Watching, Waiting and Hoping part 10
by Ash
Disclaimer: Lucasfilm owns the characters and situations used in this story. I'm only borrowing them for a little while to play with them. This chapter could be said to be 'R' rated.
Han searched around the ballroom for any sight of his brother-in-law, Callista or Mara Jade and to his discomfiture found none of them. He quickly scanned the dancers once more and located his wife partnering a rather portly senator from Sluis Van. He cut in quickly and drew his wife aside.
"Where are they?"
Leia did not need to ask who 'they' were."
"Luke was dancing with Mara."
"He was?" his voice rose up delightedly. "He was," he muttered. "Good."
"But they're not doing that now."
"They're not… they're not?" He mumbled something and Leia looked at her husband suspiciously.
"Han!"
"Where's Callista?" he asked urgently.
"I left her in the anteroom."
"She's not with Luke?"
"No, she was alone. Han, do you mind telling me what all this is about?"
"Can you find Luke? Try the hokey religion method. It's more discreet."
Leia, with a calm she definitely was not feeling, closed her eyes and searched out the warm presence in the Force that belonged to Luke. "He's close and he's…" She stopped suddenly, her mouth forming a perfect 'o' of surprise.
"He's what?"
"He's busy."
"What do you mean, he's busy."
Leia leaned forward and whispered in her husband's ear, but at the same time giving a sneaky little bite to his very tempting lobe.
"He is?" He gave a delighted grin. "With Jade? We'll just leave them then." He kissed Leia softly and drew her close. "I told you I'd been intriguing," he murmured.
"So I see, but I've always found you to be that."
He chuckled. "Otherwise she wouldn't have come and certainly wouldn't have spoken to him."
"What did they fall out over?"
Han coughed and assumed his best sabacc playing expression. "I don't want to go into that here, plus I think Luke would kill me for sure. Trust me on this one."
"Of course," Leia smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. Her brother's sense had certainly been busy and very much entwined with Mara's. Leia had felt she was definitely intruding and had stopped probing. The heat coming from them had made her feel rather warm and desire the close company of her husband.
Callista had watched the dancers until Mara had held out her arms to Luke. It was then that she really saw it. Luke had told the truth. He wasn't in love with her any more; he was in love with the red haired trader and Mara returned the emotion. The love just shone from his blue eyes and she wondered if Luke and Mara were even aware of it. Mara was conscious of her own feelings, Callista was sure of it. It would explain the slightly bizarre behaviour the first day that Mara had been in Coruscant. But Luke was still struggling to give the emotion a name. He still associated romantic love very much with heartbreak and Callista knew that was her fault.
A fierce jealousy gripped her as she thought of Luke and Mara together, but it died when she remembered that Mara had done everything in her power to let Luke choose. If Callista had been Luke's choice, Mara would not have got in the way. Mara loved Luke but was unsure of the Jedi Master's feelings.
Part of Callista had still hoped that Luke did love her, but as she watched carefully, Luke put one foot in front of the other, moving steadily across the dance floor until the two Jedi stood face to face. Callista's dreams of a future with the Jedi Master finally toppled and crashed to the ground.
There was a poignant moment as their fingers touched lightly together, then entwined. The dance was a formal one – hands touched, bodies did not - so perhaps, to someone who didn't know Luke intimately there would be no indication that his heart was singing and his blood was on fire, but Callista knew. She'd seen a watered down version of it for herself. Luke had been in love with her eight years ago, but Mara was the love of his life now. The way Luke was staring at Mara Jade, as if she held his whole life and happiness, was far stronger than he'd ever looked at Callista. It was too much for her to bear and she sought an escape route.
Callista turned and skirted the edges of the ballroom, making her way outside to the balcony where she found a hidden bench in the corner and sank down upon it unsure of what do. She'd only been there a moment when quiet murmurs of voices could be heard approaching. Callista carefully peered around the large green shrub that screened her hiding place and froze. Of all the worst things that could happen - she was cut off and the voices belonged to Luke and Mara. 'Move now Callie,' she told herself, 'before they think you're spying on them.' But before she could do that Luke turned to Mara, his hands on her arms and bent his blond head to her bright one. Callista swore silently. 'Sithspawn!' – she was stuck.
Luke bent his head capturing Mara's lips and just as before, they instantly became lost in the sensations they created between them. Luke pulled her closer and closer, his hands caressing the bare skin of her smooth and supple back covered only by the thin cross of her dress straps. His hands slipped below the straps and began to roam in earnest. Mara gasped as he pulled her closer until she felt the hard length of his body against her own. Her mouth opened, letting his seeking tongue enter and a shaft of heat seared all the way through his insides. "Oh, Mara," he moaned.
