Pliant
One
She'd felt the heat of his stare all day long, and quite frankly, it was bugging the hell out of her.
Of course, he's not being quite as conspicuous about it as he'd been earlier, but every now and then, she can feel his eyes on her, even whilst sitting at the table with their other coworkers.
Natalia pushes her hair behind her ears before she takes another sip of her wine. She feels the liquid, tingly warmth spread throughout her body and relax her, easing the undercurrent of irritation she feels as she makes awkward eye contact with Cardoza. She quickly turns her attention back to the scratched up oak table. It's obvious that he can't sense her discomfort right now, and thank God everyone else is distracted by the side conversations going on right now because otherwise, it'd be even more embarrassing.
It'd been a long, frustrating day filled with the usual disappointments.
Triple homicide in the Gables, all hands on deck.
The team had labored all day until they tracked down a suspect. A suspect. One, who'd fed Frank a line of bullshit.
Frank put him in holding, last Natalia heard.
That's one of the aspects of working at CSI that gives her career the edge she'd always wanted. It's the unpredictability that gets her adrenaline pumping and keeps her mind constantly working. But it's that same unpredictability that causes her to crave normality when she gets off from work. Things that are familiar can bring so much comfort. Things to be expected can and are a good thing. She doesn't want to have those guessing games after work. Her mind shuts off and she no longer wants to think critically about anything, really. She doesn't have to put a a lot of thought into what drink she's going to have, or what she's going to eat for dinner. She's completely at her own mercy once she takes her gun and badge off and it's liberating because she can make decisions that directly affect her, not other people.
But she's gotten so used to the expected in her life that she forgot that sometimes unexpected can happen.
She leans back against the cracking pleather of the booth, stretching her legs under the table and her feet collide with Ryan's. She opens her eyes and she moves her feet aside.
"Sorry."
"Comfy?" He asks with a chuckle and it makes her smile.
"As much as I can get in this place."
There's some kind of relaxing jazz music playing over the radio and she takes another sip of wine as she sinks into the lulling rhythm. There goes his stare again! Even when she's trying to relax she can feel it and it makes her stiffen a bit.
"Hey, you're not passin' out on me, are ya?" Calleigh giggles as she gently nudges Natalia with her elbow.
"I know," Maxine chimes in. "You know we've got a few more bars to hit before eleven."
"Oh please," Natalia snorts. "I'll be in REM sleep by eleven."
"Not if you have any hopes of finding yourself a hot, virile man beast to ravage you," Maxine teases.
"You are sick, Mimi, you know that?" Calleigh laughs.
"She's known that for years," Ryan grins before he finishes off his beer.
"Well excuse me for being single," Maxine says indignantly. "You already have your own hot, virile man beast that ravages you daily, I'm sure..."
"Maxine Valera!" Calleigh chides, a pink blush rising in her cheeks.
"What? Like it's not true," Maxine says before she sips at her martini.
"That's not-" Calleigh pauses then she starts again. "Eric wouldn't appreciate being called a man beast."
"That's 'cause you've got him on a shorter leash these days," Natalia grins.
Calleigh smiles. "Trust me, Eric isn't on any kind of leash."
"You all up for some more drinks?" Jesse asks.
"No thanks," Calleigh says. "I'm good."
"I'll have a beer," Maxine orders.
"Same," Ryan says. "Nat?"
"Ryan and I will go order them," she speaks up.
Calleigh slides out of the booth to let her out and Ryan gets up, looking a bit annoyed at being volunteered against his will.
He follows her to the bar and they order the drinks.
He leans up against the bar and he looks at her. She is looking down at her finger nails, looking visibly peeved and concerned. He's always known when she's agitated, there's a pulsing vein that runs right down, like a sinewy marking of a river on a map, the middle of her forehead, accentuating a faint scar that rests there. Most people don't know that she's got a scar on her forehead, but Ryan has noticed for some reason. He supposes that his OCD tendencies allowed him to catch that.
