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You always think that the biggest decisions in your life will be preceded by some sort of warning, an internal alarm system of some kind. A nervous system that will alert you to things like an old flame turning up again like a bad penny, offering dangerous smiles and impossible choices.
But it's not like that at all.
Your body is just as ignorant of the coming choice as you are.
So it's entirely possible that you'll be standing in a parking lot in Oldtown, leaning against a wall and wondering if you’re desperate enough to relax to buy cheap corner store alcohol, when that moment comes.
That was where I saw him again.
At first he looked like just another shifty silhouette against the streetlights, a petty criminal or prostitute.
Yeah, this wasn’t a great part of town.
He walked closer than the other patrons did, though, dangerously close. I had one hand on my gun before I smelled that cologne and he smirked at me in that way he does and I knew .
I didn’t let go of my gun.
“Nureyev,” I said, keeping my voice smooth, unbothered - the opposite of what I was feeling. “You know there’s still a warrant out for your arrest, right?”
“Taking the time to warn me, love?” he asked, that smirk just as attractive after all this time. “You really do care.” And just as infuriating.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to punch or kiss it off his face.
He cleared his throat and stepped forward. I would have backed away, but I could already feel the cold brick behind me and knew I couldn’t go far. Whatever, I was just as good a shot in close quarters.
“I do have a purpose here, Juno,” he continued, looking into my eyes with a solemnity that I had a hard time believing.
“And here I thought you wanted one last look at my pretty face before I called the cops on you.”
Nureyev shook his head. “You know what happened last time you called the cops, and I don’t believe you’re foolish enough to make the same mistake twice.”
As much I wanted to snark at him, he had a point. “Fine. Say your piece, then get out.”
He didn’t bother with any more excuses, just checked the surrounding area slowly and careful. Apparently satisfied with what he saw, he stepped closer to me again, pushing my back against the wall. I was about to push back when he began whispering, his breath warm against my cheek and sending shivers racing along my skin.
“Juno, there is someone after you. I don’t know her name, I don’t know what she wants. But rest assured, she is extremely powerful. I know you already have enemies here, but they are nothing compared to her.”
That woman.
The one I heard while I was on that crazy Martian pill.
I grabbed the collar of Peter’s shirt, pulling him down till his face was barely inches from mine. “How do you know about her? What else do you know?”
He stared at me for a silent moment, lips parted and pupils dilated - and so maybe I had the same distracting effect on him that he had on me. I couldn’t think about that now, though, I needed to know more about this person who was after me. “Come on, Nureyev,” I growled, not letting go of his shirt. “You said I wasn’t foolish, and I’m proving that now. I know that you have to know more.”
Nureyev was breathing heavily, eyes locked onto mine. “I,” he began, but had to stop and swallow, try to catch his breath.
So maybe I was enjoying having said distracting effect on him.
A lady’s gotta have fun somehow.
“Nureyev,” I said after another moment, and he tipped his head back and took a deep breath.
“You’re right, Juno,” he finally answered, talking more towards the rust clouding the sky above us than he was to me. “I do know more than I told you.” Nureyev looked back down at me, and there was something in his eyes that I hadn’t seen before. Uncertainty? Fear? I couldn’t quite place it. But it was unsettling. He continued, “And that’s why I can’t tell you any more.”
“Damnit, Nureyev!” I cried, pushing him forward and spinning us until I had him against the wall. “I need to know!”
“I told you before and I’ll tell you again,” he breathed, his chest rising and falling quickly against my own. I could feel every rib in his chest even through his shirt, and I had the weirdest thought that I wanted to drag him inside and make him eat a hot meal. The thought disappeared when he kept talking. “Qualifiers. You only want to know.” He grinned at me, and I could tell it was only a cover for that disconcerting fear in his eyes it still infuriated me. Nureyev had the nerve to smirk at me like that, like he had all the power and time in the world, when I had him pinned against a grimy brick wall in Oldtown while the beginnings of a dust storm swirled around our ankles.
I couldn’t stand it.
I lunged forward, catching his lips with my own and kissing him harshly. His head snapped back under the force, and would have hit the wall hard if I hadn’t slid a hand behind it to cushion the impact. As it was, I was probably going to have scraped knuckles for the next week.
It would be worth it.
He was just as irresistible as I remembered.
God , he was strong. Nureyev had one hand on my neck and the other on my leg, pulling me closer still until I had my knee braced on the wall and every line in his body was pressed against mine. Two could play at the irresistible game, though, and I cocked my head to one side and opened my mouth. The kiss was messy and hot and dangerously close to emotional.
Nureyev practically sighed into my mouth, and he let go of my neck to grab my other leg and pick me up just long enough to turn and pin me against the wall again.
I would have objected, but he had broken the kiss to murmur words I couldn’t make out (Hah. ‘Make out’. Hilarious.) into my neck in between bites and kisses and I barely had the brainpower to keep holding onto him so I didn’t slide onto the pavement.
He probably would have been able to pick me up again if I did start falling.
I couldn’t pretend I didn’t find that sexy.
“Nureyev,” I said, and I did not moan no matter what he said later. “That woman… What you know about her.”
He froze, lips close enough to still be brushing the skin on my collarbone. It made it very difficult to concentrate. “Juno, please, not-”
I cut him off before he could get the words out. “She can wait, right?” I pushed him away just far enough that I could see his face. (If I looked half as wrecked as Nureyev did right now… Damn.) “You told me that life could wait for one night. Is that offer still open?”
He smiled - not a smirk this time, a smile, softer and happier and I wanted to wake up to that smile as often as possible.
But I knew that could never happen. We were too different.
Tonight, though. That could definitely happen. ‘Ill-advised one night stands’ was practically my middle name.
Or it used to be, until I ran into him.
“Of course, Juno,” he murmured, lips tingling against my skin as he pressed a surprisingly gentle kiss to what I was fairly certain was a bruise that he had left there. “Anytime.”