This is getting to be a habit. [rp for lapsedsaint]

[aesthetic_mojo]

As promised, Charlie had a yo-yo delivered to the New York offices of the Department of Justice. She had it hand delivered, open, with clear indicators who it was for and from. Hopefully that would get it through any bomb detection fairly quickly. The rest of that day was spent furniture shopping. She spent a small fortune for very few pieces she would have to wait longer than she liked for.

Her last stop was to replace what they'd drunk and get another bottle of something wonderful. If he didn't come, they would last forever. If he didn't come, the universe would make much more sense than it did at the moment. Still, when he didn't come the first night, she worried. Not so much that he was blowing her off, but that his headache was a thing of real concern.

There was nothing in her schedule to keep her from being home in the evenings, so she settled into a pattern. As the sun headed for the horizon, she changed into loose clothes, made herself a pot of tea, and sat one of two folding chairs on the patio. The kittens played at her feet until the sun went down completely. With all the things to mull over, her mind went most often to the necklace sitting on the kitchen counter. In its way, it was easier to think about that than of the man who might or might not show up at her door.

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[aesthetic_mojo]

"You should be glad I'm being nice because you're sick or I'd get upset at that crack." She stood and put her arm through his, grinning. "That wasn't work, that was pure out fun."

She led him into the bedroom, rubbing his arm as they walked. "You should take at least your shirt off, but the more you take off the better. I'm going to try pressure points and a couple other thing where I need to get at your skin."

[lapsedsaint]

He nodded. She's already seen him naked, already drawn him into her. No sense in having any shame now. Once they're in the bedroom, he stripped down to his briefs. After a quick glance at her, he climbed into her bed and sat, looking at her. "Back or belly?"

[aesthetic_mojo]

Another time and she would have watched him strip with an eye toward which part of him she would taste first. This time she watched for evidence that he was stiff anywhere or otherwise in pain. "On your back for now, since the pain is in front."

She ducked into the bathroom while he got settled, coming back out with towels, two small jars and two candles. After setting them all on the end of the bed, she sat down beside his hip. "Now comes the tricky part. I need to know how you define 'mumbo jumbo.'"

[lapsedsaint]

While she was in the bathroom, he got settled on his back and stretched himself some. The truth of the matter was that he was stiff all over from the constant tension of the headache.

His eyes where closed when she came back out and he didn't open them until she spoke. "Mumbo jumbo? No sacrificed animals, no blood, no calling down spirits to inhabit my body."

[aesthetic_mojo]

"Hmmm, there's beeswax in the candles, but I think that's about it. Otherwise there's herbs, oils, and more than a bit of hopeful thinking." She closed her eyes for just a moment as she felt around mentally for his lighter and fished it out to light the candles.

She patted his thigh, then went to work setting things up. The candles, made with fragrant oils, went on the floor on either side of the top of the bed. After a moment's hesitation, she slipped off her skirt, allowing her to move around the bed more easily.

She opened one of the jars, got some of the paste on her fingers, and started massaging one of his feet. "Tell me if this makes your head or anything else worse."

[lapsedsaint]

The initial touch caused him to jerk his foot in surprise. It tickled and he whimpered roughly. "Tickles. Gentle." He gave her his foot back, trusting her to not make him take it away again.

While she worked, he groaned softly. What she was doing didn't make anything hurt any worse, but it wasn't doing a lot for just his head. It was, however, starting to relax him.

[aesthetic_mojo]

She smiled slightly at his complaint, adding a little more pressure to keep from tickling. When she felt him give in to what she was doing, she changed what she was doing very slightly. There was nothing radical about what she did, but she was good at it. She wasn't sure that if his headache was from something Dagny did she would be able to cure it, but she could and would take care of the ancillary pain and tension.

After a little while she left his feet and started moving up his legs. When she got up to his thigh, she chuckled. "I didn't think the next time I groped your legs my hands would smell of rosemary."

[lapsedsaint]

He slowly opened his eyes and smiled, adding his chuckle to hers. "At least I won't have to confess this particular contact." He moved his arms out of the way and let his eyes close again. He, very briefly, wondered what it would have been like if he'd taken off his briefs, too.

Of course, that brief thought was enough to stir a bit of a biological reaction.

[aesthetic_mojo]

Like any good nurse, she ignored the growing evidence in front of her to continue her work. His comment about confessing stung a little bit, but she couldn't take it personally. When she reached his hips she shift forward, skipping his belly and going to his shoulders.

"I really didn't invite you here the other day to seduce you." She spoke softly. "Every kiss? I was sure you were going to stop me and ask what the hell I was thinking."

