Who: Aisling Wilde & Darius Delacreaux What: Dancing and subterfuge Where:Excalibur When: Afer thisbackdated to 4/3 Rating: PG-13 because Ash's mouth Status: Complete!
Audrey Leradine was a real piece of work, but Ash couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. Still, it kind of sucked that she wasn’t going to get jack shit out of this evening except some dancing - not that she’d been planning on doing the horizontal tango with Delacreaux, but it had been an option until Aud had gotten all possessive girlfriend on her. (She wasn’t thinking about the fact that she wouldn’t have, even if there hadn’t been an interference. Things with Cian were tenuous, and she didn’t want to risk screwing something up when they were still figuring shit out.)
She was perched at the bar, watching the entrance when in walked a man who had a slightly confused expression on his face. Her gut told her this was her man, and so she slid off the stool and sauntered over to him, sly smile affixed. Her outfit was a predatory one - low cut blouse, micro-mini skirt that would give the Warrior Queen a run for her gil. Her heels were low and sensible - she was a dancer, and even if the night had a different kind of edge to it now, she was still determined to get this guy on the dance floor.
“Delacreaux?” she asked as soon as she got close enough for him hear her. “Nice to meet you. I’m Ash.”
Man, this place sure wasn’t entirely what he’d been expecting. Yet, what exactly had he been expecting? Thankfully, he wasn’t left long to ponder that when a rather attractive - slightly dangerous looking - woman approached asking for him with his own name. Swallowing, his adam’s apple bobbed and he smiled. “You got me. Take you’re my dance date, yeah?”
Man, he’d won the jackpot tonight now hadn’t he? Maybe he ought to try that horrible pick up line more often if it worked out this well more often.
She smiled and gave him a slow once over. Aud was seriously going to owe her after this. “Looks like.” She held out her hand. “You dance often, Delacreaux?” Now that she was really looking at him, he looked familiar but she shook off the sensation - she saw so many damn people in a day, it was hard to keep track. If he was a former customer and he recognized her, he didn’t say anything.
Someone was walking behind her, a little too close to be accidental, and she took it as a sign, stumbling forward into him, her hands flying to his chest for balance. She shot the innocent bystander a glare over her shoulder before looking up at Delacreaux and smiling. “Sorry ‘bout that.”
“Can’t say I do.” He couldn’t help but try a sly smile. it probably came off a bit more dorky than intended, but hey, he was trying. With that a hand reached out to take hers, although… He wasn’t entirely sure what to do next. Was he supposed to lead her out? Was this a more formal type dance club? Though, then she was stumbling forward, and Darius instinctively tried to raise his hands to steady her. Of course though, he was no trained fighter, or slight of hander, therefore his gut reaction landed his hands wherever they went. Thankfully, one grabbed her shoulder, the other wasn’t quite so lucky, as it seemed to grab her waist without thought.
Ah shit. Had he just jacked this up?
“You, uh….” A beat. “Okay?” His best concerned look was given, and honestly, he was. However, he was also trying not to let his slight embarrassment show through as well. Man, when had he become such an idiot?
“I’m good,” she told him, curling her fingers into the fabric of his shirt. Faram damn it, Audrey - she could feel a nice chest beneath the cloth, and she didn’t bother to push away. Instead, she stepped in closer and smiled up at him. Damn, he was a nice looking man.
A little awkward, but what the hell, weren’t most men? (Cian had been. Maybe not anymore, but he had.)
“So, you gonna take me out?”
A brief nod of his head was given to confirm his hearing of her words. She was pretty. Maybe not the prettiest girl he’d ever met, but half of that was probably the fact that he didn’t really know anything about her yet either. Ma had taught him a long time ago that looks weren’t everything, and while he did rather like nice looking women, knowing you wouldn’t want to punch them between the eyes certainly did help in the long run too.
“I did say we were gonna dance, yeah?” A smile was offered to the woman before he shifted, breaking half his body away from her as a hand swept out, and signaled towards the dance floor where he thought they would be best suited for what they’d agreed to do tonight. “Ladies first.” Another flash of a smile, and he’d wait for her to lead the way.
“That you did,” she confirmed, grabbing his hand and leading him out. There were a few surefire ways to get a guy to loosen up, and she wasn’t interested in two of them. Alcohol just got messy, and Aud had made it clear that Delacreaux was hands off for anything other that espionage, so as soon as they were on the floor, she turned around and guided his fingers down her ribs before settling them on her waist.
She grinned up at him. “Let’s dance, Delacreaux,” she said, raising on her tiptoes to say it as close to his ear as possible; the music was loud, and she didn’t feel like shouting. In time to the music, she swayed her hips, letting her own hands slide up chest to wrap around his shoulders.
It was easy to follow along, especially with what she was dressed in, and how she lead. Man, really who could blame him for checking out her ass - which she had a rather nice one - while she lead the way? What guy wouldn’t? When she took his hands, showing them where to go, he let her control them, and simply let his eyes wander briefly over where his eyes had just been before rising up again to look her in the eyes with a smile.
“Whatever the lady wants.” Darius couldn’t help but grin in return, especially with a pretty lady so close like this. From where she’d put his hands, and where her own had gone, it would be hard to do much in the way of movement other than a simple swaying, at least for now, and really, he didn’t know a better place to start.
“You come here often?” Faram, his mouth. Even when it didn’t need to be a problem it always still was.
Ash twirled to keep him from seeing the incredibly amused look on her face. By the time she was facing him again, she’d gotten it under control. “Every so often, yeah,” she told him. “They’ve got a nice, big floor.” Her grin was mischievous, as though she was referring to something that had nothing to do with the topic at hand. She wasn’t sure if he’d pick up on it or not, but it was worth a try.
She pressed a little closer, the fingers of one hand trailing up and down the back of his neck. “How ‘bout you?”
“Always helps.” The smile stayed on his face, and Darius’ head leaned forward as her hand played at the back of his neck. Man, this wasn’t going to be easy. Licking his lips, he swallowed. “Can’t say I do. Don’t go out dancing much.” It could be simple, she could just be preoccupying herself, it didn’t mean she wanted to do anything, and he needed to respect that. Hell, it wasn’t like girls picked up random guys from the network and banged them was any sort of regular thing. If his Ma had taught him anything, it was that you had to be as much of a gentleman as you could muster for the first time.
A slight push of his hand would work to shift her hips, a gentle nudge to a spot slightly less crowded that he thought may be easier for conversation if they were going to talk. “I don’t get out much, work demands a lot.” The smile offered with his words was a tired one, but still a smile regardless. “Only hope it hasn’t worn me out too bad tonight. Would hate to not be able to keep up.” With that, a hand dipped down, softly gripping one of her hands before bringing it up over her head to twirl her around.
She would have had to stumble onto the one gentleman in Emillion. How the hell did Leradine get mixed up with him? Guy seemed too damn nice for the likes of Audrey. Hell, he seemed too damn nice for anyone she knew, herself included. He twirled her and she spun back to face him, body moving to the beat.
“You’re doing pretty good for someone who doesn’t dance much,” she told him. “Now, let’s see if we can teach you some new moves, Delacreaux.”
By the end of the night, Delacreaux had a new step in his arsenal and Ash had a clean report to give to Audrey. All in all, a decent way to spend an evening