InsaneJournal

After spending an enjoyable evening with Howard at the museum and distillery earlier in the week, Mary agreed to accompany him on the waterfall excursion that Wednesday. The two of them had spent quite a bit of time in each other’s company, which led Mary to wonder if what they were doing was ‘dating’? She didn’t ‘date’ back home. Women of her time and social class courted. Dating was much more casual. That seemed to be what was happening here. She and Howard hadn’t even kissed yet.

Mary was trying not to analyze their time spent together too much. She would probably seek advice later from Peggy (and from Tony, who seemed mildly disturbed when Mary and Howard were together at the distillery), but for now, she was just going to have fun and enjoy herself.

Howard had convinced her to go swimming, and since she still had her swimsuit that she bought in Hawaii, she was keen to use it. Being a two piece, it made her feel a bit self-conscious. Even if it was closer to what women in her time would wear instead of modern swimsuits, there was still so much skin showing.

Mary planned on relaxing by the waterfall for the day, so she wore her bikini covered with a tightly wrapped kimono and sandals. She carried the parasol that she had been using the whole week. The sun was unbearable on this planet, but fortunately between her hats and the parasol she had gotten relatively little color. Before removing the robe, she took off one of her sandals and gingerly put a toe into the water.

“It seems quite mild,” she told Howard.


“Mild is good,” Howard said with a grin as he shook out the blanket they’d brought for the day. Considering the heat of that red sun up in the sky, he probably should have brought some sort of a sun shade so Mary didn’t burn to a crisp, but he was confident that if they needed it, he could rig something up with what they had.

The swimming shorts he’d picked up on their earlier outing were a lot longer than the style he was accustomed to, the cut and color geared more toward Fornaxians than a fine human specimen like himself. Well, fine for the average man of his time. Not so fine compared to Rogers. Or Barnes. Or a few others.

He shrugged off the robe he’d brought with him and left it on the blanket with the rest of their things and kicked off his shoes before joining her at the water. “The water looks pretty calm, too.”


Mary gave his bare chest a quick sweep with her eyes, though she didn’t stare. That would probably be uncalled for, even though she was fairly sure that Howard wouldn’t be upset about it. “It’s entirely Fornaxian made, so I suppose they’re able to control it,” she replied. All in all, it looked very relaxing.

She turned from the water in order to take off her other sandal. There was a moment of hesitation before she slipped the robe down her shoulders and off of her body. Mary reminded herself that the suit was hardly scandalous and that nobody would think she was underdressed.

Returning to the edge of the pool, Mary sat down and put her feet in the water in order to grow accustomed to the temperature before getting in. She still held the parasol over her head for now in order to protect herself from the sun.


Howard kept himself from staring as Mary shed her robe, but it was a close call. A very close call. He was trying to be his charming self and still be respectful of a woman he found challenging and intriguing, but it was a difficult line to walk. For him at least.

Unlike Mary, Howard didn’t wait to acclimate to the water before he waded in to his knees. The temperature difference between the sun and the water was a slight shock to his system, but it was refreshing. “It’s giving me a few ideas on changes I can make to my swimming pool at home.” He smiled at her over the rim of his sunglasses, looking at her over his shoulder. “Come on, beautiful, it’s not that bad.”


Honestly, she’d be a little worried if he didn’t look. While she didn’t have any idea where she and Howard were going - if they were going anywhere together - it was obvious that he was attracted to her. She found herself equally drawn to him and thoroughly enjoyed his company.

Mary was more worried about having the sun on her than about the actual temperature of the water. She only hesitated for a moment though before she left her parasol out on the rocky shore and slowly slid into the pool. She gave a little squeal at the sudden coolness, but it felt good on such a hot day. After wading over to him, she put her hand on his arm. “I hardly ever went swimming at home. We weren’t close enough to the shore and nobody had a pool at their house in Yorkshire during my years.”