"Luke," she replied breathlessly when his lips had left hers and travelled across her cheek. Mara tipped her head back allowing him access to the soft skin at her neck. She found the fastening to Luke's jacket and slid it off his shoulders letting it slip from her hands to lie at their feet, ignored. The soft, brushed cotton of his shirt, sensuous against her fingers, let her trace the muscles of his arms and across his well formed chest. But it wasn't enough; she needed to feel his skin. Part of her knew that this wasn't the place to do it and part of her revelled in the excitement that they might be caught. A strange recklessness spurred her forwards… a strange recklessness or just being in the arms of the man she loved.
Luke slipped the thin straps from her shoulders and his mouth kissed over her smooth skin following it down… down until it latched on to her rosy nipple and suckled. Mara let out a little cry and then a sultry moan as she threw her head back. "Oh, Luke, please, please…"
"Mara… Mara," he breathed hoarsely, his mouth bringing her nipple to the fullness of an aching arousal, his hands pressing her against him. He moved his attention to her other breast lavishing the same care and attention on it.
Mara fumbled with the fastenings to his shirt trying to touch his bare skin, but he was kissing her breasts. Finally losing patience she pulled him up until he faced her. She kissed him again, his tongue duelling with hers in an erotic ballet that could have only one outcome.
"Mara…. Not here…"
"Why not?" she breathed heavily, the emotions swirling about them and through them.
"People…" Luke's power of speech had diminished. He was dangerously close to losing control and taking her here and now. He'd never behaved like this in his entire life, but this woman affected him that strongly.
"No one's here, we… could…" Mara threw her head back as Luke's mouth once more started on her neck and shoulders. "Go… over… there…"
"What?"
"There's a…" she let out another moan. "Bench… behind that… hedge. No one… would find us there."
Callista shut her eyes – she was no voyeur, but the sounds continued to intrude. This was the worst night of her life and the pain lanced through her. The man she loved was making love to another woman and they were heading towards her hiding place. She had to get out of there without them seeing her and she had to do it now. Although, she suspected that Luke and Mara wouldn't spot an army of Sith warriors advancing on them at the moment. It was almost funny in a macabre sort of way even if the joke was definitely on Callista.
She moved quickly, slipping through a gap in the shrubs. Callista congratulated herself on her silent escape from terminal mortification until she tripped over Luke's jacket and came clattering down on to her knees. It was too much, the tears slipped down over her cheeks, the jagged hurt tearing at her insides. She rubbed at her eyes with her fists like a child would. The temptation to curl into a foetal position and stay there, rocking herself until the pain vanished was extremely strong, but the desire warred with the knowledge she did not want to be discovered by the lovers.
Luke lifted his head from Mara's neck. "What was that? I just heard something."
Mara jerked herself from his arms, her kiss-swollen lips revealing exactly what had occupied her for so long. "Somebody's been watching us?" With trembling fingers Mara tried to pull her dress up over her naked breasts and found that she could not until Luke helped her. His fingers were almost as unsteady.
Ignoring the pain from her bruised knees, Callista shot upwards and disappeared into the ballroom before the Jedi could identify their unwilling eavesdropper.
Luke scanned the balcony area with his Jedi senses and shook his head at Mara. "If there was someone here, they're gone now. I can't even sense the hint of a presence." He trailed a gentle finger over her nipples, feeling them instantly harden beneath the soft material. "I can't believe you and I… we…"
"Nearly…" Mara's face went scarlet. "What were we thinking of?"
"That's just it, Mara. I don't believe we were… thinking. I suppose we were… feeling."
"I want to go home," she said flatly as her temperature cooled down. Something about Luke's words had touched a chord. He'd not sensed anyone watching them, yet someone had been there.
"No, we have to return to the ballroom."
"Look, Skywalker, I'm in no state to return anywhere," she replied sharply.
Luke pulled her out of the shadows and underneath one of the ornamental lanterns. Her face was still flushed with arousal, her eyes were wide and her red-gold hair was straggling wildly from the sophisticated style. His fingers and ardent mouth had wrought considerable damage to her appearance. He trailed a careful finger over her soft cheek, past her crimson kiss-stung mouth, devoid now of makeup but still beautiful, and down over her slender neck where the faint but unmistakeable signs of a man's mouth had left his mark. Something primitive and male possessed Luke at that moment. He'd marked her as his own – Mara Jade was his now. He bent his head and covered her mouth once more and she groaned deep in her throat. Urgently he pressed her against his strong body, feeling it surge once more into life.
"You're right", he panted hoarsely when he finally released her. "Let's get out of here."
Luke tugged her by the hand into a run and hustled her along the balcony.
