Thank you so much to my absolutely fantastic beta, xfang-girl. she helped me improve this chapter tremendously by telling me what I needed to hear. And I am grateful for her keen eye in spotting my typos and grammatical errors!
Riko dragged herself into her apartment at promptly seven on Friday evening. Dropping onto her couch, she fell over to bury her face in the soft, cool leather. Damn that beanpole with boundless energy and more things for her to do than could be accomplished by ten people. She had spent the last week doing damage control by cleaning up messes created by his last administrative assistant. Retyping documents, sending out letters of apology, making phone calls to repair mucked up communication lines between benefactors and her boss had dominated her time from eight in the morning to eight or nine every night. At least he did take her to lunch when he allowed a break during the day and order in dinner on the late nights. Thankfully, the reprisals for past wrongs committed by the former assistant had been completed by the end of today so new projects could be started next week. At the present time, she was not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Riko groaned miserably, indulging in a pity party induced by exhaustion. Before her self-pity could be sufficiently wallowed in to produce a cathartic effect, her phone chirped.
"Hello?" she moaned, not bothering to put on a fake smile or upbeat tone. After all, it was Ichigo her best friend calling and as a friend he was supposed to listen to her misery and whining.
"Are you okay?" he asked, barely stifling a chuckle because of her dramatics.
"No," she whined petulantly, letting him have it with both bellyaching barrels.
"Still want to go out?"
"No."
"Want to stay in? I'll bring beer and pizza," he offered, hearing her noisy and pitiful sigh. He had never heard her be so grouchy and so irritable. That was usually his role.
"That sounds great. Bring me something chocolate, please," she begged shamelessly.
"How could I resist that?" he groused, rolling his eyes.
"How long will it be? I've got to take a shower," she said, forcing herself up from the couch.
"You have thirty minutes. Use them wisely," he advised her, hanging up the phone.
"God, have you ever heard of saying bye!" she yelled at the phone before tossing it onto the coffee table. "You have thirty minutes...use them wisely," she mocked, shedding her clothes as she walked to the bathroom.
Riko turned the faucet handle all the way over to hot. She needed to wash away the stress and tiredness. Stepping under the steaming spray, she sighed with satisfaction as the heat warmed her skin and soaked into her muscles. Her mind wandered a bit and she tried to picture what Ichigo must look like without a shirt. She had felt the hard muscles beneath his shirts so she knew he had to be pretty well-built. Forming a fabulously detailed picture of him in her mind, she took her time soaping her body with her favorite pink grapefruit scented body wash. It was supposed to invigorate her. Something was revving her up at the moment but it had more to due with another kind of citrus fruit, the color of it anyway. Lost in her x-rated musings, she lost track of time. She heard the banging on her door when she was just rinsing her hair.
"Oh, my god!" she exclaimed, shutting off the water. Grabbing a towel, she wrapped it around her to thoughtlessly rush to the door. In her panic, it never occurred to her that she should get dressed first.
Ichigo was just about to knock again when the door was flung open. With his hand in mid-air, he stood frozen as he stared at the soaking wet Riko in a towel. His eyes widened and traveled down her body from her drenched hair to her feet where water pooled on the hardwood. Being a man it was impossible to stop his eyes from lingering on the nicely rounded projections between which her hand gripped the purple towel. He also noticed the towel opened up slightly at the bottom revealing that there was no carpet to match the drapes. "Holy shit, Riko," he gasped, unable to stop staring at her.
"Uhm..why don't you come in...," she murmured, pulling the towel closed at the bottom with her other hand. Backing away slowly and hoping she did not faint from shame, she told him, "You can put the beer in the refrigerator and the pizza on the table."
"I brought you a chocolate cake with fudge icing," he returned, forcing his eyes to stay on her face that was so red it was purple. He was pretty sure his face would be red if every drop of blood in his body had not surged in a southerly direction.
"Okay. Just put it in the kitchen. I'm going to get dressed." Riko spun on her heel and virtually ran to the bedroom. Ripping off the towel after slamming her bedroom door, she roughly dried her hair while crossing the room to her white wicker chest of drawers. Tossing the towel aside, she quickly pulled on her underwear then a dowdy pair of gray capri sweatpants and a white tank top over which she threw an oversized gray t-shirt.
