And now things get heated

Chapter 10

The crowd was beginning to diminish and Gendry decided that it was time to get some sleep, he figured Arya had had enough time to calm down. Gendry stood his legs no longer hurting him and made for the stairs. He made it to the base of the stairs when he heard Arya`s voice coming from behind him somewhere. Turning he saw her sitting at a table just to the left of the stairs surrounded by a group of young and older men. One younger man in particular was sitting right beside her with his arm around her shoulder as she told them all an apparently comedic tale.

Gendry felt his blood boil at how close the man was to Arya and the way he looked down at her chest. Even though she was dressed in dirty men's clothing the shape of her chest was still obvious. Gendry made his way to the table feeling the dullness from the wine beginning to wear off. He stopped behind the man sitting directly across from Arya. She was taking a large gulp of ale when her eyes looked up from her cup she swallowed and set the cup down.

"Hey there Gen I thought you would have found a whore or two by now." The look she gave him was not kind.

"It`s time to sleep let`s go." Gendry nodded toward the stairs not taking his eyes from hers.

"I`ll bring her up when she`s tired mate." The man with his arm around Arya squeezed her into his side.

Arya looked at Gendry with slight embarrassment and pulled out of the man's embrace.

"No he`s right I need to get some sleep. Thank you all for listening to me ramble." She started to stand but the young man grabbed her arm pulling her back down beside him.

"You don`t have to go just because he says you do, you can stay here with me. We both know you want to." The way he looked at her and ran his hands down her leg was all he could take. Before he could stop himself Gendry had the man by the back of his shirt and threw him to the floor. He grabbed a handful of the man's hair and pulled his head back so he could speak into the man's ear. Gendry could see the blood dripping from the man's nose. Gendry put his mouth close to the man's ear.

"You ever touch her again, you will have more than a broken nose." Gendry shoved the man's head down into the floor hard and stood looking around. The other men hadn`t so much as even stood up from the table. Arya however stood there staring at him.

He grabbed her by the arm and stepping over the moaning body on the floor pulled her up the stairs.

"What in the seven hells was that!" Arya tried pulling her arm from his large hand but it was no use. He only tightened his grip as he drug her into their room locking the door behind them.

"That was me hitting someone."

"Why! He did nothing to you."

Gendry spun around unlacing his jerkin.

"Don`t stand there and pretend not to know why. You might as well have just been sitting in his lap with his hand down your breeches." He jerkily tore off the tunic throwing into the corner and pulling his tunic over his head so that he stood before her bare chested.

Arya felt her face go hot at the last words.

"Oh you mean the way your whore was sitting in your lap earlier!" Arya was shaking with anger.

"She wasn`t my whore, I was in the middle of telling her that I had no need for her services when you came over and interrupted, and that is what I told everyone of the women who offered themselves to me tonight. Apparently though you can`t say the same." Gendry turned away from her. He could tell she was embarrassed and hurt at what he had just said but just then he didn`t care. She had let that man touch her, how could she do that.

"What was his name, does he have money? Does he come from a noble family like you Lady Stark… ouch!"

Her boot had made solid contact with the back of his head.

"Don`t you dare!" she screamed "Don`t you dare say that about me, you of all people don`t say that to me! His name was Allan and he is an arrogant prick. He has no money he has no family and he was very drunk. I don`t have to defend myself to you. I am allowed to speak to whomever I please."

"Yeah you let whomever pleases touch you as well do you?"

Gendry had crossed the room in only a few strides and was standing only inches away from her staring down at into her stormy eyes, his chest rising and falling rapidly his body trembling with an anger he could not control.

"I did that to make you angry I was angry about the whore earlier and I wanted you to feel the same way I did." The words had slipped from her lips before she could stop them and she felt shame and embarrassment knot her guts. She turned her attention to her feet not being able to look at Gendry just then.

Gendry tried to steady his breathing, forcing himself to calm down.

"Well it worked."

