#things get steamy

He furrowed his brow as he looked at her. 

“We also broke up, um, recently.” She flinched internally at the misdirect, but shrugged lightly, trying to play it off. “We weren’t on the same page. I always felt like he was more invested in our relationship than I was. And we were lacking that–that something. That spark. We just weren’t a good fit.” 

Her half-hearted smile faltered when she looked at Tim, and he remembered the single time her ex-boyfriend came up in conversation the night before—when he asked her how Chris would have touched her, and she didn’t answer.

“I’m sorry, Lucy. I feel like part of that is my fault. I’m the one who set you up with him.”

Lucy started to reach for his hand on the table, but stopped just short of making contact. Tim looked at her hand hovering so close to his on the table—so close and so tempting to reach out and hold the way he did last night (oh, the things they did last night)—and then looked back at her face.

“Tim, that’s… that’s really sweet. But also really unnecessary. You didn’t force us into anything. It was something we had to figure out for ourselves.”

“How are you feeling about that?”

She started to smile. When she first met Tim, he never would have cared, let alone asked about her feelings or personal life.

“I’m feeling… good. Content even? I feel like everything is as it should be right now. And you? Are you doing okay with everything?”

“I am. Even though I don’t think I can get my deposit back for that trip,” Tim laughed. “But I feel better knowing that my future is open—that I’m open—to finding what it is I really want in a relationship.” 

He tried to hide what he was really thinking—who he was really thinking of—and had been thinking of since the restless hours he spent last night re-examining his relationship with Lucy. But the softness in his voice and in the look in his eyes threatened to give him away.

“I think that’s probably the best outcome when you end any relationship,” she told him. “You take your experiences, positive or negative though they may be, and let that help guide you—to recognize what it is you want when you’re ready for something new.”

Tim was quiet for a moment before he spoke. “That's a good way of looking at it.”

He smiled softly at her, and the air between them seemed to warm ever so slightly as they both turned back to the research in front of them.

It was going to be a long day.

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You didn’t know how or when it happened but at some point the dishrag and the bra under it literally caught fire. You knew it was stupid but you panicked and you grabbed the burning objects with your bare hands to throw them into the sink but before you could do anything else, someone threw a bucket of water in your face. You were soaked from head to toe but the fire was extinguished at least.

You heard a wolf whistle and you realized how exposed you really look in your now very wet white cotton t-shirt. You dropped the burnt materials to the floor and you covered your chest with your arms.

Carmy entered the kitchen, “Hey! HEY! The show is over!”  Carmy took his shirt off and handed it to you, “Here,”

You tried not to stare at his naked chest, “Thanks,” you mumbled as you headed towards the locker room to put it on.

While you changed you heard Carmy shouting in the kitchen, “What’s the hold up? Get back to work!”

-

When you came back to the kitchen everything seemed normal again. Someone had already cleaned up the mess you made so you just went  back to your station like nothing had happened.

You tried to get your rhythm back when you heard some girls squealing in the front of the restaurant.

Carmy entered the kitchen with his face all red, he looked around the kitchen and your eyes met. “Here, let me help you with that.” He said as he approached your station.

You immediately tensed up, “It’s alright, I got it.”

Carmy leaned in next to your ear and half whispered, “Listen I just don’t want to be in the front looking like-“ He didn’t finish that sentence, it was as if he realized something. He turned a deeper shade of red, straightened his posture, and set to work without another word.

-

You were surrounded by the sounds of cutting, sizzling and general chatter. You tried your best not to have any more accidents that day but you realized that working side by side with Carmy was the worst distraction of all.

What’s worse is that he didn’t even get himself another t-shirt to wear.  So there he was… all bare-chested and muscular. You watched the way he flexed his arm as the knife glided back and forth.  The way he arched his back when he stretched, giving you a great view of his chest, his abs and that v shaped muscle that goes down straight to his…

“-Chef! Didn’t you hear what I said?” Carmy was looking at you waiting for an answer.

