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It’s painful. Irritation twisting something deep in her belly. Beth swears she can feel an itch developing behind her eyes and her fingers curl in to fists, trying to syphon the frustration in to the pinch of her nails. Making little crescent moons in the pads of her palms. It’s ok, she tells herself. She can struggle through. She can let it go. She wants to swallow down the words on her tongue and continue the evening, but also –
He just looks so stupid.
And if Beth doesn’t tell him how will he know?
“Oh my god, stop.” She blurts out, releasing the breath she was holding.
Rio is in the middle of stabbing a single chopstick in to the centre of a tuna roll that he had already dropped four times after failing to pick it up properly. The tapered end of the wooden stick hits his plate, but as he pulls it back it slides out, not getting any purchase in the sticky rice. He scowls at it before making more strange choices.
“Stop what?” He says, lazily turning the stick in his hand so he can bluntly cut through the sushi for some unhinged reason. “Ay, you tried any of this? It’s dope.” He uses his left hand to slide one of the little black lacquer plates over to her. A beautiful selection of salmon sashimi sprinkled with sesame seeds and ginger.
The table is overflowing with it. Ornate, colourful dishes with cuts of expensive fish and little delicious parcels. All specially prepared for them by the Head Chef, an incredibly sweet older man called Hikaru. A friend of Rio’s. Of course.
Beth had read about Hot Stone in the past. Stumbled upon some reviews of the 5 Star Restaurant back when she was helping Ruby find an anniversary spot for her and Stan. It sounded amazing, but in an expensive too-chic-for-you way and a cursory look at the website confirmed this with a 3 month waiting list for reservations. But since she hadn’t really been in to Sushi anyway, it never pained her that she couldn’t afford to go here.
But then Rio’s face had lit up when she said he could take her anywhere for dinner and he offered this place. Something glowing and sincere behind his pitch black eyes as he held her in his arms. Like she was doing something meaningful for him. It was just dinner, right?
They had been seated at a huge, round table with an amazing view of the open kitchen. A large booth seat with a high back that Beth could sink in to like a couch. And she felt so content. In her floaty black dress, sitting at Rio’s side as he rested his hand on her thigh, circling her kneecap with his thumb. Complimenting him in his sleek black-on-black ensemble. Watching the chef’s make hand-pulled Udon noodles, the elastic dough flying through the air in intricate rope patterns. The way she giggled at the spectacle. The way he watched her as she laughed. Warm and affectionate. And with that something meaningful that made her heart ache.
It was perfect.
Until he got hold of the chopsticks.
“Are you trying to be ridiculous or is this for real?” Beth laughs. Rio’s tuna roll lies in ruins on his plate and he’s returned to trying to use both of the chopsticks. Like he’s finally got the hang of it. But it’s hysterical.
“What are you talkin about, mama?” His thumb slides over the wood trying to create tension enough to grab a piece of his food, but the sticks slide and fall in his hand.
“How long have you been coming here and you can’t use chopsticks?” Beth was good at it. Because it’s not that hard? Is it?! Not as hard as he’s making it look anyway.
Rio looks up at her then with a deep sigh. Rocking his jaw and gripping the sticks in both hands like he’s suddenly aware she had been watching him struggle.
He levels her with a stare and shrugs. “I can use chopsticks just fine.” And it’s said with such genuine confidence that she can’t help the raucous laugh that comes out.
“Oh, ok then.” Beth rolls her eyes like good one cause he’s just being deliberately stubborn now. It’s chopsticks. Why does he have to treat everything like a winnable opportunity? He could just laugh with her about it but that would be too rational.
No.
He has to front.
“I can. Quit laughin’ at me.”
Beth reaches for her cup of sake and downs it. Biting down her grin as she looks at him. His eyes are challenging her but she can see in the pout of his lips that he’s trying not to smile too.
“Fine.” She chirps.
“Fine.” He levels straight back. And then they’re just staring at each other. Beth’s smile turns painfully serene as she drops her eye line down, jutting her eyebrows toward his plate of what is now mostly just bits of rice and a puddle of soy sauce. “Go on then.”
They’re leaning in to each other over their side of the table. Eyes locked in. Beth momentarily caught up in the cologne she can smell on his skin. The feathers on his throat beating over the jugular. Fanning it out. She hadn’t noticed it earlier but it’s not his usual. Sweeter and earthy. The one she had bought for him.
