Hands Off

The next day found both of them in Mr. Wilson's office on the upper level of the building, looking out the window to the skyline as Raven desperately tried not to look guilty. She may have woken up this morning in her own bed, but her body was certainly no longer her own anymore. Her skin was covered in bites and marks and little symbols of possession and desire, and they were all purposeful, little ways to remind her of what had happened between them yesterday. In his office. At his apartment. All of the burning, glorious memories came flooding back to her, and Raven's eyes fluttered closed as she tried not to think about his fingertips currently brushing against her knee under the desk, teasing the hem of her prim and proper pencil skirt.

His kisses from last night still burned on her lips, and she could taste him mingling with her tea at breakfast and lingering with her this morning until she saw him outside his office. He gave her that lopsided, teasing smirk as she walked past him towards the elevator, and followed after her, muttering a polite, "Good morning, Miss Roth."

That alone was almost enough to drag him by the tie to the archives and never let him leave.

She shook her head of those images and tapped the heels of her prim black shoes on the plush carpet, trying not to fidget as she looked down into the files in front of her. A neat, legal form was paper clipped to the top of the file, outlining specific rules and regulations for this particular case. Raven plucked the form off the top and read carefully, still fighting to ignore Jason's fingertips sliding under the hem of her pencil skirt to move up the flesh of her thigh to her garter.

The sensation of his burning hands on her skin threw her back into yesterday, when she was laying in his sheets, practically drowning her in emotions as he kissed over her shoulders and down her stomach. Burying his body into her own as he burned her with every second passing between them.

Her eyes fluttered again as she took a long, deep breath and let it out slowly, glaring at him from the corner of her vision. Jason just chuckled and pulled his hand back, reaching for the file that Mr. Wilson had placed in front of him, as if he hadn't been caught doing something wrong. He paged through the work, his eyes narrowing with every passing moment, as if something on the page didn't seem to add up.

Raven's stomach dropped as she stared at the names of their clients printed neatly on the top of the legal disclosure. Taking a swift breath of air she lifted her eyes to his face. "Mr. Wilson, I-"

He stopped her with a wave of his hand. "I understand this is unorthodox… for both of you. But, unfortunately, you've both been requested as staff members for this project and our clients are not ones to take 'no' for an answer." His voice was heavy and devoid of emotion, seemingly more interested in the work in front of himself. "It is necessary that you two work appropriately with each other to complete this in a timely manner and to not upset either of our clients."

"Mr. Wilson, I refuse to work for-"

He cut Raven off again, his expression slowly growing annoyed with her. "Your father told me you would say that-"

Raven could feel Jason's shocked stare on her, but she pretended to ignore it, and let Mr. Wilson continue.

"-but there is nothing I can do about the situation. Unfortunately, he's a paying customer and this is a job that requires the best team we have for the job - specifically the two of you since you were both requested for this position. I can't give this case to simply anyone on our staff, you must understand this, Miss Roth."

"Mr. Wilson," Jason spoke up, his voice tight and strained as he placed his hands over the file, tapping his fingers against the pages. "Raven is right. We can't just simply ignore this because the client wants us to. I understand that this is an important case, but given our familial connections to both of the clients-"

Raven looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. Both?

"-I do not think that it is an appropriate maneuver to throw us into this project."

"Which is why you will both sign the attached disclosure." Mr. Wilson stood up and looked down at both of them, raising an eyebrow. It was as if he was silently challenging them again, trying to see if they actually would fight back against him. "I understand your dilemma, but you must also understand how important this case is for the company and for both of you individually. You were both requested to work on this project, and you will both comply. Unfortunately, I am not willing to budge on this aspect and neither is the client." He pulled out a pen and placed it between them. "Now, sign."

Jason practically growled, but he reached for the pen and signed and dated the legal disclosure before sliding the document across the table to Mr. Wilson. Raven's lips twitched as she watched Jason, uncertain of what to do next.

Her father. Raven honestly thought she had been nearly rid of him at this point in her life. She had worked so hard to block out that part of her history, and tried to distance him from herself and keep him as far away from her work and personal life as possible. But it seemed that no matter what she did, he was always going to find a way back in. Even if it was something as low as this.

Cursing quietly, she picked up the pen from his hands and signed her disclosure. With a sinking feeling burning in her gut, she pushed it back across the table towards Mr. Wilson. He snatched it up and tucked it into a portfolio he had hanging from his hand. Staring down at both of them it felt like they had both signed their lives away, and Raven was fighting against the sinking feeling which was currently pooling something thick and heavy into the pit of her stomach.

