Castle in the Air
By Steampunk . Chuckster
Summary: Sarah has opened her dream bookstore just before the holiday season, but when a corporate monopoly announces their reduced-price brick-and-mortar is going in a block away, she must band together with her fellow small businesses to fight for their lives, even if it means getting past a slew of bad first impressions to work with Chuck, the owner of the comic book shop next door. AU Charah.
A/N: Trying to get these out a lot faster!
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or its characters, and any similarities in this fic to any corporate entities are just coincidence... shh.
When he turned off the car, Chuck gave them both a moment, and then he unbuckled his seatbelt. "The view is better out there."
"Mmm, true, since you backed the car in. I'd have to crane my neck to see anything. But it's also colder out there and I've only got this wrap."
He shrugged. "I have a solution." And then he opened up his door, swinging out from behind the wheel.
"Will you just tell me what the hell is going on?" she asked after him, raising her voice.
Chuck had every intention of telling her, but he'd planned tonight. Talking to her about everything they were planning behind sound-proof walls at the Volkoff Industries headquarters in downtown LA up here, above Los Angeles, away from everyone else, where it was definitely safe.
Vivian and those lawyers had freaked him the hell out. The consequences of Cadabra knowing about this before it dropped, the people who worked at V.I. who were at risk if a lawsuit happened, his fellow shopkeepers at Victoria Shopping Center getting the worst of the blowback… He couldn't let any of that happen.
So here they were, high up above the city, the ocean stretched out in one direction, California and its beautiful landscapes in the other.
Sarah had followed him out of the car and he could see she was just barely managing to continue this patience that he knew was verging on saintly at this point. She joined him at his trunk as he popped it open, and she watched as he grabbed a nice, thick extra jacket, holding it up for her. "Here. Turn around, put this on."
She sent him an amused, knowing look, then turned to face away from him as he helped her shrug his extra jacket on. It hung on her, much too large, but she wrapped it around her front anyway, snuggling into it. "You planned this apparently, the way you conveniently had this jacket all folded up in your trunk."
Chuck reached in further and grabbed a quilt as well. He made a show of shaking it out of its square he'd folded it into like a magician doing a magic trick. "Planned? Why would you think that?" He gave her an innocent look as she laughed and shook her head, shifting back so that he could close the trunk. "Look, nobody is around. I wanted to talk to you about our ideas, our plan, how freakin' nuts it is, with everyone else all the way down there." He pointed at the downtown skyline a little to their left.
"So you did plan this. Quite the first date."
"I know. It isn't very romantic, talking about how we're gonna bitchslap a corporate giant. Not really a usual conversation for a first date…" he muttered, spreading the quilt over the trunk of his car, covering the back window with it even. He needed prime comfort for Sarah Walker, bookstore owner.
"Hey, who are you talking to, here? Nothing is more romantic to me than watching Cadabra end up splattered all over the pavement."
Chuck barked out a laugh. "Gruesome." She shrugged one shoulder cutely. And then she gave him an impatient look. He understood the implication. So he put out a hand towards her. "Your chariot, miss…"
"Thank you." She took his hand, accepting his help climbing onto the trunk in her heels. As she scooted back to lean against the window, he joined her on the car, leaning beside her.
Chuck wasn't going to make her wait any longer.
"We're going to use real estate law and essentially take them out of the game." He paused. "Well, sort of. I'm not good at law, but Vivian is. And our lawyers definitely are."
"What does that mean?" she asked, eyes widening.
"I should start from the beginning." He got excited, sitting up a little and shifting to face her. "Okay, remember how miffed I was about Casey giving you a lease instead of letting me expand my comic book shop into that space?"
"Yes, I do," she said, raising her eyebrows.
"Not one of my prouder moments. But you know that. Ahem." She snorted, her blue eyes bright in the moonlight. "I really wanted it, only I was questioning things, you know? Being super timid. Especially the money part. Which is stupid, since I have crazy huge corporation and lots of money—it's just that stuff is new to me so I still have my frugal brain going, 'Make smart choices with your money!'" She smiled. "It all made me waffle a whole lot, too much. That's the truth. I waffled so hard that Casey was probably like 'screw this', found you and liked you a lot, and bam. Done deal. I felt I was seriously wronged, and maybe Casey should've been more up front with me, sure, but… I fucked up that opportunity. Too worried about money, wondering if I could cut corners. It was stupid."
He'd captured Sarah's interest, he could tell. She had her arms crossed at her chest, her hair still tucked into his cozy jacket all adorably.
