The stifling air of the balmy Egyptian evening puckered against his skin. He undid the top buttons of his shirt, rolling his sleeves up as he attempted to get more comfortable. Having completed his work for the day, Troy Bolton had decided that it was time to have some fun; he was going to make sure that he enjoyed the last two days of his business holiday. The seductive beat swirling around his eardrums reminded Troy of his heated encounter with Gabriella; an encounter that had left him yearning for contact. What surprised Troy, however, was the nature of the relationship that he desired. Troy Bolton was an attractive man, and he knew it, so when his erotic urges made themselves known he never had any trouble finding somebody to quench his desires. That was as far as it went, though: he was reluctant to get involve with a woman on a deeper level, knowing that he couldn't commit himself. This was an essential fact of his life; one which he accepted and sought to constantly enforce. His current longing for Gabriella, one which transcended some plain physical attraction, was consequently a cause for concern.
He stepped further onto the hotel's terraced restaurant, where the tables had been cleared and the lights dimmed to create an open-air dance club, his eyes scouring the dance floor for a suitable projection for his frustration.
As his eyes reached the far end of the terrace, however, he realised that he wouldn't have to project his desires onto an unsuspecting stranger; his longing's true object was standing right in his line of view. His eyes had first been drawn to the magnificent legs, his gaze slowly appreciating the stretch of the toned muscle, before they had travelled over the rest of her small frame; concealed by a loose-fitting white dress that left enough to the imagination to drive him wild. Yet it was her ebony locks that made him sure that it was her; the tumbling curls cascading down her back and coming to rest just above the line of her hip. His breath caught in the back of his throat as she flicked her head back in an attempt to remove her fringe from her eyes; the moonlight casting an ethereal shadow on her feature.
Gabriella.
Bracing her hands on the railing, Gabriella basked in the noise of the busy city below and the intoxicating beat of the surrounding music. After her encounter with the alluring stranger she had gone for a run; pushing her body harder than she had in a long time, hoping to both punish herself for her performance that afternoon and regain her focus. It hadn't worked; at least not permanently. As soon as she had re-entered her hotel, senses heightened as she looked for any sign that she had been recognised, all memories of being trapped underneath the enticingly masculine frame of "her mystery man" immediately flooded her mind again; shooting a prickling heat through her body. She had intended to lose herself in the music of the hotel's salsa bar; to banish her cravings with some meaningless flirting, or perhaps more, so that she could get back to business with a clear head.
But it hadn't happened.
Every time that a man had approached her that evening, Gabriella had automatically compared him to the Adonis from earlier; and even when she had unwillingly flirted along with one of her best offers, allowed him to kiss her, she had been disappointed to realise that she felt nothing apart from obligation and boredom. And so she found herself staring down at the bustling city, with no idea how she was going to get back to normal.
She was lost.
All of a sudden a calmness washed over her; and she had no idea why: the same song was blasting from the speakers, the view below had not altered. She took a deep breath as she prayed that this tranquillity would be permanent. Gabriella frowned; trying to place the new smell that had intermingled with the scent of cigar smoke and drink wafting through the air.
Her eyes widened: it was his smell.
Trying to calm her heart as it began to beat faster, Gabriella closed her eyes. She refused to let him exert this power over her; she couldn't let him have this power over her. Gabriella was scared; she didn't understand why this man was making her feel how she was. All that she wanted to do was once again drown in his kisses; to lose herself in something other than her work: she had forgotten what it was like to simply feel. How was it that this stranger could make her remember something that she had spent her adult life trying to forget?
Troy took a deep breath, trying to still the erratic beating of his heart as he silently moved towards her.
"So we meet again," he whispered; his breathy words embossing a warm reminder of their previous meeting upon the back of her neck. Only the smallest distance separated his chest from her back, his arms framing her own as he caged her in against the railing. Gabriella visibly shivered; a reaction that would have caused Troy to smirk was he not so utterly captivated by the figure in his arms.
"Oh it's you," Gabriella attempted to keep her voice neutral; not knowing that there was nothing that she could do to prevent her from being alluring to Troy.
Troy nodded his head slowly, measuring his next words carefully: he wouldn't let her get away from him again. He was emboldened by the fact that she had made no attempt to escape from his hold; even if she hadn't yet acknowledged him properly. "You know," he started, almost embarrassed by the unusual meekness of his voice, despite the way that it was, unbeknownst to him, melting Gabriella's insides, "not that I'm complaining about the introduction we had earlier, but that's not usually how I get to know a woman."
The edges of Gabriella's lips twitched: he was a smooth talker to match his breathtaking looks and sexy voice. She normally hated men like him. "Really?" she asked, an eyebrow quirked.
"Yes, really," Troy almost whispered, the proximity of his mouth to her ear startling Gabriella. Why had he managed to get under her skin to such an extent?
