Hellfire Gala - Doug and Darcy
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xp_logsLater into the evening, Darcy wants to keep off of the radar of anyone who might have seen her earlier, so she uses Doug for cover. Plenty of dancing occurs, physical and verbal. Frank discussion of the effect they're having on each other and flirty one-upmanship ensues.
Darcy had been moving slowly around the building all night outside of her part of the work. Most of that was removing herself from any room Nick Harkness happened to be in, on the off-chance he'd noticed more than her cleavage at the bar. He'd disappeared after Emma's little speech, but she couldn't be sure he wouldn't pop up again, so she cast around the room for a friendly face, eyes lighting up as she spotted Doug.
She made her way over as quickly as she could without drawing attention, curling her hand into the crook of his flesh elbow as she stepped into his space. "Dance with me," she hissed through a careful smile, eyes still tracking movements around the room.
It would have been a fairly conservatively cut navy dress, by Hellfire standards. If it had been made of a solid material. But the lacy swirls drew the eye and tantalized with hints at what lay underneath. And it was extremely backless, and the side cutaways were far enough that Doug was definitely wondering if they even made a strapless bra that could be concealed under that. "Of course," he murmured, his gloved right hand settling at the small of her back as they made their way to the floor. He took her right hand in his left, grinning a bit at the remembrance of their sparring session, and they began to glide across the floor.
Darcy's smile was more genuine once they were moving. "The name of the game is keeping me out of sight of Harkness at all times," she said conversationally, relaxing in his hold as he guided her steps. "He probably only committed my cleavage to his memories, but he at least saw my face."
Doug's eyes flicked downward. "In his defense, it's very memorable cleavage," he observed with an amused twist of his nose. "That's about the only defense I'd give 'Scratch', though." He maneuvered them to the middle of a clump of other dancers. "I'm pretty sure you don't have to worry about him, Sebastian is having him beaten like a rented mule. But just in case, let's keep you out of view of anyone else that might have been around." He was very aware of the major players' position in the room, part of his background 'radar' for possible threats amongst the Black Court. So it was easy for him to take some of the stress off of Darcy, maneuvering them around and through various dancers and hangers-on.
"Ah, what was it? Something akin to 'a unique eye for beauty'." Quote fingers pressed lightly into his skin where their hands met as she rolled her eyes at the comment. "Kevin still owes me a drink for his reaction to hearing it said. Scratch?" Being led around the floor by someone who knew how to lead was a treat, and Darcy's mind was already trying to figure out how to convince Doug to go out dancing with her sometime.
"That's what Amanda calls him. They've got some history." Doug hoped Amanda was doing all right - the Hellfire Club was a sore spot at the best of times with her. But that wasn't his story to tell, so he focused on the here and now. And just how far down his hand could rest on the bare skin of Darcy's back. Even through the glove, his hand was providing feedback. "That dress is something else," he said appreciatively.
Darcy's cheeks pinked at the compliment, eyes twinkling with mischief. "Well, it's taped down tight enough that I'd risk letting you twirl me. But how much are you regretting that your ungloved hand isn't the one finding out what's happening below the waist?"
Doug signaled with a gentle push to the skin just above the low dip of the dress, then swung her gently out and back. Nothing flashy or fast, he remembered that Darcy was trying to stay anonymous in the crowd. "A bit. Maybe more than a bit," he admitted with a twinkle in his own eye. "But unless you want to go full homecoming dance grind-and-sway..." He squeezed where their hands were clasped. "I'm at the mercy of proper dance posture."
"No sir," Darcy reprimanded gently, lightly trailing her fingertips down to his elbow. "I've already told you my rule for that, regardless of how tempting you look tonight." Her voice was light, teasing. "You can call on me for a good cuddle, though. Wear long sleeves, because my hands like to wander."
A slight shiver ran through Doug at the offer. It wasn't that Marie-Ange wasn't a cuddler, but with her it was more like laying close together in bed reading on phones or the like - she had to be doing something. And between Wade gone, and Marie-Ange spending more time with Amanda...cuddling had been in short supply. "I'd like that," he said quietly.