Arya finally found the courage to look at him. His blue eyes dangerously brilliant and seemed to be staring at her as though they were searching her face for something. His face was calm now, Arya could not see the anger anymore it was replaced with something Arya couldn`t quite understand.

"I`m sorry." Arya said finally her tone was not apologetic but Gendry knew it was the best he was going to get from her.

Gendry without completely knowing what he was doing or full understanding of why he was doing it he slowly wrapped his arms around her waiting for her to resist or pull away but she did neither. She snaked her arms around his waist as he pulled her tightly to him and pressed a soft kiss the top of her head. Arya froze when she felt his breath in her hair. She didn`t like how close they were it was making it hard to think, her mind was fuzzy.

"I`m sorry too. I shouldn`t have reacted that way. When I saw him touch you I couldn`t control it."

Arya looked up into his eyes, "It`s alright I`m sure he deserved it."

They both laughed together before Arya reached up and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

"Thank you for not bedding any of those whores." She could see the blue parts of his eyes shrinking as the black began to grow.

"I would never, women like that do not interest me."

"Is that so? And what kind of women do interest you?" She tried to keep her voice from trembling but it didn`t work.

"I prefer strong hearted smart brave women. I prefer a woman who`s heart is as wild and loving as she is herself." He brushed a piece of hair behind her ear and ran his fingers along her jaw to her chin lifting his face towards her. "I prefer women that pay no mind to where I come from or who my father was. I prefer you."

"Show me." Arya whispered. Her heart was pounding and she did not know why she was acting this way but she couldn`t help it. She ran her hands up his muscular stomach to his clenched jaw. His eyes looked as though they were fighting in internal battle.

"I can`t Arya." Gendry closed his eyes taking a step back.

"Why not?"

"Because it isn`t right. You are only five and ten."

"And you are just passed your twenty first name day. That is a ridiculous excuse, why won`t you really?"

Gendry shook his head and tried to step away from her but Arya closed the space between them immediately.

"You`re a lady and I am a bastard. I would get my head cut off if anyone found out."

"You want a woman that cares not for your position or who your father was or wasn`t, and yet you make decisions about me based on who I am and who my father was."

"No Arya." His hands went to her shoulders automatically. "Everyone else does, the men that could have my life or more importantly yours care who you are and who your father is."

"I will cut open the first person that tries to harm you for touching me. I am no lady anymore Gendry. My family is dead and to most people so am I."

"You deserve better than me, please." Gendry looked down at her

"I only want you. I want you to see who you are the way I do" She pressed herself against him her small hands rested on his chest. She could feel his heart pounding under them.

"You know how difficult you make it for me to say no to you?"

Arya tried to repress a smile, while she let him kiss her.

Gendry let go of every thought in his head and wrapped his arms around her waist bringing her off of the floor. He kissed her as though he would never get the chance to again he really didn`t believe he would. Arya brought her legs up to wrap around his body. She ran her fingers through his thick hair as her mouth worked over his, their tongues and lips crashing together. She nibbled at his bottom lip causing him to groan into her mouth and tighten his grip on her hair pulling her head back to plant kissed down her jaw and neck until he reached her shoulders. Arya reluctantly pulled her shoulders away from him unlacing the jerkin and dropping it to the floor. She could hardly breathe. She had never seen anyone look at her the way that Gendry did. Gendry walked them to the bed where he laid her down continuing to kiss her. His heart was tight and his stomach turned when he ran his hands slowly under her tunic and along her bare skin, where he raised goosebumps all over her. He reached her chest and stopped feeling Arya`s body tense under his touch. Gendry was doing everything in his power to keep his mind on what he was about to say and not on what his mind desperately wanted to think about.

"I won`t bed you." The words were thick on his tongue as he forced them from his mouth. Arya`s eyes snapped open and he could see the hurt in her eyes. She started to speak but he cut her off. "Not here, not like this. Please don`t ask me to do this in a brothel, not this night."

