He couldn't put his finger on when things started to change.  Hell, maybe things had always been this way and he was just to blind and stupid to see it. But now, now he felt it deep in his gut.  He wanted her.  He wanted her so much he ached. Lately he's been lying awake at night thinking of her. Thinking of her  gorgeous body writhing beneath his fighting for control, arching into his touch with her mouth open and moaning his name. His eyes close and he tries to stave off the inevitable hardness of his cock that is building.  He hears a knock on his dressing room door and he knows it's her.  He always knows.

 
"Hey," she says,"You gonna hide out in here all day?"  She has that sultry look about her that he loves.
 
"No", he smirks. "Not all day."

She wants to straddle him.  She wants to ride him all night long and cum against his mouth until she can't take anymore.  She has always wanted him. She knows they are both married, both have families, but this thing...this thing between them is so strong. She knows he feels it too.  She sees it every time he looks at her. She wonders if she is as obvious in her desire to fuck him. For all the times they’ve messed around for the paparazzi, hugging and stage kissing, just once she wants to stick her tongue so deep into his mouth that he will lose all control and fuck her right then and there against a wall somewhere. She wants to feel him buried so deep inside of her that neither one will know where one ends and the other begins.  

It goes way too deep to be just a 'Fuck' for them though. There are feelings and they both know, especially recently, that those feelings are deepening; and they are close to getting caught on a slippery, dangerous slope. But it's a collision course that was written when the world was created. There's no stopping it and they both know that it's only a matter of time before one of them combusts.

 “Are you glad we’re going to LA to promote the season premiere...being on Leno and Kimmel?" She asks.

"I think it’ll be fun, getting away from the city for a day or two.  And Dick really didn't leave us much choice." He offers.

"You taking Sherman?" She fears this answer for some reason and looks him in the eye.

"Nah...it's only overnight and the kids are in school." He waits for her approval.

She lets out a breath she doesn't realize she's been holding and says, "Yeah, Peter is filming a pilot in Boston, so August will be with the nanny."

"Well then," he smirks and looks deep in her brown orbs, "I guess it's just you and me."

He watches her run lines with Spano and feels something in his gut constrict, like a knot tightening and threatening to cut off his air supply. She has become his daily oxygen. He doesn't need air as long as she is near. Seeing her with someone else onscreen kills him though. He wants to be all broody and caveman and walk over there and claim her, but he can't. Too many people are around and he has no choice but to watch.  The scene calls for "Porter" to take "Olivia" out on a date and kiss her goodnight. He’s forced to sit and watch this scene over and over, take after take, because Spano keeps flubbing his lines following the kiss.  If he didn't know better he would swear the guy was doing it on purpose.

The day finally ends and they are scheduled to be on a red-eye out of NYC tonight to do a taping of Leno tomorrow and then appear live on Kimmel late tomorrow night. They have their itineraries and are booked at the swanky Peninsula in Beverly Hills.  Only the best for 2 of NBC's finest, even if it's just for one night.

They board the plane and sit side by side in first class, which is empty except for them. The fight isn't very crowded, a passenger here and there, but they are spread out, using laptops or ipods, and not paying attention to what's going on around them. Chris and Mariska settle in for their flight, and after a couple of drinks and laughs they are both kind of beat and decide it's best to try and catch a little sleep.  Mariska has no trouble falling asleep, but Chris can't seem to get comfortable. He's not sure if it's their proximity or her scent that has him in a daze, but what he really wants to do is tuck that damn piece of hair behind her ear and pull her closer. 

Somewhere over Kansas he realizes he's been watching her sleep for an hour now.  She looks so peaceful and has shifted a bit closer to him; he's not sure if it's consciously or not, but he'd like to think maybe it is.  By the time they are over Colorado she has her head on his shoulder and she's like a child when he props her up a little to wrap her in his right arm.  She doesn't wake, but she shifts to where her face and lips are nuzzled between his shoulder and neck.  He can feel her warm breath on his skin and it is sending him into erection overdrive.

That's why when she starts placing light kisses on his neck..so light he doesn't know if they're real or his imagination...he sits perfectly still. 

Mariska knows what she's doing, she's enjoying the hell out of it. Tasting his musky skin with feather light kisses...light enough that he probably won't notice but enough so that she can memorize the taste of his skin. 

What she doesn't realize is that he does notice....He's gently stroking her head now and her breathing shifts and he knows she's awake.  She doesn't move. It's dark and the lights in the cockpit are very low so passengers can sleep and they are in first class out of the sight of anyone. She opens her eyes now and looks at him...then pulls the blanket over them and takes the opportunity to rest her left arm on the inside of his left leg. It's somewhere over Utah that he finally shuts his eyes feeling content with her in his arms and her arm resting on his leg.

He wants to protect her, he wants to spoil her and he wants to fuck the hell out of her. To mark her, to make her his.  Marriages be damned. This trip might just be the death of him.

tbc...???