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Post by rocky on Jan 22, 2011 17:31:41 GMT -5
Adrienne watched him warily, as he approached. She knew what he was going to do, and she was rooted in place - frozen, in a trap of her own design. She pressed her back against the elevator door, palms flat inside his sleeves; he gave her plenty of time to escape, and she stood there mutely, torn between protesting on principle and acting on the desires she had awakened in herself.
It didn't matter how intellectually she listed her reasons for extracting herself from this ludicrous charade. Adrienne was her own worst enemy on subjects like these. She knew all the correct things to do and to say and she generally forgot entirely how to act upon instructions she gave herself. It was as though her entire brain disconnected whenever it was convenient to forget her conscience, and she was powerless to stop it.
He tugged her hips forward, closing the A-shape between them in a single, fluid motion. Adrienne's hands moved instinctively to his chest, bracing there. The sleeves of his coat slid towards her elbows, and left her palm bare against the material of his shirt. She could feel his heart beating beneath it, and for a moment, the only sound was her own, quickening in her chest.
"The leggy blondes are boring, I find irritating columnists much more satisfying."
Her breath caught in her throat as he toyed with her, nipping playfully at her mouth in a way she hadn't imagined him capable of. She slid one hand up to touch his jaw, his infuriating designer stubble scratchy beneath her curious fingers. She brought her other hand up to dig into his hair, and her tongue darted out to moisten her lips in anticipation.
"Good start," she said throatily, and her eyelashes lowered, to look at his mouth. "Slowly," she cautioned him, her voice hardly above a whisper as she pushed upwards on her tiptoes, her lips pressing softly against his. She encouraged him with her tongue, just the tiniest bit.
Adrienne was certain she was addicted to this. The sort of blood-pumping, sizzling tension that left her on a knife's edge. She knew he was a terrible idea. She knew he would be insufferably smug, after this. But it was like knowing tobacco was bad for you; it made it no less tempting to have a smoke -- and no less satisfying, when you had. She was powerless to extract herself from it, even in full evidence of the ugly truth about him.
Damn him.
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Post by mabs on Jan 22, 2011 17:46:58 GMT -5
Reed felt her hand (her incredibly small hands in comparison to him) touch at his jaw and dig into his hair, and he lost his control of the moment. He felt her kiss him tenderly at first, and then coax him with her tongue. She was incredible, in all honesty. And he kissed her, passionately but a slow sort of passion, the kind that seeped into your bones and pulled out deep, sensual desires and pleasures. The type of passion that Reed that only really had once before, the type of passion he had unknowingly craved for years.
Reed was a complicated man, and while he loved a quick roll in the sheets, there was something totally enthralling about feeling a woman passionately meet your advances and rise to them with their own. Mostly, Reed took of the women he slept with. Hasty and passionate, the type of high octane love that only suffered a few hours. But this...this sort of thing terrified Reed deep down.
He'd had it before. Years ago, a woman named Casey Griffin. He and Casey had experienced and discovered so many sides to love, and Casey had illicited those dreadful three words from Reed's mouth. The only woman to ever do so. And for some God-forsaken reason Adrienne kissed in a way that reminded him of her. He would have done well to run from her, as his fight of flight instinct ran away in the back of his head. "You just got your freedom back," one voice screamed. "Don't fuck it up." But Reed wasn't listening.
Reed pressed against her a little more urgently and took the kiss deeper, changing the angle and cradling her face, his tongue and mouth taking her in a timeless fashion, kissing her as though they had all the time in the world. And they did, for then. Reed finally pulled back, a slight pant to his breath and his heart thudding away. He felt the bars of a cage being welded together already, but he couldn't help himself. He was drawn, moth to a flame, to her. And damn if she wasn't a tormentingly wonderful kisser.
Reed pulled back slightly to look at her, gazing along her face for a mere moment, and his brain battled with what to do with her. He was in uncharted waters now, and the thrill and terror of it all throttled at his brain. Instead of speaking, for words failed him for the moment, he dipped to kiss her again, running his hands along her under the jacket and touching the curves that belonged to the firecracker woman achingly, attempting to pull her as close as he could. He continued kissing her with that deep seated, sensual, pure and slow passion, the type that made the heart race and stop all at once. He loved it. He always had loved all types of love, but if he had to pick his favorite, the passionate, jazzy, slow loving type threaded more excitement in him than the best quickie liason he'd ever had.
