A/N: Hey, remember when I posted this "one shot" and I was like "I might add to it! I just might!" ?
Well, I did. TOLD YOUUUUUUUUUUUU!
Thanks to Ken and others for expressing interest. Again, this is something that might continue to continue. As all of my other stories continue to continue. Forever and ever.
Thank you to everyone who was so kind in reading and reviewing the "one shot". You inspired me. You're all top class. Love you Chuck fans. Man oh man.
Enjoy!
After all of the important meetings he'd ever been to in his life, Chuck Bartowski knew how to dress himself. He knew how to tie his own ties, even those of the bow variety. He'd started buying clothes that actually fit him, instead of always wearing the suits his father had left behind. The ones that were always been too big around the waist and not quite long enough for his legs.
But he hadn't been on a proper date in years.
And so…Chuck Bartowski, the intrepid scuba diving fear conquering tech nerd, stared blankly at the clothes hanging in his hotel suite's closet. And he had been staring for a good ten minutes.
He had half an hour until he would meet Sarah the scuba instructor outside of his hotel.
Would she take him someplace casual? Someplace fancy?
She seemed pretty laid back. So it would probably be casual. But he didn't want to chance it with shorts, a t-shirt, and flip flops.
But then he couldn't help wondering if she thought the expensive hotel he was staying in meant he was filthy rich and would prefer a restaurant that was as expensive as his hotel. What if she showed up in a gown? It wasn't like he'd packed a tux. Suits, sure. The bar at the topmost level of his hotel was formal wear only, and it was on the website when he booked his suite, so he'd brought an array of suits.
What if she had a tuxedo place in mind?
It would be so embarrassing, explaining to her his lack of a tux. Would they have to stop somewhere to buy one? That would be ridiculous. But then they'd have to go to a less fancy place and she'd probably feel totally overdressed and the whole date would be absolutely ruined.
And then he thought about how that line of thought did her a disservice. She didn't seem like the shallow or superficial type. What each of them wore wouldn't make any difference to her…not really. Right? Of course.
Miraculously, even with the ridiculous paranoia plaguing the inexperienced dater in him, Chuck ended up standing at the roundabout driveway of the suite, shuffling away from the bustling bellhops to keep out of their way as people pulled up to check in.
He checked his watch and saw that it was a few minutes after seven. She wasn't going to stand him up. She'd be well within her rights to do so after he came on so hard. By the time he got back to his suite and hopped in the shower, he was so mortified by how intense he'd been.
But she had said yes.
And she was a woman of her word. He only spent a few hours with her earlier on in the day, but she told him he'd be safe. She told him she'd stay with him down there. And she told him he'd be missing out if he didn't go down. She came through on all three counts. More than came through.
Just as he doubled down on his confidence that she'd show up, he saw the red convertible Camry slide smoothly into the driveway and swoop around, coming to a stop in front of him. She turned to look at him, her loose hair so wavy and tousled from driving about in a convertible. There was an easy, natural smile on her face.
Chuck hurried from where he leaned against the wide beam and opened the passenger door, sliding into the passenger seat and shutting the door again. He rubbed his hands down the thighs of his pants and held onto his knees. "Hello."
"Hi there," she said back, still smiling. "Sorry I'm late. Hawaii traffic."
"Pfft, totally good."
Her blue eyes slid down his figure and back up again, before she turned to face forward. "Buckle up."
He did, and the car moved forward so fast that he was quite nearly slammed back against his seat.
So. She was one of those drivers.
Chuck decided he could deal with that as he quickly took her in. She looked absolutely stunning. Her blond locks whipped about her face as she pulled onto the road and started driving…fast…was the nicest way to put it.
She wore a patterned sundress that was…coral? Was that the color? Sure. Coral. He thought that sounded about right. With thin straps and a low neckline, which he immediately diverted his gaze from because it was just low enough that he didn't want to stare. Lest she think he was that sort of a guy.
The sun had just slipped behind the horizon a little earlier, and Chuck thought perhaps Sarah the scuba instructor was the only ray of sunlight left on the entire island tonight. She was positively radiant.
"Nice car," he said, swallowing thickly as he tried to keep from looking at her too much, too long.
"Thank you. It gets me where I need to go," she said with a modest one shouldered shrug.
"In styyyle," he drawled, narrowing his eyes and cutting his hand through the air in front of him. He grinned slowly as she giggled and shook her head.
She scoffed then, stopping at the light and turning to him. "Not so much. It needs some paint, maybe. But hey, it was the cheapest used convertible I could find when I first got here so I snatched it up."
"A convertible girl, huh?"
The look on her face was a bit mischievous. "Guilty. Wind in my hair and all that."
