It could have been predicted – with their track record and her hesitation – that a relationship would've been a shaky thing. He had a feeling if ANYTHING happened, it wouldn't be much, nor would it progress for quite a while. He would have to take it as slow as he had for their friendship and watch himself.
How right he was.
Not much happened, even though her spring semester was now over. He understood things would end up being slow, mostly due to distance and her schedule. The weeks took of her time, and during the weekend, he was able to spend maybe six hours a day with her.
It was a good way to begin, and she seemed to prefer it too. After that kiss, he forced himself to go slow. He held her hand, sat close to her, and occasionally put his arms around her. She was stiff – as she always was – but loosened a lot quicker than before.
He had a feeling she did that because she knew what to expect now.
She mentioned a few times she liked knowing the ground rules for things so she knew how to act. Even though they could be considered dating, he wouldn't classify it as such. Not because he got to see her on the weekends, but because she was still too shy to take initiative in anything or be really comfortable with the idea of dating him.
She seemed a little more at ease if they did something together, whatever it was. It was another trial to rebuild her esteem because with these new boundaries, she was as shy as she had been in the beginning. But he was now able to use things like holding her hand or innocently touching her to bring her back up.
He had a feeling she didn't mind the dating him – or something close to it – and was getting used to the idea quite rapidly. She never mentioned it, but the look in her eyes and the way she would lean in whenever his arm went around her, gave her away. They only kissed one more time since their first, and he missed being able to do that.
He hesitated on that, as kissing was a rather intimate act...and when it came to him, normally led to other aspects of...things. But he wanted to kiss her so bad and it was a physical restraint he issued at times. She was just so kissable and was a great kisser, whether she knew that or not.
For not having much practice in recent years, or at all, she was able to send a spark through him that he hadn't felt in months.
THAT was a little dangerous, given the implications of what could happen if he allowed himself to give in to the urge. Even if it sounded like a good idea, he always harshly scolded himself and thought of less pleasant things to take his mind off it. If that ever happened it would be nice, if not...he would deal.
He was celibate for months now, more wouldn't kill him.
So he hoped.
"You're going to pass out if you keep sitting that way."
He blinked and his head craned even further back, as much as the mattress would allow. He just grinned and adjusted his feet on the wall. "What makes you say that? I've been like this the past five minutes, but I'm still breathing."
"And you look like a tomato."
An upside-down smile met him and he grinned back, even IF she was correct. The blood was rushing to his head and it was getting annoying to the point of a headache. She was in the process of writing down all her grades and such things as what her financial aid was this year and he conceded in that, knowing her orderly manner was not to be argued with. She just had to put away her books and file said papers, and then they could hang out.
In the meantime, he was forced to find ways to amuse himself and beside the droning internal monologues...sitting with his head hanging off her bed seemed like a good idea at the time.
After all...he'd never seen her room flipped one-eighty before now.
He didn't know what they were going to do besides his normal ideas to get her to open up. He wanted to spend some time together and be affectionate as he wanted, but knew that was still overboard.
She seemed a little tense – possibly uneasy – when he arrived, but he knew that dealt with her accepting she was 'dating' again. She STILL seemed the same way, but giving herself something to do took her focus off.
She was a little guarded as she stood with books loaded in her arms, and headed for her closet. He finally sat up and watched her kneel and pull out a plastic tub. Brown widened a little at seeing the bin nearly full.
There was QUITE a lot of money right there!
When she finished, she turned to look at him, though she didn't move to the bed. He stared back for a few minutes until she forced herself to move. He scooted aside so he wasn't taking up the whole thing and let her sit. Of course, she sat far enough away for it to be friendly...which he wasn't going to allow.
If she distanced herself, he would never be able to worm his way past her defenses as he REALLY wanted.
With a disarming smile, an arm reached out and delved into her hair. She startled, but the feeling made her eyes close and her head turned to his palm a little. His eyes softened a bit.
"Turn around." He quietly ordered. She gave a quizzical stare, but did as commanded and he gently pulled her to rest against his chest. "You need to loosen up missy. I happen to have the cure."