Gabriella made the mistake of glancing over her shoulder at the body pressing against her. Within seconds their lips had once again collided; neither quite sure who had initiated the kiss; a kiss that was impossibly more passionate than their first. Troy maneuvered the girl so that they were now facing, pushing her back into the railing as he tried to bring their bodies into absolute contact. When their lips were once again forced to separate, Troy began to nip at the base of Gabriella's neck, chuckling at her continued silence. Looking up at her again, Troy cocked his eyebrow: "Are you not going to ask for my name yet?"
Gabriella simply shrugged, a mischievous glint in her eye as she leaned in and recaptured his bottom lip with her teeth.
"It's Troy," he managed to gasp out before Gabriella once again plunged her tongue into the depths of his mouth. Gabriella's eyes rolled back in ecstasy as she surrendered to his kisses; the height of feeling that his touch was bringing her being all too addictive for her to be rational. Gabriella's skin ignited underneath Troy's lips as he started to trail open-mouthed kisses from the corner of her mouth to the neckline of her dress; her enraptured moaning urging him on, challenging his lips and teeth to pleasure her further.
"Troy!" The way that her velvety chords wrapped around the word almost sent Troy over the edge, and she could sense it; both pairs of hands receiving the unvoiced permission to increase their frantic roaming.
Only when someone accidently knocked into Troy did the two break contact for a minute. He leaned his forehead against hers in a desperate bid to try and catch his breath. As he stared into her eyes, she was the only thing that mattered to him: there was no room to contemplate anything else. The moments spent trying to refill their lungs were not spent idly: his hands slowly rubbing circles on the smooth skin of her thighs; her nails delicately teasing the fine hairs on his back.
"You still haven't said anything…" Troy mused with a smile, surprising himself with the tenderness of his voice; with his desire to get to know her. With one look she had brought him out of himself.
"Who says that we need to talk?" Gabriella questioned silkily, her hands slipping back out from underneath his shirt and sliding over his firm buttocks, travelling around his side and back up the front of his chest; skipping over the one area that it was obvious he desired her touch. Before Troy could open his mouth to respond, Gabriella had slipped from his encaging arms and had begun to walk slowly backwards towards the inside of the hotel; her eyes never leaving his. There was no need for her to speak; her question was implicit: "Are you coming?"
They journey to the elevator was a frenzied chase; the same distance maintained between their bodies until they were safe from shielding eyes. The elevator carriage became an extension of their enchanted bubble; their self-restraint banished as their true desires erupted. With the closing of the metal doors, Troy was immediately upon her, backing her into the corner of the lift.
As soon as Troy pulled away slightly to suck in some well needed air, she reversed their positions; slamming his back against the cool metal as her fingers worked at the buttons on his shirt. Troy groaned at her ministrations; her dominance turning him on even more than he had thought could ever be possible. Troy surrendered his mouth to this woman, the mistress of his lust, and satisfied himself with frantically running his hands over the smooth planes of her body; groaning at each and every tantalising curve that he discovered.
The elevator dinged, but the pair was oblivious to the opening of the doors; only becoming aware that they had reached Gabriella's floor when the draught made its presence known. Gabriella pulled back, a confused frown gracing her features as she tried to collect her thoughts; but Troy grasped the back of her neck and directed her mouth back to his.
"Don't stop…" he pleaded; the second-long separation already too long for him.
"It's my floor!" Gabriella murmured, "or it was…" she added upon realising that the doors had closed and the lift was once again in movement. "We need to…"
Troy grabbed the hand that she reached out to press the button for her floor; pinning it above her head. "I think I preferred it when you weren't talking to me," he teased, his voice gravelly with lust; his tongue darting out to taste the hollow of her throat.
"We can't…" a groan interrupted her speech. "We need to go back to my floor…"
Amongst pants and groans, Gabriella heard Troy slam his hand against the elevator stop button. "No we don't."
Their bodies were propelled even closer together; Gabriella's legs wrapping skilfully around Troy's waist as he drove her back once again into the wall; fumbling feverishly at her back as he tried to locate her zipper. Having already discarded Troy's shirt and loosened his belt, causing his trousers to pool at his ankles, Gabriella's hands set off on a feverish discovery of the taut skin of his chest and shoulders; the sight of his veins protruding from the tantalising muscle as it supported her weight sending her into rapture. She was breathless; so very close to reaching ultimate bliss and yet so far: his mouth's path obstructed by the as of yet unremoved item of clothing. In an act of impatience she withdrew her hands from his body and placed them over his own, guiding him to the zipper. Her dress melted from her body; Troy's eyes burned through her soul.
"God you're beautiful," Troy moaned as Gabriella pulled his chin up and their eyes met.