Oh, he liked this woman. He liked her very much. And he wondered how much it showed on his face, and maybe he shouldn't be smiling at her like this, so he schooled his features and nodded, turning to look ahead as she slammed her foot on the gas pedal when the light turned green.
"She's not the fanciest car around, but she's got the stuff," she added.
"She has at that," Chuck said, patting the dashboard in front of him. That seemed to please Sarah greatly as she turned to look at him with a smile. He smiled back at her and squirmed to get more comfortable in his seat. "You look beautiful. By the way."
That he could say without reservation, without even a smidgeon of shyness. Because it was the truth and she deserved to know it.
And she received it with an equal amount of shyness—which was to say, none at all. She probably got it all the time from men. "Better than a bikini, huh?"
That wasn't fair. And he knew he was blushing as he stared straight ahead. "Um, a bikini has its perks." He hadn't meant it the way it sounded and he felt his face crumble into a what the hell did I just say look. Thank God she was laughing about it. "Not that I know. I've never worn one."
He winced. Shut up shut up shut up.
She laughed even harder. "You should try it sometime."
And he knew he was redder than a tomato as her striking blue eyes swept over his form. He didn't know if she'd meant for him to see that, so he just blinked and looked straight ahead. "Maybe I will. Some time." She giggled. "Uh, s-so, where we headed?"
"Do you like Italian?"
He hadn't expected that.
He made a face, furrowing his brow and pursing his lips. "In Hawaii?"
"What? You don't think Hawaiians make good Italian food? 'Cause if you want a fight…" She put a fist up and shook it, narrowing her eyes, and he raised both hands in defense.
"Nope. No fights here." He chuckled. "Italian food is great. I was just expecting you to go full native and take me to a luau with pigs roasting in holes in the ground and stuff."
And even that wasn't entirely true. He hadn't known where she would take him. In fact, he'd nearly had a panic attack getting dressed while trying to guess where she'd take him…and a luau with a pig roasted in a hole in the ground hadn't even crossed his mind.
She laughed. "Well I'm not a native, so that would be a little disingenuous of me." She shrugged a shoulder and smiled at him. "What I mean is, I have only been here since January. Just about eight months."
"Really? You seem like the sort of person who's been raised here. I don't know, you fit in well with the whole…vacation wonderland…thing."
"I do?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Gorgeous scenery. You know? You blend in. I mean, you don't blend—I'm not sure you'd blend in anywhere. You'd probably stand out just about anywhere. I'm basically trying to say you're really pretty and I'm not doing a great job of it, so I'm just gonna say that. You're really pretty."
Not that it had anything to do with their conversation. I'm an idiot.
She grinned and bit her lip, her gaze flicking over to meet his for a moment, before she concentrated on driving again. "Thank you, Chuck."
"You're welcome. And I mean, you're a scuba instructor, soooo…" He paused, searching for words that didn't offend her. She seemed to be just as intrigued about what he might say as she waited. "It's such a Hawaii sort of career choice. Which isn't to say—that's not a bad thing. It's so awesome. I wish I had the guts to just throw everything away and say 'I'm gonna do this thing I love the way I want to and screw the rest', you know? I'm digging myself into a hole here. I sound like an ignorant-ass mainlander." He buried his head in his hands and felt her put her hand on his shoulder as she laughed.
"Stop being so critical of yourself," she said, squeezing his shoulder. "You're not the worst ignorant-ass mainlander I've ever met."
He gave her a flat look, but her wrinkled nose and vibrant grin was too much for him to resist and he chuckled, his glare shattering almost immediately.
She laughed again and squeezed his shoulder once more before putting her hand back on the wheel and turning onto a narrow road. "In all seriousness, Chuck, what you said is true. I did just drop everything to come here. I was sick of my life the way it was, so I made a change. It was completely bonkers and everyone I knew thought I was ass-backwards but…it worked out. I make a living."
"Well, you're really good at this. At scuba…instructing."
Sarah laughed and pulled into a parking spot outside of a romantic building that looked to have been built specifically for the restaurant. It looked like a two-story winery, made of stone, with ivy climbing up the sides.
"Wow," he drawled, getting out of the car and staring up at the restaurant as he shut his door.
But then his date rounded her car and stood in front of him, a black clutch in her hands, and Chuck lowered his eyes to gaze at something much more stunning than the stone building.
He caught her running her own gaze down his body to his leather shoes and back up to the top of his head again, and he decided not to read too much into it. Until she gnawed on the inside of her cheek a little and raised an eyebrow. "I didn't quite realize how tall you actually are. I mean before…on the boat."
