Strictly Business [Closed] - Printable Version
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RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - saronym - 06-25-2017
Renton sat down on the edge of the bed and handed over the bottle of water for her to drink as much as she wanted. He opened the second bottle he brought and started hydrating as well to stave off any potential hangover in the morning. He yawned also spent from the evening and kicked off his shoes deciding to stay the night.“Do you want to cuddle me?” He asked as he pushed his jacket from his shoulders, loosened his tie, and pulled off his belt. Renton continued undressing until he was left in his undershirt and boxers and then he rolled onto his back. Playfully, he shoved her over until he made a space for himself and pulled Drusilla against him.
With his arm around her, Renton could feel the roughness of scars on the back of her shoulder, but he didn’t say anything about them or make any motions to touch them more than the incidental contact of his hand holding her. It seemed to him there was much more to Drusilla than she let on. Renton thought about the scars on her back and the recent incident at the CAF and Owen’s idiocy for not dumping Sophia immediately.
It may have been the booze or Renton’s simple good nature but he felt a sudden fondness for her. He gazed down at the catgirl cuddling next to him and zeroed in on the little scar left on her lip from the encounter with Shrader. If Owen wouldn’t kiss that scar well he would. And so he did.
Sanders escorted Aphrodite down the almost abandoned evening sidewalk. They had been out until last call and many other patrons had already found someone to go home with or had gotten too drunk too fast, like Renton and Drusilla. “Well, it was lovely to meet you Aphrodite.” Sanders said to break the silence that fell between them while they walked. “I’ll call you sometime next week? So, what school did you say you taught at?” He asked because he had machinations to send her flowers the next day and thank her for the evening.
When they reached her car, they hesitated like people do when they don’t want to leave but haven’t broken any physical boundaries yet. “You’ll have to come out and see the ranch sometime.” He kept wanting to get her to promise to see him again. Somehow he was never sure if people meant it when they said those ‘you’ll have to’ kind of things to one another.
She was turned away and opening her car door when he decided to step forward and stop her. A hand on the door prevented her from opening it. He touched her hip first, stepping closer to her until almost all the space between them was filled. It was a warning of what he was about to do. If she didn’t want to be kissed he gave her a good thirty seconds to signal it. The other hand touched her neck, his thumb rested behind her ear as he pulled her that last distance against him for a good night kiss.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - megs - 06-27-2017
Julianna watched Renton down the length of the water bottle as she all but drained the entirety of its contents. She dropped the bottle away from her mouth with a satisfied sigh and screwed the cap back on before letting it fall into her lap. Ears pushed to a high attention, eyes widened and a grin spread over her face at his offer to cuddle. She nodded eagerly, and reaching across the bed to leave the bottle on her nightstand. She giggled as he pushed her around and arranged her body against his. She tucked her head against his shoulder, one arm close to her side and the other draped across his abdomen; even going as far as to drape her leg over one of his. She was clearly pleased with the warmth and the contact. Her content hum vibrated with a purr. The end of her tail flickered against the bed.
Julianna tilted her head slightly to find Renton looking down at her. His face was lit in profile by the dim light of her bedside lamp. She smiled at him, ears falling to the side as to not be in his face. Between the booze and the cuddling, she was mostly asleep, but that changed when he kissed her. The surprise of it halted her purr, but just for a moment until she kissed him back.
“You can call me Maeve,” she suggested. Which wasn’t something she often did, but she liked Sanders and if she was going to pursue that she would need to slowly let him into all aspects of her life. Very, very, slowly, but her name was enough for now. “Aphrodite is a silly nickname,” she explained. Not quite a lie, a half-truth. Slowly. “The University of Colorado,” she reminded him. “In the biology department. You can look me up under Dr. Reed.”
She leaned against the driver’s side door of her Lexus as the continued to flirt and chat, neither of them quite ready to call it a night. Curling fingers pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, and she couldn’t stop smiling at him. “I would love too.” Maeve doubled-down on her offer to visit the ranch, just as she knew Sanders wanted. She wanted to see him again, too, and was more than thrilled that he was offering.