The truth was you hadn’t, “Sorry, chef. What did you say?”

“Never mind,” he said as he leaned in front of you reaching  for a glass bowl that was right next to your elbow. The smell of his cologne hit you, even despite the heat he smelled good. The gesture frazzled you so much that you elbowed the bowl and while you attempted to catch it, you dropped the knife you were holding. The knife fell and landed on it’s tip with a twang, avoiding Carmy’s foot by an inch. The glass bowl shattered next to it.

The entire kitchen froze for a second. Carmy sighed out of frustration and picked the knife up for you. “No more accidents. Okay, Chef?”

You nodded and you quickly ran to the sink to wash the knife and hide how red your face had gotten. You heard Carmy cleaning up your mess behind you, you wanted to help him but you were too afraid of causing anymore damage.

-

After a long day, you were finally taking the subway home with Richie who often accompanied you because of some business he had in your neighborhood, “He’s going to fire me for sure,” you groaned as you leaned against the handrail in self pity.

He let out a snort, “I know you don’t believe that, he has a soft spot for you.”

You frowned, “What are you talking about?”

Richie scoffed, “He never freaks out at you like he does on the rest of us, in fact…” he paused “I just realized, that since you’ve been working with us, he hasn’t been freaking out as much. I don’t even remember the last time he had a panic attack…” he noticed you frowning at him so he changed his tone to a more cheerful one “Plus! None of us would have gotten away with half of the things you’ve done, you really were a clutz today.” he chuckled.

It was kind of hard to argue after the many messes you made that day. “Is this your way of trying  to cheer me up?”

Richie let out a heavy sigh, “Listen, I shouldn’t be telling you this but I think he has a thing for you and I know him pretty well.”

“Psh! Yeah, right,” you said as you white knuckled the hand rail.

-

The next day the AC still wasn’t working.

Carmy banged the AC with his fist, “Fuuu…!” he groaned taking his shirt off and throwing it on one of the chairs.

Your thoughts were running wild at this point, Oh no. Another day with a bare chested Carmy. I’m going to accidently kill myself or I’m going to kill someone else. Does this man have a death wish? Does he really not realize the effect he has on you?  You thought to yourself and then you looked at the discarded shirt with envy, “I wish I could do that.” you blurted out loud.

Carmy chuckled, “You’re welcome to,” he said smiling.

Your face went beat red as you turned back to the vegetables you were cutting.

Carmy noticed Sydney and Tina giving him a Did you seriously just say that? Face. Flustered, he looked away and ran his hand through his hair, “Ehem. Back to work!” he shouted picking up his knife.

When Marcus passed behind Carmy to get to his station, he just patted Carmy on the back and laughed.

Carmy would have buried his face in his hands if he wasn’t cutting chilies at that very moment.

-

Later that day you followed Carmy to the back of the restaurant where he was having his smoke break. “Hey! I uh… didn’t have the chance to say, thank you for yesterday.”

Carmy let out a puff of smoke through the corner of his mouth so it wouldn’t hit your face, “Don’t mention it.”

The both of you stood there for a long moment staring at each other in awkward silence, “Oh! I still have your shirt, I’ll make sure to-“

Carmy scratched his forehead with his finger,“It’s fine, you can keep it.”

The thought of keeping his t-shirt was very enticing but giving it back was probably the right thing to do, “I’ll wash it and-“

Carmy shook his head “Really, just keep it, it looks better on you.” He gave you a quick smile.

Another tense silence.

Carmy massaged the back of his neck “Sorry, about earlier.”

You frowned not knowing what he was talking about “Earlier….?”

He let out a long exhale “The comment about me wanting to see your…I mean! About me telling you take your shirt off- I-! The…! What I said about taking your shirt off.” his little unintentional admission almost made him drop his cigarette.

You tried to sound unfazed, “Oh…I didn’t really hear you say anything like that.”

