The kiss ended after what seemed like an eternity. Questa couldn't breathe properly. Looking at Shelby, he saw she couldn't either. Her face was flushed, her eyes bright. She was beautiful. Questa suddenly decided breathing wasn't really a necessity. He moved quickly, catching Shelby by surprise with a passionate, hungry kiss. Lacing his fingers through hers, Questa slowly pushed Shelby back until she was the one pinned on her back on the bed. He was becoming more and more aware of the strangest sensations inside his body. If he'd been able to give those sensations a name, he probably would have figured out that he was really, truly horny for the first time in his entire life.

Shelby broke the kiss and smiled at him, a twinkle in her eyes. "This is different...you're actually taking charge here. I'm impressed."

"Well I never felt like dis b'fore to be honest...I'm kinda scared, but it feels so damned good...weird but good...an' I don' want it to stop. Doin' what I jus' did...dat jus' kinda came natural. Like instinct took over or somethin'." Questa replied with a shy, uncertain smile.

Shelby smiled and stretched under him;once in a better position, she leaned up and kissed him before replying to what he'd said. "Don't ignore the instincts, Questa. Neither of us can afford to ignore what our instincts are telling us."

"I know. B'lieve me, I know." Questa whispered. "But to be honest...I never felt like I feel right now, an' it's scary..."

Shelby hugged him and then grew serious. "We don't have to do this, you know. If you don't feel ready for it."

"But see I wan' do it. I wan' keep goin'. B'cause if we don', den I'll feel like I'm lettin' bot' of us down. I don' wan' be scared of dis kind of t'ing anymore. De past has been held over my head for so long...I wan' truly break free of it, but I can' if I can' face dis head on an' keep goin'." Questa explained. "Does dat make any sense at all?"

"As a matter of fact, it does. More than you might realize. So. What's the next step?"

"I dunno...never did dis b'fore, 'member?"

"Well that's true, but I have an idea. I say we let instinct take over and see what happens. It can't hurt, and who knows, maybe we'll learn something we never knew before about each other and ourselves."

Questa smiled. "Sounds good to me."

Without further discussion on the matter, Questa leaned down and kissed Shelby. It was a soft, searching kiss that quickly deepened in intensity and passion as the seconds passed. The longer the kiss lasted, the more aroused both of them became, and Shelby decided to give Questa a taste of his own medicine. With remarkable ease, mainly because he wasn't ready for it but wouldn't have fought if he had been, she rolled them both over until she was on top, straddling him. Then she sat up and pulled him to a sitting position with her and untangled her hands from his. She broke the kiss for a moment and in that time, quickly and effectively pulled his red t-shirt over his head.

Questa raised an eyebrow at Shelby quirkily, but said nothing. Instead he folded his arms across his bare chest, and pouted at her until she clued in and took her pyjama top off.

"Why do I get the feeling if you'd been allowed to be spoiled, you would be?"

Questa shrugged, unable to take his eyes off her. He had never seen anything quite as beautiful and intoxicating as Shelby. She smiled at him and ran her fingers gently along his toned chest. It always hurt her to some degree to see his body, with the multitute of scars that covered it, but she shook the thought out of her mind and focused on the pleasure at hand. She paused her fingers briefly at one of the flat nipples and played with it for a moment. The sound of Questa's suddenly shaky breathing made her smile again and she continued, pushing him back down onto the bed and following him; she kissed him deeply and let out a soft moan as his own instincts took over and he traced his own fingers along her body, memorizing every contour and mapping every inch.

Shelby slowly moved, kissing her way softly and sensually down Questa's chest. She paid particular attention to his nipples, flicking her tongue over both of them. The sensation of it had Questa nearly shuddering beneath her. She glanced up at his face and was pleased to see his eyes were closed and his expression was one of pure ecstacy. She smiled to herself, knowing that it was only going to get better. She pulled away and gently tugged at the button of his jeans. Once she had his jeans undone, she pulled them off him, and then paused to remove her pyjama pants.