She wasn't worried about putting his legs to sleep by leaning on them, but hadn't shifted to be more comfortable despite his comment. How could she NOT be uncomfortable? The first boyfriend she had in over a year...and a friend no less. The last guy friend she ended up dating was Brad, but she was in a worse position in life then than with Inaki now.
It'd been a month, but she wasn't used to it. Inaki seemed to open the floodgates and touch her at will, when she hadn't been in so long and it was hard to accept it in a short amount of time.
But by being so deprived, she came to want more and more, and want him around. She came to want his company more than just half the weekend, though it was too embarrassing to tell him that. Now that classes were over, he mentioned wanting to spend time with her during the week while he could before summer classes started. She conceded, knowing he would have to go back to the weekends in a mere two weeks.
Not only that, but it gave her the ability to give in to this new need...though she would still be uneasy with his touchy-feely nature. It was the WANT she had – which she understood.
It also meant she was getting used to having a boyfriend again.
Her back slouched only a little in the ten minutes he spent running his hands through her hair. That just wouldn't do.
"You're still too tense." He nearly complained, resting his chin on her head.
"This isn't the most comfortable position in the world." She quietly argued.
He figured that, as her back was at an odd slope and her calves were hanging off the edge of her daybed from lack of room.
Brown scanned the room, getting a sudden idea. Mischievousness hit and a grin broadened when he spotted her cd collection. He found a stack next to it and pouted a little when recognition hit him.
Those were the cds he gave as a present that she hadn't even finished unwrapping!
That wouldn't do either. Feeling a little disappointed that she hadn't listened to the music; he knew just what to do.
"Sit up then and I'll fix that." He slid out from under her and stood, helping her off the bed and positioned her a few feet from her cd player. "Stay there and don't move." He ordered, striding to the collection. A finger tore the paper open the rest of the way and he picked a cd out of the small stack, brown reading the song titles as he strode to the player.
He didn't give her music he hadn't already listened to, and with this cd, he knew the lyrics. There were two perfect songs to choose from to get his point across.
And have some fun in the process.
He deposited the cd and turned the volume up enough for the lyrics to be heard before pressing play on the track he wanted.
She blinked when he quickly grabbed her hands and pulled her into a general dance position. There was an almost silly grin on his face that she wondered about.
Then heard the beginning of a song.
You know you...you make me feel so good inside
Always wanted a girl just like you
Such a purity...pretty young thing
It was strange to hear another voice come from his mouth as he spoke in time with the words. In a way, he was using the singer to croon to her. A shiver ran through at what she could pick from the lyrics and the look on his face.
How...adorable.
Where did you come from lady
And ooh won't you take me there
Right away won't you baby
Tenderoni you've got to be
Spark my nature; sugar fly with me
He created some kind of weird mutation of what she considered a tango and a waltz. He shook her shoulders by pushing and pulling on her arms, dipped, twirled, and forced her to keep half an eye on their feet to keep from stepping on him. And he did it all in time with the words and beat to the song.
I want to love you (P Y T)
Pretty young thing
You need some loving (T L C)
Tender loving care
And I'll take you there
Whatever his intention, his silliness was addicting, and the silly grin and mouthing the words was making her smile. She felt the anxiety melt at the words and what they stood for – what he was making them stand for. She couldn't help laughter that rose and the giggling that escaped as she played along and joined in his strange dance.
It was fun and he was doing this to loosen her up. She knew it, because he wouldn't act like this for HIS benefit...
Nothing can stop this burning desire to be with you
Gotta get to you baby
Won't you come, it's emergency
Cool my fire yearning honey, come set me free
As he got to the best part of the song – what he could REALLY get a laugh out of her with – his finger pointed to her as he continued to lip-sing.
Pretty young things, repeat after me
Say na na na
She giggled and tried to copy him as a breathy female voice repeated the syllables. That went on for four times, and by then she was laughing too hard to keep it up.
