For PartyLines.
Meant as a gift to brighten up the spirit of a fan-beloved writer, PartyLines. I truly hope it brings a smile to your face, love. I want to thank BiscuitsforPotter for her last-minute help at beta'ing my fic, "Show instead of telling!" - I promise to memorise this for life! - and CourtingInsanity for suggesting the perfect title.
She would show him not to challenge her, ever.
Hermione gave herself this pep talk in the ladies' room at Malfoy Inc, splashing some water on her face to cool her nerves before giving her make-up a retouch. She decided to go all out with her cosmetics today; she bought crimson red lipstick explicitly for this event and had even applied mascara. Her normal look was just a shimmer of her pink lipgloss and a light eyeshadow, but for Mr. Sex-on-two-legs, she outdid herself.
Still, the make-up wasn't the only detail that she had changed for this one day. Her practical and comfortable T-shirt bra had been replaced by a sexy, flimsy lacy thing, in emerald green. Truth be told, the girl that stared back at her this morning in her bedroom did look sexier than the usual Hermione. All of her undergarments were, however, concealed for the time being under a proper white blouse and black mid-length skirt.
Her legs were wrapped in black hold-up stockings, held in place by a matching garter; at her feet, instead of her low heels - feminine but functional - she wore her famous red-sole stilettos with complimentary cushioning charms, a pair she only used at exceptional events.
She would teach him a lesson, all right. Hermione Granger wasn't a prude, missionary-type of girl. Hermione Granger was a woman of flesh and blood and needs. It was time for Draco Fucking Malfoy to see that firsthand.
Brown, determined eyes looked in the mirror and followed her hand as it unfastened the top two buttons of her blouse and reached underneath her skirt and garter; she pulled off the knickers and stashed them away in her purse. Operation Fuck-Malfoy-In-His-Office had now officially begun.
Her heels clicked at a marching pace on the marble floor towards his door. As if it had been previously agreed upon, his middle-aged secretary nodded her approval. From the moment she entered, it became apparent Malfoy had told the older woman to let Hermione enter as soon as she arrived. The secretary didn't demand her name - even if only for the pretence, nor was she friendly asked to have a seat while her presence was announced.
The door closed softly, and the brunette added a few silencing and locking charms for good measure. Before her sat a wizard that knew how to carry himself in between the mazes of the business world. "Ah, Miss Granger, welcome. Can I offer you anything to drink - coffee, tea - before we start our negotiations?"
"No thank you, I'm fine. Which negotiations do you have in mind? I haven't been briefed fully." She took a seat in a leather chair, crossed her legs and folded her hands in her lap, completely at ease. She was a woman on a mission, in the end.
Clearing his throat, he started his rehearsed speech, yet a little more nervous than anticipated, "I was thinking about discussing you taking a position here at my company as head of the civil law department. Your brilliant talent is underused at the Ministry, in my humble opinion. Combining our common talent, we could become the premier law firm in Britain."
"Hmm." Hermione smirked, leaning forward. "What's in it for me?" Blaise had warned her how Malfoy planned to use this meeting as a pretence to get under her skin and prove his point: that she was a prude. So she was going to play his games. For now.
"Aside from the second best office in Wizarding London - only after mine of course - and more than the triple of your current salary, I would not obstruct you if you decide to take a few cases pro-bono. You could finally defend the creatures you've been trying to protect from within your dusty cubicle at the Ministry." He leaned back, gesticulating to prove his point but drawing her gaze towards his long fingers and neatly cut nails. It reminded her of the hands of a pianist, combining the two clefs into a perfect piano piece.
"Oh, you're being very generous." She flashed him a knowing smile. "What expectations do you have for me?"
"For you to give yourself one-hundred percent to our firm. I expect you to lend your incredible brain at full capacity, so that we can succeed in as many cases as we can."
A sceptical eyebrow hid under her fringe, "Is that all?"
"What else did you think I was asking for?" In Salazar's name, what the hell is she after?
"I don't know...some extra-hours services, you know?" Hermione chose that moment to re-cross her legs, spreading them apart a little more than necessary; she ensured he was able to have a sneak peek underneath her skirt. "Do you expect me to accompany you at events? If I'm not mistaken, you're neither married nor engaged to a witch."
"You're completely up to date, Granger. Forgive me, may I call you Hermione?" Draco caught a glance of garters and stockings, and he gulped dry at the sight. She could almost hear him wonder if he was imagining things. Her yes went unnoticed, "I'm not opposed to taking you to business events, as my right hand, of course. In time, if your efforts are what I expect them to be, you might even become a full-fledged partner at this company."
"You surprise me, Draco. I didn't know that my nemesis held me in such high regard."
