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Post by Riley Neves on Aug 4, 2009 13:18:51 GMT -5
Riley couldn't help but to laugh as they found themselves in now familiar circumstances, and she mumbled an apology before she kissed him again. She hadn't meant to break the mood, but Merlin. "I love you," she told him, dropping the smile from her lips and letting him know that she wasn't really laughing at him.
In his arms, she found peace. Things made sense in his arms. Things were real.
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Aug 4, 2009 13:30:13 GMT -5
In a way, it was kind of funny, and he'd probably laugh about it later. It really was almost impossible to keep their hands off of each other right now. And this conversation--possibly the deepest, most honest conversation he'd ever had with anyone--had reached a point where words simply weren't enough. He needed to show her how much he loved her, needed to feel her body against his.
When they were done, he held her to him for a long time, just leaning his head in the hollow of her neck, where it met her shoulder. His lips lightly brushed against her neck and he could feel her pulse throbbing beneath them.
"We're going to have to start learning to behave ourselves," he teased softly. "We can't be doing this when we return to work or we're having dinner at my parents' house."
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Post by Riley Neves on Aug 4, 2009 15:13:06 GMT -5
Riley smiled. "I think your mom would be rather shocked. Though I can't say that no one at the office would be surprised if they opened the lift and just saw us going for it." She chuckled. It would be difficult to keep her hands off of him when she needed too, but she thought about how much she was actually looking forward to going back to work at the same time.
"How much longer do you think Angelique will continue our suspension?" she mused. "I don't really have a lot of time before I'll have to take maternity leave." Or maybe that was Angelique's plan... Merlin, Riley hoped it wasn't.
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Aug 4, 2009 16:01:57 GMT -5
"You know, back at Christmas, when my mum was grilling me about what we were doing in Dad's study, I was tempted to tell her that were were having mad passionate sex on my father's desk, just to see how she would react." It was true, if his mother had continued to push the subject, he probably would have said it just to see if it would shut her up. Luckily, she hadn't. "Now, of course, if we're over there and we disappear, it'll probably be true."
His expression sobered at the mention of work. He was actually itching to get back on the job, and he knew Riley was feeling the same way. "I would guess it wouldn't be much longer. She really does need Katie's murder solved, after all."
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Post by Riley Neves on Aug 4, 2009 17:24:28 GMT -5
Riley nearly laughed. "You and your mother butt heads a lot, don't you?" It was clear that Cara adored her son and loved him with a somewhat over protective streak, but there was no fault in that. They were both stubborn, and she rather imagined that had they not been family, they might have made good friends. It was that kind of clash between them. She was actually kind of jealous of it.
"I think we're really close on Katie's murder. I'm convinced it was Arachne Weaver... I'll have to go over it with you eventually. I didn't really keep you up to date on it while you were in the safe house. Which, by the way, I miss. It was bigger than my apartment. And there was a lake."
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Aug 4, 2009 21:51:29 GMT -5
Roland chuckled. "Yeah, I guess we do," he agreed. "We both just know how to push each other's buttons. But I also know just the right things to say to calm her down and keep her from getting mad at me. It was a very handy skill when I was a kid and kept getting into trouble."
He nodded at her comment about Arachne Weaver. He hadn't liked the woman, and he'd had the uneasy feeling that she was reading into his thoughts, which had all been about his fears for Ama and Jamie. "I think it was her, too. We just need to prove it. But we usually had other issues on our minds when we were at the safe house."
He smiled. He missed the safe house, too. The place had a lot of memories there, and he hated to let it go. Maybe later, when Angelique wasn't mad at him, he could talk to her about the safe house, to see if they could somehow purchase it. The place already felt like home.
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Post by Riley Neves on Aug 4, 2009 23:26:47 GMT -5
Riley laughed again, though it was quiet and soft, and neither of them had moved from each other's arms. "Once you stopped being so pig-headed, you learned really quickly how to get yourself out of trouble with me, too. Maybe you just have a way with words." Though, admittedly, it wasn't always his words that got him out of trouble with her, either.
"I know I brought it up," Riley said, "but shhh.... no more work for now. We'll deal with it with Angelique lets us. We should enjoy this, because we'll probably be wishing for more of it when she lets us back."
