Chapter 3

Two hours after sunset and Tseng was staring out at the stars again. Tonight however, he was lying on his back with the ivory towel draped over his lap with his hands clasped and resting over top of it. Despite the fact that Madelyn had banished Jordan to the boathouse a Kilometre or so down the beach, Tseng could still hear the young womans' loud, drunken yelling. Reno had declined tonights' massage in favour of spending the time with his lover on her birthday, and his own drunken voice was carried to Tseng on the ocean breeze that continued to waft into his room. The night sky was clear, not a single cloud to obstruct his view of the far away stars. For a moment, he allowed himself to close his eyes and let the serenity envelop him, consume him utterly. His steady pulse slowed, almost as if he was entering a state of hibernation. His muscles relaxed and he allowed himself to sag into the soft mattress. It was such an uncommon treat for a Turk to have downtime that every moment they spent here was a gift from the Goddess. A Goddess who dressed in white and black with glossy honey hair.

Tseng turned his head as his door eased open and Madelyn stepped in. She glanced up and when she met his gaze nodded her head as she took a single step back to close the door. She then slowly strolled toward the bedside table and picked up the bottle of lavender oil from beside the flickering oil lamp. Slim and nimble fingers plucked at the cap, popping it open. The viscous substance poured into her cupped palm before she thumbed the lid closed with a snap and started to rub the oil into her skin.

"I hope your day was enjoyable," She inquired conversationally as she massaged her hands together. Tseng watched her hands as he spoke.

"Indeed it was. However it would appear Reno suspect us of being lovers." He watched her fingers glide over one another, thumbs working into the muscles and over the backs and palms of her hands.

"Is that so," Madelyn drawled, eyeing her own hands before reaching down and gently picking up Tsengs' closest hand and began to push into his palm with both thumbs. "How disappointed he will be." She sighed, tilting her head slightly as her hands shifted position over his, fingers grazing over fingers, skin gliding over skin. Lavender scented fingers tracing over the patterns of scars and muscles before pushing deep and easing any remaining tension from his unwilling body.

"Will he be?" Tseng thought allowed, eyes turning away from her and her work to stare at the high, sloped ceiling. Her ministrations were calming his mind as successfully as it was relaxing his body, allowing the walls he bad built within himself to lower.

"Mm, should he discover we're not," Madelyn concluded, answering his outspoken question with a thoughtful tone. She rubbed between his fingers with the soft edge of her thumb and started humming her lullaby. Her voice, gentle and melodic, like a mother singing to her newborn, drifted through Tsengs' senses as softly as the aromatic oil. He was pensive about how effectively she was able to strip him of all his defences. She had a power over him like no one else, bringing out a side of him no one other than Aerith, the innocent young flower girl, had ever seen before.

"I do not plan on his finding out." Tseng spoke with conviction, brown eyes returning to the masseuse as a small smile fight to dominate her features.

"Of course not, imagine the scandal should he spread the news." She was playing light of a truth; making a joke from the inevitable should that path be chosen. Although the blowback would effect her most. The position she had put herself in did not make light of her taking on a partner, let alone if that partner was the leader of the Turks. It would cripple her standing; she would never be trusted again.

"And what of Miss Reaver?" Tseng questioned, feeling tension start to build in his chest at the thought that the young woman had come to the same assumption.

"She knows better that to assume I would jeopardize myself." Madelyn informed him with a soft, assuring voice as she repositioned her hands over his collarbone, digging the heels into his shoulder and working the muscle with small circles. Tseng grunted, one of his eyes closing slightly as she pushed a little too deep for his comfort.

She walked a thin neutral line, not good and not bad. No enemies and no friends other than those in the same field. How difficult it must be to keep yourself so restrained, not even the Turks were this strict with whom they befriended. There was a sudden joyous scream from down the beach, louder than the others had been, and Madelyn paused briefly to glance out the shoji screen doors. Tseng observed her eyes tighten as maternal instinct fought with professionalism. It became apparent that Jordan was the only person Madelyn allowed herself to be openly affectionate towards, and as a result, she struggled to balance her need to mother the younger woman and the need to be a friend to her. Two sides that didn't always see eye to eye.

"I do hope your Turk is responsible enough to keep her safe," She whispered as her eyes narrowed again before she regained her composure and she returned to smoothing her palms over warm skin strained over strong muscles.

"Reno will do as he wishes," Tseng replied honestly. That was obviously not the answer she was looking for as she frowned at him from under her lashes.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have let them shake up in my boathouse," She mused with a sigh since it was already too late to do anything about it. Tseng found amusement in her internal struggles, watching her fight with herself over how to proceed.

"Perhaps not," He agreed with her, there was a flicker of sarcasm in her eyes as she lifted her ocean blues to meet his once more before moving across his chest, soft, warm fingers kneading and rubbing.

"Consequently, had I not, you and I may not have gotten any sleep tonight." She implied simply, voice even and unaffected by the content of her words. "It was truly a grand coincidence that your visit coincided with her birthday," Madelyn said after a moment pause. Tseng watched mirth dance in her eyes as she worked. "And even better luck that your nosy little Turk had decided to celebrate with her."

"Indeed," Tseng agreed, their actions would go in-noted for the night. It was truly a great coincidence that as Reno began to seriously suspect them of being lovers, his own lover would steal him away. Tseng remained silent after that and watched her as she walked around the foot of the bed to have better access at the other side of his body. She picked up where she had left off, in the center of his chest. Fingers brushed and tested the muscles beneath his snowy white skin, then her eyes drifted up to his face. He watched her eyes as they frowned, her eyes focussed on a place above his right eye. She lifted one hand and held the right side of his face while the soft pad of her thumb caressed over a barely visible scar. The gesture was sympathetic and caring, but then she was back to work with both hands pushing into soft, well worked pectorals.

