Standard Disclaimer: These characters belong to G. Lucas and T. Zahn. In other words: not mine.
Dedication: To anyone who loves hot chocolate.
Rating: M (very much so)
Spoilers/Timeline: After The Corellian Trilogy but before "Vision of the Future".
A/N: Do read and review.

Lightheaded
Chapter 14: Get To It, Jedi
(aka On The Couch, On The Table)

Had he heard correctly? Exit strategy? She wants a one-night stand?

While he was ruminating, Mara had sat up and stood up – not an easy task, considering the lack of a slit on her tube dress.

"Exit strategy. Never enter into any situation without an exit strategy." Mara was busy straightening her dress and her hair, avoiding looking into Luke's eyes.

Luke stood up as well, reached over, and stilled her hands.

"You can't use that philosophy for us."

"There is no 'US', Skywalker!" Mara was getting agitated.

"Oh really? Then what's with you being jealous of this fictional brunette?" Luke shot back. "You know I don't do one-night stands, and you know my position on casual sex, so why put us in this position?"

Mara was silent, her face troubled.

"Why did you decide to push it tonight, Mara?" he asked, in a gentler tone. "I thought we had an unspoken agreement – why'd you decide to push tonight, dearest?" He slowly walked into her, pulling her towards him, cradling her head against his shoulder.

She leaned in against him, and his arms wrapped around her, her arms trapped against his chest. She was silent for a long while, but Luke waited patiently for her answer, sensing that it was important.

"I… I saw us on the holotube," she said slowly. "I hated that woman. Because she got to be with you. Which is stupid, because she's me, and I get to be with you whenever I want."

Luke nodded, his chin brushing against her hair. "Anytime."

"But I wasn't going to do… this…" Mara shifted in his arms. "The wig was just for fun; I was planning to do all sorts of inappropriate things and get us into another holonews report… I even told Karrde my plan… then I arrived at the function and you were thinking so loudly." She looked up at him. "About me."

"Oh, Mara." Luke bent down to kiss her, but she turned away and continued speaking.

"And it was all about your stupid machismo, and all about how I was yours, and…" She was playing with his chest hairs again, which was having the effect of turning Luke on. Again.

"So you wanted an experiment." He said flatly. "With us."

Mara looked up at him, eyes heavily-lidded. "I just wanted to try something new. With us. No strings attached."

"Like another aspect of our friendship." She nodded.

"Like trying out a new speeder." She nodded again.

"Like meeting at functions." Another nod from her.

Luke paused, his heart racing and his brain warring with his emotions. Could he do this? With her? He had told her the truth, he didn't like one-night stands, but that wasn't to say that he hadn't done any. It was true that he didn't approve of casual sex, but again, that wasn't to say that he hadn't done it in the past. But that was the problem – it was all in the past, during the years of being hunted by the Empire. Before Thrawn. Before the Academy.

But who was to say that this wasn't different? Why couldn't friends stay friends after sex? And if it didn't work out, would it have been so bad? One less 'what if' in his life – what if they had done the nasty, what if they had tried to make things work, what if – …

He made a swift decision – not that hard really (but getting harder, Luke thought) – give the woman what she wants.

So he bent down and kissed her hard, his hands reaching behind for her dress fasteners. Her hands, trapped between their bodies, could only continue clutching at his chest as her fasteners fell open. Luke pulled the fastener as low as he could get it to go, and moved his hands to her face, slowing their kiss. Mara's hands, now free, were kneading his lower back, and inching slowly lower.

Taking sipping kisses from her mouth, he said, "Let's do this." You're going to regret that you only wanted a one-night stand, Miss Jade.

She smiled, with a glint in her eye which made Luke slightly nervous. "Then let's play, Jedi." And pushed him backwards onto her couch.

He had expected Mara to climb on top of him again, but instead, she stepped back and reached behind her. He lifted himself on his elbows to watch.

She turned around, with her back facing him, and he saw her fingers working the fastener to the end, finishing his earlier job. She seemed to be having a problem with the last inch or so, and he sat up on the couch to help her. His hands reached for hers, and their fingers met, pulling the fastener down the last inch in unison. He could not help himself; he reached out and fanned his palm across her back, sliding them up towards her shoulder blades, and down again.

Mara was breathing heavily by this time, and although he couldn't sense it, he could guess that she was getting impatient. On an upslide of his hands, he flicked the sides of the dress away from her body, and it peeled away from her, collecting at her hips. Their hands joined again, and with fingers intertwined, they pushed her dress down her hips together.

Mara had to bend forwards to get her dress off, which had the happy effect of thrusting her backside into Luke's direct line of vision. And Luke was very happy with the view. Very, very happy, in fact. Mara took one step forward, in order to step out of the dress, which had pooled at her feet, but stumbled a little. She caught herself, then turned around.

Luke lay back on the couch, and she accepted the invitation and climbed on top of him.

"Are you ready for this, Jade?" Luke rasped against her mouth. "We could stop this right now, and say that it was a moment of madness that made us do this. Do you want this, Jade?"

"Yes… yes… please…" Luke never thought that she would plead for him to pleasure her.

Making a decision to ignore his own need for as long as he could, Luke decided that his earlier course of action was the right one – seduce her. Spoil her for any other man that comes along.

You want a new aspect to our relationship, Miss Jade? You'll never ask lightly for that again.

And they played.

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A/N: Please note that this chapter has been heavily edited to fit the 'M' rating for posting on f-f dot net. Thank you in advance for the lovely feedback. That little button on the left, y'know:)