"Luke…"
"Come on, Jade."
"Where are we going?"
"You wanted to go home – we're going home."
"I'm not going back in there like this!" She screeched to a halt, stubbornly refusing to move any further.
The Jedi Master smiled and ran his fingers again over her soft cheek. "You look beautiful, I told you. Still, perhaps you're right. We don't have to go back in."
"But there's no way out of here without going back in."
Luke's face lit up with juvenile mischief and Mara felt her senses flutter.
"Skywalker!" she warned.
"Come on," he insisted, hauling at her hand.
"Where?" Mara's voice rose in exasperation.
Luke towed her to the edge of the balcony, peered over the railing and pointed to another level just below the one they were on. "There's no one around down there – good. Take off your shoes." He sat her on the balustrade and unfastened the delicate strappy footwear. "You can't leap successfully in these. What possessed you to wear them?"
"I happened to be attending a reception in the state ballroom in the Imperial Palace attended by the most important and influential citizens in the New Republic." Mara arched a sardonic eyebrow. "I didn't think I'd be doing Jedi assault courses dressed in high heels and a silk gown."
"You have to be prepared for everything, Jade," he instructed with male satisfaction.
"Spare me the lecture, Master Skywalker. Next time I'll wear my boots. They look terrible with this dress, but hey, who cares."
"Jade!"
"I don't usually have to leave so precipitously…"
"Mara!" Luke swung her into his arms, gave her a brief hard kiss. "Shut up."
Before Mara had time to consider what she was doing, Luke had her up on the balustrade and they were springing down to land safely on the lower level balcony, their landing cushioned by the Force.
Luke knelt before her and picked up a slim foot.
"Hey, Skywalker."
"Here…" He slipped her foot into the shoe and fastened it with deft fingers and then did the same with the other one. Mara shivered at the touch of his hands on her feet. But when he tried to get up, Mara placed one newly shod foot into the middle of the Jedi Master's chest and pushed.
"Hey!" He looked up at her with the aggrieved expression of a small boy being denied a favourite treat. "What was that for?"
"I'm sure you'll think of a reason," she returned smartly. "You going to sit there all day?"
"Depends…"
"Well, I'm not waiting here any longer." She made as if to leave, a small smile playing about her lips.
"Come on." He grinned with satisfaction as he stood up, brushing the seat of his pants. "We can get to the main corridor from here. But first…" Luke pulled her back into his arms and covered her face with passionate kisses.
Mara almost laughed aloud. She'd hardly ever seen Luke this uninhibited in all the years she'd known him. "Where's your jacket?"
"I think I left it on the balcony." He brushed his cream shirt lightly and smiled at her. "Who cares? I said come on."
"Where are we going?"
"Somewhere we can be alone, where there is a bed where I can make love to you again and again…." His voice dipped lower and she felt her stomach lurch in anticipation. "Until we're so sated that we cannot move."
Mara closed on him and wound her arms around his neck. "My apartment is nearer," she whispered breathily, sending him images of what she would like to do with him.
Luke swallowed, his eyes going wide as he froze. "Really?" he asked as assorted images assaulted his senses. "Is that sort of thing legal in this sector?"
"Oh, I think so,"
"I know your apartment is nearer, but mine is only two floors above it. Okay… yours is nearer." A muscle worked in his cheek and Mara felt that he was holding on to everything he had with all the strength he had. "Mara, we need to go there now, or I won't be able to answer for what my actions will be." His eyes glittered with suppressed feelings and the woman in his arms caught the sudden seriousness of his mood, her throat dry and her hands shaking.
They dropped their hands and carefully, not looking at each other or touching, they made their way along the corridors to the turbolift. Side by side they stood in silence until the doors slid open and they stood in front of Mara's apartment.
"Open the door, Mara."
She frowned a little and lifted her hand to lay it on his arm.
"Don't touch me." His voice was sharp and she backed away bewildered.
"If you touch me now. I won't be able to wait until we're inside. As it is I'm trying not to carve your door open with my lightsaber and take you in the hallway.
Mara firmed her lips together and punched in her entrance code. The door slid aside and she walked carefully in, aware of Luke following her, his eyes never wavering from her slender figure.
The door closed and they turned to each other in the cramped confines of the darkened entrance-hall.
"Drink?" she asked, her tongue sweeping over her dry lips.
Luke's gaze narrowed. "No," he replied. "Unless you're thirsty."
"No, I'm not thirsty. Not for a drink."
"Mara… I…" he stuttered. "Oh, hell." And he grabbed her.
Mara let out a cry of surprise and then couldn't say any more as his mouth was on hers and his arms were around her, his lips wildly giving. Their bodies pressed tightly together in the age-old mating ritual.