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Aug 5, 2009 0:54:19 GMT -5
He smiled and pressed a kiss to her lips. "It took us a while to learn how to communicate," he said. "It's really kind of funny now when you look back at the way we used to argue about the stupidest things. We probably should have had sex right away, instead of letting that tension build up. Although if anyone had suggested it to either of us in the beginning, we probably would have laughed at them."
He didn't say anything else about work, and just quietly let the subject drop. "You know, speaking of the safe house, I'm still sort of tempted to go over there and just have our day away from the troubles of the world. The weather is starting to warm up a little, and I used to have this fantasy of making love to you by the lake."
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Post by Riley Neves on Aug 5, 2009 9:40:08 GMT -5
It had taken them forever to learn how to communicate with each other, and even in the safe house, they had their moments. But it was easier there to let her guard down, if even just a little, because it was just the two of them.
"Maybe not right away," Riley said. "There would have been not much tension to break, afterall. But definitely on Christmas," she said with a smile.
When he mentioned going back to the safe house, Riley's first thought was that there was no point when they could have the whole day here. But then her cheeks flushed. "The lake?" she asked. "What if someone saw us?" she asked rather innocently. Yes, it was a safe house, but there was always that chance, especially now that Angelique knew where he had been.
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Aug 5, 2009 21:16:46 GMT -5
"It definitely would have broken the tension if we'd done it at Christmas," he said with a grin. "That night... until Blake came in, anyway.... You were driving me crazy that night. I'd look at you and that kiss would just start replaying in my head.... There were a couple of times during dinner when I couldn't even think about anythng else. It's no wonder everyone apparently could see right through me."
He had to laugh at her shocked question. Sometimes he forgot just how innocent she really was--or had been, anyway--and it just made him love her more. He pressed a kiss to her lips. "There's no one around there for miles. And besides.... the possibility of being seen just enhances the excitement." He wiggled his eyebrows at this, then laughed. "I bet you've never even been skinny dipping."
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Post by Riley Neves on Aug 5, 2009 22:25:00 GMT -5
"I kept thinking about it, too. And I couldn't get the taste of your lips off mine... and then Geoffrey kept bugging me about it, and it was just impossible to escape. I can't tell you how guilty I felt about it, though." Riley sighed, her mind straying to Fabian.
"Enhances the excitement?" she repeated in near disbelief. She didn't get a chance to tell him that she would be far from excited if she was constantly worried about someone seeing because he continued, and his laugh made her flush a deep red. "Don't make assumptions like that," she told him. "I might have been. You don't know."
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Aug 5, 2009 22:55:18 GMT -5
"You know, it would have helped me a lot if I'd had any idea that you were having just as hard a time forgetting about it as I was," he said, flashing his crooked grin. "I really believed you hated me, and it was tearing me apart."
There was no feeling in the world, Roland realized, that was worse than being in love with someone and believing that they didn't love you back. He had spent a few weeks going through hell as he fought his feelings for her, believing that Riley hated him. When he thought about it, he still couldn't believe that things had turned out so perfectly, and that Riley loved him back.
"Oh, come on... you're still nervous about walking naked around your own apartment, with no one around but me. You can't have gone skinny dipping."
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Post by Riley Neves on Aug 5, 2009 23:36:38 GMT -5
"I didn't know then what it meant. I kind of just thought it was the guilt eating at me. I really didn't want to hurt Fabian." It was, perhaps, the first time she had said his name around Roland in nearly two months now. She never wanted to hurt him, and hoped that he would be all right.
Riley's blush refused to soften, and she couldn't quite meet his eyes. "I have," she insisted. "It was in Greece, one time, just after I graduated. It was during that stage when I got the tattoo. And maybe no one was around, but it was a notorius topless beach, and I felt like I had to or I'd always regret it. So I went back at night when it was abandoned."
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Aug 6, 2009 0:05:14 GMT -5
He couldn't help it; he winced when she said Fabian's name. It really had hurt him terribly at the time to see her spending all that time with Fabian while he couldn't stop thinking about the kiss in the study. He had almost convinced himself that there was something wrong with him, something repulsive that turned her off. Maybe it was his lip scar, or the fact that he couldn't seem to get his hair to behave. He'd rationalized it so many ways and only ended up feeling worse about himself, which was an unfamiliar feeling to someone as self-confident as Roland. Thankfully, he had been wrong and Riley was more attracted to him than he had dared to hope.
