♫
Oh, I just wanna take you anywhere that you'd like We could go out any day, any night Baby, I'll take you there, take you there Baby, I'll take you there, yeah Oh, tell me, tell me, tell me how to turn your love on You can get, get anything that you want Baby just shout it out, shout it out Baby just shout it out, yeah And if you, you want me to Let's make a moveYeah, so tell me girl if every time we To-o-uch, you get this kind of ru-u-ush Baby, say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah If you don't wanna take it slow And you just wanna take me home Baby, say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah And let me kiss you
Kiss You - One Direction
He certainly wasn’t what anyone would call a “womanizer” by any means, but since his last relationship had ended so disastrously, Shiloh had made it more of a habit to flirt out of fun than out of a need to seriously pursue anything with anyone. For all he knew, he wasn’t ready to be a boyfriend again anyway, and while flirting was harmless, relationships meant putting yourself on the line again and anything could happen then.
Flirting with Josephine had been different though. For one thing, he wasn’t sure if she even got the fact that he was flirting with her, and for another, every time his phone buzzed and he thought it might be her, his entire stomach flipped upside down and his palms got sweaty. That wasn’t something he was used to and as he invited her to hang out one on one for the first time, without his sister and her strange best friend as extra company, he felt more nervous than he would’ve ever guessed he still could. Josephine was easy to please and easier to smile but he still didn’t want to mess ‘this’ up, whatever this was.
Picking her up in a carriage made this feel a little bit like a date, but neither of them had said it was, so he tried his hardest to ignore that feeling. He also tried his hardest to ignore the way the space in between their seats felt -- it was technically empty but it felt so charged with some sort of energy that he felt like he could burst out of his skin. For all he knew though, it was just in his head. After all, Josephine hadn’t done or said anything to make him think that she thought of him in any special way. She was kind to him, absolutely, but he couldn’t imagine she wasn’t kind to absolutely everyone, not to mention that when it came to sexual experience, it didn’t sound as if she had much of it at all. He was happy to just be friends, even if his hands shook when he opened the door for them and put a hand lightly on her back as he guided her out of the carriage into his home.
The chefs had already been warned and a feast of French fries was waiting for them, along with fries ordered from a lot of the major fast food chains nearby on CarriageEats. Ketchup and mustard and ranch and many other condiments waited by like soliders ready to go, and because Shiloh knew this much potato could be heavy, he had palette cleansers ready to go. With an explanation that he hadn’t known which fries were her favorites so he’d just ordered them all, lots of laughs, and showing each other their favorites, the food portion of the hangout went well. It wasn’t as well put together as one of Josephine’s tea parties, but she didn’t seem to judge him for it. For all the things she was, judgemental was entirely not one of them.
Once they were nice and full, Shiloh showed his guest to his favorite drawing room -- it had some beautiful paintings hung on the wall that never failed to inspire him and one of his favorite sculptures that he’d ever made on display in a corner by the window. They talked about the artwork in the room a little bit before heading to the piano, which helped him feel a little less nervous. At least, it did until it was time to hear Josephine play. He felt awkward just standing there as she sat down and started playing a warm up, so he sat beside her and, unlike in the carriage, there wasn’t much room to leave space between them. He could feel the warmth of her on his side and it sent goosebumps to his exposed forearms. He shoved his sleeves back down to his wrists hoping that limiting physical exposure in any capacity would make reminding himself that Josephine was just nice to everybody and that she wasn’t interested in him in that way and that any sort of physical move made on her would most likely be unwelcome easier and for a moment, it seemed to work.
Then she started playing. Her fingers made beautiful work of the keys and he was lost in it for a moment before realizing that she was playing his favorite song, where he’d agreed to sing, and so Shiloh joined in. Singing wasn’t his primary art form but it was something he loved nevertheless, and to sing with someone as skilled at piano as Josephine was a rare pleasure -- there was something special and intimate about performing the song together and by the time they got to the end, whatever small space was in between them was gone and they sat thigh to thigh.
Josephine was always beautiful but, as she started playing her favorite song, somehow, she was more beautiful than she’d ever been before. Shiloh was unfamiliar with the melody but he listened intently, his cheeks warm as the tune lured him in. They’d had such a good day together and being close together now felt so much better than being close to anyone else had in a long, long time that the thoughts he’d been pushing down all day came flooding to the forefront. Her song became the backing track to fantasies of tying Josephine up and teasing her to the brink of insanity, leaving dark hickeys on her neck and chest, scratching up her pretty back, gripping her by the hips and slamming her up and down his certifiably large penis, and those fantasies made his neck turn red.