Howard led her slowly out further, his fingers moving to caress the hand resting on his arm. “It’s too bad we aren’t in L.A. The weather is beautiful most of the year… And my pool is heated.” He picked her hand up and lifted it to his lips to brush a kiss across her knuckles. “We could swim year-round in complete privacy.”


Her lips quirked in a smile at his words and at the way he lifted her hand to his lips. Howard had a tendency to lay it on thick, but Mary had a tendency to lap it up.

“I’d say it’s relatively private here,” she replied. Of course there were other people from the ship milling around, but they were in their own section of the pool. One of the waterfalls was off to their left, close enough to be enjoyed, but far enough away that the roar of the water didn’t disturb their conversation.


“Relatively is the key word there,” he teased, gently placing her hand back on his arm. “I designed the pool area myself so it's at the center of the house. It's surrounded on three sides, and there's a very tall, very solid wall on the fourth side.”

Howard may have been bragging a little, but he didn't seriously expect Mary to be impressed by his house. She'd been raised in an English manor house that was probably older than the city of Los Angeles… but that didn't mean he wasn't proud of his little country house, especially since he'd worked for and earned every single brick.


“That does sound very private,” Mary said, leaning close to him. Her own house was grand, but that didn't mean she wouldn't want to see his too. She wasn't the type of woman who was often around new money, or men who pulled themselves up by their bootstraps. Her grandmother would probably find Howard gauche, but Mary liked his confidence. There was nothing more attractive to her than a confident man. “So what do you do in your very private pool?”


Honestly, Howard threw a lot of parties. He invited the Hollywood elite and starlets by the dozen. He wooed potential investors and producers and women alike. But he wasn't about to tell Mary that quite yet. His often single-minded dedication to his business essential interests was one of his least popular personality traits.

So he gave her a cheeky grin and, deciding to push his luck a little, slipped an arm anoint her waist. His fingers just barely brushed the exposed skin on her back, but they didn't stay there. “Beautiful, I do anything I want there.”


Mary shivered just a little when she felt his fingers on her back before his arm moved around her waist. She probably ought to have moved away, but she didn't. “Of course you do,” she said. “You strike me as the type of man who does what he pleases, one who doesn't hear the word ‘no’ very often.”

She wasn't sure where that revelation left her. He was undoubtedly moving in on her and Mary wasn't sure if she was going to tell him no or not.


Howard was moving in, but not quite then. He thought she was interested, but she still needed to get comfortable, with him, with how forward he was. So he’d wait. He’d bide his time. He’d take big steps forward and then little steps back until he thought she was more ready.

“Oh, I hear it,” he laughed, keeping his arm around her secure without pulling her any closer. He’d let her make that move. “I hear it a lot, actually. I just don’t let it deter me.”


Mary was interested, but she was also hesitant. Peggy’s stories and Tony’s warnings loomed in the back of her mind. It was true that she hadn't really seen him flirt this hard with any of the other women on the ship. Her worry though was that he didn't so much want her and just wanted her body. It seemed like most of the men on the ship only wanted uncomplicated sex. Unfortunately for Mary, sex in and of itself had a way of complicating things.

She moved her arm around his back as they waded further into the pool. Even though the sun was beating down on them, the cool water was very relaxing. “You're a typical American, you know?” She teased with a smile. “And I actually don't mean that as an insult.”


“Well, I can’t argue with you about that,” he laughed, slowing their progress to a stop as he felt a sudden drop in the floor beneath their feet. He was a damn good swimmer, but swimming made conversation harder, so maybe hanging where they were for a while would be just the ticket. With a dip or two to wet their skin and protect it from the heat, of course. “And I would never take it as an insult, even if it was meant as one.” He’d been called worse things before.

But Howard paused for a second, feeling like he had to explain why he was the way he was. Why he didn’t allow an initial ‘no’ to stop him in any aspect of his life that wasn’t the bedroom. “My Pop… he helped me with some initial start up capital when I formed Stark Industries, but it wasn’t much. Shockingly, people don’t want to trust a seventeen year-old with a lot of money, even if that seventeen year old is a genius working on their second degree. I paid him and Ma back a hundredfold before he passed, but other than that, everything I’ve got, I earned myself. I worked hard for it and sometimes I like to show it off.”


