Chapter 3

She grabbed his hand and shook it, taking a very small moment to relish in the feel of the leather on her skin. But that was about as long as she could stand her current state of undress, at least in present company. Seduction or no seduction, the way his mismatched eyes were fixed on her was more than unnerving. She didn't truly feel she had come to the naked part of the process yet.

"You can wait here," she said, as haughtily as she could manage, "I'm taking a shower first." And before he could reply, she turned on her heel and all but fled to the bathroom.

"Retreated, not fled," she mumbled to herself when she had locked the door, "the first being a proper aspect of warfare, not the result of utter chickenness." Then she considered the concept of fae hearing and the possibility that it was sharper than a human's, and resolved to keep her inner monologue just that: inner. (A resolve that had never failed to fail up until now, but this was not the moment to start doubting any part of her self discipline.)

She might have hid in the bathroom a tad too long, frantically trying to decide what truth or dare she might ask of him first. Dive in immediately with a challenge, or test the waters first, see what he was up to? Truth or dare was a game that since high school always ended up more or less naughty (which was, obviously, the reason why she had chosen it), but there was a fair chance the Goblin King wouldn't take it that way. She didn't fancy having to run the Labyrinth again on a dare. Although, come to think of it, that was an idea for a dare for Jareth, if he ended up being more of a bastard than she could handle.

Great, now she had managed to frighten herself for both her own turn and his. Why hadn't she properly thought this through?

She rolled her eyes at herself. Because she was Sarah Williams, basically unchanged since 1986.

Well, what's done was done. No use worrying about spilled ink, she would have to play the game she'd chosen. At least she'd be properly dressed now; that is, until Jareth dared her to take it off again. But if that were the case, it would probably mean she'd get what she wanted, so that couldn't be so bad. Really, what was the worst that could happen?

oxoxo

She should by now have learned never even to think those last words.

She had cleaned herself thoroughly, made sure she smelled nice and didn't have excessive hair in places she found less than attractive, even put on some of her nice underwear – just in case. Only to come back to her bedroom to realize Jareth wasn't there. Ladies and gentlemen, the Goblin King has left the building. Only the glitter on the floor was prove that he had been there in the first place.

"That man is starting to piss me off," she yelled at the ceiling, hoping fervently that the man in question was still listening in – then hoping fervently he wasn't, because this wasn't actually playing it cool. Although, granted, it was better than "It's not fair." But only a little bit better.

She sat down on her bed in a huff. Now what. She couldn't very well follow him back to the Labyrinth. Not only would that be giving him exactly what he wanted, but also – teleportation? So not part of her certain powers. She supposed she could wish herself away to the goblins, but that would put her into his power again. No, she decided, this time they were going to play in her kingdom. Jareth could glitterpoof up and down main street for all she cared, she was going to get on with the plan. So there.

This time she did manage to think before she acted. Slipping back into the bathroom again (why she did not know; it was rather likely that if Jareth could look into her apartment from the Underground, the bathroom door wouldn't exactly stop his gaze), she hurriedly slipped on her bikini underneath the summer dress she was wearing. She grabbed two towels from the bathroom cupboard, the book she was reading from her nightstand, and quickly left her building. Standing in the parking lot in front of her car, she threw a glance around her to make sure she was alone, and then clearly said: "Truth or dare, Goblin King?"

"Dare," said his low voice in her ear immediately, but this time she had expected it. She twirled around, trying to suppress a rather triumphant grin. "I dare you to come swimming with me."

The look on his face alone was practically worth it. Beaming, she opened the door to the passenger seat with an elaborate bow. "After you, sire."

He looked from the car to her with distaste. "You want me to get in that?"

Frowning, Sarah peered in. Had she left chocolate wrappers all over the car again? No, it was clean, she'd vacuumed it last weekend. What was he on about now? "I know it's old, but I'm sure it's not as old as you," she said rather bitingly.

His eyes narrowed, but he made no move to get in.

Oh wait, the steel. Interesting. Of course she had read numerous accounts claiming that the fae were at the least rather allergic to iron. It was the reason she was wearing jewelry of surgical steel – couldn't hurt to be prepared, right? The goblins seemed pretty unaffected by the material, though, and she had rather expected their king to be the same. She bared her teeth in a grin. "Or are you scared? You could forfeit, you know." Without further ado she threw the towels on the back seat, twirled to the other side of the car and plopped into the driver's seat. "Easy win this way."

That earned her a flat out glare, but he elegantly slid into the car seat, making sure not to touch the frame. Humming to herself, she started her car and drove away, watching Jareth from the corner of her eyes. He looked decidedly uncomfortable, she thought. Oh, the people they were passing by on the streets probably wouldn't notice, but that was only because they did not know how regally arrogant the Goblin King normally looked. He was holding himself very still, a look of concentration on his face. If she had to guess, she'd say he was doing something with his magic. Keeping it inside, maybe, or shielding himself. But then, what did she know about special powers? Nothing, nothing, tralala. However, she carefully filed her observations away in the part of her brain that was labeled "defeating opponents" (as well as "dealing with the fae" and "keeping the upper hand when it comes to the Goblin King").

The drive to the small lake where she liked to swim wasn't too long, but by the end of it, the prolonged silence had made Sarah rather nervous. She didn't quite know if the Goblin King was too focused on the iron cage around him to notice it, so she kept humming to herself, trying to make it sound as unconsciously nonchalant as possible. When he started to speak, his voice startled her so that she knew she blushed. Damn. So much for seductive sophistication.

