This Is Your Song | 09
.: Crimson Manor :.
"Mister Quartermaine, good to see you," Johnny smiled, shaking Edward's hand. "Please, make yourself at home. Enjoy. Mrs. Quartermaine, you look lovely. I'm so glad you could come."
He'd just gotten back from Milan that morning, and Claudia had thrown him a party to welcome him home. Stupid woman. If she knew anything, she'd have known that a party was the last thing he wanted. All he wanted was to get out of his suit, ditch his office, and head over to Jake's to find Nadine. Instead, he was stuck playing fucking host to a bunch of people he couldn't stand.
But at least Nadine had been invited. He was on the board at General Hospital and so Claudia had invited Doctor Ford, Doctors Drake and Scorpio with others, as well as some of the nurses she knew that he was acquainted with.
That was why Nadine walked through the door just then, dressed in a long, fitted black gown with white gloves (the only one wearing gloves), with Elizabeth Webber at her side. The older nurse paused to give her coat to one of the staff, and Claudia appeared at Johnny's side just as Nadine approached.
The nurse smiled prettily and Johnny clasped her gloved hand loosely, trying to look a little disinterested…but not too much, otherwise Claudia would notice.
"Miss Crowell," he purred. "You look lovely. I'm so glad you came."
"Thank you for inviting me," she smiled at both of them. "You have a lovely house, by the way."
He nodded and let her pass, and as soon as she was out of earshot, Claudia nudged him. "Who was that?"
"Nurse at the hospital."
His bland, succinct answer escaped her suspicion and she nodded, looking over when Elizabeth approached.
"Miss Webber," Johnny smiled, taking her head. "You look lovely. I'm so glad you could make it."
"Happy to," she smiled. "Thank you for the invitation."
"Not at all," he smiled, keeping her hand in his just to tease. "I'm on excellent terms with the General Hospital staff and am very pleased that you could come to my home."
"That's very nice of you," Elizabeth said warmly.
"You didn't bring those boys of yours," he continued, sounding just confused enough to be concerned and observant instead of creepy. "The ones that I've had the occasion of seeing at the hospital. Cameron and Jay."
"Cameron and Jake," she filled in. Johnny smirked; he knew the boy's name. "No, I didn't. I – this is a dinner party, I thought kids were-"
"I have a baby-sitter on staff for this evening," he explained, gesturing to a room further down the hall from where she could hear a few children laughing. "She's on hand for every single function I throw for friends or associates at the house. After all, even men in my business can have children and be fathers."
His smile widened and he tilted his head to the side boyishly. "Oh, but I don't have to explain to you, you already know."
To his delight, the nurse turned exactly three shades paler. "…Excuse me?"
"Because you're a nurse," Johnny chirped, having entirely too much fun with her. "I hardly have to explain the intricate process of procreation to you."
"Oh. Yeah." Elizabeth laughed nervously and tugged her hand from his. "Thank you for inviting me to your home, Mister Zacchara."
"Any time, Miss Webber," he replied graciously, folding his hands behind his back. "I hope to see you here again in the future. And next time…do feel free to bring your boys."
She nodded jerkily and quickly moved away, and Johnny grinned despite himself. God, the stupid twit of a woman. It almost wasn't sporting of him to toy with her; she made far too easy a target.
Ooh, bonus points: Jason Morgan had seen him talking to her and was now looking quite clearly out of sorts. Score.
"What was that about?" Claudia wanted to know, causing his smile to fade.
"Nothing you need to be concerned with," Johnny told her brusquely.
She followed him over to the entrance as another family arrived. "Were you hitting on her or something?"
He rolled his eyes. "Claudia, when I make flirtatious overtures to a woman, said overtures are far more graceful in nature. And also directed at women that haven't yet spawned, thank you."
He shuddered at the thought of children and pregnancy and all that horrible business, and didn't even realize that he'd glanced in Nadine's direction. Claudia, however, had, and as he made his introductions to their guests, she looked thoughtfully in the blonde nurse's direction.
~*~*~*~*~*~
He'd been watching her all night, the stupid boy, she just knew it. She could feel his eyes on her and every time she turned around, there he was, dark suit, perfectly styled hair, smoldering gaze, all of it, like something off the cover of a really bad romance novel.
Jesus Christ, who did that stupid boy think he was? Didn't he know that he couldn't stare at her like that, that he couldn't send her the patented Sex Look in such a neutral environment where she couldn't drag him off to the nearest coat closet (Crimson Manor had no less than five, she'd been told) and have her way with him?
Stupid, stupid boy.
She always got mixed up with the stupid ones, too.