Ichigo was standing in the kitchen attempting to compose himself before he walked back into the living room. He heard the door to her bedroom open and shoved the cake in the refrigerator before grabbing two beers and the pizza box. As an after thought, he backed up to snatch the roll of paper towels from the metal stand on the counter before proceeding to the couch.
Riko offered him a tremulous smile while avoiding his eyes. She sat down on the couch, gluing herself to the arm to put as much distance as possible between the two of them. Humiliation made her whole body hot and she gratefully snatched the beer out of his hand when he silently held it out to her. Once she had downed the whole thing, she was able to find her voice.
"So what movie do you want to watch?" she asked, standing up to walk the short distance to the kitchen.
"I'm not sure. Preferably nothing with nudity in it," he requested, hearing her begin coughing in the kitchen. "I think I've already seen enough tonight."
Riko ignored the comment, but could not stop the heat of embarrassment from enveloping her body again. While standing in front of the open refrigerator to cool off, she downed her second beer. Once her body was cooled off and the buzz had begun to slough off the degradation of the shocking moment earlier, she took the third frosty bottle and returned to the living room.
"Rough week?" Ichigo stood up to rifle through her movie collection. The action was more to put a little distance between himself and the woman who had sat beside him than to actually find something to watch. The picture of her inadvertent flash kept replaying in his mind and being close to her made him want to give into the urge to seize her and crush his mouth against hers. That kiss would only be the first of many things he wanted to do to her at this given time.
"Yeah," she responded, her body feeling heavy and relaxed from the alcohol. Turning to stretch her legs out on the couch, she watched him as he picked a movie and inserted it into the player. "That Uryū is a real workaholic. He's relentless. I feel like a horse that's been rode long and hard. He stayed on my ass all week."
"Figuratively speaking, right?" He received a scathing glare for that remark. Her reckless choice of words had conjured up a less than enjoyable mental image of his pretty best friend and Uryū together going at it like bunnies. The thought had shocked him in several ways, including the fact it had stirred up a deep-seated jealousy that he had not anticipated.
"So how do you know him?" Riko asked, moving from one uncomfortable subject to another.
Ichigo sat down on the other end of the couch, swinging his long legs onto the cushions to lay them next to hers. He smiled when he saw her jump from the contact of the rough material of his jeans against her bare legs. "We were friends in high school."
"What happened after that?" She wanted to know more and was not going to let him get away with being tight-lipped tonight.
"We went our separate ways. He went to university, I went to police academy. We just lost touch," he said with a shrug, guzzling the rest of his beer.
"What else?" she pushed, ignoring his lethal glare. Leaning forward, she put her hand on his thigh feeling the muscle tighten beneath her palm. "There's more to this. Tell me."
Ichigo took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself to tell her. He wished she would move her hand because he was already finding it difficult enough to find the words to tell her the awful truth of what happened. Leaning his head back to look at the ceiling, he began speaking. Hopefully rehashing the past would quench the desire building within him.
"Ryūken Ishida was supposed to be my mother's husband," he began, wishing he had grabbed another beer. "They had been betrothed to each due to family status or bonds or some stupid crap. I'm not sure and I don't really care what it was. She met my father in college and they fell in love. She broke the betrothal agreement. Since my father stole her away and married her, there was quite a bit of animosity between him and Ryūken. Because of that, Uryū's father forbade us to be friends."
"That's terrible. So childish. That had nothing to do with the two of you!" Riko blurted angrily, getting up to go to the kitchen. This revelation required another beer for each of them. Of course, any reason would do right now. She was still trying to get over being an accidental flasher. Taking out two cold beers, she rolled one across her face while she walked back to the living room. Thank goodness he had brought a twelve bottle box. After handing one to him, she pushed his feet off the couch so she could sit next to him.
"You're hot...I, uh, um, are you hot?" Ichigo corrected himself, turning red to the tips of his ears. Freudian slip. He swiftly twisted off the cap and began drinking the beer.