[lapsedsaint]

He nodded, his eyes closed. "I never was very good at saying no to the kissing. I enjoy it." There was a bit of resignation in his voice. He lifted a hand and rubbed her side a moment before going still under her again.

[aesthetic_mojo]

She whimpered at the touch, the memory of kissing him washing over her. "Your enjoyment was evident in your expertise." She shivered and tried that again. "You kiss very well. Distractingly well. That only happens when you like doing it."

She paused for a moment, then shrugged and slowly moved to straddle him. She needed better leverage to get at his shoulders and his head. "I hope this is helping some or you're going to think this is all about molesting you."

[lapsedsaint]

When she straddled him, he put his hands on her hips. He opened his eyes and smiled up at her. "It is helping. Not with the headache, but with all the shit that goes along with it."

He rubbed lightly at her hips, fingers pressing against her flesh. She hit a spot on his shoulder that made him groan roughly as the knot released.

[aesthetic_mojo]

"Maybe you should have let me get the chicken bones out, then. I probably could have done more with them." She leaned over to get more power behind her hands, her hair brushing over his chest. "If you can get the rest of you relaxed long enough, it should help the head." She hoped that was true anyway.

Leaning over him the way she was, his scent reached her even through the strong aroma of the herbs. It was increasingly difficult not to lean even further and kiss his neck. She moaned weakly, lifting her hips off his a little to keep from grinding into him.

[lapsedsaint]

"No chicken bones." He let his hands slide up her back just a little, then back to her hips. This wasn't going to work. She was too close and he was too open.

When she moaned he was finished. He got a hand into her hair and pulled her down, kissing her without any of the timidness he had displayed the last time he was in her apartment.

[aesthetic_mojo]

She made herself stop rubbing when he kissed her, afraid she'd hit the wrong spot and undo some of what she'd done. The firmness of a kiss truly taken got him another moan, this one deeper and softer. Her lips parted so he could take as much as he wanted from it.

She pressed her hips into his, twisting a little to get right against his cock. She couldn't pretend his kiss wasn't exciting her.

[lapsedsaint]

The hand that wasn't in her hair tightened around her back, holding her against him. When she pressed against him, he groaned into her mouth and eased his tongue into her mouth.

He let her out of the kiss a few moments later, his eyes closed as he let her straighten up.

[aesthetic_mojo]

She didn't move away immediately. She kissed his jaw, down his neck to his shoulder and just onto his chest before sitting up. As she did, she pressed her hips into his again. She didn't hide the shiver of need that produced.

Closing her eyes, she went back to massaging him. She used the magic to reach more parts of his scalp at once than she could with just her fingers, watching him carefully for his reaction.

[lapsedsaint]

He whimpered roughly and shuddered, his eyes giving the smallest flutter as he shifted under her. He was not thinking about it. That's all that he could do.

The hand in her hair moved down her neck and over her back to return to her hips. He shouldn't be encouraging her. But he couldn't help it. He pressed up into her with a low groan, then forced his eyes open to look at her.

[aesthetic_mojo]

Reading his eyes was still nearly impossible for her. She wasn't working to hide her emotions from him, her eyes were filled with both physical need and confusion, but she had no idea what he was thinking. His reaction to her body was obvious, but that wasn't all she wanted.

"Why do you come here?" She swallowed and broke away from his gaze. "I don't think you like what I am very much." She couldn't even smile at the irony of saying that when only a few scraps of fabric separated them.

[lapsedsaint]

He exhaled slowly and loosened his grip on her. He had to think about his answer before he could give it to her, forcing him to think about exactly what he was doing. Which, naturally, caused him some confusion and started the temperature dropping.

He closed his eyes and turned his head aside, exhaling slowly. "I don't know."

[aesthetic_mojo]

She felt the change right away this time, rolling her shoulders to keep from shivering. "That doesn't make it easier to think, you know."

She sat back a little more so she could really look at him. "Then tell me this--what do you think about what I am, about what I do? Because I'm not like the others you deal with, am I? With my mumbo jumbo and all."

[lapsedsaint]

"What doesn't make it easier to think?" That statement had really confused him. He wasn't sure if she meant his hands on her or something else entirely.

[aesthetic_mojo]

"The cold." She sank down against him, squirming close. "Of course every time you make it colder I get close. That's not so horrible." She was putting off the real issue to be against him, she knew.

[lapsedsaint]

He wrapped his arms around her, even as he raised both eyebrows. "What cold? What are you talking about?"

[aesthetic_mojo]

She squirmed a little closer, sorry she hadn't taken off her shirt. More skin would have been a comfort. "It's not so bad now, but I was afraid if it got much colder last time I would be able to see my breath." She chuckled. "I'm going to make you come up here in July and keep me cool."