A/N: Sorry it has been a while. Not an unforgivable amount of time, but a while. Despite my absence, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
After a few long, amazing moments kissing in the rain, Han pulled away and looked down at Leia with a mixture of surprise and awe.
"My my, looks can be deceiving," he said loudly, laughing over the downpour that now had them drenched head to toe.
"What does that mean?" she pressed her hands to her hips, feeling the sopping wet fabric on her skin, trying her best to look angry and imposing although she knew she looked like she had just been dunked in a lake.
"I'll tell you when we get out of this mess…" he told her, sticking his fingers in his mouth and whistling. Falcon came trotting over, shaking her head blissfully in the rain. She looked so wild and free and clearly loved playing out there. Princess, on the other hand, was stomping her hooves in the mud. Without another word, Han wrapped his arms around Leia, picking her up and putting her on top of Princess. Her horse was much better behaved than Falcon, and patiently sat there as Han got onto his own horse. He kicked Falcon and she took off at the pace he set for her back out of the clearing and up the hill to the barn. Princess followed and Leia was glad she didn't have to worry about it. She was also quite impressed that Han could take charge of both of the horses—he had a way with nature; whereas she had a way with people. But she noticed that 'people' did not include Han. She had no upper hand with the man whatsoever.
He was helping her off the white horse a few minutes later and leading both horses to their respective stalls. She stood in the middle of the dry barn, waiting for him to come back and shaking from the rain. When he reappeared he had two very large blankets with him and he took her hand, leading her up the small loft area of the barn. There were extra hay bales up there, and the new bags of feed Han had gone into town for. But other than that there was just a thin layer of hay padding the floor and he went about spreading one large blanket out on the ground for them. The little loft looked over the horse stalls and the rest of the barn, but the way they were positioned, no one could really see them. She watched Han bend over and smooth out the comfortable looking flannel plaid blanket before he stood up and turned to her.
"I don't know about you, but I really don't want to run across the farm back to my little place in this rain. And the main house is just as far if you wanted to change clothes. Go on and take 'em off and wrap yourself in the blanket. I'll go place your things by the furnace for them to dry with my stuff," Han said gently, knowing she would be skeptical. And she was, although the thought of lying naked wrapped in a blanket next to him was starting to sound appealing.
"Solo…I can't do that…" she used his nickname to try and create distance, but it just made him crack the smile that made her knees week.
"Sure you can. If you can take off on my horse, which had to be scarier than shit, you can take off your clothes. I'll turn around," He turned, crossing his arms. When she was sure he wasn't looking, she quickly stripped off her dress which was a translucent heap of white fabric now and debated on whether or not to take off her underwear. They were just as soaked though, and it wasn't comfortable. She grabbed the other blanket, wrapping herself up before slipping off her panties and shoving them into the ball of the dress.
"Done," she said self-consciously and he turned back around. The smile he gave her this time around was one she hadn't seen before. It was small and sweet. Han couldn't help but be in shock that the politician's daughter—little miss bossy pants—was standing here in the barn with him wrapped in a blanket and completely naked underneath. She looked angelic, with her long brown hair wet and slightly curling at the ends and her skin glowing and dewy. He took her clothes and climbed down from the loft without a word.
Being careful to not show off anything she didn't want seen, she lay down on the blanket on the floor and closed her eyes at the simple joy of a warm blanket wrapped around her as she relaxed from the chill of the rain. She heard his feet on the ladder a few moments later and when she looked up, she almost couldn't breathe.
There he was, walking towards her, and then proceeding to lay down next to her on the blanket in just some damp boxer shorts. He hadn't been as soaked through as she was in her little dress, but he had been enough to warrant taking off his jeans and his shirt. She was momentarily rendered speechless by the tanned skin of his chest, the defined muscles that were just lean enough to be sexy but not too pronounced that they looked high maintenance, and the delicious way his boxers hung on him. Leia couldn't believe she was thinking such dirty thoughts about a man who worked for her and was much older than her no less. It wasn't that she had a problem being his superior in this situation; she just wished she wasn't so things could be less complicated.
