Jace was having a terrible time focusing. He knew tonight was supposed to be about his birthday. Everyone was here to celebrate him, and the least he could do is pay attention to what they were saying, but if he were completely honest with himself, his mind was only about ten percent on the people around him.
Another twenty percent was focused on watching his redhead and depositing extra tips on her tables when she wasn't looking. He'd actually started leaving extra tips on some of the other tables as well because he'd heard her mention to Magnus that people seemed to be tipping her generously and she was going to ask the other servers if maybe it was the coming holidays and they had noticed the same thing. He couldn't have her find out it was him. He might not be able to talk himself out of trouble over that one.
Probably twenty percent of his mind was still back in Magnus' office replaying that kiss they'd shared… Damn. That was one hell of a kiss. He'd never felt anything like it. The fact that he could be so completely overwhelmed by the sensations brought on by simply kissing Clary blew Jace's mind. Wait, what had he been thinking about? Maybe the kiss had more like forty percent of his attention.
Jace tried again to refocus his thoughts on the people around him, but his mind was drawn toward his afterparty plans. Jace literally could not fathom how good sex with Clary was going to be. If just feeling her tongue against his had made Jace's pulse accelerate and his blood rush in his ears, if just hearing her delicious moan had had him dripping with precum and his hips bucking toward hers of their own accord, if just seeing her eyes roll back in her head as he kissed and sucked along her neck had left him straining to be inside her, how on earth would he be able to stand the pleasure of being enveloped by her? Jace suddenly wondered if it was possible to die of pleasure. If it was, he sure couldn't think of a better way to go.
'Enough about you, you selfish bastard,' Jace chastised himself. 'What are you going to do to make it special for her?' Jace knew he wasn't a selfish lover. He always made sure the woman came before he even dreamed of letting himself go, but he wanted so much more than that for Clary. He wanted her to feel special, and cherished, and beautiful, and sexy, and empowered, and worshiped, and loved, and satisfied. No, not even just satisfied, but satiated. He wanted her to feel like she was the most precious and desired person in the entire world. Like she was worth more than all the precious metals and gems in the world combined and then some. He wanted to convey everything he was feeling so that she would never doubt herself again. He never wanted her to experience the feeling he'd seen on her face when she'd thought he was rejecting her in the office earlier. Nobody should feel that way, but least of all his Clary. How did she not see how perfect she was? How did she not know how hard it had been on him to just be her friend? How much he had wanted to break all the rules and kiss her in the back room at the hotel, or ask if he could eat her instead of her dessert.
The only thing that managed to pull Jace back to the present moment was Clary setting her empty tray down on the table and sliding into the booth to the right of him. A small sigh of relief escaped her lips and she seemed to relax into Jace for a moment before she realized everyone was staring at her.
"What?" She asked self-consciously. "I just checked all my tables. Everyone's drinks are full. I just wanted to be off my feet for a moment." It wasn't until Jace noticed exactly where everyone's eyes were focused that he realized he and Clary had unconsciously threaded the fingers of her right hand together with the fingers of his left on the table in front of them and she was leaning into his right side as he had his right arm wrapped around her.
Clary apparently noticed it right after he did, because she turned a bright shade of red and started to pull her hand away from his. Jace squeezed it reassuringly and kept it steady in his.
Next she began to mumble an apology, but Jace quickly interrupted her saying, "You have nothing to be sorry for. She's entitled to a break from time to time, right Magnus?"
'Not that he'd have any room to talk,' Jace thought. Magnus' hand hadn't left Alec's knee since everyone returned from the office. Knowing how much Alec hated public displays of affection, Jace had to assume he didn't realize how little of his lap was actually covered by the small table.
"Of course," Magnus said, seeming to recover from his shock at Jace and Clary's obvious display of affection. "We're actually slow enough tonight Clary's shift can end any time she wishes."
As Jace continued to move his eyes around the small table, he saw that Izzy wore a triumphant smile and looked incredibly pleased with the development of her siblings' relationships, while Simon looked like he was trying to use his eyes as laser beams to burn holes right through Jace. Finally, Simon broke the silence to say, "just don't forget everything you told me about Jace the day you met him, Clary. He still lives in New York too."
