Cassandra kept cutting her eyes over at the tall, silver-haired man across the workroom from her desk. He was perched at his own high desk, busily translating some arcane text or other. She couldn't remember which one he had said, but she didn't really care, either. The others were scattered around the room, working on their own projects, chatting and laughing amongst themselves.
But the pretty young redhead couldn't concentrate on her own work at the moment. All she wanted right now was to walk over to him and run her fingers through that magnificent mane of hair as she kissed him hard. She could imagine what it would feel like, too—that wonderfully thick, longish hair sliding softly over the skin of her fingers as she combed them over his scalp. The taste of the tea and bitter-orange marmalade from their tea break a couple of hours ago still on his warm, clever tongue.
The Librarian sighed quietly to herself as she leaned forward and propped her elbows on the desk, dropping her chin into her hands. Unfortunately, Jenkins was rather old-fashioned when it came to public displays of affection, which she thought was rather silly. Everyone knew that she and Jenkins were a couple, everyone knew that he was completely besotted with her, everyone knew she was living with him, everyone knew they were banging each other like rabbits—yet he was still uncomfortable letting them actually see he and Cassandra so much as holding hands or kissing. To him, it was 'unseemly and rather common', as he put it. For a man who enjoyed sex—and he enjoyed it a lot—he was also oddly uptight about it at the same time. Cassandra sighed to herself in puzzlement at the conundrum.
Jenkins slammed his book shut and stretched his long arms and back slowly, spine crackling quietly in relief. Cassandra glanced over at him, and did a double-take as she realized that he was casually staring at her. When he had her attention, he flicked his eyes towards the stacks on the second floor. He then picked up the book he had been working from and carried it with him as he climbed the stairs to the balcony level, as though he was merely reshelving the book. After a couple of minutes, Cassandra grabbed one of the books littering her own desk and nonchalantly headed up the stairs after him.
As Cassandra passed by them, Jake and Ezekiel exchanged knowing glances and ducked their heads as they tried to muffle their snickering. Eve gently shook her head at them as she bit back a smile of her own, her eyes following the redhead bouncing up the steps as she trailed the Caretaker. Did those two really think they were fooling anyone?
Cassandra topped the stairs and started walking slowly along the ends of the ranges, not sure where Jenkins had gone. Suddenly, a large hand reached out from around a range and took her arm, pulling her into the space between the tall range of books and a wall. Pressing her up against the dark oak paneling, Jenkins slipped one hand behind her head and the other around her waist. He leaned against her as he planted his lips on hers, kissing her slowly as his tongue slid maddeningly along her lower lip, then darted between her teeth. Cassandra closed her eyes and whimpered softly as she returned his kiss, her fingers making their way to his head and having their way at last with his neatly combed hair.
By the time they broke apart, breathless and dizzy, Cassandra could feel a familiar bulge brushing against her through the Caretaker's trousers.
"Is that a rabbit in your pocket, or are you just excited to see me?" she teased, giggling quietly as her hands slid down his long body to rest on his firm buttocks. She gave them a hard squeeze as she roughly pulled his hips toward her, causing the immortal to suck in a hissing breath when his crotch ground against her hipbone.
"You wicked woman," the older man growled hungrily. "Did you think I hadn't noticed you lustfully eyeing me all afternoon? For shame...!" He kissed her again, then began trailing quick kisses down her throat. The Librarian tittered softly as his lips tickled her skin.
"I guess you'll have to teach me a lesson about having more decorum, then, won't you?" she teased playfully, pulling his hips to herself again. Her blue eyes looked up into his coffee-colored ones, and any resistance Jenkins had been harboring evaporated. He grabbed the redhead's hand.
"Come," he ordered her gruffly, his voice rough with his own lust, and pulled her out of the stacks. He led her deeper into the Library, making several turns along the way. Finally, Jenkins grabbed the handle of a large wooden door, painted a dark red, and shoved it open, dragging Cassandra inside. The second they were clear of the doorway, the eager man pinned the Librarian against the wall, his mouth devouring hers as he sharply kicked the door shut.
