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.

Comments

[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.