Chapter 5 -

A Chair is Not Just For Sitting...

Marie made to turn but stopped half way, quickly turning back to face the door again. Why had she ever allowed Jubilee to talk her into this? It just felt too weird. Too unnatural. She didn't want to see Logan naked for the first time this way...

"I can't do this," she whispered beneath her breath, shaking her head regretfully and she instantly felt she had done the right thing. But she was also terrified what was going to happen now. Once Logan learned the real reason behind this sitting. Once he discovered that she had tried to trick him. She couldn't keep something like this from him and was surprised it had taken her this long to realise that.

Logan's heightened senses picked up her hushed words easily. "Marie?"

She scrunched her eyes closed. "It's just...just all wrong."

Logan's silence stretched to the point of agony. He finally put her out of her misery with: "Ya only paintin' me, kid."

She opened her eyes only to blink back tears. Whether from embarrassment or shame or something entirely different, she didn't know. "But I'm not. At least...I am...but...but."

"But what, Marie?" Marie noticed that Logan's voice had taken on a more serious edge now. It also hinted of a desperation that confused her.

She still couldn't turn. Still felt as if her feet were glued to the floor.

"Isn't it obvious," she despaired, and then became angry. "You can't be that stupid, Logan - I've seen you read books in the library!" Her outburst made her grimace guiltily but she seemed unable to react in any other way. "I'm deceiving you! This is all a set up. A stupid pathetic set up." She was aching to turn now and face him but she still couldn't summon the courage to do so. "But please don't hate me. Please don't run again..."

"I've got no intention of runnin' anywhere," Logan stated firmly.

"I'm sorry, Logan," she sighed weakly. "I thought all of this might make something happen." She rolled her eyes, anger rising again. "What a stupid fucking attempt of a seduction!"

"Look at me, kid," Logan demanded gently.

Her stomach performed a somersault. "I can't...not if...not if you don't feel the same way."

"Look at me, Marie."

Marie kept her feet firmly where they were but twisted her upper body around to do as the Wolverine asked.

She frowned her bewilderment although sweet relief swept through her like a tidal wave. "I don't understand?"

Logan sat in the chair, naked...from the waist up. From the waist down he still wore his jeans, although his feet were bare. "Couldn't do it either," he confessed, somewhat sheepishly. He stood up, walking over to her as she turned completely round to face him. "'Cause I wanted the first time ya see me naked to be our first time."

Marie was speechless. As she gaped at him in shock the only thing she could focus on, besides that glorious chest of his, was that one word. Our. Our first time. That meant...

"You mean..." she blurted.

"Yeah," he growled.

Feeling her stomach tighten her eyes locked with his. "So...what now?" she asked nervously, that heart of hers starting up again with added zealous.

"This," Logan started, slipping a hand around her waist and crushing her against him insistently.

Marie let out a gasp as fantasy became reality and his hot, firm body was pressing into hers. They moulded flawlessly together, like two pieces of the same puzzle that had finally been reunited and now made perfect sense.

"An' this," he added huskily as he reached down.

Marie groaned as his mouth began to explore hers, his lips brushing across hers hesitantly, as if he was a little wary of making such a bold move, but quickly gaining in confidence as if he had suddenly decided to hell with it! and his tongue coaxed its way through to gain deeper access.

Marie eagerly mirrored his exploration, her tongue just as impatient to duel, growing more daring with every blissful passing second. He tasted sublime: raw and masculine, with a hint of lingering cigar. There was also a sweetness that she wouldn't have expected, a faint suggestion of something that she couldn't quite determine. It made her think of the wilderness he adored so much, of snow somehow, of something crisp and clean...and pure.

And then she stopped thinking altogether as she simply melted in his arms.

His kiss was everything she'd imagined - dominant and demanding and yet there were conflicting moments of tenderness - even playfulness - that hinted of another side to the Wolverine, a side that could be gentle as well as rough. It turned her on incredibly that she would very soon be sampling both sides, unable to decide which excited her most, but accepting that she didn't really care as long as it was Logan.

"Oh, Logan..."

She dropped her head back as his mouth moved to her neck, running a line of feather-light kisses down her heated skin and making her shudder as he languidly tongued the shadowed hollow of her throat.

"I can't believe this is happening..." she moaned, frightened that this was all going to turn out to be some dream and that she was going to wake up any second.

Logan pulled abruptly away and for a terrible moment she was worried that she had said something wrong. She could barely catch her breath as she watched him hurry across to the door to check it was locked.

When he turned back to face her again, his stare was so intense it turned her legs to jelly. His dark eyes seemed as if they were on fire, blazing determinedly, and for a split second she honestly believed that Logan's alter ego had taken centre stage and was regarding her as if she were his prey. The idea sparked her own inner inferno and it enveloped her in one mighty surge, scorching the back of her throat.

As he stalked back towards her, he suddenly reached across, in one swift motion dramatically tearing down from the wall, a swath of luxurious red velvet that she used as a portrait back-drop.

Sweeping it across the floor he smirked wolfishly. "You might have pictured me naked in a chair, but I always pictured you naked on red velvet."

She returned a wicked smile of her own as she quickly hurried over.

THE END!