Chapter 16: Arms, neck, back, thighs II

"So then, why try and flirt with me then? Unless you think I'm just someone to throw myself at others." Her hands brushed up until they were both caressing his neck again, one thumb pressing on the bump of his Adam's apple as she looked him dead in the eyes calmly. Another move I haven't seen used in a couple years.

He didn't flinch, the glint in his eyes just grew stronger as his chest further rose up and down.

"No, I want us to work together, I want to show you I can be there for you." His voice shuddered. 

He let his hand slip behind them, Noemie yelped a little as she fell on top of him on the bed, her hands clung to his chest while both of Roman's hands moved to her hips. She was fully sitting on top of him now, her face just hovered above his, legs folded and with hands that kept her in place.

"This was rushed, I'll admit I was worried about losing you to him." 

She tilted her head down at him. "I've already shared a night with him, what makes you think you haven't lost me?" 

"You two were acting like an intimate couple as an excuse to spend the night here together, Gavin told me that too."

She looked dumbfounded and slightly annoyed, her hair slipping past her shoulder. Roman was wordlessly agreeing with her facial expression. 

"I know, he has a problem keeping secrets. But he helped me understand, I think he was giving me a chance, which was also annoying of him in hindsight." He raised a hand up to cup her face, brushing his fingers through the hair that fell on the side of her face as she stared down at him. 

His other hand traveled up her body, one hand brushing along the curves of her thighs to her hips without touching her back end somehow, the other had the fingertips slowly moving across the top surface side of her back, to sneaking to move between her left arm and the side of her breast that was pushed against it, considering her position against him. His right hand moved up her shoulder and to the back of her neck, hugging it. 

"Let's have our own night together, then you'll have an excuse to act close with me." The sincerity in his voice said. "You can whisper the steps of the plan in my ear, Gavin can hug you all you want, but I'll be of better use for you, I can promise you that."

Noemie still had no verbal response, just pushing herself up and away from his face, her blank expression staring into his eyes as her chest rose and fell more visibly. 

"Are you insinuating I should act like an immodest woman playing with the hearts of two men?" She muttered. 

Roman's hands that were still hugging her in two spots served as like a grounding for her. 

"Like a queen mind controlling her right-hand man and her personal guard. Lots of women in history have had to play puppeteer to survive, why can't you?"

"I don't want to use you or the others that way." She said as she faced him again. "I just want to leave this bloody past behind me." 

"And you will, but for now, you're too stressed to think." 

He carefully flipped them both over, his eyes traced her skin as she looked up at him, going down to unbutton her clothes. "If you're night with Gavin was to cope over the loss of someone close to you, allow yourself to fully relax with me tonight, I guarantee you I can do it better." 

"You sound too confident for that to be true." She breathed out, reaching up to caress his face. 

He put his hand over hers, guiding her palm to his lips. 

"I didn't learn multiple techniques in foreplay to simply boast about them. Massage was just one of them." 

-

Late at night, when she's not in her office. 

The lady in the trench coat searches for workers in all sorts of places and at any given time, like a stranger looking for stray cats and dogs in the city, except unlike a merciful savior, she's trying to look for the special ones. Online, in places where the poor souls go, or by first sending them a letter to meet her, after having followed and observed them in their own workspaces.

"Everyone is useful in some way; we just need to be creative sometimes." She would say as she tightly held the chin if the newest person.

This new person was going to be either a new meat collector, or become the meat, it all depends on how they answer. How do I know that they won't be any of the other roles in the restaurant?
Simple. The answer can be heard in the lady's curious chuckle as she kneels down and closer to the person's view.

"You're not very strong, otherwise you would've just attacked me, and you're not very smart either."

"Yeah, well I bet you're using that hat to cover all your grey hairs." The person in her clutches sneered, like a pitiful attempt to growl. 

The lady just laughed; her free hand being used to cover her mouth like one would with a fan, as she chuckled. 

"And no manners too, well, I guess you can't be a waiter."