"Yeah?" Darcy squeezed his arm in comfort. "Good choice, my bed is designed for maximum cosy and I have a bunch of movies." Laurie was the only one that'd taken her up on the offer recently, and she had a feeling Doug was more receptive to being cuddled on a regular basis. "I do turn into a bit of an octopus once I'm asleep, though. Worse than when I'm awake."
"You're not the only octopus around these parts," was Doug's reply. The idea of just spending down time snuggled up to Darcy was nice. The idea of her hands wandering, coupled with the fact that he was still wondering if she was wearing panties, given how far down the back of her dress dipped...that was just straight-up distracting.
"Anytime though, seriously." Darcy replied with a bright smile. She considered telling him to come over tonight, but the temptation... heck. The opening to the room caught her eye as they turned, just in time to see a handful of guards and important-looking people leaving. A little of the tension in her shoulders left, and she let out a little sigh. "Bigwigs're gone."
Doug could feel the minute traces of tension leaving Darcy's body, and she sagged very slightly toward him as her shoulders released. It brought their bodies more closely in contact, and gave Doug all kinds of dangerous thoughts. "Want to dance a few more, or would you rather get while the getting's good?" he asked.
"Dancing with you is no hardship," she replied easily, sliding her hand from his shoulder to his back so she could move closer. "Handsome man leading me with confidence and grace? A quarter of the room probably wants to kill me for the audacity, and that's without them recognizing your place or connections." They moved together quietly for a few moments, Darcy's eyebrow raised slightly at the chatter of one of the louder couples nearby. "Just think about how well we'll move together elsewhere," she dropped casually.
If Darcy had pitched that at him during their sparring session, she might have caused him to miss a step. But at a Hellfire event, it would take more than that to startle Doug. His hand slid down and this time he pressed at the very top of her ass, pushing her into that twirl she'd told him she might risk, now that Harkness was gone and he didn't have to worry about drawing too much attention. When she had completed her rotation and was back in his arms, he grinned. "Oh, I am," he told her in a low husky tone.
Darcy shivered lightly, eyes dark and intent as she processed. "I see you found your game," she finally managed, voice cracking a bit. She fought the urge to rub her thighs together, mind hyperaware of the warmth low on her back. "It's very effective."
"I told you I had some," Doug asserted with a playful smirk at the way Darcy's voice had wobbled briefly. Turnabout was fair play, after all, and it was fun to see her slightly off-kilter the way she'd had him already. He leaned in closer, almost cheek to cheek, with his mouth near her ear. "Should I ask just -how- effective, hm?" he asked, the low questioning noise rumbling in his chest where it was pressed against hers.
'Oh, that's dirty pool.' The urge to find a quiet spot warred with not drawing attention to herself, and she finally pulled the tattered scraps of her willpower together with a mental admonishment about her responsibilities. Her bearings regained, Darcy purred out, "You could ask, or you could be a good boy and wait for first-hand experience. Up to you."
The banter and tension was a kind of fun all its own for Doug. Wordplay and teasing were definitely big pluses in his book. "Only first hand?" he asked. "What about the second?" As he questioned, the fingers of his right hand traced idle loops at the base of Darcy's spine.
"Uncovered hands on flesh," she reminded primly, fingers flexing on his back as his gloved hand moved across her back. "For the second, well. I suppose I could tell you that my thighs are slick, since you can't see it for yourself."
Doug was definitely distracted by mental images of finding out for himself. He'd been half-hard for most of the dance (verbal and physical), and he pressed the evidence of it firmly into Darcy's thigh. "I can't take the glove off right now," he whispered. "So I guess you'll have to be a -good girl- and wait yourself." It wasn't quite a growl as he tossed her words back at her, but it was close.
"You are ruinous for my limited restraint," Darcy hissed back, face turned into his neck to hide the bright pink flush she could feel spreading across her cheeks and down her neck. "And the scrap of satin passing as my underwear tonight, if you'd like a souvenir."