"Where are we going?"

The good thing about driving was that he couldn't distract her with the intense look in his eyes. She could focus all her attention on the smooth and dynamic tones of his voice. God, but did his words sound like a caress, or a soft kiss just behind her ear.

"Sarah?" Questioning, but rather mockingly amused.

Oh god, she'd forgotten to answer him. Stop it, Sarah, she admonished herself. It's no use going through the trouble to play this game if you're going to give yourself away within the first hour.

Luckily they had almost reached the bend in the road from where you could see the lake, which made her silence seem a lot more deliberate. She nodded in the direction of the bright blue water that became visible through the trees. "We're parking around the corner," she said, and proceeded to do so.

Although it was quite warm already, it was still early enough for them to be almost alone at the water side. Sarah knew from experience that by noon, the water would be filled with squealing and laughing children, the grassy lakeside packed with parents trying to balance sunbathing and keeping an eye on their kids. It was the reason she usually went in the early mornings. Although she liked watching the children play, it was a lot easier to enjoy a good swim or disappear into a good book when it was a bit more quiet.

"And now… what?" Jareth asked, eyeing the lake. Sarah marveled at his ability to make even the most innocent comments sound suggestive.

"Now we swim," she said, and bounced off to her favorite spot on the water side, just on the left side of the biggest meadow. Here the water had created a small inlet that was partially hidden from view by some trees. She spread the towels out on the grass and plopped down on one of them, putting her book next to her on the ground, watching the Goblin King walk over in a slower pace. He looked as arrogant and unconcerned as ever, but she could see how carefully he observed his surroundings, from the almost cloudless sky to the grass beneath his feet. Remembering his intense gaze from before, she was suddenly rather nervous about dressing down to her bikini. Deciding that distance in this case might be a pre, she quickly kicked off her sandals, pulled her dress over her head and without looking back at Jareth, jumped into the water.

The water was cool, but not as cold as earlier in the season. Despite that, she quickly stood up, shaking herself like a dog. "God, I keep forgetting how cold this is first thing in the morning," she spluttered, grinning. Wiping her wet hair from her eyes, she noticed Jareth standing on the edge of the water, looking at her, his eyes glittering brightly.

"Coming?" she called, more daring than she felt.

"I'm afraid I don't own such a delightful little outfit for swimming as you do, Sarah," he said, a strange half smile on his face.

She blinked once and collapsed into giggles, the visual of the Goblin King in a bikini too much for her. "Oh god, it would probably be a glitter bikini," she moaned half out loud, the mental image of which brought her near to tears. Finally she stood up straight again, wiping her eyes, and tried to suppress the giggles that still bubbled up. The look on Jareth's face, half surprise, half disapproval, almost sent her off again. His face was so much more expressive than she remembered. She stopped mid-giggle, though, blood rushing to her face, when Jareth started to undress himself with calm, confident movements. She felt herself torn between a variation on the fight or flight response: feast her eyes on the inches of flesh appearing before her, or hide her embarrassment about her obvious excitement by disappearing under water. In the end she did neither. Her gaze was locked on his mismatched eyes, the intensity of his look rendering her unable to move. She could not look away from his gaze, but even so, it was quite obvious that the Goblin King was in possession of a rather spectacular body. He was long and lean, all slender muscles and pale, angular expanses of skin. Also, he was definitely not wearing anything underneath those –

She sank down into the water, furiously blushing, and tried to hide her embarrassment by half floating, half paddling to the deeper part of the lake. Backwards, of course, because there was no way in hell she was going to miss any part of this –

Oh god, and now he smirked way too knowingly at her. She squeaked and turned over, swimming with long, strong strokes out into the open lake. Be cool, be cool, be cool, be oh god he knows doesn't he, she thought frantically, trying very hard to appear as relaxed and uninterested as possible. Though point for me, I do know now that he has matching boy parts. She swallowed. Well, man parts.

She was pretty much in the middle of the lake when she felt a hand close around her ankle. Screaming a very undignified (though rather feminine) scream, she twirled around, trying not to choke on a gulp of water in the process. Being grasped when she was swimming scared her in a very primal way, her first thought always being that she was grabbed by, y'know, a shark, a giant octopus, Nessie – anything that, after her adventure in the Labyrinth, suddenly didn't seem so very unreasonable anymore.

She was so not cool right now.

The Goblin King was right behind her, an infuriating grin on his face. He seemed to almost float in the water, while she was treading water just a bit too frantically. Involuntarily, her gaze slid downwards. The water was too murky to see anything.

"I think this concludes my first dare," Jareth drawled. "I truly didn't think you were going to make it this easy for me."

She narrowed her eyes. "I thought I'd start you off with a simple challenge," she said. "Didn't want to scare you, you know."

He bared his pointy teeth in a manner that seemed more threatening than amused, clearly not believing anything she said. "Really, Sarah? Testing me? Whatever for?"

Be cool, Sarah. "Oh, you'll know when I'm trying you out," she snapped, annoyed.

God, could anybody shut down the connection between her brain and her mouth? He smirked again and she kicked out her legs, starting to swim away, but for the second time his hand was on her, this time on her wrist. No gloves, was the only thing she could think for a moment, his fingers unexpectedly hot on her skin in the cool water. "Truth or dare, Sarah Williams," was all he said.

Well, wasn't she just doomed.

xoxox

AN: Reviews are a very good way of guilt tripping me into updating faster! (However, if you do review, can you please log in? It is very frustrating to not be able to reply!)