The Dinner Party 2
By Ash Darklighter
Disclaimer – The characters in this story are the property of Lucasfilm Ltd. I am making no credits from this either Imperial or Republican. This fic is for Sienn. Just for her encouragement, lovely nature and her willingness to give feedback to absolutely everybody. This is a PWP and if you are looking for a plot, it really isn't there.
Mara Jade turned and glared at her companion in the turbolift. "Put your hand there again and you and Skywalker will be able to compare notes on prosthetic limbs."
"But Mara you look absolutely stunning this evening. It's no wonder that I cannot resist you."
Mara glared at him. "Try really hard, Calrissian," she said through clenched teeth as they exited the lift and approached the Solo's apartment. "Try really, really hard."
The former Baron-Administrator's white teeth flashed in a charming smile as he attempted to look hurt. He couldn't believe that Mara Jade could resist him. "There won't be another woman as beautiful as you present tonight." He smiled again and then stepped forward to where Han Solo was waiting to receive the guests as they arrived
"Why did I decide to come?" she said aloud.
"Hey buddy!" Calrissian's loud voice made her wince as Han Solo met them at the door of his Coruscant home.
"Lando!...and Mara Jade – you look delightful. Good evening." He ushered them into the cool cream luxuriousness of the entrance hall.
The redhead met Solo's eyes and smiled sweetly. "I was invited."
"I know. The Kid will be pleased, I think."
"The Kid…Oh!" Mara looked disconcerted. There was only one man Solo called 'Kid', even though he'd long left childhood behind him. "Skywalker's here?"
"Not yet."
"He's on Coruscant?" She couldn't believe it. He usually called to see if she wanted training or something as trivial as a caf as a subterfuge to mention training. And normally she could sense when he was around.
"Yeah. Has been for the past week." Han was eyeing her carefully. "He's not been up to much. In fact, he's spent most of the past two days taking apart his x-wing."
"Lando…Mara! I'm so glad you could come." Leia came forward to meet her guests, perfectly groomed in a flowing deep blue robe, her shining dark hair coiled and braided.
"Leia," Mara said nodding her own perfect coiffed head in greeting and watched, her lip curling, as Lando grabbed the princess's hand and kissed it.
"Leia," Lando said smoothly. "I cannot believe Han captured such beauty and graciousness."
Han watched as Mara immediately moved away from Lando as he greeted Leia. 'So,' he thought. 'The lady is not as eager for Lando's company as he would like her to be.'
But Lando had the light of what could only be described as lust gleaming in his dark eyes when he glanced towards his companion for the evening and quickly followed her. "Cloaks in the room to your left he said and whistled silently as Mara emerged in a dress that left little to anyone's imagination. Lando was slower to leave the cloakroom and one reason told Han exactly why. He seemed to be nursing his wrist. Mara smiled mirthlessly at Han and moved to join the already assembled guests in the lounge.
Leia tapped her jewelled wrist chrono and looked at the door and then at Han. His brother-in-law had not arrived yet.
"He'll be here, sweetheart. He's got at least another minute before you need to send out the Noghri search party."
He'll be her
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Luke brushed an imaginary speck of lint from his grey tunic and reached out for the door chime. He smiled wryly and let his hand fall, the door chime untouched, as he waited for his sister to open the door. She'd been waiting for him.
"I'm not late," he said into her ear as she hugged him.
"No, not quite."
He surreptitiously checked his chrono as he stepped away from her. "I'm on time…perfectly on time." He held up his wrist and a small alarm rang. "See." He gave her a mischievous grin.
"Oh, brother."
"Well?" Luke held out his arms.
"Well what?"
"Do I pass inspection?" He rotated slowly before her.
"Very nice," Leia said approvingly.
"Just nice?" he uttered in mock outrage.
"You look very smart." It was nice to see him in something other than black. She stiffened. "Luke…isn't that the tunic you wore at my wedding?"
"Yes." Her brother grinned smugly. "Hasn't been on since. You, of course, look as beautiful as ever. The Skywalkers must have been a very good looking family to produce such specimens as ourselves." He looked around him. "Where's the Corellian pirate you married?"
"Conducting a study on the merits of different brands of whisky in the lounge with some of your former colleagues."
