Chapter 17

They talked well into the night and even when they noticed exactly how late it was neither of them made a move to leave each other's company. They weren't at all tired either.

As Tyana laughed gently at the cheesiest joke she'd even heard she pushed him playfully. Only he was near to the edge of the bed so he fell right off, sending Tyana to shriek with laughter through her cries of 'oh ga, I'm sorry"

Jeff laughed too, "It's ok, I'm ok" he told her and he clambered back up to sit back on his bed with her. Only he changed it so that he was leaning up against the headboard and she had to turn to face him. "That's better, there's no way you can push me off from here" he chuckled, clasping the headboard as if for dead life.

"You're a real dork Jeff!"

He grinned proudly, "Well you're just plain perfect"

Tyana shook her head with a small laugh, the compliment for the first time ever not registering as something to be embarrassed about, "With you Jeffery the lines just keep coming, don't they?"

"Uh-huh. I'm a real charmer, am I!"

A small silence descended when their delighted giggles subsided and they looked at one another through the dim lighting of his hotel room in the earlier hours of the morning. As Jeff gazed at her longingly he noticed a small patch of faded blue by her eye and with a creased forehead he switched on another lamp near the bed for extra light. With the lighting somewhat improved he moved closer to her, examining the fading bruise that had earlier in the night been covered by make up. And there was another, just below her healing lip. And as he checked her face over for wounds he remembered she'd been limping slightly earlier and now that he studied her arm he found a large bruise on her left forearm. Worried about her his eyes shot up from the purple marks to meet her violet eyes in concern.

To his surprise she smiled and yet again bit the undamaged part of her lip. He stared at her inquisitively before she leant in and whispered sweetly into his ear,

"Don't tell anyone but I got in a little argument with the stairs and the limras tripped me"

Jeff smiled warmly at the joke she made out of tripping down them and pulled away.

"I thought you got into another fight again" he smiled, not noticing the nervous glint that quickly flashed through her eyes. She felt awful for lying to him about her injuries but she wasn't about to tell him she went into a strangers house to beat the crap out of him and steal something but ended up getting hurt too. She had a feeling that wouldn't have gone down too well. And as she remembered that, her mind carried her away to when Jeff had helped her outside the club…the caring sparkle in his eyes. It made her smile with affection to remember it.

"What?" Jeff asked her as she beamed for what appeared to be no apparent reason.

She snapped out of whatever trance she was in and her smile widened.

"Nothing…just thinking of you"

Jeff flushed with a gentle sweetness and moved towards her. As he sat there she noticed the worry slide back onto his expression and a second later a hesitant hand raised to her cut lip. His eyes stared back with a concerned curiousness and she smiled at him, as if knowing what he thought. With caution his index finger moved slowly to her lip and with a pleasurable tenderness he trailed it carefully over the cut. He winced as he waited for her to show some signs of pain but instead she just stared back at him, her eyes smiling.

Tyana rested her hand on his leg then, stunning him momentarily but he recovered within seconds and focused again on her damaged lip. As his fingers danced gingerly back and forth across it he smiled at Tyana who's eyes were unhurriedly closing with his touch.

"I hate seeing you hurt," he whispered truthfully, her eyes then peeling open at his statement. Her right hand reached up and clasped around the hand on her lip. She smiled,

"I know," she murmured back. The hand that wasn't clutched in Tyana's reached for her and wrapped around her waist, pulling her onto his lap.

With a smile Jeff leaned in and kissed her jaw gently. Tyana beamed at his sweetness and before she could do the same to him he kissed her temple. Soon his lips were dancing across her face gently, making her eyes close at the feel of it. And just when he pulled back to kiss her on the lips for the first time a small beeping began. Tyana pulled away from him slowly, sighing as she got out of his lap and walked over to where her bag sat in the corner. Jeff cursed whomever it was that was calling her at such an hour and such a moment. He was so close…

He watched her fiddle about undoing her backpack and then she plunged inside and said,

"Not now!"

Jeff laughed, "Now for them to have heard that you have to pick up the phone" he told her, still unaware that the beeping was her smallest communicator.

She smiled weakly, kicking her backpack before turning back to face him. She stood across the room from him now and the moment was most definitely ruined. Tyana smiled a small smile and didn't make a move to come back over to him as if to say she wasn't so sure if it was such a good idea after all. Jeff nodded, understanding. After all, what would a girl like her want to do with a man like him? What did he have to offer?

Across the room Tyana suddenly felt very insecure, very unwanted. There sat the most amazing human being she'd ever met that she knew millions of people would die to be with and only know had it caught up with her that she wasn't anything special. And even if she was she had nothing to give him. She had a mission to concentrate on and no matter how much she liked him it was unfair to drag him into her twisted realm.

Jeff got up then, and turned on the radio near her. The music drifted quietly into the room, a blatant ballad.

"Wanna dance?" he asked unsurely, uncertain as to whether she'd want to be so close to him again.

She smiled warmly, igniting a hope within him, "I'd love to" her smile faded; "Only I can't dance" Jeff assumed she was just unconfident with her dancing but he didn't know she meant that statement genuinely. She'd never before danced and although she knew what it was they were supposed to do she was unsure as to whether she could.

