AN. Ok, ppl haven't really been reviewing lately, so I don't quite know
what you are thinking about the direction the story is going. Please review
whenever you read a new chapter, let me know what you think. I'm gonna hold
fire on posting chapters for a while, just so I can get an idea of what Ur
thinking. So if you want another chapter soon. Get reviewing. But I'm not
mean! Here's Chapter 13 to keep you occupied. (It's the longest one yet)
Enjoy.
CHAPTER 13
Lara hadn't slept much that night. Her mind just refused to stop working. For the first few hours she was thinking about Gerrard, and Gibson Vanderbelt. Why would they be trying to get rid of her? She couldn't come up with anything and when she tried to think of something else, her mind was filled with images that kept her even more awake.
However, the images were not unpleasant. She was back in Riley's home, in the living room by the smashed doors. Riley was standing extremely close to her; she swore she could feel his warmth. She closed her eyes, focusing on the images in her mind.
Riley's deep blue eyes were filled with tenderness as he moved in closer to her. The memories of his lips meeting hers for the first time caused her heart to beat faster; she could taste him even now as she recalled allowing his tongue past her lips. She remembered how his hands had been so gentle on her back, knowing exactly where her wounds were and avoiding them. She had felt warm and safe, and most of all; she had felt wanted and loved. She could almost feel her fingers in his hair as she lay alone in her bedroom. No one had ever kissed her that way before. His touch sparked something inside her and she found herself wanting him more than anything. Then suddenly there was the noise that had pulled them apart.
Lara cursed Gibson again for having ended such a beautiful feeling. She lay still on the bed, finally drifting off to sleep. Her eyes snapped open again when the distant banging noise from her memory continued. She opened one eye slightly; thinking that she was maybe going mad. Then she heard it again. Sitting up; she grabbed her robe and slipped it on over her white tank top and slacks she had worn to bed. Grabbing one of her pistols from under her pillow; she tossed her hair loosely over one shoulder and slowly opened her bedroom door.
There was no one there.
Lara crept silently down the hall, staying alert as she made her way through her home. There was a large window half way down the hallway which looked out onto the grounds of Croft manner, as she neared its position, there was a slight noise behind her. Lara's stomach turned, she felt the same kind of fear she had felt when Gibson had tackled her to the ground the night before. She continued forward, listening intently for another sound behind her.a slight creek. She spun around, gun held out ready to fire, but the hallway was empty. *get a grip Lara* she told herself *you're loosing it! There can't be anyone here, the alarms haven't gone off* that thought settled her slightly, but she couldn't shake the feeling of not being alone in the hallway.
"Winston?" she whispered, thinking that maybe he had come to check that she was ok, after her attack. There was no reply as she searched the hallway she had just come down. "Riley?" again there was no reply. She lowered her gun, slightly confused, her instincts were never wrong. Maybe she was just being paranoid.
She turned back to the area where the large window let in the pale moonlight. Her heart leapt into her throat as the patch of light on the ground flickered as a shadow crossed it. She held her gun out in front of her, in her shooting stance. Slowly, she moved forward, one foot in front of the other, her heart beating rapidly inside her chest. *come on girl! You've done this before* she thought to herself.it was true, but she had never felt so unsafe in her own home.
She was now crouching right by the window; slowly she peered around, looking for anything that could have cast the shadow. There was nothing. "I'm going insane!" she sighed and lowered her gun. She was just standing up when she spotted it. Quickly she crouched again, preying she hadn't given away her position.
There, on the high Ground walls, was a man. Seated directly opposite the window. He was slightly hidden by the branches of the old tree nearby and seemed to be surveying the manner. Lara watched as the man lowered himself from the wall and slowly moved out of her view.
Lara got to her feet and ran as fast as she could down the hall. Her bare feet slapped against the cold marble floor, the noise echoing through the whole wing. Suddenly, a door to her right opened and someone stepped out. She couldn't slow herself in time to avoid the figure and she collided with it at full speed. They both hit the ground hard, Lara was breathing heavily as she repositioned herself on top of the shadowed figure and cocked her gun, quickly pressing it against his forehead!
"Hey, easy Lara!" the voice was out of breath as a result of the impact with both Lara and the ground "It's just me!"
"Riley!" Lara sighed and removed the gun from his head. She clicked the safety back on and tucked it into the waist band of her slacks.
"Yeah," he sounded slightly worried "is something wrong?" he asked as he settled his hands on her hips to keep her seated where she was. At his touch; she closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip. Again his hands had stirred something inside of her.
