Drawing the covers over both of them, Neil felt something in him ease that he didn't even know was pulled taut, something across his back and down in his gut where thoughts of Charlie had settled to leave him jittery and tasting bitterness on the back of his tongue. Everything that felt wrong and out of alignment fit itself back into place again, letting him breathe clear for the first time in hours.
It was a deep, easy sigh that made him even more aware of Regina's head on his shoulder, her arm stretched out across his torso, toying with the damp ends of his hair. Not unlike that first night, he found himself surprised by how soothing it was--that warm weight, the whisper of her breath, the scrape of fabric or flesh as she shifted, pressing her lips against skin.
The arm that had gone around her shoulders drifted up to run fingers through her hair, stopping just before he caught them in the loosely bound curtain of jet. Making a face, he let his fingers drift along the loose plait until he could tug it loose, comb fingers through it until a few barely there twisted strands broke loose and it was dark satin to touch.
And as good as he felt then, warm and serene and even a little drowsy, at long last, Neil felt a kind of bloodlust in holding her--a ferocious need to keep this for himself, to kill anyone that would laid eyes on Regina this way, or try to take this moment from him.
With a smile, Neil let the violence roll through him with serenity, kept it safely inside as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
"Comfortable? I can warm it up in here if you need it."
There was something so incredibly sensual and soothing about the gentle tugging as his fingers worked her braid loose from its binding. Even more so when he released it and spread it over her shoulder and his chest, for him to pet, reminding her of stolen moments with Daniel, much like this, the two of them talking drowsily in the afternoon sunshine. But with Daniel, she'd been too young and too innocent for there to be more, for a single kiss to set fire to her blood and make her yearn and burn and need.
The love had been too young and innocent for sex, and Daniel too young and innocent to know how to temper passion to comforting affection. She'd been happy in Daniel's arms and imagined herself safe from her mother, felt the world irrelevant, but never at a distance the way it did now with Neil. The stroke of his hand through her hair and along her back enough to banish her nightmares and help her sink into sleep.
She lifted her head enough to kiss his mouth, softly lingering, while her palm swept low and strangely protective over his abdomen. Her heart fluttered in her chest as she murmured, "I don't know if I've ever been more comfortable. You always feel so good."
Combustible as the chemistry between them could be, that brush of her hand down his body brought nothing but a softer warmth with it as it found a place low on his stomach, dancing over muscle and the scattered constellation of scar tissue that made up the road map of his life. To feel her fingers brushing along the talon scars of a Loran palace guard while she kissed him, palm sealing against the jagged remnants left behind by the barbed blade of Tiberius of the Deep while she told him how good he felt...
"Nah. As mattresses go, I'm lumpy." he teased as her fingers found a place to rest on a swell of abdominal muscle. He kissed her once himself, then her forehead again, letting his fingers alternate between trailing through her hair and tracing the curve of her face, from the point of chin to the ridge of brow and back again.
"You make a damn good blanket, though." he sighed with a little smile, reaching down to cover her hand on his stomach with his free one. "Warm. S' nice to be warm without trying."
Inside and out. No white noise, no shadows, no plans to make or royals to analyze for the danger they posed to his king...just a beautiful woman that felt safe with him not because he could kill, but because he could hold her while she slept and love her, unchecked and unrestrained.
"I'm no princess to have my sleep disturbed by a pea," Regina murmured to counter his tease, and her voice sounded thick and syrupy with warmth and love and encroaching sleep. "Or a mountain of muscle."
Once again, she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder, self-soothing (for the pleasure of it, and no longer for need) and nestling closer. "You always seem warm to me, like there's dragon fire beneath your skin." Dragon fire and his own passion, passion for her she thought and smiled into the firm muscle beneath her cheek.
"But I don't mind being a blanket. For you, anyway."
"Mmmmm...that's because I am warm." he hummed, turning his head to press his nose to her hair as he shut his eyes--just for a minute, just because they felt so heavy and he felt so warm and good. "S' what it is--dragon fire, in my veins. Burns hotter 'n elemental fire. Eats it, actually. Consumes heat to burn...means I can warm up a bed 'n still freeze to death, but--not now."
