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(o.O) Lounging Bunny (c) Productions Presents
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(Chapter One)

The Meet

~ . ~
"When I saw you I fell in love. And you smiled because you knew."
Arrigo Boito
~ . ~

Slipping into her blue denim jeans topped by a white spaghetti strap and her black leather jacket, Elizabeth Webber mentally prepares herself for another shift at the local bar known as Jake's. Many questioned Jake's decision to hire a woman instead of a typical masculine bouncer. After the first fight that broke out in the bar, all doubters were silenced when Elizabeth laid both men flat out. Her many years of defense classes at its finest.

Grabbing her car keys from the side table, she quickly makes her way to her car and takes off. Tonight's a big night for the bar as its hosting a birthday party for none other than Sonny Corinthos, the towns most feared mob boss and Jake's most prized customer. It was obvious that a man like Sonny Corinthos will be sporting his own security detail, but it didn't stop her from doing her own job. They'll be mainly stationed outside, leaving the majority of the inside to her.

"Hey, Jake." Elizabeth greets her boss as she hangs up her leather jacket behind the bar. "Did I miss anything?"

"Nothing special." she assures as she pours Elizabeth a shot of tequila. "Tonight should be relatively quiet, but keep your eyes and ears open just the same."

"Noted." Elizabeth says as she scans the room for her initial assessment of the place. "I'm gonna secure the inventory before I start making my rounds. You got it covered?"

"I think I'll manage." Jake chuckles before playfully smacking her with the wash rag. "Go on. I'll call you when the party arrives."

Downing one more shot, Elizabeth makes her way to the back room to check on the inventory, needing to ensure that the new locks are doing their job in keeping out the idiots that keep trying to steal their stock. The new lock that they had installed is supposed to burglary proof. Something she had the company put in writing, holding them legally responsible for anything stolen due to a break in.

Once she certain that the inventory is locked up tight, she makes her usual rounds around the club, making sure that the doors are incapable of being opened from the outside. From there she makes her way to the back alley known as delivery lane to make sure there aren't any suspicious people lingering around. This last month alone she had to call the cops on three men hanging by the delivery entrance.

"Everything's secure." Elizabeth informs Jake as she gets back inside. "They here yet?"

"Just pulled up out front." Jake confirms. "They should be making their way inside soon enough."

"Good." Elizabeth replies. "Gives me enough time to go over the safe word with the girls."

"This should be good." Jake smirks. "What's tonight's safe word?"

"Platypus."

"A platypus at table three." Jake laughs. "Rolls right off the tongue."

"Doesn't it?" Elizabeth shakes her head. "Well, I better get to it."

Rounding up the girls, she gets an overall assessment of their moods, laying out their responsibilities accordingly before letting them know the safe word for the night. For the most part, Elizabeth tries to dish out responsibilities according their mood as well as time of the month. If they're in a decent mood and aren't being visited by their monthly friend, she gives them a more customer centered responsibility. Those less inclined to be social will get assigned duties like clearing tables and wiping it down, jukebox duties, and performing onstage.

~ . ~

Directing the men to their positions, Jason Morgan does what's necessary to ensure that the party starts and ends without any threat from their enemies. As much as he hates birthdays and making a big deal out of something so trivial, he knows it means a lot to Sonny and he will do whatever it takes to make sure they're safe while they celebrate.

"Everything's secure." Jason informs Sonny once he has the men set in their positions. "You sure I don't need to secure the bar?"

"Its handled." Sonny assures as he pulls open the door. "Come on. The men have the bar secured outside and Jake's new bouncer has it secured inside. Tonight's a night to celebrate."

Following Sonny into the bar, he wants to question the reliability of the bouncer, still unaware of who was hired. He and Sonny both offered one of their men, free of charge, but Jake had shut them down quickly. Not even a second of hesitation. As they made their way towards the table, he started to question the choice of bouncer even further as an argument started brewing just by the bar.

Just as he was about to walk over to break the argument up, not needing the drama tonight, Jason was stopped in his tracks when the woman grabbed the man's wrist and twists his arm behind his back, successfully slamming him down onto the table. Eyes wide, he turns to look at Sonny, who merely stood there with a smirk on his face.

"Step foot in this bar again and I'll break more than just your wrist." she states before yanking him to his feet and shoving him towards the door. "You want a piece of meat, there's a butcher shop two streets over, jackass!"

"Impressed?" Sonny questions Jason before turning his gaze back to the bouncer. "Liz."

"Mr. Corinthos." Elizabeth walks over to them, gaining Jason's full attention. "Happy birthday."

"Thank you." Sonny replies before gesturing to him. "Have you met Jason?"

"Can't say I've had the pleasure." Elizabeth looks him over before holding out her hand. "Elizabeth Webber at your service. Anything you need, short of a hooker, stripper, prostitute or drugs, I'm your girl."

"Thanks?" Jason replies, unsure of what he was supposed to say that, shaking her hand before glancing at Sonny.

"Anyway, now that that ass is out of here, the bar is officially secured." Elizabeth informs Sonny. "I'll be around, so, just let me know if there's anything I can do for you."

"Will do." Sonny assures. "I hope you'll be able to enjoy your night."

"Always do." Elizabeth assures before making her way over to the bar to talk to Jake.

"Jake hired a girl?" Jason finds himself asking as they make their way to the pool table.