"Lara?" "I saw someone outside!" she whispered, not wanting to move from her position on his pelvis. He moved underneath her, sitting up slightly, she didn't move. She kept her eyes closed as she felt his right hand slide down from her waist to rest on her toned thigh. Riley smiled to himself when she didn't move. He couldn't believe how much he wanted her at that moment but he knew that there were some very unpleasant people after her and he didn't want to risk letting them get close enough to try anything.
"Where did you see them?" he asked quietly and he tried to see her face through the shadows. were her eyes closed?
Slowly, Lara opened her eyes again to find Riley gazing at her. She cleared her throat slightly and placed her hands on his shoulders, only then did she realise that he was not wearing a top. "On the wall," her voice was so quiet that she could hardly hear herself. She felt herself leaning closer to him. "He was sitting on the wall." She brushed her lips lightly against his. Riley smiled slightly at how Lara was beginning to break her own rule. "Lara..." he was cut off as her lips fell softly over his again in a short tender kiss, her hands now lightly holding his face and neck. "He, jumped down" she said again, when they parted. Then she placed another light, almost teasing kiss on his lips. She was sitting more fully in his lap now as she tried to inform him of what she had seen while she so obviously lost control of her restrain. "Came this way"
Riley didn't want to stop what was happening in the hallway, but he knew that if what Lara was saying was true, then it wasn't safe to be doing this now. As she kissed him again, he lifted his left hand slowly, stroking his way up her arm as she pulled away again. Just as she was about to kiss him again, he gently placed three of his fingers against her lips, preventing the much welcomed contact.
"Lara," he said again. "Not now" only when the word had left his mouth did he realise the way they sounded. He wished he could change them, or explain that, although he wanted to continue, now wasn't the time or place. He wanted to let her know that he wanted nothing more than to carry her back into the guest room he had been given, and continue their activities in private. However the danger they were both in now was very real and he knew that Lara was aware of it too. Why else would she have been running through her home in the middle of the night with a handgun?
He felt Lara sit up straight, and watched as her eyes flicked quickly from desire to looking rejected, before they finally settled into a cold professional stare. Quickly Lara pushed against his shoulders, standing up and stepping away. She retrieved her gun from her waist band and checked it quickly. She glanced down at Riley as he sat on the ground; there was no trace of tenderness on her face as she moved into the moonlight.
"Don't be like that Lara" he said as he climbed to his feet. She only glared at him, all trace of trust and tenderness had vanished. Her voice was like ice when she spoke to him "This is my home. I can 'be' however I damn well please!" and with that, she set off again, in the direction she had been going before colliding with him.
Riley cursed under his breath and set off after her.
***
'Damn you Lara!' She scolded herself as she ran down a flight of stairs, taking them two at a time. 'That guy's probably inside by now' she heard a noise behind her and glanced backwards quickly, it was Riley, he was catching up to her, leaping down the steps 4 at a time. Lara sighed and sped up. When she reached the landing half way down, where the stairs separated into two flights, (one to the left, one to the right) both leading to the main hall. She kept running straight, heading for the railing rather than one of the sets of stairs.
"Lara!" Riley called as he watched he leap over the railing. He crashed against the same railing just in time to see her, about 12 feet below him, land and instinctively go straight into a roll and hop back to her feet. She glanced up at him, raised one eyebrow then set off again, down the corridor to the right.
Riley sighed and ran down the stairs on his right, hoping to close the gap between them. He leapt the last 10 steps, overthrowing his balance on the landing; he stumbled forward and hit the wall hard. Letting out a loud grunt he set off running full speed after Lara's retreating silhouette. He hurtled around another corner and slammed into the open door.
Lara shot him a death glare from her crouched position by the high windows of her ballroom. "What are you trying to do?" she hissed. He didn't respond, only started to walk purposefully towards her. "Oh, I see what you're doing" her voice was so harsh that it stopped him dead in his tracks "you're trying to get us killed!" "What?" his voice was loud compared to her harsh whisper. "Unless you want my visitor to blow your brains out, then I suggest you drop to your knees and keep your damned voice down!" Riley glanced out of the window and sure enough, there was a man, dressed all in black lurking around this area of the manner. Riley did as he was told and started crawling towards Lara. He sat next to her underneath the window, his back against the wall as she watched the man outside. "So, glad you decided to join me!" she said sarcastically. "Why do I get the feeling you don't mean that?" "Oh, Riley" she pouted as she took her eyes away from the window "of course I mean it," slowly she leaned closer to him. He felt relief wash over him; he thought he had ruined what was growing between them. Lara stopped moving when her mouth was inches away from his own. "It would have been hell to explain how your brains got on my carpet!" Riley's heart sank, and Lara moved back to watch the man outside "and the cleaning bill would have been astronomical!"
