The Perfect Weapon: Chapter 2017: Part 1 2nd post
NOTE: Part 1 of this chapter is uploaded in three posts. This is the 2nd of 3.
Chapter 2017: Part 1 cont’d
“Where is she?” Dave asked impatiently of Sark as he picked up one spoon after another, then handed each one to Sark.
“Why am I holding your spoon?” Sark asked as they approached the cell area.
“Why are we by the cells?” Dave turned and glared at Sark.
“Why do you favor me so dubiously with these rhetorical questions and ridiculously-negative looks, both of which I ill deserve?” Sark sighed loudly.
“Why are you talking like a tortured but still virginal heroine from a Regency romance?”
Sark gave a quick smile. “I was trying it out.”
Dave nodded at Sark. “Still trying to find yourself?”
Sark shoved the spoons in his pockets. He needed his hands free. “Yes. And how do you know about Regency romances?”
Dave sighed as he bent over to pick up another spoon. “When I was in the hospital, I ran out of books one day and I’m always interested in what women want, so I thought I’d read a romance but - who cares?“ He tossed the spoon at Sark and looked at a familiar wooden door. “Last one. I...suppose this door is my fate?” Dave tapped on the door.
The door swung open. Judy stood before him. “Hello, Dave.”
“Uh...hi.” Dave swallowed. Judy was... She was wearing that robe and...did he see a purple strap? Uh-oh. He moved, trying to block Sark’s view.
Sark quipped in Dave’s ear, “The lady or the tiger? In this case, the tiger being the incredibly small, nay! Tiny cell in which she-“
“Juli...” Dave groaned.
“Come in.” Judy stepped back and pointed to the floor in front of her.
Dave frowned. She was there. In a robe. With probably not much on underneath that robe. But the room - it was a cell and it was very small--
“Just go!” Sark whispered impatiently, giving Dave a push between his shoulders blades.
Dave stumbled forward. “You two...” Dave goggled from Judy to Sark.
“Yes, Mumsie over there convinced me that this was in your best interests...Dad...” Sark drawled, before stepping back and slamming the door.
THUD
“Did that little...twerp just lock us in here?” Dave asked, staring at the door with wide eyes. Had Juli really just slammed the outside cross bar in place, trapping him in here?
“Oh, Dave. No one uses the word twerp any more,” Judy chuckled fondly. His out-of-date expressions made her feel as though they hadn’t lost so much time.
“Who cares? I like it...” Dave mumbled, stepping back until his back hit the door. Well, damn. That didn’t make the cell appear any larger.
“Do you know what I like, David Caro?” Judy asked, turning to face a small table she’d had put inside the cell.
“Torturing me?” Dave put his hand to his throat. He had thought it amusing, those plans of Irina’s for Jack. Now...he wasn’t so sure they were amusing. What was it with the women around here! Plans, plans, plans.
“Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous.” Judy scoffed, turning around to show Dave what she held in her hands. “I like whipped cream.”
“Whipped...cream?” Dave whispered. He looked from the bowl to Judy’s face. She was smiling and... Oh no. She had picked up a spoon and was dipping it into the soft white peaks in the stainless steel bowl.
“Whipped cream. On a spoon.” Raising the spoon to her mouth, Judy slowly licked the inside curve of the spoon, then rolled it around and licked the outside, before sliding the spoon into her mouth. Tilting her head to watch Dave, she sucked on it and then pulled it out of her mouth.
“Oh. My. God.” Dave licked his dry lips.
“Do you like whipped cream, Dave?” Judy asked, her eyes dropping down his body. Well, he liked something all right. And she liked how he made no attempt to hide his feelings from her.
“I...” Dave coughed and wiped damp hands on his jean-clad thighs. His knee was starting to ache...maybe it wasn’t his knee. “I think we’ve already had this conversation.”
“Have we? I don’t remember.” Judy shrugged and dipped the spoon into the chilled bowl once again. Once again, she slowly licked and sucked the spoon. “Did we talk about the fact that using a spoon is only one way to enjoy whipped cream?”
“It’s a very good way...” Dave took a step forward. He could watch her lick that spoon for hours.
