Prompt: The thing I treasure most in life cannot be taken away.
Part 10
Max was a very clever man. He knew when a situation was going to become uncomfortable, knew when he should find an excuse to leave when the time called for it. But for some reason, even knowing that Elizabeth and Jason were about to find themselves in one awkward moment, he didn't want to leave. He tried to secure his smile, not letting either of them know how amusing he found their predicament, but he didn't leave when he knew he should. He stood there, next to Jason who hadn't said a word yet, and stared up at Elizabeth who stood on the top step of the staircase. There was no way he was going to miss this.
Elizabeth was beginning to feel quite uncomfortable standing there while Jason and Max stared at her. She didn't mean to blurt out the fact that Jason didn't have any other beds than the one in his bedroom. But after what had just happened between the two of them at the pool table, finding out that only one room was furnished caused her to panic a little. She was about to repeat her comment, much to her embarrassment, when Jason saved her the trouble.
He tore his eyes away from her for just a moment to address Max. "Thanks Max, you can go now." He didn't even finish his statement before he looked back towards Elizabeth and began to climb the stairs.
"You sure you don't need anything else?" Max was reluctant to leave but one glare from his boss and he knew it was helpless. Besides, the look on Jason's face told Max that the discussion wasn't going to be awkward for him after all. Smirking, Max turned from the staircase and made his way to the door. "Goodnight Ms. Webber."
She didn't even hear Max. The look on Jason's face as he climb the stairs, closer to her, silenced everything around her except for the sound of her racing heartbeat. She was pretty sure that Jason would be able to hear it as well. She was finally able to shake herself out of her sudden stupor and began to back away from Jason, promptly pinning her back to the wall. She had fear in her eyes, not fear of him, but rather fear of the way he made her feel.
Her lips were extremely dry when her tongue darted out of her mouth to lick her lower lip. A movement, Elizabeth realized, that Jason's eyes followed as he came to a stop in front of her.
"There's only one bed." She had no idea why she felt the need to tell him something that he had already known, something she had already told him. But being so close to him was making it impossible to process a coherent thought.
"Is that a problem?"
If she could think, her eyes would have opened wide with surprise at Jason's forward actions. She never pegged Jason for someone who would be so… pushy? She shook her head, that wasn't the right word for how he was acting, and once she could come up with the correct one, she was going to tell him. Maybe it would make him back down a bit. He was getting to close to her, diminishing her comfort zone.
Jason didn't know why he was acting the way he was. His mind had been in such a haze since he had kissed Elizabeth at his pool table. He had never felt the way he had when he was kissing Elizabeth. Her kiss was so consuming, making him want it to never end. But it had ended, and way too soon for his liking. He didn't like the fact that one minute she was melting in his arms and then next she was practically running upstairs and as far away from him as she could.
He knew that they both shared a mutual attraction. A strong attraction and, for once, Jason was ready to act on his attraction. They had both been silent, staring into each other's eyes for several moments. He didn't mask his emotions, he wanted her to see that there was wanting in his eyes; but he also didn't want to scare her, and he could see from the fear in her eyes that she might not be ready to act on her attraction towards him.
Slowly, Jason lifted his hand and cupped her cheek as he moved even closer to her, so close his thighs brushed hers. He ran his thumb across the fullness of her bottom lip, enjoying the feeling of her silkiness against his roughness. He lowered his head, slightly, and whispered in a voice so rough it sent chills down her spine. "Is that a problem?"
Her eyes never left his. She was mesmerized by him and couldn't look away. "I don't know."
His head continued to lower towards hers. He moved so slowly, waiting for her to protest or meet him half-way. But she never moved. He was a scant inch away from her mouth, an inch away from lips that had tortured him with their plumpness and need to be kissed since he met her. They closed their eyes at the same time when Jason lowered his mouth the rest of the way and brushed her lips with the lightest caress she almost didn't feel it.
He continued to barely touch her lips with his own, wanting a reaction from her. The woman standing before him, allowing him to make all of the moves was not the same woman that was with him downstairs meeting his demanding kiss stroke for stroke. He added more pressure to his kiss, moving his lips over hers, but still not deepening it.