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Post by rocky on Jan 22, 2011 19:28:45 GMT -5
Adrienne's eyes rolled back and closed as he took the initiative, her stomach tightening pleasurably, toes curling in her shoes. Oh. She hadn't expected it to be so dizzying, any sense of their earlier argument had been long lost, the first time he'd kissed her barely a blip on the radar.
He pressed against her persuasively, leading her as though it were a waltz, and Adrienne danced with him willingly - tipping her head back for him, her lips soft and compliant. Her whole body was tingling, there wasn't a bit of her that wasn't reeling and yearning for more - and as he increased his urgency she found herself responding vocally with a completely involuntary, strangled little moan from the back of her throat.
A ripple of pleasure weakened her at the knees, and she had to wrap her arm around his neck for support. When he pulled away she drew a staggered breath, kiss-swollen lips parted in an expression of confusion and surprise - surprise that he had stopped, and surprise that she hadn't wanted him to.
He was wearing her lipstick. Some distant part of her was amused that he had refused to come in drag, but had ended up with make-up all over him anyway -- but she was too breathless and stunned to comment on it. It had been a long time since she had been kissed so thoroughly. Adrienne's entire life had been a series of clumsy fumbles and awkward moments, and there were only a handful of times she could honestly say she had felt drunk afterwards.
She had never considered that if she just laid her fantasies out plainly, like a laundry-list of demands, that somebody might deliver.
She didn't dare speak, lest she ruin it by encouraging him to respond. It was so rare that he said the right thing that she was sure the spell would be broken completely if he so much as made a sound.
He swept in to kiss her again, emboldened, it seemed, as his hands moved to roam beneath the jacket. She allowed it for one torturous moment, unwilling to give up the opportunity to kiss him a little longer -- but she knew she was going to stop him. Not because he was touching her, or taking it further, and not because she wanted to... but because they were in the world's most disgusting, poky little elevator, and she had no intention of having sex in it, ribbed for her pleasure or otherwise.
She allowed his hands to wander unchecked, and then - as if the heat of them on her body had initiated some sort of countdown - she stopped him.
"Mmph," she protested against his lips, shaking her head a little before she broke away, her hands gripping firmly at his shoulders. "I think I made my point," she said, a little dazed, and still nestled quite fully in his arms.
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Post by mabs on Jan 22, 2011 21:26:15 GMT -5
Reed's hands wandered her curves aimlessly, and if he were honest with himself, sex in such a disgusting elevator was not on his mind in that moment. He'd had sex in an elevator of course, but it was at the Crown in Vegas, and not a dingy apartment elevator that didn't even work. Reed felt her small hands on his shoulders and he pulled back to look down at her, reaching to trace the curve of her jaw for a moment.
For a split moment, the real Reed, the one that wasn't incredibly selfish and misogynistic, peeked out of the woodwork. Only for a split moment it seemed to be, but it was there. A real fact that Reed was indeed a human, or had been at one point, and wasn't only one of those corporate sharks in the world of law. Reed's breathing settled and he chuckled softly, a lazy smile creeping across his face. "And what point was that?" he offered to her in a playful question.
The elevator lurched again though, a deafening scrape causing Reed to clench his hand that were still on Adrienne. He swallowed and frowned deeply, wondering if indeed that was the last moment they would be alive...
But then the elevator dinged and the door opened, and Reed dragged Adrienne out without a second thought. He was thankful for solid ground, not suspended over twenty feet of bare air, and he sighed heavily. Though his mind played at a new issue when he turned back to Adrienne, his hands still perched on her waist. God he wanted her, terribly. But she was intriguing, and full of the chase. The chase. The part he ever loved.
Reed leaned forward and brushed his lips across her cheek, then to her ear, breathing on it slightly before whispering hoarsely against her skin. "You call the shots here, Heart." And he was hoping that she was thinking just what he was. That a lonely bed was not something he wanted to deal with that night in particular.