"Then I'll teach you," he offered with a shrug, holding his hand out to her. She took it lightly.

Soon she was in his arms, swaying with him to the music. She trod on his foot once but other than that it seemed she picked it all up rather quickly, with ease too.

"Can't dance my foot" he said with a smile before un-expectantly dipping her.

She squealed, "Hey, I'm a quick learner!"

"Nice to know" he grinned, sliding a hand into her back pocket. Tyana smiled at him and returned the favour with a giggle. The continued to sway, Jeff's hands roaming over her back gently, almost massaging it as they danced. Tyana sighed happily and rested her head against his chest comfortably, totally at ease with him.

Now this was something she could get used to.

***

Tyana rubbed the sleep from her eyes, getting up silently so not to wake the man that slept on the couch. As she closed the door to the bathroom quietly she began to wonder why she'd stayed with him that night. It had ended up being far gone half 5 by the time they began to get tired but Tyana still could have gone back to her room on the floor below. Instead Jeff managed to convince her to sleep in his bed with him on the couch. Something about what little time they had together he had said. And although Tyana wasn't sure it was such a great idea, especially if Bret tried to contact her, she still agreed to stay with him anyway.

She turned the tap on slowly and when it had warmed a little she bent down and scooped up a handful of the liquid stream before splashing it onto her face. She repeated this several times, mainly for the purpose of refreshment rather than cleansing. Just as she was patting her face dry with one of the towels that hung on the silver heating rack she heard Jeff's voice from the other room. And it sounded distressed. She rushed out to the commotion to find Jeff thrashing about on the couch, his arms flailing about as he called for them to stop.

Tyana was at his side in a second, watching him silently as he whispered her name, a stream of tears finding their way to his cheeks. Having seen enough she kneeled one leg onto the side of the couch and began to shake him gently, not wanting to arouse him harshly even if the dream suggested doing so. He stirred with her, the ending of his nightmare calming enough for him to calm with it. It seemed as if he had settled again and Tyana paused for a moment to observe him with concern. She wondered what it was he was dreaming of if she was in it.

Just then as she was about to leave him Jeff's hand shot out and clasped the first thing it found—Tyana's thigh. She was surprised at how much of his hand he managed to fit round her muscular legs but she dismissed that as irrelevant and despite the warm feeling it leant her, went about removing his hand from the suggestive spot. She tried to unpeel his fingers without waking him but his grip was tight, although it did not hurt her. It just seemed as if he wanted her to stay.

"Ty, there's summit to you I should tell…" he mumbled almost incoherently in his slumber. She'd managed to get his hand away and with a curiosity placed it by his side while she seated herself on what she could find of the couch that was unoccupied by his toned form. She waited so see if he said anymore, now realising he must have been dreaming of her after all. She hadn't a clue he'd dreamt of her for more than two months now.

She tried not to slip off the couch due to the cover while she waited but instead of the explanation of her inquisitiveness following, Jeff stirred and slowly awoke.

As the sleep cleared from his vision the girl he'd been dreaming of came in focus, hovering over him with an interested expression that soon faded to care as she noticed he'd awoken. Reading his mind she wiped away a loose strand of hair before he had a chance and instead of pulling her hand away fully she let it trail down the side of his face, caressing it as she went.

"Morning" she murmured, her voice sounded sultry. It was then he noticed that everything about her seemed as smooth as honey. The lick-able curves of her body, the gentle tan of her skin, the silky tone of her voice. It was all delicious to him.

"Hi" was his short reply, which he decided to lengthen a moment later, "You're still here" although it was a statement the uncertainty in his voice gave it a question like air.

"Of course, you didn't think I'd up and leave before you got up did you?"

He sat up a little, shrugging, "I dunno, what if I slept for hours longer than you?"

She chuckled, "Then I'd watch you" she brushed another stray piece of hair from his eyes again and then paused, "Actually, that sounds really creepy"

He smiled at her with amusement, "Kinda does actually. Oh well, I know what you meant" and showing her he felt the same his arm wrapped around her waist and he pulled her close. As he held her he could only begin to imagine what the body under these clothes was like but what intrigued him more was the soul that was under there too. He saw it as a pool and he wanted everything to plunge deep into its depth, his senses drinking in every possible thing about her. Tyana smiled at his needs and pressed herself against him. She leaned in close, their lips an unbearable millimeter apart and then before they touched whispered,

"But now that you're awake I should go" he sighed with a smile at her mysterious grin and shook his head.

"You just had to choose now to be mystifying didn't you?"

She nodded, his arms falling away from her as she got up, "Yep, it's in my nature"

She crossed the room to grab her bag while he climbed out of the covers on the couch and returned to his side as he answered.

"Is that a nature I'll ever be able to get close to?" he asked her, no longer bothering to hide how much he craved her.

She smiled mysteriously again, making sure her eyes didn't drop from his to his bare chest,

"Some day I'm sure, you'll have to wait and see" She reached up, kissed his cheek and then winked. "Thanks for spending time with me Jeff"

That small kiss of hers had taken his breath away and he managed to regain himself a second before she disappeared to answer,

"My pleasure…I'll call you" her hand waved to him before it slipped out of the door and then she was gone.

Jeff hadn't a clue she'd be gone a day from now.