A/N: I know I said I'd only have nine stories for blackinnon week, but you'll forgive me for sneaking one more in, yeah?
A/N: Huge thank you to writtenbyfreckles for beta-ing this for me!
Garner
He places his right hand on the small of her back, teasing the low cut of her dress and she bites her bottom lip as she glances up at him.
It's a game they play. The cut of her dress, the smell of his aftershave. The blood-red of both her stilettos and her lip stain. The first three buttons of his dress shirt undone. Her hair pinned off to one side to expose the curve of her neck. Him standing close enough that she can feel his breath against the back of her ear and along her neck and shoulder.
The game is played for the way it winds them both. The way his eyes darken when her hand is just an inch higher on his thigh than it should be for polite company. The sound of her breath catching when his hand brushes her bare skin and his eyes trace the places he would rather his hands be.
When the dinner portion of this event arrives, they'll sit at the table and Sirius will capitalize on their new position, leaning into her, taking up her space to whisper in her ear, close enough to make her think about his lips on her skin. With the tablecloth draped over their legs, Marlene can slide her fingers along the length and expanse of his thigh, with touches light as snowflakes, sending his thoughts to memories from behind closed doors.
Teasing, the very thing mothers chastise their children for, has become their favorite game. However, it no longer ends with their victim in tears and running for a parent. Now, the game ends in a passion of lips finally touching skin, of hands grasping, holding, of breaths coming in gasps, moans, whispered names.
But right now, the game is just starting as he hands the keys to the valet.
"Anything you'll need Mr. Black?" The young man asks.
"We'll be fine thank you," Sirius dips his fingers into the low cut of the back of her dress and Marlene forces her breath to come slowly, to not catch in her chest. They're too early in the game for her to be folding so quickly.
She smiles as Sirius' eyes darken, knowing he expected the sound and was denied.
"Point," she smiles up at him.
"The night is young, Marls, I can afford to let you be ahead for the moment." Sirius leads her confidently into the event Mia and Monty are putting on. "You'll probably need a head start, anyhow."
"And why is that?" Marlene nods politely at Frank's parents as Sirius leads her from the entry to the main ballroom.
"Mia let me know there would be dancing tonight, and I've taken the liberty of filling your dance card with my name."
"If Mia actually has dance cards here I'll ride your motorcycle naked," she whispers near his ear.
Sirius nearly stumbles, but catches himself the next instant; she still counts it as a point.
"I'll go and convince her of the need for them now."
Marlene shakes her head and laughs but lets Sirius lead her to the floor where a dozen or so couples have already begun to turn to the music, James and Lily included. And as he spins her around the room, she privately admits he was right, she'll have a lot to make up for in the evening if he keeps leading her into one more turn on the dance floor.
His arms hold her close, guiding her through the steps they've both known since childhood, but he's playing dirty. She watches his eyes trace her neck and slide down her chest, not stopping where the fabric of her dress begins.
He's gaining on her lead.
"We can't leave early," she whispers as he spins her back into him, his hand discreetly sliding along her skin.
He leans in to speak close to her ear, his lips lingering, teasing. "Moving too quickly for you, am I?"
Marlene scoffs, "Keep dreaming. I'm just warning you. We can't leave if you decide you're finished with this audience. We're here for another three hours at a minimum."
"Maybe I'm thinking this audience needs more entertainment."
"Mia will kill us."
"She loves us."
"This is her biggest gala of the year."
"So she won't notice a thing."
"I'm not shagging you in the car in this dress."
Sirius chuckles.
"This is really your fault, you know," his hand slides up and down the skin of her back. "How have I never seen you in this dress before?"
Marlene doesn't manage to keep her smile off her lips, but he's earned the point.
"Just a little something I picked up when Lily and I went shopping."
"You and Lily went shopping over a month ago." He leans in close again, his voice low as he teases her with not quite there kisses against her ear. "I think you've deliberately kept this from me."