I want to love you (P Y T)
Pretty young thing
You need some loving (T L C)
Tender loving care
And I'll take you there
Now he knew why he ended up picking this song. There were a few kiss noises at the end and he took the sound effects as opportunities to plant a few less-than-serious kisses on her nose. It didn't seem to phase her any and her eyes seemed to continue their sparkle.
By the time the song finished, he successfully accomplished his goal to get her to calm down – as was clearly shown by her wide grin and giggles. He set her on the bed to shut the cd off and plopped down next to her.
Her head shook as a hand covered her mouth. "No one can say you aren't a good mood lifter." She quipped, trying to stop laughing. Thinking of everything he did brought on more, and the need to laugh, and it was hard to stop.
He puffed up in a grand display and draped an arm over her shoulders. "I have my uses. No one can ever accuse me of being a bad dancer."
She erupted into more laughter at that.
He grinned and sneakily pulled her against him, which she leaned on as a support. Her head drooped and pressed against his chest and sent his heart fluttering.
She had such pleasant laughter; it was so nice to hear. It was full of life and it was a shame in knowing she hadn't had the opportunity to voice it as much as she could've.
With him, she would be doing that a LOT more.
The flare of getting her to laugh increased his determination to get her to open up. He would do anything to get her to laugh and smile, because he liked having her do both. She looked pretty when she smiled, when her eyes lit up in genuine happiness or amusement.
Finally roping it in, hearing quiet in her ears, she wrapped a hand around her stomach and pulled away to stand. "What say we catch a movie?" Green went to the clock on her nightstand. "We've still got the whole afternoon."
"Sounds good to me." He stood and a hand went to his wallet. He was about to pull out money to count and see what he had when a hand and a giggle stopped him.
"No, no...a movie HERE. Sorry – I should've clarified."
He smiled and grasped her hand, putting his wallet back with the other. "Simple misunderstanding." He gave her a small squeeze and led the way to the bedroom door.
She fought a sheepish smile at his actions and followed him downstairs, hands still entwined.
"Go ahead and look through anything that sounds good." She let him go and lightly shoved him for the narrow arch. "I'll get started on making us some popcorn."
"Works for me." He headed in and a brow rose at the size of home movies stacked near the tv. "You two aren't much for a dvd stand are you?"
"They get shifted through every weekend, what's the point?" She called, digging through the cupboards. "But I am getting a little annoyed at seeing them there. I'm thinking of getting a bookshelf or something."
He kneeled and picked up a stack. His nose wrinkled.
"Oh yea – most of those are chick flicks. Be warned."
His eyes rolled through a small grin at her late warning. He shifted through almost half the stack before popping corn reached his ears.
By the time he found one that sounded not so sappy and one his sister said was pretty good, put it in and turned everything on, K was waltzing in with sodas and popcorn bags juggled in her arms.
"One for each." She pleasantly announced, plopping down. She set everything down and instantly snatched the controls out of his hand that he was trying to figure out and shoved the bag over instead. Without a word, fingers expertly went through the set up and started the movie, letting it play without skipping to give them time to shake the salt and butter around.
A hand moved to the coffee table and deposited the controls, opened her can, and shifted to get comfortable.
When she was through shifting and moving the cushions, he went to get comfortable and scooted close enough so their knees touched. They were both wearing jeans, but the fact that he was touching her made his heart skip a beat for a second. He snuck a glance at her face, finding her looking at him. He merely smiled and directed his eyes to the tv and opened his bag.
The movie had progressed halfway through. It had to be turned up due to loud crunching, but that was a given. It was actually a pretty good movie, and the company was commendable. He was enjoying himself.
But something caught his eye when he snuck a glance to see if K was enjoying herself as much as he was and froze.
Brown widened and he tensely licked his lips.
He harshly swallowed and quickly diverted his gaze to the tv, feeling his blood heat at the image that presented itself. When he snuck a glance, it was still there.
He uncomfortably cleared his throat and resisted the urge to shift and give away just how physically uncomfortable he suddenly was.