"So I got an idea. And I wanted to know what sort of arrangement Cadabra had with Del Rey, with the landlord of the block, if they bought out the block from whoever owned it before, or what. And Vivian and I hired a sort of lawyer private investigator who Vivian went to law school with—she's super trustworthy, not a sneaky film noir type of person, they're friends," he rushed out, making Sarah smirk. "She discovered something interesting."
Sarah sat up a little, turning to face him better. "What'd she find?"
"Cadabra's director of acquisitions and development scoped out the space and he looked at the whole square block there, which is owned by a man named Leonard Proefrock. Old railroad money, this guy."
"With a name like Proefrock, I guess so," she said, making him chuckle.
"Thing is, this director of acquisitions and development found this perfect warehouse in this perfect neighborhood, a nice shopping center nearby… But like always, because this is the mindset of the corporation all the way up to Frezos himself, he decided they could save money buy cutting corners." Sarah leaned in. "Instead of buying out the whole square block and just being a landlord to the surrounding businesses and offices, because land ownership is expensive as hell in Del Rey, they decided to just rent the warehouse from ol' Lenny."
Sarah grabbed his arm. "Wait, they don't own it?"
"Nope. Paperwork says Cadabra's contract is a rental lease with Mr. Leonard Uriah Proefrock."
"Uriah? Seriously?"
He shook his head. "No, I made the middle name up. Sounds very literary, though, doesn't it?"
She laughed and smacked his arm gently. "Dork." She squirmed in excitement then. "I can probably figure out where this is going if I think hard enough, but I don't want to, so just tell me."
"If Cadabra doesn't own that warehouse, they're simply renters, that means that anyone who owns that block gets to do what they want with it. I mean, within the constraints of the law. Vivian suggests rezoning, our other lawyers agree that might be the best way to do it."
She shook her head, confused. "Hold on. I think you skipped some steps."
"I did." He winced. "Sorry. My bad. I'm getting excited."
She wrinkled her nose cutely at him, furrowing her brow.
"Cadabra doesn't own that land," he continued. "They are merely renters. Nothing in the law says Leonard Proefrock can't sell that land whenever he wants to whommmsssstttever he wants. Our lawyers met with his lawyers this morning and we think we've piqued his interest. But to win him over, we're going to have to make him an even richer man than he already is, by a lot. And also convince him it's for a good cause, and not just to fuck over a rival." He affected a Brando accent and drawled, "We gotta make him an offer he can't refuse."
Sarah just stared at him for a long moment, unmoving. "…Chuck? Am I getting this straight? Volkoff Industries wants to buy land? Specifically land on which a warehouse sits, the same warehouse Cadabra intends to use for its retail store?"
"Yep."
She grabbed at his arm with a gasped, "Oh my God. Chuck. Can you do that? Is it allowed? I mean, you buy the land, won't it be pretty clear what the intention is if you go, 'oh and fuck you, Cadabra, we're tearing up your lease'?! That's what this is, right? You're kicking them out once you get that land?"
"Yes. But it's more than that, which is how we do it without opening ourselves up to a lawsuit. Or, at least, Cadabra won't be able to sue us without some seriously horrendous PR. Which is why Vivian McArthur, genius that she is, came up with the rezoning idea."
"I read a lot of books, but I have no idea what rezoning has to do with this. Like, bulldozing the buildings and making it a park or something?"
Chuck pursed his lips. "Not a park, no. When I was CEO of Volkoff Industries, I had all these outreach ideas that I could never really get off the ground. Turns out that bureaucracy is a lot harder to get around than I thought it'd be. And I'm not good at that shit. Know who is, though?"
"Vivian?" Sarah asked, pursing her lips and twisting them to the side, her eyes darting to the view in front of them.
"Yep! What if instead of a corporate retail giant opening its brick and mortar bullshit in that warehouse, making even more profit than it already does off the backs of workers they mistreat in a community they add nothing to…what if instead of that mess, it becomes a fully operational community center for the residents of Del Rey?"
Sarah spun to look at him. "A community center?"
"Volkoff Industries running a community center, yeah. We're talking coding courses, free classes on computers and other tech, getting kids involved in computer sciences, engineering…It could even have places where folks can learn all about doing their taxes. A warehouse would be perfect for that, don't you think?"
She let out a breathy laugh. "This is insane, you realize that, right? Is this even possible? Is it doable? You can dress it up however you want, but Cadabra is going to come after Volkoff Industries, and you."
"That's why I'm removing myself from public involvement with these protests and petitions and stuff. Just to be on the safe side. If they take photos of me at that protest, when I'm the owner of Volkoff Industries? Whole thing's sunk."
"Holy fuck," she giggled, adrenaline in it. "I mean, I… How long have you guys had this broiling?"
