Amber took a deep breath, and then another, trying to become calm in what little time she had. She was just-- just so embarrassed. Embarassed that she'd reacted so strongly to so fucking stupid a word, embarassed that she'd wanted to hear it-- hear Eric and, oh god, that warm tone he'd used, like the one candlelight in the middle of darkness-- so badly, and so unbelievably embarrassed at how upset she was now. And how fucking could he, it was just a word, couldn't he have said it? It'd have been so easy. She could call him a baby right now. It'd be easy. Her grasp on his hand tightened. That's what he was, after all, just a big baby, one who couldn't make porno-doctor jokes without getting flustered and who couldn't follow the fucking rules. How sexy was that?
So firmly she'd been striding ahead that when Eric stopped, she accidentally went on a step or two without him, their contact broken. Something vicious flared in Amber, deliciously validating her anger. Good. Better this way. If he was going to start digging his heels, let him dig them in all the way. If he wouldn't do what she said, then let him fucking not do any of it. She hadn't forced him into accepting the bet and her position. This wasn't the Diagnostics Department, where he'd be her superior no matter how they fucked or how pathetically doe-eyed they got over one another. They'd promised, and if he hadn't been willing to follow through with the terms, he shouldn't have misled her by agreeing.
So she whirled around, hair whipping, and she squared her shoulders, daring him to spit out whatever crap he had in that head of his. He was a shadow in the doorway, unreadable. Her nostrils flared as he spoke, clenched fists flying to rest on her hips. "I wanted you to say it!" Amber exclaimed, lashing out. She'd wanted him to say it as a joke, for them to laugh and bond over it. "And to mean it, whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean!" He'd been-- it'd been just so right, tender and caring and she'd felt so good at that moment, safe. The very opposite of how she felt now. Naked. Sticky. Amber lowered her face slightly, fingertips at her temples. Burned quietly. "How could you mean it one moment, and not the next?" If she'd been yelling before, now she was subdued, eyes closed. Fuck. Fuck.
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So firmly she'd been striding ahead that when Eric stopped, she accidentally went on a step or two without him, their contact broken. Something vicious flared in Amber, deliciously validating her anger. Good. Better this way. If he was going to start digging his heels, let him dig them in all the way. If he wouldn't do what she said, then let him fucking not do any of it. She hadn't forced him into accepting the bet and her position. This wasn't the Diagnostics Department, where he'd be her superior no matter how they fucked or how pathetically doe-eyed they got over one another. They'd promised, and if he hadn't been willing to follow through with the terms, he shouldn't have misled her by agreeing.
So she whirled around, hair whipping, and she squared her shoulders, daring him to spit out whatever crap he had in that head of his. He was a shadow in the doorway, unreadable. Her nostrils flared as he spoke, clenched fists flying to rest on her hips. "I wanted you to say it!" Amber exclaimed, lashing out. She'd wanted him to say it as a joke, for them to laugh and bond over it. "And to mean it, whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean!" He'd been-- it'd been just so right, tender and caring and she'd felt so good at that moment, safe. The very opposite of how she felt now. Naked. Sticky. Amber lowered her face slightly, fingertips at her temples. Burned quietly. "How could you mean it one moment, and not the next?" If she'd been yelling before, now she was subdued, eyes closed. Fuck. Fuck.