He also supposes that her concern is stemming from the way Cardoza can't keep his eyes from flitting back to her. He's been sizing her up from the moment he met her, and they've had a tit-for-tat thing going to most of the year. Ryan doesn't really know what to make of it though. He won't deny it; Natalia is a gorgeous woman, and he's had the pleasure of sharing her company once, but that was years ago. Still, she's fascinating and he certainly can't blame Cardoza for being interested.
"What's the matter?" He asks.
She opens her eyes and looks at him.
"Hmm?"
"You look like something's bothering you..."
"Oh," she sighs, her face relaxing. "It's nothing."
He sighs. "Does it have to do with Jesse?"
"He won't stop staring at me," she says quietly, discreetly. "It's annoying."
Ryan laughs. "Well, have you seen you?"
She glares at him. "Not funny Ryan."
"I'm just saying," he shrugs. "Anything I should know?"
She can't help but smile at his nosiness.
"I'm not interested in him," she shrugs. "I mean, not in that way."
"Well, he's obviously not getting the message," Ryan observes.
Their drinks are served up and Ryan takes the tray. Natalia struts a little ahead of him and he can see the source of Cardoza's confusion.
Calleigh is the first to leave, bidding everyone good night.
Damn it.
Now Jesse slides into the booth next to Natalia, and Ryan looks down, grinning a bit.
This is damn uncomfortable, and Natalia scoots a little.
Maxine slips into the booth next to Ryan as she drinks down some of her beer.
The foursome lapses into silence as they sip at their drinks.
Natalia sips at her wine and she once again relaxes, trying to shut out the world and the uncomfortableness of the current seating arrangements. She stretches out her legs again, and they collide with Ryan's and he gently shoves her foot aside. She opens her eyes and looks at him as she steps on his toes and he furrows his eyebrows.
Things haven't been quite right; that always happens with the addition of a new member of the team.
Ever since Eric's second brush with death, things have changed.
At that point, Eric and Calleigh's relationship became public knowledge, though out of courtesy and respect for both of them, it's been kept under the radar at work. Murmurings about the pair are few and far between because they've earned the right to privacy after what they've endured together.
Ryan is beginning to see less and less of the pair, though.
As for Cardoza, well, he's a good CSI, but Ryan knows that it will be along while before everyone completely trusts him. He'd gone through much of the same, Natalia too, as a new members in a close knit unit after a traumatic event.
"I'll be back," Maxine says as she gets up and heads to the ladies' restroom.
Ryan sighs as he too gets up. "I'll just be a minute," grinning a bit at the pleading in Natalia's eyes not to leave her alone with Jesse.
Cardoza takes a long drink of his beer and then he looks at her and she sighs.
Jesse is a good looking man, he's intelligent and there's been some playful banter, but Natalia doesn't feel any sort of deeper feelings for him beside a tentative friendship. She doesn't even yet fully trust him, not like she trusts the rest of the team and her other coworkers. Jesse is simply just that, a coworker and she knows that she needs to set him straight on the issue because she thinks that she will go completely insane if she doesn't.
"Let's just cut to the chase," she begins bluntly. "I like you, Jesse. I think you're a great guy, a great CSI, but I'm not interested in..."
He swallows thickly and nods. "Right...okay."
"I mean, I know that we've kind of flirted and stuff since you've been on the team, but-"
"I got it," he chuckles.
She can relax now.
"I should have known," he grins. "So uh...you and Ryan have a thing?"
She sits up straight.
What the fuck?
O-o-O
They've moved to a smaller booth in the corner.
Ryan is leaned back in the booth, watching one of the TVs in the bar. Natalia has been distant, quiet, but considerably more relaxed since Cardoza and Maxine left together. She's reclined up against the wall and her feet are up in the seat, her heels long abandoned under the table, her eyes closed. She finishes off the last of her wine and she feels gooey with the warmth the Merlot has provided her. She's un-tucked her silky blue blouse and the top two buttons are undone. Ryan chances a glance at her and he catches a teasing glimpse at caramel skin sloping to the beginning of the slight curve to her bosom.
