I sit here on the stairs cuz I'd rather be alone. If I can't have you right now I'll wait here.

It was late and the residents of the mansion were slowly making their way to their rooms for bed. All but a certain Cajun who was presently slouched on the back stairs staring blankly out into the night and lighting up a cigarette. He was thinking of her again. He couldn't get her out of his head. He kept telling himself it was just the chase he was obsessed with but he had stopped believing himself months ago. It was her, she was driving him crazy. The harder he pushed the more she blew him off. He was tired of her telling him he was just a shameless flirt. How could she not know that when it came to her everything he said was true. That he wasn't flirting with anyone but her. Didn't want to flirt with anyone else. If she didn't want him then he'd rather be alone, he would wait for as long as it took for her to realize that she was all he wanted. All he needed. Sighing in exasperation he shook his head at his own musings. When had he become so pathetic? He chuckled to himself, he knew exactly when. They had been on a mission and she thought he'd been shot down, as if anyone could knock down this Cajun, but she had come running toward him screaming his name. Remy not Gambit, but Remy, and when she had found him without so much as a mark on him she had thrown herself into his arms and held him. He'd been stunned. She had already been the leading focus of most of his thoughts but the feel of her in his arms cuddled up to him because she was afraid for his safety had pushed her to center stage in his mind. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about her since, or the way she fit perfectly against him her curves molding to his hard body. He was having a hard time reminding himself that Remy Lebeau did not get frustrated, did not moon about over any fille, no matter how beautiful she was. He took another long drag on his cigarette and dropped his head back to stare at the night sky. That's when he felt it, he hadn't even been focusing his empathic abilities but the desperate longing coming from just above him was as clear as if it was being shouted at him. He looked up and caught Rogue staring down at him from her balcony.

* * *

Rogue had caught the scent of tobacco drifting into her room and immediately gone to her balcony. Directly below her lounged the Prince of Thieves. With no one around to see her she gave into the urge to stare. He was the sexiest thing she had ever seen. Tall and lean with long ropes of muscles, the product of a life of thieving and training. Strong and agile he had the ability to sneak up on her, a feat no one else but Logan had been able to manage before. He was constantly appearing when she least expected it. It had her on edge constantly and she knew she was snapping at him with more venom then was strictly necessary. Then he would gaze at her with those incredible eyes of his that glowed crimson whenever he was looking at her. She had noticed that they were never as intense as when they were focused on her.

His cigarette glowed dimly in the darkness as the smoke spilled from his full lips and drifted upwards. She had turned him down again this evening when he had asked her out dancing. She just couldn't understand why he kept pursuing her. She was unattainable. But oh how he made her wish she wasn't. What she wouldn't give to brush his unruly auburn locks back from his forehead, tangle her fingers in the thick tresses and pull his lips to hers. She was desperate to know what he tasted like. What giving in and leaving her body in his capable hands would be like. She was so lost in her imaginings that she didn't notice he was gazing up at her for a long moment, a look of wonder on his face. He stood flicking the cigarette away, and effectively breaking Rogue's reverie. She tried to turn to flee but she couldn't break the intensity of his gaze. He walked to the wall and quickly began to scale the trellace that ran down the side of the building never losing eye contact. Swinging himself onto the balcony he stood before her with an anguished look on his face.

"You. Want. Me?"he said in a stilted voice laced with confusion.

"Ah...." her hand flew to her chest and she took a step backward.

He stepped forward not letting her retreat from him "You do. I can feel the longing coming from you." his eyes were incredulous " For me"

Her protest was lost as he crushed his lips to hers pulling her flush against his hard body, slanting his lips to deepen their kiss. Gaining access to her mouth and fighting with her tongue for dominance. He pulled back and stared down at her flushed face trying to gage her reaction. Seeing her eyes heavy lidded and her breaths coming in short pants something inside him snapped and demanded that he claim her as his.

"Mine" he growled and pulled her lips to his again.