Lie awake all night wondering...

[sandandwater]

And then I'm in your arms I'll try to relax
Don't want to lie awake all night wondering where we're at
Oh this tossing and turning won't clear these blues away
When I am longing just to hear you say
'No Turning Back' - Sarah Blasko


Six months ago she walked out of his life, or tried to at any rate. Pippa couldn’t sever all ties with this man no matter how often she told herself it would be better, easier, safer. No, there were phone calls and letters, emails and now he was here with her in Venice. Here because she had asked him to come.

What was she doing?

Lying in his arms and pretending things were fine, acting as though there weren’t problems and issues to be settled and discussed. She was savoring the feel of his skin, hot and still damp with sweat, against hers. She was listening to him breath deep and even as he slept. Studying the lines and curves of his face, the delicate cheekbones and the wide, generous mouth—she could still taste his kisses when she swallowed involuntarily. Shifting, she stifled a groan as sore muscles protested, strained and aching from vigorous lovemaking. She sighed.

Pippa was not sleeping.

It would be morning soon and he would wake, she would have to find some way to either continue this charade (oh, the cowardice that taunted her) or face their relationship (lack thereof) head-on and the consequences of her actions. Would he want to discuss what happened? Could he find a way to forgive her? Should she forgive him? Did he realize that she still loved him? Too many questions and no easy answers no matter how hard she searched.

Keep trying.

Comments

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

She returned his affection and passion eagerly, her tongue dueling with and caressing his, hungry for his taste. Not quite satisfied but keeping in mind that the other gaffers wouldn't stay gone for long, Pippa pulled away far enough to break the kiss. Her face was faintly flushed and her smile was warm, "Thank you."

[fey-fire.livejournal.com]

He drank in that lovely smile like a plant drinking in daylight. "Thank you, love." His lips caressed Pippa's in a kiss that looked chaste, but a tiny flick of his tongue promised more to come later.

Keeping his arms around her, Rory turned his attention back to the glass figure glowing in its reds and golds. "I can see what you've been doing all these months, a chroi, but I confess I'm not entirely sure how." Surely this had to differ from the glassblowing and lampworking he'd watched her do previously.

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

Different, yes and no. Pippa was a clever and rather inventive artist when she had the motive and inspiration. Turning in his embrace so that she stood with her back to his chest and her arms folded over his, Pippa smirked. "Magic."

His nonverbal response to that caused a soft chuckle to escape her lips before giving him a valid answer, "Carefully, for the most part. It's done in sections, pieces." Seams she hid and disguised under patterns in color and by going back over them with painstaking care and a blowtorch. "Sand casting and molds, a bit of improvised lampwork. Alessandro calling me names and thinking less of my skill--casting is cheating if you ask him. He's been simply furious at me these last few months.

"And of course, memory." She tipped her head back to look up at him, studying the lines and angles of his face. "You're beautiful, you know? It might have been the most detailed but working on his face was also easiest. I already knew exactly what he looked like."

[fey-fire.livejournal.com]

Rory smiled and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek, a thank you for her compliment. When he looked back at her sculpture, however, his brow furrowed. "Cheating? How can he think you've cheated in any way, given the results? Even I can see how much effort and skill you've put into this work, and I'm no gaffer."

He found himself feeling rather less charitable toward Maestro Evangelisti. As her teacher and mentor, shouldn't he be encouraging her?

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

Pippa knew it wasn't solely her methods the man objected to, but her work ethic and even on some levels, her subject matter. Shaking her head and patting his forearm, Pippa shrugged her shoulders against Rory's back. "It's not what he taught me to do and I suppose on some levels I agree with him. Any idiot can pour flux into a mold and wait for it to cool off. There isn't any artistic merit in that."

There was a great deal of science involved, however. She mixed her own silica combinations and handled the coloring chemicals in her own unique method, she certainly created the castings and molds herself, nothing here was prefabricated. Pippa also, as always, sells herself short.

"We've always argued with each other, Ro. It's nothing new." Sometimes she even enjoys screaming back at the old man and having him retort with a litany of heated Italian.

[fey-fire.livejournal.com]

Well. If it worked for them, Rory supposed he shouldn't criticize. But still ... he'd heard Pippa denigrate her own abilities too often. "Maybe not in the pouring and cooling," he said mildly, "but in all the steps leading up to, and the ones that follow after ..." He left off there, hopefully making enough of a point to answer his lover's self-deprecation without sparking another argument.

He gave her a gentle squeeze as he looked thoughtfully at the Red King. "I wonder how he'll feel about meeting the original, as it were." He glanced down to check her reaction. "That is, if you want me to meet him while I'm here. If you'd rather I didn't, I can understand that."

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

No, she wasn't going to argue with Rory over this, not now. She'd had her fill of that this morning. Pippa gave his forearm another caress and sighed. "Alessandro? Oh...I'm sure he'll be...well, he'd like to meet you."

And the old maestro would be gracious to Rory's face, she knew. The consummate host in every way. He'd save his true thoughts for once the Irishman was gone again. It was another of those things that troubled Pippa but seemed to have no easy solution. Far too many half-truths told to protect people and in the process giving Alessandro an unclear picture of just what happened in New York.