She realises she had been looking at his neck about the same time she realises he had been looking at hers. Well, maybe a bit lower. Down the plunge of her dress as she arches toward him. The way the chain of her necklace trembles over her chest. The necklace he bought for her.
She pulls back out of the thought, back in to her space. Keeping her eyes locked on his as she takes up her own chopsticks, deftly picking up a slice of the salmon sashimi, dipping it in some of the ponzu sauce and lifting it to her mouth smoothly. She chews, making a content humming sound with a smug grin and gestures toward him again, lifting her chin. And it’s ridiculous. How superior it makes her feel. To be better at this than him. She’s almost glad he’s so stubborn with it. It wouldn’t be as fun otherwise.
Rio sniffs and leans back, picking up his chopsticks and the anticipation of him fumbling again has her biting her lip. He carefully places a stick in the crook of his hand before taking the other and pinching it far too low down with his thumb and index finger. One stick is rigid. The other wobbles about. He grunts in spite of himself and she can see how his eyes raise just enough so he can check she’s not laughing.
He raises his hand over the target: a clump of rice and tuna about the size of a bottle cap. He lowers his wrist and begins poking it aimlessly. Unable to get any tension or grip. The two points of the stick refusing to engage in any useful way. He gets so frustrated that he crushes the sticks together too hard and they bounce wildly out of his hand, completely out of his grasp. A few bits of sticky rice ping off the plate and hit him in the chest and chin. His eyes close and he goes completely still. The rice that hits him provokes the same reaction that a pair of keys had. So long ago.
Beth is howling.
It’s as Rio is wiping his chin, dusting down any remnants and pointedly ignoring Beth’s laughter, that Hikaru approaches the table, setting down two more small plates of food. Beth tries to smother her hiccupping giggles, dabbing tears from the corners of her eyes as he does so.
“Here we have two more portions of your Kaiseki,” Hikaru nudges two plates of what look like works of art on to the table. “How has everything been so far?” he notices Beth’s giddiness and returns her smile, his kind face breaking in to a cheeky grin. “Having a good time I see?” And he beams at Rio. Something almost paternal in the look. The years he’s known him shining through.
Rio offers his hand out to him and Hikaru grabs it strongly. “Yeah man, it’s amazing. Appreciate it, really.”
Beth composes herself as best she can but it still comes out squeaky. “Yes, it’s delicious, thank you so much.”
Hikaru nods and when Rio releases his hand he smacks him on the shoulder playfully. “I interrupt a joke?”
Beth’s about to speak but Rio beats her to it. “Nah, man. It’s nothing. So what’s this - ”
Beth can’t help herself. “Has he always been useless with chopsticks?” Rio cricks his neck like he’s working out a knot and swings his chin back to look at her. Hikaru laughs.
“Oh yes, always. Terrible. I never had the heart to mention it though. Too proud this one.”
Beth’s eyes go huge and she looks at Rio like I told you so. He can tell he’s being ganged up on and bristles. But Beth’s giggles make him soften. The crinkles she loves appearing at the corners of his eyes. “Are you serious, man? After all we been through together you gonna do me like that?”
“I’m sorry,” He offers up his hands in apology before barreling on, “but you have to know it’s true. I’m not even sure why you bother trying anymore.”
“Right, right.” Rio drops his head and shakes it. Defeated.
Beth pours herself some more of the sake before checking Rio’s cup and refilling his as well. He absentmindedly reaches out and strokes her wrist as she pours. Dancing over the pulse point with his rough fingertips and giving her wrist a gentle squeeze. A silent thank you. It’s so comfortable and domestic it jolts her for a second before she brings her eyes back up to Hikaru. Watching them warmly.
“So,” she clears her throat, “how long have you two known each other?”
Rio squints like he’s doing the math but Hikaru jumps in, “Must be nearly twenty years now? You were just a kid when you first came in.”
Rio smiles at the memory, fiddling with the napkin on the table. “Shit, must be. That’s crazy. And you still put up with me, huh?”
“Just about.” Hikaru huffs.
Beth can’t help it. “What was he like back then?” Rio’s chin whips round to her. His eyes big and glassy. Is it strange to want to know? To picture a twenty year old Rio coming in here. Young and spindly and with so much ahead of him. Why wouldn’t she want to know? But the look in his eyes, it’s like he’s……..touched?
