Chapter Four : Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?

They sat huddled up close at a bus stop, open bags of chips in their laps, vinegar scented steam rising up and into the cool night air as they listened to the drone of late night traffic.

"You're right," the Doctor told her before he blew on his chip and bit it in half, "these are the best chips in the world."

Rose shot him a wide grin. "If there's one thing I know, it's chips." She took a chip from his pile and he watched as she put it in her mouth then licked her fingers clean of the salt and vinegar. She looked up, saw him watching her, and smiled. "Yours taste better than mine," she explained.

He frowned, reached across, chose a chip from Rose's pile, and ate it. His frown deepened. "They taste exactly the same."

"Yours taste better," she insisted taking another and repeating the process of licking her fingers clean. The Doctor watched her intently.

She leaned back against the glass of the bus shelter and looked up at the night sky. The clouds had moved on, and the stars appeared as pinpricks of white light shining through midnight-blue velvet.

Rose sighed wistfully and looked at the Doctor. "So what are you then?" Her eyebrow arched with curiosity. "A traveling salesman?"

He stared at her, completely taken aback by her assessment of him. "Why would you think I'm a traveling salesman?"

"You said that you traveled," she reminded him then she shrugged. "My mum had this boyfriend once – Wayne – he used to travel the length and breadth selling door to door." She put another chip in her mouth and ate it. "We have The Encyclopedia Britannica, volumes one to six, thanks to him." She licked her fingers.

He couldn't help but ask. "Why only volumes one to six?"

"He'd drop off a volume every time he was in the area," Rose explained. "Trouble was he was a bit of a lothario – had women all over the place – an' instead of chocolates and flowers he gave them encyclopedias. 'Course, his bosses weren't best pleased when they found out." She picked up another chip. "They sacked him. He's working in a fish factory now."

For a while the Doctor was at a loss for words as he contemplated the fall from grace of Wayne the traveling salesman. But then he realised that Rose's concern lay less with the idea that he might be about to offer her The Encyclopedia Britannica volume seven, and more with the possibility that he too might have the traits of a lothario.

The corner of his mouth curved up into a crooked smile that he tried to keep control of. "I'm not a traveling salesman."

Rose did not look at him, and instead ate another chip. "Good," she said quietly.

They finished their chips in silence, then dropped the greasy bundles of paper in a bin, got to their feet and the Doctor held out his hand to Rose. She took it, and glanced up at his face as she fell into step alongside him, neither really caring where they were headed, only that they were together.

Before too long it began to rain, a sudden unexpected downpour that caught them off guard. Still holding onto Rose's hand the Doctor broke into a run, crossed a road and pulled Rose into the shelter of a shop doorway.

"Should be okay here for a while," he explained, looking at the heavy rain and then back to Rose.

Rose let go of his hand and pushed her damp hair away from her face. When she glanced at the Doctor she saw he was looking at her with an intensity that made her heart race.

The Doctor's gaze raked slowly over Rose's body, taking in every detail, every curve. Her bare legs were wet with rain and the street lights gave her an almost golden glow. Her dress, under his jacket, was damp and clung to her thighs in a most provocative manner. He swallowed hard, licked his lips and continued his audacious and blatant scrutiny of her body until finally he met her eyes again.

Rose leaned back, held his gaze and did not blink. "When you do that… when you look at me like that, it almost feels like… like you're touching me."

The Doctor refused to look away. "Maybe that's because I want to touch you."

Rose held her breath for a moment. The small distance between herself and the Doctor suddenly seemed unbearably vast. "Then why don't you?" she asked quietly, her eyes darkening as she stared back at him.

The Doctor moved slowly, closing the space between them, only stopping when his body was pressed up close against hers. He reached out with cool fingertips and traced her mouth, gently exploring her soft, wanton lips. He let his hand fall to brush the length of her neck and push past the leather jacket she wore. His eyes darted to Rose's, watching her reaction as he softly cupped one breast in his hand, and his thumb stroked agonisingly slowly across one hardening nipple.

Rose's eyes fluttered closed and she allowed herself to fall into the pleasures that the Doctor's caress elicited throughout her body. She couldn't quite believe her response was so intense from only his touch. Nothing had ever felt like this, no man had ever made her feel so ready, so filled with want and need, and so completely sure of her willingness to take the next step.

The Doctor pushed his fingers through her hair, tilted her head slightly and claimed her mouth in a kiss that was far from innocent. Her lips parted under his gentle coaxing and with a dark sound of pleasure he slid his tongue into her mouth to taste her.

Rose's hands wrapped around his neck, clinging to him as he kissed her deeply. She pressed her body to his and as she moved against him she felt him stir, hard and insistent at her hip. She knew that she had to have been taken by some kind of madness, and that there were probably a hundred different reasons why she should stop this right now, but she didn't care, not at all. She wanted this, wanted him, more than she had ever wanted anything or anyone.

The Doctor's lips left Rose's and he lowered his head to trail kisses down her throat and to the sweet hollow at the base of her neck where her pulse raced. A moment later he pulled back, distance finding its way between them as he met Rose's cloudy eyes and waited, his eyes dark and fathomless.

Silent, Rose slid her hands down from around his neck and stared up at him. She felt sanity creeping its way back to her, and she tried to steel her heart against it. She bit her lip hard.

"Rose." He moved close again, softly kissing her forehead.

"I don't…" She closed her eyes for a heartbeat and began again. "I don't… do… this."

He put a finger under her chin and tilted her face up so that she could do nothing but meet his eyes. "I know," he said, and kissed the corner of her mouth. "Neither do I."

She tried to turn her face to capture his kiss, but he moved before she could. She stared back at him. "I have a boyfriend," she whispered quietly.

He nodded. "I know."

She stared back him, not even caring to ask how he knew, and a tear of frustration fell from the corner of one eye. "An' you're too old for me."

He leaned in closer, pressed cool lips to her cheek and kissed away her teardrop. "Far too old," he agreed.

She reached out and her fingers curled under the hem of his jumper. When he didn't try to stop her she gently scratched at his skin with her fingernails.

He hissed in a breath, closed his eyes, and Rose's hand slowly drifted lower. But before she could touch him, he caught her hand in his. She looked up suddenly, finding his eyes darker than she had ever seen them.

"I'm sure," she whispered.

He nodded. "I know. So am I. But… not here."

She pulled her hand free of his and glanced into the night beyond the doorway. It was no longer raining. She looks back at him. "Why not here?"

"Because I say so." He touched her face, a tender caress. "I don't want to have sex with you, Rose."

His words cut sharply at Rose's heart and she felt tears of anger and humiliation prick at her eyes. She turned her face away from him.

Realising his mistake the Doctor reached out and held her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him. "I didn't mean…" He saw the doubt he had placed in her and hated himself for it. "Rose," he said softly. "I meant that I want to make love to you. I want to explore every inch of your body. I want to touch you and kiss you. I want to make you tremble when I push myself inside you and I want to make you scream my name when I bring you to orgasm."

Rose stared up at him, her heart racing, her breathing shallow. She licked her suddenly dry lips and found that she couldn't contain her smile.

The Doctor let her go. "Rose?"

She moved close to him. "Your chat up lines… they're getting better."