"You pretty good at dis..." Questa commented, his voice wavering. He was surprised to discover he wasn't one bit afraid anymore. He was way, way too turned on to be afraid. It was a nice change.

Shelby winked at him evilly. "You ain't seen nothing yet, my love." She knew he was horny. She could see the bulge of his cock in his boxers. She gently traced her fingers along the waistband of the shorts and then, just as gently, pulled them off him. She sat in front of him, and ran her fingers through the soft dark curls and down the soft, tender skin of his inner thighs. Questa's body shivered under her touch, and he let out a quiet gasp of shock and pleasure as she gently massaged his balls and then ran a solitary finger up the shaft of his cock and traced along the sensitive tip.

"Dieu..." Was all Questa could manage to choke out. Anything else he might have wanted to say was lost as sensation mounted through his body.

"Are you okay?" Shelby whispered.

Questa opened his eyes, a faraway look on his face. "What kinda question is dat, chere?"

"A smart one." Shelby teased. "Don't want to go too fast, y'know..."

"Can we let me be de judge of dat?"

"Sure. You want me to continue?"

Two blinks of dark blue eyes. "Oui!"

Shelby grinned and returned to the task at hand. She was pretty sure he wouldn't try doing anything with her more than what he'd already done, and she didn't want to rush him so she decided to focus on making him see that intimacy didn't necessarily mean something bad and painful.

Questa sighed and his eyes drifted closed again as Shelby wrapped one hand around the shaft of his penis, and gently but firmly stroked it while lightly tracing her thumb over the tip. 'Mon dieu...nothin' on earth has ever felt dis good...'

Shelby continued stroking him for a few moments, careful to avoid any contact with his anal area. She knew that even un-planned touching there would be a surefire way to halt the proceedings. As she touched him, she felt a growing need rising in her own body; a growing desire that was getting harder and harder to ignore. Her own eyes closed as the desire grew and a soft moan escaped her lips.

Upon hearing the moan, Questa, who was having a hard time breathing properly, opened his eyes and looked at her curiously. It struck him as unfair that he was getting all this attention and feeling so good, while she was just sitting there. It was obvious that she was still enjoying herself, but Questa thought she deserved a little attention too. Careful not to move too much, so she wouldn't open her eyes, Questa slowly moved his hand towards her beautiful body. He really had no idea what he was doing, or even really why; he just let his instincts take over and guide his actions. And his instincts were telling him to touch her. So he did, bypassing the neatly trimmed hair and lightly rubbing her clit with his fingers.

Shelby gasped out loud at the touch, her entire body jerking in reaction. 'Holy shit...' Her eyes snapped open and she looked at Questa in shock, only to find him grinning at her and not stopping. "Questa...?"

"Didn' seem fair. Now it is." Was his strained reply. He continued rubbing her but soon his fingers moved elsewhere, exploring with an almost childlike curiosity. She moved towards him as he explored, her desire taking over. She was more turned on than she'd ever been in her life, but she was just as surprised as he was when his finger slid easily inside her hot, wet body.

"Hang on a sec." Shelby whispered.

Questa removed his finger and looked at her. "What is it?" He whispered back, trying to catch his breath.

Shelby smiled and repositioned herself. With the ease of someone who had done such things before even though she hadn't, she took Questa's straining cock into her mouth and ran her tongue around it. Questa's eyes widened in surprise and his body automatically moved towards her in reaction. Shelby didn't give him much time to react though, as she sat up fairly quickly. "You think that feels good?"

"Oui..." Questa breathed, pouting at her for stopping so quickly.

"Well..." Shelby took his hand in hers and guided it back to her own eager wetness, allowing his fingers inside her again. "Imagine dis..."

Questa closed his eyes with a low moan and did just that. He imagined what it would feel like to be connected to her in that way, to have that tight, wet warmth around him. In his imagination it felt so incredibly good that he groaned, the desire and need mounting even more demanding in his body as Shelby began stroking his cock again, rubbing the precum over it.

