The Quiet House [The OC; Ryan/Kirsten]
TITLE: The Quiet House
FANDOM: The OC
PAIRING: Ryan/Kirsten
SPOILERS: End of season 3
RATING: Hard R
SUMMARY:
*****
Ryan tipped his head back against the concrete, staring up at the stars as hot water churned and bubbled all around him. It was a surprisingly-clear night for Southern California. He always enjoyed star-gazing, since he was a kid, but the Southern California smog issues made that difficult for him.
The weekend was looking very promising so far. He would be enjoying a quiet house -- Sandy had gone to help The Nana move; she'd given up Florida senior citizen life for a place in Northern California. And Seth, of course, was in Rhode Island with Summer. So, the loudest ones in the house were gone, and Ryan and Kirsten were left by themselves.
Which was a blessing, and a curse. The blessing was that Seth wasn't hovering around him so constantly, always needing to talk about one thing or another, and Sandy wasn't around obsessing over work, tensing Kirsten up. The curse? That Ryan and Kirsten were, simply, alone together. They'd never really been left alone together for a full weekend since they'd met. Ryan figured that was because Sandy, being around them enough, had seen some very obvious sparks on more than one occasion. Apparently that hadn't been on his mind this time as he set off to Ferndale to help his mother get settled in.
For the most part, Ryan and Kirsten were doing fine so far. There had only been a few instances that had been frought with tension -- one had occurred earlier that evening. They made dinner together, an activity they found enjoyable even when Sandy and Seth were fluttering around them. Kirsten had been setting out the plates and napkins, and Ryan had been carrying a carafe of lemonade over to the table. Much like shortly after they'd met, Kirsten started walking without looking, and they had very nearly crashed into each other. The momentum from Ryan trying to stop himself sent lemonade splashing all over the front of his shirt.
"Oh God, Ryan, I'm so sorry!" Kirsten had exclaimed, rushing over to the sink for the paper towels to mop up what had gotten on the floor.
"It's alright," he'd chuckled, still trying to recover from the cold shock.
They mopped up the mess together and Kirsten tossed out the paper towels while Ryan, without thought, pulled the wet shirt over his head. He brought it over to the sink, laughing as he wrung it out... completely missing that Kirsten's eyes had been cemented to him the whole time. When he turned around, he stopped in his tracks at the look on Kirsten's face -- one that could only be described as a mixture of admiration and desire. He had ducked his head and cleared his throat, mumbling, "I'll um... go grab a new shirt." Dinner had been tense then, to say the least.
Ryan sighed, his head still tipped back against the concrete, and he shook his head at the stars. What could be done about his situation with Kirsten?
"Oh hey, I didn't know you were here."
He turned at the sound of that familiar, beloved alto, to see Kirsten closing the patio door. She was clad in a black bikini with an orange-and-blue striped beach towel folded over one arm, and a glass of what looked like wine in her hand. He smiled at her, while trying not to let his eyes wander her slender form too much. "Hey," he returned.
Her smile was both innocent and flirtatious as she walked up the steps, standing over him by the hot tub. "Didn't think I'd have to fight for the jacuzzi after midnight."
Ryan watched her step gracefully out of her sandals and set her towel down on the nearby lounge chair. Without thinking, he reached his hand up to help her into the rolling liquid. She smiled her thank-you at him and took his hand, carefully stepping into the hot tub.
"Just came out here to look at the stars," Ryan answered to her earlier comment.
"Ahh." Kirsten tipped her head back briefly as she slid against the side of the spa, across from Ryan. "Yeah, they're actually visible tonight."
"I love star-gazing," he said without thinking. He normally wasn't one for divulging those kinds of things. Kirsten brought it out of him without so much as batting an eyelash. Her mere presence disintegrated his carefully-constructed walls... turned them into dust as if they never even existed. He felt her smiling at him and he lifted the back of his head off the concrete, meeting her eyes.
"Me too," she echoed. She smirked ruefully, adding, "Not that I get to do it that often, living here."
Ryan chuckled. "Right." His attention went back to that glass of red wine, sitting on the concrete just behind her. He nodded toward it. "What's that?"
Kirsten smiled, already knowing what was on his mind. "Cranberry juice."
"Can I have a sip?"