She finally responded to him. Elizabeth brought her hands to his waist and tilted her head back, angling it just right to deepen the kiss. She finally figured out the correct word to describe Jason's actions. He was being bold, and the only reason she figured that out was because she was becoming just as bold, deciding to hold nothing back.
Jason snaked one arm around her waist and pulled her tight against him as he deepened the kiss. He wanted to lift her into his arms, feel her legs wrapped around him as he carried her to his bed. His hand around her waist lowered until he felt the swell of her backside and began to caress her as his mouth was caressing her lips, slow and lingering.
Elizabeth began to lift the hem of his shirt, needing to feel the warm skin of his chest and back. She had never seen him shirtless, but she knew that there wasn't an inch of fat on him. She had the need to feel the rigid muscles of his stomach, needed to run her fingers along each hard plane. She did just that, getting a low growl from Jason in return.
He pulled her tighter against him, allowing her to feel the strain of his erection against her stomach. She moaned in response and something in the back of Jason's mind, something that nagged at him from the beginning that they should slow down snapped. Her sexy moan that made him throb even more pulled him out of his daze and made him tear his mouth away from her.
Elizabeth was grateful that she had the wall behind her. If not, she would have fallen to the floor with the abrupt way Jason pulled away from her. The wall acted as her anchor as she tried to regain her composure and figure out why Jason had pulled away from her. The man could not just go and release all of these erotic feelings inside of her and then back away.
She would have been even more furious with him, but seeing him breathing just as hard as her and rubbing his thighs in an attempt to ease the ache in him satisfied her in some cruel way.
He shouldn't have started something he wasn't going to finish.
Tucking an unruly curl behind her ear, Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut before she addressed him. "What just happened?"
"Something that shouldn't have." She had looked so hurt by his blunt answer that he quickly continued. "I didn't mean it that way." When he tried to step closer to her, she lifted her hand in the air to stop him. She did not want him too close.
"Then how did you mean it?"
He ignored her hand and stepped closer to her, cupping her cheek in his rough hand again. He smiled as she closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek against his palm. "I wanted to kiss you." She opened her eyes but continued to lean her cheek into his hand. Her eyes were so inviting, Jason couldn't look away. "It just got out of hand."
"Why?" Before he could answer, Elizabeth placed her hand over his on her cheek and pulled it away, but didn't let go. "There is something between us Jason, and I know we both want to act on it."
In any other situation, with any other woman, Jason would have taken that for what it was and given in. But he couldn't, not with Elizabeth. He had gotten to know her since he started guarding her and she became…special to him. He didn't want to ruin anything by acting too quickly, even if she seemed to be willing. For some reason, he didn't want her to be with him solely because she was attracted to him. He had to shake his head in a way to stop his thoughts. "It's too soon." When she was about to protest, he quickly added. "For both of us."
She looked thoroughly confused by his comment. But by the look in his eyes, she knew that he felt this was the best decision. She knew that the attraction was so strong between the two of them that neither one of them was going to be able to hold back much longer. Hell, they were just about to have sex on the landing of his stairs against the wall for crying out loud. Elizabeth had never been so open with her sexuality. She had only had sex with Joshua, and even though they had been together for years, they were only intimate a hand full of times. But Jason was different, he didn't voice it, but his kisses practically demanded her response and she was more than willing to respond.
"Ok." He seemed relieved by her acceptance. His eyes closed and he rested his forehead against hers. With him so close, it was becoming almost impossible to stop her lustful thoughts about him. She had been so conservative her entire life that she couldn't help but be extremely happy in being so open with Jason. She still couldn't figure out why he was holding back, but decided that it was going to be fun trying to break his noble act, making him give into what they both wanted.
She was going to wait until the next day to start in her very own seduction, but she thought of something and knew that it was too good to give up. "Jason?"
"Hmm?"
She pulled her forehead away from his, leaned up on her toes when he pulled his head back, and kissed him lightly on the lips. "There's only one bed."
She kissed him again before she pulled back. Jason looked into her eyes, saw the devilish glint shining through and almost smiled at her attempt to sway his decision. "I'll sleep on the couch."
Her bottom lip actually stuck out in a childish pout causing Jason to give into the urge of smirking. "Oh come on, Jason. The bed is big enough for the both of us."
"No."