“Is it? Why don’t you show me?” Judy suggested, holding the spoon out toward Dave.
“Why don’t you come over here with that spoon?” Dave asked in what he knew would be a futile attempt. Judy was on a mission and she was not going to be easily dissuaded from it.
“No, thanks. I’m just fine over here.” Judy shrugged, then took another spoonful of whipped cream. “I can just stand right here and eat this entire bowl-“
“That would be fine,” Dave choked out, his eyes on her mouth as she sucked the spoon into her mouth. Great, he was going to end up with a fetish about spoons. He’d never hear the end of it from Jack.
“I suppose it would be...fine.” Judy put the spoon down. “But so unimaginative.”
“Unimaginative?” Dave gulped. She was going to try a new tactic. Jack had told him that Judy always had another strategy.
“I can think of other...implements...” Judy allowed her gaze to drag down Dave’s body toward his groin. “That can be licked clean of cream.”
Dave stared in astonishment at her, then began to smile as he saw a faint flush of red on her neck. “Did you just shock yourself?”
“Shut up.” Judy groaned silently and put her hand on her chest, feeling the heat against her palm. Damn this fair skin.
“I’ll shut up,” Dave said quickly. Judy was going out on a limb, trying something new for her, making herself vulnerable. If he made her self-conscious she might not try again and that would be a shame, a damn shame, because her femme fatale routine was pretty...fatal to his fears, Dave realized as he looked down and saw he’d taken three steps into the room. “Go on. See, you got me three steps into the room and I didn’t even notice. So, please, do go on. I want to know how else to eat whipped cream...”
“You didn’t shut up.”
“Oh, Jude, do I ever shut up? I talk.” Dave smiled. He had always been a talker and ever since he’d started to fully recover from his unfortunate incarceration, it seemed as though he couldn’t stop talking.
“I know.” Judy smiled back at him with genuine fondness. She loved that aspect of his personality - his easy conversation. He would talk about anything at any time. She didn’t have to pull everything out of him, one little bit at a time. She couldn’t remember ever having such flowing discussions with anyone in her life. She took two steps forward, reached out and touched his smile lines. He turned his head and kissed her fingertips. She sighed and then turned back to the bowl. “I like that. Almost as much as I like this whipped cream. And I would like to share it with you, but you need to come closer.”
“And if I don’t?”
Judy shrugged and her robe slid to the floor. She stood there, breaking every rule she’d created for herself in the recent past, having the confidence to do so from the look on his face. “If you don’t come closer, then I’ll be forced to - all by myself...”
“All by yourself what?”
“Use this whipped cream.”
“Use it!” Dave begged, then cleared his throat. “I mean, how would you use it?” Oh boy, he couldn’t wait to see this. She looked so...he didn’t even have the words, he wasn’t Jack or Irina or Sydney -never at a loss for words. She looked like a woman, a generous woman to stand there showing him her self, her body in those wonderful purple pieces of lacy lingerie that were really enough and then... Wait. A. Minute. What the hell was she doing with that spoon now?
Judy dragged the spoon along the top curve of her breast, leaving a trail of whipped cream in its wake. She looked up and seeing Dave's almost ferocious intensity, nearly dropped the spoon. She shakily placed it into the bowl, noting how Dave’s intense gaze flicked from the whipped cream to her body to her face. Dave looked... Had any man ever looked at her like that? Only Dave. The other night in that safe house. He’d looked as hungry then as now. That amount of need should be impossible or at least improbable. The other night had been the first time he’d been with a woman in more than a decade, but after that night, his initial hunger should have been assuaged. How amazing that it didn’t appear to...
She smiled as she looked down his jeans. Yes, it was...fun to play this game. With Dave, that was. She couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone else. She reached behind her and unsnapped her bra and let it fall to the floor, then picked up the spoon again. She dipped it in the cream again, then held the spoon out to him. “Wouldn’t you like to participate?”