They’d stalled a long as the could. They said good night, and Maeve turned to get in her car and leave. Sanders stopped her, and she was thrilled. Almost lamenting that they’d part for the evening without a goodnight kiss. She was smiling again, hands pressed against his chest when he kissed her. Her hands lingered on him, when they parted. She wished him another soft good night, before they parted ways.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - saronym - 06-28-2017
In the morning Renton woke up to the feeling of pressure in his bladder. Taking care not to rouse Drusilla, he shifted out from underneath her arm to relieve himself in the bathroom adjoining her room. Upon returning it the bedside, Renton noticed that his phone was blinking a signal to notify him of new messages. He slid back into bed with the phone and rearranged himself and Drusilla so that she was back in his arms. The message he had received overnight came in from Owen at 4:07 A.M. and read: Cute. Make sure she gets home alright.
“Aw.” He vocalized out loud. Owen had come through with something positive to say. Renton smiled at the text for a while before deciding to snap a selfie of him and her cuddling. He sent the picture to Owen along with the text: safe and sound boss. Once that was finished, he dropped the phone with a dull thud onto the bed next to him. The weight from his body created a dip in the mattress and caused the phone to slide down next to his side.
He watched Drusilla sleep for a long while thinking about their drunk make-out the night before. Idly he petted her hair, remembering how satisfying it had been to have someone to touch and hold for a while. He wondered if she felt the same. Perhaps he would have let her sleep longer if he wasn’t terribly hungry from the hangover. His stomach felt like it was eating itself signaling to him now that he was awake that he needed to repay it for the abuse it took the evening prior with something hearty and greasy.
“Dru.” He nudged her gently awake. “Dru, I’m hungry. Wake up and make me breakfast.” He made his demands jokingly with a half laugh.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - megs - 06-30-2017
Drusilla’s didn’t notice when Renton slipped out of bed. When he returned, she easily snuggled up next to him and made herself comfortable again. Her ears twitched at his brief utterance upon reading the text message, and she only woke up just enough to crack her eyes open and glance up at the camera for the selfie. Admittedly, she looked like a sassy old cat that had been woken too soon; ears falling off either side of her head, her face half-hidden against Ren’s chest. Purring all the while, not that one could tell from a photo. She slept until she was nudged awake with breakfast requests. Drusilla rolled away from Ren with a whine. Her ears pinned backwards and her arms rose above her head, she stretched all the way down to her toes as her tail flickered over the bed. Pulling her arms back down she turned back on her side, and rolled her eyes to look up at her friend as her ears sprung forward.
“Mmm what do you want?” She rolled over again and sat up, legs dropping over the edge of the bed. “I don’t even know what we have in the house.” Drusilla moved around the bed and kicked at the pile of clothes she’d left in the middle of her bedroom floor.
“Have you seen my phone?”
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - saronym - 07-11-2017
Renton sat up when she did. He shrugged behind her back when she asked what he preferred for breakfast. “I’m not picky. I can eat whatever you have. But I’m craving something greasy.” He crawled on all fours to the edge of the bed and then pushed himself off of it to stand before her. Renton stretched and then rooted around in the pile of covers and sheets they had left behind on the bed. “I think you fell asleep with it.”
He shoved at the sheets. “Here it is. Oh! I think you have a message.”
Renton shoved the phone at her uninterested in whatever messages she had waiting. “Do you think Aphrodite made it home or did she go home with Sanders?” His voice took on an intrigued gossipy quality before he turned and wandered out into the house.
“Good morning!” He greeted loudly for anyone who might be home besides them.
The message waiting for Drusilla was one from her boss:
>Call me when you get this.
