Context – Chapter Two
He kissed her up against the door, tilting her head back, the durasteel covering his hands cold against her face. This kiss wasn't hesitant, or shy; the power of it took her breath away. When her lips fell open against his he tilted her head back further, pinning her to the door with his body, his tongue sliding into her mouth. It was the first time he'd taken control, the first time she'd let him, and it felt as though this was how he'd always wanted to kiss her, like he was claiming her as his own. The heat of his mouth, the chill of metal against her face, the hard press of his body against hers – the combination of sensations was intoxicating. Her brain felt as though it were lying in a stunned heap in the bottom of her skull. And her blood was singing.
He pulled her away from the door, not giving up her mouth, and began to carefully and calmly remove her jetpack, his hands working by feel, as if all Mandalorians were skilled in divesting their partners from ordnance. She must have missed that meeting. Or maybe he'd thought this through more than once. She had but not in any tactical way - somehow his armor had mysteriously melted away in her daydreams.
There was so much she wanted to do. Soon she was flailing like she didn't know where to start, similar to the way she'd flailed her way through a few battles in her early bounty hunter career when blood loss made her sloppy and she couldn't decide whether she should fire another missile, jab some kolto into her leg or run around in a demented little circle like a malfunctioning droid.
He tried to back up a step as he got her jetpack off, ducking slightly as she closed the distance between them immediately. "Careful."
She grabbed him by his belt buckle and pulled him towards her. She wasn't having careful, wasn't going to give up his mouth or the contact of his body for even a second. She kissed him harder, deeper, crushing her armor against his, grabbing two fistfuls of his blond hair for leverage. He made a surprised noise that she felt more than heard, his arms coming around her as carefully as possible, as if she were volatile, in every sense of the word. She pulled his hair, yanking it in two different directions, making a sound of frustration at not having the presence of mind to take her gauntlets off first. That flamethrower was just an accident waiting to happen.
"Haar'chak." He whispered that right against her mouth when she finally let him up for air, sounding out of breath and distracted.
Before she could grab onto him again, he tipped her head back and to the side and lowered his mouth to the juncture between her neck and jaw, just below her ear. The scratchy tickle of his stubble and sideburns, the heat of his mouth, and the softness of his lower lip – the combined sensations paralyzed her, striking down like lightning in a path from his mouth to the very core of her. She made a noise she'd never heard come out of her mouth before, something that sounded like want.
"Ohhhhhhhh."
"Gotcha."
Her knees buckled, and he caught her. He took the opportunity to quickly divest her of the ammo belt looped around her upper arm without stopping what he was doing to her with his mouth. She couldn't even think while he was doing that, the maddening brush of his facial hair against her sensitive skin blotting out everything else. He took care of his jetpack and got her gauntlets off next, being extra careful with the flamethrower, then took care of his own, dropping them to the floor.
Once he had taken care of all immediate threats, he reached out to hold her face is his bare hands, the feel of them rough and scarred and warm against her skin. She looked at him dazedly, only able to form one word: "How-?"
"You tilt your head when you flirt with me. Always." He demonstrated, moving her head further to the side, and kissed her again, warm and open-mouthed, on the magic spot. His lips moved against her skin. "Might as well have crosshairs." The sound of his voice, reverberating from his chest so close to hers, made heat and desire trail down her legs.
"Oh." This was softer, more like a sigh. She closed her eyes, a furrow of thought appearing between her brows as she smiled. "What else have you noticed?"
He raised his head, his tone completely serious. "You lead with your left when you need to take a bounty alive. Like you're giving them a fighting chance." The timbre of his voice changed only slightly, deepening, as he continued. "You cock your hips when you want something." He put his hands on her hips, showing her how they were angled against his own, before lowering his head back to the magical spot on her neck, making her moan again. Her head fell back, limp. She felt him exhale against her neck in a smile as he started working on her chest plate. "That makes you expose your throat."
"Keep doing that and I'll expose more than my throat."
"Can't wait." He was almost nuzzling at her now, obviously enjoying her reaction. He got her torso piece off and chucked it on the floor, running his hands down her exposed back, his mouth still moving against her. His voice grew teasing, right in her ear. "Not like you to give into a weakness."
"Weakness?" Even to her lust-clouded brain, that sounded like a challenge.
It took a measure of her determination but she broke the stunning power of his mouth, then grabbed both of his roaming hands and placed them on her still-armored backside. The heat of his instant blush against her neck made her smile triumphantly.
"Gotcha." She dipped her head to kiss him with her smile, giving his lower lip a tiny nip. "'I'll cover the rear." She imitated his inflection, then added, "MY ASS."
"Don't want to get flanked." Blushing Torian was a sight to behold, too adorable for words. "Eyes in the back of your head?"
"Factory installed." She took one of his hands and ran his fingers down the curve of her ass to the back of her leg, mimicking the lines traced down the back of her techplates from waist to ankles. "Knew these were a good investment."
"You didn't."
"You wanted to see something worthy. It was either these or my strapless blast vest."
"Good choice."
His hands continued running over her backside once she'd put them there, giving him permission. It was an effective distraction while she worked on his torso armor, letting the gear drop beside her own on the floor. He had another layer on underneath the armor padding, something bluish-grey and skin-tight. She brushed her hands over his chest, absorbing the topography of his muscles beneath the silky fabric.
