Ganondorf didn't say much in the cab, nor did he touch her. He paid the driver without consulting her and kept his distance as she led him to her apartment.
But when Zelda let him in and shut the door behind them, he wasted no time pulling her to him. She turned to him, and then his mouth was on hers, hot and demanding.
He was ravenous, pinning her against the closed door with the force of his ardor. "I've been waiting for this," he breathed, his voice like velvet on her ear. Zelda inhaled sharply at the sensation.
She put a hand on his chest to push him back. "Can we get inside first?"
He kissed the pulse at her temple before lifting her from the ground and sweeping her into his arms. "Where inside?" he asked, smiling at her shocked expression.
"Put me down," she ordered.
"With pleasure." He began to walk to her bedroom, and she struck his arm with her fist.
"Take off your shoes," she chided him. He kissed her forehead and hugged her closer to him as he stepped out of his shoes. "Not the bed," she said, and he kissed her again as he carried her to the couch and sat down beside her.
She felt his eyes on her as she took off her own shoes and shrugging out of her blazer.
"Do you want tea?" she offered, looking for an opportunity to give herself a bit of breathing room.
"No," he said. He tried to kiss her, and she leaned away.
This was all so sudden. It wasn't as if she were completely innocent, but he was coming on too strong. He had only kissed for the first time yesterday, and she still didn't know how to feel when he touched her; she still didn't fully understand what he wanted from her.
Or rather, he had made it perfectly clear what he wanted. She would be lying if she said that she hadn't imagined this scenario herself. She was only human, after all, and she found him extremely attractive. She'd even tried to flirt with him several times, but he ignored every attempt she made, and he'd never invited her to meet him outside her apartment before today.
"How long have you felt this way?" she asked.
"I can't say," he told her. "Probably since the second or third time I met you."
"Why did you hide it, then?"
His answer was immediate. "I didn't know if I could trust you."
"But you knew you wanted this."
"I didn't know what I wanted."
He was looking at her with an intensity that made it difficult for her to speak. She was used to being the focus of his attention, but not like this, not knowing what his hands and lips felt like on hers. She had envied the way Link looked at Sidon, but it was nothing like this. There was no playfulness or flirtation in Ganondorf's gaze at all, and she was at a loss for how to respond to him. He reached forward and swept a strand of her hair behind her ear, and the gesture surprised her. How could he look at her like that and still be so gentle?
"But every time I thought about it," he continued after a moment, "it was your face I saw."
Did he mean what she thought he meant? Is this how adults were supposed to seduce each other? Zelda felt painfully inexperienced. She needed to reestablish control of the situation, or at least show him that she was capable of playing the same game.
"So you think about my face? What else do you think about?" she asked, hoping to pass it off as a joke.
"What do I think about?"
"Yes, when you, you know."
It could have been Zelda's imagination, but she could swear that his face colored at her question. Good. He had gone out of his way to make her blush when they were out with Link and Sidon. Let him see what it felt like for a change.
"The usual," he answered.
"The usual?"
She didn't know what sort of response she expected, but it wasn't that. What did 'the usual' even mean? Was he joking? Was this flirting? Did he want her to be coy?
"That's too bad."
"Too bad for who?"
"Too bad for me. I was hoping for something more exciting."
"Exciting?" His eyes seemed to glow as he considered her challenge. "Fine. Let me tell you what I think about."
Were they doing this? Okay, they were doing this. Zelda swallowed. "You can start anytime."
"I assume you'll return the favor." Ganondorf pulled her closer. She considered resisting him, but she was starting to enjoy herself.
"That wasn't part of the deal."
"It wasn't? We'll see about that." He slid his hand into the open collar of her shirt and cupped her breast. Her breath caught at the sudden warmth of his fingers on her skin as he began stroking her peak with his thumb.
"You're lying on this awful couch of yours," he began.
"Leave my couch out of it."
"It's an awful couch."
"Is it my couch you think about?"
In the briefest of moments, an expression that resembled trepidation crossed his face, but then he flashed his teeth in a wicked smile and continued.
"The window to the garden is open, and the moon is shining on your bare skin. You're touching yourself, but then you look up and see that I'm watching you. You're shy, but you don't stop. You stare straight into my eyes and invite me to join you."
Zelda felt heat gather between her thighs, but she refused to let him know that he'd affected her with something so openly lascivious. "Is that it?" she taunted.
"That's just the beginning."
"What happens next?"
"I've gotten you off this couch and into your bedroom."
"Now we're getting somewhere."
"Oh, but you're not happy about it, so I tie your wrists together with your own shirt. You twist and squirm and try to get away, but you can't. I kneel in front of you and kiss you between your legs. You get wet so quickly it's shameful, and nothing stops me from putting my fingers inside you, first one and then another. I begin to taste you with my tongue. You tell me that you hate it and then beg me not to stop."
"I can't imagine myself begging you for anything," she told him.
