My muse sort of took the reins away from me and ran away with this part, hope you guys still enjoy it!
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Emma slid a plate in front of Killian as he ruffled the towel she'd given him through his hair to dry it. His leather coat now hung in the bathroom with his shirt to dry, wearing a white dress shirt that David had left behind. She had to admit, he wore white well, almost better than he wore black, the casual clothing and mussed wet hair creating a carefree and almost more inviting air about him.
"Ah, so we will be sharing a meal," he smirked, putting the towel on the stool beside him,"my reward for helping with the mess?"
"Despite my efforts to save it, you may have ruined my dinner with that hot pepper flakes crap. If so you get to choke it down first," she told him as she climbed onto the stool across the table from him. She'd quickly brushed out her wet blond hair, her towel draped over her shoulders and wearing a dry black tank top. Even in her casual drab and damp tussled hair she managed to look more tempting than before, Killian didn't know how she did it. Emma saluted him with her now third glass of wine.
"Bon appetit," she smirked, taking a sip.
He looked down at the dish with a sudden measure of wariness, Emma just watched him.
"Something the matter captain?" she asked innocently when he still hadn't touched his fork. He glanced at her again and even in her casual drab clothing she managed to look suddenly infinitely more wicked than she had only moments ago; Killian wasn't entirely sure how she did that either.
"Of course not," he answered smoothly, picking up his fork. He hesitated a moment as he examined his utensil, like he suddenly found it fascinating.
"Intricate work," he remarked at the simple grip lines etched into the handle.
"Not really," Emma said almost smugly, like she was enjoying watching his fruitless attempts to stall. At the lack of contribution to his observation Hook cast about for something else to speak on and seemed to come up empty.
"May I... ahem... have a glass of water?" he asked, somewhat hesitantly. Emma gave him her best innocent wide eyes.
"When you've already had so much?" she asked, gesturing to his wet hair and change of shirt. He narrowed his gaze at her.
"Can't handle the heat Hook?" she continued with that faux innocence.
"Who knew vindictive would sit so well on you Swan," he quipped coolly.
"Pot, kettle – kettle, pot," Emma sang back. Looked like that wine was starting to run its course. Hook frowned, obviously not understanding the reference.
"Takes one to know one," she clarified, nodding to him. He flashed her that heart stopping, bewitching smile.
"I think I could stand to become better... acquainted with you darling."
"Ha," Emma snorted "Nice try, quit stalling."
Killian dropped the smile, obviously frustrated at being thwarted before grudgingly spearing a few sauce covered vegetables and some chicken. He held it out before himself to examine it as if wary it may attack him. Emma watched him expectantly, thoroughly enjoying the show, not yet touching her own fork. As carefully as someone else may have attempted to diffuse a bomb he took a bite. He chewed a few times before a strange look over came his face and he stopped chewing. Emma was almost positive the next second would be him spitting it out and begging for water.
"Oh gods," he murmured through his mouthful of food. He loaded his fork full this time and took the heaping bite in one go, chewing as delight filled his face.
"This is delicious," he told her. She just gaped at him devouring the plate of food. Emma was so surprised that for a moment she just watched him shovel a few more fork fulls into his mouth before laughing again. He'd made her laugh more this one night than she could remember ever doing for a long time. She picked up her fork and gave the meal a try herself and immediately began coughing as the hot pepper flakes made their presence known. She debated spitting it out but found after the initial kick it was actually, well, not unedible by any means but she was glad she had the wine to drink. All in all it wasn't fantastic but it was ok to her. She glanced back at Hook devouring his portion, convinced he was playing it up for her but quickly saw that he genuinely liked it. Emma found she was a bit proud of herself considering she rarely cooked and a bit flattered by his obvious high opinion of it. Her and Killian ate in a comfortable silence for a few minutes as both simply enjoyed the food and, though Emma wouldn't admit it out loud, the company. Half way through she glanced up at him just to see if he wanted anymore and found him gazing at her, chewing slower now as if trying to savor the food. His eyes didn't leave her, even when Emma made no remark and looked back down at her plate to continue eating. Finally when she still felt him watching her she spoke up, intruding on the quiet.
"Wanna tell me what's going on in that head of yours?" Emma asked after another sip of wine while refusing to return his gaze,
"Perhaps I'm just admiring you." She practically felt him shrug as he said it and Emma shook her head in reply.
"Perhaps," she said as she met his ice blue eyes, clearly not buying his answer even as she smirked, "but you're not, because you don't 'just' do anything Killian."
He raised an eyebrow, in such a way it was like he was inviting her to play some game with him, which did not surprise her at all – that seemed to be a theme of theirs after all. Though Emma would admit his next words took her a bit off guard.
"Too right Swan, I admire you as I attempt to divine a way to coerce another kiss from you."
Emma just blinked at him for a moment, she certainly had not expected that. She wasn't used to him being upfront about what he wanted from her.
"Is that so?" she asked in her signature deadpan.
"Indeed," he answered matter-of-factly. Well this was new
"Going to set about seducing it from me are you Casanova?" she asked sarcastically, picking her glass up after taking another bite of her meal. He chuckled as if he found the inquiry amusing.