“I...” Dave wiped a damp hand across his damp forehead. The room was small. Small. So were his jeans. Maybe that was why he couldn’t breathe and yet...he found a breath to catch when Judy smiled at his indecision and took the spoon to coat her nipple with a dollop of whipped cream. Good god. “I think my knees just went weak...” he moaned, forcing himself to stay upright and have the rest of his body match his penis, which was having no trouble being upright.
“Your bad knee?” Judy asked. She licked her own lips as she saw the sheen of perspiration on his neck and upper chest as he absently began to unbutton his shirt. Good. She was winning. What could she do next... She looked down and shrugged. She had gone this far. Keeping her eyes on his wide blue gaze, she flicked her finger across her nipple and then sucked her finger clean. Seeing his knees actually bend slightly, she did it again. Slowly withdrawing her finger from her mouth, she picked up the bowl and spoon.
“What bad knee?” Dave grunted, taking an unconscious step forward. He had to have what she was offering, whipped cream and all. He didn’t notice the size of the room. As long as he looked at Judy. He didn’t feel that the walls were closing in around him. As long as he looked at Judy. He didn’t see anything but what he wanted most. Judy and the soft heat in her eyes, meant for him.
Whoever it was that said that execution in the morning focused one’s thoughts was wrong. For a man, it was always the promise of being in a woman’s arms that focused one’s thoughts. Then again, perhaps the guy was right; after all it wasn’t as though he was actually thinking. He was feeling, feeling a need that originated south of his brain and north of his knees, which were moving.
Judy turned her back to set the bowl down on the table. If he didn’t come over to her soon, she would have to find Bossy Judy again. Hard hands clamped on her waist and she gasped. “Dave!”
“Yeah, it’s me. Or were you planning on torturing anyone else?” Dave asked, as he slid his hands up from behind to cup her breasts.
“No, you’re my only appointment today,” Judy said breathlessly as she watched Dave reach around her to dip his fingers in the bowl, then lift his hand to coat her nipple himself.
“How much of my hour have I already used?” Dave swirled his finger around her nipple, the contrast of the soft breast and hard nipple, the warm flesh and the cold cream filling his senses and making him unaware of anything else.
“I’ve...” Judy gasped as he pulled her around and bent his head to lick the now-melting whipped cream from her nipple. “I’ve cleared my schedule. Given that you’re such a...hard...case...” She reached down and cupped his hardness in her hands.
“Clearly, you’ve had to resort to extreme measures...” Dave agreed, trailing kisses back up her chest to her neck.
Judy traced the size of him with a firm touch, watching him tilt his head back helplessly. Good. She had him just where she wanted him. “As you know, I’ll go to any lengths to help those in need.”
“I have heard that you believe in extensive background research-“ Dave held onto Judy’s arms, then began to stroke them. A woman’s arms, he still couldn’t get enough--
“True. But sometimes inspiration strikes.” Judy smiled and pushed Dave down on the cot in the cell.
"Strike me with anything you want..." Dave offered as he involuntarily lifted his hips toward her.
Judy looked down at Dave. He was a big man on that small cot. She hoped it would hold up. If not there where always the floor; given that Querencia was Irina's home, it was clean to a fault. She slid her hand down her hip and watched his eyes follow her actions. Good. Pulling him deeper into their connection and further away from his fears, she touched the soft purple lace between her legs. “You know, Dave. I’ve been thinking.”
“Then I’m in big trouble.” Dave grinned as Judy suddenly reached down and pulled off his clothes. He lay there, helping her, keeping his gaze focused on her face. He still didn’t quite trust himself to look his fill at her pale curves and the soft womanliness and not fall on her like a ravenous man. Then again, he wasn’t thinking about how freakin’ small this cell was and... he took a breath. “Judy...”
Judy looked into his eyes, hearing the slight frisson of anxiety in his voice. She leaned over him, so that he could concentrate on him. Slapping her hands on either side of his broad shoulders, she brushed her breasts against his chest. He moaned instantly. How gratifying. Equally satisfying was watching the tiny bit of fear in his eyes fray and dissolve further with each touch of her skin. Then he closed his eyes.
