Liz had not stopped kissing him, as if not parting from his lips would drag out the inevitable. In some way she was right, because even though his mind started working, worrying, anticipating the effects this had and would have, every time her mouth merged with his she literally pushed his mind under water. But one could live without air for so long.
Don wished she hadn't come here, that this hadn't happened, internally wailing about why she had to feel like this, why she had to do this to him. Reasonable or not, it felt like he had already known that she would ruin him the moment he first met her on the steps of her house. Because imagining having her close like this, taste her, inhale her scent, feeling her warmth radiating down on him, seeing that genuine smile that was meant only for him, was nothing in comparison with reality. It would never be enough anymore. Now that he knew how the real thing felt. And he hated it, because he loved it so much and that's the only thing his hands were telling her as he held Liz close.
Reluctance was the right word that described her moving away slightly, slowly.
"Bathroom?" Liz rather whispered almost shyly.
"First on the left", Don looked at her and cleared his voice as she broke the contact; his eyes followed her out and he couldn't help but notice that she had left her clothes on the ground, which made him swallow dryly.
It took him a moment to snap out of knowing she would return naked, but eventually he moved and pulled up his pants again. Not without tensing due to the pain in his side that reappeared just then. Originally he had wanted to grab his t-shirt as he reached out, just to hold her blouse in his hand. Donald had no idea for how long he had stared at that that piece of clothing; and he definitely didn't notice how his fingers moved through the fabric which he remembered how it had felt like to pull it off of Liz' body.
"I doubt it will fit you", her voice was mocking but the smile on Liz' face was much softer.
She had tried to avoid spending too much time in the bathroom so she had just cleaned herself up. However apparently it had been long enough for him to let his thoughts drift away; hopefully not into the wrong direction. It was so genuinely rare to see him blush, his eyes widen in a rush of embarrassment instead of his expression turning into stone like it usually did. Liz preferred this version of him, her private version, and the one she had hoped to find without knowing it.
So when he got up to hand over her blouse she grabbed his face and pulled his mouth to her lips and Ressler reacted just like she expected. What a wonderful experience to be right about him for once. For a moment before his instinct kicked in he was paralyzed, and then his arms wrapped themselves around her as if he wanted to squeeze the air out of her lungs. Liz could sense every single finger on her back, even through the silk with one of them.
When you try to put reality on hold, you live in the moment and this was something unusual for both of them: to not glimpse into the future, trying to take control over it. Yet none of them were that kind of people running from the truth for long. So it was hard to tell who pulled away first just to make their foreheads rest to each other.
"So, when do we want to talk about this?" it was Ressler who asked, and yet Liz had heard that question inside of her head right before he had spoken them out.
She sighed.
"How about never?" her tongue was quicker than her mind again and she could sense how he tensed slightly, definitely taking her words wrong, so she leaned her head back a little and looked into his blue eyes, which were darkened by a slight frown. "Do you really take me for that kind of woman?"
That question made him almost appear pale compared how he had looked like once she had returned from the bathroom. Yet he got it. Still he didn't smile. Her blouse was tickling her skin.
"This won't influence our work. We're professionals"; Liz managed to give him half a smile as her hands slid down his arms, one of them eventually reaching out to get her piece of clothing and Ressler let go of her.
"This…" he repeated her and that single and simple word cut like a sword between them, because it could mean so much.
Liz tossed her blouse back to the couch and enfolded his face with her hands, more gently this time. His expression stung her more than of standing naked in the coolness of this room and the hands that hesitatingly slid back on her waist felt so much better, warming up much more of her than the skin they touched.
"What we are doing", she said hoarsely. "Not what we did."
And he was back again, the walking and talking FBI robot that annoyed her so much, apart from the error in his code that made him shudder.
"Don't", Liz still held his face and now it was her who was frowning.
"What", it was rather an automatic response and she clenched her jaw. "Bail out on me."
The silence felt like pulling out just the same sword that had made this lethal cut just a moment ago.
"Do you really take me for that kind of man?" he quoted her sounding so cool and unimpressed as if he was standing there in his suit, but he wasn't.
Al he needed was to move his fingers and she already rested against his chest.
"You know it will", he murmured into her hair.
"What?" Liz breathed out against his skin and this time his shudder made her smile again.
"Influence our work."
Originally chapter 8 was the final one, but since many asked me to continue, I had to give in. If you like my writing you might be interested in an original work that I'll start this week on tumblr. Please take a look! arcanis-saga. tumblr. com
