Regret.

Amongst all of the feelings Cana was feeling, regret was the strongest.

There was fear off course. Fear she had done something stupid.
And desire.
Yes, definitely desire too. Oh god, It might be the desire that was strongest.

Hurt. She was hurting herself with her stupid and silly thoughts.

Idioticy. Yeah… she was being an idiot.

But all of that had nothing to do with the man in question.
Because he had been perfect.

Exactly like she wanted even.

It had been like he knew her every secret desire and want.

And he had given it to her.

Cana didn't need much in a bedpartner. She wanted only a few things:
Taller: Check
Muscled: Definite check
Stronger: a must. He needed to be able to pick her up and dance with her for all she cared.
Handsome: If she had to look at someone while riding, he at least had to be good to look at.

He checked out the list perfectly.

But that was not the problem.

The problem was her other list.

Her complicated list.

The boyfriend list.

The boyfriend list was much, much harder to check out.
One of the first things on it was trust.
She needed to able to trust someone completely. And as he was practically being family to her. There was no way she could lie to herself and say she didn't trust him. He would go against an army if it meant to get someone from the guild back. Or if it meant to protect her.

Which brings us to the second item on her list. Strong.
Not the same type of strong as in her previous list. He needed to have a strong heart. Her past was not easy. With a father like Guildarts there was no way he was just going let his daughter run off with some goodie two shoes.
He needed to be strong enough to take on Guildarts, should he choose to. Even if they didn't fight for real, only the willpower to challenge him would be needed.

And one of the most important things on the list.
Feelings.
She needed to able to feel it. Only his stare had to be enough to give her goose bumps.
She needed to feel at ease. And it had to feel natural.
She wasn't stupid enough to believe in things called love. But she did need to feel the urge to keep him to herself.

So, here lies the problem.

He checked off the second list with ease. And that's no easy feat.

She prided herself in that list (especially the Guildarts part) and that it seemed very hard for anyone to break.
And ever since the Baccus incident, she had closed of her heart to that list completely.

But strangely enough. It had been the last item on her list that made her remember it.

His stare.

His stare was enough to make her stomach do summersaults.
And he had stared at her quite a lot lately.
She wasn't stupid enough to not notice it.
That specific stare had been enough to even keep some of her dreams occupied and make her wake up all sweaty and wanting.

So what had happened last night?

She remembered parts of it. And those that she did. Where good… very good even.
Short of being called amazing (which she would have called it, had she been sober) it had really been perfect. It what made her think it had been a dream in the first place.

When she woke up this morning in his bed, wrapped naked into his sheets, he had been gone.
This had been the first reason to panic.

When she had heard the water running, she knew he hadn't run away. So she felt a little relieved. But that's when it hit her.

The main problem wasn't the fact that he crossed of the list.
The problem was that she didn't know if he wanted to cross it off.

The reason she was feeling regret was not because of what happened.
She was feeling it because he had opened op her second list again, and she didn't know if he wanted to be a part of it.

She needed to talk to him.
So she did the next best thing.
While he was in the shower, she quickly collected her clothes and gracefully ran from her problems.

This was the first time she had ever done that.

She had been in one night stands before. And she would normally stay with pride and joke it all off. But this time she didn't think her heart could take another beating.

Not knowing when she had opened it up to him, (probably one of the times he stared at her so intensely) she felt so much regret about the whole thing.

So here she was. In the guild, face forward, on the bar, in a wobbly barstool, pretending to be asleep while contemplating on her life's choices.

She had heard him come in a while ago. He joined his teammate on his usual table, which was why she chose this barstool. So she couldn't just turn around and stare at him openly because her back was turned.

Gathering the courage had been hard. But she had finally made a decision. She would just act like nothing happened and hoped he would never notice.

Determined, she shot Kinana a small smile and ordered a coffee.

Kinana didn't seem to notice her distress, simply nodded back and prepared her a cup.

The moment however Kinana had taken a cup and put it into the coffee machine, Cana stiffened.

She heard a familiar chair move and footsteps come her way.

Feeling herself get stupid again she let out a goofy smile. There was possibly no way he could come and greet her like a gentleman and call her on running away.

He would probably just pretend nothing had happened and go about his day.

So the next thing that happened shocked her completely.

A small jolt in her side made her shiver all over as he had placed his hand on her naked skin. (It didn't help that she was not wearing a shirt.)

Electric. That was the word she would use to describe his touch. She didn't know if he did it on purpose or if that's just the way his touch made her feel. But she was in no hurry to find out. Because the mystery of it made it all the more alluring.
The hand slided slowly off her side, across her back and then disappeared.

"Mornin~ Sleepy head." Laxus casually said as he joined her on the barstool next to her.

Cana jolted her head sideways to look at him with wide eyes.

A chuckle escaped him.

"Don't look so surprised." He grinned.
He was sitting sideways to her, leaned with his temple on his fist and is elbow was on the bar.

Oh god, that grin was really giving her goose bumps.

No, bad Cana! Don't let him take you over like that!

"Did you really think I would let you off with running away like that?"