Barely ten minutes after Cassandra followed Jenkins up the stairs, Eve, Jacob and Ezekiel were surprised as they beheld the Caretaker, his face dark and hard as granite, his hair mussed, stomping back down the staircase like an angry, vengeful god. He stalked back to his desk and took his seat, roughly opening a book and snatching a pen from the holder in front of him and he started scribbling furiously.
The Guardian and the remaining Librarians exchanged puzzled glances and silent shrugs. Eve turned back towards the simmering immortal. "Um...Jenkins?" she asked apprehensively.
"Colonel Baird," he snapped icily, not looking up from his book.
She glanced back at the others again, taken aback by his tone. "Uh, are you okay? You seem a little upset..."
The Caretaker kept his eyes glued to his work. "I'm just peachy, Colonel, thank you for asking," he sneered.
Eve was just about to snark back at the moody old man when suddenly Cassandra came rushing down the stairs, her brow furrowed. As soon as her feet hit the floor she ran directly to Jenkins's desk.
"Jenkins, I'm sorry!" she blurted breathlessly, full of remorse. She glanced around nervously at the others. "Um, could we please go somewhere to talk?"
Jenkins sighed deeply. He deliberately laid the pen down and closed the book. He placed his hands on the desktop and looked blandly into her eyes.
"No." He stood and marched from the room in the direction of his lab.
Cassandra turned and looked after him as she began to anxiously chew on a lemon-yellow fingernail, but she didn't follow him this time. She glanced guiltily at Eve.
"Cassandra, what's going on?" asked the Guardian, totally confused.
"OMIGOD, guys!" she squealed loudly in excitement, her mood doing 150 degree turn as she rushed over to Baird's table. "Did you know that the Library has a BABY ANIMAL NURSERY?!" Without waiting for an answer, the petite redhead bounced on her toes and clapped her hands as the words rushed out of her mouth.
"Baby animals of ALL kinds! Baby goats, baby sheep, baby rabbits, baby llamas, baby ducks, baby griffins, baby hellhounds, baby pigs, even a baby unicorn—A BABY UNICORN, EVE!"
"Okay, Red, okay, settle down," ordered Baird, holding her hands out in front of her. "What's that got to do with the foul mood Jenkins is in all of a sudden?"
Cassandra's buoyant mood deflated like a punctured balloon, and she looked around at the two young men watching them intently. Eve took the hint.
"Stone, Jones," she barked. "Why don't you two go see if Flynn needs any help in the Archives?"
A sour look crossed Ezekiel's face. "Aw, come on!" he griped. Eve stared him down until he and Jake got up and left the room, grumbling about women and their pathological need for girl talk. As soon as they were gone, Eve turned back to Cassandra, looking at her expectantly.
"Well," the younger woman began nervously. "We were kinda…you know…kissing in the stacks, sort of, and…things were getting a little…heated…so Jenkins took me to one of the rooms in the Library, for privacy, and…suddenly, just as things were getting…heated up again…and then suddenly there were all of these baby goats and lambs and…"
"And you got all excited and distracted by the petting zoo and left Jenkins…" the tall blonde waved a hand in front of her as she struggled for the right word.
"Kind of hanging, yeah," Cassandra finished, squirming uncomfortably as she looked up at Baird. "Was he really mad?"
"Uh, yeah, he was really mad," the Guardian confirmed. "Can't say that I blame him, either, Cassandra. You can't just leave a guy…hanging, like that! How would you feel if he'd left you...'hanging' while he chased after…whatever it is a Jenkins would chase after?"
The Librarian wrung her hands, a look of distaste coming to her face. "Should I go and talk to him, do you think?" she asked apprehensively. "I mean, maybe I should wait until he's in a better mood…?"
"No," Baird cut in sharply. "You need to go talk him right now, Cassandra! He's in the lab. Go apologize to him." Cassandra turned towards the lab, but the Guardian reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Go and apologize—after you show me the baby unicorn first…!"