Arya was filled instantly with hurt and embarrassment and then suddenly with relief. She had wanted this more than anything but Gendry was right.

"Alright," her voice was quite and soft for once, "but that doesn`t mean this has to stop does it?"

The smile Gendry wore on his face told her, her answer. The next few hours were spent kissing each other, learning each other's taste and scents, as well as each other's sensitive areas. Finally sleep was beginning to take them over as Arya laid wrapped in Gendry`s arms, tracing circles on his chest absentmindedly. Kissing him there every so often.

"What are you thinking of?" Gendry didn`t open his eyes as he spoke.

"I`m not thinking of anything."
"You're a liar, you are never this quite for this long unless you are sleeping or thinking"

Arya rolled her eyes at him even though he couldn`t see her and took a deep breath before she spoke.

"When?"
"When what?" Gendry looked down at her.

"When can I lie with you. You said not here not like this, why?"

Gendry could feel his neck turning red as it traveled up toward his face. He cleared his throat and kissed the top of her head.

"When I can put you on a feather bed, and we have bathed and our bellies are full of delicious food. So that the moment is worthy of you."

"I don`t want that." Arya pulled away from his warm body and rolled onto her back to stare at the ceiling.

"Arya lets please not talk about this anymore."

"I would have you in the smithy. Where I could watch you work, I love to watch you work. How dedicated you are to your craft. The way you are when you work is beyond handsome. I would watch the sweat run down your stomach and shoulder, to the top of your breeches that always seem to slide down farther than you intend for them to."

"Arya let`s talk of something else, please." Gendry pleaded her but Arya paid him no mind and continued.

"I would unburden you of everything and let you have me as you wished in the forge, where we belong together. Hearing the fire crackle behind us, gasping together. The feeling of each other`s skin slick with sweat against each other. In the safety of the smithy against the wall and on the bed in the back. I would do anything you asked me to."

"Gods Arya please stop it." She had felt him harden against her and she was terrified for a moment before she became pleased with herself. She loved having this effect on him.

"Is that what you would want Gendry?"

"More than you know." With that he was on top of her. Kissing her hard not like before. His kisses were full of want and desire and of things he knew he couldn`t have.

"If I had my choice this is how I would spend my nights forever Gendry, adventuring all day and lying down in your arms at night." She could feel him trying to keep from rubbing himself against her. The kissed he placed down her neck and over her shoulder down to her bare chest were desperate and felt as though they would burn her skin.

"If I had my choice," his voice was thick with want and desire but he looked into her eyes fully when he spoke. "I would marry you, and spend all of my days trying to understand you and make you happy. Live in the smithy with you spend every night loving you like no man has ever loved a woman before. But I do not have a choice, all I have is this night and you."

Arya smiled as she ran her fingers through his hair, "then make it count."

Gendry grinned at her and began to leave a trail of scorching kisses down her stomach to her neediest parts. Where he licked and tasted and devoured her.

Arya had never experienced any feeling like this before. There was something building inside her and her hips bucked uncondtrollably and wildly pushing herself further into his warm mouth. She couldn`t stop the moans from escaping her lips, or Gendry`s name that she was panting as whatever it was that was building inside of her started to boil over until she could not take it anymore and her body released the tension. Her hands went to the back of Gendry`s head as her hips pushed her as deep as she could into his mouth. His tongue working over her wildly. Finally her body relaxed and she laid back. Gendry moved up to join her putting her head on his chest and wrapping her once again in his arms.

"Thank you."
Gendry laughed a little. "It was my pleasure. I wasn`t sure if I was going to be any good at that."

"I think you were." Arya couldn`t be sure but she knew if he had not done it right and that wasn`t what it was supposed to feel like she didn`t want Gendry to know that. That had been the most amazing feeling of her life.

Within minutes she was asleep sleeping soundly without nightmares. Gendry played with her hair and watched her for a short while until he also fell asleep.

Downstairs however, Melisandra and her men had entered the inn.