"Less than a week, honestly." He snorted. "Definitely thought they'd laugh right in my face when I first got 'em all in a room. Vivian was ready to think outside the box because one, she hates Cadabra a lot, and two, she feels like she owes me. I do my best not to encourage that line of thinking because making anyone else CEO when I stepped down would have been downright stupid."
But Sarah was shaking her head, pushing a hand through her hair. "Chuck, they're going to sue. You tear up a contract like that when they've already invested time and money? They're going to sue Volkoff Industries, maybe even you personally. Or Vivian."
"That's a possibility, yeah."
"You can't do it. If you get sued by the most powerful corporation in the world, how do you even fight against that?"
"We've got the best lawyers money can buy who've been with the company for years, hired back when Uncle Alexei was on the rise. They say they can spin headlines in our favor. Cadabra suing to stop a community center that'll help kids learn computer science and young folks how to responsibly file taxes and manage money? Isn't suing to stop a place like this the antithesis to what they always claim they're about?"
Sarah scoffed. "With every Cadabra order you make, x amount gets donated to whatever charity you chooooose," she mocked. "Yeah, great. Send the elephants in Africa twenty-eight cents. That'll fend off the poachers."
Chuck smirked at her. "I like you."
"Well? Am I wrong?"
"Nope."
"Chuck, this really is the craziest thing I've ever heard. It just doesn't seem feasible. It feels like you guys buy this land, kick Cadabra off, and they lash out. Hard. And just, like…bulldoze everyone for it. Just because they fucking can."
He nodded. "I know. That's why I've been treading so carefully about it."
"And why you didn't want to say this in a restaurant in which we're surrounded by LA's richest citizens?"
"Mmmmmhm."
"I kind of get why you were being so weird now."
"Thank you."
Sarah pulled her lips back between her teeth and narrowed her eyes, thinking. "What was Cadabra thinking not buying that whole block off of this Proefrock guy? Wouldn't that solve everything for them? It just feels stupid they're renting that warehouse."
"Their director of acquisitions and development thought he'd save them money, and he also got cocky. They're all cocky over there because why not? Who's ever threatened them in any way? Even the government gives them a little slap on the wrist, like…" He reached over and gently swatted Sarah's wrist. "You stop that insider trading, Cadabra, or you'll be in big trouble."
She chuckled. Then she shook her head. "Oh my God, if you and Vivian, and your V.I. lawyers pull this off, Chuck… that director of acquisitions and development is gonna get buried for this fuck-up."
"Yeeeah," he drawled, letting out a smug giggle.
Looking at him with a bit of suspicion, she poked his bicep. "Hey. There was a tone. And you're making a face."
"What kind of face?"
"Like the cat who got the cream."
"Oh." He cleared his throat.
"There something I need to know about this director?"
Chuck tilted his head and sucked air in through his teeth. "Uhhhh, I think you pegged him at first sight when you said he owned a copy of The 48 Laws of Power." He'd ended up Googling the book later and he'd laughed for about an hour.
"The 48 La—?" The bookstore owner gasped so loudly and suddenly that Chuck jumped, sending her a wide-eyed look. She clamped two hands over her mouth. And then he saw utter glee light up her gorgeous blue eyes and her shoulders began to shake. When she dropped her hands, she was grinning hard, and the laugh escaped.
She rocked forward, downright cackling.
"No way! It isn't him… not really… it can't be."
"Oh, it's him. Daniel Shaw, Cadabra's director of acquisitions and development. I bet it was on that business card you tossed in the garbage without looking at it." He held up his hands mimicking a robot by rigidly moving them. "My name is Daniel Shaw. I'm a two by four. Maybe we can go on a date sometime. I wear velour shirts out to clubs and chicks dig my Volkswagon GTI with red leather seats. Boop boop meep." He moved his arms up and down like a robot and opened and closed his jaw comically. And sure, he'd stolen the GTI thing from Sarah's dad, but the guy would never know that, so sue him.
Sarah laughed, pushing both hands through her hair. "Sometimes life is too, too good." Her glee was infectious and he giggled a bit with her. When she sobered a bit, she muttered, "Couldn't happen to a better guy."
"My only regret is that I won't get to witness his downfall really, because I'm gonna have to be the one who handles this with as much grace and aplomb as I'm capable of, being V.I.'s owner and all." He snapped his fingers in frustration. "Damn it."
"I can do it for you."
"Wow, that's so kind of you!" He set a teasing hand on hers.
"I like to be helpful wherever I can," she teased back, turning her hand over and threading their fingers.
They both looked down at their fingers intertwined, propped on her thigh, the blue material of her dress scrunched under their hands. Chuck couldn't be sure, but it felt like something bigger, more than he could properly process at the moment. So he merely squeezed her hand in his and lifted his gaze back to hers.
