Isabella splashed some water on her face and tried to block out thoughts of Elias and the torture he endured.  She'd found Gavin willing and able to try to meet her half-way on the path to something more than he'd ever been able to express to anyone before... she HAD to give him her attentions tonight.  Sadly, thinking about the man she loved being tortured and laying (still half-dead) in a bed a few states away hadn't inspired her libido to reignite.  The whole damn night had been derailed by one horrible thing after another. 

She wasn't going to be deterred though.  She'd missed Gavin, desperately, and now they would be together in a way they hadn't ever been before.  All fun and games and crazy shit aside... she was going to walk out of this bathroom and let him take her into his arms and make sweet love to her.  It was going to be the sort of thing people wrote dime store romance novels about - NO, he was better than that.  Gavin had skills in the bedroom that made those foppish rapey goons seem positive neanderthal!  

One last look in the mirror, turn to the door and step into the room.  Lights low, drinks poured music playing and... he was sitting on the bed with the rope from the coffee table stretched between his hands. He glanced up at her with a raised eyebrow.

"So what were you going to do with this?"

Isabella seriously considered face palming and walking BACK into the bathroom to just drown herself in the toilet.  "That..." She said, "Was in I case I needed to make a point.  Point didn't need to be made so... it's probably just unnecessary hardware?"

Gavin shrugged. 

"Not with the right attitude. Want to flip a coin? See who gets tied to the bed?"

He smirked. 

"It's better than my plan for the rope."  she smirked.  "I'll warn you... I'm a criminal.  I'm bound to cheat." 

She walked slowly towards him, stopping just out of his reach.

"Got a coin?"

Gavin pulled the quarter out of his pocket and flipped it, catching it and placing it on the back of his hand- leaving it covered.

"Call it. Lady's choice."

"Heads."

Gavin moved his hand and smiled.

"I win again, Bella."

"HOW DO YOU ALWAYS WIN?! Best two out of three."

Gavin shrugged and flipped the coin again. This time, Bella won- and she was very pleased. The third time, however, went to Gavin. 

Bella sighed before she spoke.

"Well, looks like you still win."

Gavin winked.

"I always do."

Sliding backwards, he reclined on the bed and winked.

"To begin, I think I'll need some practice at being tied down. And then... why limit ourselves. When I can't take anymore, I don't see why you shouldn't have a turn to... relax."

She looked at the rope and after a moment held out her hand to take it.  "Seems a bit extreme now, all things considered... but I suppose it's one way to test growing trust?"  She arched an eyebrow holding the rope as if it were a snake.  "I'm not much of a scout or a sailor despite living in a light house.  I fear what passes for knots in my world might not match your past experiences.  So... I'll try not to hurt you."

"You know I read an article in a magazine last week..."  She said coming along side him at the head of the bed.  "It said scientists used this series of 36 question to see if they could cause two strangers to fall in love with each other just by answering the questions while looking into one another's eyes.  A part of me thought it was pretty crazy..."  She watched Gavin stretch out onto the bed and offer his arm to her. 

She paused looking at it for a moment, "I'm sorry but... I suppose I'm going to have to cut the rope into strips, aren't I?"  She bit her lip. "This seems like a lot of work for a trust thing... I mean, I really did NOT think this through.  Please tell me you're smirking to be coy and sexy and NOT laughing at me.  I've never done this sort of thing before... I mean I have guys who tie people up for me!  I rent that shit out!"

She started laughing at herself with overwhelming nervous energy.  "Oh my God,"  she covered her face in embarrassment still laughing.  "I'm just ruining everything tonight!  Where's the bourbon?  I need more alcohol."  She turned and went for the alcohol, nervously laughing the whole while.

"Jesus Christ... I'm a fucking Don and I can't make a damn knot!  I'm never living this down... I mean where do you learn this?  Is there a fucking college course in this?"

Gavin was smirking to look coy and sexy, but he was also laughing at her. Still, he did his best to keep from laughing out loud. And he suceeded, until she got to "I have guys who tie people up for me!  I rent that shit out!"

