Thank you to Kelly for the hand-holding and all her invaluable help. Hope you like it!
The first time it happened he was just trying to comfort her.
It was their normal setting after a long day about to be followed by a lonely night. In the years they had worked together it had occurred hundreds of times: the empty office, a labyrinth of dead ends and dimly lit corridors and the two of them slowly going through the bottle of scotch. Sometimes it was in silence while contemplating the sludge in their brains, each their own, others surrounded by sounds of chatter or one of Harvey's records playing in the background like a soundtrack that was necessary to fill a very uneventful scene.
It was all too well known by now, too familiar, if anything it felt like the most natural place to be. It was Harvey and Donna's time, unfettered by the baggage they left outside the confines of this sacred place.
It was always them and it was always right.
Drinks being refilled and friendly conversations, and the line they had once crossed laying in their history and slowly fading behind them. It was just that, what made it so dangerous; the fading. Because years would go by and the memories would linger even though they never pushed to the forefronts of their minds hard enough to become audible mentions. But it was still there, never completely disappearing from vision.
It was a risky reminder of how they felt under their clothes, of the sounds they could elicit from each other, of what it was like to breathe in the same air and finally, of what they could have been had they not let the line fade.
That came between them sometimes, silently creeping around in the most unexpected moments, everything suddenly becoming too bright and too much. It was a kind of aether, they couldn't see it but knew it had to be there because there wasn't any other explanation for the way they were acting around each other, how the air sparked between them every time they got too close.
They always tried to keep it subtle but it was essentially something they were both aware of, this illicit, flirty equivalent of their professional relationship. It was winks and glances and longing stares in rooms full of people and scanning each other with one single look. It was accidental touching and standing too close and teasing and laughing; the only rule was that it was something only the two of them registered in their minds.
It was kind of addicting to say the least. Little game of dancing around an invisible line while simultaneously trying not to cross it.
They didn't want to believe anything was more than what showed. The brain actively filtered it out. Avoided chaos. But it's stuff that you can't just wave away and the more they tried to ignore it the more they wrote it all down, laid it out, endless three-card solitaire. Until one day the air scattered the cards leaving them to hang in the air and leaving Donna and Harvey to fidget with the pieces.
Uncharacteristically, that night Donna didn't want to stay for a drink; the recent events following the revelation about Stephen and his arrest leaving her a bit of a wreck for the days to follow and making her close off, spending all her free time alone in her apartment. Grief and guilt came hand in hand and Harvey recognized that, recognized the pain on her face that hadn't yet faded, the wound being too recent. So he used the excuse of the rainy weather to make her stay longer, to lure her into his office and pour her a drink in hopes she would loosen up a bit in his company.
Donna adjusted the way she was sitting on the couch, her dress a bit tight around the hips, uncomfortably slipping upwards. She pulled it down. Crossed her arms on her thighs. Her movements looked weird, like they weren't her own, the way she would behave if someone had told her that she had to keep making small awkward motions, otherwise something bad would happen. She felt like she'd just been plucked out of the ether, like this was a stranger's office she'd accidentally stumbled into.
Her gaze shifted back to Harvey next to her. Usually he'd sit in the chair across from her but tonight they were seated thigh-to-thigh, Harvey closing the gap between them in an attempt to ease her discomfort. The conversation had obviously shifted to the source of her agitated state and she hated that, hated that she was talking about Stephen again but having this conversation with Harvey, deep down felt like the only thing that could speed up her healing process.
"You couldn't have known," he spoke clearly and steadily, slightly shaking his head as if trying to bore the words into her brain.
"I should have, Harvey. That's what I do. I read people and I know, and all this time I… I had no idea." Donna's voice was barely hers. It was smaller than he'd ever heard it, the edges shaky and blurred.
He watched her confession materialize into words and then get swallowed by the void and in the short time interval between the two he felt a punch in his gut. His chest bubbled with rage. Harvey Specter had little tolerance for a lot of things but nothing topped someone hurting Donna. Seeing her in pain tore out a piece of him, made him wish there was something he could do to make it all stop.
He took a breath. "There was nothing you could have done. There was nothing you could have noticed. No one ever would have known."
"I'm sorry," Donna said. For talking about this. For making you worry. For the fact that any of this had happened to us at all.
His eyes flickered back and forth trying to find something in her face, something in her, and he wasn't sure what, so he just looked at her as gently and as honestly as he could.
"No," he replied, the syllable low and punchy. "I'm sorry this has been so difficult. I would - God, Donna, if I could take this all from you I'd do it in a second."
She felt startled at this heartfelt sentence. She knew Harvey cared, at least she kind of did, given that he rarely expressed it so openly. But this felt so genuine, like he let a piece of himself out together with the words. She almost sensed a degree of pain in his voice and she couldn't have imagined that hers would affect him this deeply. Donna stayed silent for a second, trying to piece those thoughts together.