Short answer? Yes.
But she was way too surprised he really was calling her on running away in the first place. So she just kept staring.

The smell of coffee brought her back to the real world.

"Now there's an idea." She heard him say as she had subtly turned towards her cup.

She heard him order one too as she let her mind wander again.

"I thought you might have wanted to forget what happened." She quietly mumbled, while taking a sip.
Yes, Coffee was needed right now.

Wondering if she heard him she let her eyes go in his direction while setting down her cup again.

He had turned completely towards the guild and was now leaning with both arms back against the bar.

He seemed to be lost in thought.

"I was afraid you might think that." He finally sighed as he closed his eyes.

Surprised. Again.

He really had a way of making her feel new feelings.

He suddenly did something very unexpected.

He smiled.

It was a soft and sweet smile. Something she hadn't seen on him a lot.

He turned to her, the smile still in place. It made her shiver again. The good way.

"I want you to know that I don't regret it one bit." He folded his hands and leaned his elbows on his lap. He then leaned towards her. "But I need to know if you do."

Now he had done it. Unable to look at him any longer she turned towards her cup of coffee.
She was feeling warm. Fuzzy even.

Had he really just told her he didn't regret their night together? Should she allow herself to let this man in? Before she could actually answer him however, she felt another jolt, this time on her chin.

He had touched her chin with a single finger and turned her face towards him. He was close. Really close. Their noses almost touched.

"Cana Alberona." He grinned. Another shiver. Just by mentioning her name? This man was dangerous. Really dangerous.

"You actually do have the decency to blush after running away this morning and hearing my confession." It was a statement, not a question.

She felt her face get hotter and hotter.

Yep. Definitely dangerous.

And she loved it.

He chuckled once. "It's all right if you can't say it. Your face speaks for itself."

He let go of her and stepped of the stool. "And it's adorable." He winked.

Someone dared to call HER adorable? He was brave. Very brave… and she felt herself love it even more.

Yes… this man knew how to push her buttons. She was going to need a long, cold shower after this.

He stepped away from the bar.

Feeling a little relieved to be able to gather her feelings she let out a small chuckle.

Suddenly she felt another jolt. On her shoulder this time.

He was standing behind her and had put his arm around her shoulder slowly. Starting with his hand he slided down to her front and leaned on her right shoulder while his face appeared on her other side. The slow gesture made a shiver go up her spine all the way to her head.

She felt his breath near her ear.

"We are doing this again, sober." He whispered. His hoarse voice made her knees go weak. She felt her eyes go wide and a blush come up again. If she had to describe his voice right now? Sexy would be the word.

"And this time, you're not leaving. Because when I'm done with you, you'll be nothing more than a drooling puddle of mush in my sheets."

Another statement… And she believed him wholeheartedly.

Cana felt her face instantly redden as she quickly turned her head towards him.

She was just in time to see his grin before he did yet another unexpected move.

He flipped her over and held her in his arms. She was still half sitting on the stool, but her torso was completely in his arms. She tried to hold on to his chest as she was startled by the movement, but she could only barely grip her nails into his shirt before he kissed her.

Oh boy, did he kiss her.

He made use of her surprised gasp to gain access to her mouth. He kissed her like she had never been kissed before. Demanding, hard and passionate. Exactly like she loved it.

It took her a few seconds before she could finally come back to her senses. And finally being able to let go of all of her doubts. She kissed him back.

And it was amazing.

She was able to grab his shirt and pull herself closer to him as they danced around each other's lips.

The kiss seemed to last forever and Cana had lost all thought of what was going on around her.

Finally, when breathing became more imminent. He pulled back with a small gasp.

Somewhere in the process, she had closed her eyes, but when she opened them again. She was met again with that grin of his. The one that made her stomach dance.

They stayed like that for a few seconds before he slowly put her back on her stool, as if nothing had ever happened.

He was standing behind her still, as he moved her hair a bit and kissed the back of her neck lovingly.

The gesture meant more to her than he could possibly have known.

Still half dazed. She wondered how this man could read her so easily. How he knew a simple kiss on the cheek would not make her stomach do backflips but that her neck was the place to be.

How he knew to ask for her permission yet not expect an answer but to just take her at the right moment.

This man was dangerous.

And he had claimed her as his own.

Realisation hit her, right there. That as a dragonslayer, he had claimed his prize. And it was her.

This was the reason for this grand gesture. To show the guild she was now taken.

She had a boyfriend, she was a girlfriend. And she had none of that mushy asking for permission stuff. Exactly like she wanted it.

She stared at his back as he was walking away, her face still a little flustered.

She knew he would not look back. She didn't even want him too. It would ruin his cool image.

Something that she didn't know that was needed on the list.

She couldn't help but feel excited about everything.

She had always feared having a boyfriend. Mainly because of her father.

But as she looked at the back of this man now, she felt glad and even a little proud. Knowing he would put up one heck of a fight, and it would be for her.

She turned back towards her cup of coffee, only to conclude she was definitely going to need something stronger than this.

Yes. This man was dangerous. And that's exactly how she wanted it.