She clung to him a bit more tightly when she noticed the drop under their feet. Mary moved to where she was facing him and dipped down into the water, enjoying the coolness of it.

His story was that of most typical American millionaires. The nouveau riche always liked to show off. Normally it didn't impress her, and maybe Howard wouldn't have if they were back home. There was something about him though that drew her in. Maybe it was his persistence and his intelligence. She fully believed that he had worked hard for everything he'd earned.

“You already had a degree by the time you were seventeen?” Mary asked.


If Howard could have swallowed when she came back up out of the water, he would have, but his mouth was suddenly as dry as the desert planet they were on. He recovered as quickly as he could, thankful for the cool water hiding his much more obvious reaction, and dipped himself. “I did. Mechanical Engineering from MIT was the first one.” He’d completed the coursework for one in Chemistry as well, but chose to focus on the other. More opportunities in that arena and he could go back for his degree any time he wanted.

He splashed a little more water on Mary’s back, just incase she was starting to redden. He didn’t think she was but it was something to do that allowed him to focus for a second on all that pale, distracting skin. “I was going for Business and Economics at Wharton when I officially founded my company.” Which was an important distinction. Because success hadn’t been instantaneous for him. It hadn’t been until he had met Abraham Erskine and Chester Phillips that things had really taken off.


She noticed the look at least and smiled. Mary always liked having that effect on men. It made her want to show off a bit more, but she didn't want to taunt him. Instead she put her arms around his neck like they were dancing and tried not to admire the way the droplets of water clung to his chest. She was glad that the area they were in was a least a bit secluded without other members of the ship ogling them.

“I think you're well aware that's pretty impressive.” She gave a short laugh. “It makes me feel quite silly actually because I have no degree, though I certainly wouldn't have been able to get one before seventeen anyway.”


Oh, well, hello. Howard couldn’t have stopped the smug smirk as Mary looped her arms around his neck if he had wanted to. This was definitely a good sign that she was getting more comfortable around him. He brought his other arm around to her waist as well, keeping his hands strictly in the safe area between Mary’s hips and her ribs, as if they were dancing.

“You shouldn’t feel silly,” he said, pulling her just a tiny bit closer. “Everyone has their talents. You are far more sophisticated and composed than I could ever hope to be.” Which was the truth. Compared to her, he felt a little bit like a bull in a china shop.


Mary was comfortable with him. He'd showed her a lot of attention and she liked him. She didn't mind getting a bit closer to him, as there wasn't much of a doubt that she was attracted to him.

“To be fair, I never really had dreams of going to university,” she said, “though I suppose if I did, I would want some sort of business degree… management or accounting or something.” She was clever with math, though no genius, and she enjoyed the financial aspect of managing the estate.


“Well, there’s no time like the present, I say,” he said, the smug aspect bleeding out of his grin. His eyes never left Mary’s once she was nice and close, though his hands might have begun to wander just a smidge, gliding up and down her sides to try to distract himself from the idea of pulling her in close and kissing the daylights out of her. “I was thinking about taking a few classes myself, brushing up on the newer advances… Maybe we could take a course together and be study buddies.”


“Study buddies?” Mary quirked an eyebrow at him. She had a strong feeling that he wanted to do a lot more than study. “Unfortunately, they have no use for accountants in this time, since most goods can be automated at will. I've taken an interest in diplomacy and got to observe some of the talks earlier this week.”

When his hands started to move across her skin, she actually shivered, even though a warm sensation rolled down her spine.


“You can always study that,” he said, looking a tiny bit more smug when his fingertips picked up that slight shiver. “Heaven knows I could stand to learn more about it. It would probably help in my business deals.”