“Oh, not so different. A little restless. A little too skinny. A few less tattoos. Even worse with his chopsticks.”
Beth chokes on a laugh like how could that be possible and Rio’s hand finds her kneecap again. Stroking a small pattern there as he listens.
“But he was always a good kid. Always had time for everyone. Smart. Lived up to his name.” He winks at Rio then.
“What does that mean?” she asks.
“It was one of the first things I told you, right?” He looks down at Rio who pouts his lower lip as he nods, remembering. Hikaru turns back to Beth. “His name, we have a similar sound in Japanese. It means Wise Gentlemen.”
“Oh, I bet you loved that.” Beth says to him, because of course he would.
Rio grins wide, “What can I say? The man knows me.”
“It’s good to see him here with someone, though. That’s a first.”
“Wait, really?” It’s odd. That in twenty years he would come here alone and then bring her. Beth stares at the side of Rio’s face curiously but he’s moved on.
“Yeah, man look we don’t wanna let this go cold, so we’re gonna dig in but thank you so much, I’ll come see you after, cool?” and he shakes his hand again.
Hikaru nods knowingly before glancing at Beth, giving her one more glowing smile and leaving them to it.
Rio pulls the earthenware plate toward him. Fidgeting with the slices of grilled tuna and vegetables carved in to elaborate shapes. Pulling off the purple petals and small garnishes.
She sees him eye the chopsticks he had discarded on the table before he looks up at her.
“So,” he drawls, “you gonna laugh at me again or can I eat my food how I wanna?”
“That depends.” Beth muses.
“On what?”
“On how much rice you intend on throwing over yourself.”
He rolls his eyes but that grin is back. The warm one. “Come on, Elizabeth. I ain’t that bad.”
Beth considers him a moment before shuffling up the seat, right in to his side so their shoulders are touching. “I have a proposition.” She says as she cosies right in to him, squaring up her shoulders and lifting her chin. His gaze flickers down her body and he sucks his lower lip in to his mouth. Heat suddenly rolling off him. And when he lifts his eyes back to hers the intent behind them is downright filthy. “Is that right?” he purrs.
He had one brain cell.
“Not that kind of proposition.” Beth huffs, doing a good impression of not being affected by the change in his mood.
“Well, that’s no fun.” He smiles at her, eyes dancing over her face, but he relents. “What’s the proposition?”
“I’m gonna teach you.”
He lets himself bask in her offer for a moment before his head lolls to the side like she’s being silly, “Baby, come on now –”
“I can’t sit here and watch you massacre your food anymore so you don’t really have a choice.” She’s insistent. It really is a struggle to watch someone who’s so good at everything flail about with his dinner. But there’s also that tiny part of her that is finding this adorable. Endearing. A charming glitch in his cool persona. She’s seen him take apart and re-assemble a gun in seconds, handling all the miniature pieces with ease and control. She knows from experience that he’s good with his hands. Been on the receiving end of his nimble fingers countless times. Hands that just know what they’re doing.
But he can’t hold his chopsticks like a functioning human.
He puffs out a gust of air and scratches the scruff lining his jaw. His head wobbles a little as he takes her in, but she can tell he’s going to let her. She can also tell he’s going to be a baby about it.
“Aight.” He says, resigned as he goes to pick up the sticks from his plate, “Show me what you got, darlin.”
Beth preens a little as she prepares to impart her wisdom. Taking the sticks from his fingers to start fresh.
“Okay, so –” she holds each stick in a separate hand to emphasise her words. Rio wriggles, probably regretting this decision already. She points a stick toward him, “Take this one and pinch it in the middle with your thumb and index finger,” he takes the stick and lets her mold both her tiny hands around his, guiding him, “like you’re holding a pencil.”
“That’s what I was doing.” He sighs.
“Not properly. Clearly.”
She then moves to place the other stick in the hollow of his thumb, threading it through the hole he’s created, but he moves his ring finger trying to grab it somehow and it falls away. “Stop moving your hand!”
“I didn’t do anything!”
Beth places the chopstick back so it’s correctly positioned and tries to use her fingers to guide his into a correct position, but his hand is stiff and he won’t go where she wants. “Stop resisting.” She commands but he still won’t budge. “You just…….will you let me help you?!” she moans as she tries to move his middle finger but it won’t shift.