Chuck cleared his throat lightly, keeping hold of her hand. "I'd like to think that the festival, the petition, the protests, Martha's exceptional work behind that asshole Cadabra spokesman on the news a few weeks ago, all have enough power to knock Cadabra the hell out of our town…"
"But it isn't enough," she said adamantly, meeting his gravity with a little of her own. "I guess I knew that from the beginning."
"I probably did, too. It's just—Man, it's just so not in my nature. I like to think the impossible is possible with enough hope and hard work and…yadda yadda, I'm a sap I guess." She squeezed his hand and nudged his arm with hers. It felt gently reproaching. "Life can be unfair. The systems can be unfair." He sighed. "Maybe Volkoff Industries can do its part to even things out a little. At least in Del Rey."
Sarah nodded and the conversation faded into comfortable silence, nothing but the sound of the breeze flowing through the foliage around them.
And after a minute or two, her voice broke the silence. "You know the first and last time a boy brought me to a look-out type of spot like this, he tried to manhandle me in his car and I broke his nose."
Chuck felt himself jump and he spun to look at her. "What?"
"Yeah. He brought me to one of these, parked the car, turned on the radio, and practically crawled into my seat to kiss and grab at me. And I kept pushing at him and telling him no, but he ignored it, so I used this part of my palm right here and jammed it into his nose. Blood everywhere. All over his car. I got out and ran back down the hill. Found a gas station, called a taxi, went home, never saw him again."
He gaped at her. "O-Oh my God. Sarah." Holy shit. And here he went, like a fucking newb, taking her to a look-out, thinking it'd be a kill two birds with one stone situation: a romantic setting and getting them away from prying ears. And he was sure that guy who'd assaulted her had probably thought the same thing. "Oh my God," he said a little louder. "I shouldn't have brought you up here. If I'd known about that, I never would've—"
"Wait wait!" She grabbed his arm. "Shit." She shut her eyes and shook her head, seeming annoyed with herself as she opened them and fixed him with an adamant stare. "I didn't say that to make you feel bad about bringing me up here. I'm so bad at…I say the dumbest stuff at the worst times. God." She sighed heavily. "I was just trying to tell you about this…thing that happened. I didn't want you thinking I'm upset with you for bringing me here. I don't have…trauma about look-out spots now or anything."
Chuck clenched his jaw, still focused on what she'd gone through. "I'm glad you busted his nose, the piece of shit."
"Yeah. It wasn't a great date to begin with but I thought maybe a view couldn't exactly hurt things. He wanted more than a view, I guess. I was nineteen."
"Shit," he breathed.
"I survived."
"Yeah, well…" He swallowed thickly, looking down into his lap, unable to think about a much younger Sarah Walker fighting off a disgusting asshole before slamming the hard part of her palm into the guy's nose, escaping, running down the hill until she found a gas station…
He felt Sarah's hand that was enveloped in his give him a little shake. "Hey." He raised his eyes to look into her face. She was smiling a little. "I didn't mean for this to be a huge, dark moment or anything. It's just a story I felt like I wanted to share. And I hope you're not deep in that head of yours feeling guilty for taking me up here, as if you had any clue I went through that. You know, people get over stuff. Some stuff they don't get over, but some they do, and I'm over that night. This is beautiful." She gestured at the view with her free hand. "And you're very sweet." She furrowed her brow as if he should know better then. "Not to mention the fact that this is a very different situation. Yeah, this is technically our first official date, but we've had sex already. More than once. Goes without saying, it was very two-sided. Most consensual thing I've ever been a part of, honestly. Every single time."
Oh, the look she sent him.
It would be inappropriate, after the story she just told, for him to lean in and make out with her as much as he wanted to.
So he didn't. He just smiled. "Me, too." He shook his head. "And for the record, I wasn't comparing really, I was just thinking about how scary that must've been for you. I'm sorry that happened."
"So was he, I'm sure."
He had to laugh at the deliciously evil look she gave him. He wouldn't say it out loud and trivialize what that guy tried to do to her, but a woman who could kick ass was seriously hot. Sarah Walker was hot on so many levels, layers of hotness that went all the way down to her soul.
And he felt a swell of gratefulness in him in that moment, knowing he was very, very lucky to be sitting here with this woman in this spot looking down over the greatest town in the world.
}o{
Eventually, they lounged against the back window, feet sticking off the end of the trunk, her arm a little on top of his, hands still threaded together, looking up at the stars, then out at Los Angeles, and back to the stars again.
"A community center…" She sighed. "Teaching coding to kids, helping folks with technology; that's got all the earmarks of a Chuck Bartowski project."
