Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. Not beta-read; don't shoot.
The Best Is Yet To Come
"You think you've flown before / but you ain't left the ground.
…wait till I hold you near / wait till you see that sunshine place…"
- C.Y. Coleman/Carolyn Leigh, 'The Best Is Yet To Come', WB Music Corp, 1964.
Leia leant over and snatched up a hand towel from the table before slapping him with it, stinging his face with the corner of it in the way that a damp cloth does. Han Solo winced, then grinned.
"One day," she snapped in a barely controlled voice, "Someone is going to wipe that insufferable smirk off your face for good."
"For good?" he murmured and rubbed the back of his hand against his cheek where she'd caught him, "You wanna have a go?"
She glowered at him, folding the towel up because it happened to be in her hands, and then hung it neatly over the back of a chair. "Why is it that everything you say sounds like you mean something else?"
He looked her over in that slow appraising way of his, which both irritated her intensely - and made her feel warm beneath his gaze.
"That's cause if I spoke out clearly, farm boy here would jump down my throat for not treating you like a lady."
Luke glanced up absently from the bowl he'd been levitating and asked, "Huh?"
"Nothing," Leia answered curtly, then gave Han a cranky look, "Just the smuggler talking big again."
"Oh. Right." Luke shrugged, glanced at the pair of them curiously, and then went back to concentrating on his bowl. He was in the process of constructing a small tower of crockery in mid space and it was requiring his full attention.
Han rolled his eyes at the younger man and then, when Leia turned and left with a flounce, he slid his boots from the table where he'd been resting them and followed her out into the corridor.
She glared at him over her shoulder. "Haven't you got anything better to do? You could - I don't know - sit and meditate on your many character flaws, for example."
He chuckled, "You know, if you keep it up, a man might actually start to think that you didn't like him."
She crossed her arms defensively over her breasts. "Maybe I don't."
He rested a hand against the wall beside her head and she realised suddenly that he'd cornered her again. How was it that this man kept getting her cornered?
"Well, now," he drawled smoothly, "about that little moment of ours, before that damned droid barged in on us..."
She went slightly pink and responded coolly, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
He grinned mischievously, "Oh, you know exactly what I'm talking about, princess. And I'm telling you, that's just the warm up. Some day, real soon, you're gunna work out what it is that you actually want. The best is yet to come."
He leant in closer and for a second she thought he was going to kiss her, but then he laughed and strolled off.
The best is yet to come? What kind of ridiculous line was that, then?
Now, if she could just stop her stupid pulse from racing...