Day 11

A holiday bargain

by normasashes

.-*°✧°*-.

It was the fourth toy store she walked in and she was starting to lose hope she'd ever find the robot her goddaughter wanted for Christmas.

What was so special about this damn toy anyways? It was two weeks before Christmas – she never waited until the last minute, a week before the holidays all her presents were wrapped and good to go – so why in the hell was this robot sold out?

Donna was browsing through the shelves, already checking if there was anything her goddaughter might like that wasn't what she asked for.

She turned on another isle and finally, from a distance, she saw the brightly colored robot. Just the one. Sitting between some other different toys. She almost squealed with relief and walked straight to it.

It was on a higher shelf, so she stood on her tiptoes trying to reach it. Her flat boots were no help.

"The one day I decide to forgo heels…" She muttered under her breath.

Suddenly, there was a warm presence behind her and she saw a hand lifting the box in the air.

"Oh, thank you so much!" she said while turning around and reaching for the box in the nice stranger's hand.

"Woah woah woah, what do you think you're doing?" the guy said while holding the box out of her reach.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth he froze.

Shorter than him by a few inches, the woman in front of him had the brightest red hair, beautiful hazel eyes and a gorgeous smile. That had just morphed into a thin line after what he said.

"I was thanking you for grabbing that for me." She tried to reach for the toy once more and he just held it higher.

His action made her eyes narrow and together with her thin lined lips she had on a full murderous look on her face.

He smiled.

"Sorry to disappoint, but that wasn't me being nice. This is what my nephew wants for Christmas and I'll be damned if I lose the cool uncle post to my sister-in-law's brother." The look he was giving her said, 'I'm not sorry at all!'

"Well, aren't you a jerk?" she said while looking him up and down.

His smile broadened. She was feisty, and he was enjoying himself way too much.

"Who were you going to give this to?" he asked relaxing his arm and bringing the box down.

"I am going to give it to my goddaughter," she said as a matter of fact.

"Goddaughter? But it's a boy's toy!"

"Oh, really?" She reached for the box in his hands and this time he wasn't quick enough to keep it away. She was studying the box in an over-exaggerated manner that got him confused.

"What are you searching for?"

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to check where the warning was that says the kid needs to use his genitals to play with it," she answered in a condescending way.

He felt his face getting warmer by the second and what the hell? Was he blushing?

"Okay, that was an idiotic thing to say," he sounded regretful.

"Yeah, you're an idiot." Her tone was still harsh, but he could swear her look was a bit softer.

"I have a niece too and I'm sure she would enjoy this just as much as her brother." He tried to make up for his sexist comment.

"Well, so make sure to buy one for her too when you find more of this," she told him before turning around and walking with the box in her hands.

"Hey, hey, hey, not so fast." He quickened his pace and stopped in front of her, entering her personal space.

His sudden move threw her off balance, making her stumble backwards, causing him to automatically reach out to steady her by the waist.

She got a whiff of his cologne and it hit her straight between her legs. From their position, she had to look up at him due to her lack of heels. 'Hmmm, if I stood on my toes, I could kiss him.'

"Hello?" His deep voice brought her back and made her take a step back.

"Yes?" she answered after clearing her throat. The bastard had a smirk on his face, like he knew what he did to her.

"I say we make a deal. I let you take the robot if you have dinner with me today." He tipped his head to the side and gave her a boyish grin. He reminded her of the Cheshire cat.

"I don't know if you noticed it, but I was already on my way to pay for it. I don't need to go on a dinner date with you." She raised a defiant brow at him.

"But you want to."

"No, I don't." She had to smile at his confidence.

"You'll have to prove me wrong. Have dinner with me, have a terrible time, tell me that to my face, and never answer my calls again."

She had to laugh at that.

"Hmmm. Lawyer?" His surprised look told her she had gotten it right. "Name partner at your firm? Probably the youngest to achieve that… that would have helped with all the attitude."

"How did you do that?" He was really surprised now.

"It's what I do. I read, I analyze… and I always get it right." It was her turn to flash him a cocky smile.

Jeez, I think I already love this woman!

"So if I say you'll enjoy having dinner with me today so much you'll accept to go on a second date as soon as tomorrow, and that you'll fall in love with me, marry me and have my babies, and you disagree with all that… you'll have to prove me wrong to show me you're always right, huh?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her and she left out a throaty laugh.

