raising her brow over the lip of her mug as she sipped. Then she closed her eyes with an expression that was almost as blissed out as the look on her face the night before.
He shoved Dog as the animal tried to weasel in between them. "Drink up. I gotta get moving. Look at some maps."
Her brows formed a question.
"I'm gonna need to do a supply run." He grinned. "You're gonna need a lot more coffee."