Needle in a Haystack

[Mikhail]

Well she sure seemed to light up. Which he liked. Maybe it was the booze. It was good stuff, after all. I mean between his own shake- with that healthy glug of bourbon- to his vodka- no White Russian for him. Too much sweet after the shake- he had a pretty good buzz going on. Not even close to drunk. But definitely buzzed. She was much smaller than him and had polished off the rest of that shake as well as her White Russian. She had to be pretty toasty.

Her enthusiasm was genuine, like she was excited about the opportunity. Mik relaxed, enjoying her energy. His worry that she'd think he expected her to put out to get his help faded. Yeah, really. He had the feeling that if she wanted to leave, she would leave. Probably making sure to bust his nose in the leaving. So he relaxed and laughed at her gushing about hair color and make up. Tilting his head, he could see it on her, then nodded. Probably a rainbow. He could tell she had been proud of it.

But then, well, she seemed to close up. Like she felt less, or...something. Which plain made no sense to him.

He frowned, then laughed. "Doll, please. I was totally checking out your ass when we were in the tunnels," he said, shaking his head. Then, "Like seriously. A very nice body," She seemed nervous. Unsure about herself. Like for instance, she patted the cushion next to her, wanting him to come sit by her. And then looked scared, like she thought he wasn't gonna. Poor thing. He wondered how experienced she was. It wasn't like Mik was gonna say no to her. There was no possibility of that.

But then again, she probably didn't know that. He smiled at her reassuringly and stood, moving slowly around the coffee table to sit next to her. Their bodies touched slightly, but he sat back a bit. Give her a bit of space to get used to being this close. He wouldn't overwhelm her or anything.

He made a point to study her face and hair, nodding and smiling. "Yeah, I can totally see it. I bet you looked great." He gestured with his head to the back of the apartment, saying "I think have some coloring here, if you want." He raised an eyebrow. "You'd need the shower again, of course." Then a smaller smile, voice quieter. "I'd be happy to help with that."

And then he tilted his head slightly to look her in the eyes, tone completely serious. "Trust me. You are sexy. I know this stuff." He paused, enjoying the closeness, trying to see what was going on in her brain. Fear? Loneliness? Longing? He didn't know. Not like he was a mind reader. All he knew was that he really wanted to kiss her. More than that, obviously, from the tightness in his groin. Well, it's not like it was a secret. Then again, maybe she didn't notice. He put his hand gently on her thigh, near her knee. His voice was low. "Yeah. I mean it. Fucking sexy." He touched his tongue to his lips and smiled, nostrils flaring at the scent of her as he leaned in and kissed her.