Marlene's headache had only intensified since this afternoon, and the incessant griping, constant idleness, and general refusal to cooperate of some of the Dispatch's members certainly did not help. However, this damned job was not the only thing that weighed on her mind today, even though the workload was worsening exponentially - after all, the Reapers were the ones who bore the brunt of the love that humans seemed to have for murder, arson, weapons of mass destruction, and whatnot.
Despite the state of disarray her thoughts were in, she attempted to appear unruffled as always - just as she liked to. However, she was certain that her exhaustion - both mental and physical - was more than visible to Sascha, who remained next to her as they both waited for Ludger to return. She couldn't help but check her watch every few minutes as they sat at the rounded wooden table near the doors leading to the main office.
Sascha worried the inside of her lip, glancing at the gilded clock against the whitewashed wall. Its solid gold hands showed that it was now half past one - more than an hour since they had anticipated his arrival. 'He seems oddly quiet today - more than he usually is. As do you.' She cocked her head, eyes narrowing in playful scrutiny. 'Come to think of it, the two of you haven't had a proper conversation in at least a week.' She leaned in closer as she peered at Marlene. 'Did anything I should know about happen between you two?' She waggled her eyebrows, a corner of her mouth rising.
'Honestly, nothing at all.'
The tension between Marlene and Ludger was indeed palpable since their last meeting. Since then, he had suddenly reverted to acting like nothing happened, his attempts at conversation few far in between and their exchanges so far painfully stilted. To say that it was strange for a man as straightforward as him to skirt around what had occurred between them was an understatement - it was so unbecoming of him as to be infuriating.
Whilst part of her knew that he would address the matter sooner or later, she had still found herself more affronted by his behaviour than she ever expected to be. She thus returned his frigidity, breezing past him in the corridors and keeping her responses laconic. She would not let anything disturb whatever little peace of mind she had left.
Instead, she would leave him to decide whether he wanted to handle this like a grown man - even if it was easier said than done.
However, the awkwardness between them was but to be expected - especially after they had ended up coupling in his study one seemingly uneventful evening after an office party.
After all, as they say, one should never mix business with pleasure.
Their rapport was a confounding one indeed. Whilst they shared the same wry sense of humour, the same quiet determination; the same forthright, fastidious manner, that was where the similarities ended. Although it was his aloofness that vexed her so, it was her pride that incensed him. This had led to them merely tolerating each other at first, with him only making his annoyance known.
Nonetheless, they came to share a certain understanding that transcended their differences. Their camaraderie showed itself through the dry musings and numerous observations that they gradually found themselves sharing, with Ludger shaking his head as he tried to suppress a smile, and Marlene jocularly mocking him to elicit a reaction. His gruff, taciturn manner belied an acerbic wit that was a pleasant surprise indeed - and it didn't hurt that he was easy on the eyes.
It may have been her imagination, but that was not the only thing she sensed between them - the way he held her gaze and the way her chest tightened when their eyes met only confirmed her suspicions.
The last thing she wanted to do was remember how the visit she paid him ended with the both of them collapsing onto the rug upon the floor drenched in sweat, her lipstick smearing her mouth; streaking his face, neck, and chest. Marlene lowered her head as she pretended to examine her nails, hoping the curtain her hair formed in front of her face would hide the flush creeping up her neck. The scratch of stubble against the insides of her thighs, the hard muscle of Ludger's back under her fingers, the way those callused hands of his wandered - she'd been trying all morning, but she was incapable of banishing the last week's events from the depths of her treacherous, treacherous mind.
What had started as a purely professional discussion had turned into an unexpectedly enthusiastic snogging session, with him falling into the large red armchair in the corner of his study, pulling her onto his lap as their embrace deepened. The cordial formality between them found itself replaced by raw, uninhibited passion - sensibility be damned.
Whilst he was initially tentative, ever the gentleman, he shed his apprehension like a second skin. His caresses grew more daring, his hands leaving no spot untouched as they skimmed up her legs, sliding along her thighs, and over every curve of her torso.
And - worst of all - she also remembered how she deftly undid his belt, playfully slipping her hand down the front of his boxers. How she stroked him up and down, watching him squirm. She'd tried to stifle a laugh upon seeing his face redden as he hardened further, ultimately failing.
'What, pray tell, is so funny?' He had regained his composure just as quickly as he'd lost it, the twitch of his mouth at odds with his otherwise deadpan expression as he locked eyes with her. He was so close that she could see the gold flecks in his irises, not to mention the wrinkle that formed between his brows in moments of amusement or perplexity. He shifted uneasily in the armchair, with her still upon his lap as she faced him.
'The fact that you're in denial about your impatience and your, well… response clearly gives it away.' She withdrew her hand slowly, smirking as she lowered her gaze to his erection. 'You really aren't one to wait, are you?'