Howard’s hands didn’t stop moving, though they strayed more and more toward the exposed skin on her back. Her sides… that might be too much for him if he wanted to remember to be a gentleman. “Am I tickling you? Would you like me to stop?”


“If there are classes about it, I would be interested in taking them,” Mary said. “Not ticklish… maybe just a bit cold from the water.” And from the enjoyment she felt at having his hands caress her bare skin. She pulled one of her hands up from around his neck and brushed her fingers absentmindedly over his collarbone.


“I’m sure we can find something for you to bite into.” At the mention of being cold, he pulled her in even closer, until she was pressed against his chest and she was held securely in his arms. “Can’t have you catching a chill.” Howard huffed out a short, soft laugh. “I’d suggest we move around a bit more, but I’m really enjoying the way things are right now.”


Well, that worked just about how she had expected it to. Mary was flush against him now and she was sure that her heart was pounding. “Yes,” she replied, her voice a bit breathless. “I think staying right here is the best course of action. I feel warmer already.” This was the closest she had ever been to him. Her eyes scanned his face before meeting his. “You know, very few men in my time wore mustaches. Has it come back into vogue in yours?”


Oh, he liked it when her voice sounded like that, all breathy. He was going to have to work on figuring out every way there was to make her make that sound again. “Moustaches are enjoying a resurgence in some circles,” he said, his voice soft and low. He wanted, very much, to kiss her but it would be presumptuous…

Oh, hell. He was a presumptuous kind of guy, but he could give her a moment’s warning in case he was reading the signs wrong. “Mary… if you don’t push me away, I’m going to kiss you.”


His words sent another shiver through her as he eyes lingered on his lips. “I think that's what I want,” she murmured. “Purely for science, of course. I've never kissed a man with a mustache.”

Teasing, of course, though true. Mary leaned in a bit closer and cocked her head the the side. Her lips were mere inches from his, but she wanted to let him make the first move.


“Far be it from me to deny science.” Howard briefly grinned before one of his hands slipped up Mary’s back along her spine until he could cradle the back of her head. He leaned in and brushed his lips across hers, barely making contact in the most teasingly way he knew how, before pressing in closer with his full body. It was a chaste kiss for the first few moments, but it wasn’t long at all until Howard made a sound that was somewhere between a whimper and a moan and he was nibbling lightly at her lips.


Mary pulled close, one hand sliding down his back while the other moved to his neck. His lips felt soft and warm against hers and she returned the kiss, even when it started to get a bit less than chaste. She opened her lips slightly and let out a gentle sigh as she deepened the kiss. It was easy for her to forget that they were technically in public.


The fact that they were technically in public didn’t leave Howard’s mind- Habit. The photographers were always hounding him back home, waiting to see which new starlet would grace his arm. If he were honest, it was probably ninety percent of why he got dates. Guaranteed press coverage. But the benefit of Fornax was that not one single resident cared about him here. No one wanted to see his face, or who he was with, or what he was wearing, and it was a freeing sensation. Or it would be. When he recognized it. Once he was a little less busy.

His lips parted along with Mary’s as she deepened the kiss. Though the hand at her head was gentle and stayed in place, threading his fingers through her soft, sweet-smelling hair, his other hand moved from her hips to between her shoulderblades, then back down to her lower back. He liked every single thing he was experiencing in that moment and, if he were a stronger man, he’d pull back before things got carried away. But he wasn’t a stronger man. He was weak, so weak, and wanted more, wanted everything she was willing to share.


She dared to move the hand from his neck up to run her fingers through his hair, just briefly. The kiss was delightful, and there was a brief longing to deepen it even further, but the heat of the sun on her skin reminded her of the fact that they were outside in public. Mary gently pulled her lips back from his, though she lingered close to his face. “It didn’t tickle as much as I thought it might,” she said of his mustache.