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Post by rocky on Jan 23, 2011 8:58:06 GMT -5
Adrienne clung to him as the elevator lurched, breaking their fragile moment of clarity and sliding the full distance between the third and second floor. It clanged to a halt flush with the doorway, and when the doors opened Reed wasted no time in making a hasty exit. She had no protests as she was swept from the elevator like a rag doll, her feet hardly touching the floor.
She was distracted at first, looking past him, over his shoulder at the elevator doors. They had closed half way and it was making a laboured grinding sound. It had given her a fright that time, her heart was thundering in her chest, and she wasn't sure if she was the one that was trembling or if it was him.
"You call the shots here, Heart."
His lips brushed her cheek and her gaze flitted to look up at him. His hands were tentative, at her waist, and there was hardly an inch of space between them. She had never been more confused. Physically she was aching to take him up the stairs, mentally she was trying to rein herself in.
Behind them, the elevator emitted one final groan of defeat before the cable snapped, and it plummeted noisily to the basement. The building shook from the impact, and Adrienne yelped in surprise as it went -- her fingers digging into his biceps. Holy shit!
The rumbling echo finally settled, and the only sound that was left was Mr Kraut banging his crutch feebly against the floor of his third floor apartment. Adrienne was a heady mixture of disbelief, incredulity and relief. She rested her head against Reed's chest and began to giggle uncontrollably.
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Post by mabs on Jan 23, 2011 9:04:33 GMT -5
Reed heard the groan and crunch of the elevator, and he just expected it to be the normal groaning of the chains and cables taking it back down, but then he heard the snap of a cable and felt Adrienne's hands clench into his arms. He clenched his hand son her hips and dared to look back for a second, seeing the bar shaft and feeling his head go all woozy. Reed pushed them back away from the half open elevator doors, and he felt her bury her fact in his chest, giggling incessantly.
Was she mad!? They almost died and she was laughing.
"What's so funny?" he spoke in a strangled voice. "We could have died! I told you we would have..." Reed almost sounded like an indignant child, though he was fairly clinging to Adrienne now. He wasn't sure he could let go if she asked. He was about two steps from a fetal position, as his nerves and defenses were hardly up to par. in that moment.
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Post by rocky on Jan 23, 2011 9:39:08 GMT -5
"Oh, no - I'm not -" Adrienne tried to correct him, but she wasn't making a particularly convincing argument for the fact that she wasn't laughing at him. The stress and the fright had manifested in the form of incredulous laughter, accented by the persistent sound of Mr Kraut chastising them for being too noisy when they were falling in an elevator, and she was powerless to stop it. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a soft, comforting hug.
She could feel the tension in him, and his trembling legs, and she knew he was much more frightened than she was. She snaked her arm up to knead at his neck, shaking her head. It took her a moment to contain herself, and when she had she gave him a little squeeze.
"We didn't die," she told him gently, unable to take any pleasure in his obvious terror. Any degree of genuineness was to be encouraged from him, she knew perfectly well it wasn't a condition he would normally allow anybody to see him in. She made no move to ask him to let her go, content to steady him, if she could.
She still hadn't decided if she was going to invite him up or not, however. She almost wanted to say no, but it would be the equivalent of cutting her nose off to spite her face. She wondered what Adrienne Heart, columnist would do about it. She considered the column to be a character she took on, not her true self. Adrienne in the column would probably have something snappy to say about not sleeping with him before the first date.
Adrienne the person was much weaker willed.
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Post by mabs on Jan 23, 2011 9:58:19 GMT -5
Reed felt her squeeze him in a hug, and it was a little clearer then that she was combating her fear of the situation they had almost been in with her laughter then. He hugged her back and sighed, steadying himself. He didn't like that she noticed his tension, but he ignored that fact as though that would make him seem still the carefree man he was. It was really just that one little fear. Heights, and fear of his freedom being taken from him. Perhaps that was why he rebelled against Franny so hard. They were doomed from the beginning.
"We didn't," he mused finally, and he rubbed her sides under the jacket, pulling her to him. It was obvious through the suit pants he wore that he was restless for her, and it we obvious in his sensual movements what he wanted.