Carmy ran his hand through his hair, “Right…well… let’s get back to work.” he said dropping his half finished cigarette and crushing it under his heel.

You wanted to say something more as you watched him open  the door, but all you managed to blurt out was, “I’ll bring you your shirt back!”

He just waved a dismissive It’s fine. Before he walked inside.

You took in a few calming breaths before you followed him. As you passed Richie he whispered in your ear, “Did the two of you have a nice kissing session?”

You elbowed him in the ribs but not hard enough because when you looked back to glare at him, he was doing some very suggestive hip thrusting.

You groaned knowing that things can only get even more complicated.

Asher’s whole body spasmed, straining against his grip and his teeth. His eyes rolled back and his breath caught in his throat, stuck there for those long incredible seconds before Damien unclamped his jaw. The elemental sat up enough to look down at Asher, still panting, his eyes glazed with want but also a flicker of worry. “I’m sorry… I should have asked first. I just… I don’t know. I wanted my teeth on you. I wanted…” Damien shook his head. “I’m sorry. Is it rude? I mean, since you’re a wolf…”

Asher was still drifting on the surprise high of that feeling, slow to collect all of Damien’s words. He smiled and shivered, touching his neck absently and feeling the indents of those dull teeth on his skin. Would it bruise? He groaned at the idea. “You marked me?”

Damien’s hips flexed forward into Asher at his words, heat rising under his skin and in the room. Asher never minded the heat. They’d been dating for a few months and he’d even made Damien set a few things on fire during some particularly passionate moments. He’d had a fun time trying to explain to David how he managed to scorch the couch without telling him the part about riding a fire elemental on it. He really should find his own place…

“Does it mean something?” Damien asked, sounding more inquisitive than worried now, but somehow still in that deep bedroom voice.

Asher felt his own heat rise to his face. Oh shit. Should he lie? He stopped fingering the indents in his skin and shrugged. They hadn’t really defined their relationship. Maybe he could just get them back on track and the fire would forget? He rolled his hips under Damien’s. The only fabric between them was Asher’s jeans and Damien’s boxer briefs. He could feel the bulge of his erection and moaned shamelessly when he rubbed them together. He knew his sounds did things to Damien. He liked to remark on how wanton Asher was, but the critique was always edged in wonder and desire.

Asher slithered an arm between them, reaching for the front of Damien’s underwear.

Damien groaned but caught his wrist, pulling it away and pinning it to the bed beside his shoulder. Asher always let Damien pin him. Damien was strong. He was fit. But Asher was a wolf. If he wanted to get up, he could. He suspected that knowing that had really let Damien play more freely with being rough in bed—something they both enjoyed. “What does it mean to you?” he asked again, his gaze roaming the bite mark he’d left on Asher’s neck.

Asher swallowed back a moan, squirming at the feel of his attention on his neck. It was so exposing. “Fire…” he pleaded, using that whiny, begging voice Damien liked in bed.

Damien didn’t budge, didn’t kiss or rub. He just waited, dark eyes trained on Asher’s face now. “Tell me, and maybe I’ll bite you again.”

Asher groaned, shaking at the idea. He wanted that. He really, really wanted that. But Damien wouldn’t want to bite him again if he knew. Still, he couldn’t lie to him. Well, he could, but he wouldn’t. He dragged a breath and sighed, “I-It’s a claim… Marking someone is a way of showing everyone else they’re yours.”

“And you want me to mark you?”

Why did he sound so surprised? He was incredible. And they were…whatever they were. Asher looked up at him. “Yeah,” he admitted. He wasn’t afraid of being embarrassed or even hurt. Better that than somehow deceiving his partner. “But I get it if you don’t. It’s okay.”

-

Okay? Damien looked at the man under him, and the bite mark he’d left on his neck. It was red. It would probably bruise. He hadn’t meant to bite that hard. A mark. He’d marked Asher as his. His cock throbbed, hips straining to resist rolling forward and grinding against the other man. And Asher thought, what? That he wouldn’t want to mark him if he knew what it meant to him?