Jenkins sat at the work table in his lab, a large white marble mortar in front of him. With the long, heavy pestle in his right hand, he viciously pounded and ground to dust a sizable chunk of dried dragon's blood. It was a good way to work out the frustration he was feeling right now. Plus, one could never have too much powdered dragon's blood on hand. As he worked, he tried to put out of his mind what had happened in the Animal Nursery. He wasn't having any luck, though.
It was his own fault; he should've paid more attention to where he was going. He'd meant to take Cassandra to the Hot Springs Room—the idea of the two of them cavorting in a pool of luxuriously hot spring water had been very appealing as things heated up between them in the stacks. Unfortunately, in his distracted state of mind Jenkins made a wrong turn and ended up in the Animal Nursery; and of ALL the rooms he could've ended up in, it just HAD to be the Animal Nursery! WHY couldn't he have noticed his mistake BEFORE he'd gotten himself all worked up into a lust-fueled lather? The second Cassandra heard that blasted baby goat start bleating, any amorous feelings she had for him were gone, evaporated like smoke, poof! Leaving poor Jenkins, of course, high and dry…
Stupid baby goats, the Caretaker thought sourly as he rammed the pestle into the bowl of the mortar. He stopped, suddenly realizing how sexually suggestive the action of grinding the pestle into the mortar was. Oh, that's just wonderful, he thought. The lab equipment was getting more action today than he was. In a fit of petulance, Jenkins jammed the pestle several times in quick succession into the mortar, sending bits of dragon's blood flying in all directions, then shoved the tools away from him across the table in disgust.
"Was it good for you?" he acidly asked the unresponsive mortar. He took a deep breath and blew it out of his mouth as he ran his hands through his hair. His life was so much more complicated now with Cassandra in it, but at the same time he didn't even want to imagine his life without her in it. Vive l'amor, he thought sarcastically.
Stupid baby goats.
The immortal heard the door to the lab open behind him and then click quietly closed. Straightening his back, he quickly pulled the mortar and pestle back to himself and began grinding the dragon's blood again, as though he'd been absorbed in the work all this time. He recognized the soft, tentative steps of Cassandra as she approached him; he intensified the grinding, pretending he hadn't heard her enter.
"Um, Jenkins?" the young woman said apprehensively. Jenkins continued grinding without looking at her.
"Yes, Miss Cillian; is there something I can do for you?" he responded, unable to keep the peevishness completely out of his voice. "Fetch you a bottle of milk for the baby goats, perhaps…?"
The Librarian rolled her eyes and sighed. Boy, he really IS in a snit, she thought. She took a deep breath and forged ahead.
"I'm really sorry about the goats, Jenkins," she said repentantly.
"I should hope so," he grumbled in irritation. "You scamper off to play with the livestock and literally left me standing there, all alone, with my di— I mean, my manhood…in my hand!"
"Baby animals are kind of like my kryptonite," she offered, laughing weakly.
"So I noticed," came the unamused retort. Cassandra almost gave up and left the lab, but she suddenly had an inspiration. She slipped behind the Caretaker as he was hunched over his work, and gently slid her arms around his neck. He instantly tensed up as she barely kissed his neck and placed her lips close to his ear.
"There IS one animal, though, that I'm even more powerless against," she murmured flirtatiously, her warm breath tickling his earlobe and cheek. Her voice suddenly became even more high-pitched than usual and sticky-sweet. "And that's my great big, warm, cuddly Papa Bear!"
Jenkins immediately stopped grinding, his hands frozen in place, and he slowly straightened in his seat, slightly turning his head towards the redheaded temptress behind him. He'd not heard that silly nickname since the Sesselman affair.
"Humph!" he grunted, though Cassandra noted his tone was no longer angry, and the muscles of his shoulders became slightly less tense. She reached further over his shoulders to run her hands slowly over his chest. Almost imperceptibly, he leaned back into her as she spoke again.
