A/N: At one point in the planning process there was going to be some actual cleaning in this chapter, but we got derailed. Oops.

On a more serious note, I might fall behind on posting prompts this week. I don't have a lot of free time the next few days and there are a couple prompts I'm going to be winging a little bit, so if I go radio silent, just know that I'm working on things as I can in the background. :)

Anyway:

Day 10 | Rick/Mariah | Rated: M (for language and canoodling)

Maid

It was one of those spring days that made most people want to get off of their ass and do something productive.

Rick could tell as soon as he woke up to sunlight streaming into his bedroom and the curtains dancing in the breeze. It wasn't hot enough for the city air to smell like straight garbage yet, and it was pleasantly cool for what promised to be a sunny day.

But as far as he was concerned, it was the perfect day to have zero obligations and Mariah in his bed, if she was up for it.

With that thought, Rick heaved himself to his feet. He didn't bother making the bed, instead grabbing some clean clothes and heading toward the bathroom.

Mariah had to be up already, but he didn't see her in the living area. It wasn't unusual for her to run errands by herself, so he didn't think anything of it until he was leaving the bathroom, toweling his hair off after a shower, and realized the door to the guest room was open.

Mariah hadn't spent much time in the guest room since her first visit. She kept some clothes in the closet and would get dressed in there sometimes, but he had no clue what she could've been doing in there all morning.

He tossed the towel over his shoulder and went to investigate.

He found her sitting on the floor, folding a pile of clothes and shoving them in a garbage bag. She looked up when he appeared in the doorway and he smirked at the way her eyes traveled over his naked torso, met his gaze, and then bounced back down to look again. It wasn't a coincidence that she swallowed right as a stray drop of water fell from his hair, down his body, to the waistband of the sweats hanging low on his hips.

"What are you doing?" he asked, hoping that whatever it was, she could be convinced to do something else entirely.

Mariah gave her head a shake. There was a promising dusting of pink on her cheeks when she answered, "Spring cleaning. I don't wear any of these clothes that much, so I thought I'd start here. I want your help in the living room, next."

Rick was torn between commenting on how he didn't realize she had that many fucking clothes in the apartment when she didn't actually live in New York and complaining about cleaning on his day off. Either one might affect his chances at getting to see Mariah naked anytime soon, so he decided to try another angle.

"Why?" he asked, only a little bit grumpily.

"This is your apartment, Rick," Mariah pointed out. She was still sneaking glances at any bare skin she could see and it was fucking distracting. "You can help clean – I'm not your maid."

"I never asked you to clean shit," Rick reminded her gentler than he might have under other circumstances; she hadn't folded any clothes in a few seconds, too busy gawking. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched Mariah's eyes track the movement.

"It'll go faster if we do it together," she said to his biceps.

"Is that really how you want to spend the day?" He grabbed his towel again and purposefully dried his hair rough, so more droplets would land on his skin for Mariah to see.

"I did the bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom last night while you were working. The living room is the last big chunk that's left." Mariah went back to bagging clothes, determinedly not looking at Rick. They might not have been as neatly folded as the first batch, but she did manage to finish. She stood up and made to walk past him. "Go put a shirt on so you can help."

He held out an arm, pressing his hand against the door frame to block her path, and said, "I've got better things to do."

Mariah looked up at him with a challenging glare. She put a hand on his forearm, as if to push him away, but instead brushed it gently over the muscle until her thumb was stroking the inside of his elbow. Her touch was soft enough to give him fucking goosebumps.

"Oh yeah?" she asked, leaning into his personal space, golden eyes gleaming mischievously. "Like what?"

That was all the invitation Rick needed to scoop her up in his arms and toss her onto the guest bed. She was laughing as she landed and giggled again when Rick kneeling on the bed made her slide toward him as the mattress sunk.

"Shitty mattress," he grumbled.

"We can add it to the list, if you want," Mariah offered, shimmying up toward the pillows. "Good time to get a new one."

"What is it with you and cleaning today?"

It might as well have been a rhetorical question for how quickly he kissed her after asking. Mariah sighed, parted her lips, and met his tongue with her own. She didn't give up control easily, pulling on a fistful of his hair anytime the kiss grew hard enough to force her down onto the pillow.

"What is it with you and your one-track mind today?" Mariah mumbled against his lips, before connecting for another kiss.

Rick barely recognized that she was mocking his previous question, too preoccupied with the way she moved, adjusting her position beneath him, to let him fall into the vee of her thighs.

"It's better than mopping the fucking floors."

Her answer was to squeeze his hips so tight with her legs that he might actually find bruises there later. He groaned into her mouth at the thought.

For as rough as Mariah could be, everything about her body was so fucking soft. Rick let his hands roam, starting at those strong thighs holding him close and working his way up her body, over her ass. Mariah shivered at his touch and dragged her nails down his chest, the grip on his hair tightening.

Bracketed in by the sting of her touch, he smirked against her lips and grazed one knuckle over the underside of her breast.

She gasped and bit his tongue hard.

"Fuck!" He pulled back enough to take in her blown-wide pupils, messy hair, and self-satisfied smirk as she fought to catch her breath.

Rick narrowed his eyes at her and decided he was safer kissing her neck for now. He pushed her shirt up so he could touch the bare skin of her waist, feel her breathing speed up as he sucked his way from the base of her neck up to her jaw.

"You know what would be even better?" Mariah asked breathlessly.

"Hmm?" There was a soft, earthy scent coming from her skin, mingling with the floral smell of her shampoo, that was making Rick a little unwilling to answer properly.

Mariah tilted her head to give him better access. He pressed impossibly closer, only to feel her pulling on his hair again, harder, relentlessly, until he obliged and came up for air. He met her eyes with a question in his own, slightly annoyed.

"If you'd come lift up the couch so I can vacuum underneath it."

"What?" Rick gaped at her as she giggled. To say that caught him off guard would be the understatement of the fucking century, but he wasn't giving up his plans for the day any easier than she was. "I thought I told you I had better things to do."

He tugged at her shirt and she lifted her arms, letting him take it the rest of the way off. Fucking finally.

"Did you?" Mariah asked, feigning innocence even as her flush was spreading down her chest, almost as pink as the lace on her bra. She wrapped her arms around his neck and arched up against him, face suddenly mere centimeters from his. "You might have to remind me."

That, Rick thought, as he claimed her mouth once again, he would agree to do.

A/N: Is my MayBlade tradition to write spicy Rickiah kisses or am I using the event as an excuse? The world may never know.

Thanks for reading. :)