She reached for her wallet in her bag and got a card.

"God, you're insufferable!" she said, shaking her head, but her voice lacked the annoyance that would usually follow the sentence.

"Harvey Specter, best closer in the city!" He offered her his hand. Instead of taking it, she placed the card in his waiting hand.

"So, you're Donna…" he said, reading the card.

She was the one to invade his personal space this time. Getting closer to his face, she whispered with a naughty smile, "Oh, you have no idea how Donna I am…" and with that, she turned around and walked to the cashier.

"I'll text you!" he said, louder so she could hear him. She just waved at him over her shoulder.

He stood there watching her go grinning like a lunatic.

He'd definitely marry her.

And if he was lucky enough, they'd start the baby-making practice tonight.

Christmas had just become his favorite holiday.

.*.*.*.

They texted each other some time during the afternoon and came to an agreement about that night.

He mentioned a bar where they could get something to eat and she promptly agreed to it, relieved that he hadn't suggested a fancy restaurant in an attempt to impress her.

She said she'd meet him there, not giving him the chance to say he'd pick her up. In case they didn't hit it off, she didn't want him knowing where she lived.

It wasn't snowing, but it was chilly, so Donna walked faster once she got out of her cab. Just as she was about to grab the door handle to push it open, someone took a hold of it before her.

Looking up, she was met with the same boyish grin he had sported at the store that morning.

"If you ever want to beat me at something, you have to work on your speed," Harvey shook his head in amusement.

Her answer came pretty quick, considering she was surprised that they had arrived together.

"I really hope you're not faster than me in everything," she told him. And repeating her move from that morning and getting closer to whisper to him, she said, "There are some things worth taking our sweet time." She winked at him and pushed the door to the bar open.

Her answer left him wide eyed for a moment before his wide grin was back and he was finally following her inside.

They found a corner booth and started getting rid of all the layers they had on. Harvey took off his scarf and coat and promptly moved to help Donna with her own coat once she took off her scarf.

Under the long black belted coat, she had on a pair of dark jeans that hugged her skin and together with her knee-high black heeled boots, it made her legs go on for miles. But what drove him mad was her simple off-shoulder cream sweater… With her hair pulled to the side, he had a clear view of her neck and freckled shoulder. He couldn't wait to count each freckle with his lips.

He cleared his throat in an attempt to clear his thoughts too. All good fun aside, he had never felt so attracted to a woman before and, in that moment, it felt like too much too fast.

After Harvey got their drinks, he took his seat on the side of the table next to hers.

"So, Donna, you guessed what I do for a living. Now you tell me about you." He took a sip of his scotch, waiting for her answer.

"Why don't you take a guess?" she challenged him with a raised brow.

"Hmmm… you could totally be a mob boss…" He tried to keep serious and squinted his eyes at her, checking her out.

She almost spit her drink chuckling at his answer.

"I thought you had to be from an Italian family to be in the Mafia…?" she questioned him.

"So, you know about the inner-workings of it," he said in a playful accusatory tone.

"I actually do. I auditioned for a role before that had me researching about the topic for hours," she said, cocking her head to the side, waiting for him to connect the dots.

"An actress then, huh?"

"You sound surprised."

"Not at all. But not TV, though. Right?" he asked.

Now she was the one surprised that he had gotten it right.

"No. Theater. I started in off-off-extra-off-Broadway productions. Now I'm only one "off" away from the real deal," she explained before drinking some more.

"That must be fun!" he said.

"It is. I get to do what I love, and it pays the bills," she said with a shrug, but he could tell she was passionate about it, and it made him smile.

However, he was suddenly serious when he scooted over to get closer to her.

"But what I really want to know is… did you get the Mafia part?" His expression had her laughing.

"I did, yeah," she nodded.

"Good, then I got your answer half right. Point for me."

She laughed at his antics and couldn't help but think how natural it all felt.

She could really see herself falling for this guy.

A few drinks in and their dinner already gone, they were more loose around each other and even had exchanged some small touches here and there.

Her hand on his arm, his hand on top of her hand. They had moved so close to the corner of the table that their legs were touching.

You couldn't tell how cold the weather was outside with how flushed their faces were from laughter.