"Sugar Rose is sorry for teasing you like that, she's was a very bad girl to do something so cruel," she wheedled breathily, then began nibbling on the Caretaker's soft, warm earlobe. Cassandra felt his chest expand as he slowly sucked in a deep breath.
"Yes, well," he all but sighed in response. "I suppose there was no real harm done. It was just rather frustrating…"
"Of course it was," she purred softly, the tip of her tongue just brushing along the line of his ear. He turned his head towards her a little more, his shoulders dropping entirely.
"After all the nice things Papa Bear's done for his Sugar Rose—to go and repay him like that!" she pouted, moving her hands to run slowly up and down his long arms.
"You know what Papa Bear should do?" she asked enticingly, her voice husky. Jenkins merely shook his head, eyebrows arching questioningly.
"He should punish her!" she whispered into his ear. He took a sharp breath and swallowed hard.
"Do you know what Papa Bear should do?" she wickedly continued. He again could only shake his head.
"He should give her a good spanking!"
Jenkins jumped from the stool he was sitting on and away from Cassandra as though she was poisonous, his eyes wide and slightly panicked as he whirled around to face her. "A WHAT?" he yelped.
It was all Cassandra could do to not burst into laughter at the look on his face. She had started out with the intention of just smoothing Jenkins's ruffled feathers, but now, on a wicked impulse, she wanted to see how far outside of his sexual 'comfort zone' she could get him to go.
Smiling sweetly, she patted the seat of the stool, inviting the startled man to sit down. "Come on, Papa Bear, have a seat!" She continued to pat the stool lightly as she reached her other hand out to him. He reluctantly took it, and allowed her to draw him forward, gently push him back onto the stool. Once he was in place and she was sure he wasn't going to bolt again, she hurried over to the door and locked it so they wouldn't be disturbed.
She walked back towards the immortal slowly, unbuttoning her top as she went. She could see by the look on his face that he was torn between the urge to flee and his curiosity to see what was next. She peeled off the thin cotton cardigan and the bright, flower-print blouse underneath and let them drop to the cement floor. She quickly unzipped her skirt next, and slid in down her long legs. She stepped out of the tiny garment and slipped her shoes off, leaving her to stand before him in only her panties and bra. She came forward and lightly draped her arms over his shoulders, then leaned in to softly kiss the barely-breathing man. She pulled back and regarded him through half-closed eyes.
"You ready, Papa Bear?" she cooed playfully. All Jenkins could do was blink stupidly in response, unable to look away.
Smiling coyly, Cassandra ran her hands down her body and beneath her panties, pushing them slowly down and off. She flicked them away with her toe and stepped over to Jenkins's side. She bent over and carefully laid herself across his lap, wrapping her arm around his waist to keep from sliding off; he automatically raised his hands to steady her and hold her in place. She could actually feel his heart pounding.
"I'm ready, Papa Bear," she said, soft and throaty. "Give your naughty Sugar Rose a good hard smack…"
Jenkins looked down at the incredible sight laid out before him, the nearly naked body of his Cassandra stretched across his lap, her small ass bent over his left thigh temptingly. Holding onto her with his right hand, he lifted his left and gently stroked her back, his fingers barely daring to touch her pale flesh. He didn't like the bra; it had to go. He clumsily unhooked the offending undergarment with one hand, the band springing away as the last eyehook was undone. He then ran his hand unhindered along her spine and over her buttocks. Cassandra remained silent, waiting.
He hesitated. She seemed so small, so vulnerable in this position, and Jenkins didn't like the idea of intentionally inflicting pain on anyone, especially this woman that he loved so much. He knew of such sexual proclivities, of course; he shuddered slightly as the memory of one especially harrowing party at the Marquis de Sade's flitted through his mind. It was hard for him to understand why anyone would want to be hurt.
