Author Topic: Romantic Notions  (Read 11730 times)

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Offline Trillian

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Romantic Notions
« on: July 06, 2011, 08:03:05 AM »
DRESSED IN AN OLIVE WISPY and flowing evening gown, with diamante-studded high-heeled sandals in one hand and her clutch in the other, Jenna giggled like a school girl as she ran barefoot along the edge of sand where it met the waves.  Her long brown hair had loosened from its up-do on one side but she didn\'t care, for she and Kerr had already visited the opera - Il Trovatore - and Jenna had urged Kerr to drive her to the beach before going home.

Now she was running along the sand, with no idea where he was.  She was running free, feeling like she sometimes did when horse-riding at full gallop.  This was hardly the same speed, but the salty air, soft breeze and three-quarter moon were all contributing to the rush.  She lost one of her sandals and slowed down just enough to spin around, running backwards and seeing Kerr jogging after her, un-rushed, laughed fully and called out to him that she\'d become Cinderella, and turned back around in order to save her breath and run some more.  After a few moments she dropped the other shoe.  What point was it holding on to a single shoe?

She wanted him to catch her, but she also didn\'t.  There was a sensation of being chased, yet there wasn\'t.  She loved him, but was no longer in love with him.  It was a euphoric but confusing time.
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Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2011, 06:13:19 PM »
Kerr laughed ruefully as he trailed after the self-proclaimed Cinderella, his pace unhurried.  His own shoes - socks tucked into them - were hooked onto the first two fingers of his left hand and, as he came to them in turn, he snagged Jenna\'s in his right.  Had he wanted to, he could have caught her, but he was enjoying the sight of her, untamed and reckless beneath the moon, her demon blood singing (as was his) with the music they\'d just imbibed like drug addicts, the wind and seaspray kissing her skin like sycophants.

Like he wished to.

He wasn\'t sure why he did this to himself.  It was torture being with her when he couldn\'t freely touch her and kiss her.  The memory of her fire-tainted blood teased his tongue and stirred the beast within him and he wanted her on every level of his soul... but he\'d given her up.  He\'d chosen another and that was an easy choice to live with when she wasn\'t in arm\'s reach, when things with Ben were going well, when his life was perfectly organised.

None of those three things ever seemed to co-ordinate at once, though, and each was an excuse to turn to her, to dress up in suits he knew she wouldn\'t be able to stop looking at him in, to charm her with manners he knew she adored, to press against her heated skin and soak the scent of her in... sex on the beach, in the sun, in the fields... lust and heat and wanton debauchery.  She screamed it every time he inhaled and even if she couldn\'t help it, he could help even less the way it drew him to her.

He was a masochist.

When he noticed she was slowing down, he raced towards her, there behind her in moments, wending his arms about her from behind, pulling her back against him and pressing his face into her nape so that he could smell her, mixed with the salt water and the night.  "You\'re crazy, Cinderella," he told her huskily, his lips resting against her leaping pulse like a moth at a flame.  "You\'re not supposed to run away from your prince!"

Offline Trillian

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2011, 08:51:54 PM »
She shrieked when captured, laughing off the fright she\'d got and trying to mask the adrenaline that coursed through her.  At the back of her mind she knew he would be attracted to her rapidly beating heart, to the smell of her skin, for he\'d said as much when they\'d been together.  She knew the effect she had on him, and she\'d dismissed it as a purely physical vampire-affiliated attraction (but she knew better).

"Yes, I am," she countered breathlessly, trying to keep her voice steady even though sensations rocketed throughout her body at his small kisses.  They were treading dangerous ground, here.  "At midnight, I turn into a pumpkin.  Well, an olive," she corrected belatedly, a little disappointed in herself that she hadn\'t thought of the proper end to her joke before she\'d finished her first statement.  "You could put me in a martini."

And drink me up, she thought but had the sense of mind not to say.  What in the nine hells was she doing?  Kerr made her giddy, but she didn\'t have to fall at his feet.  She was a grown woman with a mature outlook and was past this stuff and nonsense.  He didn\'t belong to her.  He belonged to another.