"Lara, I didn't mean it the way it came out!" he turned to face her fully, but she only shot him a side ways glance before turning back to the window. Riley carried on. "I know that it sounded like I don't want to be with you" he saw Lara straighten even more at his words as she stared at the man outside. "That's Gibson again!" was the only thing she said. "That's nice," Riley wasn't listening to her fully and she couldn't help but smile slightly at his response to her information. She hid it quickly and listened intently to him, while trying to act like not listening at all.
"Lara, I do want you! More than I've ever wanted anyone!" Lara's heart jumped, she was about to turn to him and forgive everything when she lost sight of the shadow out side. "Shit!" She got to her feet, still keeping very low, and moved quickly from the room. Riley looked confused for a minute, then he checked outside and seeing that the man had gone, he echoed Lara's curse and followed her from the room.
Lara was now crouching outside her private library. And Riley got to his knees and skidded along the floor to her side. She glanced at him, her face softer than it had been in the ballroom. Quickly she removed her eyes from him and peered around the corner, only to snap herself back against the wall. "What?" riley asked. Lara shushed him with her hand and signalled to the room they were outside of. She decided to try something she had learned when she had been a member of the SAS years before. She used the hand signals to tell Riley that they couldn't creep into the room without being seen as the light's were on.
She was only slightly surprised when riley used the same signals to suggest a plan. Lara raised her eyebrow at him again and smiled slightly. Then she nodded, got down onto her stomach and started to pull herself past the open door.
Unfortunately, Gibson had been peering right into the room and had seen her. He proceeded to empty bullets from his Uzi. Lara quickly rolled onto her back and looked at Riley. The bullets were smashing into the wall to Lara's side and Riley watched, with held breath as they got closer and closer to Lara's body. "Screw it!" he spoke loudly and reached out, grabbing Lara's ankles. A bullet sped past him, clipping his forearm and taking a chunk out of it. He ignored the pain and tugged at Lara's legs. Pulling her quickly into cover with him.
She slid across the marble floor with ease, and Riley positioned himself on top of her, shielding her with his body as the wall they were hiding behind started to explode as Gibson shot it.
Suddenly it went silent. Lara had her face buried in Riley's bare shoulder, her hands holding tightly to his sides. She felt Riley's hands on her head. He had covered her totally with his own body. Slowly, he lifted himself up just enough to look at her. "Are you hurt?" he asked quietly. "No" She smiled softly "but that's two I owe you now!"
CHAPTER 13
Lara hadn't slept much that night. Her mind just refused to stop working. For the first few hours she was thinking about Gerrard, and Gibson Vanderbelt. Why would they be trying to get rid of her? She couldn't come up with anything and when she tried to think of something else, her mind was filled with images that kept her even more awake.
However, the images were not unpleasant. She was back in Riley's home, in the living room by the smashed doors. Riley was standing extremely close to her; she swore she could feel his warmth. She closed her eyes, focusing on the images in her mind.
Riley's deep blue eyes were filled with tenderness as he moved in closer to her. The memories of his lips meeting hers for the first time caused her heart to beat faster; she could taste him even now as she recalled allowing his tongue past her lips. She remembered how his hands had been so gentle on her back, knowing exactly where her wounds were and avoiding them. She had felt warm and safe, and most of all; she had felt wanted and loved. She could almost feel her fingers in his hair as she lay alone in her bedroom. No one had ever kissed her that way before. His touch sparked something inside her and she found herself wanting him more than anything. Then suddenly there was the noise that had pulled them apart.
Lara cursed Gibson again for having ended such a beautiful feeling. She lay still on the bed, finally drifting off to sleep. Her eyes snapped open again when the distant banging noise from her memory continued. She opened one eye slightly; thinking that she was maybe going mad. Then she heard it again. Sitting up; she grabbed her robe and slipped it on over her white tank top and slacks she had worn to bed. Grabbing one of her pistols from under her pillow; she tossed her hair loosely over one shoulder and slowly opened her bedroom door.
There was no one there.
Lara crept silently down the hall, staying alert as she made her way through her home. There was a large window half way down the hallway which looked out onto the grounds of Croft manner, as she neared its position, there was a slight noise behind her. Lara's stomach turned, she felt the same kind of fear she had felt when Gibson had tackled her to the ground the night before. She continued forward, listening intently for another sound behind her.a slight creek. She spun around, gun held out ready to fire, but the hallway was empty. *get a grip Lara* she told herself *you're loosing it! There can't be anyone here, the alarms haven't gone off* that thought settled her slightly, but she couldn't shake the feeling of not being alone in the hallway.
