A/N: Nothing happens in this chapter, feel free to skip it.

XIV

He hovered over her like a towering giant. Indeed, despite his soft features, crystal blue eyes, and medium frame, when he was close, he seemed rather indomitable. Perhaps, it was a trick of his. Perhaps, he had learned how to carry himself around women when he wanted something from them. It was he himself who admitted to being a little more savage than his looks would suggest. She wondered about him, she wondered a lot about him. She always had. But things were different now, she had time and the safety of his trust and kindness, to allow herself to find out more about him, bit by bit, inch by inch. She could explore him, both his gentle yet scarred body and his equally stricken psyche.

There was a look in his eye. A beastly and hungry look in his eyes. He wanted her, he wanted her in a manner so primal and so wanton that she wondered what would happen if she refused. Could she keep the beast in him at bay? She wondered if he had always been like this. She wondered if this was the Matthew that Lavinia knew or the one that had driven her away. But she liked the challenge and she liked the feeling of danger. He had already proven himself capable of violence over the last two days. Yet, he was so gentle the night before, so caring. He had stayed over and curled up next to her in bed and gently caressed her as she fell asleep. He didn't pressure her into sex that first night. He seemed perfectly content to wait until she was ready, despite having already shared a night of carnal passion just months prior.

But she didn't need him to treat her like a porcelain figurine. At least not always and she felt a sense of pride in being able to summon the inner beast within. This was all very exciting, despite the look of frustration and anger apparent on his face at that moment. But she already trusted him enough to know that he would not hurt her and might even hurt himself before her. She hoped that things would never come to that. But she wouldn't dwell on that now. She couldn't focus on potential failure. She had already passed a seemingly insurmountable hurdle with him just the night before. What she had to focus on now was taming the beast.

And she was utterly determined to tame him.

In many ways she had already conquered him. The way his arms flexed and stressed against the lockers, the way his chest heeved up and down as he tried to maintain his breathing, and the way his eyes glimmered with both raging desire and pathetic anguish, all signaled her victory over his animalistic impulses. It made her feel sexy. Truly sexy, in a way that she hadn't felt in a long long time. There was adventure here. There was pleasure here. There was something exciting and unknown. Yet there was safety and comfort as well. Could she truly have it all with him?

She took a little step forward and placed her hands on his chest. She ran her fingers along his skin to the base of his neck and massaged him gently. She admired him, his effortless physique and his natural good looks, both of which he seemed completely oblivious to. What she could do to a body like that. What horrible and delightful things she could do to him, now that he was hers to play with and torment. She imagined herself riding atop him, gyrating as his hands reached up and touch her. Perhaps, she would allow it, perhaps she would not. She hadn't decided yet. She imagined herself pinned up against his window, overlooking the city, bare skin pressed against the cold glass, and if anyone should bother to look up, they might just see her naked and being taken from behind.

But there was time for those daydreams and she could finally savour her fantasies for once with this man. Unlike the others, there was the possibility of pure bliss, without the fear of discovery or the shame of judgement. This was too good to be true.

"First," she said quietly yet authoritatively as she cup his face with her hands. "Relax, despite all of this waiting I'm making you do, I am confident that you will enjoy yourself. And you should know that I keep my promises."

She began by laying gentle kisses on his chest as she slowly dropped to her knees. A trail of kisses followed as her lips rode the heaving of his chest and the undulations of his abdomen. He smelled of sweat and pheromones.

"There's no need to rush this," Mary said in between her languorous kisses. "The girls take forever to shower. And I for one, would like to savour this experience."

Her hands grasped onto his shorts and with one swift tug, unleashed his stiff erection.

"You know, despite everything we did last time," Mary said mesmerized. "I've never seen your cock this close before."

His head arched back and a sigh left him as he heard her say that work in her beautiful accent.

"Oh, you like that, do you?" Mary whispered seductively as she neared herself to his member, blowing gently on it with every syllable. "You like the way I say cock? You've never heard anything so vulgar come out of these lips, is that it?"

His hands tightened around the locker frame and shook them violently as she teased him; her hands rubbing his inner thighs just inches away from his steel shaft. She continued to gently blow a stream of hot air onto its tip, watching it twitch with delight. She was mesmerized by it as much as he was by his voice. She wondered who was in control or if they were equally slaves to the other. Perhaps, it was okay to surrender at that moment.