Her words had already been stilled, wavering and he thought he should touch her, so he moved his hand and his fingertips brushed her thigh. A feather light trace that was barely notable but still enough to cut her breathing short. And then his palm slipped to firmly rest on the exposed skin there, just a soft warm touch that spread through her like wildfire and made her insides tingle a little. It's not like they never happened to touch before. But this was somehow different. It was purposeful.
The moment was significant in that it existed at all.
Her eyes caught his and held them in place, and in them she spotted something that felt of great importance, a clue of some sorts that could potentially unlock something deeply hidden. Reality dissolved as they looked into each other's eyes, lost expressions plastered on their faces but in the back of their minds they knew something had been found in this shared moment. He gently squeezed her thigh.
They weren't sure how long they'd been staring. Maybe a second, but it could have as easily been an eternity. Donna let her gaze escape Harvey's first, watching as his hand retrieved back into his lap but when she looked back up to find his face he was already looking the other way, purposely averting her eyes.
Synapses fired and words and thoughts and phrases all came from nowhere, and she settled. Folded her hands. Collected herself. Thunder boomed somewhere far away.
As the moment seeped into the past Donna became aware of the dense awkwardness that started filling the room, replacing the air around them through a small leak that was created by their bodies touching. She tried convincing herself that it wasn't anything monumental. It was just a sting that had lasted a brief second. A fractured thought of 'what if this was something more' that had slipped in their minds and now needed a bit of time to accept that a slip is all it was and coil back to the depths of their subconscious. The sudden realization hit her, of how volatile this whole fucking thing was and how delicate, really, truly delicate.
The silence was so heavy he could hear Donna breathing, a gentle reminder of her presence on his side. Harvey's hand twitched as his vision dissolved in the window view in front of him. He watched the rain fall down, a million tiny comets…
The rain. Donna.
Donna. Their moment. It shouldn't feel strange. Nothing had happened between them and they had certainly done more than that in the past, and yet the impact was loud. He choked on the knot in his throat, pushed it down, down, down. Contemplated his course of action. The reason the contact felt so peculiar was that they both felt something more than skin touching and he thought maybe he should have let it unfold. Perhaps it was best he didn't, the dim-lit room and alcohol making the line less distinguishable now.
Donna chewed on it for a moment. All of this happened fairly quickly and she ended up deciding that leaving was the best course of action.
"It's late. I should go," she said softly, glancing to her right to look at his face.
The sound of her voice made him finally meet her eyes, dark and glassy. She thought there was a note of melancholy somewhere deep in his stare. Harvey gave her a small nod, something resembling a smile forming on his lips.
Donna got up, fixed the skirt of her dress, fetched for her purse, tried to act normal. She looked at him one last time, giving him a warm smile.
"Goodnight, Harvey." And she walked out without waiting for his response.
See you tomorrow, he thought to himself, and that was the only thing that mattered. What happened today was nothing, maybe it was further than their usual go, but it was still nothing. And tomorrow would be like any other day, so he focused on that thought, downed the rest of his drink and went home.
.
The second time it happened they were celebrating.
The firm had won one of it's biggest cases. It was Harvey who had won the case but he was name partner now, so that was one and the same. The conference room was crowded with people, partners and even some selected associates and paralegals filled the small space with laughter and chatter and the sound of champagne glasses clinking. Generally, a lot of noise was being dispersed through the hallways of the firm until the clock had started ticking past working hours and everyone had slowly started to scatter.
Donna had lost Harvey from her sight for about half an hour and her guess was that he got tired of discussing the case and subtly gloating to the other partners and had made an english exit. Maybe he had even headed out to some bar considering that the night was still young, the night hadn't even been freaking conceived yet, and he surely wouldn't want to wrap this particular one up quickly.
Instead of mentally debating and caring to prove any of her theories right she focused on her conversation with Rachel while carefully sipping glass after glass of champagne.
When Donna noticed the clock on the wall reading past 10 pm, she decided that was enough celebration for one day and said her goodbyes with her friend before returning to her desk to gather her things so she could go home. Tired and slightly tipsy, she made her way through the dimly lit corridor when she noticed Harvey sitting in his office and slowed down her pace, observing him without permission. Almost all of the lights were out, the space wrapped in complete silence, interrupted only by the barely distinct sound of his fingers tapping the laptop keyboard.
As she approached, she felt a sense of relief, accompanied with a hint of guilt because it had no reason for being there. It was relief for him not leaving without a goodbye. For knowing where he was. For him being there.
"Hey," Donna said softly, peeking through the door opening.
He lifted his head, pleasantly surprised to find her standing there.
"You disappeared so suddenly, I thought you left," she continued.
"Just needed to finish up some work," he replied almost apologetically.
"I think I'm gonna head out myself." She gave him a warm smile accompanied by a small nod, her hand ready to push her body off the glass door and turn itself in the opposite direction.
Harvey went to open his mouth but hesitated for a bit. Finally the words crumbled out of it.
