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Post by Luke Gallagher on Jan 6, 2012 20:48:03 GMT -5
And change everything it would, in some ways it already had. There wasn't a doubt of it, as Luke thought back over the years since Chicago when they'd found reasons to go their separate ways, work their own cons. They had managed to coexist, to remain friends because it would have been too hard to walk away entirely - and neither of them was bound to leave Five Points because of what was between them, they just didn't operate that way. Their gaze held for a long time, Luke examining those eyes of steel in the hooded shadows of the carriage and wondering if they were really ready for the turn everything was about to take.
"Maybe it's truer still that you have to waste a little time," Luke said finally, letting his thumb run up across her cheek as he shifted a little closer, finding the movement natural and welcome as she slid against him on the carriage seat. "Maybe ye need to do some runnin' before you figure out what makes sense..." He was musing out loud, considering the truth in his own actions - he had always prided himself on knowing the next step, being able to navigate the treacherous paths they traveled. But this was something different altogether.
He laughed a little as he realized what he said, the sound filling the carriage and he looked down at her fondly, smiling a little as he did. "Not that we make sense, darlin', we never did." But that had hardly ever mattered because it had somehow, someway made sense to them even after all these years - and for Luke that was reason enough to stop running. "Come 'ere lass," He said softly, using the hand on Lia's neck to pull her closer and finally bridge the distance that has separated them for years, pressing his mouth against hers.
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Post by Amelia MacKenna on Jan 6, 2012 20:59:00 GMT -5
Her brow raised as he mused allowed, tilting her head just a little bit more into his hand as she considered what he said herself. It was true, in a way. Find out what is important by what you are willing to leave and yet not able to let go of. She'd, never really had anything like that before. Her attachment to things and people had never really been strong, she'd never really been able to hold onto anything long enough for her to form any kind of attachment to it. Even has the carriage shifted around them, bringing her closer to him she was still thinking about how this probably was the only thing she'd ever had that mattered enough for her to want to keep it. Her relationship with Luke how ever the cards fell was important and that stunned her a bit at the realization.
Her lips curved as he laughed, unable to fight the smile that crossed her features. Damn the man, he could make her smile with a laugh where was she going to be? "Did we ever?" she inquired, her brow raising once more as his hand moved to the back of her neck urging her towards him. Years, it had been years, years together, years apart and years just out of arms reach. She took off her gloves the moment his lips found hers, pressing her warm hands to his face as she returned it. She wasn't a woman unused to kissing. But, there was something about kissing someone you genuinely cared about that changed the playing field.
She'd never been the reckless type, perhaps she should have thought to be. To many factors and she was the cautious sort, yet her hands moved into his hair as she drew him closer. Responding with her lips what she had a hard time putting to words. What she probably didn't know the words to convey.
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Post by Luke Gallagher on Jan 6, 2012 21:18:45 GMT -5
She seemed to come alive in his arms, it was something that he had always remembered, that he had always thought about in the moments he had allowed himself to indulge in thoughts of Lia. How her body shifted, warm and willing. The way her hands felt cool and warm all at once against the skin of his face and the softness of her lips against his own. It was perhaps rather like opening a gift and finding a treasure, the way that Lia melted into him and seemed to light up beside him. And it wasn't as though he were immune to her either, his own body responding to the feeling of her small and thin beside him and those feminine curves enticing in that long ago forgotten way.
Luke was a man about town - many towns - and he wasn't bashful about the saying so. He'd held and kissed and made time with a great many women, but none of them quite had the capabilities to make his heart race the way that Lia did. Nor did they cause that burning need that began somewhere in his belly and smoldered, urging him to pull her closer and plunder her mouth as though he were a starving man.
And for a few long moments Luke did just that, searching for the answers to questions he'd been asking for years in the softness of her touch and the heat of her mouth. He found some, picked up a few more questions and then dumped them all in favor of savoring Lia. Because despite the hard edges and the toughness that had guided his steps and made him a lethally dangerous man to have a conversation with, Luke had a warmth a genuineness that aided in his conquests. But also made him weak to feeling, to the very emotions that were overwhelming him as he finally pulled away from Lia, pressing a gentle kiss against the corner of her mouth. "It appears...that not much as changed darlin'."
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Post by Amelia MacKenna on Jan 6, 2012 21:31:59 GMT -5
"Suppose not," she breathed when he pulled away, her hands still in his hair at the base of his neck. She was flushed and wanting more though she had to try and slow her speeding heart. Truth told she was the kind of woman that knew men, and the kind that had done terrible things to men she'd lay with. If they wanted her there were generally a consequence for any man to underestimate her. But she was never so warm and willing with them, never let them take where she let Luke. She wasn't a woman to the men that had wanted her before but a trophy to show they could hold her and touch. This was different, so much it had her face flushed.
Her fingers slowly released his hair and moved to his shoulders, they'd launched at one another in Chicago, part of the con or not. But the truth was staring at them both in the way they were looking at each other now. Her fingers moved to his face, brushing along his cheek as she moved a hair closer to him. The woman in the blue dress was not Madeline, the wealthy proprietress with a husband that would die unexpectedly. No, she was Amelia, the near orphan woman who had become a wealthy woman through being able to lie and show no emotion on her face. Yet, here it was, for all the world to see. "Where do we go from here?"