She let go of their chin and let them fall to the ground, unable to get up as their hands were tied behind their back with some kind of silver string, from one of the many inner pockets in the lady's long coat. She turned her back on the former mugger, her face looking up at the moon in the sky, like she was ignoring the entire situation around here. Her smile mixed with a smirk. 

"No matter, I'll find a role for you." Her arms raised up as if they were being used to fully express her feeling of power. The wind that came soon after only furthered this idea. 

"I need more trusted people to help out with the casino party tomorrow, that'll make things more interesting for the people who have now decided to disobey me." She sneered through her red lips, glaring at the moon like she was telling it a story.

-

The curtains in their room weren't touched or shifted at all last night, making it difficult to tell whether it was dark or light out thanks to the thick fabric. Thankfully, the little box on the nightstand with little digital numbers on its smooth screen, started making one of those common annoying sounds that some humans force themselves to wake up to, alerting to them that the sun has risen and is at the time where most people would start waking up for either work or school. Six in the morning, what a self-harming schedule.

It caused the two that were sleeping soundly under the covers to collectively groan, shifting to either move away from it or to part from each other and begin stretching.

Clothes littered the floor and bed, pants fallen next to Noemie's shoes at the foot of the bed. Clothes for the upper body such as button-ups, a V-neck sweater, and the only bra with the softest fabric the woman could find when shopping, lying right near the edge or having already fallen off the bed from all the movement. 

The trash can from the desk across the room had been pulled over and filled with a few wads of crumbled up tissue paper from last night. Roman had grabbed them from the bathroom after they were finished, saying "It's not comfortable to sleep all sweaty like this, the sheets will stick to our skin." 

They ended up waking up facing each other, Roman had her fall asleep on his arm as he held her close, so when Noemie was getting up, she had to get herself untangled from his embrace. Thank goodness the red-haired man was also in the process of waking up and moving his body, especially with how sluggish she is in the mornings, and especially with all the energy they used last night. 

"I hope I made the right choice." Noemie mumbled to herself, laying and stretching on her back. 

She turned her face for a quick glimpse of Roman who was just now opening his eyes, bringing a hand up to rub his eyelids. The first thing he did was turn to look at her in return, propping his head up on his elbow.

"Sleep well?" He asked her. 

"Yes, and you?" 

"Well of course, felt nice to sleep in your company." He said as he looked at her tenderly, giving a tired grin. His voice had an oddly low rumble to it that made him sound more handsome than usual, though of course, that was an odd feature that a lot of masculine humans had.

Noemie was of course curious why he seemed so happy, based on the skeptical look she was giving, but it was certainly a clue that she would not regret letting him into her life. She returned a smile back before slowly getting up and going to the bathroom, he too got out of bed and went to collect his clothes from the top of the blanket to the floor right beside the bed. 

These two weren't the sloppy types to throw clothes everywhere like others when being passionate, based on their eyes from last night, it was ravishing enough to slowly unbutton and slip their clothes off as they kissed. A mess, nonetheless.

The woman came back out with a towel, just as the man was tucking his white button up shirt into his pants, and he already got his socks on too. The woman didn't even take as long as she usually did to scrub her body and scalp, still, her red claw marks were there.

She noticed that he had gathered and stacked her clothes for her as well, the under garments lay on top, it was like a different yet similar love language to Gavin's. It made her show a warm emotion in her softening eyes. 

"Thank you, do you want to shower next?" She asked him, walking over to the bed to see that he really did gather all of her clothes, even her shoes were neatly placed by the foot of the bed. 

"I'm not comfortable enough with this place to shower here." 

"And yet..." Her sentence faded. The woman looked at him, confused as her hands were over her chest, probably to make sure the towel didn't come undone. 

All she needed to do was look at him and he could already know what she was asking. 

"I now gave you an excuse to act close with me." He slipped on his V-neck sweater.  

He walked over until their faces were close, "More than anything," He whispered in her ear. "You can trust me more than Gavin, I will make you feel at ease, even in a foreign space like this." He said as he gently kissed the top of her head and rubbed her shoulder gently when walking around her. His eyes were closed in that moment, further evidence that he took comfort in her company. 