"Just a little," she replied, using the hem of her shirt to take of her beer cap. Oh, my God! He's drunk off his ass already! Did he drink before he got here?, she wondered, gulping her beer as she stared at the television screen to avoid looking at him. He was just too damn cute when he blushed.
"We ignored his father and remained friends until that damn man beat the hell out of Uryū one night. I refused to talk to Uryū after that. I was afraid his father would kill him if I didn't," he said, taking a long draw of the beer until half of it was gone. "It was the only way I felt I could protect him." While finishing the beer, he stood up to go to the kitchen. Getting another beer for himself, he also took out the cake. Once he had gotten a fork, he returned to the living room in hopes of distracting her with his gift of chocolate so she would not ask anymore questions. So what if she had not eaten her dinner? She was not five years old and had grown up quite nicely.
Riko did not even look at the cake he sat on the coffee table directly in front of her. She kept her eyes on him, studying his every move as he folded his long limbs into a sitting position next to her. Sliding along the smooth leather, the potent buzz she was enjoying had demolished her inhibitions. What was the big deal about sitting close to him? She had done this many nights at the club without a second thought. However, since they were not at the club, should she have the temptation to kiss him, she could give into it. Then again, she would not want to cause him to have a heart attack by doing such a thing as kissing him. Her fingers drifted across his cheek in a gentle attempt to gain his attention. When this did not work, she grew bold, leaning forward to kiss his cheek. Maybe he could survive that. Her lips grazed the outer rim of his ear when she whispered, "I'm sorry that happened to you."
"There's more," he told her, feeling the need to continue so he would not turn his face and plant his lips on hers. The very thought shocked him and made him feel light headed. Or perhaps that was the beer. "My wife to be left me standing at the altar. A week later I received a picture in the mail. It was of her, happy as she could be in the arms of..." Ichigo paused, emptying the bottle in a few big gulps.
Riko steeled herself, fully expecting him to say in the arms of Uryū. Her fingers interlaced with the fingers of his hand draped across his knee. She waited patiently for him to speak, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"Of his father, Ryūken." He was pushed over the overstuffed arm of the couch when she punched him in the arm.
"Get the fuck out!" she screamed in horrified surprise. Uryū's Father seduced Ichigo's wife? What the hell was she thinking?
"Such a dirty mouth," he chuckled, unable to contain it as he looked at her startled face.
"That was unexpected to say the least. I thought for sure you were going to say Uryū." She leaned to the side, stabbing the cake with the fork.
"Uryū?" He broke into gales of laughter at the thought of the skinny nerd being a seductive Don Juan type.
"Oh, come on. Don't be so mean. His personality could use a little work but he isn't that bad to look at," she admitted, shoving a forkful of the cake into her mouth.
"Are you trying to make me jealous?" he asked, feeling the distinct twinge of envy deep in his gut. Suddenly the thought of Uryū seducing someone did not seem so funny if that someone was Riko. He watched her lick the chocolate icing from her lips, mimicking the action by licking his own lips.
"Is it working?" After giving him a cat-that-ate-the canary smile, she brought another big bite of cake to her mouth but he grabbed her wrist and shoved it into his own. "Hey! That was mine."
"Want it back?" He opened his mouth, poking out his tongue at her to show her the prechewed mush.
"Oh, you're so gross!" she shrieked, her face twisting with disgust. She dug her fingers into the cake, seizing a squishy handful.
"You wouldn't dare." His eyes narrowed threateningly as she brought her hand close to his face.
"Yes, I would." She shoved the hunk of cake against his closed lips, smearing the gooey icing all over his face.
"Okay, that is it!" he yelled, pushing her over onto her back. Straddling her waist, he held her down as he sunk both of his hands into the cake.
"No, no, NOOOO!" she cried, unwittingly giving him the opportunity to cram the delectable dessert into her mouth. Giggling protests ensued as he covered her face with the sticky sweet icing.
Ichigo was laughing uncontrollably as he looked down at her messy face. He moved off of her, pulling her to a sitting position. He followed her to the bathroom, turning on the faucet while she got two washcloths for them clean off their faces.
"That's really good cake," Riko laughed, noticing that he was staring at her in the mirror. "What?"
"You're beautiful," he murmured as if he was seeing her for the first time.