All at once he seemed to realize he was fondling her ass and his hands jumped up and away from it, as if it were too hot to touch. He held his hands out and open in front of him.
"Don't shoot."
"I'll only shoot you if you stop."
He looked down at her blasters on her hips. "Better make those safe, unless you mean that."
She backed up a step and cross drew her blasters on him in a flash, a practiced, fluid movement. He just stared at her, eyes intent, pressing his lips together as though he were fighting off a smile, his hands still raised. She realized his reaction was caused more by her current state of undress than her drawing down on him (or maybe the combination of the two), so she gave both of her weapons a dramatic flip, letting him get a good look. His expression didn't change but the intensity of his stare made her think he might be taking a private mental holo for later. She made a small show of stowing her blasters safely on the desk before turning back to him.
"Better?" She did a little twirl to show how unarmed she was.
"Lek." He grabbed her by the hips and kissed her, then lifted her up as if she weighed nothing at all, the feel of his strong hands holding her up off the floor making her blood flare beneath her skin. He kissed her again, a deep, brain-melting kiss, then threw her bodily onto the bed.
She knew how to fall and when he followed her down she popped up on her knees on the mattress and punched him square in the chest, not as hard as she could have but harder than she meant to. It was like punching a cliff. He took it without complaint, giving her that same look, though this time it looked like the smile was winning. She shook out her hand from the impact, wincing theatrically at him. He took the opportunity to knock her over, taking out her legs so that she sprawled over on her back, his mouth coming down on hers.
They wrestled on the bed, each shucking the other out of their remaining gear, both of them amassing a pile of greaves and weapon belts and boots on the floor. She was speeding up again from the careful pace he had set, each piece of armor between her and his naked skin another challenge. They generated so much heat together where ever they touched; her lips were burning against his.
Her fingers slid against the fabric of his bodysuit that seemed to be under every part of his armor, looking for an opening and not finding one. The span of his shoulders above her was distracting, as were the clearly defined outlines of his muscles against her, the feel of his weight on top of her. She felt like a horny teenager battling a tricky bra clasp. Finally, she just grasped the silky fabric covering his chest between her hands and pulled in frustration, feeling him smile against her mouth as she did.
"Kute."
When her eyebrow quirked up at him he pulled at her wrists to indicate the offending piece of material she had in her fists.
"Kute." He repeated it.
"Koo-tay?"
He smiled more at her pronunciation, then gently took her hands off his last layer between her and his bare skin. "Later."
She put her hands right back where they had been and yanked again, clearly responding with now.
He moved them away again, patiently. "Nope."
She stared at him. She was almost down to her skin, her bra doing its best to contain her literally heaving bosom and her shorts half off her ass from squirming around.
"What? Why?"
"No challenge."
She had no idea what her face looked like in that moment, feeling a combination of bewilderment, frustration and disappointment, the only semi-coherent thought in her head being: Challenge? What am I, a plate of tiingular?
Whatever he saw in her expression, it made him smile again before kissing her and clarifying:
"After."
That wasn't very clear.
"Care to elaborate on that?"
"After you."
"Ladies first?"
"You."
She couldn't really argue with that.
"Promise?"
"Promise."
She wriggled her fingers in his grasp. When he let go of her hands she threaded them into his hair. She kissed him once and nodded, as if giving him an all clear. He smiled at her.
Then his hands were all over her. He cupped her breasts, callused thumbs rubbing her nipples through the fabric of her bra, his mouth at her neck, open and hot. Her hips rose off the mattress, his hands setting fires along her skin wherever he touched.
"Oh." That was a full sentence. He seemed to know exactly what she meant, his head tilted as though he were listening to her as he kissed around the edges of her bra, the swell of her breasts, her midriff. His strip of beard was going to be the death of her, giving each kiss a specific, maddening texture. It was making her toes curl. When he kissed her nipples through the material of her bra she shivered hard and tightened her grip on his hair.
He raised his head to kiss her mouth before trying to carefully wrestle the bra off over her head. She helped him, raising her arms and squirming out of it, the motion making her hair fall down around her shoulders. The sight of her bared breasts seemed to stun him for a brief moment before he refocused on the now urgent task of getting her completely naked, quickly dipping his head to kiss along her hips as he pulled her shorts down her legs.
Once she was fully bare he settled himself between her thighs, kneeling above her, his hands hot against her hips. He looked down at her, gaze traveling down her body, his lips parting slowly, his jaw line visibly slackening. She had time to wonder if he was regretting his decision to keep his kute on when his gaze returned to her face, his mouth still hanging open.
"Wow."
She felt herself blush. She smiled up at him and ran her hands through her hair languorously, stretching her body out beneath him in a taut line, giving him something to look at. She felt him stop breathing as he watched her, mesmerized, his hands following the movement of her hips. She put one arm behind her head and posed for him, running her other hand up his thigh, feeling the strong muscle jump beneath her touch. She smiled more and asked in her most velvety voice, "Are you sure you don't want to get naked with me?"
He closed his mouth with an audible click and made a low noise in his throat that sounded like renewed determination.
"After."
