"Damn!" Josh shouted when the hot spray of the shower stung his back. He twisted his head around to see the scratches on his back. Well, he'd called Kate a little tigress – and evidentially the feline had claws! That's what you get when you initiate a sexy virgin to love making, he mused.

"Josh, are you all right?" Kate called when she appeared on the other side of the translucent shower door.

"Yeah, it's just someone I made love to last night left marks."

"I did not!" she protested.

"Did to!" he answered in an amused sing-song tone.

"Lemme see." Oblivious to the water escaping to the tiled floor, she pushed open the shower door.

"Oh, God!" she whispered at the sight that greeted her. Josh looked magnificent standing naked and unashamed, water sluicing down over his lean body. It seemed the stunned appreciative expression on her face was directly related to his immediate arousal – then she saw the half-moon marks left by her fingernails. "Oh, I'm so sorry." She touched his back lightly. "Does it hurt too badly?"

"No. I was just surprised, that's all. Baby, the floor's getting wet. Get in or closed the door." To his amazement, Kate shed her robe and stepped into the small space behind him in the shower stall. He reached over and slid the door shut. This was something out of one of his fantasies.

Kate soaped her hands and tenderly bathes each scratch. Once rinsed, she placed a kiss on each one. With every touch of her lips, Josh got harder.

"You're killin' me," he muttered.

"I'm trying to heal you."

"You know how many times I've imagined this?"

"Me scratching you?"

"No. You and me naked in the shower."

"I certainly hope we were naked if we were in the shower."

He chuckled at that. She was being deliberately obtuse. "I've dreamed of making love to you in the shower."

"You have? Isn't that kinda hard?"

It was his turn to tease. "I'm very hard."

"How does this dream of yours go?"

"We take turns soaping each other, every inch."

"Then?"

She was making him crazy, pressing her sweet little breasts against his back. What he wouldn't give to spend all day making love to Kate. But they both had planes to catch. He had to get back to the tour and she had to return to Orlando without him. They had been lucky to cut this much time out of their schedules. "Then I lift you up against the wall, so I can make love to you."

"Okay."

"You're sure? You're still new at this. You maybe too sore to walk if we keep it up."

"I'm willing to risk it if you are."

Was he ever! "Katie..."

"Or are you all talk and no action, Chasez?" she challenged. Taking the soap, she announced, "Me first!" Urging him to face her, Kate massaged lather into his neck and shoulders.

Josh closed his eyes to enjoy the feel of her strong hands. "You'd make a great masseuse," he murmured as she worked out the tightness he hadn't even been aware of having.

Her soapy hands moved to his chest and ribs. Her touch became lighter, skimming over the sensitive skin. She circled his flat nipples. Once the water had washed away the soap she grazed them with her teeth, then licked them soothingly. Josh could only moan his appreciation of her touch. Kate continued her ministrations moving her hands around to his lower back and buttocks. He had such a neat little butt. Too bad he liked those baggy pants. Teasingly, she ran her fingers into the cleft between those cheeks.

Josh sucked in a breath. "Baby, I can't get much harder without exploding."

"But you aren't all clean yet." Kate knelt down to lather his muscular legs. He wasn't kidding about being arousal. His manhood was a hard silken rod, the tip an angry shade of purple. When her tongue slid along his length, Josh hissed and promised himself to seek some sweet revenge on her body.

"Enough!" He hauled her up by the shoulders. "It's my turn."

"But I'm not done," Kate protested.

"If you keep that up, I'll certainly be finished."

"Josh---"

He took the soap from her. As she had, he started at her neck and shoulders, then he glided his hands down her supple back. Josh loved the satiny feel of Kate's skin. He moved around to her stomach, sliding up to soap her sweet little breasts. His fingers traced ever-tightening circles around her aureoles until her came to her nipples. When the suds disappeared under the shower spray, he bathed those hardened buds with his tongue.

"Josh!" she gasped helplessly.