"Yes, dad!" Clary said, eyes sparking with anger. Turning to Jace, Clary asked, "are you planning to stay much later, or would you like to move your birthday celebration someplace less crowded?" She was blushing as she asked, but Simon's words seemed to have had the opposite effect he had hoped for, as her anger with him seemed to be making her bolder.
"Thanks for the drinks everybody," Jace said, raising his mostly full mug toward the table. Then to his brother, he added, "I'll catch up with you tomorrow." In one quick motion, Jace finished off the drink and slid out of the booth, pushing Clary gently out ahead of him.
"Let me just make sure all my tables are taken care of and grab my bag," Clary said, gently resting her hand on Jace's arm. "It was nice meeting you Alec, Izzy." Turning to Magnus she said, "Thanks again. I'll see you tomorrow night."
"I'll make sure your tables are handled. Any tips they leave will be here for you tomorrow," Magnus assured her, standing and giving her a quick hug. "For once just enjoy yourself," he added quietly enough so only Clary and Jace could hear. He then turned and shook Jace's hand adding, "If anything happens to my little biscuit I will find you and you will never be heard from again." Magnus smiled as he spoke, but Jace could tell he was serious and somehow he felt far more threatened by Magnus and his friendly demeanor than Simon with his laser beam eyes.
"Yes sir," Jace found himself saying. "Nothing will happen to her that she doesn't want."
"Good, then we shall get along splendidly," Magnus said, cheerfully releasing his hand.
"Happy birthday," Izzy called after them. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
"Well, that wasn't awkward or anything," Jace chuckled as they neared the front door. Clary's face had remained in a beautiful blush since the moment she'd asked him to leave with her and Jace was beginning to wonder if it was going to remain that way all night.
"Wait," he called as she reached for the door. "You can't go outside in that. You'll freeze!" he said, pulling off his jacket and holding it up for her to put her arms into.
"But now you'll be cold," Clary pointed out.
"I'm fine. Believe me," Jace assured her. "Thinking of kissing you has actually kept me quite warm all night." Jace had expected Clary to be more embarrassed at his statement and blush an even deeper shade, but instead she turned around and grabbed his shirt in both of her hands, pulling him down for a quick and completely unexpected kiss. Her lips left his almost as soon as they had touched and she was walking toward her car. '
"Just to make sure you stay warm on the way to the car," she explained over her shoulder when she noticed he hadn't followed her.
Jace ran to catch up. He might never get used to this woman. Every time he thought he had her figured out she surprised him. "So," he said as they got into her car, "do you want to get something to eat?"
"Didn't you eat at the bar?" she asked.
"Yes, but you didn't. Unless you ate in the back."
"I eat before my shift starts," she told him.
"Yes, but that was hours ago. It's after one. Aren't you hungry?"
Clary was spared having to answer by the loud growl of her stomach. They both laughed. "I suppose I could eat something. Usually I just snack on whatever Simon is eating, but I wasn't in the mood to share with him tonight," she admitted.
Jace rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah… I hope I didn't cause you guys to fight. What was it you told him about me the day we met?"
"It doesn't matter," Clary told him, pulling into the drive thru at taco bell. "That was before I even knew you."
"I'd still like to know what it is he wanted to remind you of," Jace said, carefully watching her face. "He told me tonight he doesn't want to see you get hurt, but I don't want to see that either… Do you think I'm going to hurt you, Clary?"
"Welcome to Taco Bell. May I take your order?"
Clary and Jace both jumped. Jace had forgotten they were even in a drive thru. Jeez. He really couldn't focus on anything when Clary was around.
After they'd placed their order which, much to Jace's surprise, Clary actually let him pay for without putting up a fight, Clary pulled into a parking space so they could eat in the parked car.
"Well?" Jace finally asked.
"I don't know," Clary said, shrugging. "What I told Simon the day we met was how hot you were and that you kept asking me out. He asked why I didn't say yes and I told him all the rumors I'd heard about you. That you only saw women for sex and never actually dated, and of course that you'd be going back to New York soon and even if you weren't a player we had no hope at a relationship. He suggested it wouldn't be bad to blow off some steam if we both knew that we were only in it for sex and didn't get attached."