"What are you thinking about sweetheart?" he asked, looking at her as she blushed and pulled the blanket up farther around her shoulders.
"Tell me why looks can be deceiving," she re-ignited the conversation from the clearing. He smirked and moved a little bit closer. Just that small adjustment made her heart pound in her chest. She was not used to being so entranced by anyone like this. It had never happened to her before.
"I just didn't know that under that snotty, self-entitled, beautiful shell of yours, that you could kiss a man like that," his eyes were bright.
"I am not self-entitled!"
"I knew you would say that," he laughed and pulled her closer to him, holding her blanket wrapped body to his nearly naked one as he kissed her again. It was just so natural, the way their lips moved, like they had done it a thousand times before and yet it still wasn't enough. He nipped at her bottom lip hungrily and she placed her small hand on his face, pulling him deeper into the kiss; showing him that she needed this too, and wanted it more than anything.
The chemistry between them that had been buried by their small fights and their uncertainty of where the other stood was starting to disappear as the kiss became more heated and suddenly, Leia wasn't really concerned about holding the blanket as tightly around her as before. She wrapped her arms around Han's neck and he maneuvered so he pulled some of the blanket off of her and got under it as well. Leia was so nervous. One second she was kissing a man that she had all sorts of emotions and feelings for and now they were both nearly naked and under a blanket together in the loft of her families' barn. She giggled into the kiss at the strangeness of it all.
Under normal circumstances, any guy would have to date her at least six months before she got into anything physical—and here she was practically throwing herself against Han, and liking it. Although that wasn't where all her nervousness came from: it mostly came from the fact that she had no experience with this at all.
"What's wrong," Han paused, looking at her with his eyebrows furrowed.
"This…I…just…"
"For the daughter of more than likely the new Governor of Austin, I am surprised that your speaking skills aren't that great," he smiled at her and she playfully pushed him away, laughing.
Both of them froze when they heard the door of the barn open and the sound of the pouring rain outside amplified for a second before it went back to being quieted. There was someone in there and they both stopped breathing.
"Leia? Are you in here?" it was Luke's voice, and he sounded concerned. The look on Han's face was sheer horror. Leia was pretty sure hers looked equally frightened. Han wrapped Leia back up in the blanket and slowly got up from the ground; thinking the most terrible thoughts because the last thing he wanted her twin brother to see was his erection.
"We're up here, Luke," Han said as casually as he could, leaning over the railing of the loft like nothing was wrong. Leia joined him, fully covered up. Luke stood in the middle of the empty barn, looking up at them murderously.
"Are you fucking serious? Here….in the barn? You couldn't go somewhere else?" Luke yelled at them with hurt in his eyes.
"No…no no we weren't doing that Luke. Look, Leia was being stupid and ran off with my horse so I had to go rescue her ass and it started raining. I took her back here so I could warm our clothes up by the furnace. I really didn't think taking her to the guest house would have been appropriate," Han tried to sound like an honorable gentleman but Luke was still skeptical.
"I swear Luke, it's not what it looks like," Leia promised—although it had almost been quite the opposite.
"Well, mom was looking for you," he said after a moment, still eyeing Han warily.
"Please don't say anything Luke, we're even now…"she pleading, and the small threat about his night out drinking quickly put him in his place.
"Fine, but I don't really like you screwing our ranch hand. No offense Han…"
"Hey hey hey, lots of offense. I am not 'screwing' your sister!" he looked personally affronted as he yelled down at the blonde. Leia colored, wondering if that hadn't been his plan after all.
"And I don't really like you sneaking out and drinking…"Leia added, trying to sound like as much of an adult as she could. But her voice wavered.
"You hurt her, I'll kill you," Luke looked up at Han before giving his sister a pointedly upset look and walking back out of the barn and into the pouring rain.
A/N: Hope you liked! As always, please review!