Chapter 25

Jenny's breaths came in short sharp pants due, in part, to the weight of Cutter crushing her painfully against the wall. He seemed in no better shape than she was; his chest rose and fell rapidly against hers, telling her that he was panicking, and she had learnt long ago that anything that made him panic was definitely something to panic about. Not that she needed telling that in this particular case - she remembered vividly that vile guard cracking the whip against her back, causing the angry-looking scar that now threaded across her pale skin. In any case, her subconscious reminded her of it every night - she sometimes awoke in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, shaking, as though she could still feel the blinding pain slicing her, only calming when she looked around to see Cutter sleeping peacefully next to her. It was certainly not an experience that she was likely to forget in a hurry.

She knew that if this Brandon man discovered them there, they would most certainly be killed . . . or worse.

Cutter could obviously sense that she was extremely uncomfortable, but must have mistakenly thought that the close proximity of their lips was to blame, and so he had moved his face so that their cheeks were in contact instead.

"Maybe he won't remember us?" Cutter whispered hopefully, his breath hot against her neck.

She laughed slightly against his ear. "How many other couples do you think that he's encountered that he's whipped and been half-strangled by?"

"True - "

"And we're going to have to move some time soon," she continued, her quiet voice shaking. "We're acting odd, even for this place. It's going to attract attention to us."

Slowly, Cutter pulled away for a moment, glancing carefully around the pillar again. In a split second, he pushed back up against her, his eyes wide and fearful.

"He's coming this way!" he said in an strained whisper.

Jenny squeezed her eyes shut, terror overwhelming her completely. Maybe they should just make a run for it? It was only when she felt Cutter's lips on top of hers that her eyes flew open again, and she gasped slightly, her stomach doing a back-flip. Her reaction didn't seem to put him off however, and he continued to kiss her urgently, and after a few startled moments, her mind went blank and she kissed him back forcefully, winding her arms around his neck as she did so. It was a good few seconds before she realised what he was doing - maybe hiding in a dark corner was odd in a pub in this time, but canoodling in one certainly wasn't. In fact, it seemed to be classed as the norm in these sorts of places. By kissing, they were hiding their faces and keeping out of sight with a valid excuse - and it wasn't like she couldn't take some enjoyment in it, despite the dire situation. In an adrenaline-fueled moment, she wound her fingers in his hair, pulling him still closer, deepening the contact. She felt him tremble against her, and probably for effect, he reached down with one hand and pulled her thigh up to his waist, the other arm around her back, emulating the sort of behaviour they had seen rather a lot of the past two months.

After a while, he stopped the kiss, but didn't move his lips away from hers, breathing hard into her mouth. "Is he looking?" he asked in a barely audible whisper before taking her lips in his again.

As they kissed, she purposely tilted her head to the side, her eyes scanning the tables near them. She spotted Brandon sitting with a small group of men in a table not far from them, although he seemed engrossed in a conversation with his companions and didn't look around.

"No," she breathed, her lips not moving from his and her hands stroking the hair at the back of his neck. With an knot of inappropriate excitement, she felt him dig his fingernails into the skin on her thigh as she did so. "He's eight feet behind you, to your left."

"Okay," he mumbled shakily, catching her top lip inbetween his own parted lips and closing his eyes. "We move as casually as possible over to the stairs. Don't rush or it'll look too suspicious."

She nodded, only moving her head a fraction of an inch either way.

"When I say so . . ." Cutter continued, his nose brushing her own, inadvertently causing her to scrunch up her face in reaction to his warm skin. ". . . we break apart slowly and you act like you're leading me upstairs."

She nodded again, feeling herself getting more and more distracted the longer she stayed entangled with him.

"Now," he breathed as he pulling away, and before she could register the loss of his touch, she slipped into action mode, reaching out and entwining her fingers with his.

She turned, desperately trying to control the instinct she had to look around and see if Brandon had seen them, and pulled Cutter towards the stairs at the opposite side of the room, purposely trying to lose them in the throngs of people that milled around the place.