“You could just tell me what to do instead you know.”
“Yes, cause you’re so open to directions.” He clicks his tongue against his teeth, like, yeah. Fair enough. “What are you trying to get me to do?” he groans.
“Get your middle finger like this -” she moves it and this time he lets her, “And use it to brace against that stick, so it rests there.” It’s clumsy and it doesn’t look right to her. But his stupid hand won’t go any other way. She wonders if there are bigger chopsticks you can get.
She’s wrapping his hand under again, trying to get him to rest his middle finger in a better spot when she blurts out, exasperated, “Have your hands always been this big?” And she hadn’t meant it to sound so ridiculous. They just genuinely seem massive to her in this moment. Like he’s been given a joke pair of chopsticks and might have some actual grounds for being so inept with them.
Rio beams at her. “Haven’t had any complaints.” And pointedly eyes her cleavage again. Positioned directly beneath his eye line with the way she’s curved in and under his chin. A flood of sensations rippling through her body as she invisions how his hands fit so perfectly around her breasts. The roughness of his fingers against her soft skin. The irreverent way they envelop her entire jaw when he kisses her. And he can see it. She might as well have spoken the thoughts aloud for the way he’s able to read her.
“Stop.” She scolds.
“What? I didn’t do nothin’. Come on, mama. I wanna learn. Teach me.”
It’s said so raspy and low she doesn’t know whether to kiss him or kick him in the shin. She goes for a strong pinch of the hand she’s holding instead. And his tiny smirk says he’ll behave.
She returns to maneuvering his grip in to the shape she wants it. Focused and determined to set him up correctly so he will remember this in the future. Hoping he’s paying attention.
But in her periphery she can tell he’s not looking at their hands. He’s looking at her. She can feel the lazy appraisal on her face. The heavy affection of his gaze like vapour around her. The unique ability he has to make every room feel like a greenhouse. All the air around her turning thick and foggy under his dark eyes. She can see the gentle lift of his lips in the corner of her vision. The warmth radiating off him. Just enjoying watching her.
He looks at her like this sometimes and it buries her in emotion. It’s so simple. But it’s almost too much. Too much good. Too much of a sacred thing she never thought she’d feel or have. An unattainable sense of knowing she thought was a fallacy. The visceral sense of an invisible tether snapping into tension between them. She’d never been looked at like this. So entirely seen for everything she is and wanted. So wanted.
Beth chokes down the lump in her throat and lifts her eyes to his seriously. He doesn’t bother to change his expression or pretend he wasn’t staring. He just smiles at her.
“Are you watching? Cause I’m not going to show you this again.”
“Aw, yeah? You promise?”
She barrels on. “Now,” she moves his hand to hover over the plate, aiming for one of the smaller pieces of tuna that she thinks will be good for him to try for, “using the top stick to open and close, pick up the tuna.”
He goes for it with actual determination. Which means he gets more frustrated when he can’t get any purchase. He tries again with her hand still in contact with his, encouraging him through her light touch. But he fumbles again. And whatever he’s doing with his hand just looks so weird.
Beth is riled up now but a chuckle seeps in at how useless he is, “What are you doing with your thumb? Will you be normal?!”
“I got it, okay.” He charges on, going for the tuna a little too aggressively and spinning the tips of the chopsticks so they slide over it and he drops it again.
Beth clings to his hand a little tighter, “Too much wrist!” How was that a thing? How was he moving it like that? It was throwing his whole grip off.
He drops his hand to the table with a defeated thump and his jaw rocks, irritated with himself.
Beth considers the options on the table. “Okay, let’s try a different dish, maybe that’ll help.”
She starts shifting the plates around, trying to slide over the dish that was mostly small seaweed wrapped rice with different fillings. They weren’t really a traditional part of the fancy menu Rio had planned, but he had requested something like this be made because he knew she liked them.
It’s as she’s dragging the dish to the edge of the table and in reach, that she feels his hand on her thigh again. Slowly gliding up from the bone of her knee. Tickling lightly up her soft skin, teasing at the edge of her dress. He hovers there a moment as she turns her gaze to look him in the eye.
