"Is there a reason you're naked in my bed?"

He'd just finished unhooking his tie from beneath his collar, carelessly letting his suit jacket crumple to the floor in a puddle around his bare feet. The soles ached. His wrists even more so. Damned carpal tunnel catching up with him–

It had been an unconscionably long day at the office. Idiots nattering on incessantly making his head throb. He'd come come hoping only to have some damned peace and quiet–

He'd stopped dead in his tracks when he'd seen her out of the corner of his eye, sure it had been a trick of the light.

Her. Lying like that. In his bed. Body half-hidden beneath the supple blue comforter. Chest and shoulders exposed to him, as were those sparkling blue-green eyes in that damned superior face. Eyebrows arched as if to issue a challenge. Lips curled into a half-smirk as she regarded the reddening of his cheeks. The dilating of his pupils. The things he could not control. The physiology.

The sound of the giggle she made in response to his question–the way the arrogance of his voice had cracked and broken sharply sharply–carried towards him as if on a breeze. Suffusing him. All too aware of everything.

It was to his credit that he did not sputter furiously in response. That he did not ruin a perfectly good shirt with a nosebleed. No. It seemed as if she were surprised that he'd managed to hold himself together, judging by the way one eyebrow raised itself curiously at him.

"You don't seem so surprised to see me here." Her voice all soft and intelligent. Low. Good-humored, as if enjoying a private joke at his expense. As she undoubtedly was. Typical.

He licked his lips nervously, the strain of holding together the facade beginning to weigh on him. His underarms suddenly damp. As were his palms. Words failing. Any remark he could think to make both too large and too small in his mouth to consider uttering. The sounds of a reply all bitter and too-sweet. Like saccharine coating something more unpleasant.

She shifted on the mattress, daring–daring!–to sit up in his bed, gracefully, like some painted odalisque figure. Allowing the coverlet to slide further down those lush hips. Revealing further things he hadn't wanted to think about as she moved her legs beneath the fabric. One thigh and calf revealing itself–then another–

He most certainly hadn't wanted to think of those things. Ever.

Although now that they had been presented to him–

He dug his teeth into his lower lip to stop his damned mind from wandering. Wandering there.

Can a mind wander if it is already in the place where it oughtn't be?

Her eyes widened, shining with a false innocence, a slight capriciousness as she lifted the quilt from where it rested on her hips.

His head began to throb even more as he forced his eyes to the floor. The grains of the carpet burning into the backs of his eyes. Not daring. He couldn't. Not like this. Not when she was a damned intruder–

–strangely unwelcome and welcomed–

He heard soft padding sounds on the rug as he stared at it like it could solve all his problems. A shadow falling across his feet. A hand on his cheek, the slightly callused surface of her palm sending a dizzying sensation through his spine. Pants growing less comfortable as he gritted his teeth.

"Isn't this what you wanted?" Her voice was teasing. Light and airy as she tipped his chin upwards with a single finger. Him fighting to keep his eyes closed as he was encouraged to pan up her body. Soak it all in.

Maybe a stronger man than he–

By the time he reached those smiling eyes, his lips were trembling. Eyes watering as he looked down at her. Her own lips full and wet. Something electric licking from her hand to his face incessantly.

"Kiss me."

Before he could think better of it, he'd nearly moaned in response to her demand. His hand sliding up her arm to grasp at her shoulder as he lowered his head to brush his lips against her own. Some kind of wild cry of victory, of satisfaction, repeating in his head as he felt the heat of her lips, so close to his own–

Then everything went dark with a slight blip.

His hand grasping onto nothing.

Everything around him throughly blacked out and chilly as he lifted his head roughly, heart pounding in his chest, his belly, his mouth as he balled his hands up into tight, unforgiving firsts.

A familiar cruel, high-pitched laugh ringing out in the darkness, making his blood run cold. The noise childlike.

The sounds of fingers dancing along what sounded like a computer keyboard echoing in the endless space as the almost shrill giggle faded into words, dropping as they did with a coyness that made up in malice for what they lacked in true lightness.

"Enjoy that, Seto?"