Chapter Six
Jareth stared at her in detached fascination. Sarah was sleep-flushed and groggy, hair falling out of its braid, and wearing little more than an oversized shirt. She painted a painfully teasing picture: sprawled over a bed, one shoulder bared to the world, lips parted as though they had been kissed, and glazed eyes looking as though she had just experienced mind-blowing passion. If it weren't for the fact that his behemoth of a cat had taken up gleeful residence on her lap, or that the sexy look was rapidly fading from her eyes, he would have pounced on her right then and there, plans for seduction be damned.
He hadn't left his house with much of a plan… or any plan, really. The devil had been riding him hard, goading him into action. Something had to be done because his plans were being threatened, and just the thought of somebody being able to know Sarah in the physical sense was sending him into fits.
Something was very wrong with him. The storm raging outside seemed to be howling through his blood as well. A dark voice was whispering in the back of his mind. Take her; make her yours. You have every right to. He didn't have any right at all, but damn him to hell if those words didn't sound wonderful. She'll deny you; that is simply her nature. But Jareth had been looking forward to getting through her resistance. Like a good tango, passion-play depended on the right balance of force and gentle coaxing. Establish-
He was just staring at her, Sarah thought uncomfortably. Lounging in her comfy chair that was pushed into the darkest corner of the room, barely moving, and staring blankly. She wasn't sure what was worse: Jareth's eyes devouring her, as they had been a few minutes ago, or gazing through her as though she was just some pretty, painted screen blocking his view of the wall. He didn't seem to be snapping out of it anytime soon, either, entranced as he was. Normally, she would have taken such an opportunity to get the hell out of the room, put some decent clothes on, find some help or a useful blunt object, but a twenty-something-pound ball of Maine Coon fur was holding her resolutely immobile.
Ludo. Jareth had an orangey cat named Ludo. A cat that seemed inordinately pleased to see her, if the purring was anything to go by.
Sarah had been willing to entertain the possibility that Jareth really was just a normal man; after all, he hadn't really tipped his hand. He drove a car, had a home, knew his way around the mortal realm, and genuinely didn't seem to know very much about her. The man was a published, and very popular author, for crying out loud! Surely a Goblin King would neither have the time nor the desire to masquerade as a mortal so thoroughly. But that didn't change the fact that, as far as she could tell, he was exactly like the Jareth she knew from ten years ago. Sure, he looked younger and the hair was tamer, but it wasn't enough of a difference. Same name, same attributes, same mannerisms. And now Ludo! The coincidences were stacking up against this 'man'.
She didn't want to be suspicious; it wasn't pleasant, nor was it her natural disposition. But, in the increasingly likely event that he was the Goblin King, what did he want with her? Theirs was a rocky past and, at the moment, he seemed hell-bent on driving her insane. She wasn't even going to think about the kiss; that would bring her into a realm of carnal possibilities and, to be perfectly honest, she just didn't trust herself with those sorts of thoughts at the moment.
Jareth's voice snapped out of the gloom, pulling her from her wandering thoughts. "You're not seeing anyone," it wasn't a question; it was a command.
Sarah bristled at that. If he wanted to be a Neanderthal, he could do it somewhere else! The fact that she was painfully single was still something of a sore point for her, and she did not need someone like Jareth telling her who she could and couldn't see. As if he had any right to interfere in her life! "Like hell I'm not!" she growled, hoping that the lie wouldn't come back to bite her in the future.
He lunged forward, a movement so fast it seemed as though he had simply disappeared from one spot and reappeared in another, and knocked her on her back, pinning her to the bed. "You are not seeing anyone!" he snarled, something strange lurking in the back of his eyes.
Ignoring the hissing and spitting Ludo who had been so rudely dislodged to the floor, Sarah asked sweetly, "Do you intend to be my boyfriend, then?"
His eyes narrowed consideringly, but at length he answered, "No."
"Then how do you intend to keep me from dating?" Subtly, she tried to inch further up the bed, hoping to get out from under him.
Jareth's hands shot above her shoulders while one of his knees made its way between her thighs, thoroughly blocking her from moving very far in any direction. "Don't try my patience," he warned quietly, a stray lock of hair falling over one eye.
Sarah flushed at their position, trying not to think about how good it might feel under different circumstances. "Flirting I can understand, kissing I can overlook, but you're being horribly forward for someone who's a relative stranger," she informed him tartly. If he didn't move in the next minute she was going to head-butt him.
"You wound me, minx," he replied, mood lightening mercurially. "Strangers, indeed. How many more kisses until I'm a friend, fifty or so? A hundred more after that until I'm allowed to be your lover?" As though sensing her violent thoughts, he pulled his head backward, out of striking-range. "And how many days until you understand? You can't have a boyfriend and a lover, and I refuse to be one so I must obviously be the other."
"You're teasing me, aren't you?" Sarah asked petulantly. Lover? People didn't really use that word anymore. Somewhere over the years it had just become assumed that an emotional relationship entailed a physical one as well. This man was boldly and unapologetically stating that he wanted to have sex with her, little to no emotional strings attached. The thought was intriguing.