But he’s staring at his hand on her. Relishing the way he can feel her breath faltering. He inches his hand up further, taking the loose fabric with it, resting his hand right at the top of her leg. She can’t take her eyes off him. His mouth dropping open, the shallow breaths he releases. The way his bottom lip hangs heavy and full. Glistening slightly as he starts kneading the flesh of her thigh gently. An almost unnoticeable nudge to open her legs. Almost. He lifts his gaze to her then, slowly. Impish. Eyes black and hypnotic in their depths.
He stares her down as he moves his hand up further still, coming right up to the crease of her hip, grazing the line of her underwear. She reaches out finally and lays her hand on top of his, stopping him from going further. Because it doesn’t matter how good it feels. He can’t. Not here.
He strains against her hold on him slightly and smirks. She’s not pulling his hand away. If anything she’s holding it where it is now. Rolling her thumb across the veins on the back. She levels him with a look that she hopes is withering but he doesn’t back down.
“Rio.”
“Elizabeth.” And it’s like honey, his voice. Golden and thick. The struggle not to stick to it making her dizzy.
“We’re in public.” She mumbles.
“That’s never bothered you before.”
And, sure. That wasn’t not true. But she knows him. Knows how he likes to distract her like this when he’s not getting his way.
He urges against her hold on his hand just enough that he can pinch the edges of her underwear between the tips of his fingers. Rolling the cotton over the first knuckle so he can hook his finger and lift the fabric up slightly, before releasing it to snap against her suddenly. Beth gasps at the sensation and his eyes fall to her mouth. A wicked grin on his face. All teeth.
Beth blinks rapidly, trying to find the reins of the situation and take hold. She’d lost them back there somewhere. He always had her scrambling. It wasn’t fair. How he could melt and manoeuvre her. How she let him do it so often. Not this time. Beth clears her throat and squares up. Yanking his hand down to the middle of her thigh.
“Okay,” she sing-songs, “New deal. You pick up just one of these rice thingy’s properly and then,” she slides his hand back to his lap slowly, releasing it, keeping her eyes as flirtatious as possible.
“Then what?” Rio grunts, impatient. Curious. Watching her every move.
And she hopes it comes out seductive when she answers, “Then you can do whatever you want with your hands.”
Rio swallows before arching his eyebrow, “Anything?”
“Anything.”
“That’s cold, mama.”
She leans in to gently bite at his neck, ghosting her lips over the shell of his ear as she whispers, “That’s incentive.” before pulling back to watch him.
He laughs darkly, picking up his chopsticks with a new zeal that has her tingly all over.
And it really wasn’t supposed to be some insurmountable thing. After all, she obviously wants him to touch her. Always. Wants him all over her. But watching him fumble repeatedly, he manages to make it seem like she’s deliberately tasked him with something he can’t do. And that’s annoying. Cause the more he struggles, furrowing his brow and letting out sharp curses under his breath in Spanish, the more she wants to kiss his stupid face.
She’s not guiding his hands anymore. She meant what she said. He should have been paying attention. And he was regretting it now.
Beth continues eating as she watches him, Hikaru making sporadic visits to the table to drop off the rest of their meal. Rio picks at the other plates with his free hand as they talk about the business and Kenny’s new girlfriend and how Rio took Marcus to play Tennis for the first time. How cute he was holding a racket that was basically the same size as him.
All the while snipping and stabbing and doing just the weirdest things with his chopsticks.
Beth can’t help but feel a little bad for him. “Maybe it’s your rings getting in the way.” She offers as he drops the sticks again.
Rio rolls his eyes like it’s a ploy to rid him of his jewellery. Playfully squinting at her like she’s being devious. They both know she doesn’t like the thick black ring he wears after that one time it got knotted in her hair and she had to cut herself free. “It’s not the rings, mami. But nice try.”
“Are you going to admit defeat?” she asks as they are finishing up. Rio unable to pick up a single thing without dropping or decimating it. A sad mess of nori pieces and sticky rice before him. Evidence of his failure.
He considers her. Raking his eyes down her body like he’s angry that she looks so good and he can’t do anything about it. Unsure how to wriggle out of the deal he slipped in to. “What do I get if I do?”
Beth scoffs. If she lets him out of one thing it’ll snowball and he’ll be a nightmare. More of a nightmare. “Nothing,” she teases, “Just the pleasure of my company.”
Rio rolls his shoulder, the muscles in his jaw flex as his heavy-lidded eyes take her in, his thick eyelashes casting a shadow down his face. “Darlin, it ain’t my fault you a bad teacher.”