"Why don't you stay? I'll pour us a drink." There was a hopeful note in his voice, like he really wished she'd stay, wished they'd spend some time alone, just the two of them. Like his success wouldn't bear the same significance if he didn't get to reflect on it with her.
"It's really getting late, Harvey." Something was nagging her to turn around a leave but she chose to call it exhaustion from the long day and brushed it off.
"Come on," he said, refusing to give up, "that was a big win we scored today, we deserve one more drink."
Saying no to Harvey was never Donna's strong suit. She wasn't scared to express her disagreement when their opinions clashed, but when it came to trivial matters like this, she just couldn't reject him. Maybe it was his smooth voice when he asked for something or how he raised his eyebrows and smirked, his look ever so charming. Hell, maybe she just wanted to please him. Spend more time with him.
"Okay, one drink," she sighed defeated, her hand sliding on the door frame and guiding her body to step inside.
He got up to get two glasses and pour four fingers for them both, pulsing with the knowledge that he'd get to end this day with Donna - alongside the recognition that this was the only way he would have wanted this day to end at all.
Donna discarded her things on the desk and leaned against it, that being the moment she realized she was more tipsy than she expected. She wasn't drunk. Still, there was a kind of spinning motion going on in her head, pleasantly tilting her reality and making her fingertips tingle as they touched the cold surface behind her. Harvey handed her a glass as he stood right beside her, and she took a small sip, mulling over the taste in her mouth before swallowing with some displeasure, never quite used to the bitterness of Harvey's drink of choice.
"You must be pleased," she broke the silence first, feeling the liquid run down her throat and placing the glass on the desk next to her.
Harvey mirrored her movements in a confident manner, the two of them almost comically synced. "I am," he replied, letting her comment paint a smug smirk on his face. And it was merely two simple words but oh, he sounded so cocky, it made a smile escape on her lips as well in return.
"It never gets old, does it? Winning," she fidgeted with the glass in her hand as she spoke the words. Half a joke and half some profound statement.
He scoffed. "No, it doesn't." He paused. Suddenly his expression went serious. "You know I couldn't have done this without you," he said, a new tenderness to his voice.
She snorted. "Yes, you could have," she emphasized the words and grinned, a foreign pressure on her cheekbones.
He clenched his jaw and shook his head, "It wouldn't be the same."
He turned to face her from where his eyes were fixed forward, scanning her with his gaze, from her fingertip grazing the brim of the half-empty glass to her flickering bright eyes. Their eyes locked in silence and then his left hand travelled upwards, moved delicately to her neck and then further up, towards her chin, on her cheek and then his right hand followed and arrived at the other side of her face. The act itself happened so calmly that she might as well have watched the scene unfold in slow motion from somewhere outside of her body. Donna's cheeks went red hot and Harvey's heart beat faster and faster as her face came up to his own.
She froze and melted, froze and melted until her atoms drifted and split and died. This was happening. This was happening here and now. She tried collecting her thoughts to bring them back to the present moment.
That was when they kissed, hard. Her hands wrapped around his biceps and squeezed as they did, and he felt all of her; her hair on his face and her nose smushed against his and the softness of her lips and everything, everything, and he wanted to melt into her, and he wanted to live tucked in her eyelids.
It was slow at first like they were trying to fully take each other in, thoroughly taste the sweetness of the kiss. It was a need for every inch of what they were feeling to be permanently engraved in memory. He pulled away ever so slightly to look at her, his palms still pressed against her cheeks, framing her face. They both froze for a moment, lips parted and eyes locked.
"Are we…?" Harvey's question was left hanging in thin air as Donna pressed her lips back to his in a long kiss that immediately left them both breathless.
Her hands ran down his back, wrapped around his neck, cradled his head, she was all over him, everywhere and nowhere at the same time. He opened his mouth to deepen the kiss and she followed along, their tongues meeting easily and sliding together. Everything was blurred and drowned to nothingness.
A lifetime's worth of thoughts and feelings and fantasies and they were all here, all now, and Donna didn't know what to do with any of them. Until she felt the sudden crush of reality all over them.
Donna suddenly pulled back, pushing him off her, gently, like she was scared of hurting him.
"Damn it." She gasped. Her eyes remained closed as her face lowered to the ground and she squeezed them harder. Her mind spiralled. Absolute chaos. The world hurtled past, none of it making any sense. She shook her head repeatedly from side to side as if trying to shake off the mere fact that what had just happened was real.
A switch flipped in her brain, a giant switch that she'd been ignoring and that the alcohol had masked, but only for a bit, only for a bit.
"Harvey… We shouldn't." The words stumbled out of her mouth with difficulty, her eyes fixated on the floor for a long moment before meeting his flushed face. She tried to read his face but this time it proved tricky. The main theme of what she spotted was confusion mixed with an inebriated sadness.
He nodded, invoking all the power his body could provide to make the movement happen.