Chuck shrugged and ran his hands a little self-consciously down his black blazer, then smoothed his grey tie that matched his pants. "Uh, that's probably because I was being a giant wuss on the boat. Thus causing me to seem a little…shorter."
She shook her head and let out an amused huff through her nose, rolling her eyes. "I'd say it has more to do with the fact that your outfit kinda…stretches you out a little." She stepped in closer and turned to face the building along with him, tucking her hand in the crook of his arm and leading him towards the entrance. "I'm also in pretty major heels right now and you're still a good bit taller than me."
There was no way for him to keep from blushing, because he could tell by her voice and the way she was looking at him that she liked how tall he was.
He just grinned wildly down at his feet and focused on walking through the gravel to the small path that led up to the courtyard where the entrance into the restaurant was.
It turned out that Sarah had gotten them a reservation, and they were sitting outside on the patio with a fire pit in the middle of the tables, each with an ornate candle lit in the center atop maroon tablecloths.
The waiter was quick to take their drink and dinner orders, and disappeared to leave Chuck and Sarah alone with their basket of fluffy, warm bread and olive oil and balsamic to dip it in.
The conversation was light, and Chuck found himself entranced by her beauty as the candlelight danced on her features. That plus the glittering lights hanging around the patio…
He was mesmerized.
Everything about her face was soft, and yet her eyes were piercing and intelligent, her mouth expressive, quick to widen into a grin as she listened to him talk about Ellie, Devon and Morgan.
"Wait, wait. So…let me get this straight. You call him Captain Awesome…why?"
"Well, he's…awesome. First of all, he's a heart surgeon, which is…" He let a long whistle through pursed lips. "I mean, that in and of itself is pretty awesome. But then he still finds time to be really good to my sister. And to me. On top of all of the crazy adventures he goes on. He's jumped out of planes and off of cliffs, he's rafted down dangerous rapids, swam with sharks, he played on his college football team and did some major NCAA title stuff. The guy even flosses, so…"
Her laughter rang through the night as she rocked against the chair back and shook her head. "You're funny. Anybody ever tell you that?"
"Yeah, funny-lookin'." He gave her a goofy smile and earned a quieter giggle.
"Not what I meant," she said, pointing and raising an eyebrow.
He merely smiled some more and sipped his wine.
She smiled back and stared at him for a few seconds, before she broke his gaze and lifted her shoulders. "So, at the risk of falling into the first date small talk trap…"
"Is that a thing? I'm asking seriously, because I'm not an expert at first dates. Or…dating in general."
"Uhhhh, me neither. So maybe we'll push that bit to the side for now—"
"Yeeaaah…"
"—And I'll just go ahead and ask." He chuckled as she continued, looking just a tad shy. "What do you do, Chuck?"
"Oh. Uh, like career-wise?"
"Exactly. You know what I do. For now."
"For now?" he asked, genuinely interested in the tentative sound of her voice.
"Uhh, I asked you first."
Chuck held up his hands, smirking. "You're right. Sorry. I have an interrupting problem. Sorry, sorry." And then he cleared his throat and put his elbows on the table, unconsciously leaning closer. "I'm actually in the process of building up my own business."
"An entrepreneur, huh? Impressive."
"I like to take risks here and there…unless there's ocean involved."
"So what made you take the ocean-involved risk earlier today?" she asked, taking a sip of the red wine they'd ordered.
He thought for a second. "Maybe I thought there were worse ways to die than dying with a beautiful woman in an underwater cave." He stopped and looked down at puddle of oil and vinegar on the plate in front of him, wishing he wasn't such a screw-up. "That sounded a lot more charming in my head and I honestly do not know why."
Sarah giggled, propping her chin on her palm, her elbow on the table. "I thought it was kinda charming, if a bit dark."
"Sort of dark, yeeeah." He laughed at himself quietly and shook his head.
Just then the food arrived. They thanked the waiter and he was gone in an instant, leaving them alone again.
"So what kind of business is it that you run?"
"Technology. You know, like, computers, laptops, tablets, smart phones. Stuff like that. We make applications and video games and that sort of thing." He shrugged. "It's taken five years, but it's actually starting to produce. I mean, like, money wise."
"Well, it must be. The hotel you're staying in isn't exactly cheap."
He blushed, still not quite used to the whole having money thing. He didn't know if he ever would be, if this enterprise even lasted that long.
"I'm sorry." Now she was blushing, diverting her eyes. "That's super rude of me. The whole money thing is probably not something you bring up on a first date. Sort of personal."
