Title: Exercising an Option
Author: Gina Lin Genre: Romance, Adventure Pairing: 1+2, 3+4, 13+6, 5+S Warnings: AU, Language, Violence, Yaoi, Citrus Rating: R Archived: FF.net, S_E Updates, GWFF
Chapter 16
"Your brother is right," said Mrs. Darlian, setting down her teacup. "It would be foolish for you to go visit him now. Goodness knows you take enough chances visiting him at Christmastime.
"Mother, you're all being paranoid!" said Relena, throwing herself sideways in a chair. Her long blond hair draped over one of the arms as she stared rebelliously at the ceiling.
The older woman frowned. "Young ladies do not sit down like that. Not in my house."
Relena fought the urge to make a face. "Sorry," she said instead, sighing loudly and righted herself in the chair.
She truly loved her adoptive parents, they had given her everything they would have given a natural daughter.
But, the Darlians were so Old World European in manner, at times Relena felt suffocated. It wasn't as though she could remember her birth parents to make a comparison, but she had always secretly wondered if they would have been more lenient. She immediately felt guilty for the thought. Mil remembered them, but he also had to carry the horrific memories of their death. Their murders, she amended mentally, wincing internally.
Mrs. Darlian dropped her voice to a theatrical whisper. "The fewer connections made between you and your brother, dear, the better."
"Mother, I promise you that there are no terrorists with ears pressed to the wall listening to our conversation. Honestly!"
"It's nothing to joke about," huffed her mother. "Your life could be in danger."
"I've been hearing that since I can remember," said Relena stubbornly. "And now I'm 18 and nothing has ever happened. No Les Noire goons popping out of the shadows."
"I'd prefer not to hear that name in my home," said Mrs. Darlian, closing her eyes in displeasure.
"I know," said Relena, yielding. She stood up and went over to give her mother a kiss on an offered cheek.
"I'm going to bed," she said. "Good night."
"Good night, dear."
Relena went upstairs, head bowed in thought, lips pursed.
Going into her room, she pulled a small black leather zippered case from under the mattress of her bed. Inside was a passport with her picture, and the name "Adele Marquise" to the side.
"Mil," she whispered, looking at it and smiling. "You're going to be so surprised."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trieze leaned against the paddock fence as Zechs led out the dark colt.
"So, what do you think of him?" asked Zechs. The skittish Thoroughbred jerked back his head as the man gently tugged on the leather strap leading to the halter on the animal's head.
"He's a beauty," said Trieze, opening the gate and slowly walking over. "Unusual color."
"He's a blood bay," said Zechs. "Very unusual. Almost a burgundy sheen to the coat."
He pulled off his riding glove and offered the back of his bare hand to the horse's flaring nostrils.
"He'll make a striking mount for you when he's properly broken," said Trieze, reaching up to stroke the animal's graceful neck.
"By next summer, he'll have the size and stamina to be a wonderful hunter," said Zechs.
"Does our beauty have a name?" asked Trieze, running his hands expertly down the horses withers and back.
"Epyon," said Zechs, smiling.
"Perfect," said Trieze.
"Mr. Kushrenada?"
Trieze turned his head to see who was calling him from across the stable yard.
"What is it, Henderson?" he asked in a voice tinged with impatience.
"An emergency phone call, overseas," said Henderson, offering a cell phone.
Trieze held out a hand. "Thank you, Henderson."
He put the wireless to his ear.
"I see," he said carefully, after a few moments. Involuntarily, he glanced over at Zechs.
"I'll inform him," he said crisply ending the call.
"What was that all about?" asked Zechs absently, feeding Epyon a piece of carrot he had pulled out of his pocket and petting his velvety nose.
"That was your sister's guardian, Mrs. Darlian," said Trieze.
Zechs looked up in alarm. "Nothing has happened to Lena, has it?"
"She's on her way here," said Trieze putting a steadying hand on Zechs arm.
"Mrs. Darlian found a note in Relena's room this morning. She's determined to see you, and caught the Concord from Paris at 1 a.m. their time. No doubt she's already landed in New York hours ago."
"That little fool!" said Zechs angrily, startling the colt.
