1948 / Philadelphia

[keptherwaiting]

"So, where do we go from here?"

"I could use a walk."

"I'd like that, ma'am."

The rain seemed to be coming down harder now than it had been. The roads flooded, cars spraying the water this way and that. But Alice seemed capable of missing each and every little wave that was sent their way, pulling them aside before it so much as formed.

The drops were loud against Alice's umbrella, which Jasper took from her to hold above their heads, but it could be the rapid beating of his heart, if possible. His palm might be sweaty in her grip, even through the glove on her hand, if it could be.

She'd said he makes her nervous. She makes him nervous too.

"Have you been in Philadelphia long?" he asks.

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[betagainstme]

A soft gasp, hard swallow, as his hand slips up her leg. The stockings end mid-thigh, garters clipping them in place, under the layers of dress and slip.

She wants that too. The touching, the feeing. And she wants to touch him back.

Her fingers tug his shirt from the waistband of his pants, the undershirt bunches up in the back as she slips her hand under it, fingers tracing the scars she finds. Her head turns, to kiss him again, soft and sweet and only kind of desperate this time.

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper pauses only fleetingly when her fingers brush his scars. He wishes he wasn't so conscious of them, but he knows what other vampires feel when they see him. Yet Alice seems almost fascinated by them?

He doesn't want to think too much on it right now. Not with Alice below him, soft gasps and desire.

His fingers find the clasps of her garters as he returns her kiss and he makes quick work of it, rolling her stocking down and off, thrown aside, off the bed.

The other he takes more care with, breaking their kiss to bunch the fabric of her skirt out of the way, follow the path of the stocking with his lips as he strips it off of her.

[betagainstme]

She mourns the loss of contact, of his body pressed tight against hers, but then his lips are trailing up her leg and she loses what little bit of coherent thought she was holding onto.

The rain falls harder outside, the room lit by the little table lamp on the dresser, backlighting Jasper like the sun did. His hair aglow, his face thrown into contrast with dark shadows. Her breath hitches and she’s sure she could fly apart with how happy she is.

Her foot curls against the hand holding her leg steady, her fingers a passing graze over his face as he kisses her skin.

[keptherwaiting]

The stocking gets deposited alongside the other, and he's kissing his way up her leg again. Fingers following, softly grazing. Until he reaches the edge of her bunched up skirt, and he's kissing her on her mouth.

"I'm just going to touch you, okay?" he murmurs against her lips, his hands continuing the path his lips hadn't, under the skirt, under the slip.

He doesn't want her to be nervous, doesn't want to push her too far and have her regret anything. He only wants her to be happy, like she is now, in this moment.

His fingers brush against her undergarments, curling into the waistband. "Okay?"

[betagainstme]

“Yes,” she nods, frenetic. Yes touching is good, that’s exactly what she wants.

The brush of his fingers against her makes her shiver. A streak of self-consciousness flits through her. She’s worried—what if she’s not what he wants? What if, what if—

His fingers slip under the waistband and it makes her mind blank out again. She’s pushing her fingers through his hair, nodding her head at him.

Yep, yes, yes—

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper is slow to remove the garment, despite Alice's frenetic energy urging him on.

(It, admittedly, takes quite some restraint not to tear them away, to touch her like she wants him to, like he wants to touch her.

But, no.)

Slowly and steady. Gentle.

He presses a kiss to her lips, at the first brush of his fingers between her legs.

[betagainstme]

She chases him for another kiss, her fingers winding in his hair to bring him back to her. Shifting, tilting her hips toward his fingers, without even realizing it. Her body knowing what she wants.

Alice enjoys the way the visions don’t come to her now—a blissful reprieve from the insanity she deals with constantly. She’s too caught up in the way her body reacts to his touches. She wants to know how his will react to hers.

“You’re gonna drive me insane,” she laughs against his mouth, the worry disappearing completely as she kisses him again.

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper laughs into her kiss, nipping at her bottom lip, her jaw.

"That's part of the idea," he whispers in her ear, as he gives into the demands of her body, more than willing, taking pleasure in each gasp and cry he pulls from her, kissing away the loudest moans.

Trying not to let his emotions affect her, to not heighten what's only natural, is difficult when all he wants is to want her. Every nerve alight with want.

But more than, he wants this now to be only about her.

[betagainstme]

Later—much later—when the moon is high in the sky and apartments and hotels nearby have extinguished their lights, their room owners in their beds, Alice struggles to sit up.

Her dress is on the floor, tossed over her stockings along with her underwear. Her slip, still on, is askew, rumpled and bunched around her hips. Jasper at the foot of the bed, his shirt half unbuttoned but still dressed.

She feels like her bones have been replaced with sand. In the best possible way. Her knees still tremble as she finally manages to get herself into a sitting position.

