Feeling The Heat

Writers: Dana, Eimi
Date Posted: 9th July 2006

Characters: Larken, M'tone
Description: Larken and the brownrider openly talk about what's standing between them
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 6 of Turn 3

She was _still_ flushing by the time she reached M'tone's door. **That's _it_! I'm never asking for directions ever again!** The nerve of that dragonrider...sharding grinning and _leering_ at her when she'd asked if she was heading the right way towards the brownrider's weyr...

Shards and shells. Larken wished she could have let him have it.

M'tone opened the door to find the fuming. "Did... Did I do something?"

Shards. Trying to school her expression, the young woman shook her head. "No, no. It's not you, M'tone." Her face must really be a sight... The thought just made her flush even more.

"Well, come on in, if you like," he said stepping back to allow her in.
"Would you like a drink or something? You seem... upset. It's not anything with your husband, is it?"

Again, she shook her head as she came inside. "It was a...proddy dragonrider." Larken glanced at him, wondering if there had been a more polite way to phrase what she just told him. "He said something suggestive. Shards...my face must really be red..."

"Yes, it is," M'ton chuckled. Though he had to admit to himself he was disappointed it wasn't trouble at home. "What did the man say to you?"

She sat down on his sofa, cradling the plate of cookies in her lap. "I approached him to make sure I was going in the right direction to get here--all these hallways and corridors look alike, and it's easy to get lost...." Embarrassed, she looked up at him. She really shouldn't be saying this to _him_ of all people... "And he asked if I wanted to find his weyr instead."

The brownrider sat down next to her, his arm stretched across the back of the sofa so he could look at her comfortably. "And?"

"And then I told him no, thank you." Her cheeks flamed anew and she fixed her eyes on the cookies. "I think that amused him."

"Well, it's really is all your fault, you know, Larken," M'tone replied, trying not to laugh outright. He found the whole situation and especially her reaction to it amusing. "We just can't help ourselves. You're just too sharding beautiful."

She peeked at him through her lashes, giving him a shy smile. **Careful, Larken...** "You can give all the credit to my parents."

"Well, it's not all genetics, you know," he replied as a finger ran along a tendril of hair that had settled across the couch. "There are other things that make you beautiful, too."

**Don't, Larken...** Her fingers tightened around the edges of the plate and she looked down again, unable to deny the certain, feminine delight that welled within her at his words. "Such as?"

"Oh, well, the way you walk draws attention to yourself. It just kind of screams out 'Look at me, I'm beautiful and I don't even know it'. You know exactly how to dress that is both frustratingly modest and yet accentuates your figure." He began curling the tendril of hair around his finger as he watched her face carefully. "You also have this light in your eyes that just kind of pulls you in, and a whole air of innocence, and yet you are very much a woman. You are... hard to resist."

Her breathing quickened. She was treading very dangerous ground, and after she'd promised herself she wouldn't again! Especially not after that one afternoon on the beach where tempers had flared, and then he had held her as intimately as Ojisan did. M'tone confused her--this whole _place_ confused her. Guiltily she thought of her husband. If he knew that she was willingly seeking out this brownrider to spend time with him... But why _did_ she?

Feeling a gentle tugging on her hair, Larken finally willed herself to look up at him--and at the finger he had so lightly wrapped around the dark lock. Why was she playing with fire? "And yet you will," she whispered, unable to tear her eyes away from that finger.

"Yes, I will as long as you ask me too, Larken. I promise," he replied, serious. His eyes searched her face. "But if you ever stop asking me too..." M'tone know she would understand his meaning. There was no reason to say it aloud.

She swallowed thickly, her imagination conjuring images that shamed her.
"Why are we doing this, M'tone?" Larken finally asked him, her tone quiet.

"We aren't doing anything, Larken," he said gently. "We're just talking. Surely there is nothing wrong with just _talking_, is there? Or, _is_
there?"

"No. No, not...not talking. Why do we..." **Tempt...** Shaking her head, she looked at him helplessly.

He waited for her to finish that thought, his eyes almost _dared_ her to finish it as he released the silky strands and reached up to smooth her hair back from her shoulders.

The movement brought him closer--almost uncomfortably so. But she saw the challenge in his eyes, and something in her rose to meet it before she could quell it--before she could make herself get up and walk away. "...Play with fire?"

"What's wrong with just _playing_ with fire? No one's getting burned here, Larken." He cocked his head to the side questioningly. "Or are you nervous because you're starting to feel the heat?"

Flushing, her eyes darted from his.

The brownrider reached up to turn gently turn her face towards him again. "I've already promised I will do nothing you don't want me to. I will not break that promise. All I am saying is that someday, if you need me, if you want me, I will give you whatever you ask of me. Until then, Larken, you are safe with me. If we are only ever friends, then so be it."

They looked at each other for a long moment before she nodded. And that's _all_ they would be. Friends. No more than that. "I...I brought cookies," she finally murmured, hoping to ease the steady tension that had been building between them. "Like I told you I would."

"Well, you know how much I love cookies," he said, taking the hint and reaching for one of the tasty treats. "Thank you."

Last updated on the July 9th 2006

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Feeling The Heat