"That goes without saying, but you've proven to be notoriously hard to seduce Emma, I'm speculating as to what method would prove most... effective." There he went again with that damn voice of his and his eyebrows, Emma just rolled her eyes.
"Gee, that's not insultingly calculating at all," she said, swirling her wine in the glass. "By the way do you normally woo woman via water fights?"
"Just you-"
"I feel so special."
"-and if desire alone were enough to snare you Swan I assure you I would have you by now, I'm terribly hard to resist." The conviction he said it with gave her two polar opposite urges at once, one to shiver, the other to glare. She felt like he was both complementing her and challenging her. They had both proved to love a challenge.
"The heights of your egotism continue to astound me."
"It's not ego if it's true darling. Either way you are a riveting puzzle and finesse is a must," he said with a nod, his tone oddly reverent; like he appreciated this about her, admired it even. They locked eyes, both refusing to look away as she sized him up and he passively allowed her, she was unable to see where he was going with this.
"You're being oddly forth coming about your plans," she observed, mimicking his raised eyebrow sarcastically.
"Intentions," he said
"Sorry?"
"I'm divulging my intentions, not my plans," he corrected as he wiped his mouth with a napkin before setting it aside, putting one elbow on the table and his head in his hand. His eyes roamed over her as if taking in some great sight whilst trying to figure out how to best capture it.
"Big difference," he finished, voice soft and strangely alluring. She was starting to see that he probably wasn't kidding when he'd told her he was hard to resist, he was very charming when he wasn't being annoying as hell. A part of her thought he should know better with her – charmers generally didn't do it for her. The other part of her thought yes, it might actually be working because unlike most 'charmers' she met, there was a hint of genuineness in him.
"Don't want to give up any tricks, huh?" she asked. His grin was sharp and more than a little predatory.
"Precisely."
"Planning, finesse, strategy – be still my beating heart," she said, mockingly placing a hand on her chest before returning to eating, "Sounds tedious, and you should know by now your tricks have no power over me." Tricks never did, "and neither do you." That part was admittedly a little iffy. On look at Killian's expression showed that he saw exactly what it was she wasn't admitting aloud, and though he made no comment on it she could almost hear him thinking 'is that so?'
"If you're so very confident darling then perhaps you should play me for it," he suggested with a shrug. Emma frowned, a bit confused.
"Play you for... what exactly?" she asked slowly.
He slowly leaned forward over the table so that he closed the distance between them in such a way that Emma found it slightly harder to breathe suddenly.
"A kiss," he whispered, eyes hovering on her lips. Emma swallowed once before forcing herself to speak.
"Hey look, there are your hands." she pointed at the solitary hand under his chin, "let me play right into them."
He laughed at that, leaning even farther across the counter and closer to her, "Come now, you and I have a love of the game even if one of us refuses to admit it, it also solves the tedious issue nicely."
"Considering I'm kicking you out soon, it would be a short game."
"I believe they call that a lightning round Swan." Ok, where had he picked up that bit of lingo?
"My god, you never give up do you Killian?"
"On you love? Never."
Emma was silent, not realizing she'd begun leaning closer to Killian as well. He watched her watch him, her blue eyes entertaining the idea. He tried to hide how he held his breath as he awaited her answer, her indecision prompting him to give her some better lure to decide her.
"We can even play by any rules you wish to add," he offered.
"Ooo, generous," she said, tone very nearly teasing with that trade mark sarcastic edge to her voice. She hesitated a moment longer, a decision flickering to life in her dark ocean blue eyes. She put her wine glass down, a small crooked smile spreading over her face as she decided to make a bolder play then she ever would have normally made.
"No rules."
Killian found he couldn't speak for a moment, opening his mouth and then closing it.
"Beg your pardon?" he finally managed, eyes a bit wide.
"No rules," she repeated slowly, "consider it me giving you a fighting chance playing a game you can't win."
She continued to completely throw him off guard just when he thought he had her figured out, then she did something completely unexpected like this, egging him on whilst dismissing a freely given advantage.
"Not worried about the pirate playing dirty?" he asked.
"Don't dish it out if you can't take it playboy."
"You see love, this is a prime example of why it's always going to be you," he told her, eyes glinting with that devil may care spark that burned right to his very core as he pushed his empty plate forward and stood. He hobbled as gracefully as he could to her as she raised her glass to her lips once more for another sip of wine. He tsked as he waved a finger at her, swiftly reliving her of the glass before she could stop him.
"Hey!"
"I won't have you blaming my victory on account of you having drank too much spirits," he told her, draining the rest of her glass in one go.
"On account of you being a gentleman?" Emma asked, sourly watching him finish her glass.
"As I told you once before my love, I just like a fair fight," he told her, filling the glass again and draining it just as he had the first.
"Mooch," she muttered.
"Evening us up Swan, after all even footing is only good form," he told her. Emma tilted her head to the side.
"Hmmm, but will it be good enough?" The question almost sounded like a dare and that spark in his eyes grew more evident in his grin though she could have swore his expression didn't change a bit.
"One way to find out love," he said, handing her back the empty glass.
"Then lay out the game and bring it on cabin boy."
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Well, I don't know where my muse is going with this one - that's new, hahaha. Leave me a review and let me know what you think and if you have any fun idea's for the next chapter let me know, I might draw from you guys :) much luvs, have a good week!