He's always liked her skin. It always makes him think of those butterscotch candies...Werther's Original. He knows that it's got to be the beer because he has the urge to just stream his finger down that little show of flesh into her-
She opens her eyes and he flits his eyes back to the TV and she looks over at him, Cardoza's question echoing in her mind. Ryan has long ago taken off his tie and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. He's got his head leaned back against the seat, eyes glued to whatever sport that's on the tube.
"So did you talk to Cardoza?" He asks as he looks at her and there's that vein again.
She sighs. "Yeah. I did."
"How'd he take it?"
"Well."
"Then why do you still look annoyed?"
She shakes her head. "I'm not."
"Yeah you are," he says, leaning in to press his elbows onto the table. "When you're upset or irritated, there's a vein that pops out and it goes right down the middle of your forehead."
She frowns. "Nuh uh."
He grins as he leans back in his seat, beer in hand and drinking down the rest, and she doesn't know whether it's the alcohol in her bloodstream or just a simple observation, but she notices the distinctly gruff and alpha-male air he's taken on in the last year or so. He's definitely come into his own as a CSI, but right now, with his sleeves rolled up, top buttons undone, and looking a bit scruffy, she can see the Boston cop in him, and if she were more drunk, she'd say it is oh so sexy.
But she's not that drunk...is she?
"What time is it?" she asks.
He looks at his watch.
"Ten thirty."
She groans. "I don't want to move."
"Why do you still look annoyed?"
"Why do you want to know?" She snaps.
He shrugs. "Sorry for being concerned."
She sighs, rubbing a hand over her face.
"I'm sorry."
"I shouldn't have pressed you," he apologizes. "You want one more drink?"
She nods.
O-o-O
They both did a couple of shots, already feeling the burn of a little too much alcohol churning in the backs of their throats and in their stomachs.
"Everything has just...changed," Natalia sighs, shaking her head as it rests on her fist as she swirls the little shot glass around with her finger.
"I know," Ryan says, thinking that he hasn't been this buzzed in a while.
"For better?" She asks him.
"Jury's still out," he shrugs. "I mean, I know that change can be a good thing, but I just want things to get back to normal. I don't feel like things have really...settled."
"They will," she assures. "I think we just have to get into a rhythm again. H is the glue though. Sometimes it scares me to think what we'd do without him."
"Me too," he says.
She sinks back into the booth.
He suddenly wants to feel her lithe, alcohol-limbered body leaned up against his. They'd had their moment of closeness before; it'd been after their "date" that wasn't really a date for her, but a way to get back at Eric when they'd had their fling. She let him put his arm around her shoulder and she'd rested her head onto his chest when they'd gone to a movie. It'd been completely innocent, the date somewhat lame, but still no less fulfilling. He knew they weren't going anywhere, but it'd been nice.
"You still wanna know why I was annoyed?"
His interest piqued, he nods.
"When I told Cardoza I wasn't interested," she begins. "He asked if you and me had a thing."
"We did have a thing," he grins. "I don't know if it was good or not."
She smiles. "It was good, Ry. You were very sweet."
He chuckles. "Not what I was going for at the time...besides, you were still kind of with Eric."
Natalia bites her bottom lip. There's the vein again.
They have never talked about their brief, platonic courtship before now because it'd been just what it was. More than anything, it helped to develop their friendship and get to know one another. Ryan's intentions may have been romance, but a friendship bloomed from it and that is just as valuable. Still, they've never talked about the circumstances surrounding that time and Natalia realizes that she'd been wrong for playing with Ryan's emotions.
"I'm sorry," she says quietly. "If you felt like I used you...I-I don't know what I was trying to do since I certainly wasn't making Eric jealous...I mean, no offense to the man he is now. It's just that he was-we were different."
"I didn't feel used," he says. "It was fun and I knew what was up anyway."
She grins. "What time is it?"