"I shouldn't have…" It was less of a spoken sentence than a whisper barely caught in the wind, mouth rinsed in hot dread.
"No, no, no. Damn it." She was rumbling now. Like snapping out of some sort of trance she grabbed her things and practically ran out of the office without glancing at Harvey's face again, leaving him to fall back against the desk and watch her quickly disappear in the dark corridor.
He felt an itch in his throat - the urge to yell something after her - but he kept his mouth shut because he had no idea what those words might be.
When the next day would arrive and they'd act like the incident never happened, he'd regret not questioning her reaction. But when she ran out that night, he had no reason to believe she would have wanted to stay.
.
The third time it happened was prompted by old memories.
It was one drink that had turned into three as the clock kept ticking, the minutes passing by until the only lights on that floor came from Harvey's office and the only people there were him and Donna. The floor security had checked on them an hour ago, promising not to interrupt, and they had kept talking, the words coming effortlessly. It was like they had slipped through a crack in time and space and were allowed to stay there for as long as they chose fit.
On this late Friday night there was an abundance of places either of them could find themself at, but they had chosen to spend yet another hour together, piling it on top of the countless ones they had already collected in their history.
Donna was laughing at one of his jokes, absentmindedly twirling the liquid in the glass with her hand. Harvey chuckled, his hand hovering in front of his mouth ready to take one more sip of his drink and it made a pleasant tingle run through her body. She loved the sound of that.
They were sitting close, but not too close. Carefully maintaining a sort of boundary; a mere formality considering their past, it was mostly some kind of useless precaution.
It might have been the small hour, or the now half empty bottle of scotch, or their recent decision to make peace and go back to normal with Donna returning to his desk. All of those things and each individually could be responsible for their eagerness to use this conversation as a map that could show them the most dangerous path to tread.
Donna replayed the old story that Harvey had just recounted in her head, one about someone he went out with a long time ago, the thought of him with another woman leaving a bittersweet aftertaste. A hint of jealousy spread through her brain as she imagined some of the things Harvey had mentioned and it quickly took over her, making her open her mouth again to let it express itself, then jar the consequences as a souvenir.
"That's really what she said? You were that good, then?" She said it casually. Just two friends in a room.
"Have you forgotten?" He smirked at her, his smugness drowning out any attempt to make it sound like an inside joke.
Donna blinked. "And what if I have?" She said it cautiously enough to not sound eager but still, a flirtatious tone coated her question, because they both knew she hadn't, just like they both knew where this exchange was bound to take them.
They had their own little way of communicating things but they never got lost in translation. It felt like they were willing to go there tonight, go a bit further than they had in years. Everything shook. Everything pulsed, as Harvey fearlessly took the next step.
"Then I'd have to remind you." He said it slowly, and he sounded serious. Certain. There was no going back now, no right turns, no exit jokes, this conversation leading them to a single definite destination.
At that, Donna stiffened a little, unnoticeable enough for Harvey not to catch it. It was a combination of fear and curiosity suddenly rushing through her mind, combined with the desire to discover just how far he was willing to go and where her prompt could eventually lead them. The mere mention of The Other Time already had her mind taking her to places she normally wouldn't allow herself to go, her memory mixed with the present moment making flames spark in her belly.
She let the silence fill the air, momentarily not knowing how to respond, but that didn't discourage Harvey in the least, the tension and her willingness to prolong this moment visible enough even to him.
He inched closer to her on the couch and before she knew it she could feel the warmth of his body next to hers. He traced her arm lightly with the back of his fingers. There was a jolt of electricity on her skin where his hand had been and Donna's breath hitched in her chest for the millionth time in the last three minutes.
It was as if there was a magnetic pull between them, drawing him towards her. He thought he couldn't stop touching her and she knew she didn't want him to. His hand moved lower, traveled down her arm, over her belly, brushed the white fabric of her dress and the lower it went the more her insides fluttered.
She steered against him in a way that felt encouraging so he continued, exploring everything previously untouchable. Creeping up her skirt and past the soft skin of her thighs, he paused at her center. He left a gentle stroke over her already slightly damp panties and this mere hint of contact alone had her gone. She thought her skin would burn off, a licking flame, young and orange, fogging her vision as she turned her head to face him.
"Like this…" He breathed his words hotly on her neck in sync with his movement, his face dangerously close to hers and she felt her heartbeat speed up, the anticipation traveling through her body, building up and escaping through her mouth in the form of a puff.
"Harvey…" She pronounced his name so quietly, it wasn't even enough to convince herself that she didn't want this, and it made her almost hate her lack of willpower to stay away from him in this way.
As if reading her thoughts he said, "Tell me to stop and I will." And he meant it but he also knew she wouldn't because while Donna might have been good at reading him, he couldn't decipher her too and he could see the lust in her, the way she was holding back from whimpering under his touch being nothing but subtle.
