They stood there a moment, staring at each other. Constance readied her body for what would come next. She could barely contain her excitement. She had to admit though, underneath the desire she could feel fear, slowly ebbing its way to her surface. Here stood the blood relative of Diogenes. A man who looks just like him in stature and features, save for his hair and one of his eyes. But this man has always treated her kindly, never took advantage of her, unlike Diogenes. But what was he doing now? Was it another sick trick? The same blood ran through those veins as the blood in Diogenes, after all...
She desperately tried to shake these thoughts. She's wanted this a long, long time. Longer than she ever realized. Deep down, she must have known. She would wake up in the middle of the night, feeling an urge she couldn't quite put her finger on, her thoughts always straying to Aloysius. She knew she loved him; she always had. But, since Diogenes awakened her other senses, she now knew what else she stored for him: passion, in its purest form.
"I'm so sorry Constance," He spoke quietly, bringing his hand to his mouth, wiping her off, she thought with a pain.
"No, Aloysius, I've wanted this a long time." She dared to look him in the eyes, refused to even blink. She needed him to know how serious she was. She wasn't willing to let this moment slip.
"You know it can't be like this. That was a grave mistake." Funny how even when he was crushing her, his words still sounded like warm honey. God, he was good.
Constance walked over to him, grabbed his tie and pulled him down lower, the better to look into his eyes.
"If you want to fix me Aloysius, then this is how it's done. I've wanted you for a long time, I just couldn't act on it, didn't know how to act on it. Diogenes opened a whole new world for me. Don't feel pity or anger, feel passion." And with that, she forced her mouth onto his, eager to taste more sweet peppermint.
Again, he pulled away from her. "My dear Constance, you're confused. You don't know what you want. My brother took something irreplaceable from you, and continuing this charade is not going to fix it. I can't pretend to be a better version of Diogenes." He looked down at her with what she thought was supposed to be a stern, pitying face. But with her senses awakened and her blood pumping, she could see what was beneath it: lust.
"I would never dream of turning you into Diogenes. I don't want to fix anything that he did. I want to explore what he did. With you. You can show me what it's really like. We can show each other. There aren't two people in this world who need each other as much as we need each other. It will be beneficial to us both." She could see his walls coming down now, his body shaking slightly with his lust. Hell, after years of being in his company, it seems she managed to pick up a few of his manipulation skills.
Again, she moved toward him. He turned his face away from her to block her kiss, but that wasn't what she was after this time. Her hands had found their way to his belt. As she began undoing the buckle, Pendergast reached down and, with such strong hands, grabbed her wrists and pulled them off, the buckle of his belt just barely touched. He looked down at her, eyes shining, and she could feel his heart rate increasing.
"If we're going to do this, we're going to do it right."