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Post by Luke Gallagher on Jan 6, 2012 21:50:48 GMT -5
She was Lia to him, indeed. With icy looks that could freeze another soul and yet Luke knew the warmth that lingered underneath those eyes, in those curves that men longed for and paid for trying to attain. Luke knew that there was strength inside her tiny frame and a mind that worked fast and quick - and all those things made up the woman with whom he tangled, and whom he'd gladly tangle with again and again. "We have always been pretty good at wingin' it," Luke commented, lifting a hand and finding a strand of blond hair and twisting it around his fingers, much as he had done in the kitchen just hours before. "I think we just keep doin' what works for us, aye?"
They were nearing the Upper East Side now and Luke glanced out the window, knowing they were drawing near to the place she rented. It would be easy to disembark from the carriage with her, to walk up the steps and into the rooms inside and carry her off to bed as he so desired. But something stopped him, because Lia wasn't some lass he had trussed up to take home after a night on the town with the lads, she was...more. And after Chicago he was admittedly cautious about the steps that he took regarding Lia, because as they moved forward he was well aware that there was always the chance that one or both of them would turn and run again.
"Perhaps ye should stay the night here," Luke said quietly after a time, turning back to look at her and finding those intense eyes even in the darkness of the carriage. "And I will go back to the Racs, keep an eye on things there, aye?" It was words with meaning dressed up in a casual offer because it made the asking of it all the easier. Luke knew he needed time to think, to examine and give his racing heart a chance to settle - and there as little chance of that with her so easily and enticingly within reach.
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Post by Amelia MacKenna on Jan 6, 2012 23:08:52 GMT -5
Amelia's lips quirked at his suggestion, tilting her back a bit to shack her hair off of her neck. Letting the cool air try to calm her speeding heart. That probably didn't help either of them, but they were still just as close. Her fingers brushed his collar as she looked past him out to the street. It was looking more familiar now, she noted, taking a breath as she looked over her shoulder, seeing her house not far down. The house she rarely saw save for rare occasions.
Her eyes turned back to his when he spoke and for some reason she smiled, oddly that sounded like a good idea. Her heart was racing her blood was still as heated as it had been. And she didn't want to ruin what they did have, a whole lot of hot emotions with a long standing friendship thrown in. She nodded, "It might be for the best." Though something in her wanted to keep him close, she wanted nothing more it-- felt like a night apart wouldn't kill them. They'd done it before.
Impulsively she pressed her lips back to his, but it was gentle and not a hit fire, the kind of kiss that stoked flames to keep a fire burning more than igniting them. A kiss that she had never given another human in her life, her hand moved to his shoulder, even as he carriage rolled to a stop. "I'll be back in the morning, Derrek and I have a meeting to discuss the books." And she did have most of her things at her room there, here she kept enough to change if she needed.
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Post by Luke Gallagher on Jan 7, 2012 9:38:40 GMT -5
He caught her chin with his hand just before she pulled away and extended the kiss a moment longer, knowing that walking away for the night was the best, but still wanting the taste of her lingering on his tongue. Finally he released her, smiling as she explained her plans for the morning and he nodded. "Ye know where I will be lass, meetin' Finn for a drink later but otherwise I'll be at Racs." He studied her for a moment, finally noting that the carriage had stopped rolling along and Luke moved to exit.
"Ye stay and wait for me!" He called up to the driver as he climbed down from the carriage and then turned to offer Lia his hand, smiling gallantly if a little cheekily as he waited for her to step down. She was a grand woman, there was no doubt of it - complex and layer and beautiful and fascinating and Luke liked knowing all the little pieces of that and building them together into a woman who made his blood run hot. Once she had stepped down from onto the street beside him, Luke took her hand and tucked it in his arm and turned to walk her up to the door.
He supposed some would be surprised to know such gallantry existed in his frame - it was true he played at it well enough and a charming smile tended to distract from the rest. But perhaps it was that Lia brought out the best in him, or the worst in him depending on the situation he supposed. Whatever it was, Luke wasn't willing to part without walking her to the door and he waited when they arrived there for her to retrieve the key. When she did so, Luke leaned down and caught her mouth one final time, aware of the watching carriage driver and passerbys on the street. "I'll see ye in the mornin' darlin'."
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Post by Amelia MacKenna on Jan 8, 2012 18:13:10 GMT -5
It shouldn't have been so, normal in a fashion. Breathtakingly normal like being courted, a practice of which she'd seen but never once experienced without someone having an ulterior motive. Her dark eyes warmed when he drew her out of the carriage and walked her up the steps. What she'd heard Charlotte say a time or two seemed to be accurate, when it was friendship mixed in with the lust and so much more.
She glanced back at the coach and nodded before reaching the top of the stairs, glancing up at him. No other man with his charm could make her feel warm inside. Granted, she didn't think there was anyone who had that power. There hadn't been a time since she was too small to remember that she felt warm, unless it was Luke teasing her into a smile. They did bring out the best and possibly worst in one another, now it was just seeing how much more it was going to bring. His lips on hers had her heart beat racing in an instant, as quick as it was it was over but still left her toes curling.
"See you in the mornin'," give her time to think truth be told but more it would give her time to figure out how much it changed. In public with the gang and not, her brow furrowed and she decided that she honestly didn't give a tinkers damn. Her lips caught his again, just a taste before she lowered to her feet and moved her hand for the door, a key fished out of her cloth purse as she turned the lock. The chill from inside was clear, there were no fires lit, no one expected her. "Good night, Luke."
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