Strictly Business [Closed] - Printable Version
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RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - megs - 05-28-2019
The shrieking reminder of their obligations didn't shatter the moment, so much as it brought reality back to them in a slow wave. Owen stopped kissing her, even though she really didn't want him to. One hand still held her against him, and he hands dropped to his chest as he checked his watch. Julianna felt dizzy, like he'd taken all the air from her. Her lips tingled with the feeling of his mouth on hers. Finally, reluctantly, he pulled away and she remained in the living room. She watched him take off to catch the phone. Her ears stood at a stout attention and her tail swayed a pleasant rhythm behind her knees.
Julianna touched the tips of her fingers gently to her mouth, as if she could hold the feeling of him there.
She knew that that could absolutely not happen again. She dropped her hand and smoothed the wrinkles out of her velvet dress before she set about putting the living room back in order. The lesson was done for the day, because she couldn't trust herself being held by him again.
He was her boss and he had a girlfriend. She could hear him talking to Darcy as she walked to the kitchen. At least she assumed it was Darcy by the easy and familiar way Owen carried the phone conversation.
Boss with a girlfriend. She reminded herself of these unfortunate facts as she moved around the kitchen. She needed to make dinner and finish her paper work, and then she would leave, because that was her job. Don't let it happen again, she scolded herself, pulling what she needed out of the fridge.
But she couldn't stop thinking about the way it felt when he had kissed her.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - saronym - 06-02-2019
Owen felt like he was trying to maintain focus on a conversation while trying to keep his head above water in an choppy ocean. His attention was elsewhere. Mind swimming still from his close encounter with his assistant. Waves of the recent sensation of having in his arms kept washing over him.He heard himself telling Darcy repeatedly that he was “fine” and “okay” and insisting that there was “nothing going on.” He went through the motions of a brief conversation and quickly found his way out of it.
His hand seemed to move in slow motion as he put the phone back on the receiver. He didn't know what to expect in the other room. Owen straightened his uniform jacket and headed out to face whatever it would be. The awkward anticipation left a kind of tight knot in his stomach. He was unknowingly clenching his fists at his side as he tended to do when nervous or frustrated.
The living room was set back to its usual state and there was sounds of life coming now from the kitchen. “That was Darcy.” He said more to announce his presence to her than anything. He didn't need to explain who called him to his assistant. “Congratulating on the --” he waved his hand distractedly unable to keep his mind on the words he was trying to find. He noticed the seemingly conflicted expression on her face, as if she were negotiating with herself. “--that thing. Officer's Ball.”
He moved closer to where she hover busily at the counter as she prepared food. His hand risked the venture of touching her side gauging her interest in picking up where they had left off.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - megs - 06-06-2019
Drusilla hummed thoughtfully at his announcement. She stood at the counter slicing vegetables. The brand new chef's knife she was using was courtesy of her access to Owen's credit card and she julienned bell peppers with practiced precision. "I'm not surprised," she said pleasantly, latching on the the innocuous small talk. She scooped up a pile of peppers with the edge of the blade and dumped them into an awaiting bowl full of sliced mushrooms. She dipped her fingers into the salt cellar and sprinkled a healthy amount over the vegetables. She kept working to avoid looking at him. "It's a huge honor," she continued.She finally stopped moving when he touched her. She put the knife down, immediately wanting to fold herself back into his arms. Instead, she held back a sad sigh and moved out of his grasp. Her heels clicked in the silence between them. "I'll have dinner ready shortly," was all she said. Drusilla figured they both knew all the ways that continuing on would be inappropriate.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - saronym - 06-10-2019
His hand burned when she pulled away from his touch. Clenched into a fist, he forced it to his side. Owen pushed back his shoulders and lifted his chin to mirror her sudden professional manner. He cleared his throat and swallowed audibly.“Sure.” He blandly acknowledged her statement about his impending dinner as he moved to the fridge to get a bottle of beer for himself. Sobriety wasn't really working out for him at the moment.