He knelt in front of her to lather her legs. Starting at her ankles, he moved up to the perfect globes of her butt. As she had done, he traced the crack with his fingers, eliciting a whimper from Kate. Then he moved to the front of her thighs. Urging her legs apart, he teased her by bathing everywhere but the place she needed to be touched.

"Please," she beseeched him on a shallow breath.

"What do you want, Katie?"

"You know."

"Show me."

Kate lifted one leg over his shoulder, her hands placing his at her opening.

"I love how bold you are, baby." His fingers parted her petals until her found the rosebud he sought. First he ran his tongue along the slit, then flicked it against her treasure.

"Ah!"

"You wanted this," he reminded her then sucked gently on her pleasure button.

"Now, Josh!" Kate's hands were in his hair, urging him up. "Please, now!"

As she had to him, he said, "But I'm not done yet."

"Joshua!"

He chuckled at the command in her voice, then gave in to her wants. He needed to be in her soon or he'd incinerate. Gaining his feet, Josh lifted her against the shower wall, guided her legs around his waist. He eased into her, letting her adjust to his tender invasion. Kate's body held him like a hot velvet fist and he seriously doubted he would ever lose the wonder of feeling her around him. He leaned forward to kiss her gently.

Kate wrapped her arms around his neck. "I know. It's like you don't want to start, because then it has to end – and it feels too good to be over," she whispered in his ear.

"Yeah, but the end feels real good, too." Josh began to stroke in and out of her, increasing the temp in time with her whimpers of pleasure.

"Oh, Josh..." Kate sighed breathlessly as his mouth closed over one beaded nipple. "Finish me off!" she begged.

Josh lifted his head. "You'll be sore," he warned.

"I don't care. It feels wonderful."

He started thrusting harder, his hips slamming her into the wall. "Open your eyes for me, Katie. I want to watch you go all wild."

Kate's honey-brown eyes met his deep blue gaze as he drove into her. It was the most erotic, intimate moment she had ever experienced. It was like they were looking into each other' soul. When her body tightened, preparing itself for the glory yet to come, it took a concerted effort on her part to keep her eyes open.

"You feel it, too, don't you, baby? That sweet hot panic." Josh's eyes blazed into hers.

She bit her lip and nodded. Unknowingly, her nails dug into his flesh once more as every nerve in her body went taut to the point of shattering. "Oh, Josh, I can't...Oh!..."

"That's it, Katie. Come for me. Look at me," he commanded as he plunged into her again and again.

"Oh! Oh, please, Josh...JOSH!!!"

He knew the exact second she went over the edge. Her eyes were crazed and her body clenched him. Her rapture gripped him and sent him into his own frenzy, her velvet wetness milking him. "Oh, yes, baby!...KATIE!!" When he would have thrown back his head and broken their gaze, Kate held his chin. His eyes went wild with the crashing waves of pleasure. With a final thrust, he dropped his head against her shoulder, his body quaking.

A long moment later, their breathing restored, Josh realized that the hot shower was now barely tepid. Shielding Kate from the spray, he released her to turn off the tap. Kate pushed open the shower door and stepped out with shaky legs. He had been right about it being too soon to accommodate his less than gentle lovemaking without some consequences. The slowness of her gait was not lost on her lover. Josh grabbed a towel, drying her off with great care.

"I'm sorry, baby. I shoulda—"

Kate covered his lips with her fingers. "No. Don't say it. If you're sorry you made love to me, then I'll have to be sorry I asked you to." Replacing her fingers with her lips, she kissed him softly. "And I won't ever be sorry about us making love. Okay?"

"Okay."

Then she spied the fresh fingernail marks on his back and smothered a giggle.

"What?"

"I did it again." She waved a hand at his back.

"Did what?"

"Branded you."

Josh checked out the new scratches in the semi-foggy vanity mirror and grinned. "Guess I'll be wearing a tee-shirt instead of a tank-top for a while. The wardrobe people will wonder at that."

"What will you tell them?"

Josh tugged her against him, enclosing her in his warm embrace. "That I've been branded by love."

**********