Chapter 20

The rest of dinner went that way, with loving looks and laughter, with only the littlest bit of dangerous flirting - Fitz and Olivia both doing their best to decompress - to forget who they were and where they were - if only for a little while. Fitz was grateful for what little time they'd managed to snatch for one another. Once again he found himself thankful to have a woman like this in his life.

It's true, watching the sparkle in her eye as she mock berates him about his choices, the way her laughter at his answers fills him with something more - he wants her - badly. She did too; but she was right. They needed to be careful, at least for the next little while.

But he still wanted her. It wasn't just physical - it was never just physical when it came to her. After a full day's serving of heavy political hash, she was dessert, lightness and sweet to both heart and soul.

Just being in her presence re-energizes Fitz, he realized all over again. As iron sharpens iron, so did Olivia do the same for him. No matter how many times he'd heard that phrase, when it came to this amazing woman sitting across from him, she brought a whole new meaning to the words.

She must have read his mind as the conversation turned to the work they'd accomplished today - as well as what still lay ahead before the night was done.

"So…" Fitz said after a little while. "Are we - or are we not going to talk about your visit to the Hill?"

"Edison?" He heard the subtly careful way she said his name.

"Edison."

Her shrug was a delicate thing. "It went a little better than I expected."

Fitz's eyebrows lifted in silent mix of question and answer.

"He actually agreed to see me." Olivia explained. "Anything after that was the 'better than I expected' part."

"And he was eager to discuss political strategy with you?" Fitz's tone was only mildly suspicious and he silently congratulated himself on his self-control. "I wonder why, Liv."

"It wasn't like he was all that enthusiastic about it." Olivia scolded him. "And that was probably only was because I allowed him to spank me."

Fitz's eyebrows crawled upwards again. Considering his show of jealousy, Olivia probably couldn't resist her choice of words.

"Verbally, Fitz." Her eyes told him that he'd probably guessed right. "It's all part of the strategy."

Their eyes met as the innuendo rose up between them, hot and heavy.

"And when he was - satisfied - what else did you two talk about?" Fitz asked. Iron sharpening iron, indeed.

"As a matter of fact, the entire situation turned out to be more informative that I'd counted on." Olivia went on to lay out what else had happened.

Fitz's eyes hardened just a little as she told him about her encounter with Garner. He felt his jealousy return in full force, rising up in him, hot, potent and ferocious. He knew there'd been a reason why he'd had such a reaction to him earlier.

There was more to it, of course. Garner's proximity to both Edison and his vice-president raised all sorts of red flags. Both he and Olivia knew that they had to have at the very least a broad-stroked conversation about what challenges this unexpected turn of events might bring.

"Is Sally still in the White House tonight?" Olivia asked.

His mind still focused on Garner's inappropriateness, Fitz shrugged. He didn't know her personal itinerary for the evening.

"Then it's possible." In which case, Olivia suggested that if the opportunity presents itself, that they plant a seed in her garden and see just where it sprouts.

"It will be especially telling if it takes root anywhere near Garner." Olivia had retrieved a pad and pen from her computer briefcase and was scribbling down a few notes to expand on later. "If he wants to dance around me, we can use that against him."

Even though he knew her ideas were good, Fitz's annoyance spiked into something darker at the thought of Garner's possible - no, probable - involvement. He tried to push the thoughts that followed out of his mind.

Fitz glanced down at his watch; like so many - too many - times before, their time together had flown by. At the most they might have another half hour before she'd have to leave.

His action had caused Olivia to look at her own watch; when she looked up, her smile held the same trace of regret that he knew was in his own as she collected her notes and stood, crossing the room to put them away.

His eyes followed her, traveling over her smooth curves; Fitz tried to school his mind to the duties that lay ahead, but he couldn't shake Garner's face from his mind. His thoughts went instead to the look in the other man's eyes as he looked at Olivia and his imagination did the rest as he imagined what had gone through his mind when he'd spoken to Olivia in private.

The unconscious jealousy that had been simmering just beneath the surface combined with one too many moments of self-denial

Damn Edison and his once upon a time.

Damn Garner and the fantasy he'd seen dancing behind his eyes.

Olivia was his. She belonged to him.

"Olivia." Somehow he's standing over her with no real recollection of crossing the room.

Fitz's voice is hoarse as he says her name, his eyes deepening the the intensity of distant storm clouds. "If you're going to stop me, you'd better do it now."

But even as he spoke, his hands were reaching for her. He knows that in a little while he needs to be elsewhere; he knows that she does too, and yet he can't help himself as he steps a little closer, deliciously inside her personal space, not that there's any such thing between them, not anymore. There hasn't been such nonsense between them since the day they met, since the moment he'd stood in that hallway and asked her to come back and work for him.

He'd known it, she'd known it…

"This is why you fired me?"

Ever since that moment and for every moment after. He can't help himself - not that he even wants to - but Fitz doesn't even try. His hands found her waist and he pulled her body roughly against his own, just before his lips found hers and he swept his tongue into her mouth.