There was a tense silence between them as he moved around her to get into a drawer for a bottle opener. Careful not to touch her, he sort of sucked himself in awkwardly to avoid brushing against her back as he moved behind her.
He felt that the kitchen was thoroughly her space and the way she had told him dinner would be ready felt to him like she wanted him gone. It signaled to him a message that there was nothing for him to see to in the kitchen.
“Actually, will you have --” He stopped short of inviting her to have dinner with him and decided to breach the subject “--I'll take dinner in my office. And I want to speak with you before you leave.”
He left her to finish her work duties and met his own in the space of his quiet office. Except he didn't do much work. He kicked off his shoes, stripped out of his buttoned uniform shirt, and untucked the white undershirt. He poked around his office, drinking beer, reliving the kiss, and dreading the moment she would appear with his dinner.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - megs - 06-11-2019
Julianna's ears fell to the crown of he her head and she watched him leave the kitchen over her shoulder. A sadness settled in her as she continued to prepare the meal. She couldn't know what he wanted to talk to her about. Couldn't fathom whether the request was good or bad. Lately, private chats in his office had been a mixed bag. She remembered the way they had touched each other when he questioned her about Darcias. She felt like she never knew one way or the other what was going on between them.
It was about forty-five minutes later that she let herself into his office. She'd taken as much time as she could to prepare a simple chicken dish with vegetables and a cream sauce. She held the plate in one hand, and silverware that she had wrapped neatly in a napkin in the other. She didn't close the door behind her. They were the only ones in the house, presently. Closing the door felt strangely formal. Even though professionalism was the air she was trying to put back between them.
"Did you want to talk after you've eaten?" She set the plate down in a clear space on his desk. She straightened and laced her fingers together in front of her. He'd dressed down and left the items strewn across the work area. She resisted the urge to tidy up. She had a persistent feeling that doing so now would just annoy him. "I can wait in if you'd prefer."
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - saronym - 06-30-2019
When she entered his office, Owen was staring blankly at a bookcase and sipping idly at his beer. He had practiced something to say to her in his mind but it fluttered away out of his grasp when she entered. She assumed a somewhat meek and formal posture as she awaited the tide of the conversation he would bring. “Thank you.” He said for the food she set down for him. “I’ll eat in a minute. Sit.” He gestured with the beer bottle to the chair set in front of his desk. She often perched there on the edge of the chair, taking notes and discussing work with him.
He took up position in front of her, leaning casually against his desk. It wasn’t going to be a casual conversation. But it was going to be personal. It didn’t feel right to put the desk between them.
He sighed before starting. “You seem upset.” He paused to chew the inside of his cheek. “I -” He rubbed his eyebrow with his index finger. “It wasn’t professional. I’m sorry I put you in that position. We were close - I stopped thinking -- I didn’t mean to upset you, Dru.”
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - megs - 07-02-2019
Drusilla followed his instruction, easily. She moved around the desk and settled herself delicately at the edge of the chair just like he expected her to. Something about her posture always made her look like she was anticipating the need to run away, but she never did. No matter what the conversation or the mood she always stuck it out with him, perched all pretty and skittish in his chair. Her eyes tracked him as he also moved to the same side of the desk as she. She folded her hands in her lap and looked up at him. A calm patience reflected in pools of green that flitted across his features as if looking for answers to a question she had yet to ask him. She watched as he rubbed at his brow. Such a quintessential Owen gesture that he utilized in times of nervousness. Julianna had come to find it endearing.
"I am not upset because you kissed me," she clarified, almost immediately. She could tell that he had gotten the wrong impression from her sudden indifference. "I have wanted you to kiss me for a very long time. I'd kiss you again, right now, if I could," she admitted. Ears that had fallen flat on her head swept forward to stand at attention. Her tail swayed idly where it fell over the edge of the chair. "But I can't. Not right now." She paused, her lips pressed together into a thin line before one corner of her mouth curled downwards in a slight frown. "You're seeing Sophia. It's not so much that I work for you, but you're in a relationship with someone else."