He burst out laughing.

"Well. Are you going to call them? Because I've never been near a college, but I'd be shocked if they taught you how to tie knots there."

"Oh, you should know this, though. Just in case you ever need it and I'm not able to get to it."

Gavin rolled up his right pant leg, revealing the knife strapped to his calf.

"Not sure if you saw that in Montreal. You know my gun's always under my left shoulder. Well, when I'm dressed. Do you need the knife?"

He shrugged.

"Or we could walk down to the University of Pennsylvania. Sign you up for some courses. Whatever works."

She refilled her bourbon and took another drink, shaking her head at his question about going to the nearby University.  Without another word she walked over and snatched his knife from his calf, an air of command slowly settling back in upon her as she tried her best to relax.  She examined the knife a moment before going about the task of making four lengths of rope as long as her arm, wordlessly.

This time she started down at his ankles, tying a loop around each ankle in turn and then securing the opposite ends to each corresponding bed post.  It wasn't pretty, but it seemed sturdy to her mind.  She made note to herself that she would watch Gavin intently when it was her time to 'relax' so that she would know for the future how such things were done.  She'd practice knots at home in the future, that way she would never again be so ill prepared... even if it was just for leisure time.

As she finished the final wrist she could tell by Gavin's smirk that he'd clap for her... if he wasn't all tied up.  Smart ass.  She put the knife on the bedside table and she went to the foot of the bed.  

"So,"  She purred climbing over the foot of the bed and coming up between his legs, laying her upper body down upon his right thigh so she could look up at him while she toyed with his nether regions to best effect - inspiring him to answer her every question, if she had more than a few to ask.  

"I think before I can go much further," She said in a sultry bedroom tenor, "I want to hear more about how hard I was to get out of your head.  Because we're being so open here... I have no shame in admitting that hearing you confess that you couldn't get me out of your head was possibly the single sexiest thing you've EVER said to me.  And ... I liked it.  Are you telling me you've NEVER, not once, been effected by a lady that way before?"  

"And be honest now... I'm rather generous with my praise for vulnerable and revealing answers.  So... inspire me with your openness..."  She wet her lips, "...and I'll inspire you with mine." 

"Ah. Well. You know I have quite a few flaws, Bella. Lying isn't one of them. I've never really had much reason to lie in my life. Sure, a few here or there. But I tend to be a pretty open book. So don't ask questions you don't want to hear the answers to."

He flexed, pulling against the knots.

"Actually, even if you leave me here I'm... mostly sure I could get out before the housekeeper finds me in the morning."

"What was the question? Right."

"Well it was when you were on the picnic table. There was something about it all. The moon. The river. Your hair. Your body. I mean, just because I generally don't believe in marriage and have had more than a couple romances doesn't mean I can't be romantic."

Gavin got quiet for a moment, remembering.

"I think it was mostly the idea that you needed me. And I liked being needed. It was..."

... terrifying...

"... new. And while in the past it's bothered me, for some reason it doesn't bother me with you. But then I spent the next week trying to forget about that moment and convince myself that I was wrong."

He looked at her curiously, wondering if he should break his policy of honesty.

"I got very, very drunk. And it didn't help. Got drunk again. Didn't help. Seduced a woman. Didn't help. In fact, she looked nothing like you at all, she was a blonde, but I kept seeing you. So I left her and got drunk again. Got in a barfight. Nothing helped. I just wasn't having fun anymore, and I kept thinking about you. So I just drank half the whiskey in Chicago trying to forget you, but every time I woke up I kept remembering you and getting freaked out."

"... sorry if that's too much information. Like I said, I've never had much reason to lie."

"Oh, and as for your other question... kind of. There was this girl I saw for a while in New York. She was great. Not nearly as fun as you. But I think she saw me as this... wounded puppy that she'd nurse back to health or something. I liked her a lot. But I didn't have a problem walking away from her, in the end. If I'd stayed with her I'd probably be dead now. And I have other... friends... that I really like having fun with. But I've always been able to walk away from them.... or, you know, they don't mind walking away from me."