And she didn't. Instead she turned her head ever so slightly, a fraction of a movement that was enough to close the space between them, and she kissed him. And he started kissing her back, deeply and immediately.
His fingers slipped beneath the lace and she had to momentarily pull away from him just to gasp at how good it felt to have him touching her there again, her brain trying to reconcile the memories with the previous time this had happened, but she quickly pressed her lips back on his for another kiss. She let out a small moan as he let his finger slide over her center, pressing down gently.
"You're so wet," he kept stroking her swollen lips, drawing the wetness up and around her clit, "I think you do remember," there was a hint of affection in his voice and she just hummed in response, too gone in the sensation to muster a proper reply.
He lowered his mouth on her neck, leaving a trail of kisses from her ear to her shoulder, soft and lazy as if they had all the time in the world, as he let her whimper underneath him.
"I do, Harvey," she finally answered with a moan. "I do," and it was actually mostly a sigh. There was an urgency in her words and a need to breathily repeat them twice, to make sure he understood that no matter how many years would pass, she could never get rid of all the memories.
He picked up on the need in her voice and stopped teasing her pussy with his middle finger, finally sinking the digit inside her as she let out a helpless little moan. He started thrusting, slow movements making strokes along her front wall and Donna shifted in her seat trying to press harder against his hand, the fire burning inside her now untamable.
His palm grinded down on her clit and she mewled loud enough for someone to overhear if they happened to pass by and, even though they were confident they were alone, Harvey was unwilling to take this risk, shutting her up with a kiss, his own mouth muffling her moans. And it felt like killing two birds with one stone because this granted him a taste of her tongue and the feeling of her humming in his mouth as she fell apart under his touch.
The image of her face with pleasure spread all over it, her tightly shut eyes and her flushed cheeks, danced in his mind. The sounds escaping her, ringed in his ears and all he could think was fuck, she's so hot, as all the blood in his body flowed south. He felt the tightening in his pants and he wanted to groan at his growing erection but that was not his moment. They might have exchanged a mutual interest for this to happen tonight but he didn't quite know how far this extended and something kept nagging him that this was all he'd get. And he was okay with that. He was doing it for Donna. For her pleasure. So he chose to focus on the wetness of her tongue and the way the soft muscle diligently ran over the inside of his mouth and the heat around his fingers and the way she was pulsing underneath him from trying not to cry out.
He speeded up his movements a little, his fingers working incessantly between her thighs. His thumb found her clit, flicking roughly and that's what did it for her. She moaned louder, a proper moan this time, squeezing her eyes in pleasure as her body arched back. He carried her through the waves, slowing down the strokes in her core until her body stopped trembling around him and collapsed on the couch.
Harvey drew back his hand, his fingers glistening and dripping with her wet desire, their spot now replaced with her lacy underwear. Before he could take further action, her hand gripped his as she brought it to her mouth, her thoroughly kissed lips closing over his fingers. She sucked on them, tasting herself without breaking eye contact with Harvey and he thought that this could be more than enough to make him come if he had no self control. She released his fingers with a wet 'pop' and he was left staring at her in a daze.
Harvey wanted to kiss her again. He wanted to press his lips firmly against hers. He wanted to taste her in his mouth. He wanted to kiss her so deeply it would draw out the remaining air in her lungs. But now Donna was back from the high of it all and they weren't all over each other anymore and the spell had been broken, making the thing he wanted most seem like something dangerously intimate that they had no right to access at this stage. It wouldn't be appropriate now, not after what happened and especially not after what Donna had done last.
A brief parade of stubborn heat, this dream of sparkling light ending abruptly.
Donna was panting, chest heaving, flushed and spent. She looked at him a bit shyly, biting her lower lip.
"You know, I think I needed a rerun after all," she said.
He smirked in return and they never talked about it again.
.
The fourth time it happened they wanted it to.
Harvey had chosen Donna over his relationship. He had said he wasn't looking for anything at that time. But nevertheless, after uttering those words he had found himself by Donna's side again and after a few drinks too many they both knew what they were after.
Three glasses in, Donna was sitting in the chair opposite of Harvey, eyeing him the entire time, her legs crossed on the desk, hand fidgeting with the glass she was holding. They were having a conversation but their minds were not entirely following. It was hard to keep focused when they were both thinking about the same illicit thing, both sensing that they were sharing the thought without being entirely sure.
It was almost as if every occasion that led them to spiral was predicted beforehand. A premonition that bathed the room in a soft glow before they even entered and they felt it, soaked in it, sometimes welcoming the events that were set to unfold and others trying to avoid them. But they had never anticipated them with excitement before. Had never actively invited them. And now that they were sitting across from each other, both aware, and needy, and nervous, it occurred to them that they wanted this. They didn't want to run away this time, rather they were hoping the thing they were avoiding most would finally happen. Their heads pounded at those thoughts, a basket case of chaotic ideas that didn't quite come together.