She had barely been able to concentrate on anything Elizabeth had said in the past ten minutes because all she could think of was how to keep herself in check when that ape of a man insisted on trying to hypnotize her with his bedroom eyes. Gah.
"Oh. Excuse me." She frowned when her phone buzzed and flipped it open to find a new text.
Leave ballroom. Go to foyer, take stairs up. 5th room on the right. Now.
"Anything important?" Elizabeth asked, watching the corner of Nadine's mouth twitch.
"Actually, yeah," she smiled. "I'm going to have to take this. See you later."
With hardly another word to anyone, Nadine breezed out of the grand ballroom, but not before asking one of the staff members, just for show, which way the bathroom was. Once outside, she followed the hallway to the grand foyer. After making sure there weren't any maids around, she quickly trotted up the stairs, feeling like a really naughty stowaway, and counted off five doors before pushing open the one she stopped in front of.
It opened into a hallway, and she passed a dressing room with a very fancy Oriental screen and a bathroom about as large as her entire master bedroom at Crowell House, and Nadine was thoroughly confused.
"Hello? Um…Whoa!"
He'd been waiting in the shadows, that horrendous ape, and Johnny had slipped an arm around her waist and hauled her close as soon as she was within reach. She didn't even get a chance to scold him for scaring her that way before he crushed his lips to hers and held her real close, so close that there wasn't even room for air between them, much less thoughts or words.
He moaned a little, coaxing her closer still, as his lips moved masterfully over hers and his roving hands stole around to squeeze her hip, sliding over the pretty black silk she wore. Nadine wound her arms around his neck, her hips pressing into his, and felt the start of that tell-tale bulge low against her belly already.
"Mmm," he murmured, kissing the corner of her mouth when she had to pull away for air. "Thought you'd never get up here."
Nadine framed his face in her hands and kissed him hard, not even bothering with words. God, but she'd missed this. She didn't even realize how much until just now, when his arms wrapped around her and the raw, masculine heat of him bled through the thin silk she wore. Nothing beat this, absolutely nothing.
Johnny pulled her away, toward the center of the room where his massive bed stood. It was a behemoth of a creation, dark and wooden with drapes tied back, covered in a very pale gold comforter with plain white sheets. Nadine went willingly, her arms smoothing down his sides, over the clean lines of that amazing suit he wore. She'd never really had a chance to see him dressed up and damn, did he look good. She absolutely loved him in a suit…but had a feeling she'd love him more out of it.
Without any preamble, Johnny leaned down and scooped her up into his arms, then strode toward the bed. He deposited her right in the middle of it and hastily kicked off his shoes, then removed his suit jacket. It took him a minute to wrangle himself out of the tuxedo he wore but soon enough he was crawling over her clad in just his tuxedo pants.
He'd gotten a nice tan while in Italy, and Nadine trailed her fingers over his chest, fascinated by how his skin was even darker now compared hers. Johnny indulged her, then reached behind her and undid the silver brooch she wore in her hair, letting her waves tumble down freely. He tossed it onto the other side of the bed, entirely unconcerned, and skimmed a hand possessively over her body from the underswell of her breast to her hip.
Nadine shivered at the combination of the cool silk and his warm touch, but Johnny wasn't done. Far from it. He coaxed her up a little, just enough for him to reach the zipper on the back of the dress. Slowly, he tugged it down, down, down, all the way down, until the silk pooled at her waist. She wore no bra tonight and he cupped her gently at first, then squeezed roughly. Nadine arched her neck and he leaned down, nipping at the pale skin at the column of her throat as he played with her.
Her hips bucked off the bed and he seized the opportunity to sweep the silk away and fling it onto the corner of the bed where she could retrieve it later. This left her clad in just her black stockings and matching garter belt, the undergarments he'd sent over along with the dress that morning by way of his loyal guard, one he knew would be entirely discreet in the matter.
She was looking up at him openly and the moment was perfect. His hand settled on the womanly curve of her hip as if it belonged there, and Johnny pressed his lips to hers, pushing her down onto his bed as he simultaneously pushed away her garter belt. The snaps came undone and he flung it away, frustrated by these scraps of silk and nylon that kept her from being bare underneath him. He deliberated about rolling her stockings down to her toes and getting rid of them, and Nadine watched him purse up his lips in contemplation and think, looking so much like a little boy that it was just charming. In the end, he opted to let her leave the stockings on and stretched out half on top of her, pinning her down to the mattress and kissing her deeply.
Nadine grappled with his pants and Johnny finally heaved himself off to get rid of them. He tossed them onto the backboard of the bed and was on her again, and this time she comfortably wound her legs around his lean waist, hearing him growl when the nylon rasped against his skin and she was brought up squarely against him.