After what seemed like an age, they finally reached their goal, and without looking around, they ascended the stairs steadily until they were out of sight of the room, when they both began to sprint in unison. They didn't stop until they reached the warm familiarity of their room. Cutter slammed the door shut behind them and bolted it for good measure, and they both leant their backs on it, breathing hard.

When he felt his heart beat return to normal, Cutter glanced around at Jenny. Her eyes were shut with relief and her chest still heaved as she fought to regulate her breathing. She must have felt the intensity of his gaze as she opened her eyes a few second later and looked around at him, offering him a weak smile, which he returned.

"Close one," she said, her voice still tight.

"Yeah," he replied lamely, feeling himself grow hot around the collar as their gazes met.

Now that the adrenaline rush had left him, embarrassment was starting to set in. It's not like they had had any choice, and the kissing plan did work - but now that he faced the prospect of having to spend the rest of the night alone with her after that particularly eager display of affection, he could barely look her in the eye. The feeling was obviously mutual, as she abruptly looked away, instead choosing a spot on the opposite wall to stare at.

"Um . . . we're going to have to be more careful in future," he said, more so to fill the awkward silence than anything else. "He might come here a lot."

"Should we move then?" she asked nervously.

Cutter shut his head immediately. "No. We've got it too good here; we know our way around. And wandering round looking for another inn would put us out in the open for longer than we should be."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her nod slightly in agreement. The matter settled as far as he was concerned, he straightened up and walked away from her, about to make up an excuse about why he wanted to go to sleep so early.

"Nick?" her voice said tentatively.

He turned to see her still leaning against the door, a curious expression on her face that he had never seen before.

"Are we just not going to talk about it then?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, crossing her arms in a way she always did when she was annoyed or uncomfortable about something.

Cutter's stomach seemed to disappear at her words.

"I - I thought we just did," he stammered in reply in as even a tone as he could manage. He knew very well that she was referring to the kiss and not Brandon, but he thought that maybe if he brushed her off with a off-hand comment, she'd drop it. However, with Jenny being Jenny, he had no such luck.

"You know what I mean," she said, a hint of aspiration in her voice.

Sighing deeply, Cutter sunk onto the side of the bed, rubbing his hands over his face as he struggled to come up with a reply. "Look, I'm sorry okay?" he eventually landed on. "I just couldn't think of anything else to do. I promise, it won't happen again."

He chanced a half-glance up at her. She was still leaning with her arms folded, although her expression seemed to have softened, and she stared back at him, biting her lip slightly as though thinking hard. He looked back at the floor again. After a moments pause, he heard her moving and assumed that she was going to sit on the chair or the other side of the bed, but was startled when he felt her hand under his chin, pulling his face up. Before he had even realised what was happening, her soft lips were on his again, making his heart burst it's banks with beating. When he finally managed to convince himself he wasn't dreaming, he kissed her back, hard, standing as he did so and slipping his hands around her waist. One of her hands was on his cheek, the other grabbed at the back of his shirt. Spaced out and completely lost in the moment, he only managed to come to his senses when he felt her touch move down to his crotch and her fingers tug at his pants.

Panting as hard as she was, he managed to pull away, pressing his eyes together in frustration and resting his forehead on hers.

"Jenny . . ." he breathed, before stopping short - what exactly was he planning to say? That he was nervous because he had basically been living like a monk for the best part of a decade? That it was wrong when he hadn't even told her how he felt about her yet? And what about Mark? Her fiancé. Was it over with him?

Before any of these questions could form any logical order in his head, she had stepped back slightly, holding his gaze as she slowly undid the lace that was on the front of her dress underneath her breasts. He watched, entranced, as she slid the clothing from her shoulders. It was when his eyes traveled down her body that the small part of him wanting to say 'no' vanished in an instant, his mind going completely blank.

"Don't start something you can't finish Nick," she stated, her eyes bright as she moved forwards to catch his lips again.

He didn't need telling twice.

And that is why this story is rated 'T' lol x