"You invited the 'Rogues'?" Luke's face lit up.
"Some of them. Wedge and Tycho were able to be here. The rest are off on patrol somewhere."
"Have Mara and Lando arrived?" He asked casually.
"Yes."
Luke gave a little shake of his head. "I'll see if she wants to do some training at some point later on next week. She'll expect me to ask at least once or twice."
"Luke, I may be wrong about her and Lando." Leia caught hold of his arm before they entered the room.
"They're both free," Luke said quietly. "What they do together is their business not mine. They aren't harming anyone."
'Weren't they?' Leia hesitated but the moment to say anything more was lost. She had a notion of exactly who would continue to be harmed if the rumours about Mara and Lando were true. "Yes, I suppose they're not," she said and managed to smile at her brother.
Luke and Leia made their way into the lounge where Luke was greeted with many cries of welcome. Everybody liked the Jedi Master and it had been a long time since he'd been with them all – a long time.
Luke's smile widened, as he relaxed. This was going to be one of Leia's less formal parties, thank the Force. Leia handed him a drink and watched as he moved towards a group containing Wedge Antilles and Tycho Celchu. Luke was unaware of the vivid green eyes trained keenly on his grey clad back.
'Grey?' Mara noted with surprise. It still wasn't what she would call colourful but it was an improvement on the all black ensemble.
"Don't you agree, Mara?" Lady Winter Celchu asked.
"What? Oh, I don't know." Mara hoped her lack of attention hadn't been too noticeable and wriggled a little as a hand traced its way down her bare back coming close to settling on the curve of her hip.
"Did I tell you how beautiful you look this evening?"
"I told you already to get your hand off me this instant, Calrissian," Mara hissed. "Or you'll be like old Skywalker over there."
"Did I hear my name being mentioned?" Luke stuck his head over Winter's shoulder and eyed the seething redhead carefully. "Nice dress you're…er…nearly wearing, Mara."
Mara's face shuttered. "I didn't recognise you," she said coldly. "It is you, Skywalker? I didn't know that you were expanding your colour spectrum."
Luke and Mara eyed one another carefully and Lando, frowning, put his hand on her arm.
"Calrissian, that's it. " She glared at him and Luke backed away sensing there were tensions between Lando and Mara that he didn't want to get involved in. He settled himself in a corner, a drink in his hand and people watched but more and more his eyes were drawn to the red-headed woman in the shimmering dress of aquamarine, her toned midriff and shoulders bare. His gaze traced her spectacular figure, noting the places that the cloth concealed. He swallowed as a wave of lust swept through him. No wonder Lando couldn't help but touch her skin. What would it be like to stroke, to caress, to kiss…?
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat feeling himself grow hard. This was Mara Jade he was thinking about like this. She would kill him if she knew.
Mara took a sip of her wine, glancing across the room from underneath her lashes at the man in the grey tunic. Skywalker seemed different tonight – somewhat distant. He would never dare touch her the way Calrissian had been pawing at her all evening. She wouldn't want him to; she decided with a snap but what would it be like to have Skywalker as a lover? It wasn't the first time that this thought had crossed her mind. It had been a long time since she'd had a decent lover and Luke had an impressive body – a very impressive body. She'd seen him without his tunic top on and yes... But this was Luke Skywalker – honourable, chivalrous and decent. He was more interested in saving the galaxy and rescuing damsels than humping them.
She smiled to herself at the complete impossibility of Luke taking another lover – namely her. As if she would ever let that happen. Lando thought that he'd said something Mara approved of and moved closer. She sent him a frosty glare and immediately moved away, ignoring the way that Lando's face fell. She peered under her lashes in Skywalker's direction again. The Jedi was sitting on his own, a drink in his hand, just watching what was going on around him.
Mara frowned. It wasn't the first time she'd seen him do that, retreat to a corner and hope that he spent the rest of the evening unmolested. But this was his sister's home and he was amongst friends. When she'd first met him, he'd been right in the thick of the fun, always surrounded by the rest of the pilots and one or two adoring females. But Wedge had also noticed Luke's solitude and had moved to speak to him.
The Corellian gave a burst of laughter and Mara moved a little closer because Luke seemed a little uncomfortable.