"If we can kick Cadabra out and also provide a service to the people in the community, it's a win-win. I don't see any reason why we can't always pursue win-win situations wherever they exist." Chuck pushed his free hand through his curls. "I just really want this to be convincing enough to get through all of these rezoning hurdles. Vivian is going to have to sit in front of a zoning commission, some sort of board. She'll have to really sell it hard. And they'll then need to approve it."
"So a lot of red tape needs to be sawed through before this becomes a reality."
"Yes, but our lawyers are pretty sure it can be done quickly. So long as we apply enough pressure."
"I say we fucking try," Sarah said adamantly. "I don't know if you are going to talk to Casey about it, Martha, the other shop owners…but as far as I'm concerned, we need to try." She snorted. "We… Listen to me, acting like it would affect me if Cadabra sued the crap out of Volkoff Industries. Like I get to be the one to make that decision."
"Hey, stop. It does affect you. That bookstore is everything to you. And I'm gonna do everything I can to protect it."
Sarah turned her head to look right at him, taking in his profile as he tilted his head back to look into the sky. She didn't know why, but that was the sexiest thing anyone had ever said to her. She licked her lips and swallowed. "That's…quite a thing to say."
"What d'you mean?" He turned to meet her gaze and she felt herself blush, a sort of vulnerability overcoming her. She had no idea what he was seeing on her face. She was sure she'd done nothing to guard whatever it was for a long enough moment that he had to see something there. Did he see or feel the heat she had inside of her? She had no idea.
"I dunno. I-I guess… I've always been so clear about this bookstore being mine, you know? My thing I'm doing. My dream. And I always knew down to the depths of my being that I couldn't count on anything or anyone else but me and my work I did to get it up and running, because nobody was gonna care about it besides me. And then you come along talking about how you're gonna do everything you can to protect my store and I believe you actually are."
"I am," he said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.
"I guess I don't know what to say to that. I'm a little speechless." She looked back up at the sky, pressing her side tighter to his.
"I understand. You didn't expect any of this. And you thought you'd continue to be alone through this whole process—"
"I don't mean that in a way that's purposely inviting pity, though," she cut in. "I've always been alone in pretty much everything I've done. It's just…how my life has been from the start. To have someone care this much about my store and its existence, someone besides me, I don't know how to react because it's—I'm just not used to it. It's new. And I'm speechless."
She felt ridiculous saying all of that out loud. She shut her eyes, trying to will herself to use her words better. God. She read multiple books a week; she should really be able to use her words better, damn it.
"Well, it's sort of like…spillover."
…What?
She blinked her eyes open and looked at him, confused. He seemed to purposely look up at the stars instead of at her, a blush on his face.
"I-I mean, how much I care about your bookstore. Sure, it's a small business and you provide a huge service to people. All the good things an independent bookstore is. That's super important. But I care about you, that bookstore is everything to you…ergo, I care about the bookstore. So…how important that store is to me is spillover from how much I like you." He hissed and shut his eyes tightly. "Sometimes I explain things in the dumbest way possible."
"It wasn't dumb. I was confused at first, but I get what you're saying." She giggled nervously, unfolding her fingers from his and flexing them. She did understand what he was saying and it sounded like his feelings for her were a bit more than she'd bargained for.
Spending a day in and out of bed, fantastic sex, this date… She'd had good dates and she'd had good sex before. But she knew this was more than a good date and good sex, and she'd known it that night in the back of her store. Because she'd never felt that kind of passion; the intensity of the lust she felt that night was new, definitely, but it was about him. Not his body, not his handsome face, those damn eyes of his or that silky curly hair. It was about him, and the things he said about stories, how deeply ingrained all of it was in her, ever since she was a kid. The safety she felt at having him in her life, while at the same time making her feel like her insides were a maelström.
Having him around made her knees a little weak, unsteady, and then she had this inherent faith in him to sweep in and wrap her up in his arms to prevent her from falling.
Did he feel that way about her? She had no idea. All she knew was that if she had even an inkling that this man was falling, she would be there to catch his weight as best she could.
This was frightening.
"It's crazy, ya know?" Chuck continued, breaking into her intense thoughts. She peeked at him. He was still staring at the stars, his hands lazily draped over each other on his chest. "I liked you a lot right in the beginning, which made me kind'a mad. Totally immature, I'll admit that. Like, dude, you aren't supposed to like the girl who stole your storefront expansion space! Grrrr!" He shook his hand into the heavens and she giggled. "But that didn't make me like you any less."
"Uh huh. Look, Chuck, I understand that whoever it is that builds people did a pretty good job building me. I'm not gonna pretend to be modest about it." She lifted a leg, holding the skirt to make sure it didn't reveal too much. "These are pretty great legs. My face ain't bad either." She nudged him once she put her leg back down. "You sure that wasn't part of the whole 'I liked you right in the beginning' thing?"