Reed took to brushing his nose along her soft skin and whispered against her lips, teasing them both as it were. "I think we should celebrate being alive then," he spoke against her lips, in a whisper. Reed's hands on her waist slide down to her bottom and gave her a gentle squeeze, pulling her loser to him in the heat of the moment. Ultimately, he meant what he had said. She was calling the shots. Even though he was trying to persuade her to was he wanted, as he kissed along her throat sensually. That was just part of his job description.
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Post by rocky on Jan 23, 2011 11:03:02 GMT -5
"You don't play fair," she said quietly, hopping up on to her tiptoes as his hand explored the curve of her backside, her hips pressed hard against his. She wasn't surprised to feel pressure from him on her stomach. She frowned. She was going to hate herself in the morning. She was already beginning to regret in advance the decision she was going to make. A decision she couldn't help but make in his favour. She shook her head, but it was more a vain attempt to convince herself than a direct rejection for him.
If she was to try to explain the complex set of neuroses that made her both want him desperately and doubt him entirely it would be like opening Pandora's box; she wanted the company. She had banked on having company that night, but it was Kurtis she had been expecting. She didn't want to be alone. Despite her best efforts to stay emotionally detached, he made her feel sexy. Wanted. Needed.
He made her feel powerful.
As if testing the water, Adrienne reached up to kiss him again -- coaxing him to make her feel good. Her hands pressed against his hard chest, and any pretence of resistance was lost.
"It's upstairs," she whispered, as she broke free from him again, glancing towards the ceiling.
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Post by mabs on Jan 23, 2011 11:15:22 GMT -5
If there was one thing that Reed was good at, it was being charming and masculine. He felt Adrienne his him and press up against him, and all thoughts of his fears before were long gone. The way that her body meshed up against him thrilled him, and the slow rhythm of her kisses paired with the restless energy between them threaded deep excitement in Reed. He always loved this part, though he really couldn't wait to get her naked either.
Reed, in a sweep of chivalry, scooped her up and walked towards the stairs, kicking the door open and laughing softly as he walked them up the stairs to the next floor. He set her down and kissed her hard, passionately pushing her up against the wall impulsively and feeling her soft curves yet again under the jacket, kissing along her neck as well. It was all thrilling, and his ache for her grew. Though he would have sworn it was the chase and the situation he loved, and not the woman herself. Adrienne Heart was just another pair of legs in a skirt, or at least he was convinced.
"Where to next, boss?" he teased at her ear. For Reed, Adrienne was something new and different. He was a typical man, with a typical type, and that happened to be the leggy blondes Adrienne had teased him about. But something about this woman intrigued and thrilled him all at once. He couldn't get enough of her.
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Post by rocky on Jan 23, 2011 11:58:53 GMT -5
"Oh my God," Adrienne said in disbelief, as he swept her from the floor into his arms. "Are you serious?"
She found it funny, though why she couldn't quite express. He was so dashing, in a stupid, old fashioned way that she wasn't supposed to want, and yet completely did, in secret. She laughed as he kicked the door open, and rolled her eyes -- though it was in good humour, and she didn't squirm out of his grasp.
He set her down and kissed her again. Adrienne met him eagerly, now that the decision to go through with it was made she had no inhibitions left. She was still shrouded in his jacket, and she had to paw around to find her small handbag, to fetch her keys.
She was preoccupied raking (the handbag was a tiny thing on a long, thin strap -- it had hardly anything in it. How was it she categorically couldn't find her keys regardless of what sort of container they were kept in?) and she didn't notice that Mr Kraut's door had opened.
"Oh, God!" she yelped, as she looked up and found herself face to face with him. He was small, hunched over and wrinkled like a prune. A pasty, white little prune with a sour mouth and beady, darting little eyes. He hadn't a single tooth in his head and he raised his finger to point at her, sucking air over his gums. He was like a harbinger.
"Mr Kraut, um --" she began, but he was finished, apparently. He gave Reed the same dismal look, and then shuffled slowly backwards into his apartment. Adrienne realised she had found her keys and was clutching them so hard they had left an indentation in her palm.