This was enough to sober her up, even though she hadn\'t had more than half a glass of champagne at intermission.  It was Kerr she was drunk on, and she was reading him correctly to understand he was currently drunk on her.  Was fire demon blood and the salty ocean air an intoxicating mix?
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Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #3 on: July 06, 2011, 10:10:27 PM »
Perhaps auspiciously for both of them, the myriad of footwear he held disallowed his hands contacting her directly, but his forearms were iron bars caging her against him.  He chuckled against her throat as she amended her pumpkin joke and even though he hadn\'t read her mind, the notion of turning her into a drink was never far from his thoughts.

"I can\'t drink martinis.  I can drink you," he hinted, lifting his face now so that his nose dragged a line of pressure up along the column of her throat, bumped over her jaw and nudged the hollow of her ear.  Her hair whipped around them, spinning the scent of her hair products into the air about them as well, adding a sweetness to the caramelised scent of her blood.

"Shall I drink you, Cinderella?" he whispered, his nose vacating her ear so that his lips could rest against the curve of it instead.  He wasn\'t kissing her per se, but when he spoke they moved and she would no doubt feel their coolness against the sensitive skin there.  Just as she would feel his body shift against her back, settling into her in a most familiar and foreplay kind of way as his feet found purchase in the sand.

Offline Trillian

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #4 on: July 07, 2011, 03:40:52 AM »
The idea of his drinking from her, once the offer was made most candidly and seductively, struck her mute. He didn\'t know how intensely such a thing would affect her. No, that wasn\'t right, he did know, so he was happy to careen down that path like a runaway vehicle. She wasn\'t, because she knew she would be a slave to him once the erotica of being drunk from began.  Somebody had to stop this and it looked like it had to be her.

"You\'d have me writhing on the sand, in this dress," she whispered, as though her choice of gown was what was stopping her from accepting his offer.  Within, she thrilled at being in his strong embrace once more, at having his icy lips on the heated skin of her neck.  "I\'d have sand in all the wrong places."
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Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #5 on: July 07, 2011, 06:58:58 AM »
Her words struck a chord within him, the notion of her writhing while he drank from her making his mouth water and his body stir with remembered passion even while Ben\'s smiling face swam into his mind\'s eye.  They\'d begun discussing some... extra-curricular liaisons recently but he knew Jenna was off-limits.  She had been specifically stated in the ground rules, in fact.  What he was doing here... was pushing the boundaries of acceptable conduct and he knew it.

God, but she tempted him!  She was soft and hot to the touch, she was elixir to the soul and energy to the mind, she was stimulus and vixen in one delectable package and he could fairly leave his sanity behind, thinking about why he\'d chosen someone else when she was in his arms like this.  That was likely his problem.

He chuckled again and then reluctantly released his hold on her waist, stepping beside her and holding her shoes out towards her so she could take them back.  "I suppose you\'re right.  Not a fairy tale ending for my precious Cinderella," he murmured indulgently as he moved, looking down at her possessively.  She was straight out of a fairy tale, though, the princess that deserved the happy ending... he couldn\'t yet accept that he wasn\'t going to be her prince.  "Even if you are an olive now," he quipped, knowing that it was after midnight.

Offline Trillian

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #6 on: July 07, 2011, 10:12:50 AM »
Her body mourned the loss of him when he stepped aside, and she took her shoes from him while looking at his icy lips before her gaze swept towards his eyes.  She smiled, though it was uncertain, but she had to release a soft laugh when he referred to her as an olive, carrying her joke a little further.

"It\'s lovely to have you back in my life," she confessed, taking the tone of their playful flirting into something more serious and then rethinking herself.  It was funny how she could think no, no, no, while her lips said yes, yes, yes.  "I missed having someone to go to the operas with.  Your friendship was good too, but those operas..."  She was counting on her humour to contrast her earlier statement and lighten the mood again.  If he ended up saying something sweet and beautiful to her in response to her confession, she would find it very hard to think of him as simply her friend and ex-lover.
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Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2011, 02:57:30 PM »
He laughed appreciatively, his head lolling back on his neck as he took her hand and began walking with her along the sand, letting a bit of silence settle around them before he replied.