And, really?
“Please.”
“What?” he says, popping the t at the end for emphasis.
“I tried. You’re a bad student.”
“Right, right. Well, at least we know that when I’ve taught you things they’ve stuck.”
“Yeah?” She laughs, cause oh my god, he was the worst.
“Yeah,” he places both his hands flat to his chest, “clearly I’m a better teacher than you.” He’s being playful. Intentionally childish. It’d be cute if there wasn’t that edge to his voice. That superior lilt that she would really like him to phase out. Unlikely.
Beth shakes her head. Refusing to be taken in. “Well, I look forward to your next class, Boss.” She glares. It’s dripping with sarcasm. A tight grin on her face.
“Oh, baby, I definitely got some lessons planned.” And the switch is instant. The intention of his words making goose bumps appear down her forearms. The directness of his look a window to his thoughts. His pupils so big his eyes look black as they bore in to her. His tongue running along the edge of his lip like he can already taste her. Dangling a hook.
She feels herself lean in an inch before she swallows and clears her throat. Refusing to be reeled in. No matter how tempting the bait.
“Well, too bad.” She teases.
Rio hums, “Yeah,” a positively obscene sound escaping his mouth. “For you.”
Beth swears she nearly whimpers but has enough self-control to smother whatever embarrassing sound was building in her, managing to shake her head and scoff like she’s unbothered. Like her toes aren’t curling in to press against the sole of her heels. Like she isn’t squeezing her thighs together under the table. Like she isn’t making more crescent moons in her clenched palms. Syphoning a very different kind of frustration throughout her entire body.
Rio hums again, a delicious rumbling sound at the back of his throat that makes her blood feel like it’s vibrating and she really wishes he’d stop that.
The sudden click of plates being cleared takes them both by surprise, jolting them out of their tunnel vision, turning to see a shy waiter loading their messy dishes and empty cups on to a tray.
Rio excuses himself to pay for the meal and say goodbye to Hikaru while Beth finishes her last bit of sake before the waiter clears it away.
He’s about to pick up the chopsticks when Beth places her hand over them, stopping him. “Can I take these? Somebody,” Beth nods towards Rio leaning against the counter of the kitchen, “needs some more practice with them.”
The teenager nods and laughs while Beth shoves the sticks in to her clutch. She would give him a second chance when they got back to hers. Because she wanted him to be able to eat his sushi without looking like an idiot. Not because her skin was buzzing with need for him. Something she wouldn’t let herself give in to until he held up his end of the bargain.
Rio’s walking toward her as she scoots along to the edge of the seat, swinging her legs round to stand up.
“You all good?” he says as he gets to her, holding her coat in the crook of his arm. Apparently stopping at the cloakroom for her on the way back to the table.
Beth hops off the seat to come to standing right in front of him, chest to chest.
“I’m great. Shall we?” Beth nods to leave as he eyes her warmly before taking a tiny step back so she can lead the way. “After you, darlin.” And he gestures her toward the front of the restaurant.
After you in Rio speak meant I’m gonna stare at your ass and Beth could feel his eyes following the pendulum swing of her hips. She might have added a little more weight to each step to annoy him. He couldn’t touch her. Not yet.
As they reach the large double doors leading outside, he holds up her coat for her to slip in to. Beth turns, letting him pull the sleeves up her arms and as the coat comes to sit on her comfortably he grips her shoulders, leans in, and kisses the back of her head quickly.
And -
That’s new.
Beth turns to catch his expression as she ties the belt of her coat in a loose bow, but his face is giving nothing away. It’s like he doesn’t even realise he did it.
She lets it go without comment. Like she didn’t mention the way he squeezed her wrist earlier. Mostly because she doesn’t want him to overthink these gestures and stop doing them. Because they weren’t little to her. They were everything. Achingly important sources of light in her day. Fleeting filigree moments of what love should be.
Not that she – she doesn’t –
Anyway.
As they head out the door Rio places his hand at the small of her back out of habit, guiding her towards his car. He pinches lightly, twisting her belt and then slides his hand a little lower than necessary.
Beth lightly grabs his hand and removes it. Fluttering her eyes at his confused face.
“No touching.” She teases.
“Mama, you weren’t serious with that?”