"No, no. It's not—You're fine. Really. It's just not something I've…uh…" He waved his fork around, trying to figure out what he wanted to say. "Having money is still weird for me. Staying in a place like that is weird for me. Wearing nice clothes that fit my overly tall body. Being able to afford to eat at places like this. Actually buying the food at Farmer's Markets instead of just going through and eating all the samples. Having to be civilized." She had started laughing halfway through, and she snorted at the end, making him beam happily. It was just so cute.
"So you really did this whole thing on your own, huh? Building the business from scratch, actually being successful…" Chuck nodded, then shrugged, not wanting to come off as immodest. "And you say your sister's boyfriend is awesome."
There was nothing he could really say to that, so instead he just smiled a little crookedly at her, grateful to her for the compliment. "So back to the whole 'for now' thing, though. Are you thinking of not being a scuba instructor?"
"Not forever," she said with a shrug. "I want to get to the mainland again someday. Do something different. Living on an island gets old." She sighed, twirling her fork in her pasta, not looking at him. "I'm not very good at the whole doing one thing for the rest of your life trend. You know, most people go to college for one thing, they get a job, and then they stay doing that until they retire at seventy-something. Like what you're doing. And don't get me wrong, there isn't anything bad about that. It's good to have security. It just doesn't…work for me. So far. Maybe I'll change."
Chuck nodded understandingly.
"Well, what'd you go to college for?" he asked.
She gnawed on her lip a little and raised both eyebrows. "I didn't."
"Oh."
"I know. Everybody goes to college, right?"
"No, no. It isn't for everybody. To do what I'm doing right now, I mean…I needed college. For purely it's-who-you-know purposes. Without my professors' connections, I wouldn't have gotten a single damn thing done with this business. That's for sure."
She smiled, and he watched her features for any trace of self-consciousness. Not that he thought she should be self-conscious about not going to college. Or that she should feel cowed by the fact that he had gone to college. And when he saw just the smallest twinge in her eyes as she put a fork full of spaghetti in her mouth, he strove to do his best to quash it.
"I mean, college is so expensive. They ask you to sign away your soul, practically. And the debts and crap. Sometimes I wonder if it's better for people to just bypass it altogether. You know? Get a job and be debt free instead of starting your life fifty-thousand bucks in the hole."
Sarah wore a particular smile on her face as she gave him a long look. And then she shook her head. "Chuck, you're sweet. But you don't have to say that." When he furrowed his brow in confusion, she continued. "I mean the way you're trying to make me not feel bad about not going to college. You're sweet. But it is what it is. I couldn't afford it and there was nowhere for me to get help with it, so I just left home after high school and got a job."
He felt a little embarrassed that she'd caught him, and cleared his throat, pushing his free hand through his hair that had gotten a little mussed in the convertible he realized. Crap. "So you're a nomad of sorts."
"I guess. I'll probably settle at some point."
Chuck just smiled at the adventuress in front of him, wanting badly for the night to go on forever, if only because he didn't want to ever be anywhere she wasn't. If he could just stay here, in this night, with that moon above them, and the candle between them.
In that moment, as he watched her dab at her lips with her cloth napkin, he thought he might legitimately sell his soul to stay here with her.
}o{
"What is it, though?"
"It's probably a fish."
"Out of water? Awww no!" He rushed away from her side and knelt down to look at the little mangled fish that looked to have been picked at by the birds already. "Okay, yeah, it's dead."
"Are you sure?" She was kneeling on the other side of it then, and suddenly she had it by the tail and was swinging it towards him.
He yelped and staggered back, kicking up the wet, packed sand as he narrowly avoided being hit by the dead fish she tossed at him. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he laughed in disbelief. "Throwing dead fish at me now? Is the date that bad? Jesus!"
Sarah was absolutely tickled, bent forward with laughter, her face lit in glee, her mouth wide and toothy.
"You're crazy." He paused, still laughing a little. "Um, and also…kiiiind of dirty."
There was a glint in her eye then and he realized how that sounded. "Did you just call me dirty?"
"No." His eyes darted back and forth. "What you did was dirty. I mean, that fish…that fish was dirty. Filthy. Very unsanitary."
She merely giggled and walked up to the water, kneeling down to let it flow over her hands as she scrubbed them. "There. Better?"
"Probably. Do you have sanitary wipes in your glove compartment?"
That earned another laugh and she straightened up, shaking her hands to dry them.
They continued strolling along the water again after a few seconds, Chuck with his pants folded up to just below his knees. They'd left their shoes and, in Chuck's case, socks in the car that was parked at the beach entrance.
"So is this like…one of those beaches that only people who live here know about? Like, the secret places Hawaiians go to surf where there aren't a billion tourists in the way?"
She looked at him thoughtfully. "You've seen a lot of movies about Hawaii, huh?"