The message was sent just minutes after the one he had sent Renton at 4 in the morning. It was then, in the middle of the sleepless night, that he had decided to ask Drusilla to come in for a few hours of work. Not because of any particularly pressing task. But because of some other reason he didn't want to admit to himself: that he wanted her to himself.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - megs - 07-11-2017
“Thanks,” she mumbled as he handed the phone off to her. She yawned and turned the device around until it was positioned correctly in her hands. Her tail swayed lazily as she rubbed at her eyes, thumb tapping over the screen without having to look at it. “It’s from Owen,” she explained, as Renton pulled open her bedroom door and called out into the apartment. “He sent it at like four in the morning.” She bent down to retrieve the pants she had been wearing, and dropped the phone onto the bed. Despite the texts implied urgency, she chose pants first. She didn’t bother buttoning them up, since they were only meant to be a temporary covering.
Aphrodite’s enthusiastic good morning returned to them from the kitchen. “I have coffee ready,” she called to them. “What are we doing about breakfast?” Clearly, she’d had the same idea as Renton. Some sort of unanimous agreement that Drusilla was going to be in charge of cooking for them.
Picking up her phone again, she re-read the message and frowned. “He wants me to call him.” The lack of information irked her. Who sent a semi-urgent text in the middle of the night with no follow up. Owen, obviously, but he’d never messaged her on her day off before. “I’m going to find out what he wants,” she continued to give Renton the play-by-play of what she was up to as she pressed down on the call button.
Aphrodite, apparently tired of waiting for them to join her in the kitchen, appeared in Drusilla’s doorway with an extra cup of coffee that she pushed in Renton’s direction. Hopefully he liked it pale and sweet because that’s how she liked it, so that’s what she brought. The blonde obviously had no questions about their state of dress or the fact that Ren had spent the night. “Who could she be calling this early,” she inquired, tilting her chin in Dru’s direction before sipping at her coffee.
Drusilla tried to wave them off as the phone rang in her ear.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - saronym - 07-12-2017
Renton turned back around and hovered in the doorway to Drusilla’s bedroom as she announced that the message had been from Owen. “Really? What did he say?” He took another step towards her and eyed the phone in hand as if he would just try to read the message himself. “Did he get my text?”Drusilla was occupied with her pants and Aphrodite was joining them with a hot coffee. So that answered his question as to where she had ended up last night. Boooring. He complained to himself in his mind, but gratefully accepted the cup of coffee.
Without remembering to confirm the caffeine content, Renton took a sip. It was wonderful. Very smooth. He kept drinking it feeding his hungover body the energy it craved. “It’s Owen. Who else.” He sassed at the blonde. “I’m thinking something greasy? Hash browns and sausage. And then french toast.” He hummed an ‘mmmm’ into his coffee before drinking some more.
“So did you have fun last night?” He asked to make conversation though his ears were trained on whatever Drusilla was saying. No doubt she would share the contents of the conversation with them at her discretion. But there was nothing like hearing it happen in real time.
The phone call from Drusilla woke Owen up. He had fallen asleep only a couple of hours before and if left to it, he likely would have slept until the afternoon. When he saw the name on his caller I.D., he picked up the call instead of silencing it like he had wanted to.
“Hello.” He said into the line. His voice sounded hoarse in his own ears. It would be clear that he had been sleeping. He fell into silence while he listened to her greeting. For a moment, his brain was a half step behind and he had forgotten his petty plan to ask her to come into work that day. “What is it?”He pulled the phone away from his face to check the time and saw a text waiting for him. Owen checked that and the image jolted his mind awake and sent a corresponding shock of pain to his chest. There she was laying against Renton’s shoulder, hair spread out on the pillow, both looking content - well more sleepy but still too content for his comfort.
“Oh.” He said distractedly as he remembered the call.
“Hey uhh... do you think you find some time to come help me today with file prep for the general’s meeting on Monday? I don’t want to -” Owen pushed himself up in bed and wiped his hand over his face, “-interrupt your morning with Renton. I know it’s your day off. So - you’re, of course, not obligated. I can always figure something out.”