"After twelve. Ready to go?"
She nods, slipping on her heels.
They walk outside together and Ryan looks at her.
"Where are you parked?"
"Parking garage down the block," she says. "You?"
"Same place," he says. "The walk should do some good."
Natalia wants him to wrap his arm around her shoulders like he'd done a few short years ago. Now more than ever because she wants to feel just how solid he's become since then, she wants to feel his visible strength. It felt good when he held her. Eric had been a good lover, but where he was good in bed, he lacked in romance. Of course she knew that she couldn't have her cake and eat it too; she knew that her date with Ryan had to stay platonic, it was an escape from her frustrations with Eric. Ryan actually took her places. First to dinner and wrestling, the next time to the bookstore, the next for coffee...he sent her flowers and made her feel beautiful. It felt good to be courted.
They walk in comfortable silence and they make it to the parking garage.
"What level?" He asks.
"Third," she says.
They take the steps up to the third level and walk through the dimly lit parking area.
Natalia sighs as she points to her car.
They stop and she turns to him.
Ryan shoves his hands into his pockets. "Are you alright to drive?"
"Yeah, you were right, the walk did me some good," she smiles. "I'm glad we did this, Ryan. I mean, going out with the team again. Kind of feel normal, right?"
He smiles. "Yeah."
She nods as she steps closer to him and leans up and kisses first his cheek, then she slides the silky softness of her own cheek against the slight stubble of his, around to his lips and she brushes her lips against his feather soft, looking into his glazed eyes.
Natalia presses her lips fully into Ryan's and closes her eyes, sending the numerous receptors in the sensitive, plump flesh of her lips into a frenzy.
Ryan feels his mind go blank when her lips press against his and he takes his hands out of his pockets, but he doesn't know what to do with them. Her lips feel amazing; they are soft, perfect. They didn't kiss like this when they spent time together. Just a peck on the cheek. But he certainly would have kissed her then if he knew that it'd feel like this. If he'd known that fire would consume his entire body.
His hands tentatively rest on her hips as he begins to take control of the kiss. He gently tastes her bottom lip, gently coaxing her lips apart. She invites him in and she feels her knees turn to jelly when his tongue slides effortlessly into her mouth and slides against hers. God. He tastes so good; the tangy sourness of the alcohol they'd consumed, like spices from dinner, like him. She's dizzy as she sinks into him, and she can feel the muscles in his chest supporting her, rippling slightly.
Ryan gently places a hand on her lower back and draws her even closer as he deepens the kiss, changing the pace from a slow exploration to a hunger-inspired search for pleasure. She tastes sweet, like candy, and then he thinks of the perfect caramel tint of her skin and wonders if a morsel of flesh would taste just as sweet and be just as addicting.
Then came her moan.
It vibrated in his mouth, the whimper of it so full of need and completely arousing.
Emboldened by intoxicating arousal, his hands began to caress over her curves. Her hands have found his chest and they are caressing up and down slowly.
When the need for air becomes emergent, they break the kiss, and Natalia rests her head onto his chest, hearing his heart racing. He kisses her hair, taking in long breaths to fill his tightened lungs. He feels his slacks becoming tight, his cock stirring. He is trying to will it away because he certainly doesn't want to ruin a good thing. He hopes that she can't feel anything going on below. That will be embarrassing.
Satisfied that they've both gotten enough air, she wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him down to her to pick up their kiss where they left off. Ryan groans and the sound sends a rush of pleasure and arousal through her entire body, and she presses herself into him more, her hips pressing into his. She can feel him hard against her, and she grinds her hips, making him groan again, pulling away.
"Natalia...I'm sorry if this is-"
"Ryan," she breathes, looking into his eyes. "Shut up."
He captures her lips again, and they are both kissing hungrily, passionately as their hands explore their bodies through clothes. Natalia made the first move and began to yank his shirt from his slacks and unbutton it.