He blushed and she wrapped her hands around his arm. "Wait, no," she chuckled. "I didn't mean for that to sound so patronizing. I was just teasing you. When I first got here, I thought things would be just like they were in those silly made for tv Disney movies. Honestly, if you go to the beaches at the right time, the tourists aren't a problem. And I make a living off of tourists, so I have no beef with you people."
"Well, you also got a free dinner out of this particular tourist, soooo…" he teased.
"That is true. Which I wasn't actually serious about earlier today when you first asked me to dinner. So you really didn't have to do that. I appreciate it, but you didn't have to."
"Naaah, I wanted to. I asked you out, remember?"
She gave him a long look that made his toes curl. "Oh, I remember."
Chuck let out a heavy breath and swallowed, looking down at his feet as he kicked a bit of sand. "However, I will let you buy me ice cream."
Sarah giggled and reared to the side a little, looking at him with a grin. "You really want some ice cream?"
"I mean, I'm not saying I need it, but I could really go for some. Not gonna lie."
She smirked. "I can find some for you."
"Oh? Really? You can scrounge somethin' up?"
"A little somethin' somethin'." She pursed her lips and shrugged smugly, and this time he was the one to giggle.
He was overwhelmed by her charm. She was funny, in spite of swearing over dinner that she wasn't. And she was smart, in spite of insinuating that she wasn't after the whole no college conversation. That was utter bullshit, and he'd told her as much without using those words.
They eventually got back to the car and she drove them further inland to a little corner shop that sold ice cream and chocolate covered fruits.
And as they found a nice bench that overlooked the Pacific Ocean, Chuck promptly got chocolate brownie fudge surprise on his tie.
"Awww come on!"
She laughed at him and set her cup of rocky road to the side. "Stay there. I'll be right back."
Chuck rolled his eyes at himself and watched her as she made her way back into the nearby shop. In less than a minute, she emerged again with a pile of napkins, smirking at him as she sat next to him again.
"See, this is exactly why I always get a cup."
"But then you miss out on the cone," he said, holding his double scoop ice cream cone out to the side so that she could wipe at his tie with the damp napkin in her hand. He could smell her when she was this close…a tinge of campfire from the fire at the restaurant, and sea water from their jaunt along the shore, and something else. Something calming. Like vanilla. And she was just as flawless up close as she'd seemed all day from a bit further away.
"You know how they say nobody's perfect?"
Her eyes flicked up from his tie and she smiled in amusement. "Chuck, your tie'll be just fine. I promise."
"I don't care about my tie," he said quietly, shaking his head, feeling a little breathless. He could feel the tug of the tie as she pulled it towards her, still rubbing at the spot with the napkin. The backs of her fingers kept brushing against his chest, too, and it sent warmth spilling through him.
She gave him a look he couldn't read, her fingers not moving but still holding onto his tie.
"They say nobody's perfect, Sarah, but I honestly think you're the closest anybody's ever gotten to it."
Maybe he shouldn't have said it. But it had just spilled out of him. Like a dam had been opened.
She just kept staring at him, her eyebrows tilting up, her mouth parting. And then there was a hint of a smile on her lips, just a twitch, her eyes bright. "Are you always like this?" she asked, a line appearing between her brows.
"Like what?" he asked, still a little breathless. She was just so close.
Her smile was slow, and then she shook her head, seemingly in awe. "You're kinda wonderful, Chuck, do you know that?"
He didn't have a chance to react.
Because she gave his tie a little tug and leaned up to kiss him. His body went into shock even as he kissed her back, and he ignored the ice cream beginning to drip over his fingers. She finally pulled back, just an inch.
It took him a moment, but his eyelids finally fluttered open, his lips still a little pursed, and she looked him right in the eye, smiling softly.
"You were just begging to be kissed," she explained, her voice cracking in amusement, even as her face was so soft and open.
"I mean, I—I wouldn't've said no if you'd asked," he said in a near whisper.
A giggle bubbled out of her and she leaned in to kiss his cheek this time. He grinned, and then glanced over at his hand which was now dripping with chocolate ice cream. He turned back to Sarah, still grinning like an idiot, and then he did a double take and groaned at his hand. "Seriously? What is wrong with me?"
She laughed and thrusted the rest of the napkins at him, watching happily as he attempted to eat his ice cream and wipe his hand at the same time.
}o{
The car ride back to the hotel was mostly silent.
They had stayed out well past midnight, doing nothing in particular. Most of the night was spent driving places, getting out and looking around, drinking something, eating something, then going to another place.
She didn't kiss him again in spite of looking like she wanted to a few times. And maybe, Chuck thought, he should've taken the initiative and leaned in to do it himself, but…he hadn't.