"Come, let's let Henderson here put the colt back in the north pasture, and we can discuss this in private."
Zechs handed the lead to the security guard. "When you've got him settled, come up to the office, we'll need to discuss this with you, Henderson."
The stocky man nodded his balding head. "I'll be right up, sir."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"That's interesting," said Quatre, looking up from the paper he was reading.
Trowa made a listening noise as he put down his empty espresso cup.
"It says here that the European markets closed at a six month low yesterday, because of terrorist threats made against several major industries by some radical leftist group called Les Noire."
"And that means?" asked Trowa.
"It seems to me that I remember Rashid telling me something about this not too long ago in connection with Winner Enterprises," he said thoughtfully.
"Environmental terrorists. They had sent some vague sorts of threats to the Paris division of W.E. over some mining interests they hold near some protected marshlands near the Brittany coast."
"You think this could affect W.E. in some way?" asked Trowa.
"Well, even though I don't have anything to do directly with Winner Enterprises, it does affect the welfare of my sisters and their families," said Quatre.
"I wonder if your father would have left Layla majority stockholder if he knew she was so accepting of us," said Trowa, almost to himself.
"I should call her and see what's up," said Quatre, standing up and putting down the paper.
"We're supposed to be on vacation," said Trowa, slipping on his reading glasses from the pocket of his robe and taking the paper Quatre had discarded.
"I promise, I won't talk business," said Quatre. "Not much, anyway."
"I hear the words 'dividends' or 'exchange rates' and I'm coming over there to spank you," Trowa growled at him.
"You call that a deterrent?" asked Quatre, raising an eyebrow.
"No, I call that foreplay," said Trowa. He turned to the comic section.
Quatre grinned and walked over, picked up the phone, and dialing quickly.
"Hello, Ms. Layla Winner's office," said a voice.
"Susan, this is Quatre, is Layla free?"
"I'm sure she is," said the voice. "I'll ring her."
"Thanks," said Quatre, sitting on the bed and jiggling his foot as he waited.
"Hello, is that you, Quatre?" asked a familiar voice.
"Just calling to check on my favorite sister," said Quatre.
"You're supposed to be on vacation in Montana," said Layla.
"I am," he said, "but I saw this thing in the paper about Les Noire and it made bells go off in my head. You know me, I never ignore my vibes."
"Sweetheart, sometimes I swear you must be clairvoyant. I wasn't going to worry you, but Rashid called this morning and told me that they shut down the mining operation temporarily in Brittany because of some threats they received from Les Noire again."
"Hm, so, how is that affecting business overall?" asked Quatre, fiddling with a pen.
"Well, in the European offices, it will have somewhat of an impact," Layla said. "But, we've got Interpol on this and they're telling Rashid that they've made some progress tracking them down. You remember what they did to that industrialist and his wife about a dozen years ago, what were their names?"
"Peacecraft, I believe," said Quatre, frowning with the effort to remember. "Yes, a car jacking, and execution style double murder. I was still in school, but I remember Father mentioning it. He had done business with them, as I recall. I hope your stepping up security," he added as an afterthought.
"Don't worry, I have," said Layla. "At home too."
"Good," said Quatre. "Well I have an appointment with a sauna in a bit this morning, dear sis, so I must be going."
"I'm glad your enjoying your time off, you needed it," said Layla. He could hear the smile in her voice. "Say hello to Trowa for me."
"I will," he said. "Bye for now." He hung up.
"Layla says 'Hello,'" he said, yawning and lying back on the bed. He gazed at the ceiling for several minutes.
"I can hear the wheels grinding from over here," said Trowa. "What's going on in that head of yours?"
"I'm putting two and two together and getting six," said Quatre, in a distant tone.
"Well, when you figure it out," said Trowa, "Let me know."
"I will," said Quatre. "Something keeps nibbling at the back of my mind and it's going to drive me insane until I figure out what it is."
"They say when you're trying to remember something, the harder you try, the more it eludes you," said Trowa, taking off his glasses and putting down the paper.
He came over to the bed and stretched out. "I'm going back to sleep," he announced, yawning. "I intend to do absolutely nothing today."
