Andromeda Rising: Chapter Three

[amberfocus]

Chapter Three:  Within Temptation

“Don’t eat any more of that,” Jack said as Andromeda tucked into the dessert.

“Why not? It’s marvelous,” she said, bringing her spoon up to her own mouth and savoring the delicious chocolate concoction. “Can’t think of anything better to do right now than eating it. Go on, Jack. Have some more.”

He bit his lip hard trying not to be drawn by the young woman across from him or the addictive dessert in front of him. Unable to stop himself he took a few spoonfuls more and instantly knew that he had to get away from the table before he completely lost his self-control or he was going to be doing something about the aphrodisiac qualities of the dessert.

His only problem, besides the fact that he might not be able to walk out of the restaurant if he ate any more of the chocolate, was that if he left Andromeda alone under the influence of the dessert she could get herself into a dangerous situation. He was someone who prided himself on the ability to read body language and something about the way this girl behaved told him she was vastly inexperienced, even if she was eighteen. He did not want to see her get taken advantage of or hurt when her senses were no longer under her control.

If he thought he could get away with it, he’d lock her in her cabin until the effects wore off. But the Megaliner staff would just let her out if she called them, so he’d have to disable the communications equipment, too and that kind of thing would have them put off the Orion Cutlass at the nearest space port.

Meanwhile, Andromeda kept shoveling away at the dessert. Maybe she wasn’t feeling the effects? It was possible that whatever was in the non-human portion of her DNA that counteracted the effects of alcohol might be metabolizing the aphrodisiac quickly. That would be a good thing. He could leave her off at her room and go find himself a willing shag until this was out of his system. It seemed like a logical plan so why did his mind balk at the idea of it?

It became extremely clear to him at that moment that he didn’t want to shag any willing partner. He wanted Andromeda. And he wanted her willing. But in her right mind willing. Well, he could still run off somewhere safe, and take matters into his own hands. He was opening his mouth to tell her he needed to go when she said, “Jack?”

“Yeah?” he managed, though it came out down extremely low in his throat.

“I feel funny,” she told him. “Tingly. Hot.” Her hand rose to the neckline of her blouse and undid the top button, then the next. He reached out for that hand and felt the jolt that shook through her at his touch. She most definitely was not immune.

His mind raced ahead, trying to think of a way to avoid what felt very much like the inevitable. Trying to find a solution to a problem he wanted to solve in a very different way was not easy. He called the waiter over and hastily paid the bill and rose. Andromeda started to protest that she had her own money, but Jack just shook his head at her and pulled her out of the restaurant. He’d had an idea.

“Where are we going?” she asked breathlessly her hand unconciously caressing his where they were joined together.

“Thought I’d show you my ship,” he nearly gasped out.

“Okay,” she said. It was obvious to him that she wasn’t thinking too clearly. Otherwise she would never have let him take her to a secluded location, one where she might easily be trapped by someone who had less than honorable intentions. Not that his intentions were terribly honorable either, she certainly wasn’t going to like what he was about to do, but he also wasn’t going to push her into something like the powerful substance in his blood was now pushing him to do.

The trip to the cargo deck seemed to take forever, the minutes counted by how many times he wanted to just take the girl and shove her up against the wall and have his way with her. He was going to bite all the way through his lip pretty soon if he wasn’t careful. Finally they arrived at the proper compartment and he slapped his palm against the print reader.

“Captain Jack Harkness, ship ident code 54391, access granted. Please identify companion.” Jack lifted Andromeda’s hand to the reader. “Andromeda Suzette Harper, ship ident code 54327. Access granted with supervision of passenger 54391 only.”

The door slid open and they hurried inside. It took a moment for their eyes to acclimatize to the dimmer lighting. Jack pulled her along towards his ship, which fortunately was not that far away. He pressed his forehead to a retinal scanner and the hatch opened, steps descending to the floor. “Up you go,” he said boosting her upwards, his hand accidently brushing against her backside. He pulled it away like he’d burned it and the sound Andromeda had made did not go unnoticed by any part of his body as it charged with electricity. Damn. This wasn’t going to be easy.

Once inside Andromeda turned to him, her arms reaching out automatically for him and he lost control for a brief moment, gathering her to him and tilting her head upwards. His mouth came down on hers and he couldn’t resist tasting her. The sweetness of her just about did him in and it had nothing to do with the chocolate she’d consumed.

Her mouth was soft and pliable against his, her body willing. It took everything he had to walk her backwards, never removing his mouth from hers as his tongue snaked in again and again, exploring every nook and cranny he could access. Her confidence seemed to build slowly as she kissed him back, her tongue finally moving against his in surveillance of his mouth. Shocks streamed up and down his body and he felt something odd flare in his mind.

