Chapter Two

She stacked up the logs and placed the kindling underneath in the living room hearth. Pulling the woolen blanket tighter around herself, she climbed back into the high back chair closest to the fireplace. Roy sat cross-legged on the couch on the other side of the living room.

This had become their nightly ritual. Over the past three weeks, the candle that Roy used to start the alchemic reaction moved farther and farther away from the fireplace. During the first week it burned safely within the fireplace. After three days of successfully lighting the logs using flame alchemy, Roy had felt comfortable moving the candle outside of the fireplace during the second week. Now he had become bold. The candle rested by his elbow on the end table next to the couch on the other side of the room where Roy sat.

"Okay, here goes," Roy muttered to himself as he put his hand to the alchemic array that he'd chalked onto the end table at his side.

There was a loud snap as the candle flickered and a spark danced across the room and into the fireplace. The ensuing flames consumed all the kindling. The logs were caught up quickly in the conflagration. One of the dry logs let out a loud crack and part of it rolled out of the fireplace and onto the living room floor in front of the chair where she sat huddled under a blanket. She only had a second to gasp out in surprise before the entire fire was suddenly snuffed out.

"Damn it," he cursed.

Riza pulled her knees up to her chest as she shivered under her blanket from where she sat on the chair closest to the fireplace. "Why did you smother the entire fire?" she wondered. "You seemed to have better control over the flames during the last couple nights."

Roy groaned as he rose from the couch. He kicked the log that had fallen in front of her chair back into the fireplace. As he stacked fresh logs, fresh kindling, and set up another small candle, he replied, "When that log rolled out by your chair, I panicked and smothered everything."

Riza spoke over her chattering teeth. "Then you need to better hone your focus, Roy. You shouldn't let something like that distract you."

His dark eyes softened as he glanced over at her. "You're shivering. We can try this again tomorrow. I can light it the old fashioned way rather than using these fancy alchemic pyrotechnics. They generate more light than heat."

She shook her head stubbornly. "I'm fine, Roy. You're too close to stop now. You have to head back to East City the day after tomorrow."

As he sat down on the couch, he suggested. "Sit with me. You'll be farther from the fireplace, but we can huddle together for warmth instead."

He made the same requests on most evenings; however, this was the first evening when she'd actually been in danger from a falling log. Maybe he had a point. She huffed before dropping her feet onto the floor and standing up. She dragged the chair farther away from the fireplace and walked over to the couch where he sat.

He shifted back against the couch and she let him pull her into his lap. His chest was warm against her back and her head rested comfortably against his shoulder. His muscular arms were a comfortable weight around her waist and his thighs were her armrest.

She shivered as he rested his chin against the top of her head and let out a contented sigh. "I feel better practicing this if I know you're safe here with me."

He moved his left hand to the alchemic array chalked into the table next to them again and Riza felt the familiar heady cracking of an alchemic reaction before a loud snap filled the air and the flame at the tip of the candle danced and twirled around the kindling. After the kindling caught, it blossomed into a sustained flame under the stacked logs. The fire danced and twirled around the logs.

Riza gasped as before her eyes the flames took the shape of a miniature dragon and flew out of the fireplace to soar above them. The dragon grew in size as it flew out of the fireplace. It circled in the air above them and exhaled flames from its mouth. The dragon's breath formed into a phoenix. After circling the living room above them one last time, the dragon and phoenix fizzled out like fireworks.

The logs in the fireplace crackled peacefully as Roy ended the transmutation. As Riza looked up at him in wonder, she was surprised to see him staring down at her rather than at the fireplace. His dark eyes smoldered as he shifted her in his arms and captured her lips in a kiss. She gasped out in surprise and he took that opportunity to deepen the kiss.

One of his hands rested gently at the nape of her neck as he tilted her head back slightly so that he could reposition them into a more comfortable position. She moaned as his tongue darted into her mouth tangling with hers. She wasn't sure what she was doing, but Roy didn't seem to mind her inexperience.

"I've wanted to do this for weeks," Roy breathed between kisses.

Tangling her hands in his dark hair, she lost herself in the taste of his lips and the warmth of his body against hers. She was completely consumed by the inferno of his passion. He tugged her sweater over her head and made quick work of her brassiere as he shifted her onto her back beneath him.

He looked down at her with a ravenousness gaze. "You're so beautiful."

She moaned out wantonly as his hand palmed and caressed one breast as his mouth worshiped the other. She tugged off his shirt, running her hands over the muscles of his chest and reveling in the weight of his body covering hers and the feeling of his bare skin against hers.

"Riza, tell me if I'm going to fast," Roy murmured as he kissed his way from her belly to her lips.

"Don't stop," she moaned.

