Chapter 8
Sven sighed as she caught Elmira from falling flat on her face for the third time that night.
"Elmira, please be careful.”
Elmira laughed heartily.
“I am so fuckin’ shitfaced right now.”
“Indeed you are,” he replied as he maneuvered Elmira into a booth.
“Just stay upright while I go get you water,” he added before turning to walk away.
“I love you, Sven.”
Sven didn’t get far.
He blinked once.
Twice.
He turned back around to look at Elmira, who appeared to be slowly descending from her slouched position and moving ever closer to the ground.
Sven propped her back up into a sitting position as he shook his head.
“Wonderful, I’m finally hearing things in my old age,” he muttered to himself.
“Nah, you heard right, I actually do fuckin’ love you, Sven,” Elmira said as she propped up an elbow against the table so she could unsteadily hold her face up. She swayed slightly.
“‘Course I fuckin’ love you.”
Sven gave Elmira a long look before nodding slowly. “Alright then.”
Elmira somehow managed to look surprised despite her inability to even blink her eyes synchronously.
“That’s it? I thought you were gonna ask ‘why’ and then I’d have to come up with some sort of romantic spiel to boost your dumb insecure ego.”
“If I asked ‘why’, you’d probably just say ‘because you’re unfairly beautiful,’” he replied with an eye roll.
“Don’t get me wrong, it was charming the first time.” Sven shrugged.
“But you’ve said it enough that I’m beginning to wonder if you only want me for my looks.”
Elmira slapped at the table with drunken conviction.
“You really do have an excellent face!” She paused, suddenly leaning heavily to one side.
“But that’s not why.”
Sven pulled her back upright.
“If you tell me it’s because of my wonderful personality, I will be devastated.”
Elmira snorted and shook her head.
Sven wasn’t sure why he was humoring her, but he asked anyway. “Why do you love me then?”
“No reason not to,” she replied simply.
There was a very good chance that Sven’s heart was about to beat out of his chest and crawl its way into Elmira’s hands. He took a deep breath.
“Is that also from a movie?”
“No, I think I read it on a Buzzfeed list somewhere, but who the fuck cares?”
Sven laughed hollowly and shook his head as he turned away.
“I’ll go get you that water now.”
“Wait!”
Sven suppressed a sigh and turned back around.
Elmira was suddenly standing perfectly still, hands shoved deep into her pockets with no hint of the staggering drunk woman from seconds before. She looked defiant.
“You don’t believe me.”
A strange realization dawned on Sven. “You’re not drunk.”
*****
“Sven, wait - where are you even going?”
Sven had no idea, but he certainly wasn’t going to stay in a bar and talk about feelings of all the damned things. He stepped outside into the cold.
“Fuckin’ wait Sven, d’you realize you’ve got legs for days?” Elmira jogged behind him to keep up.
“If you walk any faster, we’re gonna end up in different weeks! Sven? Sven! Are you even fuckin’ listening to me?”
Sven didn’t stop.
“Are you seriously running away right now?” Elmira asked incredulously.
Elmira nearly walked straight into him when Sven abruptly stopped. He didn’t turn around.
“I’m not running away,” said Sven.
“Right, so what you call this then? Just walkin’ quickly and with purpose, are you?”
Sven turned around. “What do you call pretending to be drunk and telling people you love them?”
Elmira had the decency to look ashamed.
“They call it ‘Elmira Olivette is a dweeb.’”
Sven gave her a long, uninterpretable look that unnerved her, before eventually sighing. He looked disappointed.
“What in hell were you thinking?”
“I don’t know how it fuckin’ happened, alright? It just, I mean, I,” she rubbed at her temples in apparent distress. “You were just so nice to me, you know?”
“Elmira-”
“No, let me finish. You let your guard down when I’m tipsy,” Elmira blurted out before averting her eyes to the concrete. She suddenly spoke very quietly.
“You looked after me, even after I’d been a bit of a drunk idiot and it was just really nice, alright? And you’d take me back home and you’d make me breakfast the next morning and I just - I mean, it was bound to fuckin’ happen.”
Sven would ordinarily find Elmira’s rambling endearing, but at this point, he just wanted clarity.
“What was bound to happen?”
Elmira’s face glowed with embarrassment. “Christ, I’ve already said it three fuckin’ times.”
Sven said nothing and Elmira groaned, throwing her hands into the air.
