Chapter 3
The Seventh Heaven was quiet now, with all the patrons having been finally ushered out of the door and sent back to their own homes. Tifa lifted a newly cleaned glass up to the light and looked at it. Then, lowering it towards her face, she brought it up close to her mouth and huffed on it before rubbing it clean again with the cloth.
Cloud, in the process of wiping down table tops, stopped what he was doing and stared at her actions as if mesmerized. In his mind, he was recalling a time when he himself had performed the same cleaning duty for… someone else.
Noticing that the boy was watching, Tifa smiled at him, thinking the look he was casting in her direction meant he was interested in her. She smiled even more when he realised he'd been caught and quickly lowered his head getting back to his task again, because she had seen his face flush red and surmised it was with shyness and embarrassment, and Tifa graciously decided to try and put him at his ease. "You're doing a fantastic job here, you know," she complimented, replacing the last of the cleaned glasses ready for when the tavern reopened. "I don't think my floors have ever been so spotless. I noticed you even washed the windows today. You didn't have to do them, you know," she said, coming out from behind the bar and strolling casually towards him.
The blond just shrugged, and continued wiping the spilt beer covered table surfaces. "They needed doing," he said simply, shifting away a little as Tifa came and stood by his side.
Tifa's brow furrowed. It had been an instinctive move on Cloud's part, she thought, him stepping away from her, almost as if he'd thought that if she had touched him, he would have been burnt. She tilted her face a fraction, and one eyebrow quirked up. Can he still be a virgin? she asked herself. That would make him too perfect. And it would certainly explain why he didn't ever make passes at her. But surely, she silently argued, no-one as good looking as he was could have refrained from sex this long. Tifa decided she had to find out. "You never speak about yourself, Cloud," she said softly, running a fingertip over his finished work, staring after him as he ambled over to the next table.
"Nothing to tell," he answered, not looking at the girl, instead concentrating on dipping the sponge he was using into a bowl of warm water, before using it to attack the stains left behind from the dirty glasses.
"Do you have family?" Tifa pressed. "Are your parents still alive? Have you any brothers or sisters? A lover maybe?" It was clear from the frigid stance, and the long brooding silence that Cloud gave in response to her questions, that he didn't want to talk about his past, so Tifa changed tactics. Keeping her voice on an even level, still watching him as he continued to toil, she said, "You spend a long time out riding your motorcycle. Where do you go? Are you driving all that time, or are you stopping off somewhere, perhaps to… see someone?"
"Why all the questions about my personal life and what I do? It's none of your business. You don't pay me for giving such information, you pay me just to work," Cloud rebuked, turning his head to look at Tifa and glaring at her for a moment before returning to his task.
Not one to be put off by a rebuttal, Tifa shimmied over to him and, taking out a second sponge from the bowl of water he was using, she began to wash the table adjacent to his. Then in an attempt to try and get him out of his frosty mood, she began to converse of simple everyday things, ending with, "And everyone is talking about the new power plant which is being constructed near Niblehelm. Some folks are saying that Shin-Ra's elite general, Sephiroth, is going to be in charge of overseeing things there."
"Yeah, I know," Cloud replied nonchalantly.
"Oh really, who told you?" Tifa asked, being careful to keep her tone light and not too inquisitive.
"No-one, I… stopped to watch its construction whilst dropping off leaflets a few times," Cloud hedged. "Guessed with it being such a large project, someone like him would be appointed to ensure its development went ahead without a hitch."
Tifa knew he was hiding something. The areas that she'd had him deliver leaflets, advertising her tavern to interest new customers, weren't anywhere near the power plant. But she wasn't going to press him about it. Not just yet. "I think you missed a bit," she observed wryly, dipping her sponge and wringing it out, moving across to the same table he was working on.
Cloud lifted his head a little and looked at her through his long blond lashes. He didn't shift away from her this time, not even when she moved up close to him and 'accidentally' brushed her hip against his, though his hand did stop its washing motion as he felt a thrill of excitement shoot though him. Was this girl coming on to him? He wasn't going to object if she was. He'd not had sex in so long, and there was someone he desperately needed to eradicate from his mind, someone who had been occupying far too many of his private thoughts lately. Cloud reasoned that he could use this girl, and her body, in order to do that. He'd had women before. Not many it was true, but enough for him to know his way around a female form. He understood what they liked, had discovered which area to linger his mouth upon. He wouldn't exactly call himself talented with the ladies, but he was sure that he knew enough to be able to keep this woman satisfied.