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - saronym - 07-09-2019
The suddenness of her full confession made him take pause. He was a statue of himself leaning casually against his desk with his ankles crossed in front of him. “I -- yes.” His head dropped towards his chest and he rubbed at his forehead again and sighed before looking up at her. “I --” he faltered and his sigh was more a frustrated huff. “I have no excuse.”
He took a swig of beer before putting the glass down and crossing his arms over his chest defensively. He looked away from her, off to the side, avoiding eye contact. “I've been wanting to bring things to a close with her. I'm not -- We don't feel the same way about each other. I've been ...preoccupied. With you.”
He turned his head back to Dru perched in the chair. His gaze bounced off the frown hanging on the corner of her mouth down to her tail swaying by her feet and finally to meet her gaze.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - megs - 07-11-2019
Drusilla observed how he went eerily still as she finished talking. She gazed up at him, the sway of her tail felt like the only movement in the room. With you.
Two words suspended in that still air between them. Drusilla convinced herself that she didn't know what he meant by them. He seemed to be having difficulty looking at her. She could tell because her gaze had not left him. When his eyes finally settled on her again, she wasn't comforted. Even though he had mentioned wanting to end things with Sophia. That was not a indication that he would.
It did not mean that he would be pursuing anything with her thereafter.
"I suppose we will just make sure to keep things professional between us," she offered. It sounded like a compromise to her. She didn't know what to say to him. Didn't want to sound like she was encouraging him to dump Sophia. didn't want to sound desperate. "Until we figure out exactly whatever this is between us."
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - saronym - 07-11-2019
Owen’s mouth turned downwards in a pursed lip frown. He tried to hide it by chewing the inside of his cheek. Ultimately, his displeasure and discomfort with his current circumstances were all over his face and in his posture. He shrugged his shoulder and nodded. “I can do professional.”
His eyes rolled upwards and then back to her.
“Sometimes. Mostly.”
He shifted around, planting the heels of his hands on the desk. The posture kind of pulled his shoulders upward in a shrugged posture. “So -- what do you want this to be? Because I feel like--” He looked down one arm at his hand for a moment, head turned away from her. The conversation was obviously difficult for him.
“I want to -- I want to give you everything that you want.”
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - megs - 07-11-2019
His response drew the opposite reaction out of her. He was frowning now, but his 'mostly' prompted a quiet laugh from her. Her mind flashed back to all the unprofessional moments between them. Cuddling and naps, and hugs that lasted too long. Almost kisses and actual ones. She continued to smile serenely at him, even though he seemed to be planting himself more solidly. As if the weight of talking to her in this manner was heavier, suddenly. "I want..." Drusilla hummed at his question. For once, she scoot back in the seat and leaned against the back of it. She folded her hands in her lap. She looked thoughtful, her ears rotated towards the back of her head. She looked comfortable, and for the first time like she wasn't on the verge of running away.
"A relationship," she answered finally. Her contemplative silence probably seemed to drag on forever. Her ears pushed to attention. She laughed again. "I would like to very much be unprofessional with you." There was something in green eyes that sparkled up at him now. An earnestness. An affection. "I think I have felt that way for a while now.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - saronym - 07-22-2019
A smile spread over his face as easily as honey melts into hot tea. It was unexpected for him, to feel so suddenly warmed. Was it hot? He was burning up. He pushed at his forearm as it to shove his sleeve up but found himself already in a t-shirt. He was blushing. Owen looked down at his lap and composed his face before settling her with a bemused neutral expression. He couldn’t hide the color on his cheeks and neck and ears.
“I don’t want to contradict myself here, but I can do unprofessional. But you -” He pushed off his desk and took a few steps, stopping where his legs met her knees. He bent over her, planting his hands on either arm of the chair where she sat and brought his face close to hers.