"I never said it wasn't."
She gasped and gave him a highly pleased look. She hadn't expected him to be so candid. She expected blushing, an attempted and probably poorly executed denial.
"What?" he asked defensively, shrugging. "You're extremely beautiful. I've never seen anyone more gorgeous ever in my twenty-six years of life, Sarah Walker. That's not some sort of secret. Of course a lot of my crush at the beginning was because of your looks. I'm not gonna deny that."
"Well…" Now she was the one blushing. Damn it. He got her. She pursed her lips and twisted them to the side. "Thanks for the honesty."
"You're welcome. Hey, listen, you have a great personality, too." That made her crack up and she sent him a chastising look, which he responded to with a cute giggle, his tongue poking out between his teeth.
"Real talk, just for a second," he added then when they sobered up a bit. "We're veering a little bit into, um…unsteady territory here. I mean, me. I am. I like you more than I maybe was ready for, and the more time I spend with you, the more I like you. If these feelings of mine get much more…feelingsy…" She smirked a little at him, unsure of where he was going. "Things'll be pushed into a certain territory that's maybe not very safe for me."
Sarah thought she was maybe sort of figuring things out now. He was being serious, and then he was also flirting. She bit her lip and drawled, "Not very safe for you, huh?" He nodded with a hum. "Would you go so far as to say it's…dangerous?"
"Oh, yeah. Definitely dangerous." She watched him closely as he turned his head to look her squarely in the eye. "If I enter that territory, that's where my heart could end up broken."
She furrowed her brow, pursing her lips in a slight pout. Is that what he thought she was gonna do to him? Break his heart? She chanced asking it out loud with a sincere, "You think I'm gonna break your heart?"
Chuck was thoughtful for a long moment, a moment longer than made her altogether comfortable. And then he met her gaze again. "No. I don't know or even think you'll break it. It's only that I know what I feel for you, and I know what goes on inside of me when I'm around you, or even when I think about you." He blushed as he continued. "That alone makes me pretty sure you're capable of it; even if you didn't mean to, you definitely are capable."
Oh. She wasn't expecting that kind of depth in this conversation. And she wasn't expecting him to come right out and lay his heart on a platter for her. She got what he meant. He really did have a habit of sticking his heart out where everyone could get to it. He made it easy. Only he was making it exceptionally easy for her right now. It was out of his chest, vulnerable, and he was offering it to her. All she had to do was swipe it away and it would hurt him badly. They both knew it.
What he maybe didn't know was that it would hurt her badly, too.
Only, she didn't have his courage. She knew she didn't. And as afraid as he was to take this step, fearing he'd end up in pieces by the end of it, he was letting her know in so many words. Without shame or embarrassment.
"Hm," she mumbled, smiling softly at him. "Hence the danger."
"Yes. Exactly."
He was watching her, waiting. She knew. Would she slap it away? Or embrace it?
She wasn't like him. She couldn't just verbally hand him her heart and say "take care of that, thanks".
But she was confident when she said after a beat, "So…do you think it'd be dangerous if we went on another date? After this one?"
He seemed to almost melt closer to her and she knew she'd given him enough of the answer he'd been hoping for. She felt distinctly pleased with herself as she raised her eyebrows at him in prompting.
"Hmmm," he hummed, making a show of thinking about it. She could see his eyes were sparkling with glee, though. Glee he was barely keeping inside. "Yes. I'm almost positive that it'd be dangerous if we went on a second date."
The more time he spent with her, the more he liked her, the deeper they got into that dangerous potential-broken-heart territory.
But then he leaned in close with a warm, toothy grin and chirped: "So where we goin'?"
Sarah turned away from him with a beaming smile, completely unprepared for how instantly that melted her insides. God, she was a puddle. She was goo. She wasn't fit for anything in that moment. Just grinning at nothing and blushing. He'd smacked a home run out of the park, yeah, but then it just kept going, heading into orbit.
Dangerous or not, there was no way she wasn't gonna pursue this man like it was her job, damn it.
"Wow," she finally breathed, blinking at the stars. Her heart was racing. When had she gotten so freaking sappy? But holy shit, he'd really gotten her with that.
He winced verbally. "What? Was that a really bad one? It was bad, huh. Really cheesy."
She shook her head, still beaming. But she was a lot better than he was at not letting stuff show on her face. Like, for example, the fact that she was fit to combust, he'd squeezed her heart so adeptly.
"Uh, no," she said adamantly. "No, that was exceptionally good, actually. Bullseye."
