The Blue Dress
Chapter Twenty Five: The Taste of Desire

The archives were dark, smelled faintly of must, and were always impossibly quiet. No one ever really needed or wanted to go down into the basement, and the archive attendant was usually off somewhere else doing who knew what. Jason assumed he was taking a perpetual smoke break, but it really didn't matter, there was never really a reason to come down here anyway. At least not until now, when he knew Raven was hell bent on finding that missing box of files.

He rounded the corner of the last aisle, tucked in the far-back corner, and saw the most fascinating sight he had yet to behold. Perfect, prim Miss Roth had kicked off her high heels, hitched up her skin-tight pencil skirt, and was currently climbing onto the steel shelving to try and reach a box at the top. He raised an eyebrow and eyed the scene with a smile, looking at the line of her garters leading down into her stockings that hugged those gorgeous legs, and noting her perfectly painted pink toenails. Cute. With a low chuckle, he leaned against the shelves next to him, and watched her with a thin, teasing smile.

"Not that I want to disturb the art in front of me, but do you need help?"

Her hands tightened on one of the support brackets and she looked over her shoulder at him. There was a quiet pause before a tint of blush stained her cheeks, and she licked her lips, stretching her hands above her head for the box above her. "I'm perfectly alright, Jason. But thank you for the concern."

He felt his heart skip a little at the sound of his name on her lips, especially since he didn't have to ask, and his smile widened just a little. "You sure? I don't want you to fall."

"I said I was fine, and I meant it." Raven grabbed the box and pulled it down, dropping it onto the floor with a loud crash that echoed through the cavernous space. With a soft hum of victory, she gingerly stepped down and found her black heels again, slipping them onto her feet. Blushing darker, she pulled her skirt back down to it's modest length, and met his eyes. "I found the last year of files we were looking for."

"There? That's not even the same decade." Jason's eyes flicked to the top shelf before looking back down at her. "Was it misfiled?"

"Yes." She pushed at her hair and shook her head, tapping her fingers against her thigh and rolling her tongue in her mouth as she thought. "Part of me wants to assume that someone did it on purpose… like they are trying to hide something from us or the rest of the company."

"Considering what we've found so far, it's very likely that they're involved in something shady… although, I imagine they'll have a hard time hiding anything from you, Raven. You're far too observant and determined."

She blushed again and looked away, tapping the toe of her shoes. He reached down and picked up the box to set it on an empty section of shelf, looking inside at the files. "Well, it looks like everything we'll need is here. Did you want to take some time this afternoon to look over it, or were you looking to meet later?" Pause. "You don't happen to have another date again, do you? I don't want to upend any plans you might have."

"Like you did last night?"

He shrugged, completely unapologetic. Honestly, he really hadn'tmeant to see her there, or make it look like he followed her, but he had been walking by on his way home and… and the sight of the two of them together made him indescribably angry. He didn't know how to handle what he had seen, and so he sat at the bar, he watched as Garfield tried to say something sweet and innocent, and for a single moment, Jason actually thought she might like him back. She was blushing and staring down into her drink, and he just reacted. He didn't even know if he was thinking straight, but he knew he needed to stop it. He needed to remind her that their game might have danced the dance of insatiable lust, and danced a dance of whispered shadows, it was still something far more than just that.

"I won't apologize for what I did."

Raven crossed her arms over her chest. "Why not?"

"Because I'm not sorry." Jason looked down into the box and hummed. "I refuse to be sorry."

"You should be."

"I agree." He glanced up at her before flicking through the files again. "I probably should be sorry for yesterday, but I'm not."

There was a long pause and Jason finally looked up, locking eyes with her. Raven had pulled into herself and was clearly dwelling on something in the depths of her mind, looking somewhat withdrawn and pensive. She seemed nervous, as if there was a question on the tip of her tongue and she fought with whether or not she should say it. He waited a moment, letting the silence settle over them until Raven seemed to gather enough courage to mumble her words from between her lips.

"What you said… did you mean it?"

He blinked. "About what these past few weeks have been about? Of course. I meant every word with complete honesty, Raven." His hands fell away from the box and he leaned back against the shelving unit and looked at her, licking his lips. "Did you think I didn't mean what I said?"

Her eyes flicked up to his and she blushed. "Sometimes I don't know what to think when your mouth is between my legs."

"That's kind of the point, to make you forget everything but me." Jason chuckled and continued to stare at her, undressing her with his eyes. "Have I ever told you how you taste, Raven?"

He watched her swallow and her cheeks flushed as she took a slight step back.

"Like heaven." He cocked his head to the side and just watched her. "One of these days, I'm going to devour you. I'm going to spend eternity just tasting you, and when you come, I'll let you rest for just a minute… and then I'm going to do it all over again."

He heard the hitch in her breath echo through the empty space. "Jason…"

"Yes, Little Bird?"

There was a long moment where she seemed to try to hold onto herself, as if the moment was suspended in time. And then she cursed in French, and it was all over. She closed the space she had created, her hands wrapping around the lapels of his jacket and pulling him against her. Her lips sealed with his own, and Jason groaned as his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, pulling her even tighter against his chest. He could smell her unique perfume of cherries and vanilla that took him far away from reality and sent him reeling into a fantasy.