She couldn't remember removing her tights, but the feel of his warm hands on the bare skin of her inner thighs brought his name to her lips. She knew that she was being reckless, but she couldn't stop herself. His touches and kisses burned her from the inside out. She was strung taut like a bow.

She could feel him hard against her leg. When she touched him over his pants curiously he let out a low groan. He pulled her hands away from him and sat up, running a hand through his mused up hair.

"Riza." His voice was husky and his chest rose and fell like he'd just run a marathon. He ran a hand through his already mused up hair again. "Is this okay? How far do you want to go?"

She made up her mind quickly as she gazed up at him. She was being reckless, but she knew that if she'd didn't do this she would regret it forever. He would never be hers, but at least she could have one night of passion to sustain her in the future lonely nights. "Roy, I want you. I want all of you."

His searched her eyes. "Have you ever done this before?" His eyes widened as she shook her head. "You're a virgin?"

She bit her lip. "Is that okay?"

His eyes smoldered as he captured her lips in a breathless kiss. "Yes, of course. It's better than okay."

xxx

She woke up alone in Roy's bed. The sun coming in through the windows informed her of the lateness of the hour. She stretched and climbed out of bed, feeling sore between her legs. Muscle groups that she wasn't aware existed before last night ached in protest.

It was quiet in the house.

Where was Roy? The last thing she remembered was falling asleep in his arms in the early hours of the morning after a long night of passion.

An unpleasant thought nagged her as she ran a bath. Had he returned to East City a day early now that he'd gotten what he came here for: he'd learned his master's flame alchemy and debauched his master's daughter. Had he fled before she could try to trap him into an ill-advised relationship?

She slipped into the water with a sigh and tried not to dwell of Roy's absence. Roy had been gentle when he'd taken her virginity, but there was a still a lingering soreness between her legs. She rested her head back against the warm porcelain of the tub and closed her eyes.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed when she heard the sound of the front door opening to the house opening and Roy arguing with another man outside. The water was still warm, so it couldn't have been too long. She heard two pairs of footsteps making their way towards the library and a third taking the stairs upstairs two at a time.

The footsteps stopped outside the bathroom. There was a rap of knuckles against the door before Roy's voice called, "Riza, are you in here?"

"I'm taking a bath," she called back.

Roy seemed to take it an invitation, which wasn't really what she'd intended. At least he closed the door behind himself to keep the warm air inside. He leaned back against the doorway with a smirk. "Well this is a pretty picture."

She rolled her eyes at him as he leered at her. "It's nearly one in the afternoon. I must have really tired you out last night," he continued.

She snorted.

His smirk softened into a gentle smile and she felt her heart skip a beat. "How are you feeling?"

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, stretching her arms along the sides of the tub. "I feel fine." She glanced up at him through her eyelashes. "I heard voices. What's going on? Who's downstairs?"

He raised an eyebrow. "It's Monday, the 22nd."

She crossed her arms over her breasts as she realized the significance of that particular day. "Of course. Pastor Schafer and his son Peter are here to pick up the books for the parish library. I didn't realize it was already the 22nd."

He nodded. "Can you come downstairs when you finish up in here? Pastor Schafer and Peter want to see you. They were concerned when you didn't come to meet them downstairs. I had to talk Peter down from trying to search the house to make sure that you were all right."

Riza's eyes widened. It would have been disastrous if she had been discovered naked in Roy's bed by Pastor Schafer or his son. "I'll get out now."

Roy grabbed her towel from where she'd tossed it on the bench by the tub. She blushed as he opened it and held it out for her. "Roy," Riza hissed. "Get out of here and make sure they stay downstairs!"

Roy raised an eyebrow and indicated the towel with a gesture of his head. "Not until you get out of the tub."

She shook her head at him and she stood up from the bath. Roy's dark eyes gazed at her naked body hungrily before wrapping the towel around her and lifting her out of the bath. He pulled her flush against him and gave her a quick but passionate kiss.

She put a hand to her lips as he pulled away and put her back onto her feet. "Get dressed. I'll stall them," he winked at her.

She watched him hurry down the stairs before she went into her bedroom and opened her wardrobe to look for something to wear. She pulled on a dress made of gray wool before sitting on the edge of her bed and pulling on a pair of tights underneath. After tying the laces of her boots, she ran a hand through the damp ends of her hair and leaned over to look at her reflection in the mirror of her vanity. Her lips were a red and swollen from kissing, but otherwise, she didn't look any different.

She saw Pastor Schafer walking out the door as she crossed to the stop of stairs. She hurried outside after him. The pastor was a kind man several years older than her father had been. His once blonde hair had turned prematurely white, giving him a more distinguished appearance.

"Pastor Schafer," she called as she walked out the front door. She wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered in the cold. She'd been in such a hurry that she'd forgotten to pull on her coat.