"Absolutely nothing?" asked Quatre, smiling at him.
"I'm not even going to shave," the other man replied. "I'm going to lie here and vegetate." He closed his eyes and curled up around a pillow.
"Won't that be boring?" asked Quatre, bending down to pull the sheet up over him.
"Well, not if you're doing it with me," said Trowa, suddenly reaching up and pulling the blond down against him. "Ah, this is better," he said, resting his chin on Quatre's shoulder.
"I had that sauna scheduled," said Quatre.
"Cancel it," Trowa drawled, "I promise to make things steamy enough right here."
Quatre snickered. "Using me for a pillow is hardly what I'd call steamy," he said, wiggling a little in protest.
"Oh, all right," said Trowa, unwrapping his arms from around the other man.
"Go take your sauna and come back."
"I'll be quick," promised Quatre, ruffling his hair playfully. "You may proceed with the vegetating."
"Take your time," said Trowa, "I'll probably be asleep when you come back."
"I'll wake you," said Quatre. "Spending the day in bed sounds great, but not sleeping." He grinned mischievously and gave Trowa's long bangs a playful yank.
"Ow, brat," mumbled Trowa, slapping at his hand.
Quatre slipped on a navy blue nylon jogging suit, hung a towel around his neck and quietly left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I don't recall this being one of the exercises on the schedule," said Sally, ducking from underneath Wufei's arm where she'd been pinned gently against the wall.
"I'm changing the schedule," he said, turning quickly and capturing her by the wrist.
They were alone in the therapy room. Sally smiled and deftly broke his hold.
"I take it you're not going to be cooperative this morning?" she asked him archly.
"I can be cooperative," he said. He followed her over to a weight bench, where she sitting.
He sat down beside her. "See, I'm being cooperative," he slid an arm around her waist and placed a kiss on her shoulder.
"That's not what I meant by cooperative," she giggled, in spite of herself. "I can see we're not going to get any work done today."
"Didn't you say the other day that I'm ahead of where the doctor wanted me to be?" asked Wufei, moving his attention from her shoulder to the nape of her neck. Sally sighed and shifted over a bit on the bench. He moved with her.
"Yes," she said absently. "But, I thought you didn't want to waste time."
"This is not a waste of time," he murmured against soft blond hair. "In fact, I believe this is contributing tremendously to my feeling of well- being."
She turned and straddled the bench to rest her face against his, "I'll be sure and put it in my report," she said softly.
"You do that," he breathed against her lips, and began kissing her in earnest.
This went on for a few moments, with both so engrossed in the sensations of lips and tongues mingling, neither one heard the door open.
"Don't stop on my account," said Quatre, grinning wickedly as Wufei jumped up from the weight bench.
He winked at Wufei, who was trying very hard to look casual, as he went inside the door to the sauna.
"Well, that was mildly embarrassing," said Sally, automatically putting her hand to her passion-swollen lips. She giggled and then shrugged her shoulders.
"I suppose I got a bit carried away," said Wufei, swallowing hard and sitting back down again.
"I haven't been caught making out since I was 16," said Sally. "It was kind of fun."
"Sally," he began seriously. She reached out put her hand on his arm. "Don't you dare apologize," she said. "If I didn't want that, I would have said something."
"I wasn't going to apologize," he said. "I was going to say even though I've only known you a few weeks, you've become very important to me. I don't want you to think I'm merely taking advantage of you."
"I never felt that," Sally protested. "I think I know you well enough to know that you're a completely honest and trustworthy sort of person. I can't imagine you taking advantage of me, or anyone, for that matter."
"Good," he exhaled in relief. "I-I haven't really been with anyone since, well, since Meilan. I wanted you to know that. I'm not a player."
"I understand," said Sally. "I admit I may be lonely, Wufei, but that doesn't mean I'm desperate. Well, not so desperate I'd come on to someone I wasn't seriously interested in." She smiled.
"This is happening very quickly, I feel, overwhelmed," he said.
"I think that sometimes it happens that way when there's a chemistry between two people," said Sally quietly.
"Then you don't feel.compromised?" he asked.