She tilted her head at him admonishingly. "Ryan... there's no vodka in it. You don't have to do a taste test." Nonetheless, she handed the glass to him, and he took a sip.
Ryan grimaced immediately at the sourness hitting his taste buds. "Gross."
"See?" she chuckled.
"Yeah. But... how can you drink that stuff?"
Kirsten swatted at him half-heartedly. "It's good for you. Leave me alone."
"Alright," he chuckled back. He threw a glance upward, Orion hovering above them. To Kirsten, he asked, "Why didn't you think I'd be here tonight? Where else would I be?"
She gave a shrug of both shoulders and face. "I just figured you'd be out... doing whatever it is that Ryan Atwood does best." She smiled brightly.
Her smile killed him... in the very best of ways; sweet torture at its finest. "Yeah, and what's that?"
"I don't know. Fighting crime, rescuing lovely damsels in distress..."
He shook his head, unable to stop his gaze from turning adoring. "Nope, I don't do that anymore." He leaned his head back against the concrete again and sighed. "I learned the hard way that I can't save everyone."
"Yeah," Kirsten murmured.
Pushing past the tragedy that had befallen Marissa, the tragedy which still laid heavily on everyone's minds from time to time, Ryan asked Kirsten while staring up at the sky, "Was Orion the hunter, or that guy that played the harp thing to rescue his wife?"
Kirsten chuckled, mid-sip of her cranberry juice. "I think he was the hunter."
"Oh. Who was that other guy then?" He lifted his head to look at her, watching her slow-spreading smile.
"You're probably thinking of Orpheus."
"Oh yeah, Orpheus," he mused, smirking. "I knew it was one of those 'O' names."
Kirsten giggled. "You know Greek mythology?"
"Yeah, I took it as an elective a couple years ago and ended up really enjoying it. And the story of Orpheus is actually kind of tragic."
Kirsten raised her eyebrows, taking another drink of cranberry juice. "Isn't that kind of the staple of Greek mythology?"
Ryan laughed. "I guess, yeah." Staring up at Orion, he started to verbally recount what he remembered from that class. "Orpheus married a beautiful woman named Eurydice, and they lived happily until she was fatally bitten by snakes. Orpheus played his lyre and all the nymphs and gods wept. They told him to go to the Underworld to ask Hades to give her back."
Kirsten smiled. "Yeah, I think I remember that. But keep going anyway." She threw him a flirty little smile as she settled back further against the spa.
Ryan grinned and kept his gaze on her as he finished re-telling the story. "Orpheus played his lyre to charm Hades' three-headed dog Cerberus, and the little guy who drives the ferry boat... I forgot his name. But anyway... he finally gets to Hades and Persephone, and he plays his lyre and begs Hades to give him his wife back." He held her eyes. "He told him that she was the most important person to him, that he couldn't live without her, and Persephone was so moved she persuaded Hades to give Eurydice back to Orpheus."
Kirsten smiled slowly, holding his gaze.
"So Hades gave Orpheus his wife back on one condition. On the way out of the Underworld, he had to walk in front of her and he couldn't look back, otherwise he'd lose her forever. But when they were almost out, his anxiety got the better of him and he looked back to make sure she was still with him. And because he looked back, Eurydice turned to smoke and vanished." He finished with a flourish. "The end."
Kirsten chuckled at the way he chose to close the story, shaking her head at him. Then, she took another sip of her cranberry juice and sighed. "Now that's devotion."
"What is?" His eyes traced her face.
"A man going into the depths of hell for a woman. I can't even imagine that kind of love; which is why mythology's so great. It gives you the hope that love like that really exists somewhere... or did at one time."
Ryan shrugged. "I think it exists."
Kirsten's shock was evident in the way that her smile spread... almost a confused little smirk. "Well, well, well. Ryan Atwood, a hopeless romantic? I never would've guessed." She grinned at him over the rim of her glass, giggling as if she'd had a couple glasses of champagne.
Ryan raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, I know I don't seem the type. I try not to let on to it," he chuckled, "but... you seem to pull all that secret stuff out of me."
Kirsten mirrored the eyebrow quirk, smirking to herself a moment before she replied, "Good. Makes me feel special that I'm the only person that can do that."
"You are special," he told her, his eyes now caressing her face.
Kirsten jokingly rolled her eyes. "Now that just makes me sound... special special."