She'd called him kinda wonderful, which should've made him relatively sure that she would welcome it.
And yet…
Sarah the scuba instructor was just…she was perfect. Screw what he'd said before about her being the closest person to it. She was perfect. And he simply was not.
Chuck Bartowski had never been the type of guy to cut himself down at every turn. He never liked to sit around and mope about the lack of women in his life, or the fact that he didn't go on dates and when he did, he rarely went on second ones. He didn't have the time for dating in the first place. But he also strove not to take it personally when the few dates he'd gone on hadn't gone onto a second or third.
He liked to think he knew his value. And sure, maybe he underestimated himself here and there, just like anyone did.
But he wasn't being overly modest when it came to Sarah. He knew he wasn't. Because she was special. She was on a completely different level of special. She was still a mystery to him. There was so much left for him to know about her, and he had no idea if he'd get to learn anything more about her.
The truth was that he wouldn't be here forever. And even if he did stay forever, she wouldn't. She had said it herself, she didn't like staying in one place, doing one thing. He didn't even know if he would see her again tomorrow, or if this was a one time thing.
He didn't know if she was just indulging him when she said yes, but he also felt like that had changed by the time they'd finished dinner.
There was something between them.
But that didn't mean things had to a lot of ways, it'd be foolish to continue. Especially when there was an end in sight. It'd be worse if things progressed past this one date.
And he wondered why he didn't care. Was he a glutton for punishment? Or was it simply that he really really liked this girl? Was he crazy for wanting to spend as much time with her as he possibly could?
No, he decided, as he watched her face lit up intermittently by the streetlights they drove past. Because she was worth it, any amount of time he got to spend with her was worth whatever happened after.
Maybe she wasn't perfect. Maybe she just came off that way at first because she was beautiful and fun and smart and clever, and she actually laughed when he made jokes, and her smile was powerful—staggeringly so. Maybe at second glance, when he found out more about her, he'd realize there were flaws. But he wanted to know those flaws. He thought maybe he'd get to like them as much as he liked her merits.
It was then that she reached up to push some of her hair behind her ear, glancing at him quickly and then turning to face forward again. "How long are you here for, Chuck?"
"Three more weeks."
She turned to look at him, her eyes wide. "Wow, that's…quite the vacation."
"I know. When I got here, I started thinking maybe four weeks was too much." He chuckled. "But I'm here. And I mean to make the most of it, because I don't know when I'm gonna get another vacation like this." He let out a breath and shook his head.
"Yeah, I get that." She was nibbling on her lip as she neared his hotel.
Suddenly Chuck felt desperation tugging at him.
This couldn't be it. He couldn't let her pull around into the driveway, only for him to thank her for everything, get out of the car, watch her drive off and never see her again. This couldn't happen. He couldn't let it happen.
And he didn't know what to do.
But, per usual, his mouth did the decision making for him, his heart beating a mile a minute as he turned to face her as much as the seatbelt would allow. "Sarah?"
"Hm?" She looked at him a little strangely, probably because he looked like a madman.
"Do you want to come up?" She gaped at him. And he barreled on anyways. "To my suite, I mean. You wanna come up to my suite?" And then he thought maybe he should give her something else. "There's a full bar. On the roof. Well, sort of on the roof. The bar is on the top floor and you can go to the roof. I think. It might've been that I snuck up there and wasn't supposed to."
His lame shrug made her laugh, but she still looked on the fence.
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be too pushy or anything. I just…I can't leave it like this. I've just been on the best date of my life and I can't let you drive away…Well, like I said earlier today, I just want a little more time. …Still."
And he thought maybe he'd always want a little more time. No matter how much time she gave him.
She had her bottom lip clamped between her teeth, but when she pulled into the hotel's driveway, she bypassed the roundabout in front of the lobby and guided the car around to the parking lot in the back. "I'm assuming there's an entrance into the hotel back here?" she asked.
"So…that's a yes?"
She let out a one syllable giggle, rolled her eyes, and reached over to pat his head fondly.
}o{
Chuck watched as Sarah stood on the balcony of his suite, the seventh floor breeze whipping at the hem of her dress and sweeping it over her thighs as she leaned against the railing and stared out at the sea. "This view is ridiculous."
"Well worth the hole in my pocket," he said, moving out of the sliding doors and leaning against the railing next to her.
"I'd say so."
He slouched down to rest his chin on his forearm and rolled his head to the side to look up at her. "Where else have you lived? Besides here?"
She smiled softly then arched an eyebrow, looking down at him. "Uhhh, in order?"
"Sure, why not?"