“Fine, so we’re doing this?” She took an angry step forward. “You want the whole fuckin’ romantic confession? Fine, you dramatic fuckin’ jerk-off!” She took another step forward, her eyes flicking up to look up at Sven’s. “If you must know, like it wasn’t so fuckin’ obvious before, I’m 143 for you, Sven Marcel. And if your bougie ass can’t translate that, it means ‘I’m in love with you!’”
Sven flinched as Elmira poked him hard in the chest.
“All I know is that when I saw you one morning and you and your stupid dimpled face smiled at me, I fell really fuckin’ bad. But you know what, Sven?”
She poked her hard again.
“You and your smug face knew how I felt, but you didn’t do anything about it. Except flirt with stupid Florica and push me away.”
Elmira half-heartedly poked him in the chest one final time. “So there was my conundrum, Sven. I love you and you kinda like me, but you weren’t doing anything about it and I was too much of a fuckin’ coward to tell you sober. You beginning to see my problem here?”
Elmira dropped his hand back to his side and looked away.
“Well, go on then,” she said. “Go ahead and tell me what a terrible idea this is gonna be.”
Sven was at a complete loss for words. He didn’t even know where to begin, but he needed to say something soon, as Elmira’s anger was beginning to fade into embarrassment and if he didn’t stop her, Elmira was going to walk away.
Sven couldn’t have that.
“I never took you to your hotel,” Sven abruptly said.
Elmira stared at him incredulously.
“Are you serious right now? Jesus Christ, it’s like you didn’t even hear-”
“I took you to my house,” Sven interrupted. “I never took you to your hotel.”
Elmira paused momentarily. “Same thing, isn’t it?”
“Fuck, say something.”
For fuck’s sake, say something before she leaves! “It’s cold,” Sven said dumbly. Christ, what was that?
Elmira raised an eyebrow. “Wow, you would be utter bullshit at being a male lead in a rom-com, you know.”
Sven was unjustifiably offended by that, but he let it slide.
“Best not quit my day job then,” he said instead.
“I hear observational skills are kinda key for your day job,” Elmira replied with faint annoyance. “And no offense, but your observational skills are also kinda bullshit.”
“Only when it comes to you, I assure you.”
Elmira had paused and to Sven’s satisfaction, he had actually managed to surprise Elmira.
“Yeah?” Elmira asked more hopefully than she probably meant to.
“Yes,” Sven confirmed.
So that’s it? Elmira thought, confused. Are we dating?
“Shall we go back to the bar then?” Elmira suggested. “I’m fuckin’ freezing.”
“Perhaps not.”
Not dating then. Well fuck, this is mortifying. Now what?
“So we say goodnight and we pretend this never happened then?”
Sven raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t say that.”
“Well you’re not fuckin sayin’ much, so you’ll have to excuse me,” she snapped.
“I know, I apologize. It’s just-”
“Oh, here we go,” she exclaimed angrily. “Let’s hear it then. Pray tell, why is it that we can’t date? Let me guess… Age difference? You’re too bougie? You were my boss so this makes it less real? Oh, I fuckin’ know!” Elmira said with a snap of her fingers. “It’s the Florica effect, you probably think it’s all some petty competition or she talked shit about me. Is that it?”
Sven waited silently before asking, “Are you quite done?”
Elmira crossed her arms, poorly concealing what was obviously a childish pout. “No.”
Sven sighed. “This may come as a surprise to you, but I don’t typically express my feelings very well.”
Elmira scoffed. “You can fuckin’ say that again.”
“Please don’t ever mistake that for me not wanting you.”
Elmira didn’t know what to say. “Oh,” she replied before mentally cringing at how embarrassingly lacking that response was. She cleared her throat to try again. “So the feeling’s mutual then?”
“Yes.”
“Oh,” she said again. She fidgeted, unsure of why she was suddenly so uncomfortable. “Cool.”
Sven gave a single nod before rubbing his hands together.
“Actually, it’s fucking freezing.”
“That's not what I - you know what, fuck it, yes, it's cold.”
Sven waved down a cab. It slowed to a stop and he opened the door.
“Where to?” Asked the cab driver.
Sven looked to Elmira expectantly.
Elmira desperately wished she were actually drunk right now. She climbed into the cab and gave Sven’s home address, like she always did.
Sven merely nodded and sat himself down in the backseat.
The cab ride was a silent affair, when the cab abruptly turned sharply.
Sven instinctively lifted his arms to catch Elmira without looking, as he always did whenever Elmira was drunk.
He only turned to look when nothing happened.