"… I'm just saying, it's not unusual for someone to think that after they've had one," she said trying to sound serious, but unable to mask the amusement from her face.

"You thought you'd been poisoned by a peppercorn…?" he asked incredulously.

"A Szechuan peppercorn. And I didn't think that it poisoned me, I thought someone had poisoned me." She took a sip from her drink before adding, "Haven't you ever had one?"

"The pertinent question isn't whether I've had them. It's what did you do to deserve getting poisoned?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Well, that is neither here nor there," she said with a serious face.

"I knew it, you may not be involved with the Mafia, but you're dangerous!" He looked at her suspiciously. "You're a black widow."

"Harvey, if I was a black widow, I'd be the one doing the poisoning," she said as a matter of fact.

"You seem to know too much about this. How do I know you won't try to kill me?"

"Black widows only kill their partners after sex, silly." She had on a devious look while saying that.

"Okay, then. I can only pray you're telling the truth and spare me once you're done with my body." He winked at her.

She had lost count of how many times he had done that, and each time she felt it right in her core. If his winking did that to her, she could only imagine what his hands on her body would feel like.

The thought alone made her shiver and she bit her lower lip.

"Don't do that." His voice was suddenly throaty and serious, and she looked at him startled.

"Do what?" she asked.

"Bite you lip. It makes me wanna do things to it. To you." His eyes were filled with lust and she could bet hers mirrored his perfectly in that moment.

"What things?" She said barely above a whisper. Their closeness allowed him to hear perfectly, even with all the noise around them.

"It's not something a gentleman should say out loud," he said it with a naughty look.

"Oh, then I'm willing to pretend you're a gentleman." She turned her head to him and brought a hand to her ear, indicating he should whisper whatever he was thinking to her.

He got closer to her and she thanked all the martinis she had for lowering her inhibitions, 'cause she was pretty sure she should be blushing at what he was saying.

"Okay, you're definitely not a gentleman," she laughed. "What would we even do it with?"

"Whipped cream," he shrugged as if it was obvious.

She shakes her head, trying to get rid of the images he just put there.

"You're an idiot."

"Careful. It's the second time you say this. I'll start to think it's your pet name for me." He noticed her withdraw from the subject and he respected that.

They talk some more about all types of things. Their families, their plans for Christmas, their hobbies. Soon the noise in the bar dies down and it's practically just them there. The time to go inevitably arrives and a few moments later they are on the sidewalk. Coats, scarves and gloves on, not at all ready to say goodnight.

"So, are you ready to admit defeat?" he asked getting into her personal space.

"What are you talking about?"

"This morning. You said you wouldn't enjoy going out with me. You were wrong."

"I didn't say that. I simply said I didn't want to," she explained and started smiling at his expression.

"You just lawyered me..." He frowned at her.

"I did." She nodded emphatically at that. "I guess you're not a very good lawyer." She shook her head in mock sadness.

"You know what I'm really good at?" he asked, one hand already reaching for her waist.

"What?" she asked, already knowing what was about to come. She had been waiting for it the whole night.

His answer didn't come. He held her by the chin with his other hand and softly placed his lips on hers.

The kiss was slow and sensuous. It didn't last long, after all, they were in the middle of the sidewalk in the December New York weather, but he took his time savoring the taste of her lips.

He sucked on her bottom lip and gently nipped at it, finally doing what he craved for the whole night. Both of them hummed as they parted and that had them smiling at each other once they opened their eyes.

Neither of them moved an inch from each other. The hand that had been on her chin was now at the base of her neck, his fingers moving through her red mane.

"Have coffee with me tomorrow?"

"Sure." Coffee, lunch, even a walk through the snow. That's how much she had enjoyed tonight.

He took a deep breath before letting her go and turning to the street to hail her a cab.

It didn't take long for one to stop and he opened the door for her.

He kissed her on the forehead and waited for her to get inside so he could close the door for her.

She stopped mid-movement and turned back to him.

"You know… I went grocery shopping yesterday. I'm pretty sure I bought a can of whipped cream.

There it was, that boyish grin again. With just a hint of naughty. She matched his smile when he said, "Get inside woman. Today is the day I'll happily meet my death."

She did as he said while laughing and waited for him to go around the cab to enter and sit by her side, where he kissed her once more once she told the driver her address and he took off.

.-*°✧°*-.