"Wouldn't you?" Sonny counters as he sets up the balls. "Hell, if she was willing, I'd hire her in a heartbeat. She gets the job done a lot faster and more efficiently than half the newbies."

Watching her as she interacts with Jake and the waitresses, Jason had a sudden urge to get to know the feisty brunette. Strangely enough it had nothing to do with how well she handled the jackass earlier, though that would be reason enough to want to get to know her, but it was something else entirely. Something in her eyes that had him questioning the persona she pushes forward. He couldn't explain exactly why he wanted to know her, but all he knows is that he does.

~ . ~

She could feel him watching her through the night, but it wasn't like the other men that have walked through that bar. His gaze didn't send chills down her spine or force her to throw her defense up and call him out on his perverted eye rape. No. This was different. Whenever she looks his way, it sent a flutter in her stomach when she finds he's already looking at her. Every now and then she'll smile to acknowledge him before continuing on with her night. As much as she'd like to socialize, she takes her job completely seriously and that meant protecting the safety of those in the bar, especially the girls.

"Hey." Jake calls her over. "You're up for your break. Why don't you use that time to talk to the guy before I'm the one that needs the cigarette from watching you sex each other up from across the room?"

"That is not what's happening."

"No?" Jake laughs. "Here. Take this over to him and see where it gets you."

"I know where it'll get me." Elizabeth pushes the beer back to Jake. "I don't date, Jake. You know that."

"I'm not saying to marry the guy." Jake counters, pushing the beer back to her. "All I'm saying is to test the waters. You never know, kid."

"Any chance of you dropping this?"

"No chance in hell."

"Fine." Elizabeth picks up the beer before downing a shot of tequila and turning away from the bar to look at him. "When this goes to hell, I'm coming after you first."

"I'll take my chances." Jake says, giving her a shove from behind. "Go get him tiger."

Glaring at Jake, she takes a deep breath before making her way over to Jason. As soon as she took the first step towards him, she immediately regretted it, not knowing what she was supposed to even say to him. The more steps she took, the more her mind continued to floor into overdrive. This is crazy. Why is she doing this? What the hell was she thinking? She should have just dealt with Jake's nagging instead of putting herself out like this. She's an idiot. That has to be it. She's a complete...

"Hi." he voices, cutting off her current thoughts, making her realize that he had met her halfway.

"Hi." she voices with a slight smirk, holding out the beer for him. "Need a fresh one?"

"Sure." he smiles slightly, taking the beer from her hands. "What about you?"

"I'm more of a tequila kind of girl."

"Okay." Jason voices before stopping the closest waitress to him. "Do you mind giving this back to Jake and bringing us a couple shots of her best tequila?"

"Not at all, Mr. Morgan." Danielle replies with a bright smile. "Coming right up."

"Thank you." Jason replies before gesturing to an empty table. "Would you like to sit?"

"Sure." she replies, not failing to notice the amount of eyes that turned to them as they sit together, mostly the men that are there celebrating Sonny's birthday. "You drink tequila?"

"Sometimes." he admits. "Not usually while I'm out, though."

"Two shots of tequila." Danielle voices, placing the shots down along with the bottle. "Jake figured you'd want the bottle."

"Thanks, Danielle." Elizabeth says with a smile. "Tell her to just add it to my tab."

"No." Jason places a hundred dollar bill on the tray. "Keep the change as your tip."

"Thank you, Mr. Morgan." Danielle smiles brightly as she walks away.

"Don't tell me you're that guy."

"What guy?"

"The guy that can't have a woman pay his way."

"That depends." he counters. "Are you the kind of woman that can't have a man pay her way?"

"Not as long as its for the right reasons." she says simply. "And not because of some twisted idiotic idea that the man should pay for everything."

"Okay." he replies. "I ordered the bottle, so, I paid for it. If you were the one to order it, I'd have no issues with you paying for it."

"Okay."

Taking her shot, she raises it slightly to him before downing it swiftly, raising an eyebrow at him to see if he'd do the same. Once the first two shots are downed, it was pretty much a party from there. Shot after shot, they down one after another until the bottle goes dry. Rising to her feet, extremely carefully, she meets his eyes and isn't entirely sure how it happened, but somehow she ends up straddling him and running her fingers through his hair, staring deeply into his seductively deep blue eyes.

"I finally get it." she whispers, rubbing her lips together. "I finally get what kind of guy you are."

"What kind of guy is that?" he questions as his hands grip the sides of her waist.

"The kind that, if I were to let you, you'd get in deep." she replies, her eyes dropping to his lips. "Deep enough to break me."

Before he could respond to her accusation, Elizabeth claims his lips swiftly, needing at least one taste before she pulls away. Just one chance to taste what the real thing is like before she bottles up that part of herself once more and forgets the mere idea of having anything close to a real relationship. Love, she has learnt, only breeds trouble and pain. She can't and won't go down that path again. She will, however, torture herself with a brief taste of what that could be like. For even she is not immune to the temptation he presents.

"And that can't happen." she whispers as she pulls away, meeting his eyes one last time. "Thanks for the drinks...and the kiss."

Note: Thank you for your reviews, favorites, and follows from my first story (If You're Not For Me). Truly appreciate the interest. Thank you! To be honest, I was terrified of putting up my first story, especially on a recycled User ID, but I'm grateful for the response. Hope to hear more from all of you as we continue to enjoy the journey of portraying our beautiful Liason. Till the next update...