She always wanted to be dancing with him.
“This wasn't exactly what I had in mind for tonight,” Tal laughed an hour later, when he finally convinced her to take a break. He led her away from the crowds, over to a bench nestled in some hedges.
“What did you have in mind?” she panted, still moving her hips and feet to the beat as she stood next to him.
“Something sexier,” he replied, sitting down.
“Pffft,” she snorted, rolling her body, “my dancing is pretty goddamn sexy.” He yanked on her hand, pulling her into his lap.
“So, dancer lady,” he started, helping her to get comfortable on top of him.
“Yes?”
“Are you happy?”
“Exceedingly.”
“Do you know what today is?” he continued with the questions.
“Tuesday,” she replied.
“Duh. I meant, what today is. Like as in something special,” Tal continued. Misch scrunched up her nose, confused.
“Uh …,” she tried to think of what holiday was being celebrated. He snorted at her.
“You dork, today marks one year since the day you came to Italy,” he almost snapped at her. She sat up straighter.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Like the day we met?”
“No, like the day you got off the plane.”
Mischa thought back. Over the winter. Last summer. So many moments.
“Wow, I'd completely forgotten,” she gave a small laugh, staring off into the distance. “How'd you remember?”
“I was there,” he replied in a soft voice, then she felt him kissing her bare shoulder. She glanced down at him.
“You were?” she was surprised. After they'd decided they were going to seriously make a go at having a real relationship, they established early on that nothing was off limits, and Mischa had asked lots of questions. But that had never come up.
“Mmmm hmmm. I wasn't supposed to be, either, I was supposed to be making sure all the equipment at the hotel was running smoothly. But something … I don't know, something made me go see you. I'd seen your pictures. I wanted to see you in person. You walked right by me,” he explained, smoothing one of his hands over her arm. She smiled down at him.
“I didn't notice.”
“Big surprise. You have the situational awareness of a manatee.”
“Shut up.”
“I was there. I watched you. I thought to myself 'I'm going to talk to her', so I remember that day very well. It was the day we started,” he finished.
“Oh please, you just wanted to get in my pants,” she teased.
“Very true. Pity I couldn't get rid of you after that.”
“Hey!”
Mischa would have given another smart-ass response, but her mouth was suddenly indisposed, mainly dealing with his tongue. He kissed her hard, and aggressively, one of his hands moving to hold the back of her head. She moaned against his lips, kissing him back.
“So a year later – are you happy?” he asked her again, moving to kiss down the edge of her jaw.
“More than I've ever been in my entire life,” she whispered, combing her fingers through his hair.
“Any regrets?”
“That I didn't find you sooner.”
“Good girl, good answer.”
His tongue was back in her mouth, his fingers were pulling at her hair, and his free hand was working its way up her thigh. Misch knew it was grossly inappropriate – they were in public and were behaving like horny teenagers. But that's just how they were, and she hoped they would never change. She was still drunk on his love, high on his love, and she never wanted to come down.
Though she wasn't so drunk that she didn't notice his hand moving underneath her skirt.
“Tal,” she panted, grabbing at his wrist at the same time his fingers curled around the top of her underwear. He ignored her and began pulling at the material.
“Why you wear these is beyond me. How many pairs have you lost since you moved in with me?” he commented, tracing his tongue over her pulse. She shivered and he used the movement to his advantage, pulling her panties over her hips.
“Too many. We are in public, stop it!” she hissed, pressing her butt down harder against his leg, trying to hold the material in place.
“Do you think I care?”
It was too late, anyway, he'd gotten them too far. Plus, resisting him just meant his hand would stay up her skirt longer. Mischa finally let go of his wrist and he immediately dragged the underwear over her knees. She glanced around nervously, slipping her legs free.
“There, satisfied!? We're gonna get arrested one day, I swear, I -, ACK!” she was startled when he abruptly stood up, dumping her off of his lap. She stumbled, then panicked, scrambling to hold her short skirt in place over her ass.
“Want these back?” Tal asked, giving her a sly smile as he dangled her underwear in front of her face. She turned ten different shades of red and tried to snatch the material from him. He pulled away and her panties disappeared into his pocket.
“This isn't a game, Tal,” she used her best no-nonsense voice. He stepped up close to her, completely invading her space, pressing his chest against hers. She held her breath, lost in his gaze for a moment.
“Baby, you are the funnest game I've ever played,” he said, right before he kissed her again.
Mischa was just starting to get lost in his touch when he pulled away. Pulled away so quickly, she stumbled forward. He smacked her on the ass, hard. Hard enough that she fell into the stumble even more, tripping a few feet into the crowd.