Elmira gave him a strange look from across the back seat, completely unmoved by the sharp turn. Sven awkwardly lowered his arms back to his sides.
“D’you have any idea of how hard it was to make that look like an accident?”
“You certainly fooled me,” Sven replied.
Elmira sighed as she absent-mindedly played with the hem of her leiothrix bird printed lapel long sleeved chiffon blouse.
“Fuckin’ fooled myself.”
Sven frowned. “Why are you sulking?”
She crossed her arms. “I’m not sulking.”
Sven pointedly stared at Elmira’s slumped, crossed-armed form and shook her head. “Never mind. I would have thought you would have been happier, is all.”
The cab pulled over to the side and Sven quickly paid the man before they both stepped out.
*****
Elmira had worked out why she was so uncomfortable.
“I don’t know how to act now,” Elmira said abruptly, just as Sven was handing her a cup of coffee.
Sven poured himself a cup of coffee before sitting down on his sofa next to Elmira.
“I much prefer you as you are. Perhaps with a smile thrown in.”
He sipped at his coffee.
“Maybe with less hats.”
Elmira lowered her coffee indignantly onto its saucer.
“Excuse you, there’s nothin’ wrong with my hats.”
“I am consistently alarmed as to how many hats you hold in your possession and how you somehow manage to color co-ordinate them to your jackets.”
She placed her coffee onto the coffee table. “Fuck off, you literally have socks that match your ties - who fuckin’ does that?”
“You have shoes with wings on them.”
“You’re so obsessed with oxfords that you’ll use it as a secret pass code.”
“Well they are words to live by,” Sven retorted, placing his own cup of coffee down.
Elmira rolled her eyes. She huffed a laugh despite herself.
“Ah, there it is,” said Sven.
“What?”
“A smile.”
“Oh.” Elmira tapped her fingers against her knees nervously. “So what now?”
“I suppose I could kiss you,” Sven suggested casually.
Elmira’s heart just about stopped.
Sven continued on as though she were talking about the weather. “Though you are wearing that dreadful hat and I’d more than likely hit my forehead against it.”
He leaned in closer and pushed the brim of the hat upwards with his index finger.
“That would be dreadfully embarrassing.”
Elmira all but threw her hat across the room.
*****
"Oof," Elmira said as her back hit the bed, and then she lost her train of thought, because Sven was taking off his belt.
They had been pressed against the wall inside the door at the other end of his apartment, but when Sven had gasped "Bedroom," against her mouth, she'd replied, without thinking, "It's so cute that you think I can walk right now." This was either a mistake or a really great decision, because he’d stopped doing that awesome thing with his teeth, and slung her over his shoulder to carry to the bedroom.
"Hey!" She wasn’t really upset, but seriously?
Sven just ran the hand holding her legs up the inside of her thighs, and that distracted her really pleasantly until she found herself tossed on the bed.
Okay, definitely a good decision, Elmira decided, stretching on the sheets to feel the cool fabric slide over her bare back. They'd both lost their shirts -- and, in Elmira's case, her bra -- back at the door. She was almost used to Sven's shirtlessness, but the reverse definitely wasn't the case; he hadn't been able to wait, putting his hands and mouth on her breasts.
Elmira ran her hands absently over the early prickle of stubble-burn on her neck and chest, then propped herself up on her elbows to take in the show.
Sven had forgotten the "shoes first" rule of taking off pants in his rush, which was somewhat hilarious, but in a way that sent heat curling through her. She thought about the way he'd pressed her against the wall before, hands curving over her hips as he kissed her.
He was definitely taking too long.
"Hurry it up, Sven," she said. Sven glanced up, the corner of his mouth rising in a smile as he dropped his socks to the floor. Elmira waggled her eyebrows -- finally, innuendo that she intended -- and he huffed out a laugh -one of the little ones, the kind that seemed to take him by surprise; she loved making those happen- and paused his stripping long enough to lean over and place a kiss on her stomach.
He backed away before she could reach her hand up to keep him there, and pushed his pants the rest of the way off, then his boxers.
She whistled at him, smirking but genuine, and Sven grinned back. "I swear, if you make any oxford jokes right now," he said, stepping in, knees pressing against the mattress as he reached for her waist. Elmira helped unhook the side-zip of her skirt before backing off so he could take care of the rest.
"Wouldn't dream of it," she said, lifting her hips and shimmying as he pulled the skirt off. Sven hooked his fingers up and under her underwear through the leg openings, and the backs of his hands brushed her skin all the way down. It was almost scary, how easily that – he -- turned her breathless.