Jace felt like someone had set a heavy weight in the middle of his chest. "Is that what you want then?" he tried to keep the hurt out of his voice, but he couldn't hear if he was succeeding past the roaring in his ears. "You just want to use each other for sex?"
"Of course not," Clary sighed. "Simon wouldn't be worried about me getting hurt if he couldn't tell I care about you. You asked what I told him the first day, so I'm telling you."
Jace let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and Clary went on. "I probably could have been okay with that back then, but Camille had been determined to have you in her bed since she met you and I was afraid of getting fired. She succeeded, didn't she?" She finally asked, looking straight into Jace's eyes.
It was Jace's turn to be embarrassed. He hoped he was not about to ruin his only chance with the woman of his dreams, but he wouldn't lie to her. "Technically, she didn't have me in her bed, but we did have sex. At least… we started to." Jace felt his face grow hotter than it had ever been. "I couldn't… that is… it's actually never happened to me before, but… well… I was thinking of how disappointed in me you would be… and… I kind of… lost my… motivation? I don't really know how else to say it. I um… I couldn't… finish."
Clary started laughing. Jace could tell she was trying not to, but she couldn't seem to help herself. She was apologizing between wheezes and gasping breaths and she finally got control of herself enough to say, "I'm not laughing at you, Jace. I'm sorry. I'm just picturing Camille's face when she couldn't get what she wanted. I bet she was absolutely purple." Jace thought back to that day in her office. At the time he'd been too embarrassed to think about it, but Camille's face had been pretty comical. Jace started to laugh. Pretty soon Clary joined him and before long there were tears rolling down both of their cheeks from laughing so hard.
After several minutes of intense laughter they finally calmed down to the occasional giggle before Clary turned to Jace and placed one hand on his chest while she dried her eyes with the other saying "thanks, Jace. I needed that!"
Suddenly the atmosphere in the car changed drastically. Jace felt intense heat where Clary's hand rested on his chest. The air felt charged and he no longer felt like laughing as her eyes locked with his.
"Clary," he said seriously. "I'm not the person you described to Simon anymore. At least, I don't want to be. Ever since the first time I saw you getting out of your car by the coffee shop that morning I can't get your eyes out of my mind. I didn't know why then. There was something about them. Now I know how deeply you care for people. How selfless and brave you are. How you would sacrifice everything to take care of the people you love. That even though you work more than a hundred hours a week you would give up some of your precious few hours of sleep for some schmuck you barely know because he made a mistake and needed a friend to talk some sense into him. I don't want to use you for sex. I don't even want to rush you into sex if you're not ready. I just want whatever you're willing to give me for as long as you're willing to have me. I know I live far away, but I can come here every weekend. And I don't want to see anybody else. I only want you. I want to be the person you call to make you smile when you have a bad day, or to stay with Gran when she's in the hospital, or to talk about some great customer who left you a big tip. I want to hear your laugh and see your smile. If you just want to be friends I'll be your friend, but it would just about kill me to see you fall for someone else. I don't know if I could stand by and watch that happen."
Clary didn't say anything. She just stared at him. Finally he couldn't take her silence anymore. "What are you thinking?"
"You really think I'm all those things? But you're the one who wanted to just be friends," she said.
"I know you are!" he told her. "All those things and so much more! I never wanted to just be friends. I only said that so I wouldn't lose you altogether." Jace was about to go on, but before he could tell her more of the things that made her special she'd leaned over the console and was attacking his lips with hers. Jace hadn't noticed Clary unbuckling her seat belt, but she must have at some point, because she was now climbing onto his lap with her knees one on each side of his hips, never breaking contact with his lips. He moved his hands to her hips and was holding her to him while her hands made their way under his shirt and were delicately tracing first his abs and then his chest as she ran her hands up and down the front of him. He finally broke their kiss as he let out a groan.
"Damn it, woman. You're going to be the death of me," he said in a strained voice. "You really are determined for me to take advantage of you in a compromising place aren't you?"
Clary giggled and slid back into her seat clicking her belt into place. "I just wanted to give you a preview of what you have to look forward to back in your room. I didn't have time to shop for a birthday gift," she teased, pulling out of the parking lot and back onto the road.