Ryan goes straight for the waistband of her pants and makes a quick work of the button and zipper before sliding his warm hand into her panties and into her hot, wet core. She gasps and grips his shoulders as his fingers gently caress over her clit.
"Ryan..."
He grins proudly at her reaction and at finding her so aroused. He slides his finger over her clit again, determined to hear her gasp his name again.
"Ryan..."
He pulls his hand out and she whimpers into another kiss as she finally undoes the last button on his shirt. Her hands keenly feel the muscled plains of his chest and abdomen as she caresses softly, her fingernails gently scraping against his skin.
He unbuttons her blouse and he leans in and kisses her neck, and she tilts her head back, obliging him in his exploration. Her skin does smell and taste as sweet as he'd imagined since he got the tiniest of glimpses of what she hides underneath. Full, firm, lace-covered breasts are exposed to him and he's at full attention now. He kisses down her chest and places soft kisses on the tops of her breasts before kisses her again.
This is going two hundred miles per hour in a thirty mile per hour zone.
His mind is telling him to stop, stop, STOP this. But his surging hormones and his throbbing hard on are telling him differently.
Ryan gently backs her into her car and he helps her push her pants and panties down and off; never-mind the fact that they are in a parking garage, three stories up...in public.
He picks her up and sits her onto the hood of the car, the coldness of it on the bare skin of her ass.
She pushes his pants down and off and they pool around his ankles.
Nope, it makes no never-mind to them that they are committing public indecency as they prepare to have sex on the hood of her car.
He tugs a down a cup on her bra and frees a breast and he leans down and sucks a nipple and she cries out into the night as she combs her fingers through his thick, dark hair. She brings him back up to her lips as her other hand slides between them and grips him, stroking.
He growls against her lips. She smiles into their kisses as she firms her grip and strokes harder. His eyes roll back and he catches her hand.
"God Natalia," he shudders. "Much as I really, really enjoy that, I'd rather be inside you."
She releases him then she wraps her arms around his neck.
"Now."
Ryan grips her hips as he enters her with a hard thrust and she cries out again.
"Ryan!"
He gently lies her down, his body on top of hers, her back pressed onto the hood.
Natalia tilts her head back in amazing, brilliant ecstasy as he fucks her, her body jolting with his thrusts into her.
Their growls, grunts and moans echo in the near-emptiness of the parking garage as bodies in motion move in frenetically, desperate to reach what promises to be a spectacular end.
"Natalia..." Ryan groans into her ear as he thrusts.
She arches up slowly, feeling her inner muscles tightening, bringing her legs up higher on his waist, tightening them, bringing him into her deeper.
"Don't stop," she moans, her palm slapping onto the glass of her windshield and the other fisting into his hair. "Right there..."
He slides his hand between them and he finds her clit, flicking his thumb quickly over the nervous flesh and soon, she comes hard, yelping into the night as she tilts her head back against the car as her muscles spasm uncontrollably around him.
Ryan pushes himself into her undulating core one last time before he comes with a grunt of her name, collapsing onto her, panting and a little sweaty.
She brings him to her lips for a deep, slow kiss, moaning her satisfaction.
He kisses her cheek, then down her neck to her breast before giving her nipple a gentle lick and kissing his way back up to her lips, smiling and laughing along with her. They lay together on the car for a few long minutes, coming down from their mutual high. He gently pulls out and then pushes himself up and off and she sits up.
A cold wind whistles through the garage and she shivers as she slides off the car and begins to redress. The cold wind of regret is already blowing between them now that the reality of what'd just transpired hits them. She fixes her bra and then buttons up her blouse as he buckles his belt. She pulls her pants back on and slips into her heels. Once they are both fully dressed, she pulls him into an awkward, quick, now perfunctory kiss. She pulls away and fishes her keys out of her purse.
"Night," she says quickly before she opens up the door and gets into her car.
"Night," he says before he closes the door and then steps back.
She starts her car and she drives off.
Ryan sighs as he runs his fingers through his hair, an icy block of regret settling in the pit of his stomach.
Dammit.