She was naked, and Sven's palms were warm on the inside of her ankles, pressing as they slid up her calves, curved over her knees and along the inside of her thighs. Her legs bent and spread wide under the gentle pressure, and she had barely a second to feel self-conscious before Sven leaned in and licked, wet and firm.
Up on her elbows, with her feet lifted just off the bed, Elmira didn't have any leverage to push her hips into the touch like she wanted, and that made her moan louder than usual. She flushed hot as the sound of it echoed, as Sven's thumbs continued the path of his hands up her thighs, spreading her open as he licked in again.
Sven lifted his head -- no no no -- and smiled. He was still standing, leaning over with just his hands on her. And smiling.
"Okay, seriously, how are you still not in bed?" Elmira asked, and pushed up off her elbows to scoot back toward the headboard. Sven followed, and had his hands back on her so fast that she only missed them a little bit. He was kneeling between her bent legs now, fully off the floor.
"Ta-da," Sven said, totally straight-faced. Elmira was still laughing while he cupped one hand to the back of her thigh and pushed, holding it wide as he circled her clit with the other thumb, then chased with his tongue. Elmira felt his fingers tighten on her leg as she gasped, her eyes falling closed, laughter and sensation spiraling up together, every move of his mouth drawing her higher. One long finger slid inside her; he licked, curled his finger up and rubbed, drew all the way out and pressed in and out again with two. He sucked a wet kiss against her, the change in feeling sharp and sudden, and holy fuck she was almost there already. Sven thrust in, slow, with those clever fingers, his tongue running broad and firm over her clit; she clenched down around his fingers and came with a cry.
Sven seemed to freeze for a fraction of a second, but when she shuddered and closed her eyes, he kept at it, coaxing her through the aftershocks.
Elmira reached out and threaded her fingers through his hair when it became too much, and Sven immediately pulled back and knelt up. She felt his weight shift to one leg, dipping the mattress, and lazily opened her eyes to make sure he wasn't going too far.
Sven had pulled up a corner of the sheet to wipe at his mouth, and she had to kiss him right that second.
Elmira sat up, legs still bent wide around his hips, and said "Sven," sliding her hand along his arm to his neck to pull him down for a kiss.
He leaned in, mouth open and wet as he kissed her desperately, then straightened and pulled her up to him instead, dragging Elmira by the hips to straddle his kneeling legs without ever breaking their kiss. Sven shifted one hand to cup her bottom, the other spreading wide over her lower back. His cock was hard, flush against his stomach, but he made no move to pull her closer. Sven just held her there like it was nothing, all solid easy strength, and she relaxed into his grip.
Elmira felt loose and comfortable, warm from her orgasm and enjoying the feel of Sven's shoulders under her hands, so she returned the kiss languidly. Sven was wound up with tension, but she kept it slow and firm until he settled, shoulders relaxing down. She pulled back to rest their foreheads together.
"Okay?" Sven said, breath warm on her skin. Elmira nodded, and leaned back to cup his cheek and meet his eyes. He looked weirdly serious, intent and focused on her face, and she kissed him again sweetly.
He was smiling again by the time she pulled away.
"So, what next?" she said, and Sven pulled on his totally innocent face, which was even more ridiculous in the current context.
"It's your show; you decide," Sven said, and watched her face just long enough to see her flash through all the myriad possibilities. "Or," he shifted his hold so he could slide the hand on her ass down and under, and pushed two strong fingers in where she was wet and spread open, "I have a few suggestions."
"Oh," Elmira said instead of whatever thing she now totally forgot she'd been going to say.
It couldn't have been that important.
At that angle, he couldn't get his fingers very deep, but that didn't matter. She could feel every drag in and out, and she was surrounded by Sven -- hot skin under her thighs, hard arms curving over her hip and around her back, hand cupping intimately over her, inside her. She pushed back against his hand and yes, there, that was a good spot. Elmira felt pinpricks of sweat break out across her body as heat rushed back in.
Sven ducked his head, pressing a kiss under the corner of her jaw. He was being so quiet, she realized. Not that he was unaffected -- she could feel his breath rushing fast and harsh over her pulse, tiny hitches as he tried to catch it, and she knew it wasn't from holding her up like this; she'd seen Sven carry on entire conversations while lifting his entire body weight, and not miss a single breath.
Without really thinking it through, she used his shoulders to brace, then hooked her legs up to wrap around his hips. Elmira pulled herself all the way to him, until his cock was trapped tight against his belly and she was pressed slick against the underside.