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - megs - 07-13-2017
Drusilla’s expression wilted into something puzzled as if she wanted to ask Renton ‘what text’ but he’d already turned his attention to her roommate. Ears swiveled atop her head as if she would try to listen to both of her friends as well as Owen whenever he picked up. “Oh, boring,” Aphrodite complained when Owen was revealed as Drusilla’s early morning communique. She rolled her eyes and continued to sip her coffee, but didn’t leave the room despite her uninterested expression. The blonde nodded in agreement as Renton laid out what sounded like the perfect post-drinking breakfast.
She dropped the mug from her face and held it in both hands. “I did have fun.” One corner of her mouth pulled upwards. “Thanks for inviting me. So, on that note, please tell me everything there I should know about Sanders,” she finished with a laugh and a lift of her brows.
The cat continued to frown at her friends that were loud in her doorway as the phone rang. When there was a click in the receiver, she assumed she’d been sent to voicemail. Her tail picked up a gentle sway near the floor as Owen's voice filtered across the line. “Good morning, sir.” She immediately felt bad for having woken him, she knew it was usually pretty difficult for him to fall asleep.
Both of her ears fell lopsided when he asked the nature of her call. “You...sent me a text. You told me to call you when I got it?” She explained carefully, wondering if there had been some piece of the message she had misunderstood. She heard rustling on the other end, he was moving or at the very least moving the phone. Ears popped upwards as she waited for an explanation. There was something in the way he said, ‘interrupt your morning with Renton,’ that made her ears twitch. She couldn’t pinpoint but it was. “It’s no problem, sir.” The sway of her tail was renewed with an eagerness. Obviously drawn from getting to see Owen on what normally would have been her day off. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
They said their farewells, and she hung up the call. She pretended to mull through a few other applications on the device, steeling herself before rounding on the disapproving looks of her friends. “Owen needs me to come in,” she explained, as if it were no big deal as she turned to face them.
“You can’t be serious,” Aphrodite replied without missing a beat, she’d been waiting to complain as soon as Drusilla had hung up with her boss. “This is your only day off. What couldn’t possibly wait until tomorrow?”
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - saronym - 07-18-2017
Renton pursed his lips at Aphrodite’s complaints and mumbled back, “Did you really even need to ask who it was.” He humphed with faux moodiness before sipping at his coffee and shooting Drusilla a disapproving look not that she cared because she was engrossed in her little conversation. Blue eyes rolled back towards the blonde woman and he hummed in the back of his throat while he considered just what there was to know about Sanders. “He’s an all American cowboy, honey, what more is there to know?” He snorted with laughter. “Hard body, calloused hands, nice smile. Probably good in bed, but I don’t know from personal experience. Just a hunch. He sure can ride a mechanical bull if that’s any indication.”
Renton wiggled his eyebrows at her and then continued. “He’s like any boy. Likes to play with his toys. You know his truck and his little plane he has. He’s a fun person and a decent man.” Renton shrugged. “And single. But you already knew that.”
Renton left it at that as he heard Drusilla agreeing to ‘be there as soon’ as she could. He scoffed offended and clutched at his chest. “How dare you!” He scolded her. “You have a guest to entertain and that guest and your roommate are hungry.”
He turned halfway when Aphrodite chipped in. “Yeah! And just what does he want anyways?”
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - megs - 07-19-2017
Aphrodite sighed and leaned heavily on the door jamb between Drusilla’s room and the hall. Her violet eyes had taken up a wistful quality as she stared off towards one of the decorative shelves lining the wall. She held her coffee in both hands and sipped at it distractedly. “He’s so dreamy,” she sighed, in a way that was almost a whine. “He does look good in bed,” she mused, nodding in agreement with Renton’s observation. Aphrodite continued to talk at a normal volume without care or courtesy for the call happening mere feet away from her. “He’s a great kisser, though,” she finished, very matter of fact before another delicate sip of coffee. Her gazed moved to observe Drusilla over the rim of the mug.
