Song: Smooth Operator by Sade
Time never seemed to move fast enough. It dragged, pulling me right along with it, leisurely pulling my flesh from my bones as I bounced along in its wake. Like I was its prisoner. So drab.
A black bishop took a brutal blow, sent skidding along the floor by care of my rook. "Check." Alec growled lowly, making me waggle my finger at him.
"Temper, temper, baby brother. Practice makes perfect." I chided him, knowing it would unfortunately only goad him further into a tantrum.
True to form, he jumped upright and crept away. I could practically hear the quiet calculation in his head, planning moves and countermoves for our inevitable rematch.
Well. This was rather droll. Usually my intellectual spars with Alec went on for much longer, often taking hours if not days. Suddenly finding myself with naught to do was quite vexing.
I drummed my fingers on the desk for a moment, considering. Twilight was just creeping through the windows of the study I was quite fond of, opening the night to many pleasurable pastimes.
Alice, Carlisle's little pixie-haired orphan, had recently coaxed Aro into allowing her to redecorate the room, the result being an eclectic take on a cigar room I enjoyed so much I was deliberating requesting she do my room next.
With a final drum of my fingers, followed by rapping my knuckles on the tabletop, I stood, pulling my cloak around my narrow shoulders. Company, I decided. Precisely what I needed.
My feet wound their way through the maze of corridors and passageways as by rote. As I made my way through the ancient double doors away from the castle proper, my fingers caressed the primordial stone frame, letting their tips linger as though sewn there before drifting away.
Gianna didn't notice me immediately as I entered, engrossed in some manner of paperwork she likely found to be of immense importance.
My body drifted into her peripheral field, natural charm that oozed from every pore like honeyed perspiration and pulled the corners of my mouth into an easy smile. I hooked a finger lightly under her chin, drawing her gaze up, up, up to meet mine.
Those delectable green pools fluttered momentarily, caught adrift in the gentle seas of my magnetic presence. She blew out a breath, trying to cool her thrumming heart with no great success. The flush of blood to her cheeks sang me a sweet siren's aria.
"Gianna, you're looking as ravishing as ever. That blush is quite fetching on you." My sultry tone sent her heart skipping unwittingly, irises pinpricks in her doe-like stare. She cleared her throat, struggling to maintain a shred of decorum and professionalism.
"Good evening, Demetri. What can I do for you this evening?" Her voice belied the lust creeping up her neck, pooling in her thighs. What I wouldn't give to bury myself in such a warm mecca. Too bad I would break her in half had I dared to try. Perhaps I wanted to, though. Lose and satiate myself with this delicious specimen.
My teeth flashed a subdued warning, easy and menacing. "I should need seldom more than the pleasures of your company this wonderful eve, my dear Gianna."
Her misinterpretation of my words played across her face clear as crystal. The blood pounding through her veins rubbed at me like an affectionate feline, winding through my legs and settling in a fat, sleepy heap in my head.
I held out my hand to her, bowing low. "Care to join me?" Mischief danced through my expression, teasing and concealing.
Aro and Caius could be quite cross with me, and I knew it, but the prospect of dinner and entertainment was far too promising. Her time was nearly up, anyway.
Her hands smoothed the tight pencil skirt encasing her taut rear, clammy and lousy with hapless excitement. Poor thing actually thought we'd mean to turn her. As her delicate fingers settled into mine, I kissed each knuckle, the gracious gentleman ever-more.