That got her the noise she was looking for. Sven jerked against her, head dropping forward to rest on her collarbone.
Elmira was still sensitive, but that sliding friction felt amazing. She closed her eyes, scratching her fingernails lightly up the nape of Sven’s neck as he thrust twice more against her, with deliberation.
“God, that feels good,” she said. When Sven didn’t answer, she worried for a moment -- then realized he was just distracted. She followed his gaze down; Sven was watching his cock press between them, another slow slide down his length, leaving it wet and hard in the wake. She felt a hot spike of arousal through her belly, and involuntarily flexed her thighs, pushing against him. He hissed, and--
“Okay, condom! Condom right the fuck now,” Elmira said. “ Let’s go.” She stopped herself short of snapping her fingers at him.
Sven just pulled back and grinned at her for a second, the smug gorgeous bastard, and paused to kiss one of her nipples in a slow, wet tease.
Then he performed a ridiculous maneuver to hold her up with his right hand while balancing both their weight on the left to move them up the mattress -- and that, ladies and gentlemen, was why Elmira liked watching him. Sven lowered her shoulders to the mattress, but when she began to unwind her legs, he pressed a light hand to her knee to keep her where she was.
Her vision maybe went a little fuzzy when Sven leaned over to fetch a condom from the bedside table and combined the movement with a wicked little twisting hips thing, but she would never tell. It didn’t much matter in the face of Sven fumbling endearingly -if frustratingly- to get his cock properly covered.
And then Sven was pushing inside her, and it was just the right side of too much and just fast enough.
Elmira's head pressed back into the mattress as she arched up to him, tightening her legs to urge him on. Sven's hands curved around her thighs, and he dropped a kiss to her sternum, all the way inside her.
Then he started moving, and Elmira loved that he didn't treat her like she was delicate. He would touch her like she was special, sure, like he was carefully loving the way she felt, but he never held back as if she might break or fall apart. It made her feel strong, and satisfied, and possessive.
And it fucking felt amazing -- Sven was all control and power and raw need like this, like he couldn't stop or take it easy on her. He expected her to keep up, and she did.
Elmira tilted her pelvis for a touch of space, breathing in sharply at the changing angle as she reached between them. She couldn't resist curling just one finger around his shaft as he thrust into her, and Sven swore appreciatively. She smiled, and moved on to her clit, slippery and hot under her fingers.
The first touch made her gasp and clench tight around Sven’s cock. He didn’t make a sound this time, just pressed his face to her neck and began to move in shorter strokes, with all the power concentrated at the end, when he was fully inside her. Elmira slid one knee up the side of his ribs, and moaned when Sven pressed a hand against her inner thigh, spreading her wider for him. She worked her fingers faster against her clit, and felt herself fall past the point of no return.
“Sven,” she choked out, and then all the air was stolen from her lungs as she came, too breathless to make a noise until she was coming down, sounds hitching out of her in gasps as she rode the aftershocks.
She came back to coherence with Sven was still moving fast and hard into her, and starting to lose control at the edges of his movements.
“Come on, come for me,” Elmira said softly, catching on the words she spoke right against his ear. She stroked her hand down his side, and pulled her other leg up to bracket his hips. “You feel so good, just like this,” and felt his whole body tense, pressing in for one final thrust as he came inside her.
They stayed like that for a handful of breaths before Sven gathered himself enough to pull out, lowering her hips down. He rummaged in the drawer again for clean-up supplies, while Elmira star fished out in a stretch.
Once everything necessary for their comfort was done, Sven collapsed onto his stomach beside her, then seemed to practically melt into the mattress. Elmira ran a hand down his spine. He felt boneless and easy and totally relaxed.
“Wow, you really go mushy after sex. It’s impressive.”
“Only after really great sex, actually.”
“So--”
“Elmira, I think you’re fantastic,” Sven interrupted, still somehow managing to sound as fervently sincere as usual despite mumbling into the sheets. “Please go to sleep now?”
“We’ll see if you’re still saying that tomorrow morning,” Elmira replied, and was gratified to see Sven’s eyes pop back open for a second, before he groaned and buried his face in the pillow.
“Jesus, you’re going to be the death of me.”
“Just the little ones,” Elmira said smugly.
Sven growled, reaching out to hook her around the waist and pin her to the mattress with one arm. “Sleep now. Mouth later.”
“Promises, promises,” Elmira said, and allowed herself to drift off to sleep, warmed by the satisfaction of getting the last word.