"Yes.  I\'ve missed you.  I miss... us," he told her wistfully, squeezing her warm hand but looking out at the water as he spoke.  "I connect with you in different ways than I do with... others."  Though he avoided saying Ben\'s name, it was there in his hesitation and he was sure she heard it, making him immediately regretful of his slip.  It felt crass to speak of Ben in her presence and he was mad at himself for doing it, trying desperately to think of a way to move the conversation along.

"Do you... go out at any other times at all or... just with me?"  Even though it sounded casual, he was actually interested, thinking he needed to hear about how she was moving on with her life.

Offline Trillian

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #8 on: July 07, 2011, 03:52:39 PM »
She knew he meant Ben, and she wondered what it was about the young man Kerr liked so much if they didn\'t share the same tastes in culture.  He must\'ve impressed something of his nature on Kerr to have won the vampire\'s heart so completely that he\'d bestowed immortality upon him.

Kerr\'s next question had her silent for a moment while she mused on her answer before supplying it.

"No, not in the way you\'re thinking."

She doubted he meant any girls nights out.
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Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #9 on: July 07, 2011, 08:27:40 PM »
Kerr digested that in a bit more silence, dissecting his feelings on the matter.  It was wrong to be pleased, he knew that.  Consciously.  But he was anyway, the knowledge that she was still available to him, still willing to spend time with him when he called on her - him alone, it seemed - puffing him up with pride.  God help him but he still loved her; enough to be possessive of her free time and even jealous at the thought she might date someone else.

He considered making a joke about how wonderful he was, that she couldn\'t find anyone to replace him, but the urge was thankfully brief and good taste reasserted itself.  "And how\'s work?" he asked instead, not just because he wanted to change the subject... he was interested.  And it was always something she enjoyed talking about and he was always up for listening to her voice.

Offline Trillian

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #10 on: July 07, 2011, 08:50:08 PM »
She wrinkled her nose, as though talking about her work dissatisfied her, when the opposite was true.  If she hadn\'t known he genuinely cared about her occupation, she would have made a blase comment about it and moved the conversation away.  As it was, a new collection was being made available to the museum thanks to her persistence and negotiating skills, and it was something she dearly wanted to translate to someone other than her employers, without boring them senseless.

Once she\'d finished nattering away about the extensive jugs and urns that would be displayed over the Easter break next year, she turned the question back his way.

"And how is being the big chief of all things supernatural working out now you\'ve had some time on the throne?" she teased, going so far as to poke him in the ribs, the toes of her sandals swinging in to hit him gently because she was still carrying them.  "Finally falling into place?"  She was intrigued with his new political position.
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Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #11 on: July 07, 2011, 11:01:39 PM »
He leaned down and rubbed his nose against hers at the teasing - mostly because she\'d wrinkled hers at him when she first started talking and he\'d been looking for an excuse to respond somehow to that insanely cute look.  Without using his lips, though he was aware of how close they hovered during his \'Eskimo kiss\'.

"That\'s for being adorable," he told her pompously as he straightened away from her, acting as if it had been a punishment exacted.  He didn\'t imagine that having something akin to a dog\'s nose rubbed against yours was a reward, though.

"As for the job... eh, I\'m used to it, I\'ll say that much.  It\'s better than merely being an Oligarch, because I\'ve fired a few people because they didn\'t do their job properly and no-one asks me why.  I just can, because I\'m in charge.  I like the power sometimes, though I do find my temper challenged a lot more; my fledglings have weathered some storms when I took my frustrations out on them, I can tell you!" he told her wryly.