He smirked.

"That was a Bella-length ramble. What do I win for my openness?"

A kiss.  The barest touch of her lips on his softest flesh, all the while her eyes locked on his.  Her index finger circles around him, she watches his body tense in the ropes and she smiles.  "I think I'm beginning to see the appeal of the ropes in this game.  So... in theory I could leave you like this for hours, prolonging things as long as I wanted?"

"You can't touch me... move or adjust me... just - hope - that I notice and acknowledge your needs or give in to your requests?"  It occurred to her then that either a person of great cruelty enjoyed this sort of thing, or one of uncommon selflessness.  The person in the ropes wasn't being tested... but the one outside of them, this was why Gavin chose to 'relax' first.  He'd played this game before and would learn more by being in the ropes than out of them.

That, and she supposed, he'd exhaust himself genuinely if he'd been outside of them first.  This way he could be sure to control the pace of the evening.  As usual, Gavin was in control and a smile grew on her face in response to the realization.

She rose up and placed herself atop him, never letting her eyes leave his, her hand (finally at home) upon his scarred chest helping to keep her balance.  "What you get for your openness is the thing that your Blonde Waitress couldn't give you and Miss New York could not provide."  She rose up slow, purposeful contracting her muscles while lifting her chin, to avoid giving any expression save that of control.

Reaching down she pulled her silk nightgown up and over her head, casting it aside on the floor.  The moonlight through the drapes casing shadows across her scars and untouched pale flesh alike.  "I'm going to keep this pace - all night - or until my legs give out from exhaustion... and if I do anything else, it'll only be because you ask me to."  

Her breath caught as he flexed beneath her, a smirk on his face, a small defiance and reminder that even like this he wasn't helpless.

She ran a hand down his chest, tracing scars as it moved.  "You can never really love people who can't live without you ... babies and puppies, they can't live without people.  You're neither in my eyes.  A blind man could see that, Gavin.  No... what you want, what you need, is someone who doesn't really need you in the least, but chooses to be with you anyway and that's why I'm different than the other girls you've chased before."

She leaned down, her scars laying against his, her raven hair falling about them like a curtain blocking out the world.  "I've got a lot of projects in my life... shit tons really; I got people to fix and people to kill... but what you are to me - my sweet..."  She moved her body, a steady pace, kissing his lips gently as she did so.   "... that's something of a fucking rarity in my life."

Gavin, for the first time since Chicago, felt all the tension bleed out of him as he listened to Bella and felt her lips on his. When she ceased kissing him and leaned back, he exhaled deeply, like a man who had just finished running a long race, even though his physical exertion for the evening was just beginning.

For a moment, he almost asked if she had more questions. Or when it was her turn to get tied down. But there'd be time for that later- a strange thought for him, to be sure. But one that was increasing comfortable him.

Instead, he simply lay back and let himself go, losing himself in the moment. 

***

Gavin awoke several hours later as the sun was just starting to shine through the shade. Sliding himself out from Bella's arm, he snuck over and closed it. On his way to the bathroom, he picked up his knife from the nightstand where it'd been left the night before. A couple minutes later, he was standing in front of the hotel bathroom mirror wearing only a frown and 4 circlets of rope on his wrists and ankles. Using the knife, he sliced the ropes off his ankles and right wrist. He paused before removing the last one, then decided to simply trim it and leave the knotted circlet with no other rope sticking out. It was thin, coarse rope... but he didn't mind it. After a brief shower, he moved back into the bedroom, slipped on his shorts, and climbed back into bed.

Isabella felt every muscle in her body tense up.  The warm early morning sun was pouring in the window, as she stretched out like a lazy cat in a sunbeam, she yawned.  Realizing Gavin was in bed beside her (and untied) she rolled over to him and gave him a kiss.  She snuggled into his embrace and listened to him breathe a moment before speaking.

"Maybe next time I take a turn in the ropes?"  She chuckled.

Gavin smirked.

"Sounds fun to me. I didn't even ask all the questions I had."

He stretched.