Ryan laughed. "Like you should be riding the short bus?"
Kirsten nodded and set her glass down. "And wearing a helmet."
"With your name across it in masking tape?"
They laughed together, both feeling extremely giddy in the other's presence. Then, coming down off the laughing high, Kirsten sighed, and finished off her cranberry juice. "So you think a love like that really exists. That it's really possible."
Ryan watched her a moment, watched the way she moved some stray blonde hair out of her face with her slender fingers, then nodded without hesitation. "Definitely."
"Would you ever go that far for someone? Into the depths of hell?"
He nodded solemnly, holding her gaze. "For one person, yes."
"Really." Her eyes searched his, asking the question.
He just nodded.
Kirsten drew in a breath, absorbing the comment, and an awkward silence began to creep over them. She broke it by exhaling a nervous chuckle. "Y'know what?"
"Hmm?"
She deposited her feet in his lap and grinned devilishly. "I think you should rub my feet."
Ryan laughed, lolling his head back on the concrete, balking at her though he did as she bade and started to massage her feet. "What am I, your pool boy?" he laughed toward the stars.
Kirsten giggled and reasoned, "Well, you do live in the pool house."
"This is true."
"I've been meaning to talk to you about that."
Ryan lifted his head from the concrete and looked at her again. She had both arms draped over the back of the spa, one arm bent as her fingers toyed with her lips. Ryan was momentarily entranced by the action. "Yeah?"
"We've got an extra bedroom upstairs, just down the hall from Seth. Ever think about... moving inside? I mean, we initially gave you the pool house to give you some privacy, since you were just getting to know us."
Ryan nodded, understanding where she was coming from though he didn't necessarily believe her. When he was first living here was when the sparks between him and Kirsten were most powerful. He figured the reason she put him in the pool house was not so that he could have privacy... but so a tight rein could be kept on temptation.
"Yeah, but..." He shook his head, thinking of the possibility of moving inside. He'd be just down the hall from Seth... it'd be a shorter journey for him to burst in and start talking about... everything. Not to mention, he wouldn't get to see Kirsten in the morning anymore, waving at him from the master bedroom's french doors, or getting ready for her day. "I like where I am." Ryan tilted his head and smiled, telling Kirsten, "I've got a beautiful view."
Was it his imagination, or... was Kirsten blushing? Maybe it was the heat, the steam coming off the hot tub, dusting her skin with pearls of sweat, turning her pink. She tucked some hair behind her ear and chuckled. Ryan wanted more than anything to just tug on those feet he was massaging -- pull her close and kiss her. And he had an inkling Kirsten wanted that, too. But she would have to be the aggressor. He'd never want to come across as trying to take advantage of her. She'd been taken advantage of enough in her life.
Ryan stiffened in his seat, straightened up, when he felt her toes wiggling against his side. His skin jumped and he laughed, grabbing her feet again. "Hey, cut it out."
"Don't tell me you're ticklish, too," Kirsten laughed back, surprise lighting her eyes. "You're just a neverending mystery, aren't you?"
"Guess so," he chuckled, and started tickling her feet.
When Kirsten squealed and giggled, trying to kick at him to get him to stop, Ryan tugged her toward him. She bent her knees, ready to kick him; and Ryan, without conscious thought, grabbed her by the backs of her thighs and pulled her against him. Her hands pressed into the side of the spa on either side of his head, and that was when everything stopped.
Everything went silent as their eyes caught. The water continued to churn around them; the lights in the hot tub cast a glow all around them; crickets chirped in the grass. Ryan almost could've sworn he heard Kirsten's heart slamming in her chest. His hands were still on her thighs. Gently, carefully, he rubbed his thumbs against them and heard her sharp intake of breath. Her eyes drifted to his lips and she floated a little closer.
All Ryan heard then was the steady bubbling of the water as Kirsten leaned in and dusted her lips across his in a tentative kiss. She pulled back just seconds later, just far enough to look into his eyes. The sides of their noses still touched, and their lips were a hair's breadth from touching.
And then it hit him -- she was trying to gauge his reaction, whether or not he'd accept a kiss. She was unsure. And Ryan didn't want her to be unsure. So he gripped her thighs, a little harder than intended, and pulled her down against him as their lips crashed together.
Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was the steam coming off the water... maybe it was pure unadulterated chemistry, Ryan wasn't sure. Whatever it was, spun things out of control quite fast.
Kirsten's fingers dove into his hair before her arms wrapped tight around his neck. His hands wandered up her thighs, to her lower back, and then lower, gripping her and holding her tight against the hardness that was now growing increasingly-painful. Their lips bruised each other; there was a clash of tongues and teeth as they moved against each other, as Kirsten reached to push his swim trunks down underwater.
Ryan lifted his hips to assist her and untied her swimsuit bottoms, pulling them off and flinging them against the concrete with a wet smack. Their eyes met again before they crashed together in another kiss.
There were no words between them -- there was no need. Kirsten's fingernails raked over his chest, down his abdomen and Ryan bucked against her, pulling her as close as he could. Ryan wanted to stop, to make sure she knew what she meant to him before it happened... but then her hands were on his shoulders, his hands were gripping her hips and she was lowering herself onto him before he could even open his mouth.
A loud groan escaped both of them and Kirsten started to rock against him, her head tipping back and up toward the stars. Ryan pulled her back to him and covered her exposed throat with kisses as he guided her hips, helped her bring them both closer and closer to that edge.
He felt her tensing, felt her hands shaking against his shoulders, and he kissed her hungrily, drinking her in as her inner muscles started to pulse around him. Then she was flying, practically screaming her release. The sight of it was so primal and erotic that Ryan's mouth dropped open, vision going dark for a second as his mind screamed. Then he was following her, pulsing inside her... catching her as she slumped against him. And once again, everything went completely, blissfully silent.
The crickets still chirped, and the water still churned around their limp, sated bodies. He heard Kirsten panting, felt her breath hitting his neck as her head rested on his shoulder. She kissed his neck before pulling away to stare into his eyes. "That was..."
Ryan swallowed hard at the look in her eyes nodded, inwardly filling in a million adjectives to complete the sentence, none of them adequate enough to describe what just transpired between them. "Yeah."
Then Kirsten smiled -- innocent and wicked all at once -- and Ryan knew they were going to enjoy the hell out of the quiet house for the rest of the weekend.
FIN
{x-posted to rystenlove}
FANDOM: The OC
PAIRING: Ryan/Kirsten
SPOILERS: End of season 3
RATING: Hard R
SUMMARY:
*****
Ryan tipped his head back against the concrete, staring up at the stars as hot water churned and bubbled all around him. It was a surprisingly-clear night for Southern California. He always enjoyed star-gazing, since he was a kid, but the Southern California smog issues made that difficult for him.
The weekend was looking very promising so far. He would be enjoying a quiet house -- Sandy had gone to help The Nana move; she'd given up Florida senior citizen life for a place in Northern California. And Seth, of course, was in Rhode Island with Summer. So, the loudest ones in the house were gone, and Ryan and Kirsten were left by themselves.
Which was a blessing, and a curse. The blessing was that Seth wasn't hovering around him so constantly, always needing to talk about one thing or another, and Sandy wasn't around obsessing over work, tensing Kirsten up. The curse? That Ryan and Kirsten were, simply, alone together. They'd never really been left alone together for a full weekend since they'd met. Ryan figured that was because Sandy, being around them enough, had seen some very obvious sparks on more than one occasion. Apparently that hadn't been on his mind this time as he set off to Ferndale to help his mother get settled in.
For the most part, Ryan and Kirsten were doing fine so far. There had only been a few instances that had been frought with tension -- one had occurred earlier that evening. They made dinner together, an activity they found enjoyable even when Sandy and Seth were fluttering around them. Kirsten had been setting out the plates and napkins, and Ryan had been carrying a carafe of lemonade over to the table. Much like shortly after they'd met, Kirsten started walking without looking, and they had very nearly crashed into each other. The momentum from Ryan trying to stop himself sent lemonade splashing all over the front of his shirt.
"Oh God, Ryan, I'm so sorry!" Kirsten had exclaimed, rushing over to the sink for the paper towels to mop up what had gotten on the floor.
"It's alright," he'd chuckled, still trying to recover from the cold shock.