And then they were done talking. A heavy silence fell in the room. It would sound like a heavy thud if silence could be loud but instead it felt like everything had suddenly been switched off and suddenly the only sound left was the clinking of Donna's nails on the glass.
If they weren't obvious before, they sure as hell were now. Harvey downed the rest of his drink with a confident movement, signaling that if something were to happen, now was the time. Donna's gaze lingered. She was looking at all of him, everything.
Harvey's eyes scanned her body, from the exposed skin of her legs resting on his desk, her skin gleaming in the darkness, to her face, as she looked at him expectantly, mouth pursed in a weak smirk. He continued to watch her as she got up slowly, rounding the desk to stand half in his shadow. Donna could practically see his eyes growing darker as he looked at her and that alone was enough to make her whole body feel incredibly charged before they even had a chance to touch.
They were both eager for this to happen but the fact that Donna was the one to get up, to officially initiate, sent a shiver down his spine. Once again they had perfectly read each other and now it was happening, all of it.
He turned in his chair to face her and opened his legs in an inviting manner and she accepted, making herself comfortable on his lap. Donna looked him in the eye. Her head was backlit by the glow from the desk lamp, illuminating a sort of angelic haze around her.
She took over, leaning in and grabbing Harvey's tie to simultaneously pull him closer and their lips met half-way. Her mouth enveloped him, so soft and warm it made him wonder how he had lasted this long without getting a taste of her since their last incident. Mouths wide and tongues searching, they gave in into the moment. Donna's hands locked on the back of Harvey's head, pulling him closer at the same time as she felt his left hand firm around her body, the other softly grazing along her back.
He caught her bottom lip and tugged, sucking in her lip, igniting heat to grow between her legs, the need becoming almost painful with each flick of his tongue. He pulled away to take in the desire on her face, her eyes sparkling and her swollen lips parted.
Kissing a trail from her jaw to her collarbone he could feel her almost pant under his touch, incredibly small breathy moans escaping her lips. He grunted against her neck, his arm tightly wrapped around her waist, lifting them together from the chair and they stumbled backwards till Donna's ass hit the desk and her hands gripped the side to maintain her balance. He attacked her neck, leaving wet circles on her skin as he sucked it into his mouth, making her throw her head back, her eyes drifting shut and a moan falling from her lips. He took advantage of the access she had provided, licking, teasing, sucking on her pulse point in what would probably result in a hickey but that wasn't something she particularly cared about in that moment, her only wish being to feel Harvey all over herself.
His hands moved to her back, pulling her in as she arched her body closer to him. Palms thoroughly touching every spot she would provide, the feel of her velvety dress coating his touch, his fingers quickly finding the zipper and undoing it hastily, throwing the straps off her shoulders to reveal her full breasts, perky nipples visibly on alert even under the lace of her bra. He sucked a trail of kisses down her collarbone, focusing on the area of her chest before burying his face in her breasts. She sighed and moaned and he appreciated the noises more than anything, the sound toring into every part of him.
A storm of thoughts invaded his brain. The realization that's it's really Donna there, it's Donna pressed against him and Donna moaning his name and it's her body responding so well to his touch and it's her mouth that tastes so deliciously and her whimpers that sound so heavenly and then it dawns on him that no one could ever compare to her, no one could even come close.
The storm got wiped out by his arousal as quickly as it was created, this moment of clarity left for a different time and place. The only thing it left behind was the intensifying of his possessiveness over her body, evident in the way his hold on her got stronger, his mouth on her skin more skillful.
He captured her nipple in his hot mouth, teasing the hardened bud with his tongue and her whole body shivered once she felt his saliva coating the pink circle wet, the cool air hitting her nipple when he repositioned himself on the other breast. Her hand came up to the back of his head, fingers messing up his hair and raking his scalp with her short nails as he licked and sucked and grazed with his teeth.
His touch on her body felt so right. She thought her insides were on fire and he could sense that too, how warm and flushed her skin was under his mouth. She could feel him rock hard against her leg and her anticipation grew faster, making her dizzy with want.
Donna's palm slid between them to cup his throbbing erection through his pants, eliciting a low moan from him and she worked her way to tug open his pants and set him free, taking him in her hand. She pumped him once, waited to feel his warm breath on her neck get heavier, then again. Slowly and steadily, measured strokes, her palm firmly wrapped around his cock, her thumb swirling over the head and smearing the precum.
"Fuck, Donna," he groaned, before capturing her neck in his lips again.
His hand ran over her hips, lifting the skirt of her dress to her waist, his fingers tracing down her panties and feeling them soaked, her pussy dripping wet by now. Her clit jumped in anticipation. He slipped off her panties, pushing them down until they fell to her ankles and his fingers dipped inside her. She moaned and he came back up to her mouth, choking the sound with a kiss, tongue fully exploring her lips and mouth.