Any doubts Cloud might have had about Tifa's intentions were dismissed the moment her soap-sudded palm came into contact with him, her fingers closing over the top of his and prising away the wet sponge he held, tossing it carelessly back into the bowl before taking hold of his fingers once more. Watching her face intently, Cloud didn't resist as she raised both of their now linked hands towards one of her large breasts. Nor did he protest as she pushed the flat of his hand up underneath her top and pressed it firmly against the swell of her bosom.
Tifa felt her heart pounding inside her as she made her brazen move. He hadn't rejected her… yet. Licking at lips which had suddenly gone dry, she removed her hand from his and waited a moment to see what he would do, her dark brown eyes locked onto his deep blue ones. When he continued to hold her, she slowly, carefully, stripped herself out of her upper garment, pulling her arms free of the short sleeves first before lifting up the back and sliding it over her head, letting the discarded item hang suspended off Cloud's arm, the material hanging down over the wrist of his hand that was still attached to her naked breast.
Cloud's gaze was no longer on the girl's face. His focus was now solely fixed on the bare flesh his fingers touched upon, and the protruding nipple that was crying out for attention. He brushed his thumb up against the extended nub and, hearing Tifa give a soft gasp of pleasure, he lowered his head and claimed the tender morsel with his teeth, latching onto it and replacing his brushing thumb with his caressing tongue. He sucked and teased at the tender skin with small bites, and was rewarded by her arching spine, effectively pushing forwards and offering herself to him. And Cloud wasn't going to refuse the offer.
Feeling his cock start to harden, Cloud relinquished his mouth upon her and, after shaking Tifa's tee-shirt free from his arm, he lifted her up and placed her so that she sat just on the edge of the table, her legs spread either side of him. Moving back a step, he began to run his hands along the outside of her lean thighs, working his way up and under her tight little skirt until his fingers found the waistband of her panties. Hooking his fingertips beneath the elasticated edge, he slowly pulled her underwear down over her knees and off her ankles, letting them drop unceremoniously on the floor at his feet.
Tifa was exposed and open to Cloud now, and she felt herself blushing as the boy in front of her took his time in looking at her intimate feminine form. She began to close her legs, shutting her knees together under his close scrutiny, but he stopped her, using a forearm to gently push her legs apart again. And the suspicions that she'd had, regarding him being pure and unknowing in sexual play, were blown away when he bent his head down and began to lick with practised ease at the wetting valley between her legs.
Biting on a knuckle, Tifa threw back her head and closed her eyes as she felt the lapping of his tongue against her sensitized flesh. It seemed like her whole body was coming alive, tingling, a heat growing within her that seemed to radiate and pulse in time with Cloud's oral administration. Clamping down hard on a finger to stifle her small excited cries, she used her free hand to cling onto his shoulder for support as she felt her hips rising of their own accord. She was slowly thrusting upwards, wanting his questing, wet tongue to penetrate deeper, to seek further inside of her. He obliged, and Tifa panted, spreading her legs as wide as she could, giving him all the access he needed.
When Cloud moved backwards and stood up, Tifa felt a momentary sense of loss and she yearned for him to dip his head again and continue supping from her. But instead of doing that, he pushed her gently until she was lying flat on the table. Automatically lifting her legs in time with his motion, Tifa locked her lower limbs around his waist and drew him in close, her arms wrapping themselves around his neck and shoulders as he leaned low over her and began kissing her passionately, letting her taste herself on his tongue.
While their mouths were united, Tifa laced her hands through his blond locks, and was surprised to discover the spikes of hair folding easily to his scalp as she moved her fingers over his head. She had expected it to feel stiff with hair products, but his tresses were soft and supple, and obviously naturally spiked up in that crazy way. This quirk of his made her desire him even more, for its unusualness. He was different. He was special. And he was… needed.
Cloud's fingers were not idle either. Still kissing Tifa ardently, he had one hand upon a large breast, kneading, squeezing, and tweaking, while the other was exploring the inner heat of her moistened passageway. First one finger, and then another, slid in and out of the girl, her lubricating juices making the pumping action of Cloud's advance easy. And, encouraged by her unchecked yelps of desire, he pushed his fingers in deeply as he pressed his hips up hard against her, letting her feel the erection that was yearning to be freed, and wondering if she wanted full sex, or just foreplay.
"Upstairs," Tifa breathed heavily, as electricity sparked throughout her entire body at his touch. It really wouldn't do to have people possibly passing the windows and seeing what was going on in the bar-room of the tavern, she told herself. Not that she really cared at this moment whether or not anyone actually saw them together, because she was rapidly losing control over her sanity and sensibilities, but while she could still muster up enough decorum to give them privacy, she would.
Acknowledging that the girl wanted to move on to the next stage of their sexual relationship in the comfort of a bed, Cloud easily picked her up in his arms and carried her to her room, kicking the door shut behind them.