They mopped up the mess together and Kirsten tossed out the paper towels while Ryan, without thought, pulled the wet shirt over his head. He brought it over to the sink, laughing as he wrung it out... completely missing that Kirsten's eyes had been cemented to him the whole time. When he turned around, he stopped in his tracks at the look on Kirsten's face -- one that could only be described as a mixture of admiration and desire. He had ducked his head and cleared his throat, mumbling, "I'll um... go grab a new shirt." Dinner had been tense then, to say the least.
Ryan sighed, his head still tipped back against the concrete, and he shook his head at the stars. What could be done about his situation with Kirsten?
"Oh hey, I didn't know you were here."
He turned at the sound of that familiar, beloved alto, to see Kirsten closing the patio door. She was clad in a black bikini with an orange-and-blue striped beach towel folded over one arm, and a glass of what looked like wine in her hand. He smiled at her, while trying not to let his eyes wander her slender form too much. "Hey," he returned.
Her smile was both innocent and flirtatious as she walked up the steps, standing over him by the hot tub. "Didn't think I'd have to fight for the jacuzzi after midnight."
Ryan watched her step gracefully out of her sandals and set her towel down on the nearby lounge chair. Without thinking, he reached his hand up to help her into the rolling liquid. She smiled her thank-you at him and took his hand, carefully stepping into the hot tub.
"Just came out here to look at the stars," Ryan answered to her earlier comment.
"Ahh." Kirsten tipped her head back briefly as she slid against the side of the spa, across from Ryan. "Yeah, they're actually visible tonight."
"I love star-gazing," he said without thinking. He normally wasn't one for divulging those kinds of things. Kirsten brought it out of him without so much as batting an eyelash. Her mere presence disintegrated his carefully-constructed walls... turned them into dust as if they never even existed. He felt her smiling at him and he lifted the back of his head off the concrete, meeting her eyes.
"Me too," she echoed. She smirked ruefully, adding, "Not that I get to do it that often, living here."
Ryan chuckled. "Right." His attention went back to that glass of red wine, sitting on the concrete just behind her. He nodded toward it. "What's that?"
Kirsten smiled, already knowing what was on his mind. "Cranberry juice."
"Can I have a sip?"
She tilted her head at him admonishingly. "Ryan... there's no vodka in it. You don't have to do a taste test." Nonetheless, she handed the glass to him, and he took a sip.
Ryan grimaced immediately at the sourness hitting his taste buds. "Gross."
"See?" she chuckled.
"Yeah. But... how can you drink that stuff?"
Kirsten swatted at him half-heartedly. "It's good for you. Leave me alone."
"Alright," he chuckled back. He threw a glance upward, Orion hovering above them. To Kirsten, he asked, "Why didn't you think I'd be here tonight? Where else would I be?"
She gave a shrug of both shoulders and face. "I just figured you'd be out... doing whatever it is that Ryan Atwood does best." She smiled brightly.
Her smile killed him... in the very best of ways; sweet torture at its finest. "Yeah, and what's that?"
"I don't know. Fighting crime, rescuing lovely damsels in distress..."
He shook his head, unable to stop his gaze from turning adoring. "Nope, I don't do that anymore." He leaned his head back against the concrete again and sighed. "I learned the hard way that I can't save everyone."
"Yeah," Kirsten murmured.
Pushing past the tragedy that had befallen Marissa, the tragedy which still laid heavily on everyone's minds from time to time, Ryan asked Kirsten while staring up at the sky, "Was Orion the hunter, or that guy that played the harp thing to rescue his wife?"
Kirsten chuckled, mid-sip of her cranberry juice. "I think he was the hunter."
"Oh. Who was that other guy then?" He lifted his head to look at her, watching her slow-spreading smile.
"You're probably thinking of Orpheus."
"Oh yeah, Orpheus," he mused, smirking. "I knew it was one of those 'O' names."
Kirsten giggled. "You know Greek mythology?"
"Yeah, I took it as an elective a couple years ago and ended up really enjoying it. And the story of Orpheus is actually kind of tragic."
Kirsten raised her eyebrows, taking another drink of cranberry juice. "Isn't that kind of the staple of Greek mythology?"
Ryan laughed. "I guess, yeah." Staring up at Orion, he started to verbally recount what he remembered from that class. "Orpheus married a beautiful woman named Eurydice, and they lived happily until she was fatally bitten by snakes. Orpheus played his lyre and all the nymphs and gods wept. They told him to go to the Underworld to ask Hades to give her back."