Damien touched the bite on his neck and watched the way Asher’s eyes fluttered shut and he barely held back a shudder. It was definitely the most restraint he’d seen the wolf use. More than once, Damien had had to clamp a hand over Asher’s mouth to muffle his sounds when he couldn’t seem to stop them himself.

Asher was wild and free in a way Damien could only marvel at. He was kind and thoughtful and so unafraid of putting himself out there for others. And he wanted Damien to mark him? He didn’t understand that, but he definitely wouldn’t keep anything from him.

“Wait,” Damien whispered, mouth close to his when he remembered one of their first times together, a couple weeks into dating. They had been out drinking and crashed at his place, more than tipsy but not blackout. “You bit me once.”

Asher’s eyes opened, clear of all lusty thoughts. Damien regretted bringing it up instantly because there was a flicker of hurt on the other man’s face, he breathed a little faster and looked away. “I nipped you,” he clarified. “But yeah. I… I’m sorry. I was kind of drunk and… You’re my first non-shifter…”

Damien sat up fully, still straddling Asher’s thighs.

Asher cringed and started to sit up like he meant to extract himself from the bed, but Damien stayed seated on his thighs, effectively pinning him unless he really wanted to push him off. He knew he could. He loved knowing Asher could push back any time he wanted when they were messing around, he just didn’t. Somehow it meant more and it felt safer in all directions. He’d never really want to hurt or scare his partner.

“So, nipping was like…flirting?”

Asher groaned, flopping back on the bed since Damien wasn’t letting him up. “Yeah. But like…” he sighed, obviously not enjoying this. “Like flirting with commitment.”

Flirting with commitment? Asher had wanted to be serious even then? Damien thought about that time. Asher had bit softly at his neck and Damien had pushed him off and told him to knock it off. He’d been too drunk to see the flicker of rejection on the other man’s face then, but somehow he remembered it clearer now.

Asher squirmed under him, more in a pouty way than a flirty way now. “Come on, fire, just pretend it didn’t happen. I didn’t mean to make things weird. I…I don’t want to fuck this up. I like you. We can be as casual as you want. I don’t mind.”

Damien narrowed his eyes on him. He was lying. He was pretty sure Asher didn’t mean to lie. He did it so rarely, but Damien had been studying him for months now and Damien did not forget anything ever. Asher looked away when he lied, he shifted his shoulders and his head like his whole body struggled with it. And the lies were always for someone else. He lied about not being hurt. He lied about not minding going in to work or about cancelling something he’d wanted to do because someone needed help. And he lied about not caring if they had a casual relationship. He did it, because he cared about other people more than he cared about himself. And somehow, in that, he made his lies true. He cared more about keeping the relationship then about having it the way he wanted, so in a way, it was true enough.

But Damien always saw it. “I never considered us casual,” he said. He should have said it sooner but he’d been just as scared of Asher balking as he seemed to be.

Asher looked up at him, clearly surprised and then so beautiful, breathtakingly hopeful.

“I didn’t know what it meant, when you bit me.”

“Nipped,” Asher clarified again.

Suddenly Damien wondered what it would be like to actual let him bite… “I wasn’t rejecting you or us. I just didn’t know. I…I don’t do relationships.”

The hope tempered, pressed back behind careful understanding and that easygoing exterior. Asher nodded, ready to take the blow of whatever he thought Damien was about to deal out. How did he do that? How did he just openly accept the feelings of others? Of him? “That’s okay. I—”

“Wait,” Damien stopped him, shaking his head. The last thing he wanted was to hear Asher apologize again or offer up the casual relationship he thought he wanted. “I am not a casual person. I think you know that.”

Asher’s lips pressed. He would usually make a joke then, or say something sweet, the fact that he held his tongue stung because Damien knew it meant he thought what he said next was going to hurt and needed to be treated seriously. It was serious, but he would never willfully hurt Asher—not really, not ever.