Between the hedonistic atmosphere of the Hellfire gala and the constraint of not drawing -too- much attention, Doug definitely had a bit of 'home court' advantage, and he was enjoying using it on Darcy. "I would," he told her firmly. "So are you going to go take them off right now, or bring them to me when we get back to the mansion?" Left unspoken but very present was all the other things she would probably be doing in the process.
Darcy rolled her hips deliberately against his. "I think after you take care of your own problem, you can come fetch them yourself... if you can handle just sleeping."
Doug let his hips roll against Darcy's, lining them up a bit more and letting himself settle a bit more toward the hollow between her thighs. "I mean, I don't really think of it as a -problem-..." The competitiveness between them had definitely raised the stakes of things, and he could see this ending in a whole variety of different ways. Now he really kind of wanted to make her give them to him before they left the gala. "I could probably just push my pants down and take care of it right here, and the strongest reaction it would get is that most of the people in this room would say 'well -finally-'." That last bit was delivered breathily into Darcy's ear as he pushed even closer for a moment before drawing back to dancing distance.
Darcy's eyes fluttered shut at the press of their bodies. "If you do that, we're definitely going to end up giving these upstanding citizens a free show," she said, lips brushing the side of his throat. "My dress wasn't designed for kneeling or being hastily pushed up, so I have to very regretfully ask you to wait."
"A free show is what a lot of these people are expecting." But Doug turned down the laser intensity a bit, back toward playful but still with plenty of erotic undercurrents beneath it all. His hand moved from her back to her hip, thumb brushing along Darcy's floating ribs. "I can wait." Anticipation could be fun too. "How about this," he said after a brief bit of thought, unable to resist at least a bit of pushing at the edges of things. "You go take those panties off right now and have them in my pocket before we leave, and I'll send you a picture with them in it later tonight."
"You could help me take them off, if you really want to earn it," Darcy countered, blush finally under control. "And if you'd like, just bring me along some other time and we'll give them their show." A tango started, and she pulled back reluctantly, hand tucking back into the crook of his elbow. "My dress wouldn't be able to handle this one. Escort me to a powder room?"
Darcy had been moving slowly around the building all night outside of her part of the work. Most of that was removing herself from any room Nick Harkness happened to be in, on the off-chance he'd noticed more than her cleavage at the bar. He'd disappeared after Emma's little speech, but she couldn't be sure he wouldn't pop up again, so she cast around the room for a friendly face, eyes lighting up as she spotted Doug.
She made her way over as quickly as she could without drawing attention, curling her hand into the crook of his flesh elbow as she stepped into his space. "Dance with me," she hissed through a careful smile, eyes still tracking movements around the room.
It would have been a fairly conservatively cut navy dress, by Hellfire standards. If it had been made of a solid material. But the lacy swirls drew the eye and tantalized with hints at what lay underneath. And it was extremely backless, and the side cutaways were far enough that Doug was definitely wondering if they even made a strapless bra that could be concealed under that. "Of course," he murmured, his gloved right hand settling at the small of her back as they made their way to the floor. He took her right hand in his left, grinning a bit at the remembrance of their sparring session, and they began to glide across the floor.
Darcy's smile was more genuine once they were moving. "The name of the game is keeping me out of sight of Harkness at all times," she said conversationally, relaxing in his hold as he guided her steps. "He probably only committed my cleavage to his memories, but he at least saw my face."
Doug's eyes flicked downward. "In his defense, it's very memorable cleavage," he observed with an amused twist of his nose. "That's about the only defense I'd give 'Scratch', though." He maneuvered them to the middle of a clump of other dancers. "I'm pretty sure you don't have to worry about him, Sebastian is having him beaten like a rented mule. But just in case, let's keep you out of view of anyone else that might have been around." He was very aware of the major players' position in the room, part of his background 'radar' for possible threats amongst the Black Court. So it was easy for him to take some of the stress off of Darcy, maneuvering them around and through various dancers and hangers-on.