And she finally let herself combust a little, rolling towards him, draping her torso over his, cupping his cheek in her right hand, and capturing his lips in a sizzling kiss.
He hummed, smiling under her mouth, and then he kissed her back, both hands coming up to gently frame her face.
The dork hummed again, breaking the kiss so that they could both breathe, but their lips remained close, brushing as he mumbled, "Bullseye, huh?"
"Mhm. Dead center." She nuzzled his nose, diving in to press her lips to his again, not coming back up for air for awhile.
Her fingers found his tie, playing with it as she kissed him up and down his jawline, slow kisses, very precise kisses. And she felt his fingers spread wide against her dress, crinkling in the material.
When he turned his face and pressed a kiss to her neck, she shivered, only for a breeze to sweep through their little sanctuary and make her shiver harder. Suddenly, his hand left her, and a thick quilt was draped over them both, as if he'd felt her shiver.
It wasn't all that good at covering them up since they were lying on half of it.
But the way he paid attention, observed, wasn't anything close to what she was used to. Not just with men, but with anyone. Family, friends, dates, boyfriends…not anyone.
She took a deep breath, looking down into his face for a just a moment. And then she smiled and leaned down to capture his mouth in a much more adamant kiss. She giggled when he tugged her all the way on top of him, and the giggle became a breathy moan when his hand slipped under the hem of her dress to clutch her leg in a tender grip.
Sarah shifted against him a little so that she'd have easier access to his mouth and it pushed their lower halves tightly together. He froze underneath her, then broke the kiss and craned his neck to look behind them.
"You hear something?" he asked.
"A twig snapped," she responded, doing her best not to let him hear how breathless she was. "But it's a bird. Or a squirrel. That isn't the sound of a person walking up here, if that's what you're worried about."
"I've never seen anyone else up here the other times I've come up…"
Sarah arched an eyebrow. "How many girls have you brought here?"
He chuckled. "Zero. Well, one. That's you, though. You're the one. This was my place I'd come to on my own once I got my driver's license. Like, a lot. To get my head out of the mire, just look at my home city from above."
She couldn't help feeling the power of that. On their first date, he'd driven her up here to this place that meant a lot to him, that no one else had gotten to see besides her now.
Sure, he could be lying. And if she was with the other guys she'd dated, she might be right about the lying. But that didn't feel like something Chuck would do. Lie about something stupid and trivial like that.
She bit her lip and moved to kiss the corner of his mouth, then his cheek, then the sensitive area where his jaw met his neck. She'd discovered on Sunday, amidst the cardboard and paints they'd spent the day buried in, that he really liked when she paid attention to that spot.
His whole body melted into the car, and he let out a delicious groan, his arms rounding her body. But the much more intense make-out that resulted in was halted by another cold breeze that pushed past them, through their bodies, the quilt that was half laid over them not doing the trick.
She felt it even as Chuck broke the kiss and huffed. "This was a lot hotter in my head, but it's feeling pretty cold actually."
Giggling, Sarah slid off of him, pushing the quilt away and sitting up on the trunk of the car, her legs hanging over the tailgate. "Terrible play on words, you should be ashamed."
"I'm not. At all."
Sarah sent him a sizzling look over her shoulder as she slid off of the car slowly, turning to face him with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh. We're done with that, huh?" he asked, disappointment clearly in his handsome face. She adored how clearly disappointed he was, how he wasn't protecting himself from her. She adored that he didn't hide the way she made him feel.
It was like a shot of adrenaline to her self-esteem.
"Nope. We're not." And then she walked around to the backseat door, leaning back so that their faces were a little better aligned. "You comin' or what, nerd?"
The way he scrambled over the side of the trunk after her, quilt in hand, made her cackle. God, he landed on his feet crooked and winced. She winced back. She decided not to say anything as he blushed, clearly embarrassed by his lack of grace, and he hadn't seemed to fully injure his ankle thankfully. She knew she'd hear about it if he had.
Instead of worrying about that, she crawled into the backseat, grabbing at him as he shut the door behind him and draped himself over her, continuing what they started on top of the car.
"View isn't as nice," she teased him, his silken curls gracing her lips as he kissed all over her neck, his hands roaming excitingly.
Chuck pulled back and looked down at her. "Speak for yourself."
Sarah bit her lip and shook her head. "Oof. That was pretty good," she drawled.
"You like that one?"
"Mhm. C'mere."
He gave her a blissfully happy look that made her giggle and he lunged for her.
She kissed him back with everything she had, and then an idea struck her, and she wanted to hear the sound of his laughter, feel his chest bouncing against hers, see his face light up.
So she reached out for the back of the front seat and pushed her fingers against the pouch there, sliding them inside, as if searching for something.