He pushed into her, all too aware of how much he wanted her as his hips moved against her body. Finally he had her to the doorway of his bedroom and he pushed her inside, away from him and slapped his hand on the door panel. It slid shut and he told the ship to secure the lock for the next four hours and not override that command even if he begged it to.

“Jack?” Andromeda’s voice came through the door sounding hurt and confused and even in that one word, dripping with sensuality.

“I’m sorry, Andromeda. There was an aphrodisiac in that dessert. One too powerful to leave you alone on the Megaliner, but also too powerful for me to resist for very long,” he explained. “This is the only way to keep you safe.”

“I don’t want to be safe,” she said from the other side of the door. “I want you.”

“I want you, too,” he told her. “But in your right mind and in your own time.”

“Let me out,” she said, her fist pounding on the door. “You can’t keep me here like this.”

“Back when I met you, back in the club, I said you were under my protection. I meant it,” he ground out, already trying to think of a way to countermand the order he’d just given his ship not to unlock the door for the next four hours. His trousers had never been so tight in his life. His body pressed up against the door, picturing the girl on the other side of it.

“I don’t want your protection, Jack Harkness!” She hollered at him. “I want your--.”

“Sound off,” Jack hastily ordered the ship. He wasn’t sure what she’d been about to say but if he heard it, he was afraid he’d break the door down with his bare hands.


Andromeda was fuming. She paced the little bedroom angrily. It was bad enough that her own mother didn’t trust her enough to let her have a TARDIS but now this…this…MAN was trying to control what she did. It wasn’t fair. She really had to stop thinking that. It only made her sound like a child, even in her own mind.

She was old enough to make her own decisions. She was old enough to decide if she wanted to take a man to her bed or not. She blushed deeply, unable to control the way her mind was leading her. All she could think about was the way he had just kissed her, as if he was trying to take possession of everything she had to offer.

Never had Andromeda felt the sensations that were being invoked by Jack’s kiss. They had raced through her body, jolting through her groin and stomach and waving through her entire body like a blessed heat. She’d never been kissed like that before. In fact she’d only been kissed twice before, both times very chastely by a friend of Marsden’s. Though the boy had been a bit freer with his hands the second time and hence he’d not kissed her a third time.

She wouldn’t have minded if Jack had been freer with his hands. Not a bit. His hands were lovely, the long tapered fingers making her wonder just how they would feel on her body, how they might tangle in her hair, how they might…Damn. Jack was right. She was under the power of the aphrodisiac.

“Okay, think. You know what to do.” She sat down on the edge of his bed, wishing he had thrown her down on it, and then shook her head savagely. With as much concentration as she could muster she went into her mind, found the brain chemicals that were being dumped into her blood and damped them down the way her grandfather had once shown her how to do.

Slowly, slowly she felt herself coming back under control as the hormone dumping ended. She pushed them through her blood stream as quickly as she could. She stood up and looked behind the two doors, found a small washroom and turned on the water, hastily gulping down as much as she could stomach. It would help wash everything out of her system and soon her head would be completely clear.

She lay down on the bed, waiting for the cleansing to take full effect. She must have fallen asleep because when she next opened her eyes the door to the bedroom was open, a blanket rested over her body and a lightly snoring Jack was lying on the bed next to her, his hand loosely held in her own.

Andromeda gently untangled her hand from his and rose with a sigh and made her way to the washroom. She was near to bursting from all the water she’d drunk to cleanse the substance from her bloodstream. That done, she neatened her hair, buttoned up her shirt not quite remembering how it had gotten quite that open, and then stepped hesitantly back into the other room.

She ought to be mad at the man lying there for locking her up but somehow she wasn’t. When she made love to this man, and she knew as she looked at him that some day in the future she would indeed do that, she wanted it to be for the right reasons. She smiled at him. And he must have understood that. Because it was obvious that he wanted her. It had been obvious from the moment he’d said he wanted to come along on the cruise with her. Maybe even from the time he’d held her on the dance floor.

She was hesitant about lying down on the bed again, unsure if she should. He had been right in thinking she wasn’t ready for that kind of activity, especially with a man she barely knew, no matter how much it felt like she’d known him forever. Whether he was aware of her virginity or not he had not taken advantage of the situation and that made her feel, well…proud of him.

He’d moved while she was gone, his arm flung out where she’d been before and she noticed that his shirt was unbuttoned though otherwise he was completely clothed. Her eyes moved over the exposed skin and she had to double check that her mind was clear before she realized what she was experiencing as she looked at him was just simple attraction.