Was he trying to withdraw from the visual confirmation of the smallness of the cell? Not going to happen, David Caro! She settled her body on him and felt his skin heat instantly. Good. Now, his eyes had to open. “You told me the other night about how you used fantasies to help you survive emotionally and mentally in that cave.”
“Yes...” Dave shook his head and forced his eyes back open. “But what...” Oh. Geez, how stupid of him. This cell, that cave. A beautiful woman. Damn. She was good. Oooh, she was good, he knew as she bent her head and slid her mouth up his neck and then took his mouth in a kiss whose possessiveness surprised him. He groaned and slid his arms around her waist, holding her to him.
Judy whispered against Dave’s lips, "Maybe you fantasized that you were really chained because you were this woman’s sex slave?"
"I wish." Dave held his breath as Judy stood up and reached for the bowl of whipped cream.
"Consider your wish fulfilled." Judy straddled Dave's legs and dipped her fingers into the bowl. "You're going to do what I say, when I say, how I say to do it--"
"Yes." Dave groaned as the application of cold whipped cream did nothing to cool him off and...her mouth... Where were they? In a very short time, he neither knew nor cared.
Sark returned from visiting Arezou and listened at the door. Hearing nothing through the thick wood, he carefully lifted the cross bar from the support and set it down next to the door. Walking away to find some dinner and a chance to torment Vaughn over couscous, Sark looked back at the door with a small smile. If Dave remained inside, it was his own choice. Somehow he had a feeling that Judy wasn’t in imminent danger of Dave demanding a key and an exit strategy from that room.
“I’m sorry about the key,” Jack whispered into the skin of Irina’s belly as they lay together quietly as the sun set.
“The key for the chain?” Irina slid her fingers into Jack’s hair, tipping his head back to look in his face. “I have three points to make about that key. I didn’t have the key originally; it’s not necessary. I understand the difference between want and need now. And I know that I do possess the key that matters...” She slid to her knees to meet him face to face, then bent her head and kissed the skin over his heart.
Jack kissed her hair and circled her waist with his hands. “And the third point?”
Irina smiled and tapped Jack’s chest again. “It appears that you have a pattern of your own when you’re angry.”
“What do you mean?”
“You threw that key into the ocean from a cliff and you threw me into the pool from the outcropping.”
“Hmm. Well, you made a more satisfying splash.”
“I suppose you think you’re amusing....” Irina sniffed and turned her back on Jack. She waited and smiled behind the curtain of her hair when he immediately sat up and wrapped his body around hers. He bit her neck and she tipped her head to allow him easier access.
“No. What was really amusing was that screech you made as you hit the water.” Jack laughed as Irina growled and rolled around to pin him to the carpet. “I’m really looking forward to installing that pool at our new house.”
“I like this glider better than the old one,” Sydney confessed as she and Vaughn sat down on it. “My mother loved that stupid squeak of hers, but...I like this one better. Smoother, silent...” She sighed happily. Her mother liked the drama; she did not. Although watching Juli tease Vaughn by being attentive to her every need at dinner had been wildly amusing. Weiss had actually left the room twice to keep from laughing aloud. Life was good.
Vaughn smiled down at her contented face. “Didn’t your father used to read you a book on the glider?”
“Yes. Goodnight, Moon.” Sydney looked up at the stars. “‘I see the moon and the moon sees me.’”
“So it does...” Vaughn whispered. He reached up and traced the softly blurred line on Sydney’s face where the moonlight turned to shadow. Life was not as black and white as he’d always wanted to believe; there were more grey areas than he’d ever expected. “I know why the moon would want to see you. I know I...I want to see you. Always...”
“Vaughn?” Sydney asked, turning to face him with a soft smile. She snuggled closer to him. “Are you trying to be romantic?”
“I...uh...”
“Geez....Step up to the plate, man!” Weiss smacked his forehead. Sark bit his lip to keep from laughing aloud. “Shaddup, Sarkiepoo. They can’t know we’re listening!”
“I said not a word. I was quite, quite silent!” Sark bent forward to peer through the grill. “Shh. He’s unwrinkling his forehead, which means he’s come to a decision. Alert the news outlets.”