"You should have seen this woman, Luke," he said, a wide grin on his face. "She was ready to do the horizontal with Hobbie just because he said that he knew you."
The Jedi Master flushed. "The horizontal?"
Wedge roared with laughter at the expression on Luke's face. "Yup, the horizontal."
Mara couldn't resist twisting the vibroshiv a little further. "He's a Jedi Master, Antilles. I don't believe they do the…horizontal. All lightsaber and no blaster bolts, if you get my drift. But then again…" she trailed off slyly. "Some people do it on the vertical."
Antilles laughed at the embarrassed expression on Luke's face. "I'd better get back to my wife. If she catches me telling you these tales, Luke, I won't be getting any either."
Luke and Mara observed each other in silence and in an unspoken agreement moved from the room and out onto Leia's large balcony which was deserted even though Leia had it set up for her guests to enjoy. Luke leant on the railing and stared out across the city. The silence between them wasn't exactly comfortable. The Jedi shifted a little and turned his head to stare at the woman by his side. "How long have you and Calrissian been doing the… been seeing each other."
Mara scowled at him. "Anything we've been doing is in his imagination."
"So you're frustrated…no horizontal workouts." The words left Luke's mouth and he knew that the New Republic was probably doomed – a casualty of the war that Mara Jade would now unleash upon his idiotic head. He waited for the first blow to fall.
"No." The words emerged glacially cold.
"So you take care…" Luke clamped his lips shut and cursed his wayward tongue. He did not want to think about how Mara might take care of herself.
Mara was staring at him; green eyes wide as if he'd just had a head transplant. He wasn't going to say what she'd just thought, was he?
"Will I live to see dinner?" he raised his eyes to the ceiling mournfully. "May the Force be with me. I submit myself to my doom."
Mara couldn't help it, he'd had her almost ready to kill him and now all she could do was laugh. The giggle spilt from her soft lips and into melodious laughter.
Luke's gaze snapped back onto Mara's face, a dumbfounded expression appearing there. She was laughing. "I'm not dead?"
"No, not yet. I may need you to save me from killing Calrissian."
"You're not seeing him."
"It's business for Karrde, but Lando thinks it's his chance to…"
"You could ditch him and keep me company," Luke offered. "As long as you don't list my faults for the rest of the evening."
"I don't do that…" Mara's mouth dropped open. He was avoiding her because all she did was criticize. It wasn't as if she was perfect either but every time she saw him, she dissected him verbally. "I do."
"Someone has to," Luke said shrugging. "I would rather it was you than anyone else. So you're really not seeing Lando?"
"Why are you so interested," Mara asked archly.
Luke flushed. "Me? You're very lovely, Mara Jade but way out of my league."
"Why?" Luke Skywalker had said that she was 'lovely'?
"Why?" Luke shrugged. "I don't know why I think your random arrangements of genes appeal to me so much but you are considered, by those in the know, to be very beautiful."
"Oh!" Her skin warmed. "That wasn't what I meant."
"And out of my league? Of course you are. If I touched you in any way that was inappropriate you would kill me."
"I would not." She hesitated. "Well, I might."
"Of course you would." Luke's voice deepened huskily. "Unless you wanted me to." His blue eyes seemed to see right into her. "Our past history doesn't indicate that road for us. I don't bed hop indiscriminately and neither do you."
"You've been watching?"
He turned his gaze back to the view. "Lando's not right for you."
"I know that," she muttered waspishly.
"I like Lando, don't get me wrong. He's a great guy. The New Republic owe him a lot. But he's not for you."
"What about you?"
"He's not right for me either."
Mara blinked.
"You did ask. I was just being honest. It's the capes. I just don't go for them."
"Jedi!" she said under her breath.
"I heard that." Luke assessed the woman next to him and the warm feeling he'd felt earlier threatened to swamp him once again. He'd secretly desired her for a long time. He took a sip of his drink watching her from the corner of his eyes and something reckless, something hot and dangerous entered his mind. What if? What if Luke Skywalker made Mara Jade feel like a woman tonight and how would he start?
"Ah!" he looked towards the open doors. "Dinner is about to be served." He held out his arm and Mara placed her hand upon it, resting gently on the soft grey cloth.
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