"Winston?" she whispered, thinking that maybe he had come to check that she was ok, after her attack. There was no reply as she searched the hallway she had just come down. "Riley?" again there was no reply. She lowered her gun, slightly confused, her instincts were never wrong. Maybe she was just being paranoid.
She turned back to the area where the large window let in the pale moonlight. Her heart leapt into her throat as the patch of light on the ground flickered as a shadow crossed it. She held her gun out in front of her, in her shooting stance. Slowly, she moved forward, one foot in front of the other, her heart beating rapidly inside her chest. *come on girl! You've done this before* she thought to herself.it was true, but she had never felt so unsafe in her own home.
She was now crouching right by the window; slowly she peered around, looking for anything that could have cast the shadow. There was nothing. "I'm going insane!" she sighed and lowered her gun. She was just standing up when she spotted it. Quickly she crouched again, preying she hadn't given away her position.
There, on the high Ground walls, was a man. Seated directly opposite the window. He was slightly hidden by the branches of the old tree nearby and seemed to be surveying the manner. Lara watched as the man lowered himself from the wall and slowly moved out of her view.
Lara got to her feet and ran as fast as she could down the hall. Her bare feet slapped against the cold marble floor, the noise echoing through the whole wing. Suddenly, a door to her right opened and someone stepped out. She couldn't slow herself in time to avoid the figure and she collided with it at full speed. They both hit the ground hard, Lara was breathing heavily as she repositioned herself on top of the shadowed figure and cocked her gun, quickly pressing it against his forehead!
"Hey, easy Lara!" the voice was out of breath as a result of the impact with both Lara and the ground "It's just me!"
"Riley!" Lara sighed and removed the gun from his head. She clicked the safety back on and tucked it into the waist band of her slacks.
"Yeah," he sounded slightly worried "is something wrong?" he asked as he settled his hands on her hips to keep her seated where she was. At his touch; she closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip. Again his hands had stirred something inside of her.
"Lara?" "I saw someone outside!" she whispered, not wanting to move from her position on his pelvis. He moved underneath her, sitting up slightly, she didn't move. She kept her eyes closed as she felt his right hand slide down from her waist to rest on her toned thigh. Riley smiled to himself when she didn't move. He couldn't believe how much he wanted her at that moment but he knew that there were some very unpleasant people after her and he didn't want to risk letting them get close enough to try anything.
"Where did you see them?" he asked quietly and he tried to see her face through the shadows. were her eyes closed?
Slowly, Lara opened her eyes again to find Riley gazing at her. She cleared her throat slightly and placed her hands on his shoulders, only then did she realise that he was not wearing a top. "On the wall," her voice was so quiet that she could hardly hear herself. She felt herself leaning closer to him. "He was sitting on the wall." She brushed her lips lightly against his. Riley smiled slightly at how Lara was beginning to break her own rule. "Lara..." he was cut off as her lips fell softly over his again in a short tender kiss, her hands now lightly holding his face and neck. "He, jumped down" she said again, when they parted. Then she placed another light, almost teasing kiss on his lips. She was sitting more fully in his lap now as she tried to inform him of what she had seen while she so obviously lost control of her restrain. "Came this way"
Riley didn't want to stop what was happening in the hallway, but he knew that if what Lara was saying was true, then it wasn't safe to be doing this now. As she kissed him again, he lifted his left hand slowly, stroking his way up her arm as she pulled away again. Just as she was about to kiss him again, he gently placed three of his fingers against her lips, preventing the much welcomed contact.
"Lara," he said again. "Not now" only when the word had left his mouth did he realise the way they sounded. He wished he could change them, or explain that, although he wanted to continue, now wasn't the time or place. He wanted to let her know that he wanted nothing more than to carry her back into the guest room he had been given, and continue their activities in private. However the danger they were both in now was very real and he knew that Lara was aware of it too. Why else would she have been running through her home in the middle of the night with a handgun?
He felt Lara sit up straight, and watched as her eyes flicked quickly from desire to looking rejected, before they finally settled into a cold professional stare. Quickly Lara pushed against his shoulders, standing up and stepping away. She retrieved her gun from her waist band and checked it quickly. She glanced down at Riley as he sat on the ground; there was no trace of tenderness on her face as she moved into the moonlight.
"Don't be like that Lara" he said as he climbed to his feet. She only glared at him, all trace of trust and tenderness had vanished. Her voice was like ice when she spoke to him "This is my home. I can 'be' however I damn well please!" and with that, she set off again, in the direction she had been going before colliding with him.