“Hey, I’m not the one who didn’t keep up their end of the deal. This is on you.”
Rio groans like a petulant teenager as he looks her over. Beth holds up her clutch for him to see, “I got chopsticks in here if you want to take another stab at it when we get back.”
Rio huffs as he opens the passenger side door for her to slide in, “Oh, good. Homework.” He deadpans.
He does it again on the drive home. Another habit of his. Sliding his hand over her knee without thinking about it. As natural to him now as letting it rest on the gear stick. Almost like her skin is a comfort to him. Like he’s home before he’s home.
Beth stays strong. She peels his heavy fingers off her leg and drops it like a stone back in to his lap. It surprises him. Like he hadn’t realised he’d broken the rules again, before remembering and shifting in his seat. Itching with the need to touch her.
Beth makes it worse. Crossing her legs slowly in a way that makes her dress ride up higher. Rio’s eyes tearing between the freckles on her thigh where the dress ends and the road.
He does it as she’s unlocking the front door. Him pressed in to her back. Dipping his head in to her neck, nuzzling her hair and bringing his hands up to grip at her waist as they stagger through in to the hallway.
Beth feels powerful, toying with him, arching her spine, grinding her hips back just enough for him to think he has her beat. The rough grunt he makes as she presses in to his pelvis sounding a lot like I win and his fingers grip her tighter. Beth goes dizzy for a moment before slipping out from his grip, breathless. The way he’s squeezing his eyes shut and pinching the bridge of his nose when she turns to him is priceless.
“Come on, ma, Jesus – ”
Beth dives in to her clutch, fishing out the chopsticks and shoving them in to his chest. “Deal’s a deal.” He takes them from her, resigned, and then she’s strutting toward the bedroom.
“Where you goin?”
She twirls back to face him, walking backwards. “To have a shower. I don’t have homework.” And the look on his face is so irritated she thinks he might snap the chopsticks in half.
Beth relishes the cold water washing over her. Soothing the prickly heat from her body. Tries to calm herself down. But through the curtain of water falling over her and its gentle white noise, her mind conjures up Rio. The earnest warmth in his eyes as he looked at her this evening. Something more. Some unspoken shift. Like he knew a secret she hadn’t caught on to yet. The smell of the cologne she bought for him mingling with his skin. The delicate necklace he bought her that she realises she never takes off. Would feel naked without. A strange sense of ownership and of being owned. Her scent on him like a brand. His necklace touching her heart. And a wave of feelings she didn’t even know she had built a dam in front of suddenly surge and break through.
She stands there. Stunned and overwhelmed as the cool water pours down her body.
It’s glorious.
It’s terrifying.
But she knows, now. She knows.
When Beth comes out of the shower she wraps a towel around herself, blue and fluffy and warm, tucking the corner in under her armpit so it’s secure, and wanders back out in to the hallway.
She can’t see him in the living room, but she can hear a faint noise coming from her right and as she turns to stand by the stairs, she finds him sitting at the kitchen island.
He’s got his shirt off now for some peculiar reason and okay. It’s not the worst tactic. Bit of a cheap shot, though. Very unnecessary. Not going to work on her. Nope.
Beth swallows and moves in closer.
Rio’s got a plate in front of him with a few green grapes rolling around on it. Chopsticks secure in his hand and a focused set to his face.
He speaks without turning to look at her. “Hey, Teach.”
“Grapes?” she asks. She feels like grapes might be a bit easier to pick up but whatever.
“Yeah, that a problem –” he turns to her then, swinging his chin in her direction and going slack-jawed as he takes in her appearance. The towel only just hitting the top of her legs.
She struts forward, using his brief awed silence to come in close, “No, I’ll allow it.” and scans him. The moonlight coming in through the window throwing the sharp lines of his body in to distracting clarity. “What happened to your shirt?” she asks, full of fake concern.
His full lips turn up lazily as he smiles. “Got somethin on it.” He shrugs, staring straight at her.
“Uh huh.” Beth nods with obvious suspicion. He’s not even trying to be convincing.
“Yup.”
She drops her eyes to the chopsticks, “So, you any better now or should I leave you to it?”
Rio’s eyebrows shoot up like he’s about to show her something really impressive and god, if it isn’t taking all her will power not to kiss him as he refocuses on the plate and his objective.