"No I want this," she said. "I swear to you, if you asked me to come up to your room this very minute, I'd come without the least hesitation. I know what I want. I can't believe I just said that, but I've never wanted anything so badly in my whole life."
His eyes widened. "Sally, do you know what you're saying?" he said hoarsely.
"Yes," she said simply. "I'm saying I'm falling in love with you."
He closed his eyes. "I didn't expect this to happen."
Sally looked away. "Maybe I shouldn't have said that. It usually leads to skid marks in the driveway."
"No, I'm not saying I didn't WANT this to happen," he explained, frustrated.
"Nice to know," said Sally dryly. "Can't you just say it?" she asked plaintively.
"I think I'm falling in love with you too," he said, finally.
"And I only had to beg a little," said Sally, shaking her head ruefully.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm not good at these sorts of things."
"Most people of the male persuasion aren't in my experience," said Sally. "I'm cutting you a lot of slack because of that. And because of Matt."
"Matt?" he echoed.
"You can't tell?" she asked. "He's crazy about you. You're all he talks about. I'm almost jealous."
"Well, we simply can't break Matt's heart, now, can we?" said Wufei, smiling.
"No, we can't," agreed Sally, putting her forehead against his.
He ran his thumb down the side of her face. "Come up to my room?" he whispered, pulling her to him for a long involved kiss.
"Excuse me," said Quatre, coming out of the door to the sauna room.
"I seem to have the worse timing today," he said, hurrying across the room, towelling his hair.
He grinned impishly and gave Wufei a thumbs-up before he slid through the door.
"I guess we better find somewhere more private if you're going to keep kissing me like that," said Sally, catching her breath.
"I'm definitely going to keep kissing you like that," he said.
"I think it might be better if you go on up and I'll come in a bit," she said to him.
He looked at her inquiringly.
"Trieze might frown upon me seducing one of the guests," she explained. "I'd sort of like to keep my private life private, if you know what I mean."
"Of course," he said. "We shall be discreet."
"I'll be up in 10 minutes," she said, almost looking coy.
"I'll be waiting for you." He left, looking back as he went through the door.
Sally took a steadying breath.
"I must be dreaming," she whispered to herself.
Author: Gina Lin Genre: Romance, Adventure Pairing: 1+2, 3+4, 13+6, 5+S Warnings: AU, Language, Violence, Yaoi, Citrus Rating: R Archived: FF.net, S_E Updates, GWFF
Chapter 16
"Your brother is right," said Mrs. Darlian, setting down her teacup. "It would be foolish for you to go visit him now. Goodness knows you take enough chances visiting him at Christmastime.
"Mother, you're all being paranoid!" said Relena, throwing herself sideways in a chair. Her long blond hair draped over one of the arms as she stared rebelliously at the ceiling.
The older woman frowned. "Young ladies do not sit down like that. Not in my house."
Relena fought the urge to make a face. "Sorry," she said instead, sighing loudly and righted herself in the chair.
She truly loved her adoptive parents, they had given her everything they would have given a natural daughter.
But, the Darlians were so Old World European in manner, at times Relena felt suffocated. It wasn't as though she could remember her birth parents to make a comparison, but she had always secretly wondered if they would have been more lenient. She immediately felt guilty for the thought. Mil remembered them, but he also had to carry the horrific memories of their death. Their murders, she amended mentally, wincing internally.
Mrs. Darlian dropped her voice to a theatrical whisper. "The fewer connections made between you and your brother, dear, the better."
"Mother, I promise you that there are no terrorists with ears pressed to the wall listening to our conversation. Honestly!"
"It's nothing to joke about," huffed her mother. "Your life could be in danger."
"I've been hearing that since I can remember," said Relena stubbornly. "And now I'm 18 and nothing has ever happened. No Les Noire goons popping out of the shadows."
"I'd prefer not to hear that name in my home," said Mrs. Darlian, closing her eyes in displeasure.
"I know," said Relena, yielding. She stood up and went over to give her mother a kiss on an offered cheek.
"I'm going to bed," she said. "Good night."
"Good night, dear."
Relena went upstairs, head bowed in thought, lips pursed.
Going into her room, she pulled a small black leather zippered case from under the mattress of her bed. Inside was a passport with her picture, and the name "Adele Marquise" to the side.