Chuck paused, slowly peeling his lips from hers and turning his face to watch what her hand was doing, his brow furrowed in question. She dotted kisses on his jaw and cheek, waiting for her moment, loving the weight of him against her.
"What, um…what are you doing?" he asked, his voice raspy.
"Checking for bugs."
The comic book shop owner froze for a moment, and it swept over his face in stages, an amused light bursting in his brown eyes, his nose wrinkling then, and finally a slow grin tilting at his delicious mouth, his teeth showing.
Laughter exploded out of him and he rocked down against her, burying his face in her shoulder.
Sarah barely withheld her own laughter, merely smiling that closed-mouth smile of hers, pleased with herself.
He pulled back to look at her as his laughter subsided. "You're a brat. That was exceptionally funny."
"Thank you."
"Find anything?" He raised both eyebrows.
"Nope."
"Good. Then we can continue?"
"Please do."
"Yep."
There was more passion and fury now that they were locked away in the back of his car. Their hands found really nice places to roam, and then fingers found entryways to soft, heated skin. Lips sometimes followed if they could get their limbs and joints and muscles to bend that way.
Chuck's suit jacket went first, and then the jacket he let her borrow. Her wrap. The heels.
Sarah lost her sense for a long time, not caring about anything but feeling his lips on hers, on her in general, wherever he wanted to put them, his hips jammed into hers, the small space forcing them to be pressed as close as possible as they explored.
They must have been back there for nearly an hour, making out heavily, approaching bases, teasing bases, but never crossing them.
And somewhere deep inside of her, she knew they were approaching the point of no return, and she didn't care that they were in the back of a car because it felt so good being touched by him, kissed by him. And she wanted to feel even better. She knew what that was going to mean.
She wanted it so badly.
Sarah tightened her fist in his hair, kissing him hotly, her other hand pushing between them and teasing the strap of his belt trapped in the buckle. When she tugged that open and went for the front of his pants, that'd be that. She wasn't going to stop, and neither was he. They'd been there before, against the ARC shelves in her store.
It had felt so freaking amazing.
And yet, the bed had been a much more comfortable…
Chuck let out a soft whimper into Sarah's lips, and he angled his hips away from hers. Then she felt his fingers on her bare thighs, traveling up, up, up even further, pushing the dress up and out of his way. And when his fingers tucked into the waistband of her underwear, Sarah snapped her eyes open and broke the kiss with a, "M'wait."
Chuck's fingers left her underwear and he pulled away entirely save for his weight against her, holding his hands up by his shoulders. "I've stopped. I stopped. I'm sorry. Shit. You—Is it about what that guy did when you were nineteen? We don't have to. I'm-I'm not…"
Sarah sat up quickly, rubbing her hand over his chest and shaking her head. "Has nothing to do with that. I've had sex in the back of a car since then. That asshole when I was nineteen genuinely hasn't left that much of a mark on me. I don't have PTSD about sex in cars. Okay? You're okay. You don't have to apologize. I am absolutely game to do that with you right here."
That got her a heated look that nearly tipped her right over into not caring and pinning him to the seat, going all the way, but…
"Only, we aren't teenagers who live at our folks' house… Like, we don't have to do this in a car because we have our own places. Know what I mean?"
"Wait, wait." He cleared his throat. "What you're telling me is we're both grown adults who have apartments with doors that lock and bedrooms with beds that are really comfy so you'd prefer to do that instead of this teenagers-being-bad-in-the-back-of-a-car-at-a-romantic-lookout-because-what-if-our-parents-find-out thing?"
"I guess so. Am I being a party pooper?"
"Oh, Sarah, my party is not pooped. Your place or mine?" He was already scrambling to the front of the car, awkwardly unfurling his legs to try to get them tucked under the steering wheel.
She giggled happily, gathering up all of their clothes and her heels, throwing it to the front, and following it with much more grace than he'd just exhibited. "Whose is closer?"
"Hmmmm, from here? Mine. But only by, like, five minutes."
Five minutes suddenly felt like an eternity, so she gave him a meaningful look through her eyelashes. "Make it yours."
"Yes, My Ántonia." He began the drive back down the hill as she strapped her seatbelt into place. He gave her an eager to please sort of look. "Like that? That was a literary reference just for you."
Sarah didn't know if it was entirely applicable to the moment, but he knew a Willa Cather book title and was trying so hard and she genuinely didn't think it was possible to like a person this much. "Oh, a literary reference? And a beautiful classic, too? Mr. Bartowski, you'd better put that pedal through the floor."
He laughed, his cheeks adorably pink, the car bumping its way back onto an actual street, and he did his damndest, tearing through the streets of LA.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review if you can.
Next chapter soon!
-SC