"Mind you, half the time, they caused it, bickering at each other like spoilt children."  He paused, his head tilted and there was only the sound of the waves about them for a moment, before he barked a laugh into the night.  "I suppose they are, at that; children of the Luminary.  I hardly deny them anything they want.  I\'ve recently separated them, for my sanity, though; sent Ichabod to live in my old apartment at the Capital."  He frowned then, wondering if he\'d actually ever told her about Ichabod and siring him, looking down at her to see if she was perplexed and needed to question him on this or not.

They hadn\'t exactly been close two years ago, when Cub had come up with his ridiculous scheme, so Kerr thought it highly likely he\'d just spilled a whole lot of detail on something that would only confuse Jenna, and he was ready to elaborate.

Offline Trillian

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #12 on: July 08, 2011, 07:54:30 AM »
Kerr hadn\'t told Jenna about Ichabod, but she\'d heard anyway.  Being in contact with other supernatural citizens meant she got the gossip.  It had been a very long time since she\'d seen the Oligarch for Demons, but there were a few people who worked at the Chambers who she\'d befriended enough to have coffee with now and then, and they filled her in on all the rumours.  She\'d never asked, and she didn\'t think she met with them in order to catch up on such things, but Kerr and herself had very limited contact at that time and it was nice to at least know what was going on with him - even if it was second-hand (or fourth or tenth).

She nodded her understanding, recognising Ichabod\'s name, knowing exactly who he was (but not how Kerr had met the young man), and that he had a separate bedroom at the penthouse.  Of course she\'d also heard many hypotheses of a more deviant nature, but didn\'t believe them.  The person she\'d been speaking with hadn\'t known Jenna used to date Kerr, so likely had no idea how inappropriate their theories were.  She certainly wasn\'t going to tell them, knowing they\'d pass the information on to whoever would listen.

"I\'ve seen Ben at the library," she told Kerr.  She\'d been shown around the vast library at the chambers by a very nice vampire called Sam, and had recognised Ben by the photos she\'d seen of him and Kerr at the apartment.  Sam had followed her gaze and said who it was, his tone of voice almost disapproving, but he said nothing more.  "I didn\'t introduce myself, I thought that would be imposing," she explained.  "But I haven\'t seen Ichabod so wouldn\'t recognise him.  He\'s often described as a polite and shy young man," she said, and smiled at Kerr.  His expression motivated her to explain herself.  "People talk," she said, and shrugged, wanting to justify herself a little more and somewhat embarrassed that she\'d admitted to listening to gossip.
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Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #13 on: July 08, 2011, 09:59:21 AM »
Kerr blinked down at her, something within him faltering at the knowledge that she\'d seen Ben in the flesh, but didn\'t know what Ichabod looked like (yet she knew about him, because \'people\' talked and she... listened).  He didn\'t blame her for keeping in touch with him in such a manner - in her place, he knew he would\'ve been interested in hearing about an ex-lover\'s state of being once things had come to a heart-wrenching but amicable end for them - yet it made him feel... awkward.  Embarrassed?  Was that a better word?  He took a moment to explore it, to decide.

Jenna was a fire demon and she had every right to free access to the Chambers as all supernaturals did - especially since, as far as he knew, she still went there for training her demonic talents.  But they\'d broken up and Kerr had chosen to return to the one he\'d loved first and strongest.  For a while there, things were dissonant between he and Ben and there\'d been many nights where Kerr had lamented his choice, feeling the numb and abused man he was laying beside a poor substitute, when this beautiful, warm woman, full of life and intelligence, yearned for him as much as he did her, just across the city.

In the end, his perseverance with Ben had won out and though it had taken a lot of work through the past two years, they were stronger every day.  Ichabod leaving had allowed them even more freedom to explore each other\'s romantic and whimsical sides, to connect souls as they once had.  Yet Kerr still felt safer with Jenna, with the knowledge that she\'d never betrayed him, she still wasn\'t seeing anyone else, that she\'d never proven herself false and vexed him to the point of tearing his heart out.  She\'d simply loved him and graciously allowed him to pursue his masochistic feelings when she felt he wouldn\'t remain willingly tethered to her.