"Your nemesis has grown into a mature adult who looks at life through his own eyes instead of believing the shit others told him to believe." Hermione could tell that she was shaking his control to its core. Yet, Draco stood his ground at his determination to show her how much he had changed. This woman was the subject of his dreams - the reason why he was, up until now, a bachelor. The dates at his side were just flavours to distract him from the knowledge that this woman was, until recently, taken.
Now that she had finally ditched Declan, that poor excuse for a wizard, he was going to do everything in his power to win her heart. That process started by commending her for the talent she possessed; a long overdue appraisal, really. He wasn't kissing arse by exaggerating, but stating facts. Her talents were so obvious, but the dusty, grey-haired buffoons who ran the ministry failed to embrace her.
"That may be true, but I'll believe it when I see it." She readjusted herself in her seat again, this time pulling her blouse straight, which lowered the v and revealed more of her cleavage. Her laced fingers now laid right under her bosom. "So, to make sure I've got it right, you're offering me the highest position on your firm -head of the civil law department- which is a rank just below yours." Brown eyes fixed on the grey pair. "You're paying me an obscene amount of galleons each month, you're offering me a more than a decent office, plus the freedom to chase the injustice towards other communities within our Wizarding World and the possibility of becoming a partner if my results are more than satisfactory. Is that correct, Mr. Malfoy?"
He nodded at every statement, his lips resting against his fingertips; he may have looked at ease, but in reality, it was to stop the shaking of his hands. Keeping this mask in place was growing harder by the minute. The urge to ease his collar was barely contained.
"In return, I have to bring my A-game to your company, help you increase its reputation, and accompany you at high-society business events to assist in promoting ourselves." As Hermione listed these expectations, she decided that it was time to take the game up a notch. She stood up, circled his desk, and leaned over the side of his chair. "So you don't expect anything else from me? No late-night meetings…?" Her foot turned his chair towards her and found purchase between his legs. Her skirt lifted enough to give him confirmation: she was, indeed, wearing stockings held by a green garter.
Draco sat upright, feeling a blush rise to his cheeks and pulse in the nether region of his body. His lady did have a pair of amazing legs, and the heels emphasized that fact even more.
Hermione continued, "You know what I mean. The usual boss/subordinate relationship which includes certain...services." At this point, it was impossible for him to hide his tented trousers. Slender fingers with red painted nails loosened the remaining buttons slowly, spreading the fabric open to the sides and uncovering her green bra.
His stare went straight to her firm peaks, fully visible through the lace. Draco could feel sweat trailing down his forehead, and his breathing increased as she approached his chair, straddling his legs and centering her core perfectly on his groin.
"What are you doing, Granger?" His knuckles were white from the restraint he employed to avoid grabbing her arse and rubbing her pussy against his strained member. This witch was turning into a minx, and he wasn't prepared for this unexpected side of her.
"Are we back to Granger? Hmm. I've been told you consider me to be a prude, and I'm here to prove the opposite. Originally, I only planned to show you my body, but knowing your reputation at Hogwarts and seeing your obvious arousal, I've changed my mind." She pushed his blazer off his shoulders with determination, grabbing the sides of his shirt and ripping it off his chest. All the while, her hips ground themselves into his groin, humping his hardness. She whispered, "Damn, you're not small."
"You have no idea." His control snapped, and while one hand sought her apex, the other pulled her face towards his and kissed her passionately, tongue not even requesting access but demanding entrance. When his fingers reached their destination, he gasped and whispered, "Witch, you're not wearing knickers!"
She chuckled against his mouth and hissed at the prodding of his fingertips at her entrance. "Well, I am doing a job interview with my future boss, who's expecting a demonstration of my talents." Her hips arched into his touch, her hand seeking an opening between his waist and pants to grasp his shaft. He took a sharp inhale as her fingers squeezed his head to milk the one drop of pre-cum before rubbing it over the tip, caressing the slit.
In response, he plunged two fingers in her heat, focusing the tips on a spot he knew to make witches crazy with need. Hermione was no different than those witches, and her hand faltered in her pumping pace, moaning. "Fuck, Malfoy."
"In a minute, woman." The line between who was dominating their encounter seemed to blur. Her juices coated his hand in an instant, walls clenching around his digits in tune with the sparks down her spine. His shaft grew in size and girth under the expert pumping of her palm, twisting at the top before going down all to his ball sack and caressing his perineum.
Grunts rose in the air, mixed with hisses and moans, but were shortly muted by their mouths devouring each other. Draco pushed her slightly upright, using both hands to open his pants, raising his hips just enough to pull down the garments, and guiding his erection between the folds of her pussy. His free hand pushed their hips together, impaling her on his shaft.