"That may be, but that's the last thing that matters to you when you come."
"How do you know I'm not faking it?"
"You scream my name."
"That's ambitious."
"Is it?" He lowered his hand and slipped his fingers between her legs. He began stroking her lightly on the outside of her slacks.
"You're wet right now. I can feel it."
She could feel it too. Nayru only knew what she thought she was doing, but she couldn't help responding to the way he was touching her. And to know that he had fantasies like this, that he wanted her like this, was undeniably arousing. She felt more confident now that she was beginning to understand the game they were playing.
"You're full of yourself. Is that the worst you've got?"
"I'm not done."
"Then tell me more."
"I'm sitting on the edge of your bed, and you've got your legs wrapped around me. You're gorgeous, and watching you satisfy yourself as you grind against me makes me want to come, but it's still too soon."
He pressed his fingers into the cleft of her valley and used the pad of his thumb to draw tight circles around her clit, teasing her softly. His breaths grew heavy as he spoke into her ear in a low and languid growl.
"I turn you around so that I can touch you while I'm inside you. You're watching yourself being pleasured in the mirror across from your bed. You're embarrassed to see yourself like this, but your body knows what it wants. I can feel you getting tight around me. All you need is just a little more to push you over the edge, and I can give it to you, but only if you ask me to."
He interrupted himself to kiss her. It was long and sweet, and she felt its heat gather as he caressed her. "Let me take you to bed," he whispered. His fingers kept doing their dance, and Hylia help her, how was he so good at this?
Everyone she'd been with before had been awkward and clumsy, but Ganondorf touched her as if he knew exactly what she wanted and how she wanted it. Despite what he told her about not having dated anyone, he must have had practice. Her unease at the sudden intensity of Ganondorf's affection returned, bringing with it a vague sense of wounded pride.
And if she let him carry her to her bedroom, what happened next?
She couldn't imagine going on a date with him, much less introducing him to her family as her – what was he, exactly? It seemed ridiculous to call someone like him a boyfriend. Was he her teacher? Her lover? A stranger who'd broken into her apartment? And would the Sheikah learn about him? What if they already knew? What if they had done something to him? What if her encounters with Ganondorf had been staged; what if he had been "given" to her in the same way she had been given the Sheikah Slate? What if he wasn't even human?
Regardless, of all the doubts running through Zelda's mind, nothing mattered as much as the fact that Ganondorf clearly had much more sexual experience than she did. How else would he be able to touch her like this, as if he knew the pleasure of her body as well as he knew his own? She'd always assumed that he was difficult and a little strange, but he was positively charming in front of Link and Sidon. What if he was like that with everyone except her? What if she was only the latest in a series of conquests?
"Stop," she ordered, and he did. She pulled away from him and stood up. He let her, and she resented him; a part of her had wanted him to try to pull her back.
"Those are cute fantasies," she said. "You must have rehearsed them. How many girls have you tried this trick on?"
"How many? None," he responded. His eyes were wide with surprise when she moved away from him, but his expression hardened as he continued. "And it's not a trick. I thought this was what you wanted."
"Why in the world would you think I want to hear about how you touch yourself?"
"I almost never touch myself; I don't find enough satisfaction in the act to finish." A dark shadow crossed Ganondorf's face, and suddenly his eyes seemed far away. She knew she should say something, but the inexplicable distance of his gaze frightened her.
"Are you happy, now that you know that?" he said after a moment, his eyes once again sharp and chillingly focused. "Let me tell you something else, if you're so keen on knowing what I do with myself. I wasn't lying when I said I haven't been with anyone since I found myself in your apartment, and that includes any fantasies I might have. I don't have time to waste on trivialities."
Although she had pushed him away, Zelda was offended by his coldness. If he was attracted to her, couldn't he have just asked her to dinner? If this wasn't about sex, what did he want?
"Then why do you insist on pawing at me?" she demanded. "Why don't you just leave me alone?"
"I keep asking myself the same question." He took a deep breath. "I should leave," he said.
That's not how this is supposed to work, Zelda thought. "Then why did you come here?" she demanded.
"Damned if I know."
Ganondorf got to his feet. She tried to resist the temptation to steal a glimpse at his waist and failed. She hadn't been able to appreciate this while they were sitting down, but he was truly blessed by Din. What would it feel like to have him inside her?
"You don't know anything about me," Ganondorf said in a flat voice as he adjusted his pants and smoothed down the front of his shirt. "Don't make asinine assumptions about how many people I've slept with, and don't presume that you have any sort of claim over me."
Zelda felt her eyes water. How dare he say that to her?
"Don't you presume that I would even want to claim some rejected Gerudo breeding stock." The words were out of her mouth before she realized what she was saying.
"Fuck you."
Not like that's ever going to happen now, she wanted to counter, but she was too angry at him and disgusted with herself.
"Get out," she told him.
He responded by shaking his head. His face was expressionless, but he slammed the door behind him as he left.