Green looked his way briefly. "Something wrong?" She asked, crunching as she went.
He looked at her face for all of a second before spearing the tv with an intense look. "Do you...ah...always...eat popcorn," He harshly swallowed again, "with your...tongue?"
Her tongue shot out and grasped a kernel, brow furrowing. She removed the bag from her face and set it in her lap in favor for her soda. "Of course – keeps my hands from getting all greasy. Not like I couldn't lick the butter off, but this way I don't have to and I can touch the controllers quicker."
He shifted his position to shift period, though that did little to ease the ache that suddenly appeared.
All those words she used...why did she have to pick those words?? They did SO not help him right now and the mental images he was getting was sending his body into a down spiral.
"Oh..." He nearly croaked.
Green blinked. His voice seemed tense for some reason. "Something up? You don't sound very well..."
He forced a groan down. She was so innocent...it was cute, but it was a pain. Didn't she know what she was doing to him?!
He had to calm down, this would only scare her...though she told him she was not a virgin, she took something like that very seriously. He learned this and it was a sharp lesson to know...and not something to play around with.
Of course he had to give himself credit – he'd been celibate for months with no thoughts until now.
That had to be a record.
"Are you SURE you're okay?"
He jumped and looked her way, finding her gaze had inched over as if trying to see better. Her head was tilted in an inquiring way and her lips pursed in wonder.
For the oddest reason, that look sent another jolt through him.
"Why – why do you say that?"
"Because you look like you're in pain. Did you get a kernel stuck in your gums or something?"
In pain? She had no idea...
His head shook. "No...no, nothing like that." He set the bag down to put a little distance between her, even for a second. Her nearness was going to be both their undoing if she didn't back away. But he couldn't very well tell her she was turning him on by not only eating her popcorn in such an erotic way – how could he sat by her so long and missed that ANYWAY?? – but giving him irresistibly adorable looks?
Her brow furrowed. "Nothing? O...kay..." She made to lean back, a hand reaching for her popcorn again, but his snaked out and quickly grabbed her wrist.
He could NOT sit there next to her and let her continue, not now that he knew how she ate! The image of her using her tongue like that would force him to get off the couch and away from her.
Green blinked as she gave him a confused look. "Inaki? What is it?" She cast a look to the coffee table. "Don't worry; I wasn't reaching for the controls. Just my popcorn."
He didn't let go and slowly pulled her hand to the back of the couch. "That's not it." He muttered, not looking at her.
She stared at him in wonder, brow heavily furrowing. Finally, her head shook. "You're not making sense. What is wrong?"
He was trying to fight it, but it was a little hard to turn himself on and off like a faucet. After a beat of silence, he met her eyes, pinning her with his emotions.
She harshly swallowed. She knew that look – knew it well. She saw that on him the first time they kissed...and she saw it on Brad as well.
Her heart immediately sped as warmth hit her. A small shiver ran up her back. The movie was already forgotten.
She tried to form words, but her tongue and brain stopped working. She sat frozen, hand in his heated grip in the air, and her body started trembling from adrenaline.
"I...can't sit here...and watch you eat...with your tongue." He slowly turned and inched closer unconsciously, finding a need to be near her surface.
He wanted - no HAD - to touch her.
She leaned back in response, eyes slowly widening on their own. An arm reached behind to keep her from falling over. She finally comprehended his words and tried to swallow, failing miserably.
Her mouth opened to try and say his name, maybe snap him out of whatever he was going through, but her vocal cords wouldn't work. She only managed a small squeak before he leaned over her legs...his hand letting her go to rest on either side of her ribcage for balance.
He was so close...mere inches above her body and face. The intensity hadn't lessened at all as he moved, but increased, if possible. Her body was shaking from his polarity and her heartbeat thudded in her ears so loudly it effectively threw the movie as quiet background noise – though she had it turned up enough so they could hear it.
He wanted to say something, but it was hard to find ANYTHING to say. The urge to kiss and touch her was taking him hostage and he couldn't help but go with it. She backed up a little, but made no move to stop him.