He reaches out but before he aims for a grape he tests the tension between the chopsticks. He’s holding them how she taught him to, so something went in at least.
Then he carefully pinches a grape between the two sticks, lifts it in to the air triumphantly, turns to her and holds it out toward her mouth. Beth leans in to bite the grape from the sticks and he looks her in the eye, almost gloating as she chews it.
Beth knows she’s beaming at him but she can’t help it. He’s so proud of himself.
“Well, I’m impressed,” she concedes, “That must have been some incentive, huh?”
Rio pushes off the seat and begins to stand slowly, “Maybe I’m just sweet on my teacher.” He purrs, coming to his full height, bare chest pressed in to hers, then bending his neck so he looms over her, filling her senses.
“So can I touch you now? Or I gotta learn a new motor skill every time I want you?”
Beth giggles, dropping her chin. And she can’t lie. It’s tempting. Holding herself hostage while he tries to appease her, forcing him to learn something tedious for the fun of it. The giddy sense of power that he’ll do anything she asks if it means he can touch her. But she knows that would be punishing herself too. Her skin already itching with the denial of the evening. Aching for him. She stopped caring about the stupid chopsticks as soon as she was in the shower anyway. Ready to break. But she’s not about to let him know that. Or he might catch on and turn the game around on her.
There’s something she wants to know first, though. Before she loses any coherent thought with him pressed in to her like this, his eyes molten and sparkling above her. His heartbeat bleeding in to her own.
“One thing.” She breathes out, and Rio looks at her a little weary but full of affection. That something meaningful as he waits for her to finish.
“What did he mean when he said you’d never been in there with anyone else before?” And she can tell he knows what she’s referring to. The comment Hikaru made that he’d tried to gloss over. She wanted it un-glossed. To understand the importance of it. “You’ve been going there half your life almost. I just…..I don’t get it.”
He considers her a moment. That crease in his brow that she wants to smooth over deepening as he wrestles with himself. As he picks his words. She can see the moment he releases it. Air rushing out of his mouth and shoulders dropping. She can see a dam being broken inside. Recognises the flood.
He’s slow as he answers her, voice low and raspy, “That place? It was the first one I went in to when I made real money, way back when. Ever since, whenever I make a good deal or shit’s just working out right, I go there and remember that kid just startin’ out. Everything he was gonna build. Everything he wanted.” He pauses and there’s a storm behind his eyes as he looks at her. “But I always went alone. It was always just mine.”
Beth struggles with the weight of his gaze, trying to spell something out to her in the shadow of his words.
“Why did you take me there?” she whispers.
Rio’s hand comes up to her cheek, cupping the side of her face and gently stroking his thumb over the blush he finds there. A small smile tugging his lips as he studies her. Almost unbearably tender.
“You know why.” Is all he offers. But she takes it. Because it’s true.
Beth places her own small hand over his at her cheek, gripping him closer, marvelling at how she fits in his palm. How safe she feels. She nods faintly against it, trying to keep her watery eyes from spilling over. He studies her intensely, and she can feel the unspoken secret being touched between them.
Beth shakes her head a little, a small nervous laugh escaping her as she tries to release some of the tension. A shy smile breaking across her face.
“You must really love that place, huh?” she stutters.
Rio grins, blinking his eyes slowly. He brings his other hand to her face so he’s pointedly cradling her jaw in both of them now, chewing his lower lip a moment. His voice a smoky whisper when he answers. “It has its moments.”
It hangs in the space between them for a second before he’s leaning down to kiss her. Angling her jaw up to meet his slow, deep movements. Something purposeful and tender in the swipe of his tongue. The distant moan he makes when she scratches lightly down the skin of his bare back making her feel feverish with want.
His black ring catches in her hair before he gently removes his hand and slides his grip down over her shoulders. She doesn’t mention it. Too lost in his embrace.
His hands descend lower, finding the ticklish spot on her damp thigh. He drops his face in to the hollow of her throat, mouthing hot kisses in to the skin there. His fingers disappearing under the towel.
Beth’s eyes roll back. Wordless encouragement shuddering from her lips. She doesn’t need to say anything. Just his name, like a prayer, desperately. Blissful agony under his touch. Suddenly mute and mewling. Every word melting in to formless vowels on her lips.
He doesn’t need any instruction now.
After all, his hands have never needed guidance when they’re on her body.