Chapter Nine: Begging with a Lungful of Stale Air

Kari laughed and smiled too fast to cover it.

As her full lips pulled into a wide smile, Tig became a planet drawn to the ecliptic in the supple flesh and beauty under his hands.

Their worlds collided as hormonal dams burst in both their brains and flooded their nervous systems with cataclysmic waves of norepinephrine and dopamine which caused a chain reaction as they each pulled the stale air deep into their lungs, the dancing alveoli vibrated with the stimulation.

"What's the punchline?" she finally managed and shifted as the edge of the sink bit into the tender flesh behind her smooth thighs.

Tig uncomfortably shoved his softening cock back behind his zipper and gripped her chin, his thumb tracing across her lower lip. "No punchline."

Kari scoffed and gave a strange noise between a laugh and a harsh scoff. She narrowed her eyes as he kept his grip firm as she searched his face.

"I don't understand," she finally managed lamely.

"Don't fuck this up," Tig thought as he smoothed his hands down her sides to briefly rest on her hips, squeezing lightly before he let her move away from the sink, hearing her ragged sigh of relief when the sink edge pressure was lessened.

"Okay, okay, okay," he murmured quickly and lifted his hands to cup her face. "I can do better," Tig groaned and touched his lips to hers, begging any known deity in the entirety of the known and unknown universe for her to return his kiss.

"Lemme try," he begged and dropped to his knees on the filthy tile floor in front of her and smoothed his hands up and down her calves, feeling the curve of her musculature through the thin linen pants.

"Good lord; get off that disgusting floor," Kari said, thinking of all the diseases that could be soaking into the knees of his faded black jeans.

Tig shook his head and wordlessly slid his hands up the outside of her thighs until he closed his arms around her and pressed the side of his face against her lower belly.

"Get up, what are you doing?" Kari asked breathlessly as he tightened his arms until the drawstring bow was crushed against his cheek.

"Not until you say you'll give me a chance," he demanded on a tone that still sounded like he was begging.

"You can't ask me that right now," Kari sputtered as she chuckled nervously.

Tig shifted and looked up at her.

Kari's breath caught as the endless blue abyss of his eyes hypnotized her. "When can I ask you?" he asked.

"Later," she gasped as he rose to his feet and crushed his lips to hers, not caring at the moment if she returned the enthusiasm.

"We will return to this later," Tig stated easily when he lifted his lips.

Kari turned around when he walked over and took a camel-sized piss.

She was grateful when he pushed opened the door for her and she could get a lungful of fresh air.

Tig followed her to the van, his eyes mesmerized by the gentle sway of her hips as she walked to the passenger side. He opened her door, reluctant to leave without knowing what her pussy tasted like.

Tig navigated the van back to the interstate and soon they were moving with the flow of traffic. As Kari adjusted her seat for the long drive, back in Charming, Agent Stahl was once again harassing Clay as he was checking out a leaking radiator on a classic iron roadster.

Clay and June traded barbs as she peppered him with questions about Tig and where he currently was.

Clay lit the end of a cigar as he smirked at June. "He's on vacation."

"Where's he vacationing?"

"Sandals Resort," Clay said and exhaled a cloud of acrid smoke at June's sharp-featured face.

To her credit she didn't cough or even sniffle.

June snapped her fingers to get a few of the other agent's attention. "Take this fucking place apart."

As the agent's milled about and began accounting for every wrench, bolt and screw, hours and hours away and only continuing further north, Tig glanced over at Kari as she stared out the window and drummed her fingers on top of her thighs in time to the song on the radio.

"Is it later?" Tig asked making Kari frown in confusion for a moment.

She reached out and turned down the volume, "sure, why not."

Tig reached over and settled his hand on her thigh. "Will you give a chance?" he asked squeezing lightly with each word.

Kari looked down at his hand as she blew out a sharp breath. "This is all just fucking crazy," she finally said as she rubbed her hands against her face, groaning as she added. "This is all the opposite of everything I should be doing?"

"Who told you that?" Tig asked quickly.

"Well, I mean my life, family, job. This isn't exactly in the manual," Kari remarked.

"What do you say without all of that influence?"

"I don't really know," she admitted. "There's always been someone else's plan for me, since the first-grade spelling bee," Kari added bitterly.

Tig didn't say anything as Kari's mind dumped her in a rabbit hole of remembering every structured part of her life and how she was moved through the world like a fucking chess piece.

Kari felt her breath catch as Tig smoothed his hand higher up the front of her thigh, aching to have her bare skin under his palm.

Tig kept his expression neutral as Kari lightly traced small circles on the top of his hand, frowning as she shook her head and shoved her angry resentment back into its gilded cage.

"Hey," Tig murmured until Kari glanced over and met his eyes before he had to reluctantly return his attention to the road in front of them before he continued. "Tell me what you want, what you need."

"I can't tell you things like that," she said.

"Why not?" Tig asked, in a harsher tone than he intended.

"Because I don't know you," Kari scoffed as though he should've known the answer.

"You can't get to know me without talking to me," he stated patiently, fighting the urge to take the next exit and find a private parking space until he could drag her to the back of the van and wetly fuck the answers out of her.

"Do I want to get to know him?" Kari asked herself as Tig resumed his slow path up and down the top of her thigh.

"What do you want?" she asked as she closed her hand around his, stopping his progress when he dipped closer to the apex of her thighs.

"I want you," Tig said easily, his brief glance made her want to squeeze her thighs together with the weight and naked intensity.

Kari cleared her throat and Tig caught her covering a smile as she whipped her head towards the passing world outside.

"What made you smile?"

Kari shook her head and rubbed the grit from the corner of her eyes. "I was thinking about those instant marriage reality tv shows, meeting at the altar and all of a sudden sharing a house. Not that this is completely comparably," she added with a dry cough.

"We'll be sharing a house soon and we just met," Tig countered.

Kari wanted to argue but struggled for an initial rebuttal and stared down at his hand as he shook off her hold and captured her left hand, squeezing urgently as he added. "Just say yes."