“Did Syd say Vaughn was trying to be romantic?” Marshall asked, as he bit his nails while listening to the scene over the com units. “He really should watch Star Wars again. As the master Yoda says, ‘There is no try. Only do.’”
“I screwed this up,” Vaughn groaned.
“What did you screw up?” Sydney asked, digging her foot into the glider and sending it swinging back and forth.
“I had this...fantastic idea in my head...”
“That’s where fantastic ideas usually originate,” Sydney teased. Then she laughed. “Then again, you’re a man, so probably this fantastic idea of yours originated slightly south of your head.”
“Very funny. Now, be quiet. Please?” Vaughn smiled, then bent forward and kissed her upturned, smiling mouth.
“Mmm. I’ll be quiet, if you talk.” Sydney tilted her head to look deeply into Vaughn’s eyes and felt her own widen. He looked...resolute. He had made a decision.
Vaughn nodded and tightened his arm around Sydney. ”Fair enough. Yesterday...I listened to Sloane and...he sickened me. His refusal to admit - even on pain of death - that he’d been wrong, to admit to the actual pain he’d caused...”
Vaughn shook his head. “And the truth is...I saw the truth, I heard the truth today. It’s been there, staring me in the face, but yesterday I knew it. Today, I knew it. Your mother is different. She made different choices, hard choices. And the truth is...Dave, Jack, Dr. Barnett - they all pointed out to me that she was doing her job, just as I do, you do, and sometimes that job gets messy. And it’s not personal, it’s...” Vaughn took a breath and ran out of words.
“Professional,” Sydney supplied. She put a hand on Vaughn’s thigh while she waited for him to continue. Then remembering her mother’s advice to push, she prompted him, “And what else?”
Vaughn nodded. “I’m ready to move on. I am. Personally. It’s not about your mother or your father or my parents. But it’s about us. It's personal.”
“So it is.” Sydney watched their feet set down in unison each time the glider moved forward. “We are a good team.”
“We are a fantastic team, Syd,” Vaughn corrected, turning her to face him. “Fantastic...You know...” He looked down, then back up. “I had this fantastic idea of an elaborate proposal. And now I’m screwing it up. I bet your father did this perfectly and-“
Sydney’s hand clenched on Vaughn’s thigh. Proposal? Why was he worrying about her father...Oh. Did he think her father was going to criticize him for his technique? Not likely, given what she knew. She hid a smile. “Actually, my mother said he was nervous and felt like he screwed it up. But she said she loved what he said and treasured the memory forever because he spoke from the heart.”
“She said that?” Vaughn nodded thoughtfully, her words giving him confirmation, unnecessary as it was to a man who’d finally made up his mind, that his choice was correct. “I guess...I wanted it perfect. You in a fancy dress - maybe that wedding sari of your mother’s? Everyone there...some place with lots of plants or flowers in that greenhouse your father wants on their new house? Someplace exotic, but familiar.”
“Well...That sort of describes Querencia, doesn’t it?” Sydney asked softly, gesturing around the courtyard, while straining to hear over the pounding of her heart, once again glad this glider was silent. “And we’re both here, so what else do we need?”
“Yeah, actually, you’re right. I don’t have...everything I wanted for you. I don’t have the ring yet. But...The right place is the right moment. And the right moment is now. Now, as we’re leaving the past behind and getting ready to move forward. Sydney... I love you. I love you more than, more than I could ever imagine loving anyone. I cannot truly imagine my life without you.”
“That’s your decision?” Sydney slapped a foot down, halting the movement of the glider.
Vaughn sighed in relief as the glider stopped, hoping the butterflies in his stomach would now settle. “Yes. Without a single doubt or hesitation. And I want to take this moment and build on it. Will you move forward with me? Will you marry me?”
Irina looked up at the stars. If Shakespeare was right and the fault lay not in the stars but in ourselves, then the credit did too. But perhaps some of the credit for the improbable alignment of their lives, lay elsewhere. She turned to rub her face against Jack’s shoulder, delighting in the feel of his muscles moving under her cheek as he tightened his grip around her. She bit his shoulder. “I think we were meant to be together, Jack. Could anyone be a better match for you than me?”