It was hard to stay mad at him when all she wanted to do was touch that patch of skin. Yes, she could have cleared the substance from her blood if he’d told her it was there, but how was he to have known that? Though he could have asked. Still, he had gone beyond the call of duty to keep her safe from even him. And that made her trust him completely. She lay down beside him, adjusting the blanket so it covered them both and put her arm across his chest. Her fingers settled on the smooth muscles and she shivered.

Tucking her head into the junction of his arm and chest she settled. His arm tightened around her in his sleep, pulling her closer until she was flush against his body. She wasn’t sure she could ever sleep like that, but surprisingly after a few moments against his warmth, dreamland claimed her.



Jack woke slowly the next morning, the unfamiliar coolness of Andromeda snuggled against him. Seemed like she’d forgiven him for locking her up, he thought as he noticed where her hand was lodged under his shirt. And she’d pulled the blanket he’d placed over her onto both of them. His free hand reached out and touched her face, brushing the dark blond hair back so he could see her features clearly.

Although her hand had always seemed warm, her body seemed a lot cooler than what he was used to in a human. He had to remind himself that she wasn’t fully human and this was obviously one of the differences. He wondered vaguely if there were any other ones. And how interesting it might be to find out. He stroked the side of her face again then let his fingers trail down her arm in a feather light caress.

Even in sleep she responded to him, pushing her body closer. He really needed to put a stop to this, but he didn’t want to. He turned towards her, his lips reaching out and gently brushing against hers. Her eyes flew open. “Morning, sleeping beauty,” he said.

For a moment panic flared in her eyes before she recognized him. “Jack,” she said. She pulled away from him, her hand leaving his chest and her face blushing crimson. “We didn’t…do anything…did we?”

“Just kissed,” he said. He wasn’t sure if he should be amused or hurt at the relief on her face. He decided to go with amused. “The effects of the aphrodisiac are well gone now,” he told her. “Anything that happens now is strictly on us.” A sparkle came into his eyes and she looked away, blushing again.

“You didn’t have to lock me up,” she said.

“I wasn’t going to take advantage of you.”

“I mean I could have cleared it from my system. I did do once you told me,” she explained.

“You might have cleared it from yours but I certainly had not. I didn’t just lock you in there to keep you from losing control. I did it to keep me from losing control with you,” he said.

“I think we would have been fine,” she began, but he cut her off.

“Andromeda, I want you. Have done since we met,” he told her honestly. “Still do. But I want you right. I want you wanting me. Not under the influence. When I take you to bed--.”

“Pretty confident there, Harkness,” she told him.

Jack shrugged. “I know my own abilities,” he said cockily. “When I take you, it’s going to be about us. About knowing each other and wanting each other. And we will; there’s something between us.”

She blushed again. “There’s something between us,” she agreed, “but I…Jack, I don’t…I mean, I’ve never…taken a lover before.”

But he was just nodding at her. “I’d suspected as much,” he said. “We have time. I’m not in any hurry.” And that was the truth. He was sure at that moment that they’d have the rest of their lives. What were a few months of wooing in the span of a lifetime?

“So breakfast?” he asked sitting up.

“I’m starving,” she replied.

“Give me a few minutes and then I’ll whip you something up in the galley. Or would you like to go to the dining area?”

“I think I’d rather go out there, Jack,” she said. He looked a little disappointed. “But you’ll join me, right?”

“Of course,” he said his beautiful smile gracing his face. “If I can help it, I don’t want to let you out of my sight.” The glance he gave her then burned right through her. She was pretty sure being in his sight was going to be a heavenly place to stay.

Ch. 4:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/101704.html 

 

Comments

[wiggiemomsi.livejournal.com]

Oh, my! Chocolate with aphrodisiac qualities?

I reallyreallyreally like your Jack. He's a *good guy*, isn't he?

'“We have time. I’m not in any hurry.” And that was the truth. He was sure at that moment that they’d have the rest of their lives. What were a few months of wooing in the span of a lifetime?'

Good chapter; have some ... chocolates?

[wiggiemomsi.livejournal.com]

OOOOH; First to comment, again!!

*Does Happy Dance*

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Yes, Jack is a very good man in this story. He's a very good man in any story I write, though. I like Captain Jack. Think I'll stay away from the chocolates...you never know what's inside them. *grins*

[othermewriter.livejournal.com]

yep reading the labels can be a very good thing :) Love the way this relationship is shaping up.

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Always. Asteriks are there for a reason!