He kissed her neck, strumming his knuckles over her breast until she writhed underneath him, and then Johnny surprised her by taking her hand and wrapping it around himself, letting her feel just how hot and hard he was in her palm. Nadine squeezed him, felt his hips buck against her, and then lost all coherent thought when his lips captured hers again.
Johnny grabbed her wrists and pinned them up above her head, and her knuckles hit the headboard. He kissed her hard, felt her twist underneath him, and when he pulled back for air he saw her hair fanning out of over his pillows.
Good. That was exactly what he wanted.
He kissed her again, felt her back arch so that her hips rose an inch or so off the bed and pressed shamelessly against his. He wanted to take her in his bed, he wanted to walk into his room and be able to remember her there. He wanted his sheets to smell like her, he wanted to see her hair spread across his pillow. Crimson Manor was so dark, gloomy, and sterile all the time, he just wanted a piece of her here.
Literally, as it were.
Ha.
Nadine was watching him as he pulled away and grabbed a condom from his drawer. It took him mere seconds at sheathing himself – come on, he'd had more than enough practice to be good at it by now – and she let out a slow breath when he entered her smoothly, inch by inch. Her fingernails scraped across his scalp and he kept going until he was fully buried in her. Only then did he let his head drop into the cavern of her neck and let out a breath of relief.
Her hips were already moving in that ancient rhythm, spurring his along, and before long Johnny was moving swiftly, rotating, thrusting, driving forward powerfully. Nadine let out a hoarse cry that he quickly smothered with his lips and he felt her body tighten before she found her release, and he wasn't too far behind.
To avoid falling on top of her, he tucked and rolled over onto his side, pulling her with him, and lay there until their breathing returned to normal.
~*~*~*~*~*~
They were sweaty and exhausted, entirely spent and lying in each other's arms in his massive bed, and a long moment passed before Nadine could even form an intelligent thought. Johnny felt her shift, felt her stretch a little, and languidly reached across her into his drawer. He scrounged around in there until he found what he was looking for, and when he withdrew his hand, she saw something yellow and speckled with many colors in his hand.
"Here."
"What's this?"
"A ring, what's it look like?" he snorted, dropping it in her palm. It was a flat piece of glass, yellowish gold and the size of a quarter, mounted on a gold band. It included bits of vibrant blue and white and red and green, all meshed together, frozen inside the glass, and he'd given it to her like it was nothing.
"What – what's this for?" She looked up at him in surprise. "Did you get this in…?"
"Milan," he affirmed, stretching out languidly next to her. "It was a gift given to me by one of my associates there, meant for my sister. But she doesn't need more jewelry, she has more than enough. I…thought you'd like it."
Nadine studied the brilliant colors, her eyes glowing. "Oh, I love it. I don't have anything like it. It's beautiful, so beautiful."
He snorted again. "Whatever, it's just a hunk of glass. You can stop looking at it like it's an emerald."
Her only response was to stick her tongue out at him, and Johnny watched her toy with the ring. Impatient now, he took it from her and, grabbing her wrist, put it on her finger. "There. It's on."
Nadine shoved him with her shoulder but he wrapped his arms around her, preventing that sort of retaliatory strike in the future. "So…how was Milan?"
"Sucked," he grumbled. "I worked from sun up to sun down and was too tired then to do anything but go straight to sleep, hoping I'd wake up far away from that awful house. God. Didn't get a chance to enjoy anything. I hate visiting Uncle Rudy. Son of a bitch works me like a dog."
She smiled to herself as he ranted, wondering if his saying that he didn't have a chance to enjoy anything was his way of letting her know he hadn't had a chance to enjoy anyone either.
Stupid boy.
"Well, then, I'm glad you're back."
He stiffened behind her. "…Because you missed me?"
"Because you obviously had a horrible time there," she corrected with a shrug, "so it's good that you're back."
"You missed me." Nadine turned and saw him pulling a face. "That's kind of pathetic of you. I was only gone three weeks."
Johnny grunted when she shoved his chest, and this made her grin. "Whatever, Zacchara. You wanted me to miss you. You were hoping I'd miss you."
His jaw dropped. "I was not."
"You were dying for me to just run into your arms when I got here," she teased, her grin widening, "and just cover you with kisses. Aw, if you wanted kisses, Johnny, you really should have just asked. I'd have given you kisses, honest."
He was glaring at her like a child and looking terribly put out. "…Shut up."
"Aw. You want kisses."
"Not from you, I don't."