Guilt, that was the root of his awkwardness.  Jenna was pure, to Kerr.  Wholesome, modest, beautiful, delectable... there were no negative words he could summon in his thoughts of her.  To hear that she\'d passed so close to Ben, that she\'d conversationally opened herself up to hearing about Ichabod... it made him feel tawdry by comparison, that she should rub shoulders with his complicated, convoluted and really rather twisted life.  He wanted to protect

keep

her

to himself, a secret

even though he wondered what she\'d thought as she\'d gazed at Ben and listened to the story of Kerr complicating his life further by taking on another fledgling, even as he\'d left Jenna vowing a need for simplicity and focus.

That was another part of it; he almost felt he\'d betrayed her by siring Ichabod - even though it had been nothing to do with her and an entirely spontaneous decision in order to stop the then-mortal from committing himself to an asshole.  If he\'d been ready to cope with another besides Ben in his life... why hadn\'t it been her?  Why couldn\'t he have called her and kept meeting regularly with her while he worked things through with Ben in his own time, why invite a foreign third in, when she\'d been available to use spare time with?

The truth of the matter was something he sensed Ben knew, and hopefully she did too.  He\'d loved her too much, to dally with her.  She was too important, he\'d been

too in love with her

too weak to resist her then - fuck, he had a hard enough time of it now, two years later! - and so he\'d kept her at arm\'s length, even though he\'d invited someone different closer to him.  She didn\'t see that he\'d betrayed her in the way he thought he had, obviously, but that was just a further testament to how lovely she was, how generous and beautiful of heart.  His grip tightened on hers and he suddenly wanted to cry for the loss of her, even though she was right beside him.

She was gone.  He\'d shed enough tears and lamented her loss for too long, he really needed to accept it.

"I don\'t think it would\'ve been imposing," he smiled sadly at her, his feelings thickening his voice inexplicably so he had to clear it, hoping she didn\'t hear how emotional he was getting - just because she\'d seen Ben, for Christ\'s sake!  "Though I\'m somewhat glad you didn\'t speak to him; I couldn\'t guarantee he\'d be as nice to you as you deserve.  He has... an abrasive manner with many people.  It makes me cringe, at times.  With you... well, I can\'t see him being genuinely friendly because he knows how serious I amwas about you."

His hasty correction wouldn\'t fool her - there was no easy way to pull out of such a tiny present tense verb as \'am\' in order to pretend that things had changed by switching it to a past tense at the last second.  She\'d hear it and he was embarrassed to have changed it anyway, it stood out more because he\'d tried telling her he was serious about her now, then switched it and it made him feel like an absolute asshole.  His feelings for her were still serious but it wouldn\'t do them any favours in discussing that, not when they were doing such a fine job of spending time together as friends.

Left floundering and emotional, he was afraid to speak then, unable to think of a good way to dig himself out of that pit and relying on her graciousness to smooth things over for them.  He swallowed hard and blinked into the wind as he looked out at the sea instead of at her, feeling strangled by his emotions and tongue-tied by his foolishness.  His jaw was set and he fretted at his tongue stud with his teeth, rather wishing the beach would open up and swallow him whole to save him any further indignity this night.

Offline Trillian

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #14 on: July 08, 2011, 11:04:54 AM »
How did the conversation become so deep so quickly?  She heard the raw emotion in his voice, and was flattered and charmed by his slip into the present tense of how he felt about her.  He was trying to be gentlemanly by correcting it to the past, to not cause their heated friendship to become uncomfortable.  Should something happen between them that pushed those boundaries into something more explicit - well, they\'d be forced to remain apart, unable to trust themselves with one another unless they were both single.  She couldn\'t see Kerr being single again in her lifetime.

"And yet here we are," she pointed out gently, "and I doubt very much it\'s behind his back.  He must not hate me so much to keep you away from me."

He must trust you completely, and I don\'t want to make a fool of him for doing so.  Or a fool of myself.