Green eyes tracked back and forth between Renton and Aphrodite, both of whom she assumed were perfectly capable of making themselves breakfast. She looked down at her phone again, flicking at the decorative charm that hung off of the case. Julianna seemed wholly unfazed by Ren’s play at offence. “He wants me to come in and help with the prep for the general’s meeting on Monday.” As she spoke the corners of her mouth pulled upwards into a grin. She was visibly unable to keep her pleased tone at bay. Her tail still swung happily back and forth near the floor. “And I’m going to go,” she explained, lifting a hand and pointing a finger at her friends before they could interrupt her with more protests of mixed enthusiasm. “Because I want to see him.” It was apparent that this morning’s sober Drusilla was much more forthcoming that last night’s drunk one.
Perhaps, she had just tired of pretending. Of fighting against what everyone already knew. That she had the most hopeless crush on her boss.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - saronym - 07-25-2017
Renton was mid sip when Aphrodite revealed that she had smooched his cowboy friend. He nearly sip the liquid out but swallowed it quickly with a few coughs after being disrupted in his drinking process. Wiping at his lips with the back of his hands, he then made due with clapping his hands around the mug he held.“Get it!” He cheered her on. He wiggled around like an excited dog wagging its tail. “Is there anything else coming of this?”
If Renton was excited by Aphrodite’s news, he was even more interested in Drusilla’s confession. I want to see him. Fascinating. His eyes rolled dramatically at the part about paperwork for the general's meeting. Code for absolute unnecessary busy work.
“Is that so?” One hand went to the hip that popped out and his eyebrows rose with a kind of warning to her. “You want to see him, hm? So you’re going to go over there and do some made up paperwork because he is pouting that you went out with us last night? And you’re just going to reward that behavior?”
As if Renton was one to speak when it came to a boy he liked he also tolerated less than savory behavior. But he sure sipped that coffee like he had the high ground. “And you promised me breakfast." He tsked. "He better kiss you on the mouth. Or I'm going to be mad."
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - megs - 07-27-2017
Aphrodite was content to let the conversation about her and Sanders sort of fall to the wayside as Drusilla made her announcement to the room. A bold and unwavering statement that she wanted to see her boss. In a way that was too personal for Aphrodite’s comfort. She knew, however, that could not control the other woman and if that is what she was going to do there was no stopping her.
“You’re wasting your breath,” Dite muttered to Renton. Likely having a better idea of how headstrong she could be. She turned and walked away from the doorframe. “Breakfast is a bust,” she complained, loudly from the hall as she walked to her own room. “Now I gotta get all dressed up for brunch.”
Drusilla was aware of Aphrodite’s annoyance with her as she departed. She knew it was something that would be addressed at another time. Dite had already made her opinions on Owen known. To everyone. “Yes, that’s exactly what I am going to do,” she replied, unwavering. Her tail swayed back and forth behind her legs as she stared back at Renton. Ears stood at attention, but her face was neutral. She knew Renton was only teasing her, and she was going to play his game. “I’m going to fill out mindless paperwork and file things and I am going to wear the tightest, most adorable leggings while I am doing it.”
“I will owe you breakfast,” she sighed, as she whirled around and crossed the room to her set of drawers. She pulled one open and began sorting around for the leggings she had previously mentioned. “Why don’t you join Aphrodite for brunch?” She seemed to ignore his comment about being kissed on the mouth.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - saronym - 08-03-2017
Renton huffed in frustration at Drusilla. He had genuinely been looking forward to having a nice breakfast with her. Arms crossed over his chest and he fixed her with his most withering stare like a disapproving mother.That challenging expression broke when she announced her outfit choice. He couldn’t help but chuckle. It burst out of him despite his wanting to hold it in. Renton sighed afterwards and raked his fingers through his bed mussed hair to set it right. “Well, he does love beautiful asses. That’s like his favorite thing.”
He let his arms slide free of his chest until they slapped against his thighs. “Okay, well, have fun, I guess.” He made sure he advertised his disappointment with her choice before he gathered up his own discarded clothes for the evening.
