Chapter Text
The elevator rumbled through the floors with the growl of an animal on a prowl to devour anything in its mouth, the sound of metal rubbing against itself sparking vibrations through the corridors. It landed with a soft ding, opening to reveal the lapping crimson fold of the carpet—a tongue splayed across the high-rise hallway, weeping to be stepped on.
There was a deep tension as she shifted forward slowly, her lips puckered like dried leather so close to ripping open. Christian didn't move; he allowed her to believe in a control that was fleeting. She pursed her lips and drifted closer, her hands raising slowly with a steady patience as she watched his eyes, her gaze shifting between his steady orbs. Her fingers reached out, an uncertain tremor in her fingertips as they dusted his skin with a feather-light concession. Her lips parted slightly, as if holding her breath, as she reached out again, her fingers swiping imperceptibly across the light tuft of black hair curling on his temple.
Her mouth opened to a shaky gasp. Christian was tempted to lean in, to reach a finger to her opening, but he waited, his gaze moving steadily from her mouth to her eyes. Her body trembled slightly as she pulled her mouth closed. He could see the tension where she was biting the inside of her lip; for a sudden moment, it didn't feel like control—it felt like something that needed assertion. Christian stepped forward, his large frame trimming the air between them.
"I don't do moments," he told her, a rumble in his chest that made his heart stutter for only a moment. The beat was not quite fluttering, but banging with a louder rhythm, like metal clanging instead of shifting smoothly through procedure.
"I've never been this close to a cat before," she whispered, biting an edge of her lip that caused her mouth to curve like a warping banister.
Christian watched the spiral of her lip, his eyes drooping into contemplation as he tried to figure out what the hell she was talking about.