"On the contrary, Sarah, I'm dead serious." One hand moved down to flit over her bare shoulder, while his eyes half closed in a lazy perusal of her face. "You can't have both, minx. With one position filled the other becomes void, and I fully intend to be your lover so you might as well forget about anyone else for a while."
She hadn't had sex in a lot longer than she cared to admit; her body was starved for attention. But somehow, even given the extreme temptation of being able to get naked and raw with someone like Jareth, she just couldn't picture herself giving a man her body without expecting some sort of emotional connection. She just wasn't wired that way; 'all or nothing,' had been the leading principle of her life for too long to make such a drastic change. Sarah Williams didn't have gritty and carnal affairs; she had long and predictable relationships. "Why do you consider the two to be mutually exclusive?" she asked after a while. "You're obviously seeking some sort of monogamous relationship, even if it is based solely on desire, so why don't you want to commit emotionally?"
"Why make promises I've never been able to keep before?" he countered quietly. "If gone about properly, one is no less honorable than the other, if that's what worries you."
"What worries me is that I don't know you." Sarah tried shifting again, sorely tired of being caught under the weight of her uninvited guest.
Jareth waved his hand impatiently, as if to say, 'Oh. That again.'
Irked by his response, she continued, "I mean, I know Frank Wyzer better than I know you, and-"
His lips slanted over hers with punishing force, long fingers tucking around her jaw to keep her where she was.
The first kiss had been heady but careful; a subtle toeing of the line, seeing what could be gotten away with before she would resort to visiting violence upon him. Gentle brushes of the lips, a little taste of tongue, an intoxicating mixture meant to coax her into responding. And respond she had, with absolute fervor. After ten years of lusting after a man who, at the very least, looked like the one that had been kissing her, it had been nearly impossible not to kiss him back.
This kiss was not gentle; Jareth wasn't coaxing, he was taking. It was angry and forceful and absolutely wonderful. Sarah cursed herself for a fool, but her body was responding more fiercely to this kiss than she had to the other.
All her boyfriends in the past had kissed her like frail china, and sex and been sweet and tidy and completely unsatisfying. Wasn't it all supposed to be about passion; about giving all so that you could get all? Tender moments had their merit, but carnal pleasure was meant to be explosive. Jareth knew that, seemed to live life that way, and delivered one wonderful shock after another through his kiss. Something in her opened pale and hungry eyes, knowing that this man could give her something the others never could.
Completely forgetting that just a moment ago she'd wanted to head-butt him, Sarah caught his bottom lip between her teeth, trying to slow him for a moment so that she could better savor what was happening.
Jareth growled, one hand slipping down to expertly find a nipple through her nightshirt, which he pinched in warning.
The action wrung a gasp out of her, and reminded her that she had hands of her own, which she quickly slipped under his jacket and began to explore his shirt-clad back.
His lips pressed into her own just that much harder, one large palm gently cupping the weight of her breast, while the other stayed close to her head just in case she decided to move. So slowly that she almost didn't notice, Jareth lowered himself from his semi-kneeling position above her but, dear god, did she ever feel that first grinding thrust. He was hot and hard, and the knowledge that the only thing separating them right now was a pair of jeans and her panties did funny things to her already overworked libido. After the second thrust her hands shot down to grip the tight flesh of his ass, feeling the muscles work as he smoothly slid into his third thrust. He held there a moment, grinding into the heat of her, teeth nipping her lips, and driving her crazy.
A whimper escaped her when he stopped grinding, and she moved to thrust back at him,needing the friction to ease the ache deep in her belly, but his hips bore down on her, preventing movement. Restlessness clawed at her insides, demanding satisfaction. Her body was flooding itself with liquid fire, eager for the rigid maleness of him.
But Jareth, despite having so boldly announced his licentious intentions, ended the kiss. "I don't wear jealousy well, Sarah," he rasped, a deliciously husky note in his voice. "Don't back me into that corner."
She stared at him in shock. "You are teasing me!" she accused, tongue darting out to taste what remained of him on her lips.
His eyes followed the movement with an animalistic intensity. "Believe me, I want nothing more than to finish this," Jareth flexed his hips gently against her own, "right here and now, but you'd hate me in the morning."
Sarah opened her mouth to protest, but her brain was finally kicking in. Dear god, she'd just finished deciding that she couldn't have sex with the man, and then she'd gone and nearly done it anyway! She would have hated him in the morning, but not nearly as much as she would have hated herself.
Seeming to sense her inner turmoil, he shook his head. "You need time and encouragement to get used to the idea. I may not be the most patient man in the world, but I do enjoy a good challenge." Jareth pressed his forehead to hers, nearly nose to nose. "You might snarl at me now, minx, but that just makes you all the more worth it."
A/N: Remember Frank Wyzer, from chapter one? He was only mentioned in passing, which is why I ask.
You can thank PaisleyRose, GraceRichie, and Solea for the speedy update. They commanded, and I had no choice but to provide.
This chapter is dedicated to Diana, who seems in sore need of some uplifting, in my opinion. And sleep. But I can only give one of the two.
In other news (and I apologize for drawing this out), I've finally gotten my livejournal up to speed, and I've started to post some of my writing at deviantart. If you are a member of either, please show your support so that I know I'm not posting for a ghost-audience. You can find links to both accounts in my profile.
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Disclaimer: Still not mine.