He turned towards her with a smile as he closed the door to their truck. "There you are, Miss Hawkeye. I was worried when you didn't show up at the front door. Peter wanted us to seek you out in the house to make sure you were all right, but Mister Mustang was kind enough to ask for us to give you some privacy during this time of morning. Luckily he was able to help us with the books. Thank you for thinking of the Esocer parish. It was very generous of you to think of others during your times of trial."

She nodded to him with a small smile. "What need do I have of a library full of books?"

Pastor Schafer rested a hand on her shoulder and smiled down at her. "Always I've always admired that about you, Miss Hawkeye. Even as a child, you were always so practical. You've always had your feet firmly on the ground, not like my twins. Their heads always seems to be in the clouds."

Riza chuckled. "That's true. Peter and Magdalena are dreamers at heart."

Paster Schafer put his hands on his hips. "Well that's the last of the books for the parish library. I'll get the truck started. Can you let Peter know that we're ready to leave?"

"Will do."

Pastor Schafer looked at her carefully with his kind blue eyes. "I'm sorry for your loss, Miss Hawkeye. If there is anything that my family can do to help, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you," Riza whispered.

Riza rubbed her hands down her arms as she walked back inside to warm herself up. When she entered the library, she found Roy talking with Peter Schafer, the pastor's son. Well talking was probably too polite of a word to use. It would have been more appropriate to say that Roy and Peter were snapping or maybe snarling at one another. Riza ran a hand through her hair as she lingered in the hallway, feeling a strange sense of deja vu.

Roy and Peter had always gotten along like oil and water from as early back as Roy's first month as her father's apprentice. They couldn't be more different. Roy was dark haired and dark eyed. He was a smooth talker and a flirt who followed no faith except the laws of alchemy. Peter was blonde haired and blue eyed. He was a kindhearted and serious man who followed his father's religion with devout fervor. Riza had always gotten along well with Peter and considered him to be a good friend. Roy thought Peter was a judgmental asshole.

"Why are you still sniffing around here, military dog? You had better keep your sinful hands away from Miss Hawkeye!"

"What if Riza doesn't want to keep her hands away from me?" Roy drawled.

"Mister Mustang," Riza gasped at Roy in surprise.

"You're a reprobate and a scoundrel," Peter continued. "You should return to Central where you belong."

"Mister Schafer," Riza chastised. "That is unkind. I'm greatly indebted to Mister Mustang for helping to arrange my father's funeral."

Peter Schafer glared over at Roy. "Miss Hawkeye, I wish that you had come to myself or my father during your time of need. I doubt Mister Mustang assisted you out of the kindness of his heart. It makes me sick imagining the payment a man like him would ask from a vulnerable, and beautiful girl like you."

Riza looked at Peter in surprise at his candor. She wasn't sure if she was flattered or insulted by his description of her. She was vulnerable in some ways, she supposed. She didn't have any money or family members to fall back on, but she had other things. She was a crack shot with a rifle and she was well educated. She would never be called a great beauty, but her features were pleasing to the eye. What she considered more important were her keen mind, kind soul, and uncompromising spirit.

Roy snorted. "You have a perverse imagination for someone who claims to be so devout. Master Hawkeye was my mentor; it was the least that I could do to help his daughter with his funeral. Think of it as equivalent exchange. What would you have asked from Miss Hawkeye in exchange for helping with her father's funeral? Her hand in marriage?"

Riza stared in surprise at Peter. His cheeks burned red, avoiding her gaze.

Roy's voice was a dangerous purr as he continued, "That's what you would have asked for in exchange, and so you assumed that I asked for something less pure? Maybe Miss Hawkeye's virginity? Or maybe that wouldn't be enough for a reprobate and a scoundrel like myself? Maybe I asked for her to become my mistress in exchange for burying her father."

"You bastard!" Peter raged, charging Roy and tackling him to the ground.

They rolled around the floor of her father's library punching one another. Again feeling a strange sense of déjà vu, Riza walked over to them with a heavy sigh. Picking up two books from the pile of books that Roy would taking back to East City, she slammed them down over Roy's and Peter's heads.

"This is ridiculous," Riza snapped. "You're acting like children. Stop this at once. Mister Mustang has been a gentleman during his stay here."

If anything Peter Schafer's face turned even redder. "You don't need to cover for this villain, Miss Hawkeye. I saw Mister Mustang purchase pennyroyal at the apothecary this morning!"

Riza crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at Roy who paled in realization before she turned to the red faced Peter. "Mister Mustang's apothecary purchases are none of your business. You shame yourself by spreading such base rumors. Please remove yourself from my house. Your father is waiting for you outside."

"Miss Hawkeye," Peter protested.