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“Claire?”
Squinting at the mirror Claire made sure that she’d made herself look presentable enough for their fancy valentine’s day dinner, and only then she raised her voice to answer. “In the bathroom!” Slowly she straightened, tilting her head to give herself an once-over, and she had to admit that she looked fantastic. The red dress was like hugging her frame in all the right places, but still classy instead of going over the line to being too revealing for the occasion.
That was when Leon appeared in the doorway, stopping for a second to give her an appreciative look. It was clear in his face that he found Claire absolutely breathtaking, with the kind of a faraway look in his eyes and the way he forgot for a moment that he’d been about to say something. He just stood there in the doorway, drinking in the sight of her, and Claire couldn’t deny it made her feel great about herself. As much as she knew she looked good, it was always more than welcome to have it confirmed.
Besides, Leon looked absolutely stunning himself. He was wearing a blue button-up and well fitting pants, looking quite dashing, and Claire grinned at him over her shoulder. “Hey handsome,” she drawled teasingly, knowing that it would make him smile. “Did you need something?”
“What did I ever do to deserve you?” Leon asked by way of answer, taking the last two steps that separated them. Slowly he slid his arms around her, meeting her gaze in the mirror in front of them. “You’re beautiful,” he added, brushing his lips lightly over her cheek. At the same time he pressed closely against her back, his body warm against hers, his hands tightening around her.
Next, he aimed for a proper kiss, but Claire dodged it with a laugh. “No,” she said, as firmly as she could, “you’re not distracting me this time. I made the reservation already three months ago, Kennedy. We are going to see what all the fuss is about.” The restaurant they were going to was some hip new place that everyone was talking about and she wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip her by. Not even if Leon was admittedly all kinds of tempting.
With a huff Leon let his head fall forward, burying his face into Claire’s neck. He mouthed a kiss right below her ear, before continuing the trail lower, leaving a whole line of small kisses all the way to her shoulder. “No?” he asked, and she could feel him grin against her skin. “What if I’ll make it worth your while?”
Claire relaxed against his wide chest. He was so solid and warm against her back, and she smiled as she thought of how lucky she was. How lucky they were, that something as disastrous as Raccoon City had at least spawned them something good. There were still nightmares, those probably would never go away as long as they lived. But at least when she startled awake in the middle of the night with her heart in her throat, Leon was there to remind her that was in the past. And she was there for him in return.
"We have a dinner to go to,” she reminded after a second, though. She wasn’t about to let the reservation go to waste, damnit, she’d planned this, and they deserved nice things. “Who was it that complained about starving fifteen minutes ago, hm?” she pointed out, amusement dancing in her tone. She tried to turn her head to look at Leon, but he still had his face pressed into her shoulder, and all that she managed was to brush her nose into his hair.
“What if we just skip dinner?” Leon mumbled into her skin. One of his arms was still around her waist, but shamelessly he let his other hand slide lower along her thigh, until he could hook his fingers around the hem of her skirt. “Or I could have you for dinner?” He slid the dress upwards, trailing a pattern on the inside of her thigh with his fingertips, and Claire would’ve been lying if she’d said that it didn’t make her breath catch in her throat. She was tempted, to the point that she let him continue, didn’t say anything as he slipped his hand under the skirt and traced the side seam of her underwear.
But as suggestive as he tried to be, and as much as a part of Claire wanted to take up that offer, wanted to tell him to go on and let herself get lost in the touches – he was absolutely magical with his fingers when he got into it – she still wasn’t that easily persuaded. Laughing, she pulled back from his arms, ignoring his theatrical groan, and set down the mascara on the counter. As soon as her hands were free she turned around, cupping his cheeks in her palms. “C'mon, tiger. It’ll be fun.”
Leon rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling, and loosely wrapped his arms around her again. “I know,” he said, meeting her gaze, “with you everything is.”
“You’re so cheesy,” Claire chuckled, but they both knew that she was into it, anyway. “And besides,” she let her smile widen, “when we’re back home you can peel this dress off me. As a treat.” She pressed closer and didn’t give him time to even respond before she leaned in, capturing his mouth in a kiss. And if he shamelessly let his hand slide down to her butt, well, she wasn’t going to complain. “Later,” she breathed out against his lips, “you can have me for dessert.”
Leon groaned, his eyes falling shut, and he was obviously already imagining that. Not that Claire wasn’t. If Leon was good with his fingers, he was even better with his tongue, and Claire had to use every single ounce of her self control not to just give in and tell him to go for it, right here and right now.
She did stay strong, though. They made their reservation.