Yet there was another part of him that was very much aroused right now at the prospect, though he couldn't understand why that should be. Perhaps it was a reawakening of the feelings of dominance, the desire to control, to conquer—long buried and dormant in the ancient warrior and almost forgotten.
He could feel her breasts pressing into his right thigh. His left hand rested on the Librarian's smooth, bare buttock, silky and firm as a ripe peach beneath his palm. He gave it a gentle, testing squeeze. Cassandra sighed softly and her free hand slipped under the leg of his trousers to lightly stroke his calf. He felt his manhood rousing to life.
He rubbed her buttock gently. "Is Sugar Rose truly sorry for teasing her Papa Bear?" he rumbled softly.
"Yes," she said.
"Yes, what?" he rumbled again, caught up in the game in spite of himself.
Cassandra smiled to herself. "Yes, sir!" she said sweetly.
Jenkins raised is hand slowly and took a deep breath, then brought it sharply down on the young woman's buttock, the report echoing briefly around the lab.
"OH!" Cassandra squeaked loudly in surprise. He'd struck her much harder than she was expecting, but not intolerably so. She made a point of squirming enticingly in his lap, and was rewarded with the feel of that bulge in his trousers again, pressing against her side.
Jenkins, in the meantime, watched in fascination as a light-pink, hand-shaped patch appeared on his Librarian's milk-white cheek. His right hand tightened around her shoulder unconsciously to hold her still. He raised his hand and smacked her ass again, his fingers stinging slightly. Cassandra cried out softly and flinched again. She raked her nails down the back of his calf, sending a thrill up his leg and directly into his hardening groin.
He slapped her ass a third time, causing her to whimper as she squirmed against him. She grasped his calf muscle, digging her nails into his skin. He closed his eyes tightly, wincing against the sudden, sharp pain, and brought his hand down blindly onto her a fourth time, producing a gasping yelp from the prone woman. By now her buttock was bright red.
"Have you learned your lesson, Sugar Rose?" he ground out hoarsely. "Have you learned not to tease Papa Bear and make him angry?" She wriggled again in his lap, grinding her ribcage into his hard crotch, drawing a low grunt from the immortal.
"Yes, sir!" she whined contritely. "I'll never tease you again!" Jenkins rubbed his hand on her buttock slowly, leaning over to growl into her ear.
"I'm going to give you one more, just to make sure you remember..." He lifted his hand and brought it down once more, harder than the others. Cassandra cried out loudly, tears stinging her eyes. The Caretaker rubbed her buttock again, soothingly this time, and he loosened the grip of his other hand.
"You can get up now," Jenkins told her. Cassandra stood up carefully, her loosened bra falling from her body to join the rest of her clothes on the cold flooring. She waited quietly, rubbing her smarting behind as she looked directly into his dark eyes. The immortal reached out and took her hand as he stood up and kissed her fingers, his eyes never leaving her clear blue ones.
"Now, my dear," he said, voice low and smooth as satin. "What restitution will Sugar Rose make for her cruelty?"
She moved up to him and, standing on her toes, took his face between her hands and kissed him. The towering man wound his long arms around her small body, pulling her close as he kissed her back hungrily. While he lightly nipped a trail down her throat, Cassandra slipped her hands inside his coat and pushed it roughly off of his shoulders. He let it drop to the floor as she unbuttoned and pushed his vest and suspenders over his shoulders, her fingers next racing to unbutton his shirt and pull his tie loose. Jenkins closed his eyes and sighed helplessly into her ear as he bit and sucked on the lobe, while his hands feverishly clawed to unfasten his trousers and let them fall to the floor.
His hands found her breasts and squeezed them slowly as he kissed her, lightly biting her lower lip now. Cassandra moaned lightly into his mouth, her hand leisurely rubbing the now-hard lump through the thin cotton of his shorts. She pushed them down eagerly.
HIs engorged member now free, Jenkins ground it against the Librarian's naked thighs, groaning into her hair at the exquisite sensation. In return, Cassandra lightly nipped the skin of his broad chest and his nipples through his undershirt, coaxing even louder groans of pleasure from her immortal knight.