Jack began to laugh. Well, her self confidence had returned completely. “You... We were meant to be together? My mother was right - you are, deep inside, a well-hidden romantic.”
“Deep inside, I’m a woman who is warm...” Irina wiggled on top of him. “Wet...” She bit his lower lip and sighed happily as his mouth automatically opened for her. It was possible to train a man; she’d have to tell Susan she agreed with her. “And needy for her man.”
“Are you?” Jack’s fingers slid easily inside her, as his tongue slowly caressed her mouth as if they had all the time in the world. “So you are. Warm, wet, needy. Three irresistible forces. Is that your perfect weapon, honey?” 1, 2, 3...
Irina snapped to sudden attention. This game was starting to truly irritate her. “Perfect weapon? Perfect weapon! When are you going to tell me what the hell that is?”
Jack grinned as he ran his hands up from her waist to cup her breasts. He pinched her erect nipples. “On the occasion of our wedding.”
“Our wedding?” Irina slapped her hands onto Jack’s shoulders and jumped to her feet. “Are you really going to make me wait that long?” She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. He really deserved to pay for that smirk on his face. Luckily, she had weapons of her own. She had him now.
“Judy...wake up...” Dave whispered, stroking her leg from ankle to thigh.
Judy woke up slowly and stretched, feeling more tired than she should but then again... Her eyes popped open. Dave. She raised her head and looked around the tiny room. He was standing or leaning, rather, against the wall, staring at her. "Dave?" she asked her voice husky from a combination of sleepiness and concern. Was he okay?
"Judy." Dave slowly raised his eyes from the sight of her body and gestured around the cell. “The room seems big enough, now.”
“We didn’t need the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, did we?” Judy smiled in relief as she saw Dave’s calmness.
Dave grinned. “I’d like to do that sometime in a hall of mirrors, but... God. Judy, this-“ He gestured from her to the room and back to her again. “Was...brilliant. You...how you thought of that technique is..."
"I am an innovative therapist," Judy said in her prissiest voice, waiting for Dave to laugh.
Dave burst out laughing. Her cool exterior hid a woman hot enough to melt anything so insubstantial as whipped cream or...his heart. "Do you fool anyone with that voice?"
“Almost everyone,” Judy admitted. She looked down at the cot and picked at the sheet on it. “Thank you for playing along with my fantasy too.”
Dave shook his head at the unspoken fact that her ex-husband had not wanted to fulfill her fantasy. What kind of fool rejected a woman’s easy to fulfill desire to play with whipped cream? "Reddi-whip is what you would prefer, right? The kind in a can?"
"Yes, but-" Judy blushed.
"I’ll buy a case when we return home," Dave promised. He took two steps forward and lay down on the cot, his body automatically curling toward Judy’s on the small space and his arms holding her in a tight embrace. It was big enough for the two of them and that was enough space. How much more did he need? “Judy?” He sighed and took a long shuddering breath as he looked up at the ceiling. It didn’t seem as low as it had a few hours before.
“Yes?” Judy took a deep breath too and caressed the damp muscles of Dave’s chest, watching as they bunched when he pulled her on top of him again. She had pushed herself to previously-unknown limits and reaped great rewards.
“I think it’s about time I asked you something.” Dave kissed Judy’s shoulder, then nudged downward to lick the remaining sweetness from her skin. But...it wasn’t from the whipped cream. It was her. He licked and kissed her over and over, knowing he’d never satisfy his hunger. After all, they had years to make up for.
“Of course,” Judy answered automatically, watching Dave’s mouth on her skin. If she’d known how good he was at this, she would have gone out with him thirty years ago.“Ask whatever you want.” Maybe he had some other fantasy or--
“Would you like to go out on a first date with me sometime? Say dinner and a movie, then we’ll see how it goes? For a first date.”
“First...DATE?” Judy yelled, then clamped her hand over her mouth. Glaring at Dave’s far-too-amused face, Judy knew why Irina sometimes felt the need to slap her husband. “Oh, geez, you’re such a...jerk!”
TBC at Chapter 2017: Part 1: 3rd and final post