She kept those gems to herself, fairly secure that he wouldn\'t hear such thoughts.  She\'d been told vampires couldn\'t read demonic minds as easily as humans, and though she was mostly human, she was hoping she had a few more benefits of her bloodline beyond the flambe.
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Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #15 on: July 08, 2011, 11:20:30 AM »
He breathed a grateful laugh and managed to smile down at her, at last.  "No, you\'re right.  He knows where I am and he doesn\'t hate you, he freely allows me this time with you.  I think... I think he understands how... well, a relationship - our relationship - can be such hard work sometimes.  He knows how much I appreciate my time with you.  I think you\'re my reward," he chuckled, belatedly hoping she wasn\'t offended by being told she was his relief from the daily grind, his chance to relax and allow his creative side to blossom.

Offline Trillian

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #16 on: July 08, 2011, 12:04:50 PM »
"Your reward, am I?" she repeated, her lips twisting as she pondered what such a thing could mean.  "Less of a Cinderella and more a piece of chocolate?" she asked, digging her index finger into his ribs before moving away from him a little.  She\'d believed Kerr had cleared his desire to see her with his boyfriend, rather than the idea of Ben dictating when Kerr could or couldn\'t spend time with her.
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Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #17 on: July 08, 2011, 12:20:34 PM »
"Okay, enough poking me, woman!" he roared, tossing his own shoes aside and rapidly wending his arms beneath hers and about her waist.  He picked her up, his free hands falling to cup her delectable derriere and the natural conclusion to the manoeuvre her wrapping her legs about his waist (though he anticipated she might resist that, and so he held her against him, his face pressed into her throat once more).

"All this talk of you being so edible is hardly helping me stay away from you," he hissed, and suddenly he was kissing and sucking at her throat, scraping her pulse with his fangs and tonguing her warm flesh hungrily.  Though the move had begun playfully, to make her laugh and giggle as he swung her about, it had turned rapidly serious once she was close again.  Her words about writhing on the sand echoed in his brain and he began to think on that, fantasising about laying her down and dropping down on top of her.

Offline Trillian

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #18 on: July 09, 2011, 03:58:48 PM »
She squealed, then did resist him, letting her legs hang down rather than wrapping them around him, her hands on his shoulders.  When he continued along the realm of flirting-toward-seriousness, she pushed those hands firmly against him, attempting to lever herself away, though it was futile.

"Put me down, Kerr," she said gently but humourlessly, and her tone was one that would brook no argument.  She wasn\'t looking him in the eyes either, instead choosing to stare down between them.
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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #19 on: July 09, 2011, 07:06:11 PM »
Her tone of voice stilled his actions against the column of her throat but he didn\'t do as she said immediately, instead taking a moment to get himself under control.  He swallowed and she would likely hear the grating of it, even over the sound of the whispering waves, for it was right by her ear and there felt to be a lump the size of an apple in his throat.

After a few moments he allowed her to slide to the sand in a controlled manner, his hands coming to rest on her waist and his head bowed as it had been when he\'d been nibbling at her neck.  She was in his peripheral vision but he couldn\'t bear to make eye contact yet, too embarrassed by how easily he\'d got carried away, by his body\'s quickening.  He was being ridiculous and they both knew it; only it had taken her saying something for it to stop.

"I\'m sorry," he eventually whispered, his voice hoarse.  Whether she heard him or not was uncertain, but the words gave him the strength to break away from her and go to collect his shoes and one of the socks that had tumbled out and begun to blow away.  When he returned to her side, he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, glancing from her towards the car they\'d been slowly making their way back to.

"I should take you home," he said sadly and he thought of Ben, back at the Chambers, possibly waiting for him, most likely away doing his own thing as he usually did.  Shame swelled and he focussed on it, trying his best to exaggerate it so that it wouldn\'t easily be forgotten.  Jenna shouldn\'t be the one pushing him away; he should have the ability to hold himself back, for Ben\'s sake if no-one else\'s.