'As if you are, woman,' he retorted drily. She relished having this effect on him, relished the unbridled lust in his eyes as they roved over her. Yet, it flickered in and out of sight like a dying flame.
Much like the orb at the end of a pendulum, his mind seemed to oscillate between making his want all the more known and making every possible attempt to quash it. He swung between brazen and tentative, his hands stilling every so often as a shadow of apprehension flitted across his face. Right now, she could sense his hesitation surfacing yet again, sense his muscles tense as she leaned into him.
'Go on.' She leaned in, touching her forehead to his, sliding her hand beneath his jacket and resting it upon his chest. Although he remained stone-faced, his heart beat a frantic tattoo against her palm. 'Admit that you think about me first whenever you have your cock in your hand.' She grinned. 'Tell me all the filthy, filthy things you want to do to me tonight.' Ludger coloured, tensing up yet again. He swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. There was no response - but it would have been very unlike him to give her the satisfaction of knowing immediately.
'And,' she lowered her voice to a whisper, 'I have a feeling there are several.' She gave his crotch a playful squeeze for emphasis, making him yelp.
By now, his face was aflame, the slight sheen of sweat on his forehead all the more visible in the lamplight. Seeing a man as self-possessed as him so flustered was indeed amusing.
However, she found his smirk slowly returning the next second as his shoulders relaxed. 'If I listed them, we'd lose an awful lot of precious time.' He slid a finger under one of the straps of her dress, slowly running it all the way down to the bottom. She observed him closely whilst he did so. There was a surprising intensity to his gaze as it followed the path of his finger, lingering upon where it had stopped. This, funnily enough, felt strangely intimate. His calluses were rough against the bare skin of her shoulder, his touch feather-light as he pushed back a stray tendril of hair.
'So how about I do them all one by one?'
And so he did.
He was, however, still gentlemanly indeed - he had paused throughout to ask her how she was feeling, if she was ready, if she wanted to proceed. And, as always, she had been unflinchingly honest. It had all begun with her upon him in the armchair, but ended on the ornate rug on the floor.
Who would have known that the man - so easy to fluster and so very reserved - had such a delightfully, devilishly salacious side?
Afterwards, when they had bathed, he wordlessly wrapped her in a robe and made her a mug of coffee. They had sat together out on the balcony as he smoked, eyes upon the horizon. In silence, she had watched cigarette smoke curl from his nostrils as he exhaled, watched his brow crease in contemplation, watched the first streaks of dawn paint the sky gold and russet.
Neither of them said a word about what happened, even when she took his leave.
'You sure?' She couldn't help feeling a sense of mortification as Sascha's voice cut into her thoughts. 'Well, if you say so,' A small, wry smile was on Sascha's face as she brought her cup of coffee to her mouth yet again.
Marlene sighed, reaching for the lighter next to her. 'I need a smoke.'
•
At this point, nothing surprised Sascha anymore.
After all, most of what she knew was against her will - and the fact that Herr Ludger and Frau Marlene may have enjoyed a tumble in the sheets (or elsewhere) was something that they both made painfully obvious, anyway.
Whilst they had certainly done a better job of pretending that everything was fine and dandy than she expected them to, their lack of interaction hinted otherwise - for instance, Marlene hurriedly averting her eyes when they met his or Ludger briefly looking her way as if he desired to say something, only to turn away. Now, come to think of it, there were several clues she had spotted that foreshadowed it. Realisation had dawned upon her when she recounted how Ludger's gaze sometimes settled briefly on parts of Marlene's anatomy that were most certainly not her face, and the way Marlene occasionally ended up placing her hand atop Ludger's arm mid-conversation, only to clear her throat and withdraw it as her face flushed.
Oh, she knew it before they both had even said a word!
The release it had provided was bound to benefit his mood, though. Sascha also recalled how she had once jokingly hinted that Ludger needed what the English called a "horizontal refreshment" to ease his oft-frayed nerves - he had promptly choked on his coffee and reprimanded her for her "astounding impropriety" whilst she tried her best to refrain from erupting into laughter.
Men were always in denial, weren't they?
However, Ludger was not the only one struggling to come to terms with what had happened. Marlene was now on her sixth cigarette, eyes narrowed in thought as she sat at her desk, leafing through a folder of documents. Whilst she seemed to be her usual poised self, the ever-growing number of cigarette butts in the crystal ashtray near her made her state of mind known. It had been half an hour since she had immersed herself in work - most probably to forget whatever had occurred between her and Ludger - whilst Sascha remained nearby as he had yet to return. Knowing how they both were, she had definitely expected a resolution to all of this sooner.
What were these two even thinking?