"I grew up all over the place. I, um…traveled a lot. With my dad. For his work." There was something in her face then, and the way she tucked her hair behind her ear a little haltingly. He didn't dare assume that he already knew this woman's cues when he'd only met her less than twelve hours earlier, but he wondered if maybe her dad was a sore spot. Maybe the fact that she had to travel a lot for his job made her childhood lonely.
He hadn't been lonely per se, with his mom walking out when he was nine and his dad disappearing for work all the time, because he'd always had Ellie. And they'd always stayed in one place, which meant he'd had friends, like Morgan and others.
"Um, after high school, I decided to go away. And I ended up in Florida for awhile. Miami. After Miami, there was New York. Then Paris." He popped his eyebrows at that. "Stockholm for a little while. Texas. Toronto. Boston. Back to NYC. A short stint in Buenos Aires to be an art student which…did not last long. I am…not an artist. Let's just leave it at that." She puffed out her cheeks and widened her eyes, making him chuckle. "And then to D.C. I was in D.C. for awhile, actually. Um, two years or so. I was a bartender in this super swanky hotel. I, um…needed a change. A big one. So I hopped on a plane to Hawaii. And here I am."
"Jesus Christ, with a passport like yours, you should be eighty five years old."
She laughed and shrugged. "You're probably right."
He caught a bit of self-doubt in the way she lowered her gaze.
"No, no. I didn't mean that in a bad way." He stood up straight and rested his hand on top of hers, squeezing gently. "I envy you. Really, I do. This is honestly the only vacation I can remember. Besides that trip to Seattle I told you about. That sort of…made me never want to leave LA ever again."
Sarah sidled closer and rubbed his arm slowly. "I don't blame you."
"And I mean, it wasn't just that," he said, waving his hand. "After I graduated from college, I let myself get lost in starting BarTech and I just didn't have…time to take a vacation. I don't really even know if I wanted to. I probably needed to." He chuckled, shrugging. "But I just didn't. And so I envy you. You've seen the world like I probably never will, even if I live to be a hundred."
She smiled brightly. "That can change. You took this vacation, didn't you? You can always plan more."
"Depends on how this one goes."
Her smile was a little muted as she twisted her mouth to the side and raised an eyebrow. "And how is it…so far?"
He wrinkled his nose teasingly. "Ehhhhh."
Sarah obviously wasn't expecting that, because she rocked forward in laughter.
"No. Honestly," he said, pleased that he could make her laugh again. "It's off to a roaring start. Roaring in a good way. Why do they—Who invented that phrase? It's really stupid if you think about it. A roaring start? Like who starts stuff roaring? Besides a lion, mayb—"
He didn't get any further.
Because Sarah's hands cupped his face, and she pulled him towards her, moving up onto her tip toes to kiss him. Her lips were more insistent this time, and he was infinitely glad that he wasn't holding ice cream. Because that meant he could round her torso with his arm as he gently cupped her face in his other hand.
Chuck pulled Sarah closer, their fronts pressed together, and he nearly groaned when he felt one of her hands slide down from his jaw to grab his tie and twist it in her fist.
It was when he felt her lips try to nudge his mouth open, immediately meeting his tongue with hers as he complied, that Chuck decided to move things off of the balcony.
They hobbled back inside and he distractedly slid the door shut, neglecting the lock when he blindly slapped at it multiple times without finding it. She was just so good at kissing and he didn't give a damn about locking a balcony door that was seven flights up.
Jason Bourne could climb onto his balcony if he damn well pleased.
Sarah dragged her other hand down between their bodies and popped the button of his blazer open, sliding it off of his shoulders and catching it behind his back as it fell off of his wrists. She pulled away from the kiss to drape it over the back of the nearby lounge, then glanced over her shoulder towards the double doors that led to the bedroom.
She'd meant for him to see the longing in her face, he knew, because she bit her lip when she turned back and met his gaze in a way that was unmistakable. The way she started unbuttoning his shirt and loosening his tie was even more unmistakable.
But he moved in to kiss her again, not minding when her hands were smashed between their bodies and unable to continue undressing him. He just wanted to feel her lips against his. He wanted her to do the tongue thing again and oh, there it was.
He let the groan rise from deep within his chest, his eyelids fluttering as she ran her tongue over his, and then he heard her giggle into the kiss. She suddenly became a few inches shorter and he had to lean down a bit more to keep his mouth melded to hers. Confused, he blinked his eyes open and looked down, still kissing her. Oh. She'd taken her heels off and kicked them away. That made sense.
When she finally managed to get the last button, even with the way he held their bodies so close, she quickly pushed his shirt off of him just as she had the blazer. This time, however, they both forgot about the shirt the moment it left his body.
The tie quickly followed.