She had a split second to see the dark intensity flare in Fitz's eyes as he stood over her. Olivia knew that she was in trouble. Unexpected, undeniable and intoxicating trouble.

And then his hands were on her, sending a tsunami of sensation through her as their bodies made contact. His mouth was on hers, his tongue demanding entry, drowning her senses. Olivia felt the strength of Fitz's arms as they wrapped themselves around her, then he was moving her backwards, not stopping until her back hit the wall.

A gasp escaped her as his mouth tore itself from hers; it turned into a moan as he trailed a path of fire down her throat, searing open-mouthed kisses down one side and up the other.

"Fitz…" An unspoken protest was in her voice. They didn't have the time… not really…

"Shhh…" he hushed her. "I'm only going to use my mouth…"

He no longer cares what's driving him in this moment - nothing matters except the softness of her lips, the yielding softness of her body in his arms. Nothing matters except - her.

He's been gentler with her, but something primal has surfaced in him - and not for the first time either. A greedy unthinking heat has possessed him and he can't find a reason to deny it. More importantly, he doesn't want to.

Eyes staring into hers, Fitz's hands reach for hers, locking her fingers in his grip, slowly dragging her hands up over her head and pinning them against the wall. One hand stays to hold them in place, while the other trails its way down her body with delicious intent, fingers finding the pearl buttons on her blouse, plucking them loose easily.

Feeling her smooth warm skin only serves to create a sudden thunder in both his head and heart, it drowns his reason along with the last threads of rational heart, leaving only this thought: before she leaves him this night, Fitz wants to - needs to - mark her as his. In the most intimate way he knows how.

So he takes her mouth again, relishing the moan escaping her as his tongue dances roughly against hers.

When he pulls himself free, Fitz finds himself whispering against her mouth.

"Don't move." He means for her to leave her hands where they were, above her head, and she knows it.

As both hands now finish unbuttoning her blouse, they also are tugging it free from her skirt, not stopping until her upper body is free to his molten gaze, not until he can cup her lace-covered breasts in his hands - and then his hands are on her, molding and squeezing them, brushing his fingertips against her nipples until they are hard and throbbing under his touch, until her body arches, eyes fluttering shut, until he can't resist his need to taste them. Their texture beneath the lace is sweet and intoxicating and goes straight to his head until he's drunk with it.

"I need to hear you moan, Livvie." Fitz groaned the words aloud as his hands searched and found her skirt's zipper. His fingers dragged it down slowly and his body followed it, sinking slowly to his knees.

Without being told, she lifted one foot and then the other. Fitz slid her skirt to one side and then glanced up; Olivia was a vision from his most erotic wet dream. Her hands are still above her head, leaving herself open to him, blouse undone, hard, swollen nipples showing clearly through her bra's lacy fabric, eyes closed, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she tried to catch her breath.

He leaned forward and pressed an open-mouthed kiss against her - and the lace between her thighs are already drenched for him - wanting nothing more than the sweet sexy intimacy of his mouth against her.

His tongue plays against her greedily through the silk separating his mouth from her, tracing a pattern over and around her most sensitive parts until he can feel her entire body jerking and grinding against beneath his touch, causing a soft "Fuck!" to escape his lips.

"Yes…" Olivia's voice was a blissfully tortured hiss. His response was to pull back only long enough to remove her panties before his mouth found her again.

Her hands came down as her body shuddered, wanting to tangle themselves in his hair.

"No. Hands back up." He ordered. Another time he would have welcomed her touch, but no - not in this moment. He wouldn't allow her any other pleasure than what he gave her, knowing the command would drive her wild all the sooner.

"Fitz…" the way she moaned out his name sent the blood racing to his groin, had him hot and hard and throbbing. And making him ravenous for her taste. "Please."

And that's exactly what he wants, what he needs - to pleasure her to mindlessness - and beyond. He lifts one leg and kissed her inner thigh, trailing his lips back to her center.

Then his arms lock her in place as he buries his face in her, lips and tongue everywhere they want to be, everywhere they need to be, sliding, sucking, his tongue swirling, thrusting into her as she opens herself even wider to him, wonderfully wet and swollen and he's unable to stop himself just like she was unable to stop herself, her hips flexing and grinding against him until she was coming apart, coming hard against his mouth and he drank every drop of her sweet ambrosia she had to offer.

He cradles her in his arms as she slides bonelessly to the floor; his lips gentle against her body until Fitz is pressing soft kisses against her lips and then she's kissing him back as the world settles back into place around them.

Olivia can feel him smiling against her mouth. "What?" she murmurs.

"Looks like I found time for dessert after all."

a/n: another reason for the delay, I got "Fitzed" at the last moment, so I had to go back and edit a few things accordingly. Didn't see this coming, but who's mad at him? Not me! #FitzMe
PS: did we leave reviews? thx in advance if you did!