“I would love to join her for brunch.” He agreed while he dressed next to Drusilla. When he was finished, he brought her into a hug. “I had funnn last nightttt.” He gushed at her dropping all his sourness that their morning plans were ruined. “We’ll have to do it again really soon. Text me! Let me know how today goes.” He said before he left her room in search of his brunch partner.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - megs - 08-08-2017
Drusilla heard Renton huffing behind her back, but mostly paid no mind. She knew he would quickly get over feeling put out by her ditching him for breakfast, and besides she could tell he liked them idea of her flirting about with the Lieutenant Colonel. Aside from Sanders, Renton was the only other person who seemed to support her pursuing Owen. She knew Aphrodite certainly didn’t, and even though she knew she’d be getting sass from the other woman, Drusilla had already made up her mind. Chosen outfit in hand, she turned back to Renton and gave him her best sorry look. Green eyes looking up at him through dark lashes, bottom lip pushed forward slightly with her ears pinned back against her hair. It worked, and her tail swayed pleasantly as when he told her to have fun. “I don’t know if it will be fun,” she countered. “There’s still some work to do and he sounded very grumpy on the phone.”
She hugged him back tightly, all dressed up in a pair of bright leggings in a geometric pattern and a cozy zip-up hoodie. She emphatically agreed that she had fun, and that they should hang out again, and that she would definitely be texting him later. When he was gone, she clawed fingers through her own messy curls. She did her best to set them to rights, before checking her face in the mirror. Admittedly, she looked exhausted, but she had no one to blame but herself, and at least she wasn’t hung over. She slipped into comfortable flats and shoved some basics into a small purse, before slipping out through a shadow.
Moments later, she reappeared in the entry of Owen’s house. “Lieutenant Colonel?” she called, pleasantly, to announce her presence as she dropped the purse on the table near the door. She started to walk towards his office, before she’d heard a confirmation, assuming that would be the best place to find him.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - saronym - 08-09-2017
After hanging up with his assistant, Owen had taken to making himself and even the house somewhat more presentable for her. He put himself into a freshly showered state in which he retained his five o’clock shadow and pushed his hair back in that characteristic almost corporate slick he wore. It was still a Sunday, so he didn’t exactly dress up for her but he put on that navy blue sweater he knew she liked and that same pair of jeans he always seemed to find himself in. For some reason, Owen saw Drusilla’s arrival that morning as the arrival of a guest. He made a big pot of coffee that filled the house with the smell. While he nursed his first cup, he picked up anything that seemed out of order to him as a kind of ritual to prepare the house for a...friend’s arrival.
If work had been so entirely important it would stand to reason that Owen would have gotten straight to work when he entered his office. But work was just a pretext. An excuse to have her over. So naturally, he took up planning what to put on the bare walls of his office. He had plans for a space on the wall opposite his desk for the map of the Veridian Isles that had been given to him as a child. The map had arrived from the specialty frame shop. It had been preserved and framed now behind museum quality glass and was still packaged in bubble wrap where it leaned against the wall it was destined to hang on.
Owen mumbled his presence in the office to Drusilla around a brass triangle hanger between his lips. His hands were full of a measuring tape and pencil so that he could carefully plot the space on the wall for the frame at his feet. He marked the spot on the wall with the pencil and then tucked it behind his ear. The measuring tape snapped back into its roll.
“It’s the party girl.” He greeted with a smirk and a sassy half shimmy of his shoulders while he lined up the hanger with his dot. A hammer appeared from where he had hung it in his back pocket and he took a crack at a gentle bang of the nail. Of course, he missed and struck his own thumb. His fingers seemed almost too big for the task of handling the delicate hanger. “Ow shit.” He said noncommittally. It hadn’t hurt enough to get excited over.
“Did you get drunk last night, Miss Drusilla Haven?” The question was posed as if he were a proud father questioning a son about his exploits on the football field, or something. Genuinely amused and not at all angry or disappointed.