This was all so very hot and Donna took in every second of it but she couldn't wait anymore and it was taking already long enough so the rest would be over way too quickly and they had been waiting for this for years so she pulled away a little, her eyes opening to find his and she almost mouthed the words, audible just enough for him to hear.
"Harvey, I need you now," her breath brushed his cheek and he obliged, easily lifting her up on the desk. He teased her entrance with the tip of his cock, precum mixing with her wet desire and she cried out when he hit her clit. Her arms came to wrap around his neck as he tucked his head into her shoulder while entering her in one single torturously slow thrust, his cock sliding smoothly into her center.
He started moving, each thrust coming faster and she hooked her ankles over his hips to deepen their joining. They were being messy and loud. Harvey focused on her sweet moans, on pounding in her, on kissing her neck before regularly returning to her lips, on the heat of her core around him, and everything faded.
"I'm close," he murmured in her ear. "So am I," she replied and his hand slipped between their bodies to find her clit and make them fall off the edge together.
It took almost no time. She came hard, everything pulsing, trembling. The world exploded in perfect incandescent symmetry. He followed right behind, spilling inside her with a groan and they were left pressed chest to chest, panting and staring at each other's flushed expressions.
Harvey pulled her firmly into a kiss, something that could be translated as some type of goodbye. This was good. It was better than anything they had experienced in a long time, almost since the last time it had happened. But it wasn't something sustainable and it couldn't have been more at the time.
They cleaned up and fixed themselves. "I'll have Ray drive you home," he told her "I'd rather walk tonight." Inside her head she heard herself say I need you and won't you stay and will there be anything left of us. But she accepted and they just said goodnight.
.
The fifth time it happened they thought it wouldn't.
The scotch glasses lay empty on the table, reflecting the tiny citylights entering the office from the wide windows and bringing a kind of stillness to the scene. Donna's silhouette lingered in the doorway, waiting for Harvey to put on his jacket so they could part ways. They've had their drinks, had their chats, making themselves comfortable in her office for a rather long while.
Despite their newfound freedom to flirt more openly, nothing had happened between them that night. Harvey had just gotten back from Boston and Donna knew that dealing with his brother's divorce hadn't been easy on him. He had to talk some things out and what he needed for that was a friend, so that's what Donna was providing.
Neither of them were aware of the fact that both their minds kept slipping from the conversation and silently fixating on memories from that previous fateful time at the office, the memories now fresh, the little snapshots constantly replaying in their head and asking to be repeated. They might have been talking casually but their thoughts were on hands and lips and skin, busy trying to recreate sensations based on the feeling of being around each other, of them being so close, being just the two of them.
Deep down they knew that once it happened, there would be no way to stop. No way to put it out of their minds again. After all, they never had in the first place, their first time haunting them to this day. And now, one time had turned into two and if the count made it to three and then up, things would get even more complicated and god knows what would happen to their relationship. They couldn't risk that. They could still pretend like the events so far didn't constitute danger to their status but it was too late. They were too far gone and even if they used all their willpower not to act on it, they were desperate to feel each other again.
In the back of their minds, every late night at the office over drinks had become an opportunity and this one was slowly slipping away.
They walked through the empty hallway to the elevators mostly in silence, Harvey glancing in her direction to take a peek at her face and Donna responding with a smile.
Donna's heart unconsciously started beating faster when he pressed the call button. Anxiety slithered near the bottom of her belly, threatening to sink its teeth into her. They stood side by side, an uneasy tension between them. It was the first time that it was visible that night. Not exactly discomfort or awkwardness, more like a suffocating force that tried hard to pull them into each other.
They stepped in and the door closed behind them and they fixed their eyes forward, looks avoiding each other's faces. As the numbers started to wane their breaths hinged in their throats, sending the air in the metal box into complete stillness. They were running out of time. This was their last chance for this to happen tonight.
Now or...
"Harvey," his name barely escaped her lips, echoing in the confined space but it was all the signal he needed to reach for her hand and link their fingers, pulling her close only to push her back up against the elevator wall. For a brief second he caught her face, eyes dark and lips parted and that's all the indication he needed to know that she too, had been thinking about this exact thing the entire night. He crashed his lips on hers in what felt like the most breathtaking kiss he could pull out of her, giving her the inexplicable sense of being underwater - a weightlessness which required you to hold your breath.
His hand blindly reached to push the emergency button and their descent came to a halt, time freezing with it, and they stood there, wishing neither of those things would ever have to resume.
The desire that had been suppressed exploded between them like a bubble that came to burst the moment their lips touched, making everything feel wobbly from the blow back. Rushed, sloppy, openmouthed kisses covered their mouths and their faces as they hungrily attempted to make up for the lost time. Her insistent mouth parted his, searching for better access to his tongue and he granted it generously, tongues touching urgently and moving to explore every inch of their mouths.
Donna's hand abandoned it's tight hold on his body to pull his shirt free and unbuckle his pants in a frenzied haste, his cock springing out and her hand coming to wrap around it at once. She felt him expand to full size in her palm as she squeezed, pumped and he gasped, groaned, the freedom and her touch already driving him insane.