She kept playing her favorite song, clearly unaware as to where his mind had wandered as she shot him a sweet smile, and he was almost ashamed of himself for thinking of her like that. She was his friend, not some random hot girl he met while he was out, and just because she was hotter than any of them could ever hope to be and someone he couldn’t stop smiling around, it didn’t mean he was allowed to think of her like that. It didn’t mean he could or should picture what her pretty dress would look like all ripped up or what her hair would look like after her intricate hairstyle came undone in the throes of passion or...
And he was doing it again. It was almost embarrassing, how much he couldn’t tear his mind away from those images. What was even more embarrassing was that, along with those more dirty images, some softer ones had found their way into the mix and were starting to take over. He could picture pushing her hair back from her face and meeting her lips with a soft kiss and putting his hand on her thigh and laying her down gently on his bed and carrying on to do what could only be described as making sweet, sweet love to her, and that turned him on as much as those other images had. It’d been forever since he’d wanted those things, but wanting didn’t mean anything. They were friends, they were having fun, and that was that. It had to be that. Because Josephine was special and if he messed up their friendship, he’d never forgive himself. Losing such a lovely soul as a friend would haunt him forever.
She played the last notes of her song and looked over to him, her eyes looking up through thick lashes at his. Josephine really had the most incredible eyes that Shiloh thought he’d ever seen. They were wide with wonder, eagerness, and innocence, and as deep and vast and filled with warmth and acceptance as the ocean was with water.
Yes, he’d never forgive himself if he messed up their friendship just as it was blossoming on its own, but he’d also never forgive himself if he let the chance pass him by. A beautiful, eager, kind, talented, brilliant woman sat by his side, close enough to touch, and he couldn’t resist trying. He reached over and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, never losing eye contact as he did so. Shiloh couldn’t tell if it’d been fifteen seconds of fifteen years before they finally leaned in and kissed each other. All he knew was that it felt like the longest he’d ever waited for anything and it was entirely worth it. Her lips were sweet and he moved his hand to her chin, angling her face as his other hand rested on the small of her back.
He pulled back and asked if that was okay and if they could do it again and to his delighted surprise, Josephine acquiesced hurriedly, as if she’d wanted that as much as he had. This time, one of his hands found its way to the back of her head while the other skimmed down her side and rested on her thigh. She was a fantastic kisser, and when he opened his mouth to start exploring hers more intimately, joy thrummed in his chest at the taste of fries and happiness.
His hand on her thigh got impatient and wanted more, and he felt he was about to burst if he didn’t get closer, so Shiloh stood, waiting for Josephine to follow his lead, before he lifted her and sat her down on the piano itself. A loud, discordant chord rang through the room and the piano bench fell over but both of those things were easy enough to ignore as Shiloh forced Josephine’s legs apart to create enough room to position himself squarely between her thighs. A small portion of his brain kept waiting for her to tell him it was too much, that he was too much, that this wasn’t what she’d come over for, but an even bigger part of his brain was just celebrating how wonderful this all felt. As if on their own, his hips thrusted forward every few moments itching to get closer, not quite able to get close enough to satisfy him with their clothes in the way, but enough to make more loud off-key clanks on the piano.
When Shiloh finally came up for air, he realized that someone might come around trying to figure out what was going on with the piano, and that’s when it occurred to him that, no matter how hot making out on the piano was, they didn’t have to. They were in his house after all, in his castle, and his room was even on the same floor as this drawing room. “Do you want to, um, keep going in my room? Just for privacy’s sake,” he asked through heavy breaths, and the wave of victory that washed over him when she said yes was one that could only be paralleled by finishing a great art piece. He scooped her up from her sitting position, holding her against him so that she could wrap her legs around his waist as he carried her down the hall, kissing her neck along the way. Once they were in front of his door, he kicked it open and closed behind them again, wasting no time at all in getting them onto his bed.
He’d been following his intincts up until now, and the truth was that he was still unsure whether they’d make out, make love, or get freaky tonight. Was he going to get to see her naked tonight? He got painfully hard at the very idea. Whatever the case was though, he was down to go with whatever would make Josephine comfortable, to do whatever she wanted. He’d already gotten to kiss her -- anything else tonight was just the cherry on top of an already perfect day.