Ok,sorry it'a bit late. Thank you to everyone favoriting and following along. It's awesome to see that. Cool!

xxxmtfbwyxxx

Chapter 7: Games Scoundrels and Princesses Play

After winning the latest round of sabacc, Chewie declared he was beat and went off to bed. Han looked to Leia to see if her expression would change in any way that would indicate she had a problem with that. He wasn't surprised when she didn't do anything but wish the Wookiee a goodnight.

That left only Skywalker sitting between them. The company had been fun, but Solo was out for bigger stakes. He knew the Princess was aware of it and she still showed up anyway albeit with Luke in tow.

Interesting.

So she wanted to be here, but not alone. Either she really didn't want anything to happen between them or she didn't trust herself to be alone with him. Either way, Solo liked his odds. Half the battle was getting her this far.

It seemed that during the course of dinner, she had dropped her shields enough to relax a bit and have a drink. She was even the one to suggest they play sabacc in the first place. Now, all he had to do was maintain this status between them and let their chemistry and hormones have the lead.

He dealt another round and looked over the top of his hand to first check Luke for his usual tells and then onto Leia, simply because he enjoyed looking at her.

What was interesting was he found her looking right back at him. He smiled as if there was a secret between them and indeed there was. Her smile answered him in kind. Not only had she been pleasant this evening, but she was smiling directly at him. Oh, yeah, his Corellian luck was shining brightly on him tonight.

Luke chose that moment to look up from his own hand and his eyes shuttled between the two. "Hey, what's going on? Did I miss something?"

"Probably," Han jabbed good-naturedly although it was sarcastic in tone. Solo's eyes never left hers.

Leia's eyes focused back intently on Han. "Luke, I don't think you're going to win this hand."

Apparently oblivious, Luke looked again at his awful hand and grimaced. "You're probably right. I'm not having any luck at all tonight." He dropped his cards on the table. "In fact, I think I'm going to quit trying for the night. I have an early rotation in the morning anyway. I'm going to head out."

"Ok, Kid. Nice seein' ya. Don't be a stranger." Han leaned in toward the table in silent challenge knowing what Luke would say next. His looked at her expectantly.

Luke stood and stretched next to the table. "You want me to walk you back, Leia?"

The Princess flicked a quick glance in Skywalker's direction before shaking her head. "No, I think I'm going to stay here and finish this round. I wouldn't want to walk away from a showdown with the Captain while I have the upper hand."

Leia returned her stare to Solo as if daring him.

Luke chuckled. "Alright." He looked back and forth between them once more and hesitated. His face plainly showed that there was definitely some strong energy from these two, but it wasn't anything he hadn't already seen before. "Uh, try not to kill each other, okay?"

"Sure thing, Kid." Han nodded.

Leia raised her eyebrow in mischievous confidence. "No promises."

Neither Han nor Leia moved until they heard the hatch shut and the lock cycle.

"So, Princess, do you have an early rotation?"

"I might."

He eyebrows raised together in consideration. "Both of your chaperones are gone. You okay with that?"

One of her eyebrows quirked up in answer. "Should I have cause for concern, Captain?"

That was the second time she called him 'Captain' in the last few minutes. He never discussed names with their clothes on, but she had to know the effect it had on him when that name came from her lips.

"No." His smile slanted up the right side of his face. "After all, you have the upper hand, according to you."

"That's right."

Visions of her naked on top of him, riding him through ecstasy danced through his brain and caused the rest of his body to generate a definite response. He never spent any significant time wondering why she was so easily able to arouse him.

"So what sort of showdown are we talking here, Princess?" It was time to find out why she was really here and what had been going on with her all night.

"A bet. On this hand."

Han checked his hand again. "What's the bet?"

"If I win, then you leave me alone."

"Define 'leave you alone.'"

"You stop pursuing me and the idea of any relationship."

Solo considered her words and the consequences of them. "Does that mean our friendship, too? How are you going to explain that to Luke?"

She shrugged and studied her cards. "I have no problem with a civil acquaintance and socializing as a group on occasion. It would be my decision at the time."

His face animated as he was wont to do when he heard terms he thought were ludicrous to the situation. "Civil acquaintance?"

She must want him more than he thought if she felt the need to keep her distance from him to that degree. Luckily, he had a strong hand. Even if he didn't, he would make sure that he won. He couldn't lose her when he was so close. "What if I win?"

"What do you want?" Her tone was surprisingly open rather than the sarcasm that had been expected.

Han waited until she met his eyes again and kept his voice gentle. "You know what I want."