Kirsten smiled. "Yeah, I think I remember that. But keep going anyway." She threw him a flirty little smile as she settled back further against the spa.
Ryan grinned and kept his gaze on her as he finished re-telling the story. "Orpheus played his lyre to charm Hades' three-headed dog Cerberus, and the little guy who drives the ferry boat... I forgot his name. But anyway... he finally gets to Hades and Persephone, and he plays his lyre and begs Hades to give him his wife back." He held her eyes. "He told him that she was the most important person to him, that he couldn't live without her, and Persephone was so moved she persuaded Hades to give Eurydice back to Orpheus."
Kirsten smiled slowly, holding his gaze.
"So Hades gave Orpheus his wife back on one condition. On the way out of the Underworld, he had to walk in front of her and he couldn't look back, otherwise he'd lose her forever. But when they were almost out, his anxiety got the better of him and he looked back to make sure she was still with him. And because he looked back, Eurydice turned to smoke and vanished." He finished with a flourish. "The end."
Kirsten chuckled at the way he chose to close the story, shaking her head at him. Then, she took another sip of her cranberry juice and sighed. "Now that's devotion."
"What is?" His eyes traced her face.
"A man going into the depths of hell for a woman. I can't even imagine that kind of love; which is why mythology's so great. It gives you the hope that love like that really exists somewhere... or did at one time."
Ryan shrugged. "I think it exists."
Kirsten's shock was evident in the way that her smile spread... almost a confused little smirk. "Well, well, well. Ryan Atwood, a hopeless romantic? I never would've guessed." She grinned at him over the rim of her glass, giggling as if she'd had a couple glasses of champagne.
Ryan raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, I know I don't seem the type. I try not to let on to it," he chuckled, "but... you seem to pull all that secret stuff out of me."
Kirsten mirrored the eyebrow quirk, smirking to herself a moment before she replied, "Good. Makes me feel special that I'm the only person that can do that."
"You are special," he told her, his eyes now caressing her face.
Kirsten jokingly rolled her eyes. "Now that just makes me sound... special special."
Ryan laughed. "Like you should be riding the short bus?"
Kirsten nodded and set her glass down. "And wearing a helmet."
"With your name across it in masking tape?"
They laughed together, both feeling extremely giddy in the other's presence. Then, coming down off the laughing high, Kirsten sighed, and finished off her cranberry juice. "So you think a love like that really exists. That it's really possible."
Ryan watched her a moment, watched the way she moved some stray blonde hair out of her face with her slender fingers, then nodded without hesitation. "Definitely."
"Would you ever go that far for someone? Into the depths of hell?"
He nodded solemnly, holding her gaze. "For one person, yes."
"Really." Her eyes searched his, asking the question.
He just nodded.
Kirsten drew in a breath, absorbing the comment, and an awkward silence began to creep over them. She broke it by exhaling a nervous chuckle. "Y'know what?"
"Hmm?"
She deposited her feet in his lap and grinned devilishly. "I think you should rub my feet."
Ryan laughed, lolling his head back on the concrete, balking at her though he did as she bade and started to massage her feet. "What am I, your pool boy?" he laughed toward the stars.
Kirsten giggled and reasoned, "Well, you do live in the pool house."
"This is true."
"I've been meaning to talk to you about that."
Ryan lifted his head from the concrete and looked at her again. She had both arms draped over the back of the spa, one arm bent as her fingers toyed with her lips. Ryan was momentarily entranced by the action. "Yeah?"
"We've got an extra bedroom upstairs, just down the hall from Seth. Ever think about... moving inside? I mean, we initially gave you the pool house to give you some privacy, since you were just getting to know us."
Ryan nodded, understanding where she was coming from though he didn't necessarily believe her. When he was first living here was when the sparks between him and Kirsten were most powerful. He figured the reason she put him in the pool house was not so that he could have privacy... but so a tight rein could be kept on temptation.
"Yeah, but..." He shook his head, thinking of the possibility of moving inside. He'd be just down the hall from Seth... it'd be a shorter journey for him to burst in and start talking about... everything. Not to mention, he wouldn't get to see Kirsten in the morning anymore, waving at him from the master bedroom's french doors, or getting ready for her day. "I like where I am." Ryan tilted his head and smiled, telling Kirsten, "I've got a beautiful view."
