"Well, yes Molly, you give me, I mean, could give me pleasure." Sherlock cleared his throat and looked more uncomfortable than Molly had ever seen him before. "What I mean to say is, um, that if I were to engage in a relationship beyond my current state of relationships then, yes, you would be the one to give me pleasure. You are well suited for me intellectually, well, as much as anyone is capable of except for John, and he already has a mate." Sherlock gave a wry grin with the last statement thinking of all the times people thought he and John were a couple. "Furthermore..."
"Oh shut up you git," Molly cried out, eyes moist with newly formed tears. She grabbed the bowl in Sherlock's hands, tossed it onto the table and pulled him down into an ardent kiss, her fingers twining into his curls at the back of his head. Sherlock was most certainly not prepared for this reaction and stumbled forward grasping the table for balance, cups and utensils flying everywhere. Molly persisted despite almost being thrown to the ground by an incredibly ungraceful Sherlock. As he regained his balance, he drew Molly into his embrace and returned the kiss with soft yielding lips. He was rewarded with a low moan and soon realized that he was the one making the noise. Heat encircled his body, and when they finally broke away breathless, he gasped the only words that came to his mind. "Yes, that was quite pleasurable."
"Right then," Molly squeaked, her face as red as the markings on the mixing bowl.
Sherlock looked at this beautiful creature before him and realized that during the past seven minutes and twenty-two seconds of snogging his mind had been still and the only neurons firing were ones dedicated to the sense of touch. It was euphoria that he had only felt with his initial drug use. He wondered if this would change as well with more exposure. He did not care at this point because he just wanted more. He had found his new drug, and it was ironically called Molly.
Aspen waited a week before getting up the nerve to call Sam. She numbly went through the divorce proceedings, more absent with each meeting. Her husband's lawyer was constantly in a state of agitation as to how much Aspen was getting out of the deal, especially since she did not care about any other holdings outside of her own home. She was about to be a very wealthy woman. Of course she had been all along but just did not know it. She really only wanted custody of her son, and apparently that was not a problem since her husband had several other children in London.
She almost hung up on the third ring, but Sam was saying hello before she could tap end. "Uh, hi Sam, this is Aspen, sorry to bother you."
"You are not bothering me at all. I was just thinking about getting a bite to eat. You want to meet somewhere?" Sam said.
Aspen was relieved that he avoided all the awkward small talk. "Yes, that would be so nice," she replied.
They met at a small cafe, outside of town that served mostly vegan fare and many forms of tea and coffee. The old plank boards on the floor creaked as they made their way back to the alcove of high round tables. Once a hardware store, the cafe was untypical with high ceilings lined with shelves, wooden framed windows painted pale Turquoise and long ceiling fans that wobbled above their heads.
Aspen was glad when they were seated in the corner away from the view of most of the cafe. Even though she had told many people, especially those at work, that she was getting divorced, she still was thinking she should not jump into another relationship immediately and certainly not be seen in public with another man. It was not even a matter of guilt. She felt none at this point. She had just played the life of proper etiquette for so long that it was engrained in her being like well worn tracks. Veering off was uncomfortable.
"I know I should have waited until we signed the final papers next week before I called you, but that is just a formality. Am I a bad person to be having a date before I am divorced?"
"Um, we don't have to call this a date. Really, it is just two people having dinner and, um, talking. Okay, that sounds lame, and I honestly am putting this in my first date category and no, you are not a bad person. You just have crappy timing," Sam chuckled and gave her a smile.
Aspen relaxed and actually felt a stirring of appreciation. She could not say that she was suddenly filled with emotions upon meeting Sam. She still felt very little, but a small inclination drove her toward this man. She was a heart shaped leaf tilting toward the sun.
They remained there for hours, eating pecan salads and talking about everything. There was no pretense, only fast forward. They both were not inclined to spend weeks in the typical dating fashion of finding out about each other slowly. A flicker of lights brought them out of their twenty dates in one evening. Sam paid to the protest of Aspen. She had divulged her new found wealth matter-of-factly. He still clung to his rituals from the past, and he was not going to let her pay on their first date. Maybe next time, he thought. He knew there was definitely going to be a next time.
They stood by her SUV for a minute looking at each other trying to find words to bring the evening to a close. Sam finally decided against words and leaned in quickly for a kiss. His speed and her relaxed state sent her backwards up against the car door. That just heightened Sam's excitement. Placing his hands on the cool glass behind Aspen's head, he deepened the kiss with no objection from Aspen. Aspen felt strangely safe and knew that it may be impossible to wait a week for their next date.
Author's Note: That was a lot of fun to write. It was far more difficult than I imagined, and I deleted as many clichés as I wrote. I am pretty sure I will not be a romance novelist in the future. I hope you enjoyed it, and that it was not too much OOC. Let me know what you thought. I topped over a thousand views last weekend, so I am pretty excited about that. Thanks for reading!