Mr Kraut was terrifying. Adrienne opened the door hastily and shoved George unceremoniously back into the apartment, signalling for Reed to follow her quickly.
"Before he comes back!"
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Post by mabs on Jan 23, 2011 12:09:24 GMT -5
The situation itself shouldn't have been thrilling at all. Especially after the pruny old man interrupted Reed feeling up the curvy little woman before him. But he was amused at Adrienne's reaction, and he followed her into her apartment, closing the door behind him. It was so polarized from his own living conditions that Reed would have almost felt he was in a museum, if his mind had been on that. Though his eyes and head were focused solely on Adrienne, and he looked her up and down for a good long moment.
The chance to really explore a woman's curves thrilled Reed and he sauntered slowly to her, almost predatory in his motions, lazy and time-taking like an old lion. He cradled Adreinne's face again before pulling her into another kiss, and he let his hands wander under her skirt now, untempered by the fear of getting caught.
"You're fairly guarded aren't you?" he teased against her mouth, grinning as he nipped at the skin and pushed the jacket off her shoulders. "A Fate as a neighbor, and a bear as a guarddog?" Reed was amused and thrilled all at once, and it seemed that Adrienne could scratch a deep itch for him. Or several.
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Post by rocky on Jan 23, 2011 12:29:43 GMT -5
"Don't! He's not guarding me, he's awful," Adrienne groaned, and released George's collar. The enormous dog immediately circled Reed and sniffed him curiously. Adrienne glanced around her apartment. She had been expecting Kurtis back, so it was tidy -- at least, as tidy as it ever was. The décor was eclectic, the place was cluttered and comfortable. She imagined his apartment was clinically organised, probably by a woman of a racial minority he had hired to do so, and felt vaguely self-conscious, suddenly.
Still. She had been expecting company. The sheets were clean. The bed was made. She had gotten rid of the excessive amount of dirty laundry normally littering the floor. She clasped her hands behind her back, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
"He's terrifying. It's like being haunted. He never speaks, he just -- hisses and points and shuffles around, and hits the floor with his cane as if I personally am responsible for any degree of noise in the place. He hates the dog."
Mr Kraut had tried to poison George before -- it was the reason Adrienne's door didn't have a letter box in it. The mail collection was down stairs, but she did have a slot, when she had first moved in. A costly vet trip and the discovery of a damp piece of newspaper with some ground up mystery meat left in it had seen the front door immediately replaced.
"Can I... get you a drink?"
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Post by mabs on Jan 23, 2011 12:39:09 GMT -5
Reed couldnt help the laughter that issued from his mouth as Adrienne talked so seriously of being terrified of her neighbor. Reed couldn't really relate. His neighbor was an eccentric old woman with an affinity for drinking wine in her bathrobe and calling on Reed to borrow some sugar. Well, she was an attractive old lady as well, and hardly looked her age. Though Reed wouldn't delve into those thoughts...
"some wine would be nice, if you have it," Reed spoke to her, his charming green eyes surveying her still. The anticipation was killing him and his neighbor in his pants, though there was certian amount of sexiness about Adrienne as she bustled around.
Reed felt like a handsy little boy, though he was determined to slow himself down. The passion would be more satisfying after the buildup, he convinced himself. Though that didn't keep his eyes from looking her up and down all over again.
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Post by rocky on Jan 23, 2011 12:53:50 GMT -5
Dammit, he wanted a drink? Adrienne had only been being polite, and now she was going to have to make small talk with him. That was the last thing she wanted to do. She couldn't help her amusement, however -- he was clearly on his very best behaviour, even if he didn't recognise a question he was supposed to answer with no, thank you.
"Is red okay?" she asked him brightly, as though they were have a perfectly normal exchange, and they hadn't begun their short-lived correspondence with bitter hatred. She wasn't a wine connoisseur, she kept it in the fridge, and she made a point of bending too far, to give him an ample view of the tops of her stockings and garters, and a healthy strip of pale flesh above them. She pretended to be rooting around in the fridge for a moment, even though the wine was plainly visible, and then straightened and set the bottle on the counter.
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