His shoes were on already, and his items were put back into his pockets. 

"Would you like for me to leave the room while you get changed? If so, I'll stay outside the door, wait to take you home or to work?"

The woman looked unsure about everything, her eyes going back to a daze as her arms stayed crossed over her chest, probably to keep the towel up.

"You are very nice, but don't let me keep you here. Go first, I'll be fine." She responded, looking at her camera left with her purse on.

He didn't say a word, just nodded his head to her before leaving out the door.

The woman had a moment to herself before she got dressed back into her clothes, camera sling hanging from her neck and purse on her shoulders. Her shoes were easy to put on while standing, there was a hint of a smile as she put them on midway, pausing and sitting down a bit to continue putting them on. 

Noemie is woman with a common looking European face, although if you put her in a dress, she'd look like a lady in waiting from the medieval royal court. Still, with how she holds herself, it'd be difficult to spot her in a crowd but it's easy to read her expressions, like now when she walked out the door to Roman leaning on the wall beside it. 

He chose to give her space but had still intended to walk with her, and he wasn't the only one with these intentions. When the two walked into the lobby and passed the person at the desk, Gavin and Everett were also waiting there. The tall man made quick and easy strides over to her, but of course Roman wouldn't let him get too close. 

"Good morning." Noemie said plainly, her face read a desperation that the two wouldn't bicker as they walked out, her hands clutched tighter on her camera that she held like a delicate egg. 

"Morning," Gavin smiled at her, and his eyes pointed at Roman from behind his glasses, a mischievous look in them. "Were you comfortable with each other last night?" 

"Yes, but he's not comfortable here, so let's all leave now, I have a project to get started on at work." She began walking ahead of the men. 

Everett quickly followed after her, Gavin looked Roman up and down with a grin and a resting bitch face, hands in his pocket. He could tell that Roman was glowing a bit. 

"She must like you, you're usually not likeable." He spoke. 

Roman clicked his tongue and brushed past him to follow the two out the door. Muttering, "You're usually not so open and positive either." 

Gavin followed last out the door, becoming a little quiet but still smiling. 

"I like when things are changing." 

Roman insisted that Noemie ride with him, and he would drop her off at her office building. Everett had to go in a farther direction and Gavin shook his head at riding with them when Noemie asked. 

Noemie flicked her eyes over to the entrance, the glass doors with thick black frames had a perfect view to see the person at the desk in the lobby inside, easy to notice for even a second. 

He gave her a quick hug before he left and whispered a "I'll plan with you over text." into her ear, brushing a lock of her hair behind it. 

They went their separate ways, Roman took his chance to plot with Noemie as he checked all the small and hidden compartments of the inside of his car. There was no way anyone could listen in on someone's conversation from a moving car. 

Noemie continued to look at the small screen of her camera, the back of her head that the lady took, the sling on her neck like a noose or leash. 

"When was that taken?" Roman asked her, sneaking glances at her camera as he drove. 

"Last night." 

The car jostled a bit, Roman tried to keep his composure. 

"Where?" 

"The kitchen, she never goes there, but I suppose I did almost break the rules, she's like a bloodhound who can find whoever's breaking her rules." The woman pressed a button and the photo on the screen disappeared, changing to a black screen. 

"No matter, the lady enjoys teasing others, she'll have to do more to get underneath my skin." 

"Explains why you seem to tolerate Gavin. It still feels weird to see him act like that." Roman responded. "All optimistic."

They stopped at a red light, one of the little traffic encounters of the morning.

"His behavior also surprised me in the morning, believe me. But no one acts fully like themselves in the restaurant."

"Except," Roman tilted his head, "Maybe you?" He kept one hand on the steering wheel while his other leaned on the little box between them, using it as an arm rest.

He looked at her with curiosity. What he asked was oddly true, same for the woman; no one acts like themselves in the kitchen, except for Noemie who doesn't change her behavior much, Elias can't even hide his, the others are unknown. It's best to hide as much as possible, lest they want the manager to read them more, use more against them, make the leash shorter.