He was interrupted by a yawn, his wandering fingers starting to slow over her hair and her face.
"Won't let you freeze to death." Her words didn't slur, because even in such moments they rarely did. But her thoughts had become liquid, slipping through the iron grip of her control and her thoughts were softer, warmer, truer than the words she ordinarily used to give them voice, and as she dropped off into sleep, three more words slipped out.
Re: 9/7 - near midnight - [ Text ] -> [audio] -> [video]-->[action]
Date: 2018-09-13 02:55 am (UTC)It was a deep, easy sigh that made him even more aware of Regina's head on his shoulder, her arm stretched out across his torso, toying with the damp ends of his hair. Not unlike that first night, he found himself surprised by how soothing it was--that warm weight, the whisper of her breath, the scrape of fabric or flesh as she shifted, pressing her lips against skin.
The arm that had gone around her shoulders drifted up to run fingers through her hair, stopping just before he caught them in the loosely bound curtain of jet. Making a face, he let his fingers drift along the loose plait until he could tug it loose, comb fingers through it until a few barely there twisted strands broke loose and it was dark satin to touch.
And as good as he felt then, warm and serene and even a little drowsy, at long last, Neil felt a kind of bloodlust in holding her--a ferocious need to keep this for himself, to kill anyone that would laid eyes on Regina this way, or try to take this moment from him.
With a smile, Neil let the violence roll through him with serenity, kept it safely inside as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
"Comfortable? I can warm it up in here if you need it."
Re: 9/7 - near midnight - [ Text ] -> [audio] -> [video]-->[action]
Date: 2018-09-14 03:21 am (UTC)The love had been too young and innocent for sex, and Daniel too young and innocent to know how to temper passion to comforting affection. She'd been happy in Daniel's arms and imagined herself safe from her mother, felt the world irrelevant, but never at a distance the way it did now with Neil. The stroke of his hand through her hair and along her back enough to banish her nightmares and help her sink into sleep.
She lifted her head enough to kiss his mouth, softly lingering, while her palm swept low and strangely protective over his abdomen. Her heart fluttered in her chest as she murmured, "I don't know if I've ever been more comfortable. You always feel so good."
Re: 9/7 - near midnight - [ Text ] -> [audio] -> [video]-->[action]
Date: 2018-09-14 04:21 am (UTC)"Nah. As mattresses go, I'm lumpy." he teased as her fingers found a place to rest on a swell of abdominal muscle. He kissed her once himself, then her forehead again, letting his fingers alternate between trailing through her hair and tracing the curve of her face, from the point of chin to the ridge of brow and back again.
"You make a damn good blanket, though." he sighed with a little smile, reaching down to cover her hand on his stomach with his free one. "Warm. S' nice to be warm without trying."
Inside and out. No white noise, no shadows, no plans to make or royals to analyze for the danger they posed to his king...just a beautiful woman that felt safe with him not because he could kill, but because he could hold her while she slept and love her, unchecked and unrestrained.
Re: 9/7 - near midnight - [ Text ] -> [audio] -> [video]-->[action]
Date: 2018-09-14 05:40 am (UTC)Once again, she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder, self-soothing (for the pleasure of it, and no longer for need) and nestling closer. "You always seem warm to me, like there's dragon fire beneath your skin." Dragon fire and his own passion, passion for her she thought and smiled into the firm muscle beneath her cheek.
"But I don't mind being a blanket. For you, anyway."
Re: 9/7 - near midnight - [ Text ] -> [audio] -> [video]-->[action]
Date: 2018-09-14 05:47 am (UTC)He was interrupted by a yawn, his wandering fingers starting to slow over her hair and her face.
"Got you. S'nice." he repeated drowsily.
Re: 9/7 - near midnight - [ Text ] -> [audio] -> [video]-->[action]
Date: 2018-09-14 06:16 am (UTC)"I promise, love."