Even beyond being in public, Mary knew that she shouldn’t let this go too far, at least not until she and Howard had a frank discussion about his intentions. If this was just fun for him and she could be easily substituted for any other woman on the ship, then she didn’t think it would go very far beyond kissing, at least as far as intimacy went.


Howard didn’t fight it when Mary pulled away. He didn’t chase her lips, even though he wanted to. His grip on her relaxed in case she wanted to put a little space between their bodies, but he didn’t release her entirely. He just kept his touches light, almost teasing, so his continued interest was clear.

“From what I understand, it depends on where you’re being kissed.”


She didn't pull away from him entirely, though she did put enough space between their faces so that she could look up at him.

“Does it?” She said quietly. “Guess I'll need to do further research then.”

That was cheeky and she knew it. Mary was trying not to rile him up too much. Hopefully he could take just a little bit of teasing.


Oh, he liked Mary being cheeky. He liked any woman being cheeky, because he was cheeky himself, but he really liked it from Mary.

“Well, I’m happy to provide any assistance you might require in this endeavor.” Howard did chase Mary then, but only enough to drop a tiny peck to the tip of her nose. It was meant to be a sweet gesture, teasing and affectionate without pushing any boundaries she had set.


The kiss on her nose seemed surprisingly sweet and it made her laugh suddenly. Maybe he really did have an interest in her and not simply in sex with a willing participant. It made her want to be serious for a moment and ask him what he was after, but she wondered if this was the time or place for that.

“You're good at that. You must have a lot of experience.”


Howard laughed at that, gently urging her into the water to stave off any burning that might be thinking about happening. “Practice makes perfect, beautiful,” he teased. Saying anything else would have done her a disservice and Howard was many things, but ashamed of his romantic past was not one of him. He was a normal, healthy young man who enjoyed the company of beautiful, engaging women. He had nothing to hide in that respect.


She sank back down in the water to cool off, enjoying the feeling of it on her skin. Mary reached out for his hand as she waded.

“I've heard there's been a lot of practicing in your life, though curiously not very much on this ship.”

At least not any she had seen or heard about, but of course she couldn't be everywhere all at once. What Howard had done in the past wasn't much of a concern to her. It was the present that interested her more.


“Have you heard that now?” he asked, arching a brow in her direction while he took her hand and followed her further out. “Maybe I’ve decided to save the practicing until I find the right partner.”


Mary gave a nod, conceding that. “But do you practice with only one partner or do you like to get in a lot of practice all at once?”

The conversation was still playful, even though she was curious as to what his answer would be. Perhaps she could get some answers this way without them having a serious talk yet. When they were in deeper water, Mary wrapped her arms around his shoulders again so that she wouldn’t have to kick as much to stay afloat.


“I think in this case, a lot of practicing with a single partner is the best course of action.” Howard was a strong swimmer, so keeping both himself and Mary safely afloat was no problem. He even showed off a little, spinning them around while taking them out further away from shore.


That actually earned a raised brow from Mary. “Do you?” She wanted to say that she was surprised, but she didn't want to insult him. At least it was the answer she was looking for.

Mary clung to him, laughing lightly as he spun them. “I think we should try the experiment again. I've read that scientists do experiments many times in order to make sure that the results are the same.”


“Well, speaking as a scientist,” he said with that grin ever-growing, “I can safely say that what you’ve read is completely accurate. It’s important to assure the validity of your findings by recreating your experiment.” He wasn’t going to mention the whole peer-review thing, because that would mean Mary going around and finding other men with mustaches to kiss. He tried not to be the jealous type, but Howard was all too human.

He held her close, legs kicking idly in the water to make sure they stayed afloat, and leaned in again.


“Mmm, I thought you’d agree,” she murmured quietly before pressing her lips to his again. Mary didn’t want to take it much further than this, especially in a public swimming pool, but it felt nice to be kissing a man. Her arms tightened her embrace, pulling her in closer as her mouth opened slightly against his again. Overall, the was a very nice way to spend a morning. There would be plenty of time for she and Howard to have a more serious discussion later.