Did that mean she didn't mind what he was doing so far?
His legs were at an awkward angle, but he feared to move. They were frozen in time in the same position and although he wanted to lean down and cover her body with his, he wanted to wait until she had the same emotion in her eyes that he had in his. He also wanted to know she would allow it.
He would never take advantage of her like that.
She harshly swallowed, mind screaming at her to move and get away or move and kiss him. His mouth was parted and it was SO tempting! Her heart ran even faster with that realization, but she didn't shy away from it mentally.
He was a DAMN good kisser – with probably enough experience – and gave her more than enough opportunities to let him keep practicing.
She hadn't been ready in the beginning; they were too new after all. But wedging their toes into this, nothing seemed to change and she suddenly found herself wanting this. She wanted to touch him, as she wouldn't let herself do in the beginning, and she wanted to kiss him. He wouldn't mind and he was trying to do that in the first place anyway.
"I...naki..." She whispered, slowly leaning up.
"K..." He breathed, meeting her lips. He tried to start out slow, really he tried. But when she ran her tongue over his lip, he lost most of his control.
He gently pushed her back, allowing her time to adjust to not hurt herself, and shifted his arms for better balance. His fingers twitched as if pouting they couldn't dig into her hair at the angle his elbows had to be at to keep him from crushing her.
Her arms gravitated around his neck, almost feeling whole with his weight settled over her. Muscles flexed and dragged him closer, and her body mindlessly arched up for something – anything – in the moment.
He shuddered and shifted again, ultimately allowing his hands to wander. One delved into her hair as much as possible and the other trailed down her arm...down her hip...
And tugged her left leg apart to almost hang off the couch.
She gasped and her eyes flew open...feeling him. An intense shiver ran through her as her eyes fluttered close and – before she could stop herself – pulled away enough to grab hold of his lip with her teeth.
He exhaled a shaky breath after a second. He had to touch her more – this wasn't enough. He wanted more...his body wanted more.
He pulled away enough to breathe her name...right before his teeth and lips latched hold of her neck.
She inhaled a shaky breath and gave the quietest of whimpers. Instinctively, her fingers flexed and nails pressed against his back.
He grunted against the pain as it mingled with what he already felt. The newest feeling was not unwelcome and it felt too good to make her stop.
Wasn't there a quote about pain and pleasure anyway?
But it sure wasn't helping the ache he had right now.
He shifted and seemed to forget exactly where his lap was. A feeling shot through her when he moved and she cried out, head pressing against the cushions. Her back arched and she panted, trying to get her breath back.
That...she hadn't felt that...for a while...
She heard him breathe her name and there was an intense need to touch him back as he was lavishing her. She wanted to make him feel the same way...even if she knew he was there already.
Her hands moved up his back, past his braid, to his hair, and pulled his head to the side. Allowing her mouth to capture an ear.
He nearly choked with the electricity she created. His ears were always a sensitive spot – one of his main turn ons – and she was doing more damage than she was helping.
His fist tightened its hold on the side of her leg and his thumb ran over her jeans as if feeling skin. It was insistent and not light, but she certainly didn't mind.
Their lips connected almost mutually after a few minutes of her snacking on his ear. They clashed and wrestled for dominance and emotion, neither winning...but putting up a rather good fight.
At least until the lock turned on the front door.
Two pairs of eyes shot open in shock and they scrambled apart as the door opened. He tried to sit in a way to conceal the past few minutes and she quickly went to wipe her mouth.
"I'm back! I did pretty well on my grades, so I decided to go out to lunch." Sam called, setting her keys down. Hands went for the laces of her shoes. "Sorry I didn't take you with, but you mentioned Inaki might be coming over today, so I figured you could spend some quality time with him."
She did SO not appreciate the tone Sam said the last sentence in...especially since said person was sitting not even a foot away.
Resting a cold pop in his lap.
She promptly blushed at seeing that and her gaze whipped to the open wood doors when Sam came into her vision.
