Bare

Chapter Eight- Fifteen Hours

It had only been two hours and Gwen was increasingly antsy. She could feel her body desire to move and pace aside from sitting and alphabetizing files. If she wanted that kind of job, she wouldn't be a stripper. This thought, and many others had slid past her mind as Gwen began to move about the room and fidgeting with the paperweights shaped like wolves. They had always been a fascination of Owen's as they seemed to be present on everything he owned. She was thankful for them at this moment as it allowed her the chance to focus her gaze on something other than Deacon. It could have been the heat or the s****l tension she felt present as a constant existence, but she was feeling impatient to his touch and lustful for his accent to speak her name.

Gwen managed to get out of the duty of alphabetizing as she moved to a ledger showing guests for the last five generations. The oldest date accounted for had been 1890 something, although the writing had since faded so the last digit couldn't be properly made out. As her eyes came upon the names, her jaw dropped open when learning those who made history had frequented this club for a little afternoon delight when they weren't making a name for themselves. The names included had been explorers and politicians, former presidents before their time in office, and even actors who once graced Hollywood movie posters. Showing the names to Deacon, they began to speak of this aside from ignoring each other while being unable to handle the small quirks of the other person. 

They spoke of the golden age of Hollywood and how things had changed so drastically-and it was then that the idea was planted in Deacon's mind. He had a plan of making the strip club into an elegant club. Champagne fountains and singing instead of poles and mud fights. He became charged with a fiery passion as he began to jot down ideas of decor, menu, and music that would be allowed. 

Another set of hours passed as night had now fallen overhead. The stars glimmered outside the tinted window as Gwen had fallen asleep in a corner chair while reading through more famous patrons who stood in this building decades prior. When her eyes slowly opened, she could hear Deacon speaking aloud. Not knowing him very well, she wasn't able to understand if he was the type of man that would talk to himself, but her curiosity led her feet forward just to make sure it wasn't anything more sinister-like trapping her in there on purpose. The thought made her glare as she turned the corner and saw him quickly pull a cell phone from view. He tried to pull it out of sight, but it was too late, she had seen it. 

"You have a cellphone?!" She cries out before launching for it, until he accidentally dropped it in the toilet. The automatic censors read his presence and forced his thousand dollar phone into the sewer system. Letting out a groan, she turned from him and ignored him for the remainder of the evening. 

By now, the moon had exchanged illumination of the sky from the sun as stars peeked out every so often. But the heat that seemed to evade then until now began to creep it's way inside the building. Without air conditioning and while being locked in a small room full of clutter, the heat began to grow upon them both. This led for Deacon to unbutton his dress shirt to leave his tee in view, and for her to remove the sweater and linger in only a spaghetti strap shirt and the shorts she had on as pajamas. Frustrated at the fact he had kept the fact they could have escaped these circumstances, Gwen decided to perform a bit of torture of her own. 

She could feel his eyes move to her as she removed herself from the bathroom. Holding a damp rag in her French tipped grasp, she then brought it to her ivory skin. Acting as a soothing compress, she set it on her skin in attempts to cool herself off. As the sudden cloth began to cause her clothing to become wet, she moved back to the bathroom, keeping the door cracked, before setting the rag upon the edge of the sink. Using a hair tie that was wrapped around her wrist until this point, she forced her hair into a messy bun with perfect tendrils falling loose around her perfect complexion. Bringing the rag to her skin once more, she used it on the back of her neck and slid it down her chest as she could see him watching her in the mirror.

His breath hitched as he watched her cool herself with the cloth. He imagined his hands in place of the fabric and his touch a substitute for the water. She thought of this too, in quite graphic detail as she wanted him to act on the obvious thought between them. Testing him and tormenting him to the same degree, she brought the straps of her shirt down and then brought the rag to her shoulders and sliding towards her breasts. She acted as if she had seen him for the first time and moved to close the door before his foot lingered in the door to keep her from closing it. 

Without a word, he then withdrew himself free from her before allowing her time alone in the bathroom. She used it to regain control of the s****l thoughts that filled her mind before returning with a cooled off exterior. They both tried to find sleep that night with Gwen sleeping on the futon that held stacks of magazines until then supporting her body, while Deacon slept within the bathtub. They were both fortunate enough to have blankets and pillows from when Owen would spend the night at the club, having to suffer with the scent of cigarettes on the fabric. They came to slumber quite rapidly before awaking to the bitter cold that snuck it's way through the building. Deacon somehow sensed her shivering nature and pulled himself from the bath and towards her to find her trembling beneath a crochet blanket that did little to nothing to hide her skin from the cold breeze. 

Using the blanket he had, he set it over her body as she acted as if she had been asleep, before finally dozing off. Sweet dreams consisting of sinful thoughts in regards to Deacon filled her mind well into the morning before the scent of coffee filled the air. Both starving from lack of food, they groaned at the thought of breakfast as she saw Deacon using a Keurig machine. Finding difficulty in understanding how it worked, Gwen assisted, while waiting desperately for her caffeine. 

"What were you dreaming of last night?" He asked as she immediately began to blush. He always had a way of making her front and center with any thought that involved him-as if he could read her mind. 

"I don't remember…" she lied, pulling the cup from beneath the machine and blowing on it to see steam disappear for a moment. 

"You called out my name…" he informed her, making her heart race. 

"Probably a nightmare, then…" she commented while trying to get him to change the subject-but it seemed as though it wasn't working. A smirk fell over his lips as he waited for his coffee to brew. 

"No...it was more breathy...orgasmic."

"I suppose we would only be in those circumstances in a dream." She added as his eyes narrowed to her. 

"You think?" He suddenly turned her to him, a light hold on her arm. "I could have kissed you a million times by now…"

"Then why haven't you?" She tested him as the corner of his mouth moved upright, as if beginning to smile. 

"Because I want you to beg for it." He informed her, leaning in just enough to bring his touch beneath her chin. With the two of them having spent the time together they had, it would only be a matter of time until a kiss would transpire and take hold of their desire. Both of their gazes looked to the lips of the other person, desperate to taste to passion of the reciprocant of the potential kiss. So much so, that Deacon began to curve his head and Gwen began to lean in, and it was as if time had slowed just for them. 

But with each moment, it would end, and for them, they wouldn't be granted a full moment as the door opened before then and granted a freedom that neither really sought. In fear of having to continue with the potential kiss if she were to remain, Gwen pulled herself from the club and out to the construction workers. 

She had to get away from him, before her hormones took over for herself...as it had been incredible that it hadn't happened already...but it would only be a matter of time.