"Mil," she whispered, looking at it and smiling. "You're going to be so surprised."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trieze leaned against the paddock fence as Zechs led out the dark colt.
"So, what do you think of him?" asked Zechs. The skittish Thoroughbred jerked back his head as the man gently tugged on the leather strap leading to the halter on the animal's head.
"He's a beauty," said Trieze, opening the gate and slowly walking over. "Unusual color."
"He's a blood bay," said Zechs. "Very unusual. Almost a burgundy sheen to the coat."
He pulled off his riding glove and offered the back of his bare hand to the horse's flaring nostrils.
"He'll make a striking mount for you when he's properly broken," said Trieze, reaching up to stroke the animal's graceful neck.
"By next summer, he'll have the size and stamina to be a wonderful hunter," said Zechs.
"Does our beauty have a name?" asked Trieze, running his hands expertly down the horses withers and back.
"Epyon," said Zechs, smiling.
"Perfect," said Trieze.
"Mr. Kushrenada?"
Trieze turned his head to see who was calling him from across the stable yard.
"What is it, Henderson?" he asked in a voice tinged with impatience.
"An emergency phone call, overseas," said Henderson, offering a cell phone.
Trieze held out a hand. "Thank you, Henderson."
He put the wireless to his ear.
"I see," he said carefully, after a few moments. Involuntarily, he glanced over at Zechs.
"I'll inform him," he said crisply ending the call.
"What was that all about?" asked Zechs absently, feeding Epyon a piece of carrot he had pulled out of his pocket and petting his velvety nose.
"That was your sister's guardian, Mrs. Darlian," said Trieze.
Zechs looked up in alarm. "Nothing has happened to Lena, has it?"
"She's on her way here," said Trieze putting a steadying hand on Zechs arm.
"Mrs. Darlian found a note in Relena's room this morning. She's determined to see you, and caught the Concord from Paris at 1 a.m. their time. No doubt she's already landed in New York hours ago."
"That little fool!" said Zechs angrily, startling the colt.
"Come, let's let Henderson here put the colt back in the north pasture, and we can discuss this in private."
Zechs handed the lead to the security guard. "When you've got him settled, come up to the office, we'll need to discuss this with you, Henderson."
The stocky man nodded his balding head. "I'll be right up, sir."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"That's interesting," said Quatre, looking up from the paper he was reading.
Trowa made a listening noise as he put down his empty espresso cup.
"It says here that the European markets closed at a six month low yesterday, because of terrorist threats made against several major industries by some radical leftist group called Les Noire."
"And that means?" asked Trowa.
"It seems to me that I remember Rashid telling me something about this not too long ago in connection with Winner Enterprises," he said thoughtfully.
"Environmental terrorists. They had sent some vague sorts of threats to the Paris division of W.E. over some mining interests they hold near some protected marshlands near the Brittany coast."
"You think this could affect W.E. in some way?" asked Trowa.
"Well, even though I don't have anything to do directly with Winner Enterprises, it does affect the welfare of my sisters and their families," said Quatre.
"I wonder if your father would have left Layla majority stockholder if he knew she was so accepting of us," said Trowa, almost to himself.
"I should call her and see what's up," said Quatre, standing up and putting down the paper.
"We're supposed to be on vacation," said Trowa, slipping on his reading glasses from the pocket of his robe and taking the paper Quatre had discarded.
"I promise, I won't talk business," said Quatre. "Not much, anyway."
"I hear the words 'dividends' or 'exchange rates' and I'm coming over there to spank you," Trowa growled at him.
"You call that a deterrent?" asked Quatre, raising an eyebrow.
"No, I call that foreplay," said Trowa. He turned to the comic section.
Quatre grinned and walked over, picked up the phone, and dialing quickly.
"Hello, Ms. Layla Winner's office," said a voice.
"Susan, this is Quatre, is Layla free?"
"I'm sure she is," said the voice. "I'll ring her."
"Thanks," said Quatre, sitting on the bed and jiggling his foot as he waited.
"Hello, is that you, Quatre?" asked a familiar voice.
"Just calling to check on my favorite sister," said Quatre.