"Do you want to?" She whispered.

Questa opened his eyes but was unable to focus on her. "Oui..." He managed to whisper. He already felt so good and so turned on that he had to know how the rest of it felt. "But I don' know..."

"Shhh..." Shelby reached up and gently put a finger over his lips, silencing his worries. She knew he didn't know how. She didn't even really know how. "Follow instincts, remember?"

Questa nodded and removed his fingers again. He watched in strained anticipation as she moved, maneuvering herself up and so that she was on her hands and knees over him. She leaned down and kissed him, slowly, deeply and passionately. The kiss seemed to last an eternity, but was really only a few seconds. When it ended, Shelby smiled at him. "I love you." She whispered.

"I love you too." And he did. Never in his life before had anyone made him feel so safe, so complete and so wonderful. He could almost feel the fears and pains of his haunted past drift away, unable to get close to him as long as she was there to love him and make him whole.

Shelby repositioned herself again slightly and then lowered her body down onto his, glancing at his face as she felt him enter her. A look of transplanted ecstasy fell over his features and he gasped. It felt even better than he'd imagined. She slowly began moving up and down on him, taking him deeper insider her, moaning in pleasure as she moved, her body trembling at the number of intense sensations coursing through it.

It didn't take Questa long to figure out what to do. He matched his speed with hers and, after a couple of ill-timed movements on his part, they managed to find a rhythm that worked.

With Shelby on top, it was easier for Questa to hit something he didn't even know existed. He hit the G-spot and got a typical reaction. "Oh! Oh yes!" Shelby quietly screamed. "Right there...! Oh God...!"

Questa was slightly alarmed. "Uhm..."

"Don't stop." Shelby commanded breathlessly. So Questa, completely not knowing what the hell he was doing, but knowing that whatever it was was good, did as he was told. "Ohgodohgodohgodohgod..."

Within seconds, Questa experienced a whole new sensation. The sensation of feeling the woman he loved have a powerful orgasm. And the power of Shelby's muscles contracting and retracting tightly around his cock was more than Questa could handle. He couldn't fight it any longer and gave in, clutching the blankets beneath him as his own orgasm washed over his body like a tidal wave of release.

"Oh mon dieu..." He gasped as his body jerked and shuddered out of control.

It took several moments for the wave to subside for both of them, and when it finally did, Shelby collapsed on top of him, breathing heavily, after gently separating herself from him. "Questa? Are you okay?"

Questa looked at her, his dark blue eyes filled with love and a deep peace that had never been there before as far as Shelby knew. "Oui. I t'ink dat was de single mos' powerful, amazin' an' incredible experience I've ever had." He shook his head slightly. "I never knew..."

"You never knew what?" Shelby asked, reaching up and running her fingers through his wild dark hair.

"All my life, sexual acts equaled pain an' lots of it. I never knew dere was a diff'rent side to it...de side dat don' hurt. You showed me dat side jus' now. If it wasn' for you...you mus' be a miracle worker or somethin', b'cause I feel better right dis moment dan I've ever felt in my life." Questa admitted, moving his head up and kissing her lightly. "I feel safer wit' you dan wit' anyone else in de world. It's like you're part of me...even b'fore now I felt dat way. It's like nothin' bad can touch me when you're here. I finally feel like my life is my own an' as long as you're here to share it wit' me...dere's no goin' back."

"I'm not a miracle worker, Questa..." Shelby blushed. "I'm just the woman who loves you."

Questa shook his head. "But dat in itself is a miracle, chere. Until you came 'long, I couldn' comprehend anyone lovin' me. But you do. Everythin' you've done since we met, you've done b'cause you love me. An' I t'ank you for it, b'cause wit'out you I'd be dead. I love you wit' all my heart an' soul...I love you an' I need you an' now dat I know how it feels, I want you too." He laughed and kissed her again. "T'ank you, chere. For bein' here, for puttin' up wit' me, for doin' all you do for me an' for lovin' me."

2-6: A NEW OUTLOOK