Take Her in Your Arms
Chapter 3
Say my name, say my name...
There was something about the way he said her name; slowly, letting each syllable lilt off his tongue and lips. It sounded so sweet and charming in his rich voice, touched slightly by a York brogue. And strangely, she had never noticed, until this past week, how nice it sounded, "Nymph-a-dora". Somehow, when he said Nymphadora, it sounded less like a fairy on crack and more like a name belonging to an ancient queen.
Each moment she spent with Remus, Tonks was discovering something new about the man. Noticing delightful details about his mannerisms, about his nuances; the way he pressed his lips together when in contemplation, the creased laugh lines around his smile, the gray flecks in his soft brown hair, the aroma of chamomile tea on his breath, the way he fumbled with--
"What?" Remus asked abruptly.
Tonks shook herself awake from her daydream. "What, what?"
Remus leaned forward, so that the other people in the cozy café wouldn't hear his words, "You're staring at me again."
Tonks bit her lip, "Am I? It's just," she sighed and smile, "I'm just a bit in shock still. You know, about us."
"Oh," Remus said; his reply uncertain.
"Not in a bad way," Tonks said taking his hand, and leaning close. "I just can't believe that I'm dating Remus Lupin." She whispered like his name like it was an exciting secret. "I mean, I guess you'd call it dating. I mean, is it okay if I say we're dating?"
Remus returned her smile, "Of course and I hope it isn't all that strange being with me. This fascination doesn't have anything to do with-", he stopped suddenly
"Do with what?"
"With our age difference?" He answered a bit timidly.
"Remus!" Tonks scolded, "I could care less about your age. You need to let that go." This hadn't been the first time this week he'd brought up the fact he was thirteen years her senior.
"Alright," he relaxed a bit and then, tension. "And it's not about my," he leaned in and whispered very, very quietly, "my lycanthropy?"
"No!" Tonks answered exasperated. "We've already talked about that."
"Because if it bothers you at all-"
Tonks rolled her eyes, "You'll what, Remus? Stop becoming a werewolf?"
Lupin winced just the slightest at the volume of her words, but no one in the café took notice of their conversation.
"Well, no," he replied calmly.
"It's just for the past week, well, I've been seeing you in a new light. You see, when I use to think on 'Remus Lupin', I thought of you as a prominent member of The Order or my cousin's old school mate or my quiet friend who likes tea and reading big books."
"Wow, I sound so exciting," he replied dryly.
"Then, I started thinking about you in slightly other ways," she grinned.
"Hmmm... tell me more," he flashed a wicked smirk.
"Do you remember that night two months ago?"
Tonks and Sirius had been playing a late night round of wizarding chess and Remus was sitting on the sofa reading the latest edition of the British Journal of Wizarding Arts. They'd all been drinking ample amounts of a fine single malt scotch Sirius had discovered earlier in his father's study.
Feeling a bit cheeky, Nymphadora moved her queen and then, while waiting for her cousin to take make his next move, she jumped to the sofa and bounced right down in the middle of Remus's lap.
"Nymphadora!" He scolded.
Black laughed, as he enjoyed watching his colorful cousin tease his proper friend.
"Hello Remus," she cooed.
"Nymphadora, I'm trying to read," he remarked pleasantly.
"Really? Am I in your way?" She asked impishly and wiggled her bottom in his lap.
"You can be very distracting, you know," his voice a bit breathy.
Throwing an arm around his neck, she smiled, "Little me? Distracting? I just wanted to say hello."
Sirius barked laughter, "Cousin, stop giving my mate a hard on."
Nymphadora, feeling a bit wicked, leaned in closer. "Is that right? Am I giving you a hard on?"
Remus looked at her sternly and then, tilting her head back, his breath hot and rugged against her ear, "Nymphadora, if you had given me a hard-on, you wouldn't be in my lap, you'd be in my bed, crying out my name."
Tonks jumped up so quickly it was as if she'd been stung, "Remus Lupin!"
Silently, a flashed a wicked little grin.
"Never tease a werewolf cousin," Sirius called from the chessboard, "It's likely they'll bite back."
After Tonks recalled their conversation, Remus blushed, "I was drunk and provoked. What's you're point?"
"I just didn't know you thought about those kind of things."
"Things like what? Sex?" Was he that asexual? A few heads turned when he said the last word a little too loudly.
Tonks shyly answered, "Well, yeah. I mean, you're always so calm and proper and teacher-y."
"With adjectives like that, are you sure you want to date me?" He mused.
"And then I found your book-"
"And realized I still have a pulse and a libido."
"Remus!" Tonks rolled her eyes. "It's just that I'm glad, well, for the most part, that we've decided to, at least, try to take things slow. It's just that, I usually jump into things with both feet and it turns out horribly. But this is nice," she took his hand, her thumb intimately slipping beneath his cuff, and skimming over the tender skin of his inner wrist, "Slow is nice."
"I want to go whatever speed makes you comfortable." Remus replied and took her other hand in his, stroking her palm. "The truth of the matter is, I haven't gone at any speed in quite some while."
That's where their conversation ended Thursday night, because in the next moment, Mundangus Fletcher approached the table and their conversation quickly turned to more ordinary matters. But as Tonks lay in her bed that night, only twenty paces from her potential lover, their earlier conversation played over and over through her head and with each replay, she became more and more aroused by his confession; by his whisperings. Even her dreams were tangled with fantasy and desire.
Awaking early the next morning, she tip- toed to his room, where she heard rustling within.
"Are you awake?" Tonks asked as see peeped in his door.
He stood in front of the mirror, wearing his best suit, in the middle of knotting his cravat.
Yummmm... Need spread through over body like warm honey. He looks so hot!
"Oh, good morning," Remus turned, "I didn't mean to wake you." He said, buttoning his cufflinks.
"You didn't. I naturally wake up at this time, even when I have the day off." She walked in the room and let her hands run up the back of waistcoat. "Where are you going looking so handsome?"
He looked down at her, blue eyes happily taking in her pink-lace camisole and black satin shorts. "Unfortunately, I have a meeting at the Ministry concerning the werewolf situation in Dover. "
"Oh, then you have a few minutes for this before you go," Tonks wound her way around his body, and kissed him feverishly, his body responded immediately. Her tongue plunged deeply into his mouth and his maleness hardened against her hip.
His arms around her, "I think I have a few extra minutes for this." The smell of sleep and of woman desire clouded her body and flooded his senses.
They kissed more lasciviously than they had yet, and slowly, throughout their lip locking, Tonks began pushing Remus down into a chair in the corner of the room.
"Remus-"
"Hmmm.." He moaned as her lips nibbled his neck, the smell of his spicy aftershave exciting her.
"I want you to say my name," she whispered.
"What," he asked, when suddenly, she was kneeling before him, spreading his legs and kneading his desire through the think wool of his trousers. That's when he understood her intent; his pale eyes glazed with want and his body trembled with desire.
"You said yesterday that's it's been a while; so, I wanted to do this for you. I wanted to let you know how I really see you..."
Before he could offer any objections, her small hands hand unhooked and unzipped his trousers and her pink lips wrapped around his flesh.
"Dear gods," he cried out, hands bracing against the chair arms. It had been a very, very long time since a woman had touched him in this way; warm wetness in a rhythmic cresendo. After a few minutes of movement, he relaxed; hands drifting through her hair, massaging her naked shoulders. Finally, tilting his head back, a deep moan escaped his throat.
I need this, he thought. I need you.
Her tongue and teeth were driving him over the edge. And as his body tensed in a penultimate thrust, hands knotted in her hair, somehow remembering her request, he cried out, "Nymphadora. Oh gods! Nymphadora!"