"Please review the files and let me know if you have any questions. I expect a preliminary report by the end of Friday." His lips twitched and he gestured to the door. "Now, please. I have an eleven o'clock appointment. Please take the rest of the day to review your upcoming work."

Jason and Raven nodded with a slow sigh, picking themselves up and moving towards the exit. In complete silence they made their way back to his office, fingers clutching the two files as if they were physical burdens that they couldn't quite let go of. Jason threw open the door and stormed inside, Raven close behind him as she just barely remembered to lock the door.

"Fuck."

Raven didn't even have the energy to fight about his mouth. Instead, she dropped herself in one of his armchairs and draped her head across the back, staring at the ceiling. How in the worldwere they going to survive this? How were they going to make this entire thing actually work, especially now that they had rolled around in the sheets with one another and they didn't want to give this up. They couldn't give each other up, it was too fresh, too new, too much of… everything. They had just started it and they didn't even have a name for it, and now they might be forced to put all those feelings aside to save a case.

This was a disaster.

Her eyes flicked over to him, standing by the window and muttering to himself. She sighed and rubbed her forehead, trying to ward off a headache. "You realize what this means… right?"

"I know." He turned around and looked at her, expression unreadable. "We're going to be working for family."

Raven rolled her eyes. "No. Well, yes. But, that's not what I'm talking about." Something in her head seemed to click and she leaned against the armrest of the chair, her eyes shooting down him in a movement almost too quick to recognize. Raven cocked her head to the side and continued to watch him, unrelenting in her curiosity. "Speaking of which… you happened to mention that both our families were part of this case."

He sighed, closing his eyes as if to ward off tension from her curious stare. "Yes."

"But the only other name on that case was-"

"Yes."

"Does that mean that you're-"

"He's my father… technically speaking." Jason opened his eyes again and looked at her, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's a long story and I'd rather not get into the gory details." His stare darkened and he moved toward her, steps nearly silent on the carpet. "You didn't tell me that you're the child of a notorious crime boss."

"Allegedly." Raven pursed her lips and met his face, knowing there was fire burning bright and hot in her eyes. Her history was a touchy topic, as was his own, and neither one of them wanted to cross that line just yet. "He's an allegedly notorious crime boss. And, besides, I have barely spoken to him since I emancipated myself at sixteen. So, I would kindly ask you to not equate my current self with him, if you don't mind."

Jason's expression softened. "You emancipated yourself at sixteen?"

"It's a long story," she quoted his own deflection and looked away. "I don't really want to talk about it right now."

She watched as he shifted his weight, obviously uncomfortable with the silence between them. It wasn't rare that they stirred up emotions between each other and made the world around them heavy, but not knowing how to move past it was an entirely different situation. Normally they fought until one of them broke under heavy hands and deep sighs, releasing all the pent-up tension like a volcano. But this… this was something completely different. Could they touch each other? More than that, could they even think about touching each other.

Jason leaned forward and leaned against the arm of the chair, looking into her worried expression. "Okay, parents are off the table for now, but what are we going to do about… this?"

"This?" Raven sighed.

She could smell his cologne, could see the faint evidence of a scratch next to his neck and knew that there was a bite mark hiding under the fine cotton of his shirt. It was all hers. All of it. She could have him anyway she wanted him - on the floor, in his chair, up against the wall, her bent over his desk again, in the elevator, his mouth buried between her thighs as she tried to keep calm on a conference call. The fingering, the biting, the licking, the kissing… all of it was completely and utterly hers.

And yet, with this very new, very delicate case in front of them, she had to come to the very real conclusion that this could not be… just yet.

Jason groaned and buried his face in his hands, taking a step back from her. "Raven, no… I see that look in your eyes. Please, please… don't do this to me."

She raised her expression to his face and blushed. "I'm sorry, Jason… but if we're at work. It's hands off - for me and you."

He cursed and flopped into the chair across from her, his eyes dark. He was trying to decide if he should argue or if he should let her have this fight. A long minute stretched between them before he picked himself up again, making his way to the bottle of scotch hidden in his desk drawer. He pulled out two glasses and poured, letting the silence fall over them even more.

"Hands off?" He handed her a glass and sat back down in the chair, expression hooded and confusing. "So, completely hands off? Or can I tease a little?"

She took a sip of the scotch and looked into his eyes. "No touching."

He pursed his lips and tapped a finger against the glass. "Even if you wear the blue dress?"

Raven rolled her eyes again. "Even if I wear the blue dress… which still needs repaired."

"Mm…" Jason smirked for a moment, taking satisfaction in the memory of those buttons ticking across the floor of his office. He looked from her to his glass and back again. "Well, this case is going to suck."

Raven couldn't find the will to argue.