"You're so drunk," she chuckled off handedly, ignoring him to scrub the sticky goo off of her face.
"I'm not that drunk," he mumbled, rinsing out his cloth to have another swipe at his face.
"Oh? Then kiss me," she challenged him, turning to face him.
"What?" he chuckled incredulously as if he had not heard her right. He couldn't kiss her no matter how much he wanted to because they were just friends.
"You big weenie," Riko muttered, walking out of the bathroom. She was caught off guard when he jerked her around to face him, placing his lips on hers for a kiss. Unable to breathe by the shock of his lips being on hers, she pressed her palms against his chest and shoved him away. "Stop it! You're drunk and don't know what you're doing! That's just cruel, Ichigo!"
"I'm not that drunk!" he bellowed, staying right on her heels as she stomped away from him. Seizing her by the arms, he twisted her around to face him again. He really wasn't that drunk. After being startled by his own actions and her subsequent rejection, he was actually quite sober at the moment. Gazing into her eyes, he could see that she appeared fairly lucid as well.
Ichigo pressed his lips together, unable to speak when he noticed the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Why the hell was she crying? This was a surreal moment for him that he had never even considered occurring in his wildest dreams - until last night. Last night on the stake out, Renji had informed him that Haineko told him Riko had quit her job at the club when the boss threatened to fire her if she did not quit seeing him. After learning the truth about her job, he had used the time to think in which he analyzed their relationship and his feelings. He had debated if she would be worth the risk of putting his heart on the line again. She had quit her job, risked her livelihood for him in addition to her heart. Why not take a chance on her in return?
"Riko, I've been thinking..." He paused, struggling to find the right words to tell her how he felt. What if she did not feel the same? Swallowing convulsively, he held her gaze and her arms to keep her from moving. "I feel...I think...I want."
"Oh, for God's sake, Ichigo," she muttered, snatching her arms out of his hands. She encircled his neck with arms, standing on her tiptoes but she still had to pull his head down to reach his lips.
Riko gently pressed her lips to his, her belly fluttering with pleasure and apprehension as she waited for his reaction. When he did not pull away and actually slid his arms around her waist, she took the initiative to deepen the kiss. Her tongue tested the small opening between his lips. Once again, only a positive reaction as his arms tightened around her. A thrill raced through her body when his lips parted and his tongue met hers. Her knees weakened from the overwhelming dizziness that crashed down on her. The fatigue, the beers, and the unbearable lightness of being that came with kissing him had taken its toll on her. At first she was disappointed when his lips moved from hers but that was only so he could sweep her up into his arms. Her head lolled against his broad chest as he took her to her bedroom. To her great satisfaction, he lay down next to her after tucking her into the bed.
"Why aren't you leaving?" she asked, snuggling into him.
"Do you want me to?" he questioned her, rolling over as if he were going to get up.
"NO!" she shrieked, grabbing onto him. She was not going to allow him to blow this opportunity for her. It was possible neither one of them would remember this in the morning, but she was enjoying it right now. Her arms moved around his neck and she pressed her body to his, taking comfort in his warmth.
"Can I kiss you good night?" Ichigo inquired, tipping her chin upward to see her face in the bluish glow of the moonlight.
"Yes," she answered, expecting a kiss on the forehead.
Ichigo lay his hand against her hip, pulling her close to him. His lips lowered to hers and he felt her whole body stiffen. He fully expected to be shoved off the bed, but instead she sighed and moved her lips against his. His fingers slid beneath the edge of her tank top, feeling her skin erupt into goose-flesh from the contact of his skin to hers. Kissing her tenderly and fervently, he felt her lips part beneath his and slid his tongue into her mouth. When she did not respond, he lifted his head. He gaped at her in stunned disbelief as she lay next him, dead asleep in slack-jawed relaxation.
"This can't be happening." He flinched away when she snored loudly in a drunken, exhausted slumber. Oh, yeah...this was happening. Had this been what it felt like for her the last several weeks, to come so close to something romantic only to be shut down and disappointed? He thought about the romantic dinner he had pushed aside, feeling a twinge of guilt twist his guts. He should have just listened to Yuzu and had the candlelit dinner with Riko. Regret needled the back of his mind relentlessly as he looked down at her face. Pecking her on the cheek, he confessed, "I'm such a dumbass. I'm sorry."