One of his hands trailed down over her soft belly to the cleft between her legs. He was amazed by how wet she was when he gently forced his hand between her thighs and began to slowly rub the folds of her sex, his fingers gliding effortlessly over the plump bud of her clit. It took only a few seconds of this before warm liquid fire exploded within Cassandra and spread throughout her body. She threw her head back and shrieked incoherently, thrusting her hips forward against his hand.
The sound snapped all restraint and whipped Jenkins into a frenzy of want. He grabbed the young woman around the waist with both hands and lifted her effortlessly onto the table, knocking the heavy mortar and pestle to the floor, splitting the bowl in half and sending lumps of dragon's blood scattering everywhere. Jenkins grasped her hips tightly and forced her legs apart with his knees. He entered her as fast as he could, ramming his manhood into her hot, wet depth, filling her completely.
Jenkins's head rolled backward as he hammered into her hard, the table rocking slightly beneath them. As the immortal moved frantically against her, his grunting pants mingled with Cassandra's whimpering moans with each hard stroke. He could think of nothing but satisfying his animal-like lust, could feel nothing except the place here his skin slid against hers and the blaze it ignited deep within his belly. Without warning, the blaze erupted into a white-hot inferno that consumed him. He emitted a half-strangled cry of release as his hips began to move erratically and then stumble to a halt, the feel of his cock pulsing hard within her as it filled her with his seed, was like an electrical current shooting through his large frame.
The Caretaker fell forward limply onto his forearms and gasping, his face hovering just over Cassandra's chest as he gasped loudly for breath. She began to weave her fingers into his sweat-dampened hair affectionately. The feel of her hands on him brought his attention back into focus; he lifted his head and stared at her, confused for a moment. A look of horror then began to fill his eyes, and he shoved himself up and away from the baffled Librarian.
"Jenkins?" she inquired. He scrambled to snatch his clothes up from floor, hurriedly dressing as fast as he could.
"I'm sorry, Cassandra!" was all he said before he fled the lab in something approaching panic.
An hour later the young Librarian found Jenkins, in the Animal Nursery Room of all places. She hadn't really paid that much attention before, but now she saw that the Nursery held a huge, gently rolling meadow, with large, leafy trees dotting the landscape and a small, burbling brook running through it. The Caretaker was sitting beneath a tall maple tree, his long legs crossed. As she started towards him, a baby goat ran up and began to gambol around her, bleating for her attention. Smiling at the tiny creature's antics, she scooped it up and carried it with her.
As she got closer to Jenkins, she could see the baby unicorn in his lap, sucking greedily from a large bottle of milk as the old man scratched its neck and affectionately patted its side. The unicorn was about the size of a large dog, and looked for all the world like a grey-colored deer fawn to Cassandra. Except this 'fawn' had a long, silky mane, a lion's tail and made a strange cry, something between a horse's neigh and a sheep's bleat.
Cassandra walked up to Jenkins and sat down on the warm, soft grass next to him, crossing her own legs and letting the baby goat loose onto the ground. It bounded away to chase a butterfly. Jenkins continued to feed the baby unicorn from the bottle, talking to it in a low, reassuring voice.
"Where's its mother?" the young woman asked curiously.
"She died while foaling him," the Jenkins replied sadly. "I was afraid that would happen when I discovered she was pregnant. I was there when she was born, over 300 years ago. She was far too old for the rigors of pregnancy and birth." He fondly scratched the youngster's ears as he spoke.
"We almost lost this one in the process, as well; fortunately, he's turned out to be a fighter. I think he'll make it to adulthood just fine. Won't you, my fine little fellow?" The rambunctious unicorn seemed torn between the bottle and Jenkins's face, and frequently switched between messily feeding and messily licking the Caretaker's cheeks, seeming to get more milk on Jenkins's clothes than into his stomach.
"He seems pretty attached to you," she laughed. He smiled in response, eyes still fixed on the unicorn.