"Ah, what was it? Something akin to 'a unique eye for beauty'." Quote fingers pressed lightly into his skin where their hands met as she rolled her eyes at the comment. "Kevin still owes me a drink for his reaction to hearing it said. Scratch?" Being led around the floor by someone who knew how to lead was a treat, and Darcy's mind was already trying to figure out how to convince Doug to go out dancing with her sometime.
"That's what Amanda calls him. They've got some history." Doug hoped Amanda was doing all right - the Hellfire Club was a sore spot at the best of times with her. But that wasn't his story to tell, so he focused on the here and now. And just how far down his hand could rest on the bare skin of Darcy's back. Even through the glove, his hand was providing feedback. "That dress is something else," he said appreciatively.
Darcy's cheeks pinked at the compliment, eyes twinkling with mischief. "Well, it's taped down tight enough that I'd risk letting you twirl me. But how much are you regretting that your ungloved hand isn't the one finding out what's happening below the waist?"
Doug signaled with a gentle push to the skin just above the low dip of the dress, then swung her gently out and back. Nothing flashy or fast, he remembered that Darcy was trying to stay anonymous in the crowd. "A bit. Maybe more than a bit," he admitted with a twinkle in his own eye. "But unless you want to go full homecoming dance grind-and-sway..." He squeezed where their hands were clasped. "I'm at the mercy of proper dance posture."
"No sir," Darcy reprimanded gently, lightly trailing her fingertips down to his elbow. "I've already told you my rule for that, regardless of how tempting you look tonight." Her voice was light, teasing. "You can call on me for a good cuddle, though. Wear long sleeves, because my hands like to wander."
A slight shiver ran through Doug at the offer. It wasn't that Marie-Ange wasn't a cuddler, but with her it was more like laying close together in bed reading on phones or the like - she had to be doing something. And between Wade gone, and Marie-Ange spending more time with Amanda...cuddling had been in short supply. "I'd like that," he said quietly.
"Yeah?" Darcy squeezed his arm in comfort. "Good choice, my bed is designed for maximum cosy and I have a bunch of movies." Laurie was the only one that'd taken her up on the offer recently, and she had a feeling Doug was more receptive to being cuddled on a regular basis. "I do turn into a bit of an octopus once I'm asleep, though. Worse than when I'm awake."
"You're not the only octopus around these parts," was Doug's reply. The idea of just spending down time snuggled up to Darcy was nice. The idea of her hands wandering, coupled with the fact that he was still wondering if she was wearing panties, given how far down the back of her dress dipped...that was just straight-up distracting.
"Anytime though, seriously." Darcy replied with a bright smile. She considered telling him to come over tonight, but the temptation... heck. The opening to the room caught her eye as they turned, just in time to see a handful of guards and important-looking people leaving. A little of the tension in her shoulders left, and she let out a little sigh. "Bigwigs're gone."
Doug could feel the minute traces of tension leaving Darcy's body, and she sagged very slightly toward him as her shoulders released. It brought their bodies more closely in contact, and gave Doug all kinds of dangerous thoughts. "Want to dance a few more, or would you rather get while the getting's good?" he asked.
"Dancing with you is no hardship," she replied easily, sliding her hand from his shoulder to his back so she could move closer. "Handsome man leading me with confidence and grace? A quarter of the room probably wants to kill me for the audacity, and that's without them recognizing your place or connections." They moved together quietly for a few moments, Darcy's eyebrow raised slightly at the chatter of one of the louder couples nearby. "Just think about how well we'll move together elsewhere," she dropped casually.
If Darcy had pitched that at him during their sparring session, she might have caused him to miss a step. But at a Hellfire event, it would take more than that to startle Doug. His hand slid down and this time he pressed at the very top of her ass, pushing her into that twirl she'd told him she might risk, now that Harkness was gone and he didn't have to worry about drawing too much attention. When she had completed her rotation and was back in his arms, he grinned. "Oh, I am," he told her in a low husky tone.