~...~
Riko awoke the next morning but did not open her eyes. Instead she chose to replay the beautiful dream in her head. Ichigo had not only kissed her, he had been in her bed. Although no sex occurred in the dream it was still so very sweet and satisfying: his gentle kiss, his strong arms around her while she slept. Sucking in a deep breath, she released it noisily allowing it to morph into a sound something like a purr. Rolling onto her side and opening her eyes, she gasped and stared in startled awe at the single red rose in a cut crystal vase. Her fingers shook as she reached out for the card sitting like a small tent in front of the vase.
Thanks for last night, babe. You were great! Possibly the best experience I've ever had. I can't wait to do it again. ~Ichigo
"Wh-what?" she stammered, her mind racing to remember. What happened last night? Had that been real? Possibly the best experience I've ever had. "Did we...did we have sex and I missed the whole damn thing?"
Riko snatched her phone from the nightstand and typed in a panicked text to her orange-headed friend.
Ichigo reached for his phone, missing as it rattled across his nightstand. It tried to run away again as another text arrived but he caught it before it could fall to the floor. Struggling to focus his eyes so he could read the words, he sat up in the bed. He had left Riko's apartment around midnight, leaving her in a snoring, drooling heap wrapped tightly in the covers. Since the woman was in a state that was as non threatening as possible, he had stolen a good night kiss before he left. A kiss on the cheek of course. Rather than text back, he called her.
Riko's belly quivered with apprehension and excitement when her phone rang. Before she could even say hello he was talking. She had a way of making this man talk that even he did not understand.
"You were something else last night. You made noises I've never heard any woman make," he said, barely able to stifle a laugh. The stunned silence on the other end of the phone prompted him to keep up the cruel charade. "Oh, babe...please don't tell me you don't remember. It was so good...and the things you said...it was...it was...well there are no words to describe it really."
Riko could feel the tears burning her eyeballs and she held her rolling belly in an attempt to calm it before she threw up. They had sex and she couldn't remember! How could she do something so stupid? Well, not the sex but the not remembering it! She sniffed as a lone tear rolled down her check betraying her sadness to the man on the phone with her.
"Riko? Are you crying?" he asked, his tummy performing a few flip-flops of its own. Perhaps he had pushed the joke a little too far.
"I-Ichigo, d-did we really have s-s-s-s..." Riko swallowed hard nearly choking on the lump of emotion in her throat. "Sex?"
"No...we did not have sex last night. You're fully clothed and safely cocooned in the sheets aren't you?" he pointed out rather gruffly, annoyed with himself for going to far and her as well for overlooking the obvious.
"Well, yeah...but - " Now she was confused. What exactly had happened between them then?
"Nothing happened," Ichigo assured her, his tone softer this time.
Riko sighed loudly, not sure if she was relieved or disappointed that nothing had happened. She would choose to be relieved at the moment. If they had sex, she would definitely want to remember the experience.
"But you do have some sweet lips," he said and hung up abruptly.
"Wait...what?" she mumbled, not sure she had heard him correctly. "Ichigo? Ichigo!" she yelled at the phone although he was no longer there. "Well, I'm not calling him back."
Riko wanted to call him back. She wanted to text him until it overloaded his phone, to annoy him until he told her what had really happened. But she would not. Jerk. Picking up her pillow and covering her face with it, she screamed to release her frustration with the irritating man she was completely enamored with. Inhaling the scent of him from her pillow, she struggled to remember. She had been so tired...so drunk. He was drunk too and...and what? Dammit! Maybe...possibly...at least parts of that vague dream were more than a dream after all. Obviously he had lain next to her in the bed because her pillow smelled like him. She had gotten terribly drunk after all so he had taken her to the bed. Closing her eyes, she silently swore to herself to stop after the second drink from now on.
"Sweet lips," she muttered to herself, giggling that he had said something so preposterous. "That idiot."
She chided herself for being so foolish. Of course nothing had happened. Probably not even the kiss. That part had to be just a dream...didn't it?