"Oh...you did come over." Sam gave a grin and looked to the tv. "Having fun? Good movie?"
Her mouth opened and closed a few times without saying anything. "Great! Fine! It's a chick flick...but it wasn't...bad..." She stuttered, going for her pop in a fidget. She quickly downed most of it, partly to keep from saying anything more.
Sam cast the two an odd glance, looking back and forth. Blonde swished in confusion. "Yea I guess." A hand held up a slip of folded paper. "Well, I'm going to go note my grades down and put this with everything else."
She tried to smile and failed miserably. "Knock yourself out."
Sam merely smiled and passed through the archway, leaving them in silence.
Totally aware of each other and what just happened.
She stared at the tv, unable to meet his gaze and trying to figure out what to say. She didn't notice anything going on before slowly going for the remote and shutting it off.
It was official – she would never be able to watch this movie again without remembering today.
The controls rested limply in her hand and she stared at them, trying to find words. This had not happened to her for a long time and her body was still humming. She couldn't get the feeling to subside, and part of her didn't WANT to.
How long had it been since she felt such passion??
The pop can moved in her field of vision and she kept track of it without breaking her stare. It was set down as quietly as possible before he sat back and looked at her.
"I – I don't regret what just happened." He nearly whispered. "But I'm sorry I didn't keep control."
She felt like gawking at him in shock. Control?? Hell, part of her wanted to THANK him! Thank him for his LACK of control...
She quickly set the control on the table. "It's...okay..." Her lips pressed together as she forced herself to look at him. "I – I don't...regret it...either." A tentative smile appeared. "I told you...I rarely regret...anything I do..."
He gave a small smile and stared at her. She couldn't help but hold his gaze, captured by soft brown. He slowly leaned over after a bit, allowing her to tell him to stop, before closing the gap entirely and kissing her as gently as he could.
It was nice. It was so innocent and caring it almost made tears form. This was his way of putting that nice little make-out session behind them, almost bringing them back to the beginning they started out at.
Someone cleared their throat and she jumped, whipping to the archway. Sam stood there, half hidden by the wall, with a wide grin. "You two are so CUTE..." She cooed, hands clenching under her chin.
She gave the girl a dry glance. She looked back when Inaki shifted and found him staring at the entertainment center.
"You do realize it's almost four."
She followed his gaze. She realized what he was mentioning and stood as he did. "Yea – you need to get home and help with dinner."
She followed him to the porch, closing the door behind her to keep Sam from following, and stopped when he did.
"I'll call you when you wanna hang out again."
She smiled. "Got it." She breathed.
A hand snaked out and slowly grasped her t-shirt, pulling her forward. She went as tension inched up and leaned forward to kiss him again.
He couldn't help but smile when they pulled away. She was getting more comfortable with kissing him...and thankfully so. With that nice little eruption of suppressed hormones – on BOTH sides, what surprised the HELL out of him! – he was relieved to find she didn't run away!
He looked at her one last time to get him through the days and inched down the steps. He walked backward as much as he dared, waving as he went, before rounding the car.
After he pulled away, she plopped down on the porch and exhaled a shudder. The breeze was a little warm for May, and didn't help her to cool off in the least.
She couldn't BELIEVE that just happened! Where did that surge of lust come from?!
'You haven't had sex in two years or so. Something like that gets buried, not destroyed!'
She was glad Inaki didn't make a big deal of that. It was a just make-out session, albeit one HELL of a make-out session!
She couldn't help but smile as she stood and made for the front door. 'I have a feeling this is going to haunt me for a while. MAN I seriously hope he doesn't do anything like that again! I don't know if I'll be able to contain myself next time!'
God forbid...if such a session happened again and Inaki unleashed two years of pent up sexual tension, he was going to get knocked for a loop when her hidden aggressive side came out.
An evil grin appeared as she headed for the living room to pick up after them.
What she wouldn't give to see the look on Inaki's face when he found THAT out!
Singer: Michael Jackson Title: Pretty Young Thing