“You make my life feel…good. Not just in sex, but every day. All day. I look forward to seeing you and when I do…You make me happy. I like you. I miss you when you’re not around. I look forward to seeing you. I crave you.” Those last words rattled in his chest, more honest than he’d been ready for. But it was worth it, to see the way Asher’s expression changed. It wasn’t any of his many MANY expressions Damien had mentally catalogued before. His eyes were teary but not sad and he looked so… relieved? Surprised? Happy. He was happy. Damien bent over him and kissed him. He sighed when Asher kissed back and his hands slid up his thighs to his hips.

Damien unbuttoned and opened Asher’s jeans, breaking the kiss to slide off of him just long enough to strip him down. “So…I was your first non-shifter?” He smirked, not hating that bit of information. He wanted to know everything about Asher.

“Yeah…I told you that before,” he mumbled, sounding distracted and a little whiny now.

Damien loved that sound. He ran his gaze over him again, naked on his bed, sprawled out and waiting for Damien to make the next move. He usually let him make the moves and Damien liked that. He ran hands over him, reveling in the way Asher squirmed. He couldn’t stay still if his life depended on it. He already felt his heat rising but he kept it in check, always. “No, you told me I was your first fire elemental.”

“Still the truth…”

Damien settled belly down on the bed between Asher’s thighs, loving the way the wolf’s eyes widened a fraction and his breath caught with another whimper. “Still want me to bite you?” he asked, mouth brushing his thigh and hand wrapping around his sex.

“F-Fuck. Yes.”

Damien opened his mouth wide and turned his face into his thigh, biting down slowly.

Asher tensed under him and his cock jumped in his hand. “Ah! Shit!” he gasped out, fingers twisting in the covers at his sides.

Damien stroked him, still biting down for a while longer before letting up, another mark. He licked his way to his cock, thinking about that mark. Little symbols that Asher belonged to someone. Another litany of whining, pleading sounds bubbled up from Asher’s throat when he took him into his mouth, sucking while his fingers worked to stretch him. He wanted to be in him. He wanted to feel him around him when he bit his neck again.

“Please,” Asher begged, hips shaking with the restraint not to thrust into his throat. “Please, fire, please!”

Damien took his mouth off of him and looked up his body, watching him all stretched out and gasping for air. He was so close and begging to be brought to the edge.

Damien slid his fingers out of him and stroked himself when he repositioned. He rubbed against him but didn’t push in. Asher nodded. “Yes. Please, fuck me,” he answered the unspoked question, grabbing at Damien’s shoulder.

Damien groaned when he pushed into him, watching his face and loving the way his eyes rolled a little and his mouth opened wider. “I’m going to put so many marks on you, anyone who catches a glimpse of your skin will know you’re taken. You’re mine.” Asher shuddered. Damien slid his hips back and then snapped them forward, making him inhale and moan. “Mine,” he said again, shaking at how it made him feel saying it, believing it. He bit down on Asher’s shoulder, and then high on his neck, and then finally put his teeth back into the shallow grooves of his first bite. Asher clung to him when he came, shaking hard, and Damien followed soon after.

He only realized he’d been biting the whole time when he finally came down from that pique and unclamped his teeth, licking at the abused skin. At least he hadn’t set anything on fire this time. He rolled them both onto their side, legs still tangled, bodies still mashed together and sticky. They’d clean up soon. He slid fingers into Asher’s hair, pressing it back from his face and watching him come back to himself. It always took him a minute after a hard orgasm and Damien loved seeing that blissed out expression—loved knowing he’d made it happen.

“Stay the night?” he asked. It wasn’t unusual for Asher to crash at his place when they’d slept together but he asked anyway. Leaving things unsaid was risky.

Asher smiled and Damien realized saying things out loud was definitely worth it. “Yeah. It’s supposed to be cold tonight. Gotta stay close to my fire to stay warm.”