And then she was clinging to his bare torso, her hands dragging up his back, and she buried her fingers in his muscle there. He felt her fingernails dig a little, and he grinned into the kiss, attempting to feel his way up over her hip, waist, under her arm, and around to her back to figure out how to get the dress off of her.
She pulled away and giggled breathlessly. "Button. At the top." She reached down and grabbed his hand. And then she moved it to her breast.
Chuck swallowed thickly. "Wait, the button's here?"
That lovely giggle bubbled up again. "No. It's at the back. I just wanted you to…feel…"
"Oh. Oh it's—it's really nice. I mean, I like it." She laughed a little at him and shook her head, but he could see she was charmed. It gave him the confidence to be a little goofy. "Sooo…we're not gonna go to the bar on the roof?"
She took his other hand and slid it around to her back until his fingers rubbed over the button. And then she leaned back, trusting him to keep her from tipping backwards. With an arched brow and a pursed mouth, she gave him a clipped, "No."
He flicked the button at the back of her dress open and she immediately stepped back, taking his hand from her breast and walking backwards towards the doors that led to his bedroom.
Chuck swallowed tightly and followed, letting her lead him oh so slowly, watching behind her to make sure she didn't bump anything. But he needn't have worried, because she reached the double doors without incident, pushing them open with her free hand.
Closing in on her again, the desire to touch this woman overtaking any sense of logic that told him they still hadn't even gotten into the bedroom yet, much less closer to the bed, Chuck wrapped her in his arms and tugged her against him, kissing her with as much passion as he could muster.
She still smelled like that intoxicating mixture of campfire, ocean, and vanilla, and she tasted so sweet. And then he realized that he'd only tasted her lips, which was a damn travesty, so he sought to rectify that, dragging his own lips down to her jaw, and even further to graze the spot just below her ear.
The whimper she emitted into his temple set a fire to him like nothing in his life ever had. He kissed her there again, just to hear that sound once more, and she didn't disappoint him. He fisted the material of her sundress, feeling its softness between his fingers. But he wanted to feel her.
With a strength that belied his gangly figure, he slid his hands down to her waist and hoisted her up against him, forcing her to wrap her legs around his hips and cling to his shoulders. She pulled back and gave him a heated look, gaping and grinning all at once as she let out a breathy giggle.
He walked her all the way to his bed, pushing the complimentary pillow chocolate out of the way and grabbing the duvet and sheets in his fist. With one clean yank, he had everything at the foot of the bed, and he finally set her down, distracted by the way she kissed along his temple, into his hair, and hunched over to pull his earlobe between her lips and suck on it teasingly.
With a soft chuckle, he pulled back and dove in to kiss her neck, dragging his lips down her collarbone and licking down the neckline of the dress he'd been so careful not to stare at just a few hours earlier.
And now here he was, gently tucking his fingers into the thin straps at her shoulders and pulling them down her arms…peeling her out of her dress oh so slowly. His lips covered the expanse of skin revealed as he inched the dress down lower and lower, spending time worshipping the swell of one of her breasts over the cup of the strapless bra she wore.
She sighed, tangling her fingers in his hair, and then she reached back and unclasped the bra, letting it fall away as he pulled back and stared. "Ohhh wow. Just wow."
He swallowed loudly and she giggled. That sound was glorious, but it also did glorious things to the breasts she'd just revealed to him. And then he had her in his mouth as he gently lowered her onto the mattress, hovering over her and humming against her breast as he reached up to massage the other one.
Sarah's head fell back with a breathy whimper.
Chuck was so distracted by the sound that he didn't even feel her move until her fingers began grappling with his belt. His hips thrusted into her hands of their own volition and he gasped, leaning on his elbows on either side of her and looking down between their bodies to watch as she unbuckled his belt and began undoing his pants. The sound of the zipper was what had him diving back in to kiss between her breasts, sliding down her body and pulling the dress all the way off of her, leaving her in nothing but her underwear.
It wasn't long before they were wrapped up together without a shred of clothing between them, skin on skin, hands grappling, nails digging, their limbs tangled as they moved together. Chuck lost himself in the sensations, listening intently to her gasps of pleasure, her sighs, and her whimpered encouragements.
He didn't think about the past or the future. He buried himself in the present. He buried himself in this woman who had changed his life, and he refused to waste this moment. He took advantage of every last chance he had to make her feel. And he put his all into pleasuring her.
He gave everything he had in him to this woman who was quickly becoming the best thing that had ever happened in his entire life.
A/N: I meeeeeeean, if you guys asked me to continue this...I wouldn't say no.
Hehehehehehehe.
Flourish, lovely readers! Flourish! (And review. Do that, too.)
-SC