Elizabeth knew he wasn't going to give in. Crossing her arms underneath her chest, Elizabeth continued to pout up at him. "Fine, but I'll sleep on the couch. I'm not going to kick you out of your bed."
"It's fine. I prefer the couch anyway."
She looked at him as if he had just said the oddest thing but didn't fight it as he pushed her down the hallway, swatting her sweet backside as she began to walk towards his door. Turning over her shoulder, Elizabeth gave him a seductive smile before she entered his room. "Goodnight Jason."
"Goodnight." As he made his way downstairs, Jason was, for once, thankful for his accident and how it took away his ability to dream. He was sure that if he could dream, they would be torturous dreams of the sexy as hell woman sleeping in his bed. He laughed as he stretched out on his leather couch. It wasn't every day that Jason found himself in a situation where he had the sexiest woman he had ever seen lying in his bed and he wasn't in it with her.
The next day held little awkwardness between the two. Elizabeth seemed determined to not let what happened between them the night before make her uncomfortable around him and Jason found that he was happy with that fact. She did, however, make sure to touch him every time she was close enough; causing him to want to pull her into his arms and kiss her like he had the night before. It was becoming near impossible keeping his hands off of her but Jason was determined to slow things down between the two of them.
They spent most of the day going from place to place shopping for clothes for Elizabeth and putting in applications. She told him that she wanted to get a job as quickly as possible. Elizabeth made it a clear fact that she wasn't going to live off of him; she was independent and took care of herself. Jason didn't fight with her on the subject, especially when she made the point that she was trying to prove her parents wrong and couldn't do that if she was depending on him.
Every place accepted her application, but no one seemed to be too willing to hire. Jason could see the disappointment in Elizabeth, even as she tried to use a cheerful mood to hide it. He could see it in her eyes.
It wasn't until they stopped at Kelly's for lunch that Elizabeth finally caught a break. Bobbie Spencer was just putting the 'Help Wanted' sign up when the two of them walked up to the diner. It wasn't exactly what Elizabeth was looking for, but she was desperate and won Bobbie over immediately. She didn't even have to fill out an application and as they were leaving Kelly's, Elizabeth's smile radiated as she saw Bobbie move to the window to remove the sign.
Elizabeth was so ecstatic over her new job that she continued to talk about it from the moment they left the diner until they entered the penthouse.
"I can't wait to start. I mean, I haven't ever served before, but how hard could it be?" She turned around to face Jason as she asked her question.
He was in the process of closing the door when he smiled over her excitement and shrugged. "I don't know."
"Well, I'll find out soon enough since I start tomorrow." The bags in her hands were growing heavy, making her turn towards the staircase with the intent of placing the bags in the guestroom. Even if it didn't have any furniture, she wasn't going to take over Jason's dresser like she took over his bed. "Just put those bags down and I'll be back down to get them." She called over her shoulder as she made her way up the stairs.
She had to place half of her bags down once she reached the door in order to open it. The door swung open as she bent down to pick the bags back up again. She took one step into the room, dropped all of her bags and took a step back as she gasped, running into Jason's chest.
Her hand covered her mouth when she turned around to look up at him, muffling her words. "How did you…?"
Feeling uneasy at seeing the tears in her eyes, Jason could feel heat enter his cheeks as he shrugged his shoulders. "I made a couple of calls when you were filling out applications."
Elizabeth couldn't think of anything to say. She turned back around to look at the fully furnished room as a tear spilled over her cheek. She looked over her shoulder to whisper her gratitude. "Thank you."
Jason nodded his head and stepped out of her room, giving her time to take it all in. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her legs felt like they were going to give out on her and Elizabeth had to sit down on her bed to look around at the furniture that used to decorate her apartment. She flopped on her back and smiled as she found comfort in lying on her soft mattress. The movers hadn't ruined it after all.
Sitting back up, Elizabeth looked at the open doorway where Jason had stood minutes before. He was, without a doubt, the most wonderful man that she had ever met. Elizabeth had never met anyone who could give her such a wonderful gift and act like it was nothing. Every time Joshua bought her something he needed her to sing his praises and he acted as if he had just performed the most wonderful task.
But not Jason.
He seemed embarrassed by the single thanks she gave him. Elizabeth flopped back down on her bed again when the realization hit her.
She was falling for Jason Morgan.
Hard.