For that one moment all of their other actions stilled; the intensity of their gaze - communicating so many unspoken desires, wishes and understandings- was simply too overwhelming. Slowly, maintaining eye contact, Troy entered Gabriella and with their union both finally became aware of what had been missing in their lives thus far; realising just how much their lifestyles and sacrifices had cost them. As Gabriella tightened the grip of her legs around his waist, pushing him deeper inside of her, they both lost any grip on control; their meaning-filled stare broken apart abruptly as they answered the frantic call of their bodies. Their love making reached a frantic peak: teeth nipping, tongues lapping, hands clawing until they together tumbled over the edge into sated darkness.
Gabriella squinted as the sunlight assaulted her eyes, cursing at the fact that she had forgotten to close the curtains when she had gone to bed; she really had been distracted yesterday. As she moved to stretch she winced, feeling aches in muscles that she hadn't even known existed. She groaned when the memory of the night before came back to her; or at least a hazy version of everything that had happened after Troy had approached her. She vaguely recalled stumbling out of the elevator and backing him down the corridor to her room before succumbing once again to the frenzied lust that had overcome them previously. Burying her head into her pillow, Gabriella sighed before counting to ten: he didn't mean anything. It didn't mean anything. He was just a typical player that had reminded her of her natural urges; urges that, duly indulged, would no longer affect her work.
Gabriella froze as she felt a weight settle on the edge of the bed; frantically trying to calculate the weapon that was nearest within her reach. She was just about to spring up and make a run for her suitcase when the foreign presence gently began to stroke her hair before he leaned down and pressed a kiss against her forehead. This time she remained still for another reason: Troy had just made her attempts to dismiss her feelings for him a whole lot more difficult.
Troy softened when she stiffened at his touch. After they had finally disconnected their bodies the night before, he had rolled onto his side; tracing the skin of her arm in awe. She had visibly held her breath, surprised at his actions and she had even gasped when he placed an almost loving kiss onto her shoulder blade; it was as if nobody had ever treated her that way before. He stroked the side of her face, bringing his hand down to cup her cheek; his lips descended upon hers. The kiss was soft and gentle; a stark contrast to the ones that had been exchanged the night before and Troy smiled when Gabriella relaxed again, leaning into his touch.
Placing her hand over his, she finally opened her eyes and connected with the magnificent pair of baby blues that were staring at her. "We should talk…." she started.
"No…" Troy cut her off by kissing her soundly. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she wanted to try and rationalise her way out of this; her underlying vulnerability had been evident as they had drifted off to sleep the night before. It was one of the things that drew him to her the most: she was enthralling, and incomparably sexy, but there was so much more to her. It was as if the troubled facets of his own personality found resonance with this part of hers. "We can talk later." He slid down onto his back again and pulled her on top of him, the gentle pressure of his palm on her back holding her in place. "Let's not think at all right now."
Gabriella couldn't resist the magnetic force that pulled her lips down on top of his, and allowed herself to fuse her lips to his in a kiss that was much more romantic than any of their previous embraces. She pulled back abruptly a few minutes later, scared by the unfamiliar swelling of her heart and the fluttering of her stomach: what was this feeling? Her heart transmitted its answer to this unuttered question; the airily exhilarating emotion replaced instantly by another, almost as unfamiliar, feeling: panic.
Gabriella bolted upright and crawled off Troy, too intent on leaving the room to feel conscious about her nudity. She was scared; more scared than she had ever felt before, despite her familiarity with near-death situations.
Her eyes darted around the room frantically as she tried to locate her clothing; the items were dispersed haphazardly, forming a barely identifiable trail from the door to the bed. She pulled her panties up her legs, throwing her hands up in desperation when she noticed that Troy was still lying in her bed; an adorably pained expression on his face.
"You need to go…" she muttered, her eyes downcast.
"Why?" he asked softly, sitting up and trying to reach out for Gabriella.
She let his hands graze her own before stepping back again; a wildly distressed look in her eyes. "Don't…" she pleaded. "Just go…" She threw her dress over her head, grabbing her flip flops before heading to the door. "I'm going now; don't be here when I get back." If the normal Gabriella had been the one giving this order, the man would have been spurred into action; she had used the line more than once. Yet this wasn't the normal Gabriella, or at least the façade that she had created for herself and spent the last 5 years living. Her words lacked conviction, her defeated posture simply serving to show how anxious this situation was making her. She still managed to get as far as gripping the door handle, but luckily did not need to prove to herself that she could leave; Troy's desperate entreaty interrupting her intended action.
"Have breakfast with me?"
Loosening her grip on the handle, Gabriella turned around. She couldn't do this. She wouldn't do this. She looked at him, averting her gaze almost immediately. Opening her mouth, Gabriella knew that she had to refuse.
Yet it was two syllables that left her mouth; not one. "Okay."