"I've always had a special love for the unicorns," he said warmly as he tried to get the animal to focus on the nipple of the bottle. "This one thinks I'm his mother. I'm the only one he's ever known. I was so afraid..." He stopped himself, and Cassandra saw his body tense.
"You were afraid of what?" she prodded, suspecting it had something to do with what happened in the lab earlier. She wondered if he would tell her what was going on, or if he would fall back into his old habit of bottling everything up and suffering in silence.
"I was afraid that after our...'assignation' earlier that he might...reject me," the old immortal murmured, burying his face in the unicorn's thick mane.
"I don't understand—why would he reject you?"
Jenkins sighed. "The tale that unicorns are attracted to virgins is a myth. Unicorns will only associate with those who are pure and innocent of heart. There are very few such people in the world, that's why unicorns are so rare. Exposure to evil and wickedness sickens them; it can even kill them. I've had the great blessing to have always been worthy by them. I was fearful that was no longer the case, after what I did today," he quietly replied, still refusing to look at her.
"I'm very sorry for what I did to you, Cassandra." His voice was barely a whisper, full of shame.
The woman looked at him, completely confused. "Jenkins, what are you talking about? What did you do to me?"
He finally looked up and at the Librarian, his own face now registering confusion, mixed with guilt.
"I hurt you, Cassandra!" he accused himself.
"What?" she exclaimed. Jenkins stared at her, unable to believe she had no idea what he was talking about.
"I struck you, Cassandra!" he cried. "I struck you, five times, with my own hand! I willfully and deliberately hurt you! And as if that wasn't reprehensible enough, I then throw you onto a tabletop and...and...indulged my baser instincts!" He turned his eyes back to the unicorn, now dozing contentedly in his lap, absentmindedly stroking its long neck.
"That's not how a knight treats his lady," he said bitterly in self-recrimination. "That's how a panderer treats his whore."
Cassandra sucked her lower lip between her teeth as she regarded the unhappy man, then, unable to restrain herself, she burst into peals of laughter. Jenkins looked up at her again sharply, his expression confused and indignant at the same time.
"Did I say something funny?" he demanded sourly.
The redhead scrambled to her feet and went to kneel behind him. She put her arms around the large man and hugged him tightly, still giggling.
"You didn't hurt me," she said brightly. "You spanked me!"
"I HIT you!" he protested.
"You slapped my butt a couple of times, Jenkins, that's all," she said, slightly exasperated. She moved back to his side and sat on her heels as she faced him. "It was just a silly game, that's all. You can be so uptight where sex is concerned, sometimes—I just wanted to see if I could get you to loosen up a little bit. You know—a little BDSM—Bondage, Domination, Sadism, Masochism? A little pain, a little pleasure? That's all, no big deal! I just wanted to see if you would go for that, and how far you would go. I got the impression that you kinda liked it."
Jenkins stared at her for a few moments, hurt in his eyes, before dropping his gaze.
"Perhaps I overreacted a bit," he conceded. "All I could think of was that I'd intentionally hurt you, that I had treated you despicably. I was so disgusted with myself…" He dragged his gaze back to her face.
"But, Cassandra, do you know what I think of when I hear words like 'bondage' and 'domination', 'sadism' and 'pain'? I think of this—" He quickly undid the cuff of his left shirtsleeve and roughly shoved it and his coat sleeve up, baring his forearm so that she could see the scars of the awful tortures he'd been subjected to centuries earlier. Cassandra's blue eyes went wide and her cheeks paled as she realized her misstep; everything suddenly made sense.
"I'm sorry, Jenkins!" she breathed, reaching her hand out and laying it on his arm. "I completely forgot about...! But, in the lab—you seemed to like it, so I thought..."
He snorted in disgust. "But that's just it, Cassandra—I DID like it. But I don't want to like it! I don't want to like hurting you! I don't want to be like the men who've hurt you in the past, I don't want to be like the men who did..." He held up his arm again, then dropped it and his eyes again.