"I take back my opinion. You're definitely not a prude." He gasped against her lips, "You're a minx, witch. A sexy witch riding my cock." His hands sought the zipper of her skirt, and he raised her to her feet, just for a moment so he could to undress her. Soon she was enveloping his member in her heat again, but now he could stare at the beauty of her pussy. "You're beautiful, Granger. You're beautiful, and you should belong to me."
Those words paused her movements. "What do you mean?"
"There's no other woman for me. All those years and all those other witches; no other witch could hold a candle to you." His hands roamed over her face, down to her body to disrobe her from the last of her garments, aside from her stockings and shoes. The blouse offered no restraint and her bra was expertly opened and ditched behind him shortly after; his big hands palming each breast, weighing them, brushing and plucking at her nipples.
His declaration stunned her and she slowed down her pace. She stared at him with wide eyes, holding her breath, "Draco?"
"Fuck me, love, I'm about to burst." His hands eased her hips on his groin, forcing her to pick up the pace. His mouth travelled between her swollen lips - the red lipstick already kissed clean long ago - and her perky nubs, sucking them into his mouth as if he drank from her.
Arousal mixed with astonishment, and her thoughts became an incoherent mess in her head. But the feelings of his shaft stretching her walls with each thrust and his lavish attention to her breasts blinded her until instinct took over and she sought her edge, increasing the speed and directing Draco's thumb to her bundle of nerves.
A few rubs was all it took. Hermione groaned into a commanding mouth while pulsing around his cock in fiery waves of desire. He rutted her against her before following her over the edge, his fingertips digging creases in her skin, his animalistic growl muffled by her lips.
The ripples of satisfaction continued to flow for minutes or maybe hours; no one knew how long they remained in that position. She straddled his hips, indentations in her legs where the armrests had pushed against her skin. He held her tightly against his chest, not willing to let her go, and wanting to freeze the moment as long as he could.
His softening member leaving its warm cocoon woke her from her haze and she rose to her feet, looking for her purse to find her knickers.
"Hermione."
"Ditch the pretence. This was a job interview gone naughty, Malfoy. I was merely here to prove to you I'm not a stick-in-the-mud."
"Which pretence? I am offering you a job, I don't know where you got the idea that this was all a charade. In fact, aside from our little encounter, I'm offering you a lot more."
"Oh please, that line might work with any witch, but I'm smarter than that. Blaise told me that you called me a prude two days ago during a boys' night at that bar you both love to go on Wednesdays."
"I did no such thing! I'll take a wizards oath right here." He began to connect the dots in his head, seeing where the confusion - or maybe the deliberate misunderstanding - had originated. Normally, his cunning brain worked faster to make connections, but it was still foggy after having just finished a shag.
"You were offering me a real job?" Scepticism was obvious in her tone of voice.
"I meant every word, Hermione." He looked her in the eye as he zipped up his trousers.
"Didn't you call me a prude during your last buddy moment with my best friend's husband, your mate Blaise?"
"No, not then. I called you one in the past, but you'd have to go back to our Hogwarts days. Forgive me for being specific, but I might have done it when Weasel kissed Lavender right in front of your face. It might have sounded something like he's looking for some action because the swot is such a prude."
Her stare hardened for a second. That moment during her school years wasn't one she was proud of. Yet, the honesty in his voice was impossible to ignore.
"Oh." This wasn't going the way she had imagined. At all. It was supposed to be a lesson for the ferret - not a revelation that had her stunned. Her gaze rose to meet his grey eyes, and showed him nothing else than pure confusion.
"I haven't thought about you that way for a long time." A soft hand shoved a curl or two away from her face, "I would gladly sacrifice a kidney if it would make you look at me the way Ginny looks at Blaise. My fortune means nothing anymore, especially not after the way you fucked me. Instead, I'm humbly hoping you give me an honest chance to show you how much you mean to me and how perfect I am for you. I'm a wizard that recognises your amazing brain for what it is and a man who knows how loyal and caring your heart can be. I have a soul that would love to start a life with you at his side and see his son or daughter grow in your womb."
She parted her lips to say something, but no words came. Of all men she knew, not once did she imagine hearing Draco speak these words to her in such a genuine way.
"Will you give me a chance to show you who I am?" His palm cupped her face, thumb caressing the cheek tantalisingly. He began to close the distance, but held back just enough to let her decide. Not once did he take his eyes away from her.
Hermione didn't disappoint him. When her lips touched his, he knew that he would move heaven and earth to make this woman happy as his wife.
What he wasn't sure of was: should he punch his friend in the face for the lie, or send the bloke a crate of Ogden's finest for giving his girl the final push? He'd decide later. Right now he had other priorities.
Kissing his girl and laying all his love in that one embrace - that was what mattered.
-The End-