If she had the strength, she might tackle him and pin him to the mattress. As it is, she smiles at him, her lips pressing together, tugging on the edge of his shirt to bring him up to her again, to kiss him.

That was enlightening. She’s a little speechless.

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper is grinning as he meets her kiss.

He knows he's good at this. Hard not to be when he can read every emotion to guide him. Her speechlessness is making him feel all sorts of things, however.

Much like her own feelings, all over the place, all of them good.

He pulls back from the kiss to look at her, to trace her lips with the tips of his fingers, to gaze into her eyes.

She's so -

"Beautiful."

[betagainstme]

She hums against his fingertips, smile widening. She feels like she could float she’s so happy.

Beautiful.

It’s different, with him. Others have commented on her beauty—she’s a vampire, of course she is beautiful. But so is he and he still calls her that. And reverently, like he truly means it. And she’s pretty sure he does.

Alice swallows hard, pressing kisses to his fingertips, her own fingers dancing up and down his arm. “I—“

She doesn’t know what she wants to say. She laughs a little, shaking her head. “You’re amazing.”

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper laughs. He feels light, buoyant. And that Alice is the only thing keeping him grounded at the moment. "Thank you?"

He truly means it when he says she's beautiful. Vampires are beautiful, breathtakingly so, and Alice is unrivaled in that her personality only added to her enhanced beauty.

He continues to look at her, wondering how - why - what.

[betagainstme]

“What?” She laughs, leaning up and peppering his face with kisses.

Their joy feeding into, off of each other. It’s heaven.

[keptherwaiting]

"You - You're beautiful."

He feels silly for saying it again, however true the statement.

"You're beautiful, sexy, radiant," he says as she peppers him with kisses, savoring each she willingly graces him with.

"I don't know how you woke up thinking of me, or why you did, or what you even see, but I'm lucky."

[betagainstme]

"Oh, well, let me tell you then, what I see," Alice murmurs, pressing a final kiss to his cheek.

She pulls back and takes his hand in hers, drawing her fingers up and down the palm again. "We already established these lovely hands of yours, but I think it bears repeating with recent activities."

Her fingers glide up his arm and to his chest, where she finishes unbuttoning his shirt, half-undone for her already. Inching closer, she presses her lips against the scars she reveals, ones on his shoulders, arms, collarbone. A criss-cross network of bites from a life before her, ones she knows scare other vampires--she's seen it, in flashes of him, and when she lived in New Orleans for a time. The way other vampires react to a war-torn soldier.

But that's not Alice. She kisses the edge of one, lingering close to kiss the next one. They're him, a part of him, and she loves every single bit of him. "You're strong," she whispers against his skin. "Smart, fast--"

Now she situates herself into his lap, her slip bunching around her hips as she wraps her arms around his shoulders, kissing up his neck. "--beautiful, sexy, radiant," quoting him back at himself. "Trusting, empathetic. Good, even if you don't want to believe it sometimes. I'm the lucky one, Jasper."

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper is not as conscious as he thought he'd be when Alice pushes the shirt off of him, not with the way she kisses the scars, in the way she talks about them - him.

He swallows hard when she settles in his fully in his lap, and ducks his head to kiss her shoulder.

"You're kind," he murmurs back to her. "Strong, smart. Funny, and quick. Sincere. You're already bringing out the best in me."

His hand pushes at her slip, wanting to see her, all of her, finally. He pulls the little fabric left off, over her head, and it joins the rest of her garments on the floor.

" - Maybe a little of the worst right now too," he adds with a smirk.

[betagainstme]

Another shiver--this time, his smirk doing it to her. She gives him an answering quirk of her eyebrow and a smirk of her own before she tugs his undershirt off.

Her fingers find scars at his sides, tracing them as she presses herself into him, kissing him again. She moans softly into the kiss, deepening it as she comes to cup his face, holding him in place.

Her hands won't stay still. They find another scar to trace, slide down his side, touching skin as much as she can before going for his belt, thinking it highly unfair he's still wearing pants.

"It's not fair you're wearing pants," she mumbles into his mouth.

[keptherwaiting]

Her fingers at her belt elicits a soft growl, a groan.

"We should stop."

He does not sound like a man who wants to stop. He sounds like a man wanting to give her whatever she wants.

[betagainstme]

"Should we?" Alice flips the buckle, yanking the leather out of the loops, still kissing him, trailing her lips down his chin and throat as she tosses the belt somewhere behind them.

"I don't think we should."

[keptherwaiting]

"No?"

She certainly wasted no time with the belt.

Has he mentioned how sexy he thinks she is?

"Well, I did say, whatever you want."

[betagainstme]

"Oh good," she grins, pushing him down to the mattress so she can kiss the scars at his waist.



Jasper may have created a monster.