AN: I am on a Twitter hiatus atm but I'm posting this as my version of saying hi! Meanwhile I already know you won't be satisfied with this chapter lol! But hey, I finished something, and the rest will have to be left up to your imagination. ;)
THE DEAL - PART 4
One night..
Her offer had completely blindsided him, rattled him, stifled him.
He cannot believe she had just suggested that and more to the point that she would drop a bomb like that and just leave the room.
What the hell was she thinking?
Does she really expect him to just walk out of here and let that go?
He knows the smart thing to do would be to leave and give this time to defuse. If he removes the oxygen from the flame and backs away then they'd at least have a slim chance at surviving this. They could chalk it down to a brain snap followed by some good old fashioned suppression - only it's been 12 years of suppression for him and he was officially done.
He stalks towards her bedroom and considers knocking first but she'd already obliterated their boundaries to hell when she asked him repeatedly to touch her. He pushes the door open, catching her bra clad, her dress pooled around her hips. She slams the underwear drawer closed, the dresser rattling furiously as she yanks the dress back up her body holding it loosely against her breasts.
"The hell Elliot?"
She glares at him like he's just crossed a major line but he doesn't let the warning rattle him. Instead he removes the space between them until he is close enough to feel her anger radiating off her skin.
"Counter offer." He gives her in a deep rasp as his eyes flit down to hers. "We call this what it is and we stop playing games."
She is much shorter with her heels off and he crowds her intentionally because he isn't going to give her a chance to 180 this just because she's scared.
"And what is this Elliot?" Her eyes narrow and her lips start to purposefully turn upwards. "Two minutes out of your marriage, I think we're both pretty clear on what this is."
The insult jars him, it takes up all the oxygen in the room, he's unable to process if he'd even heard it right. He stares back at her in shock as all the air dissipates from his lungs.
She thinks this is some kind of a rebound.
"Excuse me?" His eyes widen.
"Are you going deny it?" She tilts her head to the side. "You've had two seconds to grieve your marriage Elliot."
"I've had twelve years," he cuts her off.
The room falls silent then and she blinks back at him in shock. He's well aware of the gravity of what he'd just admitted to but he isn't going to apologise for it. Her hand shifts uneasily against her breasts as he watches the truth of his feelings wedge between them.
"Elliot," she shakes her head, looking away. "You don't know what you're saying."
But he can see it in her expression, if this was a game of chess he knows he just played checkmate.
He steps forward. "I know exactly what I'm saying," he whispers down at her. "You just don't want to hear it."
She goes to take a half step backwards but the rumbling wood of the dresser tells her she has no space left.
He draws himself ever so slowly closer.
"Kiss me.." he whispers. "Here.. alone, not in the middle of a cover where I can't do shit about it." He isn't angry anymore, he isn't yelling, it's all coming out as a gentle plea because he knows she is on the cusp of telling him to go tonight.
He reaches out and captures a stray curl, tucking it behind her ear before his hand cups her warm cheek. The low lights of her bedroom make her eyes seem darker and it's casting shadows over her exposed cleavage.
Her lips part as if she is about to say something, he thinks it's words she's moving forward to give him, because Olivia doesn't fold that easily but she surprises him, her hand clutching his cheek, her lips ghosting softly across his. He leans forward, seconds from giving into this when she says it.
"One night," she whispers against his open mouth. "I'm serious El."
He pulls back from their embrace so he can look her dead in the eyes. She's doing her best to hold her own like it's a game of chicken, only they'd been playing for over a decade and he was desperate to fold.
"Please.." she whispers.
That's when he realises this isn't about playing chicken.
She is legitimately scared of this - of them, of what it would mean for their partnership, let alone anything more.
He nods in understanding, he should be pissed at her stubborn resistance and blatant denial but he understands how monumental this step is for them. They haven't discussed what this would mean for their partnership, let alone their personal feelings and he himself is still learning what it means not to be married.
"Okay Liv," he whispers, the scent of her perfume coupled with the proximity of her lips doing things to him already.
He moves slowly forward gently nipping at her lips, a chaste peck before he starts to deepen it. She opens her mouth willingly to his, letting her hand holding the dress fall away. He feels the material slip down to her hips and he closes the distance between them, his mind spinning as lace meets with his dress shirt.
His fingers sink into her bare waist as she starts to undo his tie and he parts their kiss, staring down at her, watching as she slips the material gently through it's cotton enclosure. Their eyes connect and he swallows, her gaze is soft and his chest pounds at the reality of what was about to take place.
"We can start with tonight," he whispers down at her, one hand moving up her bare shoulder blades and into her curls. "And go from there.." He leaves the sentiment open ended, an indication that he isn't giving in so easily, that he'd only agreed to her terms because he knows that it couldn't possibly end at one night.
He watches her lips lift into a small smile before she moves forward to ghost her lips across his once more.
"Deal."
His mouth is back on hers and it isn't long before he is sliding his tongue between her lips and pressing her flush up against his chest. They both sigh into the embrace and it's enough to ease any concern he may have about their future.
He walks them slowly towards the bed, their lips still wrestling and tugging as her knees come flush up against the mattress.
She pulls back from the kiss then, drawing her arms around his neck.
"But just in case this is all we have.." She connects their foreheads softly. "We better bring our A game."
He chuckles at her attempt at a joke, his fingers latching onto the material of her dress pooled at her hips and he starts to tug it downward.
The slinky material heaps at her feet and he sighs at the sight of her underwear clad before him while he is still fully clothed.
"Deal Olivia," he murmurs, knowing she has no idea what she's in for but is about to find out. "Now get on the bed."
The End.
AN: Lmao what a corny ending. Now listen, the fact that I didn't write a sex scene for this is actually a good thing! It means I will have more energy to write XXX scenes in the bigger ones aka The Woods and Ripples! If I can ever get my head out of my ass and find my mojo again that is, which is quite unlikely at this point.