“-- you’re always so--” His mouth moved closer to hers. His eyes fell closed. He could feel her breath across his lips. He brushed the side of his nose against hers. A kind of nuzzle. “--strictly business.” His eyes opened again and the lopsided grin on his face was almost a dare, certainly an invitation, to let her have another taste.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - megs - 07-23-2019
Drusilla knew what this was. This was a challenge. Owen had made the first move during there dance, and she had rebuffed him afterwards. He wanted to move forward but only if she moved at the same pace as he. The bit of hesitance she felt disappeared as thoughts of Sophia were purged from her mind when he rubbed noses with her. It was a very lynx-like gesture. As if he was marking her. Drusilla didn't imagine he knew what he was doing, or how it was affecting her, but it was working regardless. He effectively had her pinned into the chair, there was something in the way he smelled. It wasn't just his usual cologne. Something intoxicating. She didn't know when her own eyes had fallen closed, but when she opened them again he was looking at her with that crooked grin that she found irresistible. She felt a hint of delight knowing she could kiss that smirk right off of him. "Screw professionalism," she muttered. Drusilla barely had to learn forward to press her mouth to his. To accept that challenge and finally kiss him again.
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - saronym - 07-26-2019
Her mouth did wipe the smirk off his face. For a few moments, he let her lead, responding what her mouth demanded. Then he leaned hard into the kiss pressing her back into the chair before forcefully scooping her up out of it. Suddenly, he straightened up, bringing her with him, expecting her to hold on to him. He swept her into his arms, pulling her legs up to wrap around his back as he whirled around with her. He walked the few steps back to his desk without taking his mouth from hers.
He set her back down on the desk, this time. Carelessly he swept a couple of files to the floor. The mild crash of paper was followed by the clattering of a stapler. In his rush, he knocked over an organizer where he stuck a few pens and pencils. The space was cleared so he set her down and bent over her again. There were no arms on a chair limiting him. And he didn’t have to bend over to such an extreme degree.
His hand smoothed up the back of her leg and thigh, pushing her dress higher until his hand was stopped by the desk. He abandoned her leg and threw his arm around her back and buried the other hand in her hair. He was consumed by the sensory experience of finally having her the way he wanted. Breaking the seal of their mouths, he pulled on her hair to draw her head back as he grazed her jaw and neck with kisses towards a spot on the front of her throat where he could feel the vibration of purring.
He sighed her name against that spot. The one he had thought many times but had yet to call her. "Julianna."
RE: Strictly Business [Closed] - megs - 07-27-2019
The next few moments happened so fast. As if kissing him had opened a floodgate. Desires and emotions that still went unspoken rushed forward in gestures that didn't need explanation. She wrapped her legs around his waist with little prompting. Arms locked around his neck as they continued kissing. Holding on to him as he lifted her easily out of the chair. As if she were weightless. There was a scattering of various office accoutrement, and before she knew it she was perched atop his desk. The hem of her dress riding dangerously high on her thighs. She didn't seem to notice or care. It was as if they didn't know where to start. His hands were on her legs and then her hair, while her own explored his chest over the fabric of his shirt before they cupped his face. They wanted it all. Lips parted in an appreciative moan as he tilted her head back and trailed his lips across her throat. Her ears pinned back towards the crown of her. Her tail pinwheeled against the small of her back.
Her given name was something she had not expected to hear. Her breath hitched in her throat, halting the rolling vibrato of her purr. But oh, the way he said it was enough to make her melt. To forget why she had even been running away from that name. One hand was splayed over the desk to steady herself, and the other was curled into his hair. It only took her a moment to recover. She lifted Owen's face to kiss his mouth again. Legs still wrapped around him drew his body impossibly closer to hers.
In that moment she wasn't Drusilla anymore. Wasn't just his assistant anymore. She wanted to be Julianna to him, wanted to bemore to him than she had been previously. "I want you," she whispered against his mouth, because the way he held her still felt like he wasn't sure. The way he kissed her still felt like he was testing the waters.
Julianna was done with tests. She wanted to drown in him.