He nudged her mouth open and dipped his tongue inside, desperate to taste more of her. He had kissed her last night, had tasted everything she had to offer, and yet he couldn't get enough of her. He couldn't stop thinking about her or wanting her orneeding her. He needed her soft curves and sharp tongue. He needed those teasing stares and French curses. He needed all of her - every single ounce of her being.

"Little Bird…" He murmured against her mouth, his hands crawling up her back to tangle his fingers in her shirt.

Raven made a noise that sat somewhere between a whimper and a moan, as her fingers reached up to his charcoal colored shirt, and she began to unfasten them one at a time. He pulled back from their heated kiss and looked down into her face, watching as her shaking hands slowly began to undress him with something resembling reverence, like he was an experience meant to be cherished. Her breath hitched higher and higher as each inch of skin slowly became exposed, and he shifted his weight a bit trying to understand what she was doing.

"You're gorgeous."

At those words, the ever stalwart and reserved Jason Todd actually blushed.

Raven leaned up on her tiptoes again and kissed him, her lips moving desperately against his own as she continued to kiss him relentlessly. Still fighting the embarrassment at actually blushingin front of her, he growled low in his throat and met her kiss for kiss, his hands sliding down to her hips and pulling her tightly against him. She gasped a little as his erection pushed against her insistently, and her back arched a little in pleasure.

Jason felt like his entire body was on fire. Every point where they touched sent sparks that raced under his skin and pooled low in his abdomen, creating a fire that he wasn't entirely sure he could put out. Raven pulled back from his needy kisses and began nibbling her way down his neck, licking and biting at his over sensitized skin. He groaned and tilted his head to the side, giving her better access to that spot next to his shoulder. Good God, he didn't know what she was doing to him, but he wanted to burn. He wanted to cave under her pleasure and let the entire world go up in hellfire.

Raven nipped at his collarbone before venturing even lower, her tongue tracing the defined shapes of his muscles as her hands traced his abdomen. Jason felt his cock jump with every exploratory caress and he grunted as he shifted his weight again, desperate to feel her-

Jesus.

His thoughts came to a screeching halt, and he picked up his head to stare down at the top of her head, eyes widening as her slender fingers began to unfastened his belt and pants. Gasping for breath, he managed to force out a few low, gravely words. "R-raven… what are you doing?"

Her eyes flicked up to meet his own, and he could see the shy determination lingering in her stare before she hooked her hands in his pants and underwear, and pulled them down his legs. His erection sprang free, and he could hear her swift intake of breath. Jason shifted again, his body torn between being embarrassed with the exposure, and needing her to touch him. He looked into Raven's face, and watched her fascination as she traced her fingertips over her the length of him.

"Little Bird…" His voice was desperate again, and he bit his lip. Should he tell her to stop? That he didn't want her to do something she would regret? He wanted this to be her choice.

Raven lifted her eyes to his own again and she offered him an almost teasing smirk. She leaned up and kissed him again, her hands still moving over his flesh. A minute of heated kisses ticked by before she pulled back and whispered into his mouth.

"Oh no, Jason…you have it all wrong. I'm going to devour you."

Without any other warning, she dropped to her knees and slid her tongue from base to tip. He cursed a guttural noise starting from the deepest shadows of his soul before erupting from his throat. His hands clenched onto the shelving unit behind him and he stared down at her, watching that little pink tongue trace the head of his cock and slide along his opening before doing a complicated foray back down the length of him. She played this horribly wonderful game for what felt like an eternity, lapping at him and tasting him like he was a treat she wasn't quite familiar with - something strange and exotic.

Devour him? No, she was going to break him.

She swirled her tongue over his head again, opened her mouth, and surged forward.

Fuck.

Jason pressed his knuckles into his mouth to keep from screaming, but he couldn't close his eyes. The sight of her taking him into his mouth, teasing him with her tongue and teeth and throat, it was like fine art. He brought his other hand down to her hair and pulled the pins free, letting her dark locks tumble around her face. His hands curled into her hair, and he felt his hips start to move of their own accord, the fire in his abdomen slowly turning into an unquenchable inferno. He licked his lips and looked down at her, watching her mouth and expression with fascination and some other, unnamable emotion.

He felt his muscles begin to sweat and tense, and he was desperately trying not to give into these feelings just yet. But thatfire was so beautiful - it was hot and bright and it bathed him in little points of pain and pleasure. His hands tightened in her hair and his eyes slid closed.

"Raven… Jesus, Raven… I'm gonna…"

He couldn't control the rest of his words as his sanity shattered under her touch. He felt his body shake and tremble, and he leaned back against the shelving unit for support (he certainlydidn't trust his knees at this point). The world around him seemed to halt and he felt his soul thrust into a pleasure he had never know. Gasping for breath and cursing, he pushed himself deep into her throat, ashamed that he couldn't control himself. But Raven just took his desire, her little tongue lapping up every drop until he was nothing more than a twitching mess under her hands.

She looked up at him and licked her lips with a smile.

"Would you like to know how you taste, Jason?"

His lips twitched.

"Wonderful."

She pulled his pants back up to his hips and leaned forward, kissing him with passionate, but tender kisses. He could smell himself on her, and it did nothing more than rile him up all over again. What he wouldn't give to just pin her up against these shelves and fuck her senseless, until both of them were a mess of nerves and curses under each other's insatiable lust.

Raven began to button up his shirt again, but his hands covered her own and pulled them flat against his chest. His eyes darkening, he pushed closer to her and growled. "Remember, Miss Roth, turnabout is fair play."