Offline Trillian

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #20 on: July 09, 2011, 07:41:59 PM »
Jenna was at a loss; her desire to wrap herself within Kerr\'s arms again was strong, yet her head told her that it would only complicate things.  They\'d not only tread a fine line, they\'d trampled it.

"That sounds a good idea," she said once Kerr spoke about taking her home.  She brought her arms up and hugged her sandals to her chest, getting no warmth from them but gaining a little bit of comfort.  They slowly walked in silence halfway back to the car before she spoke again.

"I enjoyed tonight," she said, not wanting to wait until they were in the car and she was delivered to her place in case he was eager to race off in his embarrassment.  "And I want to do it again.  If we did something rash tonight, there would be no more \'again\'," she explained.

I rejected you because I don\'t want to lose you, her words meant.  She knew Kerr was intelligent enough to understand.
INFUSCO : Ben : Hugh : Lan Bao : Mick : Todd : Vincent : Win :
HALFLIGHT : Graille Min Sayer :

Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #21 on: July 09, 2011, 08:07:48 PM »
"If we did something rash, there\'d be no more of a lot of things," he sighed in agreement, thinking that he\'d be in trouble with Ben if he even came home with her blood in him.  He anticipated they\'d fight but he didn\'t know that for sure; he\'d been met with surprising leniency on the Cain matter... Jenna was on their list of agreed \'no go\' things, though.  Her and Ichabod.  That much they had got sorted and Ben knew what he was like when he fed, especially from a former lover... Ben would ban him from seeing her on that principle alone, he thought.

Dourly, he pondered whether such an eventuality might be for the best.  He was hardly at his most controlled, his most lucid when she was near him.  Ben would go with him to an opera or a ballet if he wished it, he didn\'t need Jenna for that, so what was his goal?  He had to admit that it was simply... proximity.  He liked being close to her, he missed her company, he wanted her as a friend.  She was one of the few good things in his life that hadn\'t been tainted.  Mainly because she was a fuckload smarter than he was.

"I\'ll do better.  I\'ll get better... at this," he promised, his expression hopeful as he gazed at her, his brown eyes large in the night.

Offline Trillian

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #22 on: July 10, 2011, 05:47:48 AM »
The duplicitous nature of her internal reaction at his words concerned her. What she truly wanted she wouldn\'t get, and this was why she was pushing him away, as she\'d told him. He understood, so why couldn\'t she push her emotions into that place?

She\'d always found it hard to get over her lovers. Just as well she\'d only had a few (and had very little contact with the other men she\'d invited into her bed, mostly an email or phone call here or there as they jetsetted about the world). Obviously she had a problem letting go.

They arrived at the car before she replied.

"We both will," she said, knowing she had to take responsibility for their flirting also.  They had to tone it down, they really did, or things would get too intense between them.
INFUSCO : Ben : Hugh : Lan Bao : Mick : Todd : Vincent : Win :
HALFLIGHT : Graille Min Sayer :

Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #23 on: July 10, 2011, 11:27:17 AM »
He smiled - sadly, though he was trying to bolster them both out of this horrid funk of guilt with the gesture - as he opened the car door for her.  As she moved to get in, he placed a hand on her waist and delayed her, leaning his face down beside hers and nuzzling his cheek against hers, knowing the sea air and lack of blood made him icy to the touch - and her extra hot.

"Thank you," he said softly, "for being the sane one."

Offline Trillian

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Re: Romantic Notions
« Reply #24 on: July 10, 2011, 12:17:45 PM »
She smiled warmly when he nuzzled her, feeling as though she didn\'t really deserve the thanks because she\'d been flirting with him just as much as he with her.  She didn\'t refuse his thanks or pull away, figuring it was a nicer way to end their night like this, with his cold cheek on hers.

Jenna was already looking forward to their next outing.
INFUSCO : Ben : Hugh : Lan Bao : Mick : Todd : Vincent : Win :
HALFLIGHT : Graille Min Sayer :