"Oh, yes, you do," she gloated. "It was all you could think about when you were away in-"
She didn't get a chance to finish that thought because he propped himself up on his elbow and just crushed his lips to hers, leaving absolutely no room for anything stupid she might have to say. Nadine groaned a little and let her lips part under his, having no way of knowing that he just wanted to shut her up because she'd gotten a little too close to the truth there for his comfort.
Johnny pulled back and looked down at her arrogantly, daring her to continue her ridiculous speech, and Nadine flicked her thumb against his chin.
"See?" she said, but her voice was breathless. "I'd have given you kisses."
~*~*~*~*~*~
Claudia glared at him as Johnny entered the ballroom again, not a single hair out of place. "Where were you? I had to talk to people and I hate talking to people."
"I had something I needed to attend to," Johnny answered smoothly, and she caught him looking at someone before he ducked away to make sure his guests were enjoying themselves. Claudia looked in the direction he'd been looking and saw that one pretty blonde nurse, the one from the hospital who'd been the only one wearing gloves. Apparently the little snip had lost those gloves and….hello, was boasting a very shiny glass ring on her finger.
Claudia's lips tightened into a thin line as she looked across the room at her brother, who was talking to Jasper Jacks. In the middle of the conversation, Johnny glanced over at the nurse, who must have felt it because she looked back. Claudia saw the look that passed between them and just knew – those two were definitely sleeping together.
God, she had the stupidest brother ever.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Claudia and Johnny smiled and shook hands with the members of the Quartermaine family as they left, then did the same when Jasper Jacks left with his wife, and then bid the hospital staff goodnight.
Nadine was one of the last ones, still talking to Robin, and her hands were bare this time when she shook them with Claudia and Johnny. While her little brother still had the nurse's hand in his, Claudia took a gander at the ring, realizing from the style and design that it was a trinket from Italy. That better not have been a gift for her that her stupid brother decided to pass along.
"Thank you for having us," Nadine smiled at Johnny, whose dark eyes glowed. "I had a lovely time."
"I'll bet you did," Claudia muttered, drawing confused looks from Johnny and Nadine. "I meant, I saw you a couple times tonight with your friend and I was glad that you looked to be enjoying yourself."
Nadine relaxed, though Johnny glared at her for the obvious lie, and nodded. "Thanks again. Have a good night."
Claudia waited until she was out of earshot before she nudged her brother with her elbow. "So. That your little bed buddy?"
Johnny's expression turned lethal for a second before it melted into a charming smile as he shook Alexis Davis's hand. "Not another word, Claudia."
~*~*~*~*~*~
The guests had all left and Johnny and Claudia were winding down with a drink in the parlor as the staff cleaned up.
"That Nadine girl's kind of cute," Claudia mused. "Not really your type, though. Don't you go for…I don't know, taller, bigger boobs, more…supermodel-type?"
Johnny glared at her.
"Don't get me wrong, I think she's cute," she repeated. "And she seemed nice enough. All in all, one of your better ones."
"Shut the fuck up, Claudia."
"I liked her dress, too," she continued. "I have one kind of like that, but it's off the shoulder and dark burgundy with crystals. I liked the black, though. Classic, simple, elegant."
"I got it for her."
She could tell from his face that he didn't mean to blurt that out and, even now, Johnny couldn't figure out why he did. "You did what? You got her that? That dress?"
He nodded jerkily. "Yeah."
"When?!"
"Uh…I had it sent to her this morning…along with some other things."
Claudia arched a brow at him. "Other things? Like what?"
"Nothing."
"If you sent that girl stockings and garters and shoes…"
"Not shoes," he scoffed. "I'm not that dumb."
Claudia wanted to smack him. "Don't sound so proud, because you're very, very dumb. You sent her a designer dress and underwear? For what, John? God! What were you thinking? You don't do that with nice, small town girls like this nurse, you just don't!"
"I just…wanted her to wear them."
"My God, are you trying to make her feel like a whore?" Claudia stared at him, and then it dawned on her. "Oh, my God…you are."
Johnny said nothing and just stared at his whiskey.
Claudia huffed and leaned forward, balancing her elbows on her knees. "I see what's going on here. I see it. You like her – you actually like this girl. And that scares the shit out of you because you don't like nice girls. You never have. So you're treating her like this hoping she'll just tell you where to stick it and run off, and it'll be over and you can feel like it was for the best because she deserves better but really, you're just too chickenshit to deal with the fact that maybe you actually like someone that could like you back."
He growled and took a large sip of his drink. "It's not like that at all."
But she was shaking her head as she pushed herself away from her chair and got up. "Christ, you're dumb."