"You were barely going out with him," Roland said. "He probably didn't have much time to get hurt too badly." Maybe it was a bad excuse, and maybe it wasn't true. But he hoped so. Despite what had happened, Fabian was a good guy, and, knowing how painful a broken heart could be, Roland wouldn't wish it on him.
He was pulled out of these sober thoughts when she told her skinny dipping story. He laughed, then kissed her again. "You know, you continually surprise me," he said. "But you know, it's not quite the same if no one sees you. It's more fun with another person."
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Post by Riley Neves on Aug 6, 2009 0:10:50 GMT -5
"Roland," Riley said quietly, noticing the expression on his face when she mentioned Fabian. If he was jealous of Fabian and Geoffrey, she was allowed to be jealous of Nathalia, right? "I love you," she assured him, kissing him again.
"You never said that you bet I didn't do it with someone, just that I hadn't done it. I may be very sexually inexperienced, but I did have some kind of wild days in schools. I bet I have done a lot of things that would surprise you."
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Aug 6, 2009 0:21:55 GMT -5
He was working on the jealousy, but it would take a little time. He wasn't yet in a stage where he felt totally secure in her love for him. He still had that nagging fear in the back of his mind that she'd wake up and realize what a git he really was. It would take time to get past that. "I know," he said, smiling softly. "I love you, too."
Hopefully that put the topic behind them. He was more interested in hearing about her "wild" days, and seeing how they compared to his own. "Tell me about them," he said. "I've done a few crazy things, too.... I'm sure that wouldn't surprise you. You could tell me one, and I'll tell you one."
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Post by Riley Neves on Aug 6, 2009 1:08:33 GMT -5
Riley shook her head. "No, I don't like this game," she told him honestly, no hint of a smile on her lips to tell him she may be joking. She wasn't.
Sometimes, it was painfully clear to her how experienced Roland was when compared to her, and she again felt like such a child around him. Didn't that frustrate him?
"All of your stories beat mine. I'm sure the things I've done that are wild to me are really very tame to you. I couldn't even skinny dip in front of other people. You walk around my house naked like you're Adam in the Garden of Eden."
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Aug 6, 2009 1:23:54 GMT -5
His expression softened, and he kissed her gently. "Sweetheart," he said. "Please don't ever feel insecure. I've done some crazy things, and yes.... I haven't exactly been a monk. And I'm not going to tell you anything that will make you uncomfortable. The truth is, I'm not proud of some of the things I've done. If I had known that I would meet you some day and love you this much... I would never have wasted my time with anyone else. You're the only one I want."
He ran his hands through her hair, trying to soothe her. "Please... I want to hear some of your stories. If you want, I can tell you really embarrassing stories about me. I have a lot of those, too."
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Post by Riley Neves on Aug 6, 2009 12:55:25 GMT -5
Riley was still frowning. "It's not even necessarily about the people you've slept with, Roland. You've just... done more. All around. And that's okay, I just don't feel like I can really compete or measure up."
And now that she was put on the spot, she couldn't think of anything she'd done that even really sounded all that exciting. She sighed, feeling badly about this, and she didn't want to bring down the mood between them.
"Later, okay? I'll tell you some of my stories later. I have to think of a good one."
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Aug 6, 2009 13:26:43 GMT -5
He sighed softly. What she didn't realize was that he actually feeling guilty about his own past. He really hadn't done anything that horrible or anything, but the fact that she was so insecure about her past in comparison to his made him feel like she thought he was some kind of man-slut. He wasn't, and really had never been. Yes, he'd slept with a few women. But it wasn't like he had a girl every other night or anything like that. And some of his other exploits had been wild, but still probably not as bad as she was thinking. And yet, he regretted all of it. He wished he hadn't done anything that would make her feel insecure. He wished he could have been a boy scout, more like Geoffrey.
"Honey, you don't ever have to compete with my past. It's past for a reason. You are my present and my future, and I don't want to go back to any of that. If I could undo those things, I would, because I don't ever want you to think that you don't measure up. I'm the one who doesn't deserve you."
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