"And by your behavior tonight, for good reason. We never would have made it out the door if you'd seen me in it before today."
"Or maybe, it would have let me build up some tolerance."
She smirks, resisting the overwhelming desire to place her lips on his skin. To taste him. Provoke him into more. "And where's the fun in that."
He laughs; a low chuckle that rumbles through her body and leaves her fighting the sigh that tries to escape her lips.
"You've raised the stakes tonight, Marls, and I'm game to win."
And then he cheats, breathing heavily against her ear before placing the chastest of kisses on her cheek.
"I know what you're doing." She threads their fingers as he leads her off the dance floor.
"And yet I'm still taking the lead."
She leans close, her stilettos allowing her to speak directly into his ear. "You better have a plan, Black."
His chest rises quickly and Marlene smirks at her point earned.
"Getting antsy are you?" Sirius tries to recover.
"You're the one rushing the game."
He spins her into an alcove, pressing her back against the wall and the way her breath catches and her hands nearly pull his lips down to her says she's probably losing tonight.
Though by how his eyes darken when she's this close to him, maybe they're both winning the game, after all.
"I wouldn't have reason to rush if you hadn't walked out of our bedroom looking like this." He grips her hip and braces himself against the wall, blocking her from view of the corridor behind him. "Honestly, Marly, it's like you're trying to kill me."
She reaches up, sliding her fingers along the lapel of his suit coat. "So are you saying that I won before we left the house?"
Sirius smirks and takes her left hand in his, kissing her wedding ring. "You won a long time ago, Marls."
She melts; and then curses for giving the point. "You really are playing dirty tonight."
"You started it," he growls and presses his body into hers, trapping her between him and the wall.
Marlene slowly pulls her bottom lip between her teeth as she looks up at him. "Are you going to finish it?"
It's at a painfully slow pace that he closes the gap between their lips, his eyes never leaving hers, "Are you willing to bail from here, so I can?"
His lips are almost on hers, his body is pressed against her in all the right ways, his eyes are devouring her as he waits for her answer, and she hates to admit it, but she really doesn't care who wins right now, as long as his lips land on hers.
"Mia didn't reserve the upper floor of this place. I bet we can find something."
She catches the briefest glimpse of Sirius' smirk before his lips are on her and he's kissing her like he might die if he stops. He runs his hands over every inch of her exposed skin, smoothing down her neck, gripping her shoulders, pressing them into her back, and then slides them along her dress, teasingly pulling at it as though he might rip it off of her right here in the alcove.
"Upstairs," Marlene gasps into his lips.
"Way ahead of you," He gives one more teasing pull on her dress before grabbing her hand and stepping out into the corridor as though nothing has happened. Before she can ask, he's leading her down one corridor, opening a door to yet another corridor, and then sliding them into a small conference room where he quietly shuts the door and locks it.
"And you thought we'd need to go upstairs," his lips are on her neck as he starts playing with the straps holding her dress on her shoulders, slowly inching them towards her arms.
"You've been planning this," she accuses, even as she slides his suit coat over his shoulders.
"You tipped me off to your strategy when you didn't show me what you bought with Lily." He finally pulls one of the straps away and replaces it with a slide of his teeth and press of his lips. "I snuck into someone else's event last week and scoped the place for options."
Marlene pauses mid undoing the buttons on his black dress shirt. "You didn't just look at the dress? It's only been in the garment bag in our closet."
He brings his lips back to hers, kissing her deeply. "And deny myself of seeing it on you first? Where's the fun in that, Marlene?"
She smirks against his lips, running her fingers against his chest. "Don't make my win feel hollow."
"Hollow is definitely not where we're going, love." Sirius kisses her again, his hands making quick work of her dress.
And later, when he's helping her pull the dress back on with gentle fingers, lips kissing her skin before the fabric covers her again, Marlene admits that 'hollow' is the last thing she feels. And when Sirius kisses her lips once more before leading them back to Mia's gala, she can't help but enjoy how sweet victory tastes.