Crane stopped so abruptly as he noticed the writing on the wall that Abbie almost stumbled on him for she was completely submersed in her phone call.
Crane turned and took the phone from her small hands, depositing it in his coat pocket. Abbie watched him dumbfounded, as his index finger ran ever so gently over her cheek and then to her neck. His long fingers held her in place, his eyes studying her face as she had seen him doing so many times with an old papyrus. With his free hand, he pulled her closer encircling her waist, her eyes were dark like chocolate candy and he simply felt like devouring her, Abbie licked her lips and blinked - it was all the invitation he needed - and ignoring all the gentleman classes he had ever received, he pecked her lips softly.
Abbie relaxed at the touch of his lips on hers; they were warm and tasted of coffee and cinnamon rolls – their breakfast that morning - she was about to pull him to her and make this an actual kiss when he stepped away from her and smiled, his blue eyes dancing with mischief.
"I hope I didn't overstep any boundaries, Miss Mills. But the wall, well, it was rushing me to kiss you. Who am I not to respect it?" he babbled, showing the wall on their side with a flourish.
It read, "Kiss her now...now!"
"Ah, the wall. I see." Abbie rolled her eyes and licked her lips trying to suppress a grin, "You call that a kiss, Captain?"
"No, I do not. That was merely a touch of lips," he replied.
"Well, then, by all means, do show me how 18th century people really kiss." her eyebrow spiked up as she dared him.
"First of all, kissing in an art and it is private." he stubbornly told her.
"You just kissed me" she accused.
"No, no. I merely pecked your lips. Those are two very different things."
"Unbelievable" she breathed out, pacing away from him.
"By all means Miss Mills," he said as she crossed her arms and turned to look at him defiantly. "Abbie, kissing you is something I have dreamt of for quite some time. But I'd rather kiss you inside our home where we wouldn't be called for duty or be interrupted by Master Reynolds."
"Are you even for real?" Abbie cried out, throwing her hands in the air and running them through her short curly hair, trying to compose herself.
"Excuse me-" he tilted his head trying to understand her meaning.
"Are you jealous of Reynolds?" She asked, without losing a beat.
Crane almost jumped out of his skin, stammering, "I...I...am most certainly n-" she narrowed her deep brown eyes at him and he answered in defeat, "yes, I most certainly am."
Abbie put one of her hands on her waist, snorted and blinked, "God, of all the men in the world why did you send me the most ridiculous one?"
"Abbie?" he whispered.
"What do you want from me, Crane? You can't continue treating me like some princess and not do something about it, it's killing me. I'm getting tired of waiting, tired of hoping that you'll see me standing right here." She pointed out gesturing with her hands.
He walked closer to her, grabbed one of her hands and pulled her closer to him, their bodies almost touching, he could see the beginning of tears in her beautiful chocolate eyes and it broke his heart because he knew her pain, her insecurity was his fault.
"I was afraid, terrified of losing you. And when I did, I was adrift for months looking for any clue to bring you back to me. And then when you were here all I wanted to do was hug you and kiss you and I knew, Abbie, I knew that if I did those things, I would scare you away. I could withstand it if you were angry or if you were pushing me away, but I could never withstand you hating me, it would be too much." he vowed to her, as he drew circles on the top of her hand and then brought it close to his mouth and tenderly kissed each knuckle.
"I wanted you to kiss me. Actually, I needed you to kiss me. Damn it, Crane, every single moment I was there you were there with me, in my mind, in my bones, somehow in my own blood. And I was so alone. I was craving your touch when I came back and you…" she allowed the words to pour out of her, while she watched their intertwined hands.
He kissed her. He didn't care whether there was an audience or not. His Lieutenant needed him and he was giving his all to her, no holding back. Her lips were soft, warm, so damn inviting and intoxicating, she was like the sea and he just wanted to dive in. Crane brought her close, his arms encircling her waist and supporting her back, her delicate form secured in his arms as he kissed her with abandon.
When breathing started to became an issue he peppered kisses on her cheeks, her eyelids, hid his face on her neck, delivering a kiss there as well.
"That was quite bottled up, hmm?" She was breathless, but the happiness shining in her eyes were all the incentive he needed to kiss her all over again.
But before doing so, he murmured in another language, because he was that much of a tease, "Te amo, Grace."
"What? Is that Spanish?" Abbie asked, tracing his lower lip with her thumb, and biting her own, eager to taste him again.
"Latin, actually. It means "I love you", and I do with all my heart and all my soul and I beg of you to take mercy on this soul and love me too." He gave her a little Eskimo kiss and waited. Abbie stood on her tiptoes, her chest touching his, her arms went around his neck and she played with the hair on his nape, curling it between her fingers, then she pecked his lips, his cheek, nuzzled her nose to his. She felt their breaths mingle and closed her eyes, pressing her mouth to his.
It was a slow, languid kiss, him savoring and exploring her mouth, her moaning softly as he pressured her into the wall and pulled her up, suddenly she was thanking all the gods it was dark and the only light illuminating them was extremely poor as he ravished her with kisses stealing her breath away. Crane simply didn't seem to care for decorum even though anyone passing through could see their position, Abbie's legs around his waist, one of his arms supporting her back while his other hand was firmly pressed on her lovely backside.
"Crane?" Abbie called, resting her face on his chest, her voice filled with lust.
"Yes, my dearest?" He answered, somehow collected.
How dare him? How dare him to be so horny and still in control? She could feel his desire and the trembling of his body, so in tune with hers.
"Je t'aime, ti amo, I love you," Abbie told him and he smiled dreamily at her, letting her body slide from his, still keeping her close.
"That's is what I call kissing," he told her smugly. Abbie laughed and punched his arm playfully, taking his left hand, passing his arm over her waist and tugging herself to his side, much too exhilarated to care that they both looked like horny teenagers. He kissed her hair as they resumed walking.
"You can show me the lengths of kissing once we are home."
"Without a doubt, my lady. Without a doubt."