He wanted her to understand his emotions were real and most likely so were hers. This wasn't just about sex for him and he wanted her to give it an honest shot with him without sex being the impetus. However, as much as he wanted her to open up emotionally, he was well aware that she was trying to fight it. In fact, she might just drop the whole thing if he went straight for that idea. She had proven her ability to find ways of keeping herself away from him if need be. He decided to keep the bet more nebulous and he could ease her into the idea of a being a in a real relationship with him as they went along. It's not as if he didn't enjoy sex with her and would be more than happy to be with her more often. "You. I want you."

She showed no emotion. And Solo knew she was working hard at doing so. She obviously picked up on the deeper parts of his vague answer. He had said it meaning he wanted all of her, not just her body. Leia's wariness stemmed from an obvious place because he had tried more than once to make it happen.

"What specifically, do you want?" Her voice was slightly unsteady, but her tone was all business.

Steady. Don't lose her now, he reminded himself. He needed to be careful because she was smart and this may be his best shot with her. Solo knew he had to keep it in her 'comfort' zone with him or there would be no bet. Still, he wasn't about to make it too easy on her. She would see through that in blink anyway. "No matter where you are or what you're doing, you have to drop it and do whatever I want."

She was incredulous. "You want me to be your whore?"

"No!" He pointed at her in instant anger and wondered if he had been wrong all along. He changed his demeanor and let his pointing finger become flat with the rest of his hand and waved it smoothly through the air. He lowered his voice again to a more soothing tone, "I want you to let go and be my willing partner."

He stared at her and felt a small charge as she gave it serious thought. The idea of being able to just walk up to her and her kiss him and let him put her arms around her was exciting after all of this time. Maybe not right away, but somewhere down this road.

"Complete discretion, right? I'm not interest in broadcasting my private life to the rest of base or to Luke… or Chewie."

Solo's hopes dashed a little, but she wasn't saying no. "Ok, only in private."

"No cornering me in the halls like yesterday. Nothing like that at all. Got it?"

"I understand what complete discretion means, Your Worship." He looked a bit irritated. "I can't promise Chewie because he lives here and he might figure it out, but otherwise, I'm onboard. Are you?"

She narrowed her eyes. "For how long?"

His mischievous grin slanted part way up his face. "I guess that depends on how lucky you're feeling."

Leia checked her hand again and looked back up at Han. "Six months."

Han laughed. "You must be feeling pretty lucky." He was a little nervous though that even if he did win, she wouldn't be as amenable to his wishes for that long and if she somehow did win, he didn't want to be without her for so long. "How about three months?"

"Three months. Deal."

"Deal. Whaddya got?"

She laid her hand on the table. It was good. Damn good.

"Pretty good, Princess. Tough to beat." Han smiled slowly and laid his hand on the table, he wouldn't even have to cheat. "But lucky for us, I just did."

She sat silent as if processing what just happened. She didn't seem upset or resigned as he thought she might. There was a part of him that believed she had left it up to fate, the Force, or whatever whether she was meant to be with him or not.

At any rate, she had her answer.

"What's it going to be, Princess?" He asked genuinely. He made it plain he was giving her a chance to back out.

"Fair is fair. I'm yours." She shrugged and looked truly vulnerable for the first time that he could recall.

Han gulped. He didn't want her like this. As happy as he was that he won, he wasn't interested in forcing her to be with him. That was not the kind of man he was. He waved his hands crossing them through the air dismissively. "You know what? Let's forget it. I don't want it this way."

Suddenly, Leia got up and sat next to him. Han watched as she slowly ran her hand down the front of his shirt and stopped when she reached the buckle of his blaster rig that sat over his groin. She snapped it open.

"So now you don't want me?" She asked with her deep alto teasing him.

They had never done anything on the Falcon before. This was new territory.

"Oh, I want you." His voice raised an octave in excitement. "But I want to know that you want me."

"I never said I didn't want you." She sat back and gave him an odd look of questioning. "Don't you remember how this started in the first place?"

xxxmtfbwyxxx

A/N: Ok, I saw another author say something similar and I think it applies here. This fic is not intended to be the usual type of fic I write. I posted warnings that it was AU and rated it accordingly. I do not expect everyone that normally reads my fic to want to read this one. It's different and I know that. It's not meant to be a pure sexual romp. It has the normal angst of their relationship and a real story, but if you don't agree. That is fine. There are plenty of people that are enjoying it. Don't flame me by hiding behind guest reviews. It's not going to change anything because I write what I want and then share it to those that are interested. I thought it was a fun little departure of a fic that I wrote a couple of years ago. You don't have to read it if it bothers you. Soon enough I will be posting Long, Long Way to Go and all will be back to 'normal', ok? Thanks for listening.