She took him into her hands and tugged gently, moving the skin up and down, conforming her palms and fingers to his unalterable hardness. She leaned and put her lips on him, gently at first, before parting them and taking him deep into her mouth. Immediately, and almost without warning, he slid to the back of her throat causing her to gap for a moment. She loved it. She loved his animal desires, his chiseled body, his polite exterior, and his sad eyes. She loved it all. It was almost as if she was already in love with him.

What a dangerous thought.

She began to massage him with her hands while she bobbed rhythmically, contorting her tongue around his contour, lathering up every inch of him. She closed her eyes and imagined herself from a distance. There she was, kneeling before this adonis, blonde and beautiful, breathing heavily from pleasure. She obediently and diligently worked on his cock like the good girlfriend that she was. That she was determined to be this time around. She wanted to give every part of herself to him. She wanted no space, no secrets, and no more loneliness. She just wanted to experience everything that her movies had promised. She was an actress but she didn't want to put on an act with him. She wanted to be Mary Crawley, not just the glamorous movie star, not just the frigid untouchable model, not just the broken lonely girl, or any other compartmentalized facet of her life. She wanted to be all of them at once. And she genuinely thought that Matthew was up to the challenge.

She envisioned herself on his birthday, with him lying in bed naked as she pleasured him similarly with her mouth. She pictured her butt in the air, swaying rhythmically from side to side as he watched her in the mirror. She fantasized about her dragging him into the bathroom after the winning an Oscar and blowing him right then and there; their own little private celebration. She even pictured herself with that collar and that chain around her neck, but with his cum on her face. This time, she would have no regrets.

A violent bucking of his hips and a sudden pressure at the back of her head snapped her out of her fantasies. She looked up at him. His hand was on the back of her head.

"Sorry," Matthew said timidly as he let go of her. "I got carried away."

Mary simply smiled at him adoringly. She took his hand and guided it back to her head and intertwined his fingers with her hair.

"These are your handles," Mary said softly. "Be as rough as you like."

"And here I thought you were enjoying your control over me," Matthew said.

"I have a complicated relationship with control," Mary said before she plunged herself back onto him.

After a few seconds of gathering his courage, Matthew grabbed Mary by her hand and began to thrust into her. He wasn't violent but he wasn't gentle with her either. Mary opened her throat and took him deep, a skill she hadn't exercised in quite a few years. But for him, she would gladly do so. She held on tightly to his thighs as he rhythmically moved in and out of her mouth, drool pouring out the edges of her mouth. She could feel his hands tightening and loosening around her dark brown hair. As the intensity of his hips and his hands reached their apex, Mary prepared herself for his release. It took her by surprise anyways. He shot into her mouth as he exhaled. His cum felt like hot liquid silk in her mouth; it was exquisite. She held him in her mouth for a moment before swallowing.

Matthew collapsed to the floor as soon as Mary released him from her mouth. Satisfied and proud of herself, Mary leaned over and crawled ontop of him and kissed his chest gentle a couple of times, while rubbing his muscles.

"How was it?" Mary asked nonchalantly.

"Wonderful," Matthew answered with a dumb smile upon his face. "That really was the best blowjob I've ever had."

"Well, I think it only fair that I return the favour after how many times you made me scream last time," Mary said with a wink.

"I'm looking forward to making you scream again," Matthew replied.

Mary arched her eyebrows and show him a devious look. "As am I."

Matthew leaned his head back against the cold tiled floor and closed his eyes momentarily. Mary sighed, knowing full well that if she didn't keep him awake, they would be found out. She slapped him across the chest, jolting him back to his senses.

"Hey, you can't fall asleep here," Mary said.

"Oh right," Matthew said as his eyes shot wide open, remembering where he was.

They both promptly got back to their feet. And after Mary had readjusted her sports bra and shorts, she gave him a quick kiss before sending him back to the men's room.

"You still owe me a date tonight," Mary yelled as Matthew turned the corner.

"I know, I haven't forgotten," Matthew's voice came tunneling back.

A few moments later, Rose and Anna came back into the locker room, fresh from their showers. They gave each other an odd look, wondering why Mary was still in the locker room and still her in exercise attire.

"Mary?" Rose asked. "Are you going to shower?"

"Yes, of course," Mary shot back in a scolding voice, as she grabbed her shampoo, conditioner, bodywash, and towel from her locker before strolling passed the two of them.

"Oh Mary," Anna said forcefully just as Mary was about to enter the shower area.

"What is it?" Mary asked.

"You got a little something on your chin."