Was it his imagination, or... was Kirsten blushing? Maybe it was the heat, the steam coming off the hot tub, dusting her skin with pearls of sweat, turning her pink. She tucked some hair behind her ear and chuckled. Ryan wanted more than anything to just tug on those feet he was massaging -- pull her close and kiss her. And he had an inkling Kirsten wanted that, too. But she would have to be the aggressor. He'd never want to come across as trying to take advantage of her. She'd been taken advantage of enough in her life.
Ryan stiffened in his seat, straightened up, when he felt her toes wiggling against his side. His skin jumped and he laughed, grabbing her feet again. "Hey, cut it out."
"Don't tell me you're ticklish, too," Kirsten laughed back, surprise lighting her eyes. "You're just a neverending mystery, aren't you?"
"Guess so," he chuckled, and started tickling her feet.
When Kirsten squealed and giggled, trying to kick at him to get him to stop, Ryan tugged her toward him. She bent her knees, ready to kick him; and Ryan, without conscious thought, grabbed her by the backs of her thighs and pulled her against him. Her hands pressed into the side of the spa on either side of his head, and that was when everything stopped.
Everything went silent as their eyes caught. The water continued to churn around them; the lights in the hot tub cast a glow all around them; crickets chirped in the grass. Ryan almost could've sworn he heard Kirsten's heart slamming in her chest. His hands were still on her thighs. Gently, carefully, he rubbed his thumbs against them and heard her sharp intake of breath. Her eyes drifted to his lips and she floated a little closer.
All Ryan heard then was the steady bubbling of the water as Kirsten leaned in and dusted her lips across his in a tentative kiss. She pulled back just seconds later, just far enough to look into his eyes. The sides of their noses still touched, and their lips were a hair's breadth from touching.
And then it hit him -- she was trying to gauge his reaction, whether or not he'd accept a kiss. She was unsure. And Ryan didn't want her to be unsure. So he gripped her thighs, a little harder than intended, and pulled her down against him as their lips crashed together.
Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was the steam coming off the water... maybe it was pure unadulterated chemistry, Ryan wasn't sure. Whatever it was, spun things out of control quite fast.
Kirsten's fingers dove into his hair before her arms wrapped tight around his neck. His hands wandered up her thighs, to her lower back, and then lower, gripping her and holding her tight against the hardness that was now growing increasingly-painful. Their lips bruised each other; there was a clash of tongues and teeth as they moved against each other, as Kirsten reached to push his swim trunks down underwater.
Ryan lifted his hips to assist her and untied her swimsuit bottoms, pulling them off and flinging them against the concrete with a wet smack. Their eyes met again before they crashed together in another kiss.
There were no words between them -- there was no need. Kirsten's fingernails raked over his chest, down his abdomen and Ryan bucked against her, pulling her as close as he could. Ryan wanted to stop, to make sure she knew what she meant to him before it happened... but then her hands were on his shoulders, his hands were gripping her hips and she was lowering herself onto him before he could even open his mouth.
A loud groan escaped both of them and Kirsten started to rock against him, her head tipping back and up toward the stars. Ryan pulled her back to him and covered her exposed throat with kisses as he guided her hips, helped her bring them both closer and closer to that edge.
He felt her tensing, felt her hands shaking against his shoulders, and he kissed her hungrily, drinking her in as her inner muscles started to pulse around him. Then she was flying, practically screaming her release. The sight of it was so primal and erotic that Ryan's mouth dropped open, vision going dark for a second as his mind screamed. Then he was following her, pulsing inside her... catching her as she slumped against him. And once again, everything went completely, blissfully silent.
The crickets still chirped, and the water still churned around their limp, sated bodies. He heard Kirsten panting, felt her breath hitting his neck as her head rested on his shoulder. She kissed his neck before pulling away to stare into his eyes. "That was..."
Ryan swallowed hard at the look in her eyes nodded, inwardly filling in a million adjectives to complete the sentence, none of them adequate enough to describe what just transpired between them. "Yeah."
Then Kirsten smiled -- innocent and wicked all at once -- and Ryan knew they were going to enjoy the hell out of the quiet house for the rest of the weekend.
FIN
{x-posted to rystenlove}