Darcy shivered lightly, eyes dark and intent as she processed. "I see you found your game," she finally managed, voice cracking a bit. She fought the urge to rub her thighs together, mind hyperaware of the warmth low on her back. "It's very effective."
"I told you I had some," Doug asserted with a playful smirk at the way Darcy's voice had wobbled briefly. Turnabout was fair play, after all, and it was fun to see her slightly off-kilter the way she'd had him already. He leaned in closer, almost cheek to cheek, with his mouth near her ear. "Should I ask just -how- effective, hm?" he asked, the low questioning noise rumbling in his chest where it was pressed against hers.
'Oh, that's dirty pool.' The urge to find a quiet spot warred with not drawing attention to herself, and she finally pulled the tattered scraps of her willpower together with a mental admonishment about her responsibilities. Her bearings regained, Darcy purred out, "You could ask, or you could be a good boy and wait for first-hand experience. Up to you."
The banter and tension was a kind of fun all its own for Doug. Wordplay and teasing were definitely big pluses in his book. "Only first hand?" he asked. "What about the second?" As he questioned, the fingers of his right hand traced idle loops at the base of Darcy's spine.
"Uncovered hands on flesh," she reminded primly, fingers flexing on his back as his gloved hand moved across her back. "For the second, well. I suppose I could tell you that my thighs are slick, since you can't see it for yourself."
Doug was definitely distracted by mental images of finding out for himself. He'd been half-hard for most of the dance (verbal and physical), and he pressed the evidence of it firmly into Darcy's thigh. "I can't take the glove off right now," he whispered. "So I guess you'll have to be a -good girl- and wait yourself." It wasn't quite a growl as he tossed her words back at her, but it was close.
"You are ruinous for my limited restraint," Darcy hissed back, face turned into his neck to hide the bright pink flush she could feel spreading across her cheeks and down her neck. "And the scrap of satin passing as my underwear tonight, if you'd like a souvenir."
Between the hedonistic atmosphere of the Hellfire gala and the constraint of not drawing -too- much attention, Doug definitely had a bit of 'home court' advantage, and he was enjoying using it on Darcy. "I would," he told her firmly. "So are you going to go take them off right now, or bring them to me when we get back to the mansion?" Left unspoken but very present was all the other things she would probably be doing in the process.
Darcy rolled her hips deliberately against his. "I think after you take care of your own problem, you can come fetch them yourself... if you can handle just sleeping."
Doug let his hips roll against Darcy's, lining them up a bit more and letting himself settle a bit more toward the hollow between her thighs. "I mean, I don't really think of it as a -problem-..." The competitiveness between them had definitely raised the stakes of things, and he could see this ending in a whole variety of different ways. Now he really kind of wanted to make her give them to him before they left the gala. "I could probably just push my pants down and take care of it right here, and the strongest reaction it would get is that most of the people in this room would say 'well -finally-'." That last bit was delivered breathily into Darcy's ear as he pushed even closer for a moment before drawing back to dancing distance.
Darcy's eyes fluttered shut at the press of their bodies. "If you do that, we're definitely going to end up giving these upstanding citizens a free show," she said, lips brushing the side of his throat. "My dress wasn't designed for kneeling or being hastily pushed up, so I have to very regretfully ask you to wait."
"A free show is what a lot of these people are expecting." But Doug turned down the laser intensity a bit, back toward playful but still with plenty of erotic undercurrents beneath it all. His hand moved from her back to her hip, thumb brushing along Darcy's floating ribs. "I can wait." Anticipation could be fun too. "How about this," he said after a brief bit of thought, unable to resist at least a bit of pushing at the edges of things. "You go take those panties off right now and have them in my pocket before we leave, and I'll send you a picture with them in it later tonight."
"You could help me take them off, if you really want to earn it," Darcy countered, blush finally under control. "And if you'd like, just bring me along some other time and we'll give them their show." A tango started, and she pulled back reluctantly, hand tucking back into the crook of his elbow. "My dress wouldn't be able to handle this one. Escort me to a powder room?"