"You're supposed to be on vacation in Montana," said Layla.
"I am," he said, "but I saw this thing in the paper about Les Noire and it made bells go off in my head. You know me, I never ignore my vibes."
"Sweetheart, sometimes I swear you must be clairvoyant. I wasn't going to worry you, but Rashid called this morning and told me that they shut down the mining operation temporarily in Brittany because of some threats they received from Les Noire again."
"Hm, so, how is that affecting business overall?" asked Quatre, fiddling with a pen.
"Well, in the European offices, it will have somewhat of an impact," Layla said. "But, we've got Interpol on this and they're telling Rashid that they've made some progress tracking them down. You remember what they did to that industrialist and his wife about a dozen years ago, what were their names?"
"Peacecraft, I believe," said Quatre, frowning with the effort to remember. "Yes, a car jacking, and execution style double murder. I was still in school, but I remember Father mentioning it. He had done business with them, as I recall. I hope your stepping up security," he added as an afterthought.
"Don't worry, I have," said Layla. "At home too."
"Good," said Quatre. "Well I have an appointment with a sauna in a bit this morning, dear sis, so I must be going."
"I'm glad your enjoying your time off, you needed it," said Layla. He could hear the smile in her voice. "Say hello to Trowa for me."
"I will," he said. "Bye for now." He hung up.
"Layla says 'Hello,'" he said, yawning and lying back on the bed. He gazed at the ceiling for several minutes.
"I can hear the wheels grinding from over here," said Trowa. "What's going on in that head of yours?"
"I'm putting two and two together and getting six," said Quatre, in a distant tone.
"Well, when you figure it out," said Trowa, "Let me know."
"I will," said Quatre. "Something keeps nibbling at the back of my mind and it's going to drive me insane until I figure out what it is."
"They say when you're trying to remember something, the harder you try, the more it eludes you," said Trowa, taking off his glasses and putting down the paper.
He came over to the bed and stretched out. "I'm going back to sleep," he announced, yawning. "I intend to do absolutely nothing today."
"Absolutely nothing?" asked Quatre, smiling at him.
"I'm not even going to shave," the other man replied. "I'm going to lie here and vegetate." He closed his eyes and curled up around a pillow.
"Won't that be boring?" asked Quatre, bending down to pull the sheet up over him.
"Well, not if you're doing it with me," said Trowa, suddenly reaching up and pulling the blond down against him. "Ah, this is better," he said, resting his chin on Quatre's shoulder.
"I had that sauna scheduled," said Quatre.
"Cancel it," Trowa drawled, "I promise to make things steamy enough right here."
Quatre snickered. "Using me for a pillow is hardly what I'd call steamy," he said, wiggling a little in protest.
"Oh, all right," said Trowa, unwrapping his arms from around the other man.
"Go take your sauna and come back."
"I'll be quick," promised Quatre, ruffling his hair playfully. "You may proceed with the vegetating."
"Take your time," said Trowa, "I'll probably be asleep when you come back."
"I'll wake you," said Quatre. "Spending the day in bed sounds great, but not sleeping." He grinned mischievously and gave Trowa's long bangs a playful yank.
"Ow, brat," mumbled Trowa, slapping at his hand.
Quatre slipped on a navy blue nylon jogging suit, hung a towel around his neck and quietly left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I don't recall this being one of the exercises on the schedule," said Sally, ducking from underneath Wufei's arm where she'd been pinned gently against the wall.
"I'm changing the schedule," he said, turning quickly and capturing her by the wrist.
They were alone in the therapy room. Sally smiled and deftly broke his hold.
"I take it you're not going to be cooperative this morning?" she asked him archly.
"I can be cooperative," he said. He followed her over to a weight bench, where she sitting.
He sat down beside her. "See, I'm being cooperative," he slid an arm around her waist and placed a kiss on her shoulder.
"That's not what I meant by cooperative," she giggled, in spite of herself. "I can see we're not going to get any work done today."
"Didn't you say the other day that I'm ahead of where the doctor wanted me to be?" asked Wufei, moving his attention from her shoulder to the nape of her neck. Sally sighed and shifted over a bit on the bench. He moved with her.