"We have to be quick," she panted in his ear as she kept stroking his length and judging by how hard he was, she guessed that wouldn't be a problem.
"Oh, I can be quick," he assured her and the confidence in his tone aroused her further.
His palms slid up her hips, pushing the dress tight on her curves up, and the way his hands pressed so firmly on her body made her think that she'll bury the imprints of his touch forever on her skin, and maybe a part of her hoped she would, because she never wanted to forget how good it felt, how he always made a point of touching her so thoroughly, how her skin burned under his.
They hadn't gotten far yet and he was pleasantly surprised to find her soaking wet under her panties. He pushed them to the side, smearing her wet desire over her lips, thumb coming to flick on her clit and she moaned at the contact, the feeling of his big hands toying with her pussy making any sense of control she had left over herself desert her in a beat.
She hooked her leg over his hip, opening herself up to him and guiding his cock to her center. He entered her with a swift thrust and their faces were so close, he felt her breath hot on his cheek, like air suddenly filled her lungs, allowing her to exhale and then breathe him in deeply. She pressed her lips on his face where her mouth had been and trailed down kisses to his neck, hearing him moan in return.
Feeling him moving inside her, finally her eyes screwed shut and she tipped her head back, surrendering to pleasure. Prompted by her movement he brought his mouth to her neck, sucking on her pulse point and leaving wet kisses all over her flushed skin before swirling his tongue over her collarbone.
All the pent up heat and desire made itself evident in the way they clung onto each other as he started thrusting in and out of her, his size stretching her deliciously, filling her completely. She bit her bottom lip in an attempt to be quiet but it felt so damn good she wanted to scream.
His hands were gripping her waist forcefully as he slammed into her, his lips glued to her skin, moving from her neck to her face and back again. She grazed her fingers over his back and his well-pressed suit, trying to hold on to him when she felt like her knees had started to buckle.
He tightened his hold on her, pressing his body harder against hers as he brought his thrusts to a frantic rhythm, moving inside her until she moaned in his ear and he felt her walls clench around his cock as she sobbed into the side of his neck, her whole body trembling. Allowing himself to let go as well then, he spilled inside her with a low groan, warm and thick, the wet sensations completely enveloping his brain. The world spun underneath them. He held her up, riding her through it until they both came back to earth and then placed one last kiss on her lips before slipping out.
She smoothed down her dress and ran her fingers through her hair. He fixed his clothing and cleared his throat. The stop button got pushed and the motion resumed with a jolt. Time was unfrozen.
When the doors opened and they stepped outside, everything was exactly like before they ever got in the elevator. But this time there was a different kind of insufferable tension, one that forced them to face all the feelings that had surfaced. Despite the satisfaction that filled them from the physical act itself, there was a feeling of insufficiency lingering between them. A kind of shortfall. Because this had been their confirmation. They couldn't escape the magnetic pull they had on each other, the invisible string tying them together unable to be cut or weakened.
It was the most beautiful fate-pawn they could have burned or the most wonderful aftermath as a result of it's burning. This is how it was supposed to be, how they were supposed to be and there was no point in fighting it.
They needed this, and they needed everything.
.
Seven months since. Seven months since. A million months since. A million years since.
The next time it happens they're unofficially engaged.
Donna picks up the empty scotch glasses to set them on the side while Harvey remains seated on the couch, enjoying the view of her. Of her walking around the office, being there, existing. She returns to his side, momentarily standing next to him and he lifts his head to meet her gaze.
A smile forms on his face as he looks into her eyes, one that glows well enough to warm you and that Donna has only recently discovered since they got together. He had never looked at anyone like that before. There was a degree of freedom in his eyes, a sweet warmth in his smile, all his facial features combined reflecting utmost love and adoration and a boyishness that made him even more handsome. And it was all because of her and meant for her.
Her heart wanted to swell and expand beyond her chest. She smiles back softly as his hand comes to rest on her hip, squeezing through her dress. Right now it's not an invitation for anything further, there is no need to do that sneakily in the office now that they have all the time and space in the world. It's just a reassuring gesture to make sure that they are here now. A billion years had led to this and there'd be a billion years to come but right now they are here.
Harvey's hand falls in Donna's and she presses their palms tightly together, focusing on how small hers feels in his. She lightly tugs at his arm, urging him to get up and he gives in, rounding the couch to stand in front of her and they just face each other, expressions never drifting from their blissful state.
This was a moment - a beautiful, unrestrained moment - where he thought about Donna and himself as 'them' without any trepidation. Donna and Harvey. Now it wasn't trying to cover up something else. Now it just was.
His hands go to her waist, his eyes lock hers, and Harvey thinks, this is the whole of the world here.
"Let's go home," Donna says softly and he nods in response.
And they do. They take the long way home and find each other there.