Riley cursed under his breath and set off after her.
***
'Damn you Lara!' She scolded herself as she ran down a flight of stairs, taking them two at a time. 'That guy's probably inside by now' she heard a noise behind her and glanced backwards quickly, it was Riley, he was catching up to her, leaping down the steps 4 at a time. Lara sighed and sped up. When she reached the landing half way down, where the stairs separated into two flights, (one to the left, one to the right) both leading to the main hall. She kept running straight, heading for the railing rather than one of the sets of stairs.
"Lara!" Riley called as he watched he leap over the railing. He crashed against the same railing just in time to see her, about 12 feet below him, land and instinctively go straight into a roll and hop back to her feet. She glanced up at him, raised one eyebrow then set off again, down the corridor to the right.
Riley sighed and ran down the stairs on his right, hoping to close the gap between them. He leapt the last 10 steps, overthrowing his balance on the landing; he stumbled forward and hit the wall hard. Letting out a loud grunt he set off running full speed after Lara's retreating silhouette. He hurtled around another corner and slammed into the open door.
Lara shot him a death glare from her crouched position by the high windows of her ballroom. "What are you trying to do?" she hissed. He didn't respond, only started to walk purposefully towards her. "Oh, I see what you're doing" her voice was so harsh that it stopped him dead in his tracks "you're trying to get us killed!" "What?" his voice was loud compared to her harsh whisper. "Unless you want my visitor to blow your brains out, then I suggest you drop to your knees and keep your damned voice down!" Riley glanced out of the window and sure enough, there was a man, dressed all in black lurking around this area of the manner. Riley did as he was told and started crawling towards Lara. He sat next to her underneath the window, his back against the wall as she watched the man outside. "So, glad you decided to join me!" she said sarcastically. "Why do I get the feeling you don't mean that?" "Oh, Riley" she pouted as she took her eyes away from the window "of course I mean it," slowly she leaned closer to him. He felt relief wash over him; he thought he had ruined what was growing between them. Lara stopped moving when her mouth was inches away from his own. "It would have been hell to explain how your brains got on my carpet!" Riley's heart sank, and Lara moved back to watch the man outside "and the cleaning bill would have been astronomical!"
"Lara, I didn't mean it the way it came out!" he turned to face her fully, but she only shot him a side ways glance before turning back to the window. Riley carried on. "I know that it sounded like I don't want to be with you" he saw Lara straighten even more at his words as she stared at the man outside. "That's Gibson again!" was the only thing she said. "That's nice," Riley wasn't listening to her fully and she couldn't help but smile slightly at his response to her information. She hid it quickly and listened intently to him, while trying to act like not listening at all.
"Lara, I do want you! More than I've ever wanted anyone!" Lara's heart jumped, she was about to turn to him and forgive everything when she lost sight of the shadow out side. "Shit!" She got to her feet, still keeping very low, and moved quickly from the room. Riley looked confused for a minute, then he checked outside and seeing that the man had gone, he echoed Lara's curse and followed her from the room.
Lara was now crouching outside her private library. And Riley got to his knees and skidded along the floor to her side. She glanced at him, her face softer than it had been in the ballroom. Quickly she removed her eyes from him and peered around the corner, only to snap herself back against the wall. "What?" riley asked. Lara shushed him with her hand and signalled to the room they were outside of. She decided to try something she had learned when she had been a member of the SAS years before. She used the hand signals to tell Riley that they couldn't creep into the room without being seen as the light's were on.
She was only slightly surprised when riley used the same signals to suggest a plan. Lara raised her eyebrow at him again and smiled slightly. Then she nodded, got down onto her stomach and started to pull herself past the open door.
Unfortunately, Gibson had been peering right into the room and had seen her. He proceeded to empty bullets from his Uzi. Lara quickly rolled onto her back and looked at Riley. The bullets were smashing into the wall to Lara's side and Riley watched, with held breath as they got closer and closer to Lara's body. "Screw it!" he spoke loudly and reached out, grabbing Lara's ankles. A bullet sped past him, clipping his forearm and taking a chunk out of it. He ignored the pain and tugged at Lara's legs. Pulling her quickly into cover with him.
She slid across the marble floor with ease, and Riley positioned himself on top of her, shielding her with his body as the wall they were hiding behind started to explode as Gibson shot it.
Suddenly it went silent. Lara had her face buried in Riley's bare shoulder, her hands holding tightly to his sides. She felt Riley's hands on her head. He had covered her totally with his own body. Slowly, he lifted himself up just enough to look at her. "Are you hurt?" he asked quietly. "No" She smiled softly "but that's two I owe you now!"