"And Marcello..." She smiled at her friends name on her lips. The photographer was far more forgiving than her mentor and would genuinely enjoy Rory, she thought.

[fey-fire.livejournal.com]

"Marcello, hm?" He returned her smile as he said the name. It was past time, Rory decided, that he set aside his initial gut reaction over those pictures Pippa posted. He'd posed showing far more skin in his day, after all. "I look forward to meeting him."

He didn't miss her hesitation on the subject of the maestro, and considered possible reasons for it. There was quite a list of possibilities, actually. Well and well, he'd just have to deal with the man as best he could when the time came.

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

"But right now," she turned in his embrace again, fingers curling against the collar of his shirt as she tried to pull his face to hers, "I want to keep you to myself."

Her upset temporarily cooled and her flirtatious side warming up, Pippa forgot her earlier self-promise to abstain in the studio and pressed a nibbling kiss to Rory's chin, then his jaw. "You're here to see me, after all. Aren't you?"

[fey-fire.livejournal.com]

Pippa didn't need much effort to pull Rory closer, because he went willingly. Nibbling his way down to her lips, he murmured, "I certainly am, love. All of you, and as often as possible." Pressing her close, he sucked softly on the sweet curve of her lower lip.

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

"Hmmm..." As often as possible, well that left Pippa with little choice, she thought as she returned his kisses and began to work the buttons of his shirt undone. "Come back here."

She was tugging him towards a room filled with tools and sand and shelves lined with jars of chemicals. The frosted glass panes making up most of the interior wall didn't offer much privacy but it was in the rear of the studio, away from the fires and therefore quieter and cooler.

[fey-fire.livejournal.com]

"Here?" Rory looked down at those unfastening buttons with arched eyebrows and a teasing smile, following Pippa's lead with an enthusiasm that belied the mock-scandal in his tone. "Why Miss Kerr, whatever shall I do with you?"

Once they were in the back room, though, his wandering hands and nuzzling lips said that he clearly had all sorts of ideas on just what to do with her. "Mmmmm ... you feel wonderful." Her throat muffled his words as he slipped his hands under her top, stroking the soft skin of her sides as they slid upward.

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

"Hmm-mmm." Pippa shook her head and reached for his hand, guiding his touch until his fingers closed over her breast. "Here. And..." She groaned and felt blindly behind her for something to lean against. A cluttered shelving unit worked, letting her use the furniture for support as she pulled Rory firmly against her body. "Definitely here."

He wasn't the only one who could be playful, she had her moments too, even if they were few and far in between. At least in public.

[fey-fire.livejournal.com]

He stroked the warm swell of her breast, molded it gently in his palm, teased her firming nipple with rapid flicks of his thumb. As he played with Pippa, he urged her around the corner of the unit, placing the flat side at her back instead of the loaded shelves. The maneuver also placed the piece of furniture between themselves and ... most of the frosted glass, but in truth Rory was thinking of Pippa's comfort rather than making any attempt at privacy.

After nibbling his way back up her throat, he urged her lips apart for another deep, heated kiss. His tongue caressed hers, savoring the sweet heat of her mouth while his fingers found and unfastened the clasp of her bra. With a soft growl of triumph, Rory slid both bra and top upwards, baring her soft mounds to his gaze, his hands, and to his very eager mouth. He cupped her in his hands, nipping and sucking at the upper swells of her breasts before sucking one taut nipple between his lips.

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

Pippa was content to lean back and give in to what Rory was doing, gasping when the warm wet of his mouth was suddenly around her nipple and arching her back sharply in response. He knew how to tease and thrill, lead her further down the path of playfully bad behavior. "Ro...please."

Her hands rifled through his hair before moving on to mold his shoulders under her touch, eventually pushing the soft cotton of his shirt down the length of his arms to bare more of his skin. Her touch wandered from shoulder to back and over his neck, tugging long hair between her fingers. He was devouring her and she was frantic to touch as much of him as she could.

[fey-fire.livejournal.com]

In response to her urging hands, he slipped the shirt down his arms and off, dropping it to the floor. With both arms free, Rory let his hands wander his lover's body while his mouth sought out her other breast, releasing one nipple with a scrape of his teeth before seeking out the other.

He said nothing, but Pippa's soft plea did not go unanswered. One of Rory's hands smoothed down her stomach to find the fastening of her jeans. After slipping the button free and sliding the zipper down, he slid his fingers inside denim and panties to caress her sweet, already moistening heat.

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

Her back arch and her hips bucked forward, against his hand and his probing fingers. It was so easy to give into this physical want and need, to feel something good and right with Rory--let their sexual chemistry wash away the harsh pain of the rest of their relationship.

Pippa whimpered at his touch, held his head to her breast and focused on the feel of his teeth and tongue against her hardened nipple. Right then, she felt as hot and fluid as the mass of red glass in the other room, as easily molded and shaped by Rory's hands and mouth as re Russo had been forged from her imagination.

We're not avoiding anything at all, Pippa convinced herself as her breath caught and her hand tightened in his hair. We're only making it right. At last.