Tseng sat up slowly, the movement made sudden because it was without warning and took her mouth. His hand came up and the knuckle of his index finger lightly brushed under her chin. It was not a wildly passionate kiss between two heated lovers, but nor was it a chaste peck between good friends. The action resulted purely on a mans' need to touch a woman. He pulled her full bottom lip into his mouth and gentle sucked on it to encourage her to participate while his other hand lifted and gently started to massage at the lower part of her neck. With a short, soft hum, Madelyn returned the gestures he was offering, slowly kissing him back as her hands lifted to settle on his shoulders close to his neck. Her response instinctual, a womans' need to feel a man. Tseng pampered her with soft, gentle kisses and a slow massage of both her shoulders. Slim fingers combed through Tsengs' long loose hair once, playing with it as if she were bored.

He pulled back to allow for a few necessary breaths, meeting her hooded ocean gaze with his own narrowed, heavy lidded earthy eyes. It was a mutual need to have the other that prompted them to touch and feel each other, but not drive them to sex. She closed the gap between them, pressing soft full lips to his, both their mouths flushed from the previous kiss. She slid her palms up the sides of his pale throat until her thumbs could trace over the edge of a jaw that was strong but not square. Brown eyes watched as open blue ones traced over the features she couldn't touch, mesmerizing him as she committed every feature to memory. Her eyes found scars as lips parted and tongues touched softly, tips touching in welcoming before gliding over each other. There was a sense of laziness to the act, each exploring familiar territory at a languid pace while eyes occasionally met, only to glance away as they memorized each other.

Pulling back to breath gave them a chance to make things more comfortable since she was still standing at his bedside with him sitting up to access her. Putting one hand to the mattress Tseng pushed himself over to make room beside him for her to sit. She sat with her back to him and legs off the edge of the bed as she un-tucked her blouse from her slacks before pulling it over her head in an unhurried manner. As she folded it nearly on the empty bedside table Tseng reached over and assisted in unclasping her white silk bra.

"Thank you," She said while nodded her head as she slid the straps down her arms and folded the garment in half before placing it over her shirt. The pale expanse of her exposed back was pockmarked with a line of evenly spaced bullet wounds caused by an automatic weapon. About an inch apart were the small circular scars left behind by the bullets that ripped through her body from back to front. Any and all other scars had carefully been taken care of, tended too with special oils that would lessen the appearance of the marks until nearly invisible. He sat back and followed the dotted line of scars with his eyes as she disrobed, watching with an aloof expression as her black pants slid down long lean legs. She turned to the side as she meticulously folded her slacks and draped them over her other clothes before shimmying out of her black satin panties. Folding those in half as well, she placed them over her slacks before sitting back down on the edge of the bed and reaching up to remove a single bobby pin from her hair. It was like removing a single brick from a dam, the entire thing collapsed and a torrent of honey brown hair tumbled down the entire length of her back before the ends pooled on the bed. She combed those capable fingers through the strands, straightening it out from the rogue twists and knots.

Once her hair was tended to she turned her shoulders towards Tseng, eyes seeking out his when she felt a confident hand on her waist as he pulled her closer while leaning in to kiss her again. Lips touched in homecoming before pulling apart and warm wet muscles grazed before sliding past into the others mouth. Tseng lifted both hands to hold her slim waist, pulling her closer to him as he rolled onto his side. She stretched out on her side facing him and with one hand resting on his shoulder the other reached up to his face. Her thumb brushed over his high cheekbones while sensitive fingertips traced over thin brows and a smooth forehead. Her searching fingers brushed over the small stud in between his brows, something akin to a piercing and yet at the same time nothing like it. Blue eyes stared into his as she pushed and circled the small tilak, trying to figure out in her own head what the strange little mark was and what it meant. She did not voice the question as her deft hands traced the rest of his sharp yet strong Wutai features before one slid back to appreciate his silken hair while the other thumbed at the muscles and tendons in his neck and throat.

Whilst she explored him, Tseng did his own fair share of mapping out her body. Slim yet masculine hands palmed over the soft swoop of her sides as he took note of the obvious differences between their body shapes. Tseng himself had broad shoulders that tapered down into thin hips while she was the literal shape of an hourglass, only the shape not quiet so defined. Slim shoulders tapering the shape of her ribs and a thin waist before wider hips gave her the figure men coveted. Her skin, where not marred by the scars of her younger years, was smooth and soft over slim muscles that were toned from long years of use. His work calloused hands ran over her flat stomach and felt it tremble from a sense of ticklishness. Any sexual reaction either of their bodies had towards these activities they participated in was ignored. His fingertips grazed over and caught in her naval while her own hands traced the planes of his chest, following the edge of muscles and bone. He lazily trailed one hand over her hip and down her bare leg as far as he could reach before slowly trekking back up the same path. Her hands descended to his stomach, tracing over invisible abs that she could just distinguish a texture too with her sensitive touch while he found the indentation of her spine and followed the gentle curve from her tailbone to her Atlas vertebra.

Mouths pulled apart and as eyes met and shared a sense of mutual respect for the other she gave him a small, breathless smile. Nothing was said to ruin the moment, and before Tseng realized how extensively she had stripped him of his defences, his inhibitions slipped through and he returned the look with his own genuine smile. Their smiled dimmed at the same time as reality settled back onto them, and they both quickly put up their walls of indifference and professionalism before she sat up and reached down to the foot of the bed. She brought the blanket up as a gentle ocean breeze ghosted into the room and gave her a chill. A delicate shiver wracked her shoulders as she adjusted the blanket over her lap before lying back down. Tseng casually draped an arm over her waist to warm her while she met his eyes and blinked slowly to him with a nod of her head in thanks.

"Sleep well, Tseng."

"Sleep well,"