"Yes," she said absently. "But, I thought you didn't want to waste time."
"This is not a waste of time," he murmured against soft blond hair. "In fact, I believe this is contributing tremendously to my feeling of well- being."
She turned and straddled the bench to rest her face against his, "I'll be sure and put it in my report," she said softly.
"You do that," he breathed against her lips, and began kissing her in earnest.
This went on for a few moments, with both so engrossed in the sensations of lips and tongues mingling, neither one heard the door open.
"Don't stop on my account," said Quatre, grinning wickedly as Wufei jumped up from the weight bench.
He winked at Wufei, who was trying very hard to look casual, as he went inside the door to the sauna.
"Well, that was mildly embarrassing," said Sally, automatically putting her hand to her passion-swollen lips. She giggled and then shrugged her shoulders.
"I suppose I got a bit carried away," said Wufei, swallowing hard and sitting back down again.
"I haven't been caught making out since I was 16," said Sally. "It was kind of fun."
"Sally," he began seriously. She reached out put her hand on his arm. "Don't you dare apologize," she said. "If I didn't want that, I would have said something."
"I wasn't going to apologize," he said. "I was going to say even though I've only known you a few weeks, you've become very important to me. I don't want you to think I'm merely taking advantage of you."
"I never felt that," Sally protested. "I think I know you well enough to know that you're a completely honest and trustworthy sort of person. I can't imagine you taking advantage of me, or anyone, for that matter."
"Good," he exhaled in relief. "I-I haven't really been with anyone since, well, since Meilan. I wanted you to know that. I'm not a player."
"I understand," said Sally. "I admit I may be lonely, Wufei, but that doesn't mean I'm desperate. Well, not so desperate I'd come on to someone I wasn't seriously interested in." She smiled.
"This is happening very quickly, I feel, overwhelmed," he said.
"I think that sometimes it happens that way when there's a chemistry between two people," said Sally quietly.
"Then you don't feel.compromised?" he asked.
"No I want this," she said. "I swear to you, if you asked me to come up to your room this very minute, I'd come without the least hesitation. I know what I want. I can't believe I just said that, but I've never wanted anything so badly in my whole life."
His eyes widened. "Sally, do you know what you're saying?" he said hoarsely.
"Yes," she said simply. "I'm saying I'm falling in love with you."
He closed his eyes. "I didn't expect this to happen."
Sally looked away. "Maybe I shouldn't have said that. It usually leads to skid marks in the driveway."
"No, I'm not saying I didn't WANT this to happen," he explained, frustrated.
"Nice to know," said Sally dryly. "Can't you just say it?" she asked plaintively.
"I think I'm falling in love with you too," he said, finally.
"And I only had to beg a little," said Sally, shaking her head ruefully.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm not good at these sorts of things."
"Most people of the male persuasion aren't in my experience," said Sally. "I'm cutting you a lot of slack because of that. And because of Matt."
"Matt?" he echoed.
"You can't tell?" she asked. "He's crazy about you. You're all he talks about. I'm almost jealous."
"Well, we simply can't break Matt's heart, now, can we?" said Wufei, smiling.
"No, we can't," agreed Sally, putting her forehead against his.
He ran his thumb down the side of her face. "Come up to my room?" he whispered, pulling her to him for a long involved kiss.
"Excuse me," said Quatre, coming out of the door to the sauna room.
"I seem to have the worse timing today," he said, hurrying across the room, towelling his hair.
He grinned impishly and gave Wufei a thumbs-up before he slid through the door.
"I guess we better find somewhere more private if you're going to keep kissing me like that," said Sally, catching her breath.
"I'm definitely going to keep kissing you like that," he said.
"I think it might be better if you go on up and I'll come in a bit," she said to him.
He looked at her inquiringly.
"Trieze might frown upon me seducing one of the guests," she explained. "I'd sort of like to keep my private life private, if you know what I mean."
"Of course," he said. "We shall be discreet."
"I'll be up in 10 minutes," she said, almost looking coy.
"I'll be waiting for you." He left, looking back as he went through the door.
Sally took a steadying breath.
"I must be dreaming," she whispered to herself.