(Untitled)

[butterflyfactor]

Even with how long the walk back to the house is, I'm still tipsy when we get there. Not drunk- I can walk a straight line and recite the alphabet backward, but I would probably find it way more amusing than under normal circumstances. I'm at least glad I wore sneakers instead of real heels. It probably made things easier than I realize. But again

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[howmanylives]

Richards merely barked, and given that they'd established that neither of them actually spoke dog, Jamie was left only to assume that their house was still in one piece, and that there hadn't been some doggy pow wow while they were out. Slipping off his coat, he hooked it up on the bamboo coatrack that stood in the corner, then stepped out of his shoes, which he quickly picked up from the ground before the dog could get at them.

"He's too smart to tell us if he did."

[butterflyfactor]

"He's probably getting better at eightysixing evidence, too," Layla agreed, standing and starting for her room. She stopped in the doorway and absently braced one hand on the wall. She bent her arm behind her back and slipped her fingertips up between her shoulder blades. There were buttons down the length of it, nothing so easy as a zipper to be found.

[howmanylives]

Her back turned to him, Jamie took the opportunity to stare, much as he'd been doing all night when he thought no one was looking. She'd pretty much walked straight out of his fantasies in a dress like that, and he had to wonder if that was planned on her part.

Of course it was. This is Layla we're talking about. If she's not the most deliberate person I know, I'll eat my suit for breakfast.

"Need a hand?" he asked, tossing his shoes in the box he'd built after Richards had chewed through one too many pairs. He kicked the lid closed. It was a loaded question, of course, given what they'd been dancing around for most of the night, but he wasn't so clueless as to not recognize what she was doing as a sign, for lack of a better word. Going slow wasn't same as standing still, after all -- she'd as much herself.

[butterflyfactor]

"As it happens, I have two," she said craning her neck to look at him over her shoulder.

"But I wouldn't object to some help."

[howmanylives]

Shrugging out of his suit jacket, he draped it over the desk chair before he ambled over. Richards, mercifully, had slunk back over to the dog bed in the corner. It was past his bedtime.

"Well, I can't give you a dupe, but I can give you a sucker," Jamie said with a smirk, one hand resting at her waist as the other ghosted over her back, fingers just barely grazing the buttons before he started to undo them in earnest, albeit slowly. The whole scenario struck him as entirely surreal, but he wasn't about to complain. "How long did it take you to find this thing, anyway?"

[butterflyfactor]

"If I told you," she murmured, "it would completely undermine the image of effortless cool I've got going on right now."

She was flushed, had felt it creep up on her the moment his fingers were at her waist, warm through the silk. She pressed her lips together so she couldn't lick them absently or chew on the lower one. She did reach back to pull her hair to one side and out of the way, though, even if the buttons were low enough where the gesture was needless.

[howmanylives]

"That long, huh?" he surmised, resisting the temptation to press his mouth to her neck now that she'd gone and bared it to him. For the time being, though, what he was already doing was fast enough. "Well, your efforts weren't wasted, in case you were wondering. I couldn't take my eyes off of you all night."

[butterflyfactor]

One corner of her mouth pulled back a little and she fought an outright grin.

"Yay," she said. "I feel like I leveled up."

[howmanylives]

"And then some," he replied with a smirk she couldn't see, halfway through the buttons, now. "You did good."

[butterflyfactor]

She let go of her hair to fold her arms across the front of the dress so it stayed put.

"Thanks, boss."

[howmanylives]

"I'm not your boss anymore," he said, rolling his eyes as he finished with the last of the buttons. He lingered for a moment, memorizing the way her skin looked in the low light. Making no real move to put any distance between them, he waited for her to do the honors.

[butterflyfactor]

"True enough," she said, drawing away enough to turn around and look up at him.

"Thanks."

Technically, even if I drop the gown, he's seen me in- if not less- at least the same amount. A strapless bra and hipster panties are at least the equivalent of a bikini. But it feels different, a lot different. Maybe it's the dress. Or his suit. Or, sure, the whiskey, but all that's really doing is make me feel warm. In fact, I am spectacularly aware of my inhibitions and where I stand in relation to them. Possibly in relation to Jamie's as well.

[howmanylives]

"Not a problem," he said, letting his hands drop back down to his sides. He stood there, a little uncomfortable in his own skin, knowing, for once, what he wanted, though saddled with the additional knowledge that it wasn't for grabs. "I guess this is goodnight, then."

[butterflyfactor]

Layla watched him for a moment, because he did look really amazing in the suit, even if he was sans jacket at the moment. The tie in and of itself was a novelty. She lifted a hand to curl around the slip of silk, just below the knot, and tugged very gently.

"Not yet," she murmured.

[howmanylives]

"Layla," he started, but he couldn't decide how to finish that thought, so he trailed off into silence. Tentatively, he ducked his head as though to kiss her, then stopped just short of doing so, a breath caught in his throat.

[butterflyfactor]

She kissed him, stepping closer as she did, still holding his tie with one hand and her dress with the other. It was slow but not particularly tentative. She'd been waiting to do it properly for hours now, after all.