"I don't want to be a monster!"
Cassandra moved forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, careful not to disturb the sleeping unicorn. She hugged him tightly.
"Sweetheart, you are definitely not a monster," she murmured gently. "It was all my idea, remember? And like I said, you only smacked my butt. If you had smacked my face like that, or hit me anger or as a way to control me or feel superior to me, then you would be a monster. I know you were never hurt me intentionally like that. Even today, if you had hit me too hard and I told you to stop, I know you would have. I trust you to never hurt me like that, Jenkins." She sighed heavily, scooting to sit against her knight, laying her head on his shoulder.
"In fact, it looks like I'm the one who's done all the hurting. What we did in the lab was just supposed to be a stupid, silly game—I just wanted to loosen you up a little bit, have some harmless fun," she stated, gently stroking his arm.
"But I should've remembered about what you've suffered. I should've explained what I was doing, I should've asked you if you were okay with it first. I'm so sorry, honey," she said softly. The Librarian sat upright again and looked at Jenkins, her hand going to his weathered cheek, now slightly sticky with the unicorn's milk.
"But don't worry, you won't have to do it again," she assured him. "I'm not to make you do anything that freaks you out or makes you uncomfortable. I promise!" He looked into her earnest, serious eyes, laying his hand on top of hers still resting on his cheek.
"But," he protested hesitantly. "If this is something that you enjoy, Cassandra, something that you find...pleasurable, I don't want to deny you that. That's not fair to you."
She shrugged her thin shoulders. "So what do we do about it?" she asked. Jenkins was silent for a few minutes as he considered the options.
"Perhaps I am a little too set in my ways," he said cautiously. "Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to expand my horizons, so to speak, where our…'trysting' is concerned. As you pointed out, I did rather enjoy…'smacking your butt', as you so colorfully expressed it." He raised his head a little in a display of bravado.
"Perhaps it would help if we agreed between us on what was permissible and what was not," he offered, still careful with his words. "For example: I will have nothing to do with whips, lashes or chains. I will have nothing to do with any sort of...implements or devices, especially those that are inserted into orifices that aren't designed to have things inserted into them. I will have nothing to do with drugs or drug-like substances. I will have nothing to do machinery. Nothing that causes physical injury or that humiliates or degrades. And absolutely nothing that draws blood in any quantity!"
Cassandra's hands flew to her mouth in shock as she stared at him with bugged eyes.
"Wow. Um, I don't know what kind of superfreak you think I am, sweetie, but I didn't have anything like that in mind!" she squeaked. "I was just talking about a little spanking here and there, some very light bondage—Some role-playing, maybe blindfolds? Pretty tame stuff compared to what you're talking about!"
Jenkins cocked his head at her for a moment, consternation on his features. Soon a shy smile reluctantly came to his lips and spread across his face, until he finally burst into a mirthful chuckle.
"What a neurotic, ramshackle, old fogey you've fallen in love with, my dear," he sighed, shaking his head at himself. "How did such a wondrous thing ever happen?"
Cassandra smiled as she stretched out her hand to pet the unicorn still peacefully sleeping against the Caretaker's thigh.
"The same way Sugar Rose fell in love with her big, warm, cuddly Papa Bear," she answered cheekily. "They each just saw something in the other that makes them feel happy inside."
"But they have nothing in common, my dear. Sugar Rose is a high-spirited, beautiful, intelligent young woman, and Papa Bear is a hopelessly stodgy, cantankerous old fool," he said with mock seriousness stained with melancholy. "What could Sugar Rose possibly see in such a man?"
"Her knight in shining armor, who has the biggest, purest, most noble heart in the entire world!" she promptly declared. "Someone who loves her completely. The same way she loves him."
Jenkins stroked her cheek with the backs of his fingers, then leaned forward to kiss his pretty Sugar Rose. "Papa Bear is a very lucky man," he rumbled, his soft smile lighting up his eyes.