"For example... sex. Is this an exclusive thing? I've broken up a lot of relationships, but you know I'm flying blind here. Is us being exclusive something you want? Or should we just have fun with each other, have fun with other people, and see what happens down the road?"

A part of her prickled at the question.  It seemed almost stupid to ask such a thing when they were tangled up naked in each other's arms having been as vulnerable and intimate as they had been in the last twelve hours... and yet... did SHE want that?  It was never a doubt what he might want, at least in her mind, but she hadn't really thought about herself.

"Well..."  She lay there thinking.  "Traditionally once a girl ends up in this position, naked in a lover's arms, she goes right for the exclusivity clause; but in fairness - I'm not sure I can ask that of you right now."

She drew a breath.  "It's odd for me to talk about this.  Generally speaking I wouldn't talk with my current lover about past lovers in fear he might be jealous... but we did that in Canada and to be honest it felt nice to not hide a part of my life from you.  And generally speaking I wouldn't talk about the potential for other lovers while with you... you know, cause most men take that to mean their woman is a whore ... and yet you know damn well my whole life is one giant cluster fuck right now where NOTHING is what you'd call normal."

She shook her head.  "I like that I can be honest with you, so let's not change that.  Will and I have been intimate in the past and I can't rule out that it might happen with Elias as I navigate the waters of whatever the fuck that mess is."

She traced the lines of his arms with her finger tips lazily while she spoke, "While I have had sex with either man since I met you... I'd feel like an absolute shit if I said I wouldn't... and then I did."

She looked into his eyes, "Would you believe that I care any less for you, if I asked for us to hold off on exclusivity while I figure shit in my life out?"  She watched closely how Gavin reacted to her words.

"I've never done this before, so 'traditionally' doesn't really have much sway with me. And I'll let you know if I ever feel jealous... but I mostly just assume I'm the best, so I don't feel jealous too often..."

She couldn't see his mouth, but she could hear the smirk.

Intimate with Will... that was interesting. Hopefully the big man didn't get too attached; Gavin was pretty sure Round 2 would be tougher for him.

"Well if you'd feel like shit, then don't say it. For now, we'll just keep having fun, see each other as often as we want to, and figure shit out together? If we stay honest with each other, shouldn't be an issue."

His brow furrowed. Interesting. When he'd been with Evelyn, he was distracted by thoughts of Isabella. Would that happen again? Or would the fact that he'd made this connection with her be enough?

"I know I don't have to tell you to not keep anything to yourself, in terms of wanting to tell me something but not doing it as we move forward. But still."

Gavin paused.

"Okay, well that actually answers pretty much all my questions. If we're just seeing where this goes and being patient, staying casual but open to possibilities, my other questions don't really apply."

A small part of him was... not disappointed... surprised? Mostly, he was relieved. 

She kissed Gavin for a moment, letting it all sink in, collecting her thoughts really.  "I'll tell you if I'm jealous too.  Hmm.  It's so odd.  Knowing that you're not closed off to talking to me about... whatever.  Maybe even stranger that I'm not bothered with the idea of hearing about blonde waitresses and overly needy New Yorkers."  She genuinely laughs.  

"I'd call your confidence the result of an over inflated sense of self Gavin... but then I'd have to consider my own ego."  A wicked smirk takes over her face as she considers how likely it was that any woman could replace her in Gavin's life at this point.  She was the Dragon.  She was the woman who Gavin Byrne couldn't get out of his head - she was no mere toothbrush girl! 

"We'll take it slow... when you come to a point that we feel like we need to redefine our relationship, we'll do what wedid last night.  We'll talk."  She kissed him again, this time long and passionately, knowing she meant to get out of the bed and get her day started but secretly not wanting to. 

"I should go shower."  she said pulling her lips from his.  "We've got a man to hunt down in Detroit and if I keep laying in this bed with you like this, we'll far later than I wanted to be."

"Don't think I mentioned any New Yorkers, especially not any needy ones- but you're right. Time for us to get down to business."

He sighed as he swung our legs over the bed and gave a mock sigh.

"And not in the fun way."